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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19745.txt b/19745.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f985bad --- /dev/null +++ b/19745.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16770 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Something of Men I Have Known, by Adlai E. +Stevenson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +Title: Something of Men I Have Known + With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective + +Author: Adlai E. Stevenson + +Release Date: November 9, 2006 [eBook #19745] +[Last updated on May 30, 2007] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN*** + + +E-text prepared by an anonymous volunteer + + + +Transcriber's notes: + + The diaeresis is transcribed by a following hyphen. + + The contraction "n't" appears both as a separate word and as a + suffix in the text. Since this seems to be the choice of the + Linotype operator, not the author, it has been changed to modern + usage. Differing spellings of "Lafayette" and "judgment" have + been standardized. The author's spelling of "Pittsburg", "Alleghanies", + "Tombs", "McDougall", and "Breckenridge" has been retained. + + Hyphenations at the end of lines have been eliminated wherever + possible. Those remaining are words that are hyphenated + elsewhere in the text, or in general usage. + + A few corrections of punctuation and of single letters have + been made. + + This transcription was typed into MS-DOS Editor under Windows + XP, spell-checked in Word Perfect, and examined with Gutcheck. + + + + + +SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN + +With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and +Retrospective + +by + +ADLAI E. STEVENSON + +Fully Illustrated + +Second Edition + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece] + +[Publisher's logo] + + +Chicago +A. C. McClurg & Co. +1909 + +Copyright +A. C. McClurg & Co. +1909 +Published October, 1909 +Second Edition, December 17, 1909 +The Lakeside Press +R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company +Chicago + + + + +TO MY WIFE +Letitia Green Stevenson +THE PATIENT LISTENER TO THESE +"TWICE-TOLD TALES" + + + + +FOREWORD + +To write in the spirit of candor of men he has known, and of great +events in which he has himself borne no inconspicuous part, has +been thought not an unworthy task for the closing years of more +than one of the most eminent of our public men. It may be that +the labor thus imposed has oftentimes enabled the once active +participant in great affairs submissively "to entertain the lag +end of his life with quiet hours." + +Following the example of such at a great distance and along a +humbler path, I have attempted to write something of events of +which I have been a witness, and of some of the principal actors +therein during the last third of a century. + +My book in the main is something of men I have personally known; +the occasional mention of statesmen of the past seems justified by +matters at the time under discussion. + +With the hope that it may not be wholly without interest to some +into whose hands it may fall, I now submit this slight contribution +to the political literature of these passing days. + +A. E. S. +BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS, +_August 1, 1909._ + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + I. ON THE CIRCUIT + II. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES + III. AGAIN IN CONGRESS + IV. THE VICE-PRESIDENT + V. THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES + VI. A TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN + VII. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS + VIII. THE FIRST POLITICAL TELEGRAM + IX. ALONG THE BYPATHS OF HISTORY + X. THE CODE OF HONOR + XI. A PRINCELY GIFT + XII. THE OLD RANGER + XIII. THE MORMON EXODUS FROM ILLINOIS + XIV. A KENTUCKY COLONEL + XV. FORGOTTEN EVENTS OF THE LONG AGO + XVI. ROBERT G. INGERSOLL + XVII. A CAMP-MEETING ORATOR + XVIII. CLEVELAND AS I KNEW HIM + XIX. THE UNANIMOUS CHOICE FOR SPEAKER + XX. A LAWYER OF THE OLD SCHOOL + XXI. HIGH DEBATE IN THE MOUNTAINS + XXII. THE SAGE OF THE BAR + XXIII. "THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSISSIPPI" + XXIV. AN OLD-TIME COUNTRY DOCTOR + XXV. A QUESTION OF AVAILABILITY + XXVI. A STATESMAN OF A PAST ERA + XXVII. NOT GUILTY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL + XXVIII. AMONG THE ACTORS + XXIX. THE LOST ART OF ORATORY + XXX. THE COLONELS + XXXI. REMINISCENCES + XXXII. A TRIBUTE TO IRELAND + XXXIII. THE BLIND CHAPLAIN + XXXIV. A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL + XXXV. COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN CENTRAL PARK + XXXVI. A PLATFORM NOT DANGEROUS TO STAND UPON + XXXVII. ANECDOTES OF GOVERNOR OGLESBY +XXXVIII. THE ONE ENEMY + XXXIX. CONTRASTS OF TIMES + XL. ENDORSING THE ADMINISTRATION + XLI. ANECDOTES ABOUT LINCOLN + XLII. FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA + XLIII. A NEW DAY ADDED TO THE CALENDAR + XLIV. A MOUNTAIN COLLEGE + XLV. DEDICATION OF A NATIONAL PARK + XLVI. A BAR MEETING STILL IN SESSION + XLVII. THE HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE RECALLED + XLVIII. IN THE HIGHLANDS + XLIX. ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS + L. OUR NOBLE CALLING + LI. THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + [facing] PAGE + ADLAI E. STEVENSON _Frontispiece_ + ADLAI E. STEVENSON AT 30 8 + JAMES S. EWING 9 + GEORGE F. HOAR 12 + SAMUEL J. TILDEN 13 + JAMES G. BLAINE 18 + ROBERT E. WILLIAMS 19 + JAMES A. GARFIELD 22 + NATH. P. BANKS 23 + WILLIAM R. MORRISON 26 + WILLIAM M. SPRINGER 27 + SAMUEL J. RANDALL 30 + ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 30 + LUCIUS Q. C. LAMAR 30 + JAMES B. BECK 30 + DAVID DUDLEY FIELD 31 + HENRY WATTERSON 33 + SAMUEL S. COX 34 + LEVI P. MORTON 48 + JAMES A. McKENZIE 49 + WILLIAM McKINLEY 56 + SENATE TESTIMONIAL TO MR. STEVENSON AS PRESIDENT + OF SENATE 57 + ABRAHAM LINCOLN 82 + ANDREW JOHNSON 83 + ULYSSES S. GRANT 100 + HORATIO SEYMOUR 101 + STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 126 + SAMUEL F. B. MORSE 127 + WILLIAM M. GWIN 170 + JAMES SHIELDS 171 + JAMES SMITHSON 174 + JOSEPH HENRY 175 + JOHN REYNOLDS 196 + JOSEPH SMITH 197 + R. G. INGERSOLL 226 + PETER CARTWRIGHT 227 + CLEVELAND AND STEVENSON 240 + WILLIAM FREEMAN VILAS 241 + WILLIAM M. EVARTS 262 + JOE WHEELER 263 + DAVID DAVIS 286 + S. S. PRENTISS 287 + EDWIN BOOTH 304 + JOSEPH JEFFERSON 305 + RUFUS CHOATE 312 + ISAAC N. PHILLIPS 313 + WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 316 + W. H. MILBURN 317 + R. J. OGLESBY 346 + JOSEPH W. FIFER 347 + LAWRENCE WELDON 352 + THOMAS F. MARSHALL 353 + MATTHEW T. SCOTT 372 + ADLAI E. STEVENSON 373 + LYMAN TRUMBULL 382 + HOME OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON, BLOOMINGTON, ILL. + 383 + + + +SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN + + + +I +ON THE CIRCUIT + +DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR--SLAVERY THE APPLE OF +DISCORD BEFORE THE WAR--LINCOLN AS A COUNTRY LAWYER--SOCIABILITY +OF THE LAWYERS OF THE PERIOD--THEIR EXCELLENCE AS ORATORS--HENRY +CLAY AS A PARTY LEADER--EULOGIUMS ON LAWYERS--LINCOLN'S ADMIRATION +FOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT--THE WRITER'S ADDRESS ON THE LAW AND +LAWYERS. + +The period extending from my first election to Congress in 1874, +to my retirement from the Vice-Presidency in 1897, was one of +marvellous development to the country. Large enterprises were +undertaken, and the sure foundation was laid for much of +existing business conditions. The South had recovered from the +sad effects of the Civil War, and had in a measure regained its +former position in the world of trade, as well as in that pertaining +to the affairs of the Government. The population of the country +had almost doubled; the ratio of representation in the Lower House +of Congress largely augmented; the entire electoral vote increased +from 369 to 444. Eight new States had been admitted to the Union, +thus increasing the number of Senators from seventy-four to ninety. + +The years mentioned likewise witnessed the passing from the national +stage, with few exceptions, of the men who had taken a conspicuous +part in the great debates directly preceding and during the Civil War +and the reconstruction period which immediately followed. By +the arbitrament of war, and by constitutional amendment, old +questions, for a half-century the prime cause of sectional strife, +had been irrevocably settled, and passed to the domain of history. +New men had come to the front, and new questions were to be discussed +and determined. + +To the student of history, the years immediately preceding the +Civil War are of abiding interest. In some of its phases slavery was +the all-absorbing subject of debate throughout the entire country. +It had been the one recognized peril to the Union since the formation +of the Government. Beginning with the debates in the convention +that formulated the Federal Constitution, it remained for seventy +years the apple of discord,--the subject of patriotic apprehension +and repeated compromise. The last serious attempt to settle +this question in the manner just indicated was by the adjustment +known in our political history as "the compromise measures of 1850." +These measures, although bitterly denounced in the South as well +as in the North, received the sanction in national convention of +both of the great parties that two years later presented candidates +for the Presidency. It is no doubt true that a majority of the +people, in both sections of the country, then believed that the +question that had been so fraught with peril to national unity from +the beginning was at length settled for all time. The rude +awakening came two years later, when the country was aroused, as it +had rarely been before, by impassioned debate in and out of Congress, +over the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. It was a period of +excitement such as we shall probably not see again. Slavery in +all its phases was the one topic of earnest discussion, both upon the +hustings and at the fireside. There was little talk now of +compromise. The old-time statesmen of the Clay and Webster, Winthrop +and Crittenden, school soon disappeared from the arena. Men hitherto +comparatively unknown to the country at large were soon to the +front. + +Conspicuous among them was a country lawyer whose home was at +Springfield, Illinois. With the mighty events soon to follow, his +name is imperishably linked. But it is not of Lincoln the President, +the emancipator, the martyr, we are now to speak. It is of Lincoln +the country lawyer, as he stepped upon the arena of high debate, +the unswerving antagonist of slavery extension half a century +and more ago. + +His home, during his entire professional life, was at the capital of +the State. He was, at the time mentioned, in general practice as a +lawyer and a regular attendant upon the neighboring courts. His +early opportunities for education were meagre indeed. He had been +a student of men, rather than of books. He was, in the most +expressive sense, "of the people,"--the people as they then were. +For, + + "Know thou this, that men are as the time is." + +His training was, in large measure, under the severe conditions to +be briefly mentioned. The old-time custom of "riding the circuit" +is to the present generation of lawyers only a tradition. The few +who remember central Illinois as it was sixty years ago will readily +recall the full meaning of the expression. The district in which Mr. +Lincoln practised extended from the counties of Livingston and +Woodford upon the north, almost to the Indiana line--embracing the +present cities of Danville, Springfield, and Bloomington. The last +named was the home of the Hon. David Davis, the presiding judge of +the district. As is well known, he was the intimate friend of Mr. +Lincoln, and the latter was often his guest during attendance upon +the courts at Bloomington. At that early day, the term of court +in few of the counties continued longer than a week, so that much of +the time of the judge and the lawyers who travelled the circuit +with him was spent upon horseback. When it is remembered that there +were then no railroads, but few bridges, a sparse population, +and that more than half the area embraced in that district was +unbroken prairie, the real significance of riding the circuit will +fully appear. It was of this period that the late Governor +Ford, speaking of Judge Young,--whose district extended from Quincy, +upon the Mississippi River to Chicago,--said: "He possesses in +rare degree one of the highest requisites for a good circuit judge, +--he is an excellent horseback rider." + +At the period mentioned there were few law-books in the State. +The monster libraries of later days had not yet arrived. The +half-dozen volumes of State Reports, together with the Statutes +and a few leading text-books, constituted the lawyer's library. +To an Illinois lawyer upon the circuit, a pair of saddle-bags was an +indispensable part of his outfit. With these, containing the +few books mentioned and a change or two of linen, and supplied with +the necessary horse, saddle and bridle, the lawyer of the pioneer days +was duly equipped for the active duties of his calling. The lack +of numerous volumes of adjudicated cases was, however, not an +unmixed evil. Causes were necessarily argued upon principle. How +well this conduced to the making of the real lawyer is well known. +The admonition, "Beware the man who reads but one book," is of deep +significance. The complaint to-day is not of scarcity, but that +"of the making of many books there is no end." Professor Phelps +is authority for the statement that "it is easy to find single +opinions in which more authorities are cited than were mentioned by +Marshall in the whole thirty years of his unexampled judicial life; +and briefs that contain more cases than Webster referred to in all +the arguments he ever delivered." + +The lawyers of the times whereof we write were, almost without +exception, politicians--in close touch with the people, easy of +approach, and obliging to the last degree. Generally speaking, +a lawyer's office was as open to the public as the Courthouse +itself. That his surroundings were favorable to the cultivation +of a high degree of sociability goes without saying. Story-telling +helped often on the circuit to while away the long evenings at +country taverns. At times, perchance, + + "the night drave on wi' sangs and clatter." + +Oratory counted for much more then than now. When an important +case was on trial all other pursuits were for the time suspended, and +the people for miles around were in prompt attendance. This was +especially the case when it was known that one or more of the +leading advocates were to speak. The litigation, too, was to a +large extent different from that of to-day. The country was +new, population sparse; the luxuries and many of the comforts of +life yet in the future; post-offices, schools, and churches many +miles away. In every cabin were to be found the powder-horn, +bullet-pouch, and rifle. The restraints and amenities of modern +society were in large measure unknown; and altogether much was to +be, and was, "pardoned to the spirit of liberty." There were no +great corporations to be chosen defendants, but much of the time +of the courts was taken up by suits in ejectment, actions for +assault and battery, breach of promise, and slander. One, not +infrequent, was replevin, involving the ownership of hogs, when by +unquestioned usage all stock was permitted to run at large. But +criminal trials of all grades, and in all their details, aroused +the deepest interest. To these the people came from all directions, +as if summoned to a general muster. This was especially true if +a murder case was upon trial. Excitement then ran high, and the +arguments of counsel, from beginning to close, were listened to +with breathless interest. It will readily be seen that such +occasions furnished rare opportunity to the gifted advocate. In +very truth the general acquaintance thus formed, and the popularity +achieved, have marked the beginning of more than one successful +and brilliant political career. Moreover, the thorough knowledge of +the people thus acquired by actual contact--the knowledge of their +condition, necessities, and wishes--resulted often in legislation of +enduring benefit to the new country. The Homestead law, the law +setting apart a moiety of the public domain for the maintenance of +free schools, and judicious provision for the establishment of the +various charities, will readily be recalled. + +Politics, in the modern sense--too often merely "for what there is +in it"--was unknown. As stepping-stones to local offices and even +to Congress, the caucus and convention were yet to come. Aspirants +to public place presented their claims directly to the people, and +the personal popularity of the candidate was an important factor +in achieving success. Bribery at elections was rarely heard of. +The saying of the great bard, + + "If money go before, + All ways do open lie," + +awaited its verification in a later and more civilized period. As +late even as 1858, when Lincoln and Douglas were rival aspirants +to the Senate, when every voter in the State was a partisan of one +or the other candidate, and the excitement was for many months +intense, there was never, from either side, an intimation of the +corrupt use of a farthing to influence the result. + +No period of our history has witnessed more intense devotion to +great party leaders than that of which we write. Of eminent +statesmen, whose names were still invoked, none had filled larger space +than did Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. The former was the +early political idol of Mr. Lincoln; the latter, of Mr. Douglas. +Possibly, since the foundation of the Government, no statesman has +been so completely idolized by his friends and party as was +Henry Clay. Words are meaningless when the attempt is made to +express the idolatry of the Whigs of his own State for their great +chieftain. For a lifetime he knew no rival. His wish was law +to his followers. In the realm of party leadership a greater than +he hath not appeared. At his last defeat for the Presidency strong +men wept bitter tears. When his star set, it was felt to be the +signal for the dissolution of the great party of which he was +the founder. In words worthy to be recalled, "when the tidings +came like wailing over the State that Harry Percy's spur was cold, +the chivalrous felt somehow the world had grown commonplace." + +The following incident, along the line indicated, may be considered +characteristic. While Mr. Clay was a Senator, a resolution, in +accordance with a sometime custom, was introduced into the Kentucky +House of Representatives instructing the Senators from that State to +vote in favor of a certain bill then pending in Congress. The +resolution was in the act of passing without opposition, when a +hitherto silent member from one of the mountain counties, springing +to his feet, exclaimed: "Mr. Speaker, am I to understand that this +Legislature is undertaking _to tell_ Henry Clay how to vote?" The +Speaker answered that such was the purport of the resolution. +At which the member from the mountains, throwing up his arms, +exclaimed "Great God!" and sank into his seat. It is needless +to add that the resolution was immediately rejected by unanimous +vote. + +Two-thirds of a century ago the Hon. John P. Kennedy wrote of +the lawyers of his day: + +"The feelings, habits, and associations of the bar in general, have +a very happy influence upon the character. And, take it altogether, +there may be collected from it a greater mass of shrewd, observant, +droll, playful, and generous spirits, than from any other equal +numbers of society. They live in each other's presence like a set +of players; congregate in courts like the former in the green room; +and break their unpremeditated jests, in the intervals of business, +with that sort of undress freedom that contrasts amusingly with +the solemn and even tragic seriousness with which they appear in +turn upon the boards. They have one face for the public, rife with +the saws and learned gravity of the profession, and another for +themselves, replete with broad mirth, sprightly wit, and gay +thoughtlessness. The intense mental toil and fatigue of +business give them a peculiar relish for the enjoyment of their +hours of relaxation, and, in the same degree, incapacitate them +for that frugal attention to their private concerns which their +limited means usually require. They have, in consequence, a +prevailing air of unthriftiness in personal matters, which, however +it may operate to the prejudice of the pocket of the individual, has +a mellow and kindly effect upon his disposition. In an old member +of the profession, one who has grown gray in the service, there is +a rich unction of originality that brings him out from the ranks +of his fellowmen in strong relief. His habitual conversancy with the +world in its strangest varieties and with the secret history of +character, gives him a shrewd estimate of the human heart. He +is quiet, and unapt to be struck with wonder at any of the actions +of men. There is a deep current of observation running calmly +through his thoughts, and seldom gushing out in words; the confidence +which has been placed in him, in the thousand relations of his +profession, renders him constitutionally cautious. His acquaintance +with the vicissitudes of fortune, as they have been exemplified in +the lives of individuals, and with the severe afflictions that have +'tried the reins' of many, known only to himself, makes him an +indulgent and charitable apologist of the aberrations of others. +He has an impregnable good humor that never falls below the level of +thoughtfulness into melancholy." + +A distinguished writer, two generations ago, said of the early +Western bar: + +"Not only was it a body distinguished for dignity and tolerance, +but chivalrous courage was a marked characteristic. Personal +cowardice was odious among the bar, as among the hunters who had +fought the British and the Indians. Hence, insulting language, +and the use of billingsgate, were too hazardous to be indulged +where a personal accounting was a strong possibility. Not only +did common prudence dictate courtesy among the members of the bar, +but an exalted spirit of honor and well-bred politeness prevailed. +The word of a counsel to his adversary was his inviolable bond. +The suggestion of a lawyer as to the existence of a fact was accepted +as verity by the court. To insinuate unprofessional conduct was +to impute infamy." + +I distinctly recall the first time I saw Mr. Lincoln. In September, +1852, two lawyers from Springfield, somewhat travel-stained with +their sixty miles' journey, alighted from the stage-coach in front +of the old tavern in Bloomington. The taller and younger of the +two was Abraham Lincoln; the other, his personal friend and former +preceptor, John T. Stuart. That evening it was my good fortune to +hear Mr. Lincoln address a political meeting at the old Courthouse +in advocacy of the election of General Winfield Scott to the +Presidency. The speech was one of great ability, and but little +that was favorable of the military record of General Pierce remained +when the speech was concluded. The Mexican War was then of recent +occurrence, its startling events fresh in the memory of all, and +its heroes still the heroes of the hour. The more than half-century +that has passed has not wholly dispelled my recollection of Mr. +Lincoln's eloquent tribute to "the hero of Lundy's Lane," and his +humorous description of the military career of General Franklin Pierce. + +The incident now to be related occurred at the old National Hotel in +Bloomington in September, 1854. Senator Douglas had been advertised +to speak, and a large audience was in attendance. It was his first +appearance there since the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. +The writer, then a student at the Wesleyan University, with his +classmate James S. Ewing and many others, had called upon Mr. +Douglas at his hotel. While there the Hon. Jesse W. Fell, a +prominent citizen of Bloomington and the close friend of Mr. +Lincoln, also called upon Mr. Douglas, and after some conversation +with him said in substance, that inasmuch as there was profound +interest felt in the great question then pending, and the people +were anxious to hear both sides, he thought it would be well to +have a joint discussion between Judge Douglas and Mr. Lincoln. To +which proposition Mr. Douglas at once demanded, "What party does +Mr. Lincoln represent?" The answer of Mr. Fell was, "the Whig +party, of course." Declining the proposition with much feeling Mr. +Douglas said, "When I came home from Washington I was assailed +in the northern part of the State by an old line abolitionist, +in the central part of the State by a Whig, and in Southern Illinois +by an anti-Nebraska Democrat. I cannot hold the Whig responsible for +what the abolitionist says, nor the anti-Nebraska Democrat responsible +for what either of the others say, and it looks like dogging a man +all over the State." There was no further allusion to the subject, +and Mr. Lincoln soon after called. The greeting between Judge +Douglas and himself was most cordial, and their conversation, +principally of incidents of their early lives, of the most agreeable +and friendly character. Judge Lawrence Weldon, just then at the +beginning of an honorable career, was present at the above interview, +and has in a sketch of Mr. Lincoln given its incidents more in +detail. + +Courts of justice, and the law as a distinctive calling, are the +necessary outgrowths of civilization. In his rude state, man +avenged his wrongs with his own strong arm, and the dogma, "Might makes +right," passed unchallenged. But as communities assumed organic +form, tribunals were instituted for the administration of justice and +the maintenance of public order. The progress of society, from +a condition of semi-barbarism and ignorance to a state of the +highest culture and refinement, may be traced by its advancement +in the modes of administering justice, and in the character and +learning of its tribunals. The advance steps taken from time to +time in the history of jurisprudence are the milestones which stand +out on the highway of civilization. All along the pathway of human +progress, the courts of justice have been the sure criteria by +which to judge of the intelligence and virtue of our race. + +Truly it has been said: "With the coming of the lawyer came a new +power in the world. The steel-clad baron and his retainers were +awed by terms they had never before heard and did not understand, such +as precedent, principle, and the like. The great and real pacifier +of the world was the lawyer. His parchment took the place of +the battle-field. The flow of his ink checked the flow of blood. +His quill usurped the place of the sword. His legalism dethroned +barbarism. His victories were victories of peace. He impressed +on individuals and on communities that which he is now endeavoring +to impress on nations, that there are many controversies that it +were better to lose by arbitration than to win by war and +bloodshed." + +It is all-important, never more so than now, that the people should +magnify the law. Whatever lessens respect for its authority bodes +evil and only evil to the State. No occasion could arise more +appropriate than this in which to utter solemn words of warning +against an evil of greater menace to the public weal than aught to +be apprehended from foreign foe. In many localities a spirit of +lawlessness has asserted itself in its most hideous form. The rule +of the mob has at times usurped that of the law. Outrages have +been perpetrated in the name of summary justice, appalling to +all thoughtful men. It need hardly be said that all this is in +total disregard of individual rights, and utterly subversive of +all lawful authority. + +By the solemn adjudication of courts, and under the safeguards +of law, the fact of guilt is to be established, and the guilty +punished. The spirit of the mob is in deadly antagonism to all +constituted authority. Unless curbed it will sap the foundation +of civilized society. Lynching a human creature is no less murder +when the act of a mob than when that of a single individual. There +is no safety to society but in an aroused public sentiment that +will hold each participant amenable to the law for the consequences +of the crime he either perpetrates or abets. This is the land +of liberty, "of the largest liberty," but let it never be forgotten +that it is liberty regulated by law. Let him be accounted a public +enemy who would weaken the bonds of human society, and destroy what +it has cost our race the sacrifice and toil of centuries to achieve. + +The sure rock of defence in the outstretched years as in the +long past, will be the intelligence, the patriotism, the virtue of +a law-abiding, liberty-loving people. To a degree that cannot +be measured by words, the temple of justice will prove the city of +refuge. "The judiciary has no guards, no palaces, no treasuries; no +arms but truth and wisdom; and no splendor but justice." + + + +II +IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES + +NOTABLE MEMBERS OF THE FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS--TRIAL OF GENERAL +BELKNAP--THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST BETWEEN HAYES AND TILDEN--CREATION +OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION--THE WRITER'S SPEECH ON THAT OCCASION-- +PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE DURING THIS CONGRESS--ANECDOTES +OF MR. BLAINE--OTHER MEMBERS--ANECDOTES OF MR. HOAR--ELECTION OF +THE "BLIND PREACHER"--MR. LAMAR'S ERROR AT TABLE--"BLUE JEANS +WILLIAMS"--RETIREMENT OF DR. BUTLER FROM THE CHAPLAINCY--MR. +BLACKBURN'S SPEECH AT AN EXECUTION--MR. COX'S READY WIT--PROCTOR +KNOTT'S ABILITY AS A LAWYER--HIS SPEECH ON DULUTH--HIS REPLY TO +HIS COMPETITOR FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP. + +The forty-fourth Congress--the first of which I was a member-- +assembled December 6, 1875. Among its members were many gentlemen +of distinction, some of whom had known active service in the field. +Political disabilities had been in large measure removed, and +the South was now, for the first time since the war, represented in +Congress by its old-time statesmen. Of this number may be mentioned +Mr. Stephens of Georgia, Mr. Lamar of Mississippi, and Mr. Reagan of +Texas. From the membership of this House were afterwards chosen +twenty-six Senators, ten members of the Cabinet, one Justice of +the Supreme Court, and from this and the House immediately succeeding, +three Vice-Presidents and two Presidents of the United States. The +proceedings of this Congress marked an important epoch in our +history. During its first session occurred the masterful debate +upon the General Amnesty Bill. The very depths of partisan feeling +were stirred, and for many days it was indeed a titanic struggle. +The speeches attracting the greatest attention were those of Blaine +and Garfield upon the one side, and Hill of Georgia and Lamar upon +the other. This great debate recalled vividly that of Webster and +Hayne, in the other wing of the Capitol, almost half a century before. + +This session also witnessed the impeachment of a Cabinet officer, General +Belknap, Secretary of War. The trial occurred before the +Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment during the closing weeks +of the session, and resulted in his acquittal, less than two-thirds +of the Senators voting for conviction. General Belknap was +represented by an able array of counsel, chief of whom were +Judge Black of Pennsylvania and the Hon. Matthew H. Carpenter +of Wisconsin. Mr. Knott of Kentucky, Mr. Hoar of Massachusetts, +and Mr. Lord of New York, conducted the prosecution in the main as +managers on the part of the House of Representatives. The principal +contention on the part of the counsel for the accused was that there +could be no conviction, inasmuch as Belknap had resigned his office +before the article of impeachment had been preferred. This view +seems to have been decisive of the final vote of many Senators, +and the accused stood acquitted at the bar of the Senate. + +When the second session of this Congress convened, in December, +1876, the excitement throughout the country was intense over the +pending Presidential contest between Hayes and Tilden. As will be +remembered, the electoral vote of two States, Louisiana and Florida, +was claimed by each of the candidates. These votes were decisive of +the result. As the days passed and the time approached for the +joint session of the Senate and the House, for the purpose of +counting the electoral votes and declaring the result, the tension +became greater, and partisan feeling more intense. The friends of +Hayes were in the majority in the Senate; those of Tilden, in +the House. With conflicting certificates, both purporting to give +the correct vote from each of the States named, and no lawful +authority existing to determine as to their validity, it can readily +be seen that the situation was one to arouse the grave apprehension +of all thoughtful men. The condition was without a precedent in +our history. Twice had there been a failure to elect a President by +the people, and by constitutional provision the election in each +instance devolved upon the House. In the first-mentioned case, in +1801, Mr. Jefferson was chosen; and in the latter, in 1825, Mr. +John Quincy Adams. In neither of the cases just mentioned had +there been a question as to _how_ any State had voted. It was +simply that no person had received a majority of all of the electoral +votes cast. The method of settlement was clearly pointed out by +the Constitution. As already indicated, the case was wholly +different in the Hayes-Tilden controversy. The question then was as +to _how_ certain States had voted. It was for the purpose of +ascertaining this fact and certifying the same to the joint session +of the Senate and House, that the Electoral Commission was constituted. +The bill having this end in view originated in the House in January, +1877; the Commission was constituted, and the controverted questions +were soon thereafter determined. + +The Electoral Commission was an imperative necessity. As such +it was created,--consisting of five members each from the Senate, the +House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. Its decisions +were adverse to Mr. Tilden from the beginning, and resulted in the +finding that all disputed votes should be counted for his opponent. +This, it will be remembered, gave Hayes a majority of one on the +final count, and resulted in his induction into office. Partisan feeling +was at its height, and the question of the justice of the decision +of the Electoral Commission was vehemently discussed. + +To the end that there might be a peaceful determination of the +perilous question, that of disputed succession to the Presidency, I +was an earnest advocate of the bill creating the Commission. Upon +the question of concurrence by the House of Representatives in the +final determination of the Commission, bitter opposition was +manifested upon the part of friends of Mr. Tilden, and a heated +partisan debate resulted, and during this debate I spoke as follows: + +"When this Congress assembled in December, it witnessed the American +people from one end of the country to the other divided upon the +question as to which candidate had been lawfully elected to the +high office of President of the United States. The business +industries of the country were paralyzed, public confidence destroyed, +and the danger of civil war was imminent. That Mr. Tilden had +received a majority of more than two hundred thousand of the popular +vote was not disputed. That he had secured a majority of the +Presidential electors in the several States, and was lawfully +entitled to be inducted into the great office, was the firm belief +of fully one-half of the people of this country. The hour was one +of great peril to our institutions, and many were apprehensive that +we were but entering into the dark night of anarchy and confusion. +After many weeks of angry discussion, which resulted in still +further arousing the passions of the people, a measure of adjustment +was proposed. It was believed that there was still patriotism +enough left in the American Congress to secure an honorable and fair +settlement of this most dangerous question. We all recall how our +hopes revived, and how gladly we hailed the introduction of the +bill recommended by a joint committee of conference of the Senate and +House of Representatives. It was welcomed as the harbinger of +peace by the entire people of our country. + +"I gave that bill my earnest support. It had in the House no friend +more ardent in its advocacy than myself. I believed it to be a +measure in the interest of peace. I believed that those who framed +it, as well as those who gave it their support upon the floor, were +honest in their statements, that no man could afford to take the +Presidency with a clouded title, and that the object of the bill was +to ascertain which of the candidates was lawfully entitled to +the electoral votes of Florida and Louisiana. I never mistrusted for +a moment that statesmen of high repute could in so perilous an +hour, upon so grave a question, palter with words in a double sense. + +"We who are the actors in this drama know, and history will record +the fact, that the Conference Bill became a law, and the Electoral +Commission was organized, not for the purpose of ascertaining which +candidate had _prima facie_ a majority of the electoral votes; not +for the purpose of ascertaining that the Governor of Florida, +and the _de facto_ Governor of Louisiana, had given certificates +to the Hayes electors. It was never dreamed that a tribunal, +consisting in part of five judges of the highest court on earth, +was to be constituted, whose sole duty was to report a fact known to +every man in the land, that the returning-board of Louisiana had +given the votes of that State to the Hayes electors. The avowed +object of that bill was to ascertain which candidate had received a +majority of the legal votes of those States. The avowed object of +the bill was the secure the ends of justice; to see that the will of +the people was executed; that the Republic suffered no harm; to +see that the title to this great office was not tainted with fraud. +How well the members of this tribunal have discharged the sacred +trust committed to them, let them answer to history. + +"The record will stand that this tribunal shut its eyes to the +light of truth; refused to hear the undisputed proof that a majority +of seven thousand legal votes in the State of Louisiana for Tilden +was by a fraudulent returning-board changed to eight thousand +majority for Hayes. The Republican Representative from Florida, +Mr. Purman, has solemnly declared upon this floor that Florida had +given its vote to Tilden. I am not surprised that two distinguished +Republican Representatives from Massachusetts, Mr. Seelye and Mr. +Pierce, have in such thrilling tones expressed their dissent from the +judgment of this tribunal. By this decision fraud has become one of +the legalized modes of securing the vote of a State. Can it be +possible that the American people are prepared to accept the doctrine +that fraud, which vitiates all contracts and agreements, which +taints the judgments and decrees of courts, which will even annul the +solemn covenant of marriage--fraud, which poisons wherever it enters +--can be inquired into in all the relations of human life save only +where a returning-board is its instrument, and the dearest rights of +a sovereign people are at stake? + +"But we are told that we created this tribunal and must abide by +its arbitrament. I propose to do so in good faith. I have, from the +beginning, opposed every movement that looked only to delay. I +have voted against all dilatory motions. But the decision of this +tribunal is too startling and too far-reaching in its consequences +to pass unchallenged. That the returning-board of Louisiana +will find no imitators in our future history is more than I dare +hope. The pernicious doctrine that fraud and perjury are to be +recognized auxiliaries in popular elections is one that may return +to plague its inventors. The worst effect of this decision will +be its lesson to the young men of our country. Hereafter old-fashioned +honesty is at a discount, and villainy and fraud the legalized +instruments of success. The fact may be conceded, the proof +overwhelming, that the honest voice of a State has been overthrown +by outrage and fraud, and yet the chosen tribunal of the people +has entered of solemn record that there is no remedy. + + 'O Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts!' + +"My criticism of the decision of this tribunal rests upon its +finding in the cases of Louisiana and Florida; upon the Oregon case +I have no criticism to offer. It is true that but two votes of +that State could have been given to Hayes had the decision first +adopted by the Commission been followed in the case of Oregon. +However inconsistent it may be with other rulings of the Commission, +standing alone it is in the main correct. The sanctity of seal of +State and certificate of Governor applied only to Louisiana and +Florida; the Governor of Oregon was not of the household of the +faithful. + +"The people of Oregon cast a majority of their votes for Hayes, +and no vote or act of mine shall stand in the way of its being +so recorded. Such have been my convictions from the beginning, +and the great wrong done in Louisiana and Florida cannot warp my +convictions at this hour. + +"We have now reached the final act in this great drama, and the +record here made will pass into history. Time, the great healer, will +bring a balm to those who feel sick at heart because of this grievous +wrong. But who can estimate, what seer can foretell, the evils +that may result to us and our children from this judgment? Fortunate, +indeed, will it be for this country if our people lose not faith +in popular institutions; fortunate, indeed, if they abate not their +confidence in the integrity of that high tribunal, for a century the +bulwark of our liberties. In all times of popular commotion and +peril, the Supreme Court of the United States has been looked to +as the final arbiter, its decrees heeded as the voice of God. How +disastrous may be the result of decisions so manifestly partisan, I +will not attempt to forecast. + +"Let this vote be now taken and the curtain fall upon these scenes +forever. To those who believe, as I do, that a grievous wrong has +been suffered, let me entreat that this arbitrament be abided in +good faith, that no hindrance or delay be interposed to the execution +of the law, but that by faithful adherence to its mandates, by +honest efforts to revive the prostrate industries of the country, by +obedience to the constituted authorities, we will show ourselves +patriots rather than partisans in the hour of our country's +misfortune." + +Some mention will now be made of prominent members of the House +during this Congress. The Hon. Michael C. Kerr of Indiana was +elected Speaker of the House. The vote of the Republican minority +was given to the Hon. James G. Blaine, who had been Speaker during +the three Congresses immediately preceding. Mr. Kerr was a gentleman +of high character and recognized ability. He had been for many +years a member of the House, and was familiar with the details +of its business. He was in failing health at the time of his +election, and died before the close of the first session of that +Congress. He was physically unable to preside during the greater part +of the session, and was frequently relieved from the onerous duties +of the Chair by two new members who were yet to achieve distinction +in that body, Mr. Blackburn of Kentucky and Mr. Springer of +Illinois. + +Mr. Blaine, the leader of the minority, had been for twelve years a +member of the House, having been first elected at the age of +thirty-three. He was a brilliant debater, well versed in parliamentary +law, and at all points fully equipped for the conflict. With the +exception of Henry Clay, the House of Representatives has probably +never known his equal as a party leader. That he possessed a touch +of humor will appear from the following. While the discussion was +at its height upon his amendment excluding Jefferson Davis +from the benefit of the General Amnesty Bill, Mr. Blaine, +looking across to the opposite side of the Chamber, said: +"I confess to a feeling of commiseration for some gentlemen +upon the other side, who represent close districts. Surrounded by +their Southern associates here, and with intense Union constituencies +at home, their apprehension, as they are called to vote upon +this amendment, is indeed deplorable. It remind me of a Hibernian +procession I once saw moving down Broadway, where the serious +question was how to keep step to the music, and at the same time +to dodge the omnibuses!" + +My seat was just across the aisle from that of Mr. Blaine. When +introduced, I handed him letters of introduction from two of his +college classmates, the Hon. Robert E. Williams and the Rev. John Y. +Calhoun. After reading the letters and speaking most kindly of +his old Washington College classmates, he brusquely inquired, "What +are John Y. Calhoun's politics?" + +I answered, "He is a Democrat." + +Blaine instantly replied, "Well, how strangely things do come around +in this world! When we were in college together, Calhoun was +the strongest kind of Presbyterian." + +I intimated that his sometime classmate was still of that eminently +respectable persuasion. The reply was, in manner indicating apparent +surprise, "Is it possible that out in your country a man can be +a Presbyterian and a Democrat at the same time?" + +I was a member of the Board of Visitors to West Point in June, +1877. Mr. Blaine and Bishop Quintard of Tennessee were also members. +General Hancock was with our Board for some days at the little West +Point Inn, and delivered the address to the graduating class of +cadets. He was then in excellent health, and as superb in appearance +as he had been courageous in battle. I have never heard more +brilliant conversation than that at our table, in which the chief +participants were Gail Hamilton, Bishop Quintard, General Hancock, +Senator Maxey, and Mr. Blaine. The last named, "upon the plain +highway of talk," was unrivalled. + +While the Board was in session, Mr. Blaine and I spent some hours with +the Hon. Hamilton Fish, late Secretary of State, at his country +home near West Point. Near by was still standing the historic +Beverly Robinson House, the home of Benedict Arnold when he was in +command of the Colonial forces at West Point. As we passed through +the quaint old mansion, Mr. Blaine, whose knowledge of our +Revolutionary history was all-embracing, described graphically the +conditions existing at the time of Arnold's treason, and just where +each person sat at the breakfast table in the old dining-room in +which we were then standing, on the fateful morning when the courier +from the British camp hurriedly announced to General Arnold the +capture of Major Andre. + +Mr. Blaine and I were once passing along Pennsylvania Avenue, a +third of a century ago, when he remarked that the old building just +to our right had once been a high-toned gambling house; that there +were traditions to the effect that some well-known statesmen were not +wholly unadvised as to its exact location and uses. He then told me +that during his first term in Congress he was early one morning +passing this building on his way to the Capitol. Just as he reached +the spot where we were then standing, the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens +came down the steps of the building mentioned, and, immediately +after his cordial greeting to Mr. Blaine, was accosted by a +negro preacher, who earnestly requested a contribution toward +the building of a church for his people. Promptly taking a roll +from his vest pocket, Mr. Stevens handed the negro a fifty-dollar bill, +and turning to Blaine solemnly observed, + + "God moves in a mysterious way + His wonders to perform!" + +At the time first mentioned, Mr. Blaine was in excellent health, +buoyant in spirits, aggressive to the last degree, and full of hope +as to the future. The disappointments and bereavements that saddened +the closing years of his life had as yet cast no shadow upon his +pathway. + +Next in leadership to Mr. Blaine, upon the Republican side, was +the Hon. James A. Garfield. He possessed few of the qualities +of brilliant leadership so eminently characteristic of Blaine, but +was withal one of the ablest men I have ever known. Gifted with +rare powers of oratory, with an apparently inexhaustible reservoir +of information at his command, he knew no superior in debate. +At one period of his life he was the recipient of public honors +without a parallel in our history. While yet a Representative in +Congress, he was a Senator-elect from Ohio, and the President-elect +of the United States. For once, it indeed seemed that "fortune +had come with both hands full." In the words of the Persian poet, +"he had obtained an ear of corn from every harvest." And yet, a +few months later, in the words of his great eulogist, "the stately +mansion of power had become to him the wearisome hospital of pain, +and he begged to be taken from its prison walls, from its oppressive, +stifling air, from its homelessness and its hopelessness." + +My personal acquaintance with Mr. Garfield began early in January, +1876, when we were members of the House Committee appointed by the +Speaker to convey the remains of a deceased member to his late +home, Norwich, Connecticut, for burial. Another member of the +Committee was Representative Wheeler of New York. It was late +Saturday afternoon when we were conveyed by carriages from the +crossing at Jersey City to the depot where the Norwich train was +in waiting. Our route lay for some distance along Broadway, through +the very heart of the great metropolis. As we passed the hurrying +throngs that crowded the great thoroughfare that sombre winter +evening, Mr. Garfield remarked that it was a scene similar to +the one we were then witnessing that suggested to Mr. Bryant one +of the most stirring of his shorter poems. + +At our request and in tones that linger even yet in my memory, +he then repeated these lines: + + "Let me move slowly through the street + Filled with an ever shifting train, + Amid the sound of steps that beat + The murmuring walks like autumn rain. + + How fast the flitting figures come, + The mild, the fierce, the stony face; + Some bright with thoughtless smiles, and some + Where secret tears have left their trace! + + They pass to toil, to strife, to rest, + To halls in which the feast is spread, + To chambers where the funeral guest + In silence sits beside the dead. + + Each where his tasks or pleasures call + They pass, and heed each other not. + There is Who heeds, Who holds them all + In His large love, and boundless thought. + + These struggling tides of life that seem + In wayward, aimless course to tend, + Are eddies of the mighty stream + That rolls to its appointed end." + +Norwich, the home of the deceased member, Mr. Starkweather, and +where he was laid to rest, is a beautiful city and one of much +historic interest. It was here that Benedict Arnold was born, and +the ruins of his early home were still to be seen. Of greater +interest was a monument standing in an old Indian burying-ground +near the centre of the city,--"Erected to the Memory of Uncas." +It was within the memory of the oldest inhabitant that the President +of the United States and his Cabinet were in attendance at the +dedication of this monument, and deeply interested in the impressive +ceremonies in honor of "the last of the Mohicans." + +An exceedingly courteous gentleman upon the same side of the chamber +was the Hon. Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts. He had been a +Major-general during the late war and was an ex-Governor of his +State. He first achieved national distinction in the thirty-fourth +Congress, when after a protracted and exciting struggle, he was elected +Speaker of the House of Representatives. In the body over which he had so +ably presided in ante-bellum days, he had again taken his seat. +While by no means taking the highest rank as a debater, he was +familiar with the complicated rules governing the House, and his +opinion challenged the highest respect. He and Mr. Blaine were +the only members of that House who had previously held the position +of Speaker. + +Near General Banks sat the Hon. William D. Kelley of Pennsylvania. +He had known many years of legislative service, and was long +"the father of the House." One of the features of its successive +organization, as many old members will recall, was the administration +of the official oath to the Speaker-elect by the member who had known +the longest continuous service--"the gentleman from Pennsylvania." +When in the fulness of times he passed to "the house not made with +hands," his mantle fell upon Judge Holman of Indiana. + +The House probably contained no member of rarer attainments in +scholarship than Julius H. Seelye of Massachusetts. He stood in +the front ranks of the great educators of his day, and was President +of Amherst College during the latter years of his life. His +political service was limited to one term in Congress. His speech +near its beginning upon the General Amnesty Bill challenged the +profound attention of the House, and at once gave him honored place +in its membership. + +The Congressional career of the Hon. George W. McCrary, of Iowa, +terminated with this Congress. He was recognized as one of the +ablest lawyers of the House, and was one of its most agreeable and +courteous members. During the presidency of Hayes he held the +position of Secretary of War, and was later a Judge of the +United States Circuit Court. + +The Hon. Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, the present Speaker, was +just at the beginning of his long Congressional career. For +many years he has been an active leader of the House and a prominent +participant in its important debates. His characteristic patience +and long-suffering courtesy have no doubt at times been sorely +tried by attempts to enlarge the sum total of appropriation +bills reported by the Committee of which he was chairman. To +the important post of "watch-dog of the Treasury," he was, _nem. +con.,_ the successor to the lamented Holman. In this connection +a suggestive incident is recalled. One of the guides of the Capitol, +when some years ago showing a visitor through the Vice-President's +chamber, called attention to a little old-fashioned mirror upon +its walls. The guide explained that this mirror was purchased at a +cost of thirty dollars when John Adams was Vice-President, but when +the bill for its payment was before the House, Mr. Holman objected. +A Western member, who had just been defeated upon a proposed +amendment to an appropriation bill, by reason of a fatal point +of order raised by the chairman, promptly exclaimed, "I move to +strike out Holman and insert Cannon." + +The sagacity and untiring industry of Mr. Cannon have elevated him +to the Speakership, and possibly yet higher honors await him. +It is a significant fact in this connection, however, that +notwithstanding the brilliant array of ambitious statesmen who have +held the Speakership for more than a century, only one, Mr. Polk, has +ever reached the Presidency. + +The forty-fourth Congress was the last of which the Hon. William A. +Wheeler of New York was a member. He was elected Vice-president +in 1876, and the duties of that office have rarely been discharged +by an abler or more courteous officer. He was highly esteemed +by his associates during his long service in the House. His +principle in action seemed ever to be, "there is nothing so kingly +as kindness." + +Messrs. Hale and Frye of Maine, Aldrich of Rhode Island, Money +of Mississippi, Taylor of Tennessee, and Elkins of West Virginia, were +members of this House; all of whom are now Senators of marked +ability, and well known to the entire country. + +A member of this House, who at a later date, and in the other wing +of the Capitol, achieved yet greater distinction, was the Hon. +George F. Hoar of Massachusetts. At the close of this Congress he +was transferred to the Senate, where for more than a quarter of +a century he was a prominent leader. His ability and attainments were +of the highest, and he was the worthy successor of Webster in +the great body of which he was so long an honored member. + +In addition to more solid qualities, Mr. Hoar was gifted with a +keen sense of humor, as will appear from one or two incidents to +be mentioned. In the House, Mr. Springer, in order to prevent the +reconsideration of resolutions and debate thereupon under the rules, +had frequently cut off the possibility of such debate by the timely +interposition of the words, "Not to be brought back on a motion to +reconsider." Now, it so fell out that upon a certain day Mr. +Springer received a telegram calling him home just as the roll-call +was ordered upon an important bill. Earnestly desiring to vote-- +which owing to the early departure of his train was impossible +if he waited until his name was regularly reached upon the roll +--he moved to the front of the Speaker, and after brief explanation, +asked unanimous consent to vote at once. Permission was of course +granted, his name at once called, and his vote given. Grateful +for the courtesy, he bowed repeatedly to each side of the Chamber, +and, hurrying up the aisle, was about to take his exit, when Mr. +Hoar, pointing his finger at the retreating figure, solemnly +exclaimed, "Not to be _brought back_ upon a motion to reconsider!" + +At a much later day the Senate was "advising and consenting" over the +appointment of a distinguished gentleman whose name had just +been sent in for confirmation as Ambassador to an important European +Court. The gentleman in question had voted for the then incumbent +of the great office, but his former political affiliations had been +wholly with the opposing party. The nomination was about being +confirmed without objection when Mr. Hoar, arising with apparent +reluctance, said: + +"As this is in some measure a family affair, Mr. President, I +hesitate to interfere. If our friends upon the opposite side of +the Chamber are satisfied with this appointment, I certainly shall +interpose no objection. The gentleman named is well qualified, +and has more than once held high place at the hands of the party +which he has but recently deserted, and to which he will no +doubt return in due time. We have, however, in New England an +old-time custom, as sacred as if part of the written law, that if a +man is so unfortunate as to lose his companion he will not marry +again within one year. Now sir, I have always thought this rule, as +to time, might well be applied to the matter of office-seeking. +Where a man has been repeatedly honored by his party as this +appointee has been, but where, prompted by motives purely unselfish +no doubt, he has gone over to the camp of the enemy, I think a due +sense of modestly should impel him _to serve in the ranks at least +one year_ before being an applicant for high office at the hands +of his newly found friends." + +Coming over to the Democratic side of the Chamber, well to its +front sat the Hon. William R. Morrison of Illinois. By virtue +of his position as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means +he was the traditional leader of the House. Possessing little +of the brilliancy of the leader of the minority, Colonel Morrison was +none the less one of the ablest and most useful members of that +body. He had for many sessions been a member of the House, and +had been a soldier in the Mexican and in the Civil War. His record +was honorable, both as soldier and legislator. He was the author of +the Tariff Bill which was fully debated during the first session +of that Congress, and was in some measure a determining factor +in the Presidential campaign that soon followed. At a later +day, Colonel Morrison was a prominent candidate for nomination +as President by the national convention of his party. His personal +friendships and antagonisms were well known. It is related of him +that during a serious illness, apprehending that the dread messenger +was in near waiting, arousing himself to what appeared to be a last +effort, he said in scarcely audible tones to a sorrowing colleague +at his bedside: "I suppose when this is all over they will have +something to say about me, as is the custom, in the House. Well, if +Springer, and Cox, and Knott, and Stevenson want to talk, let them +go ahead, but if old Spears tries to speak _just cough him down."_ + +Never in any political gathering has there been a more effective +speech, of a single sentence, than that in which Colonel +Morrison presented to the Democratic caucus of the House members +the name of the "Blind Preacher" for Chaplain. Three or four +candidates were already in nomination when Morrison arose and said: +"Mr. Chairman, I present for the office of Chaplain of the House +the name of Doctor Milburn, a man who loves God, pays his debts, and +votes the Democratic ticket!" Before the applause that followed +had entirely died away the names of his competitors were withdrawn, +and the "Blind Preacher" was nominated by acclamation. + +The Hon. William M. Springer, of the same State, had just entered upon +his twenty years of continuous service in the House. He came +promptly to the front as a ready debater and skilful parliamentarian. +He was thoroughly educated, ambitious, and withal an excellent +speaker, and was the possessor in full measure of the _suaviter in +modo._ His personal popularity was great, and a more obliging, +agreeable, and pleasing associate it would have been difficult to +find. He was optimistic to the last degree. To him every cloud +had a silver lining,--the lining generally concealing the cloud. +It was said of him by one of his colleagues that when the election +returns were coming in, showing overwhelming defeat to his party,-- +even before they were fully summed up,--Mr. Springer with +beaming countenance would promptly demonstrate by figures of his +own how we were sure to be victorious four years later. + +The Hon. Carter H. Harrison was a prominent member of the Illinois +delegation. He soon took high rank as an orator, and never failed +to command the attention of the House. Few speeches delivered +during that session of Congress were so generally published, or +more extensively quoted than were those of Mr. Harrison. At the +end of four years' service in Congress he was elected Mayor of +Chicago, an office he filled most acceptably for many years. +His tragic death, upon the concluding day of the great Exposition, +was universally deplored throughout the entire country. + +The Hon. John H. Reagan, of Texas, was a Representative in Congress +before the war. At its beginning he resigned his seat in the House, +and cast in his fortunes with the South. He was early selected +a member of the Davis Cabinet, and continued to discharge the duties +of Postmaster-General until the fall of the Confederacy. He was +a citizen of Texas while it was yet a Republic, and took an active +part in securing its admission to the Federal Union. Judge Reagan +was a gentleman of recognized ability, and of exceedingly courteous +and dignified bearing. + +An old-time statesman, on the same side of the Chamber, was the +Hon. Fernando Wood of New York. A generation had passed since +he first entered Congress. He was a Representative in the old hall +of the Capitol while Webster, Calhoun, and Clay were in their prime. +Erect, stately, faultless in his attire, and of bearing almost +chivalric, Mr. Wood was long one of the active and picturesque +personages of the House. At the time whereof we write, his sands were +almost run, but, courageous to the last, he was in his accustomed seat +but a little time before the final summons came, and he died, as +was his wish, with the harness on. All in all, we shall hardly +see his like again. + +Surrounded by his colleagues near the centre of the hall sat one +of the most remarkable men of his day, philosopher, jurist, statesman, +orator, Lucius Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi. In his early manhood +he was a member of the House, and even then was recognized as one of +the most brilliant of the many brilliant men his section had sent to +the national councils. During the war his services in field and +council were given to the South, and something less than a decade +after the return of peace, Mr. Lamar, still in his prime, again +took his seat in the hall where his first laurels had been won. +His great speech--one that touched all hearts--was not long delayed; +the occasion was the day set apart in the House for tributes to +the memory of the lamented Sumner. Many eulogies were delivered; that +of Lamar still lingers in the memory of all who heard it. "The +theme was worthy the orator; the orator, the theme." As a splendid +tribute to a great tribune, as a plea for peace,--abiding, eternal, +between all sections of a restored union,--it stands unsurpassed +among the great masterpieces of ancient or modern eloquence. + +Later, Mr. Lamar was a prominent participant in one of the fiercest +debates the Senate has ever known. A leading Senator upon the +opposite side of the chamber, in advocating the passage of the +"Force bill," reflected bitterly upon Mississippi and her Senators. +In replying to the personal portion of the speech, Lamar said, "the +Senator has uttered upon this floor a falsehood--knowing it to +be such. The language I have used, Mr. President, is severe. +It was so intended. It is language, sir, that no honest man would +deserve, _and that no brave man will wear!"_ + +Mr. Lamar was one of the most absent-minded of men. A number of +years ago, by invitation of the Faculty, he delivered an address +to the graduating class of Centre College, Kentucky. The day +was quite warm, the exercises somewhat protracted, and, at the +close of his able and eloquent address, he was very much exhausted. + +An excellent collation, prepared by the ladies connected with +the College, was served in the chapel near by, at the close of the +exercises. Seated upon the platform, with Mr. Lamar at the head +of the table, were Doctor Young, the President, Justice Harlan, +Governor Knott, the Rev. Doctor Bullock, Chaplain of the Senate, +Judge McCormick, and others. + +At the plate of each guest a large tomato was in readiness and, +excellent itself, was, moreover, the earnest of better things to +come. Immediately upon being seated, Mr. Lamar "fell to" and, +wholly oblivious of the surroundings, soon made way with the one +viand then in visible presence. Just as its last vestige disappeared, +the President of the College arose and, with a solemnity eminently +befitting the occasion, called upon Doctor Bullock to offer thanks. +Deeply chagrined, Mr. Lamar was an attentive listener to the +impressive invocation which immediately followed. At its conclusion, +with troubled countenance, he turned to Knott and said, "I am +humiliated at my conduct. I should have remembered that Presbyterians +always say grace before meals, but I was very hungry and exhausted, +and the tomato very tempting; I have really disgraced myself." To +which Knott replied, "You ought not to feel so, Mr. Justice; the +blessing of Doctor Bullock's was broad and general; in large measure +retrospective as well as prospective. It reminds me of a little +incident that occurred on the 'Rolling Fork.' An old-time deacon down +there was noted for the lengthy blessing which at his table was +the unfailing prelude to every meal. His hired man, Bill Taylor, an +unconverted and impatient youth, had fallen into the evil habit of +commencing his meal before the blessing thereon had been fully +invoked. The frown and rebuke of the good deacon were alike +unavailing in effecting the desired reform. Righteously indignant +thereat, the deacon, in a spirit possibly not the most devout, +at length gave utterance to this petition, 'For what we are _about +to_ receive, and for what William Taylor _has already_ received, +accept our thanks, O Lord!" + +In cheery tones the great orator at once replied, "Knott, you +are the only man on earth who could have thought of such a story +just at the opportune moment." The temporary depression vanished; +Lamar was himself again, and was at once the brilliant conversationalist +of the delighted assemblage. + +The surviving members of that Congress will recall a little chair that +daily rolled down the aisle to the front to the Speaker's desk. +It contained the emaciated form of a man whose weight at his best was +but ninety pounds--Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, "whose little +body lodged a mighty mind." No one who saw Mr. Stephens could ever +forget him. He looked as though he had just stepped out from +an old picture, or dropped down from the long-ago. There was +probably as little about him "of the earth, earthy" as of any mortal +this world has known. Upon his weak frame time had done its work, +and, true it is, "the surest poison is time." And yet, his feeble +piping voice--now scarcely heard an arm's length away--was potent in +the contentions of the great hall when he was the honored associate of +men whose public service reached back to the formation of the Government. +In the old hall near by--now the Valhalla of the nation--he had +sat with John Quincy Adams and contemporaries whose names at +once recall the Revolutionary period. After serving as Vice-President +of the Confederacy, whose rise and fall he had witnessed, Mr. +Stephens, with the shadows falling about him, was, by unanimous +voice of his people, again, in his own words, "in our father's +house." His apartments in the old National Hotel, as he never +failed to explain to his visitors, were those long ago occupied by +his political idol, Henry Clay. His couch stood in the exact spot +where Mr. Clay had died; and he no doubt thought--possibly wished-- +that his own end might come just where that great Commoner had +breathed his last. This, however, was not to be. His last hours were +spent at the capital of his native commonwealth, which had, with +scarce a dissenting voice, just honored itself by electing him +to its chief executive office. + +The Hon. Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, was the successor +of the lamented Kerr as Speaker of the House. As such he presided +during the last session of the forty-fourth Congress, and during +the two Congresses immediately succeeding. He had long been a +member, coming in with Blaine and Garfield just before the close +of the war. Able, courageous, and thoroughly skilled in parliamentary +tactics, he had achieved a national reputation as the leader of the +minority in the forty-third Congress. During the protracted and +exciting struggle near its close, over the Force Bill--the House +remaining in continuous session for fifty-six hours--Mr. Randall +had displayed wonderful endurance and marvellous capacity for +successful leadership. He was more than once presented by his +State in Democratic national conventions for nomination to the +Presidency. He was an excellent presiding officer, prompt, +often aggressive, and was rarely vanquished in his many brilliant passages +with the leaders of the minority. One incident is recalled, however, +when the tables were turned against the Speaker, no one joining +more heartily than himself in the laugh that followed. Mr. Conger, +of Michigan, with great earnestness and persistency, was urging +the consideration of a resolution which the Speaker had repeatedly +declared out of order. By no means disconcerted by the decision, Mr. +Conger, walking down the aisle, was vehement in his demand for the +immediate consideration of his resolution. At which the Speaker +with much indignation said, "Well, I think the Chair has a right +to exercise a little common sense in this matter." To which Mr. +Conger instantly responded, "Oh, if the Chair has the slightest +intention of _doing anything of that kind,_ I will immediately take +my seat!" + +The Hon. David Dudley Field, elected to fill a vacancy, was a +Representative from the city of New York during the closing session +of the forty-fourth Congress. He was an eminent lawyer, and, at +the time, stood at the head of the American bar. His name is +inseparably associated with many important reforms in legal procedure +during the last half century. He had been instrumental in securing +the appointment of a committee of distinguished jurists, chosen +from the leading nations, to prepare the outlines of an international +code. His report accompanying the plan, to the preparation of +which he had given much thought and time, received the earnest +commendation of leading publicists and jurists in Europe, as well as +in his own country. His untiring efforts, looking to the substitution +of international courts of arbitration for war, have given his name +honored place among the world's benefactors. + +Mr. Field was the eldest of four brothers, whose names are known +wherever our language is spoken. The family was distinguished for +talents of the highest order. It would indeed be difficult to find +its counterpart in our history. One of the brothers, Stephen J. +Field, was for a third of a century a distinguished justice of the +Supreme Court of the United States. The youngest, Dr. Henry M. +Field, was eminent alike as theologian and author. The name of +the remaining brother, Cyrus W. Field, is, and will continue, a +household word in two hemispheres. After repeated failures, to +the verge even of extremity, "the trier of spirits," the dream of his +life became a reality. The Atlantic cable was laid, and, in the words +of John Bright, Mr. Field had "moored the New World alongside the Old." + +The Hon. Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, was a representative during +the closing session of Congress. As the editor of a great journal, +Mr. Watterson was already well known to the country. His talents were +of a high order. In his chosen field he had no superior. For many +years he was a recognized leader of his party, and one of the chief +managers in all its national conventions. His contributions to the +literature of three decades of political campaigns were almost +unparalleled. As a forcible, trenchant writer he is to be mentioned +with Greeley, Raymond, Prentice, and Dana. His career, too, as +a public lecturer, has been both successful and brilliant. The +Congressional service of Mr. Watterson terminated with the session +just mentioned. His speech, near its close, upon the bill creating +an electoral commission to determine the Tilden-Hayes Presidential +controversy was listened to with earnest attention, and at once +gave him high place among the great debaters of that eventful +Congress. + +While a passenger on a train to Washington, to be present at the +opening of Congress, my attention was directed to a man of venerable +appearance, who entered the sleeping-car at a station not many +miles out from Cincinnati. He was dressed in "Kentucky jeans" and +had the appearance of a well-to-do farmer. Standing in the aisle near +me, he was soon engaged in earnest conversation with the porter, +endeavoring to secure a berth. The porter repeatedly assured +him that this was impossible, as every berth was taken. He told the +porter that he was quite ill, and must get on his journey. I then +proposed that he share my berth for the night. He gladly did so +until other accommodations were provided. + +On the Monday following, when the House was in the process of +organization, the name of James D. Williams of Indiana being called, +my sleeping-car acquaintance, still attired in blue jeans, stepped +forward with his colleagues to the Speaker's desk and was duly +sworn in as a member of Congress. This was his first term, but he +soon became quite well known to the country. As chairman of the +Committee of Accounts, having to do with small expenditures, he +closely scrutinized every claim presented, and scaled to the lowest +many pet measures. His determination to economize, as well as his +peculiarity of dress and appearance, soon made him an especial +object of amusement to newspaper correspondents. He was the butt of +many cheap jokes; one being his alleged complaint that hundreds of +towels were being daily used by members at the Capitol, at the +public expense, while at his home, on his farm, one towel would +last a week, with eleven in the family. Despite, however, all +jokes and gibes, he soon became the most popular man in his State. +"Blue Jeans Williams" became a name to conjure with; and in the +celebrated campaign of 1876, after an exciting contest, he was +elected Governor, defeating an able and popular leader, who, twelve +years later, was himself elected President of the United States. + +No sketch of "the American Commons" during the last fifty years +would be in any measure complete that failed to make mention of +the man who was nineteen times elected a Representative, the +Hon. William S. Holman, of Indiana. Whatever the ups and downs of +party supremacy, despite all attempts by gerrymandering to relegate +him to the shades of private life, Judge Holman, with unruffled +front, "a mien at once kindly, persuasive, and patient," held +sturdily on his way. Amid political upheavals that overwhelmed +all his associates upon the ticket, his name, like that of Abou Ben +Adhem, led all the rest. From Pierce to McKinley--whatever the +issues, and howsoever determined--at each successive organization of +the House "the gentleman from Indiana" was an unfailing respondent +to the opening roll-call. An old English stanza comes to mind: + + "And this is law, that I'll maintain + Until my dying day, sir, + That whatsoever King shall reign, + Still I'll be vicar of Bray, sir." + +His integrity was unquestioned; his knowledge of public business, +phenomenal. With no brilliancy, little in the way of oratory, Judge +Holman was nevertheless one of the most valuable members ever known to +the House of Representatives. The Lobby regarded him as its mortal foe. +He was for years the recognized "watch-dog of the Treasury." Personal +appeals to his courtesy, to permit the present consideration of private +bills, had, in the main, as well have been made to a marble statue. +His well known and long to be remembered, "I object, Mr. Speaker," +sounded the knell of many a well devised raid upon the Treasury. It +may be that he sometimes prevented the early consideration of meritorious +measures, but with occasional exceptions his objections were +wholesome. He kept in close touch with the popular pulse, and +knew, as if by instinct, which would be the safe and which the +dangerous side of the pending measure. It sometimes seemed that +he could even "look into the seeds of time and tell which grain +will grow and which will not." + +It has been said that even great men have at times their little +weaknesses. An incident to be related will show that possibly +Judge Holman was no exception to that rule. The consideration +of sundry bills for the erection of post-office buildings in a +number of districts having "gone over" by reason of his objection, +the members having the bills in charge joined forces and lumped +the several measures into an "omnibus bill" which was duly presented. +The members especially interested in its passage, to "make assurance +doubly sure," had quietly inserted a provision for the erection of a +Government building in one of the cities of Holman's district. When +the bill was read, Judge Holman, as he sat busily writing at his +desk, was, without solicitation upon his part, the closely observed +of every member. Apparently oblivious, however, to all that was +occurring, he continued to write. No objection being made, the +bill was in the very act of passing when an exceedingly bright +member from Wisconsin, "being moved and instigated by the devil," no +doubt, rushed to the front and exclaimed, "Mr. Speaker, I desire +to call the attention of the gentleman from the fourth district of +Indiana to the fact that the Treasury is being robbed!" Unmoved +by the appeal, the Judge continued to write, and, as one of his +colleagues afterwards remarked, "was chewing his tobacco very fine." +After a moment of suspense, and amid applause in which even the +galleries took part, the member from Wisconsin, in tragic tones, +exclaimed, "Ah, Mr. Speaker, our watch-dog of the Treasury, like +all other good watch-dogs, _never barks when his friends are +around!"_ + +Mr. Blackburn, of Kentucky, began his long and eventful legislative +career as a member of this Congress. As the representative of the +Ashland District, he was the successor of Clay, Crittenden, Marshall, +Breckenridge, Beck--illustrious names in the history of the State and +of the nation. He was worthy of the succession, and, at the close +of ten years' service in the House, was elected to the Senate. He +came within a few votes of being chosen as the candidate of his +party for Speaker at the opening of the forty-sixth Congress. He +was a born orator. It was as natural for him to speak as to breathe. +Wake him up at any hour of the night, and he would be ready upon +the instant for an eloquent speech of any length, upon any subject. +Thoroughly familiar with all that pertained to our political history, +with a voice easily heard above the storm, he was ever in the +forefront of the hurly-burly of heated partisan debate. There was +little that was conciliatory about him. He neither gave nor asked +quarter. A born fighter, he had rather + + "Follow his enemy through a fiery gulf, + Than flatter him in a bower." + +Possessing neither the keen wit of his colleague, McKenzie, nor +the profound humor of Knott, he was nevertheless the hero of +more interesting narratives than any member who ever crossed the +Blue Ridge Mountains. + +The incident to be related may have suggested the witty reply of +Senator Proctor to the Vice-President when invited by the latter +to come into the devotional exercises: "Excuse me, I am _paired_ with +Blackburn on prayers." This equals his reply when asked by Senator +Hale what he thought of Senator Chandler: "I _like_ him, but it +is an acquired taste." + +Upon the occasion of the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Butler from +the Chaplaincy of the Senate--a position he had filled most acceptably +for many years--many of the Senators spoke regretfully of his +retirement. The speech of Mr. Blackburn, for beauty of expression +and pathetic eloquence, was unrivalled. He spoke most tenderly of +the faithfulness of the venerable man of God; how for long years +he had gone in and out before us; of his daily walk and conversation; +how, like the Blessed Master, his only thought was of doing good; +of how he had often invoked the Divine blessing upon us and our +loved ones, and lifted us as it were in his arms up to the very +throne of grace. The orator seemed inspired, as though his lips +were indeed touched with a live coal from the altar. The counterpart +of the scene that followed his closing words had never been witnessed +in legislative assembly. All were in tears. It was even said that +venerable Senators, who had never shed a tear since the ratification +of the treaty of Ghent, actually sobbed aloud, and refused to be +comforted. At length, amid silence that could be felt, an adjournment +was effected, and the Senators passed sadly out to their homes. +As he passed the Chair, Senator Vest, in undertone, remarked to +the Vice-President, _"Jo never saw him!"_ + +The next day, in the absence of his successor, "the blind chaplain," +Dr. Butler again, and for the last time, officiated, simply repeating +in manner most solemn and impressive, the Lord's Prayer. At its +conclusion, Senator Blackburn, who had been a most attentive +listener, came forward to the desk and remarked to Vice-President +Stevenson: "I tell you, sir, I like that new chaplain of ours. +What a splendid prayer! There is something _original_ about that man!" + +Thirty years and more ago, when first a candidate for Congress, +Mr. Blackburn attended a public execution--in common parlance "a +hanging"--in one of the counties in his district. Being a gentleman +of great distinction, and a candidate for Congress, he was +appropriately invited by the sheriff to occupy a seat with the +prisoner and his spiritual adviser upon the gallows. At the +near approach of the fatal hour, the sheriff, with watch in hand, amid +the sea of upturned faces, stated to the prisoner that he had +yet five minutes to live, and it was his privilege if he so desired +to address the audience. The prisoner meekly replied that he +did not wish to speak. Whereupon Mr. Blackburn, stepping promptly +to the front of the scaffold, said: "As the gentleman does not +wish to speak, if he will kindly yield me his time, I will take +this occasion to remark that I am a candidate for Congress, regularly +nominated by the Democratic Convention," etc. This incident being +told in the presence of Mr. Marshall, the opposing candidate, +the latter remarked that he remembered it well, and could vouch +for its truth. He then added that when Mr. Blackburn proposed +to speak out the prisoner's time, the latter turned to the Sheriff +and inquired who that was. To which the officer replied, "Captain +Blackburn." At this the prisoner, who had amid all the exciting +scenes of his arrest and trial, and even up to the present moment, +with his open coffin beside him, displayed marvellous fortitude, +suddenly exhibiting deep emotion, piteously exclaimed, "Please hang +me first, _and let him speak afterwards!"_ + +When, in the tide of time, will the House of Representatives witness +the like of "Sunset" Cox? Beginning a Congressional career, which +was to terminate only with his death, when scarcely of the +constitutional age, he was in close succession a representative +from two great States,--in his early manhood from the Capital +district of Ohio, and in his maturer years, even down to old age, the +most prominent of the delegation from the great State of New York. +Mr. Cox was gifted as few men have been in this world. His literary +attainments were of a high order, and some of the books of which +he was the author will no doubt furnish instructive and entertaining +reading for many generations to come. He was an indefatigable +student, and seemed, as did Lord Bacon, to have "taken all knowledge +for his province." His accurate knowledge of the history of all +countries and times was a marvel, and, all at his instant command, +placed him upon rare vantage ground in the many forensic struggles +in which he took part. Woe betide the unfortunate antagonist whose +record was other than faultless. He was a born debater, full of +resources, and aggressive to the last degree. He never waited for +opportunities, but sought them. In great emergencies he was often +put forward by his political associates for the fierce encounter +with the great leaders upon the opposite side of the Chamber. +He was withal one of the most kindly of men. He was the soul of +personal and official honor. His integrity could know no +temptation. It may truly be said of him that-- + + "Whatever record leaps to light, + He never can be shamed." + +His sympathies were deeply enlisted for the safety of those "who +go down to the sea in ships." For years he was the earnest advocate +of a thorough life-saving system. Much of the present efficiency of +this humane branch of the public service is due to his untiring +efforts. He had travelled to all countries, and even to the islands +of the sea. He was of sunny disposition, and believed that "whatever +places the eye of Heaven visits are to the wise man ports and happy +havens." + +Mr. Cox was one of the most genial and delightful of associates. +With him and Vance, Knott, and Randolph Tucker as companions for +the social hour, the night would flee away like a shadow. His wit +was of the rarest order. He would have been on terms of recognized +kinship with Sydney Smith and Charles Lamb. He once said of a +vinegar-visaged member that the only regret he had on earth was +that there were no more commandments to keep; what few there were he +kept so easily. As illustrating his readiness and elasticity, +whatever the emergency, two instances, out of the many that crowd +upon memory, will be given. During an all-night session of the +House, amid great confusion, the roll-call was ordered. The first +name, "Mr. Archer," was called, and the response "Aye" was given. +The clerk, failing to hear the response, immediately repeated, "Mr. +Archer," to which the latter, in tones heard above the din of many +voices, again answered "Aye." Instantly Mr. Cox exclaimed: +"Insatiate Archer, would not one suffice?" + +A new member from a district far to the westward entered the House. +His advoirdupois was in keeping with the vast territorial area +he represented. As a wit, he was without a rival in his section. +The admiration of his constituents over the marvellous attainments +of the new member, scarcely exceeded his own. Only the opportunity +was wanting when the star of the gentleman from New York should go +down and his own be in the ascendant. The opportunity at length +came. Mr. Cox was the victim of the hour; the recipient of many +compliments much more fervid than kind. The seven vials of wrath were +opened upon him. A vast storehouse of wit, ancient and modern, +was literally exhausted for the occasion. Even the diminutive size +of the New York member was mentioned in terms of disparagement. +The speech caused much merriment in the House during its delivery, +and its author with an air of self-satisfaction rarely witnessed +even in that body, resumed his seat. Mr. Cox at once took the +floor. No attempt will be made to do justice to his speech. +The manner, the tone of voice, which caused an uproar upon the +floor and in the galleries, can never find their way into print. +Referring to the ill-mannered allusion to his size, he said "that his +constituents preferred a representative with brains, rather than +one whose only claims to distinction consisted in an abnormal +abdominal development." In tragic tones he then pronounced a +funeral eulogy over his assailant, and suggested, as a fitting +inscription for his tombstone, the pathetic words of Byron, + + "'T is Greece, but living Greece no more!" + +Soon after the nomination of Tilden for President, Mr. Cox was +invited to attend a political meeting at the State capital, and +address the Democracy of Vermont. When the scarcity of Democrats in +the Green Mountain State is taken into account, the significance +of Mr. Cox's reply will readily appear. His telegram was to the +effect that pressing engagements prevented his attending, but +"if the Democracy of Vermont _will drop into my library_ any +afternoon, about four o'clock, I will address them with great +pleasure." + +In attempting to write something of a member so long and so favorably +known to the House as the Hon. J. Proctor Knott of Kentucky, I +am reminded of the opening sentences of the touching tribute of +Judge Baldwin to an honored associate: + +"I nib my pen and impart to it a fine hair stroke in order that +I may give the more delicate touch which can alone show forth +the character of this distinguished gentleman. If I hold the pen in +hand in idle reverie, it is because my mind rests lovingly upon +a picture I feel incapable of transcribing with fidelity to the +original; and therefore I pause a moment to look once more at +the original, before it is obscured by the rude counterpart." + +It was worth while to have known Proctor Knott, to have been his +cotemporary in public life, the sharer of his confidence, the guest +at his hearthstone. In the highest sense of the expression, he +was a gentleman of the old school. To him there was rare meaning in +the words, "Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends +to trust!" + +He was as familiar with the Bible, with Shakespeare, and Burns, as +though he had written them. His quotations, whether in private +conversation, or in public speech, were always timely. There +was little in the way of the best literature, ancient or modern, +that he had not read. As was truly said of the gifted Prentiss: + +"His imagination was colored and imbued with the light of the +shadowy past. He lingered spell-bound among the scenes of mediaeval +chivalry. His spirit had dwelt until almost naturalized in the +mystic dreamland of the Paladins, Crusaders, and Knights Templars; +with Monmouth and Percy, with Bois-Guilbert and Ivanhoe and the +bold McGregor; with the Cavaliers of Rupert, and the iron enthusiasts +of Fairfax." + +He was the inveterate hater of shams of all kinds, and of mere +pretenders of every description. He ever avoided the short cuts, and +kept steadily along in the old way. His heroes, like those of +Dickens, were taken from the common walk; the men he had met in +the road and at the hustings, at whose firesides he had passed many +hours. Whatever concerned them, whatever involved in any manner +their welfare, was of deep interest to him. If he had chosen +his own epitaph it might have read: + + "In common ways, with common men, + I served my race and time." + +He was both an artist and a poet. He loved flowers, and there was +to his ears no music so sweet as the merry laughter of children. +And, whether in private life, or in his great executive office +as "the arbiter of human fate," the tale of woe never failed to +touch a sympathetic cord. He had in very deed, + + "A tear for pity, and a hand open as day to melting + charity." + +He was welcome at every hearthstone, as one "who cometh unto you +with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the +chimney corner." + +Soon after his admission to the bar, Mr. Knott removed to Missouri, +where he was almost immediately elected to the responsible position +of Attorney-General of the State. In due time he returned to +his native State, and was for six terms a representative in Congress. +Yet later, and as the shadows were beginning to fall to the eastward, +he was, almost by common acclaim, called to the chief executive +office of the commonwealth. It may truly be said of him that "with +clear head, and with clean hands, he faithfully discharged every +public trust." + +Mr. Knott entered Congress just at the close of the great Civil +War. It was a period of excitement throughout the entire country, +and of intense foreboding to the section he represented. In the +debates of that stormy period he bore no mean part. He was counted +a foeman worthy the steel of the ablest who entered the lists. +A thorough student from the beginning, of all that pertained to +Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, and the Federal Constitution, he +was equipped as few men have been, for forensic contests that have +left their deep impress upon history. The evidence of his ability +as a lawyer is to be found in the satisfactory manner in which for +three Congresses he discharged the duties of the trying position +of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. +The ablest lawyers of both political parties constituted this great +committee, and its chairman, if possessing only mediocre talents +or attainments, would have been sadly out of place. + +But with his heavy armor laid aside, the genius of Knott was +made manifest along more pleasing lines. Few speeches ever delivered +in Congress have been so generally read, or so thoroughly imbedded +into current literature, as one he delivered soon after his +first admission to the House. Duluth awoke the morning after +its delivery to find itself famous. As, "the zenith city of the +unsalted seas," it has been known and read of all men. As such, +it will probably continue to be known for ages to come. The speech +hopelessly defeated a bill making a land grant to a proposed +railroad, of which Duluth was to be the terminus. His mirthful +prediction, however, as to its marvellous future has been fulfilled. +How true it is that "jesters do oft prove prophets!" Bearing in +mind that the great city of to-day then had no place even upon the +map, the words quoted from the speech will be appreciated: + +"Duluth, Duluth! The word fell upon my ear with peculiar and +indescribable charm, like the gentle murmur of a brook stealing +forth in the midst of roses, or the soft sweet accent of an angel's +whisper in the bright joyous dream of sleeping innocence. Duluth! +'T was the name for which my soul had panted for years, as the hart +panteth for the water brooks. I was convinced that the greatest +calamity that ever befell the benighted nations of the ancient +world was their having passed away without a knowledge of the actual +existence of Duluth; that their fabled Atlantis, never seen save +by the hallowed vision of inspired poesy, was in fact but another name +for Duluth; that the golden orchard of the Hesperides was but a +poetical synonym for the beer-gardens in the vicinity of Duluth. As +that name first fell upon my ear, a resplendent scene of ineffable +glory opened before me, such as I imagine burst upon the enraptured +visions of the wandering Peri through the opening gates of +Paradise." + +Mr. Knott was often the sad and silent man. His real intimacies +were few, and to strangers he was reserved. But to those who came +within the circle of his personal friendship he was one of the most +delightful of companions. No man was ever given less to a +parade either of his friendships or of his animosities. His enemies +--and it would have been strange if, passing through the eventful scenes +he did, he had had none--knew just where to find him. He was, +in very truth, + + "Lofty and sour to them that loved him not; + But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer." + +The cause often of mirth in others, he was at times far from being +joyous himself. Few men have been the possessors in so rare degree +of the gift of humor, the sure indication of the humane and +sympathetic in our nature; that "which blends the pathetic with +the ludicrous, and by the same stroke moves to laughter and to +tears." As Emerson says, "Both an ornament and a safeguard--genius +itself." The line of separation between wit and humor is shadowy, +not easily defined. There may be in the same individual, in +some measure, a blending of the two. As has been said: "While +wit is a purely intellectual thing, into every act of the humorous +mind there is an influx of the moral nature. Humor springs up +exuberantly, as from a fountain, and runs on, its perpetual game +to look with considerate good-nature at every object in existence, +and dismiss it with a benison." While wit, the purely intellectual +quality, sparkles and stings, humor, "touched with a feeling of +our infirmity," would "gently scan thy brother man," remembering +ever that + + "What's done we partly may compute, + But know not what's resisted." + +It is not strange, then, that he who in large degree possesses +or is possessed by this subtle quality should be subject to moods, +it may be melancholy--"the effect of that humor that sometime hath +his hour with every man." That Governor Knott was deeply endowed with +humor in its best sense, no one who knew him could doubt. In +relating incidents that convulsed his listeners, he gave no +sign; his own features remained as solemn as if he were attending the +obsequies of his dearest friend. There is something that is +suggestive in the lines of Thomas Hood, + + "There's not a string attuned to mirth + But has its chord in melancholy." + +While Governor of Kentucky, he sent to the Hon. Stoddart Johnson +a certificate, officially signed and bearing the impress of the +great seal of State, duly commissioning him as "Mister," a distinctive +and honorable title that no Kentuckian had previously borne. This +recalls the witty remark of Max O'Rell: "The only thing that +Mr. Ingersoll appears to hold in common with his countrymen _is +the title of Colonel."_ + +Many years ago McCullough, the tragedian, was giving his +splendid impersonations of the two masterpieces of Shakespeare +at the national Capital. The morning following one of these, +Mr. Knott and I, passing along the avenue on our way to the House, +were stopped by an exceedingly solemn-visaged individual who, +addressing the former, said: "Mr. Knott, I would like to have your +judgment as to which is the best play, _Hamlet_ or _Macbeth."_ + +Gazing earnestly at his inquisitor, and in a tone at once deprecatory +and inimitable, Knott replied: "My friend, don't ask me that +question. I am a politician, and a candidate for re-election to +Congress; my district is about equally divided; Hamlet has his +friends down there, and Macbeth his, and I am unwilling _to take +any part between them!"_ + +When in joint canvass with his competitor for the Governorship +of the State, Mr. Knott, having, by appointment, at one of the +county seats in "the Purchase," made the opening speech, was seated +near by to listen to that of the opposing candidate. The latter, a +gentleman having a high sense of propriety, and a dignity of bearing +that would have done no discredit to an assembly of divines, had +been exceedingly annoyed by Knott's speech, which had in very truth +kept the audience in an uproar during its entire delivery. Beginning +his reply, he said: + +"Fellow-citizens, I will endeavor to indicate to you the kind of +a man who, in my judgment, should be elected to the position of +Governor of this grand old commonwealth. In the first place, that +exalted position would never be filled by one who, for lack of +serious argument, constantly appeals to the risibilities of his +audience; never by a wit, a mere joker, a story-teller; in other +words--if you will pardon me, my fellow-citizens--by a mere buffoon. +On the contrary, the incumbent of the exalted position of chief +executive of this grand old commonwealth should be a gentleman +of character, of ability, the worthy successor of Shelby, of +Morehead, of Crittenden; he should be a gentleman of scholastic +attainments and of dignified bearing, well versed in classic lore +and a thorough student of the higher order of state-craft. In a +word, fellow-citizens, you should elect as your Governor a gentleman +of lofty character, of ripe scholarship, of commanding dignity, of +exalted statesmanship, of ----" + +At this point, Knott, interrupting, said, in manner and tone the +exact counterpart of that of the speaker, "Pardon me, Colonel Smith, +but I am too modest a man to listen longer to the beautiful and +truthful description _you have just given of me!"_ + +Whereupon, amidst the wildest applause, he retired from the hall, as +did the audience, and the speaking for the day, and the joint +discussion for the campaign, were closed. + + + +III +AGAIN IN CONGRESS + +CHANGES IN THE PERSONNEL OF THE HOUSE CONTRASTED WITH THOSE IN THE +BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS--LEVI P. MORTON--MR. COVERT AND MR. SHELLEY +--GEN. JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON--TWO NOTABLE SPEECHES BY JAMES A. McKENZIE +--JOHN E. KENNA--BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH--MR. KEIFER OF OHIO--MR. +CARLISLE OF KENTUCKY--SPEAKER REED--PRESIDENT McKINLEY--THE WRITER'S +SPEECH AT THE PEACE JUBILEE BANQUET, 1898. + +After an absence of two years I was returned to the forty-sixth +Congress. Circumstances over which I had no control had prevented +my taking a seat in the intervening Congress, my successful competitor +being the Hon. Thomas F. Tipton. In politics, however, as in +other things, "the whirligig of time brings in his revenges," and I +was in turn the successful competitor of my late opponent in his +candidacy for re-election. + +Meanwhile, many changes had occurred in the personnel of the House. +Many familiar names had been dropped from its roll. Of these, nine +had been transferred to that of the Senate, a former member was +now in the Cabinet, and Mr. Wheeler of New York was Vice-President. +A significant fact in this connection, and one illustrating the +uncertainty of the tenure by which place is held in that body, was +that more than one-third of those with whom I had so recently served +were now in private life. Possibly no feature of our governmental +system causes more astonishment to intelligent foreigners than the +many changes biennially occurring in the membership of the House +of Representatives. There is marked difference between the British +House of Commons, and the popular branch of the American Congress. +A seat lost in the latter--it may be by a single unfortunate +utterance, or unpopular vote--is usually a seat lost forever; while +in the former, membership may continue for an almost indefinite +period, and until an "appeal to the country" by the Ministry upon a +new and vital issue. If defeated by one constituency, the member of +Parliament may soon be returned by another, the question of residence +having no significance. In fact if possessing superior talents, +the member is liable to be chosen by two or more constituencies at +the same election, the choice then resting with himself as to which +he will represent. Such has been the experience of the most eminent +of British statesmen. The names of Burke, Peel, Gladstone, and +Balfour, quite recently, will readily be recalled in this connection. +In the little island the aspirant to legislative honors has several +hundred constituencies from which to choose, or be chosen, while +in the larger America his political fortunes are usually bound +up in his own residence district. + +Upon the roll of the House in the new Congress, called in +special session in March, 1879, in addition to some heretofore +mentioned, were names well known to the country. Of these none is +more worthy of honorable mention than that of the Hon. Levi P. +Morton of New York. In the business world his name was a synonym for +integrity. The head of a great banking house, he was almost as +well known in the principal cities of Europe as in the great city of +his residence. At the time of his first election to Congress +Mr. Morton was, by appointment of the President, an honorary +commissioner to the Paris Exposition. At the close of his legislative +career he held successively the honored positions of Ambassador to +France, Vice-President of the United States, and Governor of New +York. In Congress, Mr. Morton was the able representative of a +great constituency; as chief executive of his State his name is +worthy of mention with the most eminent of those who have been +called to that exalted station; as ambassador to a foreign court +the honor of his country was ever in safe keeping; as Vice-President, +he was the model presiding officer over the greatest deliberative body +known to men. + +One of the brightest members of the New York delegation was the +Hon. James W. Covert of Flushing. Altogether he served ten years in +the House, and became in time one of its leading members. He was an +excellent lawyer, a delightful associate, and an able and ready debater. +That he was gifted with a touch of the humorous will appear from the +following. The House was passing through the agony of an all-night +session. Confusion reigned supreme. During it all, Mr. Shelley, from +one of the Gulf States, stood at his desk and repeatedly made the point +of order upon Covert, Springer, Kenna, McKenzie, and others, as they +successively addressed the Chair, that "The gentleman is not speaking +from his desk." The point of order was as repeatedly sustained by +the Speaker, the rules requiring members to address the Chair only +from their respective desks. The confusion at length became so +great that many members, in their eagerness to be heard, pressed +to the front. The voice of Mr. Shelley, however, was heard above the +din still calling for the enforcement of the rule; to which the +Speaker, his patience exhausted, now turned a deaf ear. Desperate +beyond measure, Mr. Shelley at length _left his own desk,_ and +taking his position immediately in front of the clerk's desk fiercely +demanded, "Mr. Speaker, I call for the enforcement of the rule." +At which Covert immediately exclaimed, "Mr. Speaker, I call for the +enforcement of _the rule in Shelley's case!"_ + +Almost directly in front of the Speaker's desk sat a gentleman, +small in stature, and of quiet dignified bearing, "The silent man," +"whose voice was in his sword," General Joseph E. Johnston of +Virginia. Until this, his first election to Congress from the +Capital District of the Old Dominion, he had known none other than +military public service. He was a born soldier. No one who saw +him could mistake his calling. Napoleon did not more truly look +the soldier than did General Johnston. A graduate of West Point, his +first service was in the Black Hawk War, and later in Mexico. For +gallant conduct at the battle of Cerro Gordo, he was brevetted +colonel in the regular army. His last service was when, as +Lieutenant-General of the Confederate Army, he surrendered to +Sherman, thus ending the great Civil War. He had already reached the +allotted threescore years and ten when he entered Congress, and +its ordinary details apparently interested him but little. He +earnestly desired the return of the era of good feeling between +the North and South, and upon his motion the House duly adjourned in +honor of the day set apart for the decoration of the graves of +Union soldiers. + +No member of this House attracted more attention than did the Hon. +James A. McKenzie of Kentucky, the representative from what in +local parlance was known as "the pennyryle district." He was +the youngest member of the body, tall, erect, and handsome. Mr. +McKenzie rendered a valuable service to his constituents and the +country during this Congress, by securing the passage of a bill +placing quinine upon the free list. His district was seriously +afflicted with the old-time fever and ague, and the reduction by +his bill to a nominal cost of the sure and only specific placed +his name high upon the list of benefactors. + +Two of his kinsmen, one from Illinois, the other from Florida, +occupied seats immediately in his front. Addressing them one day, +he said: "It seems strange, indeed, that we three cousins--one +from Illinois, one from Florida, and one from Kentucky--are all +here together in Congress"; and then added, with apparent gravity, +"and _ours not an office-seeking family either!"