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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/23097-8.txt b/23097-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..729fe46 --- /dev/null +++ b/23097-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15671 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Fifty Years of Public Service, by Shelby M. Cullom + +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: Fifty Years of Public Service + +Author: Shelby M. Cullom + +Release Date: October 20, 2007 [EBook #23097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE *** + + + + +Produced by Ed Ferris + + + + +Transcriber's notes: + + The dieresis is transcribed by a preceding hyphen. Caps and small + caps have been set as upper and lower case. Names have been corrected + + Chapter VIII: "La Fayette", Indiana, kept as a contemporary + variant spelling. McPherson, "clerk of the house" changed to "Clerk + of the House" (of Representatives). + + LoC call number: E661.C9 + + +FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE + + +[Frontispiece] +_Photo, by Prince Tota, Washington, D. C._ +[Facsimile signature] +SMCullom + + +FIFTY YEARS +OF +PUBLIC SERVICE + +_PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF_ +SHELBY M. CULLOM +_SENIOR UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS_ + +WITH PORTRAITS + +_SECOND EDITION_ +CHICAGO +A. C. McCLURG & CO. +1911 + + +Copyright +A. C. McCLURG & Co. +1911 + +Published October, 1911 +Second Edition, December, 1911 + +PRESS OF THE VAIL COMPANY +COSHOCTON, U. S. A. + + +CONTENTS +CHAPTER + I Birth to Admission to the Bar, 1829 to 1855 + II Service as City Attorney at Springfield, 1855 and 1856 + III Election to the Illinois Legislature: Lincoln-Douglas + Debates, 1856 to 1858 + IV Other Distinguished Characters of that Day, 1858 and 1859 + V Nomination of Lincoln and Douglas for the Presidency, 1859 + and 1860 + VI Speaker of the Illinois Legislature, and a Member of + Congress, 1860 to 1865 + VII Lincoln, 1860 to 1864 + VIII Notables in the Thirty-ninth Congress, 1864 to 1870 + IX The Impeachment of President Johnson + X Speaker of the Legislature, and Governor, 1871 to 1883 + XI Grant + XII General John A. Logan + XIII General John M. Palmer + XIV Governor Richard J. Oglesby + XV Senatorial Career, 1883 to 1911 + XVI Cleveland's First Term, 1884 to 1887 + XVII Cleveland's Defeat and Harrison's First Term, 1888 to 1891 + XVIII Cleveland's Second Term, 1892 to 1896 + XIX McKinley's Presidency, 1896 to 1901 + XX Roosevelt's Presidency, 1901 to 1909 + XXI Interstate Commerce + XXII John Marshall Harlan + XXIII Members of the Committee on Foreign Relations + XXIV Work of the Committee on Foreign Relations + XXV The Interoceanic Canal + XXVI Santo Domingo's Fiscal Affairs + XXVII Diplomatic Agreements by Protocol +XXVIII Arbitration + XXIX Titles and Decorations from Foreign Powers + XXX Isle of Pines, Danish West Indies, and Algeciras + XXXI Congress under the Taft Administration + XXXII Lincoln Centennial: Lincoln Library +XXXIII Consecutive Elections to United States Senate + XXXIV Conclusion + + Index + + +LIST OF PORTRAITS + +S. M. Cullom +Shelby M. Cullom, while a Law Student +Richard Yates +Stephen A. Douglas +Abraham Lincoln +James G. Blaine +Andrew Johnson +Shelby M. Cullom, while Governor of Illinois +Ulysses S. Grant +John A. Logan +John M. Palmer +Richard J. Oglesby +Grover Cleveland +James A. Garfield +William McKinley +William Howard Taft +Cushman K. Davis +William P. Frye +John C. Spooner +Theodore Roosevelt +Elihu Root + + +FOREWORD + +"Oh, that mine adversary had written a book!" + +Such was the exclamation of one who, through the centuries, has +been held up to the world as the symbol of patience and long +suffering endurance, and who believed that he thus expressed the surest +method of confounding an enemy. + +I have come to that age in life where I feel somewhat indifferent +as to consequences, and, yielding to the suggestions and insistence +of friends, I determined that I would undertake to write some +recollections, as they occurred to me, of the men and events of my +time. + +Naturally, to me the history of the period covered by my life since +1829 is particularly interesting. I do not think that I am prejudiced +when I assert that while this period has not been great in Art and +Letters, from a material, scientific, and industrial standpoint it +has been the most wonderful epoch in all the world's history. + +About the period of my birth General Andrew Jackson was first +elected President of the United States. Jackson to me has always +been an interesting character. Theodore Roosevelt has declared +very little respect for him, and has written deprecatingly--I might +say, even abusively--of him. But the truth is, there were never +two Presidents in the White House who, in many respects, resembled +each other more nearly than Jackson and Roosevelt. + +Jackson was sixty-one years old when elected President--an unusually +old man to be elected to that high office; and he had served his +country during the War of the Revolution. When I consider this +the thought occurs to me, How young as a Nation we are, after all. +Why, I date almost back to the Revolution! President Taft jocularly +remarked to me recently: "Here's my old friend, Uncle Shelby. He +comes nearer connecting the present with the days of Washington +than any one whom I know." And I suppose there are few men in +public life whose careers extend farther into the past than mine. + +During my early life the survivors of the Revolutionary War, to +say nothing of the War of 1812, were very numerous and abundantly +in evidence. Up to that time, no man who had not served his country +in some capacity in the Revolutionary War had been elevated to the +Presidency, and this was the case until the year 1843. + +During the year 1829 the crown of Great Britain descended from King +George IV to King William IV. That reign passed away, and I have +lived to see the long reign of Victoria come and go, the reign of +Edward VII come and go, and the accession of King George V. Charles +X ruled in France, Francis I in Austria (the reign of Francis Joseph +had not yet begun), Frederick William III in Prussia, Nicholas I +in Russia; while Leo XII governed the Papal States, the Kingdom of +Italy not yet having come into existence. The United Kingdom of +Great Britain and Ireland had not yet a population of 24,000,000, +all told. + +From the dawn of this epoch may well date the practical beginning +of a long cycle of political and intellectual upheaval, and the +readjustment of relations which go to make up world-history, arriving +at a culmination in our great Civil War. + +In the last half-century--nay, I might say, within the last two +decades--there has been a mighty impulse in the direction of +scientific investigation, of mechanical invention, of preventive +medicine, of economic improvement, and the like. Germany, in some +respects, has led, but our own country has not been far behind. +Independent research has been wonderfully productive, and rivalry +has been keen. Often the mere suggestion of one scientist has been +taken up and elaborated (or discredited) by other scientists; the +idea of one inventor has been seized upon and bettered, or possibly +proved valueless, by other inventors. The paths to the remote and +inaccessible have been toiled over by rival explorers; new records +have been made by rival aviators; while competitive and co-operative +activities in every line have known a phenomenal growth. New names +have been placed in the Pantheon of the immortals, new planets +discovered in the solar system, new stars added to the clear skies +of our nightly vision. Out of all the striving has come a sweeping +advance in lingual requirements. In most departments of Science, +Art, and Manufacture, the processes and methods of to-day are not +those of yesterday, and the doers of new things have freely coined +new words or given new meaning to old ones. The most complete and +exhaustive encyclopaedia of yesterday is to-day found not entirely +adequate to the already increased wants. Upon all these momentous +factors must these "Recollections," in one way or another, touch +from time to time. + + Shelby M. Cullom. + +Washington, D. C. + _July, 1911_. + + +FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE + +CHAPTER I +BIRTH TO ADMISSION TO THE BAR +1829 to 1855 + +Tides of migration set in about the close of the Revolutionary War, +originating in the most populous of the late Colonies (now States), +debouching from the western slopes of the mountain border-passes +into the headwaters of Kentucky's rivers, and mingling at last in +the fertile valley through which those rivers, in their lower +reaches, find an outlet into the Ohio. + +The westward flowing current brought with it two families--the +Culloms of Maryland, and the Coffeys of North Carolina--who settled +in a beautiful valley, not far from the banks of the Cumberland, +which bore the euphonious name of Elk Spring Valley. Richard +Northcraft Cullom, of the first-named family, married Elizabeth +Coffey. They remained in Kentucky until seven children had been +born to them, I being the seventh, the date of my birth occurring +on the twenty-second day of November, 1829. We were a large family, +but not extraordinarily numerous for those times, there being five +brothers and seven sisters. + +Kentucky was a Slave State, and my father did not believe in slavery. +He was fairly well to do, and after considering the situation he +determined to seek a home in a Free State and live there to the +end of his days. + +A treaty with the Indians in 1784, at Fort Stanwix, had secured +from the Iroquois all claims to the lands which now make up the +States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. At the time of our removal +the State of Illinois was only eleven years old, and but a small +portion of it had any considerable settlements. These were mainly +in the south half of the State. Chicago was then a small village, +Fort Dearborn being at that time of more consequence than the +village. Now Chicago is the second greatest city in the Union in +population and business. + +My father, together with Alfred Phillips and William Brown, his +two brothers-in-law, entered land in the same portion of the County +of Tazewell, and at once, on their arrival from Kentucky, pitched +their tents and began the erection of log cabins, in preparation +for winter. Phillips was a large, vigorous man, both in body and +mind. He was a man of the highest integrity, and soon became one +of the leading citizens of Tazewell County, continuing so until +his death. William Brown was a Methodist preacher and was a worthy +example of the consistent minister of the Gospel of Christ. He +was called upon by the people for many miles around to perform +ceremonies on wedding occasions and, in time of sorrow, to preach +at the funerals of departed friends. + +My father lived longer than either Phillips or Brown. They both +raised large families, and to-day the youngest son of Phillips-- +the Hon. Isaac N. Phillips--is recognized as one of the able lawyers +of the State, and is the reporter of the Supreme Court of Illinois. +My father was a farmer, but he always took great interest in the +affairs of the country, and especially of the State in which he +lived. He was a Whig, and believed in Henry Clay. He took an +active part in political campaigns, and was several times a member +of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature, and once +of the State Senate. + +Tazewell County, in which he resided, became a very strong Whig +county, the Whigs having their own way until the Free-soil party, +which soon became the Republican party, took its place as against +the Democratic party. When that time came, Tazewell, like Sangamon, +became Democratic. Sangamon County, in which I live, and Tazewell +County, in which I was raised, were both strong Whig counties while +the Whig party survived; but when it died, the population being +largely from Kentucky and other Southern States, naturally sympathized +with the South on the question of slavery. They drifted into the +Democratic party in large numbers, and gave the control to the +Democracy for a time; and the two parties still struggle for control +in both counties. + +My father became well acquainted with Abraham Lincoln while the +latter was a young man. The first time I ever heard of Lincoln, +was when two men came to my father's house to consult with him on +the question of employing an attorney to attend to a law case for +them at the approaching term of the Circuit Court. I remember +hearing my father say to them that if Judge Stephen T. Logan should +be in attendance at court, they should employ him; but if he were +not, a young man named Lincoln would be there, who would do just +about as well. Readers will see by this that while Lincoln was +yet a young man he was ranked among the foremost lawyers at the +Bar. At that time Stephen A. Douglas was beginning to be heard +from. + +Judge Logan was one of the best lawyers of the Mississippi Valley. +He was a Kentuckian by birth, and, as a lawyer, was a very great +man. Douglas was a great statesman and a leader of men; a great +debater, but, in my opinion, not a great lawyer. The law is a +jealous mistress; there are no great lawyers who do not give +undivided attention to its study, and Douglas devoted much time to +public affairs. + +On the arrival of my father at the grove where he had previously +determined to locate his family, he pitched his tent near a little +stream, then called Mud Creek, afterwards called Deer Creek, because +it was a great resort for wild deer. He soon erected a log cabin +and moved into it with his family. I was less than one year old +when the family located in Illinois. We lived in the cabin for +several years. It was not a single cabin, but there were two cabins +connected together by a covered porch; which was a very pleasant +arrangement in both summer and winter. + +Finally, my father built a frame house. During all this time the +wild deer were numerous, and often I have counted from the door +from five to twenty deer feeding in a slough not a quarter of a +mile away. + +I never killed a deer. The beautiful animals always seemed to me +so innocent that I had not the heart to shoot them. + +The Winter of 1830-31 was long remembered by the early settlers of +Illinois, and of all the now so-called Middle States, as the "winter +of the deep snow." For months it was impossible to pass from one +community to another in the country. + +My education was obtained at the local schools and at the seminary +at Mount Morris two hundred miles distant from my father's home. + +In my boyhood years there were no common schools. There were only +such schools in the country as the people by subscription saw proper +to provide. The schoolhouse in the neighborhood in which I lived +was built of logs, covered with thick boards, and supplied with +rude benches on its puncheon floor for the scholars to sit upon. +We sat bolt upright, there being nothing to lean against. There +were no desks for our books; and had desks been obtainable there +were but few books to use or care for. We boys whispered to the +girls at our peril; but we took the risk occasionally. + +It was my duty as a school-boy, after doing the chores and work +inseparable from farm life, to walk every morning a long distance +over rough country roads to school. After I had attained to a fair +common-school education, I concluded that I could teach a country +school, and was employed to teach in the neighborhood; first for +three months at eighteen dollars per month, and then for a second +term of three months at twenty. I think I have a right to assume +that I did well as a teacher, since the patrons raised my wages +for the second term two dollars per month. + +My efforts in teaching school did not secure sufficient funds to +enable me to remain at school away from home very long, and I +determined to try another plan. My father had five yoke of oxen. +I prevailed on him to lend them to me. I obtained a plough which +cut a furrow eighteen to twenty inches wide, and with the oxen and +plough I broke prairie for some months. I thereby secured sufficient +money, with the additional sums which I made from the institution +at Mount Morris at odd times, to enable me to remain at the Mount +Morris Seminary for two years. + +I never shall forget the journey from my home in Tazewell County +to Mount Morris, when I first left home to enter the school. As +it well illustrates the difficulties and hardships of travel in +those early days in Illinois, I may be pardoned for giving it +somewhat in detail. + +It was in the Spring of the year. My father started with me on +horseback from my home in Tazewell County to Peoria, a distance of +fifteen miles. A sudden freeze had taken place after the frost +had gone out of the ground, and this had caused an icy crust to +form over the mud, but not of sufficient strength to bear the weight +of a horse, whose hoofs would constantly break through. Whereupon +I dismounted and told father that he had better take the horses +back home, and that I would go to Peoria on foot, which I did. + +The weather was cold, and I was certainly used up when I arrived +in Peoria. I went to bed, departing early the following morning, +by steamer, for Peru, a distance of twenty-five miles. From there +I took the stage-coach to Dixon, a distance of twelve miles. + +There came up another storm during the journey from Peru to Dixon, +and the driver of the stage-coach lost his way and could not keep +in the road. I ran along in front of the coach most of the way, +in order to keep it in the road, the horses following me. From +Dixon I crossed the river, proceeding to Mount Morris by private +conveyance. I never had a more severe trip, and I felt its effects +for very many years afterwards. + +The days I spent in old Mount Morris Seminary were the pleasantest +of my life. I was just at the age which might be termed the +formative period of a young man's career. Had I been surrounded +then by other companions, by other environment, my whole future +might have been entirely different. Judged by the standard of the +great Eastern institutions, Mount Morris was not even a third-class +college; but it was a good school, attended by young men of an +unusually high order. In those early days it was the leading +institution of higher learning in Northern Illinois. I enjoyed +Mount Morris, and the friendships formed there continued throughout +my life. + +I do not know whether I was a popular student or not, but I was +president of the Amphictyon Society, and, according to the usual +custom, was to deliver the address on retiring from the presidency. +During the course of the address I fainted and was carried from +the chapel, which was very hot and very crowded. I was rolled +around in the snow a while and speedily revived. I was immediately +asked to let one of the boys read the remainder of the address, +but the heroic treatment to which I had been subjected stirred me +to profane indifference respecting its fate. Later I was selected +to deliver the valedictory. So I suppose I must have enjoyed a +reasonable degree of popularity among my fellow students. + +It was at Mount Morris that I first became intimate with the late +Robert R. Hitt. He and his brother John, who recently died, were +classmates of mine, their father being the resident Methodist +preacher at Mount Morris. Robert R. Hitt remained my friend from +our school days until his death. He was a candidate for the Senate +against me at one time, but he was no politician, and I defeated +him so easily that he could not harbor a bitter feeling against +me. He was quite a character, and enjoyed a long and distinguished +public career in Illinois. One of the early shorthand reporters +of the State, the reporter of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, he became +intimate with Lincoln, and Lincoln was very fond of him. He filled +numerous important positions at home and abroad, and married a most +beautiful lady, who still survives. He was later appointed Secretary +of Legation at Paris. + +Bob Hitt told me that he asked President Grant for the appointment, +and the President at once said that he would give it to him. +Washburne, who had been Secretary of State for a few days, and who +was then minister at Paris, was much astonished when Hitt appeared +and said that he had been appointed Secretary of Legation. Mr. +Washburne denounced both President Grant and Secretary of State +Fish for appointing anybody to fill such an intimate position +without his consent. + +Ambassadors and ministers, however, are not consulted as to who +shall be appointed secretaries. These appointments are made by +the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; +but Mr. Washburne, as usual, though that he was a bigger man than +any one else, and that an exception should have been made in his +case. But, when officially informed of the appointment, he submitted +gracefully, and they got along together quite amicably. Strange +to say, Hitt represented Washburne's old district in Congress for +a number of years--many more years than Washburne himself represented +it. + +It was as a member of Congress that Mr. Hitt distinguished himself. +He did what every man should do who expects to make a reputation +as a national legislator; and that is to specialize, to become an +expert in some particular branch. He was peculiarly fitted for +foreign affairs. He was a man of education and culture, a student +always, had served abroad for years, had mingled in the highest +society, and it is not strange than in a comparatively few years +he was recognized as the leading authority on all matters coming +before the House pertaining to our foreign relations. + +The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House is not nearly so important +a committee as the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, and +I may be pardoned for saying that I am chairman of the latter +committee myself. + +The reason is this: the Constitution provides that treaties shall +be made only with the advice and consent of the Senate; hence it +is that all such treaties, and consequently the foreign policy of +the general Government, must pass the scrutiny of the Foreign +Relations Committee of the Senate while the House and its committees +have nothing whatever to do with them. + +But nevertheless of all the House committees, that of Foreign +Affairs is at times the foremost, and it never had an abler chairman +than Robert R. Hitt. He was certainly in the most remarkable degree +what might be termed a specialist in legislation. He gave but +scant attention to any other branch of legislation. He had little +time or liking for the tariff, finance, appropriations, or for any +branch of legislation that failed to come within his own especial +province. He was, in fact, so indifferent to the general business +of the House that he told me one day that he did not even take the +trouble to select a regular seat; that when any question came up +in which he was interested he would talk from the seat of some +absent colleague. Hence it was that he was seldom seen on the +floor of the House except when some question was raised concerning +our foreign relations; at which time he was immediately sent for. +And it is only justice to him to say that he was the only man in +the House in his time, and no one has since appeared there, who +could so successfully defend or attack the policy of an administration +concerning its foreign affairs. + +The late Senator Morgan of Alabama, a most extraordinary character, +of whom I shall have something to say later, and Robert R. Hitt +and myself were appointed members of a commission to frame a form +of government for the Territory of Hawaii, which we had just +acquired. We travelled to Hawaii together. No two more delightful, +entertaining, or interesting men could be found. They are both +dead, and it was my sad privilege to eulogize their public achievements +in the Senate. + +In what I am writing from time to time, now, as the months and +years go by, when I have the leisure from my public duties to devote +to it, and without knowing whether what I am writing will ever be +published, I do not want to eulogize any one. If what I say about +men and events shall offend their friends living, I can not help +it. I want only to give my own estimate of the men whom I have +known. Robert R. Hitt was a good man; his honesty and uprightness +were never questioned; he never did a great deal for his district +but he was one of the most useful legislators in his own line-- +foreign affairs--whom I have ever known during my service in +Congress. I think this is a fair and just estimate of him. + +But to return to Mount Morris, Professor D. J. Pinckney was president +of the Seminary when I was a student there. He knew my father +intimately, and naturally took more than ordinary interest in me. +When I became ill at school, he took me into his own home and kept +me there for a month or more, treating me with the greatest kindness +and consideration. + +Years after I left the institution he became interested in politics, +and ran as an independent for Congress against Horatio C. Burchard, +Republican (who was, by the way, a very excellent man and my friend). +Burchard defeated him. When the campaign was on I was invited to +go to Galena and make a speech for Mr. Burchard. It never occurred +to me at the time that I was going into Pinckney's district; but +when I discovered the truth, I could not very well back out. I +made my speech, but was careful not to say a word against Professor +Pinckney, simply advocating the election of Mr. Burchard as a good +Republican. Professor Pinckney, however, took great offense, and +was very cold toward me from that time until his death. I felt +that he had been misled, that it would all come right, and that +some day I would have a plain talk with him; but he died before we +ever got together. He has a son now living in Chicago, a prominent +circuit judge of Cook County. + +Among other classmates of mine at Mount Morris, was the late General +John A. Rawlins, who became a distinguished officer and was General +Grant's chief of staff. No better, no truer, man ever lived than +General Rawlins. He was essentially a good man and never had a +bad habit. + +Rawlins was a Democrat, and a strong one, during his school days, +and I believe that he remained one until the Civil War. Robert +Hitt and his brother John, together with Rawlins and myself, formed +a sort of four-in-hand, and we were very intimate. We would take +part in the discussions in our society, and Rawlins was especially +strong when a political question was raised. I have heard him, +during his school days, make speeches that would have done credit +to a statesman. He would have done himself and country credit in +any civil office. He served as Secretary of War a few months. +Like so many others who entered the war without the slightest +military training, he came out of it with a brilliant record as an +officer and soldier. + +Judge Moses Hallett, a United States judge, retired, of Colorado, +was another classmate of mine. He was an exceptionally good man, +and developed into a very able lawyer and judge. He is still +living, and has become quite wealthy through fortunate real-estate +investments in the vicinity of Denver. + +But I fear I might tire the reader by dwelling longer on my school +life at Mount Morris. To look back over those happy early days is +interesting to me; but it is sad to think how few, how very few, +of my schoolmates, then just beginning the journey of life, with +all the enthusiasm and hope of youth, are living to-day. They soon +scattered, some to one vocation, some to another; some to achieve +distinction and fame, some failure; but certain it is that I know +of very few who are now living. + +My health was impaired when I left school, and I returned home to +work on the farm. Soon I became strong again, but the labor was +so arduous and uncongenial that I determined upon a change: if +there was any other way of making a honest living, I would try to +find it. + +In the meantime I had leased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres +from my father. When Spring came I told him that I wanted to be +released from my contract; that I had deliberately come to the +conclusion that I could make my living some other way--that I +intended to study law. My father did not hesitate to relieve me +of my obligations, and the succeeding October, 1853, I started for +Springfield to enter upon the study of law. I consulted with +Abraham Lincoln, and on his advice I entered the law offices of +Stuart and Edwards, both of whom were Whigs and friends of my +father. They were both very good men and distinguished lawyers. + +At that time Abraham Lincoln and Stephen T. Logan and Stuart and +Edwards were the four ablest lawyers of the capital city. I studied +two years in the offices of Stuart and Edwards, pursuing the usual +life of a law student in a country law office, and was admitted to +the Bar in 1855, and elected City Attorney the same year. + +Meanwhile, however, I had been ill of typhoid fever for several +months. During the period of my convalescence, I was advised to +return to my home in the country and spend much time riding horseback. +I did so, but the time seemed to drag, and finally I went to the +city of Peoria to learn whether I could direct my restorative +exercise to an additional profitable end. The result was that for +several ensuing weeks I rode about the countryside, buying hogs +for Ting & Brotherson; at the expiration of which time I had regained +my health, was richer by about five hundred dollars, and was thus +enabled to return at once to Springfield and take up again my +interrupted studies. + +Having been inducted into the office of City Attorney, I was fairly +launched upon a political career, exceeding in length of unbroken +service that of any other public man in the country's history. In +fact I never accepted but two executive appointments: the first +was an unsought appointment by Abraham Lincoln, after he had become +the central figure of his time, if not of all time; and, second, +an appointment from President McKinley as chairman of the Hawaiian +Commission. + + +CHAPTER II +SERVICE AS CITY ATTORNEY AT SPRINGFIELD +1855 and 1856 + +My election as City Attorney of Springfield signalized at once my +active interest in politics at the very moment when the war cloud +was beginning to take shape in the political heavens--a portentous +cloud, but recognized as such at that time by comparatively few of +the thinking people. It had seemed certain for years that a struggle +was sure to come. Being a very young man, I suppose I did not +realize the horrors of a civil war, but I watched with keen interest +the signs of dissolution in political parties, and realignments in +party ties. + +In 1854 the country seemed on the verge of a war with Spain over +Cuba which happily was averted. The _Black Warrior_ had been seized +in Havana Harbor, and the excitement throughout the country when +Congress prepared to suspend the neutrality laws between the United +States and Spain was intense. + +It was about this time also that the famous Ostend manifesto was +issued without authority from any one. The American representatives +at the Courts of England, France, and Spain met at Ostend to confer +on the best method of settling the difficulties concerning Cuba +and obtaining possession of the island. They issued a manifesto in +which they recommended that Cuba should be purchased if possible, +failing which that it should be taken by force: + +"If Spain, actuated by stubborn pride and a false sense of honor, +should refuse to sell Cuba to the United States, then by every law, +human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain, +if we possess the power." + +The Ostend manifesto was repudiated; but it is certain that we +would have then intervened in favor of freeing Cuba, had it not +been for the dark war clouds which were so quickly gathering over +our own country. + +Among the other vital conditions which helped to keep the country's +interest and attention divided at this critical time was the Missouri +Compromise repeal, May 30, 1855. This repealing act early began +to bear political fruit. Already treaties had been made with half +a score of the Indian Nations in Kansas, by which the greater part +of the soil for two hundred miles west was opened. Settlers, +principally from Missouri, immediately began to flock in, and with +the first attempt to hold an election a bloody epoch set in for +that region between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, +fanned by attempts in Massachusetts and other Eastern States to +make of Kansas a Free State. + +By methods of intimidation, Whitfield, a slave-holder, was elected +the first delegate to Congress. At a second election thirteen +State Senators and twenty-six members of a Lower House were declared +elected. For this purpose 6,320 votes were cast--more than twice +the number of legal voters. + +Foreign affairs other than Spain's unfriendly activities also had +a share in distracting attention. The United States paid Mexico +ten million dollars to be free of the Guadalupe Hidalgo obligation +to defend the Mexican frontier against the Indians. + +My first experience after I was elected City Attorney, was to +prosecute persons charged with violating the ordinances prohibiting +the sale of intoxicating liquors. One of my preceptors, the Hon. +Benjamin S. Edwards, was a strong and earnest temperance man. He +volunteered to assist me in the prosecution of what we called +"liquor cases." The fact is that for a time he took charge of the +cases, and I assisted him. Life was made a burden to violators of +liquor ordinances that year in Springfield. + +The following year, 1856, was a Presidential year. I was chosen +as an elector on what was called the "Fillmore Ticket." I did not +at that time believe very strongly in Fremont for President. During +the same year, I was nominated as a candidate for the House of +Representatives of the Illinois Legislature, and was supported by +both the Fillmore party and the Free-soil party and thus elected. + +The House of Representatives of the Legislature of 1856 was so +close that if all the members who had not been elected as Democrats +united, they had one majority. If any one of them went to the +Democrats, the Democrats would have the control. One of the men +elected on the Fillmore ticket went over, thus giving the Democracy +the coveted one necessary. The Republicans, or as they were then +called, Free-soilers, attempted to organize the House by recognizing +the clerk of the previous House, who was a Free-soiler, it then +being the custom to have the clerk call the House to order and +preside until a temporary organization was perfected. The Democrats +refused to recognize the clerk whom the opposition recognized. +The Democrats declared by vote the election of a temporary chairman, +nominated and elected a sergeant-at-arms and a deputy, and ordered +the two latter officers to carry the clerk out of the hall; which +was promptly done at the expense of a good suit of clothes to the +clerk who departed reluctantly. This was my first experience in +legislation. + +A careful reading of the annals of the State of Illinois will show +that this incident is by no means unique in its history. + +To go back a few years, when Edward Coles, who had been private +secretary to President Madison, was elected Governor, it was by a +mere plurality vote over his highest competitor, and--to use the +language of former Governor Ford--he was so unfortunate as to have +a majority of the Legislature against him during his whole term of +service. The election had taken place soon after the settlement +of the Missouri question. The Illinois Senators had voted for the +admission of Missouri as a Slave State, while her only Representative +in the Lower House voted against it. This all helped to keep alive +some questions for or against the introduction of slavery. + +About this time, also, a tide of immigrants was pouring into Missouri +through Illinois, from Virginia and Kentucky. In the Fall of the +year, every great road was crowded with them, all bound for Missouri, +with their money and long trains of teams and negroes. These were +the most wealthy and best educated immigrants from the Slave States. +Many people who had land and farms to sell, looked upon the good +fortune of Missouri with envy; whilst the lordly immigrant, as he +passed along with his money and droves of negroes, took a malicious +pleasure in increasing it by pretending to regret the short-sighted +policy of Illinois, which excluded him from settlement, and from +purchasing and holding lands. + +In this mode a desire to make Illinois a Slave State became quite +prevalent. Many persons had voted for Brown or Phillips with this +view, whilst the friends of a Free State had rallied almost in a +body for Coles. + +Notwithstanding the defeat of the Democrats at this election, they +were not annihilated. They had been beaten for Governor only by +a division in their own ranks, whilst they had elected a large +majority of each House of the Assembly, and were determined to make +a vigorous effort to carry their measure at the session of the +Legislature to be held in 1822-23. Governor Coles, in his first +message, recommended the emancipation of the French slaves. This +served as the spark to kindle into activity all the elements in +favor of slavery. + +Slavery could not be introduced, nor was it believed that the French +slaves could be emancipated, without an amendment to the Constitution; +the Constitution could not be amended without a new convention, to +obtain which two thirds of each branch of the Legislature had to +concur in recommending it to the people; and the voters, at the +next election, had to sanction it by a majority of all the votes +given for members of the Legislature. + +When the Legislature assembled, it was found that the Senate +contained the requisite two-thirds majority; but in the House of +Representatives, by deciding a contested election in favor of one +of the candidates, the Slave party would have one more than two- +thirds, while by deciding in favor of the other, they would lack +one vote of having the majority. These two candidates were John +Shaw and Nicholas Hanson, who claimed to represent the County of +Pike, which then included all the military tract and all the country +north of the Illinois River to the northern limits of the State. + +The leaders of the Slave party were anxious to re-elect Jesse B. +Thomas to the United States Senate. Hanson would vote for him, +but Shaw would not; Shaw would vote for the convention, but Hanson +would not. The party had use for both of them, and they determined +to use them both, one after the other. For this purpose, they +first decided in favor of Hanson, admitted him to a seat, and with +his vote elected their United States Senator; and then, toward the +close of the session, with mere brute force, and in the most +barefaced manner, they reconsidered their former vote, turned Hanson +out of his seat, and decided in favor of Shaw, and with his vote +carried their resolution for a convention. + +There immediately resulted a very fierce contest before the people, +characterized by lavish detraction and personal abuse--one of the +most bitter, prolonged, and memorable in the history of the State +--and the question of making Illinois permanently a Slave State +was put to rest by a majority of about two thousand votes. The +census of 1850 was the first that enumerated no slaves in our State. + +In this connection I cannot avoid giving a little account of +Frederick Adolphus Hubbard, who was Lieutenant-Governor when Coles +was Governor. Hubbard seemed to be a very ignorant man, but +ambitious to become Governor of the State, or to attain some other +position that would give him reputation. + +"It is related of him that while engaged in the trial of a lawsuit, +involving the title to a certain mill owned by Joseph Duncan [who +afterwards became Governor], the opposing counsel, David J. Baker, +then recently from New England, had quoted from Johnson's New York +reports a case strongly against Hubbard's side. Reading reports +of the decisions of courts before juries was a new thing in those +days; and Hubbard, to evade the force of the authority as a precedent, +coolly informed the jury that Johnson was a Yankee clock-peddler, +who had been perambulating up and down the country gathering up +rumors and floating stories against the people of the West, and +had them published in a book under the name of 'Johnson's Reports.' +He indignantly repudiated the book as authority in Illinois, and +clinched the argument by adding: 'Gentlemen of the jury, I am sure +you will not believe anything that comes from that source; and +besides that, what did Johnson know about Duncan's mill anyhow?'"( 1) + +Hubbard, in 1826, became a candidate for Governor of Illinois. He +canvassed the State, and the following is a sample of his speeches, +recorded by Ford: + +"Fellow-citizens, I offer myself as a candidate before you for the +office of Governor. I do not pretend to be a man of extraordinary +talents, nor do I claim to be equal to Julius Caesar or Napoleon +Bonaparte, nor yet to be as great a man as my opponent, Governor +Edwards. Nevertheless I think I can govern you pretty well. I do +not think it will require a very extraordinary smart man to govern +you; for to tell you the truth, fellow-citizens, I do not believe +you will be very hard to govern, nohow."