_ + +As the session drew near its close, he made repeated efforts to +obtain unanimous consent for the consideration of a bill for the +erection of a Government building in the principal city of his +district. The interposition of the stereotyped "I object" had, +however, in each instance, proved fatal. During a night session, near +the close of the Congress, requests for recognition came to the +Speaker from all parts of the chamber. In the midst of the tumult +Mr. McKenzie arose and, addressing the Chair, stated with great +solemnity of manner that he arose to a question of personal +privilege. This at once arrested the attention of the Speaker, +and he requested the gentleman from Kentucky to state his question +of privilege. "I rise, Mr. Speaker," said McKenzie, "to a question +of the _highest_ privilege, one pertaining to the right of a member +to a seat upon this floor--_in the next Congress._ If I don't get +that post-office bill through now, my seat will be imperilled. +I beg the House for unanimous consent for its immediate consideration." +The House was convulsed; no objection was interposed, the bill was +considered and passed, and McKenzie's seat was safe for many years +to come. + +Has there ever been a more feeling two-minutes' speech, than that of +McKenzie in the National Convention of 1892, when he arose to second +the nomination of Cleveland? After a night of intense excitement, +the convention was still in session at three o'clock in the morning. +A storm was raging without, while within, thousands in the great +hall were impatiently and loudly demanding an immediate vote. More +than one of the chief orators of the party,--men well known to the +country--had in vain attempted to be heard. Chaos seemed to +have come again at the crucial moment that McKenzie, standing upon +his chair in the centre of the vast enclosure, began: "If I speak +longer than two minutes, I hope that some honest half-drowned +Democrat will suspend my carcass from one of the cross-beams of +this highly artistic, but terribly leaky auditorium. Cleveland +needs no nomination from this convention. He has already been +nominated by the people all along the line--all the way from +Hell Gate to Yuba Dam!" + +The bedlam that now broke loose exceeded all that had gone before. +The uproar drowned the voice of the orator within, and even, for +the time, called a halt upon the raging elements without. The +speech was never concluded. What might have been the closing words +of McKenzie's speech, with such a beginning, can never be known. +The effect of his opening, however, was instantaneous. It was the +immediate prelude to the overwhelming nomination of his candidate. + +The Hon. John E. Kenna, of West Virginia, was just at the beginning +of a remarkably brilliant career. He was under thirty years of +age when he first entered Congress. At the close of his third term +in the House, he was elected to the United States Senate, and held +his seat in that body by successive elections until his death at +the early age of forty-four. He possessed rare gifts as a speaker, +and was an active participant in many of the important debates +during that eventful period. Senator Kenna was the beloved of his +State, and his early death brought sorrow to many hearts. + +His manners were pleasing, and he was companionable to the last +degree. He often related an amusing incident that occurred in the +convention that first nominated him for Congress. His name was +presented by a delegate from the Crossroads in one of the mountain +counties, in substantially the following speech: "Mr. President, I +rise to present to this convention, as a candidate for Congress, +the name of John E. Kenna--the peer, sir, _of no man_ in the State +of West Virginia." + +Among the new members elected to this Congress was the Hon. Benjamin +Butterworth of Ohio. His ability as a lawyer and his readiness in +debate soon gave him prominence, while his abundant good-nature +and inexhaustible fund of anecdotes made him a general favorite in +the House. One of his stories was of a Western member whose daily +walk and conversation at the national Capital was by no means up +to the orthodox home standard. The better element of his constituents +at length became disgusted, as reports derogatory to their member from +time to time reached them. A bolt in the approaching Congressional +convention was even threatened, and altogether serious trouble was +brewing. The demand was imperative upon the part of his closest +friends that he at once come home and face his accusers. Homeward +he at length turned his footsteps, and was met at the depot by a +large concourse of his friends and constituents. Hurriedly alighting +from the train and stepping upon the platform, with beaming +countenance and heart made glad by such an enthusiastic reception, +he thus began: + +"Fellow-citizens, my heart is deeply touched as my eyes behold this +splendid assemblage of my constituents and friends gathered here +before and around me. During my absence in Congress my friends +have spoken in my vindication. I am here now to speak for myself. +Vile slanders have been put in circulation against me. I have been +accused of being a defaulter; I have been accused of being a +drunkard; I have been accused of being a gambler; but, thank +God, fellow-citizens, _no man has ever dared to assail my good +moral character!"_ + +One incident is related by Butterworth of a judge in his State who, +becoming thoroughly disgusted with the ease with which naturalization +papers were obtained, determined upon a radical reform. That +the pathway of the reformer--along this as other lines--was by +no means one of flowers will appear from the sequel. Immediately upon +taking his seat, the judge, with great earnestness of manner, +announced from the bench that thereafter no applicant could receive +from that court his final papers, entitling him to the exercise of +the high privilege of citizenship, unless he was able to read +the Constitution of the United States. A few mornings later, +Michael O'Connor, a well-known partisan of the Seventh Ward, appeared +in court accompanied by a diminutive-looking countryman, Dennis +Flynn by name. Mr. O'Connor stated to the judge that his friend +Dennis Flynn had already taken out his first papers, and the legal +time had passed, and he now wanted His Honor to grant him his final +papers. With much solemnity of manner the judge inquired whether +Mr. Flynn had ever read the Constitution of the United States. +Somewhat abashed by the unusual interrogatory, Mr. O'Connor looked +inquiringly at Mr. Flynn, at which the latter, wholly unconscious of +the purport of the inquiry, looked appealingly to Mr. O'Connor. +The latter then replied that he presumed he had not, at which +the judge, handing the applicant a copy of the revised statutes +containing the Constitution, admonished him to read it carefully. +Mr. Flynn, carrying the volume in his arms, and followed by his +patron, sadly left the court-room. Just eight minutes elapsed, +the door suddenly opened and both reappeared, Mr. O'Connor in front, +bearing the book aloft, and exclaiming, "Dinnie couldn't rade it, +Your Honor, but I rid it over to him, _and he is parefictly deloighted +wid it!"_ + +Three gentlemen, each of whom at a later day reached the Speakership, +had served but a single term in the House at the opening of the +forty-sixth Congress: Mr. Keifer of Ohio, Mr. Carlisle of Kentucky, +and Mr. Reed of Maine. Mr. Keifer was a gentleman of ability and of +exceedingly courteous manners. He took a prominent part in debate, +and was the immediate successor of Mr. Randall in the chair. After +an absence of twenty years he has again been returned to his seat in +the House. + +Few abler men than Mr. Carlisle have been in the public service. +He was a recognized leader of his party from his first appearance in +the House, and an authority upon all questions pertaining to tariff +or finance. During his long service as Speaker he established +an enduring reputation as an able presiding officer; as possessing +in the highest degree "the cold neutrality of the impartial Judge." +While a Senator, he was appointed by President Cleveland to the +important position of Secretary of the Treasury. The duties of +that great office have never been discharged with more signal +ability. + +Mr. Reed stood alone. He was unlike other men, a fact which probably +caused him little regret. Self-reliant, aggressive, of will +indomitable, he was a political storm centre during his entire +public career. His friends were devoted to him, and he was +never forgotten by his enemies. Whoever was brought into close +contact with him, usually carried away an impression by which to +remember him. Upon one occasion, in the House, when in sharp debate +with Mr. Springer, the latter quoted the familiar saying of Henry +Clay, "Sir, I would rather be right than be President." Mr. Reed, +in a tone far from reassuring, retorted, "The gentleman from Illinois +_will never be either!"_ + +The retort courteous, however, was not always from the lips of the +Speaker. Mr. Springer, having at one time repeatedly attempted, +but in vain, to secure the floor, at length demanded by what right +he was denied recognition. The Speaker intimated that such ruling +was in accord with the high prerogative of the Chair. To which +Springer replied: + + "Oh, it is excellent + To have a giant strength; but 't is tyrannous + To use it like a giant." + +Of immense physical proportions, towering above his fellows, +with voice by no means melodious, a manner far from conciliatory, a +capacity for sarcastic utterance that vividly recalled the days of +John Randolph and Tristram Burgess, and, withal, one of the ablest +men of his generation, Mr. Reed was in very truth a picturesque +figure in the House of Representatives. He apparently acted upon the +supposition of the philosopher Hobbes that war is the natural state +of man. The kindly admonition, + + "Mend your ways a little + Lest they may mar your fortunes," + +if ever given him, was unheeded. In very truth, + + "He stood, + As if a man were author of himself, + And knew no other kin." + +No man in his day was more talked of or written about. At one time +his star was in the ascendent, and he seemed to be on the highroad +to the Presidency. His great ambition, however, was thwarted by +those of his own political household. At the close of a turbulent +session, while he was in the Chair, the usual resolution of thanks +to the Speaker "for the able, fair, and courteous manner in which he +had presided" was bitterly antagonized, and finally adopted only +by a strictly party vote. It was an event with a single antecedent +in our history, that of seventy-odd years ago, when the Whig minority +in the House opposed the usual vote of thanks to Speaker Polk upon +his retirement from the Chair. In the latter case, the cry of +persecution that was instantly raised had much to do with Mr. Polk's +almost immediate election to the Governorship of his State, and +his subsequent elevation to the Presidency. The parallel incident +in Mr. Reed's career, however, failed to prove "the prologue to +the swelling act." + +The Hon. William McKinley, of Ohio, was a member of this Congress. +He was one of the most pleasing and delightful of associates, and my +acquaintance with him was of the most agreeable character. One of +his earliest official acts as President was my appointment as a +member of the Bimetallic Commission to Europe. + +Mr. McKinley was in very truth one of Fortune's favorites: five +times elected a member of the House of Representatives, three times +Governor of his State, and twice elevated to the Presidency. He +was the third of our Presidents to fall by the hand of an assassin. +His tragic death is yet fresh in our memories. + +The last time I met President McKinley was at the Peace Jubilee +Banquet at the Auditorium in Chicago, on the evening of October +19, 1898. On this occasion, following the toast to the President of +the United States, I spoke as follows: + +"The incumbent of this great office holds with unchallenged title the +most exalted station known to men. Monarchs rule by hereditary +right, or hold high place only by force of arms. The elevation of +a citizen to the Presidency of the United States is the deliberate +act, under the forms of law, of a sovereign people. As an aspirant, +he may have been the choice only of a political party; as the +incumbent of the great office, he is the representative of all the +people--the President of all the people. It augurs well for the +future of the Republic when the American people magnify this office; +when the honor, as now, the President who has so ably upheld its +dignity, so worthily met its solemn responsibilities, so patriotically +discharged its exacting and imperative duties. + +"The office of President of a self-governing people is unique. It +had no place in ancient or mediaeval schemes of government, whether +despotic, federative, or in name republican. It has in reality +none amongst the nations of modern Europe. The Presidency of +the United States, in the highest degree, represents the majesty +of the law. It stands for the unified authority and power of +seventy-five millions of free men. It typifies what is most sacred +to our race: stability in government and protection to liberty +and life. The President is the great officer to whom the founders of +the government entrusted the delicate and responsible function of +treating with foreign States; in whom was vested in time of peace and +of war, chief command of the army and of the navy. + +"An eminent writer has well said: 'The ancient monarchs of France +reigned and governed; the Queen of England reigns but does not +govern; the President of France neither reigns nor governs; the +President of the United States does not reign, but governs!' + +"Experience has demonstrated the more than human wisdom of the +framers of the great federal compact which for more than a century, +in peace and amid the stress of war, has held States and people in +indissoluble bond of union. In no part of their matchless handiwork +has it been more clearly manifested than in the creation of a +responsible executive. To secure in the largest measure the great +ends of government, responsibility must attach to the executive +office; and of necessity, with responsibility, _power._ The sooner +France learns from the American Republic this important lesson, +the sooner will government attain with her the stability to which it +is now a stranger. Her statesmen might well recall the words of +Lord Bacon: 'What men will not alter for the better, Time, the +great innovator, will alter for the worse.' + +"The splendid commonwealth in which we are assembled contains a +population a million greater than did the entire country at the +first inauguration of President Washington. The one hundred and +nine years which have passed since that masterful hour in history have +witnessed the addition of thirty-two States to our federal Union, and +of seventy millions to our population. And yet, with but few +amendments, our great organic law as fully meets the requirements +of a self-governing people to-day as when it came from the hands +of its framers. The builders of the Constitution wisely ordained the +Presidential office a co-ordinate department of the Government. +Moving in its own clearly defined orbit, without usurpation or +lessening of prerogative, the great executive office, at the close +as at the beginning of the century, is the recognized constitutional +symbol of authority and of power. The delegated functions and +prerogatives that pertained in our infancy and weakness have proved +ample in the days of our strength and greatness as a nation. + +"It is well that to the people was entrusted the sovereign power +of choosing their chief magistrate. It is our glory, in the +retrospect of more than a century, that none other than patriots +--statesmen well equipped for the discharge of its timeless duties +--have ever been chosen to the Presidency. May we not believe that +the past is the earnest of the future, and that during the rolling +years and centuries the incumbents of the great office--the chosen +successors of Washington and of Lincoln--in the near and in the +remote future, will prove the guardians and defenders of the +Constitution, the guardians and defenders of the rights of all the +people? + +"Luminous will be the pages of history that tell to the ages the +story of our recent conflict, of its causes and of its results. +In brilliancy of achievement, the one hundred days war with Spain is +the marvel of the closing century. It was not a war of our seeking. +It was the earnest prayer of all, from the President to the humblest +in private life, that the horrors of war might be averted. Had +our ears remained deaf to the cry of the stricken and starving +at our doors, we would not have been guiltless in the high court +of conscience, and before the dread judgment seat of history. The +plea 'Am I my brother's keeper?'--whether interposed by individual +or by nation--cannot be heard before the august tribunal of the +Almighty. + +"Justified then, as we solemnly believe, in the sight of God for +our interposition, we rejoice over the termination of a struggle +in which our arms knew no defeat. The dead hand of Spain has been +removed forever from the throats of her helpless victims. Emphasizing +our solemn declaration as a nation, that this was a war for humanity, +not for self-aggrandizement, we demand no money indemnity from the +defeated and impoverished foe. + +"The sacrifice of treasure and of blood has not been in vain. +However it may have been in the past, the United States emerges +from the conflict with Spain a united people. Sectional lines are +forever obliterated. Henceforth, for all time, we present to +foreign foe and unbroken front. In the words of Webster: 'Our +politics go no farther than the water's edge.' + +"No less important is the fact, that the United States of +America to-day, as never before, commands the respect and admiration +of the world. No foreign coalition, however formidable, can excite +our serious apprehension or alarm. For all this, all honor to our +brave soldiers and sailors; all honor to the helpful hands and +sympathetic hearts of America's patriotic women. + +"As in the early morning and in the noon of the nineteenth century, +America gave to the world its best lessons in liberty and in +law, so in its closing hours, it has given to all the nations a +never-to-be-forgotten lesson in the dread art of war. In quick +response to the splendid achievements of American valor comes from +across the sea the startling proposal of despotic Russia for the +disarmament of continental Europe--and in the end universal peace. + +"Thankful to God for all he has vouchsafed to us in the past, +and with the prayer that henceforth peace may be the priceless boon +of all nations, we await the dawn of the new century, and turn our +faces hopefully to the future." + + + +IV +THE VICE-PRESIDENCY + +ELECTION, POWERS, AND DUTIES OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT--NAMES AND DATES +OF ALL THE VICE-PRESIDENTS--FOUR WHO BECAME PRESIDENTS BY ELECTION +--FIVE WHO SUCCEEDED UPON THE DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT--ATTEMPTS +TO SECURE THE IMPEACHMENTS OF PRESIDENTS--THE TWELFTH AMENDMENT TO +THE CONSTITUTION--REMARKS ON SOME OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTS--THE +WRITER'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE SENATE. + +By the provisions of the Federal Constitution, a Vice-President of +the United States is elected at the same time, for the same term, and +in like manner as the President--by electors chosen in each of the +States. A majority of the votes cast in the several electoral +colleges is necessary to an election. The Vice-President is the +President of the Senate, and in the event of an equal division +in that body, he gives the deciding vote. Under no other contingency +has he a vote. The powers and duties of the office of President +devolve upon the Vice-President in case of the death, resignation, +or removal from office of the President. The Vice-President is +included in the list of public officers liable to removal from +office on impeachment, on conviction for treason, bribery, or other +high crimes and misdemeanors. By the twelfth amendment to the +Constitution no person constitutionally ineligible to the office +of President can be elected to that of Vice-President. In the +event of a vacancy occurring in the office of Vice-President, +the Senate is presided over by a member of that body. In such +contingency the death of the President would, under existing +law, devolve the office of President upon the Secretary of State. + +Twenty-seven persons have held the office of Vice-President; the +dates of their respective elections are as follows: John Adams of +Massachusetts, in 1788, re-elected in 1792; Thomas Jefferson of +Virginia, in 1796; Aaron Burr of New York, in 1800; George Clinton +of New York, in 1804, re-elected in 1808; Elbridge Gerry of +Massachusetts, in 1812; Daniel D. Tompkins of New York, in 1816, +re-elected in 1820; John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, in 1824, +re-elected in 1828; Martin Van Buren of New York, in 1832; Richard +M. Johnson of Kentucky, in 1836; John Tyler of Virginia, in +1840; George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania, in 1844; Millard Fillmore of +New York, in 1848; William R. King of Alabama, in 1852; John C. +Breckenridge of Kentucky, in 1856; Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, in +1860; Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, in 1864; Schuyler Colfax of +Indiana, in 1868; Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, in 1872; William A. +Wheeler of New York, in 1876; Chester A. Arthur of New York, in +1880; Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, in 1884; Levi P. Morton of +New York, in 1888; Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, in 1892; Garrett +A. Hobart of New Jersey, in 1896; Theodore Roosevelt of New York, in +1900; Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana, in 1904; James S. Sherman +of New York, in 1908. + +Four Vice-Presidents were subsequently elected Presidents, namely: +John Adams in 1796; Thomas Jefferson in 1800 and 1804; Martin +Van Buren in 1836; and Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. The dates given +have reference to the election by vote of the electors in the +several States by whom the President and Vice-President were +subsequently chosen. Six Vice-Presidents died in office: namely, +Clinton, Gerry, King, Wilson, Hendricks, and Hobart. In the +Presidential contest of 1836, Martin Van Buren received a majority +of the electoral votes for President, but no candidate received a +majority for Vice-President. By Constitutional requirement the +duty of electing a Vice-President then devolved upon the Senate, +the candidates from whom such choice was to be made being restricted +to the two who had received the highest number of electoral votes. +One of these, Richard W. Johnson of Kentucky, was duly elected +by the Senate. The only Vice-President who resigned the office +was John C. Calhoun. This occurred in 1832, and Mr. Calhoun +soon thereafter took his seat in the Senate, to which body he +had been elected by the Legislature of South Carolina. + +Five Vice-Presidents have, upon the death of the President, succeeded +to the Presidency. The first President to die during his incumbency +of the great office, was William Henry Harrison. His death occurred +April 4, 1841, just one month after his inauguration. The +Vice-President John Tyler, then at his country home in Virginia, was +officially notified of the event, and upon reaching the seat of +Government at once took the oath of office as President. There +was much discussion for a time in and out of Congress as to his +proper title, whether "Vice-President of the United States acting as +President," or "President." The language of the Constitution +however, is clear, and it is no longer controverted that upon +the death of the President the Vice-President becomes, in name +as in fact, President. Upon the death of President Zachary Taylor, +July 9, 1850, Vice-President Millard Fillmore succeeded to the +Presidency, and was at a later date an unsuccessful candidate +for election to that office. The third Vice-President who reached +the Presidency by succession was Andrew Johnson; this occurred +April 15, 1865, the day following the assassination of President +Lincoln. President Garfield was shot July 2, 1881, and died in +September of that year, when he was succeeded by Vice-President +Chester A. Arthur. Vice-President Roosevelt was the successor +of President McKinley, who died by the hand of an assassin in +September, 1901. + +Two attempts have been made to secure the impeachment of Presidents, +the incumbent in each instance having been elected Vice-President and +succeeded to the higher office upon the death of the President. +A resolution looking to the impeachment of President Tyler was +introduced into the House of Representatives in January, 1843, but +was defeated, and no further steps were taken. Articles of +impeachment, for "high crimes and misdemeanors," were presented by +the House of Representatives against President Johnson in 1868. +By constitutional provision the trial was by the Senate, the Chief +Justice of the United States presiding. Less than two-thirds of +the Senators voting for conviction, he was acquitted. + +Until the adoption of the twelfth amendment, no Constitutional +provision existed for separate votes in the electoral colleges for +President and Vice-President; the candidate receiving the highest number +of votes (if a majority of all) became President, and the one +receiving the second highest, Vice-President. In 1801, Jefferson and +Burr each received seventy-three electoral votes, and by +constitutional requirement the election at once devolved upon +the House of Representatives, voting by States. On the thirty-sixth +ballot a majority of the States voting for Jefferson, he became +President, and Burr, Vice-President. The Constitutional amendment +above indicated, by which separate ballots were required in the +electoral colleges for each office, was the result of the +intense excitement throughout the country engendered by this contest. +The earnest opposition of Alexander Hamilton to Aaron Burr in +the above-mentioned contest, was the prime cause of the duel by +which Hamilton lost his life at the hands of Burr in 1804. + +George Clinton, the fourth Vice-President, had as a member of +the Continental Congress voted for the Declaration of Independence, +and held the rank of Brigadier-General during the War of the +Revolution. The fifth Vice-President, Elbridge Gerry, had been +a prominent member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. +William R. King, elected in 1852, by reason of ill health never +entered upon the discharge of the duties of his office. By special +act of Congress, the oath of office was administered to him in Cuba +and his death occurred soon thereafter. Of the twenty-seven +Vice-Presidents thus far elected, ten have been from the State +of New York. Adams and Jefferson, the first and second +Vice-Presidents, rendered valuable service to the young Republic at +foreign courts; each by election was elevated to the Presidency; and +their deaths occurred upon the same historic Fourth of July, +just fifty years from the day they had signed the Declaration of +Independence. + +A marble bust of each of the Vice-Presidents has been placed in +the gallery of the Senate Chamber. The office of Vice-President +is one of great dignity. He is the presiding officer of the +most august legislative assembly known to men. In the event of an +equal division in the Senate, he gives the deciding vote. This +vote, many times in our history, has been one of deep significance. +It will readily be seen that the contingency may often occur when the +Vice-President becomes an important factor in matters of +legislation. + +On the occasion of the writer's retirement from office, March 4, +1897, he delivered the following farewell address before the Senate: + +"Senators: The hour has arrived which marks the close of the +fifty-fourth Congress, and terminates my official relation to this +body. + +"Before laying down the gavel for the last time, I may be pardoned +for detaining you for a moment, in the attempt to give expression to +my gratitude for the uniform courtesy extended me, for the many +kindnesses shown me, during the time it has been my good fortune +to preside over your deliberations. My appreciation of the Resolution +of the Senate personal to myself, can find no adequate expression in +words. Intentionally, I have at no time given offence; and I carry +from this presence no shadow of feeling of unkindness toward any +Senator, no memory of any grievance. + +"Chief among the favors political fortune has bestowed upon me, +I count that of having been the associate--and known something +of the friendship--of the men with whom I have so long held official +relation in this chamber. To have been the presiding officer of +this august body is an honor of which even the most illustrious +citizen might be proud. I am persuaded that no occupant of this +Chair, during the one hundred and eight years of our Constitutional +history, ever entered upon the discharge of the duties pertaining to +this office more deeply impressed with a sense of the responsibilities +imposed, or with a higher appreciation of the character and dignity +of the great Legislative Assembly. + +"During the term just closing, questions of deep import to political +parties and to the country have here found earnest and at times +passionate discussion. This Chamber has indeed been the arena +of great debate. The record of four years of parliamentary struggles, +of masterful debates, of important legislation, is closed, and +passes now to the domain of history. + +"I think I can truly say, in the words of a distinguished predecessor, +'In the discharge of my official duties, I have known no cause, no +party, no friend.' It has been my earnest endeavor justly to +interpret, and faithfully to execute, the rules of the Senate. At +times the temptation may be strong to compass partisan ends by a +disregard or a perversion of the rules. Yet, I think it safe to +say, the result, however salutary, will be dearly purchased by a +departure from the method prescribed by the Senate for its own +guidance. A single instance, as indicated, might prove the forerunner +of untold evils. + + ''T will be recorded for a precedent, + And many an error by the same example + Will rush into the State.' + +"It must not be forgotten that the rules governing this body are +founded deep in human experience; that they are the result of +centuries of tireless effort in legislative hall, to conserve, +to render stable and secure, the rights and liberties which have +been achieved by conflict. By its rules, the Senate wisely fixes the +limits to its own power. Of those who clamor against the Senate +and its mode of procedure it may be truly said, 'They know not what +they do.' In this Chamber alone are preserved, without restraint, +two essentials of wise legislation and of good government--the +right of amendment and of debate. Great evils often result from +hasty legislation, rarely from the delay which follows full +discussion and deliberation. In my humble judgment, the historic +Senate, preserving the unrestricted right of amendment and of +debate, maintaining intact the time-honored parliamentary methods and +amenities which unfailingly secure action after deliberation, +possesses in our scheme of government a value which can not be +measured by words. The Senate is a perpetual body. In the +terse words of an eminent Senator now present: 'The men who framed +the Constitution had studied thoroughly all former attempts at +Republican government. History was strewn with the wrecks of +unsuccessful democracies. Sometimes the usurpation of the executive +power, sometimes the fickleness and unbridled license of the people, +had brought popular governments to destruction. To guard against these +dangers, they placed their chief hope in the Senate. The Senate +which was organized in 1789, at the inauguration of the Government, +abides and will continue to abide, one and the same body, until +the Republic itself shall be overthrown, or time shall be no more.' + +"Twenty-four Senators who have occupied seats in this Chamber during +my term of office are no longer members of this body. Five of that +number--Stanford, Colquitt, Vance, Stockbridge, and Wilson-- +'shattered with the contentions of the Great Hall,' full of years and +of honors have passed from earthly scenes. The fall of the +gavel will conclude the long and honorable terms of service of +other Senators, who will be borne in kind remembrance by their +associates who remain. + +"I would do violence to my feelings if I failed to express my thanks +to the officers of this body for the fidelity with which they have +discharged their important duties, and for the kindly assistance +and unfailing courtesy of which I have been the recipient. + +"For the able and distinguished gentleman who succeeds me as +your presiding officer, I earnestly invoke the same co-operation +and courtesy which you have so generously accorded me. + +"Senators, my parting words have been spoken, and I now discharge my +last official duty, that of declaring the Senate adjourned without +day." + + + +V +THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES + +DIFFICULTY OF FORMULATING A FEDERAL CONSTITUTION--THE CONVENTION +OF 1787 SEES THE NECESSITY FOR A GENERAL GOVERNMENT WITH PLENARY +POWERS--JEALOUSY OF THE SMALLER TOWARD THE LARGER STATES-- +BRITISH PARLIAMENT TAKEN, WITH QUALIFICATIONS, AS THE MODEL FOR THE +HOUSES OF CONGRESS--EQUAL STATE REPRESENTATION IN THE SENATE-- +NON-EXISTENCE OF ANY METHOD FOR TERMINATING DEBATES IN THE SENATE-- +POTENCY OF THE PRESIDENT'S VETO--ABUSE OF THE _CLOTURE_ IN THE +HOUSE--PROCEDURE IN THE EVENT OF THE FAILURE OF THE PEOPLE TO ELECT +A PRESIDENT OR A VICE-PRESIDENT--THE HAYES-TILDEN CONTEST--DANGER OF +USURPATION OF POWER BY THE EXECUTIVE--THE SENATE AS A HIGH COURT +OF IMPEACHMENT--TRIAL OF CHASE OF MARYLAND--TRIAL OF BELKNAP, +SECRETARY OF WAR--TRIAL OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON. + +It is a well-known fact in our political history that the convention +which formulated our Federal Constitution greatly exceeded the +powers delegated to its members by their respective States. It +was the supreme moment, and upon the action of the historic assemblage +depended events of far-reaching consequence. The Constitution +of the United States is the enduring monument to the courage, the +forecast, the wisdom of the members of the Convention of 1787. It +was theirs to cut the Gordian knot, to break with the past, and, +regardless of the jealousies and antagonisms of individual States, +to establish the more perfect union, which has been declared by an +eminent British statesman "the greatest work ever struck off at +a given time from the brain and purpose of man." + +The oft-quoted expression of Gladstone is, however, more rhetorical +than accurate. The Constitution of the United States was not +"struck off at a given time," but as declared by Bancroft, "the +materials for its building were the gifts of the ages." In the +words of Lieber, "What the ancients said of the avenging gods, that +they were shod with wool, is true of great ideas in government. +They approach slowly. Great truths dwell a long time with small +minorities." + +The period following the treaty of peace with Great Britain in +1783, which terminated the War of the Revolution, has been not +inaptly designated "the critical period of American history." The +Revolutionary Government, under which Washington had been chosen +to the chief command of the colonial forces, the early battles +fought, and the Declaration of Independence promulgated, had +been superseded in 1781 by a Government created under the Articles +of Confederation. The latter Government, while in a vital sense +a mere rope of sand, was a long step in the right direction; the +earnest of the more perfect union yet to follow. + +Under the Government, more shadowy than real, thus created, the +closing battles of the Revolution were fought, independence achieved, +a treaty of peace concluded, and our recognition as a sovereign +Republic obtained from our late antagonist and other European +nations. + +The Articles of Confederation, submitted for ratification by the +Colonial Congress to the individual States while the country was +yet in the throes of a doubtful struggle, fell far short of +establishing what in even crude form could properly be designated a +Government. The Confederation was wholly lacking in one essential +of all Governments: the power to execute its own decrees. Its +avowed purpose was to establish "a firm league of friendship," or, +as the name indicates, a mere confederation of the colonies. +The parties to this league were independent political communities, +and by express terms, each State was to retain all rights, sovereignty, +and jurisdiction not expressly delegated to the Confederation. In +a Congress consisting of a single House were vested the powers thus +grudgingly conferred. Its members were to be chosen by the States +as such; upon every question the vote was given by States, each, +regardless of population, having but a single vote. The revenues and +the regulation of foreign commerce were to remain under the control +of the respective States, and no provision was made for borrowing +money for the necessary maintenance of the general Government. In +a word, in so far as a Government at all, it was in the main one +of independent States, and in no sense that with which we are +familiar, a Government of the entire people. Whatever existed +of executive power was in a committee of the Congress; the only +provision for meeting the expenses of the late war and the interest +upon the public debt was by requisition upon the States, with no +shadow of power for its enforcement. + +Under the conditions briefly mentioned, with the United States +of America a byword among the nations, the now historic Convention +of 1787 assembled in Philadelphia, in the room where eleven +years earlier had been promulgated the Declaration of Independence. +It consisted of fifty-five members; and without a dissenting voice, +Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected its President. +Not the least of his public services was now to be rendered in the +work of safeguarding the fruits of successful revolution by a stable +Government. Chief among the associates with whom he was daily +in earnest, anxious counsel in the great assemblage, were men whose +names live with his in history. If Franklin, Wilson, Sherman, +King, Randolph, Rutledge, Mason, Pinckney, Hamilton, Madison, +and their associates had rendered no public service other than +as builders of the Constitution, that alone would entitle them +to the measureless gratitude of all future generations of their +countrymen. + +When they were assembled, the startling fact was at once apparent that, +under the Confederation, with its constituent States at times in +almost open hostility to one another, the country was gradually +drifting into a condition of anarchy. + +It is our glory to-day, and will be that of countless on-coming +generations, that the men of '87 were equal to the stupendous +emergency. Regardless of instructions, expressed or implied, +the master spirits of the Convention, looking beyond local prejudices +and State environment, and appealing to time for vindication, with +a ken that now seems more than human, discerned the safety, the +well-being, the glory of their countrymen, bound up in a general +Government of plenary powers, a Government "without a seam in its +garment, to foreign nations." + +To this end the proposition submitted by Paterson of New Jersey, +in the early sittings of the Convention, for a mere enlargement of +the powers of the Confederation, was decisively rejected. With +the light that could be gleaned from the pages of Montesquieu, the +suggestive lessons to be drawn from the fate of the short-lived +republics whose wrecks lay along the pathway of history, and from the +unwritten Constitution of the mother country, as their only guides, +the leaders of the Convention were at once in the difficult role +of constructive statesmen. The Herculean task to which with +unwearied effort they now addressed themselves was that of "builders" +of the Constitution; the establishers, for the ages, of the +fundamental law for a free people. + +One of the perils which early beset the Convention, and whose +spectre haunted its deliberations till the close, was the hostility +engendered by the dread and jealousy of the smaller toward the +larger States. This fact will in some measure explain what in +later years have been denominated the anomalies of the Constitution. +To a correct understanding of the motives of the builders, and +an appreciation of their marvellous accomplishment, it must not be +forgotten that "The foundations of the Constitution were laid in +compromise." The men of '87 had but recently emerged from the +bloody conflict through which they had escaped the domination of +kingly power. With the tyranny of George the Third yet burning in +their memories, it is not to be wondered that the Revolutionary +patriots of the less populous States were loath to surrender rights, +deemed, by them, secure under their local governments; that they +dreaded the establishment of what they apprehended might prove +an overshadowing--possibly unlimited--central authority. + +The creation of a general Government, with its three separate +and measurably independent departments, happily concluded, with +the delegated powers of each distinctly enumerated, the salient +question as to the basis of representation in the Congress at once +pressed for determination. Upon the question of provision for a +chief executive, and his investment with the powers necessarily +incident to the great office, there was after much debate a practical +consensus of opinion. And practical unanimity in the end prevailed +regarding the judicial department, with its great court without +a prototype at its creation, and even yet without a counterpart in +foreign Governments. + +The rock upon which the Convention barely escaped early dissolution, +was the basis of representation in the Congress created under +the great co-ordinate legislative department. The model for our +Senate and House of Representatives was unquestionably the British +Parliament. This statement is to be taken with weighty qualifications; +for hereditary or ecclesiastical representation, as in the House +of Lords, is wholly unknown in our system of government. The +significant resemblance is that of our Lower House to the +British Commons. In these respective chambers, the people, as +such, have representation. + +The earnest, at times violent, contention of the smaller States, +in our historic Convention, was for equal representation in both +branches of the proposed national legislature. This was strenuously +resisted by the larger States under the powerful leadership of +Madison of Virginia, and Wilson of Pennsylvania. Their equally +earnest, and by no means illogical contention was for popular +representation in each House, as outlined in the Virginia plan +which had been taken as the framework of the proposed Constitution. +The opposing views appeared wholly irreconcilable, and for a time the +parting of the ways seemed to have been reached. Threats of +dissolution were not uncommon in the Chamber, and for many days +the spirit of despair brooded over the Convention. A delegate from +Maryland vehemently declared: "The Convention is on the verge +of dissolution, scarcely held together by the strength of a hair." +Well has it been said: "In even the contemplation of the fearful +consequence of such a calamity, the imagination stands aghast." + +At the crucial moment mentioned, Sherman and Ellsworth presented +upon behalf of Connecticut the first and most far-reaching of +the great compromises of the Constitution. The Connecticut plan +was in brief to the effect that in fixing the ratio of representation +there should be recognition alike of the federal and of the national +feature in government, in a word, that in the Lower House the +national, and in the upper the federal principle should have +full recognition. This was a departure from the Virginia plan +to the extent that it in effect proposed the establishment of a +federal republic,--in the concrete, that the House should be composed +of representatives chosen directly by the people from districts of +equal population; while representation in the Senate should be that +of the States, each, regardless of population, to have two members, +to be chosen at stated periods by their respective legislatures. + +After heated debate, this compromise was carried by a bare majority, +and the provision for popular representation in the House, and +equal State representation in the Senate, became engrafted upon +our Federal Constitution. This feature, an eminent foreign writer has +declared, "is the chief American contribution to the common treasures +of political civilization." The eminent writer, De Tocqueville, +has well said: "The principle of the independence of the States +triumphed in the formation of the Senate, and that of the sovereignty +of the nation in the composition of the House of Representatives." + +The success of the Connecticut plan made possible that of other +essential compromises which followed; and the result was, as the +sublime consummation of wise deliberation and patriotic concession, +the establishment of the Government of the United States. + +It is the proud boast of the Briton, that "the British Constitution +has no single date from which its duration is to be reckoned, +and that the origin of English law is as undiscoverable as that of +the Nile." Our Government, buttressed upon a written Constitution +of enumerated and logically implied powers, had its historic +beginning upon that masterful day, April 30, 1789, when Washington +took solemn oath of office as our first President. + +The Senate of the United States has been truly declared "the greatest +deliberative body known to men." By Constitutional provision it +consists of two members from each State, chosen by the Legislature +thereof, for the term of six years. No person has the legal +qualification for Senator "unless he shall have attained the age +of thirty years, be an inhabitant of the State for which he is +chosen, and have been nine years a citizen of the United States." +No State, without its consent, can ever be deprived, even by +Constitutional amendment, of its equal representation in the Senate. +Nevada with a population of less than forty thousand has her equal +voice with New York with a population exceeding seven million. +This anomaly was occasioned by concession by the larger to the +smaller States in the Convention of 1787, a concession which +made possible the establishment of the federal Union. + +One essential difference between the House of Representatives +and the Senate is that to the latter "the previous question" is +unknown; no method existing for terminating debate, other than +by unanimous consent. Here, unlimited discussion and amendment +can have their perfect work. Within the last three or four decades +many fruitless attempts have been made to introduce a modified +"previous question" or _cloture,_ by which the Senate could be +brought to an immediate vote. At first blush such change might +seem desirable, but experience has demonstrated the wisdom of +the method to which there has been such steady adherence. It +secures time for consideration and full discussion upon every +question. In the end the vote will be taken. Debate is rarely +prolonged beyond reasonable limit. Not infrequently the public +welfare is imperilled by too much, rather than too little, legislation. +It was the belief of Jefferson that government should touch the +citizen at the fewest possible points. The quaint lines of the +old English poet have lost nothing of their significance: + + "How small, of all that human hearts endure, + That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!" + +The House of Representatives has in large degree ceased to be a +deliberative body. Under the iron rule of the "previous question" +measures of importance are hurriedly passed without the possibility +of discussion or amendment. The rights of the minority are at +times but as the dust in the balance. + +Unlike the House of Lords, the Senate is in reality an important +factor in legislation. As is well known in recent years, government +in Great Britain is virtually that of the House of Commons, in +large measure through a cabinet practically of its own appointment. +The King is little more than a ceremonial figure-head, and the +House of Lords is almost in a death struggle for existence. The +end would probably come by serious attempt upon its part to thwart +the popular will as expressed through the House of Commons. The +power of Edward the Seventh is but a shadow of that exercised almost +without let or hindrance by the predecessors of Queen Victoria. +The veto power, so potent an instrumentality in the hands of the +American President, is to all intents a dead letter in the mythical +British Constitution. For a century and a half it has remained in +practical abeyance. It is believed that its attempted exercise at +this day would produce revolution; possibly endanger the existence +of the throne. + +By means of what is known as a suspension of the rules, under +the operation of the "previous question," much important legislation +is enacted in our House of Representatives, without the minority +having the privilege of debate, or amendment, or even the necessary +time to a full understanding of the pending measure. The constantly +recurring "River and Harbor Bill," with its enormous sum total +of appropriations, is a striking object lesson of the vicious +character of such methods. + +In the light of what has been suggested, the wisdom displayed in +the establishment of the bicameral, or two-chamber system, in +our legislative scheme, is strikingly apparent. At the time of +its creation, it had no counterpart in any of the Governments of +continental Europe. Its only prototype, in so far as it was such, +was the British House of Lords as already indicated. + +Save only in the right to originate revenue bills, the power of +the Senate is concurrent with that of the House in all matters +of legislation; and these are wisely subject to amendment by the +Senate. The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice-President +of the United States, and in his absence a Senator chosen as +President _pro tempore._ + +In the event of a failure on the part of the people to elect a +President or a Vice-President of the United States, through electors +duly appointed at the stated time, the duty of such election devolves +upon the House and the Senate acting independently of each other. +The choice of President is limited to the three candidates who have +received the highest number of votes in the several electoral +colleges. The determination is by the House of Representatives, +the vote being by States. In such event the vote of Nevada +would again count equally with that of New York. In the contingency +mentioned, of a failure to elect a Vice-President, the election +devolves upon the Senate, each Senator having a personal vote; and +the person chosen must by Constitutional requirement be one of the +two receiving the highest number of electoral votes. In 1836, Mr. +Van Buren of New York received a majority of the electoral votes +for President; but no person receiving a majority for the second +office, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, one of the two +persons eligible, was chosen by the Senate. No similar instance +has occurred in our history. + +In the Presidential election of 1800, and in that of 1824, the +ultimate determination was by the House of Representatives. In +the former, Jefferson and Burr each received seventy-three electoral +votes, without specification as to whether intended for the first or +second office. The protracted struggle which followed resulted in +the choice of Jefferson for the higher office. This fortunate +termination was in large measure through the influence of Alexander +Hamilton, and was the initial step in the bitter personal strife +which eventuated in his early death at the hands of Burr. In +the light of events, we may well believe that not the least of the +public services of Hamilton was his unselfish interposition at the +critical moment mentioned. The possibility of similar complication +again arising in the election of the President was soon thereafter +obviated by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. + +Seldom in Presidential contests has there been such an array of +great names presented as in that of 1824. The era of good feeling +which characterized the administration of Monroe found sudden +termination in the rival candidacy of two members of his cabinet, for +the succession--Mr. Adams, Secretary of State, and Mr. Crawford, of +the Treasury. The other aspirants were Clay, the brilliant Speaker +of the House of Representatives, and Jackson, with laurels yet +fresh from the battlefield of New Orleans. Mr. Clay receiving the +smallest number of electoral votes, and no candidate the +majority thereof, the selection again devolved upon the House, +resulting eventually in the choice of John Quincy Adams. + +In the two Presidential contests last mentioned, the Senate had no +part in the final adjustment. An occasion, however, arose nearly a +half-century later, involving the succession to the Presidency, in +which the Senate, equally with the House, was an important factor in +the final determination. The country has known few periods of +profounder anxiety to thoughtful men, or of greater peril to stable +government, than the feverish hours immediately succeeding the +Presidential contest of 1876. The shadow cast by the Hayes-Tilden +contest even yet, in a measure, lingers. As a Representative in +Congress at the time, I was deeply impressed with the gravity of +the situation. In the instances first mentioned it was the mere +question of the failure of any candidate to receive a majority +of the electoral votes. The framers of the Constitution had wisely +provided for such contingency by action of the House in manner +indicated. The far more serious question now confronting was, For +whom had the disputed States of Florida and Louisiana cast their +votes? The settlement of this question virtually determined which +candidate should be inaugurated President. Conflicting certificates +from the States named had been forwarded to the seat of government, +and were in keeping of the officer designated by law as the custodian +of the electoral returns from the several States. The contingency +which had now arisen was one for which there was no provision. +The sole function of the joint session of the Senate and the House +was "to open all the certificates and count the votes." This +was "the be all and end all" of its authority. Upon the arising +of any question demanding a vote, or even deliberation, the members +of the joint session could only return to their separate chambers. +They could act only in their separate capacities. In a word, +the perilous exigency presented was, the friends of one candidate having +a majority in the Senate, and of the other in control of the House; +conflicting certificates presented, upon which hinged the result, and +the tension throughout the entire country assuming alarming +proportions. Coupled with the question of peaceable succession to +the great office was that of the durability of popular government. +Tremendous issues, upon which depended unfathomable consequences, pressed +for settlement; and no tribunal was in existence for their +determination. + +The sober second thought of those upon whom was then cast the +responsibility asserted itself at the opportune moment, and a +commission consisting of an equal number of Senators, Representatives, +and Judges of the Great Court was created. This commission-- +extra-Constitutional, as was believed by many--decided as to the +validity of the conflicting certificates, and in effect determined +as to the Presidential succession. + +The justification of the act creating the commission might well +rest upon the fact that an overshadowing emergency had arisen, +where necessity becomes the paramount law. "The pendulum of history +swings in centuries," and a single term of the great office weighed +little in view of the perils that surely awaited a failure to secure +peaceful adjustment. + +I may be pardoned for adding that in the retrospect of a life, +no longer a short one, I have no regrets that my humble voice +and vote were given for peaceable and lawful adjustment of a perilous +controversy, that cast its dark shadow across our national pathway +--such a one, as, please God, our country may never witness again. + +Unquestionably the least satisfactory of the devices of our Federal +Constitution is that for the election of President and Vice-President +through the instrumentality of colleges of electors chosen by +the several States. Upon this subject notes of warning have +been many times sounded by eminent statesmen of the past. In view +of the hazardous complications through which we have happily passed, +and of those which may possibly beset our future pathway as a +nation, it would indeed be the part of wisdom, if by Constitutional +amendment a less complicated and cumbrous instrumentality could be +devised for ascertaining and making effective the popular will +in the selection of President and Vice-President of the United +States. + +One of the apprehensions of the framers of the Constitution was +that of executive usurpation of functions lawfully pertaining to +the co-ordinate department of the Government. This was measurably +guarded against by the provision requiring appointment to high +office to be by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. +While the President by the exercise of the veto power possesses +a negative upon legislation, the Senate by virtue of the provision +quoted has an equally effective negative upon executive appointments +to important office. + +To the President is confided primarily the treaty-making power. +Treaties are the law of the land, and their observance in spirit +as well as letter touches the national honor. Upon this often +depends the issue of peace or war. Before becoming effective their +ratification by a two-thirds vote of the Senate is indispensable. +From these and other safeguards strikingly appear what are known +as "the checks and balances" of the Constitution. + +An important function of the Senate yet to be mentioned is that of +sitting as a high court of impeachment. The President, Vice-President, +and other high officials are amenable to its jurisdiction. The +initial step, however, in such procedure is by the House of +Representatives, as the grand inquest of the nation, presenting +articles of impeachment, the Senate possessing the sole power of +trial. Six times only in our history has the Senate been resolved +into a Court of Impeachment, and only twice--in the case of district +judges--has there been a conviction. The earliest trial, more than +a century ago, was that of a supreme justice, Chase of Maryland. +Apart from the high official position of the accused, and the august +tribunal before which he was arraigned, this trial is of +historic interest from the fact that it involved the once famous +Alien and Sedition Laws; that John Randolph was chief of the managers +on the part of the House; Pinckney, Martin, and William Wirt of +counsel for the defence; and Vice-President Aaron Burr, the presiding +officer of the court. + +The trial of Belknap, Secretary of War, is still within the memory +of many. As a member of the House, I attended it from the beginning. +It appearing from the evidence that Belknap had resigned his office +before the presentation of the articles of impeachment, he was +acquitted. The fate of General Belknap was indeed a sad one, that +of a hitherto honorable career suddenly terminated under a cloud. +Morally guiltless himself, his chivalric assumption of responsibility +for the act of one near to him, and his patiently abiding the +consequence, has invested with something of pathos, and even romance, +the memory of his trial. + +An impeachment that has left its deep impress upon history, and +before which all others pale into insignificance, was that of +President Johnson, charged by the House of Representatives with +the commission of "high crimes and misdemeanors." He had been +elected to the second place upon the ticket with Mr. Lincoln in +1864, and upon the death of the latter, succeeded to the Presidency. +Radical differences with the majority in the Congress, upon questions +vital and far-reaching, ultimately culminated in the presentation of +articles of impeachment. Partisan feeling was at its height, +and the excitement throughout the country intense. The trial +was protracted for many weeks without jot or tittle of abatement +in the public interest. The chief managers on the part of the +House were Benjamin F. Butler and Thaddeus Stevens. The array +of counsel for the accused included the names of Benjamin R. Curtis, +Henry Stanberry, and William M. Evarts. The Senate, in its high +character of a court, was presided over for the first and only time +by the Chief Justice of the United States. The trial was conducted +with marked decorum; every phase of questions touching the exercise +of executive authority, or lawful discretion, was fully discussed, +the very springs of legislative power, and its limitation under +Constitutional government, were laid bare--all with an eloquence +unparalleled save only in the wondrous efforts of Sheridan, Fox, +and Burke in the historic impeachment of Warren Hastings before +the British House of Lords. The spectacle presented was one +that challenged the attention and wonder of the nations; that of +the chief magistrate of a great republic at the bar of justice, +calmly awaiting judgment without popular disturbance or attempted revolt, +under the safeguards of law and its appointments. The highest test +of the virtue of our system of representative government, and of +the unfaltering devotion of our people to its prescribed methods, is +to be found in the fact, that during the protracted trial the +various departments proceeded with wonted regularity; the verdict of +the Senate was acquiesced in without manifestation of hostility; +partisan passion soon abated and the great impeachment peaceably +relegated to the domain of history. + +The House of Representatives has an official life of short duration. +Its reorganization is biennial. The Senate is enduring. Always +organized, it is the continuing body of our national legislature. +Its members change, but the Senate continues the same now, as in +the first hour of the Republic. + +In his last great speech in the Senate, Mr. Webster said: + +"It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States; a +body not yet moved from its propriety, not lost to a full sense of +its own dignity and its own high responsibilities, and a body to +which the country looks with confidence for wise, moderate, patriotic, +and healing counsels." + +Upon the first assembling of the Senate in its present magnificent +chamber nearly half a century ago, the Vice-President closed his +eloquent dedicatory address with the words: + +"Though these marble walls moulder into ruins, the Senate in another +age may bear into a new and larger chamber the Constitution vigorous +and inviolate, and the last generation of posterity shall witness the +deliberations of the representatives of American States still +united, prosperous, and free." + + + +VI +A TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN + +THE WRITER'S SPEECH AT THE LINCOLN CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 1909 +--PATRIOTIC CHARACTER OF THE MEETING--LEADING HISTORICAL EVENTS +BETWEEN 1809 AND 1909--BIRTH OF LINCOLN--TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION OF +ILLINOIS--BIRTH OF DARWIN AND GLADSTONE--CAREER OF NAPOLEON--WAR +OF 1812--THE SLAVERY QUESTION--SEIZURE AND SURRENDER OF MASON +AND SLIDELL--EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. + +February 12, 1909, will long be remembered as the day of the +celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham +Lincoln. For on that day was the culmination of a celebration +which, in various parts of the country, had begun at least a +week before. Rarely has there been an occasion of so much decoration, +so many addresses, or so much patriotism. The largest celebration +occurred in New York City, but that of Chicago, if not so large, +was at least as interesting and impressive, for in it and surrounding +parts of Illinois some of the most memorable events in the life of +Lincoln took place. Yet these manifestations were not a whit more +patriotic than those of many small towns and villages. + +Every hamlet, every town, and every city of the United States seemed +to be imbued with a desire to do honor to the memory of the man +Lincoln. Every newspaper and every magazine of whatever name or +order was filled with pictures, anecdotes, and sketches of the life +of "Honest Abe." Books galore were published emphasizing every +phase of his life, character, work, and influence; and they sold +well. + +My contribution to this occasion was the following speech delivered +at Bloomington, Illinois, February 12: + +"We have assembled to commemorate one of the epoch-making events +in history. In the humblest of homes in the wilds of a new and +sparsely settled State, Abraham Lincoln was born one hundred years +ago, this day. + +"The twelfth day of February, like the twenty-second day of the +same month, is one of the sacred days in the American calendar. +It is well that this day be set apart from ordinary uses, the +headlong rush in the crowded mart suspended, the voice of fierce +contention in legislative halls be hushed, and that the American +people--whether at home, in foreign lands, or upon the deep--honor +themselves by honoring the memory of the man of whose birth this +day is the first centennial. + +"This coming together is no idle ceremony, no unmeaning observance. +To this man, more than to any other, are we indebted for the supreme +fact that ninety millions of people are at this hour, in the loftiest +sense of the expression, fellow-citizens of a common country. Some +of us, through the mists of half a century, distinctly recall +the earnest tones in which Mr. Lincoln in public speech uttered +the words, 'My fellow-citizens.' Truly the magical words +'fellow-citizens' never fail to touch a responsive chord in the +patriotic heart. Was it the gifted Prentiss who at a critical +moment of our history exclaimed: + +"'For whether upon the Sabine or the St. John's; standing in +the shadow of Bunker Hill or amid the ruins of Jamestown; near +the great northern lakes or within the sound of the Father of +Waters flowing unvexed to the sea; in the crowded mart of the +great metropolis or upon the western verge of the continent, +where the restless tide of emigration is stayed only by the +ocean--everywhere upon this broad domain, thank God, I can still +say "fellow-citizens"!' + +"Let us pause for a moment and briefly note some of the marvellous +results wrought out by the toil, strife, and sacrifice of the +century whose close we commemorate. The Year of Our Lord 1809 was +one of large place in history. The author of the Declaration of +Independence was upon the eve of final retirement from public place, +and the Presidential term of James Madison just beginning, when in +a log cabin near the western verge of civilization the eyes of +Abraham Lincoln first opened upon the world. The vast area +stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean was under +the dominion of Spain. Two decades only had passed since the +establishment of the United States Government under the Federal +Constitution, and the inauguration of Washington as its first +President. Lewis and Clark had but recently returned from the now +historic expedition to the Columbia and the Oregon,--an expedition +fraught with momentous consequences to the oncoming generations of +the Republic. Only five years had passed since President Jefferson +had purchased, for fifteen millions of dollars from Napoleon +Bonaparte, the Louisiana country, extending from the Gulf of Mexico +to the frozen lakes, out of which were to be carved sixteen +magnificent States to become enduring parts of the American +Republic. From the early Colonial settlements that fringed the +Atlantic, a tide of hardy emigration was setting in to the westward, +and, regardless of privation or danger, laying the sure foundation +of future commonwealths. Four States only had been admitted into the +Federal Union, and the population of the entire country was less +than that of the State of New York to-day. This same year witnessed +the first organization of Illinois into a distinct political +community and its creation, by act of Congress, as the Territory +of Illinois, with a white population less than one-twentieth of +that of this good county to-day. The United States having +barely escaped a war with France,--our ally in securing our +independence,--was earnestly struggling for distinct place among +the nations. + +"No less significant, and fraught with deep consequences, were +events occurring in the Old Worlds. The year 1809 witnessed the +birth of Darwin and Gladstone. The despotism of the Dark Ages +still brooded over Continental Europe, and whatever savored of +popular public rule--even in its mildest form--was yet in the +distant future. Alexander the First was on the throne of Russia,-- +and her millions of serfs were oppressed as by the iron hand of +the Caesars. The splendid German Empire of to-day had no place on +the map of the world; its present powerful constituencies were +antagonistic provinces and warring independent cities. Napoleon +Bonaparte--'calling Fate into the lists'--by a succession of +victories unparalleled in history had overturned thrones, compelled +kings upon bended knee to sue for peace, and substituted those +of his own household for dynasties that reached back the entire +length of human history. With his star still in the ascendant, +disturbed by no forecast of the horrid nightmare of the retreat +from Moscow, 'with legions scattered by the artillery of the snows +and the cavalry of the winds,' tortured by no dream of Leipsic, of +Elba, of Waterloo, of St. Helena, he was still the 'man of destiny,' +--relentlessly pursuing the _ignis fatuus_ of universal empire. + +"The year that witnessed the birth of Abraham Lincoln witnessed +the gathering of the disturbing elements that were to precipitate the +second war with the mother country. England--with George the Third +still upon the throne--by insulting and cruel search of American +vessels upon the high seas, was rendering inevitable the declaration +of war by Congress,--a war of humiliation upon our part by the +disgraceful surrender of Hull at Detroit and the wanton burning of +our Capitol, but crowned with honor by the naval victories of +Lawrence, Decatur, and Perry, and eventually terminated by the +capture of the British army at New Orleans. As an object lesson +of the marvels of the closing century, an event of such momentous +consequence to the world as the formulation of the Treaty of Ghent, +by which peace was restored between England and America, would to-day +be known at every fireside a few hours after its occurrence. And yet, +within the now closing century, the battle of New Orleans was fought +twenty-three days after the Treaty of Ghent, coming by slow-sailing +vessels across the Atlantic, had received the signature of our +commissioners; all unsettled accounts squared eternally between America +and Great Britain; and the United States, by valor no less than by +diplomacy, exalted to honored and enduring place among the nations. + +"The fifty-six years that compassed the life of Abraham Lincoln +were years of transcendent significance to our country. While +he was yet in his rude cradle the African slave trade had just +terminated by constitutional inhibition. While Lincoln was still in +attendance upon the old field school, Henry Clay--yet to be known as +the 'great pacificator'--was pressing the admission of Missouri +into the Union under the first compromise upon the question of +slavery since the adoption of the Federal Constitution. From +the establishment of the Government the question of human +slavery was the one perilous question,--the one constant menace to +national unity, until its final extinction amid the flames of war. +Marvellous to man are the purposes of the Almighty. What seer +could have foretold that, from this humblest of homes upon the +frontier, was to spring the man who at the crucial moment should +cut the Gordian knot, liberate a race, and give to the ages enlarged +and grander conception of the deathless principles of the declaration +of human rights? + + "'Often do the spirits of great events + Stride on before the events, + And in to-day already walks to-morrow.' + +"The first inauguration of President Lincoln noted the hour of +breaking with the past. It was a period of gloom, when the very +foundations were shaken, when no man could foretell the happening of +the morrow, when strong men trembled at the possibility of the +destruction of our Government. + +"Pause a moment, and recall the man who, under the conditions +mentioned, on the fourth of March, 1861, entered upon the duties +of the great office to which he had been chosen. He came from the +common walks of life--from what, in other countries, would be called +the great middle class. His early home was one of the humblest, +where he was a stranger to the luxuries and to many of the ordinary +comforts of life. His opportunities for education were only such as +were common in the remote habitations of our Western country one +century ago. + +"Under such conditions, began a career which in grandeur and +achievement has but a single counterpart in our history. And what +a splendid commentary this upon our free institutions,--upon the +sublime underlying principle of popular government! How inspiring +to the youth of high aims every incident of the pathway that led +from the frontier cabin to the Executive Mansion,--from the humblest +position to the most exalted yet attained by man! In no other +country than ours could such attainment have been possible for the +boy whose hands were inured to toil, whose bread was eaten under +the hard conditions that poverty imposes, whose only heritage +was brain, integrity, lofty ambition, and indomitable purpose. +Let it never be forgotten that the man of whom I speak possessed +an integrity that could know no temptation, a purity of life that was +never questioned, a patriotism that no sectional lines could limit, +and a fixedness of purpose that knew no shadow of turning. + +"The decade extending from our first treaty of peace with Great +Britain to the inauguration of Washington has been truly denominated +the critical period of our history. The eloquence of Adams and +Henry had precipitated revolution; the unfaltering courage of +Washington and his comrades had secured independence; but the more +difficult task of garnering up the fruits of victory by stable +government was yet to be achieved. The hour for the constructive +statesman had arrived, and James Madison and his associates, equal to +the great emergency, formulated the Federal Constitution. + +"No less critical was the period that bounded the active life of +the man whose memory we honor to-day. One perilous question to +national unity which for nearly three-quarters of a century had +been the subject of repeated compromise by patriotic statesmen; +the apple of discord producing sectional antagonism, whose shadow had +darkened our national pathway from the beginning,--was now for weal +or woe to find determination. Angry debate in the Senate and upon +the forum was now hushed, and the supreme question that took hold of +national life was to find enduring arbitrament in the dread tribunal +of war. + +"It was well that in such an hour, with such tremendous issues +in the balance, a steady hand was at the helm; that a conservative +statesman--one whose mission was to save, not to destroy--was in +the high place of responsibility and power. It booted little then +that he was untaught of schools, unskilled in the ways of courts, but +it was of supreme moment that he could touch responsive chords +in the great American heart, all-important that his very soul +yearned for the preservation of the Government established through +the toil and sacrifice of the generation that had gone. How +hopeless the Republic in that dark hour, had its destiny hung upon +the statecraft of Talleyrand, the eloquence of Mirabeau, or the +genius of Napoleon! It was fortunate indeed that the ark of our +covenant was then borne by the plain, brave man of conciliatory +spirit and kind words, whose heart, as Emerson has said, 'was as +large as the world, but nowhere had room for the memory of a wrong.' + +"Nobler words have never fallen from human lips than the closing +sentences of his first inaugural uttered on one of the pivotal days +of human history, immediately after taking the oath to preserve, +protect, and defend his country: + +"'I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. Though +passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. +The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and +patriot's grave to every heart and hearthstone of this broad land, +will yet swell the chorus of the Union when touched as they will +be by the better angels of our nature.' + +"In the light of what we now know so well, nothing is hazarded +in saying that the death of no man has been to his country so +irreparable a loss, or one so grievous to be borne, as that of +Abraham Lincoln. When Washington died his work was done, his life +well rounded out. Save one, the years allotted had been passed. +Not so with Lincoln. To him a grander task was yet in waiting, +one no other could so well perform. The assassin's pistol proved the +veritable Pandora's box from which sprung evils untold,--whose +consequences have never been measured.--to one-third of the States +of our Union. But for his untimely death how the current of history +might have been changed,--and many a sad chapter remained unwritten! +How earnestly he desired a restored Union, and that the blessings of +peace and of concord should be the common heritage of every section, +is known to all. + +"When in the loom of time have such words been heard above the din +of fierce conflict as his sublime utterances but a brief time before +his tragic death-- + +"'With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness +in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on +to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds; to +care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow +and his orphan, to do all which may achieve a lasting peace +among ourselves, and with all nations.' + +"No fitter occasion than this can ever arise in which to refer +to two historical events that at crucial moments tested to the +utmost the safe and far-seeing statesmanship of President Lincoln. +The first was the seizure upon the high seas of Mason and Slidell, +the accredited representatives from the Southern Confederacy to +the courts of England and France, respectively. The seizure was +in November, 1861, by Captain Wilkes of our navy; and the envoys +named were taken by him from the _Trent,_ a mail-carrying steamer of +the British Government. The act of Captain Wilkes met with +enthusiastic commendation throughout the entire country; he was +voted the thanks of Congress, and his act publicly approved by the +Secretary of the Navy. + +"The demand by the British government for reparation upon the part +of the United States was prompt and explicit. The perils that then +environed us were such as rarely shadow the pathway of nations. +Save Russia alone, our Government had no friend among the crowned heads +of Europe. Menaced by the peril of the recognition of the Southern +Confederacy by England and France, with the very stars apparently warring +against us in their courses, the position of the President was +in the last degree trying. To surrender the Confederate envoys +was in a measure humiliating and in opposition to the popular +impulse; their retention, the signal for the probable recognition of +the Southern Confederacy by the European powers, and the certain +and immediate declaration of war by England. + +"The good genius of President Lincoln--rather his wise, just, +far-seeing statesmanship--stood him well in hand at the critical +moment. Had a rash and impulsive man then held the executive +office, what a sea of troubles might have overwhelmed us! How the +entire current of our history might have been changed! + +"The calm, wise President, in his council chamber, aided by his +closest official adviser, Secretary Seward, discerned clearly +the path of national safety and of honor. None the less was the +act of the President one of justice, one that will abide the +sure test of time. Upon the real ground that the seizure of the +envoys was in violation of the Law of Nations, they were eventually +surrendered, and war with England, as well as the immediate danger +of recognition of the Confederacy, averted. Let it not be forgotten +that this very act of President Lincoln was a triumphant vindication +of our Government in its second war with Great Britain--a war waged +as a protest on our part against British seizure and impressment +of American citizens upon the high seas. + +"The other incident, to which I briefly refer, was the proclamation +of emancipation. As a war measure of stupendous significance in +the national defence, as well as of justice to the enslaved, +such proclamation, immediate in time and radical in terms, had +to greater or less degree been urged upon the President from the +outbreak of the Rebellion. That slavery was to perish amid the +great upheaval became in time the solemn conviction of all thoughtful +men. Meanwhile there were divided counsels among the earnest +supporters of the President as to the time the masterful act 'that +could know no backward steps' should be taken. Unmoved amid divided +counsels, and at times fierce dissensions, the calm, far-seeing +executive, upon whom was cast the tremendous responsibility, +patiently bided his time. Events that are now the masterful theme +of history crowded in rapid succession, the opportune moment arrived, +the hour struck, the proclamation that has no counterpart fell upon +the ears of the startled world, and, as by the interposition of a +mightier hand, a race was lifted out of the depths of bondage. + +"To the one man at the helm it seemed to have been given to know +the day and the hour. At the crucial moment, in one of the exalted +days of human history, + + "'He sounded forth the trumpet that has never called + retreat.' + +"The men who knew Abraham Lincoln, who saw him face to face, who +heard his voice in public assemblage, have with few exceptions +passed to the grave. Another generation is upon the busy stage. +The book has forever closed upon the dreadful pageant of civil +strife. Sectional animosities, thank God, belong now only to +the past. The mantle of Peace is over our entire land, and prosperity +within our borders. + + "'The war-drum throbs no longer, + And the battle flags are furled + In the parliament of men, + The federation of the world.' + +"Through the instrumentality, in no small measure, of the man whose +memory we now honor, the Government established by our fathers, +untouched by the finger of Time, has descended to us. The +responsibility of its preservation and transmission rests upon the +successive generations as they come and go. To-day, at this +auspicious hour sacred to the memory of Lincoln, let us, his +countrymen, inspired by the sublime lessons of his wondrous life, and +grateful to God for all He has vouchsafed to our fathers and to us +in the past, take courage and turn our faces resolutely, hopefully, +trustingly to the future. I know of no words more fitting with +which to close this humble tribute to the memory of Abraham Lincoln, +than those inscribed upon the monument of Moliere: + + "'Nothing was wanting to his glory; he was wanting to + ours.'" + + + +VII +STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS + +DOUGLAS'S HARDSHIPS IN YOUTH--HE IS ADMITTED TO THE BAR--JACKSON'S +TRIUMPH OVER ADAMS IN 1828--DOUGLAS ENTERS THE ARENA OF DEBATE +AT THE AGE OF 22--BECOMES ATTORNEY-GENERAL--CHOSEN TO THE TENTH +GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF ILLINOIS--BECOMES SECRETARY OF STATE IN ILLINOIS +--DEFENDS JACKSON'S DECLARATION OF MARTIAL LAW AT NEW ORLEANS-- +TAKES PART IN THE OREGON BOUNDARY DEBATE--ADVOCATES THE ANNEXATION +OF TEXAS--IS ELECTED TO THE SENATE--ADVOCATES THE ADMISSION OF +CALIFORNIA AS A FREE STATE--HE PROCURES A LAND GRANT TO THE ILLINOIS +CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY--IN DEBATING THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL +HE CONTENDS FOR POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY--ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY +--DOUGLAS LOSES THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE SOUTH--DEBATES BETWEEN DOUGLAS +AND LINCOLN--LINCOLN'S EARLY HISTORY--DOUGLAS'S REASONS FOR +ADVOCATING POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY--LINCOLN'S REPLY--THE SLAVERY QUESTION +--THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY RENT ASUNDER--CONSEQUENT FAILURE OF DOUGLAS +TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY--HIS DEATH. + +History has been defined, "the sum of the biographies of a few +strong men." Much that is of profound and abiding interest in +American history during the two decades immediately preceding +our Civil War is bound up in the biography of the strong man of +whom I write. Chief among the actors, his place was near the middle +of the stage during that eventful and epoch-making period. + +Stephen A. Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont, April 23, 1813, +and died in Chicago, Illinois, June 3, 1861. Between the dates +given lie the years that up a crowded, eventful life. Left penniless +by the death of his father, he was at a tender age dependent upon his +own exertions for maintenance and education. At the age of fifteen +he apprenticed himself to a cabinet-maker in the town of Middlebury +in his native State. Naturally of delicate organization, he was +unable long to endure the physical strain of this calling, and +at the close of two years' service he returned to his early home. +Entering an academy in Brandon, he there for a time pursued with +reasonable diligence the studies preparatory to a higher course. +Supplementing the education thus acquired, by a brief course of +study in an academy at Canandaigua, New York, at the age of twenty +he turned his footsteps westward. + +One of his biographers says: + +"It is doubtful if among all the thousands who in those early days +were constantly faring westward from New England, Virginia, and +the Carolinas, there ever was a youth more resolutely and boldly +addressed to opportunity than he. Penniless, broken in health, +almost diminutive in physical stature, and unknown, he made his +way successively to Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis, in search +of employment, literally of bread." + +By a sudden turn in fortune's wheel his lot was cast in Central +Illinois, where his first vocation was that of teacher of a village +school. Yet later--after laborious application--admitted to the +bar, he courageously entered upon his marvellous career. + +His home was Jacksonville, and to the hardy pioneers of Morgan and +neighboring counties, it was soon revealed that notwithstanding +his slight stature and boyish appearance the youthful Douglas was at +once to be taken fully into the account. Self-reliant to the very +verge, he unhesitatingly entered the arena of active professional and +political strife with foemen worthy the steel of veterans at the +bar, and upon the hustings. + +The issues were sharply drawn between the two political parties +then struggling for ascendancy, and Central Illinois was the home of +as brilliant an array of gifted leaders as the Whig party at any +time in its palmiest days had known. Hardin, Stuart, Browning, +Logan, Baker, Lincoln were just then upon the threshold of careers +that have given their names honored and enduring place upon the +pages of our history. Into the safe keeping of the leaders just +named, were entrusted in large degree the advocacy of the principles +of the now historic party, and the political fortunes of its great +chieftain, Henry Clay. + +As is well known, the principal antagonist of the renowned Whig +chieftain was Andrew Jackson. Earlier in their political careers, +both had been earnest supporters of the administration of President +Monroe, but at its close the leaders last named, with Adams and +Crawford, were aspirants to the great office. No candidate receiving +a majority of the electoral votes and the selection by Constitutional +requirement devolving upon the House of Representatives, Mr. Adams +was eventually chosen. His election over his principal competitor, +General Jackson, was largely through the influence of Mr. Clay; +and the subsequent acceptance by the latter of the office of +Secretary of State gave rise to the unfounded but vehement cry +of "Bargain and corruption," which followed the Kentucky statesman +through two presidential struggles of later periods, and died wholly +away only when the clods had fallen upon his grave. + +Triumphant in his candidacy over Adams in 1828, President Jackson, +four years later, encountered as his formidable competitor his +colossal antagonist--the one man for whom he had no forgiveness, +even when the shadows were gathering about his own couch. + +"The early and better days of the Republic" is by no means an +unusual expression in the political literature of our day. Possibly +all the generations of men have realized the significance of the +words of the great bard: + + "Past and to come seem best; + Things present worst. + We are time's subjects." + +And yet, barring the closing months of the administration of the +elder Adams, this country has known no period of more intense party +passion, or of more deadly feuds among political leaders, than was +manifested during the presidential contest of 1832. The Whig party, +with Henry Clay as its candidate and its idol, was for the first +time in the field. Catching something of the spirit of its imperious +leader, its campaign was recklessly aggressive. The scabbard was +thrown away, and all the lines of retreat cut off from the beginning. +No act of the party in power escaped the lime-light; no delinquency, +real or imaginary, of Jackson--its candidate for re-election-- +but was ruthlessly drawn into the open day. Even the domestic +hearthstone was invaded and antagonisms engendered that knew no +surcease until the last of the chief participants in the +eventful struggle had descended to the tomb. + +The defeat of Clay but intensified his hostility toward his successful +rival, and with a following that in personal devotion to its leader +has scarcely known a parallel, he was at once the peerless front +of a powerful opposition to the Jackson administration. + +Such were the existing political conditions throughout the country +when Stephen A. Douglas, at the age of twenty-two, first entered +the arena of debate. It would not be strange if such environment left +its deep impress, and measurably gave direction to his political +career. The period of probation and training so essential to +ordinary men was unneeded by him. Fully equipped--and with a +self-confidence that has rarely had a counterpart--he was from the +beginning the earnest defender of the salient measures of the +Democratic administration, and the aggressive champion of President +Jackson. Absolutely fearless, he took no reckoning of the opposing +forces, and regardless of the prowess or ripe experience of +adversaries, he at all times, in and out of season, gladly welcomed +the encounter. To this end, he did not await opportunities, but +eagerly sought them. + +His first contest for public office was with John J. Hardin, by no +means the least gifted of the brilliant Whig leaders already +mentioned. Defeated by Douglas in his candidacy for re-election +to the office of Attorney General, Colonel Hardin at a later day +achieved distinction as a Representative in Congress, and at the +early age of thirty-seven fell while gallantly leading his regiment +upon the bloody field of Buena Vista. In the catalogue of men +worthy of remembrance, there is to be found the name of no braver, +manlier man, than that of John J. Hardin. + +With well-earned laurels as public prosecutor, Douglas resigned, +after two years' incumbency of that office, to accept that of +Representative in the State Legislature. The Tenth General Assembly +--to which he was chosen--was the most notable in Illinois history. +Upon the roll of members of the House--in the old Capitol at Vandalia +--are names inseparably associated with the history of the State +and the nation. From its list were yet to be chosen two Governors +of the commonwealth, one member of the Cabinet, three Justices +of the Supreme Court of the State, eight Representatives in Congress, +six Senators, and one President of the United States. That +would indeed be a notable assemblage of law-makers in any country or +time, that included in its membership McClernand, Edwards, +Ewing, Semple, Logan, Hardin, Browning, Shields, Baker, Stuart, +Douglas, and Lincoln. + +In this assembly, Douglas encountered in impassioned debate, possibly +for the first time, two men against whom in succession he was soon +to be opposed upon the hustings as candidate for Congress; and +later as an aspirant to yet more exalted stations, another, with +whose name--now "given to the ages"--his own is linked inseparably +for all time. + +The most brilliant and exciting contest for the national House +of Representatives the State has known--excepting possibly that of +Cook and McLean a decade and a half earlier--was that of 1838 +between John T. Stuart and Stephen A. Douglas. They were the +recognized champions of their respective parties. The district +embraced two-thirds of the area of the State, extending from the +counties immediately south of Sangamon and Morgan, northward to +Lake Michigan and the Wisconsin line. Together on horseback, often +across unbridged streams, and through pathless forest and prairie, +they journeyed, holding joint debates in all the county seats of +the district--including the then villages of Jacksonville, Springfield, +Peoria, Pekin, Bloomington, Quincy, Joliet, Galena, and Chicago. +That the candidates were well matched in ability and eloquence +readily appears from the fact that after an active canvass of +several months, Major Stuart was elected by a majority of but eight +votes. By re-elections he served six years in the House of +Representatives and was one of its ablest and most valuable members. +In Congress, he was the political friend and associate of +Crittenden, Winthrop, Clay, and Webster. Major Stuart lives in my +memory as a splendid type of the Whig statesman of the Golden Age. +Courteous and kindly, he was at all times a Kentucky gentleman +of the old school if ever one trod this blessed earth. + +Returning to the bar after his defeat for Congress, Douglas was, +in quick succession, Secretary of State by appointment of the +Governor, and Judge of the Circuit and Supreme Courts by election by +the Legislature. The courts he held as _nisi prius_ judge were in +the Quincy circuit, and the last-named city for a time his home. +His associates upon the Supreme Bench were Justices Treat, Caton, Ford, +Wilson, Scates, and Lockwood. His opinions, twenty-one in number, +will be found in Scammon's Reports. There was little in any of +the causes submitted to test fully his capacity as lawyer or +logician. Enough, however, appears from his clear and concise +statements and arguments to justify the belief that had his life +been unreservedly given to the profession of the law, his +talents concentrated upon the mastery of its eternal principles, +he would in the end have been amply rewarded "by that mistress who +is at the same time so jealous and so just." This, however, was +not to be, and to a field more alluring his footsteps were now +turned. Abandoning the bench to men less ambitious, he was soon +embarked upon the uncertain and delusive sea of politics. + +His unsuccessful opponent for Congress in 1842 was the Hon. Orville +H. Browning, with whom, in the State Legislature, he had measured swords +over a partisan resolution sustaining the financial policy of +President Jackson. "The whirligig of time brings in his revenges," +and it so fell out that near two decades later it was the fortune of +Mr. Browning to occupy a seat in the Senate as the successor of +Douglas--"touched by the finger of death." At a later day, Mr. +Browning, as a member of the Cabinet of President Johnson, acquitted +himself with honor in the discharge of the exacting duties of +Secretary of the Interior. So long as men of high aims, patriotic +hearts, and noble achievements are held in grateful remembrance, +his name will have honored place in our country's annals. + +The career upon which Douglas now entered was the one for which he +was pre-eminently fitted, and to which he had aspired from the +beginning. It was a career in which national fame was to be +achieved, and--by re-elections to the House, and later to the Senate +--to continue without interruption to the last hour of his life. +He took his seat in the House of Representatives, December 5, 1843, +and among his colleagues were Semple and Breese of the Senate, and +Hardin, McClernand, Ficklin, and Wentworth of the House. Mr. +Stephens of Georgia,--with whom it was my good fortune to serve in +the forty-fourth and forty-sixth Congresses--told me that he entered +the House the same day with Douglas, and that he distinctly recalled +the delicate and youthful appearance of the latter as he advanced to +the Speaker's desk to receive the oath of office. Conspicuous +among the leaders of the House in the twenty-eighth Congress were +Hamilton Fish, Washington Hunt, Henry A. Wise, Howell Cobb, Joshua +R. Giddings, Linn Boyd, John Slidell, Barnwell Rhett, Robert C. +Winthrop, the Speaker, Hannibal Hamlin, elected Vice-President upon +the ticket with Mr. Lincoln in 1860, Andrew Johnson, the successor +of the lamented President in 1865, and John Quincy Adams, whose +brilliant career as Ambassador, Senator, Secretary of State, and +President, was rounded out by nearly two decades of faithful service +as a Representative in Congress. + +The period that witnessed the entrance of Douglas into the great +Commons was an eventful one in our political history. John Tyler, +upon the death of President Harrison, had succeeded to the great +office, and was in irreconcilable hostility to the leaders of +his party upon the vital issues upon which the Whig victory of 1840 +had been achieved. Henry Clay--then at the zenith of his marvellous +powers--merciless in his arraignment of the Tyler administration, was +unwittingly breeding the party dissentions that eventually compassed +his own defeat in his last struggle for the Presidency. Daniel +Webster, regardless of the criticism of party associates, and after +the retirement of his Whig colleagues from the Tyler cabinet, still +remained at the head of the State Department. His vindication, if +needed, abundantly appears in the treaty by which our northeastern +boundary was definitely adjusted, and war with England happily +averted. + +In the rush of events, party antagonisms, in the main, soon fade +from remembrance. One, however, that did not pass with the occasion, +but lingered even to the shades of the Hermitage, was unrelenting +hostility to President Jackson. For his declaration of martial law in +New Orleans just prior to the battle--with which his own name is +associated for all time--General Jackson had been subjected to a heavy +fine by a judge of that city. Repeated attempts in Congress looking to +his vindication and reimbursement, had been unavailing. Securing the +floor for the first time, Douglas--upon the anniversary of the great +victory--delivered an impassioned speech in vindication of Jackson +which at once challenged the attention of the country, and gave him high +place among the great debaters of that memorable Congress. In +reply to the demand of an opponent for a precedent for the proposed +legislation, Douglas quickly responded: + +"Possibly, sir, no case can be found on any page of American history +where the commanding officer has been fined for an act absolutely +necessary to the salvation of his country. As to precedents, let us make +one now that will challenge the admiration of the world and stand the +test of all the ages." + +After a graphic description of conditions existing in New Orleans at +the time of Jackson's declaration of martial law, "the city filled +with traitors, anxious to surrender; spies transmitting information +to the camp of the enemy, British regulars--four-fold the number +of the American defenders--advancing to the attack--in this terrible +emergency, necessity became the paramount law, the responsibility was +taken, martial law declared, and a victory achieved unparalleled +in the annals of war; a victory that avenged the infamy of the +wanton burning of our nation's Capitol, fully, and for all time." + +The speech was unanswered, the bill passed, and probably Douglas +knew no prouder moment than when, a few months later, upon a visit +to the Hermitage, he received the earnest thanks of the venerable +commander for his masterly vindication. + +Two of the salient and far-reaching questions confronting the +statesmen of that eventful Congress pertained to the settlement of +the Oregon boundary question, and to the annexation of the republic +of Texas. The first-named question--left unsettled by the treaty of +Ghent--had been for two generations the apple of discord between +the American and British governments. That it at a critical moment +came near involving the two nations in a war is a well-known fact +in history. The platform upon which Mr. Polk had, in 1844, been +elected to the Presidency, asserted unequivocally the right of the +United States to the whole of the Oregon Territory. The boundary line +of "fifty-four-forty" was in many of the States the decisive party +watchword in that masterful contest. + +Douglas, in full accord with his party upon this question, ably +canvassed Illinois in earnest advocacy of Mr. Polk's election. +When, at a later day, it was determined by the President and his +official advisers to abandon the party platform demand of "fifty-four +degrees and forty minutes" as the only settlement of the +disputed boundary, and accept that of the parallel of forty-nine +degrees--reluctantly proposed by Great Britain as a peaceable final +settlement--Mr. Douglas earnestly antagonizing any concession, was +at once in opposition to the administration he had assisted to +bring into power. Whether the part of wisdom was a strict adherence +to the platform dicta of "the whole of Oregon," or a reasonable +concession in the interest of peaceable adjustment of a dangerous +question, was long a matter of vehement discussion. It suffices that +the treaty with Great Britain establishing our northwestern boundary +upon the parallel last named was promptly ratified by the Senate, and +the once famous Oregon question peaceably relegated to the realm +of history. + +A question--sixty odd years ago--equal in importance with that +of the Oregon boundary was the annexation of Texas. The "Lone Star +State" had been virtually an independent republic since the decisive +victory of General Houston over Santa Ana in 1837 at San Jacinto, and +its independence as such had been acknowledged by our own and +European governments. The hardy settlers of this new Commonwealth +were in the main emigrants from the United States, and earnestly +solicitous of admission into the Federal Union. The question of +annexation entered largely into the Presidential canvass of 1844, and +the "lone star" upon Democratic banners was an important factor in +securing the triumph of Mr. Polk in that bitterly contested +election. In the closing hours of the Tyler administration, +annexation was at length effected by joint resolution of Congress, +and Texas passed at once from an independent republic to a State +of the American Union. This action of Congress, however, gave deep +offence to the Mexican government, and was the initial in a series +of stirring events soon to follow. The Mexican invasion, the +brilliant victories won by American valor, and the treaty of peace +--by which our domain was extended westward to the Pacific-- +constitute a thrilling chapter in the annals of war. Brief in +duration, the Mexican War was the training school for men whose +military achievements were yet to make resplendent the pages of +history. Under the victorious banners of the great commanders, +Taylor and Scott, were Thomas and Beauregard, Shields and Hill, +Johnston and Sherman, McClellan and Longstreet, Hancock and Stonewall +Jackson, Lee and Grant. In the list of heroes were eight future +candidates for the Presidency, three of whom--Taylor, Pierce, +and Grant--were triumphantly elected. + +Meanwhile, at the nation's Capitol was held high debate over +questions second in importance to none that have engaged the profound +consideration of statesmen--that literally took hold of the issues +of war, conquest, diplomacy, peace, empire. From its inception, +Douglas was an unfaltering advocate of the project of annexation, and +as chairman of the Committee on Territories, bore prominent part +in the protracted and exciting debates consequent upon the passage +of that measure in the House of Representatives. In his celebrated +colloquy with Mr. Adams he contended that the joint resolution +he advocated was in reality only for the re-annexation of territory +originally ours under the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. That something +akin to the spirit of "manifest destiny" brooded over the discussion +may be gathered from the closing sentences of his speech: + +"Our Federal system is admirably adapted to the whole continent; +and while I would not violate the laws of national or treaty +stipulations, or in any manner tarnish the national honor, I would +exert all legal and honorable means to drive Great Britain and the +last vestige of royal authority from the continent of North America, +and extend the limits of the republic from ocean to ocean." + +Elected to the Senate at the age of thirty-four, Douglas took +his seat in that august body in December, 1847. On the same day +Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office as a member from Illinois in +the House of Representatives. The Senate was presided over by the +able and accomplished Vice-President, George M. Dallas. Seldom +has there been a more imposing list of great names than that which +now included the young Senator from Illinois. Conspicuous among +the Senators of the thirty States represented, were Dix of New +York, Dayton of New Jersey, Hale of New Hampshire, Clayton of +Delaware, Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, Mason of Virginia, King +of Alabama, Davis of Mississippi, Bell of Tennessee, Corwin of +Ohio, Crittenden of Kentucky, Breese of Illinois, Benton of Missouri, +Houston of Texas, Calhoun of South Carolina, and Webster of +Massachusetts. It need hardly be said that the debates of that +and the immediately succeeding Congress have possibly never been +surpassed in ability and eloquence by any deliberative assembly. + +The one vital and portentous question--in some one of its many +phases--was that of human slavery. This institution--until its +final extinction amid the flames of war--cast its ominous shadow +over our nation's pathway from the beginning. From the establishment +of the Government under the Federal Constitution to the period +mentioned, it had been the constant subject of compromise and +concession. + +Henry Clay was first known as "the great pacificator" by his tireless +efforts in the exciting struggle of 1820, over the admission of +Missouri--with its Constitution recognizing slavery--into the +Federal Union. Bowed with the weight of years, the Kentucky +statesman, from the retirement he had sought, in recognition of +the general desire of his countrymen, again returned to the theatre +of his early struggles and triumphs. The fires of ambition had +burned low by age and bereavement, but with earnest longing that +he might again pour oil upon the troubled waters, he presented +to the Senate, as terms of final peaceable adjustment of the slavery +question, the once famous compromise measures of 1850. + +The sectional agitation then at its height was measurably the result +of the proposed disposition of territory acquired by the then recent +treaty with Mexico. The advocates and opponents of slavery extension +were at once in bitter antagonism, and the intensity of feeling +such as the country had rarely known. + +The compromise measures--proposed by Mr. Clay in a general bill +--embraced the establishment of Territorial Governments for Utah +and New Mexico, the settlement of the Texas boundary, an amendment +to the Fugitive Slave Law, and the admission of California as a +free State. In entire accord with each proposition, Douglas had--by +direction of the Committee on Territories, of which he was the +chairman--reported a bill providing for the immediate admission of +California under its recently adopted free State Constitution. +Separate measures embracing the other propositions of the general bill +were likewise duly reported. These measures were advocated by the +Illinois Senator in a speech that at once won him recognized place +among the great debaters of that illustrious assemblage. After +many weeks of earnest, at times vehement, debate, the bills in the +form last mentioned were passed, and received the approval of +the President. Apart from the significance of these measures as +a peace offering to the country, their passage closed a memorable era +in our history. During their discussion Clay, Calhoun, and Webster +--"the illustrious triumvirate"--were heard for the last time in +the Senate. Greatest of the second generation of our statesmen, +associated