( 2) + +In 1825, Governor Coles notified Lieutenant-Governor Hubbard that +he had occasion to leave the State for a time and required the +latter to take charge of affairs. Hubbard did so, and when Governor +Coles returned Hubbard declined to give up the office, asserting +that the Governor had vacated it. He based his contention upon +that clause of the Constitution that provided that the Lieutenant- +Governor should exercise all the power and authority appertaining +to the office of Governor, in case of the latter's absence from +the State, until the time provided by the Constitution for the +election of Governor should arrive. He claimed that the Governor +had vacated the office until the time of the election of a new +Governor, and declined to surrender. The result was, the Governor +had to get a decision of the Supreme Court, which was to the effect +that there was no ground on which to award the writ. Coles was +obliged to submit, but not until he had appealed to the Legislature, +where his contention was equally unsuccessful. + +At one time, after repeated and annoying application, Hubbard +obtained from Governor Edwards what he had reason to believe was +a recommendation for a certain office. He became a little suspicious +that the letter was not very strong in his behalf, and in speaking +of it afterwards, in his lisping manner, said: "Contrary to the +uthage amongst gentlemen, he thealed it up; and contrary to the +uthage amongst gentlemen, I broke it open; and what do you think +I found? Instead of recommending me, the old rathcal abuthed me +like a pickpocket." + +( 1) Moses, page 334. + +( 2) Ford, page 61. + + +CHAPTER III +ELECTION TO THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE: LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES +1856 to 1858 + +In the year 1856 I had rather unusual experiences of both victory +and defeat in one and the same political campaign. As candidate +for the Legislature I won out, being elected; as the chosen elector +on the Fillmore ticket, I went down in the party's defeat. The +Whig party was in its expiring days, and what was called the "Know- +Nothing" party was apparently a temporary substitute for it. +Fillmore carried one solitary state--Maryland. Buchanan was elected +by quite a large majority over both Fremont and Fillmore combined. + +The administration of President Buchanan has been so frequently +and fully described that there is little, if anything, new to say +about it; but such were the fearful responsibilities incurred by +it for the subsequent bloodshed, that its shortcomings cannot be +entirely ignored in the intelligible presentation of the course of +events which gave direction to my observations and activities. + +The campaign of 1856 had been one of the most exiting and hotly +contested ever fought in the State. The only hope the Democrats +had of success was in the division of their opponents and in +preventing their fusion. Their denunciations of abolitionists and +"Black Republicans," as they termed their antagonists, were without +bounds. But here and there some one would be called to account, +as in the case of the late John M. Palmer, since distinguished in +war and peace, and some years ago candidate of the Gold Democrats +for the Presidency. + +Between him and Major Harris, then running for Congress in his +district, there had been considerable ill-feeling. The major had +written a letter to be read at a Democratic meeting at which Palmer +was present. It was very abusive of the Republicans, and Palmer +rising, remarked the fact that the author would not dare make such +charges to the face of any honest man. Harris, as related by the +historian Moses, hearing of this, announced that he would resent +it at the first opportunity. This Palmer soon gave him by attending +one of his meetings. The major in the course of his remarks indulged +in the most vituperative language against abolitionists, calling +them disturbers of the peace, incendiaries, and falsifiers; and at +length, turning to Palmer and pointing his finger at him, said, "I +mean you, sir!" Palmer rising to his feet, instantly replied, +"Well, sir, if you apply that language to me you are a dastardly +liar!" And drawing a pistol, he started toward the speaker's stand. +"Now, sir," he continued, "when you get through, I propose to reply +to you." The major had not anticipated this turn of affairs, but +prudently kept his temper and finished his speech. Then Palmer +arose and, laying his weapon before him, cocked, proceeded to give +the Democratic party such a castigation as none of those present +had ever heard before. + +It was in the campaign of 1856 that I first began to make political +speeches. James H. Matheny, who was then our circuit clerk, +accompanied me to several meetings where we both delivered addresses. +He was an old Whig inclined toward Democracy, and I was a Whig +inclined toward Republicanism. The result was I made Republican +speeches, while Judge Matheny made Democratic speeches. + +Our first meeting away from home was at Petersburg, Menard County. +Being a candidate for elector on the Fillmore ticket, I made my +first away-from-home speech, which I thought was a pretty good +Republican speech. Matheny followed me with a hot Democratic +speech, attacking especially Judge Trumbull, then our United States +Senator. I remained pretty steadily in the campaign of that year, +making about the same character of speech wherever I went. + +Fillmore was very popular in Central Illinois, where the Whig party +also had quite a large following during its palmy days, but he did +not receive votes enough to come anywhere near carrying the State. +Sangamon, my home county, and Tazewell County, where I was brought +up, both gave their majority votes for Fillmore. + +The Hon. John T. Stuart and his partner, the Hon. B. S. Edwards, +with whom I studied law, besides being able lawyers and first-class +men, were both Whigs; Mr. Stuart especially took an active part in +the campaign. The latter was invited to attend what was called a +Fillmore meeting at Shelbyville, several counties away from Sangamon. +It so happened that he could not go, and the people of Shelbyville +telegraphed for me. I went, and it turned out to be a combined +Fremont, Buchanan, and Fillmore meeting--at least the three meetings +there were held all on the same day. + +The Fillmore camp gathered its forces out in the woods until about +two o'clock in the afternoon. The Buchanan and Fremont crowds then +marched in, informing the first-comers that they regarded their +right to have the first meeting pre-eminent. An agreement was +arrived at after some little wrangling, and old General Thornton +was chosen to preside. He determined that, as I was not only a +young man but the farthest from home, I should make the first speech +--an arrangement that suited me very well. + +I made my speech, as good a one as I could, and in closing, somewhat +hurriedly announced that I was obliged to leave for home, much as +I might wish to remain with them to the close of the meeting. The +result was that most of the Fillmore people followed me away and +came nearly breaking up the whole performance. I urged them to go +back and listen to the other speakers; but they declined to do so +until I had gotten off for home. It was my first venture at speech- +making away from home on national issues. + +I worked and voted for Fillmore because I had a very high opinion +of him as a good man, and did not then think very much of Fremont +as a proper candidate for the Presidency. Subsequently Fremont +became better known, and occupied a high place in the estimation +of the people of the United States, as a gallant soldier and a +statesman, enjoying the unique honor of having been the first +candidate of the Republican party for President. + +I have taken an active part in every campaign since 1856, excepting +when poor health prevented a regular speaking campaign. + +The animosities of the campaign of 1856 were carried into the +Legislature and kept alive in the House during the entire session. +Governor Bissell's inaugural address was a dignified State paper +in which he referred to the administration of his predecessor in +highly complimentary terms. He concurred in all his recommendations, +but suggested no measures of his own. Although he had commented +briefly upon the Kansas-Nebraska controversy, and in mild terms, +his remarks stirred the ire of the Democrats. Upon the motion to +print the address, a virulent attack was made upon him, led, strange +to say, by John A. Logan, afterwards the foremost volunteer general +of the Union, and a Republican of Republicans. The rancor of the +Democrats against Governor Bissell, who at that time was a physical +wreck from a stroke of paralysis, though mentally sound, was largely +due to their recollection of the fearless manner in which he had +responded, some years before, to a challenge given him by Jefferson +Davis to a duel. That episode has long since become historic, and +I need not enlarge upon it here. + +As was the political temper in the State of Illinois, so was it, +to a greater or less degree, throughout the entire Nation. + +Buchanan's first message repeated the assurance that the discussion +of slavery had come to an end. The clergy were criticised for +fomenting prevalent disturbances. The President declared in favor +of the admission of Kansas, with a Constitution agreeable to a +majority of the settlers. He also referred to an impending decision +of the Supreme Court, with which he had been made acquainted, and +asked acquiescence in it. This was Judge Taney's decision in the +Dred Scott case, rendered two days after Buchanan's inauguration. + +An action had been begun in the Circuit Court in Missouri by Scott, +a negro, for the freedom of himself and children. He claimed that +he had been removed by his master in 1834 to Illinois, a Free State, +and afterwards taken into territory north of the compromise line. +Sanford, his master, replied that Scott was not a citizen of +Missouri, and could not bring an action, and that he and his children +were Sanford's slaves. The lower courts differed, and the case +was twice argued. The decision nullified the Missouri restriction, +or, indeed, any restriction by Congress on slavery in the Territories. +Chief-Justice Taney said: + +"The question is whether the class of persons (negroes) compose a +portion of the people, and are constituent members of this sovereignty. +We think they are not included under the word 'citizen' in the +Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and +privileges of that instrument." + +Negroes, as a race, were at that time considered as a subordinate +and inferior class who had been subjugated by the dominant whites, +and had no rights or privileges except such as those who held the +power and the government might choose to grant them. They had for +more than a century been regarded as beings of an inferior grade-- +so far inferior that they possessed no rights which the white man +was bound to respect; and the negro might justly and lawfully be +reduced to slavery for his (the white man's) benefit. The negro +race by common consent had been excluded from civilized governments +and the family of nations, and doomed to slavery. The unhappy +black race was separated from the whites by indelible marks long +before established, and was never thought of or spoken of except +as property. + +The Chief-Justice further annulled the Missouri restriction, by +asserting that "the act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from +holding property of this kind north of the line therein mentioned +is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore void." +Benton said that it was "no longer the exception, with freedom the +rule; but slavery was the rule, with freedom the exception." + +It was a year of financial distress in America, which recalled the +hard times of twenty years before. The United States treasury was +empty. + +Early in this year (1856) a Legislature had met at Topeka, Kansas, +and was immediately dissolved by the United States marshals. A +Territorial Legislature also met at Lecompton and provided for a +State Constitution. The people of Kansas utterly refused to +recognize the latter body which had been chosen by the Missouri +invaders, and both parties continued to hold their elections. + +Thus it may be seen that these episodes were the culmination of a +long series of events leading to a new alignment of the country's +political forces. The Republican party was the child of this +ferment of unrest. The formation of a new political party, or the +regeneration of an old one, is always due to events, and not to +the schemes and purposes of men except as events sometimes originate +in such purposes and schemes. In this case the steps in the course +of events which had rendered the formation of an anti-slavery party +inevitable were: The pro-slavery provisions of the Constitution, +the foreign slave trade, the acquisition of the Territory of +Louisiana, the invention of the cotton-gin and its effects, the +Missouri Compromise, the nullification schemes of South Carolina, +the colonization and annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, the +contest over the admission of California, the Compromise Measure +of 1850, and finally the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854. + +The name of the party was an incident only, and not an essential +or very important incident; its principles and purposes were the +vital facts. When events demand a new party, or the reorganization +of an old one, all resistance is usually borne down speedily. On +the other hand, it is a wasteful exhibition of human power to +attempt the creation of a new party by the force of combined will +and resolutions formulated in public meetings. Abraham Lincoln's +great experience or keener penetration, or both, guided him at the +outset of the realignments on political issues, and at the opening +of the Congressional campaign of 1858, I followed him firmly and +without mental reservation into the ranks of the Republican party. + +Hence it was that I was present on that historic occasion when the +Republican party of the State of Illinois held a convention at +Springfield, June 17 of the year named, and nominated Lincoln for +the seat in the United States Senate, then held by Stephen A. +Douglas, who at that time was usually affectionately referred to +by his partisan followers as "The Little Giant." This nomination +was anticipated, and Mr. Lincoln had prepared a speech, which he +then delivered, in which he set forth, in a manner now universally +recognized as masterly, the doctrines of the Republican party. He +arraigned the administration of Mr. Buchanan and denounced the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise under the lead of Senator Douglas. +In that speech he made the declaration, which I remember as clearly +as though an event of yesterday, then characterized as extravagant +but long since accepted as prophetic: "I believe this Government +cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free." + +That address inaugurated a discussion which has no exact parallel +in history--certainly no equal in American political history. It +introduced Mr. Lincoln to the country at large, and prepared the +way for his nomination to the Presidency two years later. On the +declaration above quoted Mr. Douglas based many arguments, in vain +attempts to prove that Mr. Lincoln was a disunionist. + +During this period Douglas addressed an enthusiastic assemblage at +Chicago, and in the course of his speech adverted to the arraignment +of himself by Mr. Lincoln. He took direct issue with that gentleman +on his proposition that, as to Freedom and Slavery, "the Union will +become _all_ one thing or _all_ the other," and maintained strenuously +that "it is neither desirable nor possible that there should be +uniformity in the local institutions and domestic regulations of +the different States of this Union." + +An announcement that Mr. Lincoln would reply to Mr. Douglas on the +following evening brought out another assemblage, July 10, which +was awakened, before the speaker had concluded, to an enthusiasm +at least equal to that which the eloquence of Douglas had aroused. + +The issues involved in this famous series of debates are too familiar +to all students of our Nation's political history to be considered +at length in these pages. Mr. Lincoln analyzed and answered the +various arguments advanced by Mr. Douglas the evening before; and +the closing paragraphs of his reply to the insistent reminders +"that this Government was made for white men," were memorable: + +"Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be +treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; +that as much is to be done for them as their conditions will allow. +What are these arguments? They are the arguments that kings have +made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world. You will +find that all the arguments in favor of kingcraft were of this +class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they +wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being +ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge is +the same old serpent that says: 'You work, and I eat; you toil, +and I will enjoy the fruits of it.'" + +Six days thereafter, July 16, Senator Douglas in a great speech +again tried to break the force of his opponent's facts and logic. +This was at Bloomington, and Mr. Lincoln was again a careful +listener. On the evening following, July 17, at Springfield, before +an enthusiastic audience, he proceeded to dissect the matters so +plausibly presented. + +At the same hour Douglas was addressing a Springfield audience of +his own, ridiculing especially Mr. Lincoln's alleged attitude toward +the Supreme Court. + +Contrasting the disadvantages under which, by reason of an unfair +apportionment of State Legislature representation and otherwise, +the Republicans labored in that campaign, Mr. Lincoln on that +occasion said in the course of his talk: + +"Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious politicians +of his party, or who have been of his party for years past, have +been looking upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the +President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly, +fruitful face, post-offices, land-offices, marshalships, and cabinet +appointments, _chargé_-ships and foreign missions, bursting and +sprouting out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by +their greedy hands. And as they have been gazing upon this attractive +picture so long, they cannot, in the little distraction that has +taken place in the party, bring themselves to give up the charming +hope; but with greedier anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, +and give him marches, triumphal entries, and receptions, beyond +what even in the days of his highest prosperity they could have +brought about in his favor. On the contrary, nobody has ever +expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face, nobody +has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out." + +He affirmed that Popular Sovereignty, "the great staple" of the +Douglas campaign, was "the most arrant Quixotism that was ever +enacted before a community." + +As a result of these preliminary speeches of the Congressional +campaign it was generally conceded that, at last, the "Little Giant" +had met his match, and the intellectual and political appetites of +the public called for more. In recognition of this demand, Mr. +Lincoln opened a correspondence which led to an agreement with Mr. +Douglas for a series of joint discussions, seven in number, on fixed +dates in August, September, and October. Alternately they were, +in succession, to open the discussion and speak for an hour, with +another half-hour at the close after the other had spoken for an +hour and a half continuously. My friend and schoolmate, the late +Mr. R. R. Hitt, an efficient stenographer, was employed to report +the whole series, and thus we have a full record of the most +remarkable debate, viewed from all points, that has ever occurred +in American history--possibly without a parallel in the world's +history. Vast assemblages gathered from far and near and listened +with breathless attention to these absorbingly interesting +discussions. + +Notwithstanding the intense partisan feeling that was evoked, the +discussion proceeded amidst surroundings characterized by the utmost +decorum. The people evidently felt that the greatest of all +political principles, that of human liberty itself, was hanging on +the issue of this great political contest between intellectual +giants, thus openly waged before the world. They accordingly rose +to the dignity and solemnity of the occasion, as has been well said +by one who was then a zealous follower of Douglas, vindicating by +their very example the sacredness with which the right of free +speech should be regarded at all times and everywhere. + +I have elsewhere described the disappointment I personally felt at +the result, when the election returns came in. Although the popular +vote stood 125,698 for Lincoln to 121,130 for Douglas--showing a +victory for Lincoln among the people--yet enough Douglas Democrats +were elected to the Legislature, when added to those of his friends +in the Illinois Senate elected two years before and held over, to +give him fifty-four members of both branches of the Legislature on +joint ballot, against forty-six for Mr. Lincoln. + + +CHAPTER IV +OTHER DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS OF THAT DAY +1858 and 1859 + +More than four months had elapsed since Lincoln's epoch-marking +speech at Springfield had brought on his great discussion with +Douglas, when on October 20, 1858, Governor Seward at Rochester, +New York, intensified the political inflammation of the times by +saying in a notable speech: + +"These antagonistic systems (free labor and slave labor) are +continually coming close in contact. It is an irrepressible conflict +between opposing and enduring forces; and it means that the United +States must and will, sooner or later, become either an entirely +slave-holding or entirely a free-labor nation." + +A book written by a young Southerner, "The Impending Crisis in the +South--How to Meet It," was recommended in a circular signed by a +large number of the Republican Congressmen, and thus given a vogue +and weight out of all proportion to the standing of the author, +whose recent death under tragic circumstances at an advanced age +has drawn the name of Hinton Rowan Helper for a brief hour from +its long obscurity. + +"Dred, a Tale of the Dismal Swamp," by the author of "Uncle Tom's +Cabin," served, if such service were at all needed, to keep fresh +in all civilized lands the name of Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe. +The British Museum has a long shelf filled with different translations, +editions, and versions of her greatest literary work. + +In the month of September Mr. Lincoln delivered a speech at +Cincinnati, in reply to Mr. Douglas. In that speech he addressed +himself to the citizens of Kentucky, and advocated the nomination +of Mr. Douglas to the Presidency, upon the ground that he was more +devoted to the South than were the Southern leaders themselves, +and that he was wiser in methods for defending their rights. + +This was a form of attack which Douglas had not anticipated, and +which he could neither resent nor answer. As the event proved, +the seed thus sown was to bear fruit abundantly in results at the +ensuing National Democratic conventions, and at the Presidential +election two years later. Until June, Mr. Lincoln was unknown +outside of Illinois and Indiana. Judge Douglas had already taken +a high place among the able men of his time of national and +international reputation. In September, Lincoln's character was +understood and his ability was recognized in all the non-slaveholding +States of the Union. His mastery over Douglas had been complete. +His logic was unanswerable, his ridicule fatal; every position +taken by him was defended successfully. At the end Douglas had +but one recourse. He misstated Lincoln's positions, and then +assailed them. + +But Lincoln was ever on the alert to expose his opponent's fallacies, +and to hold up the author to the derision or condemnation of his +hearers. + +Mr. Lincoln's first fame rests, therefore, on that great debate. +Judge Douglas had long been famous as an experienced politician +and an exceptionally skilful debater. As lawyers both ranked high +in their State at a time when the bar of Illinois could boast of +exceptionally brilliant and able forensic talent. + +As it is my purpose to treat of both these great men in some detail +in subsequent pages of this work, devoting at least a full chapter +to Mr. Lincoln, so long my admired and never failing friend, I +shall now proceed to give some personal recollections concerning +certain other of the distinguished characters of that day, chiefly +those connected with the bar. + +I knew Judge David Davis very well. He was Circuit Judge on our +State circuit for a number of years, and until Mr. Lincoln became +President, when he was made Associate Justice of the Supreme Court +of the United States. When a young lawyer Davis was a Whig; and +my father, being also a Whig, took a great interest in him, as he +did in every young lawyer he knew who became affiliated with that +party. My father thought himself justified in believing that Davis +would become a power in the land. Hence he took up the young man +soon after he had settled in the practice of the law at Bloomington; +and I have heard him state that he gave Davis the first case he +ever had in Tazewell County, by advising another to employ him. +But he re-enacted, on the less conspicuous forum, the distressing +experience of failure of Disraeli in his first attempt to address +the English House of Commons. Davis broke down in the speech he +had prepared to make, to the great mortification of my father, who +had exhibited such unusual pride and confidence as to counsel his +employment in the case. Subsequently Davis redeemed himself, as +did Disraeli, and became a most prominent and successful lawyer. + +Among other interesting circumstances of his career was that of a +little claim he had for a client in Boston against a merchant in +Chicago. He could not collect the debt, except by levying on a +tract of land in Chicago--eighty acres, I think. Davis reported +what he had done, and his client manifested dissatisfaction with +the result. He so vigorously stated his disappointment to Davis, +that the latter immediately redeemed the land by taking it himself +and paying the amount of money due the client. This tract grew in +value with the growth of Chicago until it became worth a million +dollars or more. + +Judge Davis was a remarkably popular man on his circuit. He was +thoroughly honest, and could not endure a dishonest man on the +witness-stand or anywhere else. I remember a man in Chicago who +on one occasion filed a bill of discovery for the purpose of finding +real estate that he seemed once to have had an interest in, and +which also involved the insertion of Judge Davis's own name, since +he had himself at one time owned the tract of land involved. The +man had lost his voice to a considerable extent, so that he had +come to be called "Whispering Smith." He became notorious as a +successful collector of debts, where persons had failed and were +unable to pay their debts. He had filed in this case a bill of +discovery consisting of thirty or forty printed pages which included +the names of many persons who had been found to have owned the real +estate at one time or another, among them being Judge Davis. +Discovering this, and being entirely innocent of any complicity +with the party who had failed, the Judge denounced Smith in open +court for the outrage of swearing to something he did not know +anything about, and practically threw him out of court. + +There was an incident characteristic of his fidelity to friendships +which I think well worth relating. It occurred when I was Governor +of Illinois. I was invited by the Agricultural Society of McLean +County to deliver an address, and went to Bloomington on the day +designated. I was called upon by Judge Davis, who resided there. +He was a very polite man, and asked me if he could not take me out +to the fair-ground. I told him I would be delighted if he would +do so. He came for me with his carriage, and on our arrival at +the grounds took me to the stand, disregarding the prearrangements +of the officials of the fair, and introduced me to the audience. +In doing so he made a speech, very complimentary to my father, but +scarcely mentioning me at all--not more than to introduce me at +the end of his eulogistic remarks. Many of the lawyers of the town +were present. I knew them all, and they were much amused at this +unusual style of introduction. And so was I. I knew, of course, +that he was a great friend of my father, and a great friend of mine +as well. + +Judge Davis was elected to the Senate in 1877 to succeed General +Logan, and resigned his seat on the bench to accept the position. +He became quite fond of the Senate, and during his one term there +he was elected president _pro tempore_ of the body under somewhat +unusual conditions. The Senate at that time was almost evenly +divided between the two parties. The two senators from New York, +however (both Republicans), and Mr. Aldrich, of Rhode Island, had +been elected by their respective Legislatures, but had not taken +their seats. This gave the Democrats a temporary majority, and +the Senate proceeded to elect Senator Bayard, of Delaware, as its +president _pro tempore_. Within the next day or two, however, the +two New York senators and Senator Aldrich were admitted to their +seats; this left a majority of two for the Republicans if Davis +acted with them, and the two parties tied if Davis acted with the +Democrats. Under these circumstances, General Logan, who after +being out for two years had been re-elected to the Senate, moved +in the caucus that David Davis be the Republican candidate for +president _pro tempore_. Later he made the nomination in the Senate +itself, and Senator Davis was elected, Senator Bayard descending, +amid general laughter, from the chair which he had occupied for +but a short time. + +Senator Davis was very proud of the position of president _pro +tempore_, which he retained to the end of his Senate term. He had +been acting quite independently, but seemed to incline a little +toward the Democrats. After he became president _pro tempore_, +while he never announced himself a Republican, he generally acted +with the Republicans. + +I was in the Senate the day before Senator Davis's term expired. +He was soliloquizing to himself in the intervals of putting motions +and attending to the routine of his office. He was very fond of +Senator Isham G. Harris of Tennessee, and when he had occasion to +call a senator to the chair, generally it would be Harris. He +called Harris to him while I was there, and I heard him say as his +friend came up: "Harris, Harris! When I get out of here I won't +have to listen to old Bayard any more!" + +He was a very remarkable man and a friend of Lincoln, and Lincoln +was a friend of his. I suppose that Davis did as much to secure +Lincoln's nomination over Seward as any one man, although Judge +Logan worked with equal zeal. But Davis knew more people than did +Judge Logan, although the latter was, in my opinion, the better +lawyer. + +In the days of Davis's judicial life on the State bench, the judge +and the lawyer had a pretty large circuit. Davis's circuit was +composed of several large counties. It was the custom to travel +the circuit, judge, lawyers, and all, together. At that period +there were no railway facilities worth mentioning, and they had to +go by private conveyance--wagon or carriage or on horseback as the +case might be. Probably a dozen lawyers might go together, all +putting up at the same hotel, and generally having a good time at +night, spinning yarns. Lincoln was a good story-teller, and so +was Davis; and the evenings were made exceedingly agreeable to all +concerned. + +In no small measure as a result of the influences thus put into +operation, the lawyers of the period were better qualified to get +along in life than those of later days; that is to say, for the +rough-and-tumble life they were better able to take care of themselves +than the lawyers of a more recent date have been, as a general rule. + +Judge Stephen T. Logan was, I think, the best lawyer that I have +ever known in Illinois. He went to Illinois at an early age and +lived there until his death; he had attained the age of a little +more than eighty years before he died. He was purely a lawyer. +I think I never knew another lawyer who could so everlastingly ruin +a man who undertook to misrepresent the truth. He seemed to +understand intuitively whether a man was trying to tell the truth +or was lying; if the latter, his words would so effectually be torn +to pieces that they could be of no earthly value. But he was not +an adept as a politician. He ran for Congress at one time against +a man named Thomas L. Harris, and was beaten. He also ran later +for Judge of the Supreme Court, and was beaten. This defeat was +not his fault, however, as the community was a strongly Democratic +one. I recall a story current in those days, to the effect that +some man who had recently come from the east inquired, while talking +with him, "By the way, Judge, didn't you run for the Supreme Court +last year?" In his squeaky voice, the judge replied, "No; I hardly +walked." + +But the judge was a true man in every respect,--honest, faithful +to his friends, and fearless in doing whatever he believed to be +right. He felt, I think, a little bit disappointed that President +Lincoln did not appoint him instead of Davis a Judge of the Supreme +Court. + +I came to Washington and saw Mr. Lincoln in Judge Logan's behalf +without any suggestion that I do so from Logan or any one else, +but simply because I believed that the President ought to appoint +him on the Supreme Bench in preference to any other man in the +State. + +Logan was a better lawyer than Davis; but Davis was an abler +politician than Logan. I have always felt that in view of the fact +that Lincoln and Logan had been partners earlier, and also neighbors +and close friends, he ought to have nominated Logan instead of +Davis. Davis, Logan, and Browning were all well qualified for the +Supreme Court, all of them friends of Lincoln, and all Whigs. +Lincoln had to make the choice, and I think the selection was +influenced by Davis's great assistance in securing his nomination. + +Judge Logan was also a close Whig friend of my father, and earnest +in his friendship for me on that account. When I was a candidate +for the nomination for Governor I had a pretty stiff fight for the +first term. There were rumors that men were going to attack my +personal character. I did not know about the judge's action in +the premises, but when the convention met, Judge Logan went to it +as a private citizen and crowded himself into the hall, remaining +here until I was nominated. Then he went home. I was told afterwards +that he had gone there for the purpose of defending me in case of +an attack against my personal character. + +Of course, I could not but greatly appreciate a friendship so +manifest. + +He had a son, David Logan, who went to Oregon as a young lawyer, +and became very eminent there. In later years the judge wrote to +him, proposing that if he would come back home he would take him +into partnership. To this the father received a reply from David, +proposing that if he would come out there a partnership with the +son was subject to his acceptance or refusal. The judge died after +attaining full four-score years, and the son at an age less +advanced. + +I think Judge Logan also felt a bit sour toward Mr. Lincoln because +the latter, he thought, ought to have been more helpful than he +was to his son in his effort to be elected to the United States +Senate from Oregon, at the time Baker was elected. + +Speaking of Judges Logan and Davis, I am reminded of the exceptionally +high character of the lawyers of Illinois of that day, and more +especially of Springfield. I think there has never been a time +when it had another such splendid bar. It must be that high personal +character in leaders has a direct and marked influence in elevating +the general characters of the followers. The young lawyers, +especially, are impelled by a force implanted by nature to admire +and to strive to imitate or attain to the great qualities manifested +in life of those to whom leadership is conceded by common consent. + +Colonel E. D. Baker was a very good lawyer. Also Orville H. +Browning, of Quincy, who was in Springfield attending the various +courts whose sittings were at the State capital much of the time. +Then there was Archibald Williams; and Stephen A. Douglas, a great +man in every way, was on the bench a part of the time. Abraham +Lincoln was, of course, the equal of any man, on the bench or off +of it. Such men prominently in the lead as lawyers, and as men +among men, could not but stimulate the ambitions and loftier +aspirations of other lawyers, especially the younger ones. In +striving to pay the tributes--imitation, etc.,--that can be accorded +to greatness, they become great themselves; and perhaps here may +be found the real or chief cause of the very large numbers of +conspicuously eminent men congregated at the capital of Illinois +in those days. + +Judge Lyman Trumbull I always regarded as one of the exceptional +lawyers of the country. I came to know him well while I was a +member of the House and he a United States Senator. During those +days I saw very much of him. When Trumbull came to the Senate +there was some prejudice against him, growing out of circumstances +(related elsewhere in these pages) which prevented the election of +Mr. Lincoln, and which seemed to be plainly within Mr. Trumbull's +control. But the feeling soon vanished, and Trumbull's course in +the Senate was so true to the principles of the party which Mr. +Lincoln had championed, that the manner in which he had secured +the election was soon forgotten, or at least condoned, and the +judge remained there for a long period of service--three terms. + +While he was there I came to the House of Representatives, and came +to be, as our association grew more and more intimate, very fond +of Senator Trumbull. I also admired his ability. He was one of +the few in that body who could hold his own with Judge Douglas in +debate, and when he came into the Senate he at once took issue with +Douglas, they being in controversy with each other very frequently +on slavery and other political questions, until Douglas's career +ended, about the beginning of the Civil War. + +I was, perhaps, as intimate personally with Judge Trumbull during +my stay in the House as any other member. Barton C. Cook and Norman +B. Judd also were as intimate with the judge, as any other members +of the Illinois delegation. Nothing ever happened to change these +conditions, until the vote which Trumbull cast against the impeachment +of Andrew Johnson. Mr. Cook and Mr. Judd, especially the latter, +seemed to be almost bitterly angry against Judge Trumbull. + +As a result of that vote opposition to him began to grow in the +party. However, almost immediately after the impeachment he was +re-elected, although at the time not a candidate. He was subsequently +nominated by the Democratic party for Governor of Illinois. I ran +against him as the candidate of the Republican party, and was +elected over him by a majority of about thirty-eight thousand. He +imagined, so I have heard, that he was going to beat me, and was +considerably surprised at his failure to do so. + +He died only a few years ago, at an advanced age. His first wife +was a sister of Dr. Jayne, an excellent man, and, I am glad to add, +he and I are warm personal friends. I am very sorry to say, though, +that his children, I believe, are all gone, as are mine. + +There were other men who had risen to prominence in Illinois, of +whom I wish to write, and some who were then new upon the stage of +public life, whom I knew and who subsequently achieved distinction. +I have already postponed my reminiscences of Mr. Lincoln to a later +chapter than I could wish, but in point of time we have now come +to the year of his nomination and election to the Presidency of +the United States, and the beginning of a career which was to be +finished in the course of only a little over four years. + +The reference to my old friend Doctor William Jayne reminds me that +I should say something of my Springfield friends,--some living, +but many dead. It is to these friends that I am indebted for my +success in public life, and they have generally loyally supported +me, although friends in other parts of the State have been quite +as loyal and devoted to my interests when I have been a candidate +for high public office. + +In the days of Lincoln, I do not believe that there ever was a +community that contained so many really splendid men, men who were +so well fitted to fill any place in the State or Nation, as did +Springfield. I can refer to only a few of those of State and +National renown. If I have overlooked some whom I should have +mentioned, I hope I shall be pardoned. + +First of all comes Lincoln. From time to time, as I have written +these recollections, I have spoken of him. I will later give my +estimate of Douglas, who, while not a citizen of Springfield, spent +a great deal of time there as a member of the Supreme Court, as a +member of the Legislature, and on legal, political, and social +affairs. In the last-mentioned connection he at one time was a +rival for the hand of Mary Todd, afterwards Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. +I have thought and written something of Stephen T. Logan, and to +my own old law partner, Milton Hay, I refer in other parts of these +recollections. There were no better lawyers in their day. + +William H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, was a capable lawyer +also. He wrote an excellent life of his distinguished partner. +Herndon was one of the earliest Republicans of his State. While +Lincoln believed in the principles of the party from the very +beginning, the truth is, he was a little slow in becoming a member +of it; and Herndon always claimed that he had much to do with making +Abraham Lincoln an active member of the Republican party. Herndon +believed that he was qualified to fill almost any office, and I +think he was a little dissatisfied that Lincoln did not give him +some high position. + +William Butler, belonging to this same period, was one of the +leading citizens and a devoted friend of Lincoln and an excellent +man. Nor can I forget Antram Campbell, one of my first law partners. +We were always warm friends. I saw him on his death-bed when I +returned home from Washington, where I was serving as a Member of +Congress. He recognized me, but could not speak, and I can see +now the tears falling from his eyes. + +Of the State officers of that day, Richard Yates was Governor. +The State, under the lead of its War Governor, did not waste time +or spare money in putting the troops in readiness for the field, +and perhaps there was no governor of any State more watchful of +the State's interests, or more devoted to the interests of the +Union, or more loved by the people of his own State, including the +troops in the field, than was Governor Yates. He was loyalty +itself, and for many years was an apostle of liberty. He retired +from the office of governor, to take his place as a senator from +Illinois in the United States Senate. His fame, however, rests on +being the great War Governor of the State of Illinois, the compeer +of Morton, Andrews, and Curtin. + +His son, Richard Yates, many years later succeeded to the office +of governor, and is one of the prominent men of Springfield to-day. + +O. M. Hatch was Secretary of State. He was among my early influential +friends in Springfield. Uncle Jesse K. Dubois, for whom I had high +regard, and who was quite well known in and out of Illinois, was +one of the State officers. O. H. Miner was Auditor of the State +at one time. He was a very good man. His son, Louis Miner, and +Harry Dorwin, a nephew of my deceased wife, are joint owners of +the Springfield _Journal_, one of the oldest Republican organs of +the State. + +Colonel John Williams could not be said to be a National or State +character, but he was a good business man, and one of the best +friends I ever had, so I cannot refrain from a passing tribute to +his memory. + +When I was elected to Congress the first time, in 1864, my friends +knew that I had spent a considerable sum of money for election +expenses. It being Lincoln's district, and Lincoln being a candidate +for re-election as President, the National Committee helped some; +but I was naturally compelled to spend a great deal myself. I +considered to whom I should apply for assistance, and thought of +Colonel Williams. I went to him, candidly explaining that I should +be unable to make the race without financial assistance; he told +me to draw on him for whatever funds I might want, and at the end +to let him know the total amount, and that he would take care of +it. I did so. He gave me what I asked for, and I gave him my +note, which I paid as soon as I could; but he never bothered me +about it. I always had a warm spot for him in my heart. + +Nicholas H. Ridgely, the grandfather of the Hon. William Barret +Ridgely, who married one of my daughters, and who served as United +States Comptroller of the Currency for a number of years, was one +of the leading bankers of the State, and was reputed to be one of +the first millionaires of Illinois. He was a very careful banker, +and was probably too careful to be popular among the people generally; +but every one knew that there was no sounder institution in the +State than the Ridgely National Bank. His son, Charles Ridgely, +whom I always regarded as one of the most interesting men in +Springfield, has passed away just about the time that I am writing +these lines. Mr. Charles Ridgely was a man of great reading and +great cultivation, and a man whom any one would like to meet. His +death was a loss to Springfield of one of its most interesting and +enterprising characters. + +S. H. Jones ("Sam" Jones, as he was known) was another well-known +character in Springfield, as well as throughout Illinois. He was +a warm friend and supporter of mine in the early days. + +James C. Robinson was twice elected to Congress. He and Governor +Oglesby were opponents for State Senator from the district. A +little story in this connection occurs to me, which Oglesby used +to tell. + +When running for the Senate, before the Civil War, Oglesby and +Robinson travelled together over the district. The settlements in +those days were very scattering, and as the rivals were good friends +personally they agreed to go together and hold joint discussions. +They held one every day, the understanding being that if either +desired to talk anywhere else aside from the joint debate he had +a right to do so. + +At one place Robinson announced that he would make a speech in the +courthouse. A large crowd greeted him, which he captured with one +of his characteristic speeches. Oglesby was sitting in front of +the hotel across the way by himself, and listening to the cheering. +He became very uneasy lest Robinson should get the best of it. + +Now it chanced that Oglesby could play a violin splendidly. A man +came along with one in his hands, and Oglesby asked if he might +borrow it for the evening, to which the man consented. He commenced +playing in order to attract the crowd from Robinson, and in order +to break up his meeting. He succeeded; one by one they came out +of the courthouse, and when Oglesby swung into a stirring dance +measure the crowd at once responded with an impromptu hoe-down. + +Robinson, seeing his audience dwindling, quit speaking and came +out himself. Taking in the situation at a glance, he pulled off +his shoes and became the most enthusiastic participant, dancing +first with one and then with another of his late hearers, winning +them all back again and completely turning the tables against his +adroit opponent. + +This is a good illustration of early campaigning in the country +districts of Illinois. There was the utmost good feeling, and a +disposition to let the best man win. + +Among the early men and incidents connected with the practice of +the law in Springfield, in the sixties, and before and during the +time I was Speaker of the House, the Rev. Peter Cartwright must +not be forgotten. He was one of the prominent figures in the +pioneer educational and religious life of the Western country, more +particularly of Illinois. He was a wonderful type of the times-- +a man of great courage, of considerable ability, and most remarkable +in his capacity as a minister of the Gospel. He believed in camp- +meetings; and when Peter Cartwright conducted a camp-meeting the +loafers and rowdies inclined to interrupt the worship knew they +would invite trouble if they ventured to interfere with or annoy +the meeting. He was ready, not only to preach the Gospel but to +fight, as sometimes he felt it his duty to do. No man dared in +the presence of Cartwright to interrupt the meeting, as in those +times irresponsible parties hanging about such gatherings frequently +attempted to do in his absence. + +Cartwright was not only an able pioneer preacher, but he was a +loyal Democrat, too. He believed in Democracy, and was ready to +run on the Democratic ticket, or to advance the party's cause in +any other way. He was nominated for Congress as against Mr. Lincoln, +the only time Lincoln ever ran for Congress. + +Some persons disapproved of Cartwright's activity in politics, +questioning the propriety of it on the part of a minister. Among +these was Judge Treat, then our Federal Judge in the Springfield +district. The story goes that the Judge signified to Mr. Lincoln +his dislike of Cartwright, and his willingness to lend a helping +hand in case Lincoln should need help and would let him know the +fact. He thought he could get a good many votes for Lincoln, and +the latter thanked him and told him if he found need of his help +he would let him know. On one occasion during the campaign Lincoln +was walking along one side of the street when he saw Treat on the +farther side, proceeding in the opposite direction, toward his +home. Lincoln called out to him: "Judge, I won't need your help. +I have got the better of the old Methodist preacher, and I will +beat him; so I will not have to call upon you for help." This so +embarrassed the judge, lest some one should hear what was being +said, that he almost ran, in his hurry to get into his house. + +It so happened that some of Peter Cartwright's grandchildren were +somewhat reckless boys, and one of them killed another young man. +Mr. Peyton Harrison, the father of the slayer, was a friend of Mr. +Lincoln and also of Judge Logan, and had grown to be a good friend +of mine, I being a young lawyer. The two and I were employed in +the defence of the young man. I did the running about, and other +things necessary to be done until the time arrived for the trial. +I had the accused man in my house part of the intervening time. +When the Circuit Court convened he, having been previously indicted, +was delivered up and the trial came on. It lasted some ten or +twelve days. In the meantime, Peter Cartwright, and his daughter +Mrs. Harrison, the mother of the young man on trial, were at my +house most of the time. They drove into town from where they lived, +some ten or twelve miles out, every day, and remained until nearly +night, going back and forth as long as the trial lasted. Cartwright +became somewhat attached to me on account of my efforts in the +young man's behalf. + +The trial resulted in the acquittal of young Harrison, in whose +behalf Mr. Lincoln and Judge Logan exerted themselves very +earnestly. + +Springfield seems changed to me since my old friend, David T. +Littler, passed away. If I visited Springfield during the heat of +Summer, when every one else was gone, I was always sure that Dave +Littler would be there to greet me. Littler was a unique character. +His manners and speech were bluff and frank; he never was afraid +of any one, and never was afraid to speak just exactly what he +thought. Senator Littler, Colonel Bluford Wilson, a particularly +devoted friend, and I travelled through Europe together, and we +had a great time. + +Littler was for many years a member of the State Senate of Illinois, +and was a very useful member in securing favors for his district; +and there is no district in the State more dependent upon the +Legislature than the Springfield district. He was very ambitious, +and when many of my friends in Illinois believed that President +McKinley would honor me with an appointment to his cabinet, he +thought he was pretty sure to succeed me in the United States +Senate. My secret opinion was that the politicians who were running +State affairs at that time were fooling him; but it never came to +a test, as I did not enter the cabinet. + +It is a pleasure to record that I was able to show a substantial +token of friendship when, through my influence, Senator Littler +was appointed by President Cleveland one of the Pacific Railroad +Commissioners. + +Speaking of Colonel Littler reminds me of our mutual friend, Mr. +Rheuna Lawrence, an estimable citizen of Springfield in his day. +When I was re-elected to the Senate in the Winter of 1901, Rheuna +Lawrence and David Littler were both desperately ill. I visited +them both before leaving for Washington. Lawrence died soon after, +but Littler recovered and lived for a year or two. + +Rheuna Lawrence was intensely interested in my campaign in 1900. +He attended the Peoria