in the advocacy of measures that in the early day of +the Republic had given us exalted place among the nations, +within brief time of each other, "shattered by the contentions +of the Great Hall, they passed to the chamber of reconciliation and +of silence." + +Chief in importance of his public services to his State was that +of Senator Douglas in procuring from Congress a land grant to aid in +the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad. It is but +justice to the memory of his early colleague, Senator Breese, to +say that he had been the earnest advocate of a similar measure in a +former Congress. The bill, however, which after persistent opposition +finally became a law, was introduced and warmly advocated by Senator +Douglas. This act ceded to the State of Illinois--subject to +the disposal of the Legislature thereof--"for the purpose of aiding +in the construction of a railroad from the southern terminus of +the Illinois and Michigan Canal to a point at or near the junction +of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, with a branch of the same to +Chicago, and another to Dubuque, Iowa, every alternate section +of land designated by even numbers for six sections in width on +each side of said road, and its branches." It is difficult at this +day to realize the importance of this measure to the then sparsely +settled State. The grant in aggregate was near three million acres, +and was directly to the State. After appropriate action by the +State Legislature, the Illinois Central Railroad Company was duly +organized--and the road eventually constructed. + +A recent historian has truly said: + +"For this, if for no other public service to his State, the name +of Douglas was justly entitled to preservation by the erection +of that splendid monumental column which, overlooking the blue +waters of Lake Michigan, also overlooks for long distance that iron +highway which was in no small degree the triumph of his legislative +forecast and genius." + +The measure now to be mentioned aroused deeper attention--more +anxious concern--throughout the entire country than any with which +the name of Douglas had yet been closely associated. It pertained +directly to slavery, the "bone of contention" between the North +and the South, the one dangerous quantity in our national politics +from the establishment of the Government. Beginning with its +recognition--though not in direct terms--in the Federal Constitution, +it had through two generations, in the interest of peace, been the +subject of repeated compromise. + +As chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, Douglas in the +early days of 1854 reported a bill providing for the organization of +the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas. This measure, which so +suddenly arrested public attention, is known in our political +history as the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill." Among its provisions was +one repealing the Missouri Compromise or restriction of 1820. The +end sought by the repeal was, as stated by Douglas, to leave the +people of said Territories respectively to determine the question of +the introduction or exclusion of slavery for themselves; in +other words, "to regulate their domestic institutions in their own +way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." +The principle strenuously contended for was that of "popular +sovereignty" or non-intervention by Congress, in the affairs of +the Territories. In closing the protracted and exciting debate +just prior to the passage of the bill in the Senate, he said: + +"There is another reason why I desire to see this principle recognized +as a rule of action in all time to come. It will have the effect to +destroy all sectional parties and sectional agitation. If you +withdraw the slavery question from the halls of Congress and the +political arena, and commit it to the arbitrament of those who are +immediately interested in and alone responsible for its consequences, +there is nothing left out of which sectional parties can be organized. +When the people of the North shall all be rallied under one banner, +and the whole South marshalled under another banner, and each +section excited to frenzy and madness by hostility to the institutions +of the other, then the patriot may well tremble for the perpetuity +of the Union. Withdraw the slavery question from the political +arena and remove it to the States and Territories, each to decide for +itself, and such a catastrophe can never happen." + +These utterances of little more than half a century ago, fall +strangely upon our ears at this day. In the light of all that has +occurred in the long reach of years, how significant the words, +"No man is wiser than events"! Likewise, "The actions of men are to +be judged by the light surrounding them at the time--not by the +knowledge that comes after the fact." The immediate effect of the +passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was directly the reverse of +that so confidently predicted by Douglas. The era of concord +between the North and the South did not return. The slavery +question--instead of being relegated to the recently organized +Territories for final settlement--at once assumed the dimensions +of a great national issue. The country at large--instead of a +single Territory--became the theatre of excited discussion. The +final determination was to be not that of a Territory, but of +the entire people. + +One significant effect of the passage of the bill was the immediate +disruption of the Whig party. As a great national organization +--of which Clay and Webster had been eminent leaders, and Harrison +and Taylor successful candidates for the Presidency--it now passes +into history. Upon its ruins, the Republican party at once came +into being. Under the leadership of Fremont as its candidate, and +opposition by Congressional intervention to slavery extension as +its chief issue, it was a formidable antagonist to the Democratic party, +in the Presidential contest of 1856. Mr. Buchanan had defeated +Douglas in the nominating convention of his party that year. +His absence from the country as Minister to England, during the +exciting events just mentioned, it was thought would make him a +safer candidate than his chief competitor, Douglas. He had been +in no manner identified with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, or the stormy +events which immediately followed its passage. In his letter of +acceptance, however, Mr. Buchanan had given his unqualified approval +of his party platform, which recognized and adopted "the principle +contained in the organic law establishing the Territories of Nebraska +and Kansas as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the +slavery question." Upon the principle here declared, issue was +joined by his political opponents, and the battle fought to the +bitter end. + +Although Douglas had met personal defeat in his aspiration to +the Presidency, the principle of non-intervention by Congress in +the affairs of the Territories, for which he had so earnestly +contended, had been triumphant both in the convention of the party, +and at the polls. This principle, in its application to Kansas, +was soon to be put to the test. From its organization, that +Territory had been a continuous scene of disorder, often of violence. +In rapid succession three Governors appointed by the President had +resigned and departed the Territory, each confessing his inability +to maintain public order. The struggle for mastery between the +Free State advocates and their adversaries arrested the attention of +the entire country. It vividly recalled the bloody forays read of +in the old chronicles of hostile clans upon the Scottish border. + +The parting of the ways between Senator Douglas and President +Buchanan was now reached. The latter had received the cordial +support of Douglas in the election which elevated him to the +Presidency. His determined opposition to the re-election of Douglas +became apparent as the Senatorial canvass progressed. The incidents +now to be related will explain this hostility, as well as bring to +the front one of the distinctive questions upon which much stress was +laid in the subsequent debates between Douglas and Lincoln. + +A statesman of national reputation, the Hon. Robert J. Walker, was +at length appointed Governor of Kansas. During his brief administration +a convention assembled without his co-operation at Lecompton, +and formulated a Constitution under which application was soon made +for the admission of Kansas into the Union. This convention was +in part composed of non-residents, and in no sense reflected the +wishes of the majority of the _bona fide_ residents of the Territory. +The salient feature of the Constitution was that establishing +slavery. The Constitution was not submitted to the convention +to popular vote, but in due time forwarded to the President, and +by him laid before Congress, accompanied by a recommendation for +its approval, and the early admission of the new State into the +Union. + +When the Lecompton Constitution came before the Senate, it at once +encountered the formidable opposition of Senator Douglas. In +unmeasured terms he denounced it as fraudulent, as antagonistic to +the wishes of the people of Kansas, and subversive of the basic +principle upon which the Territory had been organized. In the +attitude just assumed, Douglas at once found himself in line +with the Republicans, and in opposition to the administration he +had helped place in power. The breach thus created was destined +to remain unhealed. Moreover, his declaration of hostility to the +Lecompton Constitution was the beginning of the end of years of +close political affiliation with Southern Democratic statesmen. +From that moment Douglas lost prestige as a national leader of his +party. In more than one-half of the Democratic States he ceased to +be regarded as a probable or even possible candidate for the +Presidential succession. The hostility thus engendered followed +him to the Charleston convention of 1860, and throughout the exciting +Presidential contest which followed. But the humiliation of defeat +--brought about, as he believed, by personal hostility to himself-- +was yet in the future. In the attempted admission of Kansas under +the Lecompton Constitution, Douglas was triumphant over the +administration and his former political associates from the South. +Under what was known as the "English Amendment," the obnoxious +Constitution was referred to the people of Kansas, and by them +overwhelmingly rejected. + +The close of this controversy in the early months of 1858 left +Douglas in a position of much embarrassment. He had incurred +the active hostility of the President, and in large measure of his +adherents, without gaining the future aid of his late associates +in the defeat of the Lecompton Constitution. His Senatorial term was +nearing its close, and his political life depended upon his +re-election. With a united and aggressive enemy, ably led, in his +front; his own party hopelessly divided--one faction seeking his +defeat--it can readily be seen that his political pathway was by no +means one of peace. Such, in brief outline, were the political +conditions when, upon the adjournment of Congress, Douglas returned +to Illinois in July, 1858, and made public announcement of his +candidacy for re-election. + +In his speech at Springfield, June 17, accepting the nomination of +his party for the Senate, Mr. Lincoln had uttered the words which have +since become historic. They are quoted at length, as they soon +furnished the text for his severe arraignment by Douglas in debate. +The words are: + +"We are now far into this fifth year since a policy was initiated +with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end +to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that +agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. +In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been +reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' +I believe this country cannot endure permanently half slave and +half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not +expect the house to fall--but I do expect it will cease to be +divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either +the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it +and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that +it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates +will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the +States, old as well as new, North as well as South." + +This, at the time, was a bold utterance, and, it was believed by +many, would imperil Mr. Lincoln's chances for election. Mr. Blaine +in his "Twenty Years of Congress," says: + +"Mr. Lincoln had been warned by intimate friends to whom he had +communicated the contents of his speech in advance of its delivery, +that he was treading on dangerous ground, that he would be +misinterpreted as a disunionist, and that he might fatally damage the +Republican party by making its existence synonymous with a destruction +of the Government." + +The opening speech of Senator Douglas at Chicago a few days later-- +sounding the keynote of his campaign--was in the main an arraignment +of his opponent for an attempt to precipitate an internecine +conflict, and array in deadly hostility the North against the South. +He said: + +"In other words, Mr. Lincoln advocates boldly and clearly a war of +sections, a war of the North against the South, of the free +States against the slave States--a war of extermination--to be +continued relentlessly until the one or the other shall be subdued, +and all the States shall either become free or become slave." + +The two speeches, followed by others of like tenor, aroused public +interest in the State as it had never been before. The desire +to hear the candidates from the same platform became general. The +proposal for a joint debate came from Mr. Lincoln on July 24 and +was soon thereafter accepted. Seven joint meetings were agreed +upon, the first to be at Ottawa, August 21, and the last at Alton, +October 15. The meetings were held in the open, and at each place +immense crowds were in attendance. The friends of Mr. Lincoln +largely preponderated in the northern portion of the State, those of +Douglas in the southern, while in the centre the partisans of +the respective candidates were apparently equal in numbers. The +interest never flagged for a moment from the beginning to the close. +The debate was upon a high plane; each candidate enthusiastically +applauded by his friends, and respectfully heard by his opponents. +The speakers were men of dignified presence, their bearing such as +to challenge respect in any assemblage. There was nothing of +the "grotesque" about the one, nothing of the "political juggler" about +the other. Both were deeply impressed with the gravity of the +questions at issue, and of what might prove their far-reaching +consequence to the country. + +Kindly reference by each speaker to the other characterized the +debates from the beginning. "My friend Lincoln," and "My friend +the Judge," were expressions of constant occurrence during the +debate. While each mercilessly attacked the political utterances of +the other, good feeling in the main prevailed. Something being +pardoned to the spirit of debate, the amenities were well observed. +They had been personally well known to each other for many years; had +served together in the Legislature when the State Capitol was at +Vandalia, and at a later date, Lincoln had appeared before the +Supreme Court when Douglas was one of the judges. The amusing +allusions to each other were taken in good part. Mr. Lincoln's +profound humor is now a proverb. It never appeared to better +advantage than during these debates. In criticising Mr. Lincoln's +attack upon Chief Justice Taney and his associates for the Dred +Scott decision, Douglas declared it to be an attempt to secure a +reversal of the high tribunal by an appeal to a town meeting. +It reminded him of the saying of Colonel Strode that the judicial system +of Illinois was perfect, except that "there should be an appeal +allowed from the Supreme Court to two justices of the peace." +Lincoln replied, "That was when you were on the bench, Judge." +Referring to Douglas's allusion to him as a kind, amiable, and +intelligent gentleman, he said: + +"Then as the Judge has complimented me with these pleasant titles, +I was a little taken, for it came from a great man. I was not very +much accustomed to flattery and it came the sweeter to me. I +was like the Hoosier with the gingerbread, when he said he reckoned +he loved it better and got less of it than any other man." + +In opening the debate at Ottawa, Douglas said: + +"In the remarks I have made on the platform and the position of +Mr. Lincoln, I mean nothing personally disrespectful or unkind +to that gentleman. I have known him for twenty-five years. There +were many points of sympathy between us when we first got acquainted. +We were both comparatively boys, and both struggling with poverty in +a strange land. I was a school-teacher in the town of Winchester, +and he a flourishing grocery-keeper in the town of Salem. He +was more successful in his occupation than I was in mine, and hence +more fortunate in this world's goods. Lincoln is one of those +peculiar men who perform with admirable skill everything which they +undertake. I made as good a school-teacher as I could, and when a +cabinet-maker I made a good bedstead and table, although my old boss +said I succeeded better with bureaus and secretaries than anything +else. I met him in the Legislature and had a sympathy with him +because of the up-hill struggle we both had in life. He was +then just as good at telling an anecdote as now. He could beat +any of the boys wrestling or running a foot-race, in pitching quoits +or tossing a copper, and the dignity and impartiality with which +he presided at a horse-race or a fist-fight, excited the admiration +and won the praise of everybody. I sympathized with him because +he was struggling with difficulties, and so was I." + +To which Lincoln replied: + +"The Judge is woefully at fault about his friend Lincoln being a +grocery-keeper. I don't know as it would be a sin if I had been; +but he is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a grocery anywhere in +the world. It is true that Lincoln did work the latter part of +one Winter in a little still house up at the head of a hollow." + +The serious phases of the debates will now be considered. The +opening speech was by Mr. Douglas. That he possessed rare power +as a debater, all who heard him can bear witness. Mr. Blaine in +his history says: + +"His mind was fertile in resources. He was master of logic. In +that peculiar style of debate which in its intensity resembles a +physical combat, he had no equal. He spoke with extraordinary +readiness. He used good English, terse, pointed, vigorous. He +disregarded the adornments of rhetoric. He never cited historic +precedents except from the domain of American politics. Inside +that field, his knowledge was comprehensive, minute, critical. He +could lead a crowd almost irresistibly to his own conclusions." + +Douglas was, in very truth, imbued with little of mere sentiment. +He gave little time to discussions belonging solely to the realm +of the speculative or the abstract. He was in no sense a dreamer. +What Coleridge has defined wisdom--"common sense, in an uncommon +degree"--was his. In phrase the simplest and most telling, he +struck at once at the very core of the controversy. Possibly no +man was ever less inclined "to darken counsel with words without +knowledge." Positive, and aggressive to the last degree, he never +sought "by indirections to find directions out." In statesmanship-- +in all that pertained to human affairs--he was intensely practical. +With him, in the words of Macaulay, "one acre in Middlesex is worth +a principality in Utopia." + +It is a pleasure to recall--after the lapse of half a century--the +two men as they shook hands upon the speaker's stand, just before the +opening of the debates that were to mark an epoch in American +history. Stephen A. Douglas! Abraham Lincoln! As they stood side +by side and looked out upon "the sea of upturned faces"--it was +indeed a picture to live in the memory of all who witnessed it. +The one stood for the old ordering of things, in an emphatic sense +for the Government as established by the fathers--with all its +compromises. The other, recognizing equally with his opponent the +binding force of Constitutional obligation, yet looking, away from +present surroundings, "felt the inspiration of the coming of the +grander day." As has been well said, "The one faced the past; the +other, the future." + +The name of Lincoln is now a household word. But little can be +written of him that is not already known to the world. Nothing +that can be uttered or withheld can add to, or detract from, his +imperishable fame. But it must be remembered that his great +opportunity and fame came after the stirring events separated from +us by the passing of fifty years. It is not the Lincoln of history, +but Lincoln the country lawyer, the debater, the candidate of +his party for political office, with whom we have now to do. Born +in Kentucky, much of his early life was spent in Indiana, and +all his professional and public life up to his election to the +Presidency, in Illinois. His early opportunities for study, +like those of Douglas, were meagre indeed. Neither had had the +advantage of the thorough training of the schools. Of both it +might truly have been said, "They knew men rather than books." From +his log-cabin home upon the Sangamon, Mr. Lincoln had in his early +manhood volunteered, and was made captain of his company, in what was +so well known to the early settlers of Illinois as the Black +Hawk War. Later on, he was surveyor of his county, and three times +a member of the State Legislature. At the time of the debates with +Senator Douglas, Mr. Lincoln had for many years been a resident of +Springfield, and a recognized leader of the bar. As an advocate, +he had probably no superior in the State. During the days of +the Whig party he was an earnest exponent of its principles, and +an able champion of its candidates. As such, he had in successive +contests eloquently presented the claims of Harrison, Clay, Taylor, +and Scott to the Presidency. In 1846, he was elected a Representative +in Congress, and upon his retirement he resumed the active practice +of his profession. Upon the dissolution of the Whig party, he cast +in his fortunes with the new political organization, and was in +very truth one of the builders of the Republican party. At its +first national convention, in 1856, he received a large vote for +nomination to the Vice-Presidency, and during the memorable campaign +of that year canvassed the State in advocacy of the election of +Fremont and Dayton, the candidates of the Philadelphia convention. + +In the year 1858--that of the great debates--Douglas was the better +known of the opposing candidates in the country at large. In a +speech then recently delivered in Springfield, Mr. Lincoln said: + +"There is still another disadvantage under which we labor and to +which I will ask your attention. It arises out of the relative +positions of the two persons who stand before the State as candidates +for the Senate. Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the +anxious politicians of his party have been looking upon him as +certainly at no distant day to be the President of the United +States. They have seen in his ruddy, jolly, fruitful face, +postoffices, land-offices, marshalships, and cabinet appointments, +and foreign missions, bursting and sprouting out in wonderful +exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their greedy hands. On +the contrary, nobody has ever seen in my poor lank face that any +cabbages were sprouting out." + +Both, however, were personally well known in Illinois. Each was +by unanimous nomination the candidate of his party. Douglas had +known sixteen years of continuous service in one or the other House +of Congress. In the Senate, he had held high debate with +Seward, Sumner, and Chase from the North, and during the last +session--since he had assumed a position of antagonism to the +Buchanan administration--had repeatedly measured swords with Tombs, +Benjamin, and Jefferson Davis, chief among the great debaters of +the South. + +Mr. Lincoln's services in Congress had been limited to a single +term in the lower house, and his great fame was yet to be achieved, +not as a legislator, but as Chief Executive during the most critical +years of our history. + +Such, in brief, were the opposing candidates as they entered the +lists of debate at Ottawa, on the twenty-first day of August, 1858. +Both were in the prime of manhood, thoroughly equipped for the +conflict, and surrounded by throngs of devoted friends. Both were +gifted with remarkable forensic powers and alike hopeful as to the +result. Each recognizing fully the strength of his opponent, +his own powers were constantly at their tension. + + "the blood more stirs + To rouse a lion than to start a hare." + +In opening, Senator Douglas made brief reference to the political +condition of the country prior to the year 1854. He said: + +"The Whig and the Democratic were the two great parties then in +existence; both national and patriotic, advocating principles that +were universal in their application; while these parties differed in +regard to banks, tariff, and sub-treasury, they agreed on the +slavery question which now agitates the Union. They had adopted +the compromise measures of 1850 as the basis of a full solution of +the slavery question in all its forms; that these measures had +received the endorsement of both parties in their National Conventions +of 1852, thus affirming the right of the people of each State +and Territory to decide as to their domestic institutions for +themselves; that this principle was embodied in the bill reported by +me in 1854 for the organization of the Territories of Kansas and +Nebraska; in order that there might be no misunderstanding, +these words were inserted in that bill: 'It is the true intent +and meaning of this act, not to legislate slavery into any State +or Territory, or to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the +people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic +institutions in their own way, subject only to the Federal +Constitution.'" + +Turning to his opponent, he said: + +"I desire to know whether Mr. Lincoln to-day stands as he did in +1854 in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave +Law; whether he stands pledged to-day as he did in 1854 against +the admission of any more slave States into the Union, even if the +people want them; whether he stands pledged against the admission of +a new State into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of +that State may see fit to make. I want to know whether he +stands to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia; I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit +slavery in all the Territories of the United States north as well as +south of the Missouri Compromise line. I desire him to answer +whether he is opposed to acquisition of any more territory +unless slavery is prohibited therein. I want his answer to +these questions." + +Douglas then addressed himself to the already quoted words of +Mr. Lincoln's Springfield speech commencing: "A house divided +against itself cannot stand." He declared the Government had +existed for seventy years divided into free and slave States as +our fathers made it; that at the time the Constitution was framed there +were thirteen States, twelve of which were slave-holding, and one a +free State; that if the doctrine preached by Mr. Lincoln that +all should be free or all slave had prevailed, the twelve would +have overruled the one, and slavery would have been established by +the Constitution on every inch of the Republic, instead of being +left, as our fathers wisely left it, for each State to decide +for itself. He then declared that: + +"Uniformity in the local laws and institutions of the different +States is neither possible nor desirable; that if uniformity had +been adopted when the Government was established it must inevitably +have been the uniformity of slavery everywhere, or the uniformity of +negro citizenship and negro equality everywhere. I hold that +humanity and Christianity both require that the negro shall have +and enjoy every right and every privilege and every immunity +consistent with the safety of the society in which he lives. +The question then arises, What rights and privileges are consistent +with the public good? This is a question which each State and each +Territory must decide for itself. Illinois has decided it for +herself." + +He then said: + +"Now, my friends, if we will only act conscientiously upon this +great principle of popular sovereignty, it guarantees to each State +and Territory the right to do as it pleases on all things local +and domestic; instead of Congress interfering, we will continue at +peace one with another. This doctrine of Mr. Lincoln of uniformity +among the institutions of the different States is a new doctrine +never dreamed of by Washington, Madison, or the framers of the +Government. Mr. Lincoln and his party set themselves up as wiser than +the founders of the Government, which has flourished for seventy +years under the principle of popular sovereignty, recognizing +the right of each State to do as it pleased. Under that principle, +we have grown from a nation of three or four millions to one of +thirty millions of people. We have crossed the mountains and filled +up the whole Northwest, turning the prairies into a garden, and +building up churches and schools, thus spreading civilization +and Christianity where before there was nothing but barbarism. +Under that principle we have become from a feeble nation the +most powerful upon the face of the earth, and if we only adhere to +that principle we can go forward increasing in territory, in power, +in strength, and in glory, until the Republic of America shall +be the North Star that shall guide the friends of freedom throughout +the civilized world. I believe that his new doctrine preached by +Mr. Lincoln will dissolve the Union if it succeeds; trying to array +all the Northern States in one body against the Southern; to excite +a sectional war between the free States and the slave States in +order that one or the other may be driven to the wall." + +Mr. Lincoln said in reply: + +"I think and will try to show, that the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise is wrong--wrong in its direct effect, letting slavery +into Kansas and Nebraska; wrong in its prospective principle, +allowing it to spread to every other part of the wide world where +men can be found inclined to take it. This declared indifference, +but as I must think covert zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot +but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery +itself. I hate it because it deprives our Republic of an example of +its just influence in the world--enables the enemies of free +institutions with plausibility to taunt us as hypocrites. I have no +prejudices against the Southern people; they are just what we would +be in their situation. If slavery did now exist amongst us we +would not instantly give it up. This I believe of the masses North +and South. When the Southern people tell us they are no more +responsible for the origin of slavery than we, I acknowledge the +fact. When it is said that the institution exists, and that it is +very difficult to get rid of in any satisfactory way, I can understand +and appreciate the same. I surely will not blame them for what +I should not know how to do myself. If all earthly powers were +given me, I should not know what to do as to the existing +institution." + +Declaring that he did not advocate freeing the negroes, and making +them our political and social equals, but suggesting that +gradual systems of emancipation might be adopted by the States, he +added, "But for their tardiness in this, I will not undertake to +judge our brethren of the South. But all this to my judgment +furnishes no more excuse for permitting slavery to go into our free +territory than it would for reviving the African slave trade by +law." + +He then added: + +"I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the +institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I +have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. +I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between +the white and black races. But I hold that notwithstanding all +this there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled +to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of +Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the +white man. I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in +many respects--certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral and +intellectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread, without +the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal, +and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man." + +Referring to the quotation from his Springfield speech of the words, +"A house divided against itself cannot stand," he said: + +"Does the Judge say it can stand? If he does, then there is a +question of veracity, not between him and me, but between the Judge +and an authority of somewhat higher character. I leave it to you to +say whether, in the history of our Government, the institution +of slavery has not only failed to be a bond of union, but on the +contrary been an apple of discord and an element of division in +the house. If so, then I have a right to say that in regard to +this question the Union is a house divided against itself; and when +the Judge reminds me that I have often said to him that the +institution of slavery has existed for eighty years in some States +and yet it does not exist in some others, I agree to that fact, +and I account for it by looking at the position in which our fathers +originally placed it--restricting it from the new Territories where +it had not gone, and legislating to cut off its source by abrogation +of the slave trade, thus putting the seal of legislation against +its spread, the public mind did rest in the belief that it was +in the course of ultimate extinction. Now, I believe if we +could arrest its spread and place it where Washington and Jefferson +and Madison placed it, it would be in the course of ultimate +extinction, and the public mind would--as for eighty years past +--believe that it was in the course of ultimate extinction." + +Referring further to his Springfield speech, he declared that he +had no thought of doing anything to bring about a war between +the free and slave States; that he had no thought in the world that +he was doing anything to bring about social and political equality +of the black and white races. + +Pursuing this line of argument, he insisted that the first step in +the conspiracy, the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, followed soon +by the Dred Scott Decision--the latter fitting perfectly into +the niche left by the former--"in such a case, we feel it impossible +not to believe that Stephen and Franklin, Roger and James, all +understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a +common plan or draft drawn before the first blow was struck." + +In closing, Douglas, after indignant denial of the charge of +conspiracy, said: + +"I have lived twenty-five years in Illinois; I have served you with +all the fidelity and ability which I possess, and Mr. Lincoln is +at liberty to attack my public action, my votes, and my conduct, +but when he dares to attack my moral integrity by a charge of +conspiracy between myself, Chief Justice Taney, and the Supreme +Court and two Presidents of the United States, I will repel it." + +At Freeport, Mr. Lincoln, in opening the discussion, at once declared +his readiness to answer the interrogatories propounded. He said: + +"I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional +repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law; I do not now, nor ever did, stand +pledged against the admission of any more slave States into the +Union; I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new State +into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of that State +may see fit to make; I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition +of slavery in the District of Columbia; I do not stand pledged +to the prohibition of the slave trade between the different States; +I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right +and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United +States Territories." + +Waiving the form of the interrogatory, as to being pledged, he said: + +"As to the first one in regard to the Fugitive Slave Law, I have +never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I +think under the Constitution of the United States the people of +the Southern States are entitled to a Congressional Fugitive Slave +Law. Having said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the +existing Fugitive Slave Law further than that I think it should +have been framed so as to be free from some of the objections that +pertain to it without lessening its efficiency. In regard to +whether I am pledged to the admission of any more slave States into +the Union, I would be exceedingly glad to know that there would +never be another slave State admitted into the Union; but I must +add that if slavery shall be kept out of the Territories during +the Territorial existence of any one given Territory, and then the +people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field when they come +to adopt the Constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as to +adopt a slavery Constitution uninfluenced by the actual presence +of the institution among them, I see no alternative, if we own the +country, but to admit them into the Union. I should be exceedingly +glad to see slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. I +believe that Congress possesses Constitutional power to abolish +it. Yet, as a member of Congress, I should not be in favor of +endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia unless it +would be upon these conditions: First, that the abolition should be +gradual; second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of +qualified voters in the district; third, that compensation should be +made unwilling owners. With these conditions, I confess I should be +exceedingly glad to see Congress abolish slavery in the District of +Columbia, and in the language of Henry Clay, 'Sweep from our Capital +that foul blot upon our nation.'" + +These carefully prepared answers will never cease to be of profound +interest to the student of human affairs. They indicate unmistakably +the conservative tendency of Mr. Lincoln, and his position at +the time as to the legal status of the institution of slavery. +But "courage mounteth with occasion." Five years later, and from the +hand that penned the answers given came the great proclamation +emancipating a race. The hour had struck--and slavery perished. +The compromises upon which it rested were, in the mighty upheaval, +but as the stubble before the flame. + +Recurring to the Freeport debates, Mr. Lincoln propounded to his +opponent four interrogatories as follows: + +"First, if the people of Kansas shall by means entirely unobjectionable +in all other respects adopt a State Constitution and ask admission +into the Union under it before they have the requisite number of +inhabitants according to the bill--some ninety-three thousand-- +will you vote to admit them? Second, can the people of a United +States Territory in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen +of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the +formation of a State Constitution? Third, if the Supreme Court of +the United States shall decide that States cannot exclude slavery from +their limits, are you in favor of acquiescing in, adopting, and +following such decision as a rule of political action? Fourth, +are you in favor of acquiring additional territory in disregard of +how such acquisition may affect the nation on the slavery question?" + +The questions propounded reached the marrow of the controversy, +and were yet to have a much wider field for discussion. This +was especially true of the second of the series. Upon this widely +divergent--irreconcilable--views were entertained by Northern +and Southern Democrats. The evidence of this is to be found in +the respective national platforms upon which Douglas and Mr. +Breckenridge were two years later rival candidates of a divided +party. The second interrogatory of Mr. Lincoln clearly emphasized +this conflict of opinion as it existed at the time of the debates. +It is but just, however, to Douglas--of whom little that is kindly +has in late years been spoken--to say that there was nothing in +the question to cause him surprise or embarrassment. It would +be passing strange if during the protracted debates with +Senators representing extreme and antagonistic views, a matter +so vital as the interpretation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act--as +indicated by the interrogatory--had never been under discussion. +Conclusive evidence on this point is to be found in the speech +delivered by Senator Douglas at Bloomington, July 16, forty-two +days before the Freeport debate, in which he said: + +"I tell you, my friends, it is impossible under our institutions +to force slavery on an unwilling people. If this principle of +popular sovereignty, asserted in the Nebraska Bill, be fairly +carried out by letting the people decide the question for themselves +by a fair vote, at a fair election, and with honest returns, slavery +will never exist one day or one hour in any Territory against +the unfriendly legislation of an unfriendly people. Hence if +the people of a Territory want slavery they will encourage it by +passing affirmatory laws, and the necessary police regulations; if +they do not want it, they will withhold that legislation, and by +withholding it slavery is as dead as if it were prohibited by a +Constitutional prohibition. They could pass such local laws and +police regulations as would drive slavery out in one day or one +hour if they were opposed to it, and therefore, so far as the +question of slavery in the Territories is concerned in its practical +operation, it matters not how the Dred Scott case may be decided +with reference to the Territories. My own opinion on that point +is well known. It is shown by my vote and speeches in Congress." + +Recurring again to the Freeport debate, in reply to the first +interrogatory, Douglas declared that in reference to Kansas it was +his opinion that if it had population enough to constitute a slave +State, it had people enough for a free State; that he would not +make Kansas an exceptional case to the other States of the Union; that +he held it to be a sound rule of universal application to require a +Territory to contain the requisite population for a member of +Congress before its admission as a State into the Union; that it +having been decided that Kansas has people enough for a slave State, +"I hold it has enough for a free State." + +As to the third interrogatory, he said that only one man in the +United States, an editor of a paper in Washington, had held such +view, and that he, Douglas, had at the time denounced it on the +floor of the Senate; that Mr. Lincoln cast an imputation upon +the Supreme Court by supposing that it would violate the Constitution; +that it would be an act of moral treason that no man on the +bench could ever descend to. To the fourth--which he said was very +"ingeniously and cunningly put"--he answered that, whenever it +became necessary in our growth and progress to acquire more territory +he was in favor of it without reference to the question of slavery, +and when we had acquired it, he would leave the people to do as they +pleased, either to make it free, or slave territory as they +preferred. + +The answer to the second interrogatory--of which much has been +written--was given without hesitation. Language could hardly be +more clear or effective. He said: + +"To the next question propounded to me I answer emphatically, as +Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times, that in my opinion +the people of a Territory can by lawful means exclude slavery from +their limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution. It +matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as +to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into +a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful +means to introduce it or exclude it, as they please, for the reason +that slavery cannot exist a day, or an hour anywhere, unless it is +supported by local police regulations. These police regulations +can only be established by the local Legislature, and if the people +are opposed to slavery they will elect representatives to that body +who will by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent the introduction +of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their +Legislature will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the +decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, +still the right of the people to make a slave Territory or a free +Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska Bill." + +The trend of thought, the unmeasured achievement of activities +looking to human amelioration, during the fifty intervening years, +must be taken into the account before uncharitable judgment +upon what has been declared the indifference of Douglas to the +question of abstract right involved in the memorable discussion. +It must be remembered that the world has moved apace, and that a +mighty gulf separates us from that eventful period, in which +practical statesmen were compelled to deal with institutions as +then existing. And not to be forgotten are the words of the great +interpreter of the human heart, + + "But know thou this, that men are as the time is." + +The great debates between Douglas and Lincoln--the like of which +we shall not hear again--had ended and passed to the domain of +history. To the inquiry, "Which of the participants was the victor?" +there can be no absolute answer. Judged by the immediate result, the +former; by consequence more remote and far-reaching, the latter. +Within three years from the first meeting at Ottawa, Mr. Lincoln +--having been elected and inaugurated President--was upon the +threshold of mighty events which are now the masterful theme of +history; and his great antagonist in the now historic debates +had passed from earthly scenes. + +It has been said that Douglas was ambitious. + + "If it were so, it was a grievous fault, + And grievously hath he answered it." + +We may well believe that, with like honorable ambition to the +two great popular leaders of different periods--Clay and Blaine +--his goal was the Presidency. + +In the last three national conventions of his party preceding +his death, he was presented by the Illinois delegation to be named +for the great office. The last of these--the Charleston convention +of 1860--is now historic. It assembled amid intense party passion, +and after a turbulent session that seemed the omen of its approaching +doom, adjourned to a later day to Baltimore. Senator Douglas there +received the almost solid vote of the Northern, and a portion of +that of the Border States, but the hostility of the extreme Southern +leaders to his candidacy was implacable to the end. What had seemed +inevitable from the beginning at length occurred, and the great +historical party--which had administered the Government with brief +intermissions from the inauguration of Jefferson--was hopelessly +rent asunder. This startling event--and what it might portend-- +gave pause to thoughtful men of all parties. It was not a mere +incident, but an epoch in history. Mr. Blaine, in his "Twenty +Years of Congress," says: + +"The situation was the cause of solicitude and even grief with +thousands to whom the old party was peculiarly endeared. The +traditions of Jefferson, of Madison, of Jackson, were devoutly +treasured; and the splendid achievements of the American Democracy +were recounted with the pride which attaches to an honorable family +inheritance. The fact was recalled that the Republic had grown to +its imperial dimensions under Democratic statesmanship. It was +remembered that Louisiana had been acquired from France, Florida +from Spain, the independent Republic of Texas annexed, and California, +with its vast dependencies, and its myriad millions of treasure, +ceded by Mexico, all under Democratic administrations, and in spite +of the resistance of their opponents. That a party whose history was +inwoven with the glory of the Republic should now come to its end in +a quarrel over the status of the negro in a country where his labor +was not wanted, was to many of its members as incomprehensible +as it was sorrowful and exasperating. They might have restored +the party to harmony, but at the very height of the factional +contest, the representatives of both sections were hurried forward +to the National Convention of 1860, with principle subordinated to +passion, with judgment displaced by a desire for revenge." + +The withdrawal from the Baltimore Convention of a large majority +of the Southern delegates and a small following, led by Caleb +Cushing and Benjamin F. Butler from the North, resulted in the +immediate nomination by the requisite two-thirds vote of Senator +Douglas as the Presidential candidate. The platform upon the +question of slavery was in substance that contended for by the +candidate in the debates with Lincoln. The Democratic party divided +--Breckenridge receiving the support of the South--Douglas's +candidacy was hopeless from the beginning. But his iron will, and +courage, that knew no faltering, never appeared to better advantage +than during that eventful canvass. Deserted by former political +associates, he visited distant States and addressed immense audiences +in defence of the platform upon which he had been nominated, and +in advocacy of his own election. His speeches in Southern States were +of the stormy incidents of a struggle that has scarcely known a +parallel. Interrogated by a prominent citizen at Norfolk, Virginia, +"If Lincoln be elected President, would the Southern States be +justified in seceding from the Union?" Douglas replied, "I emphatically +answer, No. The election of a man to the Presidency in conformity +with the Constitution of the United States would not justify an +attempt to dissolve the Union." + +Defeated in his great ambition, broken in health, the sad witness of +the unmistakable portents of the coming sectional strife--the +few remaining months of his mortal life were enveloped in gloom. +Partisan feeling vanished--his deep concern was now only for his +country. Standing by the side of his successful rival--whose +wondrous career was only opening, as his own was nearing its close +--he bowed profound assent to the imperishable utterances of the +inaugural address: "I am loath to close. We are not enemies but +friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, +it must not break our bonds of affection." + +Yet later--immediately upon the firing of the fatal shot at Sumter +that suddenly summoned millions from peaceful pursuits to arms-- +by invitation of the Illinois Legislature Douglas addressed his +countrymen for the last time. + +Broken with the storms of state, the fires of ambition forever +extinguished, standing upon the threshold of the grave, his soul +burdened with the calamities that had befallen his country, in +tones of deepest pathos he declared: + +"If war must come--if the bayonet must be used to maintain the +Constitution--I can say before God, my conscience is clear. I have +struggled long for a peaceful solution of the trouble. I deprecate +war, but if it must come, I am with my country, and for my country, +in every contingency, and under all circumstances. At all hazards +our Government must be maintained, and the shortest pathway to +peace is through the most stupendous preparation for war." + +Who that heard the last public utterance that fell from his lips +can forget his solemn invocation to all who had followed his +political fortunes, until the banner had fallen from his hand,-- +to know only their country in its hour of peril? + +The ordinary limit of human life unreached; his intellectual strength +unabated; his loftiest aspirations unrealized; at the critical +moment of his country's sorest need--he passed to the grave. What +reflections and regrets may have been his in that hour of awful +mystery, we may not know. In the words of another: "What blight and +anguish met his agonized eyes, whose lips may tell? what brilliant +broken plans, what bitter rending of sweet household ties, what sundering +of strong manhood's friendships?" + +In the light of what has been discussed, may we not believe that +with his days prolonged, he would during the perilous years have +been the safe counsellor--the rock--of the great President, in +preserving the nation's life, and later in "binding up the nation's +wounds." + +Worthy of honored and enduring place in history, Stephen A. Douglas +--statesman and patriot--lies buried within the great city whose +stupendous development is so largely the result of his own wise +forecast and endeavor,--by the majestic lake whose waves break near +the base of his stately monument and chant his eternal requiem. + + + +VIII +THE FIRST POLITICAL TELEGRAM + +SENATOR SILAS WRIGHT NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT--WORD OF HIS +NOMINATION SENT HIM BY THE MORSE TELEGRAPH--MORSE'S FIRST CONCEPTION +OF AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH--OBSTACLES TO THE CARRYING OUT OF +HIS INVENTION--A BILL APPROPRIATING $30,000 TO TEST THE VALUE OF +HIS TELEGRAPH--EARLIER FORMS OF TELEGRAPHIC INTERCOURSE--A EULOGY ON +THE INVENTOR BY MR. GARFIELD--ANOTHER, BY MR. COX--THE FIRST MESSAGE +THAT EVER PASSED OVER THE WIRE--DR. PRIME'S PRAISE OF MORSE AFTER HIS +DEATH. + +By all odds, the most venerable in appearance of the Representatives +in the forty-sixth Congress, was Hendrick B. Wright of Pennsylvania. +After a retirement of a third of a century, he had been returned +to the seat he had honored while many of his present associates +were in the cradle. Of massive build, stately bearing, lofty +courtesy; neatly appareled in blue broadcloth, with brass buttons +appropriately in evidence, he appeared indeed to belong to a +past generation of statesmen. + + "And thus he bore without abuse + The grand old name of gentleman." + +In one of the many conversations I held with him, he told me that he +was the president of the Democratic National Convention which met in +Baltimore in 1844. As will be remembered, a majority of the +delegates to that convention were favorable to the renomination of +Mr. Van Buren, but his recently published letter opposing the +annexation of Texas had rendered him extremely obnoxious to a +powerful minority of his own party. After a protracted struggle, Mr. +Van Buren, under the operation of the "two-thirds rule," was +defeated, and Mr. Polk nominated. The convention, anxious to +placate the friends of the defeated candidate, then tendered the +nomination for Vice-President to Senator Silas Wright, the close +friend of Mr. Van Buren. + +At the time the convention was in session, Samuel F. B. Morse +was conducting in a room in the Capitol the electrical experiments +which have since "given his name to the ages." Under an appropriation +by Congress, a telegraph line had been recently constructed from +Washington to Baltimore. + +Immediately upon the nomination of Senator Wright, as mentioned, +the president of the convention sent him by the Morse telegraph +a brief message, the first of a political character that ever passed +over the wire, advising him of his nomination, and requesting +his acceptance. Two hours later he read to the convention a message +from Senator Wright, then in Washington, peremptorily declining +the nomination. + +Upon the reading of this message to the convention, it was +openly declared to be a hoax, not one member in twenty believing +that a message could possibly have been received. The convention +adjourned till the next day, first instructing its president to +communicate with Senator Wright by letter. A special messenger, by +hard riding and frequent change of horse, bore the letter of the +convention to Wright in Washington, and returned with his reply by +the time the convention had reassembled. As will be remembered, Wright +persisting in his declination, George M. Dallas was nominated and duly +elected. + +Later, in conversation with the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens of +Georgia, he told me that he was in the room of the Capitol set +apart for the experiments which Mr. Morse wished to make, and +distinctly remembered the fact of the transmission of the message to +and from Senator Wright, as stated. + +The incident mentioned recalls something of the obstacles encountered +by Morse in the marvellous work with which his name is inseparably +associated. He first conceived the idea of an electro-magnetic +telegraph on shipboard on a homeward-bound voyage from Europe in +1832. Before landing from his long voyage, his plans for a series +of experiments had been clearly thought out. Having constructed +his first recording apparatus, his caveat for a patent was filed +five years later; and in 1838, he applied to Congress for an +appropriation to enable him to construct an experimental line from +Washington to Baltimore in order to demonstrate the practicability +of his invention. His proposal was at first treated with ridicule +--even with contempt; and for more than three years no favorable +action was taken by Congress. With abiding faith, however, in the +merits of his invention, his zeal knew no abatement during years of +poverty and discouragement. At length in the Twenty-seventh +Congress, Representative Kennedy of Maryland--at a later day +Secretary of the Navy--introduced a bill appropriating thirty +thousand dollars "to test the value of Morse's Electro-Magnetic +Telegraph," to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of +the Treasury. + +By the untiring efforts of Mr. Kennedy and other Representatives, the +bill was finally brought before the House for consideration near +the close of the session. In the light of events, the discussion that +immediately preceded the vote is of interest, and in no small degree +amusing, to this generation. On February twenty-first, 1843, Mr. +Johnson of Tennessee wished to say a word upon the bill. As the +present Congress had done much to encourage science, he did not +wish to see the science of Mesmerism neglected and overlooked. He +therefore proposed that one-half of the appropriation be given +to Mr. Fisk to enable him to carry on experiments as well as +Professor Morse. Mr. Houston thought that Millerism should also +be included in the benefits of the appropriation. Mr. Stanley said +he should have no objection to the appropriation for Mesmeric +experiments provided the gentleman from Tennessee was the subject. +Mr. Johnson said he should have no objection provided Mr. Stanley was +the operator. Several gentlemen now called for the reading of the +amendment, and it was read by the clerk as follows: "Provided that +one-half of the said sum shall be appropriated for trying Mesmeric +experiments under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury." + +Mr. Mason arose to a question of order. He maintained that the +amendment was not _bona fide,_ and that such amendments were +calculated to injure the character of the House. He appealed to +the Chair, the House being then in committee of the whole, to rule +the amendment out of order. + +The Chairman said that it was not for him to judge of the motives of +members who offered amendments, and that he could not therefore +undertake to pronounce the amendment not _bona fide._ Objection +might be raised to it on the ground that it was not sufficiently +analogous in character to the bill under consideration; but, in +the opinion of the Chair, it would require a scientific analysis +to determine how far the magnetism of mesmerism was analogous to +that employed in telegraphs. He therefore ruled the amendment +in order. + +The amendment was rejected. The bill was subsequently reported +favorably to the House, and two days later passed by the close vote +of eighty-nine to eighty-three. + +The bill then went to the Senate, and was placed upon the calendar. +A large number of bills were ahead of it, and Mr. Morse was assured +by a kindly Senator that there was no possible chance for its +consideration. All hope seemed to forsake the great inventor, as, +from his seat in the gallery, he was a gloomy witness of the waning +hours of the session. Unable longer to endure the strain, he sought +his humble dwelling an hour before final adjournment. On +arising the next morning, a little girl, the daughter of a faithful +friend, ran up to him with a message from her father, to the effect +that in the hurry and confusion of the midnight hour, and just +before the close of the session, the Senate had passed his bill, +which immediately received the signature of the President. + +With the sum thus appropriated at his command, Morse now earnestly +resumed the experiments, which a few months later resulted so +successfully. Referring to the homeward voyage from Europe, in +1832, his biographer says: + +"One day Dr. Charles S. Jackson of Boston, a fellow passenger, +described an experiment recently made in Paris by means of which +electricity had been instantaneously transmitted through a great +length of wire; to which Morse replied, 'If that be so, I see no +reason why messages may not instantaneously be transmitted by +electricity.'" + +The key-note was struck, and before his ship reached New York +the invention of the telegraph was virtually made, and even the +essential features of the electro-magnetic transmitting and recording +apparatus were sketched on paper. Of necessity, in reaching +this result, Morse made use of the ideas and discoveries of many +other minds. As stated by his biographer: + +"Various forms of telegraphic intercourse had been devised before; +electro-magnetism had been studied by _savants_ for many years; +Franklin even had experimented with the transmission of electricity +through great lengths of wire. It was reserved for Morse to combine +the results of many fragmentary and unsuccessful attempts, and put +them, after many years of trial, to a practical use; and though +his claims to the invention have been many times attacked in the +press and in the courts, they have been triumphantly vindicated +alike by the law and the verdict of the people, both at home and +abroad. The Chief Justice of the United States in delivering +the opinion of the Supreme Court in one of the Morse cases, said: +'It can make no difference whether the inventor derived his +information from books or from conversation with men skilled in +the science; and the fact that Morse sought and obtained the +necessary information and counsel from the best sources and +acted upon it, neither impairs his right as an inventor, nor detracts +from his merits.'" + +It will be remembered that soon after his first successful experiment, +Morse was harassed by protracted litigation, and that many attempts +were made to deprive him of the just rewards of his great invention. +True, he had been preceded along the same lines by great discoveries. +This fact no man recognized more unreservedly than himself. He +was the inventor, his work, that of gathering up and applying the +marvellous discoveries of others to the practical purposes of human +life. As stated by Mr. Garfield: + +"His to interpret to the world that subtle and mysterious element with +which the thinkers of the human race had so long been occupied. +As Franklin had exhibited the relation between lightning and the +electric fluid, so Oersted exhibited the relation between magnetism +and electricity. From 1820 to 1825, his discovery was further +developed by Davy and Sturgeon of England, and Arago and Ampere of +France. The electro-magnetic telegraph is the embodiment, I might +say the incarnation, of many centuries of thought, of many generations +of effort to elicit from Nature one of her deepest mysteries. +No one man, no one century, could have achieved it. It is the +child of the human race, the heir of all ages. How wonderful +are the steps that led to its creation! The very name of this +telegraphic instrument bears record of its history--Electric, +Magnetic. + +"The first, named from the bit of yellow amber whose qualities +of attraction and repulsion were discovered by a Grecian philosopher +twenty-four centuries ago, and the second, from Magnesia, the +village of Asia Minor where first was found the lodestone, whose +touch turned the needle forever toward the north. These were +the earliest forms in which that subtle, all-pervading force revealed +itself to men. In the childhood of the race men stood dumb in the +presence of its more terrible manifestations. When it gleamed +in the purple aurora, or shot dusky-red from the clouds, it was +the eye-flash of an angry God before whom mortals quailed in helpless +fear." + +More than three centuries ago, Shakespeare put into the mouth of +one of his creations the words, + + "I'll put a girdle round about the earth + In forty minutes." + +The words spoken in jest were in the nature of a prophecy. After the +passing of many generations, in a country unknown to the great +bard, Morse, in the words of Mr. Cox, one of the most eloquent +of his eulogists-- + +"Gave to the universal people the means of speedy and accurate +intelligence, and so stormed at once the castles of the terrible +Giant Doubt and Giant Despair. He has saved time, shortened the +hours of toil, accumulated and intensified thought by the rapidity +and terseness of electric messages. He has celebrated treaties. +Go to the uttermost parts of the earth; go beneath the deep sea; +to the land where snows are eternal, or to the tropical realms +where the orange blooms in the air of mid-winter, and you will find +this clicking, persistent, sleepless instrument ready to give +its tireless wing to your purpose." + +It was my good fortune to serve in the House of Representatives +with Mr. Stephens of Georgia, and Mr. Wood of New York, both of +whom more than a third of a century before had given their votes +in favor of the appropriation that made it possible for Morse to +prosecute experiments fraught with such stupendous blessing to our +race. The member who reported back the bill from the Committee on +Commerce, with favorable recommendations, and then supported it by +an eloquent speech upon the floor of the House, was Robert C. +Winthrop of Massachusetts. No public man I have ever known impressed +me more favorably than did Mr. Winthrop. He had been the close +friend of Everett, Choate, Webster, and Clay. He was the last +survivor of as brilliant a coterie of party leaders and statesmen as +our country has ever known. On a visit he made to the House of +Representatives, of which he had many years before been the Speaker, +business was at once suspended, and the members from all parts +of the Great Hall gathered about him. In a letter to the Morse +Memorial meeting in Boston, Mr. Winthrop stated that he was present +in the Capitol while the first formal messages were passing along the +magic cords between Washington and Baltimore. He referred to the +declination read by Senator Wright in his presence, of the nomination +to the Vice-Presidency tendered him, and added: + +"All this gave us the most vivid impression, not only that a new +kind of _wire-pulling_ had entered into politics, but that a +mysterious and marvellous power of the air had at length been +subdued and trained to the service of mankind." + +It is an interesting fact in this connection, to note that the +little girl, Miss Ellsworth, who brought to Mr. Morse the joyful +tidings of the passage of the bill on that early May morning in +1843, was rewarded by being requested by the great inventor to +write the first message that ever passed over the wire. When +she selected, + + "What hath God wrought," + +words to find utterance by all tongues--she builded better than +she knew, for in the words of Speaker Blaine: + +"The little thread of wire placed as a timid experiment between +the national capital and a neighboring city grew, and lengthened, and +multiplied with almost the rapidity of the electric current that +darted along its iron nerves, until, within his own lifetime, +continent was bound to continent, hemisphere answered through +ocean's depths to hemisphere, and an encircled globe dashed forth his +eulogy in the unmatched eloquence of a grand achievement." + +Words of praise, spoke by Dr. Prime, of the great inventor just +after he had passed from the world, to which he left such a heritage, +can never lose their interest: + +"Morse in his coffin is a recollection never to fade. He lay like +an ancient prophet or sage such as the old masters painted for +Abraham, or Isaiah. His finely chiselled features, classical in +their mould and majestic in repose, and heavy flowing beard; the +death calm upon the brow that for eighty years had concealed a +teeming brain, and that placid beauty that lingers upon the face +of the righteous dead, as if the freed spirit had left a smile upon +its forsaken home--these are the memories that remain of the +most illustrious and honored private citizen that the New World +has yet given to mankind." + + + +IX +ALONG THE BYPATHS OF HISTORY + +THE WIDOW OF GEN. GAINES CLAIMS PROPERTY AT NEW ORLEANS WORTH +$30,000,000--HER SUCCESS AFTER MUCH LITIGATION--THE WIDOW OF JOHN H. +EATON, SECRETARY OF WAR--A CLOUD ON HER REPUTATION--HER HUSBAND +A FRIEND OF GEN. JACKSON--A DUEL BETWEEN RANDOLPH AND CLAY--HOSTILITY +OF THE LEADERS OF WASHINGTON SOCIETY TO MRS. EATON--SECRETARY EATON +DISLIKED BY HIS COLLEAGUES--CONSEQUENT DISRUPTION OF JACKSON'S +CABINET--MRS. EATON'S POVERTY IN HER OLD AGE. + +Nearly a third of a century ago, as the guest in a Washington house, +I had the opportunity of meeting Mrs. Gaines, the widow of General +Edmund P. Gaines, a distinguished officer of the War of 1812, +and Mrs. Eaton, the widow of the Hon. John H. Eaton of Tennessee, for +a number of years a Senator from that State, and later Secretary of +War during the administration of President Jackson. Their names +suggested interesting events in our history, I gladly availed myself +of the invitation to meet them. + +I found Mrs. Gaines an old lady of small stature, with a profusion +of curls, and gifted with rare powers of conversation. She +spoke freely of her great lawsuits, one of which was then pending in +the Supreme Court of the United States. As I listened, I thought of +the wonderful career of the little woman before me. Few names, +a half-century ago, were more familiar to the reading public +than that of Myra Clark Gaines. She was born in New Orleans in +the early days of the century; was the daughter of Daniel Clark, +who died in 1813, the owner of a large portion of the land upon +which the city of New Orleans was afterwards built. She was his +only heir, and soon after attaining her majority, instituted a suit, +or series of suits, for the recovery of her property. After years +of litigation, the seriously controverted fact of her being the +lawful heir of Daniel Clark was established, and the contest, which +was to wear out two generations of lawyers, began in dead earnest. +The value of the property involved in the litigation then exceeded +thirty millions of dollars. At the time I saw her, she had just +arrived from her home in New Orleans to be present at the argument +of one of her suits in the Supreme Court. She had already received +nearly six millions of dollars by successful litigation, and she +assured me that she intended to live one hundred years longer, if +necessary, to obtain her rights, and that she expected to recover every +dollar to which she was rightfully entitled. The air of confidence +with which she spoke, and the pluck manifested in her every word +and motion, convinced me at once that the only possible question +as to her ultimate success was that of time. And so indeed it +proved, for, + + "When like a clock worn out with eating time, + The wheels of weary life at last stood still," + +numerous suits, in which she had been successful in the lower +courts, were still pending in the higher. + +She told me with apparent satisfaction, during the interview, that +she could name over fifty lawyers who had been against her since +the beginning of her contest, all of whom were now in their graves. +Her litigation was the one absorbing thought of her life, her +one topic of conversation. + +General Gaines had died many years before, and her legal battles,-- +extending through several decades and against a host of adversaries, +--she had, with courage unfaltering and patience that knew no shadow +of weariness, prosecuted single-handed and alone. + +In view of the enormous sums involved, the length of time consumed +in the litigation, the number and ability of counsel engaged, +and the antagonisms engendered, the records of our American courts +will be searched in vain for a parallel to the once famous suit of +Myra Clark Gaines against the city of New Orleans. + +At the close of this interview, I was soon in conversation with +the older of the two ladies. Mrs. Eaton was then near the close +of an eventful life, one indeed without an approximate parallel in +our history. Four score years ago, there were few persons in +the village of Washington to whom "Peggy O'Neal" was a stranger. +Her father was the proprietor of a well-known, old-style tavern on +Pennsylvania Avenue, which, during the sessions of Congress, +included among its guests many of the leading statesmen of that day. +Of this number were Benton, Randolph, Eaton, Grundy, and others +equally well known. The daughter, a girl of rare beauty, on account +of her vivacity and grace soon became a great favorite with all. +She was without question one of the belles of Washington. + +It was difficult for me to realize that the care-worn face before me +was that of the charming Peggy O'Neal of early Washington days. +Distress, poverty, slander possibly, had measurably wrought the +sad change, but after all, + + "the surest poison is Time." + +Traces of her former self still lingered, however, and her erect +form and dignified mien would have challenged respect in any +assembly. + +While yet in her teens, she had married a purser in the Navy, +who soon after died by his own hand, while on a cruise in the +Mediterranean. A year or two after his death, with reputation +somewhat clouded, she married the Honorable John H. Eaton, then +a Senator from Tennessee. He was many years her senior, was one +of the leading statesmen of the day, and had rendered brilliant +service in the campaign which terminated so triumphantly at New +Orleans. He was the devoted personal and political friend of +General Jackson, his earliest biographer, and later his earnest +advocate for the Presidency. Indeed, the movement having in view +the election of "Old Hickory" was inaugurated by Major Eaton assisted +by Amos Kendall and Francis P. Blair. + +This was in 1824, before the days of national conventions. +Eaton visited several of the States in the interest of his old +commander, and secured the hearty co-operation of many of the most +influential men. It was in large degree through his personal +efforts that the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and Tennessee proposed +the name of Andrew Jackson for the great office. + +The Presidential contest of that year marked an epoch in our +political history. It was at the close of the Monroe administration, +"the era of good feeling." The struggle for supremacy which +immediately followed was the precursor of an era of political strife +which left its deep and lasting impress upon the country. Of +the four candidates in the field, two were members of the outgoing +Cabinet of President Monroe: John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, +and William H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury. The remaining +candidates were Henry Clay, the eloquent and accomplished Speaker of +the House of Representatives, and Andrew Jackson, "the hero of New +Orleans." The candidates were all of the same party, that founded +by Jefferson; the sun of the once powerful Federalists had set, +and the Whig party was yet in the future. + +No one of the candidates receiving a majority of the electoral +vote, the election devolved upon the House of Representatives. +Mr. Clay being the lowest upon the list, the choice by constitutional +requirement was to be made from his three competitors. The influence +of the Kentucky statesman was thrown to Mr. Adams, who was duly +elected, receiving the votes of a bare majority of the States. The +determining vote was given by the sole representative from Illinois, +the able and brilliant Daniel P. Cook, a friend of Mr. Clay. +The sad sequel was the defeat of Cook at the next Congressional +election, his immediate retirement from public life, and early and +lamented death. + +Not less sad was the effect of the vote just given upon the political +fortunes of Henry Clay. His high character and distinguished public +services were scant protection against the clamor that immediately +followed his acceptance of the office of Secretary of State tendered +him by President Adams. "Bargain and Corruption" was the terrible +slogan of his enemies in his later struggles for the Presidency +and its echo scarcely died out with that generation. + +In this connection, the bitter words spoken in the Senate by +John Randolph will be recalled: "the coalition between the Puritan +and the blackleg." The duel which followed, now historic, stands alone +in the fierce conflicts of men. Whatever the faults of Randolph, let +it be remembered to his eternal honor, that after receiving at +short range the fire of Mr. Clay, he promptly discharged his own +pistol in the air. Even after the lapse of eighty years how pleasing +these words: "At which Mr. Clay, throwing down his own pistol, +advanced with extended hand to Mr. Randolph, who taking his hand +quietly remarked, 'You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay,' to which the latter +exclaimed, 'Thank God the obligation is no greater!'" + +Immediately upon the defeat of Jackson, his friends began the +agitation which resulted in his overwhelming triumph over Adams, +in 1828. Chief among his supporters in this, as in his former +contest, was Major Eaton. The untiring devotion of Jackson to his +friends is well known. It rarely found more striking illustration +than in the selection of Eaton as Secretary of War, and in the zeal +with which he sustained him through good and evil report alike, +during later years. + +When it became known that Senator Eaton was to hold a seat in +the Cabinet of the new administration, the fashionable circles +of the capital were deeply agitated, and protests earnest and +vehement assailed the ears of the devoted President. The objections +urged were not against Major Eaton, but against his beautiful +and accomplished wife. Rumors of an exceedingly uncomplimentary +character, that had measurably died out with time, were suddenly +revived against Mrs. Eaton, and gathered force and volume with each +passing day. It is hardly necessary to say that this hostility was, +in the main, from her own sex. To all remonstrances and +appeals, however, President Jackson turned a deaf ear. The kindness +shown by the mother of Mrs. Eaton to the wife of the President +during a former residence, and while he was a Senator, in Washington, +had never been forgotten. It will be remembered that during the +late Presidential contest not only had Jackson himself been the +object of merciless attack, but even his invalid wife did not +escape. Divorced from her first husband because of his cruel +treatment, she had married Jackson, when he was a young lawyer +in Nashville, many years before. As the result of the aspersions cast +upon her, the once famous duel was evolved in which Charles Dickinson +fell by the hand of Jackson in 1806. + +After his election, but before his inauguration, Mrs. Jackson died, +the victim of calumny as her husband always believed. A few +days after he had turned away from that new-made grave, he was +in the turmoil of politics at the national capital. With the past +fresh in his memory, it is not strange that he espoused the cause of +his faithful friend, and the daughter of the woman who had befriended +one dearer to him than his own life. Thoroughly convinced of the +innocence of Mrs. Eaton, he made her cause his own, and to the end +he knew no variableness or shadow of turning. + +The new administration was not far upon its tempestuous voyage +before the trouble began. The relentless hostility of the leaders +of Washington society against Mrs. Eaton was manifested in every +possible way. Their doors were firmly closed against her. This, of +itself, would have been of comparatively little moment, but serious +consequences were to grow out of it. From private parlors and +drawing-rooms the controversy soon reached the little coterie that +constituted the official family of President Jackson. While this is +almost forgotten history now, one chapter of Jackson's biography +published soon after the events mentioned, was headed, "Mr. Van +Buren calls upon Mrs. Eaton." As is well known, the creed in action +of the most suave of our presidents was, + + "The statues of our stately fortunes + Are sculptured with the chisel, not the axe." + +Mr. Van Buren was Secretary of State, and one of the most agreeable +and politic of statesmen. He was in line of succession to the +great office, and understood well the importance of maintaining +his hold upon President Jackson. A widower himself, the call upon +which so much stress was laid at the time subjected the Secretary of +State to no embarrassment at home. Not so, however, with three of +his colleagues in the Cabinet: Mr. Ingham, Secretary of the +Treasury, Mr. Branch of the Navy, and Mr. Berrien the Attorney-General. +The wife of each of these gentlemen refused to return Mrs. Eaton's +call, or to recognize her in any possible manner. No remonstrance +on the part of the President could avail to secure even a formal +exchange of courtesies on the part of these ladies. All this only +intensified the determination on the part of the President to secure +to the wife of the Secretary of War the social recognition to which +he considered her justly entitled, but it would not avail; the +purpose of the most resolute man on earth was powerless against +a determination equal to his own. Never was more forcibly exemplified +the truth of the old couplet: + + "When a woman will, she will, you may depend on't, + And when she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't." + +As to how Mrs. Eaton meanwhile appeared to others, something may +be gleaned from the statement of a distinguished gentleman who +called at the home of the Secretary of War: + +"I went to the house in the evening, and found assembled there a +large company of gentlemen who paid assiduous court to the lady. +Mrs. Eaton was not then the celebrated character she was destined ere +long to be made. To me she seemed a strikingly beautiful and +fascinating woman, all graciousness and vivacity--the life of +the company." + +That the discordant status of the households of the official advisers +of the President was the topic of discussion among leading statesmen, +may be inferred from the following extract from a letter written +at the time by Daniel Webster: + +"Mr. Van Buren has evidently, at this moment, quite the lead in +influence and importance. He controls all the pages on the back +stairs, and flatters what seems to be, at present, the Aaron's +serpent among the President's desires, a settled purpose of making +out of the lady of whom so much has been said, a person of +reputation." + +Of curious interest even now, is the closing sentence in Mr. +Webster's letter, in which with prophetic ken he forecasts the +effect of the Eaton controversy upon national politics: "It is +odd enough, but too evident to be doubted, that the consequence of +this dispute in the social and fashionable world is producing great +political effects, and _may very probably determine who shall be +successor to the present chief magistrate."_ + +As explanatory of the above quotation, it will be remembered +that next to President Jackson, the two most prominent leaders +of the dominant party were Vice-President Calhoun and Secretary of +State Van Buren. The political forces were even then gathering +around one or the other of these great leaders, and there was little +question in official circles that the successor to Jackson would +be either Van Buren or Calhoun. It was equally certain that the +successful aspirant would be the one who had the good fortune to +secure the powerful influence of Jackson. Chief among the friends +of Calhoun were the Cabinet officers Ingham, Branch, and Berrien. +The incumbent of the office of Postmaster-General--now for the +first time a Cabinet office--was William T. Barry of Kentucky. He +was the friend of Van Buren, and in the social controversy mentioned, +he sided with the President and the Secretary of State as a champion +of Mrs. Eaton. As to the views of the Vice-President upon the +all-absorbing question, we have no information. Not being one +of the official advisers of the President, he probably kept entirely +aloof from a controversy no doubt in every way distasteful to him. + +Meanwhile the relations between Secretary Eaton and his colleagues +of the Treasury, Navy, and Department of Justice, became more +and more unfriendly, until all communication other than of the most +formal official character ceased. The soul of the President was +vexed beyond endurance; and as under existing conditions harmony +in his official family was impossible, he determined upon a +reorganization of his Cabinet. To this end, the resignations of +Van Buren, Eaton, and Barry were voluntarily tendered, and promptly +accepted. A formal request from the President to Messrs. Ingham, +Branch, and Berrien secured the resignation of these three official +advisers; and thus was brought about what is known in our political +history as "the disruption of Jackson's Cabinet." + +The three gentlemen whose resignations had been voluntarily tendered, +were, in modern political parlance, at once "taken care of." +Mr. Van Buren was appointed minister to St. James, Barry to Madrid, +and Eaton to the governorship of Florida Territory. No such +good fortune, however, was in store for either Ingham, Branch, +or Berrien. Each was, henceforth, _persona non grata_ with President +Jackson. + +The end, however, was not yet. A publication by the retiring +Secretary of the Treasury contained an uncomplimentary allusion to +Mrs. Eaton, which resulted first in his receiving a challenge from +her husband, and later in a street altercation. + +The almost forgotten incidents just mentioned were rapidly leading +up to matters of deep consequence. The true significance of the +words of Webster last quoted will now appear. A rupture, never +yet fully explained, now occurred between President Jackson and +Mr. Calhoun. The intention of the former to secure to Mr. Van +Buren the succession to the presidency was no longer a matter of +doubt. + +Van Buren, "the favorite," was meanwhile reposing upon no bed of +roses. He was, in very truth, "in the thick of events." His +confirmation as Minister was defeated by the casting vote of +Vice-President Calhoun, after the formal presentation of his +credentials to the Court to which he had been accredited. It +was believed that this rejection would prove the death knell to +Van Buren's Presidential hopes. But it was not so to be. His +rejection aroused deep sympathy, secured his nomination upon the +ticket with Jackson in 1832, and for four years he presided over +the great body which had so lately rejected his nomination, and as +is well known, four years later he was chosen to succeed Jackson +as President. Unfortunately for Calhoun, one of the ablest and +purest of statesmen, he had incurred the hostility of Jackson, and +never attained the goal of his ambition. + +During my interview with Mrs. Eaton I said to her, "Madam, you must +have known General Jackson when he was President?" "Known General +Jackson," she replied, "known General Jackson?" "Oh, yes," I said, +"your husband was a member of his Cabinet and of course you must +have known him. I would like to know what kind of a man General +Jackson really was?" "What kind of a man," replied Mrs. Eaton in a +manner and tone not easily forgotten. "What kind of _a man_--a +god, sir, a god." The spirit of the past seemed over her, as with +trembling voice and deep emotion she spoke of the man whose powerful +and unfaltering friendship had been her stay and bulwark during +the terrible ordeal through which she had passed. + +Accompanying her that evening to the humble home provided for her by +a distant relative, she remarked, "I have seen the time, sir, when +I could have invited you to an elegant home." She then said +that when Major Eaton died, he left for her an ample fortune but +that some years later she unfortunately married a man younger than +herself, who succeeded in getting her property into his hands +and then cruelly deserted her. + +Fiction indeed seems commonplace when contrasted with the story of +real life such as this now penniless and forgotten woman had known. +Once surrounded by all that wealth could give, herself one of +the most beautiful and accomplished of women, her husband the +incumbent of exalted official position,--now, wealth, beauty, +and position vanished; the grave hiding all she loved; sitting +in silence and desolation, the memories of the long past almost +her sole companions. When in the tide of time has there been truer +realization of the words of the great bard-- + + "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, + Good and ill together?" + + + +X +THE CODE OF HONOR + +BLADENSBURG, A PLACE NOTORIOUS FOR DUELS--FRANKLIN'S OPINION OF +DUELLING--NOTABLE MEN WHO FELL IN DUELS--FATAL DUEL BETWEEN COMMODORES +BARRON AND DECATUR--THE LAST DUEL FOUGHT AT BLADENSBURG--ITS CAUSE A +MERE PUNCTILIO--THE WRITER'S INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF THE SECONDS-- +A DUEL IN REVOLUTION DAYS--GEORGE WASHINGTON DISSUADES GEN. GREENE +FROM ACCEPTING A CHALLENGE--GEN. CONWAY, FOR CONSPIRING AGAINST +WASHINGTON, WOUNDED BY COL. CADWALLADER--GEN. CHARLES LEE, ANOTHER +CONSPIRATOR, WOUNDED BY COL. LAURENS--DUEL BETWEEN CLINTON, +"THE FATHER OF THE ERIE CANAL," AND MR. SWARTOUT--THREE NOTABLE +REPLIES TO CHALLENGES--THE FATAL DUEL BETWEEN HAMILTON AND BURR +--UNHAPPINESS OF BURR'S OLD AGE--DUEL BETWEEN SENATOR BRODERICK +AND JUDGE TERRY--A HARMLESS DUEL BETWEEN SENATOR GWIN AND MR. +McCORKLE--A MURDER UNDER THE GUISE OF A DUEL--DUELLING BY ILLINOISANS +--LINCOLN'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRELIMINARIES OF HIS DUEL WITH +SENATOR SHIELDS. + +The very name "Bladensburg" is suggestive of pistol and bullet, +savors indeed of human blood. It is associated with tragic events +that during successive generations stirred emotions of indignation +and horror that have not yet wholly died out from the memories +of men. As the words "Baden-Baden" and "Monte Carlo" bring before +us the gambler "steeped in the colors of his trade," so the mere +mention of Bladensburg calls to mind the duellist, pistol in hand, +standing in front of his slain antagonist. + +Personal difficulties are now rarely if ever in this country adjusted +by an appeal to "the code." The custom, now universally condemned +as barbarous, was at an early day practically upheld by an +almost omnipotent public opinion. As is well known, in many +localities to have declined an invitation to "the field of honor" from +one entitled to the designation of a "gentleman" would have entailed +not only loss of social position, but to a public man would have +been a bar to future political advancement. Thanks to a higher +civilization, and possibly a more exalted estimate of the sacredness +of human life, the code in all our American States is a thing of +the past. + +And yet, revolting as the custom now appears, it held its place as +a recognized method for the settlement of personal controversies +among "gentlemen," to a time within the memories of men still +living. The code, a heritage from barbaric times, lingered till +it had caused more than one bloody chapter to be written, until it +had taken from the walks of life more than one of our most +gifted American statesmen. + +Truer words were never written than those of Franklin at the +time when the code was appealed to for the settlement of every +dispute pertaining to personal honor: "A duel decides nothing; +the man appealing to it, makes himself judge in his own cause, +condemns the offender without a jury, and undertakes himself to be +the executioner." And yet, the startling record remains that in +the State of New Jersey, one of the ablest and most brilliant of +statesmen met death at the hands of an antagonist scarcely less +gifted, who was at the time Vice-President of the United States. +The survivor of an encounter equally tragic, occurring near the +banks of the Cumberland in 1806, was a little more than a score of +years later elevated to the Presidency. The valuable life of +the Secretary of State during the administration of the younger +Adams was saved only by his antagonist magnanimously refusing to +return the fire which came within an ace of ending his own life. +Thirteen years after the Clay and Randolph duel, a member of Congress +from Maine perished in an encounter at Bladensburg with a +representative from Kentucky. Sixty-six years ago, a challenge to +mortal combat was accepted by one who in later years was twice +elected to the Presidency. One of the signers of the Declaration +of Independence fell in a duel with an officer of the Colonial +army, soon after that great event. There are many yet living +who read the startling telegram from the Pacific coast that a +Senator from California had fallen in a duel with the Chief Justice +of that State, and sad as it is, this dreadful recital might be +much farther extended. + +While a member of Congress many years ago, in company with +Representatives Knott and McKenzie of Kentucky I spent some hours upon +the historic duelling ground at Bladensburg, a Maryland village of +a few hundred inhabitants, six miles from the city of Washington. +Governor Knott pointed out the exact spot where Barron and Decatur +stood in the memorable duel in 1820, in which the latter was killed. +It is impossible to read the account of this fatal meeting even +after the lapse of more than four score years, without a feeling +of profound regret for the sad fate of one of the most gallant +of all the brave officers the American Navy has known. It was +truly said of Decatur: "He was one of the most chivalric men of +any age or country." He was one of the little band of naval +commanders who by heroic exploits at sea did so much to redeem the +American name from the humiliation and disgrace caused by incompetent +generalship upon land, in our second war with Great Britain. +His encounters with the enemy were of frequent occurrence, and +in each instance added new laurels to our little navy. If Commodore +Decatur had rendered no other service to his country, that of the +destruction of the Algerine pirates would alone entitle him to a +place among its benefactors. His skill and daring when in command +of our little fleet upon the Mediterranean destroyed forever the +power of "the common enemy of mankind," avenged the insult to +our flag, and secured for the American name an honored place among +the nations of the world. + +The tragic death of Decatur--recalling so much of gallant service-- +has cast a spell about his name. It belongs in the list of immortals, +with the names of Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain Lawrence, Lord Nelson, +and Oliver Hazard Perry. Cities and counties without number +throughout our entire country have been given the honored name +of Decatur. + +Commodore Barron, too, had known much active service. For an +alleged official delinquency, he had been court-martialed near the +close of the War of 1812, and sentenced to a suspension of five +years from his command. Smarting under this humiliation, he was +bitter in his denunciation of all who were in any way concerned in +what he regarded an act of flagrant injustice to himself. Chief +among the officers who had incurred his displeasure was Commodore Decatur. +A protracted and at length hostile correspondence ensued between the +two, and this correspondence resulted at length in a challenge from +Barron, accepted by Decatur. The latter had repeatedly declared +that he bore no personal hostility toward Barron. Before going to +the fatal field he told his friend William Wirt--then the +Attorney-General of the United States--that he did not wish to meet +Barron, and that the duel was forced upon him. When he received +the challenge, he assured a brother officer that nothing could +induce him to take the life of Barron. In connection with this +sad affair, Mr. Wirt--who was untiring in his efforts to effect +a reconciliation--has left the record of a conversation with Decatur +in which the latter declared his hostility to the practice of +duelling, but that he was "controlled by the omnipotence of public +sentiment." "Fighting," said he, "is my profession, and it would be +impossible for me to keep my station and preserve my respectability +without showing myself ready at all times to answer the call of +any one who bore the name of gentleman." + +The hostile meeting between Barron and Decatur occurred at the +place already mentioned, March 22, 1820. The distance was eight +paces, the weapons, pistols. Decatur's second was Captain Bainbridge, +at a later day a distinguished admiral in our navy. As they +took their places at the deadly range, Barron said, "I hope on +meeting in another world we will be better friends than in this." +To which Decatur replied, "I have never been your enemy, sir." At +the word both pistols were discharged, making but a single report. +Both combatants fell. Decatur was supported a short distance, and +sank down near his antagonist, who was severely--and as it was then +supposed, mortally--wounded. Mr. Wirt says: + +"What then occurred reminded me of the closing scenes of the tragedy +between Hamlet and Laertes. Barron proposed that they should make +friends before they met in another world. Decatur said he had +never been his enemy, that he freely forgave him his death, but he +could not forgive those who had stimulated him to seek his life. +Barron then said: 'Would to God you had said that much yesterday.'" + +Thus they parted in peace. Decatur knew he was to die, and his +only regret was that he had not died in the service of his country. + +The last duel fought at Bladensburg was in 1838, between Jonathan Cilley +and William J. Graves. The former was at the time a Representative +in Congress from Maine, and the latter from Kentucky. In its main +features, this duel is without a parallel. It was fought upon a +pure technicality. The parties to it never exchanged an unkind +word, and were in fact, almost up to the day of the fatal meeting, +comparative strangers to each other. + +Briefly related, the fatal meeting between Cilley and Graves +came about in this wise. In a speech in the House, Mr. Cilley +in replying to an editorial in _The New York Courier and Inquirer,_ +criticised severely the conduct of its proprietor, James Watson +Webb, a noted Whig editor of that day. At this, the latter, being +deeply offended and failing to obtain a retraction by Cilley of +the offensive words, challenged him to mortal combat. The bearer of +this challenge was William J. Graves, a prominent Whig member of +the House. Mr. Cilley in his letter to Mr. Graves, in which he +declined to receive the challenge of Webb, said: "I decline to +receive it because I choose to be drawn into no controversy with +him. I neither affirm nor deny anything in regard to his character, +but I now repeat what I have said to you, that I intended by the +refusal no disrespect to you." + +This letter was considered unsatisfactory by Graves, and he +immediately sent by his colleague Mr. Menifee, a note to Cilley +then in his seat in the House, saying: "In declining to receive +Colonel Webb's communication, you do not disclaim any exception to +him personally as a gentleman. I have, therefore, to inquire +whether you declined to receive his communication on the ground of +any personal exception to him as a gentleman or a man of honor." +Mr. Cilley declining to give the categorical answer demanded, was +immediately challenged by Graves. The challenge was borne by +Mr. Wise, a Representative from Virginia. On the same evening, +Mr. Jones--then a delegate and later a Senator from Iowa--as the +second of Cilley, handed the note of acceptance of the latter to +Graves. Bladensburg was designated as the place of meeting, rifles +the weapons, the distance eight yards, the rifles to be held +horizontally at arm's length down, to be cocked and triggers set, the +words to be, "Gentlemen, are you ready?" Some delay was occasioned +by the difficulty in procuring a suitable rifle for Mr. Graves. +This was at length obviated, as will appear from the following note +of Mr. Jones to Mr. Wise: "I have the honor to inform you that +I have in my possession an excellent rifle, in good order, which +is at the service of Mr. Graves." With every courtesy proper to +the occasion rigidly observed, the rifle mentioned, "through the +politeness of Dr. Duncan," was sent to Mr. Graves, and the hostile +meeting occurred at the designated time, February 24, 1838. + +From the report of a special committee of the House of Representatives +at a later day appointed to investigate this affair, it appears +that Mr. Graves was accompanied to the ground by his second, Mr. +Wise, Mr. Crittenden, and Mr. Menifee, two of his colleagues, +and Dr. Foltz his surgeon. The attendants of Mr. Cilley were +his second, Mr. Jones, Representative Bynum of North Carolina, and +Colonel Schoenberg, and Dr. Duncan as his surgeon. The Committee's +report then continues in these words: + +"Shortly after three o'clock P. M. the parties exchanged shots +according to the terms of meeting. Mr. Cilley fired first before +he had fully elevated his piece, and Mr. Graves one or two seconds +afterwards. Both missed. It is to the credit of both the seconds +and to the other gentlemen in attendance, than an earnest desire +was then manifested to have the affair terminated, as will appear from +the report already mentioned." + +Mr. Jones now inquired of Mr. Wise whether Mr. Graves was satisfied, +to which Mr. Wise replied: "These gentlemen have come here without +animosity toward each other; they are fighting merely upon a point +of honor. Cannot Mr. Cilley assign some reason for not receiving at +Mr. Graves's hands Colonel Webb's communication, or make some +disclaimer which will relive Mr. Graves from his position?" Mr. +Jones replied: "While the challenge is impending, Mr. Cilley can +make no explanation." Mr. Wise said: "The exchange of shots +suspends the challenge, and the challenge is suspended for +explanation." Mr. Jones thereupon went to Mr. Cilley, and after +returning said: + +"I am authorized by my friend Mr. Cilley to say, that in declining +to receive the note from Mr. Graves purporting to come from Colonel +Webb, he meant no disrespect to Mr. Graves because he entertained for +him then as he does now, the highest respect and the most kind +feeling; but that he declined to receive the note because he chose +not to be drawn into any controversy with Colonel Webb." + +The above not being satisfactory to Mr. Graves, and Mr. Cilley +declining to make further concession, the challenge was renewed +and the parties resumed their positions and again exchanged shots. +Mr. Graves fired first, before he had fully elevated his piece; +Mr. Cilley about two seconds afterwards. They both missed, although +the witnesses then thought from the motions and appearance of +Mr. Graves that he was hit. The latter immediately and peremptorily +demanded another shot. + +The challenge was here again, for the time, withdrawn and +another unsuccessful attempt made by the seconds to effect an +adjustment. In the light of what was so soon to follow, it is +painful to read that all this came about and continued to the bloody +end, because Mr. Cilley in substance refused to disclaim that +his declination of Webb's challenge was for the reason that he did +not consider him a gentleman. His repeated assurance that in doing +so, he intended no disrespect to the bearer of the challenge, +for whom he entertained the most kindly feelings, strangely enough +to us was deemed insufficient. + +The challenge being renewed, the parties, after due observance +of the formalities as before, confronted each other for the third and +last time. And now closes the official report: "the rifles being +loaded, the parties resumed their stations, and fired the third +time very near together. Mr. Cilley was shot through the body. +He dropped his rifle, beckoned to some one near him, and said, +'I am shot,' put both his hands to his wound, fell, and in two +or three minutes expired." + +What a commentary all this upon "the code of honor"! Upon what +appears the shadow of a technicality even, two young men of recognized +ability, chosen representatives of the people, confronted each +other in continued combat, until death closed the scene, and neither +had the slightest feeling of hostility toward the other! This +duel, so utterly groundless in its inception and bloody in its +termination, was the last fought in Bladensburg. Intense excitement +followed the death of the lamented Cilley and public sentiment was +deeply aroused against the horrible custom of duelling. But the +public sentiment that existed at the time must be taken into account +before a too ready condemnation of one of the actors in this fearful +tragedy. In announcing the death of Mr. Cilley to the Senate, Mr. +Williams of Maine said: "In accepting the call, he did nothing +more than he believed indispensable to avoid disgrace to himself, his +family, and his constituents." + +While the presiding officer of the Senate, a gentleman of small +stature and advanced age called upon me and introduced himself +as George W. Jones, former Senator from Iowa. I have rarely met +a more interesting man. He was then ninety-two years of age, +apparently in perfect health, and as active as if, for his exclusive +benefit, the hands had been turned back three decades upon the +dial. He had been a delegate from the Territory embracing the +present States of Iowa and Wisconsin, in the twenty-fifth Congress, +when the sessions of the House were held in the Old Hall. Upon the +admission of Iowa as a State, he was chosen a Senator, a position he +held by successive elections for many years. As delegate, he +had been the associate of John Quincy Adams, and as a Senator +the contemporary of Benton, Wright, Douglas, Cass, Seward, Preston, +Clay, Calhoun, and Webster. He had personally known some of the +men whose public life reached back to the establishment of the +Government. He had taken part in the discussion of great questions +that have left a deep impress upon history. As I listened to his +description of the men I have named, and of the momentous events +with which their names are associated, he seemed indeed the sole +connecting link between the present and the long past. + +But what interested me most deeply in the almost forgotten old man +before me, was the fact that he was the second of the unfortunate Cilley +upon the ill-fated day at Bladensburg. The conversation at length +turned to that event, and strangely enough, he manifested no +suggestion of embarrassment at its mention. He spoke in the highest +terms of Mr. Cilley, as a gentleman of lofty character, of unfaltering +courage, of rare gifts, and of splendid promise. It was evident +that the passing years had not dimmed his memory of the tragic +event, nor lessened his regret at the sad ending of an affair with +which his own name is inseparably associated. + +The first duel between men of prominence in this country, was that +of Gwinett and McIntosh. The fact that one of the parties, Button +Gwinett, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence gives +it historic interest. He was one of the three delegates from +Georgia in the second Continental Congress, and an earnest champion +of independence. Six years before, he had emigrated from England, +purchased a large tract of land, and devoted himself to agricultural +pursuits. Less is known of him, probably, than of any of the +signers of the Declaration. + +In 1777, he became involved in a bitter personal quarrel with +General McIntosh, an officer of the Revolution. Deeply offended +at his conduct, Gwinett challenged him to mortal combat. They +fought with pistols at a distance of twelve feet, and Gwinett +was killed. He is buried at Augusta, Georgia, with his two colleagues +in the Continental Congress. + +It is now an almost forgotten fact that, but for the wise counsel of +his superior officer, Nathaniel Greene, next to Washington the +ablest of the American generals, would have been a party to a duel +at a time when his services were so greatly in demand. Soon after +his transfer to the southern army, Greene was challenged by a +captain of his command. Fearing that a declination upon his +part would be misunderstood by his brother officers, Greene +wrote General Washington a full account of the transaction, +concluding: "If I thought my honor or reputation would suffer +in the opinion of the world, and more especially with the military +gentlemen, I value life too little to hesitate a moment to +accept the challenge." The answer of one of the wisest of men +possibly saved to our little army one whose loss would have been +disastrous to his country at that critical moment. Said Washington: + +"I give it as my decided opinion, that your honor and reputation +will stand not only perfectly acquitted for the non-acceptance +of his challenge, but that your prudence and judgment would have +been condemned by accepting it; because if a commanding officer is +amenable to private calls for the discharge of his public duty, he +has a dagger always at his heart, and can turn neither to the right +nor to the left without meeting its point." + +The timely words of Washington had the desired effect, and very +probably saved General Greene to a brilliant career of usefulness and +glory. + +One of the most interesting incidents of our Revolutionary history, +is what is known as "The Conway Cabal," the attempt to displace +Washington from the supreme command and substitute General Horatio +Gates in his stead. The latter was then in high favor as the hero +of Saratoga and the capturer of the invading army of Burgoyne. In +this connection, the prophetic words of the deeply embittered +General Charles Lee will be recalled. On his way to take command of +the southern army to which he had just been assigned, Gates called +upon Lee, then in disgrace and retirement at his home. Both +were Englishmen, had known service together in the British army, +and were at the time owners of neighboring plantations in what +is now Jefferson County, West Virginia. When parting, Lee +significantly remarked to this old comrade, "Gates, your +Northern laurels will soon be turned into Southern willows." +The disastrous defeat at Camden soon thereafter terminated the +military career of Gates no less effectually than the timely "curse" +of Washington had terminated that of Lee upon his disgraceful +retreat at the battle of Monmouth. + +The result of the "Cabal" above mentioned was a challenge from +Colonel Cadwallader to General Conway, whose name has come down to +us associated with the conspiracy to supersede Washington by Gates. +In an encounter which immediately followed, Conway was seriously +wounded. Believing his wound to be mortal, he called for pen +and paper and did much to retrieve his reputation by writing the +following letter to Washington: + +"SIR: I find myself just able to hold my pen during a few moments +and take this opportunity of expressing my sincere grief for having +written, said, or done anything disagreeable to Your Excellency. +My career will soon be over, therefore justice and truth prompt me +to declare my last sentiments. You are in my eyes the great and +good man. May you long enjoy the love, esteem, and veneration +of these States whose liberties you have asserted by your virtues." + +Conway eventually recovered, entered the army of France, and died in +its service. + +General Charles Lee was indeed a soldier of fortune. A native +of England, he held a commission in the British army, and later in +that of the King of Italy. As the result of a duel in which he +slew an Italian officer, he fled to America, and tendered his +services to the Continental Congress just at the beginning of +the struggle for independence. He was placed second in command to +Washington and was not without supporters for the coveted position +of Commander-in-chief. He was from the beginning the enemy of +Washington, and deeply resented the fact that his position was +subordinate to that of the younger and less experienced officer, +for whose ability he expressed great contempt. He was a friend of +Gates and one of the chief conspirators in the Conway Cabal. His +military career closed at the battle of Monmouth, and from letters +that have come to light there is little doubt that he was then +in treasonable correspondence with the enemy. + +After being deprived of his command at Monmouth, he was challenged +by Colonel John Laurens, one of the aides of the Commander-in-chief, +because of his denunciation of Washington. The challenge was +accepted, and the parties fought with pistols in a retired spot +near Philadelphia. Additional interest attaches to this duel from +the fact that Colonel Alexander Hamilton of Washington's staff, +was the second for Laurens. + +At the first fire Lee was wounded, and then, through the interposition +of Hamilton the affair terminated. The gratifying narrative has +come down to us that, "upon the whole, we think it a piece of +justice to the two gentlemen to declare that, after they met, their +conduct was strongly marked with all the politeness, generosity, +coolness, and firmness, that ought to characterize a transaction +of this nature." + +The last years of Lee's life were spent at his Virginia plantation. +He died in an obscure boarding-house in Philadelphia, in 1782. +Upon a visit I made to his Virginia home some years ago, I was +shown a certified copy of his will, which contained this remarkable +provision: + +"It is my will, that I shall not be buried within one mile of +any churchyard, or of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist church, for +the reason that _as I have kept a great deal of bad company in this +world, I do not wish to do so in the next."