convention as one of the Springfield delegates. +There was a contesting delegation from Sangamon County, and my +friends, among whom were Lawrence and Littler, were seated. My +friends won out all along the line, and the excitement was too much +for Rheuna, who was not a drinking man at all; but he and Dave got +in their cups, and it was very amusing to those who knew Mr. Lawrence +as one of the cleanest and most estimable of our citizens to hear +Littler refer to him as "my drunken friend, Rheuna." All of which, +of course, was only a little pleasantry which I repeat for the +benefit of those who attended that convention, and knew Lawrence +and Littler well. + +James C. Conkling was a prominent lawyer at home, in the days of +Lincoln. He was a zealous Republican and a stanch supporter of +Lincoln; also a lawyer and a business man; but for some reason or +other, I do not know why, he became involved and failed, and the +people, especially the older citizens, insisted that he be appointed +postmaster. I recommended him, and the appointment was made. He +served a term and passed away. His son, Mr. Clinton Conkling, is +now one of the leading attorneys of the city. + +Henry Green was noted as a great lawyer. He came to Illinois from +Canada and studied law in Clinton County with the Hon. Lawrence +Weldon, who was a prominent lawyer himself, and for years served +as a member of the Court of Claims at Washington. Weldon was a +lovable character. Green was for some years the partner of Milton +Hay, the firm being Hay, Green, and Littler; it changed later to +Green and Humphrey. While I always believed that Hay was the best +lawyer in the State, many lawyers believed that Green was the ablest +in connection with railroad litigation. + +The Hon. O. H. Browning was one of the most prominent men of Illinois +in the early times, and was about Springfield, the capital, a great +deal, attending the Federal Court, and also the Supreme Court of +the State. Browning, Archibald Williams, and Jack Grimshaw were +all three very excellent lawyers, quite prominent in their profession, +as well as associates in the Whig party. Browning was probably +the most prominent of the three. He was appointed by Governor +Yates to succeed Douglas, after the death of the latter, in the +United States Senate. Of course he did not remain there long, +being succeeded, I think, by William A. Richardson, a strong Democrat +of Quincy, and a man of considerable ability. After he went out +of the Senate, Browning was appointed by Andrew Johnson as Secretary +of the Interior. He became a follower of Mr. Johnson, who had +broken with the Republican party, and when he got out of office, +I think he ceased to take any part in politics. He had been talked +about a good deal at one time as the proper man for the Supreme +bench, but as between him and Logan and Davis, Mr. Lincoln decided +in favor of Davis. + +It is impossible to mention all the many friends and supporters +loyal and devoted to me who are now living, but I shall be pardoned, +I am sure, for saying a few words in reference to some of them at +present in Springfield, who are especially esteemed. + +I have been away from Springfield most of the time for nearly thirty +years, and as I go back there during the vacations for brief periods, +I feel lonely, because so many of the familiar faces of earlier +days have passed away. As I walk the streets now it seems that I +know comparatively few people; but I have the best of reasons for +knowing that among them are many splendid men. + +I like to feel, on the eve of visiting Springfield, that I shall +see my friend, Judge J. Otis Humphrey, United States District Judge +for the Southern District of Illinois. I have all the affection +and interest in Judge Humphrey that one could entertain for a +brother, and I know that he has the same feeling for me. He is an +able man, and is regarded by the Bar as the ablest judge who has +ever occupied the United States District Bench at Springfield. I +have known him from his boyhood, and knew his father before him. +It was one of the great pleasures of my public career to have been +able to secure from the late President McKinley his appointment as +United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, and +later to have secured his promotion to the position of United States +District Judge. He is now the senior United States District Judge +of the seventh circuit, and I regard him as the ablest judge of +them all. I sincerely hope that higher honors, which he so well +deserves in his chosen career, are still in store for him. + +In connection with Judge Humphrey I am reminded of the late Judge +Solomon H. Bethea, who was appointed United States Attorney for +the Northern District of Illinois, and who was later promoted to +the Federal Bench. Humphrey and Bethea I have always regarded as +my two judges, as they were both appointed on my recommendation. +Bethea was a man of very strong and positive character. These +traits were so conspicuous that his manners were, by some, regarded +as extremely dictatorial. He was highly educated, a student all +his life, and a very cultivated man. At the same time he was a +first-rate politician. I do not know of two more useful men to +lead a floor fight in a convention than Bethea and Humphrey. Judge +Bethea was my friend and supporter from the time I was elected to +the United States Senate, in 1883, until his death. He made a +splendid record as United States Attorney, and am informed that +during his incumbency of that office, he never lost a case before +a jury. Very unfortunately, just when he reached the goal of his +highest ambition, a Federal judgeship, his health failed. I have +never for a moment doubted that had he lived and retained his health +he would have made an enviable record on the bench. + +There is no better man in Springfield than John W. Bunn. He has +been my friend ever since I first went to Springfield. He was a +friend of Lincoln, and there was no one in Springfield in whom +Lincoln placed more confidence. I believe that one of the first +appointments he made, after entering the office of President, was +that of John W. Bunn as Pension Agent at Springfield. He was the +trusted friend of the War Governor, Yates, and performed many +important duties for him during the Civil War. From those early +days down to the present, every one has had confidence in John W. +Bunn and in his integrity and honesty. I am glad to say that he +is still living as one of the foremost citizens of his city. + +The Hon. James A. Connelly, who for two terms represented the +district in Congress, was a very influential and popular member of +Congress; and being a good lawyer he was a prominent member of the +Judiciary Committee of the House. He is a forcible speaker, and +has always taken an active part in behalf of the party in campaigns +in the State. + +Mr. E. F. Leonard--Frank Leonard, as he was familiarly known among +his friends--was my secretary when I was Governor of Illinois. He +was later president of the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad, +stationed at Peoria, and I have always believed him to be one of +the best railroad presidents in the State. He was particularly +noted for his sound common sense and as a scholarly, well posted +man in public affairs. I do not think he ever said or did a foolish +thing in his life. He has retired from business, and lives quietly +and elegantly, being a man of wealth, at the beautiful little +college town of Amherst, Massachusetts, in the vicinity of which +he was born. + +One of the oldest men in Springfield is Edward Thayer. He has been +a merchant in that town ever since I first went there, and was +engaged in business some years before that, I believe. His father +was living when I first went to Springfield, and was a very refined, +cultivated, elegant Eastern gentleman. Mr. Thayer, although over +ninety-five, still seems to enjoy the best of health, and attends +his store every day. + +The present Governor of Illinois, the Hon. Charles S. Deneen, +although a citizen of Chicago, has lived in Springfield for nearly +six years, during his incumbency of office. Governor Deneen has +had a very successful public career. He has creditably filled +every public office which he has held. I have been interested in +him, not only on his own account, but on account of his father, +whom I knew well and whom I respected highly. Years ago I obtained +his appointment in the consular service, in which he served during +the Harrison administration. Governor Deneen has taken a prominent +part in public affairs in Cook County and has held several responsible +positions there. He made a splendid State's Attorney of Cook +County. His honor and integrity were above suspicion. His record +as State's Attorney paved the way to the higher office of Governor +of Illinois. He is a conservative man, and has given the State a +conservative administration. Unfortunately he has had difficulties +with the Legislature, but on the whole I regard his administration +as a successful and creditable one. Governor Deneen and I are the +only two men in the history of the State who have been honored by +its people by being re-elected to succeed themselves as Governor. + + +CHAPTER V +NOMINATION OF LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS FOR THE PRESIDENCY +1859 and 1860 + +Returning to the period preceding the Civil War, we observe that +the whole nation was stirred by the conduct of a man whom most people +believed to be crazy, but who in my judgment was not. He was an +enthusiast, fired by an abnormal zeal, perhaps; but he filled a +most important place in the development leading to the Civil War. +I refer to old John Brown. + +With a score of followers he seized the arsenal at Harpers Ferry +in October, 1859. The nation was then on the very verge of civil +war. There was tremendous excitement even in far-off Springfield +when the news came over the wires that John Brown had opened war +almost single-handed and alone. Under orders from General-in-Chief +Winfield Scott, Colonel Robert E. Lee with a battalion of soldiers +marched on Harpers Ferry, and, after a series of siege operations, +summoned John Brown to surrender, the demand being borne to the +besieged by J. E. B. Stuart, a young lieutenant, afterwards +distinguished as the foremost cavalry leader of the Confederacy. + +The story of John Brown is too familiar to be repeated here; but +how strange that in so short a time his captor, Robert E. Lee, +should become famous as one of the greatest leaders of force in +rebellion against the government he then served. + +John Brown was captured and hanged. He had but few sympathizers +in the North, but his attempt to incite the slaves to rebellion +greatly stirred up the entire South, and hastened secession. + +Very soon the second National Republican Convention was held at +Chicago. At this convention, which nominated Lincoln for the +Presidency, the resolutions declared for "the maintenance inviolate +of the right of each State to order and control its own domestic +institutions according to its own judgment exclusively," and +condemned the attempt to enforce the extreme pretensions of a purely +local interest (meaning the slave interest), through the intervention +of Congress and the courts, by the Democratic administration. They +derided the new dogma that the Constitution of its own force carried +slavery into the Territories, and denied the authority of Congress, +or of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individual to give leave +of existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States. + +After the failure of the efforts to make of Kansas a Slave State, +it had become plain that the South could not hope to keep its +equality of representation in the Senate without reversing what +appeared to be settled popular opinion concerning the status of +the Northern Territories. Resolutions to this general effect were +moved by Jefferson Davis early in February, 1860, and passed by +the Senate. It was in effect the ultimatum presented to the +Democratic party at its National Convention when it assembled, +April 23, at Charleston, S. C. The warring factions failed to come +to an agreement, and the convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore +on the eighteenth of June. There Douglas was at last nominated. +The delegates who had seceded at Charleston were joined by other +seceders at Baltimore, and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky +for President. A month later, May 19, a third faction, calling +itself the "Constitutional Union Party," assembled in convention +at the same city, Baltimore, and nominated John Bell of Tennessee +and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, on a platform whose distinguishing +battle-cry was "The Constitution, the Union of the States, and the +enforcement of the laws." Three days before this, May sixteenth, +the Republican Convention had met at Chicago, and had nominated +Lincoln and Hamlin on a platform which rang true on great principles +and with high resolve. + +In many particulars this platform was a contrast to, rather than +a growth from, that of 1856. It asserted that the normal condition +of all the territory of the United States was that of freedom; it +denounced the outrages in Kansas, and demanded her immediate +admission into the Union, with her Constitution, as a Free State; +it branded the re-opening of the African slave-trade as a crime; +and in expressing the abhorrence of the Republican party to all +schemes of disunion, the Democratic party was arraigned for its +silence in the presence of threats of secession made by its own +members. The doctrine of encouragement to domestic industry was +announced; the sale of the public lands was condemned; the coming +measure of securing homesteads for the landless was approved; and +a pledge of protection was given to all citizens, whether native +or naturalized, and whether at home or abroad. The party was again +pledged to the construction of a railway to the Pacific Ocean, and +to the improvement of the rivers and harbors of the country. + +During the four years preceding, the home State of Lincoln and +Douglas had decreased its public debt $3,104,374. She had become +the fourth State of the Union in population and wealth, having +during the decade then closing outstripped Virginia, Massachusetts, +North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Indiana. In production of +wheat and corn she now surpassed all other States and occupied the +foremost position. She had in successful operation two thousand, +nine hundred miles of railways, being surpassed in this respect by +Ohio only. Chicago, her marvellous lake mart, had grown from a +population of 29,963 to 109,206, an increase of nearly three +hundred per cent. From nine Congressmen in 1850, she was entitled +in 1860 to thirteen; and so, on every hand, might the recital of +her growth be continued indefinitely. + +For the first time in twenty years, during the progress of a +political campaign in Illinois, the voice of Lincoln was not heard. +But the record of his former speeches, printed by an enterprising +Ohio publishing firm, in a volume which sold in enormous numbers, +afforded the text from which the Republican stump-orators in every +Free State gathered at once their logic and their inspiration. +Though the orator himself remained silent, the potent echo of his +eloquence resounded in countless voices from the Atlantic to the +Pacific. + +The political contest that followed the various nominations was a +memorable one. Douglas made his last effort for the Presidency +with wonderful vigor and spirit. He canvassed the whole country, +and great throngs were greatly moved by his eloquent and energetic +oratory. Jefferson Davis and other Southern orators canvassed +portions of the Northern States in support of the nominee of the +Southern wing of the Democratic party. In some parts of the North +fusions were attempted among the opponents of the Republican +candidate. In the South the interest in the contest was even more +intense than in the North. Douglas had a good following in many +portions of the South, but a majority of the ruling class there, +whether they had formerly been Democrats or Whigs, were now disposed +to bring the long sectional controversy to an issue. Therefore, +besides the debate over the Presidential issue, there was a serious +discussion also of what course the South should take in the event +of Mr. Lincoln's election. In all the Cotton States the sentiment +for secession was now very strong. The Alabama Legislature, early +in 1860, had instructed her Governor to call a convention in case +a "Black Republican" should be elected President in November. +South Carolina had long been ready to join in such a movement, or +to lead in it. + +At last, election day came, and the results, immediate as well as +ulterior, are deserving of some remark. The aggregate popular vote +exceeded four million, six hundred and eighty thousand; and of the +total, one million, eight hundred and sixty-six thousand votes were +given for Mr. Lincoln; and of the three hundred and three electoral +votes, he received one hundred and eighty. Mr. Breckinridge, the +candidate of the South, received eight hundred and forty-seven +thousand votes, and seventy-two votes in the Electoral College; +while Mr. Douglas received only twelve electoral votes, although +his popular vote reached a million, three hundred and seventy-five +thousand. Bell received thirty-nine electoral votes on a popular +vote of less than six hundred thousand. Thus the popular vote for +Mr. Lincoln was nearly a half-million less than a majority; but +his predecessor, Mr. Buchanan, was also a minority President, so +that this fact as a pretext for secession was wholly without point. + +Eleven States voted for Mr. Breckinridge, including Delaware and +Maryland; and eleven States became members of the Confederacy, +including Virginia and Tennessee, which had voted for Mr. Bell. +It all went to show that the Democratic party as represented by +Breckinridge was in fact a secession party first of all. The +division of the Democratic party decided the election in favor of +Mr. Lincoln. + +Had that party supported Mr. Douglas in good faith, his election +would probably have been secured; but the South would have been +left without excuse had it persisted in the scheme of secession. + +Therefore it came to pass that the Democratic party was disorganized +by its own leaders of the South as a step preliminary to the election +of Mr. Lincoln, and the making of that election a pretext for +disunion. This part of the conspiracy was managed with consummate +skill and eminent success; but the conspirators were perfectly well +aware that ultimate success depended largely on prompt, effective, +and decisive steps which must be taken while their efficient friend +in the Executive Mansion still remained in office. + +This allowed them four months of precious time between the election +of Mr. Lincoln and his inauguration as President. The vigilance +and effectiveness of their work is an interesting and familiar +story, but I shall not attempt here a narration of it. This work +eventuated in war, and with the opening of war, Mr. Douglas was +quickly found in the attitude of a leader in the cause of the Union +--the closing and the noblest episode of his whole remarkable +career. + +I knew Senator Douglas quite well. Of course, he was considerably +older than I, and was one of the great men of the Nation, when I +was just starting in public life. I knew him before the Civil War. +He was a wonderful man with the people. I do not think there was +ever a man in public life who was more thoroughly loved by the +party to which he belonged than Senator Douglas. His adherents +were devoted to him at all times and under all circumstances. When +he came through the State, the whole Democratic party was alive +and ready to rally to his support. I heard him deliver addresses +on two occasions before the War. I heard one of the Lincoln-Douglas +debates at Ottawa. I heard Lincoln deliver the famous Springfield +address, in which he uttered the immortal sentiment, "A house +divided against itself cannot stand." To this address Douglas +afterwards replied. When Lincoln was inaugurated, Douglas was +present on the platform and held Lincoln's hat while he delivered +his inaugural address; the tremendous significance of which trivial +act can be appreciated only in the light of later years. + +But Douglas did not hesitate for a moment after Fort Sumter was +fired upon, April 12, 1861. He voluntarily called upon President +Lincoln and tendered his support to the cause of the Union, and +immediately gave out to the Associated Press a statement, calling +upon the people of the North, regardless of party, to rally to its +defence. + +I believe it was Mr. Lincoln who asked him to visit Illinois, where, +especially in the southern part of the State, there was considerable +disunion sentiment. There was a great effort to induce the region +where the Democracy predominated, the people being loyal followers +of Douglas, to go with the South instead of the North. Douglas +alone could save it. He came to Illinois, as he told me, partly on +that account; to rally the State to the support of the Union, +earnestly desiring that the country should understand where he +stood. + +He visited Springfield while the Legislature was in session. +Senator Douglas was invited to address a joint session of that +body, which he did on the evening of April 25, 1861. Being Speaker +of the House, I presided. In addition to the members of the +Legislature, there was a great crowd present. + +I have a vivid recollection of the evening. Prior to that time I +had not believed in Senator Douglas; which was only natural, I +having been a Whig and an enthusiastic adherent of Lincoln. The +duty of introducing Senator Douglas to the joint Assembly devolved +upon myself; I cannot at this late day recall the words I used, +but I am sure that I presented him in as complimentary a manner as +my prejudices allowed. + +As he continued speaking, however, I, as thousands--nay, millions +--of others had done, succumbed to the magic of his eloquence and +the irresistible logic of his brilliant mind; and I must here +confess that never before or since have I heard a more masterful, +a more inspired, plea for the integrity of the Union and the +indivisibility of the Nation than Senator Douglas delivered upon +that occasion. + +It seemed to me, as he hurled the thunders of his eloquence broadcast, +that the very rafters rang in harmony, that the air vibrated in +accord with his denunciations of rebellion. + +The address was not a long one. As it was printed by order of the +General Assembly, I shall take the liberty of presenting it in full: + +"Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives: +I am not insensible to the patriotic motives which have prompted +you to do me the honor to invite me to address you on the momentous +issues now presented in the condition of our country. With a heart +filled with sadness and grief, I proceed to comply with your +request. + +"For the first time since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, +a widespread conspiracy exists to destroy the best government the +sun of heaven ever shed its rays upon. Hostile armies are now +marching upon the Federal Capitol, with a view of planting a +revolutionary flag upon its dome; seizing the National archives; +taking captive the President elected by the votes of the people, +and holding him in the hands of secessionists and disunionists. +A war of aggression and of extermination is being waged against +the Government established by our fathers. The boast has gone +forth by the authorities of this revolutionary Government that on +the first day of May the revolutionary flag shall float from the +walls of the Capitol at Washington, and that on the fourth day of +July the Rebel army shall hold possession of the Hall of Independence +in Philadelphia. + +"The simple question presented to us is, whether we will wait for +the enemy to carry out his boast of making war upon our soil; or +whether we will rush as one man to the defence of the Government +and its capital, and defend it from the hands of all assailants +who have threatened to destroy it. Already the piratical flag has +been unfurled against the commerce of the United States. Letters +of marque have been issued, appealing to the pirates of the world +to assemble under that revolutionary flag and commit depredations +on the commerce carried on under the Stars and Stripes. The +navigation of our great river into the Gulf of Mexico is obstructed. +Hostile batteries have been planted upon its banks; custom houses +have already been established; and we are now required to pay +tribute and taxes, without having a voice in making the laws imposing +them, or having a share in the proceeds after they have been +collected. The question is, whether this war of aggression shall +proceed, and we remain with folded arms, inattentive spectators; +or whether we shall meet the aggressors at the threshold and turn +back the tide of revolution and usurpation. + +"So long as there was a hope of peaceful solution, I prayed and +implored for compromise. I can appeal to my countrymen with +confidence that I have spared no effort, omitted no opportunity, +to secure a peaceful solution of all these troubles, and thus +restore peace, happiness, and fraternity to the country. When all +propositions of peace fail, and a war of aggression is proclaimed, +there is but one course left for the patriot, and that is to rally +under that flag which has waved over the capitol from the days of +Washington, and around the Government established by Washington, +Madison, Hamilton, and their compeers. + +"What is the alleged cause for this invasion of the rights and +authority of the Government of the United States? The cause alleged +is that the institutions of the Southern States are not safe under +the Federal Government. What evidence has been presented that they +are insecure? I appeal to every man within the sound of my voice +to tell me at what period from the time that Washington was +inaugurated down to this hour, have the rights of the Southern +States--the rights of the slave-holders--been more secure than they +are at this moment? When in the whole history of this Government +have they stood on so firm a basis? For the first time in the +history of this republic, there is no restriction by act of Congress +upon the institution of slavery, anywhere within the limits of the +United States. Then it cannot be the Territorial question that +has given them cause for rebellion. When was the Fugitive Slave +Law executed with more fidelity than since the inauguration of the +present incumbent of the Presidential office? Let the people of +Chicago speak and tell us when were the laws of the land executed +with as much firmness and fidelity, so far as the fugitive slaves +are concerned, as they are now. Can any man tell me of any one +act of aggression that has been committed or attempted since the +last Presidential election, that justifies this violent disruption +of the Federal Union? + +"I ask you to reflect, and then point out any one act that has been +done--any one duty that has been omitted to be done--of which any +one of these disunionists can justly complain. Yet we are told, +simply because a certain political party has succeed in a Presidential +election, they choose to consider that their liberties are not +safe, and therefore they are justified in breaking up the +Government. + +"I had supposed that it was a cardinal and fundamental principle +of our system of government that the decision of the people at the +ballot box, without fraud, according to the forms of the Constitution, +was to command the implicit obedience of every good citizen. If +defeat at a Presidential election is to justify the minority, or +any portion of the minority, in raising the traitorous hand of +rebellion against the constituted authorities, you will find the +future history of the United States written in the history of +Mexico. According to my reading of Mexican history, there has +never been one presidential term, from the time of the Revolution +of 1820 down to this day, when the candidate elected by the people +ever served his four years. In every instance, either the defeated +candidate has seized upon the Presidential chair by use of the +bayonet, or he has turned out the duly elected President before +his term expired. Are we to inaugurate this Mexican system in the +United States of America? Suppose the case to be reversed. Suppose +the disunion candidate had been elected by any means--I care not +what, if by any means in accordance with the forms of the Constitution +--at the last Presidential election; then, suppose the Republicans +had raised a rebellion against his authority--in that case you would have +found me tendering my best efforts and energies to John C. Breckinridge +to put down the Republican rebels. And if you had attempted such +a rebellion I would have justified him in calling forth all the +power and energies of this country to have crushed you out. + +"The first duty of an American citizen, or of a citizen of any +constitutional Government, is obedience to the Constitution and +laws of his country. I have no apprehension that any man in +Illinois, or beyond the limits of our own beloved State, will +misconstrue or misunderstand my motive. So far as any of the +partisan questions are concerned, I stand in equal, irreconcilable, +and undying opposition both to the Republicans and the secessionists. +You all know that I am a very good partisan fighter in partisan +times, and I trust you will find me equally as good a patriot when +the country is in danger. + +"Now permit me to say to the assembled Representatives and Senators +of our beloved States, composed of men of both political parties, +in my opinion it is your duty to lay aside, for the time being, +your party creeds and party platforms; to dispense with your party +organizations and partisan appeals; to forget that you were ever +divided, until you have rescued the Government and the country from +their assailants. When this paramount duty shall have been performed, +it will be proper for each of us to resume our respective political +positions according to our convictions of public duty. Give me a +country first, that my children may live in peace; then we will +have a theatre for our party organizations to operate upon. + +"Are we to be called upon to fold our arms, allow the national +capital to be seized by a military force under a foreign revolutionary +flag; to see the archives of the Government in the hands of a people +who affect to despise the flag and Government of the United States? +I am not willing to be expelled by military force, nor to fly from +the Federal capitol. It has been my daily avocation six months in +the year, for eighteen years, to walk into that marble building, +and from its portico to survey a prosperous, happy, and united +country on both sides of the Potomac. I believe I may with confidence +appeal to the people of every section of the country to bear +testimony that I have been as thoroughly national in my political +opinions and actions as any man that has lived in my day. And I +believe if I should make an appeal to the people of the State of +Illinois, or of the Northern States, for their impartial verdict, +they would say that whatever errors I have committed have been in +leaning too far to the Southern section of the Union against my +own. I think I can appeal to friend and foe--I use the term in a +political sense, and I trust I use the word _foe_ in a past sense +--I can appeal to them with confidence, that I have never pandered +to the prejudice or passion of my section against the minority +section of this Union; and I will say to you now, with all frankness +and in all sincerity, that I will never sanction nor acquiesce in +any warfare whatever upon the constitutional rights or domestic +institutions of the people of the Southern States. On the contrary, +if there was an attempt to invade these rights--to stir up servile +insurrection among their people--I would rush to their rescue, and +interpose with whatever of strength I might possess to defend them +from such a calamity. While I will never invade them--while I will +never fail to defend and protect their rights to the full extent +that a fair and liberal construction of the Constitution can give +them--they must distinctly understand that I will never acquiesce +in their invasion of our constitutional rights. + +"It is a crime against the inalienable and indefeasible rights of +every American citizen to attempt to destroy the Government under +which we were born. It is a crime against constitutional freedom +and the hopes of the friends of freedom throughout the wide world +to attempt to blot out the United States from the map of Christendom. +Yet this attempt is now being made. The Government of our fathers +is to be overthrown and destroyed. The capital that bears the name +of the Father of his Country is to be bombarded and levelled with +the earth among the rubbish and the dust of things that are past. +The records of your Government are to be scattered to the four +winds of heaven. The constituted authorities, placed there by the +same high authority that placed Washington and Jefferson and Madison +and Jackson in the chair, are to be captured and carried off, to +become a byword and a scorn to the nations of the world. + +"You may think that I am drawing a picture that is overwrought. +No man who has spent the last week in the city of Washington will +believe that I have done justice to it. You have all the elements +of the French Revolution surrounding the capital now, and threatening +it with its terrors. Not only is our constitutional Government to +be stricken down; not only is our flag to be blotted out; but the +very foundations of social order are to be undermined and destroyed; +the demon of destruction is to be let loose over the face of the +land, a reign of terror and mob law is to prevail in each section +of the Union, and the man who dares to plead for the cause of +justice and moderation in either section is to be marked down as +a traitor to his section. If this state of things is allowed to +go on, how long before you will have the guillotine in active +operation? + +"I appeal to you, my countrymen--men of all parties--not to allow +your passions to get the better of your judgment. Do not allow +your vengeance upon the authors of this great iniquity to lead you +into rash, and cruel, and desperate acts upon loyal citizens who +may differ with you in opinion. Let the spirit of moderation and +of justice prevail. You cannot expect, within so few weeks after +an excited political canvass, that every man can rise to the high +and patriotic level of forgetting his partisan prejudices and +sacrifice everything upon the altar of his country; but allow me +to say to you, whom I have opposed and warred against with an energy +you will respect--allow me to say to you, you will not be true to +your country if you ever attempt to manufacture partisan capital +out of the misfortunes of your country. When calling upon Democrats +to rally to the tented field, leaving wife, child, father, and +mother behind them to rush to the rescue of the President that you +elected, do not make war upon them and try to manufacture partisan +capital at their expense out of a struggle in which they are engaged +from the holiest and purest of motives. + +"Then I appeal to you, my own Democratic friends--those men that +have never failed to rally under the glorious banner of the country +whenever an enemy at home or abroad has dared to assail it--to you +with whom it has always been my pride to act--do not allow the +mortification, growing out of a defeat in a partisan struggle, and +the elevation of a party to power that we firmly believe to be +dangerous to the country--do not let that convert you from patriots +into traitors to your native land. Whenever our Government is +assailed, when hostile armies are marching under new and odious +banners against the Government of our country, the shortest way to +peace is the most stupendous and unanimous preparations for war. +The greater unanimity, the less blood will be shed. The more prompt +and energetic the movement, and the more imposing in numbers, the +shorter will be the struggle. + +"Every friend of freedom--every champion and advocate of constitutional +liberty throughout the land--must feel that this cause is his own. +There is and should be nothing disagreeable or humiliating to men +who have differed in times of peace on every question that could +divide fellow men, to rally in concert in defence of the country +and against all assailants. While all the States of this Union, +and every citizen of every State has a priceless legacy dependent +upon the success of our efforts to maintain this Government, we in +the great valley of the Mississippi have peculiar interests and +inducements to the struggle. What is the attempt now being made? +Seven States of the Union chose to declare that they will no longer +obey the Constitution of the United States; that they will withdraw +from the Government established by our fathers; that they will +dissolve without our consent the bonds that have united us together. +But, not content with that, they proceed to invade and obstruct +our dearest and most inalienable rights, secured by the Constitution. +One of their first acts is to establish a battery of cannon upon +the banks of the Mississippi, on the dividing line between the +States of Mississippi and Tennessee, and require every steamer that +passes down the river to come to under their guns to receive a +custom-house officer on board, to prescribe where the boat may land +and upon what terms it may put out a barrel of flour or a cask of +bacon. + +"We are called upon to sanction this policy. Before consenting to +their right to commit such acts, I implore you to consider that +the same principle which will allow the cotton States to exclude +us from the ports of the gulf, would authorize the New England +States and New York and Pennsylvania to exclude us from the Atlantic, +and the Pacific States to exclude us from the ports of that ocean. +Whenever you sanction this doctrine of secession, you authorize +the States bordering upon the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to withdraw +from us, form alliance among themselves, and exclude us from the +markets of the world and from communication with all the rest of +Christendom. Not only this, but there follows a tariff on imports, +levying taxes upon every pound of tea and coffee and sugar and +every yard of cloth that we may import for our consumption; the +levying too of an export duty upon every bushel of corn and every +pound of meat we may choose to send to the markets of the world to +pay for our imports. + +"Bear in mind that these very cotton States, who in former times +have been so boisterous in their demands for free trade, have, +among their first acts, established an export duty on cotton for +the first time in American history. + +"It is an historical fact, well known to every man who has read +the debates of the convention which framed the Constitution, that +the Southern States refused to become parties to the Constitution +unless there was an express provision in the Constitution prohibiting +Congress to levy an export duty on any product of the country. No +sooner have these cotton States seceded than an export duty is +levied, and if they will levy it on their own cotton do you not +think they will levy it on our pork and our beef and our corn and +our wheat and our manufactured articles, and all we have to sell? +Then what is the proposition? It is to enable the tier of States +bordering on the Atlantic and the Pacific and on the Gulf, surrounding +us on all sides, to withdraw from our Union, form alliances among +themselves, and then levy taxes on us without our consent, and +collect revenues without giving us any just proportion or any +portion of the amount collected. Can we submit to taxation without +representation? Can we permit nations foreign to us to collect +revenues off our products, the fruits of our industry? I ask the +citizens of Illinois--I ask every citizen in the great basin between +the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies, in the valley of the Ohio, +Mississippi, and Missouri to tell me whether he is willing to +sanction a line of policy that may isolate us from the markets of +the world and make us dependent provinces upon powers that thus +choose to surround and hem us in? + +"I warn you, my countrymen, whenever you permit this to be done in +the Southern States, New York will very soon follow their example. +New York--that great port where two-thirds of all our revenue is +collected, and whence two-thirds of our products are exported, will +not long be able to resist the temptation of taxing fifteen millions +of people in the great West, when she can monopolize the resources +and release her own people thereby from any taxation whatsoever. +Hence I say to you, my countrymen, from the best consideration I +have been able to give to this subject, after the most mature +reflection and thorough investigation, I have arrived at the +conclusion that, come what may,--war if it must be, although I +deplore it as a great calamity,--yet, come what may, the people of +the Mississippi Valley can never consent to be excluded from free +access to the ports of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Gulf of +Mexico. + +"Hence, I repeat, that while I am not prepared to take up arms or +to sanction war upon the rights of the Southern States, upon their +domestic institutions, upon their rights of person or property, +but, on the contrary, would rush to their defence and protect them +from assault, I will never cease to urge my countrymen to take up +arms and to fight to the death in defence of our indefeasible +rights. + +"Hence, if a war does come, it will be a war of self-defence on +our part. It will be a war in defence of our own just rights; in +defence of the Government which we have inherited as a priceless +legacy from our patriotic fathers; in defence of those great rights +of the freedom of trade, commerce, transit, and intercourse from +the centre to the circumference of our great continent. These are +rights we can never surrender. + +"I have struggled almost against hope to avert the calamities of +war and to effect a reunion and reconciliation with our brethren +of the South. I yet hope it may be done, but I am not able to +point out to you how it may be effected. Nothing short of Providence +can reveal to us the issue of this great struggle. Bloody--calamitous +--I fear it will be. May we so conduct it if a collision must +come, that we will stand justified in the eyes of Him who knows +our hearts and who will judge our every act. We must not yield to +resentments, nor to the spirit of vengeance, much less to the desire +for conquest or ambition. + +"I see no path of ambition open in a bloody struggle for triumph +over my own countrymen. There is no path for ambition open for me +in a divided country, after having so long served a united and +glorious country. Hence, whatever we may do must be the result of +conviction, of patriotic duty--the duty that we owe to ourselves, +to our posterity, and to the friends of constitutional liberty and +self-government throughout the world. + +"My friends, I can say no more. To discuss these topics is the +most painful duty of my life. It is with a sad heart--with a grief +that I have never before experienced, that I have to contemplate +this fearful struggle; but I believe in my conscience that it is +a duty we owe ourselves and our children and our God, to protect +this Government and that flag from every assailant, be he who he +may." + +Of all the members of that joint assembly who listened to the +eloquence of Senator Douglas that evening, forty-nine years ago, +aside from Dr. William Jayne of Springfield, and myself, I do not +know of a single one now living. + +After he concluded his address, the joint session of the Legislature +dissolved. He and I remained together in conversation, and I +accompanied him to his hotel. During that talk he expressed to me +the great anxiety which he felt for the safety of the country and +the preservation of the Union. I am satisfied that it was his +ambition to enter the army and possibly lead it in suppressing the +Rebellion. What would have been the result in that case, no one +can tell; but I am inclined to think that he would have made a very +great general. + +Senator Douglas's Springfield speech had a tremendous effect on +public opinion. It brought his followers, and they were legion in +all parts of the country, to the support of the Government and the +North. + +Senator Douglas went from Springfield to Chicago, where he delivered +another eloquent address, along the same lines as the one delivered +at Springfield, to tens of thousands of people. Very soon thereafter +he was taken ill with pneumonia and passed away. + +He was a man of extraordinary intellect. He did his full part, at +one of the most critical periods of our history, in saving the +Nation. His speeches in and out of Congress are among the most +able and eloquent delivered by any American statesman. + + +CHAPTER VI +SPEAKER OF THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE AND A MEMBER OF CONGRESS +1860 to 1865 + +The election of Mr. Lincoln was made the pretext for secession. +It has always seemed to me that the South was determined to secede +no matter at what cost; and it has also seemed to me that this +determination was not due to the great body of the people of the +South, than whom there were no better, but to the jealous politicians +of that section, who saw the gradual growth in wealth and power of +the Northern States threaten their domination of the National +Government, which they had firmly held since the days of Washington. +They saw that domination slipping away, and they determined to form +a nation of their own--in which slavery, indeed, would be paramount; +but it was not so much slavery as it was their own desire for +control that influenced them. + +As soon, therefore, as Mr. Lincoln was elected President they began +the organization of a Government of their own. President Buchanan +declared in his message that the Southern States had no right to +secede--"unless they wanted to," as some one aptly expressed it; +in other words, that he had no right under the Constitution to keep +them forcibly in the Union, and thus the constitutional opinions +of the President harmonized effectively with the purposes of the +secessionists. Fortunate it was that Mr. Buchanan had so short a +term remaining after the election of Mr. Lincoln. Had a year or +two elapsed, the Confederacy would have been firmly and irrevocably +established. + +It has never been quite clear to my mind whether Mr. Buchanan cared +to preserve the Union or not. In the heat and passion of that day, +we all thought he was a traitor. As I look back now and think of +it, remembering his long and distinguished service to the country +in almost every capacity--as a legislator, as a diplomat, as +Secretary of State, as President, I think now he was only weak. +His term was about expiring, and he saw and feared the awful +consequences of a civil war. + +One State after another seceded; the United States' arms and arsenals +were seized; on January 9, the _Star of the West_, carrying supplies +to Fort Sumter, was fired upon and driven off. South Carolina, +Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas went +out. The Confederate States of America were organized in the capital +of Alabama on the fourth of February, and Jefferson Davis was +elected President. + +We