_ + +This country has known few abler or more eminent men than DeWitt +Clinton. He was successively Mayor of the city of New York, Governor +of that State, a Senator in Congress, and in 1812 an unsuccessful +candidate for the Presidency against Mr. Madison. Distinguished as a +lawyer and statesman, he is even better known as "the Father of the +Erie Canal." His biographer says: + +"After undergoing constant, unremitting, and factious resistance, he +had the felicity of being borne, in October, 1825, in a barge on +the artificial river--which he seemed to all to have constructed +--from Lake Erie to the Bay of New York, while bells were rung, +and cannon saluted him at every stage of that imposing progress." + +In 1803, while in the Senate, Clinton accepted a challenge from +General Dayton, a Senator from New Jersey. The ground of the +challenge was words spoken by the former in debate. Before the +hostile meeting, however, through the interposition of friends a +satisfactory explanation upon the part of Clinton resulted in a +peaceable adjustment, and the restoration of friendly relations +between the two Senators. + +An "affair of honor" in which Clinton was engaged one year earlier, +was not quite so easily adjusted. This was with a noted politician +of that day, John Swartout of New York. The latter was the friend +of Aaron Burr, the political and personal enemy of Clinton. Swartout +was the challenging party, and the hostile meeting occurred near +the city of New York. On the ground, after the parties had been +placed in position, Clinton is said to have expressed regret +that Burr--the real principal in the controversy--was not before +him. History might have run in a different channel had such been the +fact. + +Three pistol shots were exchanged without effect, at the end of +each the second of Clinton demanding of Swartout, "Are you satisfied, +sir?" to which the answer was, "I am not." To this, at the +third exchange, was added, "neither shall I be until that apology is +made which I have demanded of Mr. Clinton." Mr. Clinton declined to +sign a paper presented, but declared that he had no animosity +against Mr. Swartout, and would willingly shake hands and agree to +meet on the score of former friendship. This being unsatisfactory, +the fourth shot was promptly exchanged. Fortune, heretofore +reluctant to decide between her favorites, now leaned toward the +challenged party--Mr. Swartout being struck just below the knee. +In reply to the inquiry, "Are you satisfied, sir?" standing +erect while the surgeon kneeling beside him removed the ball, he +answered, "I am not; _proceed."_ The fifth shot being exchanged, Mr. +Swartout's other leg was the recipient of his antagonist's bullet. +The voice of the wounded man being still for war, Mr. Clinton here +threw down his pistol, declaring he would fight no longer, and +immediately retired from the ground. The second of the remaining +belligerent now advised his principal to retire also and have his +wounds dressed, which certainly seemed reasonable under all the +circumstances. + +An answer to a challenge that might well stand for a model for all +time, was that given during the administration of the older Adams by +Mr. Thatcher of Massachusetts, to Blount of North Carolina. The +challenge grew out of a heated debate in the House. In reply, +Thatcher said in substance, that being a husband and father, his +family had an interest in his life, and that he could not think of +accepting the invitation without the consent of his wife, that +he would immediately consult her, and _if successful in obtaining her +permission,_ he would meet Mr. Blount with pleasure. Whereupon +Fisher Ames, one of the great men of the day, wittily remarked to a +bachelor colleague, "Behold now the advantage of having a wife-- +God preserve us all from gunpowder!" + +The reply of Thatcher was read in the House, causing much merriment +and leaving his adversary-- + + "Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, + And the sad burden of some merry song." + +It is hardly necessary to add that at last accounts the consent of +Mrs. Thatcher had not been obtained. + +It is scarcely remembered that Lord Byron, angered by a bitter +criticism, once challenged the poet Southey. Accepting the challenge +conditionally, Southey added: + +"In affairs of this kind, the participants ought to meet on +equal terms. But to establish the equality between you and me +there are two things that ought to be done, and a third may also be +necessary before I meet you on the field. First, you must marry +and have four children--all girls. Second, you must prove that +the greater part of the provision which you make for them depends upon +you life, and you must be under bond for four thousand pounds not to +be hanged, commit suicide, nor be killed in a duel, which are +the conditions upon which I have insured my life for the benefit +of my wife and daughters. Third, you must convert me to infidelity. +We can then meet on equal terms, _and your challenge will be +cheerfully accepted."_ + +Since the writing of the letters of Junius, nothing probably has +appeared equal in invective to the correspondence seventy years +ago between Daniel O'Connell and Benjamin Disraeli. The former +was at the time a distinguished member of Parliament, and an orator +without a peer. Disraeli, at first a supporter of the policy of +the great Liberator, had joined the ranks of his enemies, and +was unsparing in his denunciation of O'Connell and his party. +In his reply O'Connell, after charging his assailant with ingratitude +and treachery, concluded as follows: + +"I cannot divest my mind of the belief that if your genealogy were +traced, it would be found that you are the lineal descendant and +true heir-at-law of the impenitent thief who atoned for his crimes +upon the cross." + +The challenge from Disraeli, which immediately followed, was treated +by O'Connell with supreme contempt. + +The duel between Hamilton and Burr is of perennial interest to the +American people. Both were men of great distinction and +splendid talents. Both had been soldiers during the Revolutionary +War, and Hamilton was the confidential friend and for a time +chief-of-staff of Washington. Burr had been a Senator from New +York, and was at the time of the duel Vice-President of the United +States. He was one of the recognized leaders of the dominant party, +and by many considered the probable successor of Jefferson in +the great office. Whatever hopes he might have had for the Presidency +were destroyed by his alleged attempt to defeat Jefferson and secure +his own elevation by the House of Representatives in 1801. His +hostility to Hamilton had its beginning in the opposition of the +latter to Burr's aspirations to the Presidency. Differing widely, +as Hamilton did, with Jefferson upon important questions then +pending, he nevertheless preferred the latter to Burr, and his +influence eventually turned the scales--after a protracted struggle +--in favor of Jefferson. + +The valuable service just mentioned was one of the many rendered +by Hamilton. He was the earnest advocate of the adoption of the +Federal Constitution, and his papers during that pivotal struggle have +justly given him high place in the list of American statesmen. He +was the first Secretary of the Treasury, and possibly no man +possessed in larger degree the confidence of Washington. + +Aaron Burr was the grandson of the great New England minister, +Jonathan Edwards, whose only daughter, Edith, was the wife of +the Reverend Aaron Burr, an eminent Presbyterian clergyman and +President of Princeton College. From all that is known of this +gentleman, there can be no doubt that his ability and piety were +unquestioned. Edith, his wife, was a woman of rare gifts and one of +the loveliest of her sex. The pathetic reference to her in the +funeral sermon over Hamilton will be remembered: "If there be tears +in Heaven, a pious mother looks down upon this scene and weeps." + +Hamilton and Burr were both citizens of New York, the latter, of +Albany, the former, of New York City. At the time of the challenge +Hamilton held no public office, but was engaged in a lucrative +practice of the law. Burr was near the expiration of his term +as Vice-President, and was a prospective candidate for Governor of +New York. This candidacy was the immediate cause of the correspondence +which resulted in the fatal encounter. Four letters passed between +Burr and Hamilton prior to the formal challenge. The first was +from Burr, and bears date June 18, 1804. In it attention is directed +to a published letter of Dr. Cooper containing the words, "General +Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared in substance that they +look upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and one who ought not to +be trusted with the reins of government. And I could detail to you +a still more deplorable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed +of Mr. Burr." + +It was to the last sentence that the attention of Hamilton was +especially directed by Mr. Van Ness, the bearer of the letter, +which closed with the demand upon the part of Burr of "a prompt +and unqualified acknowledgment or denial, of the use of any expression +which would warrant the assertion of Dr. Cooper." + +In his reply the next day Hamilton said: + +"I cannot reconcile it with propriety to make the acknowledgment +or denial you desire. I will add that I deem it inadmissable on +principle to consent to be interrogated as to the justness of +the inferences which may be drawn from others, from whatever I may +have said of a political opponent in the course of fifteen +years' competition. I stand ready to avow, or disavow promptly +and explicitly, any precise or definite opinion which I may be +charged with having declared of any gentleman. More than this +cannot be fitly expected from me; and especially it cannot be +reasonably expected that I shall enter into an explanation upon +a basis so vague as that which you have adopted. I trust on +more reflection, you will see the matter in the same light with +me. If not, I can only regret the circumstance, and must abide +the consequences." + +The immediate response of Burr to the above, after repeating his +former demand, contained the following: + +"Political opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity +of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor and the rules of decorum. +I neither claim such privilege, nor indulge it in others." + +Hamilton's reply being unsatisfactory, the formal challenge of Burr +was soon thereafter handed to him by W. P. Van Ness. The last +named was the second of Burr, and Nathaniel Pendleton was the friend +of Hamilton. + +Some days elapsed after the formal acceptance of the challenge +before the fatal meeting. That Hamilton was anxious to avoid +the conflict, clearly appears from a perusal of the many publications +that immediately followed. A paper he prepared explanatory in +character, the second of Burr declined to receive, on the ground +that he considered the correspondence closed by the acceptance +of the challenge. + +It touches our sympathies deeply even after the lapse of a century +to read the letter written by Hamilton to his wife to be delivered +in the event of his death, in which he states that he has endeavored +by all honorable means to avoid the duel which probably he would +not survive. He begs her forgiveness for the pain his death would +cause her, and entreats her to bear her sorrows as one who has +placed a firm reliance on a kind Providence. + +A few days before his death, he and Burr were guests at a dimmer +given by the Cincinnati Society, of which both were members. +Few persons were aware of what was pending, but it was observed +that Hamilton "entered with glee into all the gayety of a convivial +party, and even sang an old military song." Burr, upon the contrary, +was "silent, gloomy, and remained apart." + +In his will, written July 9, Hamilton expressed deep regret that +his death will prevent the full payment of his debts. He expresses +the hope that his children will, in time, make up to his creditors +all that may be due them. After tenderly committing to his children +the care of their mother, he says, "in all situations you are +charged to bear in mind, that she has been to you the most devoted +and best of mothers." + +The last paper that came from his pen was evidently intended as +his vindication to posterity, his appeal to time. In this he says: + +"I was certainly desirous of avoiding this interview, for the most +cogent reasons. My religious and moral principles are strongly +opposed to duelling, and it would give me pain to be obliged to +shed the blood of a fellow-creature in a private combat forbidden by +the laws. My wife and children are extremely dear to me, and my +life is of the utmost importance to them. I am conscious of no +ill-will to Colonel Burr distinct from political opposition, which +I trust has proceeded from pure and upright motives. Lastly, I +shall hazard much and shall possibly gain nothing by the issue +of the interview. But it was impossible for me to avoid it." + +He candidly admits that his criticisms of Colonel Burr have been +severe. He says: + +"And on different occasions, I--in common with many others--have +made very unfavorable criticisms of the private character of +this gentleman. It is not my design to fix any odium on the conduct +of Colonel Burr in this case. He may have supposed himself under the +necessity of acting as he has done. I hope the grounds of his +proceeding have been such as to satisfy his own conscience. I +trust, at the same time, that the world will do me the justice +to believe that I have not censured him on light grounds, nor from +unworthy inducements." + +How strangely in the light of history sounds the following: "It +is my ardent wish that he, by his future conduct, may show himself +worthy of all confidence and esteem, and prove an ornament and +blessing to the country." + +That some lingering apprehension existed in the mind of General +Hamilton that his criticisms of Colonel Burr might not have been +altogether generous, appears from the following: + +"As well because it is possible that I may have injured Colonel +Burr, however convinced myself that my opinions and declarations +have been well-founded, as from my general principles and temper +in relation to similar affairs, I have resolved, if our interview is +conducted in the usual manner, and it please God to give me the +opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire; and I have +thought even of reserving my second fire, and thus giving to Colonel +Burr a double opportunity to pause and to reflect." + +And then, before laying down his pen for the last time, he struck the +keynote to the conduct of many brave men who, like himself, +reluctantly accepted a call to "the field of honor." These are +his closing words: + +"To those who with me, abhorring the practice of duelling, may +think that I ought under no account to have added to the number of +bad examples, I answer, that my relative situation as well in public +as in private enforcing all the considerations which constitute +what men of the world denominate honor imposed on me a peculiar +necessity not to decline the call. The ability to be in future +useful, whether in arresting mischief or effecting good in this +crisis of our public affairs which seemed likely to happen, +would probably be inseparable from a conformity with public prejudice +in this particular." + +At seven o'clock in the morning of July 11, 1804, at Weehawken, +New Jersey, the fatal meeting took place. After the usual +formal salutation, the parties were placed in position by their +seconds, ten paces apart, the pistols placed in their hands, and +the word being given both fired. General Hamilton instantly fell. +The statement subsequently given out by the seconds is as follows: + +"Colonel Burr then advanced toward General Hamilton with a manner and +gesture that appeared to be expressive of regret, but without +speaking turned about and withdrew, being urged from the field +by his friends. No further communication took place between the +principals, and the barge that carried Colonel Burr immediately +returned to the city. We conceive it proper to add that the conduct +of the parties in this interview was perfectly proper as suited +the occasion." + +The surgeon in attendance states that after Hamilton was borne +to the barge he observed, "Pendleton knows that I did not intend +to fire at him." As they approached the shore he said, "Let +Mrs. Hamilton be immediately sent for; let the event be gradually broken +to her, but give her hopes." His physician adds: + +"During the night his mind retained its usual strength and composure. +The great source of his anxiety seemed to be in his sympathy with his +half-distracted wife and children. 'My beloved wife and children' +was his often used expression, but his fortitude triumphed over +his situation, dreadful as it was. Once, indeed, at the sight +of his children, seven in number, brought to his bedside together, +his utterance forsook him. To his wife he said in a firm voice +but with a pathetic and impressive manner, 'Remember, my Eliza, +that you are a Christian.' His words and the tone in which they +were uttered, will never be effaced from my memory." + +After indescribable agony, death came at two o'clock of the day +succeeding the duel. Thus, at the age of forty-seven, perished +Alexander Hamilton, a great man in any country or time. Cities +and counties bear his name in almost every American State. The +story of his wondrous life and tragic death will never lose its +pathetic interest. His unswerving devotion to the country of +his adoption, his untiring efforts in the establishment of the +national Government, and his friendship for Washington, which knew +no abatement, have given Hamilton honored and enduring place in +American history. + +As to Burr, the proverb found instant verification that "in duels the +victor is always the victim." Had he, instead of Hamilton, fallen +on that ill-fated July morning, how changed their possible places in +history. A halo has gathered about the name of Hamilton. Monuments +have been erected to his memory, his statue has been given high +place in the Capitol. The hour of his fall was that of his +exaltation. + +The self-same hour witnessed the ruin of his antagonist. From the +fatal field, unharmed in body, he turned away, henceforth to the +followed by the execrations of his countrymen. Past services were +forgotten, brilliant talents availed nothing. His desperate attempt +to found a rival government by the partial dismemberment of the +one he had helped to establish was thwarted, and after years of +poverty and misfortune abroad, he returned to die in neglect and +obscurity in his own country. As was truly said: "He was the last +of his race; there was no kindred hand to smooth his couch, or wipe +the death-damp from his brow. No banners drooped over his bier; +no melancholy music floated upon the reluctant air." + +The Hon. Hamilton Spencer, one of the ablest of lawyers, gave me +an interesting account of an interview he had with Colonel Burr in +Albany not long before his death. Notwithstanding his advanced +age, broken health, and ruined fortunes, he deeply impressed Mr. +Spencer as a gentleman of most courteous manners, dignified bearing, +and commanding presence such as he had rarely seen. + +The one object of his love was his daughter, the beautiful Theodosia. +Her devotion to her father increased with his accumulating misfortunes. +The ship in which she sailed from her home in Charleston, South +Carolina, to meet him in New York, never reached its destination. +In all history, there are few pictures more pathetic than that +of the gray-haired, friendless man, with faded cloak drawn closely +about him, day after day wandering alone by the seaside, anxiously +awaiting the coming of the one being who loved him, the idolized +daughter whose requiem was even then being chanted by the waves. + +One of the men I occasionally met in Washington was Joseph C. +McKibben, a former representative in Congress from the Pacific +coast. He was thoroughly familiar with the history of California from +its cession to the United States at the close of the Mexican War. +He had been an active participant in many of the stirring events +occurring soon after the admission of the State into the Union. + + "Men, except in bad novels, are not all good, or all evil." + +Colonel McKibben was the second of David C. Broderick in his +duel with Judge Terry. At the time of the duel, Broderick was a +Senator of the United States, and Terry the Chief Justice of +California. The challenge given by Terry was promptly accepted. +As will be remembered, in the encounter which immediately followed, +Terry escaped unhurt and Broderick was killed. + +I recall vividly the description given me of the meeting between +these men in that early Spring morning in 1859. Both possessed +unquestioned courage. Their demeanor upon the field, as in deadly +attitude they confronted each other a few paces apart, was that of +absolute fearlessness. "Each had set his life upon a cast, and +was ready to stand the hazard of the die." + +Rarely have truer words been uttered than those of the gifted Baker +over the dead body of Broderick: + +"The code of honor is a delusion and a snare; it palters with +the hope of true courage, and binds it at the feet of crafty and +cruel skill. It surrounds its victim with the pomp and grace of +the procession, but leaves him bleeding on the altar. It +substitutes cold and deliberate preparedness for courage and manly +impulse, and arms the one to disarm the other. It makes the mere +trick of the weapon superior to the noblest cause and the truest +courage. Its pretence of equality is a lie; it is equal in all the +form, it is unjust in all the substance. The habitude of arms, +the early training, the frontier life, the border war, the sectional +custom, the life of leisure, all these are advantages which no +negotiations can neutralize, and which no courage can overcome. +Code of honor! It is a prostitution of the name, is an evasion of +the substance, and is a shield blazoned with the name of chivalry to +cover the malignity of murder." + +The tragic ending of the eventful career of Judge Terry, which +occurred within the last decade, will be readily recalled. +Immediately following his assault upon Justice Field at the railway +station in Lathrop, California, he was slain by a deputy United +States marshal. The wife of Terry was at his side, and the scene that +followed beggars description. + +The name of Terry at once recalls the "Vigilance Committee" of +early San Francisco days. The committee was composed largely of +leading men of the "law-and-order" element of the city. Robberies +and murders were of nightly occurrence, and gamblers and criminals +in many instances were the incumbents of the public offices. +The organization mentioned became an imperative necessity for +the protection of life and property. The work of the committee +constitutes one of the bloodiest chapters of early Californian +history. + +Nearly a third of a century ago, Colonel Thornton, a prominent +lawyer of San Francisco, related to me an incident which he had +witnessed during the time the famous Vigilance Committee was in +complete control. A young lawyer, recently located in San Francisco, +was arrested for stabbing a well-known citizen who was at the time +one of the most active members of the Vigilance Committee. The +name of the lawyer was David S. Terry, at a later day Chief Justice +of the State. The dread tribunal was presided over by one of +the most courageous and best known citizens of the Pacific coast. +At a later day, his name was presented by his State to the National +Convention of his party for nomination for the Vice-Presidency. + +When brought before the Vigilance Committee, the demeanor of Terry +was that of absolute fearlessness. Standing erect and perfectly +self-possessed, he listened to the ominous words of the president: +"Mr. Terry, you are charged with attempted murder; what have you +to say?" Advancing a step nearer the committee "organized to +convict," and in a tone that at once challenged the respect of all, +Terry replied, "If your Honor please, I recognize the jurisdiction +of this court, and am ready for trial." He then clearly established +the fact that his assault was in self-defence, and after a masterly +speech, delivered with as much self-possession as if a life other than +his own trembled in the balance, was duly acquitted. + +Another California with whom I was personally acquainted, was +William M. Gwin. He had long passed the allotted three score +and ten when I first met him at the home of the late Senator Sharon. +Few men have known so eventful a career. He had been the +private secretary of Andrew Jackson. He knew well the public men of +that day, and related many interesting incidents of the stormy +period of the latter years of Jackson's Presidency. In his +early manhood Gwin was a member of Congress from Alabama. At the +close of the Mexican War he removed to California, and upon the +admission of that State he and John C. Fremont were chosen its +first Senators in Congress. + +During a ride with him, he pointed out to me the spot where he had +fought a duel in early California days. He was then a Senator, +and his antagonist the Hon. J. W. McCorkle, a member of Congress. +A card signed by their respective seconds appeared the day following, +to the effect that after the exchange of three ineffectual shots +between the Hon. William M. Gwin and the Hon. J. W. McCorkle, the +friends of the respective parties, having discovered that _their +principals were fighting under a misapprehension of facts,_ mutually +explained to their respective principals how the misapprehension +had arisen. As a result, Senator Gwin promptly denied the cause +of provocation and Mr. McCorkle withdrew his offensive language +uttered at the race-course, and expressed regret at having used it. + +To a layman in these "piping times of peace" it would appear the +more reasonable course to have avoided "a misapprehension of facts" +before even three ineffectual shots. + +At the beginning of the great civil conflict, the fortunes of +Senator Gwin were cast with the South, and at its close he became a +citizen of Mexico. Maximilian was then Emperor, and one of his +last official acts was the creation of a Mexican Duke out of the +sometime American Senator. The glittering empire set up by Napoleon +the Third and upheld for a time by French bayonets, was even then, +however, tottering to its fall. + +When receiving the Ducal coronet from the Imperial hand the +self-expatriated American statesman might well have inquired, + + "But shall we wear these glories for a day, + Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them?" + +A few months later, at the behest of our Government, the French +arms were withdrawn, the bubble of Mexican Empire vanished, and +the ill-fated Maximilian had bravely met his tragic end. Thenceforth, +a resident but no longer a citizen of the land that had given +him birth, William M. Gwin, to the end of his life, bore the +high sounding but empty title of "Duke of Sonora." + +Frequent as have been the instances in our own country where death +has resulted from duelling, it is believed that in but one has the +survivor incurred the extreme penalty of the law. That one case +occurred in 1820 in Illinois. What was intended merely as a "mock +duel" by their respective friends, was fought with rifles by William +Bennett and Alphonso Stewart in Belleville. It was privately agreed +by the seconds of each that the rifles should be loaded with blank +cartridges. This arrangement was faithfully carried out so far as +the seconds were concerned; but Bennett, the challenging party, +managed to get a bullet into his own gun. The result was the +immediate death of Stewart, and the flight of his antagonist. Upon +his return to Belleville a year or two later, Bennett was immediately +arrested, placed upon trial, convicted, and executed. + +In more than one instance, at a later day, while well-known +Illinoisans have been parties to actual or prospective duels, no +instance has occurred of a hostile meeting of that character within +the limits of the State. A late auditor of public account, but +recently deceased, killed his antagonist in a duel with rifles +nearly half a century ago in California. + +William I. Ferguson, one of the most brilliant orators Illinois +has known, in early professional life the associate of men who have +since achieved national distinction, fell in a duel while a member +of the State Senate in California. + +During the sitting of the Illinois Constitutional Convention of +1847, two of its prominent members, Campbell and Pratt, delegates from +the northern tier of counties, became involved in a bitter personal +controversy which resulted in a challenge by Pratt to mortal combat. +The challenge was accepted and the principals with their seconds repaired +to the famous "Bloody Island" in the Mississippi, when by the +interposition of friends a peaceable settlement was effected. The sequel +to this happily averted duel was the incorporation in the Constitution, +then in process of formulation, of a provision prohibiting duelling in +the State, and attaching severe penalties to sending or accepting +a challenge. + +The earliest hostile meeting of Illinoisans was upon the island +last mentioned before State organization had been effected. The +principals were young men of well-known courage and ability--one +of whom, Shadrack Bond, upon the admission of Illinois was elected +its Governor. His adversary, John Rice Jones, was the first lawyer +to locate in the Illinois country, and was the brother of the second +of the unfortunate Cilley in the tragic encounter already related. +The late Governor Bissell of Illinois was once challenged by +Jefferson Davis. Both were at the time members of Congress, and +the _casus belli_ was language reflecting upon the conduct of some +of the participants in the then recently fought battle of Buena +Vista. After the acceptance of the challenge, mutual friends of +Davis and Bissell effected a reconciliation, just before the hour set +for the hostile meeting. + +So far as Illinois combatants are concerned, the historic island +mentioned above has little claim to its bloody designation, inasmuch +as the "affairs" mentioned, and one much more famous, yet to be +noted, were all honorably adjusted without physical harm to any of +the participants. + +The "affair of honor," the mention of which will close this chapter, +owes its chief importance to the prominence attained at a later +day by its principals. The challenger, James Shields, was at that +time, 1842, a State officer of Illinois, and later a general in +two wars and a Senator from three States. The name of his adversary +has since "been given to the ages." Mr. Lincoln was, at the time he +accepted Mr. Shields's challenge, a young lawyer, unmarried, residing +at the State capital. He was the recognized leader of the Whig +party, and an active participant in the fierce political conflicts +of the day. Some criticism in which he had indulged, touching the +administration of the office of which Shields was the incumbent, +was the immediate cause of the challenge. + +That Mr. Lincoln was upon principle opposed to duelling would be +readily inferred from his characteristic kindness. That "we are +time's subjects," however, and that the public opinion of sixty-odd +years ago is not that of to-day will readily appear from the +published statement of his friend Dr. Merryman: + +"I told Mr. Lincoln what was brewing, and asked him what course he +proposed to himself. He said that he was wholly opposed to duelling +and would do anything to avoid it that might not degrade him in +the estimation of himself and friends; but if such a degradation, or +a fight, were the only alternatives, he would fight." + +It is stated by one of the biographers of Mr. Lincoln that he +was ever after averse to any allusion to the Shields affair. From +the terms of his acceptance, it is evident that he intended neither +to injure his adversary seriously nor to receive injury at his +hands. In his lengthy letter of instruction to his second, he +closed by saying: + +"If nothing like this is done, the preliminaries of the fight are to +be, first, weapons: cavalry broadswords of the largest size, +precisely equal in all respects. Second, position: a plank ten +feet long and from nine to twelve inches broad, to be firmly fixed +on edge on the ground as the line between us which neither is to +pass his foot over upon forfeit of his life. Next, a line drawn +on the ground on either side of said plank and parallel with it, +each at the distance of the whole length of the sword, and three +feet additional from the plank; the passing of his own line by +either party during the fight shall be deemed a surrender of the +contest. Third, time: on Thursday evening at five o'clock within +three miles of Alton on the opposite side of the river, the particular +spot to be agreed on by you. Any preliminary details coming within +the above rules you are at liberty to make at your discretion, but +you are in no case to swerve from these rules or to pass beyond +their limits." + +The keen sense of the humorous, with which Mr. Lincoln was so +abundantly gifted, seems not to have wholly deserted him even in +the serious moments when penning an acceptance to mortal combat. +The terms of meeting indicated--which he as the challenged party +had the right to dictate--lend color to the opinion that he regarded +the affair in the light of a mere farce. His superior height +and length of arm remembered, and the position of the less favored +Shields, with broadsword in hand, at the opposite side of the board, +and not permitted "upon forfeit of his life" to advance an inch +--the picture is indeed a ludicrous one. + +Out of the lengthy statements of the respective seconds--the +publication of which came near involving themselves in personal +altercation--it appears that all parties actually reached the +appointed rendezvous on time. + +But it was not written in the book of fate that this duel was to +take place. Something of mightier moment was awaiting one of +the actors in this drama. Two level-headed men, R. W. English and +John J. Hardin, the friends respectively of Shields and Lincoln, +crossing the Mississippi in a canoe close in the wake of the +belligerents, reached the field just before the appointed hour. +These gentlemen, acting in concert with the seconds, Whiteside and +Merryman, soon effected a reconciliation deemed honorable to all, and +the Shields-Lincoln duel passed to the domain of history. That +the reconciliation thus brought about was sincere was evidenced by +the fact that one of the earliest acts of President Lincoln was +the appointment of General Shields to an important military command. + +How strangely "the whirligig of time brings in his revenges!" A +few paces apart in the old Hall at the Capitol at Washington, stand +two statues, the contribution of Illinois for enduring place in +the "Temple of the Immortals." One is the statue of Lincoln, +the other that of Shields. + + + +XI +A PRINCELY GIFT + +DESCENT OF JAMES SMITHSON, FOUNDER OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION-- +HIS EDUCATION AND HIS WRITINGS--HIS WILL--THE UNITED STATES HIS +RESIDUARY LEGATEE--SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION OF THE CLAIM OF THE UNITED +STATES TO THE LEGACY--PLANS SUGGESTED FOR THE DISPOSAL OF THE FUND +--PROF. JOSEPH HENRY APPOINTED SECRETARY--BENEFICENT WORK OF THE +INSTITUTION. + +Although a third of a century has passed since I met Professor +Joseph Henry, I distinctly recall his kindly greeting and the +courteous manner in which he gave me the information I requested +for the use of one of the Committees of the House. + +The frosts of many winters were then on his brow, and he was near the +close of an honorable career, one of measureless benefit to mankind. +He was the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the +originator of the plan by which was carried into practical effect the +splendid bequest for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge among +men." + +As Vice-President of the United States, a regent _ex-officio_ of +the Smithsonian Institution, I had rare opportunity to learn much of +its history and something of its marvellous accomplishment. As is +well known, it bears the name of James Smithson. He was an +Englishman, related to the historic family of Percy, and a +lineal descendent of Henry the Seventh, his maternal ancestor being +the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, cousin to Queen Elizabeth. + +Mr. Langley, the late secretary of the institution, said: + +"Smithson always seems to have regarded the circumstances of his +birth as doing him a peculiar injustice, and it was apparently this +sense that he had been deprived of honors properly his which made him +look for other sources of fame than those which birth had denied +him, and constituted the motive of the most important action of +his life, the creation of the Smithsonian Institution." + +The deep resentment of Smithson against the great families who had +virtually disowned him, finds vent in a letter yet extant, of which +the following is a part: "The best blood of England flows in my +veins; on my father's side I am a Northumberland, on my mother's +I am related to kings; but this avails me not. My name shall live +in the memory of man when the titles of the Northumberlands and +the Percys are extinct and forgotten." + +How truly his indignant forecast was prophetic is now a matter +of history. Few men know much about the once proud families of +Northumberland or Percy, but the name of the youth they scornfully +disowned lives in the institution he founded, the greatest +instrumentality yet devised for "the increase and diffusion of +knowledge among men." + +Smithson was born in 1765, and received the degree of Master of +Arts from Pembroke College at the age of twenty-one. A year later +he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, upon the recommendation +of his instructors, as being "a gentleman well versed in the various +branches of Natural Philosophy, and particularly in Chemistry and +Mineralogy." As a student, he was devoted to the study of the +sciences, especially chemistry, and his entire life, in fact, +was given to scientific research. Twenty-seven papers from his +pen were published in "The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal +Society" and in "Thompson's Annals of Philosophy," near the close of +the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, and +"all give evidence that he was an assiduous and faithful +experimenter." + +In this connection, the statement of Professor Clarke, Chief Chemist +of the United States Geographical Survey, is in point: + +"The most notable feature of Smithson's writings from the standpoint +of the analytical chemist, is the success obtained with the most +primitive and unsatisfactory appliances. In Smithson's day, chemical +apparatus was undeveloped, and instruments were improvised from +such materials as lay readiest to hand. With such instruments, +and with crude reagents, Smithson obtained analytical results of +the most creditable character, and enlarged our knowledge of +many mineral species. In his time, the native carbonate and the +silicate of zinc were confounded as one species under the name +calamine; but his researches distinguished between the two minerals, +which are now known as Smithsonite and Calamine, respectively. + +"To theory Smithson contributed little, if anything; but from a +theoretical point of view, the tone of his writings is singularly +modern. His work was mostly done before Dalton had announced +the atomic theory; and yet Smithson saw clearly that a law of +definite proportions must exist, although he did not attempt to +account for it. His ability as a reasoner is best shown in his +paper on the Kirkdale Bone Cave, which Penn had sought to interpret +by reference to the Noachian Deluge. A clearer and more +complete demolition of Penn's views could hardly be written to-day. +Smithson was gentle with his adversary, but none the less thorough, +for all his moderation. He is not to be classed among the leaders +of scientific thought; but his ability and the usefulness of his +contributions to knowledge, cannot be doubted." + +The life of Smithson was uncheered by domestic affection; he was +of singularly retiring disposition, had no intimacies, spent the +closing years of his life in Paris, and was long the uncomplaining +victim of a painful malady. Professor Langley said of him: + +"One gathers from his letters, from the uniform consideration with +which he speaks of others, from kind traits which he showed, and +from the general tenor of what is not here particularly cited, the +remembrance of an innately gentle nature, but also of a man who is +gradually renouncing not without bitterness the youthful hope of +fame, and as health and hope diminished together, is finally living +for the day, rather than for any future." + +He died in Genoa, Italy, June 27, 1829, and was buried in the little +English cemetery on the heights of San Benigno. The Institution +he founded has placed a tablet over his tomb and surrounded it with +evidences of continued and thoughtful care. + +His will--possibly of deeper concern to mankind than any yet written +--bears date October 23, 1826. In its opening clause he designates +himself: "Son of Hugh, First Duke of Northumberland, and Elizabeth, +heiress of the Hungerfords of Studley, and niece to Charles the +proud Duke of Somerset." Herein clearly appears his undying +resentment toward those who had denied him the position in life to +which he considered himself justly entitled. + +The only persons designated in his will as legatees are a faithful +servant, for whom abundant provision was made, and Henry James +Hungerford, nephew of the testator. To the latter was devised the +entire estate except the legacy to the servant mentioned. The +clause of the will which has given the name of Smithson to the ages +seems to have been almost casually inserted; it appears between +the provision for his servant and the one for an investment of the +funds. + +The clause in his will which was to cause his name "to live in the +memory of man when the titles of the Northumberlands and the Percys +are extinct and forgotten," was,-- + +"In the case of the death of my said nephew without leaving a child +or children, or the death of the child or children he may have had +under the age of twenty-one years, or intestate, I then bequeath +the whole of my property subject to the annuity of one hundred +pounds to John Fitall (for the security and payment of which I have +made provision) to the United States of America, to found at +Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an +establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among +men." + +Why he selected the United States as his residuary legatee has long +been, and will continue to be, the subject of curious inquiry. He +had never been in America, had no correspondent here, and nowhere in +his writings has there been found an allusion to our country. +So far as we know, he could have had no possible prejudice in favor +of our system of representative government. + +It is a singular fact, however, in this connection, that the pivotal +clause in his will bears striking resemblance to the admonition, +"Promote as an object of primary importance institutions for the +general diffusion of knowledge," contained in the farewell address +of President Washington. + +The contingency provided for happened; the death of the nephew +Hungerford unmarried and without heirs occurred six years after +that of the testator. The first announcement to the people of the +United States of the facts stated was contained in a special message +from President Jackson to Congress, December 17, 1835. Accompanying +the message was a letter with a detailed statement, and copy of +the will, from our Legation in London. In closing his brief message +of transmission, President Jackson says: "The Executive having no +authority to take any steps for accepting the trust and obtaining the +funds, the papers are communicated with a view to such measures as +Congress may deem necessary." + +On the first day of July, 1836, a bill authorizing the President +to assert and prosecute the claim of the United States to the +Smithson legacy became a law. This, however, was after much +opposition in Congress; a member of the House indignantly declaring +that our Government should receive nothing by way of gift from +England, and proposing that the bequest should be denied. The +prophetic words of the venerable John Quincy Adams--then a member of +the House after his retirement from the Presidency--in advocating +the passage of the bill are worthy of remembrance: + +"Of all the foundations of establishments for pious or charitable uses +which ever signalized the spirit of the age, or the comprehensive +beneficence of the founders, none can be named more deserving the +approbation of mankind than this. Should it be faithfully carried +into effect with an earnestness and sagacity of application and a +steady perseverance of purpose proportioned to the means furnished +by the will of the founder, and to the greatness and simplicity of +his design as by himself declared,--'the increase and diffusion of +knowledge among men,'--it is no extravagance of anticipation to declare +that his name will hereafter be enrolled among the benefactors of mankind." + +In the execution of this law, the President immediately upon its +enactment appointed Richard Rush, a distinguished lawyer of +Philadelphia, to proceed to London, and take the necessary steps +to obtain the legacy. To the accomplishment of this purpose a suit +was soon thereafter instituted by Mr. Rush. The hopelessness of +its early termination in an English Chancery Court of that day will +at once occur to the readers of Dickens's famous "Jarndyce against +Jarndyce." It was truly said, that a chancery suit was a thing +which might begin with a man's life, and its termination be his +epitaph. + +A wiser selection than Mr. Rush could not have been made. He +entered upon the work to which he had been appointed, with great +determination. In a letter to our Secretary of State just after +he had instituted suit, he says: + +"A suit of higher interest and dignity, has rarely perhaps been +before the tribunals of a nation. If the trust created by the +testator's will be successfully carried into effect by the enlightened +legislation of Congress, benefits may flow to the United States, +and to the human family, not easy to be estimated, because operating +silently and gradually throughout time, yet not operating the less +effectually. Not to speak of the inappreciable value of letters +to individual and social man, the monuments which they raise to +a nation's glory often last when others perish, and seem especially +appropriate to the glory of a Republic whose foundations are laid in +the assumed intelligence of its citizens, and can only be strengthened +and perpetuated as that improve." + +The successful termination of the suit came, however, sooner +than could have been expected; and in May, 1838, the amount of the +legacy, exceeding the substantial sum of five hundred thousand +dollars, was received and invested as required by law. + +The facts stated were communicated by special message from President +Van Buren to Congress, in December, 1838. Attention was then called +to the fact that he had applied to persons versed in science, +for their views as to the mode of disposing of the fund which would +be calculated best to meet the intent of the testator, and prove +most beneficial to mankind. + +During the eight years intervening between this message and the +passage of the bill for the incorporation of the Smithsonian +Institution, much discussion was had in and out of Congress, as to +the best method of making effective the intention of the testator. + +In the light of events, some of the many plans suggested are even now +of curious interest. The establishment of a magnificent national library +at the Capital; the founding of a great university; of a normal +school; a post graduate school; and astronomical observatory "equal +to any in the world," are a few of the plans from time to time +proposed and earnestly advocated. + +The act of incorporation in 1846, the appointment of a Board of +Regents, and the selection of a Secretary, mark the beginning of +the Smithsonian Institution. In the selection of a Secretary, the +chief officer of the institution, the regents builded better +than they knew. The choice fell upon Professor Joseph Henry of +Princeton, then peerless among men of science in America. The +appointment was accepted, and the essential features of the plan +of organization he proposed were adopted in December, 1847. +This plan recognized as + +"Fundamental that the terms 'increase' and 'diffusion' should +receive literal interpretation in accordance with the evident +intention of the testator; that such terms being logically distinct, +the two purposes mentioned in the bequest were to be kept in view in +the organization of the institution; that the increase of knowledge +should be effected by the encouragement of original researches +of the highest character; and its diffusion by the publication +of the results of original research, by means of the publication +of a series of volumes of original memoirs; that the object of the +institution should not be restricted in favor of any particular +kind of knowledge; if to any, only to the higher and more abstract, +to the discovery of new principles rather than that of isolated +facts; that the institution should in no sense be national; that +the bequest was intended for the benefit of mankind in general, +and not for any single nation. + +"The accumulation and care of collections of objects of nature and +art, the development of a library, the providing of courses of +lectures, and the organization of a system of meteorological +observation, were to be only incidental to the fundamental design of +increasing and diffusing knowledge among men." + +In its inception, and in its widening influence during the passing +years, those entrusted with the actual management of this institution +have conscientiously kept in view the clearly expressed intention of +its founder. Following the distinctive but parallel paths, "increase" +and "diffusion," the Smithsonian Institution, yet in its infancy, has +added largely to the sum of useful knowledge. Its accredited +representatives are out upon every pathway of intelligent research +and discovery. Under the wise operation of this marvellous +instrumentality, long-concealed secrets of nature have been +discovered, and it can hardly be doubted that all that is given to +man to know will yet be revealed, and it will be permitted him + + "To read what is still unread, + In the manuscripts of God." + +By indefatigable investigation, and by world-wide publication of +the results, mankind has indeed become, as was intended, the +beneficiary of the princely bequest. + +More fitting words could not be selected with which to close +this sketch than those of the gifted and lamented Langley, whose +best years were given to scientific research, and whose name is +inseparably associated with the Smithsonian Institution: + +"What has been done in these two paths the reader may partly gather +from this volume--in the former from the various articles by +contemporary men of science, describing its activities in research +and original contributions to the increase of human knowledge; +in the latter, in numerous way--among others from the description of +the work of one of its bureaux, that of the International Exchanges, +where it may be more immediately seen how universal is the scope +of the action of the Institution, which, in accordance with its +motto 'PER ORBEM,' is not limited to the country of its adoption, but +belongs to the world, there being outside of the United States more +than twelve thousand correspondents scattered through every portion +of the globe; indeed there is hardly a language, or a people, where +the results of Smithson's benefaction are not known, and associated +with his name. + +"If we were permitted to think of him as conscious of what has +been, is being, and is still to be done, in pursuance of his wish, +we might believe that he would feel that his hope at a time when +life must have seemed so hopeless, was finding full fruition; +for events are justifying what may have seemed, at the time, but +a rhetorical expression, in the language of a former President of +the United States, who has said: 'Renowned as is the name of Percy +in the historical annals of England, let the trust of James Smithson +to the United States of America be faithfully executed, let the +result accomplish his object, the increase and diffusion of knowledge +among men, and a wreath more unfading shall entwine itself in +the lapse of future ages around the name of Smithson than the united +hands of history and poetry have braided around the name of +Percy through the long ages past.'" + + + +XII +THE OLD RANGER + +JOHN REYNOLDS, GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS, A BORN POLITICIAN--HIS KNOWLEDGE +OF THE PEOPLE--HIS AFFECTATION OF HUMILITY--ADMITTED TO THE BAR +--HE CONDEMNS A MURDERER TO DEATH--HIS CURIOUS ADDRESS TO ANOTHER +MURDERER--BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE--ELECTED GOVERNOR +--HIS GENEROSITY TO HIS POLITICAL ENEMIES--BECOMES A MEMBER OF +CONGRESS--HIS ADMIRATION FOR HIS ASSOCIATES--ELECTED A MEMBER OF THE +GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE--RETIRES TO PRIVATE LIFE. + +This world of ours will be much older before the like of John +Reynolds, the fourth Governor of Illinois, again appears upon +its stage. The title which he generously gave himself in early +manhood, upon his return after a brief experience as a trooper +in pursuit of a marauding band of Winnebagoes, stood him well in +hand in all his future contests for office. "The Old Ranger" was a +_sobriquet_ to conjure with, and turned the scales in his favor in +many a doubtful contest. + +The subject of this sketch was a born politician if ever one +trod this green earth. He was a perennial candidate for office, +and it was said he never took a drink of water without serious +meditation as to how it might possibly affect his political prospects. +The late Uriah Heep might easily have gotten a few points in +"'umbleness," if he had accompanied the Old Ranger in one or two +of his political campaigns. + +While Illinois was yet a Territory, his father had emigrated from the +mountains of Tennessee and located near the historic village of +Kaskaskia. This was at the time the capital of the Territory. +The village mentioned was then the most, and in fact, the only, +important place in the vast area constituting the present State of +Illinois. There were less than five thousand persons of all +nationalities and conditions in the Territory, and they mainly +in and about Kaskaskia, and southward to the Ohio. Beck's Gazetteer +published in 1823--five years after the admission of the State into +the Union--contains the following: "Chicago, a village of Pike +County, situated on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Chicago Creek. +It contains twelve or fifteen houses, and about sixty or seventy +inhabitants." + +The acquaintance of John Reynolds with what was then known as "the +Illinois Country" began in 1800, and his thorough knowledge of the +people and their ways gave him rare opportunities for acquiring +great personal popularity. Fairly well educated for the times, +gifted with an abundance of shrewdness, and withal an excellent +judge of human nature, he soon became a man of mark in the new +country. He was at all times and under all circumstances the +self-constituted "friend of the people." He affected to be one of +the humblest of the sons of men; and his dress, language, and +deportment were always in strict keeping with that assumption. For +the pride of ancestry he had a supreme contempt. In his "My Own +Times," published a few years before his death, he said: "I regard +the whole subject of ancestry and descent as utterly frivolous and +unworthy of a moment's serious attention." + +This recalls what Judge Baldwin said of Cave Burton: + +"He was not clearly satisfied that Esau made as foolish a bargain with +his brother Jacob as some think. If the birth-right was _a mere +matter of family pride,_ and the pottage of agreeable taste, Cave was +not quite sure that Esau had not gotten the advantage in his famed +bargain with the Father of Israel." + +Humility was Reynolds's highest card, and when out among the people +he was always figuratively clothed in sackcloth and ashes. A +few extracts from his book may be of interest: + +"I was a singular spectacle when in 1809 I started to Tennessee to +college. I looked like a trapper going to the Rocky Mountains. +I wore a cream-colored hat made of the fur of the prairie wolf, +which gave me a grotesque appearance. I was well acquainted with the +mysteries of horse and foot races, shooting matches, and other wild +sports of the backwoods, but had not studied the polish of the +ball-room and was sorely beset with diffidence, awkwardness, and +poverty." + +Later, and when out in pursuit of the Indians, he said: "But +diffidence never permitted me to approach an officer's tent, or +solicit any one for office." + +None the less, the office of Orderly Sergeant being thrust upon +him, he managed in his humble way to get through with it +passably well. + +When the State Government was organized in 1818, while shrinking +from even the gaze of men, and spurning from the depths of his soul +the arts of politicians, he managed in some way to be designated +one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the new State. His +admiration for the dispensing hand appears as follows: "Wisdom +and integrity, with other noble qualities, gave Governor Bond a +high standing with his contemporaries. Wisdom and integrity shed a +beacon light around his path through life, showing him to be one +of the noblest works of God." + +Four years prior to this appointment, he had been admitted to +the bar, after "undergoing with much diffidence" his examination. +This accomplished, he adds: "In the Winter of 1814, I established +a very humble and obscure law-office in the French village of +Cahokia, the county seat of St. Clair County." The bearing of the +one whose meat was locusts and wild honey, and whose loins were +girt about with a leathern girdle, was arrogance itself, when +compared with the deportment of the later John in the wilderness +at the period whereof we write. + +That he was orthodox upon what pertained to medical practice will now +appear: "It was the universal practice to give the patient of the +bilious disease, first, tartar emetic; next day, calomel and jalap; +and the third day, Peruvian bark. This was generally sufficient." +The latter statement will hardly be questioned. + +How his first visitation of the tender passion was mingled with +a relish of philosophy is recorded for the benefit of posterity: + +"During all my previous life until within a short time before I +married, I had not the least intention of that state of existence, +and I expressed myself often to my friends to the same effect; but +on the subject of matrimony, a passion influences the parties which +generally succeeds. Judgment and prudence should be mixed in +equal parts with love and affection in the transaction, to secure a +lasting and happy union." + +With all his diffidence, however, the Old Ranger happened to turn up +at the seat of Government in time "to be persuaded by my friends +to be a candidate for a Judgeship. It broke in on me like a clap of +thunder." The mite of philosophy with which he excused himself +for giving way to the urgent demand of his friends is as follows: +"Human nature is easier to persuade to mount upwards than to remain +on the common level." + +His mind, as will appear, was essentially of the strictly practical +cast. He no doubt believed with Macaulay that "one acre in Middlesex +is worth a principality in Utopia." + +That the Republican simplicity of the new Judge followed him from his +"very humble and obscure law-office" to the Bench, will now appear: + +"The very first court I held was in Washington County, and it was to +me a strange and novel business. I was amongst old comrades +with whom I had been raised, ranged in the war with them, and lived +with them in great intimacy and equality, so that it was difficult +to assume a different relationship than I had previously occupied with +them. Moreover I detested a mock dignity. Both the sheriff and +clerk were rangers in the same company with myself, and it seemed we +were still ranging on equal terms in pursuit of the Indians. +The sheriff was of the same opinion and very familiar. He opened court +sitting astride on a bench in the Court-house, and without rising, +proclaimed: 'The court is now open, and our John is on the bench.'" + +It may here be mentioned that the first case of importance that +came before Judge Reynolds, was the trial of one William Bennett +for murder. He had killed his antagonist in a duel in St. Clair +County, for which he suffered the death penalty. This is the only +duel ever fought in Illinois. No doubt the prompt execution of +Bennett did much to discourage duelling in the State. + +In reply to the charge that he had acted with unbecoming levity +upon the trial of Bennett, the Judge said, "No human being of my +humble capacity could have acted with more painful feelings and +sympathy than did I on this occasion." Having thus vindicated +himself from the serious charge mentioned, he adds: + +"I am opposed to capital punishment in any case where the convict can +be kept in solitary confinement without pardoning his life; it was +extremely painful and awful to me to be the instrument in the hands +of the law to pronounce sentence of death upon my fellow-man, +extinguishing him forever from the face of the earth, and depriving +him of life, which I think belongs to God and not to man." + +He consoles himself, however, as he closes his narrative of this +sad affair, that "it never did assume the character of a regular +and honorable duel." It is very satisfactory also, even at this +distant date, to be assured by the Judge that "the prisoner embraced +religion, was baptized, and died happy, before spectators to the +number of two thousand or more." + +Governor Ford, in his history of Illinois, relates the following +incident as characteristic of Judge Reynolds. The latter was +holding court in Washington County when one Green was found guilty +upon an indictment for murder. The court was near the hour of +adjournment for the term, when the prosecuting attorney suggested to +the court that the prisoner Green be brought in in order that +sentence be passed upon him. "Certainly, certainly," said the +Judge, and the prisoner was at once brought in from the jail +near by. + +"Mr. Green," said the Judge in a familiar tone, "the jury in +your case have found you guilty. I want you to understand, Mr. +Green, and all your friends down on Indian Creek to know, that +it is not I who condemns you, but the jury and the law. The law +allows you time for preparation, Mr. Green; and so the court wants +to know what time it would suit you to be hung?" The prisoner +replying that he was ready to suffer at whatever time the court +might appoint, the Judge said; + +"Mr. Green, you must know that it is a very serious matter to be +hung. It can't happen to a man more than once in his life, and +you had better take all the time you can get; the court will give you +till this day four weeks. Mr. Clerk, look at the almanac and see if +this day four weeks comes on Sunday." The Clerk after examination +reported that that day four weeks came on Friday. The Judge then +said: "Mr. Green, the court gives you till this day four weeks, +and then you are to be hanged." + +Whereupon the prosecuting officer, the Hon. James Turney, an able and +dignified lawyer, said: + +"May it please the court, on solemn occasion like the present, when +the life of a human being is to be sentenced away for crime by +an earthly tribunal, it is usual and proper for courts to pronounce +a formal sentence, in which the leading features of the crime shall +be brought to the recollection of the prisoner, a sense of his +guilt impressed upon his conscience, and in which the prisoner +should be duly exhorted to repentance and warned against the judgment +in a world to come." + +To which the Judge replied: "Oh, Mr. Turney, Mr. Green understands +the whole matter as well as if I had preached to him a month. +He knows he has got to be hung this day four weeks. You understand +it that way, Mr. Green, don't you?" + +"Yes," said the prisoner, upon which the Judge again expressing +the hope that he and all his friends down on Indian Creek would +understand that it was the act of the jury and of the law, _and +not of the Judge,_ ordered the prisoner to be remanded to jail, +and the court adjourned for the term. + +For some reason, by no means satisfactorily explained, Judge Reynolds +retired from the bench at the end of his four years' term. In +"Breese," the first volume of Illinois reports, is an opinion by +Judge Reynolds which has been the subject of amusing comment by +three generations of lawyers. After giving sundry reasons why +there was error in the judgment below, the learned Judge concludes: +"Therefore, the judgment _ought to be_ reversed; but inasmuch as +the court is equally divided in opinion, it is therefore +_affirmed."_ + +He then resumed the practice of the law, and as he says, "was +familiar with the people, got acquainted with everybody, and became +somewhat popular. I had no settled object in view other than to +make a living, and to continue on my humble, peaceable, and agreeable +manner." In view of the aversion already shown to office-holding, +the following disclaimer upon the part of the Judge seems wholly +superfluous: "I had no political ambition or aspirations for office +whatever." + +It is gratifying to know that at this time his domestic affairs +were in a satisfactory condition: "Plain and unpretending; never kept +any liquor in the house--treated my friends to every civility except +liquor; used an economy bordering on parsimony." + +Under the favorable conditions mentioned, the Judge was enabled to +overcome his aversion to holding office, and became a humble member +of the State Legislature immediately upon his retirement from +the bench. That his "modest aspirations" were on a higher plane +than that of ordinary legislators will clearly appear from the +following: "I entered this Legislature without any ulterior views, +and with an eye single to advance the best interests of the State, +and particularly the welfare of old St. Clair County. My only +ambition was to acquit myself properly, and to advance the best +interests of the country." + +Two years later, the aversion of the Old Ranger for office was +again overcome, as will appear from the following: "I entered this +Legislature, as I had the last, without any pledge or restraints +whatever; I then was, and am yet, only an humble member of the +Democratic party." + +His friends were again on the war-path and the shadow of the chief +executive office of the State was now beginning to fall across his +pathway. He says: + +"It would require volumes to record the transactions of these +Legislatures, and of my humble labors in them; but it was my course +of conduct in these two sessions of the General Assembly that +induced my friends, _without any solicitation on my part,_ to offer +me as a candidate for Governor. I was urged not by politicians, +but by reasonable and reflecting men, more to advance the interest +of the State than my own." + +If we did not, from his own lips, know how the Judge loathed +"the arts of politicians," we might almost be tempted to conclude from +the following that he was one of them: + +"I traversed every section of the State, and knew well the people. +My friends had the utmost confidence in my knowledge of the people, +and when I suggested any policy to be observed, this suggestion +was consequently carried out as I requested--thus placing all under +one leader." + +This, it will be remembered, was in 1830, and neither Reynolds nor +Kinney, his competitor, had received a party nomination. Both were +of the same party, Kinney being a strong Jackson man of the +ultra type, and the Judge only a "plain, humble, reflecting Jackson +man." + +At one time during the campaign it seemed as if there were real +danger of this candidate of the "reflecting men of the State" +actually falling into the ways and wiles of politicians. "I often +addressed the people in churches, in courthouses, and in the +open air, myself occupying literally the stump of a large tree; +_at times also in a grocery."_ + +The fiery and abusive hand-bills against his competitor he did not +attempt to restrain his friends from circulating, "as they had a +right to exercise their own judgment"; but he declares he did +not circulate one himself. He moreover felicitates himself upon +the fact that his conciliatory course gained him votes. + +This noted contest lasted eighteen months, as Reynolds says, and, the +State being sparsely populated, he enjoyed the personal acquaintance +of almost every voter. The fact, as he further states, that his +opponent was a clergyman, was a great drawback to him, and almost all +the Christian sects, except his own--the anti-missionary Baptists-- +opposed him. With a candor that does him credit, the Judge admits +"the support of the religious people was not so much _for me,_ but +_against him."_ + +No national issues were discussed, but one point urged by Kinney +against the proposed Michigan canal was, "that it would flood +the country with Yankees." It would be a great mistake to suppose +that Reynolds himself wholly escaped vituperation. On the contrary, +he claims the credit of being "the best abused man in the State." +He relates that one of the stories told on him was, "that I saw +a scarecrow, the effigy of a man in a corn-field, just at dusk, +and that I said, 'How are you, my friend? Won't you take some of +my hand bills to distribute?'" + +Some light is shed on the politics of the good old days of our +fathers by the following: "The party rancor in the campaign raged +so high that neighborhoods fell out with one another, and the angry +and bitter feelings entered into the common transactions of life." + +If the contest had lasted a year or two longer it is not improbably +that our candidate would have fallen from his high "reflecting" +state to the low level of artful politician. "It was the universal +custom of the times to treat with liquor. We both did it; but +he was condemned for it more than myself by the religious community, +_he being a preacher of the Gospel."_ + +Some atonement, however, is made for the bad whiskey our model +candidate dispensed by the noble sentiment with which he closes +this chapter of his contest: "I was, and am yet, one of the people, +and every pulsation of our hearts beats in unison." + +Having been elected by a considerable majority as he modestly +remarks, our Governor-elect falls into something of a philosophical +train of thought, and horror of politicians and their wiles and +ways again possessed him. He says: + +"It may be considered vanity and frailty in me, but when I was +elected Governor of the State on fair, honorable principles by the +masses, without intrigue or management of party or corrupt politicians, +I deemed it the decided approbation of my countrymen, and consequently +a great honor." + +The admonition of this sage statesman to the rising generation upon +the subject of office-seeking, is worthy of profound consideration: + +"But were I to live over again another life, I think I would have the +moral courage to refrain from aspiring for any office within the +gift of the people. By no means do I believe a person should be +sordid and selfish in all his actions, yet cannot a person be more +useful to the public if he possesses talents in other situations +than in office?" + +Some memory of the well-known ingratitude of republics evidently +entered like iron into his very soul when his memoirs were written: + +"Moreover, a public officer may toil and labor all his best days +with the utmost fidelity and patriotism, and the masses who reap +the reward of his labors frequently permit him, without any particular +fault upon his part, to live and die in his old age with disrespect. +Witness the punishment inflicted on Socrates, on our Saviour, +and many others for no crime whatever. But this contumely and +disrespect ought not to deter _a good and qualified man_ from +entering the public service, if he is satisfied that the good of +the country requires it." + +At this point in the career of this eminent public servant, deep +sympathy is aroused on account of the conflict between his humility +and a not very clearly-defined belief that something was due to +the great office to which he had been elevated. As preliminary, +however, to accomplishing what was for the best interests of the +people it must not be forgotten that "my first object was to soften +down the public mind to its sober senses." That no living man was +better qualified for the accomplishment of so praiseworthy a purpose +will now appear: "It has been my opinion of my humble self, +that whatever small forte I might possess was to conciliate and +soften down a turbulent and furious people." + +This being all satisfactorily accomplished and the abundant reward +of the peacemaker in sure keeping for this humble instrument, +his efforts were now directed toward the discharge of the duties +of the office to which he had so unexpectedly been called. + +That this hitherto unquestioned "friend of the people" was now +manifesting a slight tendency toward the frailties and vanities of +the common run of men, will appear from the following: + +"It was my nature not to feel or appear elevated, but I discovered +that my appearance and deportment, at times, might look like affected +humility or mock modesty, which I sincerely despised, and then +_I would straighten up a little."_ + +It may be truly said of Reynolds, as Macaulay said of Horace Walpole: +"The conformation of his mind was such that whatever was little +seemed to him great; and whatever was great, seemed to him little." + +Having in his inaugural given expression to the noble sentiment +that "proscription for opinion's sake is the worst enemy to the +Republic," he at once generously dispelled whatever apprehensions his +late opponents might feel as to what was to befall them, by the +assurance: "Therefore, all those who honestly and honorably +supported my respectable opponent in the last election for Governor +shall experience from me no inconvenience on that account." +Unfortunately no light is shed upon the interesting inquiry as +to what "inconvenience" was experienced by those who had otherwise +than "honestly and honorably" supported his respectable opponent +in the late contest. + +The Black Hawk War was the principal event of the administration +of Governor Reynolds. A treaty of peace being concluded, the +Indians were removed beyond the Mississippi River. In all this +the Governor acquitted himself with credit. + +That his aversion to office-holding was in some measure lessening, +will appear from the following: + +"Being in the office of Governor for some years, I was prevented +from the practice of the law, and in the meantime had been engaged +in public life until it commenced _to be a kind of second nature +to me._ Moreover, I was then young, ardent, and ambitious, so that +I really thought it was right for me to offer for Congress; and +I did so, in the Spring of 1834." + +An "artful politician" would probably have waited until the expiration +of his term as Governor. Not so with this "friend of the people." +He was not only elected to the next Congress, but the death of the +sitting member for the District creating a vacancy, Reynolds was +of course elected to that also, and was thus at one time Governor of +the State and member elect both to the next and to the present +Congress. + +His triumph over his "able and worthy competitor" is accounted for +in this wise: "I was myself tolerably well informed in the science +of electioneering with the masses of the people. I was raised with +the people, and was literally one of them. We always acted together, +and our common instincts, feelings and interests were the same." +He here modestly ventured the opinion that his "efforts on the +stump, while _making no pretension to classic eloquence,_ yet +flowing naturally from the heart, supplied in them many defects." + +A mite of self-approval, tinged with a philosophy which appears to +have been always kept on tap, closes this chapter of his remarkable +career. He says: + +"I sincerely state that I never regarded as important the salary +of the office, but I entered public office with a sincere desire +to advance the best interest of the country, which was my main +reward. If a person would subdue his ambition for office and remain +a private citizen, he would be a more happy man." + +That he must have been the most miserable of men, during the greater +part of his long life, clearly appears from the following: "There +is no person happy who is in public office, or a candidate for +office." + +A more extensive field of usefulness now opened up to the Old Ranger +as he took his seat in Congress. He had many projects in mind for +the benefit of the people--one, the reduction of the price of +the public lands to actual settlers; another, the improvement of +our Western rivers. But like many other members both before and +since his day, he found that "these things were easier to talk +about on the stump than to do." He candidly admits: "This body was +much greater than I had supposed, and I could effect much less than +I had contemplated." + +He informs us that he felt like a country boy just from home the +first time, as he entered the hall of the law-makers of the +great Republic. The city of Washington, grand and imposing, +impressed him deeply, but was as the dust in the balance to "the +assemblage of great men at the seat of Government of the United +States, and at the opening of Congress, when a grand and really +imposing spectacle was presented." + +His profound admiration for some of his associates upon the broader +theatre of the public service found vent in the following eloquent +words: + +"When the Roman Empire reached the highest pinnacle of literary +fame and political power in the reign of Augustus Caesar, the period +was called the Augustan age. There was a period that existed +eminently in the Jackson administration and a few years after that +might be called the Augustan age of Congress. So extraordinary +a constellation of great and distinguished individuals may never +again appear in office at the seat of government." + +If apology were needed for the new members' exalted opinion of his +associates, it can readily be found in the fact that among them in +the House were John Quincy Adams, John Bell, Thomas F. Marshall, +Ben Hardin, James K. Polk, Millard Fillmore, and Franklin Pierce. +The first named had been President of the United States, and the +last three were yet to hold that great office. At the same time +"the constellation of great stars" that almost appalled the Illinois +member upon his introduction included, in the Senate, Crittenden, Wright, +Cass, Woodbury, Preston, Buchanan, Grundy, Benton, Clay, Calhoun, and +Webster. + +On finally taking leave of Congress, our member congratulates +himself that during seven years of service he was absent from +his seat but a single day. That all his humble endeavors were +in the interest of the people, of course, goes without saying. He +deprecates in strong terms the extravagance of some members of +Congress in allowing their expenses to exceed their salaries, +and then leaving the capital in debt. That he did nothing of +the kind, but practised economy in all his expenses, it is +hardly necessary to state. He is not, however, entitled to a patent +for the discovery that "the expenses for living at the seat of +Government of the United States are heavy." + +Being a widower, conditions were now favorable for a little romance +to be mingled with the dull cares of state. Near the close of his +last term, he says: "I became acquainted with a lady in the District +of Columbia, and we, in consideration of mutual love and affection, +married. The same tie binds us in matrimonial happiness to the +present time." He here admits a fact that might at this later day +subject him to Executive displeasure: "Posterity will have an +unsettled account against us for having _added nothing to the great +reservoir of the human family."_ + +It may be of interest to know that while in Congress our member +humbly accepted the appointment tendered him by Governor Carlin as +Commissioner to negotiate the Illinois and Michigan Canal bonds. +His earnest desire to have some one else appointed availed nothing, +and in the interest of the great enterprise, upon the success of +which the future of the State seemed to hang, he spent the summer of +1839 in Europe. While his mission abroad was fruitless as to +its immediate object, it is gratifying to know that our commissioner +returned duly impressed with "the immense superiority in every +possible manner of our own country, and all its glorious institutions, +over those of the monarchies of the old world." + +It would be idle to suppose that the retirement of the Old Ranger from +Congress was to terminate his career of usefulness to the people. +On the contrary, he says: "In 1846, I was elected a member from +St. Clair County to the General Assembly of the State. The main +object of myself and friends was to obtain a charter for a macadamized +road from Belleville to the Mississippi River, opposite St. Louis." + +This all satisfactorily accomplished, and the Legislature adjourned, +"I turned my time and attention to the calm and quiet of life. +With my choice library of one thousand volumes I indulged in the +study of science and literature. I soon discovered that the bustle +and turmoil of political life did not produce happiness." + +Sad to relate, this faithful public servant, worn with the cares +of state, was not even yet permitted to lay aside his armor. +The happiness of private life, for which his soul yearned as the +hart panteth for the water brooks, was again postponed for the +hated bustle and turmoil of politics. In 1852, against his +remonstrances, he was again elected to the Legislature, and upon +the organization of the House unanimously chosen Speaker. + +Reluctantly indeed, we now take leave of John Reynolds--the quaintest +of all the odd characters this country of ours has known. In doing +so, it is indeed a comfort to know that, true as the needle to the +pole, his great heart continued to beat in unison with that of the +people. Ascending the Speaker's stand, and lifting the gavel, with +deep emotion he said--and these are to us his last words: "I have +nothing to labor for but the public good. My life has been devoted +to promote the public interest of Illinois, and in my latter days it +will afford me profound pleasure to advance now, as I have always done +in the past, _the best interests of the people."_ + + + +XIII +THE MORMON EXODUS FROM ILLINOIS + +DELEGATE CANNON AND SENATOR CANNON, MORMONS--SKETCH OF MORMONISM +BY GOVERNOR FORD--JOSEPH SMITH'S OWN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF +HIS CHURCH--HOW "THE BOOK OF MORMON" WAS MADE--NAUVOO, "THE HOLY +CITY"--EFFORTS OF WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS TO WIN THE VOTES OF THE +MORMONS--VICTORY OF THE DEMOCRATS, AND CONSEQUENT ANTI-MORMONISM +OF THE WHIGS--JOSEPH SMITH'S PRETENSIONS TO ROYALTY--THE ORIGIN OF +POLYGAMY IN THE MORMON CHURCH--CONFLICT WITH THE STATE AUTHORITIES +--SURRENDER OF THE LEADERS--ASSASSINATION OF SMITH--BRIGHAM +YOUNG CHOSEN AS HIS SUCCESSOR--THE EXODUS BEGINS. + +Just across the aisle from my seat in the House of Representatives +during the forty-sixth Congress sat George Q. Cannon, the delegate +from the Territory of Utah. He held this position for many years, +and possessed in the highest degree the confidence of the Mormon +people. Fifteen years later, when presiding over the Senate, I +administered the oath of office to his son, the Hon. Frank J. +Cannon, the first chosen to represent the State of Utah in the Upper +Chamber of the National Congress. Senator Cannon was then in high +favor with "the powers that be" in Salt Lake City, but for some +cause not well understood by the Gentile world, is now _persona +non grata_ with the head of the Mormon Church. The younger Cannon +was not a polygamist, and no objection was urged to his being seated +upon the presentation of his credentials as a Senator. His father, +the delegate, was in theory a polygamist, and had "the courage +of his convictions" to the extent of being the husband of five +wives, and the head of as many separate households. This, +before the days of "unfriendly legislation," was, in Mormon +parlance, called "living your religion." + +The delegate and the Senator were both men of ability, and possessed +in large degree the respect of their associates. The former was +in early youth a resident of Illinois, and was of the advance guard +of the Mormon exodus to the valley of the Great Salt Lake soon +after the assassination of the "prophet." When I first visited +Salt Lake City, in 1879, George Q. Cannon, in addition to being +the delegate in Congress, was one of the "Quorum of the Twelve," +and was in the line of succession to the presidency of the Church. +From him I learned much that was of interest concerning the history +and tenets of the Mormon people. The venerable John Taylor was +then the president of the Church, the immediate successor of Brigham +Young. He was in early life a resident with his people in Nauvoo, +Illinois, and was a prisoner in the Carthage jail with the "Prophet +Joseph" at the time of his assassination, in 1844. President Taylor +gave me a graphic description of that now historic tragedy, and of +his own narrow escape from the fate of his idolized leader. + +A brief notice of this singular people, and of what they did and +suffered in Illinois, may not be wholly without interest. Mormonism +was the apple of discord in the State during almost the entire +official term of the late Governor Ford. More than one little army +was, during that period, sent into Hancock County--"the Mormon +country"--to suppress disturbances and maintain public order. + +Governor Ford says: + +"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as this organization +is denominated by its adherents, is to be viewed from the antagonistic +Gentile and Mormon standpoints. + +"Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church and its prophet, +was born in Vermont, in 1805, of obscure parentage. His early +education was extremely limited. When he first began to act the +prophet, he was ignorant of almost everything which pertained to +science; but he made up in natural cunning for many deficiencies +of education. At the age of ten, he was taken by his father to +Wayne County, New York, where his youth was spent in an idle, +vagabond life, roaming the woods, dreaming of buried treasures, +and exerting himself to find them by the twisting of a forked stick +in his hands, or by looking through enchanted stones. He and +his father were 'water witchers,' always ready to point out the +exact points where wells could be successfully dug. While leading +an idle, profligate life, Joseph Smith became acquainted with Sidney +Rigdon, a man of talents and great plausibility. Rigdon was the +possessor of a religious romance written some years before by a +Presbyterian clergyman. The perusal of this book suggested to +Smith and Rigdon the idea of starting a new religion. By them a +story was accordingly devised to the effect that golden plates had +been found buried near Palmyra, New York, containing a record +inscribed on them in unknown characters, which, when deciphered by +the power of inspiration, gave the history of the ten lost tribes of +Israel in their wanderings through Asia into America, where they +had settled and flourished, and where, in due time, Christ came +and preached the Gospel to them, appointed his twelve Apostles, +and was crucified here, nearly in the same manner he had been in +Jerusalem. The record then pretended to give the history of the +American Christians for a few hundred years until the wickedness +of the people called down the judgment of God upon them, which +resulted in their extermination. Several nations from the Isthmus +of Darien to the northern extremity of the continent were engaged in +continual warfare. The culmination of all this was the battle +of Cumorah, fought many centuries ago near the present site of +Palmyra, between the Lamanites and the Nephites--the former being the +heathen and the latter the Christians of this continent. In +this battle, in which hundreds of thousands were slain, the Nephites +perished from the earth, except a remnant, who escaped to the +southern country. Among this number was Mormon, a righteous man +who was divinely directed to make a record of these important events +on plates of gold, and who buried them in the earth, to be +discovered in future times. 'The Book of Mormon'--none other than +the religious romance above mentioned--is the pretended translation +of the hieroglyphics said to have been inscribed on the golden +plates. + +"The account given of himself by the 'prophet' is of far different +tenor from the one just given. While yet a youth he became greatly +concerned in regard to his soul's salvation; and being deeply +agonized in spirit, he sought divine guidance. While fervently +engaged in supplication, his mind was taken away from the surrounding +objects and enwrapped in a heavenly vision, and he saw two glorious +personages similar in form and features and surrounded with a +brilliant light, outshining the sun at noonday. He was then informed +by these glorious personages that all religious denominations were +in error, and were not acknowledged of God as His church and kingdom, +and that he, Joseph, was expressly commanded not to go after them. +At the same time, he received a promise that the fulness of the +Gospel should at some future time be known to him." + +Subsequently, on the evening of September 23, 1823, at the hour of +six, while he was engaged in prayer, suddenly a light like that of +day, only far more pure and glorious, burst into the room, as though +the house were filled with fire, and a personage stood before +him surrounded with a glory far greater than he had yet seen. This +messenger proclaimed himself to be an angel of God, sent with +the joyful tidings that the covenant which God had made with ancient +Israel was about to be fulfilled; that the preparatory work for +the second coming of Messiah was speedily to commence; that the +time was at hand for the Gospel to be proclaimed in all its fulness +and power to all nations, to the end that a peculiar people might +be prepared for the millennial reign. He was further informed that +he, Joseph, was to be the instrument in God's hand to bring about this +glorious dispensation. The angel also informed him in regard to +the American Indians, who they were, and whence they came, with +a sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, righteousness, +and iniquity, and why the blessing of God had been withdrawn +from them as a people. He was also told where certain plates were +deposited, whereon were engraved the records of the ancient prophets, +who once existed on this continent. And then, to wit, on the last +day mentioned, the angel of the Lord delivered into his hands the +records mentioned, which were engraved on plates which had the +appearance of gold. They were filled with engravings in +Egyptian characters and bound together in a volume as the leaves +of a book; with the records was found a curious instrument which +the ancients called "Urim and Thummim," which consisted of two +transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate. +By the instrumentality of the Urim and Thummim, Joseph was enabled +to translate the hieroglyphics aforementioned. + +Thus translated, the records mentioned became "The Book of Mormon." +The last of the ancient prophets had inscribed these records upon the +golden plates by the command of God, and deposited them in the +earth, where, fifteen centuries later, they were divinely revealed +to Joseph Smith. + +It is not pretended that the golden plates are still in existence, +but that after being translated by Joseph Smith, by the aid of the +wonderful instrument mentioned, they were re-delivered to the angel. +The non-production of the plates thus satisfactorily explained, +and secondary evidence being admissible, eleven witnesses appeared +and testified to having actually seen the plates; three of the +number further declaring that they were present when Joseph received +the plates at the hands of the angel. + +Upon my giving expression, to a high Mormon official, of some +lingering doubts as to the absolute authenticity of the above +narrative, I was significantly reminded of the words of the immortal +bard: + + "Disparage not the faith thou dost not know, + Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear." + +At all events, upon the pretended revelations mentioned, Joseph +Smith as "prophet" founded the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, +near Palmyra, New York, in 1830. Nor did he lack for followers. +The eleven witnesses mentioned, and others, were commissioned +and sent forth to proclaim the new gospel, and disciples in +large numbers soon flocked to the standard of the "prophet." + +The history of delusions from the days of Mahomet to the present +time illustrates the eagerness with which men are ever ready to +seek out new inventions and to discard the old beliefs for the new. +There is no tenet so monstrous but in some breast it will find +lodgment. + + "In religion + What damned error, but some sober brow + Will bless it and approve it with a text." + +In 1833, Mormon colonies were established at Kirtland, Ohio, and +in Jackson County, Missouri, but, owing to Gentile persecution, +the "saints" at length shook the dust of those unhallowed localities +from their feet, and settled in large numbers in Hancock County, +Illinois. Here they built Nauvoo, the "Holy City," "the beautiful +habitation for man." The Mormon historian says: "The surrounding +lands were purchased by the saints, and a town laid out, which was +named 'Nauvoo' from the Hebrew, which signifies fair, very beautiful, +and it actually fills the definition of the words, for nature +has not formed a parallel anywhere on the banks of the Mississippi." + +The sacred city, as it was called, soon contained a population +of fifteen thousand souls, gathered from all quarters of the globe. +Here were built the home of the prophet, the hall of the seventies, +a concert hall, and other public institutions. Chief among +these buildings was the Temple, described by the same historian as +"glistening in white limestone upon the hilltops, a shrine in +the wilderness whereat all the nations of the earth may worship, +whereat all the people may inquire of God and receive His holy +oracles." + +This temple, erected at a cost of nearly a million dollars, was at +a later day visited by Governor Reynolds, and is thus described by +him: + +"I was in the Mormon temple at Nauvoo. It was a large and splendid +edifice, built in the Egyptian style of architecture; and its +grandeur and magnificence truly astonished me. It was erected +on the top of the Mississippi bluff, which has a prospect which +reached as far as the eye could extend over the country and up and +down the river. The most singular appendage of this splendid +edifice was the font in which the immersion of the saints was +practised. It was composed of marble." + +At the time of the Mormon emigration to Illinois, in 1839, the Whig +and Democratic parties in the State were in a heated struggle +for supremacy. The respective party leaders at once realized that +the new importation of voters might be the controlling political +factor in the State. To conciliate the Mormons and gain their +support soon became the aim of the politicians. This fact is +the keynote to the statement of Governor Ford: + +"A city charter drawn up to suit the Mormons was presented to +the Legislature. No one opposed it, but both parties were active in +getting it through. This charter, and others passed in the same +manner, incorporated Nauvoo, provided for the election of a mayor, +four aldermen, and nine councillors, and gave them power to pass +all ordinances necessary for the benefit of the city which were +not repugnant to the Constitution. This seemed to give them power +to pass ordinances in violation of the laws of the State, and to +erect a system of government for themselves. This charter also +incorporated the Nauvoo Legion,--entirely independent of the military +organization of the State, and not subject to the commands of +its officers. Provision was also made for a court-martial for the +Legion, to be composed of its own officers; and in the exercise of +their duties they were not bound to regard the laws of the State. +Thus it was proposed to establish for the Mormons a Government +within a Government, a Legislature with power to pass ordinances +at war with the laws of the State. These charters were unheard +of, anti-republican and capable of infinite abuse. The great law of +the separation of the powers of government was wholly disregarded. +The mayor was at once the executive power, the judiciary, and part +of the Legislature. One would have thought that these charters +stood a poor chance of passing the Legislature of a republican +people, jealous of their liberties, nevertheless they did pass both +Houses unanimously. Each party was afraid to object to them, +for fear of losing the Mormon vote." + +Some indications of the hopes and fears of party leaders may be +gleaned from the statement of the politic John Reynolds, then a +representative in Congress. He thus speaks of the visit of Joseph +Smith to the national capital: + +"I had recently received letters that Smith was a very important +character in Illinois, and to give him the civilities that were +due him. He stood at the time fair and honorable, except his +fanaticism on religion. The sympathies of the people were in +his favor. It fell to my lot to introduce him to the President, +and one morning the Prophet Smith and I called at the White House to +see the chief magistrate. When we were about to enter the apartments +of President Van Buren, the prophet asked me to introduce him as +a Latter-day Saint. It was so unexpected and so strange to me that +I could scarcely believe he would urge such nonsense on this occasion +to the President. But he repeated the request, and I introduced +him as a Latter-day Saint, which made the President smile. The +Prophet remained in Washington a greater part of the winter, and +preached often. I became well acquainted with him. He was a person +rather larger than ordinary stature, well proportioned, and +would weigh about one hundred and eighty pounds. He was rather +fleshy, but was in his appearance, amiable and benevolent. He did +not appear to possess barbarity in his nature, nor to possess that +great talent and boundless mind that would enable him to accomplish +the wonders he performed." + +Referring again to the narrative of Ford: + +"Joseph Smith was duly installed Mayor of Nauvoo--this _Imperium +in Imperio_--he was _ex-officio_ Judge of the Mayor's court, and +Chief Justice of the Municipal court; and in this capacity he was to +interpret the laws he had assisted to make. The Nauvoo Legion was +organized with a multitude of high officers. It was divided +into divisions, brigades, cohorts, battalions, and companies; +and Joseph Smith as Lieutenant-General was the Commander-in-Chief. +The common council of Nauvoo passed many ordinances for the punishment +of crime. The punishment was generally different from, and much +more severe than, that provided by the laws of the State." + +That any Legislature would ever, under any stress of circumstances, +have conferred--or have attempted to confer--such powers upon a +municipality is beyond comprehension. The statement, if unsustained +by the official State records, would now challenge belief. + +Under the favorable conditions mentioned, the Mormons were now upon +the high wave of prosperity in Illinois. Their number had increased +to more than twenty thousand in Hancock and the counties adjoining. +The owners of large tracts of valuable land, protected by legislation +that finds no parallel in any State, courted by the leaders of both +parties, and actually holding for a time the balance of political power +in the State--they seemed indeed to be "the chosen people," as +claimed by their prophet. + +It needed no prophet, however, to foretell that this could not long +continue. The Mormon leaders failed to realize that to champion +the cause of either party would of necessity arouse the fierce +hostility of the other, as in very truth it did. Politics, the +prime cause of fortune's favors to them in the beginning, proved +their undoing in the end. + +Joseph Smith had, soon after his removal from Missouri, been arrested +upon a requisition from the Governor of that State. From this +arrest he was discharged when brought upon a writ of _habeas corpus_ +before Judge Pope, a Whig. The ground of the decision was, that +as Smith was not in Missouri at the time of the attempt upon the +life of Governor Boggs, and that whatever he did--if he did anything +--to aid or encourage the attempt, was done in Illinois, and not +within the jurisdiction of Missouri laws, he was not a fugitive +from justice within the provision of the Constitution of the United +States. The decision excited much comment at the time, but, as +stated by Judge Blodgett, it "has borne the test of criticism, and +is now the accepted rule of law in interstate extradition cases." + +This for a time inclined the Mormons to the support of the Whig +party. Again arrested, the prophet, under similar proceedings, +was discharged by a Democratic Judge. This, as Governor Ford says, + +"Induced Smith to issue a proclamation to his followers declaring Judge +Douglas to be a master spirit, and exhorting them to vote for +the Democratic ticket for Governor. Smith was too ignorant to know +whether he owed his discharge to the law or to party favor. Such was +the ignorance of the Mormons generally, that they thought anything +to be law which they thought expedient. All action of the Government +unfavorable to them they looked upon as wantonly oppressive, and +when the law was administered in their favor they attributed it to +partiality and kindness." + +The last hope of the Whigs for Mormon support was abandoned in +1843. In the district of which Hancock County was a part, the +opposing candidates for Congress were Joseph P. Hoge, Democrat, +and Cyrus Walker, Whig, both lawyers of distinction. The latter +had been counsel for Smith in the Habeas Corpus proceedings last +mentioned. Grateful for the services then rendered, Smith +openly espoused the candidacy of Walker in the pending contest. +That there were tricks in politics even more than sixty years ago, +will now appear. One Backinstos, a politician of Hancock County, +declared upon his return from the State capital that he had assurances +from the Governor that the Mormons would be amply protected as long +as they voted the Democratic ticket. It is hardly necessary to +say that the Governor denied having given any such assurance. +However, the campaign lie of Backinstos, like many of its kind +before and since, proved a "good enough Morgan till after the +election." This, it will be remembered, was before the days of +railroads and telegraphs, and the Mormon settlement was far remote +from the seat of government. A partisan jumble, in which the +"saints" were the participants, and the low arts of the demagogues +and pretended revelations from God the chief ingredients, is +thus described by the historian just quoted: + +"The mission of Backinstos produced an entire change in the minds of +the Mormon leaders. They now resolved to drop their friend Walker +and take up Hoge, the Democratic candidate. A great meeting of +several thousand Mormons was held the Saturday before the election. +Hiram Smith, patriarch and brother of the prophet, appeared in this +assembly and there solemnly announced to the people, that God +had revealed to him that the Mormons must support Mr. Hoge. William +Law, another leader, next appeared and denied that the Lord had +made any such revelation. He stated that to his certain knowledge +the prophet Joseph was in favor of Mr. Walker, and that the prophet +was more likely to know the mind of the Lord than the patriarch. +Hiram again repeated his revelation, with a greater tone of authority, +but the people remained in doubt until the next day, Sunday, when the +prophet Joseph himself appeared before the assemblage. He there +stated that he himself was in favor of Mr. Walker and intended +to vote for him; that he would not, if he could, influence any man +in giving his vote; that he considered it a mean business for +any man to dictate to the people whom they should vote for; that +he had heard his brother Hiram had received a revelation from +the Lord on the subject; but for his own part, he did not much +believe in revelations on the subject of election. Brother Hiram was, +however, a man of truth; he had known him intimately ever since he +was a boy, and he had never known him to tell a lie. If brother +Hiram said he had received a revelation he had no doubt he had. +When the Lord speaks let all the earth be silent." + +That the prophet Joseph well understood how to + + "By indirections find directions out," + +clearly appears from his cunning expression of faith in the pretended +revelation of the patriarch Hiram. The effect of this speech +was far-reaching. It turned the entire Mormon vote to Hoge, thereby +securing his election to Congress, and at once placed the Whigs in +the ranks of the implacable anti-Mormon party then in process of +rapid formation. The crusade that now began for the expulsion +of the Mormons from the State, was greatly augmented by acts of +unparalleled folly upon their own part. In order to protect their +leaders from arrest, it was decreed by the City Council of Nauvoo +that no writ unless issued and approved by its Mayor should be +executed within the sacred city, and that any officer attempting +to execute a writ otherwise issued, within the city, should be +subject to imprisonment for life, and that the pardoning power +of the Governor of the State was in such case suspended. This +ordinance when published created great astonishment and indignation. +The belief became general that the Mormons were about to set up +for themselves a separate Government wholly independent of that of +the State. This belief was strengthened by the presentation of +a petition to Congress praying for the establishment of a +Territorial Government for Nauvoo and vicinity. + +Apparently oblivious of the gathering storm, Joseph Smith early in +1844 committed his crowning act of folly by announcing himself a +candidate for the high office of President of the United States. +Not only this, but as stated by Governor Ford, + +"Smith now conceived the idea of making himself a temporal Prince as +well as the spiritual leader of his people. He instituted a new +and select order of the priesthood, the members of which were to +be priests and kings, temporal and spiritual. These were to be +the nobility, the upholders of his throne. He caused himself to +be crowned and anointed king and priest far above all others. +To uphold his pretensions to royalty, he deduced his descent by an +unbroken chain from Joseph, the son of Jacob, and that of his wife +from some other renowned personage of Old Testament history. +The Mormons openly denounced the Government of the United States, as +being utterly corrupt, and about to pass away and be replaced by +the government of God, to be administered by his servant Joseph. +It is at this day certain, also, that about this time, the prophet +instituted an order in the Church called the Danite Band. This +was to be a body-guard about the person of their sovereign, sworn to +obey his commands as those of God himself." + +During late years a war of words has been waged within the +Mormon church over the question of the responsibility of the prophet +Joseph for the introduction of polygamy as a cardinal tenet of its +creed. The son of the prophet, it will be remembered, led a revolt +against Brigham Young, soon after the succession of the latter +to the presidency of the Church, and is now at the head of the +Mormon establishment at Plano, Illinois. This branch of the Church +rejects the dogma of polygamy, declaring it to be utterly repugnant +to the divine revelation to Joseph, and to early Mormon belief and +practice. + +Upon the contrary, the main body in Utah--of which Joseph F. Smith +the nephew of the prophet and son of Hiram the patriarch is now +the president--found their belief in the divine character of their +peculiar institution upon alleged revelations direct from God to +the founder of the Church. The statement of Governor Ford, written +nearly sixty years ago, sheds some light upon this controversy: + +"A doctrine was now revealed that no woman could get to heaven +except as the wife of a Mormon elder. The elders were allowed +to have as many of these wives as they could maintain; and it was +a doctrine of the Church that any female could be 'sealed up to +eternal life' by uniting herself as wife to the elder of her choice. +This doctrine was maintained by appeal to the Old Testament scriptures +and by the example of Abraham and Jacob and Daniel and Solomon, +the favorites of God in a former age of the world." + +As the necessary result of the causes mentioned, the followers +of the prophet soon found themselves bitterly antagonized by almost +the whole anti-Mormon population of the "Military Tract." Charges +and counter-charges were made, the arrest of the leaders of the +opposing parties followed in rapid succession, and outrages and +riots were of daily occurrence. Public meetings were held; all +the crimes known to the calendar were charged against the Mormons, +and resolutions passed demanding their immediate expulsion from the +State. What is known in Illinois history as the "Mormon war" +followed closely in the wake of the events just mentioned. Innocent +persons were, in many instances, the victims of the folly and of +the crimes of unprincipled and brutal leaders. + +The events of this period constitute a dark chapter in the history +of the State--one that can be recalled only with feelings of horror. +The great body of citizens, it is needless to say, favored the +rigid maintenance of order and the protection of life and property; +but it was the very heyday for the lawless and vicious element +of all parties. + +That this condition of affairs could not long continue was manifest. +The bloody termination, however, came in a manner unexpected to +all. Two of the Mormon leaders, William and Wilson Law, were, +at the time mentioned, in open revolt against the newly-assumed +powers and the alleged practices of the prophet. To strengthen +their opposition they procured a printing-press and equipment, and +issued from their office in Nauvoo one number of a small weekly, +"The Expositor." By order of the Mayor, Smith, and decree of +the Council, the press was seized and destroyed, and the Law brothers +and their few adherents compelled to flee the Holy City. Immediately +upon their arrival at Carthage, they caused warrants to be issued for +the arrest of Joseph and Hiram Smith, John Taylor, and others, for +the destruction of the printing-press. The almost sovereign powers +previously conferred upon the city of Nauvoo now play an important +part in this drama. The persons arrested, as above mentioned, were +at once brought by writs of _habeas corpus,_ issued by the Mayor +of Nauvoo, before the Municipal Court and there promptly discharged. +Governor Ford, whose righteous soul had been vexed to the limit of +endurance by unmerited abuse from Mormon and Gentile alike from +the beginning of this controversy, here indulges in a few expressions +of justifiable irony. Of these proceedings he says: + +"It clearly appeared both from the complaints of the citizens +and the admissions of the Mormons, that the whole proceedings of +the Mayor, Council, and Municipal Court were illegal and not to be +endured in a free country; but some apology might be made for +the court, as it had been repeatedly assured by some of the ablest +lawyers in the State of both political parties, when candidates +before that people, that it had full and complete power to issue +writs of _habeas corpus_ in all cases whatever." + + "In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt, + But, being seasoned with a gracious voice, + Obscures the show of evil." + +The incidents mentioned added quickly fuel to the flame. A new +warrant was issued by a magistrate in Carthage for the arrest of +the Mormon leaders and placed in the hands of an officer of the +State for execution. The latter at once summoned the citizens +of the county, as a _posse comitatus,_ to aid in the arrests. +At this critical moment Governor Ford, in the interest of peace, +reached Carthage, the county seat. Upon his arrival he found +the situation truly alarming. Several hundred armed men from +the country around had hastily assembled and were encamped upon +the public square. By order of the Governor, this force was +organized into companies and placed under the immediate command of +officers of his appointment. At the conclusion of a speech by the +Governor, the officers and men pledged themselves to aid him in +upholding the laws, and in protecting the Mormon prisoners when +brought to Carthage for trial. + +Meanwhile, Smith as lieutenant-general had called out the Nauvoo +Legion and proclaimed martial law in that city. The Mormons from the +country promptly obeyed the call of their leader and marched to +his assistance, and Nauvoo became at once a vast military camp. +Governor Ford now demanded of the Mormon leaders the return of the +State arms furnished at the time of the organization of the Legion, +this demand, if not promptly complied with, to be enforced by an +immediate attack upon Nauvoo by the assembled forces encamped at +Carthage. + +Appreciating now for the first time the hopelessness of a conflict +with State authorities, a number of the weapons were surrendered +and the Smiths, accompanied by Taylor and Richards, two other Mormon +leaders, went to Carthage and surrendered themselves to the officer +holding the warrant for their arrest. Upon giving bond for their +appearance, they were at once released on charge of riot. A new +complaint, charging them with treason--in levying war against +the State, declaring martial law in Nauvoo, and ordering out the +Legion to resist the execution of lawful process--was immediately lodged +against them, a warrant duly issued, the prisoners rearrested +and committed to the common jail of the county. On the evening +following this arrest, the guards stationed at the jail for the +protection of the prisoners were attacked and overpowered by a mob +of several hundred persons. Governor Ford states: + +"An attempt was now made to break open the door; but Joseph Smith, +being armed with a six-barrel pistol furnished by his friends, +fired several times as the door was burst open and wounded three +of the assailants. At the same time, several shots were fired into +the room, wounding John Taylor and killing Hiram Smith. Joseph +Smith now attempted to escape by jumping out of the second-story +window; but the fall so stunned him that he was unable to rise, +and being placed by the conspirators in a sitting posture, they +despatched him by four balls shot through his body." + +Thus perished, at the age of thirty-nine, the founder and prophet of +the Mormon Church. Contradictory statements as to his real character +have come down to the present generation. The estimate of Governor +Ford, who knew him well, is as follows: + +"He was the most successful impostor in modern times; a man who, +though ignorant and coarse, had some great natural parts which +fitted him for temporary success, but which were so obscured and +counteracted by the inherent corruptness of his nature that he +never could succeed in establishing a system of policy which looked +to permanent success in the future. It must not be supposed that the +pretended prophet practised the tricks of a common impostor; that he +was a dark and gloomy person with a long beard, a grave and severe +aspect, and a reserved and saintly carriage of his person. On the +contrary, he was full of levity, even to boyish romping; dressed +like a dandy, and at times drank like a sailor and swore like a +pirate. He could, as occasion required, be exceedingly meek in +his deportment, and then, again, be as rough and boisterous as a +highway robber; being always able to prove to his followers the +propriety of his conduct. He always quailed before power, and was +arrogant to weakness. At times he could put on an air of a penitent, +as if feeling the deepest humility for his sins, and suffering +unutterable anguish, and indulging in the most gloomy foreboding of +eternal woe. At such times he would call for the prayers of the +brethren in his behalf with a wild and fearful anxiety and +earnestness. He was six feet high, strongly built, and uncommonly +full muscled. No doubt he was as much indebted for his influence +over an ignorant people to the superiority of his physical vigor as +to his great cunning and intellect." + +Of a wholly different tenor is the tribute of Parley P. Pratt, the +poet and historian of the Mormon Church: + +"President Smith was in person tall and well built, strong and +active; of a light complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and of an +expression peculiar to himself, on which the eye naturally rested with +interest and was never weary of beholding. His countenance was +very mild, affable, and beaming with intelligence and benevolence mingled +with a look of interest and an unconscious smile of cheerfulness, and +entirely free from all restraint or affectation of gravity; and +there was something connected with the serene and steady penetrating +glance of his eye, as if he would penetrate the deepest abyss of +the human heart, gaze into eternity, penetrate the heavens, and +comprehend all worlds. He possessed a noble boldness and independence +of character; his manner was easy and familiar, his rebuke terrible +as the lion, his benevolence unbounded as the ocean, his +intelligence universal, and his language abounding in original +eloquence peculiar to himself." + +For a brief period following the assassination of the Smiths, +comparative quiet prevailed in the Mormon country. The selection of +a successor to their murdered prophet, was now the absorbing question +among the Mormon people. Revelations were published that the +prophet, in imitation of the Saviour, was to rise from the dead, +and some even reported that they had seen him attended by a celestial +army coursing the air on a great white horse. + +Sydney Rigdon now aspired to be the head of the Church as the +successor to the martyred prophet. His claims were verified by +a pretended revelation direct from heaven. He was, however, at +once antagonized by the "quorum of the Twelve," and after a bitter +struggle, Apostle Brigham Young was chosen, and Rigdon expelled +from the Church and "given over to the buffetings of Satan." + +The quiet immediately succeeding the tragedy was of short duration. +It was only the calm which precedes the storm. While his followers +were invoking the vengeance of the law upon the murderers of the +prophet, the anti-Mormons were quietly organizing a crusade for +the expulsion of the entire Mormon population from the State. The +trial of the assassins of the Smiths resulted in their acquittal, as +was to have been expected when the intense anti-Mormon feeling +existing throughout the immediate country is taken into account. +The result is even less surprising when it is remembered that +the principal witness for the prosecution supplemented his testimony +of having seen the crime committed, by the remarkable declaration that +immediately upon the death of Joseph, "a bright and shining +light descended upon his head, that several of the conspirators +were stricken with total blindness, and that he heard supernatural +voices in the air confirming the divine mission of the murdered +prophet." + +In the narration of these exciting events, the names of men who at +a later day achieved national distinction frequently occur. The +Hon. O. H. Browning, since Senator and member of the Cabinet, +was chief counsel for the alleged murderers of the Smiths. He was +at the time a distinguished Whig leader, and one of the most eloquent +men in the State. The disorder and outrages that followed the +acquittal just mentioned called Governor Ford again to the seat of +war. He says: + +"When informed of these proceedings, I hastened to Jacksonville, +where in a conference with General Hardin, Judge Douglas, and +Mr. McDougal the Attorney-General of the State, it was agreed that +these gentlemen should proceed to Hancock County in all haste with +whatever force had been raised, and put an end to these disorders. +It was also agreed that they should unite their influence with mine +to induce the Mormons to leave the State. The twelve apostles had +now become satisfied that the Mormons could not remain, or, if they +did, that the leaders would be compelled to abandon the sway +they exercised over them. Through the intervention of General +Hardin, acting on instructions from me, an agreement was made +between the hostile parties for the voluntary removal of the greater +part of the Mormons across the Mississippi in the spring of 1846." + +Of the advisors of the Governor in the adjustment mentioned, Douglas +and McDougall were at a later day distinguished Senators, respectively +from Illinois and California, and Hardin was killed while gallantly +leading his regiment at the battle of Buena Vista. + +To the peaceable accomplishment of the purposes mentioned, a small +force under a competent officer was stationed for a time in Hancock +County. The Governor justly felicitates himself that thereby "the +greater part of the Military Tract was saved from the horrors of +civil war in the winter time, when much misery would have followed +by the dispersion of families and the destruction of property." + +The Mormon exodus from Illinois, once the "land of promise," now +began in terrible earnest. Many farms and homes and large quantities +of personal effects were hastily disposed of at a great sacrifice. +The speeding was far different from the welcome but a few years +before so heartily extended to the incoming "saints." The "Holy +City" and sacred temple soon to be destroyed were abandoned for +perilous journeyings in the wilderness. The chapter that +immediately follows in the history of this people is indeed pathetic. +The terrible sufferings of the aged and infirm, of helpless women +and children, as the shadows of the long night of winter gathered about +them on their journey, can never be adequately told. But, inspired +with the thought that they were the Israel of God, that Brigham +Young was their divinely appointed leader, that the pillar of cloud +by day and of fire by night ever went before them on their journeyings, +they patiently endured all dangers and hardships. + +High upon the western slope of the Wasatch hard by the old wagon +trail which led down into the valley stands a huge rock around +whose base the Mormon leader assembled his followers just as the +last rays of a summer sun were falling upon the mountains. In +stirring words he recalled their persecutions and trials, told them +that their long pilgrimage, the weary march by day and lonely vigil +by night, were now ended, and their Canaan the great valley +which stretched out before them. + +Upon a visit to Salt Lake City nearly a third of a century ago, +I attended service in the great Tabernacle when it was filled to +overflowing, and yet so excellent were its acoustic arrangements +that every word of the speaker and every note of the organ could +be heard distinctly. The surroundings were indeed imposing. Upon +the great platform sat the President and his Council, the twelve +apostles, the seventy elders, with an innumerable army of bishops, +teachers, deacons, and other functionaries constituting the +lower order of the Mormon hierarchy. The sermon was delivered +by the famous Orson Pratt, the Saint Paul of the Mormon Church, +a venerable patriarch of four score years, and yet, withal, a man of +wonderful power. + +As our little party passed in front of the speaker's platform to +reach the door, he halted in his discourse, and stated to the +audience that the strangers within their gates were leaving because +of the near departure of their train and not because of any disrespect +to the service. Then, bowing his aged head, he invoked the blessing +of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, upon the Gentile +strangers, and prayed "that their long journey might be ended in +safety, and that in the fulness of time, having witnessed the +manifestations of Almighty Power, they might return again, not +as sojourners, but as fellow-citizens with the saints, to dwell in +the Holy City." + + + +XIV +A KENTUCKY COLONEL + +COL. WINTERSMITH'S GREAT POPULARITY--HIS ADMIRATION FOR MR. CLAY +--HIS MARVELLOUS MEMORY--HIS WIT AND HUMOR. + +Few men were better known in Washington, a quarter of a century +and more ago, than Colonel Dick Wintersmith of Kentucky. He had +creditably filled important positions of public trust in his native +State. His integrity was beyond question, and his popularity knew +no bounds. Without the formality of party nomination, and with +hardly the shadow of opposition at the polls, he had held the office +of State Treasurer for nearly a score of years. An ardent Whig in +early life, he was a devout worshipper at the shrine of Henry Clay. +In the later years of his life, he would often with the deepest +emotion refer to himself as "the last of the old guard." He never +tired of relating interesting incidents of Mr. Clay. It was his +glory that he had accompanied "the great pacificator" to Washington, +when, with the fond hope of being able by his historic "compromise" +to pour oil on the troubled waters, he returned to the Senate +for the last time. + +Wintersmith was the close friend of Theodore O'Hara, and stood +beside him when at the unveiling of the monument to the Kentuckians +who had fallen at Buena Vista he pronounced his now historic lines +beginning-- + + "On fame's eternal camping-ground + Their silent tents are spread." + +Colonel Wintersmith knew, as he knew his children, two generations +of the public men of Kentucky. His memory was a marvel to all who +knew him. He could repeat till the dawn, extracts from famous +speeches he had heard from the lips of Clay, Grundy, Marshall, and +Menifee. More than once, I have heard him declaim the wonderful +speech of Sargent S. Prentiss delivered almost a half-century +before, in the old Harrodsburg Court-house, in defence of Wilkinson +for killing three men at the Galt House. + +It is hardly necessary to say that the Colonel was the soul of +generosity. It was a part of his living faith that-- + + "Kind hearts are more than coronets." + +That he was possessed in no stinted measure of wit and its kindred +quality, humor, will appear from an incident or two to be related. + +The Hon. Ignatius Donnelly, member of Congress from Minnesota, had +written a book to prove that Lord Bacon was the veritable author +of the plays usually accredited to Shakespeare. Soon after the +appearance of Donnelly's book, he met Colonel Wintersmith on +Pennsylvania Avenue. + +After a cordial greeting, the Colonel remarked, "I have been reading +your book, Donnelly, and I don't believe a word of it." + +"What?" inquired Donnelly, with great surprise. + +"Oh, that book of yours," said the Colonel, "in which you tried to +prove that Shakespeare never wrote 'Hamlet' and 'Macbeth' and 'Lear' +and all those other plays." + +"My dear sir," replied Donnelly with great earnestness, "I can +prove beyond all peradventure that Shakespeare never wrote those +plays." + +"He did," replied Wintersmith, "he did write them, Donnelly, _I +saw him write three or four of them, myself."_ + +"Impossible!" replied Donnelly, who was as guiltless of anything +that savored of humor as the monument recently erected to the memory +of Hon. John Sherman, "impossible, Colonel, that you could have +seen Shakespeare write those plays; they were written three hundred +years ago." + +"Three hundred years, three hundred years," slowly murmured the +Colonel in pathetic tone, "is it possible that is has been so long? +_Lord, how time does fly!"_ + +The Colonel often told the following with a gravity that gave it +at least the semblance of truth. Many years ago, his State was +represented in part in the Upper House by a statesman who rarely, when +in good form, spoke less than an entire day. His speeches, in +large measure, usually consisted of dull financial details, +statistics, etc. He became in time the terror of his associates, and +the nightmare of visitors in the galleries. His "Mr. President," was +usually the signal for a general clearing out of both Senate Chamber +and galleries. + +"Upon one occasion," said Colonel Dick, "I was seated in the +last tier in the public gallery, when my Senator with books and +documents piled high about him solemnly addressed the Chair. As +was the wont, the visitors in the gallery as one man arose to make +their exit. With a revolver in each hand, I promptly planted myself +in front of the door, and in no uncertain tone ordered the crowd to +resume their seats, and remain quietly until the Senator from +Kentucky had concluded his remarks. They did so and no word of +complaint reached my ears. Hour after hour during the long summer +day the speech drew itself along. At length as the shadows were +lengthening and the crickets began to chirp, the speech ended +and the Senator took his seat. I promptly replaced my pistols and +motioned the visitors to move out. They did so on excellent time. +As the last man was passing out, he quietly remarked to me, 'Mister, +that was all right, no fault to find, but _if it was to do over +again, you might shoot.'"_ + + + +XV +FORGOTTEN EVENTS OF THE LONG AGO + +THE WRITER MEETS MISS GRAHAM, SISTER-IN-LAW OF MR. GILES, A +REPRESENTATIVE IN THE DAYS OF WASHINGTON--HIS MEETING WITH THE +DAUGHTER OF THOMAS W. GILMER, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY UNDER PRESIDENT +TYLER--THE SECRETARY KILLED, AND THE PRESIDENT ENDANGERED BY AN +EXPLOSION--SPECULATION AS TO POSSIBLE POLITICAL CHANGES HAD THE +PRESIDENT BEEN KILLED. + +During my sojourn in Washington I visited the "Louise Home," one +of the splendid charities of the late W. W. Corcoran. Two of +the ladies I there met were Miss Graham and Miss Gilmer. The turn +of Fortune's wheel had brought each of them from once elegant +Virginia homes to spend the evening of life in the Home which +Mr. Corcoran had so kindly and thoughtfully provided. It was in +very truth the welcome retreat to representatives of old Southern +families who had known better days. Here in quiet and something +of elegant leisure, the years sped by, the chief pastime recalling +events and telling over again and again the social triumphs of the +long ago. Thus lingering in the shadows of the past, sadly +reflecting, it may be, in the silent watches, that-- + + "The tender grace of a day that is dead + Will never come back to me," + +these venerable ladies were in sad reality "only waiting till the +shadows had a little longer grown." + +There was something pathetically remindful of the good old Virginia +days in the manner in which Miss Graham handed me her card and +invited me to be seated. Looking me earnestly in the face, she +said, "Mr. Vice-President, you must have known my brother-in-law, Governor +Giles." + +"Do you mean Senator William B. Giles of Virginia?" I inquired. + +"Yes, yes," she said, "did you know him?" + +"No, madam," I replied, "I did not; he was a member of Congress +when Washington was President; that was a little before my day. +But is it possible that you are a sister-in-law of Governor Giles?" + +"Yes, sir," she answered, "he married my eldest sister and I was +in hope that you knew him." + +I assured her that I had never known him personally, but that I +knew something of his history: that he was a soldier of the +Revolution; that he began his public career with the passing of +the old Confederation and the establishment of the National Union; +that as Representative or Senator he was in Congress almost +continuously from the administration of Washington to that of +Jackson. I then repeated to her the words Mr. Benton, his long-time +associate in the Senate, had spoken of her brother-in-law: "Macon +was wise, Randolph brilliant, Gallatin and Madison able in argument, +but Giles was the ready champion, always ripe for the combat." And +I told her that John Randolph, for many years his colleague, had +said: "Giles was to our House of Representatives what Charles +James Fox was to the British House of Commons--the most accomplished +debater our country has known." + +I might have said to Miss Graham, but did not, that her brother-in-law, +then a member of the House, had voted against the farewell address +of that body to President Washington upon his retirement from +the great office. Strange indeed to our ears sound the words that +even mildly reflect upon the Father of his Country. Of this, +however, we may be assured, that the Golden Age of our history +is but a dream; "the era of absolute good feeling,"--the era that has +not been. + + "Past and to come seem best; + Things present, worst." + +Before condemning Mr. Giles too severely the words of Edmund Burke +may well be recalled: "Party divisions, whether upon the whole +operating for the best, are things inseparable from free Government." +Party divisions came in with our Constitution; partisan feeling +almost with our first garments. + +In this connection it will be remembered that this country has +known no period of more intense and bitter party feeling than during +the administration of the immediate successor of Washington, the +period which witnessed the downfall of the Federal party, and +the rise of the party of Jefferson. It was after the election but +before the inauguration of John Adams, that the following words +were spoken of President Washington by the brother-in-law of the +little old lady to whom I have referred: + +"I must object to those parts of the address which speak of the +wisdom and firmness of the President. I may be singular in my +ideas, but I believe his administration has neither been firm +nor wise. I must acknowledge that I am one of those who do not +think so much of the President as some others do. I wish that this +was the moment of his retirement. I think that the Government +of the United States can go on without him. What calamities would +attend the United States, and how short the duration of its +independence, if but one man could be found fitted to conduct +its administration! Much had been said and by many people about +the President's intended retirement. For my own part, I feel no +uncomfortable sensations about it." + +As I thus recalled the man whose public life began with that of +Washington, his kinswoman at my side seemed indeed the one living bond +of connection between the present and the long past, that past +which had witnessed the Declaration of Independence, the War of +the Revolution, and the establishment of the Federal Government. + +The younger, by many years, of the two ladies, was the daughter of +the Hon. Thomas W. Gilmer, a distinguished member of Congress during +the third decade of the century, later the Governor of Virginia, +and at the time of his death the Secretary of the Navy. The mention +of his name recalls a tragic event that cast a pall over the nation +and shrouded more than one hearthstone in deepest gloom. During +later years, the horrors of an internecine struggle that knows no +parallel, the assassination of three Presidents of the United +States, and the thousand casualties that have crowded in rapid +succession, have almost wiped from memory the incident now to be +mentioned. + +The pride of the American Navy, the man-of-war _Princeton,_ Commodore +Stockton in command, was lying in the Potomac just below Washington, +on the morning of February 28, 1843. The day was beautiful, and the +distinguished commander, who had known much of gallant service, +had invited more than one hundred guests to accompany him on a sail +to a point a few miles below Mount Vernon. Among the guests +were President Tyler and two members of his Cabinet; Mr. Upshur, +Secretary of State, and Mr. Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy; the +widow of Ex-President Madison; Mr. Gardner, a prominent citizen of +New York, and his accomplished daughter; Commodore Kennan; and a +number of Senators and Representatives. Commodore Stockton was +anxious to have his guests witness the working of the machinery of +his vessel and to observe the fire of his great gun, his especial pride. +Mr. Gardner and his daughter were guests at the Executive Mansion; +and to the latter, the President--then for many years a widower +--was especially attentive. Officers and guests were all in the +best of sprits, and nothing seemed wanting to make the occasion +one of unalloyed pleasure. Upon the return, and when almost directly +opposite Mount Vernon, the company were summoned by the Commodore from +the dinner table to witness the testing of the gun. Preceded by +an officer, the guests were soon assembled in proximity to the gun. +A place at the front was reserved for the President, but just as +he was advancing, his attention was directed by his fair guest +to some object on the shore. This for a moment arrested his +progress, and prevented his instant death, for at this critical +moment the gun exploded, causing the immediate death of more +than twenty persons, and serious injuries to many others. Among +the injured were Senator Benton and Commodore Stockton. The list +of the dead included Secretary of State Upshur, Secretary of the +Navy Gilmer, Commodore Kennan--one of the heroes of the second war +with Great Britain,--and Mr. Gardner, the father of the lady whose +timely interposition had caused the moment's delay which had saved +the President from the terrible fate of his associates. Upon +the return of the _Princeton_ to Washington the dead were removed to +the Executive Mansion, and the day, so auspicious in the beginning, +ended in gloom. + +Something in the way of romance is the sequel to that sad event. +A few months later Miss Gardner, the fair guest of the President +upon the ill-fated _Princeton,_ became his bride, and during the +remainder of his term of office did the honors of the Executive +Mansion. + +The thousands of visitors who have, during the past sixty years, +passed through the spacious rooms of that Mansion, have paused +before a full-length portrait of one of the most beautiful of women. +Possibly the interest of no one who gazed upon her lovely features +was lessened when told that the portrait was that of the wife of +President Tyler, the once charming and accomplished Miss Gardner, whose +name is so closely associated with the long-ago chapter of sorrow and +of romance. + +A thought pertaining to the domain of the real rather than of +the romantic is suggested by the sad accident upon the _Princeton._ +But for the trifling incident which detained President Tyler from the +side of his Cabinet officers at the awful moment, the administration +of the Government would have passed to other hands. As the law +then stood, the Speaker of the House of Representatives would have +succeeded to the Presidency; and how this might have changed the +current of our political history is a matter of at least curious +speculation. + +Remembering that-- + + "Two stars keep not + Their motion in one sphere," + +might not the removal of one have healed the widening breach in +the Whig party? What might have been its effect upon the grand +Internal Improvement Scheme--the darling project of Henry Clay? +what upon the determination of the Oregon Boundary Question--whether +by diplomacy or war? and how might the destiny of the "Lone Star," +the Republic of Texas, have been changed? What might have been +the effect upon the political fortunes of Tyler's great antagonist, +around whom the aggressive forces of the party he had founded were +even then gathering for a life-and-death struggle against a +comparatively obscure rival in the Presidential campaign of 1844? + +Trifles light as air are sometimes the pivots upon which hinge +momentous events. The ill-timed publication of a personal +letter defeated Cass in 1848; and within our day the utterance of a +single word, unheard by the candidate to whom it was addressed, +lost the Presidency to Blaine. + +The antagonism of Tyler and his adherents eliminated, it is within +the bounds of probability that Henry Clay would have triumphed +in his last struggle for the Presidency. If so, what change might +not have been wrought in the trend of history? Under the splendid +leadership of the "great pacificator," what might have been the +termination of vital questions even then casting their dark shadows +upon our national pathway? + +With Clay at the helm, himself the incarnation of the spirit of +compromise, possibly--who can tell?--the evil days so soon to follow +might have been postponed for many generations. + + + +XVI +ROBERT G. INGERSOLL + +MR. INGERSOLL'S ELOQUENCE WHILE A YOUNG MAN--HIS CANDIDACY FOR +CONGRESS--HIS AGNOSTICISM A HINDRANCE TO HIS POLITICAL ADVANCEMENT +--HIS ORATION AT THE FUNERAL OF HIS BROTHER. + +It was in April, 1859, that for the first time I met Robert G. +Ingersoll. He came over from his home in Peoria to attend the +Woodford Circuit Court. He was then under thirty years of age, of +splendid physique, magnetic in the fullest significance of the +word, and one of the most attractive and agreeable of men. He was +almost boyish in appearance, and hardly known beyond the limits of +the county in which he lived. He had but recently moved to Peoria +from the southern part of the State. + +To those who remember him it is hardly necessary to say that even at +that early day he gave unmistakable evidence of his marvellous +gifts. His power over a jury was wonderful indeed; and woe betide +the counsel of but mediocre talents who had Ingersoll for an +antagonist in a closely contested case. + +The old Court-house at Metamora is yet standing, a monument of the +past; the county seat removed, it has long since fallen from its +high estate. In my boyhood, I have more than once heard Mr. Lincoln +at its bar, and later was a practitioner there myself--and State's +Attorney for the Circuit,--when Mr. Ingersoll was attendant upon +its courts. Rarely at any time or place have words been spoken +more eloquent than fell from the lips of Lincoln and Ingersoll +in that now deserted Court-house, in the years long gone by. + +The first appearance of Mr. Ingersoll in the political arena was +in the Presidential struggle of 1860. In his later years he was +a Republican, but in the contest just mentioned he was the earnest +advocate of the election of Mr. Douglas to the Presidency and +was himself the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Peoria +District. His competitor was Judge Kellogg, a gentleman of well-known +ability and many years' experience in Congress. Immediately upon his +nomination, Ingersoll challenged Kellogg to a series of joint +debates. The challenge was accepted, and the debates which followed +were a rare treat to the throngs who heard them. The discussion +turned upon the vital issues yet pending at the outbreak of the +Civil War, issues which were to find their final determination +on the field of battle. Possibly, with the exception of the historic +debates two years earlier, between Lincoln and Douglas, the country +has known no abler discussion of great questions. It was then for +the first time that Ingersoll displayed the marvellous forensic +powers that at a later day--and upon a different arena--gave him +world-wide renown. + +It was at a period subsequent to that just mentioned that he became +an agnostic. I recall no expression of his during the early years +of our acquaintance that indicated a departure from the faith in +which he had been reared. That his extreme views upon religious +subjects, and his manner, exceedingly offensive at times, of +expressing them, formed an insuperable barrier to his political +advancement, cannot be doubted. But for his unbelief, what political +honors might have awaited him cannot certainly be known. But +recalling the questions then under discussion, the intensity of +party feeling, and the enthusiasm that his marvellous eloquence +never failed to arouse in the thousands who hung upon his words, it +is probable that the most exalted station might have been attained. +To those familiar with the political events of that day, it is +known that the antagonism aroused by his assaults upon the citadel +of the faith sacred to the many, compassed his defeat in his +candidature in 1868 for the Governorship of Illinois. His explanation +was, that his defeat was caused by a slight difference of +opinion between himself and some of the brethren upon the highly +exciting question of total depravity. + +Some years later, the nominee of his party for the Presidency +was exceedingly obnoxious to him. Meeting the Colonel the morning +after the adjournment of the convention I inquired, "Are you happy?" +To this he replied, that he was somewhat in the condition of a very +profane youth who had just got religion at a backwoods camp-meeting. +Soon after his conversion, the preacher, taking him affectionately by +the hand, inquired: "My young friend, are you very happy?" "Well, +parson," replied the only half-converted youth, "I am not damn happy, +just _happy,_ that's all." + +His only brother was for many years a Representative in Congress +from Illinois. Clark Ingersoll was himself able and eloquent, but +overshadowed by the superior gifts of his younger brother, the +subject of this sketch. The death of the former was to Colonel +Ingersoll a sorrow which remained with him to the last. The funeral +occurred in Washington in the summer of 1879, and of the pall-bearers +selected by Colonel Ingersoll for the last sad service to his +brother, were men well known in public life, one of whom but two +years later, while President of the United States, fell by the hand +of an assassin. + +From a Washington paper of the day succeeding the funeral of Clark +Ingersoll, the following is taken: "When Colonel Ingersoll ceased +speaking the pall-bearers, Senator Allison, Senator David Davis, +Senator Blaine, Senator Voorhees, Representatives Garfield of Ohio, +Morrison, Boyd, and Stevenson of Illinois, bore the casket to +the hearse and the lengthy _cortege_ proceeded to the Oak Hill +Cemetery where the remains were interred." + +The occasion was one that will not easily pass from my memory. +There was no service whatever save the funeral oration which has +found its way into all languages. I stood by the side of +Colonel Ingersoll near the casket during its delivery, and vividly +recall his deep emotion, and the faltering tones in which the +wondrous sentences were uttered. It is probable that this oration +has no counterpart in literature. It seemed in very truth the +knell of hope, the expression of a grief that could know no surcease, +the agony of a parting that could know no morrow. + +In such an hour how cheerless and comfortless these words: + +"Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two +eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry +aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. + +"Every life, no matter if its every hour is rich with love, and +every moment jewelled with a joy, will at its close become a tragedy +as sad and deep and dark as can be woven of the warp and woof of +mystery and death." + +And yet in those other words, "But in the night of death, hope sees +a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing," and, +"while on his forehead fell the golden dawning of a grander +day," there is a yearning for "the touch of a vanished hand," and a +hope that no philosophy could dispel of a reunion sometime and +somewhere with the loved and lost. + +Two decades later, again "the veiled shadow stole upon the scene," +and the sublime mystery of life and death was revealed. The awful +question, "If a man die shall he live again?" was answered, and to +the great agnostic _all was known._ + + + +XVII +A CAMP-MEETING ORATOR + +PETER CARTWRIGHT, METHODIST PREACHER--HIS FEARLESSNESS AND ENERGY-- +HIS OLD-FASHIONED ORTHODOXY--HOW HE CONVERTED A PROFANE SWEARER +--HIS ATTENDANCE AT A BALL--OLD-TIME CAMP-MEETINGS--CARTWRIGHT'S +AVERSION TO OTHER SECTS--CONVERSION OF A DESPERADO INTO A PENITENT +--CARTWRIGHT MR. LINCOLN'S COMPETITOR FOR REPRESENTATIVE--HIS SPEECH +AT A DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION. + +The Rev. Peter Cartwright was a noted Methodist preacher of pioneer +days in Central Illinois. Once seen, he was a man never to be +forgotten. He was, in the most expressive sense of the words, _sui +generis;_ a veritable product of the times in which he lived, +and the conditions under which he moved and had his being. All in +all, his like will not appear again. He was converted when a mere +youth at a camp-meeting in southern Kentucky; soon after, he was +licensed to preach, and became a circuit rider in that State, +and later was of the Methodist vanguard to Illinois. It was said of +him that he was of the church _military_ as well as "the church +militant." He was of massive build, an utter stranger to fear, +and of unquestioned honesty and sincerity. He was gifted with +an eloquence adapted to the times in which he lived, and the +congregations to which he preached. There would be no place for +him now, for the untutored assemblages who listened with bated +breath to his fiery appeals are of the past. + + "For, welladay! Their day is fled, + Old times are changed, old manners gone." + +The narrative of his tough conflicts with the emissaries of Satan is +even now of the rarest reading for a summer's day or a winter's +night. How he fought the Indians, fought the robbers, swam rivers, +and threaded the prairies, in order that he might carry the Gospel +to the remotest frontiersmen, was of thrilling interest to many of +the new generation as his own sands were running low. He literally +took no thought of the morrow, but without staff and little even +in the way of scrip unselfishly gave the best years of a life +extending two decades beyond the time allotted, to the service +of his Master. + +Until the Judgment leaves are unfolded the good which this man and +many of his co-laborers did in the new country will never be known. +A journey of days on horseback to fill an appointment, to perform a +marriage ceremony, preach a funeral sermon, or speak words of hope +and comfort to the sick or the bereaved, was part of the sum of +a life of service that knew little of rest. + +There would probably be few pulpits open to Peter Cartwright in +these more cultivated times. Old things have passed away; the +pioneer in his rough garb, with axe upon his shoulder, and rifle +in hand, is now but a tradition, while the border line of civilization +has receded westward to the ocean. + +None the less, the typical minister of to-day would have had +very scant welcome in the rude pulpits of the days of which we +write. His elegant attire, conventional manners, written sermons, +and new theology, would have been sadly out of place in the +camp-meeting times, for be it remembered that Cartwright called +things by their right names. He gave forth no uncertain sound. +His theology was that of the Fathers. We hear little in these +modern days of "The fire that quencheth not" and of "total depravity" +and of "the bottomless pit." Such expressions are unfitted for ears +polite. Higher criticism, new thought, and all kindred ideas +and suggestions, + + "Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer," + +were believed by Cartwright and his contemporaries to be mere +contrivances of Satan for the ensnaring of immortal souls. His +abhorrence of all these "wiles of the devil," and his scorn for +their advocates, knew no bounds. + +His preaching was of the John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan +Edwards type. Mingled with his denunciations of sin, his +earnest exhortations to repentance, his graphic description of the +New Jerusalem, with its "streets of gold, walls of jasper, and +gates of pearl," and of the unending bliss of the redeemed, were +expressions now relegated to the limbo of the past. Little +time, however, was wasted by the Rev. Peter in picking out soft +words for fear of giving offence. To his impassioned soul "the +final doom of the impenitent," the "torment of the damned," and +"hell fire" itself, were veritable realities. And so indeed, when +rolling from his tongue, did they appear, not alone to the rapt +believer, but oftentimes to the ungodly and the sinner as well. + +More than one marvellous conversion under his ministration is +recorded by Brother Cartwright in the autobiography written in the +closing years of his life. At one time in crossing a stream, he +was deeply offended by the profanity of the boatman. The kindly +admonition and the gentle rebuke of the minister apparently added zest +and volume to the oaths of the boatman. Suddenly seizing the +offender, the irate preacher ducked him into the river, and turned +a deaf ear to his piteous appeals for succor until the half-drowned +wretch had offered a prayer for mercy and made profuse promises of +repentance. Hopeful conversion, and an ever-after life of Christian +humility, were the gratifying sequels to the baptism so unexpectedly +administered. + +Another experience no less remarkable occurred when, during the +early years of his ministry, he was crossing the mountains on +his way to the General Conference. At a tavern by the wayside, +where he had obtained lodging for the night, he found preparations +in progress for a ball to come off that very evening. The protestation +of the minister against such wickedness only aroused the ire of +the landlord and his family. The dance promptly began at the +appointed time. + + "Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, + And all went merry as a marriage-bell." + +There being but a single room to the house, and a storm raging +without, the outraged and indignant minister was the unwilling +witness to the ebb and flow of this tide of ungodliness. At length, +as partners were being chosen for the Virginia Reel, a beautiful +girl approached the solitary guest and requested his hand for +the set just forming. The minister arose and intimated a ready +compliance with her request, at the same time assuring her that he +never entered upon any important undertaking without first invoking +God's blessing upon it; and seizing her by the hand he fell upon +his knees and with the voice of one born to be obeyed commanded +silence and began his prayer. The dance was immediately suspended, +and a solemnity and horror, as if the presage of approaching doom, +fell upon the startled assemblage. Above the agonizing sobs of +the lately impenitent revellers was heard, as was that of the +ancient prophet above the din of the worshippers of Baal, the voice +of the man of God in earnest appeals to the throne of grace for +mercy to these "hell-deserving sinners." + +An hour passed; lamentation and groans of sin-sick soul mingled +meanwhile with the fervent exhortations and appeals of the man +of prayer. Suddenly and in rapid succession shout after shout +of victory from redeemed souls ascended, and as if by magic the +late abode of scoffers became indeed a very Bethel. The incidents +mentioned, and others scarcely less remarkable, will be found in Mr. +Cartwright's autobiography. The present generation knows but little +of the old-time camp-meeting; as it existed in the days and under the +administration of Peter Cartwright and his co-laborers, it is verily +a thing of the past. + + "New occasions teach new duties; + Time makes ancient good uncouth." + +Seventy years and more ago, the country new, the population sparse, +the settlements few and far between, the camp-meeting was of yearly +and, as it was believed, of necessary occurrence. It was, especially +with the early Methodists, a recognized instrumentality for preaching +the Gospel for the conversion of souls. + +A convenient spot--usually near a spring or brook--being selected, +a rude pulpit was erected, rough seats provided, a log cabin or +two for the aged and infirm hastily constructed, and there in +the early autumn large congregations assembled for worship. For +many miles around, and often from neighboring counties, the people +came, on horseback, in wagons, and on foot. Each family furnished +its own tent, the needed bed-clothing, cooking utensils, and abundant +provisions for their temporary sojourn in the wilderness. It was no +holiday occasion, no time for merry making. It was often at +much sacrifice and discomfort that such meetings were held, and +preachers and people alike were in terrible earnest. Rigid rules for +their government were formulated and enforced, and a proper decorum +required and observed. Woe betide the wretch who attempted to +create disturbance, or depart from the strictest propriety of +deportment. Not infrequently in the early camp-meetings of Kentucky +and Tennessee there were stalwart men keeping guard over these +religious gatherings, who had in their younger days hunted the +savage foe from his fastness, faced Tecumseh at Tippecanoe and the +Thames, possibly been comrades of "Old Hickory" through the Everglades +and at New Orleans. + +A sufficient time being set apart for meals and the needed hours +of rest, the residue was in the main devoted to public or +private worship. Family prayer-meetings were held in each tent at +the early dawn; public preaching by the most gifted speakers during +two hours or more of the forenoon. After a hasty midday meal +the public services were resumed, to be followed at the appointed time +by meetings for special prayer, class meetings, and love feasts, +all conducted with the greatest possible solemnity; and the exercises, +after supper had been served and the candles lighted, concluded +for the day with an impassioned sermon from the main stand. During +the last-mentioned service especially, the scene presented was +truly of a weird and picturesque character. The flickering lights +of the camp, the dark forest around, the melodious concert of a +thousand voices mingling in sacred song, the awe-inspiring, +never-to-be-forgotten hymn, + + "Come, humble sinner, in whose breast + A thousand thoughts revolve," + +the fervid exclamations as convicted sinners gathered around the +mourners' bench and the shouts of joy heard far beyond the limits of +the camp as peace found lodging in sin-distracted souls, all +impressed the memory and heart too deeply for even the flight of +years wholly to dispel. + +It need hardly be added that these scenes, of which but feeble +description has been given, marked the hour of triumph of the truly +gifted of the revival preachers of camp-meeting times. The echoes +will never awake to the sound of such eloquence again. The orator +and the occasion here met and embraced. In very truth, the joys +of the redeemed, and the horrors of lost souls, were depicted in +colors that only lips "touched with a live coal from the altar" +could adequately describe. In the presence of such lurid imagery, +even the inspired revelation of the apocalyptic vision seems but +sober narrative of commonplace events. + +With camp-meetings and their thrilling incidents of two generations +ago in our Western country, the name of Peter Cartwright is +inseparably associated. He was the born leader; _par excellence,_ +the unrivalled orator. Since the passing of Whitefield and Asbury +a greater than he had not appeared. To those who have never attended +an old-time camp-meeting the following quotation from Mr. +Cartwright's autobiography may be of interest: + +"The meeting was protracted for weeks and was kept up day and night. +Thousands heard of the mighty work, and came on foot, on horseback, +and in wagons. It was supposed that there were in attendance at +different times from twelve to twenty-five thousand. Hundreds fell +prostrate under the mighty power of God, as men slain in battle; +and it was supposed that between one and two thousand souls were +happily and powerfully converted to God during the meetings. It +was not unusual for as many as seven preachers to be addressing +the listening thousands at a time, from different stands. At times, +more than a thousand persons broke out into loud shouting, all at +once, and the shouts could be heard for miles around." + +Strange as the following may sound to the present generation, it +is one of the many experiences recorded by Cartwright: + +"The camp-meeting was lighted up, the trumpet blown, I rose in the +stand and required every soul to leave the tents and come into the +congregation. There was a general rush to the stand. I requested +the brethren, if ever they prayed in their lives, to pray now. My +voice was strong and clear, and my preaching was more of an +exhortation than anything else. My text was: 'The gates of +hell shall not prevail.' In about thirty minutes the power of God +fell upon the congregation in such a manner as is seldom seen; the +people fell in every direction, right and left, front and rear. +It was supposed that not less than three hundred fell like dead +men in mighty battle; and there was no need of calling mourners, +for they were strewed all over the camp ground. Loud wailings went +up to Heaven from sinners for mercy, and a general shout from +Christians so that the noise was hear afar off." + +That it was by no means an unusual occurrence for those who came +to scoff to remain to pray will appear from the same book: + +"Just as I was closing up my sermon and pressing it with all the +force I could command, the power of God suddenly was displayed, +and sinners fell by scores all through the assembly. It was supposed +that several hundred fell in five minutes; sinners turned pale; +some ran into the woods; some tried to get away, and fell in the +attempt; some shouted aloud for joy." + +The horror of Brother Cartwrights for "immersionists" and Calvinists +of every degree, appears throughout his entire book. That his +righteous soul was often sorely vexed because of them is beyond +question. That his cup had not been drained to the dregs will +appear from a new element he encountered when sent across the Ohio +to the Scioto conference. + +"It was a poor and hard circuit at that time, and the country round +was settled in an early day by a colony of Yankees. At the time +of my appointment I had never seen a Yankee, and I had heard dismal +stories about them. It was said they lived almost entirely on +pumpkins, molasses, fat meat, and Bohea tea; moreover that they +could not bear loud and zealous sermons, and that they had brought +on their learned preachers with them, and were always criticising us +poor backwoods preachers." + +The "isms" our circuit-rider now encountered would have appalled +a less resolute man. He seems, however, to have gotten along fairly +well except with one "female," who, from all accounts, was given +over in about equal parts to "universalism" and "predestinarianism." +This troublesome female, that he candidly admitted he had _a +hard race to keep up with,_ he has left impaled for all time as +a "thin-faced, Roman-nosed, loquacious, glib-tongued Yankee." + +Something of the antagonism of the different persuasions in the +good old pioneer days, may be gathered from the tender farewell +taken by Brother Cartwright of a former associate, one Brother D., +"who left the Methodists, joined the Free-will Baptists, left them +and joined the New Lights, and then moved to Texas, where I expect +the devil has him in safe keeping long before this time!" + +It would be idle to suppose that Peter Cartwright was a mere +visionary or dreamer. Nothing could be farther from the truth. +He was abundantly possessed with what, in Western parlance, is +known as "horse sense." He was a student of men, and kept in close +touch with the affairs of this world. His shrewdness, no less than +his courage, was a proverb in his day. Upon one occasion, at +the beginning of his sermon before a large audience, he was more +than once interrupted by the persistent but ineffectual attempt of +a saintly old sister to shout. Annoyed at length, turning to her he +said: "Dear sister, never shout as a matter of duty; when you +can't help it, then shout; _but never shout as a mere matter of +duty!"_ + +At a camp-meeting on the banks of the Cumberland in the early years +of the last century, an attempt was made by a band of desperadoes to +create a disturbance. To this end their leader, a burly ruffian, stalked +to the front of the pulpit, and with an oath commanded Cartwright to +"dry up." Suspending divine service for a few minutes, and laying +aside his coat, the preacher descended from the pulpit and springing +upon the intruder, felled him to the earth and belabored him until +the wretch begged for mercy. The precious boon was withheld until +the now penitent disturber, after promising to repent, had been +given the humblest seat in the "amen corner." This all satisfactorily +completed, and his garment replaced, the minister, scarcely ruffled +by the trifling incident, re-entered the pulpit, and with the words, +"As I was saying, brethren, when interrupted," continued his +discourse. + +This little sketch would be unpardonably incomplete if the important +fact were withheld that Peter Cartwright had a relish for politics, +as well as for salvation. He was more than once a member of the +General Assembly of Illinois, and be it said to his eternal honor his +speech and vote were ever on the side of whatever conduced to +the best interests of the State. In him the cause of education, +and the asylums for the unfortunate, had ever an earnest advocate. + +Though many years his senior, he was the contemporary of Abraham +Lincoln, and a resident of the same county. Mr. Lincoln was, in +1846, the Whig candidate for Representative in Congress. The +district was of immense area, embracing many counties of Central +Illinois. Newspapers were scarce, and the old-time custom of joint +discussions between opposing candidates for high office were still +in vogue. Mr. Lincoln's unsuccessful competitor was none other +than the subject of this article. The great Whig leader and his +Democratic antagonist--"My friend the Parson," as Mr. Lincoln +familiarly called him--were soon engaged in joint debate. It is +to be regretted that there is no record of these debates. There +is probably no man now living who heard them. But what rare reading +they would be at this day, if happily they had been preserved. +The earnest, inflexible parson,--even then "standing upon the +Western slope,"--backed by his party, then dominant in the national +government, upon the one side; the comparatively youthful lawyer, whose +fame was yet to fill the world, upon the other. No doubt, daily +upon "the stump" and at night at the village taverns, the changes +were rung upon the then all-absorbing subjects, the Walker Tariff, +the War with Mexico, and the Wilmot Proviso. These questions belong +now to the domain of history; as do indeed issues of far greater +consequence, upon which Lincoln and an antagonist more formidable than +Cartwright crossed swords a dozen years later. + +At the Democratic State Convention, which assembled in Springfield +in the early spring of 1860, a resolution instructing the Illinois +delegates to support Stephen A. Douglas for nomination to the +Presidency at the approaching National Convention was adopted amidst +great enthusiasm. Immediately upon its adoption, a delegate called +attention to the fact that the venerable Peter Cartwright was +present, and said he knew the Convention would be glad to hear a +word from him. Immediately "Cartwright," "Cartwright," "Cartwright," +was heard from all parts of the chamber. From his seat, surrounded +by the Sangamon County delegates, near the central part of the +hall, Mr. Cartwright arose, and with deep emotion, and scarcely +audible voice, began: + +"My friends and fellow-citizens, I am happy to be with you on +the present occasion. My sun is low down upon the horizon, and +the days of my pilgrimage are almost numbered. I have lived in +Illinois during the entire period of its history as a State. I +have watched with tender interest its marvellous growth from its +feeble condition as a Territory, until it has reached its +present splendor as a State. I have travelled over its prairies, +slept with only the canopy of heaven for a covering; I have followed +the trail of the Indians, fought the desperadoes, swam the rivers, +threaded the almost pathless forests, in order that I might carry the +tidings of the blessed Gospel to the loneliest cabin upon the +border. Yes, my friends, for seventy long years, amid appalling +difficulties and dangers, I have waged an incessant warfare against +the world, the flesh, the devil, _and all the other enemies of the +Democratic party!"_ + + + +XVIII +CLEVELAND AS I KNEW HIM + +CLEVELAND'S SPEECH ACCEPTING HIS NOMINATION--MR. BLAINE'S FRUITLESS +TOUR AS A CANDIDATE--CLEVELAND'S INSIGHT INTO HUMAN CHARACTER--HIS +TARIFF-REDUCTION MESSAGE--WITHDRAWAL OF THE HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION +TREATY--HIS VENEZUELAN MISSION--HIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SCIENCE OF +GOVERNMENT--HIS QUALIFICATIONS FOR SOCIAL LIFE AND FOR SERVING THE +COUNTRY. + +Upon the adjournment of the Democratic National Convention of 1884, +which had nominated Mr. Cleveland for the Presidency, in company +with other delegates I visited him at the Executive Mansion at +Albany, New York. The Hon. William F. Vilas was the chairman of +our committee, and the purpose of the visit to notify Mr. Cleveland, +officially, of his nomination to the great office. I saw him then +for the first time. + +He was then Governor of New York, having been but recently elected +by an unprecedented majority. I recall him distinctly on this +occasion as he responded to the eloquent speech of Colonel Vilas. +Standing near him at the time were three men well known at a later +date as members of his cabinet and his closest friends, Daniel +Manning, William C. Whitney, and Daniel S. Lamont. + +Cleveland's response to the speech of notification was in dignified, +forceful phrase, and at once challenged public attention and gave the +keynote to the memorable contest which immediately followed. In +some of its aspects it was a Presidential struggle the like of +which we may not again witness. As the day of election drew near, +the excitement increased in intensity, and no efforts that gave +hopes of success were spared by the opposing party managers. + +The defection from his ranks by what in campaign publications of +the day was known as the "mugwump" element, caused Mr. Blaine to +venture upon a hazardous tour of speech-making. Enthusiastic +audiences gathered around the brilliant Republican candidate during +his Western tour. This, however, as the sequel showed, was time +and energy wasted; Illinois and Ohio were safely in the Republican +column, and the real battle-ground was New York state. Homeward +bound at length from this strenuous pilgrimage demanded by no party +necessity, Mr. Blaine was fated during his brief sojourn in New +York to listen to the now historical words of Burchard, words which +in all human probability proved the political undoing of the +candidate to whom, with the best intentions, they were earnestly +addressed. + +New York, as has been its wont before and since, proved the pivotal +State. For many days after the election the result was still in +doubt. Party feeling was intense, and the result hinged upon +the narrow margin in the vote of Blaine and Cleveland in one State. + +During the strenuous days that passed from the election until +the authoritative announcement of the result, one man alone, amid the +high tide of party passion, remained calm. To all appearances +unmoved, Grover Cleveland sat in his office day after day, no detail +of official duty failing to receive his careful attention. The +fact just stated is explanatory of much in his subsequent career. + +When first nominated for the Presidency, Mr. Cleveland had +little personal knowledge of public men outside of his own State. +How rapidly he acquired the information necessary to a successful +administration of the government was indeed a marvel. It was no +"Cleveland luck" or haphazard chance that called into his first Cabinet +such men as Bayard, Manning, Garland, Vilas, and Whitney. It can safely +be asserted that Mr. Cleveland was an excellent judge of men and of +their capacity for the particular work assigned them. As if by +intuition, he thoroughly understood after a single interview the men +with whom he was brought in contact. As an object lesson a better +appointment to high office has rarely been made than that of Fuller +to the chief justiceship of the great court. No less fortunate was +his selection of Vilas to the responsible position of Postmaster-General. +And yet both of these gentlemen were personally strangers to Mr. Cleveland +when he was first named for the Presidency. His appointments to important +diplomatic positions likewise strikingly illustrated his aptness +in forming a correct estimate of men from whom his appointees were +to be chosen. + +No incumbent of the Presidency was ever less of a time-server than +Cleveland. "Expediency" was a word scarcely known to his vocabulary. +Recognizing alike the dignity and responsibility of the great +office, he was in the highest degree self-reliant. None the less he +at all times availed himself of the wise counsel of his official +advisers. In matters falling within their especial province their +determination was, except in rare instances, conclusive. In no +sense was his mind closed against the timely counsel of his friends. +Far from being opinionated, in the offensive sense of the word, the +ultimate determination, however, was after "having taken counsel +from himself." + +The incident contributing perhaps more than any other to his defeat +in 1888 was his tariff-reduction message to Congress one year prior +to that election. An abler state paper has rarely been put forth. +It was a clear, succinct presentation of existing economic conditions; +in very truth an unanswerable argument for tariff reduction. It +is not yet forgotten how promptly this message was denounced by +the entire opposition press as a "free-trade manifesto," and how +this cry increased in voice and volume until the close of the +Presidential contest. And yet, in sending this message to Congress, +Mr. Cleveland was entirely consistent with himself. Its utterances +were in clear accord with the platform upon which he had been +nominated and with his letter of acceptance. It is one of the +anomalies of politics that the clear-cut sentences measurably +instrumental in compassing his defeat in 1888, were upon the banners +of his triumphant partisans in the campaign of 1892. + +In the year last named, Mr. Cleveland was for the third time the +candidate of his party for the Presidency. His nomination, by a +two-thirds vote, was upon the first ballot, and marked an era in +the history of national conventions. His candidacy was bitterly +antagonized by the delegation from his own State, his name being +presented by Governor Abbott of New Jersey. It is a fact of +much significance that neither in the platform upon which he was +nominated, nor in the letter of acceptance, was there the slightest +departure from his emphatic utterances upon the tariff in the +memorable message of 1887. The salient issues of the campaign were +"tariff reform" and hostility to the then pending "Force bill." +From first to last Mr. Cleveland was in close consultation with +the leaders of his party and advised as to every detail of the +contest. The result was a vindication of his former administration +and an unmistakable endorsement of the tenets of the Democratic +faith. + +In this brief sketch, there can be but slight reference to the +important questions which now for four years engaged his attention. +Almost his first official act after his second inauguration was +the withdrawal from the Senate of the Hawaiian Annexation Treaty +recently submitted by President Harrison for ratification. Firmly +believing that the late United States Minister to the unfortunate island +had at least acquiesced in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Government, +President Cleveland, with the hope that he might measurably repair +the wrong, recalled the Annexation Treaty, as stated. In his +message of withdrawal were the words: "A great wrong has been done +to a feeble and independent State." This almost forgotten incident +is now recalled only to emphasize the spirit of justice that +characterized his dealings with foreign Governments. + +And yet history will truly say of him that, while just to other +Governments, no President has more firmly maintained the rights of +his own. This assertion finds verification in the Venezuelan +message, which, for the moment, almost startled the country. By +many it was for the time believed to be the prelude to war. In +very truth, as the sequel proved, it was a message of peace. It +was a critical moment, and the necessity imperative for prompt, +decisive action. If the Monroe Doctrine was to be maintained, +Great Britain could not be permitted arbitrarily to divest Venezuela +of any portion of her territory. The arbitration proposed by +President Cleveland, resulting in peaceable adjustment, established +what we may well believe will prove an enduring precedent. One +sentence of the memorable message is worthy of remembrance by +the oncoming generations: "The Monroe Doctrine was intended to +apply to every stage of our national life, and cannot become obsolete +while our Republic endures." + +I had excellent opportunities to know Mr. Cleveland. I was a member +of the first and third conventions which named him for the Presidency, +and actively engaged in both the contests that resulted in his +election. As assistant Postmaster-General during his first term, and +Vice-President during the second, I was often "the neighbor to his +counsels." I am confident that a more conscientious, painstaking official +never filled public station. In his appointments to office his +chief aim was to subserve the public interests by judicious +selections. The question of rewarding party service, while by no +means ignored, was immeasurably subordinate to that of the integrity +and efficiency of the applicant. He was patriotic to the core, +and it was his earnest desire that the last vestige of legislation +inimical to the Southern States should pass from the statute books. +He did much toward the restoration of complete concord between all +sections of the country. + +Mr. Cleveland possessed a kind heart, and was ever just and generous +in his dealings. Wholly unostentatious himself, the humblest felt +at ease in his presence. Possibly no incumbent of the great office +was more easily accessible to all classes and conditions. Courteous +at all times, no guards were necessary to the preservation of +his dignity. No one would have thought of an undue familiarity. + +He was a profound student of all that pertained to human affairs. +He had given deep thought to the science of government, and was +familiar with the best that had been written on the subject. Caring +little for the light literature of the day, his concern was with +the practical knowledge bearing upon existing conditions and +that might aid in the solution of the ever-recurring problems +confronting men in responsible positions. He loved to talk of the +founders of the Government, and of the matchless instrument, the +result of their wise deliberations, declared by Gladstone, "the +most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time from the brain +and purpose of man." The Constitution was in very truth "the man of +his counsel," and, in my opinion, no statesman in ancient or modern +times so challenged his profound admiration as did James Madison. + +Mr. Cleveland was sociable in the best sense of that word, and the +cares of state laid aside, in the company of friends he was an +exceedingly agreeable companion. While by no means the best of +story-tellers himself, he had a keen appreciation of the humorous and +ludicrous phases and incidents of life. I shall not soon forget +an evening I spent with him in company with Governor Proctor Knott +of Kentucky. The greatest story-teller of the age was at his best, +and the delight of the occasion was, as Cleveland declared, "beyond +expression." + +More than once I have been a guest in his home. During the campaign +of 1892, when his associate on the national ticket, I spent some +days in conference with him at Gray Gables. The memory of that +long-ago visit lingers yet. He was the agreeable host, the gentleman; +more than that, the tender, considerate husband, the kind, affectionate +father. It has never been my good fortune to cross the threshold of +a more delightful home. + +I saw Mr. Cleveland last upon the occasion of his visit to Arbor +Lodge, Nebraska, to deliver an address at the unveiling of a statue +of the late Sterling Morton, former Secretary of Agriculture. The +address was worthy of the occasion, and indeed a just and touching +tribute to the memory of an excellent man, an able and efficient Cabinet +Minister. In my last conversation with Mr. Cleveland upon the +occasion mentioned, he spoke feelingly of our old associates, many +of whom had passed away. I remember that the tears came to his +eyes when the name of Colonel Lamont happened to be mentioned. + +During our stay at Arbor Lodge, the beautiful Morton home, by +invitation of the superintendent, Mr. Cleveland visited the +State Asylum for the Blind at Nebraska City. In his brief address +to the unfortunate inmates of the institution, Mr. Cleveland +mentioned the fact that in his early life he had been for some time +a teacher in an asylum for the blind, and spoke of his profound +interest in whatever concerned their welfare. I have heard him +many times, but never when he appeared to better advantage, or +evinced such depth of feeling as upon this occasion. + +The passing of Cleveland marks an epoch. He was indeed a striking +figure in American history. Take him all in all, we may not +look upon his like again. The "good citizenship," an expression +frequently on his lips, to which he would have his countrymen +aspire, was of the noblest, and no man had a clearer or loftier +conception of the responsible and sacred character of public station. +With him the oft-quoted words, "A public office is a public trust," +was no mere lip-service. His will be a large place in history. His +administration of the government will safely endure the test of +time. + + "Whatever record leaps to light, + He never can be shamed." + +In victory or defeat, in office or out, he was true to his own self +and to his ideals. His early struggles, his firmness of purpose, his +determination that knew no shadow of wavering, his exalted aims, +and the success that ultimately crowned his efforts have given him +high place among statesmen, and will be a continuing inspiration +to the oncoming generations of his countrymen. + + + +XIX +A UNANIMOUS CHOICE FOR SPEAKER + +A MEETING OF PROSPECTIVE SPEAKERS--DR. ROGERS WITHIN SIGHT OF +THE GOAL OF HIS AMBITION--HE STATES THE GROUND OF HIS HOPE--THE +FOUNDATION PROVES TO BE ONLY SAND--A TEMPEST CALMED BY THE DOCTOR. + +At a banquet in Washington in the winter of 1880-81, a large number +of Representatives were present. Among the number were Reed, +McKinley, Cannon, and Keifer. These gentlemen were all prospective +candidates for the Speakership of the then recently elected House of +Representatives. The best of feeling prevailed, and the occasion +was one of rare enjoyment and mirth. Each candidate in turn was +introduced by the toast-master as "the Speaker of the next House," +and in his speech each claimed all the others as his enthusiastic and +reliable supporters. The apparent confidence of each candidate in +the support of his rivals reminded Mr. Cannon of the experience of +an Illinois legislator, which he requested his colleague from +the Bloomington district to relate. + +That the reader may appreciate the incident then related, some +mention must be made of Dr. Thomas P. Rogers of Bloomington. He +was a gentleman of the old school, a politician from the beginning, +of inflexible integrity and an earnestness of purpose that knew no +shadow of turning. He was as devoid of any possible touch of humor +as was his own marble bust of Thomas Jefferson. He was the personal +friend of Lincoln and of Douglas, and the political follower of +the latter. The fondness of a mother for her first-born hardly +exceeded that of Dr. Rogers for the party of his choice. Any +uncomplimentary allusion to his "principles" was considered a +personal injury, and his devotion to party leaders, from Jackson +to Douglas, savored of idolatry. Some camp-meeting experiences in +early life had given zest and tone to his style of oratory, +which stood him well in hand in his many political encounters of +a later day. + +For three consecutive terms the Doctor had been a member of the +Legislature, and his record from every point of view was without +a blemish. At his fourth election, it was found that for the first +time in a decade or more his party had secured a majority in the +House, to which the Doctor had just been elected. The goal of his +ambition was the Speakership, and it truly seemed that his hour +had now come. + +Soon after these facts were known beyond peradventure, the Doctor came +one day into my office. After election matters had been talked +over at length and with much satisfaction, the Doctor modestly +intimated a desire to be a candidate for the Speakership. I at +once gave him the promise of my earnest support and inquired whether +he had any friends upon whom he could rely in the approaching +caucus. He assured me that there were four members of the last +House re-elected to this, upon whom he knew he could absolutely +depend under all circumstances. Upon my inquiry as to their names, +he said: + +"Hadlai,"--the Doctor, it may be here mentioned, had from my boyhood +kindly given me the benefit of an "H" to which I laid no claim and +was in no way entitled--"Hadlai, you take your pencil and take down +their names as I give them to you." + +I at once took my seat, and pencil in hand, looked inquiringly +toward the Doctor. + +"Hadlai," he continued, "put down Heise of Cook. John and I +have been friends for more than thirty years; I worked for him for +a delegate-at-large to the last National Convention, and he told +me then, 'Doctor, if there is anything I can do for you, just let me +know.'" + +To which I replied, "Heise of Cook, dead sure," and his name was +at once placed in the Rogers column. + +"Now, Hadlai," continued the Doctor, "there is Armstrong of La +Salle; Wash and I were boys together in Ohio, and sat side by side +in the Charleston Convention when we were trying to nominate Douglas. +He has told me more than once that if ever we carried the House, +he was for me for Speaker above any man on earth." At which I +unhesitatingly placed Armstrong of La Salle in the same column with +Heise of Cook. + +"Now, Hadlai," continued the Doctor, after a moment's pause, "there +is Cummins of Fulton; I helped elect Jim Chairman of the last State +Convention, and he has told me again and again that he hoped he +would live to see me Speaker, so I can count on Jim without doubt." + +I at once placed Cummins in the column of honor with Heise and +Armstrong, and calmly awaited further instructions. + +"Now, Hadlai, there is Moore of Adams; Alf got into trouble over +a bill he had in the last Legislature; he could neither get it out +of the committee, nor the committee to take any action, so he came +over to my seat terribly worried, and says he, 'Doctor, for +God's sake, get me out of this!' I did, Hadlai, and Alf was the +most grateful man you ever saw on earth, and told me then, 'Doctor, +I would get up at two o'clock at night to do you a favor.' I +can safely count on him." + +It is needless to say that Moore of Adams rounded out the quartette +of faithful supporters. + +"Now, Hadlai," remarked the Doctor, after contemplating with apparent +satisfaction the list I had handed him, "if you will give me +some paper and envelopes and a pen and some stamps, if you have +them handy, I will write to all of them now." The articles mentioned +were produced, the letters written, stamped, and duly mailed, and +the good Doctor departed in an exceedingly comfortable frame of +mind. + +Time passes, as is its wont; but for some weeks I neither saw +nor heard from the Doctor. Meeting him on the street at length, +I at once inquired whether he had received replies to his letters. + +"Come into the office, Hadlai, and I will explain." Pained to +observe that the tone and air of confidence so perceptible in +our last interview was lacking, I followed with some misgiving into +his office. + +"Yes, Hadlai," he slowly began, "I have heard from all of them. +Heise of Cook [the familiar appellations of the former interview +were wanting] writes assuring me that there is no man living for +whom he entertains a more profound respect then for myself, Hadlai; +but that owing to unforseen complications arising in his county, +he has reluctantly consented _to allow his own name_ to be presented +to the caucus." + +The name of Heise of Cook was immediately stricken from the head +of the list. Then a reverie into which the Doctor had fallen was at +length disturbed by my inquiry, "What about Armstrong?" + +"Yes, Hadlai, Armstrong of La Salle writes me that in his judgment +there is no man living so deserving of the gratitude of the party, +or so well qualified for the office of Speaker as myself, but that +the pressure from his constituents has been so great that he has +_finally consented to allow his own name_ to be presented to the +caucus." + +"Fare-you-well, Mr. Armstrong," was my hurried observation, as the +name of that gentleman disappeared from my list. + +Arousing the Doctor at length from the reverie into which he had +again fallen, I ventured to inquire as to the state of mind of Mr. +Cummins. + +"Yes, Hadlai, Cummins of Fulton says that in a certain contingency +_he will himself be a candidate,_ and Moore of Adams writes me that +_he is a candidate!"_ + +It may not be out of place to supplement this little narrative +by relating an incident that illustrates the fact that a man wholly +devoid of any sense of humor himself may at times be the unconscious +cause of amusement in others. + +Imprimis: The Doctor, while a member of the General Assembly, +voted for a measure known in local parlance as "the Lake Front +Bill." The criticisms which followed vexed his righteous soul, +and he patiently awaited the opportunity for public explanation +and personal vindication. + +Now it so fell out that at the time whereof we write there was much +excitement--a tempest in a tea-pot--in the little city of Bloomington, +over a change in "readers" recently ordered in the schools by +the Board of Education. After much discussion on the streets and at +the corners, a public indignation meeting was called for Saturday evening +at the east door of the Court-house. Meanwhile the indignation +against the offending Board intensified, and there was some +apprehension even of serious trouble. At the appointed time and +place, the meeting assembled and was duly organized by the selection +of a Chairman. Calls at once began for well-known orators at +the bar and upon the hustings. "Ewing," "Fifer," "Rowell," "Prince," +"Lillard," "Phillips," "Kerrick," "Weldon," were heard from the +crowd in rapid succession. It was like "calling spirits from +the vasty deep." No response was given, no orator appeared; and, as +is well known, an indignation meeting without an orator is as +impossible as "Hamlet" with the Prince of Denmark omitted. + +But sure enough-- + + "Fortune sometimes brings in boats that are not steered." + +At the auspicious moment, from the rear of the crowd Tom Hullinger +called out, "Doctor Rogers, Doctor Rogers!" The hour had struck. +Without waiting further call, the Doctor promptly took the stand +and waiving the formality of an introduction, began: + +"I am deeply gratified to have this opportunity to explain to my +fellow-citizens who have known me from my early manhood my vote +upon the Lake Front Bill," _and a two-hour vindication immediately +followed._ No allusion being made to the object of the meeting, +or the change of school-books, of which the Doctor knew as little and +cared as little as he did of the thirteenth century controversy +between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, with the waning hours the +excitement subsided. The change of readers became a dead issue; +the era of good feeling was restored; and to this blessed hour, +except in a spirit of mirth, _the school-book question has never +been mentioned._ + + + +XX +A LAWYER OF THE OLD SCHOOL + +JUDGE ARRINGTON, THE IDEAL LAWYER--EULOGIZED BY OTHER JUDGES--BOOKS +HIS EARLY COMPANIONS--BECOMES SUCCESSIVELY A METHODIST PREACHER, +A LAWYER, AND A JUDGE--WRITES SOME SKETCHES OF LIFE IN THE SOUTHWEST +--HIS APOSTROPHE TO WATER RECITED BY GOUGH. + +In the old Supreme Court-room at Ottawa, almost a half-century ago, +I saw and heard Judge Alfred A. Arrington for the first time. For +two hours I listened with the deepest attention to his masterly +argument in a cause then exciting much interest because of the +large amount involved. The dry question of law under discussion, "as +if touched by the enchanter's wand," was at once invested with +an interest far beyond its wont. As I listened to the argument of +Judge Arrington, and witnessed the manner of its delivery, he +appeared in the most comprehensive sense the ideal lawyer. He +seemed, indeed, as he probably was, the sole survivor of the school +of which Wirt and Pinckney were three generations ago the +typical representatives. His dignified bearing, old-time apparel, +and lofty courtesy toward the Court and opposing counsel, all +strengthened this impression. He had a highly attractive appearance, +and as was said by a contemporary, "to crown all, a massive +Websterian forehead, needing no seal to give the world assurance of +a man." + + "Sage he stood, + With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear + The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look + Drew audience and attention still as night + Or summer's noontide air." + +Since then I have listened to advocates of national renown in +our great court and in the Senate sitting as a High Court of +Impeachment, but at no time or place have I heard an abler, more +scholarly, or more eloquent argument than that of Judge Arrington in +the old court-room at Ottawa, Illinois, on that day long gone by. + +The most eminent members of the Chicago bar were the eulogists +of Judge Arrington when he passed to his grave, near the close +of the great Civil War. Judge Wilson, in presenting resolutions +in honor of the deceased, voiced the sentiments of his associates when +he said: + +"For more than thirty years at the bar and upon the bench, I +have been associated with the legal profession; and I may say +without offence that of the many able men I have known I regard +Judge Arrington, take him all in all, as the ablest." + +The venerable Judge Drummond said: + +"I have rarely heard a man whose efforts so constantly riveted the +attention from the beginning to the close of his discourse. For +while he trod with firm and steady steps the path of logic, his +vivid imagination was constantly scattering on each side flowers +of fragrant beauty, to the wonder and delight of all who heard him. +He was a great lawyer in the highest and largest sense of the term +--great in the extent and thoroughness of his legal learning, in +the vigor and acuteness of his reasoning, and in the power of +his eloquence." + +The Hon. Melville W. Fuller, the present Chief Justice of the United +States, said: + +"When he arose to discuss a question, he exhibited a perfect +knowledge of every phase in which it could be presented; and men +never grew weary (especially if the argument involved Constitutional +construction, in which department he stood _primus inter illustres_) +of admiring the amplitude of his legal attainments, the accuracy +of his learning, the compactness of his logic, and the majestic +flow of his eloquence, and more than all, that firmness and breadth +of mind which lifted him above the ordinary contest of the forum. + +"It is a source of the deepest consolation that he found peace +at the last; that the grand spirit, before it took its everlasting +flight, reposed in confidence on the Book of Books; that its +departure was illumined by that precious light which ever +renders radiant the brief darkness 'twixt mortal twilight and +immortal dawn." + +And yet, alas, his name has now almost passed from the memories of +men; the veil of time has settled over him; no distinct image is +recalled by the mention of his name. How suggestive this, of +the ephemeral fame of even a great lawyer: + + "Swift as shadow, short as any dream + Brief as the lightning in the collied night." + +Words long since uttered by an eminent jurist have not lost +their significance: + +"There is, perhaps, no reputation that can be achieved amongst men +that is so transitory, so evanescent, as that of a great advocate. +The very wand that enchants us is magical. Its effects can be +felt; it influences our actions; it controls and possesses us; but +to define it, or tell what it is, or how it produces these effects, +is as far beyond our power as to imprison the sunbeam. In the +presence of such majestic power we can only stand awed and silent." + +There was much of romance, and somewhat of mystery, that gathered about +the life of Judge Arrington. Born of humble parentage in the pine +forests of North Carolina, with no advantages other than those +common in the remoter parts of our country a century ago, from the +beginning he apparently dwelt apart from the conditions surrounding +him. At an early age he removed with his father's family to the +then wilds of the Southwest. + +There, upon the very border line of civilization, his associates +for a time were the advance guard, the adventurers and soldiers of +fortune that in a large measure constituted the civilization of +the southwestern frontier during the early years of the last century. +With his early environment, his subsequent career seems a marvel. +It can only be explained upon the supposition that through with +them, he was not of them. + + "His soul was like a star, and dwelt apart." + +His companions were his books. Denied the advantages of early +scholastic training, he was, from the beginning, an omnivorous +reader. He cared little for the allurements and excitement of +society. At the age of seventeen, he joined the Methodist Episcopal +Church, and was soon after licensed to preach. For four years +he rode the circuit, enduring all the discomforts and dangers then +and there incident to his calling. His field may be called the +_Ultima Thule,_ bordering upon the Rio Grande and inhabited by +Indians. Untutored audiences were stirred to the depths by his +fervid appeals. Church buildings were yet in the future; the +congregations assembled in God's first temples, and listened +with rapt attention to the fiery eloquence of the delicate, youthful +messenger, whose soul seemed on fire. + +A gentleman who had heard Arrington writes: + +"He was then young, delicate, as brilliant as a comet, and almost as +erratic. Without research or mental discipline, he could electrify +an audience beyond all living men, and arouse in the minds of those +who heard him the wildest enthusiasm." + +For some cause, possibly never to be explained, he suddenly abandoned +the ministry, began the study of the law, and when a little past +the age of twenty-one, was admitted to the bar. After some years of +successful practice in the rude frontier courts of Arkansas, he +removed to Texas, where he was soon appointed a judge, and assigned +to the Rio Grande circuit. In addition to his judicial labors, he +now wrote and published some graphic and interesting sketches of +border life, vivid pictures of conditions then existing in the +Southwest among a people the like of which we shall not see agin, +a people upon whom the restraints and amenities of civilized life sat +but lightly, who were in large degree a law unto themselves, and +with whom revenge was virtue. + +One of his publications, "Paul Denton," still has a place in many of +our libraries. It is, in part, a narrative of the thrilling +experiences of an early Methodist circuit-rider--presumably himself +--upon the southwest border. In this will be found his marvellous +apostrophe to water, which, as was said by Judge Dent, "was so +familiar to the lecture-going public of the last generation owing to +its frequent declamation from the rostrum by the temperance lecturer, +Gough." + +The hero of the book, Paul Denton, had been announced to preach at +a famous Spring, where "plenty of good liquor" was promised to all +who would attend. During the sermon, a desperado demanded: +"Mr. Denton, where is the liquor you promised?" + +"There!" answered the preacher in tones of thunder, and pointing +his motionless finger at a spring gushing up in two strong columns +from the bosom of the earth with a sound like a shout of joy. +"There," he repeated, "there is the liquor which God the Eternal +brews for all his children. Not in the simmering still over the +smoky fires choked with poisonous gases, surrounded with stench of +sickening odors and corruptions, doth your Father in heaven prepare +the precious essence of life--pure cold water; but in the green +glade and grassy dell, where the red-deer wanders and the child +loves to play, there God brews it; and down, low down, in the +deepest valleys, where the fountains murmur, and the rills sigh, and +high upon the mountain-tops where the naked granite glitters +like gold in the sun, where the storm-cloud broods and the +thunder-storms crash; and far out on the wide, wild sea, where the +hurricane howls music and the big waves roll the chorus, sweeping the +march of God--there he brews it, the beverage of life, health-giving +water. + +"And everywhere it is a thing of life and beauty--gleaming in +the dew-drop; singing in the summer rain; shining in the ice gem +till the trees all seem turned to living jewels; spreading a golden +veil over the sun or a white gauze around the midnight moon; sporting +in the glacier; folding its bright snow-curtain softly about the +wintry world; and weaving the many-colored bow whose warp is the +rain-drops of earth, whose woof is the sunbeam of heaven, all +checkered over with the mystic hand of refraction. + +"Still it is beautiful, that blessed life-water! No poisonous +bubbles are on its brink; its foam brings not murder and madness; +no blood stains its liquid glass; pale widows and starving orphans +weep not burning tears into its depths; no drunkard's shrieking +ghost from the grave curses it in the world of eternal despair. +Beautiful, pure, blessed, and glorious. Speak out, my friends, +would you exchange it for the demon's drink, alcohol?" + +In Calvary Cemetery, Chicago, rests all that is mortal of Judge +Arrington. + + "Tread lightly on his ashes, ye men of genius, for + he was your kinsman! + Weed clean his grave, ye men of goodness, for + he was your brother!" + + + +XXI +HIGH DEBATE IN THE MOUNTAINS + +COLONEL WOOLFORD, A HERO UNDER GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR--HIS MANNER OF +FIGHTING--HIS DEFENCE OF A YOUTH CHARGED WITH MURDER--HE MAKES A +SPEECH THAT INFURIATES GENERAL FRY. + +One of the men not easily forgotten was the Hon. Frank Woolford, +a member of Congress from the mountains of Kentucky nearly a quarter +of a century ago. He was without reservation a typical mountaineer. +He practised law in the local courts, and was prominent in the +politics of his State. His style of oratory bore little resemblance +to that of the British House of Lords. He had been a soldier in two +wars, and his dauntless courage and inexhaustible good humor made him +the idol of his comrades. He had been of the heroic band of +"Old Rough and Ready" that repelled the charge of twenty thousand lancers +under Santa Ana at Buena Vista. He was as brave as Marshal Ney, +and it was said of him that the battle-field was his home as the +upper air was that of the eagle. + +He promptly espoused the cause of the Union at the outbreak of the +Civil War and was chosen Colonel of a mounted regiment gathered +from his own and adjacent counties. He knew how to fight, but +of the science of war as taught in the schools he was as ignorant as +the grave. It was said that his entire tactics were embraced in +two commands: "Huddle and fight," and "Scatter." When the +first was heard his men "huddled and fit"; and when retreat was the +only possible salvation, the command to "scatter" was obeyed +with equal alacrity. Each man was now for himself, and "devil take +the hindmost" for a time, but the sound of Woolford's bugle +never failed to secure prompt falling into line at the auspicious moment. +"Woolford's cavalry" was the synonym for daring, even at the +time when the recital of the deeds of brave men filled the world's +great ear. + +Woolford and his troopers were in the thickest of the fight at Mill +Spring, where Zollicoffer fell; later, they hung upon the flanks +of Bragg on his retreat southward from the bloody field of Perryville. +More than once during those troublous times our hero was a "foeman +worthy the steel" of John Morgan, Forrest, and the gallant Joe +Wheeler of world renown. + +At the close of the war, Colonel Woolford returned to his mountain +home and was in due time elected a Representative in Congress. +Years later, with life well rounded out, he met the only foe to +whom he ever surrendered, and lamented by all, passed to the beyond. + +Some faint idea of Colonel Woolford's style of eloquence at the +bar may possibly be gathered from the following. He was retained to +defend a half-grown, illiterate youth under indictment for murder. +The crime was committed near "Jimtown," but by a change of venue +the trial took place at Danville, in the neighboring county of +Boyle. Danville, it must be remembered, was the Athens of Kentucky. +It was the seat of Centre College, of a Presbyterian theological +Seminary, and of more than one of the public institutions of the +State. It was the home of men of prominence and wealth, and for +three generations had been renowned for the high character, +attainments, and culture of its people. + +In his speech to the jury in behalf of his unfortunate client, the +Colonel insisted that the poor boy at the bar of justice, born and +reared in the mountains, without any of the advantages of churches +and schools, was not to be held in the same degree responsible +as if his lot had been cast in Danville. In his argument he said: + +"Here you have your schools, your Centre College, your Theological +Seminary, your churches. Every third man you meet on the streets is +a minister of the Gospel, and the others are all teachers in the +Sunday school. Here you have your great preachers, Young, +Green, Humphreys, Yerkes, Robertson, Breckenridge--in fact, +Presbyterianism to your hearts' content in the very air. But this +poor boy has known nothing of these things. O gentlemen, what +might not this poor boy have been, and what might not poor Jimtown +have been, with all these advantages?" + +Throwing up his arms, in tragic tones he exclaimed: + +"Oh, Jimtown! Jimtown! Had the mighty things that have been done +in Danville been done in thee, thou wouldst long since have repented +in sackcloth and ashes!" + +The incident which I shall now relate was told me by my kinsman, +General S. S. Fry of Danville. He and Colonel Woolford were friends +from boyhood, and comrades in the Mexican and Civil wars. Their +party affiliations, however, were different, General Fry being a +Republican, and Colonel Woolford a Democrat. + +During the reconstruction period, soon after the close of the Civil +war, a barbecue was given to the Colonel, then a candidate for +Congress, in one of the mountain counties of his district. As a +matter of course, the Colonel was to be the orator of the occasion. + +In order, if possible, to counteract the evil effect of his speech, +the Republican State Committee requested General Fry to attend the +barbecue, and engage Colonel Woolford in public debate. In compliance +with this request, General Fry, after a horseback ride of many +hours, put in an appearance at the appointed time and place. +The attendance was general; the people of the entire county, of +both sexes and of all ages and conditions, were there. The barbecue +was well under way when General Fry arrived. A table of rough +boards and of sufficient length had been constructed, and was +literally covered with savory shote and mutton just from the pit +where barbecued. These viands were abundantly supplemented with +fried chicken, salt-rising bread, beaten biscuit, "corn dodgers," and +cucumber pickles. To this add several representatives of the highly +respectable pie family, and possibly an occasional pound cake, and +the typical barbecue is before you. + +General Fry, upon his arrival, was warmly greeted by Colonel +Woolford, whose hearty invitation _to partake_ was not limited +to the viands mentioned. The feast being at length happily concluded, +and the crowd assembled around the speaker's stand, Colonel Woolford +said to his old-time comrade; "Now, General Fry, you just go ahead +and speak just as long as you want to. The boys have all heard me +time and again, and I have nothing new to tell them, but they will +be glad to hear you. When you get through, of course, if there is +a little time left, I may say 'howdy' to the boys, and talk a little +while, but you just go ahead." + +After formal introduction by the Colonel, General Fry did "go +ahead," and discuss the financial question, the tariff, reconstruction, +and dwelt earnestly and at length upon the magnanimity of the +Republican party toward the men lately in rebellion against the +Government. Since the surrender at Appomattox, no life had been +taken, no one punished, no man ever put on his trial. It was +without a parallel in history, and as a matter of simple gratitude, +the Republican party was entitled to the support of the entire +Southern people for such magnanimity. + +The speech at length concluded, Colonel Woolford arose and without +even the formality of saying "howdy," or honoring finance or tariff +with the briefest mention, proceeded: + +"General Fry has dwelt long and loud upon the magnanimity of the +Republican party. He has told you that when the war was over +and the last rebel had laid down his arms, a hand-shaking took +place all around, everybody was forgiven, and the peace of heaven came +down like a dove upon the whole Southern people. Yes--a hell of +a magnanimity it was! How did they show the magnanimity that +General Fry talks so much about? You all remember Stonewall Jackson, +one of the grandest men God ever made. This same magnanimous +Republican party took him prisoner, tried him by a drumhead +court-martial, and shot him down like a mad dog after he had +surrendered up his sword." + +At which Colonel Fry interposed: + +"Why, Colonel Woolford, you ought not to make such a statement +as that. Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by one of his +own men in battle, and his memory is honored by all the people +North and South." + +To this the Colonel replied: + +"Don't try to deceive these people. We don't put on style and wear +store clothes like you big folks down about Danville, but we live in +our plain way, wear our home-spun and eat our hog and hominy; but if +there is anything on earth that these people do love, it is the +_truth._ What did this same magnanimous Republican party that +General Fry had told you so much about do with General Robert E. +Lee? I knew General Lee, I served with him in Mexico, and although +we fought on different sides in the last war, I always respected +him as a brave soldier. Well, after he had surrendered at Appomattox, +and his men had all laid down their arms, what did this same +magnanimous party that General Fry talked so much about do with +General Lee? Why, they tried him by a drumhead court-martial _and +shot and quartered him right on the spot!"_ + +Again interrupting, General Fry indignantly exclaimed: + +"It is an outrage, Colonel Woolford, to attempt to deceive these +people by such statements. General Lee was never even imprisoned, +and is still alive, the president of a college in Virginia, and +highly esteemed by everybody." + +The Colonel answered: + +"Now, General Fry, you have been treated like a gentleman ever +since you came to these mountains; we gave you the best we had +to eat, gave you the last drop out of the bottle, and listened +quietly to you just as long as you wanted to speak. We don't wear +Sunday clothes, General Fry, like you do down in Danville, but just +live in our plain way in our log cabins, and eat our hoe-cake, and +say our prayers, but if there is anything on God's earth that we +do love, it is the _truth._ It is wrong for you, General Fry, +to try and fool these people. Yes, this same magnanimous party +that General Fry has been telling you about, what did they do with +poor old Jeff Davis after he was captured? Now, I never was fond of +old Jeff myself, and I fought four years against him in the last +war. But I was on the same side with him in Mexico, I saw him head +the charge of the Mississippi rifles, and drive back the Mexican +lancers after McKee and Clay and Hardin had been killed at Buena +Vista, and I know he was no coward. Well, after he was in prison and +as helpless as a child, what did they do with him? Why, they just +took him out, and without even giving him a drumhead trial, tied +him up and _burned him to ashes at a stake!"_ + +Fry sprang to his feet, exclaiming: + +"Great God! Jeff Davis is still alive, at his home in Mississippi, +and has never even been tried; it is damnable to make such statements +to these people, Colonel Woolford!" + +The Colonel thereupon, with a deeply injured air, said: + +"General Fry, you and I have been friends a life-time. We +hooked watermelons, hunted coons, and attended all the frolics +together when we were boys. We slept under the same blanket, +belonged to the same mess, and fought side by side at Palo Alto +and Cerro Gordo; we shed our blood on the same battlefields when +fighting to save this glorious Union. I have loved you, General +Fry, like a brother, but this is too much, it is putting friendship +to a turrible test; it is a little more than flesh and blood can +stand." + +Pausing for a moment, he apparently recovered himself from the deep +emotion he had just shown, then quietly resuming, he said, "What +I have said about the way they treated old Jeff is true, and here is +my witness." He called out, "Bill, tell the General what you +saw them do with old Jeff." + +Bill, a tall, lank, one-gallowsed mountaineer, leaning against a +sapling near by, promptly deposed that he was present at the time, +saw old Jeff led out, tied to a stake and finally disappear in a +puff of smoke. At this, General Fry, without the formality of a +farewell, immediately shook the mountain dust from his feet, mounted +his horse, and, looking neither to the right nor to the left, +retraced his steps to Danville, and without delay informed the +State Committee that if they wanted _any further joint debates with +old Frank Woolford,_ they would have to send some one else. + +Years after, seated at my desk in the Postoffice Department in +Washington, after I had appointed a few cross-road postmasters for +Congressman Woolford, I ventured to inquire of him whether he +had ever had a joint debate with General Fry. With a suppressed +chuckle, and a quaint gleam of his remaining eye, he significantly +replied, _"It won't do, Colonel, to believe everything you hear!"