watched with great interest the famous Peace Conference which +met in Washington and over which John Tyler, ex-President of the +United States, presided. It sat during the month of February, +preceding Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, and recommended the adoption +of seven additional articles to the Constitution, which were +afterwards rejected by the Senate of the United States. + +But the fourth of March finally came, and new life was infused into +the national councils. + +Mr. Lincoln's speeches on his way East were a disappointment, in +that they failed in the least to abate the rising Southern storm; +the calmly firm tone of his inaugural address impressed the North, +but his appeals to the South were in vain. Said he: + +"I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to +interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it +exists. . . . The Union of these States is perpetual. It is safe +to assert that no Government proper ever had a provision in its +organic law for its own termination. The power confided to me will +be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places +belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts." + +It was a notable appeal that he made, in closing, to the +Southerners: + +"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, +is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail +you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the +aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the +Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, +protect, and defend it.' + +"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. The mystic chords of memory, stretching +from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and +hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of +the union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better +angels of our nature." + +At the same time that Mr. Lincoln was first elected President of +the United States, I was for the second time elected to the +Legislature of Illinois. I received the vote of what they called +the Republicans, or Free-soil men, and of those who were previously +known as Fillmore men. I was always in thorough accord with Mr. +Lincoln in political sentiment, though I had supported Fillmore +rather than Fremont in 1856. I most heartily supported Lincoln's +candidacy, and as candidate for the Legislature received more votes +than Mr. Lincoln received in Sangamon County. Douglas carried the +county as against Lincoln, and I carried it as against my opponent. +There was great enthusiasm for Mr. Lincoln in the county, but he +was so positive and outspoken in his convictions on the slavery +question that he failed to get a considerable number of votes; many +went to other Republicans who did not express their views so +vigorously as he did. Of course, what he lost at home because of +zeal and earnestness in his cause, was more than made up to him on +the wider field covered by his candidacy. + +Stephen A. Hurlbut was a member of that Legislature, and afterward +became a prominent general in the army. I might say that General +Hurlbut and Lawrence Church were two very strong men, both from +the northern part of the State, and both became prominent in the +public service. I might say also that but for these two men, who +put me forward as a candidate for the Speakership, I probably would +not have become a candidate. On the Saturday night before the +Monday on which the Legislature was to convene, they pressed me so +strongly that I consented, and became the nominee of my party +associates. J. W. Singleton was the Democratic nominee. Before +the Legislature convened, and during the intervening Sunday, a +feeling got abroad among the older members of the Legislature that +I was too young to be trusted in such a responsible position as +that of Speaker. When I came down-town on Sunday I found that +feeling prevailing. + +I at once took notice of it, and stated that if there was any +feeling that I had done wrong in becoming a candidate, I would +submit the question to another test of the sense of the Republicans +in the Legislature, and if they thought I ought not to have the +position I would cheerfully yield to their judgment. The caucus +was called together Monday morning, and I stated that I had heard +that there was some dissatisfaction, and I desired to have another +vote. A vote was accordingly taken, and I was again nominated, +and by a larger vote then in the first instance; whereupon the older +men gave in, and I was duly elected, receiving thirty-nine votes +to twenty-nine cast for the Democratic candidate. + +I think I made more friends, in the conduct of the office of Speaker +during that term, than I ever did afterwards; and in subsequent +campaigns I was frequently gratified to find men, some of them +Democrats, who had been in the Legislature with me at that time, +working for me with a stronger zeal and earnestness because of the +associations and intimate relations there formed and cemented. +All classes, Republicans and Democrats alike, took occasion to +manifest their satisfaction, and some who became my friends then +continued so as long as they lived. I think, of all that Legislature, +I am the only one left. + +A little incident occurred at a reception given by Mr. Lincoln +after he was elected President, but before he left his home to come +to Washington, that vitally affected my life. In speaking to the +President, I expressed a desire to visit Washington while he was +President of the United States. He replied heartily: "Mr. Speaker, +come on." And that was about the origin of my thinking seriously +that I would like to come to Washington as a member of Congress. + +The more I thought of the idea, the more interested I became, and +I so shaped matters during that session of the Legislature as to +secure a district in which some Republican could hope to be elected. +In the apportionment under the census of 1860, I had our Congressional +district elongated to the north and south rather than to the east +and west, and let it be known that I would be a candidate. + +But when the time came for a nomination the Hon. Leonard Swett, +who was then a prominent lawyer and politician, also took the field +to secure the Republican nomination. He visited Springfield, and +persuaded some of his friends there that he ought to be the nominee, +and they determined to try their hands toward securing my withdrawal, +if possible by persuasion. They sent for me to come to the library, +where they were proposing to hold a meeting. I went over, and +found that their project was to get me to withdraw in favor of +Swett, and I declined. But I said I would "draw straws," or assent +to any other fair means that could be found by which it was to be +settled who was to be the nominee of the party. Then, after some +further parleying, I finally left the conference. + +That evening after dusk I met Swett on the street. We sat down +upon the curbstone, as it was growing a little dark, and talked +the matter over. Swett said to me that he was an older man than +I was; that he had been knocked about a good deal, and, though he +had done much work for the party, he had never got anything; and +if the present opportunity for reward for services were allowed to +pass him by another opportunity was not likely, at his age, to come +to him. Finally, I said: "Mr. Swett, if you had come to me and +made this suggestion at first, I would have been very glad indeed +to make the concession to you, and I am ready to do so now. Here +is my hand on it, and I will help you at the convention." He became +the party candidate by general consent, as I remember it. At all +events he was the candidate, and unfortunately he was beaten at +the polls. That was in 1862. So that while the Congressional +district was made by me, and for myself, I gave way to Mr. Swett, +and the opposition carried it. Two years afterwards I was the +candidate and was elected. + +The majority in the counties composing the district was ordinarily +Republican. As a result of Mr. Swett's defeat, he left the district, +though a very prominent lawyer, and went to Chicago, never to return +to the Congressional district in which he had lived so many years, +really quitting politics entirely. + +I suppose I ought to state the fact that, having made the district +for myself and then given it up to Mr. Swett, I determined to be +a candidate at the next election; whereupon I found that Mr. James +C. Conkling, a friend of mine, and a special friend of Mr. Lincoln +also, some of whose family are still living, was disposed to try +for the same office. I made up my mind that in order to keep myself +in trim for the future it was well to keep in touch with the voters; +and I determined to run for the State Senate, though the four +counties composing the Senatorial district were all Democratic and +all in the Congressional district in which Swett was the defeated +candidate, yet I desired to run for the Senate, in order to keep +Conkling from getting such a hold on the district as to strengthen +him for the contest two years afterwards. + +So I made the run, and was beaten, of course, every county in the +district being Democratic; and the rest of my plans also worked +out as I had calculated they would. + +Soon after I was elected to Congress, and soon after Mr. Lincoln +was elected the second time, I came on to Washington. Having been +intimate with Mr. Nicolay and Mr. Hay who were his secretaries, I +was in the habit of frequenting their rooms without ceremony. One +evening, just after dusk, I went to the White House and quietly, +as usual, entered Mr. Nicolay's room. It so happened that Mr. +Lincoln and Mr. Seward, with some other cabinet officers, were in +the room, holding a consultation. I had opened the door before I +observed who were there. President Lincoln saw me quite as soon +as I saw him, and I was very much embarrassed. He sang out cheerily, +"Come in!" and turning to his Secretary of State, he added, "Seward, +you remember my old friend Stuart? Here is the boy that beat him." +I stayed for only a moment, and then went out. That is the nearest +I ever came to participating in a cabinet meeting. + +That incident in my life, as I now look back, punctuates, in my +individual way of thinking at this moment, the substantial close +of what was mortal in that great man's earthly career. The close +of the four years of civil war was clearly in sight. It was in +many respects a record-making and a record-breaking war. The navies +of the world, rendered helpless by the incidental effects of its +thundering guns, had to be rebuilt. For the first time in the +world's history the railroad and the electric telegraph played a +very considerable part. The grip of insatiate despotism on Democratic +institutions was effectually loosened far and wide. For the first +time in war the lessons taught in the art of warfare by Alexander +and Caesar were utterly ignored, and the "Maxims of Napoleon" were +relegated to the shelf, there to gather dust. In short, in +inaugurated a new era in the history not only of our own country +but of the entire world. + + +CHAPTER VII +LINCOLN +1860 to 1864 + +As days and years pass by and an enlightened humanity studies and +comprehends the real greatness and simplicity of Abraham Lincoln, +he comes nearer and becomes dearer to all. No weak compliment of +words can add to his renown, nor will any petty criticism detract +from the glory which has crowned his memory. The passing of time +has only added brightness to his character; the antagonisms of +bitter war have left no shade upon his name; and the hatred which, +for a brief time, spent itself in harmless words has turned to +reverence and love. + +Had he lived until February 12, 1911, he would have been one hundred +and two years old. Less than forty-five years ago, in the very +prime of life, he was the Chief Magistrate of the Nation, guiding +and controlling it in its great struggle for national existence. +Such a vast accumulation of history has been compressed into those +years, and such a wonderful panorama of events has passed before +us in that comparatively brief time, that we are apt to think of +Lincoln as of the long ago, as almost a contemporary of Washington +and of the Revolutionary fathers. The immensity of the history +which has been crowded into those forty-five years has distorted +our mental vision, as ordinary objects are sometimes distorted by +refraction. Yet when we reflect, the distortion disappears. But +the wonder still remains. The years during which the deeds of +Lincoln have been a memory to us do not carry us back to the early +days of our own country. They do not carry us back even to the +time of Jackson, Webster, Clay, or Calhoun; yet the sacred halo of +patriotic veneration invests as completely the name of Lincoln as +of Washington. + +The many personal memories of the martyred patriot that I can recall +seem almost a dream to me. It seems almost a vision of the +unsubstantial imagination, when I think that I have known the one +immortal man of the century, and enjoyed his friendship. He was +the very impersonation of humanity; his stature was above and beyond +all others. One hand reached back to the very portals of Mount +Vernon, while the other, giving kindly protection to the oppressed, +still reaches forward to guide, encourage, and sustain the people +of this Nation. + +It was my great good-fortune to know something of Abraham Lincoln +from the time I was about twelve years old, and even earlier than +that I have a distinct recollection of hearing my father advising +men to employ Lincoln in important litigation. Lincoln at that +time was about thirty years old, and even then was regarded as a +really great lawyer. + +The first time I ever saw him in court he, assisted by Colonel E. +D. Baker (afterwards a senator from Oregon, and killed at Ball's +Bluff), was engaged in the defence of a man on trial for murder. +The conduct of the defence made by those great lawyers produced an +impression on my mind that will never be forgotten. Lincoln became +then my ideal of a great man, and has so remained ever since. + +In 1846, Mr. Lincoln was the Whig candidate for Congress, and it +was then that I first heard him deliver a political speech. The +county in which my father resided was a part of his Congressional +district. When Lincoln came to the county my father met him with +his carriage and took him to all his appointments. I went to the +meeting nearest my home--an open-air meeting held in a grove. On +being introduced, he began his speech as follows: "Fellow citizens, +ever since I have been in Tazewell County my old friend, Major +Cullom, has taken me around; he has heard all my speeches, and the +only way I can hope to fool the old Major and make him believe I +am making a new speech is by turning it end for end once in a +while." + +When I determined to abandon the hard work on the farm to enter +the study of law at Springfield, my father being so close to Mr. +Lincoln, I went to him for advice. He expressed a willingness to +take me into his own office as a student, but said that he was +absent on the circuit so much that he would advise me to enter the +law office of Stuart and Edwards, two prominent Springfield lawyers, +of whom I have written more at length in an earlier chapter. There +I would have the advantage of the constant supervision of one or +the other member of the firm. + +From that time until he left Springfield never to return, I had +constant means of observing Lincoln as a lawyer. I was at times +associated with him as a junior counsel in the trial of law suits. +I was employed in a murder case which Lincoln and Logan were +defending, I being the boy lawyer in the case. They made a wonderful +defence. I do not know whether the defendant was guilty or not, +but I do know that he was acquitted. + +During my life I have been acquainted with very many able lawyers, +and I have no hesitation in saying that Lincoln was the greatest +trial lawyer I ever knew. He was a man of wonderful power before +a court or jury. When he was sure he was right, his strength and +resourcefulness were well-nigh irresistible. In the court-room he +was at home. He was frank with the court, the juries, and the +lawyers, to such an extent that he would state the case of the +opposite side as fairly as the opposing counsel could do it; he +would then disclose his client's case so strongly, with such honestly +and candor, that the judge and jury would be almost convinced at +once in advance of the testimony. Judge Davis once said that the +framework of Lincoln's mental and moral being was honesty, and that +a wrong cause was poorly defended by him. + +The story is told that a man offered to employ him in a case and +told him the facts, which did not satisfy Lincoln that there was +any merit in it. He said to him: "I can gain your case; I can +set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a widowed +mother and six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six +hundred dollars, which it appears to me as rightfully belongs to +them as to you. I will not take your case, but I will give you a +little advice for nothing. You seem to be a sprightly young man, +and I advise you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in +some other way." + +Mr. Lincoln was for a time employed by the Illinois Central Railroad +as one of its attorneys. In a case in one of the counties of Judge +Davis's circuit to which the railroad was a party, it was announced +that the company was not ready for trial, and the court inquired +the reason; to which Mr. Lincoln replied that Captain McClellan +was absent. The court asked, "Who is Captain McClellan?" Lincoln +replied that all he knew about him was that he was the engineer of +the Illinois Central Railroad. + +What a strange juggling of destiny and of fate! In little more +than two years McClellan's fame had become world-wide as the general +in charge of all the armies of the Republic, only to prove in the +estimation of many people the most stupendous failure as a commander +in all our military history; Davis had become a Justice of the +Supreme Court of the United States; and Lincoln had reached the +Presidency. + +In the trial of the murder case to which I have referred, I never +saw more striking evidence of Mr. Lincoln's power over a court. +There came a question of the advisability of certain testimony +which was very vital to the defendant. The question was thoroughly +argued by Judge Logan and Mr. Lincoln until the court took a recess +for dinner at noon. The Judge announced that he would render his +decision when the court reconvened. The courthouse was filled on +the reconvening of court in the afternoon, and the Judge began +rendering his opinion on the point in dispute. It seemed to Mr. +Lincoln and those present that he was about to decide against the +admissibility of the evidence. Lincoln sprang to his feet. +Apparently he towered over the Judge, overawing him. He made such +a tremendous impression that the court apparently gave way, and +decided the point in the defendant's favor. + +Mr. Lincoln was not only a great statesman, but he was one of the +ablest, most astute, and shrewdest politicians whom I have ever +known. From my earliest recollection of him he took keen interest +in public affairs and was the foremost public man or politician in +his section of the State. He was not among the first to join the +Republican party. He clung to the old Whig party as long as a +vestige of it remained. Almost immediately after he drifted into +the Republican party, he became its recognized leader in Illinois, +and his public utterances attracted the attention of the Nation to +him. + +I recollect having heard him utter the memorable words in the +Republican Convention of my State in 1858: + +"A house divided against itself cannot stand. This Government +cannot permanently endure 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 that it will cease to be divided. It will become all +one thing, or all the other." + +What words of wisdom! He looked through the veil between him and +the future and saw the end more clearly than any other man in public +life. This was a carefully prepared speech, in which every word +was weighed. Some of his friends, to whom it was read, advised +him not to use the clause I have quoted, "a house divided against +itself." He was wiser than any of them. With a self-reliance born +of earnest conviction he said that the time had come when the +sentiments should be uttered, and that if he should go down because +of their utterance by him, then he would go down linked with the +truth. + +I listened to much of the great debate between Lincoln and Douglas, +the greatest political debate which ever took place in this country. +I have always felt that Lincoln never expected to be elected to +the Senate in 1858. I think he saw more clearly than any of us +that the advanced position which he took in that debate made his +election to the Senate at that time impossible. He was then fighting +for a great principle. He did carry a majority of the popular +vote, but Douglas secured a majority of the Legislature. + +His defeat apparently affected him little, if at all. I felt very +badly when it became apparent that Douglas had secured a majority +of the Legislature. I met Lincoln on the street one day, and said: +"Mr. Lincoln, is it true that Douglas has a majority of the +Legislature?" His reply was an affirmative. I then expressed the +great sorrow and disappointment that I felt. He placed a hand upon +my shoulder, and said: "Never mind, my boy; it will all come +right." I believe that he then felt certain that the position he +took in that memorable debate would make him the logical candidate +of the Republican party for the Presidency in 1860, which it did. +And two years from that very day the Republican party celebrated +its first national victory in his election as President of the +United States. + +It has been said that Mr. Lincoln never went to school; and he +never did to any great extent, but in a broad sense of the word, +he was an educated man. He was a student, a thinker; he educated +himself, and mastered any question which claimed his attention. +There was no man in this country who possessed to a greater degree +the power of analyzation. + +He was a student all his life. One incident that occurred in +Springfield, some years before he finally left, will serve as an +illustration. + +An old German came through the town and claimed that he could teach +us all to read and speak German in a few weeks. A class was +organized for the purpose of studying German. Lincoln became a +member of the class, and I also was in it, and I can see him yet +going about with the German book in his pocket, studying it during +his leisure moments in court and elsewhere. None of the rest of +us learned much, but Lincoln mastered it, as he did every other +subject which engaged his attention. + +His home life was a pleasant one. I often visited at his home, +and so far as my observation went, I do not hesitate to say that +not the slightest credence should be given to the many false stories +that have from time to time appeared, manufactured largely by those +who desired to write something new and sensational concerning the +life of President Lincoln in his home, and concerning Mrs. Lincoln. + +Mr. Lincoln was regarded generally as an ungainly man, and so he +was; and yet on occasions he appeared to me to be superior in +dignity and nobility to almost any other man whom I have ever seen. +I was present when the committee from the National Convention, that +gave his first nomination for President, came to Springfield to +notify him of his nomination. He stood in the rear of a double +parlor in his home, and as the Hon. George F. Ashmun, president of +the convention, presented the members of the delegation one by one +to him, I thought that he looked what he was--the superior of any +man present. Many of the eminent men composing that delegation +had believed that Lincoln was some sort of a monster. I stood +among them after they had met him and listened to their comments. +The lofty character, the towering strength, the majesty of the man +had made a great impression upon them. They had come expecting to +see a freak; they discovered one of the princes of men. + +In this connection, I must be permitted to refer to another occasion. +It so happened that I was in Washington when the President's son +Willie died. The funeral ceremony took place in the East Room of +the White House, in the presence of the President and his cabinet +and a few other friends. When the ceremony was about concluded +and President Lincoln stood by the bier of his dead boy, with tear- +drops falling from his face, surrounded by Seward, Chase, Bates, +and others, I thought I never beheld a nobler-looking man. He was +at that time truly, as he appeared, a man of sorrow, acquainted +with grief, possessing the power and responsibilities of a President +of a great Nation, yet with quivering lips and face bedewed with +tears, from personal sorrow. + +The morning that Abraham Lincoln left his home in Springfield never +to return is not to be forgotten. It was early on the morning of +the eleventh of February, dark and gloomy, with a light snow falling. +There was a large crowd of his neighbors and friends at the station +to bid him good-bye. He held a sort of impromptu reception in the +little railroad station. There was no noisy demonstration. As I +recollect it now, it was a solemn leave-taking. Just before the +train pulled out, Mr. Lincoln appeared on the rear platform of his +car. Every head was bared, as if to receive a benediction, as he +uttered his farewell address: + +"My Friends: No one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling +of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of +these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a +century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my +children have been born and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing +when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater +than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of +that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed; with +that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with +me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us +confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending +you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an +affectionate farewell." + +I was not present at the first inauguration of President Lincoln, +but I visited Washington many times during the years that he was +President, and, knowing him as well as I did, and having known both +Nicolay and Hay, his secretaries, in Springfield, I naturally spent +much time around the executive offices. I had many conversations +with him during the early years of the war. He had no military +education, but he soon demonstrated that he was in fact the real +commander-in-chief. He liked General McClellan, and stuck to him +until McClellan had demonstrated his absolute inefficiency for +command. McClellan was a great organizer. He made the Army of +the Potomac the most perfect fighting machine, I might almost say, +that was ever known in military history. But there he stopped. +He could organize, but he could not and did not, despite the urging +and the anxiety of Mr. Lincoln, push forward his army to victory. +I knew something of Mr. Lincoln's anxiety at the failure of McClellan +to inaugurate an aggressive campaign. + +The late O. M. Hatch of Illinois told me of a rather interesting +incident which occurred on one occasion when the President, +accompanied by Mr. Hatch, visited McClellan's army a few days prior +to the battle of Antietam in September, 1862. They spent the night +in a tent, and, rising very early, at the President's suggestion +they took a walk before sunrise about the great camp, inspecting +the field, the artillery, the quarters, and all the appurtenances +of the army. Lincoln was in a pensive mood, and scarcely a word +was spoken. Finally, just as the sun was rising, they reached a +commanding point; the President stopped, placed his left hand upon +Mr. Hatch's shoulder, and slowly waving his right in the direction +of the great city of tents, seriously inquired: "Mr. Hatch, what +is all this before us?" + +"Why, Mr. President," was the surprised reply, "this is General +McClellan's army." + +"No, Mr. Hatch, no," returned Lincoln soberly, "this is General +McClellan's body-guard." + +It will be understood what these utterances signified: they +expressed perfectly the prevailing belief that McClellan had failed +to appreciate the purpose for which that magnificent fighting +machine had been created. + +I think I am justified in saying that after the earlier contests +of the war had proven that great soldiers and great generals were +not always great leaders, President Lincoln became the able director, +the actual commander-in-chief of the forces of the United States. +He planned and ordered the larger movements of the War, and he held +the reins above and about all his armies, scarcely relaxing his +watchful care for a moment,--until events demonstrated the wisdom +with which he confided the military interests of our beloved country +and the conduct of the war to Ulysses S. Grant. + +Some of us remember with what persistence during the Winter of 1862 +and 1863 many newspapers and a large share of the Northern people +joined in the cry of "On to Richmond!" Censure and criticism ran +riot even among Northern Republicans. In a three-line memorandum +the President showed the fallacy of that outcry, when he wrote: +"Our prime object is the enemy's army in front of us, and not with +or about Richmond at all, unless it be incidental to the main +object." At a later day he said to Hooker: "I think Lee's army, +and not Richmond, is your sure objective point." + +Modest and simple as he always was, never seeking power with +inordinate ambition, simply that he might use power; still he was +never afraid to assume responsibility when it was his duty to assume +it. + +I called on him one evening at the Soldiers' Home. We spent the +evening together, and naturally we talked of the war. He discussed +almost all of his generals, beginning with McClellan. At that time +McClellan was down on the James, and Pope was in the saddle in +Virginia. Pope, he feared, would be whipped, unless he could get +more troops, and he was trying to get McClellan back in order to +save Pope. At that time he had not yet lost his faith in McClellan, +but he was complaining that McClellan was never ready for battle. +After making all possible preparations, and with the enemy in front, +he would overestimate the size of the enemy's force, and demand +more troops. Yet Mr. Lincoln said that he would rather trust +McClellan to get his army out of a tight place than any other +general that he had. + +After his election he invited his principal competitors for the +nomination to enter his cabinet. He had not the slightest jealousy +of any living man. He was not afraid, as some of our Presidents +have been, to have his cabinet composed of the greatest men of his +time. He was a bigger man than any of them, and no thought of +jealousy ever entered his mind. Both Seward and Chase fancied they +were greater men than Lincoln, and each of them, at the beginning +at least, entertained the idea that on him rested the responsibility +of the administration. Seward felt that he should have been the +nominee of his party. Chase felt perfectly sure that he, and not +Lincoln, should have been President. + +Before many months had passed, Seward was compelled to acknowledge +that Mr. Lincoln was the superior of any of them, as he expressed +it in a letter to his wife. He soon became one of the most devoted +friends and loyal supporters of the President. The publication of +the diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to +1865, shows that Mr. Lincoln was the leader of them all, and was +in fact the real head of every department of his administration. + +Chase was an able man, and loyal to the Union; but, unlike Seward, +he was never loyal to the President personally, and was constantly +plotting in his own interest to supplant Lincoln as the nominee of +his party in 1864,--a most reprehensible course on the part of a +cabinet officer. This did not give concern to Mr. Lincoln in the +slightest degree. He cared very little what Mr. Chase said or +thought of him personally, so long as he was doing his duty as +Secretary of the Treasury. + +I was in Washington the latter part of February, 1864, before he +was nominated the second time. I happened to hear of the Pomeroy +letter in behalf of Mr. Chase, and I learned with amazement that +Chase was conspiring with his friends to secure the nomination for +the Presidency, and was untrue and unloyal to his chief. I felt +justly indignant. I saw Mr. Lincoln and talked with him about it +with great earnestness. I told him that Chase should be turned +out. He answered by saying: "Let him alone; he can do no more +harm in here than he can outside." + +If things did not go to suit him, Chase was in the habit of tendering +his resignation every few days. It was not accepted; but he offered +it once too often, and, very much to his surprise and chagrin, it +was promptly accepted; and Chase was relegated to private life, +where he belonged, and where he should have remained. + +Chief Justice Taney passed away unmourned, the most pathetic and +desolate figure in the Civil War, with his long, faithful, and +distinguished service on the bench forgotten. Chase's friends, +and Chase himself, at once commenced overtures of friendship toward +Mr. Lincoln, in the interest, solely, of securing Chase's appointment +as Chief Justice. Considerable pressure was brought to bear in +behalf of Chase. The President would give no intimation as to what +he intended to do, although I myself believe that he all the time +intended appointing him to the vacant position, and that the so- +called pressure on the part of Sumner and other radicals had little, +if any, influence with him. + +During this period, after the death of Chief Justice Taney, Chase +was not at all averse to writing the President the most friendly +letters. One day his secretary brought him a letter from Mr. Chase. +The President asked, "What is it about?" "Simply a kind and friendly +letter," the secretary answered. Mr. Lincoln, without reading it, +replied with his shrewd smile: "File it with his other recommendations." + +Chase was finally appointed Chief Justice of the United States. +After his conduct as a member of the cabinet, I do not believe we +have ever had another President, except Lincoln, magnanimous enough +to have made that appointment under similar circumstances. Lincoln +entertained a very exalted opinion of Chase's ability as a lawyer +and a man. He believed that he possessed the qualifications of a +great Chief Justice, and the appointment was made entirely free +from any personal feelings or prejudices. + +I happened to be alone in Mr. Nicolay's room in the White House +when Mr. Chase called to thank the President for his nomination. +He came into Mr. Nicolay's room first, and inquired of me if the +President was in. I told him I did not know, but his room was next +to the one we were in, and he might ascertain for himself. Knowing +of Chase's disparaging remarks concerning Mr. Lincoln, and of his +disloyalty as a member of his cabinet, I was very curious to hear +what he would have to say to the President. He left the door ajar, +and I overheard the conversation. Mr. Chase proceeded to thank +the President for his nomination. Mr. Lincoln's reply was brief, +merely that he hoped Mr. Chase would get along well and would do +his duty. Very few words passed between them, and the interview +closed. + +Montgomery Blair was Postmaster-General in President Lincoln's +cabinet. He was appointed from the District of Columbia. He was +a man of considerable ability, and was thoroughly loyal to the +President. Montgomery Blair became exceedingly unpopular among +certain classes, not only on his own account, but because of his +brother Frank, whose home was in Missouri. I thought his remaining +in the cabinet was injuring the Administration, and I told Mr. +Lincoln, in a conversation I had with him at the White House, that +under all the circumstances Montgomery Blair should be relieved +from office; that he was unpopular; that the people were not for +him. Mr. Lincoln seemed annoyed, even to the extent of petulance +(a rare thing with him), that I should say anything against Montgomery +Blair. He asserted that Blair was a loyal man, was doing his full +duty as Postmaster-General, and that he would not turn him out. + +Later, Montgomery Blair, always loyal under all circumstances, told +the President that he was ready to tender his resignation whenever, +in the judgment of the President, his remaining in the cabinet +would be an embarrassment; and Mr. Lincoln in a very kindly note +sometime afterwards said that he felt himself compelled to accept +Mr. Blair's offer and ask for his resignation. They continued +personal friends until the President's death. + +The year 1862, on account of the proclamation of President Lincoln, +in September, that he would free the slaves in those States or +parts of States whose people continued in rebellion on and after +January 1, 1863, was a disastrous year to the Republican party; +but the final effect of the proclamation was beneficial to the +cause of the Union. It stimulated greater enthusiasm on the part +of those who desired to see the end of slavery in this country. +Many people so hated that institution that they were more desirous +of having it abolished than to have the Union preserved with it. + +While President Lincoln was always opposed to slavery, unequivocally +opposed to it, yet his oath called upon him to preserve the +Constitution and the Union. He said that his paramount object was +to save the Union and not to save or destroy slavery. + +In 1862 President Lincoln appointed three men, namely, Governor +George S. Boutwell, the Hon. Stephen T. Logan, and the Hon. Charles +A. Dana, a commission to go to Cairo, Illinois, and settle the +claims of numerous persons against the Government, arising from +property purchased by commissary officers and quartermasters in +the volunteer service before the volunteers knew anything about +military rules or regulations. Judge Logan went to Cairo, remained +a few days, became ill, tendered his resignation, and returned +home. The President telegraphed me an appointment, and asked me +to go at once to Cairo for duty, which I did. I had not known +either Boutwell or Dana before. The commission finished its work +in about a month, and forwarded to Washington all papers, with its +report. The claims were paid on the basis of our allowance, and +justice was done to all concerned. + +Early in 1862 an old friend of President Lincoln's, James Lamb, +came to see me, stating that he had been furnishing beef cattle to +the army; that he had received orders to furnish a given number on +the hoof at a certain place in the South, which he had done; but +before his cattle arrived the army had gone, and he had thereby +suffered great loss. He asked me to look after his claim when I +went to the National capital, and I agreed to do so. I knew nothing +about such things in Washington, nor how such business with the +Government was transacted. I went to the President as the only +official with whom I was acquainted, and stated to him, "Uncle +Jimmie Lamb, your old friend, has a claim," setting forth the same +in full. "You know he is a good man," I urged, "and he ought to +have his money." Lincoln answered me by saying: "Cullom, there +is this difference in dealing between two individuals and between +an individual and the Government: if an individual does not do as +he agreed and the other person is injured thereby, he can sue the +one responsible for the injury, and recover damages; but in the +case of the Government, if it does not do right, the individual +can't help himself." He gave me a note, however, to the proper +officer and the matter was arranged. + +The gossip around the Capitol in Washington among Senators and +Representatives is a very poor gauge of public sentiment in the +country toward a President. I was in Washington a few months before +the second nomination. I talked with numerous Representatives and +Senators, and it really seemed to me as if there was hardly any +one in favor of the renomination of Mr. Lincoln. I felt much +discouraged over the circumstance. When I was about to leave for +home, I called at the White House. I asked the President if he +permitted anybody to talk to him about himself. He replied that +he did. I said: "I would like to talk to you about yourself." +He asked me to be seated. Whereupon I told him that I had been in +Washington some ten days or more, and that everybody seemed to be +against him. + +"Well, it is not quite so bad as that," he said. He took down his +directory, and I soon discovered that he had a far more intimate +knowledge of the situation than I had. He had every one marked, +knew how he stood, and the list made a better showing than I had +expected. + +The truth is, however, that many of the strong men in Congress, +especially the radicals, were against his renomination, and would +have rejoiced to see some one else the nominee of the party; but +they knew full well, that the great body of the people of the North +were with him, and that it would be useless to attempt to prevent +his renomination. + +The next time I called at the White House after the convention, he +reminded me of our previous conversation, and remarked that it did +not turn out so badly after all. + +He was reminded of a little story. A couple of Irishmen came to +America and started out on foot into the country. They travelled +along until they came to a piece of woods. They thought they heard +a noise, but did not know what it was. They deployed on either +side of the road to find out, but were unable to do so, and finally +one called to the other, "Pat, Pat, let's go on; this is nothing +by a domned noise." So the opposition to him, he said, was apparently +nothing but a noise. + +But if he never had any doubts as to his renomination, he at one +time almost despaired of being re-elected, as did many of his +closest and most intimate friends. The Democrats had not yet +selected their candidates, and as he remarked: "At this period we +had no adversary, and seemed to have no friends." + +An incident in this connection is related by the late Secretary, +John Hay. The President felt that the campaign was going against +him, and he had made up his mind deliberately as to the course he +should pursue. He resolved to lay down for himself a course of +action demanded by his then conviction of duty. He wrote on the +twenty-third of August the following memorandum: + +"This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable +that this administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be +my duty to so co-operate with the President-elect as to save the +Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have +secured his election on such grounds that he cannot possibly save +it afterwards." + +He then folded and pasted the sheet in such manner that its contents +could not be read, and as the cabinet came together he handed this +paper to each member successively, requesting him to write his name +across the back of it, without intimating to any member of the +cabinet what the note contained. In this manner he pledged himself +to accept loyally the anticipated verdict of the people against him. + +Mr. Hay's diary relates what took place at the next cabinet meeting +after the election, as follows: + +"At the meeting of the cabinet to-day the President took out a +paper from his desk and said: 'Gentlemen, do you remember last +summer I asked you all to sign your names to the back of a paper +of which I did not show you the inside? This is it. Now, Mr. Hay, +see if you can open this without tearing it.' He had pasted it up +in so singular a style that it required some cutting to get it +open. He then read this memorandum (quoted above). + +"The President said: 'You will remember that this was written at +the time, six days before the Chicago nominating convention, when +as yet we had no adversary and seemed to have no friends. I then +solemnly resolved on the course of action indicated in this paper. +I resolved in the case of the election of General McClellan, being +certain that he would be the candidate, that I would see him and +talk matters over with him. I would say, "General, the election +has demonstrated that you are stronger, have more influence with +the American people than I. Now let us together, you with your +influence, and I with all the executive power of the Government, +try to save the country. You raise as many troops as you possibly +can for the final trial, and I will devote all my energies to assist +and finish the war."' + +"Seward said: 'And the General would have answered you, "Yes, +yes," and the next day when you saw him again and pressed these +views upon him, he would have said, "Yes, yes," and so on forever, +and would have done nothing at all.' + +"'At least,' rejoined Lincoln, 'I should have done my duty and have +stood clear before my own conscience.'" + +Not the least of his troubles and embarrassments during the trying +period preceding his second election was the overzealous advice,-- +persistence, I might say--on the part of certain New Yorkers and +New Englanders who seemed to think that they had the interest of +the Union and the country more at heart than had Mr. Lincoln. + +Horace Greeley was one of the most troublesome of this lot. He +was an honest and a most loyal man, but was willing to temporize +upon the most vital questions. At one time he advised that the +"erring sisters" should be permitted to depart in peace. At this +particular time of which I speak he had devised a plan for a peace +conference, with certain prominent Confederates, Clement C. Clay, +among others, to be held in Canada. Mr. Lincoln felt sure that +the conference would do no good, and that the Confederates were +fooling Mr. Greeley, and that they had no real power to act. + +This turned out to be exactly the truth. I was with the President +just as he was sending Mr. Hay to Niagara with written instructions, +which were given to see that nothing which threatened the interests +of the Government should be done. The President was very much +annoyed, and he remarked to me: "While Mr. Greeley means right, +he makes me almost as much trouble as the whole Southern +Confederacy." + +While, as I have previously observed, Greeley was intensely loyal +to the country, yet he was so nervous and unstable in his mind that +he could not resist the effort to bring about a condition of peace. +I think he would have consented to almost anything in order to +secure it. He was very anxious for the issuance of a proclamation +abolishing slavery, and on the nineteenth of August, 1862, addressed +a very arrogant open letter to President Lincoln on the subject. + +Lincoln's reply was so good, so perfect, and so conclusive that I +give it, as follows: + + "Executive Mansion, + "Washington, _Friday, August 22, 1863_. + +"Hon. Horace Greeley: + +"Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the nineteenth instant, +addressed to myself through _The New York Tribune_. + +"If there be any statements or assumptions of facts which I may +know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. + +"If there may be any inferences which I may to believe to be falsely +drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. + +"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, +I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always +supposed to be