_ + + + +XXII +THE SAGE OF THE BAR + +WITTY SAYINGS OF MR. EVARTS--HE DEFENDS PRESIDENT JOHNSON BEFORE +THE COURT OF IMPEACHMENT--DIFFERENT OPINIONS AS TO THE REAL CHARACTER +OF THAT TRIBUNAL--MR. BOUTWELL'S ATTEMPT TO INDICATE THE PUNISHMENT +MERITED BY THE PRESIDENT--MR. EVARTS'S REPLY--EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES +BY MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE. + +The late William M. Evarts, at one time the head of the American +bar, said many things in his lighter moments worthy of remembrance. + +Upon his retirement from the bar to accept the position of Secretary +of State, a farewell dinner was given him by prominent lawyers +of New York. The appointments, viands, etc., it is needless to +observe were all after the most approved style. Somewhat out of +wont, however, a magnificent goose with all its appurtenances +and suitably dished was placed immediately in front of the guest +of honor. + +The grosser part of the feast concluded, the toast was proposed: +"The Sage of the Bar." Slowly arising, Mr. Evarts surveyed for +a moment the dish before him, and began: "What a wonderful +transition! An hour ago you beheld a goose stuffed with sage; _you +now behold a sage stuffed with goose!"_ + +It is not entirely forgotten that during the administration of +which Mr. Evarts was a part, total abstinence was faithfully enforced +in the great dining-room of the Executive Mansion upon all occasions. +To those who knew the Secretary of State, it is hardly necessary +to say that he had little sympathy with this arrangement, that +to him it was a custom "more honored in the breach than the +observance." + +Now it so happened that at a state dinner, upon a time, a mild +punch in thimbleful instalments was served to the guests in lieu +of more generous beverages. Raising the tiny vessel and bowing to +the Austrian Ambassador at his side, Mr. Evarts in undertone significantly +observed, "Life-saving station!" + +To a "candid friend"--from whom God preserve us--who once took him +to task for his lengthy and somewhat involved sentences, Evarts +replied, "Oh, you are not the first man I ever encountered _who +objected to a long sentence."_ + +During his official term above mentioned, Mr. Evarts accompanied +a prominent member of the British Parliament to Mount Vernon. +Standing in front of the old mansion, so dear to all American +hearts, the distinguished visitor, looking across to the opposite shore, +remarked: "I read in a history that when Washington was a boy +he threw a dollar across the Potomac; remarkable indeed that he +could have thrown a dollar so far, a mile away across the Potomac; +very remarkable indeed, I declare." "Yes," replied Evarts, "but you +must remember that _a dollar would go a great deal farther then +than it does now."_ + +This incident being told to a member of Congress of Hibernian +antecedents, he immediately replied: "Yes, he might have told the +Britisher that when Washington was a boy he sure enough threw a +dollar across the Potomac, and when he got to be a grown-up man, +_he threw a sovereign across the Atlantic."_ + +Mr. Evarts was counsel for President Johnson in his famous arraignment +before the Senate, sitting as a High Court of Impeachment. His +speech, lasting many hours, was an able and exhaustive discussion of +the salient questions involved in the trial. The leading managers +upon the part of the House of Representatives were Benjamin F. +Butler, George S. Boutwell, and John A. Bingham. The retort +courteous was freely indulged in many times by the managers and +counsel from the beginning to the close of the long-drawn-out +prosecution. + +It is a singular fact, and to this generation renders the entire +proceeding measurably farcical, that the managers upon the part of +the House, and the counsel for the impeached President, were at +cross-purposes from the beginning as to the real character of +the tribunal before which they were appearing. The latter regarded +it as a court, and constantly addressed its presiding officer, the +Chief Justice of the United States, as "Your Honor"; while the +former insisted that it was only the Senate, and continually +addressed the Chief Justice as "Mr. President." + +The issues involved were likewise argued by the opposing counsel +from wholly different standpoints. The contention of the defence as +stated by counsel was: + +"We are then in a court. What are you to try? You are to try the +charges contained in these articles of impeachment, and nothing +else. Upon what are you to try them? Not upon common fame; not +upon the price of gold in New York, or upon any question of finance; +not upon newspaper rumor; not upon any views of party policy; +you are to try them upon the evidence offered here and nothing +else, by the obligation of your oaths." + +The contrary contention as stated by one of the managers was as +follows: + +"We define, therefore, an impeachable high crime or misdemeanor, +to be one in its nature or consequences subversive of some fundamental +or essential principle of government, or highly prejudicial to the +public interest; and this may consist of a violation of the +Constitution, of law, or of duty by an act committed or omitted, +or without violating positive law, by the abuse of discretionary +powers from improper motives, or for any improper purpose." + +With gulf as broad between managers and counsel as that separating +Dives and Lazarus, not only as to the issues to be tried, but as +to the nature of the functions and designation of the tribunal +before which they were appearing, and with the decision of the +Chief Justice upon questions of law arising continually over-ruled +by the majority of the Senators, it may reasonably be supposed that +there was much in the way of "travelling out of the record" in the +heated discussion which followed. + +The associates of Mr. Evarts--Stanberry, Curtis, Groesbeck, and +Nelson--were the most solemn of men, and whatever there was "bright +with the radiance of utterance" to lessen the tension of the +protracted struggle, came from his own lips. + +Near the close of his speech, Manager Boutwell, in attempting to +indicate the punishment merited by the accused, said: + +"Travellers and astronomers inform us that in the southern heavens +near the Southern Cross there is a vast space which the uneducated +call a hole in the sky, where the eye of man, with the aid of +the telescope, has been unable to discover nebula, or asteroid, +planet, comet, star or sun. In that dreary, cold, dark region +of space, which is only known to be less than infinite by the +evidences of creations elsewhere, the Great Author of celestial +mechanism has left the chaos which was in the beginning. If +this earth were capable of the sentiments and emotions of justice and +virtue which in human mortal beings are the evidences and the pledge +of our divine origin and immortal destiny, it would heave and throw +with the energy of the elemental forces of nature, and project this +enemy of two races of men into that vast region, there forever +to exist in a solitude eternal as life, or as the absence of life, +emblematical of, it not really, that outer darkness of which the +Saviour of Man spoke in warning to those who are the enemies of +themselves, of their race, and of their God." + +To the above Mr. Evarts replied: + +"I may as conveniently at this point of the argument as at any +other pay some attention to the astronomical punishment which +the learned and honorable manager, Mr. Boutwell, thinks would be +applied to this novel case of impeachment of the President. Cicero, +I think it is, who says that a lawyer should know everything, +for sooner or later there is no fact in history, in science, or of +human knowledge, that will not come into play in his argument. +Painfully sensible of my ignorance, being devoted to a profession which +sharpens and does not enlarge the mind, I yet can admit without +envy the superior knowledge evinced by the honorable manager. +Indeed, upon my soul, I believe he is aware of an astronomical fact +of which many professors of that science are wholly ignorant. +Nevertheless, while some of his honorable colleagues were paying +attention to an unoccupied and unappropriated island on the surface +of the seas, Mr. Manager Boutwell, more ambitious, had discovered an +untenanted and unappropriated region in the skies reserved, he +would have us think, in the final counsels of the Almighty as +the place of punishment for convicted and deposed American +Presidents. At first I thought that his mind had become so enlarged +that it was not sharp enough to discover that the Constitution had +limited the punishment, but on reflection I saw that he was as +legal and logical as he was ambitious and astronomical, for the +Constitution has said 'removal from office,' and has put no distance +to the limit of removal, so that it may be, without shedding a drop +of his blood, or taking a penny of his property, or confining +his limbs, instant removal from office, and transportation to +the skies. Truly this is a great undertaking and if the learned +manager can only get over the obstacles of the laws of nature, the +Constitution will not stand in his way. He can contrive no method +but that of a convulsion of the earth, that shall project the +deposed President to this infinitely distant space; but a shock of +nature of so vast energy and for so great a result on him, might +unsettle even the footing of the firm members of Congress. We +certainly need not resort to so perilous a method as that. How +shall we accomplish it? Why, in the first place, nobody knows +where that space is but the learned manager himself, and _he is +the necessary deputy to execute the judgment of the court."_ + +Two of the managers, Butler and Bingham, were at sword's points, +and had but recently assailed each other with great bitterness +in the House. How all this was turned to account by the counsel +will now appear. In vindicating the President against the charge of +undignified utterances and impropriety of speech in recent +public addresses, Mr. Evarts candidly admits that the Executive, +whose early educational advantages had been meagre indeed, and who +was confessedly untaught of the schools, "had gotten into trouble by +undertaking to be logical with a metaphor." + +He insisted, however, that the President should be bound by no +higher standard of propriety of speech than that set by the House of +which the Honorable Managers were members. The rule governing the +House in such matters will readily appear from a recent exchange +of courtesies between the two distinguished members referred to +above, Mr. Bingham and Mr. Butler. The former said: + +"I desire to say, Mr. Speaker, that it does not become a gentleman +who recorded his vote fifty times for Jefferson Davis as his candidate +for President of the United States, to undertake to damage this +cause by attempting to cast an imputation either upon my integrity +or my honor. I repel with scorn and contempt any utterance of that +sort from any man, _whether he be the hero of Fort Fisher, not +taken, or of Fort Fisher, taken!"_ + +To which Mr. Butler replied: + +"But if during the war, the gentleman from Ohio did as much as I +did in that direction, I shall be glad to recognize that much done. +But the only victim of the gentleman's prowess that I know of was an +innocent woman on the scaffold, one Mrs. Surratt. I can sustain +the memory of Fort Fisher if he and his present associates can +sustain him in shedding the blood of a woman tried by a military +commission _and convicted, in my judgment, without sufficient +evidence!"_ + +To which Mr. Bingham replied: "I challenge the gentleman, I dare him +anywhere, in this tribunal or any tribunal, to assert that I +spoliated or mutilated any book. Why, sir, such a charge without one +tittle of evidence is only fit to come from a man _who lives in +a bottle, and is fed with a spoon!"_ + +"Now, what under heavens that means," protested Evarts, "I do +not know, but it is within the common law of courtesy in the judgment +of the House of Representatives." + + + +XXIII +"THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSISSIPPI" + +JOHN ALLEN, MEMBER OF CONGRESS--HE PAYS A COMPLIMENT TO GENERAL +WHEELER--HIS MODEST LUNCH--A SOUTHERNER'S VIEW OF PREDESTINATION +--A SKULKER'S OBJECTION TO BE SHOT BY A "LOW-DOWN YANKEE"--JOHN +ALLEN'S TILT WITH COLONEL FELLOWS. + +The subject of this brief sketch is still in life, very much so; +and that he + + "Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath + To time and mortal custom" + +is the prayer of friends and political foes alike. Who does not +know or has not heard of "Private John Allen," the sometime member +of Congress from Mississippi? A more charming gentleman or delightful +companion for the hours of recreation and gladness has rarely +appeared in this old world. He was, while in his teens, a private +soldier in the Confederate army, later was a practising lawyer, +and in time "reluctantly yielding to the earnest solicitations +of his friends," generously consented to serve a few terms in +Congress. From his first entrance into the House, he was well +known to all its members. No one needed an introduction--they all +knew John Allen. + +Upon the conclusion of his first speech, which possibly referred +to the improvement of the Tombigbee River, he modestly remarked: +"Now I am through my speech for this time, Mr. Speaker, _and +will immediately retire to the cloak-room to receive the congratulations +of my friends."_ + +Speaker Reed, with whom he was a great favorite, never failed to +"recognize" John, and in fact by common consent he was always +entitled to the floor. This fact will shed some light upon the +following incident. During the roll-call of the House upon a motion +to adjourn at a late hour of a night session, Mr. Allen passed down +the aisle, with hat and overcoat upon his arm, and, stopping +immediately in front of the Clerk's desk, said "Mr. Speaker, ----" + +"For what purpose," said Reed, "does the gentleman from Mississippi +interrupt the roll-call?" + +"Mr. Speaker," continued Allen, "I rise to a parliamentary inquiry. +I want to know how General Wheeler voted on this motion." To this +"parliamentary inquiry" the Speaker after ascertaining the fact +replied that the gentleman from Alabama had voted "aye." + +"Well, then, Mr. Speaker," said John, "just put me down the same +way with General Wheeler; I followed him four years, and _he never +led me into danger yet."_ + +Seated one day in the Senate restaurant, I observed Mr. Allen +standing at the entrance. Upon my invitation, he took a seat at +my table. "What will you have, John?" said I. With an abstracted +air, and the appearance of being extremely embarrassed by his +surroundings, he replied, "It makes mighty little difference about +me anyway," and turning to a waiter he slowly drawled out, "Bring me +some terrapin and champagne." Then, in an apologetic tone he +quietly observed, "I got used to that durin' the Wah." + +After a moment's pause, he continued, "By the way, did you ever +hear the expression 'before the Wah'?" I intimated that the +expression had not wholly escaped me. + +"I heard it once under rather peculiar circumstances," said John. +"Down in the outskirts of my deestrict, there is an old-time +religious sect known as the 'hard-shell' or 'iron-jacket' Baptists; +mighty good, honest people, of course, but old-fashioned in their ways +and everlastingly opposed to all new-fangled notions, such as having +Temperance societies, Missionary societies, and Sunday schools. +They would, however, die in their tracks before they would ever +let up on the good old church doctrines, especially predestination. +Oh, I tell you they were predestinarians from away back. John +Calvin with his vapory views upon that question would not have been +admitted even on probation. Sometimes the preacher during his +sermon, turning to the Amen corner would inquire: 'When were you, +my brother, predestinated to eternal salvation, or eternal +damnation?' + +"Well, the answer that had come down from the ages always was, +'From the foundation of the world.' + +"When I was making my first race for Congress, I spoke in that +neighborhood one Saturday, and stayed all night with one of the +elders, and on Sunday of course I went to church. During the +sermon, the preacher while holding forth as usual on his +favorite doctrine, suddenly turning to a stranger who had somehow got +crowded into the Amen corner, said: 'My brother, when were you +predestinated to eternal salvation or eternal damnation?' To which +startling inquiry the stranger, terribly embarrassed, hesitatingly +answered: 'I don't adzactly remember, Parson, but _I think it was +befo' the Wah.'"_ + +A comrade of John in Company G was a tow-headed, lantern-jawed +fellow who never failed somehow to get to the rear and to a place of +comparative safety at the first intimation of approaching battle. +He was proof alike against the gibes of his comrades and the threats +of his officers. Upon one occasion the approach of the enemy +was heralded by a few shells bursting suggestively near the spot +where Company G was stationed. The tow-headed veteran immediately +began preparations to retire. With threatening mien, levelled +revolver, and oaths that would have done no discredit to "our army +in Flanders," the Captain ordered the skulker back into line, upon +pain of instant death. Leaning upon his musket, and with familiar +gaze upon his irate superior, the culprit slowly drawled: "I don't +mine bein' muddered by a high-tone Southern gentleman like you, +Cappen, but dam if I'm gwyen to eternally disgrace my family by +lettin' one of them low-down Yankees shoot me!" + +Allen was no exception to the rule that men gifted like himself +are subject to occasional seasons of gloom, but his greeting usually +came as a benediction. At the banquet table, when dull care was +laid aside and he was surrounded by genial companions,--"for +'tis meet that noble minds keep ever with their likes"--his star +was at its zenith. Then indeed, all rules were suspended; no point +of order suggested--"The man and the hour had met." His marvellous +narratives of quaint incidents and startling experiences, his +brilliant repartee, sallies of wit, banter, and badinage have rarely +been heard since the days of the Round Table or the passing of "the +Star and Garter." + +Once, however, John Allen confessedly met his match in the person of +the Hon. John R. Fellows, who had been Colonel of an Arkansas +regiment in the Confederate service; later a prominent leader of +Tammany Hall, and was at the time mentioned, a Representative in +Congress from New York. He was the "Prince Rupert of Debate," and +was gifted with eloquence rarely equalled. At a banquet given +in his honor upon his retirement from Congress, a hundred or more of +his associates were guests, including, of course, the subject of +this sketch. Men high in councils of State, leaders of both parties, +and of both Houses, had gathered around the board, and good-fellowship +and mirth reached the high-water mark. By common consent Fellows and +Allen were in undisputed possession of the floor. Such passages-at-arms +no pen can describe. Even "John Chamberlain's" in its palmiest days +has never known the like. + +Near the close Allen said: + +"There is one thing I would like to have Colonel Fellows explain. +He was captured the first year of the war, and never exchanged, +but held as a prisoner by the Federals until the war was over. +I was taken prisoner five times, and always promptly exchanged. +I would like Colonel Fellows to explain how it was that he was kept +in a place of safety, while I was always at the front?" + +When the applause which followed had subsided, Colonel Fellows +arose and said: + +"I am grateful to my friend from Mississippi for giving me an +opportunity to explain that part of my military record which I +apprehend has never been sufficiently clear. It is true. I was +taken prisoner the first year of the war, and the enemy, well +knowing the danger of my being at large, persistently refused to +release me until peace was restored. Had I been promptly exchanged, +_the result of that war might have been different!_ But why it +was, that my friend from Mississippi was so repeatedly and promptly +exchanged is a question that until yesterday I have never been able +to understand. It has given me deep concern. I have pondered over +it during the silent watches of the night. Yesterday, however, my +mind was completely set at rest upon that question by reading +the correspondence--to be found in Volume 748, page 421 of the +'Record of the War of the Rebellion'--between President Lincoln +and President Davis relating to the exchange of Private John Allen +of Company G, Fourteenth Mississippi Volunteers. The correspondence +covers many pages of this valuable publication, but I will read +only the closing communication." + +And while John with a new supply of terrapin before him was listening +intently, Fellows carefully adjusting his eye-glasses and taking +a letter from his pocket, continued: + +"The letter I will read from President Lincoln concluded the +correspondence, and is as follows: _'Dear Jeff:_ With this I +return you Private John Allen of Company G, Fourteenth Mississippi. +I require no prisoner in exchange. The Lord's truth is, Jeff, +_I had rather fight John than feed him!'"_ + + + +XXIV +AN OLD-TIME COUNTRY DOCTOR + +THE WRITER AT HIS INN, THE TRAVELLER'S HOME--DOCTOR JOHN, ONE OF +HIS EARLIEST ACQUAINTANCES--THE DOCTOR'S LIBERALITY IN ADMINISTERING +MEDICINE--A DISAPPOINTMENT IN EARLY LIFE--THE DOCTOR'S IGNORANCE OF +THE "SOLAR SYSTEM"--A DIFFICULTY WITH THE LANDLADY--A QUESTION +OF ORTHOGRAPHY--THE DOCTOR AS A MEMBER OF A TOTAL-ABSTINENCE +SOCIETY. + +Upon my admission to the bar in 1858, I located at Metamora, a +village of five hundred inhabitants, about forty miles northwest +of Bloomington. It was beautifully and _quietly_ situated, +eight miles from the railroad, and was at the time the county-seat +of Woodford County, one of the finest agricultural portions of +Illinois. + +Metamora contained many delightful families, and a cordial welcome +was accorded me. The old tavern, "Traveller's Home," was mine inn, +and as a hostelry it possessed rare advantages. The one that +chiefly recommended it to me was its extremely moderate charges. +Two dollars and a half per week for board and lodging, "washing +and mending" included, were the inviting terms held out to all +comers and goers. There was much, however, in the surroundings, +appointments, etc., of this ancient inn, little calculated to +reconcile delicately toned mortals to things of sense. It was +of this place of entertainment that Colonel Ingersoll spoke when, in +his description of the tapestry of Windsor Castle, he said that it +reminded him of a Metamora table-cloth _the second week of court._ + +The dear old tavern has fallen a victim to the remorseless tooth +of time, but, in the palmy days of Metamora, when it was the +county-seat, and the Spring and Fall terms of court were as regular +in their coming as the seasons themselves, the old tavern was in +its glory, and for all "transients" and "regulars" it was the chief +objective point. For a decade or more its walls gave shelter to +Judge Treat, Judge Davis, Mr. Lincoln, General Gridley, Judge +Purple, and more than once to General Shields and Stephen A. Douglas. +At a later date it was upon like occasion the stopping place of +Colonel Ingersoll, John Burns, Judge Shaw, James S. Ewing, Robert E. +Williams, Judge Richmond, and other well-known members of the bar. + +One of my earliest acquaintances in Metamora, and one not soon +to be forgotten, was Doctor John--familiarly called "Doc," except upon +state occasions. As I write, the vision of the Doctor arises before +me out of the mists of the shadowy past. His personal appearance was +indeed remarkable. Standing six feet six in his number elevens, +without an ounce of superfluous flesh, a neck somewhat elongated +and set off to great advantage by an immense "Adam's apple," which +appeared to be constantly on duty, head large and features a trifle +exaggerated, and with iron gray locks hanging gracefully over +his slightly stooped shoulders, the Doctor would have given pause to +the McGregor, even with foot upon his native heather. He first +saw the light of day in the "Panhandle" of the Old Dominion; the +part thereof afterwards detached for the formation of the new State. +How this all came about was to the Doctor as inexplicable as the +riddle of the Sphinx; but he scouted the thought that he had +ever ceased to be a son of "the real old Virginny." He claimed to +be a descendant of one of "the first families," and there lingered +about him in very truth much of the chivalric bearing of the old +cavalier stock. No man living could possibly have invited a +gentleman "to partake of some spirits" or "to participate in a +glass of beer," in a loftier manner than did the Doctor. Not +himself a member of the visible church, nor even an occasional +attendant upon its service, the heart of the Doctor nevertheless, +like that of the renowned Cave Burton, responded feelingly to every +earnest supplication "for the preservation of the kindly fruits of +the earth to be enjoyed in due season." And with the Doctor, as +with Cave, the question of the _quantity_ of the kindly fruits thus +preserved was of far greater moment than any mere matter of sentiment +as to their _quality._ + +The intellectual attainments of the Doctor, it must be admitted, +were not of the highest order. He was a student of men rather than +of books. He had journeyed but little along the flowery paths +of literature. He never gave "local habitation or name" to the +particular Medical College which had honored him with its degree. +He was, as he often asserted, of the "epleptic" school of medicine. +In reply to my inquiry as to what that really was, he solemnly +asservated that it was the only school which permitted its +practitioners to accept all that was good, and reject all that was +bad, of all the other schools. In his practice he had a supreme +contempt for what he called "written proscriptions," and often +boasted that he never allowed one of them to go out of his office. +He infinitely preferred to compound his own medicines, which, with +the aid of mortar and pestle, he did in unstinted measure in his +office. On rainy days and during extremely healthy seasons, his +stock was thereby largely augmented. In administering his "doses" +his generous spirit manifested itself as clearly as along other +lines. No "pent-up Utica" contracted his powers. It has been many +times asserted, and with apparent confidence, that no patient of +his ever complained of not having received full measure. There were +no Oliver Twists among his patients. It was a singular fact in +all the professional experience of this eminent practitioner, that +his patients, regardless of age or sex, were all afflicted with +a like malady. Many a time as he returned from a professional +visit, mounted on his old roan, with his bushel measure medicine +bag thrown across his saddle, in answer to my casual inquiry as to +the ailment of his patient, he gave in oracular tones, the one +all-sufficient reply, _"only a slight derangement of the nervous +system."_ + +He never quite forgave Mr. Lincoln the reply he once made to an +ill-advised interruption of the Doctor during a political speech. +"Well, well, Doctor," replied Mr. Lincoln, good-humoredly, "I will +take anything from you _except your medicines."_ + +The Doctor was a bachelor, and his "May of life" had fallen into +the sear and yellow leaf at the time of which we write. He was +still, however, as he more than once assured me, an ardent admirer +of "the opposing sect." + +In one of his most confidential moods, he disclosed to me the +startling fact that he had in early life been the victim of a +misplaced confidence. In an unguarded moment he entrusted the idol +of his heart to the safe keeping of a friend, in the whiteness +of whose soul he trusted as in a mother's love, while he, the +confiding Doctor, journeyed westward to seek a home. + + "He knew not the doctrine of ill-doing, + Nor dreamed that any did." + +Alas for human frailty, "the badge of all our race." Upon his +return after an absence of several moons, he found to his unspeakable +dismay that that same "friend" had taken to wife the idol whose +image had so long found lodgment in the Doctor's own sad heart. +Too late he realized, as wiser men have done before and since, that + + "Friendship is constant in all other things + Save in the office and affairs of love." + +The Doctor was much given at times to what he denominated "low down +talks" such as are wont when kindred souls hold close converse. +Seated in my office on one occasion, at the hour when churchyards yawn, +and being as he candidly admitted in a somewhat "reminiscent" mood, +he unwittingly gave expression to thoughts beyond the reaches of +our souls, when I made earnest inquiry, "Doctor, what in your +judgment as a medical man is to be the final destination of the +human soul?" The solemn hour of midnight, together with the no +less solemn inquiry, at once plunged the Doctor into deep thought. +First carefully changing his quid from the right to the left jaw, he +slowly and as if thoughtfully measuring his words, replied: "Brother +Stevenson, _the solar system are one of which I have given very +little reflection."_ + +It is a sad fact that in this world the best of men are not wholly +exempt from human frailties. Even in the noble calling of medicine +there have been at times slight outcroppings of a spirit of +professional jealousy. That the subject of these brief chronicles +was no exception to this infirmity will appear from a remark he +once made in regard to a professional contemporary whose practice had +gradually encroached upon the Doctor's beat. Said he: "They talk a +good deal about this Doc Wilson's practice; but I'll 'low that +my books will show a greater degree of mortality than what hisn +will." + +The Doctor was one of the regular boarders at the historic inn +already mentioned. By long and faithful service he had won the +honored position of chief boarder, and his place by common consent +was at the head of the table. No one who ever sat at that delightful +board could forget the dignified manner in which the Doctor would take +his accustomed seat, and without unnecessary delay proceed to +appropriate whatever viands might be within his reach. As a matter +of especial grace upon the part of the good landlady, an +old-fashioned corn pone and a pitcher of sweet milk appeared +occasionally upon the supper table of this most excellent inn. Such +visitations were truly regarded, even by the veterans, as very +oases in the desert of life. Now, it so happened, that upon a cold +December evening, between the first and second tolling of the supper +bell, the boarders in anxious expectancy were awaiting the final +summons, in a small chamber hard by the dining-room. To this +assembly the writer hereof remarked: "It seems to me, gentlemen, that +it has been a long time since we have been favored with pone bread +and sweet milk. I therefore move that Doctor John be appointed +a committee of one to request Mrs. Sparks to have these delicacies +for supper to-morrow night." + +A hearty second was immediately given by Whig Ewing, Esq., at a +later day distinguished both as an orator and a Judge. Without +shadow of opposition the resolution was adopted, and upon summons the +boarders were almost immediately thereafter in their accustomed +places at the table. Turning to the landlady as she slowly approached +with a platter of cold biscuits, the Doctor in most conciliatory +tones said: "Mrs. Sparks, at a regular meeting of the borders held +this evening I was appointed a committee of one to invite you to +have corn pone and sweet milk to-morrow evening." A deep frown at +once encircled the fair brow of our hostess. Unlike that of the +late Mrs. Tam O'Shanter, her wrath needed no nursing to keep it +warm. Advancing a step, and with apparent effort suppressing +her emotion, she slowly articulated _"What did you say, Doctor?"_ +Presaging danger in the very air, the Doctor repeated in husky +tones, "At a regular meeting of the boarders held this evening, +I was appointed a committee of one to invite you to have corn bread +for supper to-morrow evening." At the repetition the frown upon +the brow of the fair one darkened and deepened. Advancing a +step nearer the object of her wrath, she said, "If _you_ or any of +the _other_ boarders are dissatisfied with my house, you can leave, +_and leave now!"_ + +With the thermometer at zero and Peoria seventeen miles away, +and the Illinois out of its banks, there was little that was +comforting in her words. The stillness of the grave was upon that +little assembly. At length, to relieve the strain of the situation, +if possible, the writer inquired, "What was your remark, Doctor +John?" to which the Doctor, in a tome somewhat hopeful but by no +means confident, replied, "I was just remarking to our beloved +landlady, brother Stevenson, that at a regular meeting of the +boarders held this evening I was appointed a committee to invite +her to have corn bread for supper to-morrow night." To which I +modestly replied, "Well, if any such meeting as that was ever held, +_it is very strange that I heard nothing about it."_ This kindly +observation only deepened the gloom, and perceptibly lessened the +distance between the irate hostess and the chief boarder. The +latter in sheer desperation at length appealed for succor to Ewing, +who until this moment, strangely enough, had been an attentive +listener. Thus appealed to, the latter, with Prince Albert buttoned +to the very top, and with the statesman's true pose, said: + +"I beg to assure you, Mrs. Sparks, that I am profoundly ignorant +of any such meeting of the boarders as has been indicated. Had +I been apprised that such meeting was contemplated I would have +attended and used by utmost endeavor to secure the defeat of its +ill-timed resolution. Let me say further, madam, that I am not +fond of corn bread. The biscuits with which we are nourished from +day to day are exactly to my taste, and even if they were a few +degrees colder I would cherish them still the more fondly. In the +years gone by, madam, I have been a guest at the Astor, the Galt, the +St. Charles, and at the best hotels in London and upon the continent +of Europe. None of them in my humble judgment are comparable to +this. I assure you solemnly, madam, that I have lingered in +this village month after month only because of my reluctance to +tear myself away from your most excellent hotel." + +With finger raised, step advanced, and eye fixed uncharitably upon +the offending physician, the gentle hostess in voice little above a +whisper, said, _"Doc, I think you made that up out of whole cloth."_ +The crisis was reached; flesh and blood could endure no more. The +Doctor rose, and waiving all formalities and farewells, "stood not +upon the order of his going." + +For reasons unnecessary to explain, I did not seek the Doctor that +evening nor the following day. Morning and noon came and went, +but the chief boarder did not appear. The vacant chair was to +those who lingered a pathetic reminder of the sad departure. When, +upon the following evening, the surviving boarders gathered to +their accustomed places, they beheld in wonderment a splendid pone, +savory and hot, flanked upon its left by the old yellow pitcher +filled to its brim with rich, sweet milk. + +A moment later, and all eyes were turned to the open door through which +a once familiar figure moved to his seat. Suddenly stretching both +arms to the middle of the table, with one hand the good Doctor +grasped the pone, and with the other the pitcher, and holding both +aloft as he gazed upon each boarder in turn, exclaimed, "I understand +the boarders are not fond of corn bread." In the twinkling of +an eye, the Doctor, _the pitcher, the pone had all disappeared from +the dining-room,_ and the latter two were ne'er heard of more. +The poetic justice of the situation, however, was so complete, that +no word of complaint was ever uttered. + +Some weeks after the events last narrated, I heard the sound of +many voices accompanied by peals of laughter coming from the office +of Doctor John. Stopping at his door, I soon learned that the +tumult was occasioned by a discussion as to whether the Doctor +could spell "sugar" correctly. The faction adverse to the physician +was led by one William Hawkins, a country schoolmaster. The latter +and his allies bantered and badgered the old Doctor to their hearts' +content. Rendered desperate at length by their merciless gibes, +the Doctor, taking from his vest pocket a five-dollar bill--one +I had loaned him an hour before with which to pay a couple of weeks' +boards--he offered to bet the full amount that he could spell +the word correctly. A like amount being at length raised by the +adverse faction, the question at once arose as to who should be +the arbiter. Observing me for the first time as I stood at the +door, the Doctor declared his willingness to accept me as "empire." +It may here be remarked that the honorable office to which I was +thus nominated is sometimes called "umpire." Webster, Worcester, and +possibly other lexicographers give the latter pronunciation the +preference. But the Doctor being "an old settler" and much better +acquainted in that locality than either of the other authorities, his +preference will be recognized, and "empire" it will be to the end of +this chapter. At all events my nomination--for the first and only +time--was unanimously concurred in. Stepping at once into the +office and confronting the leaders of the opposing faction, I stated +candidly that while I highly appreciated the distinction tendered, +still I was unwilling to accept the responsible position of "empire" +save upon the explicit agreement that, _whatever the decision,_ +there should be no complaint or grumbling upon the part of the +disaffected or disgruntled hereafter; that "empires" after all were +only men and liable to the mistakes and errors incident to our poor +humanity. To the end, therefore, that an "empire" act with proper +independence, it was all important that his decision pass unchallenged. +These reasonable requirement being readily acquiesced in, the office +was accepted and the money hazarded by each faction carefully +deposited in the "empire's" vest pocket. The arbiter now solemnly +addressing the principal actor said: "Doctor, the word is, 'sugar'; +_proceed to spell."_ + +The Doctor immediately stood up. The psychological question, if +it be such, is here presented whether _standing_ is the more eligible +position for the severe mental effort indicated above. Waiving +all discussion upon this interesting point, the fact is here +faithfully chronicled that the Doctor stood up. Looking neither +to the right nor to the left, but standing majestically in the +middle of the room, and presenting in some of its characteristics the +beauty and symmetry of an inverted L, the Doctor began, "S-h-o-o-g +----" whereupon the little schoolmaster burst into loud laughing. +Solemnly warning him against the repetition of such conduct, the +arbiter reminded him that such manifestations in the very presence +of the "empire," were in some countries punished with immediate +death, and again significantly warned him against its recurrence. +At the same time the Doctor was reminded that he had not yet +completed the spelling of the word. The Doctor replied, "If it is +all the same to you, Mr. Empire, I believe I will begin all over +again." Permission being granted, the spelling was resumed: +"S-h-o-o-g-o-r." To this the arbiter responded, "You have spelled +the word correctly, Doctor," and _immediately handed him the +stakes._ + +One of the interesting events occurring during my residence in +Metamora, was a noted temperance revival under the auspices of "the +Grand Worthy Deputy" of a well-known temperance organization. A +lodge was duly organized, and a profound interest aroused in the +good work. During the visit of the excellent lady who bore with +becoming modesty the somewhat formidable title above given, the +interest deepened, meetings were of nightly occurrence, and +large numbers were gathered into the fold. For many days ordinary +pursuits were suspended, and the grand cause was the only and +all-absorbing topic of conversation. + +Chief among the initiated was our old friend Doctor John. His +conversion created a profound sensation, and it veritably seemed +for a time as though a permanent breach had been effected in the +ramparts of Satan. It was even boasted that the Presbyterian +clergyman, one saloon keeper, and the writer of these truthful +annals were, as Judge Tipton would say, "substantially" the only +adherents remaining to His Satanic Majesty. The pressure was, +however, soon irresistible, and the writer, deserting his sometime +associates, at length passed over to the _un_silent majority. + +The Doctor was the bearer of my petition, and in due time and as +the sequel will show, for only a short time, I was in good and +regular standing. As explanatory of the sudden termination of what +might under happier auspices have proved an eminently useful career, +it may be casually mentioned that upon the writer's first introduction +into the lodge, in answer to the official inquiry solemnly propounded, +"Why do you seek admission into our honorable order?" he unwittingly +replied, _"Because Doctor John joined."_ + +This was for the moment permitted to pass, and the exercises of +the session reached the high-water mark of entertainment. At some +time during the evening, by way of "exemplifying the work," Doctor +John had for the second time taken the solemn vow henceforth and +forever to abstain from the use of all fluids of alcoholic, vinous, +or fermented character. + +The hour for separation at length drew nigh. Thus far all had gone +merry as a marriage bell. All signs betokened fair weather. +Barring the temporary commotion occasioned by the uncanonical reply +of the writer above given, not a ripple had appeared upon the +surface. It was at length announced that this was the last evening +that the Grand Worthy Deputy could be with us, as she was to leave +for her distant home by the stage coach in the early morning. +Splendidly set off in her great robes of office, her farewell words +of instruction, encouragement, and admonition, were then most +tenderly spoken. Before pronouncing the final farewell--"that word +which makes us linger"--she calmly remarked that this would be her +last opportunity to expound any constitutional question that might +hereafter arise pertaining to the well-being of the order, and that +she would gladly answer any inquiry that any brother or sister +about the lodge might propose. Her seat was then resumed, and +silence for the time reigned supreme. At length, amid stillness +that could no longer be endured, she arose and advancing to the +front of the platform, repeated, in manner more solemn than before, +the invitation above given. Still there was no response. It +all seemed formidable and afar off. In the hope that he might +in some measure dispel the embarrassment, the unworthy chronicler of +these important events, from his humble place in the northwest +corner of the lodge, for the first and last time addressed the +chair. Permission being graciously given him to proceed, he candidly +admitted that he had no constitutional question himself to propound, +but that Brother John was in grave doubt touching a question +upon which he would be glad to have the opinion of the chair. + +"I understand," continued the speaker, "from the nature of the +pledge that if any brother, or sister even for that matter, should +partake of liquors alcoholic, vinous, or fermented, he or she would +be liable to expulsion from the order. Am I correct?" + +"That is certainly correct, Brother Stevenson," was the prompt +reply in no uncertain tone. + +"I so understand it," continued the speaker, "and so does Brother John. +What he seeks to know is this: If in an unguarded moment he should +hearken to the voice of the tempter, and so far forget his solemn vows +as to partake of alcoholic, vinous, or fermented liquors, and be +expelled therefor, would he thereby be wholly beyond the pale of +the lodge, or would he _by virtue of his second obligation taken +this night,_ have another chance, and still retain his membership in +the order?" + +The official answer, in tone no less uncertain than before, was +instantly given. + +"No, sir, if Brother John _or you either,_ should drink one drop +of the liquors mentioned and be expelled therefor, you would both be +helplessly beyond the pale of the lodge, even though you had _both +taken the obligation a thousand times!"_ + +As the ominous applause which followed died away, Brother John, +half arising in his seat, vehemently exclaimed, + +"Mrs. Worshipful Master, _I never told him to ask no such damn fool +question!"_ + + + +XXV +A QUESTION OF AVAILABILITY + +A POLITICAL BANQUET IN ATLANTA, GA.--GENERAL GORDON PROPOSED +"THE DEMOCRACY OF ILLINOIS"--THE WRITER'S RESPONSE--A DESIRE IN +ILLINOIS TO NOMINATE THE HON. DAVID DAVIS FOR PRESIDENT. + +About the year of grace 1889, a number of distinguished statesmen were +invited to attend a political banquet to be given by the local +Democratic Association of the splendid city of Atlanta, Georgia. +Among the guests were Representative Flower of New York and General +Collins of Massachusetts; the chief guest of the occasion was the +Hon. David B. Hill, then the Governor of New York. The banquet +was under the immediate auspices of the lamented Gordon, and of +Grady of glorious memory. The board literally groaned under the +rarest viands, and Southern hospitality was at its zenith. It was, +all in all, an occasion to live in memory. I was not one of the +invited guests of the committee, but being in a neighboring city +was invited by Mr. Grady to be present. + +At the conclusion of the feast, a toast was proposed to "The Gallant +Democracy of New York." Glasses were touched and the enthusiasm +was unbounded. The toast was of course responded to by the +distinguished Governor of the Empire State. He was at his best. +His speech, splendid in thought and diction, was heard with +breathless interest. + +The keynote was struck, and speech after speech followed in the +proper vein. There was no discordant note, the burden of every +speech being the gallant Democracy and splendid statesmanship of +the great State of New York. + +When the distinguished guests had all spoken, the master of +ceremonies, General Gordon, proposed a toast to "The Democracy +of Illinois," and called upon me to respond. I confessed that I +was only an average Democrat from Illinois; that way out there +we were content to be of the rank and file, and of course to follow +the splendid leadership and the gallant Democracy of which we +had heard so much. To vote for a New York candidate had by long +usage become a fixed habit with us, in fact, we would hardly know how +to go about voting for a candidate from any other State; and I then +related an incident on the question of supporting the ticket, which +I thought might be to the point. + +In 1872, in the portion of Illinois in which I live, there was +an earnest desire on the part of conservative Democrats and liberal +Republicans, to elect the Hon. David Davis to the Presidency. +He had been a Whig in early life, brought up in the school of +Webster and Clay, and was later the devoted personal and political +friend of Mr. Lincoln. An earnest Union man during the war, he +had at its close favored the prompt restoration to the Southern +people of all their rights under the Constitution. As a judge +of the Supreme Court, he had rendered a decision in which human +life was involved, in which he had declared the supremacy of the +Federal Constitution _in war as well as in peace._ Believing that +he would prove an acceptable candidate, I had gladly joined the +movement to secure his nomination at the now historic convention +which met at Cincinnati in May, 1872. For many weeks prior to the +meeting of that convention, there was little talked of in +central Illinois but the nomination of Judge Davis for President. +Morning, noon, and night, "Davis, Davis, Davis," was the burden of +our song. + +He did not, as is well known, receive the nomination, that honor, of +course, passing to a distinguished Democratic statesman of New York. + +Two or three days before I was to leave my home for the Cincinnati +convention, an old Democratic friend from an adjoining county came +into my office. He was an old-timer in very truth. He was born +in Tennessee, had when a mere boy fought under Jackson at Talladega, +Tallapoosa, and New Orleans, had voted for him three times for +the Presidency, and expected to join him when he died. He had +lived in Illinois since the "big snow," and his party loyalty was +a proverb. + +As I shook hands with him when he came into my office, he laid +aside his saddle-bags, stood his rifle in the corner, took off his +blanket overcoat, and seating himself by the fire, inquired how my +"folks" all were. The answer being satisfactory, and the fact +ascertained by me that his own "folks" were well, he asked. + +"Mr. Stevenson, who are you fur fur President?" + +Unhesitatingly and earnestly I replied, "Davis." + +A shade, as of disappointment, appeared for a moment upon his +countenance, but instantly recovering himself, he said, "Well, +if they nominate him, we will give him the usual majority in our +precinct, but don't you think, Mr. Stevenson, _it is a leetle airly +to bring old Jeff out?"_ + + + +XXVI +A STATESMAN OF A PAST ERA + +ZEBULON B. VANCE, THE IDOLIZED GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA--HIS +LEARNING AND HIS HUMOR--HE RECALLS MEN AND MATTERS OF THE OLDEN +TIME--HE SUITS HIS CREED TO HIS AUDIENCE--HIS SPEECH IN FAVOR OF +HORACE GREELEY. + +A name to conjure with in the old North State is Zeb Vance. What Lee +was to Virginia, Hendricks to Indiana, Clay to Kentucky, and Lincoln +to Illinois, Zebulon B. Vance was for a lifetime to North Carolina. +He was seldom spoken of as Governor, or Senator, but alike in piny +woods and in the mountains, he was familiarly called "Zeb Vance." +He was the idol of all classes and conditions. A decade has +gone since he passed to the grave, but his memory is still green. +A grateful people have erected a monument to commemorate his public +services, while from the French Broad to the Atlantic, alike in +humble cabin and stately home, his name is a household word. + + "He had kept the whiteness of his soul, + And thus men o'er him wept." + +The expression "rare," as given to Ben Jonson, might with equal +propriety be applied to Senator Vance. Deeply read in classic +lore, a profound lawyer, and an indefatigable student from the +beginning in all that pertained to human government, he was the +fit associate of the most cultured in the drawing-room or the +Senate. None the less, with the homely topics of everyday life +for discussion, he was equally at home, and ever a welcome guest +at the hearthstone of the humblest dweller in pine forest and +mountain glen of his native State. + +Of all the men I have ever known, Vance was _par excellence_ the +possessor of the wondrous gift of humor. It was ingrained; literally +a part of his very being. He once told me that he thought his fame +for one generation, at least, was secure, inasmuch as one-half +of the freckled-faced boys and two-thirds of the "yaller" dogs +in North Carolina had been named in his honor. + +Upon one occasion in the Senate, a bill he had introduced was +bitterly antagonized by a member who took occasion in his speech, while +questioning the sincerity of Vance, to extol his own honesty of +purpose. In replying to the vaunt of superior honesty by his +opponent, Vance quoted the old Southland doggerel: + + "De darky in de ole camp ground + Dat loudest sing and shout + Am gwine to rob a hen-roost + Befo' de week am out." + +The summer home of Senator Vance during the later years of his life +was in his native county of Buncombe, about twenty miles from +Asheville, where for some days I was his guest, many years ago. +Leaving the cars at the nearest station and following the trail +for a dozen miles, I found the Senator snugly ensconced in his +comfortable home at the top of the mountain. He was alone, his +family being "down in the settlements," as he told me. An old +negro man _to whom Vance once belonged,_ as he assured me, was +housekeeper, cook, and butler, besides being the incumbent of +various other offices of usefulness and dignity. + +The first inquiry from Vance as, drenched with rain, I entered his +abode and approached a blazing fire, was, "Are you _dry?"_ It +would only gratify an idle curiosity to tell how the first moments +of this memorable visit passed. Suffice it to say that old-time +Southern hospitality was at its best, and so continued till the +morning of the fifth day, when I descended in company with my host +to the accustomed haunts of busy men. + +The days and evenings passed with Vance at the cheerful fireside +of his mountain home still live in my memory. He literally "unfolded +himself," and it was indeed worth while to listen to his description +of the quaint times and customs with which he was familiar in +the long ago, to hear of the men he had known and of the stormy +events of which he had been a part. + +His public life reached back to a time anterior to the war. He +was in Congress when its Representatives assembled in the Old Hall, +now the "Valhalla" of the nation. Events once of deep significance +were recalled from the mists of a long past; men who had strutted their +brief hour upon the stage and then gone out with the tide were made +to live again. Incidents once fraught with deep consequence but +now relegated to the by-paths of history, were again in visible +presence, as if touched by the enchanter's wand. + +The scenes, of which he was the sad and silent witness, attendant upon +the withdrawal of his colleagues and associates from both chambers +of the Capitol, and the appeal to the sword--precursors of the +chapter of blood yet to be written--were never more graphically +depicted by mortal tongue. + +I distinctly recall, even at this lapse of time, some of the +incidents he related. When first he was a candidate for Congress, +far back in the fifties, his district embraced a large portion +of the territory of the entire western part of his State. Fully +to appreciate what follows, it must be remembered that at that time +there was in the backwoods country, and in the out-of-the-way +places, far off from the great highways, much of antagonism between +the various religious denominations. At times much of the sermons +of the rural preachers consisted of denunciations of other churches. +By a perusal of the autobiography of the Rev. Peter Cartwright, it +will be seen that western North Carolina was only in line with +other portions of the great moral vineyard. The doctrines peculiar +to the particular denomination were preached generally with +great earnestness and power. "Blest be the tie that binds our +hearts in Christian love," was too seldom heard in the rural +congregations. In too many, indeed, Christian charity, even in +a modified form, was an unknown quantity. + +Under the conditions mentioned, to say that seekers of public place +obeyed the Apostolic injunction to be "all things to all men" is +only to say that they were--_candidates._ + +It so fell out that our candidate for Congress at the time mentioned +was quietly threading his way on horseback to meet his appointment. +Far out from the county seat, in a wild and sparsely populated +locality, at a sudden turn in the road he found himself in the +immediate presence of a worshipping congregation in God's first +temple. It was what is known in mountain parlance as a "protracted +meeting." The hour was noon, and the little flock had just been +called from labor to refreshment. The cloth was spread in the +shade of a large tree, and liberally supplied with ham, fried +chicken, salt-rising bread, corn dodgers, cucumber pickles, and +other wholesome edibles. When Vance appeared upon the scene, +the leader of the little flock at once greeted him with cordial +invitation to "light and take a bite with us." The candidate +accepted the invitation, and fastening his horse to a convenient +tree, approached the assembled worshippers, introducing himself as +"Zeb Vance, Whig candidate for Congress." The thought uppermost +in his soul as he shook hands all around and accepted the proffered +hospitality was, "What denomination is this? Methodist? Baptist? +_What?"_ As soon as this inquiry could be satisfactorily answered, +he was, of course, ready to join; his "letter" was ready to be +handed in. But as he quickly scanned the faces about him, he could +get no gleam of light upon the all-important question. Suddenly +his meditations were ended, the abstract giving way to the concrete, +by the aforementioned leader abruptly inquiring, "Mr. Vance, +what persuasion are you of?" + +The hour had struck. The dreaded inquiry must be answered +satisfactorily _and at once._ That Vance was equal to the emergency +will be seen from the sequel. + +Promptly laying down the chicken leg, the chunk of salt-rising +bread, and cucumber pickle with which he had been abundantly supplied +by one of the dear old sisters, and assuming an appropriate oratorical +pose, with his eyes intent upon his interrogator, he began: + +"My sainted grandfather was, during the later years of his long +and useful life, a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church." +The gathering brow and shaking head of the local shepherd would +even to a less observing man than the candidate have been sufficient +warning that he was on the wrong trail. "But," continued the +speaker, "my father during long years of faithful service in the +Master's cause was an equally devout member of the Methodist +Episcopalian Church." + +The sombre aspect of the shepherd, with the no less significant +shake of the head, was unmistakable intimation to our candidate +that danger was in the very air. Rallying himself, however, for +the last charge, with but one remaining shot in his locker, the +orator earnestly resumed: "But, when _I_ came to the years of +maturity, and was able, after prayer and meditation, to read and +understand that blessed book myself, I came to the conclusion _that +the old Baptist Church was right."_ + +"Bless God!" exclaimed the old preacher, seizing Vance by the hand. +"He is all right, brethren! Oh, you'll get all the votes in these +parts, Brother Vance!" + +Talking along religious lines at the time of the visit mentioned, he +illustrated the difference between profession and practice. "Now, +there is my brother Bob," referring to General Robert B. Vance; +"he is, you know, a Methodist, and believes in falling from grace, +_but he never falls,_ while I am a Presbyterian, and don't believe +in falling from grace, _but I am always falling!"_ + +The first wife of Senator Vance was a Presbyterian. Some years +after her death, he was married to an excellent lady, a devoted +member of the Roman Catholic Church. Soon thereafter, he was taken +to task by an old Presbyterian neighbor, who expressed great surprise +that he should marry a Catholic. "Well," replied the Senator with +imperturbably good humor, "the fact is, Uncle John, as I had tried +Rum, and tried Rebellion, I just thought I would try Romanism too!" + +Many years ago, near the western border of Buncombe County, lived an +old negro who had in early life been a member of the family of the +father of Senator Vance. In a little cabin at the foot of the +mountain, "Uncle Ephraim," as the old negro was familiarly called, +was, as he had been for two or three decades, "living on borrowed time." +How old he was no man could tell. When in confidential mood, he +would sometimes tell of the troubles he and his old master used to +have with the Tories during the Revolutionary War. + +Mr. Vance, in his first race for Congress, having finished his +speech at the cross-roads near by, visited the old man, from whom, +of course, he received a warm welcome. In reply to the inquiry of +his visitor as to how he was getting along, the old negro slowly +replied: + +"Mighty po'ly, mighty po'ly, Mause Zeb, mighty po'ly forninst +the things of dis world, but it's all right over yander, over +yander." + +"What church do you belong to, Uncle Ephraim?" said Vance. + +"Well, Mause Zeb, I's a Presbyterian." + +"Uncle Ephraim," said Vance with great solemnity, "do you believe in +the doctrine of _election?"_ + +After a pause and with equal solemnity, the old man responded: +"Mause Zeb, I don't pertend to understand fully the ins and outs +of dat doctrine, but 'cordin' to my understandin', it's de doctrine +of de Bible, and I bleebes it." + +"Uncle Ephraim," said Vance, "do you think I have been _elected?"_ + +"Mause Zeb," said the old man in pathetic tone, "ef it's jest de +same to you, I would a leetle ruther you would wifdraw dat question. +I's poorty ole and gittn' a little too near de grabe to tell a lie, +but de fac am, I bin livin' round in dese parts nigh onto a hundred +years and knowed a heap of de big mens dat's dead and gone, and +I neber yet knowed nor hear tell of no man bein' 'lected, _what +wan't a candidate."_ + +Like many other orators of his party, Senator Vance found the +position of champion of the Democratic nominee for President in +1872 one of extreme embarrassment. A story he occasionally +told, however, relieved the situation greatly. He said: "My +fellow-citizens, I am somewhat in the position of an old-time +illiterate backwoods preacher, who was with great difficulty able to +read off, after a fashion, one favorite hymn at which his book +always opened at the opportune moment. One Sunday morning, just +before the beginning of the services, some mischievous boys, not +having the fear of the Lord before their eyes, got hold of the book +and pasted 'Old Grimes' over the favorite hymn. At the auspicious +moment the book opened at the accustomed place, and the old preacher, +after properly adjusting his glasses, slowly began: 'Old Grimes +is dead, that good old man.' Amazed beyond description, the preacher +instantly suspended the reading, carefully wiped off his glasses, looked +appealingly to the congregation, and again solemnly and slowly +began: 'Old Grimes is dead, that good old man.' The congregation +now equally astonished with himself, the aged pastor suspended the +reading, carefully removed his glasses, and laying down the +book, solemnly observed: 'My beloved friends, I have been a-readin' +and a-singin' outen this blessed book for nigh onto forty year, +and I never seed this hymn in thar before; but it's _in thar,_ +brethren, and we'll sing it through if it smashes up this meetin!' + +"Now," continued Vance, "my beloved brethren, I have been a-readin' +and a-votin' of the Democrat ticket nigh onto forty year, and I +never seed the name of old Horace Greeley on a Democrat ticket +before; but it's _on thar,_ brethren, and we'll vote it through if +it kills us--_and it does come devilish near killing the most of +us!"_ + + + +XXVII +NOT GUILTY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL + +THE "DRAKE CONSTITUTION" IN MISSOURI--THE CRIME OF PREACHING THE +GOSPEL--A PROVISION OF THIS CONSTITUTION FOUND TO BE A VIOLATION +OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES--MINISTERS OF VARIOUS +SECTS TRIED FOR PREACHING WITHOUT FIRST TAKING AN OATH TO SUPPORT +THE "DRAKE CONSTITUTION"--THE JUDGE FINDS THAT NOT ONE OF THEM HAS +PREACHED THE GOSPEL. + +The "holding" of a _nisi prius_ judge upon one of the western +circuits of Missouri, near the close of the Civil War, is without a +precedent, and it is quite probable that no occasion will ever +arise for citing it as an authority. It will remain, however, a +case in point of how a "horse-sense" judge can protect the innocent +against unusual and unjust prosecution. + +What is known in Missouri history as the "Drake Constitution" +had then but recently supplanted the organic law under which the +State had for a long time had its being. No counterpart of the +Constitution mentioned has ever been framed in any of the American +States. It could have been only the product of the evil days when +"judgment had fled to brutish beasts, and men had lost their reason." +Possibly at no time or place in our history has there been more +emphatic verification of the axiom, "In the midst of arms, the laws +are silent." + +The "Drake Constitution" was formulated at a time when fierce +passion was at its height, when the sad consequences of civil +war were felt at every fireside, when neighbor was arrayed against +neighbor, the hand of brother uplifted against brother, and "a +man's foes were they of his own household." As is well known, +certain provisions of this Constitution were, at a later day--upon +a writ of error--set aside by the Supreme Court of the United States +as being in violation of the Federal Constitution. One of the +thirty distinct affirmations or tests of the Drake Constitution was +to the effect that, if any minister or priest should be guilty of +the crime of preaching the Gospel, or of solemnizing the rite of +marriage, without first having taken an oath to support said +Constitution, he should, upon conviction, be subjected to a fine +of not less than five hundred dollars, imprisonment for six months +in the common jail, or both. + +Under the provision indicated, a Catholic priest was convicted +in one of the circuit courts of Missouri, and duly sentenced to +fine and imprisonment. Upon his appeal, the Supreme Court of +the United States reversed the decision of the lower court, and +virtually abrogated the provision of the Constitution under which the +accused had been convicted. The great court of last resort decided +the test oath, imposed as above mentioned, to be a violation of +that provision of the Constitution of the United States which +declares, "No State shall pass any bill of attainder, or _ex +post facto_ law." It held a bill of attainder to be "a legislative +act which inflicts punishment without a judicial trial"; and an +_ex post facto_ law "one which imposes a punishment for an act +which was not punishable at the time it was committed; or imposes +additional punishment to that then prescribed." The court said: +"The oath thus required is, for its severity, without any precedent +that we can discover. In the first place, it is retrospective; it +embraces all the past from this day; and if taken years hence, +it will also cover all the intervening period. . . . It allows no +distinction between acts springing from malignant enmity, and acts +which may have been prompted by charity, or affection, or relationship. +. . . The clauses in question subvert the presumption of innocence, +and alter the rules of evidence which heretofore, under the +universally recognized principles of the common law, have been +supposed to be fundamental and unchangeable. They assume that the +parties are guilty; they call upon the parties to establish +their innocence; and declare that such innocence can only be shown +in one way--by an inquisition in the form of an expurgatory oath +into the consciences of the parties." And then, as preliminary to +the discharge of the priest from long imprisonment, the court +concluded its opinion with a pertinent question from the writings of +Alexander Hamilton: "It substitutes for the established and legal +mode of investigating crimes and inflicting forfeitures, one that is +unknown to the Constitution, and repugnant to the genius of our +law."* + +[*Footnote: Fourth Wallace Reports.] + +During the period extending from the promulgation of the Drake +Constitution to the setting aside of some of its obnoxious provisions +as heretofore mentioned, an old-time judge still held court on one +of the Missouri circuits. He had somehow been overlooked in the +political upheaval to which the State had been subjected. He +had come down from a former generation, and, unabashed by the clash +of arms, still served sturdily on his wonted way. The rife spirit +that boded destruction to ancient landmarks had passed him by; +Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights were to him abiding verities. + +Now it so fell out that during the period mentioned, while presiding +in one of the border counties of his circuit, he was greatly +astonished, at the opening of his court upon a certain morning, to +find half a dozen ministers of the Gospel, all of whom were personally +known to him, snugly seated in the prisoners' box. + +With characteristic brusqueness, the judge at once demanded of the +attorney for the Commonwealth why these men were under arrest. +The not unexpected reply was, that they had been indicted for +preaching without first taking an oath to support the Constitution +of the State of Missouri. + +"Ah, Mr. Prosecutor, a very serious offence, a very serious offence +indeed. The makers of our fundamental law have wisely provided +that no man shall be permitted to preach the Gospel until he has +first taken an oath to support the Constitution of the State of +Missouri. It is the duty of this court to see to it that this +wholesome provision of our Constitution is duly enforced." + +Addressing himself now to the prisoner nearest him, His Honor +inquired: "Is it possible, sir, that you have been guilty of +the crime of preaching the Gospel without having first taken an +oath to support the Constitution of the State of Missouri?" The +prisoner, a tall, venerable-appearing gentleman, in typical black, +quietly replied that he could not conscientiously take the required +oath, but had only continued in the pastoral work in which he +had been for a lifetime engaged. + +"A mere subterfuge, a mere subterfuge, Mr. Prosecutor," observed +the judge, as with apparent fierceness his eyes were fixed upon +the offender. "This prisoner cannot be permitted, sir, to interpose +his conscience as a barrier against the enforcement of this salutary +provision of our most excellent Constitution. He must be punished, +sir, he must be punished." + +After reading aloud the penalty imposed for the commission of +the offence mentioned, and with pen in hand as if about to make +the appropriate entry upon the docket, His Honor again turned to +the prisoner and inquired: + +"Of what church are you a minister?" The steady reply, as of +one prepared for the worst, was, + +"I am a Presbyterian, Your Honor." + +"Presbyterian! Presbyterian!" quickly observed the sage interpreter +of the law. "Oh, you preach the tenets and doctrines of the +Presbyterian Church, do you?" An affirmative reply was modestly +given. + +"You preach," continued His Honor in apparent amazement, "the +doctrine of infant baptism, and of the final perseverance of the +saints, do you?" An answer like the last being given, the judge +remarked: + +"You appear to be a man of intelligence, but don't you know, +sir, that _that_ isn't the Gospel? He has not been guilty of +preaching the Gospel, Mr. Prosecutor, _and will have to be discharged._ +You can go, sir, but if this court ever hears that you have been +actually guilty of preaching _the Gospel,_ you will be punished to +the full extent of the law." + +Addressing himself now to the comparatively youthful occupant of +the lately vacated seat, His Honor inquired: + +"What is _your_ church, sir?" + +In a manner by no means aggressive, and with tones the counterpart +of the humblest that ever came from an Amen corner, the reply was, + +"I am a Methodist, may it please the Court." + +Eying the prisoner keenly, and with a manner expressive of surprise +to which all that had gone before seemed indifference itself, +his Honor, with apparent difficulty, at length ejaculated: + +"A Methodist, a Methodist, Mr. Prosecutor. Oh, you preach the +doctrine of the Methodist Church, do you?--infant baptism, and +falling from grace?" To these hurried interrogatories, an affirmative +was meekly but distinctly given. + +"Well, don't you know that _that_ isn't the Gospel? He is not +guilty of preaching the Gospel, Mr. Prosecutor, and will have to +be discharged. You can go, sir, but if this Court ever learns that +you have been really guilty of preaching the Gospel without +first taking an oath to support the Constitution of the State of +Missouri, you will have to be punished, sir; the Court will see +that there is no evasion of this salutary provision of our most +excellent Constitution. _Go, sir."_ + +A clean-shaven, benevolent-looking gentleman of middle age was next +in evidence. He had but recently assumed his present pastorate +and was a deeply interested and attentive observer of all that was +happening. In reply to the inquiry from the bench, he answered +that he was a Universalist. + +"A Universalist!" replied the judge, almost astounded beyond the +power of expression. Recovering himself, he at length inquired: + +"You preach the doctrine of universal salvation, do you?" + +A slight bow indicated such to be the fact. + +"You preach," continued his Honor, with warmth well suited to +the subject-matter, "that there is no hell?" + +A bow, much more emphatic, was unmistakable evidence that its author +was a man who had the courage of his convictions. + +"He doesn't believe that _there is any hell,_ Mr. Prosecutor," +thundered the judge, "he will have to be discharged; it is no +violation of the Constitution of the State of Missouri to preach +such infernal nonsense as that." + +The official admonition, "Depart, sir," was promptly obeyed, and +the apostle of the broad highway followed quickly in the wake of +the aforementioned disciples of Calvin and Wesley, in the "narrow path" +which led straightway out of the crowded court-room. + +In rapid succession the two remaining prisoners on the front bench +were questioned, and each in turn found "not guilty" of preaching the +Gospel. An avowal of his belief in the tenet of "the Apostolic +succession" instantly resulted in the acquittal of the first, while +the second was with equal promptness found "not guilty" upon his +admission that he preached the doctrine of "regeneration by ----" +There was much confusion in the court-room at this moment, and +the reporter failed to catch the concluding words of the confession. +Finding himself, moreover, getting into _deep water,_ he thoughtfully +left on record that both the Episcopalian and the Christian pastor +left the court-room with the admonition ringing in their ears, that +if they were ever actually found guilty _of preaching the Gospel_ +they should be duly punished. + +A lone prisoner remained in the dock. The days of the years of +his pilgrimage were not few, and quite probably, except in a +figurative sense, not evil. He was of sturdy build, quiet manners, +and his countenance was indicative of great sincerity. In a voice +extremely deferential he stated that he had once ministered to a +dying Confederate, and it was impossible for him to take the required +oath that he had never expressed any sympathy for any person who +had ever been engaged in the Rebellion. + +"Of what church are you a minister?" interrupted the judge. + +"The Baptist Church," was the answer. + +"The Baptist Church," instantly repeated the judge, and looking +very earnestly at the accused, he asked; + +"Do you preach the doctrines of the Baptist Church?" + +An affirmative answer having been given, His Honor said: + +"Upon his own confession he is guilty, Mr. Prosecutor: the +Court holds the Baptist _to be the true church,_ and this defendant +has been guilty of preaching the Gospel without first taking the +oath to support the Constitution of the State of Missouri. He will +have to be punished." + +Addressing the prisoner, he said: "You will have to be punished, sir; +this Court can permit no excuse or evasion." + +The graveyard stillness that now fell upon the little assemblage +was at length broken by His Honor reading aloud the prescribed +punishment for preaching the Gospel without first having taken the +required oath. + +"Yes, a fine of five hundred dollars or six months in the common +jail, _or both._ A clear case, Mr. Prosecutor, this prisoner must +be made an example of; hand me the docket, Mr. Clerk. Yes, the +full penalty." + +Then, before making the fatal entry, suddenly turning to the +prisoner, he demanded: + +"How long have you been preaching the Gospel?" + +In hardly audible accents, the answer tremblingly given was, + +"I have been trying to preach the Gospel ----" + +"Only _trying_ to preach the Gospel, only _trying_ to preach the +Gospel!" exclaimed the judge. "There is no law, Mr. Prosecutor, +against merely _trying_ to preach the Gospel. You can go, sir; +but if this Court ever hears that you have succeeded in actually +_preaching_ the Gospel, you will be punished, sir!" + + + +XXVIII +AMONG THE ACTORS + +THE GIVING OF PLEASURE THE ACTOR'S AIM--PRAISE OF NOTABLE ACTORS +--BARRETT, FORREST, McCULLOUGH, EDWIN BOOTH, WILKES BOOTH, JEFFERSON, +IRVING--MACBETH'S PRAISE OF SLEEP. + +On the evening of October 27, 1908, a meeting was held in the Grand +Opera House, Chicago, Illinois, in the interest of the Democratic +candidates in the campaign then pending. The meeting began a few +minutes after midnight, and the immense audience consisted, in a +large measure, of actors and actresses and their attendants from +the various theatres of the city. + +After an eloquent political speech of the Hon. Samuel Alschuler +and a stirring recitation by one of the actors, I was introduced, and +spoke as follows: + +"I am grateful for the opportunity under such happy auspices, to +bid you _good-morning._ I would count myself fortunate, indeed, +could I contribute even the smallest mite to the enjoyment of those +who have in such unstinted measure dispensed pleasure to so many +of the human family, to the representatives of a profession which, +struggling up through the centuries, has at last found honored and +abiding place in a broader civilization, a calling whose sublime +mission it is to give surcease to harassing care, to smooth out +the wrinkles from the brow, bring gladness to the eye, to teach that + + 'Behind the clouds is the sun still smiling'; + +in a word, to add to the sum of human happiness. + +"It has been my good fortune, in the happy years gone by, to have had +the personal acquaintance of some of the most eminent of your +profession. Under the witchery of this inspiring presence, 'the +graves of memory render up their dead.' Again I hear from the lips +of Barrett: 'Take away the sword; States can be saved without it!' +'How love, like death, levels all ranks, and lays the shepherd's +crook beside the sceptre!' + +"Who that ever saw Forrest 'sitting as if in judgment upon kings' could +forget that superb presence? In the silent watches, even yet, +steal upon us in ominous accents the words, 'Put out the light, +and then put out the light!' Complimented upon the manner in which +he played Lear, he angrily exclaimed: 'Played Lear, played Lear? +I _play_ Hamlet, I _play_ Macbeth, I _play_ Othello; but I _am_ +Lear!' Possibly the art of the tragedian has known no loftier +triumph than in Forrest's rendition of Lear's curse upon the +unnatural daughter: + + 'Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth; + With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks; + Turn all her mother's pains and benefits + To laughter and contempt!' + +"A third of a century ago, I made the acquaintance of John McCullough, +then at the very zenith of his fame. In even measure as was the +elder Booth Richard the Third, Forrest, King Lear, or Edwin Booth, +Hamlet, so was McCullough the born Macbeth. When I first saw +him emerge with dishevelled hair and bloody hands from the apartment +of the murdered king, I was, I confess, in mortal dread of the +darkness. I have heard another since of even greater repute in +that masterful impersonation, but with me to the last, John McCullough +will remain the veritable Macbeth. His are the words that linger: + + 'I go, and it is done; the bell invites me, + Hear it not, Duncan; for it is the knell + That summons thee to heaven or to hell.' + +"Edwin Booth has stepped from the stage of living men, and when in +the tide of time will such a Hamlet again appear? To him Nature +had been prodigal of her choicest blessings. Every gift the +gods could bestow to the full equipment of the interpreter, the +actor, the master, was his. + + 'He was a man, take him for all in all, + We shall not look upon his like again.' + +Many moons will wax and wane before from other lips, as from +his, will fall: + + 'Or that the Everlasting had not fixed + His canon 'gainst self-slaughter.' + +or, giving expression to thoughts from the very depths, which have +in all the ages held back from such dread ending: + + 'To die, to sleep; + To sleep! perchance to dream; aye, there's the rub; + For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, + When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, + Must give us pause.' + +"The ever-abiding memory that his brother was the real actor in +a tragic scene that gave pause to the world, burdened the heart +and mellowed the tone of Edwin Booth, and no doubt linked him in +closer touch with what has, as by the enchanter's wand, been +portrayed of the 'melancholy Dane.' + +"Two years before the assassination of President Lincoln I heard +Wilkes Booth as Romeo at the old McVicker. The passing years have +not wholly dimmed his + + 'Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops,' + +and then, as if forecasting a scene to strike horror even in 'States +unborn and in accents yet unknown,' the exclamation: + + 'I must be gone and live, + Or stay and die!' + +"High on the list of the world's benefactors write the name of Joe +Jefferson, as one who loved his fellow-men. Whatever betide, +his fame is secure. 'Age cannot wither'; it was in very truth high +privilege to have known him; to have met him face to face. + +"There come moments to all when we gladly put aside the masterpieces +of the great bard, and find solace in simpler lays; such as, it +may be, appear of kinship with the happenings of daily life. +The mighty thoughts of the former unceasingly suggest life's endless +toil and endeavor. + +"In words that have touched many hearts our own poet suggests: + + 'Read from some humbler poet, + Whose songs gushed from his heart; + . . . . . . . + Such songs have power to quiet + The restless pulse of care.' + +"And so, there are times when the stately rendition of the +masterpieces, even with the greatest tragedians in the role, weary +us, and we give glad welcome to Bob Acres with 'his courage oozing +out at his finger ends,' or to dear old Rip and 'Here's to yourself +and to your family. Jus' one more; _this one won't count!'_ + +"The superb acting of Irving in Louis the Eleventh; the grandeur +of Forrest with 'Othello's occupation gone'; of McCullough in +Macbeth, 'supped full with horrors'; even of Booth with the +ever-recurring 'To be, or not to be,' the eternal question, all +pass with the occasion. But who can forget the gladsome hours +of mingled pathos and mirth with glorious Joe Jefferson, the star! +His life was hourly the illustration of the sublime truth: + + 'There is nothing so kingly as kindness.' + +"Upon his tablet might truly be written: + + 'He never made a brow look dark, + Nor caused a tear but when he died.' + +"It is ever an ungracious task to speak in terms of disparagement of +a lady. There is one, however, of whom, even in this gracious +presence, I am constrained to speak without restraint. To the +splendid assemblage before me she was unknown; possibly, however, some +veteran upon this platform may have enjoyed her personal +acquaintance. I refer to the late Mrs. Macbeth. I would not be +misunderstood. My criticism of the conduct of this lady has no +reference to her share in the 'taking off' of the venerable Duncan. +Even barring her gentle interposition, he would long ere this have +'paid his breath to time and mortal custom.' My cause of complaint +is more serious and far-reaching. It will be remembered that +her high-placed husband upon a time was the victim of insomnia. +In his wakeful hours, as he tossed upon his couch, he even made +the confession, now of record, that + + 'Glamis hath murdered sleep.' + +"He apparently drew no comfort from the reflection that his late +benefactor, the murdered king, + + 'After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.' + +"Burdened with thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls, the +sometimes Thane of Cawdor indulged in an apostrophe to 'the dull +god' which has enduring place in all language: + + 'Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care + The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, + Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, + Chief nourisher in Life's feast, ----' + +"At this crucial moment, came the untimely interruption of Mrs. +Macbeth, demanding of her husband, _'What do you mean?'_ + +"The spell was broken, and for all time the sublime apostrophe +to sleep unfinished. What he might next have said, whose lips can +tell? Words possibly to be spoken by every tongue, to be crystallized +into every language. Her ill-fated interruption can never be +forgiven. The practical lesson to be drawn, one for all the ages, +is the peril involved in a wife's _untimely interruption_ of the +wise observations and sage reflections of her husband. + +"This coming together to-night may justify the remark that satire upon +the proverbial caution of candidates in expressing an opinion _upon +any subject_ was perhaps never better illustrated than in the +incident now to be related. Upon a time many years ago, when +approaching the Capitol from Pennsylvania Avenue in company with +my friend Proctor Knott, a tall, solemn-appearing individual +addressed the latter as follows; 'Mr. Knott, I would like to have +your opinion as to which is the best play, "Hamlet" or "Macbeth."' +With a characteristic expression of countenance, Knott, with +deprecatory gesture, slowly replied: + +"'My friend, don't ask me that question; I am a politician, a +candidate for Congress, and my district is about equally divided; Hamlet +has his friends down there, and Macbeth has his, and _I will take no +part between them.'_ + +"This observation recalls an incident of recent occurrence in a +neighboring city. A friend of mine, a minister of the Gospel--you +will bear in mind that my friends are not _all_ actors--and this +recalls the dilemma of a candidate who, upon inquiry as to the +comparative merits of heaven and its antipode, cautiously declined +to express an opinion, on the ground that _he had friends in +both places_--this minister, upon being installed in a new pastorate, +was almost immediately requested to preach at the funeral of a +prominent member of his congregation. Unacquainted as he was with +the life of the deceased, he made inquiry as to his last utterances. + +"He recalled the last words of Webster, 'I am content'; of John +Quincy Adams, 'This is the last of earth'; and even the cheerless +exclamation of Mirabeau, 'Let my ears be filled with martial music, +crown me with flowers, and thus shall I enter on my eternal sleep.' +Charged with these reflections, and hoping to find the nucleus of a +funeral sermon, the minister made inquiry of the son of the deceased +parishioner, 'What were the last words of your father?' The unexpected +reply was 'Pap he didn't have _no last words;_ mother she just stayed +by him till he died.' + +"And now, my friends, as the curtain falls, my last words to you: + + 'Say not Good-night, + But in some brighter clime + Bid me Good-morning!'" + + + +XXIX +THE LOST ART OF ORATORY + +DANIEL WEBSTER'S SPEECHES--HIS PATRIOTIC SERVICE IN FORMULATING +THE ASHBURTON TREATY--PRENTISS'S DEFENCE OF THE RIGHT OF MISSISSIPPI +TO REPRESENTATION--THE EFFECT OF HIS ELOQUENCE ON A MURDERER--HIS +PLEA FOR MERCY TO A CLIENT--WEBSTER WINS AN APPARENTLY HOPELESS +CASE--INGERSOLL'S REVIEW OF THE CAREER OF NAPOLEON--HON. ISAAC +N. PHILLIPS'S EULOGY UPON ABRAHAM LINCOLN--SENATOR INGALLS'S TRIBUTE +TO A COLLEAGUE--A SINGLE ELOQUENT SENTENCE FROM EDWARD EVERETT-- +SPEECH OF NOMINATION FOR WILLIAM J. BRYAN--MR. BRYAN'S ELOQUENCE +--CLOSING SENTENCES OF HIS "PRINCE OF PEACE." + +One of the must cultured and entertaining gentlemen I have ever +known was the late Gardner Hubbard. His last years were spent +quietly in Washington, but earlier in life he was an active member +of the Massachusetts bar. + +In my conversations with him he related many interesting incidents +of Daniel Webster, with whom he was well acquainted. In the early +professional life of Hubbard, Mr. Webster was still at the bar; +his speech for the prosecution in the memorable Knapp murder trial +has been read with profound interest by three generations of lawyers. +As a powerful and eloquent discussion of circumstantial evidence, in +all its phases, it scarcely has a parallel; quotations from it have +found their way into all languages. How startling his description +of the stealthy tread of the assassin upon his victim! We seem to +stand in the very presence of murder itself: + +"Deep sleep had fallen on the destined victim and on all beneath +his roof. A healthful old man, to whom sleep was sweet, and the +first sound slumbers of the night held him in their soft but strong +embrace. The assassin enters through the window, already prepared, +into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces the +lonely hall, half lighted by the moon; he winds up the ascent of +the stairs, and reaches to door of the chamber .... The face of +the innocent sleeper is turned from the murderer, and the beams of +the moon, resting on the gray locks of his aged temple, show him +where to strike. The fatal blow is given, and the victim +passes, without a struggle, from the repose of sleep to the repose +of death. The deed is done. He retreats, retraces his steps to +the window, passes out through it as he came in, and escapes. +He has done the murder. No eye has seen him, no ear has heard him. +The secret is his own, and it is safe." + +The speech throughout shows Webster to have been the perfect master +of the human heart,--of its manifold and mysterious workings. What +picture could be more vivid than this? + +"Such a secret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has +neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it and say +it is safe. Not to speak of that eye which pierces through all +disguises and beholds everything as in the splendor of noon, +such secrets of guilt are never safe from detection even by men. +True it is, generally speaking, that murder will out. True it is, +that Providence hath so ordained, and doth so govern things, +that those who break the great law of Heaven by shedding man's +blood seldom succeed in avoiding discovery. Meantime the guilty +soul cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself; or rather, +it feels an irresistible impulse of conscience to be true to itself. +It labors under its guilty possession, and knows not what to do +with it. The human heart was not made for the residence of such +an inhabitant." + +The closing sentences of the speech--which resulted in the conviction +and execution of the prisoner--will endure in our literature +unsurpassed as an inspiration to duty: + +"There is no evil that we cannot either face or fly from but the +consciousness of duty disregarded. A sense of duty pursues us +ever. It is omnipresent like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the +wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the +sea, duty performed, or duty violated, is still with us, for our +happiness or our misery. If we say, 'the darkness shall cover us,' +in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet with us. +We cannot escape their power, nor fly from their presence. They +are with us in this life, will be with us at its close; and in that +scene of inconceivable solemnity which lies yet farther onward, we +shall still find ourselves surrounded by the consciousness of duty, +to pain us wherever it has been violated, and to console us so far +as God may have given us grace to perform it." + +Upon one occasion, when in Boston, Mr. Hubbard and I visited together +Faneuil Hall. He pointed out the exact place upon the platform +where he saw Mr. Webster stand when he delivered his speech in +vindication of his course in remaining in the Cabinet of President +Tyler after all his Whig colleagues had resigned. The schism in +the Whig ranks, occasioned by the veto of party measures, paramount +in the Presidential contest of 1840, and the bitter antagonism +thereby engendered between Henry Clay and President Tyler, will +readily be recalled. The rupture mentioned occasioned the retirement +of the entire Cabinet appointed by the late President Harrison, +except Mr. Webster, the Secretary of State. His reasons for +remaining were in the highest degree patriotic, and his speech +in Faneuil Hall a triumphant vindication. The enduring public +service he rendered while in a Cabinet with which he had not partisan +affiliation was formulating, in conjunction with the British +Minister, the Ashburton treaty. If Mr. Webster had rendered no +other public service, this alone would have entitled him to the +gratitude of the country. This treaty, advantageous from so +many points of view to the United States, adjusted amicably the +protracted and perilous controversy--unsettled by the convention +at Ghent--of our northeastern boundary, and possibly prevented a +third war between the two great English-speaking nations. The +words once uttered of Burke could never with truth be spoken of +Webster: "He gave to party that which was intended for his +country." + +Mr. Hubbard insisted that the speech mentioned stood unrivalled in +the realm of sublime oratory. He declared that the intervening +years had not dimmed his recollection of the appearance of "the +God-like Webster" when he exclaimed "The Whig party die! The Whig +party die! Then, Mr. President, _where shall I go?"_ + +Some years before, I heard Wendell Phillips allude to the above +speech in his celebrated lecture upon Daniel O'Connell. He said, when +the startling words, "Then, Mr. President, where shall I go?" fell +from the lips of the mighty orator, a feeling of awe pervaded +the vast assemblage; something akin to an awful foreboding that +the world would surely come to an end when there was no place in +it for Daniel Webster. + +This seems a fitting place to allude to possibly the highest tribute +ever paid by one great orator to another--in the loftiest sense, +a tribute of genius to genius. Mr. Hubbard told me he was one +of the immense audience gathered in Faneuil Hall to ratify the +nomination of Harrison and Tyler soon after the adjournment of the +Whig National Convention in 1840. Edward Everett presided; and +among the speakers were Winthrop, Choate, Webster, and the gifted +Sargent S. Prentiss of Mississippi. The eloquence of the last +named was a proverb in his day. He had but recently delivered a +speech in the House, vindicating his right to his seat as a +Representative from Mississippi, which cast a spell over all who +heard it, and which has come down to the present generation as one +of the masterpieces of oratory. The closing sentence of this +wondrous speech--a thousand times quoted--was: "Deny her representation +upon this floor; then, Mr. Speaker, strike from yonder escutcheon the +star that glitters to the name of Mississippi--and leave only +the stripe, fit emblem of her degradation!" + +Upon the conclusion of Prentiss's Faneuil Hall speech, just mentioned, +amidst a tumult of applause such as even Faneuil Hall had rarely +witnessed, Mr. Everett, turning to Mr. Webster, inquired: "Did +you ever hear the equal of that speech?" "Never but once," was +the deep-toned reply, "and then from Prentiss himself." + +Judge Baldwin, his long-time associate at the bar of Mississippi, has +given a vivid description of the effect of the power of Mr. Prentiss +before the jury in the prosecution of a noted highwayman and murderer +in that State: + +"Phelps was one of the most daring and desperate of ruffians. +He fronted his prosecutor and the court not only with composure, +but with scornful and malignant defiance. When Prentiss arose +to speak, and for some time afterwards, the criminal scowled upon him +a look of hate and insolence. But when the orator, kindling with his +subject, turned upon him and poured down a stream of burning +invective like lava upon his head; when he depicted the villainy +and barbarity of his bold atrocities; when he pictured, in dark +and dismal colors, the fate which awaited him, and the awful judgment +to be pronounced at another Bar upon his crimes when his soul be +confronted with his innocent victims; when he fixed his gaze of +concentrated power upon him, the strong man's face relaxed; his +eyes faltered and fell; until, at length, unable to bear up +under self-conviction, he hid his head beneath the bar, and exhibited +a picture of ruffianly audacity cowed beneath the spell of true +courage and triumphant genius." + +In his early practice in Mississippi, in closing a touching and +eloquent appeal to the jury on behalf of a client whose life was +trembling in the balance, Prentiss said: + +"I have somewhere read that when God in His eternal councils +conceived the thought of man's creation, he called to him the three +ministers who wait constantly upon the throne, Justice, Truth, and +Mercy, and thus addressed them: + +"'Shall we make man?' + +"Then said Justice, 'O God, make him not, for he will trample upon +Thy laws.' + +"Truth made answer also, 'O God, make him not, for he will pollute +Thy sanctuaries.' + +"Then Mercy, dropping upon her knees and looking up through her +tears, exclaimed, 'O God, make him. I will watch over him through +all the dark paths he may have to tread.' + +"Then God made man and said to him: 'Thou art the child of Mercy; +_go and deal in mercy with thy brother.'"_ + +In speaking of Mr. Webster's marvellous power over a jury, Mr. +Hubbard told me that he was present during the trial of a once +celebrated divorce case in one of the courts of Boston. The husband +was the complainant, and the alleged ground the one of recognized +sufficiency in all countries. Mr. Webster was the counsel for the +husband; Rufus Choate for the wife. As an advocate, the latter has had +few equals, no superiors, at the American bar. In the case mentioned, +with a distressed woman for a client, what was dearer than life, her +reputation, in the balance, it may well be believed that the wondrous +powers of the advocate were in requisition to the utmost. + +At the conclusion of Choate's speech, as Mr. Hubbard assured me, +the case of the injured husband appeared hopeless. It seemed +impossible that such a speech could be successfully answered. + +The opening sentence, in deep and measured tones, of Webster in +reply, the prelude to an unrivalled argument and to victory, was: + +"Saint Paul in the twenty-fourth verse of the seventh chapter of +his wondrous Epistle to the Romans says: 'O wretched man that I +am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' You alone, +gentlemen, can deliver this wretched man _from the body of this +dead woman!"_ + +What in word-painting can exceed the following from an address +by Robert G. Ingersoll? + +"A little while ago, I stood by the grave of the old Napoleon--a +magnificent tomb of gilt and gold, almost fit for a dead deity-- +and gazed upon the sarcophagus of black Egyptian marble where rest +the ashes of that restless man. I leaned over the balustrade +and thought about the career of the greatest soldier of the modern +world. + +"I saw him walking upon the banks of the Seine contemplating suicide. +I saw him at Toulon; I saw him putting down the mob in the streets +of Paris; I saw him at the head of the army in Italy; I saw him +crossing the bridge at Lodi with the tricolor in his hand; I saw +him in Egypt in the shadow of the Pyramids; I saw him conquer +the Alps and mingle the eagles of France with the eagles of the +crags; I saw him at Marengo, at Ulm, and at Austerlitz; I saw him in +Russia, where the infantry of the snow and the cavalry of the wild +blast scattered his legions like winter's withered leaves; I saw +him at Leipsic in defeat and disaster--driven by a million bayonets +back upon Paris--clutched like a wild beast--banished to Elba. +I saw him escape and retake an empire by the force of his genius. +I saw him upon the frightful field of Waterloo, where Chance and +Fortune combined to wreck the fortunes of their former king, and +I saw him at St. Helena, with his hands crossed behind him, gazing +out upon the sad and solemn sea. + +"I thought of the orphans and widows he had made, of the tears that +had been shed for his glory, and of the only woman who ever loved him, +pushed from his heart by the cold hand of ambition; and I said I +would rather have been a French peasant and worn wooden shoes; I +would rather have lived in a hut with a vine growing over the door, +and the grapes growing purple in the rays of the autumn sun; I +would rather have been that poor peasant with my loving wife by my +side, knitting as the day died out of the sky, with my children +about my knee and their arms about me; I would rather have been +that man and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust, +than have been that imperial impersonation of force and murder." + +In his eloquent eulogy upon Abraham Lincoln, my neighbor and friend, +Hon. Isaac N. Phillips, said: + +"He lived with Nature and learned of her. He toiled, but his toil +was never hopeless and degrading. His feet were upon the earth +but the stars shining in perennial beauty were ever above him to +inspire contemplation. He heard the song of the thrush, and the +carol of the lark. He watched the sun in its course. He knew the +dim paths of the forest, and his soul was awed by the power of the +storm." + +The closing sentences of Senator Ingalls's tribute to a departed +colleague were sombre indeed: + +"In the democracy of Death all men are equal. There is neither +rank, nor station, nor prerogative, in the republic of the grave. +At that fatal threshold the philosopher ceases to be wise, and the +song of the poet is silent. There Dives relinquished his riches +and Lazarus his rags; the creditor loses his usury, and the debtor +is acquitted of his obligation; the proud man surrenders his dignity, +the politician his honors, the worldling his pleasures. Here +the invalid needs no physician, and the laborer rests from unrequited +toil. Here at last is Nature's final decree of equity. The wrongs +of time are redressed, and injustice is expiated. The unequal +distribution of wealth and honor, capacity, pleasure, and opportunity, +which makes life so cruel and inexplicable a tragedy, ceases in +the realms of Death. The strongest has there no supremacy, and +the weakest needs no defence. The mightiest captain succumbs to +the invincible adversary who disarms alike the victor and the +vanquished." + +In his day Edward Everett was the most gifted of American orators. +His style, however, to readers in "these piping times of peace," +seems a trifle stilted. What orator of the twentieth century would +attempt such a sentence as the following from Everett's celebrated +eulogy upon Washington: + +"Let us make a national festival and holiday of his birthday; +and ever, as the twenty-second of February returns, let us remember +that, while with these solemn and joyous rites of observance we +celebrate the great anniversary, our fellow-citizens on the Hudson, +on the Potomac, from the Southern plains to the Western lakes, are +engaged in the same offices of gratitude and love. Nor we, nor +they alone; beyond the Ohio, beyond the Mississippi, along that +stupendous trail of immigration from the East to the West, +which, bursting into States as it moves westward, is already +threading the Western prairies, swarming through the portals of +the Rocky Mountains and winding down their slopes, the name and +the memory of Washington on that gracious night will travel with +the silver queen of heaven through sixty degrees of longitude, nor +part company with her till she walks in her brightness through the +Golden Gate of California, and passes serenely to hold midnight +court with her Australian stars. There and there only in barbarous +archipelagos, as yet untrodden by civilized man, the name of +Washington is unknown; and there, too, when they swarm with +enlightened millions, new honors shall be paid with ours to his +memory." + +In my judgment the greatest living orator is William J. Bryan. +I have never known a more gifted man. A thorough scholar--having like +Lord Bacon taken all knowledge for his province--a fearless champion +of what he deems the right, he is in the loftiest sense "without +fear and without reproach." + +In introducing him to an immense audience in Bloomington when he +was first a candidate for the Presidency, I said: + +"The National Democracy in the Chicago convention selected for the +Presidency a distinguished statesman of the great Northwest. +For the first time in more than one hundred years of our history, a +candidate for the great office has been taken from a State lying +west of the Mississippi. + +"In the nomination of our standard-bearer, the convention builded better +than it knew. Each passing hour has but emphasized the wisdom +of its choice. Truly it has been said: 'When the times demand +the man, the man appears.' The times demanded a great leader--the +great leader has appeared! His campaign is the marvel of the age. +From the Atlantic seaboard, two thousand miles to the westward, +his eloquent words have cheered the despondent, given new hopes and +aspirations to the people, touched the hearts of millions of his +countrymen. In advocating his election we have kept the faith. +We have not departed from the teachings of our fathers. We sacredly +preserve the ancient landmarks--the landmarks of all previous +Democratic conventions." + +Rarely has a speech been uttered so effective in its immediate +results as that of Mr. Bryan in the Democratic National Convention +of 1896. The occasion was one never to be forgotten. When Mr. +Bryan began his speech he had not been mentioned as a candidate +for the Presidency; at its close there was no other candidate. +The closing sentences of the memorable speech were: + +"Our ancestors, when but three millions in number, had the courage +to declare their political independence of every other nation; +shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to seventy millions, +declare that we are less independent than our forefathers? No, my +friends, that will never be the verdict of our people. Therefore, +we care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say +bimetallism is good, but that we cannot have it until other nations +help us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard +because England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let +England have bimetallism because the United States has it. If they +dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as +a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost. Having behind us +the productive masses of this nation and the world, supported by the +commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers +everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by +saying to them: 'You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this +crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of +gold.'" + +The closing sentences of his "Prince of Peace" have been read in +all languages: + +"But this Prince of Peace promises not only peace but strength. +Some have thought His teachings fit only for the weak and the timid +and unsuited to men of vigor, energy, and ambition. Nothing could +be farther from the truth. Only the man of faith can be courageous. +Confident that he fights on the side of Jehovah, he doubts not the +success of his cause. What matters it whether he shares in the +shouts of triumph? If every word spoken in behalf of truth has +its influence and every deed done for the right weighs in the final +account, it is immaterial to the Christian whether his eyes behold +victory or whether he dies in the midst of the conflict. + + 'Yea, though thou lie upon the dust, + When they who helped thee flee in fear, + Die full of hope and manly trust, + Like those who fell in battle here. + Another hand thy sword shall wield, + Another hand the standard wave, + Till from the trumpet's mouth is pealed + The blast of triumph o'er thy grave.' + +"Only those who believe attempt the seemingly impossible and, by +attempting, prove that one with God can chase a thousand and two +can put ten thousand to flight. I can imagine that the early +Christians who were carried into the arena to make a spectacle for +those more savage than the beasts, were entreated by their doubting +companions not to endanger their lives. But, kneeling in the centre +of the arena, they prayed and sang until they were devoured. +How helpless they seemed and, measured by every human rule, how +hopeless was their cause! And yet within a few decades the +power which they invoked proved mightier than the legions of the +emperor, and the faith in which they died was triumphant o'er +all that land. It is said that those who went to mock at their +sufferings returned asking themselves, 'What is it that can enter into +the heart of man and make him die as these die?' They were greater +conquerors in their death than they could have been had they +purchased life by a surrender of their faith. + +"What would have been the fate of the Church if the early Christians +had had as little faith as many of our Christians now have? And, on +the other hand, if the Christians of to-day had the faith of the +martyrs, how long would it be before the fulfilment of the prophecy +that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess? + +"Our faith should be even stronger than the faith of those who +lived two thousand years ago, for we see our religion spreading +and supplanting the philosophies and creeds of the Orient. + +"As the Christian grows older he appreciates more and more the +completeness with which Christ fills the requirements of the heart +and, grateful for the peace which he enjoys and for the strength +which he has received, he repeats the words of the great scholar, Sir +William Jones: + + 'Before thy mystic altar, heavenly truth, + I kneel in manhood, as I knelt in youth. + Thus let me kneel, till this dull form decay, + And life's last shade be brightened by thy ray.'" + + + +XXX +THE COLONELS + +A CONVIVIAL MEETING OF LAWYERS--HILARITY SMOTHERED BY THE MAINE +LAW--A FAINTING WAYFARER IS REFUSED A DRINK IN A MAINE VILLAGE-- +THE APOTHECARY DEMANDS A PHYSICIAN'S PRESCRIPTION--SNAKE-BITES +IN GREAT DEMAND. + +Some years ago, I spent a few weeks of inclement weather in a +beautiful village in southern Georgia. Upon calling at his office +to renew my acquaintance with a well-known lawyer, he soon invited +in the remaining members of the local bar. Everything was propitious, +and the conversation never for a moment flagged, many experiences +of the legal practitioners of the South and of the North being +related with happy effect. + +I at length remarked that since my arrival, I had, somewhat to +my surprise, learned that "local option" had been adopted in their +county. An aged brother, in a tone by no means exultant, assured me +that such was the fact. I then observed that I was not a hard +drinker, but being a total stranger and liable to sudden sickness, +I asked what I would do under such circumstances. + +An equally venerable brother, who bore the unique title of "Colonel," +slowly responded, "Have to do without, sir, _have to do without;_ not +a drop to be had in the county, absolutely not a drop, sir." + +The brief silence which followed this announcement was broken by +the corroborative testimony of a more youthful associate of similar +official distinction, and a genial and hospitable expression of +countenance, somehow suggesting memories of old cognac. + +"Yes, sir, the use of spirituous liquors is now only a tradition +with us; but I have heard my father say, that before the war, +the indulgence in such hospitality was not uncommon among +gentlemen." + +At the conclusion of still further cumulative testimony of the same +tenor, I remarked that something about the general situation reminded +me of an incident that occurred in a State far to the north while the +"Maine Law" was in operation. + +A dilapidated-looking pedestrian, with a pack on his back, early +one afternoon of a hot July day pulled up in front of the post-office +in a small village in the interior of Maine. Humbly addressing +a citizen who was just coming out with his copy of the _Weekly +Tribune_ in hand, he inquired, + +"Where can I get a drink?" + +"The Maine Law is in force," was the reply, "and it is impossible for +you to get a drink in the State." + +The heart of the wayfarer sank within him. + +"Would you let a man die right here on your streets, for lack of +a drink?" + +The "better angel" of the citizen being touched thereat, he replied, + +"My friend, I am very sorry for you, but no liquor is ever sold +here, except by the apothecary, and then only as a medicine." + +Upon further inquiry, the important fact was disclosed that the +shop of the apothecary was three-quarters of a mile away, on the +left-hand side of the road. With an alacrity indicating something +of hope, the pedestrian immediately gathered up his pack, and +through the dust and heat at length reached the designated place. +Sinking apparently exhausted upon the door-step, he feebly requested +the man behind the counter to let him have something to drink. The +immediate reply of the apothecary was that the Maine Law was in +force, and no spirituous liquors could be sold except upon the +prescription of a physician. After earnest inquiry, it was +ascertained that the nearest doctor's office was one mile away, +and the man with the pack again betook himself to the weary highway. +Returning an hour later, in tone more pitiful than before, he begged +the apothecary, as he hoped for mercy himself, to let him have a +drink. Upon inquiry as to whether he had procured the required +certificate, he said, "No, the doctor wouldn't give me any." + +The assurance of the apothecary that the case appeared hopeless +only added to the distress of the poor man, whose sands seemed now +indeed to be running low. + +Stirred to the depths by the agony of his visitor, the apothecary at +length said, + +"My friend, I would be glad to help you, but it is impossible for me +to let you have a drink of spirituous liquor unless you have a +doctor's certificate _or have been snake-bit."_ + +At the last-mentioned suggestion, the face of the man of +repeated disappointments measurably brightened, and he eagerly +inquired where he could find a snake. The now sympathetic man +of bottles told him to follow the main road three miles to the +forks, and then a few hundred yards to the west, and he would find +a small grove of decayed tress, where there still lingered a few +snakes, and by the exercise of a reasonable degree of diligence he +might manage _to get bit,_ and thereby lay the foundation for +the desired relief. With bundle again in place, and evincing a +buoyancy of manner to which he had been a stranger for many hours, +the traveller resumed the quest. + +Hours later, when the shadows had lengthened, and the fire-flies +were glistening in the distance, + + "With a look so piteous in purport, + As if he had been loosed out of hell + To speak of horrors," + +he re-entered the apothecary's shop, threw down his bundle, and in +tones suggestive of the agony of lost souls, again begged for a +drink. + +"Did you get snake-bit?" was the feeling inquiry of the man at the +helm. + +"No," was the heart-rending reply, _"every snake I met had engagements +six months ahead, for all the bites he could furnish!"_ + + + +XXXI +REMINISCENCES + +A BARBECUE AT THE BLUE SPRING, KY.--NOTABLE NATIVES OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD +--THE SCHOOLHOUSE CHURCH--SOME OF THE PREACHERS--THE TEACHER OF +SINGING--HOW THE SCHOOLMASTER WAS PAID--MANNERS AND DISCIPLINE--THE +DEBATING SOCIETY--THE WRITER'S SPEECH TO HIS OLD NEIGHBORS--SOME +BOYHOOD FRIENDS. + +Soon after my nomination for the Vice-Presidency, in 1892, I attended +a barbecue at the Blue Spring, a stone's throw from my father's +old home in Kentucky. This was in the county of Christian, in the +southwestern part of the State. It is a large and wealthy county, +its tobacco product probably exceeding that of any other county in +the United States. + +Christian County was the early home of men distinguished in the +field, at the bar, and in the State and National councils. +Hopkinsville, the county-seat, had been the home of Stites, the +learned Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals; of Jackson, who fell +while gallantly leading his command at the battle of Perryville; +of Morehead, an early and distinguished Governor of the Commonwealth; +of Sharp, whose legal acumen would have secured him distinction at +any bar; of McKenzie, whose wit and eloquence made him the long-time +idol and the Representative in Congress, of the famed "Pennyrile" +district; of Bristow, the accomplished Secretary of the Treasury +during the administration of President Grant; of the Henry brothers, +three of whom, from different States, were at a later day Representatives +in Congress, and one the Whig candidate against Andrew Johnson for +Governor of Tennessee. + +Hon. Gustavus A. Henry, well known as the "Eagle Orator of Tennessee," +was the Whig candidate for Governor of the State in opposition +to Andrew Johnson, at a later day President of the United States. +The latter was at the time an old-fashioned, steady-going mountain +orator with none of the brilliancy of his gifted antagonist. At +the close of a series of joint debates Johnson said: "This speech +terminates our joint debates. I have now encountered the 'Eagle +Orator' upon every stump in the State, and come out of the contest +with no flesh of mine in his claws--no blood of mine upon his beak." +To which Henry instantly replied: "The eagle--the proud bird of +freedom--never wars upon a corpse!" + +A few miles from the Blue Spring, in the same county, were the +early homes of Senator Roger Q. Mills of Texas, Governor John M. +Palmer of Illinois, and Jefferson Davis of the Southern Confederacy. +Less than a score of miles to the southward, upon the banks of the +Cumberland in Tennessee, stood historic Fort Donelson; while a few +hours' journey to the northward stands the monument which marks +the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. + +Following the earliest westward trail from Iredell County, North +Carolina, across the Blue Ridge Mountains, for a great distance +along the banks of the romantic French Broad my grandfathers, +"Scotch-Irish Presbyterians," James Stevenson and Adlai Ewing, with +their immediate families and others of their kindred, had in the +early days of the century, after a long and perilous journey, +finally reached the famous Spring already mentioned. Near by, +their tents were pitched, and in time permanent homes established in +the then wilderness of southwestern Kentucky. + +The first public building constructed was of logs, with puncheon +floor, and set apart to the double purpose of school-house and +church for the use of all denominations. Its site was near the +spot where the speaker's stand was now erected for the barbecue +which I have mentioned. + +From the pulpit of this rude building, the early settlers had more +than once listened spell-bound to the eloquence of Peter Cartwright, +Henry B. Bascom, Nathan L. Rice, Finis Ewing, and Alexander +Campbell. + +In this old church the time-honored custom was for some one of its +officers to line out the hymn, two lines at a time, and then lead the +singing, in which the congregation joined. Among my earliest +recollections is that of my uncle, Squire McKenzie, one of the best +of men, standing immediately in front of the pulpit, and faithfully +discharging this important duty after the hymn had been read in +full by the minister. I distinctly recall the solemn tones in +which, upon communion occasions, he lined out, in measured and +mellow cadence, the good old hymn beginning: + + "'T was on that dark, that doleful night, + When powers of earth and hell arose." + +Mr. Sawyer, too, the old-time singing-school teacher, has honored place +in my memory. Once a month, in the old church, the singing-school +class of which we were all members regularly assembled. The school +was in four divisions, Bass, Tenor, Counter, and Treble; each member +was provided with a copy of the "Missouri Harmony," with "fa," +"sol," "la," "mi," appearing in mysterious characters upon every +page; the master, magnifying his office, as with tuning-fork in +hand he stood proudly in the midst, raised the tune, and as it +progressed smiled or deeply frowned upon each of the divisions +as occasion seemed to require. His voice has long been hushed, +but I seem again to hear his cheery command, "Attention, class! +Utopia, page one hundred!" + +Looking back through the long vista of years, it is my honest belief +that such singing as his, at home or abroad, I have never heard. +Upon his tablet might appropriately have been inscribed: + + "Sleep undisturbed within this sacred shrine, + Till angels wake thee with notes like thine." + +To this old field school came in the early time the "scholars" for +many miles around. It was in very truth the only Alma Mater, +for that generation, of almost the entire southern portion of +the county. My father in his boyhood attended this school, as did +his kinsmen, John W. and Fielding N. Ewing; the last named of whom +was, at a much later period, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church +of Bloomington, Illinois, and his elder brother was the Mayor of +that city. + +At that early day, and later when I attended the same school, there +were no salaries provided for the teachers, The schoolmaster +visited the families within reasonable distance of the schoolhouse +with his subscription paper, and the school was duly opened when +a sufficient number of pupils had subscribed. + +The ways of the old field school and the methods of the old-time +teachers belong now to the past. Once experienced, however, +they have an abiding place in the memory. The master, upon his +accustomed perch near the spacious fire-place, with his ever-present +symbol of authority, the rod--which even Solomon would have considered +fully up to the orthodox standard--in alarming proximity; the boys +"making their manners" by scraping the right foot upon the floor +and bowing low as they entered the school-room; the girls upon like +occasions equally faithful in the practice of a bewitching +little "curtsey" which only added to their charms; the "studying +aloud," the hum of the school-room being thereby easily heard a +mile or two away; the timid approach to the dreaded master with +the humble request that he would "mend a pen," "parse a verb," +or "do a sum." + +An hour, called recess, was given for the dinner from the +baskets brought from home, and then the glorious old games, marbles, +town-ball, and "bull pen," to the heart's content! At the sound +of the ominous command, "Books!" each scholar promptly resumed his +seat, the merry shout of the playground at once giving way to +the serious business of "saying lessons." In those good old days, +the slightest act of omission or commission upon the part of the +pupil was confronted with a terrible condition instead of a harmless +theory. In very truth the uncomfortable effect of the punishment +unfailingly administered--"doing his duty to your parents," as the petty +school-room tyrant was wont to observe--was in small degree lessened +by the comforting assurance that the victim "would thank him for +it the longest day he lived!" + +Then, to crown all, came the debating society, with the schoolmaster +presiding, and the entire neighborhood, sweethearts and all, in +attendance, and the boys for the first time testing their oratorical +powers. Vigilant preparations having been made for the discussion +of such momentous questions as: "Which deserves the most +credit, Columbus for discovering America, or Washington for defending +it?" or "Which brings the greatest happiness to mankind, pursuit +or possession?" + +In "Georgia Scenes" is an amusing account of a debate in a backwoods +"Academy" nearly a century ago. The two brightest boys, after +anxious preparation, succeeded in formulating for debate a question +utterly meaningless, but which appeared upon hurried reading to +touch the very bed-rock of human government. The "conspirators" +mentioned were the respective leaders in the debate which closed the +public exercises of the annual "Exhibition" of the Academy. The +leaders had made careful preparation for the contest, and appeared +fully to understand the question, and each in turn highly complimented +the able argument of his rival. Much amusement was caused by +the remaining speakers, when called in order, who candidly admitted +that they didn't understand the question, and patiently submitted +to the fine imposed by the rules of the Society. That a boy of but +mediocre talents should have failed to participate in the debate, will +not be considered remarkable when the question is stated: "Whether, +in public elections, the vote of faction should prevail by internal +suggestions, _or the bias of jurisprudence?"_ + +The late General Gordon related to me the above incident, and added +that the leaders mentioned were at a later day well known to the +country, one the learned Bishop Longstreet of Georgia, the other +the eloquent Senator McDuffie of South Carolina. + +Events almost forgotten, forms long since vanished, were vividly +recalled as, after long absence, I revisited the spot inseparably blended +with the joyous associations of childhood. The platform from which +I was to speak had been erected near the ruins of the old church +above mentioned, of which my grandfather had been a ruling elder, my +father, mother, and other kindred the earliest members. + +Upon my introduction to the vast assemblage--the good things +suggested by "barbecue" having meanwhile given to all an abundant feeling +of contentment--I began by brief reference to the pleasure I +experienced in again visiting, after the passing of the years which +separated childhood from middle age, scenes once so familiar, +and meeting face to face so many of my early associates and friends, +and remarked, that in the early days in Illinois the not unusual +reply of the Kentucky emigrant, when asked what part of the Old +Commonwealth he came from was, "From the Blue Grass," or "From near +Lexington," but that my invariable answer to that inquiry had even +been, "From the Pennyrile!" + +Some mention I made of Mr. Caskie, the dreaded school-master of +the long ago, caused a momentary commotion in the audience, and +immediately a man of white hairs and bowed by the weight of more +than fourscore years, was lifted to the front of the platform. +With arm about my neck, he earnestly inquired: "Adlai, I came +twenty miles to hear you speak; don't you remember me?" The audience +apparently appreciated the instant reply: "Yes, Mr. Caskie, _I +still have a few marks left to remember you by!"_ + +The venerable and long ago forgiven schoolmaster was fearfully +deaf, and to prevent the possibility of a single word escaping him, +he stood close beside me, and with his hand behind his ear and the +other resting tenderly on my shoulder, faithfully followed me in +my journeyings to and fro across the stage during the two-hours' +speech which followed. + +My speech at length concluded, I was warmly greeted by scores of +old neighbors and friends. Just forty years had passed since my +father had removed his family to Illinois, and it may well be +believed that it was difficult to recall promptly all the names +and faces of those I had known in childhood. Even a candidate has, +at such times, "some rights under the Constitution"; one of which, +I honestly believe, is total exemption from the tormenting +inquiries: "Do you know me? Well, what is my name?" The laurels, +even of Job, had he ever been a candidate, would probably have +turned to willows. + +I am here reminded of an experience of one of my early competitors +for Congress. It was his happy forte to remember instantly all +his old acquaintances; not only that, but to know their full names. +To call out in friendly and familiar tone, in and out of season, +"Bill," "Dick," "Sam," "Bob," a hundred times a day, was as natural +to him as to breathe. + +Upon one occasion, however, the fates seemed slightly untoward. +At the close of one of our joint debates, in the southern part +of the district, he was greeted by a demure-looking individual with +the salutation, "How are you, Judge?" + +"My dear sir," exclaimed the regular candidate, grasping the +interrogator warmly by the hand, "how are you, and how is the +old lady?" + +"I am not married, Judge," was the deliberate response, as of +one assuming the entire responsibility. + +"Certainly not, certainly not, my dear sir; I meant you mother. +How is that excellent old lady?" + +"My mother has been dead twenty years, Judge," was the mournful +reply. + +A trifle embarrassed, but not entirely off his base, the judge +looked earnestly into the face of the bereaved, and said: + +"My friend, excuse me, your countenance is perfectly familiar to +me, but I do not at this moment remember exactly who you are." + +The response was, "Judge, _I am an evangelist."_ + +To which the candidate for Congress, now upon a firm footing, tapped +the man of the sacred office familiarly upon the shoulder and +cheerfully exclaimed, "Why, damn it, _Van,_ I thought I ought to +know you!" + +Returning now for brief sojourn to the afore-mentioned barbecue, +with a faithful kinsman as monitor, aided by a slight moiety of +tact to be credited to personal account, I managed passably well +to get through the trying ordeal. "The old gentleman with the long +white beard, coming toward us," observed my monitor, "is Uncle Jake +Anderson. He has a hat bet that you will know him." Thus advised, +I was ready for trial, and warmly grasping the hand extended me, +I earnestly inquired, "Uncle Jake, _how are you?"_ "Do you know +me, boy?" was the immediate response. "Know you?" I replied. "You +and my father were near neighbors for years; how could I help +knowing you?" "Yes, of course," he said, "but you being gone so +long, and now running for President, I didn't know but what you +had forgotten all about the old neighbors down on the Lick." +Assuring him that I had forgotten none of them, and congratulating +him upon the hat he had won, I passed on to the next. + +The interview described was repeated with slight variations, +many times, when my attendant remarked: + +"That man leaning against the tree is John Dunloe; do you remember +him?" + +"Certainly," I replied, "I went to school with him." + +Immediately approaching my early classmate I took him by the hand and +said, "How are you, John?" + +"Why, Adlai, do you know me?" was the prompt response. + +"Know you," said I, "didn't we go to school together to Mr. Caskie +right here at Blue Water, when we were boys?" + +"Yas, of course we did," slowly answered by sometime school-fellow, +"but you been 'sociatin' with them big fellows down about Washington +so long, that I didn't know but what you had forgot us poor fellows +down in the Pennyrile." + +Assuring him that I never forgot my old friends, I inquired, "John, +where is your brother Bill?" + +"He's here," was the instant reply. "Me and Bill started before +daylight to get to this barbecue in time. Bill 'lowed _he'd ruther +go forty miles on foot to hear you make a speech, than go to a +hangin'."_ + + + +XXXII +A TRIBUTE TO IRELAND* + +[*Footnote: Speech delivered by Mr. Stevenson at a banquet of +the United Irish Societies of Chicago, September, 1900.] + +THE WRITER'S VISIT TO NOTABLE PLACES IN IRELAND--HIS TRIBUTE OF +PRAISE TO HER GREAT MEN--AMERICA'S OBLIGATION TO IRISH SOLDIERS +AND STATESMEN. + +I accepted with pleasure the invitation to meet with you. For the +courtesy so generously extended me I am profoundly grateful. + +Within late years it has been my privilege to visit Ireland; and +I can truly say that no country in Europe possessed for me a deeper +interest than the little island about whose name clusters so much of +romance and of enchantment. I saw Ireland in its beauty and its +gloom; in its glory and in its desolation. I stood upon the Giant's +Causeway, one of the grand masterpieces of the Almighty; I visited +the historic parks and deserted legislative halls of venerated +Dublin; threaded the streets and byways of the quaint old city +of Cork; listened the bells of Shandon; sailed over the beautiful +lakes of Killarney, and gazed upon the old castles of Muckross and +of Blarney, whose ivy-covered ruins tell of the far-away centuries. +What a wonderful island! The birthplace of wits, of warriors, +of statesmen, of poets, and of orators. Of its people it has been +truly said: "They have fought successfully the battles of every +country but their own." + +Upon occasion such as this, the Irishman--to whatever spot in this +wide world he may have wandered--lives in the shadow of the past. +In imagination he is once more under the ancestral roof; the +vine-clad cottage is again a thing of reality. Again he wears the +shamrock; again he hears the songs of his native land, while his +heart is stirred by memories of her wrongs and of her glory. + +What a splendid contribution Ireland has made to the world's galaxy +of great men! In the realm of poetry, Goldsmith and Tom Moore; of +oratory, Sheridan, Emmett, Grattan, O'Connell, Burke, and in later +years Charles Stewart Parnell, whose thrilling words I heard a +third of a century ago, pleading the cause of his oppressed +countrymen. + +The obligation of America to Ireland for men who have aided in +fighting her battles and framing her laws cannot be measured by +words. In the British possessions to the northward, in the old +city of Quebec, there is one spot dear to the American heart--that +where fell the brave Montgomery, fighting the battles of his adopted +country. What schoolboy is not familiar with the story of gallant +Phil Sheridan and "Winchester twenty miles away?" Illinoisans will +never forget Shields, the hero of two wars, the senator from three +States. It was an Irish-American poet of a neighboring State +who wrote of our fallen soldiers words that will live while we have +a country and a language: + + "The muffled drum's sad roll has beat + The soldier's last tattoo; + No more of life's parade shall meet + That brave and fallen few." + +The achievements of representatives of this race along every pathway +of useful and honorable endeavor are a part of our own history. +We honor to-day the far-away island, the deeds and sacrifices of +whose sons have added so brilliant a chapter to American history. +From the assembling of the First Continental Congress to the present +hour, in every legislative hall the Irishman has been a factor. +His bones have whitened every American battlefield from the first +conflict with British regulars to the closing hour of our struggle +with Spain. + +The love of liberty is deeply ingrained into the very life of +the Irishman. The history of his country is that of a gallant +people struggling for a larger measure of freedom. His most precious +heritage is the record of his countrymen, who upon the battlefield +and upon the scaffold have sealed their devotion to liberty with +their blood. With such men it was a living faith that-- + + "Whether on the scaffold high + Or in the battle's van + The fittest place for man to die + Is where he dies for man." + +With a history reaching into the far past, every page of which +tells of the struggle for liberty, it is not strange that the +sympathies of the Irishman are with the oppressed everywhere on +God's footstool. Irishmen, in common with liberty-loving men +everywhere, looked with abhorrence upon the attempt of a great +European power to establish monarchy upon the ruins of republics. + +May we not confidently abide in the hope that brighter days are in +waiting for the beautiful island and her gallant people? I close with +the words: "God bless old Ireland!" + + + +XXXIII +THE BLIND CHAPLAIN + +DR. MILBURN'S SOLEMNITY IN PRAYER--HIS VENERABLE APPEARANCE--HIS +CONVERSATIONAL POWERS--HIS CUSTOM OF PRAYING FOR SICK MEMBERS. + +No Senator who ever sat under the ministrations of Dr. Milburn, +the blind chaplain, can ever forget his earnest and solemn invocation. +When rolling from his tongue, each word of the Lord's Prayer seemed +to weigh a pound. His venerable appearance and sightless eyes gave +a tinge of pathetic emphasis to his every utterance. He was a man +of rare gifts; in early life, before the entire failure of his +sight, he had known much of active service in his sacred calling +upon the Western circuits. He had been the fellow-laborer of +Cartwright, Bascom, and other eminent Methodist ministers of the +early times. + +Dr. Milburn was the Chaplain of the House during the Mexican War, and +often a guest at the Executive Mansion when Mr. Polk was President. +He knew well many of the leading statesmen of that period. He +possessed rare conversational powers; and notwithstanding his +blindness, poverty, and utter loneliness, he remained the pleasing, +entertaining gentleman to the last. + +It was the custom of the good Chaplain, with the aid of a faithful +monitor, to keep thoroughly advised as to the health of the senators +and their families. The bare mention, in the morning paper, of +any ill having befallen any statesman of whom he was, for the time, +the official spiritual shepherd, was the unfailing precursor of +special and affectionate mention at the next convening of the +Senate. Moreover, in the discharge of this sacred duty, his +invariable habit was to designate the object of his special invocation +as "the Senior Senator" or "Junior Senator," carefully giving +the name of his State. It is within the realm of probability that +since the first humble petition was breathed, there has never been +an apparently more prompt answer to prayer than that now to be +related. + +_The Morning Post_ contained an item to the effect that Senator +Voorhees was ill. During the accustomed invocation which preceded +the opening of the session, an earnest petition ascended for +"the Senior Senator from Indiana," that he might "soon be restored +to his wonted health, and permitted to return to the seat so long and +so honorably occupied." + +A moment later, the touching invocation being ended, and the Senate +duly in session, the stately form of "the Senior Senator from +Indiana" promptly emerged from the cloak-room, and quietly resumed +the seat he had "so long and so honorably occupied." + + + +XXXIV +A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL + +GEORGE WASHINGTON LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE CAPITOL--PROGRESS +OF THE REPUBLIC DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY--NOTABLE MEN WHO WERE +CONSPICUOUS AT THE NATION'S BIRTH--CONGRESS HELD AT VARIOUS PLACES +BEFORE 1800--THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FORMED--NECESSITY FOR ENLARGING +THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON--A DOCUMENT BY WEBSTER DEPOSITED BENEATH +THE CORNER-STONE OF THE ADDITIONS--HIGH DEBATES HELD IN THE UNITED +STATES SENATE--PRESENT LOCATION OF THE SENATE CHAMBER--GREAT INCREASE +OF POPULATION, TERRITORY, AND COMMERCE--THE TWO DIVISIONS OF +CONGRESS. + +On the eighteenth day of September, 1893, the first centennial +of the laying of the corner-stone of the national Capitol was +celebrated by appropriate ceremonies in Washington City. + +President Cleveland presided, and seated upon the platform were +the members of his Cabinet, the Senate, the House of Representatives, +the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Foreign Ambassadors. + +The oration was delivered by the Hon. William Wirt Henry, of +Richmond, Virginia, grandson of Patrick Henry. The addresses which +followed were by myself, representing the Senate; Speaker Crisp, +representing the House; and Justice Brown, the Supreme Court. I +spoke as follows: + +"This day and this hour mark the close of a century of our national +history. No ordinary event has called us together. Standing in +the presence of this august assemblage of the people, upon the spot +where Washington stood, we solemnly commemorate the one-hundredth +anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone of the nation's Capitol. + +"It is well that this day has been set apart as a national holiday, +that all public business has been suspended, and that the President +and his Cabinet, the members of the great Court, and of the Congress, +unite with their countrymen in doing honor to the memory of the +men who, one hundred years ago, at this hour, and upon this spot, put +in place the corner-stone of the Capitol of the American Republic. +The century rolls back, and we stand in the presence of the grandest +and most imposing figure known to any age or country. Washington, +as Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons, clothed in the symbolic +garments of that venerable Order, wearing the apron and the sash +wrought by the hands of the wife of the beloved Lafayette, impressively +and in accordance with the time-honored usages of that Order, is +laying his hands upon the corner-stone of the future and permanent +Capitol of his country. The solemn ceremonies of the hour were +conducted by Washington, not only in his office of Grand Master of +Free Masons, but in his yet more august office of President of the +United States. Assisting him in the fitting observance of these +impressive rites, were representatives of the Masonic Lodges of +Virginia and Maryland, while around him stood men whose honored +names live with his in history--the men who, on field and in council, +had aided first in achieving independence, and then in the yet more +difficult task of garnering, by wise legislation, the fruits of +victory. Truly, the centennial of an event so fraught with interest +should not pass unnoticed. + +"History furnishes no parallel to the century whose close we now +commemorate. Among all the centuries it stands alone. With hearts +filled with gratitude to the God of our fathers, it is well that +we recall something of the progress of the young Republic, since +the masterful hour when Washington laid his hands upon the +foundation-stone of yonder Capitol. + +"The seven years of colonial struggle for liberty had terminated +in glorious victory. Independence had been achieved. The Articles +of Confederation, binding the Colonies together in a mere league +of friendship, had given place to the Constitution of the United +States--that wonderful instrument, so aptly declared by Mr. Gladstone +to be 'the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by +the brain and purpose of man.' + +"Without a dissenting voice in the Electoral Colleges, Washington had +been chosen President. At his council-table sat Jefferson, the +author of the Declaration of Independence; Hamilton, of whom it +has been said, 'He smote the rock of the national resources, and +abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead +corpse of the public credit, and it sprung upon its feet'; Knox, the +brave and trusted friend of his chief during the colonial struggle; +and Edmund Randolph, the impress of whose genius has been indelibly +left upon the Federal Constitution. Vermont and Kentucky, as +sovereign States--coequal with the original thirteen--had been +admitted into the Union. The Supreme Court, consisting of six +members, had been constituted, with the learned jurist John Jay +as its Chief Justice. The popular branch of the Congress consisted +of but one hundred and five members. Thirty members constituted +the Senate, over whose deliberations presided the patriot statesman, +John Adams. The population of the entire country was less than +four millions. The village of Washington, the capital--and I trust +for all coming ages the capital--contained but a few hundred +inhabitants. + +"After peace had been concluded with Great Britain, and while we +were yet under the Articles of Confederation, the sessions of +the Congress were held successively at Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, +and New York. In the presence of both houses of Congress, on +the thirtieth day of April, 1789, in the city of New York, Washington +had been inaugurated President. From that hour--the beginning +of our Government under the Constitution--the Congress was held in +New York, until 1790, then in Philadelphia until 1800, when, on +November 17, it first convened in Washington. The necessity of +selecting a suitable and central place for the permanent location of +the seat of Government early engaged the thoughtful consideration of +our fathers. It cannot be supposed that the question reached a +final determination without great embarrassment, earnest discussion, +and the manifestation of sectional jealousies. But, as has been +well said, the good genius of our system finally prevailed, 'and +a district of territory on the River Potomac, at some place between +the mouths of the Eastern branch and the Conococheague,' was, by +Act of Congress of June 28, 1790, 'accepted for the permanent seat +of the Government of the United States.' From the seventeenth day +of November, 1800, this city has been the capital. When that +day came, Washington had gone to his grave, John Adams was President, +and Jefferson the presiding officer of the Senate. It may be well +to recall that upon the occasion of the assembling for the first +time of the Congress in the Capitol, President Adams appeared before +the Senate and the House, in joint session, and said: + +"'It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to +assemble for the first time in this solemn temple, without looking +up to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and imploring His blessing. +You will consider it as the capital of a great nation, advancing +with unexampled rapidity in arts, in commerce, in wealth, and +population, and possessing within itself those resources which, if +not thrown away or lamentably misdirected, will secure it a long +course of prosperity and self-government.' + +"To this address of President Adams the Senate made reply: + +"'We meet you, sir, and the other branch of the national Legislature, +in the city which is honored by the name of our late hero and sage, +the illustrious Washington, with sensations and emotions which +exceed our power of description.' + +"From the date last given until the burning of the Capitol by +the British, in 1814, in the room now occupied by the Supreme Court +Library, in the north wing, were held the sessions of the Senate. +That now almost forgotten apartment witnessed the assembling of +Senators who, at an earlier period of our history, had been the +associates of Washington and Franklin, and had themselves played +no mean part in crystallizing into the great organic law, the +deathless principles of the Declaration of Independence. From this +chamber went forth the second Declaration of War against Great +Britain; and here, before the Senate as a court of impeachment, +was arraigned a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, +to answer the charge of alleged high crimes and misdemeanors. + +"With the rolling years and the rapid growth of the Republic, came +the imperative necessity for enlarging its Capitol. The debates +upon this subject culminated in the Act of Congress of September +30, 1850, providing for the erection of the north and south wings of +the Capitol. Thomas U. Walter was the architect to whose hand was +committed the great work. Yonder noble structure will stand for +ages the silent witness of the fidelity with which the important +trust was discharged. + +"The corner-stone of the additions was laid by President Fillmore, +on the fourth day of July, 1851. In honor of that event, and by +request of the President, Mr. Webster pronounced an oration, and +while we have a country and a language his words will touch a +responsive chord in patriotic hearts. Beneath the corner-stone +was then deposited a paper, in the handwriting of Mr. Webster, +containing the following words: + +"'If it shall be, hereafter, the will of God, that this structure +shall fall from its base, that its foundation be upturned and this +deposit brought to the eyes of men, be it then known that on this day +the Union of the United States of America stands firm, that +their Constitution still exists unimpaired, with all its +original usefulness and glory, growing every day stronger and +stronger in the affections of the great body of the American people, +and attracting more and more the attention of the world. And all +here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private +life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the +preservation of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite in +sincere and fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and +arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures now +to be erected over it, may endure forever.' + +"From the sixth day of December, 1819, until January 4, 1859, a +period of thirty-nine years, the sessions of the Senate were held +in the present Supreme Court room. This was, indeed, the arena of +high debate. When, in any age, or in any country, has there +been gathered, within so small compass, so much of human greatness? +Even to suggest the great questions here discussed and determined, +would be to write a history of that eventful period. It was, +indeed, the coming together of the master spirits of the second +generation of American statesmen. Here were Macon and Crawford, +Benton, Randolph, Cass, Bell, Houston, Preston, Buchanan, Seward, Chase, +Crittenden, Sumner, Choate, Everett, Breese, Trumbull, Fessenden, Douglas, +Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and others scarcely less illustrious. +Within the walls of that little chamber was heard the wondrous +debate between Hayne and Webster. There began the fierce conflict +of antagonistic ideas touching the respective powers of the State and +of the Nation--a conflict which, transferred to a different theatre, +found final solution only in the bloody arbitrament of arms. + +"For more than a third of a century the sessions of the Senate have +been held in the magnificent chamber of the north wing of the +Capitol. Of the procession of sixty-two Senators that, preceded +by the Vice-President, Mr. Breckenridge, entered the Chamber for +the first time, on the fourth day of January, 1859, but four survive; +not one remains in public life. It is, indeed, now a procession of +shadows. + +"When the foundation-stone of this Capitol was laid, our Republic was +in its infancy, and self-government yet an untried experiment. It +is a proud reflection to-day that time has proved the true arbiter, +and that the capacity of a free and intelligent people to govern +themselves by written constitution and laws, of their own making, is +no longer an experiment. The crucial test of a century of +unparalleled material prosperity has been safely endured. + +"In 1793 there was no city west of the Alleghanies. To-day a single +city on Lake Michigan contains a population of a little less +than one-half of the Republic at the time of the first inauguration +of Washington. States have been carved out of the wilderness, and +our great rivers, whose silence met no break on their pathway to +the sea, are now the arteries of our interior trade, and bear upon +their bosoms a commerce which surpasses a hundred-fold that of the +entire country a century ago. + +"From fifteen States and four millions of people, we have grown to +fifty States and Territories, and sixty-seven millions of people; from +an area of eight hundred and five thousand, to an area of three +million, six hundred thousand square miles; from a narrow strip +along the Atlantic seaboard, to an unbroken possession from ocean to +ocean. How marvellous the increase in our national wealth! In +1793, our imports amounted to thirty-one million, and our exports to +twenty-six million dollars. Now our imports are eight hundred and +forty-seven million, and our exports one billion and thirty million +dollars. Thirty-three million tons of freight are carried on +our Great Lakes, whose only burden then was the Indian's canoe. +Then our national wealth was inconsiderable; now our assessed +valuation amounts to the enormous sum of twenty-four billion, +six hundred and fifty million dollars. Then trade and travel were +dependent upon beasts of burden and on sailing vessels; now steam and +electricity do our bidding, railroads cover the land, boats burden +the waters, the telegraph reaches every city and hamlet; distance +is annihilated, and + + "'Civilization, on her luminous wings, + Soars, Phoenix-like, to Jove.' + +"In the presence of this wondrous fulfillment of predicted greatness, +prophecy looks out upon the future and stands dumb. + +"When this corner-stone was laid, France, then in the throes of +a revolution, had just declared war against Great Britain--a war +in which all Europe eventually became involved. Within a century of +that hour, in the capital of France, there convened an international +court, its presiding officer an eminent citizen of the French +Republic, its members representatives of sovereign European States, +its object the peaceable adjustment of controversies between Great +Britain and the United States. + +"Was it Richelieu who said, 'Take away the sword; States can be +saved without it'? + +"In no part of our mechanism of government was the wisdom of our +fathers more strikingly displayed than in the division of power +into the three great departments--legislative, executive, and +judicial. In an equal degree was that wisdom manifested by the +division of Congress into a Senate and a House of Representatives. +Upon the Senate the Constitution has devolved important functions other +than those of a merely legislative character. Coequal with the +House in matters of legislation, it is, in addition, the advisory +body of the President in appointments to office, and in treating +with foreign nations. The mode of election, together with the long +term of service, unquestionably fosters a spirit of conservatism +in the Senate. Always organized, it is the continuing body of our +national legislature. Its members change, but the Senate continues +--the same now as at the first hour of the Republic. Before no +human tribunal come for determination issues of weightier moment. +It were idle to doubt that problems yet lie in our pathway as a +nation, as difficult of solution as any that in times past have +tried the courage or tested the wisdom of our fathers. Yet, may +we not confidently abide in the faith that in the keeping of those +who succeed the illustrious sages I have named, the dearest interest +of our country will be faithfully conserved, and in the words of +an eminent predecessor, 'though these marble walls moulder into +ruin, the Senate, in another age, may bear into a new and large +chamber the Constitution, vigorous and inviolate, and that the last +generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the +representatives of American States, still united, prosperous, +and free'? + +"And may our fathers' God, 'from out of whose hand the centuries +fall like grains of sand,' continue to the American people, throughout +all the ages, the prosperity and blessings which He has given to +us in the past." + + + +XXXV +COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN CENTRAL PARK + +FITNESS OF NEW YORK AS THE SITE FOR THE STATUE--VAST IMPORTANCE OF +THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA--COLUMBUS'S HUMILITY AND HIS TRUST IN GOD +--THE STATUE UNVEILED--CONCLUDING WORDS OF MR. DEPEW'S ORATION. + +Facing the statue of Shakespeare in Central Park, New York, is that +of Christopher Columbus. It was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies. +General James Grant Wilson presided; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe read her +beautiful poem, "The Mariner's Dream," and the oration was delivered +by the Hon. Chauncey Depew. Upon this occasion I spoke as follows: + +"This hour will live in history. Central Park, beautiful and +magnificent, is the fitting place for the statue of Columbus. +It is well that to the City of New York, the metropolis of the +continent, should have fallen the grateful task of portraying to +the millions of all the coming ages the features of the man who, +despite obstacles and dangers, marked out the pathway to the New +World. + +"The name and fame of Columbus belong exclusively to no age or +country. They are the enduring heritage of all people. Your +President has truly said: 'In all the transactions of history, +there is no act which, for vastness and performance, can be compared +to the discovery of the continent of America.' In the modest words +of the great navigator, he 'only opened the gates'; and lo! there came +in the builders of a new and mighty nation. + +"It is said that in Venice there is sacredly preserved a letter +written by Columbus a few hours before he sailed from Palos. With +reverent expression of trust in God, humbly, but with unfaltering faith, +he spoke of his proposed voyage to that famous land. He builded +better than he knew. His dream, while a suppliant in the outer +chambers of kings, and while keeping lonely vigil on the deep, was +the discovery of a new pathway to the Indies. Yet who can doubt +that to his prophetic soul was then foreshadowed something of that +famous land with the warp and woof of whose history, tradition, +and song, his name and fame are linked for all time? Was it Mr. +Winthrop who said of Columbus and his compeers: 'They were the +pioneers in the march to independence; the precursors in the +only progress of freedom which was to have no backward steps.' + +"Is it too much to say of this man that among the world's benefactors +a greater than he hath not appeared? What page in our history +tells of deeds so fraught with blessings to the generations of men +as the discovery of America? Columbus added a continent to the +map of the world. + +"I will detain you no longer. Your eyes will now behold this +splendid work of art. It is well that its approaches are firm and +broad, for along this pathway, with the rolling centuries, will +come, as pilgrims to a shrine, the myriads of all lands to behold this +statue of Columbus, this enduring monument of the gratitude of a +great city, of a great nation." + +As the last words were spoken, I leaned over and grasped the +rope fastened to the flag that enveloped the statue. The flag +parted on either side and was removed by the attendants. The statue +stood revealed in all its beauty under the shade of the great elms +of the Mall. + +Mr. Depew concluded his eloquent oration with the following words: + +"We are here to erect this statue to his memory because of the +unnumbered blessings to America and to the people of every race +and clime which have followed his discovery. His genius and faith +gave succeeding generations the opportunity for life and liberty. +We, the heirs of all the ages, in the plenitude of our enjoyments, +and the prodigality of the favors showered upon us, hail Columbus our +benefactor." + + + +XXXVI +A PLATFORM NOT DANGEROUS TO STAND UPON + +A CITIZEN WHO LONGED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE MISSOURI LEGISLATURE--A +COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY A MEETING OF HIS FRIENDS--DIFFICULTY IN +ARRANGING THE PLATFORM--THE RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY. + +The builders of political platforms, which uniformly "point with +pride" and "view with alarm," may possibly glean a valuable suggestion +from the following incident related by Governor Knott. In the +county in the good State of Missouri in which his fortune was cast +for a while, there lived and flourished, in the ante-bellum days, +one Solomon P. Rodes, whose earnest and long-continued yearning +was to be a member of the State Legislature. So intense, indeed, had +this feeling become in the mind of Solomon, that he at length openly +declared that he "would rather go to the Missouri Legislater, than +to be the Czar of Roosky." And in passing, it may here be +safely admitted that even a wiser man than Solomon might make this +declaration in these early years of the twentieth century. + +Following the example of greater men than himself when aspiring to +public office, Mr. Rodes called a meeting of his party friends +in his precinct, to the end that his modest "boom" might be +successfully launched. After the accustomed organization had been +effected, a committee of five, of which our aspirant was chairman, +was duly appointed to prepare and present appropriate resolutions. +The committee at once retired for consultation, to a log in the +rear of the schoolhouse, leaving the convention in session. No +rattling orator being present to arouse the enthusiasm so essential +to patient waiting, the little assemblage, wearied by the delay, +at length despatched a messenger to expedite, if possible, the +labors of the committee. The messenger found the committee in a +condition far otherwise than encouraging. The resolutions had +failed to materialize, and the chairman, seated upon the log, with +pencil in hand, and gazing pensively upon a blank leaf before him, +seemed the very picture of despair. Upon a second admonition from +the unreasonably impatient meeting, that adjournment would +immediately take place unless the resolutions were reported, the +committee hastily concluded its labors and, preceded by the chairman +with document in hand, solemnly returned to the place of assembly. + +The resolutions, two in number, and unanimously and with great +enthusiasm promptly adopted, were in words and figures as follows, +to-wit: + +"(1) Resolv that in the declaration of independence and likewise +also in the constitution of the united states, we recognize _a able +and well ritten document,_ and that we are tetotually oppose to +the repeal of airy one of the aforesaid instruments of riting. +Resolv: + +"(2) that in our fellow-townsman, Solomon P. Rodes, we view a onest +man and _hereby annominate him for the legislater."_ + + + +XXXVII +ANECDOTES OF GOVERNOR OGLESBY + +OGLESBY'S GREATNESS IN DISCUSSING QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH THE +REBELLION--HIS WORK IN THE MEXICAN AND CIVIL WARS--HE VISITS THE +ORIENT--FAILS TO FIND OUT WHO BUILT THE PYRAMIDS. + +Few men have enjoyed a greater degree of popularity than did the +late Governor Oglesby of Illinois. He was whole-souled, genial, +and at all times the most delightful of companions. He stood in +the front rank of campaign orators when slavery, rebellion, war, and +reconstruction were the stirring questions of the hour. In the +discussion of these once vital issues, with the entire State for +an audience, he was without a peer. But when they were relegated to +the domain of history and succeeded by tariff, finance, and +other commonplace, everyday questions, the Governor felt greatly +hampered. In a large degree Othello's occupation was gone. +Cold facts, statistics, figures running up into the millions, gave +little opportunity for the play of his wonderful imagination. + +In his second race for Governor, in a speech at Bloomington, he +said, in a deprecatory tone: "These Democrats undertake to discuss +the financial question. They oughtn't to do that. They can't +possibly understand it. The Lord's truth is, fellow-citizens, _it +is about all we Republicans can do to understand that question!"_ + +He was a gallant soldier in the Mexican and in the great Civil War, +and in the latter achieved distinction as a commanding officer. +With Weldon, Ewing, McNulta, Fifer, Rowell, and others as listeners, +he once graphically described the first battle in which he was +engaged. Turning to his old-time comrade, McNulta, he said: "There +is one supreme moment in the experience of a soldier that is +absolutely ecstatic!" "That," quickly replied McNulta, "is the very +moment when he gets into battle." + +"No, damn it," said Oglesby, _"it is the very moment he gets out!"_ + +In his early manhood, Oglesby spent some years abroad. His pilgrimage +extended even to Egypt, up the Nile, and to the Holy Land. + +Few persons at the time having visited the Orient, Oglesby's +descriptions of the wonders of the far-off countries were listened +to with the deepest interest. With both memory and imagination in +their prime, it can easily be believed that those wonders of the +Orient lost nothing by his description. Soon after his return +he lectured in Bloomington. The audience were delighted, especially +with his description of the Pyramids. + +None of us had ever before seen or heard a man who had actually, +with his own eyes, beheld these wonders of the ages. Near the +close of his lecture, and just after he had suggested the probability +of Abraham and Sarah having taken in the Pyramids on their wedding +trip, some one in the audience inquired; + +"Who built the Pyramids?" + +"Oh, damn it," quickly replied the orator, "I don't know who built +them; _I asked everybody I saw in Egypt and none of them knew!"_ + +For much that is of interest in the career of Governor Oglesby I +am indebted to his honored successor in office, my neighbor and +friend, Hon. Joseph W. Fifer--than whom the country has had no +braver soldier and the State no abler Chief Executive. + + + +XXXVIII +THE ONE ENEMY + +CALEB CUSHING'S POLITICAL CAREER--HIS GREAT AMBITION A SEAT UPON +THE SUPREME BENCH--HIS APPOINTMENT THERETO--HIS ONE ENEMY DEFEATS HIS +CONFIRMATION. + +_"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, +And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere."_ + +The truth of the above couplet has rarely had more forcible +illustration than in the case of the late Caleb Cushing of +Massachusetts. In politics he was successively Whig, Democrat, +and Republican. During his first political affiliation, he was +a Representative in Congress; in the second a member of Pierce's +Cabinet; and in the third a Minister abroad. He was an eminent +lawyer, and for a term ably discharged the duties of Attorney-General +of the United States. His one ambition was a seat upon the Supreme +Bench. + +This was at length gratified by his appointment as Chief Justice +of the Great Court. Unfortunately he had, years before, given +mortal offence to Aaron A. Sargent, then recently admitted to +the bar. The latter soon after moved to California, and became in +time a Senator from that State. + +When the appointment of Cushing came before the Senate for +confirmation, his _one enemy_ was there. The appointee had long +since forgotten the young lawyer he had once treated so rudely, +but he had not been forgotten. The hour of revenge had now come. +After a protracted and bitter struggle, Sargent, of the same +political affiliation as Cushing, succeeded in defeating the +confirmation by a single vote. The political sensation of the hour +was the Senator's prompt message to his defeated enemy: + + "Time at last sets all things even; + And if we do but watch the hour, + There never yet was human power + Which could evade, if unforgiven, + The patient search and vigil long, + Of him who treasures up a wrong." + + + +XXXIX +CONTRASTS OF TIMES + +TRAVELLING IN 1845 COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE PRESENT DAY. + +While I was Assistant Postmaster-General, Senator Whittihorne, +of Tennessee, called at the Department to see me on official +business. Seated at a window overlooking the Capitol, he remarked +that the chords of memory were touched as he entered the room; that +when barely of age, he occupied for a time a desk as a clerk just +where he was seated. + +He then told me that at the time of the Presidential election in +1844 he was a law student in the office of Mr. Polk, and by his +invitation came on with him to Washington. The journey of the +President-elect, from Nashville to Washington, was in February, +1845, just prior to his inauguration. He was accompanied by the +members of his immediate family, his law student Mr. Whittihorne, and +the Hon. Cave Johnson, who was soon to hold a position in his +Cabinet. The journey to Washington, as Senator Whittihorne told +me, was of two weeks' duration: first, by steamboat on the Cumberland +and the Ohio to Pittsburg; thence by stage coach to the national +Capitol. + +At the time mentioned, railroads scarcely had an existence south +of the Ohio and west of the Alleghanies; and save the single +wire from Washington to Baltimore, no telegraph line had been +constructed. + +How striking the commentary, alike upon human accomplishment, +and upon opportunity under our free institutions, is here presented! +The wearisome and hazardous journey of half a month by steamboat +and stage coach had been succeeded by one in palace car of a day +and a night of comparative ease and safety, and the clerk had risen +from a humble place in the Department to that of Senator from one of +the great States in the Union. + + +XL +ENDORSING THE ADMINISTRATION + +DIFFICULTY EXPERIENCED BY DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS IN PROCURING APPOINTMENTS +FOR THEIR CONSTITUENTS--A NEW MEMBER THREATENS TO FRAME RESOLUTIONS +OF CONDEMNATION--HE DOES THE VERY OPPOSITE--AN EXPLANATORY ANECDOTE. + +The Democratic members of the forty-ninth Congress who yet survive +will probably recall something of the difficulty they experienced in +procuring for aspiring constituents prompt appointments to positions +of honor, trust, and profit, under the then lately inaugurated +administration. An earnest desire was felt, and vehemently expressed +at times, by those who had been long excluded from everything that +savored of Federal recognition, for sweeping changes all along the +line. + +A new member of the House, from one of the border States, believing +that his grievances were far too heavy to be meekly borne, made +open declaration of war, and asserted with great confidence and +with the free use of words nowhere to be found in "Little Helps to +Youthful Beginners," that at the approaching Democratic convention +of his State, resolutions of condemnation of no uncertain sound +would be adopted. Some conciliatory observations, which I ventured +to offer, were treated with scorn, and the irate member, still +breathing out threatenings, hastily turned his footsteps homeward. + +A few mornings later, I was agreeably surprised to find in _The +Post_ a telegram to the effect that upon the assembling of the +convention aforementioned, the honorable gentleman above designated, +securing prompt recognition from the chair, had, under a suspension +of the rules, secured the unanimous adoption of a resolution +enthusiastically and unconditionally endorsing every act, past, +present, and to come, of the national Democratic administration. + +Upon the return of the member to Washington, I expressed to him my +surprise at a conversion which, in suddenness and power, had possibly +but one parallel in either sacred or profane history. Closing his +near eye, he said: + +"Look here! I can illustrate my position about this matter by +relating a little incident I witnessed near the close of the war. +Just as I was leaving an old ferry-boat in which I had crossed the +Tennessee River, my attention was attracted to a canoe near by +in which were seated two fishermen, both negroes, one a very old +man and the other a small boy. Suddenly the canoe capsized and +they were both dumped in the deep water. The boy was an expert +swimmer and was in no danger. Not so with the old man; he sank +immediately, and it certainly seemed that his fishing days were +over. The boy, however, with a pluck and skill that did him great +credit, instantly dived to the bottom of the river, and with great +difficulty and much personal peril finally succeeded in landing +the old man upon the shore. + +"Approaching the heroic youth, as he was wringing the water from +his own garments, I inquired, + +"'Your father, is he?' + +"'No, sir,' was the quick reply, 'he ain't my father.' + +"'Your grandfather, then?' + +"'No, sir, he ain't my grandfather nuther, he ain't no kin to me, I +tell you.' + +"'Earnestly expressing my surprise at his having imperilled his +own life to save a man who was no kin to him, the boy replied,' + +"'You see, dis was de way of it boss; _de ole man, he had de bait!"_ + + +XLI +ANECDOTES ABOUT LINCOLN + +LINCOLN'S TROUBLE WITH THREE EMANCIPATION ENTHUSIASTS--A SCHOOLBOY'S +TROUBLE WITH SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO--PRETTY WELL OFF WITH +A FORTUNE OF FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS--LINCOLN REBUKES SOME RICH MEN +WHO DEMAND A GUNBOAT FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW YORK. + +The Hon. John B. Henderson, now of Washington City, but during the +war and the early reconstruction period a distinguished Union +Senator from Missouri, relates the following incident of Mr. Lincoln. +During the gloomy period of 1862, late one Sunday afternoon he +called upon the President and found his alone in his library. +After some moments Mr. Lincoln, apparently much depressed, stated +in substance: "They are making every effort, Henderson, to induce +me to issue a Proclamation of Emancipation. Sumner and Wilson and +Stevens are constantly urging me, but I don't think it best now; +do _you_ think so, Henderson?" To which the latter promptly replied +that he did not think so; that such a measure, under existing +conditions, would, in his judgment, be ill-advised and possibly +disastrous. "Just what I think," said the President, "but they +are constantly coming and urging me, sometimes alone, sometimes in +couples, and sometimes _all three together,_ but constantly pressing +me." With that he walked across the room to a window and looked +out upon the Avenue. Sure enough, Wilson, Stevens, and Sumner were +seen approaching the Executive Mansion. Calling his visitor to +the window and pointing to the approaching figures, in a tone +expressing something of that wondrous sense of humor that no burden +or disaster could wholly dispel, he said, "Henderson, did you ever +attend an old field school?" Henderson replied that he did. + +"So did I," said the President; "what little education I +ever got in early life was in that way. I attended an old field +school in Indiana, where our only reading-book was the Bible. One +day we were standing up reading the account of the three Hebrew +children in the fiery furnace. A little tow-headed fellow who +stood beside me had the verse with the unpronounceable names; he +mangled up Shadrach and Meshach woefully, and finally went all +to pieces on Abednego. Smarting under the blows which, in accordance +with the old-time custom, promptly followed his delinquency, the +little fellow sobbed aloud. The reading, however, went round, each +boy in the class reading his verse in turn. The sobbing at length +ceased, and the tow-headed boy gazed intently upon the verses ahead. + +"Suddenly he gave a pitiful yell, at which the school-master +demanded: + +"'What is the matter with you now?' + +"'Look there,' said the boy, pointing to the next verse, 'there +comes them same damn three fellows again!'" + +As indicating the slight concern Mr. Lincoln had about money-making, +as well as the significance of the expression "well-off" half a +century or so ago, the following conversation, related by Judge +Weldon, is in point. + +At the opening of the De Witt Circuit Court in May, 1859, just a +year before his first nomination for the Presidency, Mr. Lincoln +was present, unattended for possibly the first time by his life-long +friend, Major John T. Stuart. Upon inquiry from Weldon as to +whether Stuart was coming, Lincoln replied, "No, Stuart told me +that he would not be here this term." + +Weldon then remarked, "I suppose the Major has gotten to be pretty +well off and doesn't have to attend all the courts in the Circuit." + +"Yes," replied Lincoln, "Stuart is pretty well to do, pretty well to +do." + +"How much is the Major probably worth, Mr. Lincoln?" asked Mr. +Weldon. + +"Well," replied the latter, after a moment's thought, "I don't know +exactly; Stuart is pretty well off; _I suppose he must be worth +about fifteen thousand dollars."_ + +Another incident characteristic of Mr. Lincoln, was related by his +friend Judge Weldon. + +During the gloomiest period of the war, and while our seaboard +cities were in constant apprehension of attack, a delegation of +business men from New York visited Washington for the purpose of +having a gunboat secured for the defence of their city. At +their request, Judge Weldon accompanied them to the Executive +Mansion and introduced them to the President. The spokesman of +the delegation, after depicting at length and in somewhat +pompous manner, the dangers that threatened the great metropolis, took +occasion, in manner at once conclusive, to state that he spoke with +authority, that the gentlemen represented property aggregating +in value many hundreds of millions of dollars. At this, Mr. Lincoln +interposing impatiently, and in a manner never to be forgotten, +said: + +"It seems to me, gentlemen, that if I were as rich as you _say_ +you are, and as badly _scared_ as you _appear_ to be, I would, +in this hour of my country's distress, _just buy that gunboat +myself!"_ + + +XLII +THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA + +FAR-REACHING EFFECTS OF THE FOUNDING OF THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF +BURGESSES--VIRGINIA'S GIFT OF TERRITORY TO THE GOVERNMENT--KASKASKIA +CAPTURED FROM THE BRITISH--JAMESTOWN THE SCENE OF THE FIRST BRITISH +COLONY--THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT--SALUTARY +LAWS MADE--POCAHONTAS--GOVERNMENT BY CHARTER--DESPOTISM OF JAMES +I--MACAULAY ON THE STUART DYNASTY--THE THIRTEEN ORIGINAL COLONIES-- +UNJUST TAXATION--PROGRESS OF REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES--VIRGINIA NOTABLE +FOR HER STATESMEN. + +On the thirtieth of July, 1907, at the Jamestown Exposition, was +celebrated the anniversary of the assembling of the House of +Burgesses of Virginia, the first legislative body to assemble upon +the Western continent. The meeting was presided over by the present +Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and by invitation of the +President of the Exposition addresses were made by ex-speakers +Carlisle, Keifer, and myself. + +My address was as follows: + +"We have assembled upon historic ground. We celebrate to-day a +masterful historic event. Other anniversaries, sacredly observed, +have their deep meaning; no one, however, is fraught with profounder +significance than this. + +"The management of the great Exposition did well to set apart this +thirtieth of July to commemorate the coming together at Jamestown of +the first legislative assembly in the New World. The assembling +of the representatives of the people upon the eventful day two +hundred and eighty-six years ago--of which this is the anniversary +--marked an epoch which, in far-reaching consequences, scarcely +finds a parallel in history. It was the initial step in the series +of stupendous events which found their culmination in the Bill +of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the formulation of +the Federal Constitution. + +"From my home, a thousand miles to the westward, in the great valley +of the Mississippi, I come at your bidding to bear part in the +exercises of this day. Not as a stranger, an alien to your blood, +but as your countryman, your fellow-citizen, I gladly lift my voice +in this great assemblage. And when were the words, 'fellow-citizens,' +of deeper significance as suggestive of a more glorious past +then to-day, as we gather upon this hallowed spot to commemorate +one of the grandest events of which history has any record? + +"The magical words, 'fellow-citizens,' never fail to touch a +responsive chord in the patriotic heart. Was it the gifted Prentiss +who at a critical moment of our history exclaimed, 'For whether +upon the Sabine or the St. Johns; standing in the shadow of Bunker +Hill, or amid the ruins of Jamestown; near the great northern chain +of lakes, or within the sound of the Father of Waters, flowing +unvexed to the sea; in the crowded mart of the great metropolis, +or upon the western verge of the continent, where the restless tide +of emigration is stayed only by the ocean--everywhere upon this +broad domain, thank God, I can still say, "fellow-citizens"'? + +"And truly, an Illinoisan is no stranger within the confines of +'the Old Dominion.' You have not forgotten, we cannot forget, that +the territory now embraced in five magnificent commonwealths +bordering upon the Ohio and the Mississippi, was at a crucial period +of our history the generous gift of Virginia to the general +Government,--a gift that in splendid statesmanship and in far-reaching +consequence has no counterpart; one which at the pivotal moment made +possible the ratification of the Articles of Confederation--the +sure forecast of 'the more perfect Union' yet to follow. Illinois, +the greatest of the commonwealths to which I have alluded, can +never forget that it was a Virginian, George Rogers Clark, who, in +the darkest days of the Revolution, led the expedition--'worthy of +mention,' as was said by John Randolph, 'with that of Hannibal +in Italy,'--by which the ancient capital, Kaskaskia, was captured, +the British flag deposed, and Illinois taken possession of in +the name of the commonwealth whose Governor, Patrick Henry, had +authorized the masterful conquest. Nor can it be forgotten that +the deed of cession by which Illinois became part and parcel of +the general Government, bears--as commissioners upon the part of +Virginia--the honored names of Arthur Lee, James Monroe, and Thomas +Jefferson. Is it to be wondered at, that a magnificent Illinois +building adorns the grounds of the Jamestown Exposition,--and that +Illinois hearts everywhere beat in unison with yours in the +celebration of one of the epoch-marking days of all the ages? + +"The time is propitious for setting history aright. This exposition +will not have been in vain if the fact be crystallized into history +yet to be written, that the first settlement by English-speaking +people--just three centuries ago--upon this continent, was at +Jamestown. And that here self-government--in its crude form but +none the less self-government--had its historical beginning. Truly +has it been said by an eminent writer of your own State, that prior +to December, 1620, 'the colony of Virginia had become so firmly +established and self-government in precisely the same form which +existed up to the Revolution throughout the English colonies had +taken such firm root thereon, that it was beginning to affect +not only the people but the Government of Great Britain.' In +the old church at Jamestown, on July 30, 1619, was held the +first legislative assembly of the New World--the historical House of +Burgesses. It consisted of twenty-two members, and its constituencies +were the several plantations of the colony. A speaker was elected, +the session opened with prayer, and the oath of supremacy duly +taken. The Governor and Council occupied the front seats, and the +members of the body, in accordance with the custom of the +British Parliament, wore their hats during the session. + +"This General Assembly convened in response to a summons issued by +Sir George Yeardley, the recently appointed Governor of the colony. +Hitherto the colony had been governed by the London Council; the +real life of Virginia dates from the arrival of Yeardley, bringing +with him from England 'commissions and instructions for the better +establishing of a commonwealth.' + +"The centuries roll back, and before us, in solemn session, is the +first assembly upon this continent of the chosen representatives +of the people. It were impossible to overstate its deep import to +the struggling colony, or its far-reaching consequence to States +yet unborn. In this little assemblage of twenty-two burgesses, +the Legislatures of nearly fifty commonwealths to-day and of the +Congress with its representatives from all the States of 'an +indestructible union' find their historical beginning. The words of +Bancroft in this connection are worthy of remembrance: 'A perpetual +interest attaches to this first elective body that ever assembled +in the Western world, representing the people of Virginia and making +laws for their government more than a year before the _Mayflower_ with +the Pilgrims left the harbor of Southampton, and while Virginia +was still the only British colony on the continent of America.' + +"It is to us to-day a matter of profound gratitude that these +the earliest American lawgivers were eminently worthy their high +vocation. While confounding, in some degree, the separate functions +of government, as abstractly defined at a later day by Montesquieu, +and eventually put in concrete form in our fundamental laws, State +and Federal--it is none the less true that these first legislators +clearly discerned their inherent rights as a part of the English-speaking +race. More important still, a perusal of the brief records they +have left, impresses the conviction that they were no strangers to +the underlying fact that the people are the true source of political +power, the evidence whereof is to be found in the scant records of +their proceedings--a priceless heritage of all future generations. +And first--and fundamental in all legislative assemblies--they +asserted the absolute right to determine as to the election and +qualification of members. Grants of land were asked, not only for +the planters, but for their wives, 'as equally important parts +of the colony.' It was wisely provided that of the natives 'the +most towardly boys in wit and the graces' should be educated and set +apart to the work of converting the Indians to the Christian +religion; stringent penalties were attached to idleness, gambling, +and drunkenness; excess in apparel was prohibited by heavy taxation; +encouragement was given to agriculture in all its known forms; +while conceding 'the commission of privileges' brought over by the +new Governor as their fundamental law, yet with the liberty-guarding +instinct of their race they kept the way open for seeking redress, +'in case they should find aught not perfectly squaring with the +state of the colony.' No less important were the enactments +regulating the dealings of the colonists with the Indians. Yet to +be mentioned, and of transcendent importance, was the claim of the +burgesses 'to allow or disallow,' at their own good pleasure, +all orders of the court of the London Company. And deeply significant +was the declaration of these representatives of three centuries +ago, that their enactments were instantly to be put in force, +without waiting for their ratification in England. And not to +be forgotten is the stupendous fact that while the battle with the +untamed forces of nature was yet waging, and conflict with savage foe +of constant recurrence, these legislators provided for the maintenance +of public worship, and took the initial steps for the establishment +of an institution of learning. It is not too much to say that the +hour that witnessed these enactments witnessed the triumph of +the popular over the court party; in no unimportant sense, the +first triumph of the American colonists over kingly prerogative. +Looking through the mists of the mighty past, Mr. Speaker, to +the House of Burgesses, over which your first predecessor presided, +would it be out of place to apply to that assemblage the +historic words spoken of one of a later period: 'Nobles by the +right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a +mightier hand'? + +"Did the occasion permit, it would be of wondrous interest to linger +for a time with these, the earliest colonies in this, the cradle +of American civilization; to know something of their daily life, +their hopes and ambitions, their struggles and triumphs; something +of their ceaseless vigil and of the perils that environed them; to +recall stirring incidents and heroic achievements; to catch a gleam +of a spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion which in all the annals +of men scarcely finds a parallel. It would be of curious interest +to watch the parade and pomp of governors and councils of royal +appointment in attempted representation of a pageantry familiar to +the Old World, but which was to have no permanent abiding place in +the New. Governors and their subordinates--though bearing the +royal commission, yet in rare instances to be classed only as bad or +indifferent--pass in long procession before us into the dim shadows. +But out of the mists of this long past, two figures emerge that +have for us an abiding interest, John Smith and Pocahontas--names +that have place not alone in romance and song, but upon the pages of +veritable history. + +"Colonial governors strutted their brief hour upon the stage and +have long passed to oblivion; but Smith, the intrepid soldier, the +ever-present friend and counsellor of the early colonists, their +stalwart protector--alike against the bullet of the savage and the +mandate of official power--will not pass from remembrance so long as +heroic deeds are counted worthy of enduring record among men. + +"With dark background of rude cabin and wigwam, of scantily appointed +plantation, and of far-stretching forest--with its mysterious voices +and manifold perils--there passes before us the lovely form of the +beautiful Indian maiden, the daughter and pride of the renowned +native chieftain. So long as courage and fidelity arouse sympathy +and admiration, so long will the thrilling legend of Pocahontas +touch responsive chords in human hearts. Its glamour is upon +the early pages of colonial history; her witchery lingers upon +stream and forest, and the firm earth upon which we tread seems to +have been hallowed by her footsteps. + +"A name that sheds lustre upon the earliest pages of our Colonial history +is that of Sir Edwin Sandys. Under his courageous leadership, what +was known as the Virginia or Liberal party in the London Company +obtained a signal triumph over that of the court. The result +was the formal grant to the colony guaranteeing free government by +written charter. Its declared purpose was to secure 'the greatest +comfort and benefit to the people and the prevention of injustice, +grievances, and oppression.' It provided for full legislative +authority in the Assembly, and was with some modifications the +model of the systems subsequently introduced into the other English +colonies. + +"By this charter, representative government and trial by jury became +recognized rights in the New World. Upon this charter, as has been +truly said, 'Virginia erected the superstructure of her liberties.' + +"The coming of this charter marked an epoch in the history of +the Jamestown colony, and set the pace for English-speaking +settlements yet in the future. + +"It was in very truth the first step in the direction of the +establishment of the great Republic which was to be the enduring +beacon-light of self-governing people in all future ages. + +"To a full appreciation of the supreme significance of the mighty event +we to-day celebrate and its results--now constituting so inspiring +a chapter of history--some account must be taken of conditions then +existing in the mother country. While obtaining the guarantee of a +large measure of self-government for the New World, Sir Edwin Sandys +and his co-patriots were unable to secure that which even savored of +liberal administration in the Old. James--the first of the Stuart +Dynasty--was upon the English throne. In narrow, selfish state-craft +his is possibly in the long list of sovereigns without a rival. +The exercise and maintenance of royal prerogative was with him the +'be all and end all' of government, and, abetted by the sycophants +about him, he unwittingly laid the train of inexorable events that +were to culminate in the execution of one and the banishment of +another of his line. His claim was that of absolute power, and +during a reign of twenty-two years--extending from the death of +Queen Elizabeth to the year 1625--he was the unrelenting foe of +whatever pertained to freedom in religion or in government. His +apparent indifference to the execution of his mother--the ill-fated +Mary, Queen of Scots--and his condemnation of the illustrious +Sir Walter Raleigh to the scaffold, are alone sufficient to render +the memory of this monarch forever infamous. It is a marvel, +indeed, that with James the First upon the throne, and popular +freedom in such a low state throughout his immediate realm, that +so large a measure of liberty should have been conceded to the +distant colony. The achievement is the enduring evidence of +unsurpassed courage in the men in whose immediate keeping were the +early fortunes of the Virginia colony, and sheds unfading lustre +upon their memories. + +"Nor can it be forgotten that from the masterful hour that witnessed +the assembling of the first House of Burgesses until the abdication +of James the Second, the welfare of the Virginia colony was in +large measure in the iron grasp of stern antagonists to all that +pertained to liberty of conscience and to popular rule. Whatever there +was of progress during the seventy years--barring the brief period +of the Commonwealth--that immediately preceded the historic English +Revolution, and the crowning of William and Mary, was despite +the untiring hostility of the Stuart Dynasty. During this period the +lives of Englishmen at home were as the dust in the balance. It +witnessed the very heyday of the infamous Star Chamber. It was of +Strafford, the bloody instrument (though wearing judicial ermine) of +Charles the First, that Macaulay said: 'If justice, in the whole +range of its wide armory, contained one weapon which could pierce him, +that weapon his pursuers were bound, before God and man, to employ.' + +"And for all time, the Stuart Dynasty itself remains impaled by +the pen of the same master: + +"'Then came those days never to be recalled without a blush--the +days of servitude without loyalty, and sensuality without love, of +dwarfish talents and gigantic vices, the paradise of cold hearts +and narrow minds, the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and the +slave. The principles of liberty were the scoff of every grinning +courtier, and the _anathema maranatha_ of every fawning dean. +In every high place worship was paid to Charles and James--Belial and +Moloch,--and England propitiated those obscene and cruel idols with +the blood of her best and bravest children. Crime succeeded to +crime and disgrace to disgrace, until the race, accursed of God +and man, was a second time driven forth to wander on the face of +the earth, and to be a byword and a shaking of the head to the +nations.' + +"It is our pleasing task to turn now from the dark annals of our +English forebears to the stupendous events of which that we to-day +celebrate in the historical forecast. With the passing years, a +continuing tide of emigration was setting in from the Old to the +New World. Additional settlements had sprung into being, and +the Plantation in its distinctive sense had given way to the Colony, +to be succeeded yet later by the State. The glory of Jamestown +had measurably departed, and to Williamsburg, and yet later to the +now splendid city upon the James, had been transferred the seat of +Virginia authority. New England, despite natural obstacles and +constant peril, was surely working out her large place in history. +Puritan, Quaker, Dutchman, Cavalier, Scotch-Irish, and Huguenot +--'building better than they knew'--had established permanent +habitations from Plymouth Rock to Savannah. Brave men from the +early fringe of settlements upon the Atlantic--regardless of +obstacle and danger--had pushed their way westward, and laid the +sure foundations of future commonwealths. From New Hampshire to +Georgia, thirteen English-speaking colonies, with a population +aggregating near two millions, had attained to a large measure +of the dignity of distinctive States. Their allegiance, meanwhile, +to the mother country had been unfaltering, and in her fierce +struggle with France for the mastery of the continent, America had +sealed her loyalty with the best blood of her sons. + +"The successors to the first House of Burgesses had learned well +the lessons gleaned from the scant pages of their earliest history. +Attempts to tax the unrepresented colonies soon encountered concerted +hostility. 'No taxation without representation' became the universal +slogan. The words spoken in the British Parliament by Barre--worthy +comrade of the gallant Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham--near a +century and a half after the event we now celebrate, will quicken the +pulse of all coming generations of American patriots. Said he: + +"'Your oppressions planted them in America. They fled from your +tyranny to a then uncultivated, unhospitable country where they +exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature +is liable, among others to the cruelties of a savage foe; they grew +by your neglect of them. As soon as you began to care for them, +that care was exercised in sending persons to rule them, to spy +out their liberties, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon +them; men whose behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of +those sons of liberty to recoil within them; men promoted to the +highest seats of justice, some who, to my knowledge, were glad, by +going to a foreign country, to escape being brought to the bar of a +court of justice in their own. The colonists have nobly taken +up arms in your defence; have asserted a valor amid their constant +and laborious industry for the defence of a country whose frontier +was drenched in blood. And, believe me--remember, I warn you--the +same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first will +accompany them still.' + +"And how prophetic now seem the words of Burke in the same great +debate: + +"'There is America, which at this day serves for little more than to +amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners, yet shall, +before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of +that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world.' + +"Standing at his hour almost within hailing distance of the spot +that witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis and the termination +of the War of the Revolution, it would be passing strange if we +should fail to catch something of the inspiration of the impassioned +words of Barre and of Burke, and their wondrous associations. + +"It is said that in Venice there is sacredly preserved a letter +written by Columbus a few hours before he sailed from Palos. With +reverent expression of trust in God--humbly but with unfaltering +faith--he spoke of his past voyage to 'that famous land.' His +dream while a suppliant in the outer chambers of kings, and +while keeping lonely vigil upon the deep, was the discovery of a +new pathway to the Indies. Yet who can doubt that to his prophetic +soul was even then fore-shadowed something of 'that famous land' +with the warp and woof of whose history, tradition, and song his +name and fame are linked for all time. Can it not truly be said +of the members of the first House of Burgesses, as was said of +Columbus and his compeers, 'They were pioneers in the march to +independence--precursors in the only progress of freedom which was +to have no backward steps?' They only 'opened the gates' and +lo! there came in the builders of a new and mighty nation. + +"Had it been given to the Virginia--the American--legislators whose +memories we honor this day, 'to look into the seeds of time,' what +mighty events, with the rolling years and centuries, would have +passed before their visions. They would have seen the colony they +had planted in the wilderness, day by day strengthening its cords, +enlarging its borders, and with firm tread advancing steadily to +recognized place among the nations. They would have beheld the +savage foe--giving way before the inexorable advance of the hated +'pale face'--sadly retreating toward the ever-receding western +verge of civilization. It would have been theirs to witness the +symbols of French and Spanish authority disappear forever from +mainland and island of the New World. Following the sun a thousand +miles toward his setting, their eyes would have been gladdened +by the great river flowing unvexed from northern lake to southern sea +through a mighty realm that knew no allegiance other than to the +government that here had its feeble beginning. They would--near a +century and a half later than the meeting of the first House of +Burgesses--have beheld their descendants listening in rapt attention +to the impassioned denunciation by Patrick Henry of the tyranny of +the royal successor of James the First; the thirteen colonies arming +for the seven years' struggle with the most powerful of nations; +the presentation, by a Virginian, in the wondrous assemblage at +Philadelphia of the Declaration of Independence; under the matchless +leadership of a Virginian yet more illustrious than Jefferson, the +Colonial army, with decimated ranks and tattered standards, +would have passed in review--all past suffering, sacrifice, +humiliation, and defeat forgotten in the hour of splendid triumph. +Yet later, and in the great convention over which Washington +presided, and in which Madison was the chief factor, they would +have witnessed the deathless principles of the historic Declaration +crystallized into the Federal compact, which was destined forever to +hold States and people in fraternal union. They would have seen +a gallant people of the Old World--catching inspiration from the +New--casting off the oppression of centuries and, through baptism of +blood, fashioning a Republic upon that whose liberties they had so +signally aided to establish. Yet later, and not France alone, but +Mexico and States extending far to the southward, substituting for +monarchical rule that of the people under written Constitutions +modeled after that of the great American Republic. And yet more +marvellous, in Great Britain the divine right of kings an exploded +dogma; the royal successor to the Stuarts and George the Third only +a ceremonial figurehead in government; the House of Lords in its +death struggle; all real political power centred in the Commons, +and England--though still under the guise of monarchy--essentially +a republic. + +"And what a grand factor Virginia has been in all that pertains to +human government in this Western world during the past three +centuries. From the pen of one of her illustrious sons, George +Mason, came the 'Bill of Rights'--now in its essentials embedded +by the early amendments into our Federal Constitution; from that +of another, not alone the great Declaration, but the statutes +securing for his own State religious freedom, and the abolition of +primogeniture--the detested legacy of British ancestors. His sword +returned to its scabbard with the achievement of the independence of +the colonies, and the mission of Washington was yet but half +accomplished. To garner up the fruits of successful revolution by +ensuring stable government was the task demanding the loftiest +statesmanship. The five years immediately succeeding our first +treaty of peace with Great Britain have been truly defined, 'our +period of greatest peril.' It was fortunate, indeed, that Washington +was called to preside over the historic convention of '87, and that +his spirit--a yearning for an indissoluble union of the States-- +permeated all its deliberations. Fortunate, indeed, that in its +councils was his colleague and friend, the constructive statesman, +James Madison. Inseparably associated for all time with the +formulation and interpretation of the great covenant are the names +of two illustrious Virginians--for all the ages illustrious Americans +--Madison, the father, and Marshall, the expounder of the +Constitution. + +"It remained to another son of this first commonwealth, from the +high place to which he had been chosen, to enunciate in trenchant words, +at a crucial moment, a national policy which, under the designation +of 'the Monroe doctrine,' has been the common faith of three +generations of his countrymen and is to remain the enduring bar to +the establishment of monarchial government upon this western +hemisphere. + +"Four decades later, at the striking of the hour that noted the +inevitable 'breaking with the past,' it remained to still +another illustrious successor of Jefferson--alike of Virginian +ancestry, and born within her original domain--by authoritative +proclamation to liberate a race, and thereby, for all time, to give +enlarged and grander meaning to our imperishable declaration of +human rights. + +"My countrymen, the little settlement planted just three centuries +ago near the spot upon which we have to-day assembled has under +divine guidance grown into a mighty nation. Eighty millions of +people, proud of local traditions and achievements, yet looking +beyond the mere confines of their distinctive commonwealths, +find their chief glory in being citizens of the great Republic. +The mantle of peace is over our own land, and our accredited +representatives in the world's conference, at this auspicious hour, +are outlining a policy that looks to the establishment of enduring +peace among all the nations. To-day, inspired by the sublime +lessons of the event we celebrate and with hearts of gratitude +to God for all he hath vouchsafed to our fathers and to us in +the past, let us take courage, and turn our faces hopefully, +reverently, trustingly to the future." + + +XLIII +A NEW DAY ADDED TO THE CALENDAR + +THE HIGH CHARACTER OF STERLING MORTON AS A MAN AND A PUBLIC SERVANT +--HONORED BY CLEVELAND--ORIGINATOR OF ARBOR DAY. + +I recall with pleasure years of close personal friendship with +J. Sterling Morton. He was a gentleman of lofty character and +recognized ability. Much of his life was given to the public +service. As Secretary of Agriculture he was in close touch with +President Cleveland during his last official term. + +At the dedication of the monument erected to his memory at his +home, Nebraska City, October 28, 1905, I spoke as follows: + +"I count it high privilege to speak a few words upon an occasion +so fraught with interest to this State, and to the entire country. +I gladly bear my humble tribute to the man whom I honored in life, +and whose memory I cherish. A manlier man than Sterling Morton, +one more thoughtful, kind, considerate, self-reliant, hopeful, I +have not known. Truly-- + + 'A man he seemed, of cheerful yesterdays, + And confident to-morrows.' + +Of few men could it more truly be said, 'He took counsel ever of +his courage--never of his fears.' With firm convictions upon +pending vital issues, he did not shrink from the conflict. His +antagonist he met in the open. In the words of Lord Brougham, 'His +weapons were ever those of the warrior--never of the assassin.' + +"This, is indeed no ordinary occasion. Here and now, we unveil +a monument erected in honor of the memory of one who, alike in +private life and in public station, illustrated the noblest +characteristics of the American citizen. Something of his life +and achievements we have heard with profound interest from the lips +of the chosen orator of this great occasion, ex-President Cleveland +--one indeed eminently fitted for the task. The orator was worthy +the subject; the subject--honoring the memory of one of the +benefactors of his age--worthy the orator. + +"In all the relations of life, the man whose memory we honor this day +was worthy the emulation of the young men who succeed him upon the +stage of the world. With clear brain and clean hands he ably +and faithfully administered high public trusts. He was in the +loftiest sense worthy the personal and official association of the +eminent Chief Magistrate at whose Council Board he sat, and +whose confidence he fully shared. + +"Fortune, indeed, came with both hands full to Nebraska, when J. +Sterling Morton, in early manhood, selected this struggling frontier +State for his home. How well, and with what large interest, he +repaid Nebraska for a confidence that knew no abatement, this noble +monument is the enduring witness. + +"Under his guiding hand, a new day was added to the calendar. The +glory is his of having called Arbor Day into being. Touched by +his magic wand, millions of trees now beautify and adorn this +magnificent State. It is no mere figure of speech to say that the +wilderness--by transition almost miraculous--has become a garden, the +desolate places been made to blossom as the rose. 'Tree-planting +day' is now one of the sacred days of this commonwealth. Henceforth, +upon its annual recurrence, ordinary avocations are to be suspended, +and this day wholly set apart to pursuits which tend to beautify +the home, make glorious the landscape, and gladden the hearts of +all the people. Inseparably associated in all the coming years +with this day and its memories will be the name of J. Sterling +Morton. That he was its inspiration, is his abiding fame. + +"In other times, monuments have been erected to men whose chief +distinction was, that desolation and human slaughter had marked +their pathways. The hour has struck, and a new era dawned. The +monument we now unveil is to one whose name brings no thoughts +of decimated ranks, or of desolated provinces, no memories of +beleaguered cities, of starving peoples, or of orphans' tears. In +all the years, it will be associated with glorious peace. Peace, 'that +hath her victories no less renowned than war'; peace, in whose +train are happy homes, songs of rejoicing, the glad laughter of +children, the planting of trees, and the golden harvest. + + 'Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives, + She builds our quiet as she forms our lives; + Lays the rough paths of peevish nature even, + And opens in each heart a little heaven.'" + + +XLIV +A MOUNTAIN COLLEGE + +SUCH INSTITUTIONS VALUABLE FOR MOULDING CHARACTER--MR. SCOTT +BOTH HONORABLE AND PRUDENT IN BUSINESS--HIS GREATNESS AS AN +AGRICULTURIST--HIS AVOIDANCE OF PUBLIC LIFE--HIS SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC +VIRTUES--DEPENDENCE OF THE NATION ON THE CHARACTER OF ITS LITERARY +INSTITUTIONS. + +In 1895, Mrs. Julia Green Scott, of Bloomington, Illinois, established +a college in the mountains of Kentucky in honor of the memory of +her husband. He was a native of Kentucky, and the institution +bears his honored name. + +Upon the occasion of the dedication I spoke as follows: + +"The dedication of the Matthew T. Scott, Jr., Collegiate Institute +marks an important epoch in the history of central eastern Kentucky. +It cannot be doubted that this institution will be potent for good +in moulding the character and fitting the youth of this and succeeding +generations for the important duties that pertain to citizenship +in a great Republic. Is it too much to believe that this may be +reckoned as one of the many agencies in this land, that in the +outstretched years will inspire our youth with yet higher ideals of +duties that await them in life? Would that the words I now repeat +of one of England's great statesmen could be indelibly impressed +upon the memory of all who may hereafter pass out from these walls: +'Be inspired with the belief that life is a great and noble calling; +not a mean and grovelling thing that we are to shuffle through +as we can, but an elevated and lofty destiny.' + +"It is eminently fitting to this occasion, that I recall something +of the man whose honored name has been appropriately given to this +institution. And yet, I am not unmindful of the fact that if in +life he would shrink from public mention of his name, or of +aught associated with it in the way of benefactions. He was a +native of Kentucky--born in Fayette County, February 4, 1828. His +father, of the same name, was an honored citizen of Lexington, and +for many years the leading banker of the State. The son inherited +the high sense of personal honor, and the splendid capacity for +business, that for a lifetime so eminently characterized his father. +A graduate of Centre College at the age of eighteen, his fortunes +were soon cast in Central Illinois, where his remaining years were +spent, and where his ashes now repose. During his early residence +in Illinois Mr. Scott realized--as few men did fully at that day +--the marvellous prosperity that surely awaited the development of +the resources of that great State. It was the day of golden +opportunity for the man of wise forecast. His investments were +timely; his business methods all upon the highest plane. He became +in time a large landed proprietor, and stood in the van of the +advanced agriculturists of his day. He formulated enduring systems +of tilling the soil, and making sure the munificent reward of labor +wisely bestowed upon this, the primal calling of man. His methods +were in large measure adopted by others, and have proved no +unimportant factor in the development and prosperity of the +great agricultural interests of the State. + +"Mr. Scott was in the largest sense a man of affairs. He was ever +the safe counsellor in the many business enterprises of which he +was the founder. It were scant praise to say he was possessed +of the highest integrity. His was indeed an integrity that could know +no temptation. Faithful to every obligation, he was incapable +of an ignoble act. He was eminently a just man, possessing in a +marked degree the sturdy characteristics of his Scotch-Irish +ancestors. His principle in action was: + + 'For justice all place a temple, + And all season Summer.' + +"He was in no sense a self-seeker. Deeply interested in public +affairs, and having the courage of his convictions upon the exciting +questions of the day, he was never a candidate for public office. +Declining the nomination tendered him by his party for Congress, +he chose the quiet of home rather than the turmoil of public life. +In the advocacy, however, of what he believed to be for the public weal, +'he took counsel ever of his courage, never of his fears.' That he +possessed the ability to have acquitted himself with honor in +responsible positions of public trust, no one who knew him could doubt. + +"Courteous to all with whom he came in contact, he was the highest +type of the old-school gentleman. He exemplified in his daily life +the truth of the poet's words: + + 'That best portion of a good man's life, + His little, nameless, unremembered acts + Of kindness and of love.' + +"No man ever had a loftier appreciation of what was due to woman. +There was in very truth a relish of old-time chivalry in his bearing +in the presence of ladies. He was never happier than when surrounded +by children, by whom he was ever trusted and loved. + +"No higher tribute could be paid him than by the words spoken with +equal truth of another: 'With him the assured guardian of my +children, I could have pillowed my head in peace.' + +"Holding steadily, and without reservation, to the Presbyterian +faith of his fathers, he was none the less imbued with a true +catholic spirit, and gave where needed, liberally of his abundance. +He was deeply touched by every tale of human sorrow, + + 'His hand open as day to melting charity.' + +"I may be pardoned for adding that Mr. Scott was supremely happy +in his domestic ties. Blessed in all who gathered about his +hearthstone, his cup of happiness was full to overflowing. All +who crossed his threshold felt that they were indeed in the sunshine +of the perfect home. He sleeps in the beautiful cemetery near the +city he loved, his grave covered with flowers by those to whom +in life he had been a benefactor and friend. To those to whom his +toils and cares were given, to kindred and friends, his memory will +ever be a precious heritage. Truly, + + 'the just + Keeps something of his glory, in his dust.' + +"I know of no words more fitting with which to close this poor +tribute to the man I honored and loved, than those of Dr. Craig in +his beautiful eulogy upon the Rev. Dr. Lewis W. Green, father of +Mrs. Julia G. Scott, the noble and gifted woman whose generosity +has made possible the founding of the Institution we now dedicate: + +"'Society at large felt the impress of his noble character, his +polished breeding, and his widespread beneficence. His determination +to excel, and that by means of faithful diligence and laborious +applications, should arouse our young men to like fidelity to their +increasing opportunities. He was the most unselfish of men, the +most affectionate of friends, the humblest of Christians. He owed +much to the soil from which he sprang. He repaid that much, and +with large interest.' + +"The Institution we now dedicate is just upon the threshold of what +we trust will prove an abundantly useful and honorable career. +And while we may not 'look into the seeds of time and say which +grain will grow and which will not,' yet we may well believe +that under judicious management, already assured, this will prove a +potent agency in the great work of education. + +"In this connection the words of a former President of Transylvania +University, and of Centre College, Dr. Green, possess to-day as +deep significance as when uttered almost a half-century ago: + +"'But it may be truly said, that no domestic instruction, however wise, +no political institution, however free, no social organization, +however perfect, no discoveries of science, however rapid or sublime, +no activity of the press--pouring forth with prolific abundance +its multitudinous publications--no accumulation of ancient learning +in stately libraries, no one, nor all of these together, can +supersede the education of the school; nay, all of them derive +their noblest elements and highest life from the instruction of +the living teacher. The intelligence of families, the wisdom of +Governments, the freedom of nations, the progress of science itself, +and of all our useful arts, is measured by the condition and +character of our literary institutions. . . . It is from such as +these, that the world's great men have sprung. It is from the +deep, granite foundations of society that the materials are gathered +to rear a superstructure of massive grandeur and enduring strength. +The God of nature has scattered broadcast over all our land and +our mountain heights, in our secluded valleys, and in many a forest +home, the choicest elements of genius; invaluable means of intellectual +wealth, the noblest treasures of the State.' + +"The hour has struck, and the Matthew T. Scott, Jr., Collegiate +Institution enters now upon its sacred mission. + +"May we not believe that here will be realized in full fruition +the fond hopes of those who have given it being? that as the years +come and go, there will pass out from its walls those who by diligent +application are fitted for the responsible duties that await them in +life, well equipped, it may be, to acquit themselves with honor, +in the high places of school, of church, or of State?" + + +XLV +DEDICATION OF A NATIONAL PARK + +CHICKAMAUGA NATIONAL PARK DEDICATED BY ACT OF CONGRESS--THE SURVIVORS +OF THE GREAT BATTLE NOW BUT FEW--THE REAL CONSECRATION WAS ACCOMPLISHED +BY THE HEROES OF THE FIGHT. + +The Chickamauga National Park was by act of Congress dedicated +September 19, 1895. Senators Palmer, of Illinois, and Gordon, +of Georgia, were the orators of the occasion. The immense audience +assembled included the Governors of twenty States and committees +of both Houses of Congress. I presided on the occasion, and +delivered the following address: + +"I am honored by being called to preside over the ceremonies of +this day. By solemn decree of the representatives of the American +people, this magnificent Park, with its wondrous associations +and memories, is now to be dedicated for all time to national +and patriotic purposes. + +"This is the fitting hour for the august ceremonies we now inaugurate. +To-day, by act of the Congress of the United States, the Chickamauga +and Chattanooga National Military Park is forever set apart from +all common uses, solemnly dedicated for all the ages to all the +American people. + +"The day is auspicious. It notes the anniversary of one of the +greatest battles known to history. Here, in the dread tribunal of +last resort, valor contended against valor. Here brave men struggled +and died for the right, 'as God gave them to see the right.' + +"Thirty-two years have passed, and the few survivors of that +masterful day--victors and vanquished alike--again meet upon +this memorable field. Alas, the splendid armies which rendezvoused +there are now little more than a procession of shadows. + + "'On fame's eternal camping-ground, + Their silent tents are spread.' + +"Our eyes now behold the sublime spectacle of the honored survivors +of the great battle coming together upon these heights once more. +They meet, not in deadly conflict, but as brothers, under one flag, +fellow-citizens of a common country, all grateful to God, that +in the supreme struggle, the Government of our fathers--our common +heritage--was triumphant, and that to all the coming generations +of our countrymen, it will remain 'an indivisible union of +indestructible States.' + +"Our dedication to-day is but a ceremony. In the words of the +immortal Lincoln at Gettysburg: 'But in a larger sense, we cannot +dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The +brave men living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it +far above our power to add or detract.' + +"I will detain you no longer from listening to the eloquent words of +those who were participants in the bloody struggle--the sharers +alike in its danger and its glory." + + +XLVI +A BAR MEETING STILL IN SESSION + +APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE TO FORMULATE RULES FOR COURT PROCEDURE-- +SOME MEMBERS AGREE TO VOTE DOWN THE MOTION TO ADJOURN--THE +MOTION REJECTED THREE TIMES--INDIGNATION OF THE PRESIDENT. + +A Bar meeting recalled by the mention of Mr. Ingersoll would be +worth while if it could only be described as it actually occurred. + +At the opening of the December term of the Circuit Court in Woodford +in the year of grace 'fifty-nine, John Clark, Esq., announced that +a meeting of the Bar would be held at the courthouse at "early +candle-lighting" on that very evening, for the purpose of formulating +rules to be presented to the Court for its government during the +term. + +At the appointed hour, the lawyers, "home and foreign," being +promptly in attendance and the court-room crowded, an organization +was duly effected by the election of Colonel Shope, an able and +dignified barrister of the old school, as President. As undisputed +spokesman of the occasion, Mr. Clark, at once moved the appointment +of a committee of five to prepare the aforementioned rules. The +motion prevailing, _nem. con.,_ in accordance with the time-honored +usage, the mover of the resolution was duly appointed Chairman, +with Ingersoll, Shaw, Ewing, and the chronicler of these important +events as his coadjutors. Upon the retirement of the committee, +the rules already prepared by Clark were read and promptly approved, +and that gentleman instructed to present them to the Bar meeting +--then in patient waiting. + +As the recognized parliamentarian of the occasion--with the proposed +rules in safe keeping--was in the van, upon the return to the +court-room Ingersoll quietly proposed to his three untitled associates +that, after the adoption of the resolutions, we should _vote +down Clark's motion to adjourn_ and thereby remain all night in +session. In approved form, and with a dignity that would have done +no discredit to a high-church bishop, the rules were read off by +the Chairman and agreed to without a dissenting voice. + +After a brief silence, Mr. Clark arose and said: "Mr. President, +if there is no further business before this meeting, I move we +do now adjourn." The motion was duly seconded by Welcome P. Brown, +who had been Probate Judge of McLean County far back in the thirties, +and postmaster of the struggling village of Bloomington when Jackson +was President. President Shope promptly arose and in the blandest +possible terms submitted: "Gentlemen of the Bar, all who are in +favor of the motion to adjourn will please say, Aye." Clark, Brown, +and a half-a-dozen others at once voted, "Aye." "Those opposed to +the motion to adjourn will please say, No," was the alternative +then submitted by the impartial presiding officer. Ingersoll, his +confederates, and a sufficient contingent won over quietly voted, "No." +"The motion is lost," observed the President, resuming his seat. +"What is the further pleasure of the meeting?" The silence of the +grave for a time prevailed. Ingersoll and his followers deporting +themselves with a solemnity well befitting an occasion for prayer. +Again arising, the chairman of the committee--in a voice less rotund +than before--said: "Well, Mr. President, if there is no _further_ +business before this meeting, I move we do now adjourn." Duly +seconded, the motion was again put, Clark and half a dozen +others voting as before. "Those opposed," remarked the President-- +in tones perceptibly less conciliatory than an hour earlier--"will +say, No." The scarcely audible, but none the less effective "no" +prevailed, the leader meanwhile giving no sign and apparently rapt +as if unravelling the mysteries beyond the veil. + +A silence that could be felt now in very truth fell upon the meeting +in the old courthouse assembled. Even the bystanders seemed +impressed that something far out of the ordinary was happening. + +Receiving little in the way of encouragement, the Chairman of +the late committee, as he dubiously looked around upon the forms +of the silent majority--each of whom sat apparently buried in +thought that touched the very depths,--again and for the last time +addressed the presiding officer: + + "Mr. President, I move _that we adjourn."