right. + +"As to the policy 'I seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not +meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would +save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. + +"The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the +Union will be--the Union as it was. + +"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could +at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. + +"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could +at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. + +"_My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save +or destroy slavery_. + +"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do +it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do +it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, +I would do that. + +"What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I +believe it helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear +because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. + +"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts +the cause, and shall do more whenever I believe doing more will +help the cause. + +"I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall +adopt new views so fast as they will appear to be true views. + +"I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official +duty, and I intend no modifications of my oft-expressed personal +wish that all men everywhere could be free. + + "Yours, + "A. Lincoln." + +It is said that Mr. Greeley remarked after reading the letter that +he had been knocked out by one letter from Mr. Lincoln, and that +he "would be damned if he ever wrote him another." + +There was more personal bitterness evinced against Mr. Lincoln in +the campaign of 1864 than ever before or since in a Presidential +campaign. He was denounced in the most intemperate language as a +tyrant, a dictator, whose administration had proven a failure. A +certain element of so-called "high class" New Englanders, men of +the Wendell Phillips type, were particularly bitter in their +denunciation. And I may remark in passing that the New England +men of letters never did have a proper appreciation of the worth +of Abraham Lincoln. + +He was triumphantly re-elected amid the universal rejoicing of the +friends of liberty throughout the North. He took the election very +quietly. He apparently felt no sense of personal triumph over his +opponents and those who had so bitterly attacked him during the +campaign. He seemed only to have a feeling of deep gratitude to +his fellow citizens who had testified their confidence in his +administration. On the evening of election day, when it became +evident that he was re-elected to the Presidency, in response to +a serenade he said: + +"I am thankful to God for this approval by the people. While deeply +grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know my +heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph, +but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's +resolution to stand by free government and the rights of humanity." + +And again in that eloquent, simple little response which he made +to the joint committee of Congress appointed to wait upon him to +notify him of his second election, after the count of the electoral +votes by a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives +in Congress, he said: + +"With deep gratitude to my countrymen for this mark of their +confidence; with a distrust of my own ability to perform the duty +required under the most favorable circumstances, and now rendered +doubly difficult by existing national perils; yet with a firm +reliance on the strength of our free Government, and the eventual +loyalty of the people to the just principles upon which it is +founded, and, above all, with an unshaken faith in the Supreme +Ruler of Nations, I accept this trust. Be pleased to signify this +to the respective Houses of Congress." + +These utterances show more clearly than any one else can describe +the state of mind in which the President received his re-election, +and in which he was about to enter his second term as President of +the Republic. Without any personal feeling of pride, he was certain +in his own mind that his re-election was necessary in order to save +the Union. + +I attended the second inauguration, March 4, 1865. I have a +particularly vivid recollection of the scene which took place in +the Senate chamber when Mr. Johnson took the oath as Vice-President. +The simple truth is, and it was plain to every one present in that +chamber, Mr. Johnson was intoxicated. Johnson delivered a rambling, +senseless address. I sat next to Senator Lane of Indiana, and I +remarked that somebody should stop him. Lane sent up a note to +the Secretary of the Senate, telling him to get Johnson to cease +speaking and take the oath. We felt Johnson was making an exhibition +of himself in the presence of the President, the Cabinet, the +Foreign Representatives, and two Houses of Congress, and a gathering +of the most distinguished men of the Nation. The Secretary wrote +some lines and placed them before Mr. Johnson, who did not appear +to notice them. Finally he was made to understand that he must +take the oath, as the time had come when the President, according +to usual custom, would have to go to the east front of the Capitol +to take the oath as President of the United States. Johnson, with +a sort of wild sweep of his arm said, "I will take the oath, but +I regard my devotion to the Union as greater evidence of my loyalty +than any oath I could take." + +I was close to Mr. Lincoln at the solemn moment when Chief Justice +Chase administered to him the oath of office. There was a vast +crowd of people, great enthusiasm and rejoicing, and the war was +practically over,--a far different scene from the one which took +place just four years before, when Chief Justice Taney in the same +place administered the same oath. At that time there was no noisy +demonstration. There was a solemn hush, as every one realized that +the country was about to be plunged into one of the mightiest civil +wars of all history. Indeed many men believed that there was a +concerted plot to assassinate Mr. Lincoln at that time, and that +he would never be permitted to enter upon the duties of his office. + +I heard him deliver his second inaugural address,--one of his two +greatest speeches. + +The last time I saw Abraham Lincoln alive was about three weeks +before his assassination, as I now recollect. He was at the White +House. There had been constant rumors throughout his first term +that he was in danger of some such outrage, but as the war drew to +a close, with the natural bitter and resentful feeling in the South, +these rumors seemed to increase. I told him what I had heard, and +urged him to be careful. It did not seem to concern him much, and +the substance of his reply was that he must take his chances; that +he could not live in an iron box, as he expressed it, and do his +duty as President of the United States. + +It is difficult for one who did not live in those terrible days +from 1861 to 1865 to realize the awful shock of horror that went +through the whole Nation on the morning of April 15, 1865, when +the message came, "Abraham Lincoln is dead." In his old home at +Springfield, it seemed the whole population assembled in the public +square, and the duty devolved upon me to announce to the assembled +people that the great President had passed away. There was intense +suppressed excitement. No one dared utter a word in disparagement +of Abraham Lincoln. The crowd was in the humor for hanging to the +limb of the first convenient tree any one who dared to make a +slighting suggestion. It was not alone in Springfield, but it was +throughout the entire North that this feeling prevailed. There +was fear that the Government would go to pieces, almost that the +end of the world was at hand. + +Soon the news came from different sources that he was to be buried +in Washington, or somewhere in the East. The people of Springfield +became very much worked up. A committee was appointed to go to +Washington to insist that the remains should be taken to Springfield. +I was a member of this committee. We left immediately, but before +we arrived at Harrisburg it had been determined that the only +fitting final resting place of all that remained of the immortal +Lincoln was at his old home in Springfield; and the funeral train +had already left Washington. The committee waited at Harrisburg +for its arrival. Through the courtesy of Governor Curtin, of +Pennsylvania, we were permitted to board the train, and we accompanied +the remains from there to Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, +Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and finally to Springfield. At +each place the remains lay in state and were viewed by hundreds of +thousands of people. + +In all, the entire journey consumed some twelve days from the time +the party left Washington until it arrived in Springfield. It was +determined that the funeral train should follow the same route and +stop at practically the same places that Lincoln visited on his +way to Washington to be inaugurated as the first Republican President +of the United States. The country was so wrought up no one seemed +certain what was to happen; no one knew but that there would be a +second and bloodier revolution, in which the Government might fall +into the hands of a dictator; and it was thought the funeral trip +would serve to arouse the patriotism of the people, which it did. + +I never witnessed anything like the universal demonstration of +sorrow, not only at every city where the remains lay in state but +all during the entire route, at every little village and hamlet; +even at cross-roads thousands of people would be gathered to catch +a glimpse of the funeral train as it passed by. In Philadelphia +the casket rested in Independence Hall. In New York I suppose not +less than half a million people passed by to view the body. General +Scott came down with the procession to the station, and to him I +introduced our Illinois friends. His response was given in a most +dignified and ponderous style: "Gentlemen, you do me great honor." + +The farther west we proceeded, drawing constantly nearer to the +home of Lincoln, the more wrought up the people seemed to be. In +the West there were not only expressions of deep sorrow, but of +vengeance as well, especially toward the South. Before the facts +became fully known, it was thought that the assassination was the +result of a Southern conspiracy, and there was a feeling that the +whole South should be punished for the act of one of her misguided +sons. The body lay in state for two days in Chicago, and then came +the last stage of the journey to Springfield. It first was taken +to the State House, and was afterwards placed in the old vault at +the foot of the hill in Oak Ridge Cemetery, where it remained until +the monument was completed. Bishop Simpson, one of the most eloquent +men in the Methodist Church, and a devoted friend of Mr. Lincoln +during his life, preached the funeral sermon. The services at +Springfield were simple in the extreme, just as Mr. Lincoln would +have wished. Steps were at once taken for the erection of the +monument, which stands in Oak Ridge Cemetery to-day. + +So far as I can learn, every member of the funeral party that +accompanied the remains of Abraham Lincoln from Washington to +Springfield, with the exception of Mr. E. F. Leonard and myself, +has passed away. + +It was my good fortune to know Abraham Lincoln in all the walks of +life. I knew him as President, and I was permitted to know him in +the sacred precincts of his family at home. I have studied the +lives of the great men of the world, and I do not hesitate to say +now, after nearly fifty years have passed away since his death, +that Abraham Lincoln was the peer in all that makes a man great, +useful, and noble, of any man in all the world's history. + + +CHAPTER VIII +NOTABLES IN THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS +1864 to 1870 + +I had a very active campaign for election to Congress in 1864. As +I have stated elsewhere, I had, while Speaker, so framed the district +that I thought it would surely be a Republican one; but very much +to my surprise, it went Democratic when Mr. Swett was a candidate. +For a number of reasons I was more than anxious to carry the +district. First, naturally I did not want to be defeated; second, +I wanted to show that it was really a Republican district, and more +especially still on President Lincoln's account, I was solicitous +that a Republican should be elected from the President's own +district, as was President Lincoln also. The National Committee +assisted a good deal, and the President himself helped whenever +there was an opportunity. I was elected by a good, safe majority, +and entered the Thirty-ninth Congress in December, 1865. + +The Illinois delegation in the Thirty-ninth Congress, when I entered +the House, while containing few members, still compared favorably +with other delegations, and consisted of very good men who reflected +credit on the State, and some of whom had far more than ordinary +ability. General John A. Logan, of whom I have written in another +part of these memoirs, was a very prominent member of the delegation +and of the House. E. B. Washburne was also a leading member. He +was very influential, and at one time was in a sense the leader of +the House. He early became prominent as one of the intimate friends +and supporters of General Grant, who, every one supposed, would be +the nominee of the Republican party to succeed President Johnson. +Thaddeus Stevens was the real leader on every occasion when he +chose to assume that position. His whole interest, however, seemed +to be concentrated on reconstruction, one of the greatest problems +that has ever confronted this country, and consequently he gave +little attention to general legislation. This gave Washburne quite +a commanding voice in shaping the general legislation of the House. + +John Wentworth was one of the best known citizens of Chicago of +his day, and was closely identified with the early history of the +city. He was several times a member of the House. I found him to +be a capable member of the Thirty-ninth Congress, a man of influence, +and I liked him very much. He was Mayor of Chicago when President +Lincoln was assassinated, and I recall that he was at the station +at the head of the committee when the funeral train arrived in +Chicago. John Wentworth was quite a character in our State politics, +but he was particularly noted as being one of the foremost citizens +of his home city. + +Burton C. Cook, of Ottawa, was one of the ablest men in the Illinois +delegation. He was a splendid man, a man of high character, one +of the leaders of the bar of the State of Illinois, and retired +from Congress to become general counsel of the Northwestern Railroad. +He occupied a very important place in the House, and was chairman +of the Committee on the District of Columbia. He could not endure +ridicule, and he was not particularly quick in argument, although +a very good debater. + +A rather humorous incident occurred on one occasion when he was +pushing a bill to have Pennsylvania Avenue paved. Proctor Knott, +from Kentucky, was then a member of the House, and one of its +cleverest and wittiest speakers. I was called to the chair because +Cook knew that I would take care of him the best I could in the +conduct of the bill through the committee of the whole. We got +along with the bill very well for a good part of the day, until +Knott took the floor and made one of his incomparably funny speeches, +depicting the situation on Pennsylvania Avenue, with its fine +carriages and outfits, with buckles on the coachmen's hats as big +as garden gates. He made so much fun of the bill that Cook, being +unable to stand it, moved that the committee rise. We never heard +of the bill afterwards. + +S. S. Marshall, a Democrat from Southern Illinois, and prominent +as such, was a member of Congress for many terms, and at one time +was the leader of the minority in the House. At that time the +Democrats in the House were so few in number that occasionally they +were unable to secure the ayes and noes. They exercised very little +influence on legislation, and were not much in evidence in debate, +the main contest then being between the radical and conservative +elements of the Republican party over Reconstruction. + +General John F. Farnsworth of St. Charles was quite influential as +a member, and a very strong man, but was particularly noted for +his dauntless courage. On one occasion I saw him shake his fist +in General Benjamin F. Butler's face, daring him to resent it. +Butler did not resent it, as the House was in session; and, any +way, excepting with his tongue, Butler was not a fighting man. + +Ebon C. Ingersoll, who was familiarly called by his friends Clark +Ingersoll, served in that Congress. He was a very clever man, +possessed of considerable talent, and could on occasions deliver +a capitally witty speech. I remember a rather ingenious passage +from one of his speeches delivered when the controversy between +the President and Congress was at its height. He asserted that +the country was sorely afflicted; that it suffered all sorts of +troubles, trials, embarrassments and difficulties. First, he said, +it was afflicted with cholera, next with trichinae, and then with +Andy Johnson, all in the same year, and that was more than any +country could stand. Ebon C. Ingersoll was a brother of the famous +Robert G. Ingersoll, the world's greatest agnostic. + +Robert G. Ingersoll was one of the most eloquent men whom I have +ever heard. He could utter the most beautiful sentiments clothed +in language equally beautiful. Speaking of death and the hereafter +one day, I heard him express himself in about the same language he +afterward used on the lecture platform. It made a wonderful +impression on me. He said: + +"And suppose after all that death does end all? Next to eternal +joy, next to being forever with those we love and those who have +loved us, next to that, is to be wrapt in the dreamless drapery of +eternal peace. Next to eternal life is eternal sleep. Upon the +shadowy shore of death, the sea of trouble casts no wave. Eyes +that have been curtained by the everlasting dark, will never know +again the burning touch of tears. Lips touched by eternal silence +will never speak again the broken words of grief. Hearts of dust +do not break. The dead do not weep. Within the tomb no veiled +and weeping sorrow sits, and in the rayless gloom is crouched no +shuddering fear. + +"I had rather think of those I have loved, and lost, as having +returned to earth, as having become a part of the elemental wealth +of the world--I would rather think of them as unconscious dust, I +would rather dream of them as gurgling in the streams, floating in +the clouds, bursting in the form of light upon the shores of worlds, +I would rather think of them as the lost visions of a forgotten +night, than to have even the faintest fear that their naked souls +have been clutched by an orthodox God. I will leave my dear where +Nature leaves them. Whatever flower of hope springs up in my heart, +I will cherish, I will give it breath of sighs and rain of tears. +But I cannot believe that there is any being in this universe who +has been created for eternal pain." + +Had it not been for the manner in which Robert Ingersoll outraged +the members of every Christian denomination by attacking and +ridiculing their beliefs, he would certainly have been called to +high office in the Nation. He did not spare any denomination. +Beginning with the Catholics and ending with the Baptists, he abused +them all, made fun of them, and mercilessly pointed out their weak +points. He was always particularly bitter against the Presbyterian +Church, because, he declared, he was raised a Presbyterian, and +knew more about that church than any other. The two brothers were +very fond of each other, and Ebon C. never seemed to tire of talking +about his brother's great talent. Robert G. was nearly broken- +hearted when his brother died. One of the most touching and eloquent +addresses which I have ever heard was the address he delivered on +the occasion of Ebon's funeral. He stood at the head of the casket +and once or twice nearly broke down. It was in that address, +standing there in the presence of death, that he expressed some +doubts as to the truth of his own teaching and intimated the +possibility of some life beyond the grave. This was the only public +occasion of which I have any knowledge in which Robert G. Ingersoll +seemed to falter in his course. + +We were very intimate, and it is a real pleasure to me to pay him +here a tribute. He was a man of extraordinary talent and ability, +one of the most lovable natures, and a man of the cleanest, most +delightful home life. In many respects, I regard him as one of +the greatest men of his day; certainly he was the greatest agnostic +of his time, if not of all time. No one has taken his place. The +very name, Agnostic, is now rarely heard. And why? Because Robert +G. Ingersoll mercilessly tore down. He did not create, or build +anything; he attempted to take away the beliefs in all religion, +and he offered nothing in return. Hence it is that his teachings +have practically died with him. + +Another member of the Illinois delegation in the Thirty-ninth +Congress, a well-known citizen of the State, was Anthony Thornton. +He had been a member of the Supreme Court of the State, was a fine +lawyer of the best type of manhood, and he enjoyed the confidence +and respect of the members of the House. He resided in Shelbyville, +but after retiring from Congress he decided to go to Decatur, where +there was more business for a lawyer, and better opportunities. +He did not succeed very well, however, because it was too late in +his life to make a change and enter new fields. + +A little incident connected with him occurred while I was Governor +of the State. A young boy, whose parents the Judge knew, committed +a burglary and was sent to the penitentiary. The parents of the +boy were naturally anxious to get him out, and appealed to Judge +Thornton to assist in securing his pardon. The Judge and I had +served in Congress together, and, naturally, any plea bearing his +endorsement would have great weight with me. Believing that the +boy had been influenced by bad companions, he yielded and came to +Springfield to see me. I looked the case over and finally said: + +"Judge Thornton, you are an older man than I am; you were in Congress +with me; you have been a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State; +if you will say that you would issue this pardon if you occupied +the chair I now occupy as Governor of this State, I will pardon +him." + +He replied: "Governor, I would not ask you to do a thing I would +not do myself, to save my right arm." + +Whereupon I at once issued the pardon. + +"Judge," I told him, "the train will leave in a short time; go to +Joliet and take the boy home with you." + +He did not do this; but he thanked me very cordially and said that +he would see the boy as soon as he got home. The very night the +boy left the penitentiary and returned home, he committed another +burglary and was immediately arrested. I happened to see an account +of the crime in the papers next morning, and I cut it out and sent +it to Judge Thornton, with the inquiry, "Judge, what does this +mean?" He at once came to Springfield, and told me that he had +been fooled in prevailing upon me to pardon the young man, and +pledged me that he would follow him to the ends of the earth if +necessary in order to punish him for his crime. The boy was sent +back to the penitentiary and I never heard of him afterwards. + +Judge Thornton was one of the most honorable of men, a man of +learning and legal ability as well. + +One day, before I was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, President +Lincoln was talking with me about the different members of that +body. "There is a young man by the name of Blaine now serving in +Congress," said he, "who seems to be one of the brightest men in +the House. His speeches are always short, always full of facts, +and always forcible. I am very fond of him. He is one of the +coming men of the country." + +This was one of the reasons why I was early attracted to Mr. Blaine. + +He was candidate for Speaker in the Forty-first Congress. I was +rather zealous in his behalf, and had more or less of a prominent +part in his selection. When Mr. Blaine concluded that he would be +a candidate for the Speakership, a little dinner was given at +Welkers', a rather famous restaurant in Washington, at which Judge +Kelley, Judge Orth, the late Senator Allison, who was then a member +of the House from the State of Iowa; Mr. Mercur of Pennsylvania, +the gentleman at the head of the Associated Press in Washington, +and myself were present. After the dinner it was given out to the +press that Mr. Blaine was a candidate for Speaker. As the campaign +progressed it seemed to depend on Mr. Allison and me more largely +than on any other members to take care of his interests. He was +elected Speaker, and I had been given to understand by him, and +had so communicated to friends in Congress whom I had induced to +support Mr. Blaine, that I should be consulted in the make-up of +the committees. Mr. Blaine never said a word to me on the subject, +but almost at the last moment wrote me this note: + +"Dear Cullom: + +"Which committee would you prefer, Territories or Claims? + + "James G. Blaine." + +I selected Territories and became chairman of that committee. +Allison told me he never spoke to him in reference to committees, +although he gave him important assignments. + +Probably the most bitter enemy Mr. Blaine ever had in public life +was Roscoe Conkling, a Senator from New York. The quarrel between +Blaine and Conkling commenced in the Thirty-ninth Congress, over +some very trivial matter, and continued from that time on until +Blaine was nominated as the candidate of the Republican party for +the Presidency, in 1884, in which contest he was defeated by Grover +Cleveland. + +I occupied a seat next to Mr. Conkling during the early years of +my service in Congress. He was a very friendly, companionable man, +especially to any one whom he did not consider a rival, and, as I +was a young man just entering Congress and politics, he gave me +his friendship. I was present, sitting next to Conkling, when the +famous controversy in the House took place between Blaine and +Conkling. During the session, from time to time, they had been +quarreling. Conkling had seemed to have a little the best of the +argument. Blaine became exasperated one day, and in the course of +the debate gave Conkling the worst "tongue lashing" probably ever +given by one man to another on the floor of the House. Conkling, +although unable to reply effectively, demeaned himself with great +dignity. His manners were placid and his reply was in measured +terms. It was in striking contrast to what Mr. Blaine said. To +use a phrase graphic if inelegant, he jumped on Conkling with both +feet and literally tore him to pieces without any attempt at dignity. +This controversy with Conkling probably caused the defeat of Mr. +Blaine for the nomination--first, in conventions prior to 1884, +and finally after he became the nominee of that year. + +Blaine was a candidate for President for many years. It seemed to +be his destiny, as it was that of Henry Clay, to be able to secure +the nomination only when the Republican party went down in defeat, +as it did for the first time since the election of Lincoln. He +was beaten in the Republican National Conventions by men of mediocre +ability when the party was victorious. + +He was a leading candidate at the Cincinnati Convention, when Hayes +was nominated. I was there and heard Ingersoll's great speech +placing him in nomination. I have always felt that Blaine would +have been nominated by that convention if a strong, courageous +presiding officer had been in the chair. As I sat behind Mr. +McPherson, the presiding officer, and watched the proceedings, I +thought that if I had had that gavel in my hands there would have +been no adjournment and James G. Blaine would have been nominated. +An adjournment was secured, however; the lights were extinguished, +and the enemies of Blaine united, and Hayes became the nominee. + +But at the convention held in Chicago, in 1884, no other candidate +was seriously considered, and Blaine was nominated for President +and Logan for Vice-President. + +I had to do much in connection with Blaine in the campaign of 1884. +He was a very agreeable man so long as things went to suit him; +but he did not attempt to control himself when things went at all +against him. He was campaigning through Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, +in 1884; I had been on the platform with him at Massillon, Ohio, +when the people would scarcely listen to any one except Mr. McKinley. +It was arranged that Blaine should come from La Fayette, Indiana, +to Springfield, Illinois. I was chairman of the delegation consisting +of one hundred of the most prominent men of the State, selected to +accompany him to Springfield. The delegation went to La Fayette, +and the Adjutant-General of the State and I waited on Mr. Blaine +at the residence of Mr. George Williams, who is still living and +whom I have always known intimately. Mr. Blaine's son came down +in response to our call, announcing that his father had retired, +ill, and would not be disturbed until eight o'clock in the morning. +At the hour appointed we still had difficulty in seeing him, and +finally I enlisted the assistance of Mr. McKinley, who was there, +and the Hon. Joseph Medill of _The Chicago Tribune_, to help me to +prevail upon Blaine to keep his engagement. He had come to the +conclusion that he ought to go back East; that he was needed there +more than he was in the West. The truth was that he was trying to +evade the Springfield engagement. I told him that there would be +no less than a hundred thousand people from all parts of the State +gathered at Springfield to see him, and it would not do to disappoint +so vast a crowd. He finally consented to go, but was very ungracious +about it, telling us not to disturb him during the trip from La +Fayette to Springfield, and at once retired to his drawing-room. + +We soon came to a city in Indiana where there was a large crowd to +greet him, and following his orders, the train did not stop. He +emerged from his drawing-room very angry because the train had not +been stopped when a crowd was waiting to hear him. Afterwards we +halted at almost every station on the line to Springfield, where +we did not arrive until almost dusk. Probably a hundred thousand +people had been gathered there during the day, and at least fifty +thousand waited until we arrived; but it was so dark that the +audience could scarcely see the speaker. He left for Chicago that +night, hurrying through that city; hence to Wisconsin, I believe, +making enemies rather than friends. He had gained the election by +his Western tour, but lost it during his stay in New York City. +"Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," the Delmonico dinner, the old row +with Conkling beginning in the Thirty-ninth Congress, caused his +defeat. I told him afterwards that if he had broken his leg in +Springfield and been compelled to remain as my guest there, he +would have been elected. He agreed with me that he would. + +Notwithstanding his defeat, however, he continued as one of the +foremost leaders of the Republican party up to the time of his +death. He might have been nominated at the Chicago Convention, +when Mr. Harrison received the nomination the first time had he +not retired to Europe, apparently so disgusted at his own defeat +four years before that he had not the heart to make the race again. + +I do not think Harrison ever did like Blaine, but he invited him +to become the Premier of his cabinet, a position which Mr. Blaine +had held for a few months under General Garfield. Harrison and +Blaine never got along. As I say elsewhere in these recollections, +Harrison seemed jealous of Blaine, and Blaine was not true to his +chief. Mr. Blaine sent for me one evening, and I called at his +house. He related to me with considerable feeling how the President +had treated both his family and himself. He urged me to become a +candidate for President, but I told him that I would not think of +doing so. I afterwards supported Mr. Harrison for reasons personal +to myself, and not because I was particularly fond of Mr. Harrison. + +James G. Blaine retired to private life and died soon afterwards, +a broken, disappointed man. He was one of the greatest men of his +day, and was the most brilliant and probably the most popular man +with the masses in the history of the Republican party. + +Rutherford B. Hayes was the nineteenth President of the United +States, and preceded General Garfield in that office. He was +neither as great a man nor as great an orator as General Garfield, +although he was a much better executive officer, and in my opinion +gave a better administration than General Garfield would have given +had he served the term for which he was elected. Rutherford B. +Hayes was an inconspicuous member of the House, as I recollect him +now. He was what I would term a very good, conscientious man, who +never made any enemies; but I do not think that any one would say +that he was a great man. He did not talk very much in the House, +nor accomplish very much. I became quite friendly with him there. +Subsequently he was nominated for Governor of Ohio, and he invited +me to come to the State and campaign for him, which I did. + +Thurman was his opponent, a very strong and able man, who subsequently +became a Senator from Ohio, and was a nominee of the Democratic +party for Vice-President. But Hayes defeated him for the Governorship, +and was once re-elected. He was nominated for President at the +Cincinnati Convention of 1876, when Blaine really should have been +the nominee, and would have been had the permanent chairman of the +convention, Edward McPherson, grasped the situation and held it +with a firm hand. + +McPherson, while a man of good intentions, earnest and sincere, +was Clerk of the House for many years and had occupied what might +be termed a subordinate position. The fact of the matter is that +he permitted the convention to get away from him; an adjournment +was secured, and the same night it was framed up to beat Blaine by +nominating Hayes. + +Hayes was just the kind of man for a compromise candidate. He was +seriously handicapped all through his administration owing to the +manner in which he secured the office. The Electoral Commission, +an unheard-of thing, created by act of Congress, by eight to seven +declared that Hayes was elected over Tilden. Very many people were +of the opinion that Tilden was entitled to the office. The Electoral +Commission never would have been agreed to by the Democrats had +they known that Judge David Davis, of our own State, would retire +from the Bench to take a place in the Senate; and it is almost +certain that had Judge Davis remained on the bench he would have +been a member of the Electoral Commission, and would have surely +voted in favor of Tilden, which would have made him President. + +While Hayes was President the "green-back craze" seemed to almost +take possession of the country. I delivered an address at Rockford, +Illinois, before an agricultural society, taking issue to some +extent with the public sentiment of the country, and favoring sound +money. The President was going through the country at that time +on a speaking tour, and in the course of some of his addresses he +commended what I had said. He, accompanied by General Sherman, +visited Springfield, and I entertained them at the Executive +Mansion. + +President Hayes, himself realizing the embarrassment under which +he entered the office of President, was not a candidate for +renomination, and very wisely so. But as I have said, President +Hayes was a good man; he made a very commendable record as President +of the United States, and he was specially fortunate in the selection +of his cabinet, showing rare discrimination in selecting some of +the ablest men in the country as his advisers. Evarts was his +Secretary of State, and John Sherman Secretary of the Treasury. + +It is a rather peculiar coincidence that both James A. Garfield +and R. B. Hayes were members of the Ohio delegation in the Thirty- +ninth Congress, and both afterwards arrived at the Presidency. + +James A. Garfield was a man of extraordinary ability. I was very +intimate with him during our service in the House. He was an +extremely likable man; I became very fond of him, and I believe +the feeling was reciprocated. Also he was distinguished for his +eloquence, and I have heard him make some of the most wonderfully +stirring and impressive speeches in the House. He was probably +not the orator that Robert G. Ingersoll was, but I should say that +he was one of the most effective public speakers of his period; +his speeches were deeper and more serious, uttered in a graver +style than the beautiful poetic imagery of the great agnostic. +President Lincoln liked Garfield, and he was one of the younger +men in the House who always supported the President, and on whom +the President relied. He entered the Thirty-eighth Congress and +served many terms. He enjoyed the peculiar distinction of being +a member of Congress from Ohio, Senator-elect from Ohio, and +President-elect of the United States, all at the same time. + +I attended the National Republican Convention of 1880, in which +Grant and Blaine were the leading candidates. I was at the time +Governor of Illinois and a candidate for re-election myself; +consequently I could not take any active part in the contest between +Blaine and Grant, but of course, naturally, my sympathies were with +General Grant. + +I was not a delegate to the National Convention, but I attended +it, and it so happened that I occupied a room directly opposite +that occupied by General Garfield. + +One evening, leaving my room, I met General Garfield just as he +was leaving his, and we dropped into general conversation and walked +along together. + +I have always been considered a pretty fair judge of a political +situation in State and National conventions, and it struck me as +soon as Garfield had completed one of the most eloquent of all his +eloquent addresses, placing in nomination Mr. Sherman, that he was +the logical candidate before that convention. + +To digress for a moment, it is a peculiar coincidence that McKinley +made his great reputation, in part, by nominating Mr. Sherman as +a candidate for the Presidency in the Minneapolis convention of +1892. Like General Garfield in 1880, Mr. McKinley was perfectly +willing to receive the nomination himself, although he was then, +as Garfield was in 1880, the leader of the Sherman forces. + +But to return. General Garfield and I walked down the hall together, +and being very intimate friends, I used to call him by his first +name, as he did me. I said: "James, if you will keep a level +head, you will be nominated for the Presidency by this convention +before it is over." This was a couple of days before he was actually +nominated. + +He replied: "No, I think not." + +But as we walked along together discussing the matter, I contended +that I was right. + +At the end of that memorable struggle between Grant and Blaine, in +which the great Republican party refused to accept General Grant, +the foremost Republican and soldier of his time, Garfield was +nominated. + +I remember vividly the form and features of Garfield in that +convention. I see him placing Sherman in nomination, probably not +realizing at the time that he was nominating himself. I see him +taking an active part in all the debates, and as I look back now +I do not think I ever saw a man apparently so affected as General +Garfield was when it was announced that he was the nominee of the +Republican party for the Presidency of the United States. Seemingly +he almost utterly collapsed. He sank into his seat, overcome. He +was taken out of the convention and to a room in the Grand Pacific, +where I met him a very few minutes afterward. + +After General Garfield was elected to the Presidency, but before +his inauguration, I determined that I would urge upon him the +appointment of Mr. Robert T. Lincoln as a member of his cabinet. +I thought then that his selection would not only be an honor to +the State, but that the great name of Lincoln, so fresh then in +the minds of the people, would materially strengthen General +Garfield's administration. + +With this purpose in view, I visited Garfield at his home in Mentor. +This journey was an extremely difficult one, owing to the circumstance +that the snow was yet deep on the ground; so I arranged with the +conductor to stop at the nearest point to General Garfield's house +to let me off, which he did. I walked from the train through banks +of snow, and after the hardest kind of a walk, finally reached his +house. + +I at once told him the mission on which I had come. We had quite +a long talk, at the end of which he announced that he would appoint +Mr. Lincoln his Secretary of War. + +In this connection I desire to say a few words concerning Robert +T. Lincoln. He is still living. I have known him from boyhood. +He has the integrity and the character which so distinguished his +father, and was marked in his mother's people as well. It is my +firm conviction that long ago Robert T. Lincoln could have been +President of the United States had he possessed the slightest +political aspiration. He has never been ambitious for public +office; but, on the contrary, it has always seemed to me that the +Presidency was especially repugnant to him, which would be natural, +considering the untimely death of his father, if for no other +reason. He was almost forced to take an active interest in public +affairs, but as soon as he was permitted to do so he retired to +private life to engage in large business undertakings, and finally +to become the head of the Pullman Company. + +It seems strange to me that he should consider the presidency of +a private corporation, no matter how great the emoluments, above +the Presidency of the greatest of all Republics. How unlike his +father! He was a most excellent Secretary of War, and one of +General Garfield's cabinet officers whom General Arthur invited to +remain in his cabinet, which he did. + +Under President Harrison he consented to become Minister to England. +Neither my colleague, Senator Farwell, nor I favored this appointment +--not because of any antipathy for Mr. Lincoln, for whom I not only +have the highest respect and admiration, but like personally as +well; but Mr. Blaine, who was Harrison's Secretary of State, called +on me one day and asked me to recommend some first-class man from +Illinois for the post. After a consultation with my colleague, we +determined to recommend an eminent lawyer and cultured gentleman +of Chicago, John N. Jewett. We did recommend him, and assumed that +his appointment was assured; but Harrison--probably to humiliate +Mr. Blaine--called Senator Farwell and me to him one day and +announced that he had determined to appoint Robert T. Lincoln +Minister to England. + +Farwell was extremely angry, and wanted to fight the nomination. +However, I counselled moderation. I pointed out that no criticism +could be made of Mr. Lincoln, and that since he was my personal +friend I could not very well oppose him. So I was glad to favor +the appointment, although I was as humiliated as my colleague at +the cool manner with which Harrison had snubbed us after Mr. Blaine's +overtures. + +I recollect very well the telegram which Mr. Lincoln received when +he was in Springfield, attending the business of the Pullman Company. +It was from his office in Chicago. It stated that there was a +letter there that demanded immediate attention, and asked whether +it should be forwarded. He gave instructions to forward it to +Springfield. It turned out to be the invitation of General Garfield +to enter his cabinet as Secretary of War, and asking an immediate +reply. He brought it to me in the Governor's office, where he sat +down and wrote his reply accepting General Garfield's invitation. + +But to return to General Garfield. He was not a strong executive +officer. In the brief period in which he occupied the White House, +he did not make a good President, and in my judgment would never +have made a good one. He vacillated in the disposition of his +patronage. When I visited him while he was yet President-elect, +he told me that Mr. Conkling would be with him the next day, and +asked my advice as to what he should say to him. It was understood +that Conkling was coming to protest against the appointment of +Blaine as Secretary of State. My advice was to let Mr. Conkling +understand that he would appoint whomsoever he pleased as members +of his cabinet; that he would run the office of President without +fear or favor; and that he would appoint Mr. Blaine as Secretary +of State because he considered him the very man best qualified for +that high office. Garfield agreed with me, asserting that I had +expressed exactly what he intended saying to Conkling; but if we +are believe the stories of Senator Conkling's friends, he made far +different promises to Senator Conkling in reference to this as also +to other appointments. + +But the culmination of the trouble between Garfield and Conkling +was the appointment of Robertson as Collector of Customs at the +Port of New York. The President took the ground, for his own +reasons, that the Collector of Customs of New York was a National +office, in which every State had an interest, and was not to be +considered as Senatorial patronage. Conkling strenuously contended +that it was exclusively Senatorial patronage, and in this he was +sustained by precedents. + +It so happened that I was in Washington when the trouble between +Conkling and Garfield was at its height, over the appointment of +Robertson. I called to see the President to pay my respects. He +asked me if I knew what General Logan would do in reference to the +nomination of Mr. Robertson. I told him I did not know, and he +asked me if I could find out, and to come to breakfast with him +next morning. I did find out that General Logan expected to stand +by the President, and I so reported to him next morning. + +I bade him good-bye and this was the last time that I ever saw him +alive. I attended his funeral at Cleveland, and as I saw his body +laid away, I thought of the strange caprice of fate. Was it +premonition that made him so sad and castdown--so utterly crushed, +as it seemed to me--when he became the Republican candidate for +President before that great convention of 1880? Had he not been +elected President, he would probably have enjoyed a long, useful, +and highly creditable public career. He would have been one of +the most distinguished representatives that Ohio ever had in the +upper branch of Congress. He was to the most eminent degree fitted +for a legislator. In the national halls of Congress his public +life had been spent; there he was at home. He was not at all fitted +for the position of Chief Executive of the United States. And I +say this not in a spirit of hostility, but in the most kindly way, +because I loved General Garfield as one of my earliest friends, in +those days of long ago, when I served in the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +There was no man in the Thirty-ninth Congress with whom I was +afterwards so long and intimately associated as I was with the late +Senator William B. Allison of Iowa, with whom I