_ + +Conclusions being again tried in wonted parliamentary form between +the opposing forces, with like result as before, the venerable +president,--by way of prelude first giving full vent to an exclamation +nowhere to be found in the Methodist "book of discipline,"--at once +indignantly vacated the chair, and literally shook the dust of the +court-room from his feet. The others "stood not upon the order of +their going," and although fifty years have come and gone, that +identical Bar meeting in the old courthouse at Metamora _is still in +session,_--never having been officially adjourned even to this day. + + +XLVII +THE HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE RECALLED + +THE PUBLIC CAREER OF LYMAN TRUMBULL--HE HEARS CALHOUN MAKE A MASTERLY +SPEECH IN HIS OWN DEFENCE--TARIFF LAW THE SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION +--MR. HAYNE'S REPLY. + +Ex-Senator Lyman Trumbull called upon me at the Vice-President's +Chamber a few months before his death. It was upon the occasion +of his last visit to Washington. He pointed out to me with much +interest the seat he had occupied for many years in the Senate. +The Senators to whom I introduced him had all come in since his +day. His associates in that chamber, with three or four exceptions, +had passed beyond the veil. + +The public career of Mr. Trumbull began nearly two-thirds of a +century ago. He was distinguished as a judge, and later as an able +and active participant in exciting debates in the Senate, extending +from the repeal of the Missouri Compromise to the impeachment of +President Johnson. He was a member when the sessions of the Senate +were held in the old chamber, and Cass, Crittenden, Douglas, Tombs, +and Jefferson Davis were among his early official associates. +As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee he had reported the +Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the +United States. + +In the course of my conversation with him upon the occasion +first mentioned, I inquired whether he had ever met either Webster, +Clay, or Calhoun. He replied that it was a matter of deep regret to +him that he had never seen either Clay or Webster, but that he had +in his early manhood heard a masterful speech from Mr. Calhoun. +Mr. Trumbull had then just been graduated from an eastern college; +and on his way to Greenville, Georgia, to take charge of a school, +he spent a few days in Charleston, South Carolina. This was in +1833, and the speech of Mr. Calhoun was in vindication of his course +in the Senate in voting for the Compromise Bill of Mr. Clay, which +provided for the gradual reduction of the tariff. The alleged +injustice of the tariff law then in force had been the prime cause +of the "nullification" excitement precipitated by South Carolina +at that eventful period. The proclamation of President Jackson, +it will be remembered, proved the death-blow, and the nullification +excitement soon thereafter subsided. Mr. Trumbull told me that he +distinctly recalled John C. Calhoun, his commanding presence and +splendid argument, as he addressed the large assemblage. As a +clear-brained logician--whose statement alone was almost unanswerable +argument--he thought Mr. Calhoun unsurpassed by any statesman +our country had known. Mr. Trumbull added that at the close of +Mr. Calhoun's speech before mentioned, amid great enthusiasm, +"Hayne! Hayne!" was heard from every part of the vast assemblage. +For an hour or more he then listened spell-bound to Robert Y. Hayne, +the formidable antagonist even of Webster in a debate now historic. +Mr. Trumbull said that of the two generations of public men he had +heard, he had never listened to one more eloquent than Hayne. + + +XLVIII +IN THE HIGHLANDS + +THE WRITER THE GUEST OF A GENTLEMAN IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS-- +DUNSTAFFNAGE CASTLE--IONA AND SAINT COLUMBA--SENATOR BECK AND +MR. SMITH BOTH DEVOTEES OF BURNS. + +During a sojourn of some weeks on the western coast of Scotland, +I was the guest for a time of Mr. Stewart, the head of what remained +of a once powerful clan in the Highlands. My host was a distinguished +member of the London Bar, but spent his Summers at the home of his +ancestors a few miles out from Alpin. Here, in as romantic a +locality as is known even to the Highlands, with his kindred about +him he enjoyed a full measure of repose from the distracting cares +of the great metropolis. At the time of my visit his brother, +an officer of the British army, just returned from India, was with +him. Both gentlemen wore kilts for the time; and all the appointments +of the house were reminders of bygone centuries when border warfare +was in full flower, forays upon the Lowlands of constant occurrence, +and the principle of the clans in action, + + "Let him take who has the power + And let him hold who can." + +At the bountifully furnished board of my Highland host there was +much "upon the plain highway of talk" I will not soon forget. And +then, with the gathering shadows in the ancestral hall, with the +rude weapons of past generations hanging upon every wall, and +the stirring strains of the bagpipe coming from the distance, it +was worth while to listen to the Highland legends that had been +handed down from sire to son. + +Not far away was the old castle of Dunstaffnage, which in its prime +had been the scene of innumerable tournaments and battles that have +added many pages to Scottish annals. Within the enclosure of +the old castle sleeps the dust of long ago kings--the veritable +grave of Macbeth being readily pointed out to inquiring travellers. + +The conversation around the hearthstone of my host turned to the +famous island of the Inner Hebrides, Iona, with its wonderful +history reaching back to the sixth century. The ruins of the +old monastery, built fourteen hundred years ago by the fugitive +Saint, Columba, are well worth visiting. The dust of the early +kings of Norway, Ireland, and Scotland rest within these ancient +walls, and it is gratifying to know that here even the ill-fated +Duncan + + "After life's fitful fever sleeps well." + +It would have been passing strange, with host and guests all of +Scottish lineage, if there had been no mention of Robbie Burns, +for in old Scotia, whether in palace or hovel, the one subject that +never tires is the "ploughman poet of Ayr." A little incident +of slightly American relish which I related the evening of my +departure needed no "surgical operation" to find appropriate +lodgment. + +Senator Beck of Kentucky was a Scotchman. He was in the highest +sense a typical Scotchman--lacking nothing, either of the brawn, +brain, or brogue, of the most gifted of that race. It is needless +to say he was a lover of Burns. From "Tam O'Shanter" to "Mary +in Heaven," all were safely garnered in his memory--to be rolled +out in rich, melodious measure at the opportune moment. The close +friend and associate of Senator Beck, when the cares of State were +for a time in abeyance, and the fishing season at its best, was +"old Smith," superintendent of the Botanical Gardens, also a +Scotchman, and likewise in intense degree a devotee of Burns. The +bond of union between the man of flowers and the Kentucky statesman +was complete. + +Now, it so fell out that a newly elected member of the House, from +the Green River district, one day called upon his distinguished +colleague of the Senate, and requested a note of introduction to +the superintendent of the Botanical Gardens, as he wished to procure +some flowers to send a lady constituent then in the city. "Certainly, +certainly," replied the ever-obliging statesman: "I will give you +a line to old Smith." Just as the delighted member was departing +with the letter in hand, Senator Beck remarked, in his peculiarly +snappy Scotch accent, "Now, Tom, if you will only tell old Smith +that you are a great admirer of his countryman, Robbie Burns, he +will give you all the flowers in the conservatory." The member, +who knew as little of Burns as he did of the "thirty-nine articles," +departed in high feather. + +Almost immediately thereafter, presenting his letter, he was received +with great cordiality by the superintendent and assured that any +request of Senator Beck would be cheerfully granted. Just as he +was reaching out for the fragrant bouquet the superintendent was +graciously presenting, the closing words of the Senator were +indistinctly recalled, and in a manner indicating no small measure +of self-confidence, the member remarked, "By the way, Mr. Smith, +I am a great admirer of your countryman, _Jimmy_ Burns." "Jimmy +Burns! Jimmy Burns! Jimmy Burns!" exclaimed the overwhelmingly +indignant Scotchman, _"Jimmy_ Burns! _Depart instantly, sir!"_ + +The member from Green River district _departed_ as bidden, taking no +thought of the flowers; delighted--as he often asservated--to have +escaped even with his life. + + +XLIX +ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS + +JUDGE BALDWIN'S BOOK, "THE FLUSH TIMES"--DEFENDANT'S COUNSEL ASKS ONE +QUESTION TOO MANY--CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE AGAINST A CARD-PLAYER +--JOHN RANDOLPH'S REVENGE--HORACE GREELEY NOT A MINISTER OF THE +GOSPEL--A CANDIDATE'S QUALIFICATIONS FOR SCHOOL-TEACHING--THE AUTHOR +OF "DON'T YOU REMEMBER SWEET ALICE, BEN BOLT?"--A CANDIDATE'S +POSITION WITH REGARD TO THE MAINE LAW--GOVERNOR TILDEN'S POPULARITY +--MR. TRAVERS MISSES A PORTRAIT--A CANDIDATE FOR HOLY ORDERS TELLS +A BIBLE STORY. + +No better place can be found for studying that most interesting of +all subjects, Man, than in our courts of justice. Indeed, what a +readable book that would be which related the best things which +have occurred at the bar! + +Judge Baldwin conferred an inestimable blessing upon our profession +when he wrote "The Flush Times," a book that will hold a place +in our literature as long as there is a lawyer left on earth. +To two generations of our craft this book has furnished agreeable and +delightful entertainment. To the practitioner "shattered with the +contentions of the great hall," its pages have been as refreshing as +the oasis to the travel-stained pilgrim. + +The late Justice Field, long his associate upon the supreme bench of +California, told me that Judge Baldwin was one of the most genial and +delightful men he had ever known, and certainly he must have been to +have written "Cave Burton," "My First Appearance at the Bar," "A +Hung Court," and "Ovid Bolus, Esq., Attorney-at-law and Solicitor in +Chancery." + +Almost every Bar has some tradition or incident worth preserving +--something in the way of brilliant witticisms or repartee that +should not be wholly lost. Of the race of old-time lawyers--of +which Mr. Lincoln was the splendid type--but few remain. Of the +survivors, I know of no better representative than Proctor Knott +of Kentucky. The possessor of ability of the highest order, and +of splendid attainments as well, he is of all men the best story-teller +this country of ours has known. Among his delighted auditors in +and out of Congress have been men from every section and of exalted +public station. For some of the incidents to be related I am +indebted to Governor Knott. The obligation would be much greater if +the stories could be retold in manner and form as in the days gone +by, and upon occasions never to be forgotten when they fell from +his own lips. + +If, however, even fairly well I might garner up and hand down some +of the experiences of the generation of lawyers now passing, I +would feel that I had, in some humble measure, discharged that +obligation that Lord Bacon says, "every man owes to his profession." + +ONE QUESTION TOO MANY + +What lawyer has not, at some time, in the trial of a case asked +just _one question_ too many? I know of nothing better along that +line of inquiry than the following related by Governor Knott. +He was attending the Circuit Court in one of the Green River counties +in Kentucky, when the case of the "Commonwealth _versus_ William +Jenkins" was called for trial. The aforesaid William was under +indictment for having bitten off the ear of the prosecuting witness. +Fairly strong but by no means conclusive testimony against the +defendant had been given when the State "rested." + +A lawyer of the old school, who still carried his green bag into +Court, and who never wearied of telling of his conflicts at the +bar with Grundy, Holt, and Ben Hardin, in their palmiest days, was +retained for the defence. His chief witness was Squire Barnhouse, +who lived over on the "Rolling Fork." He was the magistrate for +his precinct, deacon in the church, and the recognized oracle +for the neighborhood. Upon direct examination, in the case _at +bar,_ he testified that "he knowed the defendant William Jenkins; had +knowed him thirty year or more; knowed his father and mother afore +him." Inquired of then as to the general reputation of the defendant, +as to his being "a peaceable and law-abiding citizen," he was found +to be all that could be reasonably desired. + +Squire Barnhouse was then asked whether he was present at the Caney +Fork muster, where it was alleged that the defendant had bitten +off the ear of the prosecuting witness. It turned out that he was +present. Further questioned as to whether he had paid particular +attention to the fight, he replied that he did; that he "had never +seed Billy in a fout before, and he had a kind of family pride in +seein' how _he would handle himself."_ Further questioned as to +whether he saw the defendant bite off the ear of the prosecuting +witness he replied, "No, sir, nothin' uv the kind, nothin' uv the kind." +This was followed by the inquiry as to whether his opportunities were +such that he would most probably have seen it, if it had occurred. +"In course I would, in course I would," was the emphatic reply. + +The witness was here turned over to the Commonwealth's attorney, +who declined to cross-examine, and Squire Barnhouse was in the act +of leaving the stand when in an evil hour it occurred to defendant's +counsel to ask one question more. + +"By the way, Squire, _just one more question,_ just where you stand; +now I understood you to say"--repeating the answers already given; +"now just this question, did you see anything occur while the fight +was going on, or after it was over, that would lead you to believe +that this defendant had bitten off the ear of the prosecuting +witness?" + +The Squire, half down the witness stand, answered, "No, sir, nothing +uv the kind," then, slowly and thoughtfully, "nothing uv the kind." +A moment's pause. "Well, since you mention it, I do remember that +just as Billy rizened up offen him the last time, I seed him spit out +a piece of ear, _but whose ear it was,_ I don't pertend to know." + +CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE + +In the good County of Scotland, in the State of Missouri, back +in the ante-bellum days there lived one Solomon Davis, whose chronic +horror was card-playing. The evils of this life were in his judgment +largely to be attributed to this terrible habit. It was his belief +that if the Grand Jury would only take hold of the matter in the +right spirit, a stop could be put to the "nefarious habit of +_card-playing,_ which was ruining the morals of so many young men in +Scotland County." This was the burden of his discourse in and out +of season. His ardent desire that he himself should be called +on the Grand Jury to the accomplishment of the end mentioned was +at length gratified. At a certain term of court he was not only +summoned upon the Grand Jury, but duly appointed its foreman. + +Upon the adjournment of court for dinner, immediately thereafter, one +Ben Mason, the wit of the bar,--and not himself wholly _unacquainted_ +with the pastime that involved spades, kings, and even queens,-- +ardently congratulated the new foreman upon his appointment, assuring +him that now his opportunity had come to put to an end, by the +omnipotent power of the Grand Jury, "to the nefarious habit of +card-playing which was ruining the morals of so many young men in +Scotland County." + +"And now, Squire," continued Ben, "I can give you the name of a +gentleman who doesn't play himself, but is always around where +playing is going on, and he can tell you who plays, where they +play, how much is bet, and all about it." + +Delighted at this apparently providential revelation, the Squire +had a subpoena forthwith issued for the witness mentioned, one +Ranzey Sniffle, a half-witted fellow who had never taken or expected +to take a part in the game himself, but whose cup of happiness was +full to the brim when, in return for punching up the fires, mixing +the drinks, and snuffing the candle, he was permitted _to see +the play actually going on._ + +Trembling with apprehension at the dread summons to appear before the +"Grand Inquest"--if it had been three centuries earlier at Saragossa +it could scarcely have appeared more alarming--the witness was +ushered into the immediate presence of the awful tribunal over +which Squire Davis was now presiding. After taking the customary oath, +and telling his name, age, and where he lived, Mr. Sniffle was +questioned by the foreman as to his personal knowledge of any game +or games of cards being played for money, or any valuable thing, +within one year last past, within the said County of Scotland, and +solemnly warned, if he had any such knowledge, to proceed in his +own way, and tell all about it; to tell when and where it was, _who +were present,_ and what amount, if any, was bet. + +Recovering himself a little by this time, the witness began: + +"The last time I seed them playin', Squire, was at Levi Myers's +sto'; they sot in about sundown last Saturday night, and never +loosened their grip until Monday mornin' about daylight." + +"Now, Mr. Sniffle," interrupted the Squire with great dignity, +"will you proceed in your own way, to give to the gentlemen of this +Grand Jury _the names_ of the persons who were thus engaged not +only in violating the statute law of Missouri, but in violating +the law of God by desecrating the holy Sabbath?" + +"Well, Squire," continued the witness, slowly counting off on +his fingers, "thar was Levi Myers, Sammy Hocum, Moss Johnson, Josiah +Davis,"--"Suspend, Mr. Sniffle, _suspend,"_ commanded the Squire +with great indignation, and turning to his official associates, he +continued, "I am aware, gentlemen of the Grand Jury, that my son +Josiah is sometimes present when cards are being played, but he +assures me on his honor as a gentleman, that he never _takes part,_ +and doesn't even know one card from another. Now, Mr. Witness, do +you undertake, under the solemn sanction of an oath, to say that +my son Josiah was _engaged_ in the game? By the way, Mr. Sniffle, +do you understand the nature of an oath?" + +"No, Squire," slowly replied the witness, "I dun know as I do." + +"Don't you know _what will become of you,_ Ranze, if you swear to a +lie?" quickly asked a juryman from a back seat. + +"Yas, in course, if I swar to a lie, they'll send me to the +penitentiary, and then I'll go to hell afterwards," replied Mr. +Sniffle. + +The _competency_ of the witness thus appearing, the foreman +proceeded: + +"Now, Mr. Sniffle, do you, under the solemn sanction of an oath, +undertake to say that my son Josiah was _engaged_ in that game?" + +"I dun know as I adzackly understand the meanin' of bein' engaged in +the game; but I seed Josiah a-dealin' the papes, when his time come +to fling a card he flung it, and uv'ry now and then, _he rech +out and drug in the chicerokum._ I dun know as I adzackly understand +'bout bein' engaged in the game, but if _that_ were bein' engaged, +then Josiah were _engaged!"_ + +JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE + +Seldom have more significant words been uttered than those of John +Randolph of Roanoke, when told that a certain man had been denouncing +him. "Denouncing me," replied Randolph, with astonishment, "that is +strange, _I never did him a favor."_ + +The voice of but one John Randolph of Roanoke has mingled in the +contentions of the Great Hall. That was no cause for regret, as +for a lifetime he was the dread of political foes and friends alike. + +A colleague from "the valley" probably remembered him well to +the last. That colleague, recently elected to fill a vacancy caused +by the death of a member of long service, signalized his entrance into +the House by an unprovoked attack upon Mr. Randolph. The latter, from +his seat near by, listened with apparent unconcern to the fierce +personal assault. To the surprise of all, no immediate reply +was made to the speech, and the new member flattered himself, no +doubt, that the "grim sage" was for once completely unhorsed. + +A few days later, however, Randolph, while discussing a bill of +local importance, casually remarked: "This bill, Mr. Speaker, lost +its ablest advocate in the death of my lamented colleague, _whose seat +is still vacant!"_ + +HORACE GREELEY + +It will be remembered that the will of Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, +after a splendid bequest for the establishment of the great University +which bears his name, provided that no minister of the Gospel should +ever be permitted to enter the grounds of the institution. + +It so happened upon a time, that Horace Greeley, wearing white hat +and cravat, and with his ministerial cast of countenance well in +evidence, sauntered up to the gate of the Girard institution and +was about to enter. He was instantly stopped by the keeper, who +bluntly told him that he could not enter. + +"What the hell is the reason I can't?" demanded Greeley. + +"Oh! I beg your pardon," apologized the astonished gate-keeper, +_"walk right in, sir; you can."_ + +PATRIOTIC TO THE CORE + +Judge Allen of southern Illinois, a leading member of Congress a +half-century ago, during a recent address to the old settlers of +McLean County related an incident of early days on the Wabash. +Population was sparse, and the common school was yet far in the +future. The teacher who could read, write, and "cipher" to the +"single rule of three" was well equipped for his noble calling. +Lamentable failures upon the part of aspirants to attain even +the modest standard indicated, were by no means of rare occurrence. + +Back in the thirties, an individual of by no means prepossessing +appearance presented himself to Judge Allen's father, the Magistrate, +Ruling Elder, and _ex-officio_ school director for his precinct, +and asked permission "to keep school." Being interrogated as to +what branches he could teach, the three R's--readin', 'ritin', and +'rithmetic--were, with apparent confidence, at once put in +nomination. + +"Have you ever taught geography and English grammar?" was the next +inquiry. + +With a much less confident tone, as he had probably never heard of +either, he replied: + +"I have teached geography some, but as for English grammar, I wouldn't +'low one of 'em to come into my school-house. _'Merican grammar +is good enough for me!"_ + +"SWEET ALICE, BEN BOLT" + +A touching scene occurred in the House of Representatives a number +of years ago, when an aged member from New Jersey arose, and for +the first time addressed the Speaker. All eyes were turned in his +direction as he stood calmly awaiting recognition. He was tall, +spare, and erect. His venerable appearance and kindly expression, +coupled with most courteous manners, at once commanded attention. +As in husky tones he again said, "Mr. Speaker!" there came from the +farthest end of the Great Hall in a whisper but distinctly heard +by all, the word, "Sweet Alice, Ben Bolt." A moment later, and +from the floor and gallery many voices blended in the familiar +refrain, "Don't you remember sweet Alice Ben Bolt?" + +The ovation which immediately followed was such as is rarely +witnessed in the Great Hall. Business was suspended for the moment, +and the hand of the new member warmly grasped by the chosen +representatives of all parties and sections. It was an inspiring tribute, +one worthily bestowed. The member was Thomas Dunn English, author +of the little poem, sung in palace and cottage, which has found +its way into all languages, and touched all hearts. + +THE MAINE LAW + +The mention of the "Maine Law" recalls a little episode that occurred +in the early days in the good county of McLean. One Duncan--no +kinsman to him who had been + + "So clear in his great office"-- + +was again a candidate for the Legislature. The temperance question, +in some of its many phases, was then giving much trouble to aspirants +to public place. In the midst of his opening speech at the old +courthouse, the candidate was interrupted by one of the inquisitive +men who always appear when least wanted, with the question: +"Mr. Duncan, are you _in favor_ of the Maine Law?" "Yes, yes," +quickly replied the candidate, "I am coming to that very soon." +Shying off to the tariff, the improvement of Western rivers, and +the necessity of rigid economy in all public expenditures, our +candidate was about to close when the same troublesome inquiry, +"Mr. Duncan, _are you in favor_ of the Maine Law?" again greeted his +unwilling ears. "Oh, yes," exclaimed the orator, in tone and manner +indicating much thankfulness. "I am glad you called my attention to +his subject; I was about to forget it. My fellow-citizens have +a right to know my views upon all public questions, and I have +nothing to conceal. I have no respect for candidates who attempt to +dodge any of these great questions. I have given you fully, my +views upon the tariff, upon a general system of internal improvements, +and something of my own services in the past; and now thanking you +for your attention, will ----" "Mr. Duncan, are you _in favor of +the Maine Law?"_ were the words that again escaped the lips of the +importunate inquisitor. + +Fully appreciating his dilemma--with constituents about equally +divided upon the dangerous question--the candidate at once +nerved himself for the answer upon which hung his hopes and fears and +boldly replied; "Yes, sir, I am in favor of the law, but _everlastingly +opposed to its enforcement!"_ + +HOW HE GOT HIS MAJORITY + +One of the candidates upon the ticket with Mr. Tilden when he +was elected Governor of New York, was the late William Dorshemer. +Judge Maynard told me that he was present in the library of Mr. +Tilden when Dorshemer called, immediately after the full election returns +had been received. Tilden's popularity at the time was very great +--growing out of his successful prosecution of the noted Canal +ring,--and resulted in the triumph of the ticket of which he was +the head. Mr. Dorshemer, the Lieutenant-Governor elect, was greatly +delighted that his own majority exceeded that of the more distinguished +candidate for the Chief Executive office. During the conversation, +Dorshemer remarked to Tilden: "Your majority is only fifty thousand, +while mine is fifty-one thousand, five hundred." "Yes, yes," +quickly remarked Tilden; "you got the fifteen hundred; _I gave you +the fifty thousand!"_ + +WILLIAM R. TRAVERS + +The generation now passing has known no man of keener wit than the +late William R. Travers, of New York. An impediment of speech not +infrequently gave zest and vim to his words, when they finally +found utterance. He was for a lifetime steeped in affairs of great +concern and among his associates were prominent factors in the +commercial and political world. + +On his revisiting Baltimore some years after his removal to New +York, an old acquaintance remarked, "You seem to stutter more in +New York than you did here, Mr. Travers." To this the brief reply +at length came, "Have to--_it's a bigger place."_ + +Back in the days when Gould and Fisk were names to conjure with in +the mart and on the board; when railroads and gold mines were +but pawns upon the chessboard of "money changers and those who sold +doves"; when "Black Friday" was still fresh in the memories of +thousands, this incident is said to have occurred. + +To weightier belongings, Gould and Fisk had added by way of pastime +a splendid steamer to ply between Fall River and New York. Upon +its trial voyage, Travers was the guest of its owners. The +appointments of the vessel were gorgeous in the extreme, and in +the large saloon were suspended life-size portraits of Gould and +of Fisk. After a promenade of an hour in company with the originals, +Travers suddenly paused in front of the portraits, gazed earnestly +at each in turn, and then--with eyes fixed on the intervening space +--slowly ejaculated: _"Where's Christ?"_ + +TOLD BY COLONEL W. D. HAYNIE + +The following, told with happy effect by Colonel W. D. Haynie of +the Chicago Bar, probably has no parallel in theological literature. +A colored brother who felt called upon to preach, applied to the +Bishop of his church for license to exercise the sacred office. +The Bishop, far from being favorably impressed by the appearance +of the candidate, earnestly inquired whether he had read the Bible, +and was familiar with appropriate stories to relate, as occasion +might require, to his Sunday school and congregation. The answer was, +"Boss, I has read dat book from led to led." In response to the +request of the good Bishop that he would repeat a Bible story, the +applicant for Holy Orders began: + +"One time dar wus a wicked ole King, an' his name was Ahab; an' he +live in Babylon; an' he wus a mighty warrior; an' one day he wuz +marchin' along at de head uv his army fru de streets of Babylon, +an' he seed Bersheby standin' up on de house-top; an' he said to +his soldiers, 'Bring me Bersheby fur my wife'; an' day brung him +Bersheby fur his wife. An' ole Ahab he march a long ways off, and +fit a big battle, an' tuk a hull lot of prisoners; an' cum +a-marchin' back fru de streets of Babylon, wid de brass bans +a-playin', and de stars an' stripes a-floatin'; an' Bersheby she wuz +a-standin' on de house-top, and she holler out, + +"'How did you cum out wid' em, old Ahab?' + +"An' it make him powerful mad you know, an he say to his soldiers, +'Frow her down to me.' And dey frowd her down to him; and den +he say, 'Frow her down to me _seven_ times'; and dey frowd her down +seven times; and den he say, 'Frow her down to me _seventy times +seven times!'_ and dey frowed her down to him seventy times +seven times; an' po' ole Bersheby, she crawl away and lay down +at de rich man's gate, and de dogs come and lick her wouns, and +when dey gevered he up, dar was 'leven basketfuls left, an' _whose +wife will she be in de resurrection?"_ + + +L +OUR NOBLE CALLING + +THE LEGAL PROFESSION--TAKEN BY SURPRISE--MISSING THE POINT OF +THE JOKE--A REMARKABLE INCIDENT--A JUDICIAL DECISION ON BAPTISM--A +DOUBTFUL COMPLIMENT--STRONG PERSONAL ATTACHMENT--IRISH WIT--ENGLISH +JOKES ABOUT LAWYERS--GREATNESS UNAPPRECIATED--ALL IN HIS WIFE'S +NAME--A RETORT BY CURRAN--REMITTING A FINE--A CASE "ON ALL-FOURS"-- +"GOING OUT WITH THE TIDE." + +As we well know, lawyers generally entertain an exceedingly exalted +opinion of their profession. Textbooks, opinions of courts, +addresses innumerable to graduating students, all bear witness +to the fact that our noble profession is the most honorable of +human callings, the safeguard of society, the palladium of our +liberty. + +True, some uncharitable layman has suggested: "Yes, all this, and +more, has been said a thousand times, _but always by lawyers."_ + +There are persons yet in life, who, practically at least, hold with +Aaron Burr, that "law is that which is boldly asserted and plausibly +maintained," and that lawyers, like the Roman augurs of old, always +smile when they meet one another on the street. The by no means +exalted opinion of two men as to "our noble profession" will appear +from the following. + +A few days after Knott was admitted to the bar, he was sitting +alone in his office, waiting for clients, when a one-gallowsed, +awkward-looking fellow from the "brush" walked in without ceremony, +dropped into the only vacant chair, and inquired: "Air you a +lawyer, mister?" Assuming the manner of one of the regulars, Knott +unhesitatingly answered that he was. "Well," said the visitor, "I +thought I would drap in and git you to fetch a few suits for me." +Picking up his pen with the air of a man with whom suing people +was an everyday, matter-of-course sort of affair, Knott said: "Who +did you wish to sue?" To which--with a prolonged yawn--the +prospective client drawled out: "I ain't particular, Mister, I +jest thought I'd get you to pick out a few skerry fellows _that +would complemise easy!"_ + +The remaining incident is an experience of my own, when, at the +age of twenty-two, I had hung out my sign in the then county-seat of +Old Woodford. + +My first client had retained me to obtain a divorce because of +abandonment during the two years last past by the sometime partner +of his joys and sorrows. The bill for divorce was duly filed; but +on "the coming in of the answer," a continuance of the suit, for +cause shown, was granted to the defendant. + +At an early hour on the morning thereafter, my client called, and I +soon discovered he was in a frame of mind by no means joyous. The +disappointment he expressed at the continuance of his suit was +evidently sincere. My explanation of the impossibility of preventing +it, and the confident hope I held out that he would certainly +get his divorce at the next term, evidently gave him little relief. +He at length intimated a desire to have a confidential talk with +me. I took him into my "private office" (that has a professional +sound, but as a matter of fact my office had but one room, and that +was "open as day" to everybody) and assured him that whatever he +said to me would be in the strictest confidence. Feeling that I +was on safe ground, I now spoke in a lofty tone of the sacred +relation existing between counsel and client, and that any +communication he desired to make would be as safe as within his +own bosom, "or words to that effect." Relieved, apparently, by +the atmosphere of profound secrecy that now enveloped us, he +"unfolded himself" to the effect that some years before he had been +deeply in love with an excellent young lady in his neighborhood, +but for some trifling cause he could now hardly explain, he had in +a pique suddenly turned his attentions to another to whom he was +soon united in the holy bonds that he was now so anxious to have +sundered by the strong arm of the law. + +A deeply drawn sigh was here the prelude to the startling revelation, +that since his present sea of troubles had encompassed him about +the old flame had been rekindled in his heart. I now candidly +informed him that I was wholly inexperienced in such matters, but as +his counsel I would take the liberty to advise him of the monstrous +impropriety of any visible manifestation or expression of the newly +revived attachment. This was followed by the comforting assurance +upon my part, however, that when divorced, he would be lawfully +entitled to re-enter the matrimonial lists in such direction, and at +whatever gait seemed to him best. The sigh to which the above was +the prelude, hardly prepared me for the startling revelation +that another fellow was now actually keeping company with the young +lady. My client's feelings here overcame him for a moment, and he +complained bitterly of his hard fate in being "tied up," while the +coast was clear to his competitor. After a moment of deep study, +he expressed the opinion in substance, that if his rival could only +be held in check until the divorce was granted, he was confident +all would be well. + +I here told him that this was all beyond my depth, and along a line +where it would be impossible for me to render him any service. +Hitching his chair up a little closer, and looking at me earnestly +he said: "You are a good-looking young fellow, and rather a +glib talker, and I will give you this hundred dollars if you will cut +that fellow out until I get my divorce!" Declining with some show +of indignation, as well as surprise--for I was _young_ then in the +practice--I assured him that his proposal was out of the domain of +professional service, and could not be thought of for a moment. In +a tone indicating deep astonishment, he said: "Why, I thought a +lawyer would do anything for money!" + +"Yes," I replied, "most anything, but this is the exception; and +besides, if the young lady is as beautiful as you say she is, +you would be _in greater danger from me_ at the end of your probation +than from the other fellow." "Oh, Lord, I hadn't thought of that," +he exclaimed, as he pocketed his hundred dollars, picked up his +hat, and left my office. + +Near the close of the following term of court, as the decree was +being signed granting the divorce aforementioned, I approached +my client as he sat solitary in the rear of the court-room, and +earnestly congratulated him upon the fact that he was now free and +at liberty to fight his own battles. "Yes," he replied, with a +groan that touched the heart of the tipstaff near by, "but it's +too late now; _she married that other fellow last Thursday."_ + +TAKEN BY SURPRISE + +Upon a time, far back, Ballou, of happy memory, was Judge of the +Woodford Circuit Court. A young lawyer, after diligent preparation +and exhaustive argument, confidently submitted his first case to +the tender mercies of the Court. To his utter dismay, His Honor +promptly rendered a decision adverse to the contention of the +youthful barrister. Deeply humiliated by his defeat, the latter +exclaimed: "I am _astonished_ at such a decision!" The admonition +of a brother, to patience, failing to accomplish its charitable +purpose, the irate attorney asservated more excitedly than before, +his astonishment at such a decision. Whereupon the judge +ordered the clerk to enter up a fine of five dollars against the +offending attorney for contempt of court. Silence now reigned +supreme, and the victim of judicial wrath sank back into his seat, +utterly dismayed. The strain of the situation was at length +relieved in part by an old lawyer from the opposite side of the +trial table, slowly arising and solemnly remarking: "Something +might be said, Your Honor, in extenuation of the conduct of my +young friend. It is his first case, one in which he felt the +deepest interest, and upon the successful issue of which, he had +founded his fondest hopes. I trust Your Honor, upon due reflection, +will remit this fine. It is true, he has with much vehemence +expressed his astonishment at the decision of the Court. But +his youth and inexperience must surely be taken into account. Ah, +Your Honor, when our young brother has practised before this court +as long as some of us have, _he will not be surprised at any decision +Your Honor may make!"_ + +THE POINT OF THE JOKE + +Sydney Smith is credited with saying that it required a surgical +operation to get a joke into a Scotchman's head. And not a bad +reply is that of the Scotchman: "Yes, an _English_ joke." + +It is unnecessary, however, to cross the Atlantic in order to find +a few well authenticated cases where the surgical operation would have +been required. The Hon. Samuel H. Treat, United States Judge of +Southern Illinois, was one of the ablest and most upright of judges, +and possibly--on or off the bench--the most solemn-appearing of +all of the sons of men. + +This little incident was related by Judge Weldon. Soon after +the close of the War, he one day told Judge Treat a story he had +heard upon a recent visit to Washington. McDougall, formerly of +Illinois, but at that time a Senator from California, had become +very dissipated near the close of his term. At a late hour one +night a policeman on the Avenue found him in an utterly helpless +condition--literally in the gutter. As the officer was making +an ineffectual attempt to get the unfortunate statesman upon his +feet, he inquired: "Who are you?" The reply was: "This morning I +was Senator McDougall, but now I am _Sewered!"_ + +A few moments later Mr. Hay came into the office and Judge Treat +said: "Hay, Weldon has just told me a good story about our old +friend McDougall. Mac was in the gutter, and a policeman asked +him who he was, and Mac told him, 'This morning I was Senator +McDougall, but now I am the Hon. William H. Seward!'" + +AN INCIDENT + +Upon the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary +of the organization of the City of Bloomington, the oration was +delivered by the Hon. James S. Ewing, late Minister to Belgium. +In the course of his address, he related the following incident: + +"In the early history of this county, two boys one day went into +the old courthouse to hear a lawsuit tried. There were assembled eight +young lawyers, not all of them engaged in the trial, but giving +strict attention to the proceedings. It was not a suit of great +importance. + +"The Court was presided over by Samuel H. Treat, who afterwards +became a United States District Judge and one of the most distinguished +lawyers and jurists in the State. + +"One of the lawyers was David Davis, first a noted lawyer, then +a circuit judge, then a judge of the Supreme Court of the United +States, then a United States Senator and acting President of the +Senate; a citizen of State and national fame whom the people of +Bloomington loved and delighted to honor. + +"Another was John T. Stuart, a brilliant lawyer, several times a +member of Congress, and one of the most lovable of men. + +"Another one was David B. Campbell, then the prosecuting attorney and +afterwards a prominent lawyer and citizen of Springfield. + +"Another was Edward D. Baker, who was afterwards a United State +Senator from Oregon; a famous orator who immortalized himself by +his marvellous oration over Senator Broderick. + +"Another was James A. McDougall, a brilliant Irishman, afterwards a +United States Senator from the State of California. + +"And Abraham Lincoln, who has passed beyond the domain of human +praise into the pantheon of universal history. + +"I might add that one of those boys afterwards became the Vice-President +of the United States; and the other is your speaker. + +"Speaking to any audience in America, I might say in the world, +I doubt if such an incident could be truthfully related of any +other gathering." + +A JUDICIAL DECISION ON BAPTISM + +It is rarely the case that a Court is called upon to decide questions +of a purely theological character. Of necessity, however--property +interests being involved,--controversies, measurably of a religious +character, sometimes arise for judicial determination. + +The case to be mentioned is probably the only one where "baptism"-- +the true mode and manner thereof--has ever come squarely before an +American judge. A man under sentence of death for murder was +awaiting execution in the jail of one of the counties in +northern Kentucky. Under the ministrations of the pastor of the +Baptist Church, the prisoner at length made "the good confession" and +desired to be baptized. To this end, the faithful pastor applied to +the circuit judge before whom the prisoner had been tried, for +permission to have the rite observed in the Kentucky River near +by. The judge--more deeply versed in "Blackstone" and "Ben Monroe" +than in theological lore--declined to have the prisoner removed +from the jail, but gave permission to have him baptized in the +cell. The physical impossibility of the observance of the solemn rite +in the prisoner's cell was at once explained. "Certainly," said +the judge in reply, "I know there is no room in there to baptize +him that way; but take a bowl of water and sprinkle him right where +he is confined." "But," earnestly interposed the man of the sacred +office, "our church does not recognize sprinkling as valid baptism. +We hold _immersion_ to be the only Scriptural method." "Is it +possible?" exclaimed the judge, greatly surprised. "Well, this +Court decides that sprinkling _is_ valid baptism; and I tell you +once for all, that that infernal scoundrel will be sprinkled, _or he +will be hung without being baptized at all!"_ + +Inasmuch as this decision has never been _overruled_ by a higher +court, it stands as the only judicial determination of the +long-controverted question. + +A DOUBTFUL COMPLIMENT + +Mr. Clark was the leader of the Metamora Bar when I located there-- +_and so continued._ My first case, and the compliment of somewhat +doubtful significance bestowed upon its termination, came about in +this wise. I was retained for the plaintiff before Squire Fairchild +in a suit involving the ownership of a calf of the alleged value +of seven dollars. It being my first case, and having the aforementioned +leader as my professional antagonist--and what was of far greater +consequence, a contingent fee of two dollars and a half trembling in +the balance--it may well be supposed that no effort was spared upon +my part. I won the case, of course--_what lawyer ever told about a +case that he had not won?_ + +The same evening a little group in the village store were discussing +the merits of the case, and comparing the forensic effort of the +new lawyer with that of the old-time leader already mentioned. At +length one Tobias Wilson, as he slid down from his accustomed perch +upon the counter, significantly observed, "Men, you may say what +you please, but for my part, I had ruther hear Stevenson speak +_two_ minutes _than to hear old Clark all day!"_ + +STRONG PERSONAL ATTACHMENT + +Mr. Clark--whose early advantages had been none of the best--was +once counsel for the proponent in a closely contested will case. +The testator, passing by the next of kin, had left his entire estate +to a personal friend, a man not of his own blood. + +In attempting to impress upon the jury the reasonableness of +this disposition, Clark said: "This, gentlemen of the jury, is +another striking illustration of the power of human friendship. +All history--sacred and profane--is full of instances of strong +personal attachments. Who can ever forget the undying affection +of David and Jonathan, of Damon and Pythias, _of Scylla and +Charybdis?"_ + +IRISH WIT + +Judge Baldwin has left of record the witty reply of Jo Heyfron, an +Irish lawyer, to a Mississippi judge. The judge, having rendered a +very ridiculous decision in a cause in which Heyfron was engaged, the +latter slowly arose as if to address the Court. The judge, +exceedingly pompous and a poor lawyer withal, in imperative tone +said: "Take your seat, Mr. Heyfron; you have practised at this +bar long enough to know that when this Court renders a decision, +its wisdom can only be called in question in a higher Court." + +"If Your Honor plase," replied Jo in deprecatory tone, "far be +it from me to impugn in the slightest degray the wisdom of Your +Honor's decision. I only designed to rade a few lines from the +book I hold in my hand, in order that Your Honor might parsave _how +profoundly aignorant Sir William Blackstone was upon this subject!"_ + +It is difficult, at this day, to realize that such scenes could +ever have been enacted in an English Court, as were not infrequent +during the era embracing the celebrated "State Trials." While one +of these was in progress, and Curran in the midst of his argument, +the judge contemptuously turned his back upon the advocate, and +began fondling a favorite dog at his side. The argument was at once +suspended. "Proceed, sir," were the words which at length broke +the stillness that had fallen upon the vast assemblage. "Ah!" +exclaimed Curran, "I was only waiting for Your Lordship _to conclude +your consultation with your learned associate!"_ + +ENGLISH JOKES ABOUT LAWYERS + +Possibly the most solemn book in the world, not excepting Burton's +"Anatomy of Melancholy," or even "Fearne on Contingent Remainders," +is an English publication of a half-century or so ago, entitled +"Jokes about Great Lawyers." + +Of several hundred alleged jokes, two or three will bear +transplanting. + +"My Lord," began a somewhat pompous barrister, "it is written +the book of nature ----" "Be kind enough," interposed Lord +Ellenborough, "to give me the _page_ from which you quote." + +To the opening remark of an equally pompous barrister: + +"My Lord, the unfortunate client for whom I appear ----" "Proceed +sir, proceed," hastily observed the judge, _"so far the court is +with you!"_ + +Ellenborough, when at the bar, after protracting his argument to +the hour of adjournment, said that he would conclude when it should +suit His Lordship's _pleasure_ to hear him. + +The immediate reply was: "The Court will hear you, sir, to-morrow; +but as to the pleasure, _that_ had long been out of the question." + +GREATNESS UNAPPRECIATED + +Gibbon has somewhere said, that one of the liveliest pleasures +which the pride of man can enjoy is to reappear in a more splendid +condition among those who have known him in his obscurity. + +A case in point is a lawyer of prominence in one of the Western +States, who soon after his appointment to a seat in the Cabinet +revisited his early home. Meeting an acquaintance upon his arrival +at the railway station, the visitor, with emotions akin to those +described by Gibbon, ventured to inquire what his old neighbors +said when they heard of him being appointed to a place in the +Cabinet. + +The unexpected reply was: "Oh, they didn't say nothin'; _they +just laughed!"_ + +ALL IN HIS WIFE'S NAME + +The late Colonel Lynch was for many years the recognized wit of +the Logan County Bar. His repeated efforts, upon a time, to collect +a judgment against a somewhat slippery debtor, were unavailing; +the claim of the wife of the debtor, to the property attached, +in each instance proving successful. Immeasurably disgusted at +the "unsatisfied" return of the third writ, the Colonel indignantly +exclaimed: "Yes, and I suppose if he should get religion, he would +hold _that, too,_ in his wife's name!" + +A RETORT BY CURRAN + +The stinging retort of the Irish advocate Curran is recalled. +At the close of his celebrated encounter with one of the most +overbearing of English judges, the latter insultingly remarked +to the somewhat diminutive advocate: "I could put you in my pocket, +sir." To which, with the quickness of a lightning flash, Curran +retorted: "If you did, Your Lordship would have more law in +your pocket _than you ever had in your head!"_ + +Fiercely indignant, the judge replied: "Another word, and I +will commit you, sir." To which Curran fearlessly retorted: "Do, +and it will be the best thing Your Lordship _has committed this +term!"_ + +REMITTING A FINE + +About every courthouse in the "Blue Grass" still linger traditions +of the late Thomas F. Marshall. For him Nature did well her part. +He was a genius if one ever walked this earth. Tall, erect, +handsome, of commanding presence, and with intellectual endowment such +as is rarely vouchsafed to man, no place seemed beyond his reach. +Having in addition the prestige of family, that counted for much, and +being the possessor of inherited wealth, it indeed seemed that +to one man "fortune had come with both of her hands full." The +successor of Clay and Crittenden as Representative for the Ashland +District, a peerless orator upon the hustings, at the bar, and +in the Great Hall, his life went out in sorrow and disappointment. + + "Of all sad words of tongue or pen + The saddest are these, 'It might have been!'" + +His eulogy upon the gifted and lamented Menifee, the tribute of +genius to genius, belongs to the realm of the loftiest eloquence, and +seldom have words of deeper pathos been written than his own obituary +--"Poor Tom's a-cold"--by George D. Prentice. + +As to why that which seemed so full of promise "turned to ashes +upon the lips," the following will explain. Meeting his kinsman, the +Rev. Dr. Breckenridge, he said: "Bob, when you and I graduated, +you took to the pulpit and I to the bottle, and _I have stuck to +my text a good deal closer than you have to yours!"_ + +Not inaptly has hell been described as "disqualification in the +face of opportunity." + +Bearing in mind Marshall's invariable habit of _not_ paying his +debts, the point of the closing remark of the judge in the incident +to be related will appear. Marshall was engaged in the defence of +a man charged with murder in a county some distance from his own +home. Failing repeatedly in his attempt to introduce certain +testimony excluded by the Court, he at length exclaimed: + +"It was upon just such rulings as that that Jesus Christ was +convicted." + +"Mr. Clerk, enter up a fine of ten dollars against Mr. Marshall +for contempt of court," was the prompt response of the judge. + +"Well," said Marshall, "this is the first time in a Christian +country I have ever heard of a _man being fined for abusing Pontius +Pilate!"_ + +"Mr. Clerk," said the judge, with scarcely suppressed indignation, +"enter up a fine of twenty-five dollars against Mr. Marshall for +contempt of court, and the further order that he be imprisoned +in the common jail of the county until the fine and costs are paid." + +The death-like stillness that fell upon the assemblage was at length +broken by Mr. Marshall arising and gravely addressing the Court. + +"If Your Honor please, I am engaged in the trial of an important +case, one where human life may depend upon my efforts. I have just +been fined twenty-five dollars and ordered to be imprisoned until the +fine is paid. Upon a careful examination of my pockets, I find +that I have not that amount _nor any other amount_ about my person. +I am more than one hundred miles from home and among strangers. +In looking over this audience, I find but one familiar face, that of +Your Honor. I am therefore constrained to request Your Honor, +as an old and cherished friend, _to lend me_ the amount necessary +to discharge this fine." + +Instantly the judge exclaimed: "Remit that fine, Mr. Clerk; +_the State is more able to lose it than I am."_ + +A CASE "ON ALL-FOURS" + +Near two-thirds of a century ago, one of the best-known lawyers in +Illinois was Justin Butterfield. He was one of the most eloquent of +the gifted Whig leaders of the State when the list included such +names as Lincoln, Stuart, Hardin, Browning, Baker, and Linder. He +was the earnest champion of General Zachary Taylor for the Presidency +in 1848, and his party devotion was rewarded by appointment to the +commissionership of the General Land Office. The only appointment +for which Mr. Lincoln was ever an applicant was that given to +Butterfield soon after the inauguration of President Taylor. + +Of few lawyers have brighter things ever been told than of +Justin Butterfield. During the fierce anti-Mormon excitement-- +which resulted in the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple and the +expulsion of the Mormons from the State--the "Prophet," Joseph +Smith, was placed upon trial for an alleged felony. The Hon. +Nathaniel Pope was the presiding judge, and Butterfield counsel +for Smith. A large audience, including many elegantly dressed +ladies, was in attendance. + +When he arose to address the Court, Butterfield with great dignity +began: + +"I am profoundly impressed with the solemnity of the situation and +the awful responsibility resting upon me. I stand in the presence +of his Holiness the Pope, surrounded by angels, _to speak in defence +of the Lord's anointed Prophet!"_ + +While in active practice, Butterfield was upon one occasion opposing +counsel to the Hon. David A. Smith in the Supreme Court of the +State. The latter had concluded his argument and with head resting +upon the table in front, had fallen asleep while Butterfield was +speaking. A gleam of sunlight which had found its way through the +window opposite, had fallen upon the very bald head of Smith, +causing it to shine with unwonted brilliancy. Suddenly pausing +and with arm extended toward his sleeping antagonist, Butterfield +solemnly observed: + +"The light shineth upon the darkness _and the darkness comprehendeth +it not!"_ + +As the Old State Bank was about to expire by reason of limitation, +the General Assembly passed a bill extending its corporate life +fifteen years. In litigation in which Butterfield was counsel, +the legal effect of the Act mentioned being involved, the opposing +counsel insisted that the legal effect of said Act was the creation +of a _new_ bank. Butterfield in reply insisted that "a new bank +had not been created, but simply the life of the old one prolonged. +A case in point, your Honor, precisely 'on all-fours' with this, +is the well-authenticated one of the good Hezekiah when the Lord +lengthened out his life fifteen years for meritorious conduct. +Now, sir, did he thereby make a _new_ Hezekiah, _or did he leave +him just the same old Hezekiah?"_ + +"GOING OUT WITH THE TIDE" + +Soldier, lawyer, and wit was Colonel Phil Lee of Kentucky. When +it is borne in mind that he was of exceedingly small stature the +following incident--one he often related--will be appreciated. + +Immediately upon attaining his majority he was a candidate for the +Legislature. On election day he was quietly seated on a barrel in +the room where the election for his precinct was being conducted, when +an old Deacon from the Tan Bark settlement came in to vote. His +choice for the State officers and for Sheriff was called out after +some little parleying as to who were the _best men,_ and the voter +was about to retire, when one of the judges said, + +"Deacon, ain't you going to vote for a candidate for the +Legislature?" + +"Yas, of course, I like to forgot all about that; who is running +for the Legislature?" + +At which Phil, hopping down from the barrel, said, "Deacon, I am +a candidate." + +"Who, _you?"_ inquired the Deacon--with half contemptuous gaze +at the diminutive-looking aspirant; then turning to the judge he +said, _"Just put me down for the other fellow!"_ + +Admitted to the bar at Shepherdsville in his native county of +Bullitt, when barely of age, his first appearance was as attorney for +the plaintiff in a breach-of-promise case of much local celebrity. +His speech held the jury and by-standers literally spellbound, and +it was confidently asserted that the classic banks of Salt River +will probably never witness such flights of eloquence again. At +its close Phil was warmly congratulated by an old Squire from +the "Rolling Fork." + +"Phil, that was a mighty fine speech, a mighty fine speech, Phil, now +mind, I tell you. That speech reminded me of Henry Clay." + +At the first mention of _that_ name, the Squire was promptly invited +out to take a drink. The first round of hospitality happily +concluded, Phil was in readiness for any additional observations +from the Squire. + +"Yes, Phil, when you kinder rared back and throwed your right hand +straight up, thinks I, Henry Clay, Henry Clay!" + +Whereupon the Squire was without unnecessary delay invited to take +another drink. This accomplished, the Squire still held the floor. + +"Yes, Phil, yes, Phil, todes the last when you made that big swoop +with both arms and 'peared like you was gwyen right up to the +rafters, thinks I, Shore 'nough, Henry Clay come back from his +grave!" + +As flesh and blood could not stand everything, the old Squire +was promptly invited to take another drink. Number three being +property placed to his credit, the Squire continued: + +"Yes, Phil, you peared to me to be Henry Clay right over again +_with jist one leetle difference."_ + +At this Mr. Lee, curious to know what could be the _one_ possible little +difference, when there were so many points of resemblance between two +such orators as himself and Henry Clay, ventured to inquire. "I +think," said the Squire, "this, Phil,--_you peared to kinder lack his +ideas!"_ + +And now comes the tragic ending of a brilliant career. Lee, while +Commonwealth's attorney, was in the last stages of that dread +disease, consumption. A murder case was on trial in which he felt +a deep interest. The case was one of unusual atrocity, and the +accused--a man of some local prominence--had been exceedingly +defiant towards the wan and emaciated prosecuting attorney from +its beginning. With much difficulty Colonel Lee succeeded in +getting to the court-room in order to make the closing speech to +the jury. Utterly exhausted,--after depicting the horrible crime in +all its enormity and demanding the extreme penalty of the law upon +its perpetrator,--at its close, in tones that touched the hearts +of all who heard him, he exclaimed: + +"Gentlemen of the jury, I have prosecuted the pleas of this +Commonwealth until the blood has dried up in my veins, and the +flesh has perished from my bones!" + +These were his _last_ words--and his life went out that same night +just as the clock struck twelve. At the self-same hour the steps of +the jury were heard slowly ascending to the court-room which had +witnessed his last effort--their verdict, _"Guilty, the penalty, +death!"_ + + +LI +THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON + +McLEAN COUNTY'S READINESS TO WELCOME HER CHILDREN--HONOR TO THE +EARLY SETTLERS--BEAUTY OF THE COUNTY--ITS PROGRESS--ITS ORGANIZATION +--PRAISE OF JOHN McLEAN--HIS CAREER IN CONGRESS, IN THE ILLINOIS +LEGISLATURE, AND IN THE SENATE--McLEAN COUNTY'S HEROISM--REMINISCENCES +OF THE OLD COURT-HOUSE--FRENCH EXPLORERS IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY +--MARQUETTE AND JOLIET EXPLORE THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI--LA SALLE +EXPLORES THE ST. LAWRENCE, THE OHIO, AND THE MISSISSIPPI TO ITS +MOUTH--EXTENT OF FRANCE'S POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA--THE STRUGGLE +BETWEEN FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN--GEORGE R. CLARK CAPTURES KASKASKIA +FROM THE BRITISH--VIRGINIA CEDES TERRITORY, INCLUDING ILLINOIS, TO +THE UNITED STATES--THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE--ILLINOIS ORGANIZED-- +SUMMARY OF SUCCEEDING EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. + +The McLean County (Illinois) "Home-Coming" of June 15, 1907, was +an event of deep significance to all Central Illinois. On that +occasion I delivered the welcoming address, as follows: + +"These rare days in July mark an memorable epoch in the history of +this good county. The authoritative proclamation has gone forth +that her house has been put in order, that the latch-string is out +--all things in readiness--and that McLean County would welcome +the return of all her children who have in days past gone out from +her borders. + +"In the same joyous and generous spirit in which the welcome was +extended, it has been heeded, and from near and far, from the land +of flowers and of frosts, from the valley of the Osage, the Colorado, +and the Platte, from the golden shores of California, and 'where +rolls the Oregon'--sons and daughters of this grand old county have +gladly turned their footsteps homeward. + + "'When they heart has grown weary and thy foot has grown sore, + Remember the pathway that leads to our door.' + +"As in the ancient days all roads led to Rome, so in this year +of grace, and in this glorious month of June, all roads lead back to +the old home; to the hearthstones around which cling the tender +memories of childhood, and of loved ones gone--to the little mounds +where sleep the ashes of ancestral dead. + +"The 'Home-coming' to which you have been invited will leave its +lasting impress upon all your hearts. The kindly words that +have been spoken, the cordial grasp of the hand, the unbidden tear, +the hospitality extended, have all given assurance that you are +welcome. Here, for the time, let dull care and the perplexities +that environ this mortal life be laid aside, let whatever would in +the slightest mar the delight of this joyous occasion be wholly +forgotten; so that in the distant future, to those who return and to +those who stay, the recollection of these days will be one of +unalloyed pleasure; and so that, when in the years to come we tell +over to our children of the return to the old home, this reunion +will live in our memories as one that, like the old sun-dial, +'marked only the hours which shine.' + +"No place so fitting for this home-coming could have been selected +as this beautiful park, where the springing grass, transparent +lake, and magnificent grove--'God's first temple'--seem all to join +in welcoming your return. How, from a mere hamlet, a splendid city +has sprung into being during the years of your absence! No longer +a frontier village, off the great highway of travel, with the mail +reaching it semi-weekly by stage-coach or upon horseback,--as our +fathers and possibly some who now hear me may have known it,--it +is now 'no mean city.' Its past is an inspiration; its future +bright with promise. It is in very truth a delightful dwelling-place +for mortals, and possibly not an unfit abiding-place for saints. +Whoever has walked these streets, known kinship with this people, called +this his home--wherever upon this old earth he may since have +wandered--has in his better moments felt an unconquerable yearning +that no distance or lapse of time could dispel, to retrace his +footsteps and stand once more within the sacred precincts of his +early home. Truly has it been said: 'No man can ever get wholly +away from his ancestors.' Once a Bloomingtonian, and no art of +the enchanter can dissolve the spell. 'Once in grace, always in +grace,' whatever else may betide! Eulogy is exhausted when I +say that this city is worthy to be the seat of justice of the grand +old county of which it is a part. + +"Upon occasion such as this, the spirit of the past comes over +us with its mystic power. The years roll back, and splendid farms, +stately homes, magnificent churches, and the marvellous appliances +of modern life are for the moment lost to view. The blooming +prairie, the log cabin nestling near the border-line of grove or +forest, the old water-mill, the cross-roads store, the flintlock +rifle, the mould-board plough, the dinner-horn,--with notes sweeter +than lute or harp ever knew,--are once more in visible presence. +At such an hour little stretch of the imagination is needed to +recall from the shadows forms long since vanished. And what +time more fitting can ever come in which to speak of those who have +gone before,--of the early settlers of this good county? + +"It was from the beginning the fit abode for men and women of God's +highest type--and such, indeed, were the pioneers. Their early +struggles, their sacrifices, all they suffered and endured, can +never be fully disclosed. But to them this was truly 'the promised +land'--a land they might not only view, but possess. From New +England, Ohio, the 'Keystone,' and the 'Empire' State, from the +beautiful valley of the Shenandoah and the Commonwealths lying +westward and to the south, came the men and women whose early homes +were near the banks of the little streams and nestled in the shades +of the majestic groves. Here they suffered the hardships and +endured the privations that only the frontiersman might know. Here +beneath humble roofs, their children were born and reared, and here +from hearts that knew no guile ascended the incense of thanksgiving +and praise. The early settlers, the pioneers, the men who laid +the foundations of what our eyes now behold, builded wisely and +well. Their descendants to-day are in large measure the beneficiaries +of all that they so wisely planned, so patiently endured. These +names and something of what they achieved will go down in our annals +to the after times. Peace to their ashes; to their memory all +honor! They were the advance guard--The builders--and faithfully and +well they served their race and time. Upon nobler men and women +the sun in all his course hath nowhere looked down. + +"And where upon God's footstool can domain more magnificent than +this good county be found; one better adapted to the habitation of +civilized man? The untrodden prairies of three-quarters of a +century ago, as if touched by the wand of magic, have become splendid +farms. And groves more beautiful the eye of man hath not seen. + +"Containing a population of less than two thousand at the time +of its organization, there are more than seventy thousand souls +within the bounds of this good county to-day. The log cabin has +given way to the comfortable home. The value of farm lands and +their products have increased beyond human forecast or dream. +As shown by the last Governmental report, McLean County contains +four thousand eight hundred and seventy-three farms, aggregating +seven hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred and seventy-eight +acres. The corn product for the year 1899 exceeded fifteen millions +of bushels, being near one-twentieth of that of the entire State. +In the value of its agricultural products it is third upon the list +of counties in the United States. + +"The life of the farmer is no longer one of drudgery and isolation. +Modern conveniences and appliances have in large measure supplanted +the hard labor of human hands, lessened the hours of daily toil, +and brought the occupant of the farm into closer touch with the +outer world. More than all this, our schoolhouses, universities, +churches, and institutions for the relief of the unfortunate and +dependent, all bear witness to the glad fact that in our material +development the claims of education, of religion, of charity, have +not been forgotten. It is our glory, that in all that tends to human +progress, in all that ministers to human distress, in whatever appeals +to and develops what is best in man, or brings contentment and happiness +to the home--in a word, in the grand march of civilization--McLean +County moves in the van. + +"Possibly no occasion more fitting can arise in which briefly to +speak of the organization of McLean County, and something of +important events of its history. At the session of the Legislature +at Vandalia in the winter of 1830-31, a petition--borne to the +State capital by Thomas Orendorff and James Latta--was duly presented, +praying for the organization of a new county to be taken from +Tazewell and Vermilion. The territory embraced in the proposed +county included the present limits of McLean and large portions of +neighboring counties organized at a later day. In accordance with +the petition, a bill was passed, and its approval by the Governor on +the twenty-fifth day of December, 1830, marks the beginning of the +history of this good county. + +"The name of 'McLean' was adopted upon the motion of the Hon. +William Lee D. Ewing, some of whose kindred have for many years +been residents of this city. Mr. Ewing had been the close friend of +the man whose name he thus honored, and was himself in later years +a distinguished Senator in Congress. + +"By the terms of the bill mentioned, the seat of justice of said +county was to be 'called and known by the name of Bloomington.' +It was further provided that until otherwise ordered the courts of +said county should be held at the house of James Allen. The first +term of the Circuit Court was held in April, 1831, at the place +indicated, the historic 'Stipp House,' but recently standing, a +pathetic reminder of by-gone days. The presiding judge of that +court was the Hon. Samuel D. Lockwood, of Springfield--an able and +eminent jurist of spotless record. By legislative enactment, five +times since its organization, valuable portions of McLean--aggregating +nearly four-sevenths of its original territory--have been carved +in the formation of the counties of Logan, Livingston, Piatt, +De Witt, and Woodford. Notwithstanding all this, McLean County yet +remains--and by constitutional inhibition and the wisdom of our +people will for all time remain--the largest county in the State. + +"A word now of the man whose name was upon every invitation to this +home-coming, in honor of whom this county was named, John McLean, one +of the ablest and most distinguished of the first generation of +public men in Illinois. Born in North Carolina in 1791, his early +years were spent in Kentucky. In the last-named State he studied law +and was admitted to the Bar. He removed to Illinois in 1815 and +located in Shawneetown upon the Ohio River for the practice of his +profession. The county of Gallatin, his future home, was then one +of the most populous in the Illinois Territory. In fact, at the +time mentioned, and for some years after the organization of the +State, there were few important settlements one hundred miles north +of the Ohio River. + +"In the largest degree Mr. McLean was gifted with the qualities +essential to popular leadership in the new State. He was present at +all public assemblages whether convened for business or pastime, +and a leading spirit in all the amusements and sports of the hour. +But 'men are as the time is.' At all events, if the testimony +of his contemporaries is to be taken, his popularity knew no bounds. +The late General McClernand, his fellow-townsman, said of Mr. +McLean: + +"'His personality interested and impressed me. The image of it +still lingers in my memory. Physically, he was well developed, +tall, strong, and stately. Socially, he was affable and genial, +and his conversation sparkled with wit and humor.' + +"The following words of another contemporary, Governor Reynolds, +are of interest: + +"'Mr. McLean was a man of gigantic mind, of noble and manly form, and +of lofty, dignified bearing. His personality was large, and formed +on that natural excellence which at all times attracted the attention +and admiration of all beholders. The vigor and compass of his +intellect was exceedingly great, and his eloquence flowed in +torrents, deep, strong, and almost irresistible.' + +"At the election immediately succeeding the adoption of the +Constitution under which Illinois was admitted into the Union, Mr. +McLean was chosen the Representative in Congress. Soon thereafter, +he presented to the House of Representatives the State Constitution +then recently adopted at Kaskaskia; and upon its formal acceptance +by that body, Mr. McLean was duly admitted to his seat as the first +Representative from Illinois in the Congress of the United States. +He was defeated for re-election by the Hon. Daniel P. Cook, one of +the most gifted men Illinois has known at any period of her history. + +"Rarely have men of greater eloquence than Cook and McLean been +antagonists in debate either upon the hustings or in the halls +of legislation. With the people of the entire State for an audience, +the exciting issues of that eventful period were argued with an +eloquence seldom heard in forensic discussion. In very truth, each +was the worthy antagonist of the other. It is not too much to say +that, with the single exception of the masterful intellectual combat +more than a third of a century later between Lincoln and +Douglas, Illinois has been the theatre of no greater debate. + +"Upon his retirement from Congress, Mr. McLean was elected to +the Lower House of the Illinois Legislature and subsequently chosen +Speaker of that body. The valuable service he there rendered is +an important part of the early history of the State. He resigned the +speakership in order the more effectually to lead the opposition +to a bill chartering a State bank. His predictions as to the evils +to the state, of which the proposed legislation would be the sure +forerunner, were more than verified by subsequent events. More +than a decade had passed before the people were relieved of the +financial ills which John McLean ineffectually sought to avert. +No other evidence of his statesmanship is needed than his masterly +speech in opposition to the ill-timed legislation I have indicated. + +"Apart from the fact that his name is continually upon our lips, +the career of Mr. McLean is well calculated to excite our profound +interest. During the fifteen years of his residence in Illinois, he +held the high position of Representative in Congress, Speaker of +the popular branch of the State Legislature, and was twice elected +to the Senate of the United States. At his last election he received +every vote of the joint session of the General Assembly--an honor of +which few even of the most eminent of our statesmen have been +the recipients. + +"His personal integrity was beyond question, and it may truly be +said of him that he ably and faithfully discharged every public +duty. He died at the early age of thirty-nine, the period when, +to most public men, a career of usefulness and distinction has +scarcely begun. Upon the occasion of the announcement of his death +to the Senate his colleague, Senator Kane, paid an eloquent tribute +to his lofty character, his ability, and his worth, and deplored +the loss his State had sustained in his early death. + +"He lies buried in the State that had so signally honored him, near +the beautiful river upon whose banks he found a home when Illinois +was yet a wilderness. Such, in brief, was the man McLean, whose +honored name this good county will hand down to the after times. +No higher tribute need be paid to his memory than to say, his name +was worthy of this magnificent domain to which it was given. + +"In no part of this broad land has there been more prompt response +than in this to the authoritative call to arms. In the largest +measure McLean County has met every requirement that patriotism +could demand. Full and to overflowing has been her contribution +of means and men. + +"In almost the last struggle with the savage foe, as he burned his +wigwam and disappeared before the inexorable advance of civilized men; +in the War with Mexico, by which States were added to our national +domain; in that of the great Rebellion, where the life of the nation +was at stake, and in our recent conflict with Spain--four times +during a history that spans but a single life, McLean County has +sent her full quota of soldiers to the field. Few survive of the +gallant band who stood with Bissell and Hardin at Buena Vista, +or followed Shields and Baker through the burning sands from the +Gulf to the City of Mexico. And at each successive reunion of +comrades in the great civil strife, there are fewer, and yet fewer, +responses to the solemn roll-call. + + "'On Fame's eternal camping-ground, + Their silent tents are spread.' + +"And what a record is that of this glorious county during the +eventful years of '61-'65! With a population of but forty per cent +of that of to-day, more than four thousand of her brave sons marched +gallantly to the front. They gathered from farm, from shop, +from mart and hall--to die, if need be, that their country might +live. On many fields now historic, where brave men struggled +and died, soldiers from this grand county were steadily in line. +Along every pathway of danger and of glory they were to be found. +In every grade of rank were heroes as knightly as ever fought +beneath a plume. Even to name the heroes that old McLean equipped +for the great conflict would be but to call over her muster rolls of +officers and men. + +"The chords of memory are touched as the vision of the Old Courthouse +rises before us. Its walls were the silent witnesses of events +that would make resplendent the pages of history. Here assembled lawyers, +orators, statesmen, whose names have been given to the ages. Here, +at a critical period in our history the great masters of debate +discussed vital questions of state--questions that took hold of +the life of the republic. Here, at times, debate touched the +springs of political power. Here in the high place of authority +sat one destined later to wear the ermine of the greatest court +known to men. During his membership of that court in the eventful +years immediately following the great conflict, questions novel +and far-reaching pressed for determination; questions no less +important than those which had in the infancy of the republic +exhausted the learning of Marshall and its associates. It is +our pride that our townsman, David Davis, was among the ablest +of the great court, by whose adjudication renewed vigor was given to +the Constitution, and enduring safeguards established for national +life and individual liberty. + +"To the Old Courthouse in the early days came the talented and +genial James A. McDougall, then just upon the threshold of a brilliant +career, which culminated in his election as a Senator from California; +also John T. Stuart, the able lawyer and gentleman of the old +school. He was a Representative in Congress more than two-thirds of +a century ago, when his district embraced all Central and Northern +Illinois--extending from a line fifty miles south of Springfield to +Chicago and Galena. In Congress he was the political associate +and friend of Webster, of Crittenden, and of Clay. Many years ago, +upon the occasion of Mr. Stuart's last visit to Bloomington, he +told me, as we stood by the old 'Stipp' home, that he there, in +1831, witnessed the beginning of the judicial history of McLean +County, when Judge Lockwood opened its first court. With deep +emotion he added that he was probably the last survivor of those +then assembled, and that his own days were almost numbered. His +words were prophetic, as but a few months elapsed before he, +too, had passed beyond the veil. There came also Edward D. Baker, +Representative from Illinois and Senator from Oregon. To him Nature +had been lavish with her gifts. His eloquence cast a spell about all +who heard him. As was said of the gifted Prentiss: 'the empyrean +height into which he soared was his home, as the upper air the +eagle's.' Our language contains few gems of eloquence comparable to +this wondrous eulogy on the lamented Broderick. His own tragic +death in one of the early battles of the great war cast a gloom over +the nation. + +"In his official capacity as prosecuting attorney came also to the +Old Courthouse the youthful Stephen A. Douglas. A born leader +of men, with a courage and eloquence rarely equalled, he was +well equipped for the hurly-burly of our early political conflicts. +Save only in his last great contest, he was a stranger to defeat. +Public Prosecutor, Member of the Legislature, and at the age of +twenty-eight Judge of the Supreme Court of the State; later a +Representative, and at the age of thirty-three a Senator in Congress. +Amid storms of passion such as, please God, we may not see again, +he there held high debate with Seward, Chase, and Sumner; and +measured swords with Tombs, Benjamin, and Jefferson Davis upon +vital issues which, transferred later from forum and from Senate, were +to find bloody arbitrament by arms. Beginning near the spot where +we have to-day assembled, the career of Douglas was indeed marvellous. +Defeated for the great office which had been the goal of his +ambition; amid the war-clouds gathering over the nation, and the +yet darker shadows falling about his couch, he aroused himself +to the last supreme effort, and in words that touched millions of +responsive chords, adjured all who had followed his political +fortunes to know only their country in its hour of peril. With +his pathetic words yet lingering, and 'before manhood's morning +touched its noon,' Douglas passed to the great beyond. + +"Out of the shadowy past another form is evoked, familiar once +to some who hear me now. Another name, greater than any yet spoken, +is upon our lips. Of Abraham Lincoln the words of the great orator, +Bossuet, when he pronounced his matchless elegy upon the Prince of +Conde, might truly be spoken: + +"'At the moment I open my lips to celebrate the immortal glory +of the Prince of Conde, I find myself equally overwhelmed by the +greatness of the theme and the needlessness of the task. What part +of the habitable globe has not heard of the wonders of his life? +Everywhere they are rehearsed. His own countrymen, in extolling +them, can give no information even to the stranger.' + +"Of Lincoln no words can be uttered or withheld that could add +to or detract from his imperishable fame. His name is the +common heritage of all people and all times. + +"When in the loom of time have such words been heard above the din +of fierce conflict as his sublime utterances but a brief time before +his tragic death? + +"'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness +in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to +finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care +for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and +his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and +lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.' + +"The men who knew Abraham Lincoln, who saw him face to face, who +met him upon our streets, and heard his voice in our public +assemblages have, with few exceptions, passed to the grave. Another +generation is upon the busy stage. The book has forever closed +upon the dread pageant of civil strife. Sectional animosities, +thank God, belong now only to the past. The mantle of peace is +over our entire land, and prosperity within all our borders. + + "'Till the war-drum throbs no longer, + And the battle-flags are furled + In the parliament of man, + The federation of the world.' + +"Through the instrumentality in no small measure of the man personally +known to some who hear me, the man McLean County delighted to honor, +no less as a private citizen than as President, this Government, +untouched by the finger of time, has descended to us. Let it never +be forgotten that the responsibility of its preservation and +transmission will rest upon the successive generations of his +countrymen, as they shall come and go. + +"Truly it has been said: 'To-day is the pupil of yesterday,' +and also 'History is the great teacher of human nature by means of +object-lessons drawn from the whole recorded life of human nature.' +There is, then, no dead past. Every event is in a measure significant. +The annals of the ambitions, the crimes, the miseries, the wrongs, +the struggles, the achievements of men in the long past are fraught +with lessons of deep import to all succeeding generations. Each +age is the heir to that which preceded. We make progress in +proportion as we wisely ponder significant events. + +"McLean County had its historical beginning as a dependent but +distinct political organization on the joyous Christmas Day of +1830. Stretching backward from that date, its history is bound up +solely in that of Illinois, under its various organizations and +names. A brief time upon occasion such as this given to a hurried +review of the masterful epochs in the history of the great State +of which our own county is so important a part, cannot be wholly +misspent. + +"Bearing in mind that 'that which comes after ever conforms to that +which has gone before,' significant events of the past must be +known, to the end that we intelligently comprehend the present, +and are enabled, even in scant measure, to forecast the future. + +"No State of the American union has a history of more intense +interest than our own. Its early chapters, indeed, savor of the +romantic rather than of the real. I do not speak of the long-ago time +when Illinois forest and prairie were the house and hunting-ground +of the red men, and his frail bark the only craft known to its +rivers. That period belongs to the border-land age of tradition +rather than of veritable history. It is of Illinois under the +domination of civilized men I would speak. + +"For near a century preceding the Treaty of Paris in 1763, 'the +Illinois country' was a part of the French domain. Inseparably +linked with that portion of its history are names that will live +with those of the Cabots and Columbus. The great navigator in his +lonely search for a new pathway to the Indies was buoyed by a +courage, a yearning for discovery, scarce greater than that which in +the heart of the new continent sustained the later voyagers and +discoverers, Marquette, Joliet, Hennepin, and La Salle. + +"America's obligation to France is enduring--for explorers in +the seventeenth century no less than for defenders in that which +immediately followed. The historic page which tells of the +lofty heroism of Lafayette has for us no deeper interest than that +which records the daring achievements of the early French pathfinders +and voyagers. Two centuries and a half ago Marquette and +Joliet, bearing the commission of the French Governor of Quebec, +embarked upon their expedition for the discovery of new countries to +the southward. Animated by the earnest desire of extending the +blessings of religion no less than that of adding to the domain of +their imperial master, they set out upon an expedition which has +become historic. The bare recital of what befell them would +fill volumes. Now meeting with the scattered tribes of Indians, +bestowing presents and in turn sharing the hospitality offered; +now speaking words of admonition and of instruction; now gathering +up the crude materials for history; now reverently setting up +the cross in the wilderness; again threading the pathless forests, +or in frail barks sailing unknown waters, they pursued their perilous +journey. + +"In time, after looking out upon the waters of Lake Michigan, +crossing Lake Winnebago, visiting the ancient villages of the +Kickapoos, 'with joy indescribable,' as Marquette declared, they +for the first time beheld the Mississippi. In June, 1673, upon +the east bank of the great river, they landed upon the soil of what +is now the State of Illinois. At the little village they first +visited they received hospitable treatment. Its inmates are known +in our early history as 'the Illini'--a word signifying _men._ +The euphonic termination added by the Frenchmen gives us the +name Illinois. It is related that, upon the first appearance of +Marquette and Joliet at the door of the principal wigwam of the +village, they were greeted by an aged native with the words: 'The +sun is beautiful, Frenchmen, when you come to visit us; you +shall enter in peace into all our cabins; it is well, my brothers, +you come.' In the light of the marvellous results of the visit, +the words of the aged chieftain seem prophetic. We, too, may say it +was well they came. + +"The glory of having discovered the upper Mississippi and the valley +which bears its name belongs to Marquette and Joliet. It was theirs +to add the vast domain under the name 'New France' to the empire +of _le Grand Monarque._ In very truth a princely gift. But no +history of the great valley and the majestic river would be complete +which failed to tell something of the priest and historian, Hennepin, +and of the knightly adventures of the Chevalier La Salle. + +"Much, indeed, that is romantic surrounds the entire career of +La Salle. Severing his connection with a theological school in +France, his fortunes were early cast in the New World. From Quebec, +the ancient French capital of this continent, he projected an +expedition which was to add empire to his own country and to cast a +glamour about his own name. It has been said that his dream was +of a western waterway to the Pacific Ocean. In 1669, with an outfit +that had cost him his entire fortune, with a small party he ascended +in canoes the St. Lawrence, and a few weeks later was upon the broad +Ontario. Out of the mists and shadows that enveloped much of +his subsequent career, it were impossible at all times to gather +that which is authentic. It is enough that, with Hennepin as one of +his fellow-voyagers, he reached the Ohio and in due time navigated +the Illinois, meantime visiting many of the ancient villages. + +"But his great achievement--and that with which abides his imperishable +fame--was his perilous descent of the Mississippi from the Falls +of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico. On the sixth day of April, 1682, +upon the east bank of the lower Mississippi, with due form and +ceremony and amid the solemn chanting of the _Te Deum_ and the +plaudits of his comrades, La Salle took formal possession of the +Louisiana country in the name of his royal master, Louis the +Fourteenth of France. + +"For the period of ninety-two years, beginning with the discoveries +of Marquette and Joliet, the Illinois country was a part of the +French possessions. Sovereignty over the vast domain of which +it was a part was exercised by the French King through his commandant +at Quebec. But as has been truly said, 'The French sought and +claimed more than they had the ability to hold or possess. Their line +of domain extended from the St. Lawrence around the Great Lakes and +through the valley of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, a +distance of over three thousand miles.' Truly a magnificent domain, +but one destined soon to pass forever from the possession of the +French monarch and his line. + +"The hour had struck, and upon the North American continent the +ancient struggle for supremacy between France and her traditional enemy +was to find bloody arbitrament. Great Britain claimed as a part +of her colonial possessions in the New World the territory bordering +upon the Great Lakes and the rich lands of the Ohio and Mississippi +valleys. As to the merits of the French and English contention as +to superior right by discovery or conquest, it were idle now to +argue. Our concern is with the marvellous results of the long-continued +struggle which for all time determined the question of race supremacy +upon this continent. + +"Passing rapidly the minor incidents of the varying fortunes of +the stupendous struggle which had been transferred for the time +from the Old World to the New, we reach the hour which was to mark +an epoch in history. The time, the thirteenth of September, 1759; +the place, the Heights of Abraham at Quebec. There and then was +fought out one of the pivotal battles of the ages. It was the +closing act in a great drama. The question to be determined: +Whether the English-speaking race or its hereditary foe was to +be master of the continent. It was in reality a struggle for empire +--the magnificent domain stretching from the St. Lawrence to the +Gulf of Mexico. The incidents of the battle need not now be told. +Never were English or French soldiery led by more knightly captains. +The passing years have not dispelled the romance or dimmed the +glory that gathered about the name of Wolfe and Montcalm. Dying +at the self-same moment--one amid the victors, the other amid the +vanquished--their names live together in history. + +"By the treaty of Paris which followed, France surrendered to +her successful rival all claim to the domain east of the Mississippi +River. In accordance with the terms of the treaty, Gage, the +commander of the British forces in America, took formal possession +of the recently conquered territory. Proclamation of this fact +was made to the inhabitants of the Illinois country in 1764, and +a garrison soon thereafter established at Kaskaskia. Here the rule +of the British was for the time undisputed. British domination in +the Mississippi Valley was, however, to be of short duration. Soon +the events were hastening, the forces gathering, which were in turn +to wrest from the crown no small part of the splendid domain won +by Wolfe's brilliant victory at Quebec. + +"In this hurried review I reach now an event of transcendent interest +and one far-reaching in its consequences. While our Revolutionary +War was in progress, and its glorious termination yet but dimly +foreshadowed, General George Rogers Clark planned an expedition +whose successful termination has given his name to the list of +great conquerors. Bearing the commission of Patrick Henry, Governor +of Virginia, the heroic Clark crossed the Ohio and began his +perilous march. After enduring untold hardships, the undaunted +leader and his little band reached Kaskaskia. The British commander +and his garrison were surprised and quickly captured. The British +flag was lowered, and on the fourth day of July, 1778, the Illinois +country was taken possession of in the name of the Commonwealth +whose Governor had authorized the expedition. + +"Five years later occurred an event of mighty significance, and of +far-reaching consequence--one that in very truth marks the genesis +of Illinois history. I refer to the cession by Virginia of the +vast area stretching to the Mississippi--of which the spot upon +which we are now assembled is a part--to the general Government. +To the deed of cession, by which Illinois became a part of the +United States, as commissioners upon the part of Virginia, were +signed the now historic names of Arthur Lee, James Monroe, and +Thomas Jefferson. + +"The next milestone of Illinois upon the pathway to statehood +was what is so well known in our political history as the Ordinance +of 1787. Not inaptly has it been called 'the second Magna Charta,' +'a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night,' in the settlement +and government of the Northwestern States. Two provisions of +the great ordinance possessed a value that cannot be measured by +words: One, that the States to be formed out of said territory +were to remain forever parts of the United States of America; +the other, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should +exist therein, otherwise than for crime whereof the party should +have been duly convicted. + +"The value of the great Ordinance to millions who have since found +homes within the limits of the vast area embraced within its +provision cannot be overstated. Our eyes behold to-day the marvellous +results of the far-seeing statesmanship in which it was conceived. + +"Momentous events now followed in rapid succession: the disastrous +defeat of General St. Clair, first Governor of the Northwest +Territory, near the old Miami village; the appointment of General Wayne, +hero of Stony Point, to the command of the Western army; his crushing +defeat of the Indian foe at the Maumee Rapids, and the treaty of +Greenville, which for the time gave protection to the frontiersmen +against the savage; the attempt of the French minister, Genet, +to create discord in the western country, and in fact to establish +a Government in the Mississippi Valley, independent of that of the +United States; and the threatened conflict with Spain regarding +the free navigation of the Mississippi--all possess an interest to +Illinoisans which time cannot abate. + +"All apprehension, however, was for the time removed by the treaty +between our Government and Spain, by which it was provided that +the middle of the Mississippi should be our western border and that +the navigation of the entire river to the Gulf should be free to +all the people of the United States. Passing over the later +faithless attempt of Spain to abrogate this salient provision of +the treaty, it is enough that the question was forever put at rest +by the purchase by our Government in 1803, for fifteen millions of +dollars, from the great Napoleon, of the entire Louisiana country, +stretching from the Gulf to the domain of Canada--out of which have +been carved sixteen magnificent States, destined to abide and remain +forever sovereign parts of our federal Union. + +"And while Spain has sustained crushing and retributive defeat and +her flag has disappeared forever from mainland and island of the +western world, the great river, gathering its tributaries from +northern lake to southern sea, flows unvexed through a mighty realm +that knows no symbol of authority save only our own Stars and +Stripes. + +"Illinois was represented for the first time in a legislative +chamber in the general assembly of the Northwest Territory, +which convened in Cincinnati in 1799. By act of Congress in +May, 1800, a new territorial organization was created, by which +the territory now embraced in the States of Indiana and Illinois +was formed, to be known as 'Indiana Territory,' and the capital +located at Vincennes. In February, 1809, by act of Congress, +the 'Territory of Illinois' was duly organized, its seat of government +established at Kaskaskia. Nine years later--December, 1818--with a +population scarcely one-half that of McLean County to-day, it +was duly admitted a State of the federal Union. + +"Beginning with Illinois at the coming of Joliet and Marquette +in the seventeenth century, we have rapidly followed its thread of +history for a century and a half, until it became a State of the +American Union. We have seen it under the rule of the Frenchman, the +Briton, the Virginian, under its various territorial organizations, +until eighty-nine years ago it reached the dignity of statehood. +We have seen its seat of authority at Quebec, at New Orleans, at +Cincinnati, at Vincennes, and finally at Kaskaskia. We have noted +something of its marvellous development, of its wonderful increase +in population. + +"Just one hundred and seven years ago, when by act of Congress +Illinois became part of the Indiana Territory, it contained a +population of less than two thousand white persons, only eight +hundred of whom were of the English-speaking race. Less than +two decades later, with a population of less then forty thousand, and +an area greater, with a single exception, than any of the original +States, we have witnessed its admission to the Union. How marvellous +the retrospect at this hour! And yet, 'the pendulum of history +swings in centuries in the slow but sure progress of the human race +to a higher and nobler civilization.' + +"Events of thrilling interest and of scarce less consequence +than those already mentioned followed the admission of the State +into the Union. In brief summary: The unsuccessful attempt to +introduce slavery; the fatal duel between Stewart and Bennet and +the trial and execution of the survivor for murder, thereby placing +the ban of judicial condemnation upon the barbarous practice; +the visit of Lafayette to Illinois and his brilliant entertainment +by the Governor and Legislature at the old executive mansion; +the removal of the State capital from the ancient French village +of Kaskaskia to Vandalia, and near two decades later to Springfield; +the memorable contest for Congress between Cook and McLean, each +possessing in large measure the rare gift of eloquence, and both +dying lamented in early manhood; the organization of two +splendid counties that will keep the honored names of Cook and +McLean in the memories of men to the latest posterity; the Black +Hawk War and the final treaty of peace which followed the defeat +and capture of the renowned Sac chief; the riots at Alton and +the assassination of the heroic Lovejoy while defending the right of +free speech and of a free press; the advent of the prophet +Joseph Smith, the rapid growth of the Mormon Church, its power as a +political factor in the State, the building of the million-dollar temple +at Nauvoo, the murder of the Mormon prophet, and the final exodus of +his adherents to the valley of the Wasatch and the Great Salt Lake; +the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the precursor +of grander material achievements soon to follow; the bravery of +the Illinois troops during the war with Mexico; the wonderful tide +of immigration flowing in from the older States and from Europe; +the invaluable services of Senator Douglas in securing the celebrated +land grant under which the Illinois Central Railroad was +constructed, and Chicago brought into commercial touch with the +River Ohio and the States to the southward; the dawn of the era of +stupendous agricultural development, and of marvellous activity on +all lines and through all channels of trade; the wonderful growth of +Chicago, springing with giant bound, within the span of a single +life, from a mere hamlet to be the second city upon the continent; +the unparalleled railroad construction, giving Illinois a +greater mileage than any one of her sister States; the immense +development of its untold mineral resources, and the advance by +leaps and bounds along all lines of manufacturing; the impetus +given to the higher conception and purpose of human life by the +creation of a splendid system of public schools and universities; the +establishment of institutions and asylums for the considerate care +and relief of the unfortunate and afflicted of our kind; the building +of homes 'for him who hath borne the battle and for his orphan'; +the masterful debates between Lincoln and Douglas, the prelude +to events destined to give pause to the world, and to change the +trend of history. And, to crown all, how, when the nation's life was +in peril, Illinois, true to her covenant under the great Ordinance +that had given her being, gave one illustrious son to the chief +magistracy of his country, another to the captaincy of its armies, +and sent her soldier heroes by myriads along every pathway of danger +and of glory. + +"As one standing, alas, 'upon the western slope,' let me adjure +the young men of this magnificent county--my home for more than +half a century--to study thoroughly the history of our own State, and +of the grand republic of which it is a part. Illinois, in all that +constitutes true grandeur in a people, knows no superior among the +great sisterhood of States. Her pathway from the beginning has +been luminous with noble achievement. It is high privilege and high +honor to be a citizen of this grand republic. It is in very truth +a government of the people, in an important sense a government +standing separate and apart; its foundations the morality, the +intelligence, the patriotism of the people. Never forget that +citizenship in such a government carries with it tremendous +responsibility, a responsibility that we cannot evade. Study +thoroughly how our liberties were achieved, and the benefits of +stable government secured by the great compact which for more than +a century, in peace and during the storm and stress of war, has held +States and people in indissoluble union; and how, during the great +civil conflict--the most stupendous the world has known--human +liberty, through baptism of blood, obtained a new and grander +meaning, and the Union established by our fathers was made, as +we humbly trust in God, enduring for all time." + + + +INDEX +[omitted] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN*** + + +******* This file should be named 19745.txt or 19745.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/7/4/19745 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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