served in the Senate +for a quarter of a century. + +Senator Allison was quite a prominent member of the House when I +entered Congress, and was serving then as a member of the important +Ways and Means Committee. He was regarded as one of the ablest +and most influential of the Western members. + +From the very earliest time I knew him, Senator Allison was an +authority on matters pertaining to finance. While he was in favor +of a protective tariff, he was not particularly a high-tariff +advocate; he, and the late General Logan who was then in the House, +and I worked together on tariff matters, as against the high-tariff +advocates, led by General Schenck. + +On one occasion we defeated a high-tariff proposition that General +Schenck was advocating. He was furious, and rising up in his place, +declared: + +"I might as well move to lay the bill on the table and to write as +its epitaph--'nibbled to death by pismires!'" + +The remark made General Logan terribly angry; but Senator Allison, +who had a quiet, keen sense of humor, and I were very much amused, +--as much at the fury of Logan as at the remark of Schenck. + +As a member of the House, Senator Allison followed the more radical +element against President Johnson. He was much more radical than +I was in those days, and he attacked President Johnson repeatedly +on the floor of the House, in tone and manner utterly unlike himself +when later he served in the Senate. + +In the upper body he was decidedly a conservative. He never +committed himself until he was absolutely certain. He was always +regarded as a wise man, and he exercised an extraordinary control +over members, in settling troublesome questions and bringing about +harmony in the Senate. He had powerful influence, not only with +members of his own party, but with members of the opposition. +Every one had confidence in him. His statements were accepted +without question. He never attempted oratory, but by cool statement +of facts he moulded the opinions of legislators. He was one of +those even tempered, level-headed, sound, sensible men to whom we +naturally turned when there were difficult questions to settle. + +There has been no man in our history who had a longer or more +distinguished public career, and I do not know of any man who was +more often invited to enter the cabinets of different Presidents +than was Senator Allison. The Secretaryship of the Treasury was +urged and almost forced upon him repeatedly. I visited Indianapolis +to see the President-elect, Mr. Harrison, and it so happened that +Senator Allison and I entered together, Mr. Harrison having sent +for him. I saw Harrison first, and he told me that he was going +to ask Senator Allison to become his Secretary of the Treasury. +I assured him that I was confident that he would decline the office +--an assertion that occasioned much surprise, even a display of +temper. Mr. Harrison seemed to think that it was Senator Allison's +duty to accept the place. When Senator Allison saw him a short +time later, the office was tendered him and he promptly declined +to accept it. Nothing that Mr. Harrison could do or say would +induce him to change his mind. + +Mr. McKinley was anxious to have Senator Allison in his cabinet, +and I do not think I shall be violating any confidence, now that +they are both dead, in saying that in declining the appointment +Allison urged McKinley, as he afterwards told me, to appoint me as +Secretary of the Treasury, and McKinley gave him so strong an +assurance that he intended to invite me to enter his cabinet, that +when Allison saw me in Washington at the beginning of the session, +I being a member of his Committee on Appropriations, he said: +"Cullom, you are to enter the cabinet; now you will not be able to +do much work on the Appropriations Committee, and you had better +devote your time to getting your affairs in shape preparing to +leave the Senate and become Secretary of the Treasury." + +I had urged President McKinley to beg Senator Allison to enter his +cabinet. Coming from the source that Allison's assurance did, I +naturally took it more or less seriously, but I did not give the +matter much thought. + +The nearest that Mr. McKinley came to inviting me to enter the +cabinet, was an inquiry he made of me, which position I would prefer +in a cabinet, Secretary of State or Secretary of the Treasury. I +replied that, personally, I should prefer the Treasury, as I had +at that time no particular interest or training in foreign affairs. +I know now that Mr. McKinley did fully intend to tender to me the +Treasury portfolio, and I also know, but I do not feel at liberty +at this time to reveal, the influence in Illinois which induced +him to change his mind. I am very glad now that the position was +not tendered to me, as I might have accepted it, because of the +known desire of certain friends in this State to secure my seat in +the Senate, in which event I should have been long since retired +to private life. + +Senator Allison was the trusted adviser of President after President +--Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt +all called upon him. There was no Senator who had to a greater +extent their confidence. Had he lived he would have been as close, +if not closer to President Taft. He served in the Senate longer +than any other man in all our history. He broke Benton's long +record. He broke the long record of Senator Morrill. He served +eight years in the House and more than thirty-five years in the +Senate, a total of forty-three years and five months in Congress. +For forty-three years the history of his life embodies the complete +financial legislative history of the United States. + +Another conspicuous member of the Thirty-ninth Congress was Nathaniel +P. Banks of Massachusetts. He had a long, varied, and interesting +career, both in public and private life. He was many times elected +to Congress from Massachusetts, and in 1856, after a long contest +which lasted more than two months, was elected Speaker of the House +of Representatives. He was Governor of his State, and in 1861, +for a short time, president of the Illinois Central Railroad, from +which position he resigned to enter the Union army as a major- +general, serving throughout the war. + +I did not know him when he was stationed at Chicago but I became +very well acquainted with him in Congress. He was Chairman of the +Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which committee I was a member. +Not only was General Banks a polite, agreeable man, but he was an +exceptionally effective speaker, and very popular in the House. + +There occurs to me a little controversy which he had with the late +Senator Dawes, who was at that time a member of the House from +Massachusetts. + +General Banks was undertaking to pass a bill to which Mr. Dawes +objected. Banks was nettled. Taking the floor, he accused his +colleague of always objecting to bills he attempted to pass. Dawes +arose in his place, and in the most ponderous fashion, turned to +Banks. + +"I appeal to my colleague," he asked, "when did I ever before object +to any bill which he was attempting to pass?" + +Banks jumped to his feet, and said in his high-pitched voice: "I +do not know that my colleague ever did, but I always thought that +he was just about to." + +General Banks served during the six years that I was a member of +the House, and several terms afterwards, his public service ending +with the Fifty-first Congress. He died at his home in Massachusetts, +in 1894. + +Daniel W. Voorhees was another celebrated member of the Thirty- +ninth Congress, and was later a Senator from Indiana. Senator +Voorhees was a very able man and a zealous, consistent Democrat. +He was charged, and I have no doubt at all that it was true, with +being a Rebel sympathizer, and a prominent member of the Knights +of the Golden Circle. A fine, gifted speaker, a kind-hearted +gentleman, he was very popular with the people of Indiana. Dan +Voorhees and Thomas A. Hendricks, who was afterward Vice-President +of the United States, were the two most prominent Democrats of +Indiana in all its history, and indeed were two of the foremost +Democrats of the North. + +Senator Voorhees' seat, as a member of the House in the Thirty- +ninth Congress, was successfully contested; and I can see him now, +with his imposing presence, making his final speech in the House, +after the result of the contest had become known. Garbed in a long +cloak, he defended his right to his seat with the greatest dignity. +The vote was taken; his opponent was seated; then he drew his cloak +about him, and with the air of a king, walked out of the House, +almost triumphantly. I had voted against him, but the dignity with +which he carried off the occasion certainly commanded my deepest +admiration. + +He was a great admirer of Mr. Lincoln. He knew him well; had been +associated with him in many lawsuits on the circuit, at Danville, +and in the eastern part of the State; and although they belonged +to opposing political parties, he evinced for Lincoln a very warm +feeling. + +Senator Voorhees once told me a rather interesting story in connection +with President Lincoln. It was the occasion of the dedication of +what was known as the Foundery Methodist Church in Washington. +Mr. Lincoln was present, Voorhees was there, and Bishop Simpson +delivered the dedicatory address. The bishop was an eloquent +speaker and his sermon was a characteristic one. The President +was seated in an armchair in front of the pulpit, with his back to +the minister, and after the sermon was over, an effort was at once +made to raise funds to pay the debt of the church. This phase of +the meeting was tiresomely protracted, the minister, in the customary +style, earnestly urging an unresponsive congregation to contribute +until nearly every inducement had been exhausted. Finally someone +started a movement to raise a certain definite amount of money, +the achievement of which would make the President a life member of +some church society. But even this scheme was not accepted with +much enthusiasm, and Bishop Simpson renewed his plea for donations. +At last Mr. Lincoln, who had been growing tired and bored at the +performance, craned his head around toward Bishop Simpson, and said +in a tone that everybody heard: "Simpson, if you will stop this +auction I will pay the money myself." + +And since Bishop Simpson's name has been mentioned, another incident +in which he figured is suggested, which might as well be related +here. + +In the Methodist Church Bishop Simpson's name is a household word. +He was one of its most prominent divines, and in sympathy with that +branch which remained loyal to the Union. Naturally he was a great +admirer of Mr. Lincoln--in fact, so close was he to the President +that it was his influence that secured the appointment of Senator +Harlan of Iowa as Secretary of the Interior. What follows will +demonstrate that this statement is not made on hearsay. + +Several prominent men of Illinois, and other parts of the country, +were in Washington trying to secure the appointment of Uncle Jesse +K. Dubois (the father of Senator Dubois of Idaho who served in the +United States Senate two terms with great credit to himself and +State), as Secretary of the Interior. Uncle Jesse Dubois was there +himself, and we all met one evening at the National Hotel, at which +meeting I was designated to go to the White House and use my +influence with President Lincoln in Uncle Jesse's behalf. Uncle +Jesse had no business coming to Washington when he was being pushed +for a cabinet office; but he did, nevertheless, and he was not in +good health. About ten o'clock at night I saw the President, and +laid before him Uncle Jesse's claims. His reply was: + +"I cannot appoint him. I must appoint Senator Harlan. I promised +Bishop Simpson to do so. The Methodist Church has been standing +by me very generally; I agreed with Bishop Simpson to give Senator +Harlan this place, and I must keep my agreement. I would like to +take care of Uncle Jesse, but I do not see that I can as a member +of my cabinet." + +I replied: "If you have determined it, that is the end of the +matter, and I shall so report to the friends who are gathered at +the National, so that Uncle Jesse may go on home." + +President Lincoln seemed much affected. He followed me to the +door, repeating that he would like to take care of Uncle Jesse, +but could not do so. + +Jesse Dubois went home to Springfield, but he remained as stanch +a friend to Lincoln as ever, and was one of the committee sent from +Springfield to accompany the remains of the immortal President to +their last resting-place. + +George S. Boutwell was another member of the Thirty-ninth Congress +who merits some attention. He afterward became very influential +among the radical element, and was one of the managers on the part +of the House in the impeachment of President Johnson. It is hard +to understand in a man of his sober, sound sense; but I am convinced +that he firmly believed President Johnson to have been a conspirator +in securing the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. He was Secretary of +the Treasury under President Grant, who had for him the greatest +respect and confidence. I never was very intimate with him, but +I knew him fairly well, and considered him one of the leading public +men of Massachusetts of his day. + +One of the leading members of the Pennsylvania delegation in the +Thirty-ninth Congress was William D. Kelley. He was a prominent +member of the House, a good speaker, although he always prepared +his addresses at great length, principally on the tariff; but he +did not confine himself to his manuscripts entirely. His specialty +in Congress was the tariff. He was called "Pig-iron Kelley" because +he was for high duties on pig-iron and, in fact, everything +manufactured in Pennsylvania. That State, as everybody knows, is +the great iron and steel manufacturing State of the Union, and its +representatives in Congress were in that day, as they are in this, +the highest of high protective tariff advocates. + +Before entering Congress, William D. Kelley for a number of years +had been a judge of one of the more important courts of Philadelphia. +He was elected to and kept in the House, without any particular +effort on his own part, because he was considered one of the most +valuable men in Congress in matters pertaining to the tariff. When +I was a candidate for re-election to the House he visited my district +and made several very able speeches for me at my request, and, with +his wife, was my guest in Springfield for several days. At that +time Republicans were for a high protective tariff, and it was not +considered then, as it seems to be in these days of so-called +insurgency, a crime for a Republican to stand up and say that he +was in favor of high tariff duties. In any event, Judge Kelley +did me much good in the speeches he made in my district. + +We occupied apartments in the same house in Washington--on F Street +near the Ebbitt House, at which hotel we took our meals. F Street +is now the heart of the business centre, but it was then one of +the principal residence streets, and many Representatives and +Senators lived in that vicinity. The only objection I had to living +in the same house with Judge Kelley was that he was always preparing +speeches, and when he got ready to deliver a speech he would insist +on reading it all over to me; and as his speeches were generally +two or three hours long, and always on the tariff, in which I did +not take an extraordinary amount of interest, I became pretty tired +of hearing them. + +On one occasion when he was making quite an eloquent speech in the +House, he was interrupted by a member from Kentucky, whose name I +do not remember. He had already answered him once or twice and +then gone on. He was interrupted again, and this time he answered: +"Oh, don't interrupt me when the glow is on." The "glow" did happen +to be on at that time, and naturally he did not desire to be +interrupted. + +In the same Pennsylvania delegation there were two members named +Charles O'Neill and Leonard Myers, who were very short in stature. +For some reason or other, some wag dubbed them "Kelley's ponies." +They heard of it and became very angry, and on every occasion, when +there was half a chance, they watched to see how Judge Kelley voted +and would then vote the opposite. + +They were both good men and good Republicans, and O'Neill served +the same number of terms as Judge Kelley--fifteen--but O'Neill +remained his full fifteen terms and retired from Congress. Judge +Kelley was serving his fifteenth term when he died in Washington, in +1890. + +Samuel J. Randall was one of the prominent Democrats of his day; +but strange to say he favored a protective tariff. He also served +about fifteen terms, two of them in the Speaker's chair. He had +an anxious solicitude for the success of his party, and made many +political speeches. He was a young member when I first knew him, +away back in the sixties, but even then he occupied an influential +position. + +I remember meeting him in Mr. Blaine's office one day, when the +latter was Secretary of State, and Mr. Blaine not being in, we sat +on the settee and had a talk. He was in poor health, but curious +respecting the relations between President Harrison and his party. +I told him they were not getting along very well; that he satisfied +his party about as well as Mr. Cleveland satisfied his when he was +in the White House. + +"I think," he observed, "he is better than our President. We never +could do much with Cleveland." Then he added this characteristic +remark: "If you want an army to fight, you must feed it. It is +the same with a political party: if a party is to take care of +itself, its workers must be recognized in the distribution of its +patronage." + +I never saw Samuel J. Randall afterwards. + +Judge Godlove S. Orth was one of my most intimate friends in the +House of Representatives. He was a splendid man, and was regarded +as an honorable and able member. He and I saw much of each other +every day, as we roomed in the same neighborhood and generally +visited the departments together. We were seen with each other so +often on the streets, in fact, that when we were separated, friends +would ask either one or the other of us: "What has become of your +partner?" At one time I canvassed his district for him and he was +re-elected. + +He had a peculiar name, "Godlove." I never heard of a man named +Godlove, either before or since. The story was told of a lady +sitting in the gallery, listening to the proceedings of the House. +She could not hear very well. When the roll was being called, and +she heard the name "Godlove" called by the clerk, she did not +understand it; she wend down stairs and told her friends that the +House of Representatives was a most pious body; that every time +they called the roll, and the clerk got about half way through, he +would stop and exclaim: "God love us all!" + +Judge Orth has been dead for many years, but I have always remembered +with great pleasure our friendship when we served as colleagues in +the House, nearly half a century ago. + +Oakes Ames of Boston was a prominent member of the House. He had +charge of the Union Pacific Railroad construction, and it was +charged--and proven, I believe, afterwards--that he secured the +concessions for the railroad by undue influence,--the use of money, +gifts of stock, etc.,--and the whole thing finally culminated in +what is known as the _Crédit Mobilier_ scandal, the exposure of +which came after I retired from the House. + +Ames was a member of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, +Forty-first, and Forty-second Congresses, and I knew him very well +during my six years' service. I was made chairman of the Committee +on Territories in the Forty-first Congress, by Mr. Blaine, who was +then Speaker. Ames annoyed me very much by coming to me almost +every day in the interest of legislation in the Territories affecting +the Union Pacific, and I asked him one day, being a little out of +temper, whether he was so absorbed in the Pacific Railroad that he +had not time to devote to anything else. He made some light +rejoinder; sometime later the exposure came, and I found that he +was engaged in most unfortunate and unlawful practices in securing +legislation in the interest of his road. + +I never believed that Oakes Ames was naturally a dishonest man, +but the proof was against him, and the scandal resulted in his +death, as it also did in the death of James Brooks, of New York, +and the ruination of other public men. + +I knew S. S. Cox ("Sunset" Cox, as he was called), as a member of +the Forty-first Congress. He had served in some previous Congress +as a member from Ohio; but when I knew him he was serving as a +member from New York. + +Cox was an able man, as a speaker, a writer, and a diplomat. He +was always listened to with great respect and attention when he +addressed the House, but a considerable amount of fun was poked at +him after a certain occasion when he had interrupted General Butler +a time or two in debate, and the General, finally losing patience, +replied to one of his questions with the admonition: "Shoo, fly, +don't bodder me!" I was present at the time; the galleries were +filled, as they always were in those days; and when General Butler +uttered this reproof the whole House, galleries, and floor, was in +an uproar, maintaining the confusion for some minutes. When it +seemed like subsiding, it would break out again and again, and so +it continued for quite a while. When order was finally restored +Cox undertook to reply; but he could not do so. He had been so +crippled by the response of the audience to Butler's remark that +he never recovered from it. + +Cox was a splendid man. He always thought in those days that he +had not been quite appreciated by his friends in the Democratic +party, and they thought the same way; but he was so good-humored, +and such a whole-souled man and so fond of wit that he really never +did get what he was entitled to. + +I was trying to pass a bill which I had prepared for the purpose +of prohibiting and wiping out polygamy in Utah. I had reported +the bill from the Committee on Territories, and I was doing my best +to pass it. For some reason or other (afterwards I learned it was +an ulterior reason to help out a friend), General Schenck undertook +to defeat the measure, and for this purpose he asked to have it +referred to the Committee on Judiciary. This committee probably +had jurisdiction over the subject; I did not think so at the time, +and believed that such a reference would kill the bill. He seemed +to be making some headway with the Republicans, when Cox came over +to me from the Democratic side of the House, and proposed that if +I would yield to him for five minutes he would help me to pass the +bill. I told him to go back to his seat and that I would yield to +him directly. When I did Cox took the floor, and to my utter +astonishment he denounced the bill as the most outrageous bill that +had ever been brought before the House, declaring in the most +spirited manner that of course it ought to be referred to the +Judiciary Committee, because every one knew that such a reference +would kill it. + +But he was shrewder than I apprehended at the moment. His talk +had the desired effect, for the Republicans who had been following +Schneck determined that they would not be responsible for killing +the bill; they came back to me, and the measure was passed through +the House by a substantial majority. + + +CHAPTER IX +THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON +1865 + +As I look back now over the vista of years that have come and gone, +it seems to me that I entered the Lower House of Congress just at +the beginning of the most important period in all our history. +The great President had been assassinated; the war was over; Andrew +Johnson, a Union Democrat, was President of the United States. +Reconstruction was the problem which confronted us, how to heal up +the Nation's wounds and remake a Union which would endure for all +time to come. These were the difficult conditions that had to be +dealt with by the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +Andrew Johnson was the queerest character that ever occupied the +White House, and, with the exception of Lincoln only, he entered +it under the most trying and difficult circumstances in all our +history; but Lincoln had, what Johnson lacked, the support and +confidence of the great Republican party. Johnson was never a +Republican, and never pretended to be one. He was a lifelong +Democrat, and a slave-holder as well; but he was loyal to the Union, +no man living more so. As a Senator from Tennessee, alone of all +the Southern Senators he faced his colleagues from the South in +denouncing secession as treason. His subsequent phenomenal course +in armed opposition to the rebellion brought about his nomination +for the Vice-Presidency as a shrewd stroke to secure the support +of the War Democrats of the North and the Union men of his State +and section. + +He came to the Presidency under the cloud of President Lincoln's +assassination, when the majority of the North believed that a +Southern conspiracy had laid the great President low. The seceding +States hated him as a traitor to his own section; the North distrusted +him as a Democrat. At first I believe the very radical element of +the Republican party in Congress, led by old Ben Wade of Ohio, than +whom there was no more unsafe man in either house of Congress, were +disposed, if not openly to rejoice, which they dared not do, to +see with some secret satisfaction the entrance of Johnson into the +White House. It is well known that Wade did say in his first +interview with President Johnson, when, as a member of the committee +on the conduct of the war, he waited on him, "Johnson, we have +faith in you. By the gods, there will be no more trouble in +running the Government." + +I have already, in another chapter, described the scene which took +place in the Senate chamber when Johnson was inducted into office +as Vice-President; the exhibition he made of himself at the time +of taking the oath of office, in the presence of the President of +the United States and the representatives of the Governments of +the world. All this, advertised at the time in the opposition +press, added to the prejudice against Johnson in the North and made +his position more trying and difficult. + +There were two striking points in Johnson's character, and I knew +him well: First, his loyalty to the Union; and, second, his utter +fearlessness of character. He could not be cowed; old Ben Wade, +Sumner, Stevens, all the great leaders of that day could not, +through fear, influence him one particle. + +In 1861, when he was being made the target of all sorts of threats +on account of his solitary stand against secession in the Senate, +he let fall this characteristic utterance: + +"I want to say, not boastingly, with no anger in my bosom, that +these two eyes of mine have never looked upon anything in the shape +of mortal man that this heart has feared." + +This utterance probably illustrates Johnson's character more clearly +than anything that I could say. He sought rather than avoided a +fight. Headstrong, domineering, having fought his way in a State +filled with aristocratic Southerners, from the class of so-called +"low whites" to the highest position in the United States, he did +not readily yield to the dictates of the dominating forces in +Congress. + +Lincoln had a well-defined policy of reconstruction. Indeed, so +liberal was he disposed to be in his treatment of the Southern +States, that immediately after the surrender of Richmond he would +have recognized the old State Government of Virginia had it not +been for the peremptory veto of Stanton. Congress was not in +session when Johnson came to the Presidency in April, 1865. To do +him no more than simple justice, I firmly believe that he wanted +to follow out, in reconstruction, what he thought was the policy +of Mr. Lincoln, and in this he was guided largely by the advice of +Mr. Seward. + +But there was this difference. Johnson was, probably in good faith, +pursuing the Lincoln policy of reconstruction; but when the +Legislatures and Executives of the Southern States began openly +passing laws and executing them so that the negro was substantially +placed back into slavery, practically nullifying the results of +the awful struggle, the untold loss of life and treasure, Mr. +Lincoln certainly would have receded and would have dealt with the +South with an iron hand, as Congress had determined to do, and as +General Grant was compelled to do when he assumed the Presidency. + +From April to the reassembling of Congress in December, Johnson +had a free hand in dealing with the seceded States, and he was not +slow to take advantage of it. He seemed disposed to recognize the +old State Governments; to restrict the suffrage to the whites; to +exercise freely the pardoning power in the way of extending executive +clemency not only to almost all classes, but to every individual +who would apply for it. The result was, it seemed to be certain +that if the Johnson policy were carried out to the fullest extent, +the supremacy of the Republican party in the councils of the Nation +would be at stake. + +To express it in a word, the motive of the opposition to the Johnson +plan of reconstruction was the firm conviction that its success +would wreck the Republican party, and by restoring the Democrats +to power bring back Southern supremacy and Northern vassalage. +The impeachment, in a word, was the culmination of the struggle +between the legislative and the executive departments of the +Government over the problem of reconstruction. The legislative +department claimed exclusive jurisdiction over reconstruction; the +executive claimed that it alone was competent to deal with the +subject. + +This is a very brief summary of the conditions which confronted us +when I entered the Thirty-ninth Congress. Representatives of the +eleven seceding States were there to claim their seats in Congress. +The Republican members met in caucus the Saturday evening preceding +the meeting of Congress on Monday. I, as a member-elect, was +present, and I remember how old Thaddeus Stevens at once assumed +the dominating control in opposition to the President's plan. +Stevens was a most remarkable character,--one of the most remarkable +in the legislative history of the United States. He believed firmly +in negro equality and negro suffrage. As one writer eloquently +expresses it: + +"According to his creed, the insurgent States were conquered +provinces to be shaped into a paradise for the freedman and a hell +for the rebel. His eye shot over the blackened southern land; he +saw the carnage, the desolation, the starvation, and the shame; +and like a battered old warhorse, he flung up his frontlet, sniffed +the tainted breeze, and snorted 'Ha, Ha!'" + +It was at once determined by the Republican majority in Congress +that the representatives of the eleven seceding States should not +be admitted. The Constitution expressly gives to the House and +Senate the exclusive power to judge of the admission and qualification +of its own members. + +We were surprised at the moderation of the President's message, +which came in on Tuesday after Congress assembled. In tone and +general character the message was wholly unlike Johnson. It was +an admirable state document, one of the finest from a literary and +probably from every other standpoint that ever came from an Executive +to Congress. It was thought at the time that Mr. Seward wrote it, +but it has since been asserted that it was the product of that +foremost of American historians, J. C. Bancroft, one of Mr. Johnson's +close personal friends. + +There existed three theories of dealing with the Southern States: +one was the President's theory of recognizing the State Governments, +allowing the States to deal with the suffrage question as they +might see fit; the Stevens policy of wiping out all State lines +and dealing with the regions as conquered military provinces; and +the Sumner theory of treating them as organized territories, +recognizing the State lines. + +Johnson dealt in a masterful manner with the subject in his message. +He said: + +"States, with proper limitations of power, are essential to the +existence of the Constitution of the United States. + +"The perpetuity of the Constitution bring with it the perpetuity +of the States; their mutual relations makes us what we are, and in +our political system this connection is indissoluble. The whole +cannot exist without the parts nor the parts without the whole. +So long as the Constitution of the United States endures, the States +will endure; the destruction of the one is the destruction of the +other; the preservation of the one is the preservation of the other. + +"The true theory is that all pretended acts of secession were, from +the beginning, null and void. The States cannot commit treason, +nor screen the individual citizens who may have committed treason, +any more than they can make valid treaties or engage in lawful +commerce with any foreign power. The States attempting to secede +placed themselves in a condition where their vitality was impaired +but not extinguished, their functions suspended but not destroyed." + +It was but the Johnson theory which we presented to the world, +denying the right of any State to secede; asserting the perpetuity, +the indissolubility of the Union. + +But the question was, whether the members from the seceding States +should be admitted to the Senate and House; and he dealt with this +most difficult problem in a statesmanlike way. He said: + +"The amendment to the Constitution being adopted, it would remain +for the States whose powers have been so long in abeyance, to resume +their places in the two branches of the National Legislature, and +thereby complete the work of restoration. Here it is for you, +fellow citizens of the Senate, and for you, fellow citizens of the +House of Representatives, to judge, each of you for yourselves, of +the elections, returns and qualifications of your own members." + +On the suffrage question, he said: + +"On the propriety of making freedmen electors by proclamation of +the Executive, I took for my counsel the Constitution itself, the +interpretations of that instrument by its authors, and their +contemporaries, and the recent legislation of Congress. They all +unite in inculcating the doctrine that the regulation of the suffrage +is a power exclusively for the States. So fixed was this reservation +of power in the habits of the people, and so unquestioned has been +the interpretation of the Constitution, that during the Civil War +the late President never harbored the purpose,--certainly never +avowed it,--of disregarding it; and in acts of Congress nothing +can be found to sanction any departure by the Executive from a +policy which has so uniformly obtained." + +Aside from the worst radicals, the message pleased every one, the +country at large and the majority in Congress; and there was a +general disposition to give the President a reasonably free hand +in working out his plan of reconstruction. But as I stated, the +Legislatures of the Southern States and their Executives assumed +so domineering an attitude, practically wiping out the results of +the war, that the Republican majority in Congress assumed it to be +its duty to take control from the Executive. + +What determined Johnson in his course, I do not know. It was +thought that he would be a radical of radicals. Being of the "poor +white" class, he may have been flattered by the attentions showered +on him by the old Southern aristocrats. Writers of this period +have frequently given that as a reason. My own belief has been +that he was far too strong a man to be governed in so vital a matter +by so trivial a cause. My conviction is that the radical Republican +leaders in the House were right; that he believed in the old +Democratic party, aside from his loyalty to the Union; and was a +Democrat determined to turn the Government over to the Democratic +party, reconstructed on a Union basis. + +I cannot undertake to go into all the long details of the memorable +struggle. As I look back over the history of it now, it seems to +me to bear a close resemblance to the beginning of the French +Revolution, to the struggle between the States General of France +and Louis XVI. Might we not, if things had turned differently, +drifted into chaos and revolution? If Johnson had been impeached +and refused to submit, adopting the same tactics as did Stanton in +retaining the War Department; had Ben Wade taken the oath of office +and demanded possession, Heaven only knows what might have been +the result. + +But reminiscing in this way, as I cannot avoid doing when I think +back over those terrible times, I lose the continuity of my subject. + +An extension to the Freedman's Bureau bill was passed, was promptly +vetoed by the Executive, the veto was as promptly overruled by the +House, where there was no substantial opposition, but the Senate +failed to pass the bill, the veto of the President to the contrary +notwithstanding. + +I had not the remotest idea that Johnson would dare to veto the +Freedman's Bureau bill, and I made a speech on the subject, declaring +a firm conviction to that effect. A veto at that time was almost +unheard of. Except during the administration of Tyler, no important +bill had ever been vetoed by an Executive. It came as a shock to +Congress and the country. Excitement reigned supreme. The question +was: "Should the bill pass the veto of the President regardless +thereof?" + +Not the slightest difficulty existed in the House; Thaddeus Stevens +had too complete control of that body to allow any question concerning +it there. The bill, therefore, was promptly passed over the veto +of the President. + +But the situation in the Senate was different. At this time the +Sumner-Wade radical element did not have the necessary two-thirds +majority, and the bill failed to pass over the veto of the President. +The war between the executive and legislative departments of the +Government had fairly commenced, and the first victory had been +won by the President. + +The Civil Rights bill, drawn and introduced by Judge Trumbull, than +whom there was no greater lawyer in the United States Senate, in +January, 1866, on the reassembling of Congress, was passed. Then +began the real struggle on the part of the radicals in the Senate, +headed by Sumner and Wade, to muster the necessary two-thirds +majority to pass a bill over the veto of the President. + +Let me digress here to say a word in reference to Charles Sumner. +For ten years he was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee +of the United States Senate, and no man, by education, experience, +knowledge of world politics, and travel, was ever more fitted to +occupy that high position. He was one of the most cultivated men +of his day, a radical, and filled one of the most important places +in the history of his time. When he entered the Senate, the South +dominated this Government; the great triumvirate, Webster, Clay, +and Calhoun, had just passed. The day he entered, Clay for the +last time, feeble, emaciated, appeared on the Senate floor. +Compromise was the word, and the Southerners so dominated that it +was considered treason to mention the slavery question. Charles +Sumner was an abolitionist; he was not afraid, and at the very +first opportunity he took the floor and denounced the institution +in no unmeasured terms. Chase and Seward were present that day, +and quickly followed Sumner's lead. Seward, however, was far more +conservative than either Sumner or Chase. + +It was the mission of Charles Sumner to awake the public conscience +to the horrors of slavery. He performed his duty unfalteringly, +and it almost cost him his life. Mr. Lincoln was the only man +living who ever managed Charles Sumner, or could use him for his +purpose. Sumner's end has always seemed to me most pitiful. +Removed from his high position as chairman of the Foreign Relations +Committee of the Senate, followed relentlessly by the enmity of +President Grant, than at the very acme of his fame; drifting from +the Republican party, his own State repudiating him, Charles Sumner +died of a broken heart. + +But to return to the struggle between the President and Congress. +Trumbull, Sumner, Wade, and the leaders were bound in one way or +another to get the necessary two-thirds. The vote was taken in +the Senate: "Shall the Civil Rights bill pass the veto of the +President to the contrary notwithstanding?" It was well understood +that the vote would be very close, and the result uncertain. + +The excitement was intense. The galleries were crowded; members +of the House were on the Senate floor. The result seemed to depend +entirely upon the vote of Senator Morgan, of New York, and he seemed +to be irresolute, uncertain in his own mind which way he would +vote. The call of the roll proceeded. When his name was reached +there was profound silence. He first voted nay, and then immediately +changed to yea. A wonderful demonstration burst forth as it was +then known that the bill would pass over the veto of the President, +and that the Republican party in Congress at last had complete +control. Senator Trumbull made a remarkable speech on that occasion, +and I was never prouder of any living man. + +So the struggle went on from day to day and year to year, growing +all the time more intense. I have always been disposed to be +conservative; I was then; and it was with profound regret that I +saw the feeling between the President and Congress becoming more +and more strained. + +I disliked to follow the extreme radical element, and when the row +was at its height, Judge Orth, a colleague in the House from Indiana, +and I concluded to go and see the President and advise with him, +in an attempt to smooth over the differences. I will never forget +that interview. It was at night. He received us politely enough, +and without mincing any words he gave us to understand that we were +on a fool's errand and that he would not yield. We went away, and +naturally joined the extreme radicals in the House, always voting +with them afterwards. + +The row continued in the Fortieth Congress. Bills were passed, +promptly vetoed, and the bills immediately passed over the President's +veto. Many of the bills were not only unwise legislation but were +unconstitutional as well. We passed the Tenure of Office bill; we +attempted to restrict the President's pardoning power; and as I +look back over the history of the period, it seems to me that we +did not have the slightest regard for the Constitution. Some of +President Johnson' veto messages were admirable. He had the advice +and assistance of one of the ablest lawyers of his day, Jeremiah +Black. + +To make the feeling more intense, just about this time Johnson made +his famous "swing around the circle," as it was termed. His speeches +published in the opposition press were intemperate and extreme. +He denounced Congress. He threatened to "kick people out of office," +in violation of the Tenure of Office act. He was undignified in +his actions and language, and many people thought he was intoxicated +most of the time, although I do not believe this. + +The radicals in both the House and Senate determined that he should +be impeached and removed from office. They had the votes in the +House easily, and they thought they could muster the necessary +number in the Senate, as we had been passing all sorts of legislation +over the President's veto. When the subject was up, I was doubtful, +and I really believe, strong Republican that I was, that had it +not been for Judge Trumbull I would have voted against the impeachment +articles. I advised with the Judge, for whom I had profound respect. +I visited him at his house. I explained to him my doubts, and I +recall very clearly the expression he used in reply. He said: +"Johnson is an obstruction to the Government and should be removed." +Judge Trumbull himself changed afterwards, much to the astonishment +of every one, and denounced the impeachment proceeding as unworthy +of a justice of the peace court. + +It seems to me difficult to realize that it was as far back as +March 2, 1868, that I addressed the House in favor of the impeachment +articles. I think I made a pretty good speech on that occasion +and supported my position very well. I took rather an extreme view +in favor of the predominance of the legislative department of the +Government, contending that the executive and judiciary departments +of the Government, while they are finally responsible to the people, +are directly accountable to the legislative department. + +The first and principal article in the impeachment proposed by the +House was the President's issuance of an order removing Edwin M. +Stanton as Secretary of War, he having been duly appointed and +commissioned by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and +the Senate having been in session at the time of his removal. + +I contended then, on the floor of the House, that such a removal +was a violation of the Constitution and could not be excused on +any pretext whatever, in addition to being a direct violation of +the Tenure of Office act. + +I do not intend to go into the details of the various articles +proposed by the House; suffice it to say that they were mainly +based on the attempted removal of Mr. Stanton, and the appointment +of Mr. Thomas as Secretary of War. + +I was very serious in concluding my speech. My words were: + +"Mr. Chairman: The administration of Mr. Johnson since he became +President of the United States has been characterized by an utter +disregard of the laws and Constitution of the United States. And, +sir, I am of the opinion that there should be another article +adopted by this House, and sent to the Senate, upon which he should +be tried, the substance of which should be that Andrew Johnson, +President of the United States, is guilty of high crimes in office, +in that he violated the Constitution and laws of the United States, +by using his influence, patronage and power of said office to +hinder, delay and prevent a restoration of the States lately in +rebellion against the Government, to their proper practical relations +to the Union. Congress provided by law for the reconstruction of +the rebel States. The President, from whatever motives it matters +not, stands in his Executive Office, and by all his influence and +power opposes restoration according to law. As an Executive Officer, +he has no such right, and his opposition to the laws of Congress +on the subject of reconstruction has cost this Nation thousands of +loyal men who have been murdered in the South on account of their +devotion to the Flag, and millions of money which is to be added +to the enormous public debt to be cast upon the necks of the people. +Shall the Nation endure it longer? Shall we struggle on and on +until the welcome day comes when his term shall expire? The people +say 'No'; men struggling in business say 'No'; men longing for +peace and harmony in the land say 'No'; the loyal men of the South, +who have been abused and hunted by wicked rebels, say 'No'; and I +trust that the answer of all these may be the answer of this House +to-day, and the answer of the Senate of the United States within +a reasonable time after these articles shall be sent to them." + +Needless for me to say, that as the subject continued feeling +remained at a high pitch in the House. It was debated from day to +day. Stevens was urging the impeachment with all the force at his +command; some were doubtful and holding back, as I was; some changed +--for instance, James G. Blaine, who was taunted by Stevens and +sneered at for his change of front. + +Under the law then existing the President of the Senate succeeded +a Vice-President who became, by the death or removal of the President, +President of the United States. The radicals in complete control +--and I have no doubt that Stevens had a hand in it--elected the +most radical of their number as President of the Senate--Ben Wade, +of Ohio. Johnson removed, Wade would have been President, and the +extreme radicals would have been in supreme control of the legislative +and executive departments of the Government. + +This condition is what made Mr. Blaine hesitate. He told me on +one occasion: "Johnson in the White House is bad enough, but we +know what we have; Lord knows what we would get with old Ben Wade +there. I do not know but I would rather trust Johnson than Wade." +But in the end Blaine supported the impeachment articles, just as +I did, and as Senator Allison and other somewhat conservative +members did, all feeling at the same time not a little doubtful of +our course. + +Stevens, Logan, Boutwell, Williams, and Wilson were appointed +managers on the part of the House, and solemnly and officially +notified the Senate of the action of the House in impeaching the +President of the United States. The Senate proceeded without long +delay to resolve itself as a High Court of Impeachment, for the +purpose of trying the President of the United States for high crimes +and misdemeanors. The most eminent counsel of the Nation were +engaged. Mr. Evarts was President Johnson's principal counsel. +He was ably assisted by lawyers of scarcely less renown. + +The trial dragged along from day to day. Part of the time the +Senate considered the matter in executive session. The corridors +were crowded; and I remember with what astonishment we heard that +Judge Trumbull had taken the floor denouncing the proceeding as +unworthy of a justice of the peace court. The Illinois delegation +held a meeting, and Logan, Farnsworth, and Washburne urged that we +unite in a letter to Judge Trumbull, with a view to influencing +his vote for conviction, or of inducing him to withhold his vote +if he could not vote for conviction. A number of our delegation +opposed it, and the letter was not sent. + +I do not think that it would have made the slightest effect on +Judge Trumbull had we sent it. All sorts of coercing methods were +used to influence wavering Senators. Old Bob Schenck was the +chairman of this movement, and he sent telegrams broadcast all over +the United States to the effect that there was great danger to the +peace of the country and the Republican cause if impeachment failed, +and asking the recipients to send their Senators public opinion by +resolutions and delegations. And responses came from all over the +North, urging and demanding the impeachment of the President. + +It is difficult now to realize the intense excitement of that +period. General Grant was there, tacitly acknowledged as the next +nominee of the Republican party for the Presidency. He took no +active part, but it was pretty well understood, from the position +of his friends such as Logan and Washburne, that the impeachment +had his sympathy; and in the Senate Conkling was especially +vindictive. Grimes, Fessenden, and Trumbull led the fight for +acquittal. Many were noncommittal; but in the end the struggle +turned on the one doubtful Senator, Edmund G. Ross of Kansas. + +It was determined to vote on the tenth article first, as that +article was the strongest one and more votes could be mustered for +it than any other. It was well understood that the vote on that +article would settle the matter. + +More than forty-three years have passed into history since that +memorable day when the Senate of the United States was sitting as +a Court of Impeachment for the purpose of trying the President of +the United States for high crimes and misdemeanors. The occasion +is unforgettable. As I look back now, I see arising before me the +forms and features of the great men who were sitting in that high +court: I see presiding Chief Justice Chase; I see Sumner, cold +and dignified; Wade, Trumbull, Hendricks, Conkling, Yates; I see +Logan as one of the managers on the part of the House; I see old +Thad Stevens, weak and wasted from illness, being carried in--all +long since have passed to the beyond, the accused President, the +members of the high court, the counsel. Of all the eminent men +who were present on that day, aside from the Hon. J. B. Henderson, +I do not know of a single one now living. + +As the roll was called, there was such a solemn hush as only comes +when man stands in the presence of Deity. Finally, when the name +of Ross was reached and he voted "No"; when it was understood that +his vote meant acquittal, the friends of the President in the +galleries thundered forth in applause. + +And thus ended for the first, and I hope the last, time the trial +of a President of the United States before the Senate, sitting as +a Court of Impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors. + + +CHAPTER X +SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATURE, AND GOVERNOR +1871 to 1883 + +After my six years' service in the Lower House of Congress, I +returned home, not expecting ever again to take office, or engage +in politics. There was a contest going on in the State over the +location of the State Capitol. The State had committed itself to +the erection of a new Capitol building, and had really made +considerable progress on its construction. + +In the meantime, the question of changing the location from +Springfield to some other city was agitated. Peoria made a very +strong effort for the removal to that city. The work on the new +building, as an immediate result, was stopped. The Legislature +had adjourned, and another election of members was to occur. This +condition of local affairs existed when I returned home after my +service was finished in Washington. + +The friends in my home county, in which the State Capitol is located, +waited on me and expressed a desire that I should allow my name to +be used as a candidate for the Legislature. I made known my resolve +not to enter politics again; but they based the proposal upon a +ground that made it extremely difficult and embarrassing not to +accede, to-wit: they had been with me for anything I had ever +wanted, and now they wanted me to reciprocate, and do as _they_ +desired. I did not feel that I could disregard their wishes, and +so yielded to their demand; it was nothing less. + +They then went to the Hon. Milton Hay, who was a great lawyer, and +as good a man as I ever knew, and made the same demand upon him. +He was under no special obligation to yield to their wishes, for +he had never asked for office at the hands of the people. He +declined; but they also declined to take "No" for an answer. The +result was that both Hay and I became candidates, were both elected, +and the contest over the removal of the State Capitol was renewed. + +I was chosen Speaker. Mr. Hay was the foremost lawyer of the +Legislature. One million dollars was reported from the proper +committee of the House, and passed without opposition, and the work +on the Capitol was once more taken up. + +Finding myself again in politics, I determined to become a candidate +for Governor. To be successful, it seemed to be important that I +should go back into the Legislature, which I did. After my re- +election I was supported by the Republican party for Speaker for +my second term. + +However, the House of Representatives was in control of the +opposition, composed of Democrats and Independents, the latter +being more generally wrong than the Democrats, and much less +reliable. The combination organized the House, the Hon. Elijah +Haines being elected Speaker, and the Republicans casting their +united vote for me. This Legislature has ever since been known as +the "Haines Legislature," the most notorious Legislature ever known +in the State. Haines was a man of ability--especially, to stir up +strife and produce confusion. + +The Legislature convened in the Winter of 1875. I was nominated +for Governor early in 1876, elected in November of the same year, +and sworn in January, 1877. + +On re-examining my inaugural address, I find much stated there that +is at the present time, and must long remain, of historic interest +to the people of Illinois; but since its length precludes reproduction +here, I can merely touch upon certain points, more fully covered +in the address, that offer many curious aspects and contrasts in +the light of latter-day conditions. + +To begin with, the Legislature of that year was the first to meet +in the new Capitol. The effects of the financial panic of 1873 +were still felt, but it was pointed out that the State's resources +were in no way impaired; that on the contrary--circumstances to be +proud of--the volume of private indebtedness had been materially +reduced, while the productive wealth of farms, buildings, factories, +mines, and railroads had never before been so great. + +Of matters educational, there had been enrolled as pupils the +preceding year (1876) 687,446 persons, and appropriations for public- +school purposes for the corresponding period had amounted to +$8,268,539.58. + +Among other matters of local interest adverted to, which to-day +are as alive and momentous as they were then, were the subjects of +navigation--particularly on the Illinois River and the canal--and +the supervision of the railroads by the Railroad and Warehouse +Commission. At that time there were 7,285 miles of railroad in +the State--a greater mileage than any other State in the Union +could boast of. + +Only eleven years had elapsed since the close of the Civil War, +and its after-effects still worked like an obnoxious ferment in +the State's political conditions; closely allied with this was the +influence of the Hayes-Tilden contest, all of which commanded a +large proportion of my speech. + +One extract I wish to quote in full, since it was prelude to events +which followed so soon afterwards: + +"I desire to add one suggestion in reference to the affairs of our +own State, by calling your attention to the Militia Law. I believe +a more perfect law should be enacted, which will secure a more +thorough organization of the State militia. + +"The spirit of our institutions and the temper of our people are +hostile to a standing army, and I am opposed to any policy, State +or National, looking to governing the people by bayonet; yet in +the most highly civilized communities a trained militia, recruited +from the intelligent and industrious classes, is an almost +indispensable auxiliary to the civil power in the interests of +peace and good order." + +Little did I dream that within six months of my inauguration the +timeliness and force of the suggestions, and any recommendations +contained in the closing paragraphs above, would find convincing +illustrations in conditions throughout the Nation, and especially +in Illinois. + +In July, 1877, the famous strike of the railway employees came on. +It was exceptionally strong in the cities of Illinois--Chicago, +Decatur, Springfield, Galesburg, East St. Louis, and every other +city of considerable size. The State was ill prepared for such a +crisis. The strike ran along for several days with the State +unready to bring the matter to a close. Having been in office but +a few months, I had not yet secured any arms or other military +equipment with which to combat organized violations of the law. +The Illinois National Guard was inchoate--in fact, scarcely organized +at all, except in companies voluntarily formed, which were almost +entirely without military equipment. Finally, however, I determined +to order the National Guard to East St. Louis. + +I telegraphed to Chicago for a locomotive and car to take me to +East St. Louis about two o'clock on a specified night. After +ordering the troops from different parts of the State to assemble +at East St. Louis on a given day, I went to East St. Louis myself, +three or four gentlemen accompanying me. There I found several +thousand men sitting about on the curbs of the sidewalks, apparently +perfectly quiet and inoffensive, if not unconcerned, and I concluded +that there was no reason why trains should not move. + +However, I first consulted with several railroad men, expressing +the opinion that the strikers and their sympathizers did not seem +desirous of disturbing anybody, and insisted that they proceed to +move out their trains. + +The superintendent of one of the roads finally promised to have a +train made up, and undertake to move it. + +"All right," said I. "Fire up, and I will come around about the +time you are ready to move." He did as he had promised, and I went +around with the friends who were accompanying me. + +But about the time the train was ready to move, these mild-mannered +laboring men, to the number of five or six hundred, gently closed +in upon the train, and put out the fire in the engine so it could +not be moved. + +Thereupon, I stood upon the sidewalk and addressed this crowd of +five or six hundred fire-extinguishers. I told them that I had +come there to move the trains, and while I did not want to hurt +any one, that the trains would be started, if everybody who interfered +first had to be disabled. They gradually skulked away, and I +ordered the fire built up again, asserting that I would be back in +half an hour to see the trains move. But the men notified the +engineer that they would kill any man who undertook to take the +train out, and in the fact of that threat no one could be prevailed +upon the man engines or train. + +Finally, however, one man agreed, if I would accompany him as far +as Decatur, about a hundred miles, to endeavor to go out with the +train. I told him I could not do that, but I would stand by his +side while he was going through the streets of East St. Louis. +But he would not agree to this, so that my efforts to move a single +train had met with complete failure. The result was that I was +driven to the expediency of calling upon the military arm of the +State authority. + +That evening the troops began to arrive. They were stationed at +the strategic points of the city during the night, and the next +morning the trains moved out without a single accident or +disturbance. + +In Chicago, the National Guard did not seem to accomplish anything. +The people there did not take them seriously, and the result was +that I called upon the National Government to send to that city a +few companies of regular troops. I think they came from Omaha. +When they arrived, and marched up the streets--that was the end of +the strike in that city. + +So I managed to get through the trouble without injury to a single +person, or the loss of any property except that caused by the delay +in the transaction of business. These results were quite different +from those in some other parts of the country. My chief private +secretary was in the East somewhere, and could not return to me +until the trouble was all over. + +As Governor of a State in a time when actual war was not flagrant, +I could only watch, as might any other American citizen, the exciting +proceedings at the National Capital, and hope that our country +might issue from the political contest without a weakening of our +institutions or loss of prestige. At the same time, I felt that +I might appropriately express my approval of the attitude of the +National administration, which I did in a letter to the President. + +When I was Governor of the State of Illinois, I had the good fortune +of becoming intimately acquainted with one of the great soldiers +of the recent Civil War, who was, in my judgment, the greatest +cavalry leader of modern times,--General Phil Sheridan. He was +Commander of the Department of the Lakes during my administration, +and I had the pleasure of meeting him on numerous occasions. + +At an immense reunion of volunteer soldiers from Northern Illinois, +Michigan, and Wisconsin, which was held in Aurora, I, as Governor +of the State, was invited to make the first address. General +Sheridan was invited to be present and take part in this celebration, +and he came down from Chicago, accompanied by his wife. I met them +at Aurora. We rode in the same carriage, at the rear of the +procession, to the fair grounds, a mile or so distant from the +city. The day was hot, and as we entered a dense grove, on the +road, the soldiers halted for a breathing spell, and while at rest +many of them went to a well near by for water. It was observed by +some of the soldiers that General Sheridan remained in the carriage, +and they immediately surrounded us. He greeted all cordially and +good-naturedly, being very fond of soldiers who had fought on the +Union side of the great struggle between the North and the South. +What immediately followed pleased Mrs. Sheridan and those who were +near, and amused Sheridan himself. A big Irish soldier-boy got +hold of Sheridan's hand and pulled him out of the carriage. Being +of small stature, General Sheridan was at the mercy of the stalwart +Irishman, who dealt with him in a very rough way, slapping him on +the back with great force, and with as much earnestness exclaiming: +"Boys, this is the damnedest, bravest little Mick in America!" + +As is well known now, the operations of General Sheridan in the +Shenandoah Valley and the region of Richmond called forth the +plaudits of the Nation and the commendation of his superiors. His +victories had much to do with bringing the Civil War to a close. +He was conscious of the power and value of the cavalry arm of the +army. In discussing his great achievements he made the remarkable +statement that with a force of five or ten thousand cavalrymen, +will organized, he could run over an army of almost any size. +Whether this be true or not, it remains that General Grant had +implicit confidence in Sheridan's ability to command the cavalry +forces in a manner superior to any other officer in the Union Army. + +It was on the suggestion of Grant that Sheridan was brought from +the West to take command of the cavalry. After coming East, he +was presented to President Lincoln. The President scrutinized him +closely. He did not appear to be the officer recommended to him +by Grant as the one man who could bring the cavalry forces to that +standard which was so much desired. + +The first time Lincoln met Grant after Sheridan called on him he +expressed his doubt. "The officer you brought from the West seems +rather a little fellow to handle your cavalry," said he. + +Grant, however, unshaken in the belief that he at last had an +officer under him whom he could trust in charge of all the armies +of the Union if necessary, replied: "You will find him big enough +for the purpose before we get through with him." + +Sheridan was not only popular with his superior officers and men +under him, but with the people generally. He was held in the +highest esteem by the people of my State. After his promotion to +the rank of Lieutenant-General, the citizens of Chicago presented +him with a house in Washington, as a mark of their friendship and +devotion. + +While Governor I rendered a decision in an extradition case, which +formed a precedent, and which is referred to by writers on +extradition. + +Moore comments on it as follows: + +"In December, 1878, an interesting decision was made by Governor +Cullom, of Illinois, in the case of two persons named Gaffigan and +Merrick, whose surrender was demanded by the Governor of Pennsylvania +on a charge of murder committed in that State in January, 1865. +Accompanying the requisition was an indictment found against them +in Pennsylvania in March, 1865, for the crime for which their +rendition was demanded. It was alleged in their behalf that soon +after the murder was committed, and before the indictment was found, +they left their place of residence in Pennsylvania and went to +Illinois, where they had resided continuously in an open manner, +bearing their own names, transacting daily business, and holding +responsible public positions. In 1870 or 1871 Gaffigan was joined +by his father, who left their former place of residence in Pennsylvania +with the avowed purpose of joining his son in Illinois. The +residence of the latter in Illinois was also known to other persons +in the particular locality in Pennsylvania, among whom were a +constable and a witness whose name was endorsed on the indictment. +On the other hand, the prosecuting attorney in Pennsylvania denied +that there had been any laches in the matter, and declared that he +had acted upon the first knowledge that he had acquired in respect +to the whereabouts of the persons charged. Governor Cullom held +that while it might be inferred from the fact that the accused left +the State of Pennsylvania shortly after the date of the murder that +they were fugitives from justice, yet this character did not always +adhere to them; and that their long residence in Illinois, which +was so entirely unconcealed and well known, that the officers of +justice in Pennsylvania could have been ignorant of it only because +they made no effort to find it out, had purged them of the character +of fugitives from justice. It may be argued that this decision +rests on moral rather than on strictly legal grounds. It is +generally held that there is no limitation as to the time in recovery +of fugitives from justice other than such as may be established by +statutes of limitations of the Governments concerned, and it does +not appear to have been suggested in the case under consideration +that any such limitation had been established either by the laws +of Pennsylvania or of Illinois. The decision of Governor Cullom +may also be thought to involve the theory that the authorities of +the demanding State may be called upon to show that they have used +due diligence in pursuing the fugitives and in seeking their +surrender." + +The decision created much comment at the time, some adverse, +suggesting that it amounted to the exercise of the pardoning power +by a Governor of one state for a crime committed in another. + +My administration as Governor of Illinois was a very quiet, uneventful +one. I endeavored to give the State strictly a business administration, +and I believe I succeeded. I appointed the very best men that I +could find to State offices. I did not interfere with the conduct +of the various departments and institutions, except to exercise a +general supervision over them. I held my appointees strictly +accountable for the conduct of the affairs of their respective +offices, and did not attempt to dictate to them the appointment of +their subordinates. + +During the six years I served as Governor there was not a single +scandal connected with the executive department of Illinois. I +never had the slightest trouble with the Legislature. I never +interfered in the organization of the Senate or House. I believed +then, and I believe now, in the independence of the three co-ordinate +branches of the Government. I no more thought of influencing the +Legislature than I would have thought of attempting to influence +the Judiciary. My recommendations were made in official messages, +as the Constitution prescribes, and generally, I might say, the +Legislature carried out my recommendations. The administration +was an economical one, and it was during this period that the entire +State debt was paid. + + +CHAPTER XI +GRANT + +My acquaintance with General Grant began when he visited Springfield +the first time immediately after the beginning of the Civil War. +He came to Springfield with a company of soldiers raised at Galena. +General John A. Rawlins, afterwards Secretary of War under President +Grant, one of the best men whom I ever knew, and especially my +friend, was with this company. General Grant offered his services +to Governor Yates in any capacity, and the Governor requested him +to aid General Mather, then our Adjutant-General. General Grant, +having been a West Point graduate, and having served as a captain +in the regular army, rendered the Adjutant-General very material +service. On the morning I saw him in the Adjutant-General's office +at Springfield, nobody ever dreamed that this quiet, unassuming +subordinate would, in less than four years, become one of the +greatest generals in all the world's history. At the outbreak of +the war he resided at Galena, where he was in business. + +He was sent by Governor Yates to muster in the various regiments, +and continued in that work until made Colonel of the Twenty-fist +Illinois Regiment. This regiment had been raised and organized by +another man, whose habits were not regular, and under whose command +the regiment had become demoralized. General Grant took the Twenty- +first Illinois on foot from Springfield into Missouri, and before +he had travelled very far with it, the men quickly learned that he +was a real commanding officer, a strict disciplinarian, and that +orders were issued to be obeyed. The regiment became one of the +best in the service. + +General Grant was soon made a Brigadier-General, the first to be +commissioned from Illinois, and was sent to command at Cairo. + +I became pretty well acquainted with him at Springfield, and +subsequently I visited Cairo, and found there General Grant, Governor +Oglesby, and other Illinoisans in command of regiments. + +General Grant's career as a soldier is too well known to the world +to be repeated by me here. The history of his career is the history +of the Civil War. He was formally received by the people of +Springfield on two occasions: once while he was still in command +in the army; and again in 1880, after his trip around the world, +he was my guest at the Executive Mansion in Springfield. He was +then accompanied by Mrs. Grant, and by E. B. Washburne, who had +been one of his closest personal friends during his administration. + +The time was approaching for the National Convention at Chicago, +and General Grant's friends had prevailed upon him to permit the +use of his name as a candidate for a third term. Washburne had +become considerably flattered by the demonstration that was made +over him on the road from Galena to Springfield, and I believe he +had an idea that he might be the nominee instead of General Grant, +and hence for some reason or other he did not want to identify +himself with General Grant at all. When the time came to go to +the reception at the State House, Washburne could not be found. +It seemed that he had hid in his bedroom until the party left the +Executive Mansion for the State House, and then went by himself to +the State House, and secreted himself in the office of the Secretary +of State, where he surreptitiously watched proceedings from behind +the sheltering folds of a curtain. + +His conduct in the evening was still more remarkable. I had arranged +a reception to General and Mrs. Grant and Mr. Washburne at the +Executive Mansion that same evening, but Mr. Washburne gave some +excuse which he claimed necessitated his presence in the East, and +departed--apparently with the conviction that he might secure the +Presidential nomination himself, and feeling that his presence in +company with General Grant--an avowed candidate--created an +embarrassing situation that he could not endure. I know that +General Grant was deeply grieved at his conduct. The General's +friends were so outraged that they determined Washburne should have +no place upon the ticket at all. + +General Grant was not a candidate for re-election at the end of +his second term; I am not at all sure whether he would not have +been glad to be re-elected for a third term--at least, he would +have accepted the nomination had it been tendered to him. But the +third-term proposition, at that time, received a severe blow when, +in December, 1875, the House of Representatives passed a resolution +by a vote of 234 to 18, declaring that in its opinion, the precedent +established by Washington and other Presidents of the United States, +in retiring from the Presidential office after their second terms, +had become, by universal concurrence, a part of our republican +system of government, and that any departure from this time-honored +custom would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with peril to our +free institutions. + +The passage of this resolution, the scandals in the administration, +the hard times, and the bitter and determined opposition to General +Grant at this time, put an end temporarily to all third-term talk. + +But during his absence, when he was making his tour of the world, +after he had retired from the Presidency, Senator Conkling, General +Logan, Don Cameron, and other leading politicians concluded that +they would nominate him to succeed Rutherford B. Hayes, who was +not a candidate. After his return to the United States, they +secured his consent to use his name as a candidate for the nomination +in 1880; but after a bitter fight in the Chicago Convention they +failed, and General Garfield obtained the nomination. + +Mr. Blaine, before the Convention met, was the leading candidate +against General Grant. I had been a warm friend of Mr. Blaine's +in Congress; but as General Grant was a candidate from my own State, +and as I was at that time Governor of Illinois and a candidate for +renomination, I did not feel that I could take any part in the +contest between Grant and Blaine. + +When the State Convention met to select a candidate to succeed me +as Governor, the contest between Grant and Blaine was very bitter. +Mr. Blaine and I had been very friendly in the House; indeed, I +was one of the few personal friends who brought him out as a +candidate for Speaker of the House. From our past relations, he +felt perfectly free to write me, and about the time of the Convention, +I received a letter from him, in which he said, among other things, +"Why cannot you put yourself at the head of my forces, and lead +them? If you are not careful you will fall between." + +The tone of the letter annoyed me, and I did not answer it until +the contest was over, which resulted in my own nomination, and +until after the National Convention met, in which Blaine was +defeated. I then wrote him a letter, informing him that I had been +nominated; but, of course, I did not refer to his defeat. + +During the session of the convention in Springfield, about the time +it was to convene, General Logan came down from Chicago, proceeding +at once to my house. He told me that he desired I should help him +to secure the delegation for General Grant. + +I replied: "General Logan, if you are my friend, and I suppose +you are, you will not ask me to take any part in this contest, as +I am a candidate for renomination myself." + +He was a little huffy about it, and seemed to be disappointed that +I would not do as he asked. And I may remark that this was +characteristic of Logan. He went away considerably out of humor, +but saying nothing especially to the point. + +A short time afterwards the Hon. Charles B. Farwell, who was later +an honored colleague of mine in the Senate, drove up to my house +and said: "Cullom, I want you to help me carry this State for +Blaine." + +"Charley," I replied, "you know very well that I am a candidate +for re-election; and you know very well, also, that if I were to +take a hand in this contest, I would probably be beaten." He agreed +with me, and went away satisfied, assuring me that in his opinion +I was doing the right thing. + +The contest in our State Convention between Blaine and Grant lasted +for at least three days, and resulted in the division of the +delegation to the National Convention, part for Grant and part for +Blaine. I had quite a contest for the nomination, but was finally +named on the fourth ballot. I had expected to be nominated on the +third ballot. Farwell was about my office a good deal during the +convention. When the third ballot was taken, and I had not been +nominated, I said: "Farwell, there is something wrong upstairs; +I wish you would go up and straighten it out." + +He went; but what he did, if anything, I do not know. However, I +was nominated on the next ballot. + +General Grant was nominated both the first and second times without +opposition. He was first nominated in Chicago, with great enthusiasm. +The second time he was nominated in Philadelphia. I was chairman +of the Illinois delegation at Philadelphia, and as such placed him +in nomination. + +I believe I made about the shortest nominating speech for a Republican +candidate for President ever made in a National Republican Convention. +I said: + +"Gentlemen of the Convention: On behalf of the great Republican +party of Illinois, and that of the Union--in the name of liberty, +of loyalty, of justice, and of law--in the interest of economy, of +good government, of peace, and of the equal rights of all--remembering +with profound gratitude his glorious achievements in the field, +and his noble statesmanship as Chief Magistrate of this great Nation +--I nominate as President of the United States, for a second term, +Ulysses S. Grant." + +There was a considerable contest over the platform, and as usual, +it was determined to adopt the platform before making the nominations +of President and Vice-President. But the Convention became very +restless after the day of speechmaking; evening was approaching, +and the Committee on Platform being still out, it was determined +to make the nomination for President that day. I mounted the +platform, and in the brief speech I have quoted, placed General +Grant in nomination. I never saw such a fervid audience. The +floors and galleries were crowded, and the people seemed wild with +enthusiasm for Grant. As I uttered the word "Grant," at the +conclusion of my speech, and his picture was lowered from the +ceiling of the hall, the demonstration was indescribable. + +While we were waiting for the Committee on Platform to report, +there were quite a number of speeches by favorite sons of the +different States, Senator Logan and Governor Oglesby, from Illinois, +being among them. + +Senator Logan's speech is not very clear in my memory; but I do +remember very well the speech by Governor Oglesby. He made a +wonderful impression. I do not recall that I ever saw a man +electrify an audience as did Governor Oglesby on that occasion. +It was the first convention where there were colored men admitted +as delegates. Some of the colored delegates occupied the main +floor. Old Garret Smith, the great abolitionist, was in the gallery, +at the head of the New York delegation. Oglesby took for his theme +first the colored man, represented there on the floor of that +convention, and then Garret Smith. He set the crowd wild. They +cheered him to the echo. We adjourned for luncheon immediately +after he concluded his speech, and many of the delegates asked me +who that man was. I was proud to be able to tell them that it was +Governor Oglesby of Illinois; and the remark was frequently made +that it was no wonder that Illinois gave sixty thousand Republican +majority with such a man as its Governor. + +The platform was finally adopted, and Wilson of Massachusetts was +nominated for Vice-President, in place of Schulyer Colfax. Colfax +was much mortified at his defeat, but it turned out for the best, +because Colfax became involved in the _Crédit Mobilier_ before the +campaign was over, and his name on the ticket would have injured +the chances for success. Wilson, who was nominated to succeed +Colfax for Vice-President, was a very good man. He was a Senator, +and it was said of him that he came from the shoemaker's bench to +the Senate of the United States. + +General Grant got along very well during his first term as President. +He was wonderfully popular, and no one could have beaten him; but +during his second term, so many scandals came to light, and the +finances were in such bad shape, that generally his second term as +President cannot be said to have been a success. One trouble with +him as President was that he placed too much implicit reliance on +those about him, and he never could be convinced that any friend +of his could do a wrong. Some of his friends were clearly guilty +of the grossest kind of misconduct, and yet he would not be convinced +of it, and stuck to them until they nearly dragged him down into +disgrace with them. He was not a politician. Before entering the +White House he had had no previous experience in public office. +For a considerable time he attempted to act as Chief Executive with +the same arbitrary power that he used as commander of an army; +hence he was constantly getting into trouble with Senators and +Representatives. + +I remember one little experience along this line which I had with +him. It is an unwritten rule that Representatives in Congress, if +in harmony with the Administration, control the post-office +appointments in their respective districts. On my recommendation +Isaac Keyes was appointed postmaster of my own city of Springfield. +Much to my astonishment and mortification, in a month, without any +warning, without any request for Keyes' resignation, General Grant +sent in the appointment of Elder Crane. When I came to inquire +the cause, he said he had just happened to remember that he had +promised the office to Elder Crane, and he immediately sent in the +appointment without considering for a minute the position in which +he left Keyes and the embarrassment it would cause me. + +Sometime afterward, as Colonel Bluford Wilson tells me, General +Grant asked Colonel Wilson, then Solicitor of the Treasury, who +would make a good Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Colonel Wilson +replied that Cullom was just the man for the place, and General +Grant said at once, "I will appoint him." When Colonel Wilson went +to the White House with the commission prepared for my appointment, +General Grant said: "I have changed my mind about making that +appointment. I offended Cullom in reference to the appointment of +a postmaster of his town; and if I should appoint him Commissioner +of Internal Revenue now, I know he would decline it, so I will not +appoint him." + +And in this he was quite right. I would have declined the office, +not because I was offended at him, but because I would not accept +that or any other appointive office. + +Not being quite certain that my memory served me correctly in +reference to this incident, I took occasion to ask Colonel Bluford +Wilson, who had called on me at Washington, to give me the facts, +which he later did in a long letter that sets forth the facts +somewhat more elaborately than I have given them, but presenting +the incident in an identical light. + +While I would not say that General Grant was a failure as President, +certain it is that he added nothing to his great fame as a soldier. +Indeed, in the opinion of very many people, who were his friends +and well-wishers, when he retired from the White House he had +detracted rather than added to his name. It would probably have +been better if General Grant had been content with his military +success, and had entered neither politics nor business. + +General Grant was one of the greatest soldiers of modern times; +indeed, if not of all time. Standing as he does the peer of +Frederick, Napoleon, Wellington, the time will come when the very +fact that he was President of the United States will be forgotten, +while he will be remembered only as one of the world's great +captains. + +The last time I saw the General was about a month before he died. +I was in New York, with the select Committee on Interstate Commerce, +and on Sunday morning we learned that General Grant, General Arthur, +and ex-President Hayes were all in town, and that Grant and Arthur +were ill. We determined to call on each of them. + +We first called on General Grant at his home, and found that his +son, General Frederick D. Grant, was with him. To him we sent our +cards and asked to see his father. He said he would ascertain, +and he came back directly and said that his father would be glad +to see us, but cautioned us not to permit him to talk too much, as +the trouble was in his throat. We went in and took seats for a +moment. He greeted us all very cordially, and seemed to be specially +interested in meeting Secretary Gorman. He wanted to talk, and +did talk so rapidly and so incessantly that, fearing it was injuring +him, we arose from our seats and told him that we had called simply +to pay our respects, and expressed our gratification that he was +so well. + +I can see him yet, as I saw him then. He was sitting up, surrounded +by the manuscript of his memoirs. He knew that his end was +approaching, and he talked about it quietly and unconcernedly; said +he was about through with his book, that if he could live a month +or two longer he could improve it, but did not seem to feel very +much concern whether he had any more time or not. Mrs. Grant and +Nellie, and Mrs. Frederick D. Grant were in an adjoining room, with +the door open, and knowing them all very well, I went in to pay my +respects. Mrs. Grant at once inquired about my daughters. I told +her that one of them was married, and she expressed surprise. +General Grant, hearing us, came into the room and said, "Julia, +don't you remember that we received cards to the wedding?" He +again began to talk, so I took my leave. + +From there we called on General Arthur, and then on General Hayes. +Both passed away within a short time. + +I returned to my home in Springfield, and in about a month the news +came that General Grant was dead. On the day of his funeral in +New York, in cities of any importance in the country, services were +held. Services were conducted in Springfield, on which occasion +I delivered the principal address. + + +CHAPTER XII +GENERAL JOHN A. LOGAN + +General John A. Logan was a man much more capable of accomplishing +results than either General Palmer or General Oglesby. + +I first met him when he was a member of the Legislature, in 1856. +He was a Democrat then, and a very active and aggressive one. It +was in that year that we first elected a Republican Administration +in Illinois, the Republican party having been organized only two +years previously. Bissell was elected Governor; Hatch, Secretary +of State; and Dubois, Auditor. + +Governor Bissell was ill, having suffered a stroke of paralysis, +and it became necessary for the Legislature, after organizing, to +go to the Executive Mansion to witness the administration of the +oath of office to him. After the Legislature reconvened in their +respective Houses, General Logan immediately obtained recognition +and made a bitter attack on Governor Bissell on the ground that +the latter had sworn to a falsehood, he having challenged, or been +challenged by Jefferson Davis to fight a duel. The duel was never +actually fought; but Governor Bissell took the ground that whatever +did occur was outside the jurisdiction of the State of Illinois, +and he therefore could truthfully take the oath of office. Logan +was then about as strong a Democrat as he afterwards was a Republican. +His attack on Bissell was resented by Republicans and under the +circumstances was regarded as cruel. I became very much prejudiced +against him. + +After this episode Logan was elected to Congress as a Democrat, +and was a follower of Douglas. Douglas was true to the Union, and +after he made his famous speech before the Legislature at Springfield, +General Logan entered the war and finally became a Republican. + +It was alleged that there was an understanding between Douglas and +the Democratic delegation in Congress from Illinois that they should +all act together in whatever course they pursued. The delegation +from Illinois contained some very able men, among them being General +Logan. Douglas came out for the Union without consulting his +colleagues in the delegation, and it was said that General Logan +and the other Democratic members of the delegation were quite angry. +However, they all followed Douglas and became loyal Union men. + +Like Governor Oglesby, General Logan had a brief military service +in the Mexican War, and also like Governor Oglesby, and General +McClernand, he was among the first to raise a regiment for service +in the Civil War. He resigned his seat in Congress in 1861, and +immediately went into active service. Senator Douglas and General +Logan did much to save Southern Illinois to the Union, and that +portion of the State contributed its full quota to the Union Army. + +To describe the part General Logan took in the Civil War, after he +raised the Thirty-first Illinois Regiment and took the field, would +be to recite the history of the war itself. The records of his +bravery at Belmont; of his gallant charge at Fort Donelson, where, +as a Colonel, he was dangerously wounded; of his service as Major- +General commanding the Army of the Tennessee; of the memorable +siege of Vicksburg, when with the great leader of the Union armies +he stood knocking at the door of that invincible stronghold; of +his service with Sherman on his famous march to the sea, all are +written on the pages of history and lend undying lustre to the name +of Logan. + +He was a natural soldier. His shoulders were broad, his presence +was commanding; with his swarthy face and coal black hair, "and +eye like Mars, to threaten and command," he was every inch a warrior. +There is no question that General Logan was the greatest volunteer +officer of the Civil War. + +After the war Logan returned to Illinois, intending to re-enter +the practice of the law; but he loved public life and politics, +was the idol of the people of his section of the State, and was +soon elected Congressman-at-large on the Republican ticket. When +I entered the House in 1865, I found General Logan there, ranking +as one of the leaders of the more radical Republicans. He was a +forceful speaker, and did his full share as one of the mangers on +the part of the House in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. + +He was devoted to General Grant and General Grant was very fond of +him. General Grant, in talking of General Logan and Senator Morton +of Indiana, used to say that they were the two most persistent men +in the Senate in securing offices for their friends; but there was +this difference between them: if Morton came to him and wanted +ten offices and he gave him one, he would go away feeling perfectly +satisfied, and make the impression on the people that he was running +the Administration; while if Logan came to the White House to secure +ten offices, and did not get more than nine of them, he would raise +a great row, and claim that he could not get anything out of the +Administration. + +But Logan stood strongly for General Grant, no only during his two +terms, where he had little or no opposition, but he was one of the +leaders in the unsuccessful attempt to nominate him for a third +term. Logan, Conkling, Cameron and others failed, and I believe +that General Logan felt the failure more than even General Grant +himself. + +General Logan was a tremendously industrious man. He was always +doing favors for his people, and seemed to delight in being of +service to any one. That was the difference between him and Governor +Oglesby. Logan was always willing and anxious to do favors for +people, while Oglesby was not. + +I remember an incident that illustrates this very well. Jacob +Bunn, of Springfield, as honest a man as ever lived and a man of +high standing, was compelled to take a distillery in part payment +of a very large debt which was owing to him, and to make it of any +account he had to operate it until such a time as he could dispose +of it. He had some explanation he desired to make to the Commissioner +of Internal Revenue, and he came to Washington and asked Governor +Oglesby, who was then in the Senate, to introduce him to the +Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Oglesby knew Bunn very well, +and yet he cross-examined him at great length and detail. Bunn +left Oglesby and next morning sought Logan, who at once agreed to +perform the favor, with the result that Mr. Bunn very readily +adjusted the matter with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. +Bunn afterwards said to me: "I had a good deal more trouble +convincing Governor Oglesby that I was an honest man than I had +convincing the Commissioner of Internal Revenue." + +I give this incident as illustrating the difference between the +characters of Oglesby and Logan. + +The latter's honesty and integrity were never doubted. I believe +he would not have hesitated for a moment to kill any one who would +have questioned his honesty. He was a poor man, and when I came +to the Senate as his colleague we often sat together condoling with +each other on our poverty, and "abusing" the men in the Senate who +were wealthy. This was one of the common bonds between us. When +I became well acquainted with General Logan, I believed in him and +admired him as one of the ablest men of Illinois. He was a man of +intense feeling, intense friendships, and I might also add that he +was a man of the most intense hatreds. + +General Logan, while never doubting his friends, yet expected his +friends to swear devotion to him every time they saw him. He was +"touchy" in this respect, and would not readily overlook any fancied +slights. On one occasion, my old friend, the Hon. David T. Littler, +now deceased, of Springfield, Illinois, who was also a warm friend +of Logan, went to Washington, and neglected to call on Logan until +he had been there several days. Logan knew that he was in town, +and when he finally did call, Logan abused him roundly for not +coming to see him the first thing. It made Littler angry for the +time being, and he showed his resentment as only Littler could. +He made Logan apologize and agree never to find fault with him +again. They were on good terms as long as they lived. + +General Logan was my friend, and was always for me when I was +running for office. It was sometimes tolerably hard to him to be +for me as against a soldier, because there was never a man who was +more thoroughly devoted to the soldiers. As colleagues in the +Senate, we got along very agreeably and never had any cross-purposes +or differences of opinion. + +The only time I remember of ever having any feeling at all was on +one occasion when Senator Logan, Senator Evarts, and Senator Teller +were strongly advocating the seating of Henry B. Payne, of Ohio, +as a matter of right and without investigation. I was disposed to +vote for the taking of evidence and an investigation. When the +discussion was going on, I stated to Logan that I felt like voting +in favor of the investigation. He was very much out of humor about +it. I consulted with some friends in the Senate as to what I ought +to do under the circumstances, and they advised me, in view of +General Logan's personal feeling on the subject--and he felt that +he was personally involved--that I ought to vote with him. + +After the vote was announced, I went around to General Logan's +seat, and he expressed intense gratification that I had voted with +him, remarking that if I had been involved in a struggle as he was, +he would take the roof off the house before he would let me be +beaten; and I believe he would have gone to almost any extent. + +I then said to him: "General Logan, I want to assure you that +hereafter you must not feel concerned about my vote being the same +as yours. In other words, when I want to vote one way and you want +to vote another, I shall be perfectly satisfied, and shall have no +feeling against you on account of it; I want you to feel the same +way when conditions are reversed." He acquiesced in this proposal; +but we never afterwards had occasion to differ on any important +question before the Senate. + +General Logan had an ambition to become President, and I believe +he would have realized his ambition had he lived. + +I placed him in nomination for President at the National Convention +which met at Chicago in 1884. In _The Washington National Tribune_ +appears the following report: + +"The next State that responded was Illinois, and as Senator Cullom +mounted the platform to present the name of General John A. Logan, +cheer after cheer followed him. When he was at last allowed to +proceed, he began by referring to the nominations of Lincoln and +Grant, both from Illinois, and both nominated at Chicago: + +'In 1880, the party, assembled again at Chicago, achieved success +by nominating Garfield; and now in 1884, in the same State, Illinois, +which has never wavered in its adherence to the Republican party, +presents, as the standard-bearer of that party, another son, one +whose name would be recognized from one end of the land to the +other as an able statesman, a brilliant soldier, and an honest man +--John A. Logan.' + +"The announcement of General Logan's name was received with a wild +burst of applause, a great many persons rising to their feet, waving +their hats and handkerchiefs, and the thousands of people in the +gallery joining in the roars of applause. The cheers were renewed +again and again. The speaker resumed: + +'A native of the State which he represents in the Council of the +Nation, reared among the youth of a section where every element of +manhood is early brought into play, he is eminently a man of the +people. The safety, the permanency, and the prosperity of the +Nation depend upon the courage, the integrity, and the loyalty of +its citizens. . . . Like Douglas, he believed that in time of war +men must be either patriots or traitors, and he threw his mighty +influence on the side of the Union; and Illinois made a record +second to none in the history of States in the struggle to preserve +the Union. . . . + +'During the long struggle of four years he commanded, under the +authority of the Government, first a regiment, then a brigade, then +a division, then an army corps, and finally an army. He remained +in the service until the war closed, when at the head of his army, +with the scars of battle upon him, he marched into the capital of +the Nation, and with the brave men whom he had led on a hundred +hard-fought fields was mustered out of the service under the very +shadow of the Capitol building which he had left four years before +as a member of Congress to go and fight the battles of his country. + +'When the war was over and peace victoriously restored, he was +again invited by his fellow-citizens to take his place in the +Councils of the Nation. In a service of twenty years in both Houses +of Congress he has shown himself to be no less able and distinguished +as a citizen than he was renowned as a soldier. Conservative in +the advocacy of measures involving the public welfare, ready and +eloquent in debate, fearless--yes, I repeat again, fearless--in +defence of the rights of the weak against the oppression of the +strong, he stands to-day closer to the great mass of the people of +this country than almost any other man now engaging public +attention.'" + +At the conclusion of my speech there was a tremendous demonstration, +and General Prentiss seconded the nomination. General Logan received +sixty-three and one-half votes on the first ballot, and sixty-one +votes on the second and third ballots. + +Immediately after the third ballot, I received this telegram from +General Logan, who was in Washington: + + "Washington, D. C., _June 6, 1884_. + +"To Senator Cullom, Convention Hall, Chicago, Ill.:" + +"The Republicans of the States that must be relied upon to elect +the President having shown a preference for Mr. Blaine, I deem it +my duty not to stand in the way of the people's choice, and recommend +my friends to assist in his nomination. + + "John A. Logan." + +When Illinois was called on the fourth ballot, I attempted to read +the telegram to the convention, but a point of order was raised by +Senator Burrows, which the Chair sustained. It was thoroughly well +understood in the convention that I had such a telegram, and after +the chair sustained the point of order I made the following statement: +"The Illinois delegation withdraws the name of General John A. +Logan, and gives for Blaine thirty-four votes, for Logan seven, +and for Arthur three." + +This announcement was punctuated with another deafening outburst, +and Blaine was nominated amidst great enthusiasm. After I withdrew +General Logan's name and cast the vote for Blaine the result was +a foregone conclusion. + +There was immediately a strong disposition to place Logan on the +ticket as our candidate for Vice-President. There was considerable +doubt as to whether he would accept. Finally he sent a telegram +in which he said: "The Convention must do what they think best +under the circumstances." + +He was then nominated for Vice-President without much opposition. + +It was a superb ticket, and every one thought it would sweep the +country. Blaine, in the opinion of many people, was the most +popular statesman since the days of Henry Clay; Logan, the greatest +volunteer officer of the Civil War. + +I do not, however, believe that Blaine and Logan got along very +well together in the campaign. In my opinion Logan felt that he +would have been a stronger candidate for the Presidency than Blaine, +as after events proved that he would. Had Logan headed the ticket, +there would have been none of the scandal nor charges of corruption +that were made in the campaign with Blaine at the head. There +would have been no "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," which in the +opinion of many people resulted in the defeat of Blaine and Logan. + +Whatever the causes, the ticket was defeated; and then came Logan's +famous fight for re-election to the Senate, continuing three and +a half months, the Legislature being tied; but the fight ended by +a rather clever trick on the part of Dan Shepard and S. H. Jones +of Springfield, in electing by a "still hunt" a Republican in the +thirty-fourth District to succeed a Democrat who died during the +session, and finally on May 19, 1885, I received a telegram from +Logan while in New York saying, "I have been elected." + +Three or four days before General Logan's death he and Mrs. Logan +were at my house to dinner, to meet some friends--General and Mrs. +Henderson and Senator Allison. After dinner, we were in the smoking- +room. General Logan was talking about the book he had recently +written, showing a conspiracy on the part of the South, entitled +"The Great Conspiracy." He had sent each of us a copy of the book, +and he remarked that he ventured to say that neither of us had read +a word of it; the truth was that we had not, and we admitted it. + +General and Mrs. Logan went home a little early, because he was +then suffering with rheumatism. They invited Mrs. Cullom and me +to dinner the following Sunday evening. General Logan had grown +worse, and he could not attend at the table, but rested on a couch +in an adjoining room. He never recovered, and passed away some +two or three days afterward. I was present at his death-bed. The +last words he uttered were, "Cullom, I am terribly sick." + +The death of no other General, with the possible exception of +General Grant, was so sorrowfully and universally mourned by the +volunteer soldiery of the Union as was the death of General Logan. + + +CHAPTER XIII +GENERAL JOHN M. PALMER + +General Palmer had a long, varied, and honorable career, beginning +as an Anti-Nebraska Democrat in the State Senate of Illinois, in +1855, and ending as a Gold Democrat in the United States Senate in +1897, after being for a time a Republican. + +I first met him as a member of the State Senate, in which service +he showed considerable ability. His one leading characteristic, +I should say, was his independence, without any regard to what +party he might belong to or what the question might be. He would +not yield his own convictions to his party. If the party to which +he belonged differed from him on any question, he did not hesitate +to abandon it and join the opposition party; and this change he +did make several times during his public career. He was one of +the four Anti-Nebraska Democrats in the Legislature of 1855, who +might be said to have defeated Lincoln for the Senate by supporting +Trumbull, until it became apparent that if Lincoln continued as a +candidate, Governor Matteson would be elected. Lincoln sacrificed +himself to insure the election of Judge Trumbull, a Free-soiler. +The other Anti-Nebraska Democrats, who with General Palmer, elected +Trumbull, were Norman B. Judd, Burton C. Cook, G. T. Allen, and +Henry S. Baker, the last two from Madison County. + +For some reason or other General Palmer resigned from the Senate. +He was one of the first to join the Republican party. He was a +delegate to the first Republican State Convention of Illinois. I +attended that convention, and recall that General Palmer made quite +an impression on the assemblage, in discussing some question with +General Turner, himself quite an able man, and then Speaker of the +House of Representatives of the Illinois Legislature. Intellectually, +General Palmer was a superior man, but he lacked stability of +judgment. You were never quite sure that you could depend on him, +or feel any certainty as to what course he would take on any +question. + +His qualifications as a lawyer were not exceptional, nevertheless +I would rather have had him as my attorney to try a bad case than +almost any lawyer I ever knew; his talent for manipulating a jury +nearly, if not quite, offset all his legal shortcomings. + +General Palmer was well known as the friend of the colored people, +both individually and as a race. His sympathy for them was so +thoroughly understood, that whenever a colored man had an important +case, or whenever there was a case involving the rights of the +colored people--such, for instance, as the school question of Alton +--General Palmer was appealed to, and he would take the case, no +matter how much trouble and how little remuneration there would be +in it for him. + +He started out as a Democrat, but became a strong Republican, and +so continued for many years; but finally he became dissatisfied +with the Republican party and left it to support Tilden for President. +He continued a Democrat, being elected to the United State Senate +as such; but he left the regular organization of that party, and +became the head of the Gold Democracy, was its candidate for +President, and as such advised his friends to vote for McKinley. + +He was the Republican Governor of Illinois during the great Chicago +fire. He acted with the poorest kind of judgment in his controversy +with General Sheridan and the National Administration, for using +the Federal troops in Chicago to protect the lives and property of +the people of that stricken city. He had visited Chicago, witnessed +the splendid work which the troops were doing, seemed to be satisfied, +returned to Springfield, and commenced a quarrel with General +Sheridan and President Grant over the right of the National +Administration to send troops into Chicago, and this quarrel finally +became so bitter that it was one of the reasons for his leaving +the Republican party. + +General Palmer had a fairly good record as an officer during the +Civil War; but he did far better at the head of the Department of +Kentucky than he did as a fighting general. He was a native +Kentuckian, understood the people, was a man of good nature and +considerable tact, and handled that trying situation very much to +the satisfaction of Mr. Lincoln. He might have had a brilliant +record as a general had it not been for his unfortunate controversy +with General Sherman at the capture of Atlanta, which resulted in +his resigning his command as the head of the Fourteenth Army Corps, +and being granted leave to return to Illinois, there to await +further orders. General Sherman says of this incident in his +memoirs: + +"I placed the Fourteenth Corps (Palmer's) under General Schofield's +orders. This corps numbered at the time 17,288 infantry and 826 +artillery; but General Palmer claimed to rank General Schofield in +the date of commission as Major-General, and denied the latter's +right to exercise command over him. General Palmer was a man of +ability, but was not enterprising. His three divisions were compact +and strong, well commanded, admirable on the defensive but slow to +move or to act on the offensive. His corps had sustained up to +the time fewer hard knocks than any other corps in the whole army, +and I was anxious to give it a chance. I always expected to have +a desperate fight to get possession of the Macon Road, which was +then the vital objective of the campaign. Its possession by us +would in my judgment result in the capture of Atlanta and give us +the fruits of victory. . . . On the fourth of August I ordered +General Schofield to make a bold attack on the railroad, anywhere +about East Point, and ordered General Palmer to report to him for +duty. He at once denied General Schofield's right to command him; +but, after examining the dates of their respective commissions, +and hearing their arguments, I wrote to General Palmer: + +'From the statements made by yourself and General Schofield to-day, +my decision is, that he ranks you as a Major-General, being of the +same date of present commission, by reason of his previous superior +rank as a brigadier-general. The movements of to-morrow are so +important that the orders of the superior on that flank must be +regarded as military orders and not in the nature of co-operation. +I did hope that there would be no necessity for my making this +decision, but it is better for all parties interested that no +question of rank should occur in actual battle. The Sandtown Road +and the railroad if possible must be gained to-morrow if it costs +half your command. I regard the loss of time this afternoon as +equal to the loss of two thousand men.' + +"I also communicated the substance of this to General Thomas, to +whose army Palmer's corps belonged, who replied on the fifth: + +'I regret to hear that Palmer has taken the course he has, and I +know that he intends to offer his resignation as soon as he can +properly do so. I recommend that his application be granted.' + +"On the fifth I again wrote to General Palmer, arguing the point +with him, as a friend, not to resign at that crisis lest his motives +might be misconstrued and because it might damage his future career +in civil life; but at the same time I felt it my duty to say to +him that the operations on that flank during the fourth and fifth +had not been satisfactory, not imputing to him any want of energy +or skill, but insisting that the events did not keep pace with my +desires. . . . + +"I sanctioned the movement and ordered two of Palmer's divisions +to follow in support of Schofield, and summoned General Palmer to +meet me in person. He came on the sixth to my headquarters and +insisted on his resignation being accepted, for which formal act +I referred him to General Thomas. He then rode to General Thomas's +camp, where he made a written resignation of his office as commander +of the Fourteenth Corps and was granted the usual leave of absence +to go to his home in Illinois, there to await further orders." + +I quote freely from General Sherman on this incident, as I do not +want to do General Palmer an injustice. No one for a moment doubted +General Palmer's bravery, and I must say that it took a brave man, +and I might add an extraordinarily stubborn man, to resign a +magnificent command just before one of the great movements of the +war on a mere question of some other general's outranking him. + +I happened to be on the same ferry-boat crossing from St. Louis +with General Palmer when he was taken home ill. He had brought a +colored servant with him, who accompanied him to his home in +Carlinville. It created considerable excitement, and General Palmer +was indicted for bringing the colored man into the State. There +was not much disposition to try him, but he insisted on being placed +on trial, conducted his own defence, and was acquitted. + +He made an honest, conscientious Governor, but did not work in +harmony with the Legislature. He vetoed more bills than any Governor +before or since. His vetoes became too common to bear any influence, +and a great many of the bills were passed over his veto. + +I was very much opposed to his renomination. I supported Governor +Oglesby, and I prepared a letter, to be signed by members of the +Legislature, asking Governor Oglesby to be a candidate. Furthermore, +an agent was employed to go to Decatur to remain there until the +obtained a favorable reply from Oglesby, and then go to Chicago +and have the letter and reply published in the Chicago papers. + +The scheme worked successfully. Governor Oglesby was nominated +and elected. + +Oglesby, Palmer, Logan, and Yates were all ambitious to go to the +Senate, and were rivals for the place at one time or another, and +they all succeeded in their ambition, Palmer being the last. When +Governor Yates was a candidate, in 1865, Senator Palmer thought +that he should have been elected. I liked Governor Yates and +believed that his record as Governor entitled him to a seat in the +Senate. Governor Palmer complained of me for taking any active +part in the contest, and thought that as I was a member of Congress +I should remain neutral. In those days Governor Palmer and I were +not on very friendly terms, although after he came to the Senate +we became quite intimate. He had a struggle in securing his election +as Senator. It was a long contest, but he was finally successful. + +General Palmer was very popular with his colleagues in the Senate. +He was one of the best _raconteurs_ in the Senate, and he delighted +to sit in the smoking-room, or in his committee room, entertaining +those about him with droll stories. During his term he made some +very able speeches, and was always sound on the money question. +He was consistently in harmony with President Cleveland, and +consequently he controlled the patronage in the State. He was a +man of great good heart, full of generosity and good humor; and +altogether it would have been impossible to have a more agreeable +colleague. + +We had been neighbors in Springfield, and when General Palmer was +elected to the Senate, he felt quite free to write to me. I retain +the letter and quote it here: + + "Springfield, _March 14, 1891_. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + "Washington, D. C. + +"My dear Sir:-- + +"I am just in receipt of your kind favor of the eleventh inst., +and thank you for its friendly and neighborly expressions. More +than once since my election, Mrs. Palmer has expressed the hope +that when she meets Mrs. Cullom at Washington, or here, they may +continue to enjoy the friendly relations that have so long existed +between them, to which I add the expression of my own wish that in +the future, as in the past, we may be to each other good neighbors +and good friends. + +"I do not know what the usage is in such cases, but I suppose I +might forward my credentials at an early date to the Secretary of +the Senate, who is, I believe, my old army friend, Gen. Anson G. +McCook. If such is the proper course I would be glad to do so +through you, if agreeable to you. I will depend upon you also for +such information as your experience will enable you to furnish me. +I will be glad to know about what time you will probably leave +Washington. + + "I am, very respectfully, + "John M. Palmer." + +While General Sherman and General Palmer were not particularly +friendly, General Palmer was always ready to forgive and forget +and do the agreeable thing. + +On the occasion of a celebration in Springfield, where there was +a very large crowd, General Sherman was present, and, with General +Oglesby and General Palmer, occupied a seat on the platform. +Looking over the crowd, General Palmer recognized General McClernand +in the audience. McClernand and Sherman were not friends, McClernand +being bitterly inimical to Sherman. General Palmer, thinking only +of doing an agreeable act, at one pushed his way through the crowd +to where General McClernand was seated and invited him to come onto +the platform. It was only after a great deal of urging that he +consented to go, but he finally said, "I will go, _pro forma_." +He did go "_pro forma,_" and paid his respects to General Sherman, +but remained only a short time. + +General Palmer retired from the Senate at the end of his term, the +Legislature of Illinois being Republican. + +I recollect that I went home from Washington to Springfield, and +on arriving there was informed that General Palmer had just died. +I immediately called at the house. He had only just passed away, +and was still lying on his death-bed. I attended the funeral at +his old home in Carlinville, and I do not know that I was ever more +impressed by such a ceremony. He was buried with all the pomp +attending a military funeral. + + +CHAPTER XIV +GOVERNOR RICHARD J. OGLESBY + +I knew the late Governor Oglesby intimately for very many years. +As a young man, he served as a lieutenant in the gallant Colonel +E. D. Baker's regiment in the Mexican War, was at the battle of +Cerro Gordo, and fought the way thence to the City of Mexico. He +remained with the army until he saw the Stars and Stripes waving +over the hall of the Montezumas. Returning to Illinois, he took +up again the practice of law; but with the gold fever of 1849 he +took the pioneers' trail to California, where, in a short time, he +was financially successful, then returned home, and later went on +an extended tour through the Holy Land, where he remained nearly +two years. + +On his return home, in 1860, he was elected to the State Senate. +I recall the night the returns came in. He had a fisticuff encounter +with "Cerro Gordo" Williams, in which he came out victorious, having +knocked Williams into the gutter. By many of the onlookers this +was regarded as the first fight of the Rebellion. + +With his military experience in the Mexican War, it was only natural +that he should be one of the first to enlist for service in the +Civil War. He resigned from the Senate, raised a regiment, was +appointed its Colonel, and participated in a number of important +engagements under General Grant, acquitting himself with great +honor at Donelson, and was subsequently appointed a Brigadier- +General. He was severely wounded at Corinth, and his active service +in the Civil War was over. Although he was elevated to the rank +of Major-General, he was assigned to duty at Washington, where he +remained until 1864, and saw no more service on the field of battle. + +He enjoyed the distinction of being elected Governor of Illinois +three times, first in 1864, again in 1872, resigning the following +year, after having been elected to the United States Senate; and +after he had served one term in the Senate and retired to private +life, he was again elected Governor of Illinois in 1884. + +Governor Oglesby was a remarkable man in many respects. Judged by +the standards of Lincoln and Grant, he was not a great man. In +some respects he was a man of far more than ordinary ability. He +was a wonderfully eloquent speaker, and I have heard him on occasion +move audiences to a greater extent than almost any orator, aside +from the late Robert G. Ingersoll. + +I have already referred, in these reminiscences, to the speech he +delivered at the Philadelphia Convention of 1872. He produced a +greater impression on that assemblage than any orator who spoke. +On rare occasions he would utter some of the most beautiful +sentiments. For instance, his speech on "Corn" at Chicago was a +masterpiece in its way. But generally speaking, with all his +eloquence, he seldom delivered a speech that would read well in +print; hence it was that his speeches were hardly ever reported. +His earnestness, his appearance, his gestures, his personality, +all carried the audience with him, as much as, if not more, than +the actual words he used, and hence it was that when a speech +appeared in print, one was very apt to be disappointed. + +His record in the Civil War was honorable, but not exceptional. +He was not the dashing, brilliant soldier that General Logan was, +and I may remark here in passing that after the war was over there +was considerable jealousy between General Logan and General Oglesby. +They were rivals in politics. On one occasion both Governor Oglesby +and General Logan made each a splendid address, and each was cheered +to the echo by the audience, but Governor Oglesby sat silent and +glowering when the audience applauded General Logan, and General +Logan occupied the same attitude when the audience cheered Governor +Oglesby. I was present, and was glad to cheer them both. + +Under the administration of General Oglesby, as Governor, the +affairs of the State were administered in an honest, businesslike +manner. There was no scandal or thought of scandal, so far as the +Executive was concerned, during all the years that he was Governor, +although there was considerable corruption in one or two of the +Legislatures, and some very bad measures were passed over his veto. + +Having been a Major-General in the Civil War, and considering his +excellent record as Governor, his popularity, his eloquence, it +seemed certain that Governor Oglesby would take his place as one +of the foremost United States Senators, when he entered the Senate +in 1873; but strange to say, his service in that body added nothing +to the reputation he had made as a soldier and as Governor of +Illinois; indeed, I am not sure but that it detracted from rather +than added to his reputation. Perhaps too much was expected of +him. The environment did not suit him. His style of oratory was +neither appreciated nor appropriate to a calm, deliberative body +such as the United States Senate. He did not have the faculty of +disposing of business. As Chairman of the Committee on Pensions, +he was so conscientious that he wanted to examine every little +detail of the hundreds of cases before his committee, and would +not trust even the routine to his subordinates. The result was +the business of the committee was far behind, much to the +dissatisfaction of Senators. + +I do not believe that Governor Oglesby ever did feel at home in +the Senate; but nevertheless he was much chagrined at his defeat, +and retired reluctantly. + +But he was soon again elected Governor of Illinois, a place that +suited him much better than the Senate of the United States. + +His honesty, his patriotism, his earnest eloquence, the uniqueness +of his character, made him beloved by the people of his State; and +wherever he went, to the day of his death, Uncle Dick Oglesby, as +he was called, was enthusiastically and affectionately received. + +He was a true Republican from the very beginning of the party, +although toward the end of his life I do not believe that he was +quite satisfied with the expansion policy of the party. + +The last campaign in which he took an active part was that of 1896. +Owing to his advanced years and failing health, and perhaps being +somewhat dissatisfied with our candidate for Governor, it took +considerable urging to induce him to enter that campaign actively; +but when it was arranged that all the living ex-Governors of Illinois +--Oglesby, Beveridge, Fifer, Hamilton, and myself--should tour the +State on a special train, he consented to join, and christened the +expedition "The Flying Squadron." He did his full part in speaking, +and seemed to enjoy keenly the enthusiasm with which he was everywhere +received. He was particularly bitter in his denunciation of Mr. +Bryan--even to the extent of using profanity (to which he was much +addicted), greatly to the delight of the thousands of people whom +he addressed. + +Governor Oglesby was one of the most delightfully entertaining +conversationalists whom one would wish to meet. He will go down +in the history of Illinois, as one of the most popular men among +the people of our State. + +Late in life Governor Oglesby took up a church affiliation. It +always seemed strange to me, in his later life, that a man of his +undoubted bravery should have such a perfect horror of death, which +was an obsession with him. To his intimate friends he constantly +talked of it. It was not the physical pain of dying; with a man +of his pronounced religious convictions it could not have been the +uncertainty of the hereafter. What was the basis of the fear I +cannot imagine--but certain it is, I do not remember ever knowing +a man who seemed to have such a fear of death. + +At an advanced age, he passed away peacefully and painlessly at +his beautiful home at Elkhart, Illinois, mourned by the people of +the whole State, whom he had served so long and faithfully and well. + + +CHAPTER XV +SENATORIAL CAREER +1883 to 1911 + +After I was re-elected Governor of Illinois, in 1880, my friends +in the State urged me to become a candidate for the United States +Senate to succeed the late Hon. David Davis, whose term expired +March 3, 1883. I finally consented. There were several candidates +against me, Governor Richard Oglesby and General Thomas J. Henderson +being the two most prominent. It was not much of a contest, and +I had no serious struggle to secure the caucus nomination. The +objection was then raised in the Legislature itself that I was not +eligible under the Constitution of our State for election to the +United States Senate while I was serving as Governor of Illinois. +The point looked somewhat serious to me, and I consulted with my +friend, the Hon. Wm. J. Calhoun, then a member of the Legislature, +later Minister to China, for whose ability I had the most profound +respect. I asked him to give attention to the subject and, if he +agreed with me that I was eligible, to make the fight on the floor +of the House. He looked into it and came to the conclusion there +was no doubt as to my eligibility. He made a speech in the +Legislature, which was regarded then as one of the ablest efforts +ever delivered on the floor of the House, and he carried the +Legislature with him. When the time came, I received the vote of +every Republican member of both Houses, excepting one, the Hon. +Geo. E. Adams. He was thoroughly conscientious in voting against +me, and did so from no ulterior motive, as he honestly believed +that I was not eligible. We became very good friends afterwards, +and I never harbored any ill feeling against him on account of that +vote. + +I appreciated the high distinction conferred upon me by the people +of the State, through the Legislature, in electing me to the United +States Senate, but I confess that I felt considerable regret on +leaving the Governorship, as during my six years I had enjoyed the +work and had endeavored to the best of my ability to give to the +people of my State a businesslike administration. + +I retired from the office of Governor on February 5, 1883, and +remained in Springfield until sworn in as a member of the Senate, +December 4, 1883. General Arthur was President at that time, having +succeeded to the office after the assassination of General Garfield. + +I liked General Arthur very much. I had met him once or twice +before. I went with my staff to attend the Yorktown celebration, +and I may remark here that it was the first and only time during +my service of six years as Governor on which my whole military +staff accompanied me. We stopped in Washington to pay our respects +to the President. It was soon after the assassination of General +Garfield, and Arthur had not yet moved into the White House. He +was living in the old Butler place just south of the Capitol, and +I called on him there and presented the members of my staff to him. +The President was exceedingly polite, as he always was, and was +quite interested, having been a staff officer himself, by appointment +of Governor Morgan of New York. We were all very much impressed +with the dignity of the occasion and the kindly attention the +President showed us. + +General Arthur had taken considerable interest in New York politics +and belonged to the Conkling faction. He came into the office of +President under the most trying circumstances. The party was almost +torn asunder by factional troubles in New York and elsewhere. +Blaine, the bitter enemy of Conkling, had been made the Secretary +of State; Garfield had made some appointments very obnoxious to +Conkling--among them the Collector of the Port of New York--and, +generally, conditions were very unsatisfactory. Arthur entered +the office bent on restoring harmonious conditions in the party, +as far as he could. He did not allow himself to be controlled by +any faction, but seemed animated by one desire, and that was to +give a good administration and unite the party. + +He was a man of great sense of propriety and dignity, believing +more thoroughly in the observance of the etiquette which should +surround a President than any other occupant of the White House +whom I have known. He was very popular with those who came into +contact with him, and especially was he popular with the members +of the House and Senate. I have always thought that he should have +been accorded the honor of a nomination for President in 1884; as +a matter of fact most of the Republican Senators agreed with me, +and many of us went to the National Convention at Chicago, determined +to nominate him; but we soon found there was no chance, and that +the nomination would go to Blaine. + +President Arthur was very kind to me in the way of patronage. He +not only recognized my endorsement for Federal offices in my State, +but gave me a number of appointments outside. One of the first of +these was the appointment of Judge Zane as Territorial Judge of +Utah. President Arthur showed his confidence in me by appointing +Judge Zane, without any endorsement, excepting a statement of his +qualifications, written by me on a scrap of paper in the Executive +Office. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary called on the +President for the endorsements of Judge Zane, and Senator Edmunds +was quite disgusted when the President could send him only this +little slip of paper written by me, which was all the President +had when he made the appointment. Senator Edmunds hesitated to +recommend his confirmation. There was no question about Judge +Zane's qualifications. He had been a circuit judge in our State +for many years. I saw Senator Teller, whom I knew, and who knew +something of Judge Zane, and asked him to help us, as he could do, +being then Secretary of the Interior. On one occasion I spoke to +Teller about Judge Zane, and purposely spoke so loud that Senator +Edmunds could hear me. I said, among other things, there had not +been a man nominated for Territorial Judge in the country who was +better qualified for the position. Judge Zane's nomination was +soon reported from the committee and confirmed. He made a great +record on the Bench and did much to break up the practice of +polygamy. He is still living, a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah. + +I entered the Senate at a very uninteresting period in our history. +The excitement and bitterness caused by the Civil War and Reconstruction +had subsided. It was what I would term a period of industrial +development, and there were no great measures before Congress. +The men who then composed the membership of the Senate were honest +and patriotic, trying to do their duty as best they could, but +there was no great commanding figure. The days of Webster, Clay, +and Calhoun had passed; the great men of the Civil War period were +gone. Stevens, Sumner, Chase of the Reconstruction era, had all +passed away. + +Among the leaders at the beginning of the Forty-eighth Congress +were Senators Aldrich and Anthony, of Rhode Island; Edmunds and +Morrill, of Vermont; Sherman and Pendleton, of Ohio; Sewell, of +New Jersey; Don Cameron, of Pennsylvania; Platt and Hawley, of +Connecticut; Harrison, of Indiana; Dawes and Hoar, of Massachusetts; +Allison, of Iowa; Ingalls, of Kansas; Hale and Frye, of Maine; +Sawyer, of Wisconsin; Van Wyck and Manderson, of Nebraska; all on +the Republican side. There were a number of quite prominent +Democrats--Bayard, of Delaware; Voorhees, of Indiana; Morgan, of +Alabama; Ransom and Vance, of North Carolina; Butler and Hampton, +of South Carolina; Beck, of Kentucky; Lamar and George, of Mississippi; +and Cockrell and Vest, of Missouri. + +The Senate was controlled by the Republicans, there being forty +Republican and thirty-six Democratic Senators; and Senator George +F. Edmunds, of Vermont, was chosen President _pro tempore_. In +the House the Democrats had the majority, and John G. Carlisle was +chosen Speaker. + +Senator Edmunds is still living, and he has been for many years +regarded as one of the foremost lawyers of the American bar. I +know that in the Senate when I entered it, he was ranked as its +leading lawyer. He was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary +of the Senate and, with Senator Thurman, of Ohio, dominated that +committee. I became very intimately acquainted with him. He was +dignified in his conversation and deportment, and I never knew him +to say a vicious thing in debate. + +I believe I had considerable influence with Senator Edmunds. He +always seemed to have a prejudice against appropriations for the +Rock Island (Illinois) Arsenal. He had never visited Rock Island, +but he seemed to think that the money spent there was more or less +wasted, and he was disposed to oppose appropriations for its +maintenance. One day we were considering an appropriation bill +carrying several items in favor of Rock Island, and I anticipated +Senator Edmunds' objections. Sitting beside him, I asked him not +to oppose these items. I told him that I did not think he was +doing right by such a course. He asked me where they were in the +bill and I showed them to him without saying a word. Just before +we reached them I observed him rising from his seat and leaving +the chamber. He remained away until the items were passed, then +he returned, and the subject was never mentioned between us +afterwards. + +Senator Edmunds resigned before his last term expired. There were +two reasons for his resignation, the principal one being the illness +of his only daughter; but in addition, he had come to feel that +the Senate was becoming less and less desirable each year, and +began to lose interest in it. He did not like the rough-and-tumble +methods of debate of a number of Western Senators who were coming +to take a more prominent place in the Senate. On one occasion +Senator Plumb, of Kansas, attacked Senator Edmunds most violently, +and without any particular reason. + +During his service in the Senate, Senator Edmunds seemed to be +frequently arguing cases before the Supreme Court of the United +States. His ability as a lawyer made him in constant demand in +important litigation before that court. Personally, I do not +approve of Senators of the United States engaging in the active +practice of the law or any other business, but his practice before +the Supreme Court did not cause him to neglect his Senatorial +duties. + +Justice Miller, one of the ablest members of the court, was talking +with me one day about Senator Edmunds, and he asked me why I did +not come into the Supreme Court to practise, remarking that Edmunds +was there a good deal. I replied that I did not know enough law, +to begin with; and in addition it did not seem to me proper for a +Senator of the United States to engage in that kind of business. +Justice Miller replied that Senators did do so, and that there +seemed to be no complaint about it, and he urged me to come along, +saying that he would take care of me. But needless for me to say, +I never appeared in any case before the Supreme Court of the United +States during my service as Senator. + +Senator Edmunds' colleague, Justin S. Morrill, was one of the most +lovable characters I ever met. I served with him in the House. +Later he was a very prominent member of the Senate, when I entered +it, and was Chairman of the Committee on Finance. He was a +wonderfully capable man in legislation. He had extraordinary power +in originating measures and carrying them through. He was not a +lawyer, but was a man of exceptional common sense. His judgment +was good on any proposition. I do not believe he had an enemy in +the Senate. Every one felt kindly toward him, and for this reason +it was very easy for him to secure the passage of any bill he was +interested in. + +While Senator Morrill was chairman of the Committee on Finance, +owing to his advanced age and the feeble condition of his health +the real burden of the committee for years before his death fell +on Nelson W. Aldrich, of Rhode Island. He was prominent as far +back as the Forty-eighth Congress, and was a dominant unit even +then. His recent retirement is newspaper history and need not be +aired here. + +Senator Aldrich has had a potent influence in framing all tariff +and financial legislation almost from the time he entered the +Senate. Personally, I have great admiration for him and for his +great ability and capacity to frame legislation, and it is a matter +of sincere regret with me that he has determined to retire to +private life. His absence is seriously felt, especially in the +Finance Committee. + +The Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, was one of the most valuable +statesmen of his day and one of the ablest men. He was exceedingly +industrious, and well posted on all financial questions. Toward +the close of his Senatorial term, he failed rapidly, but he was +just as clear on any financial question as he was at any time in +his career. He was Secretary of the Treasury when in his prime, +and I believe his record in the office stands second only to +Hamilton's. He was of the Hamilton school of financiers, and his +judgment was always reliable and trustworthy. He was a very serious +man and could never see through a joke. He was one of the very +best men in Ohio, and would have made a splendid President. For +years he was quite ambitious to be President, and the business +interests of the country seemed to be for him. His name was before +the National Convention of the Republican party many times, but +circumstances always intervened to prevent his nomination when it +was almost within his grasp. + +I have always thought that one reason was that his own State had +so many ambitious men in it who sought the honor themselves, that +they were never sincerely in good faith for Sherman. At least +twice he went to National Conventions, apparently with his own +State behind him, but he was unfortunate in the selection of his +managers, and, really, when the time came to support him they seemed +only too ready to sacrifice him in their own interests. + +I have always regretted that he closed his career by accepting the +office of Secretary of State under President McKinley. It was +unfortunate for him that it was at a most trying and difficult time +that he entered that department. The Spanish-American War was +coming on, and there was necessity for exercising the most careful +and skillful diplomacy. Senator Sherman's training and experience +lay along other lines. He was not in any sense a diplomat, and +his age unfitted him for the place. He retired from office very +soon, and shortly thereafter passed away. His brief service as +Secretary of State will be forgotten, and he will be remembered as +the great Secretary of the Treasury, and one of the most celebrated +of Ohio Senators. + +Senator George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, was quite prominent at +the beginning of the Forty-eighth Congress. He was jealous of New +England's interests, and was always prejudiced in its favor, and +in favor of New England men and men with New England ancestry, or +affiliations. He opposed the Interstate Commerce Act because he +thought it would injuriously affect his locality, although he knew +very well it would be of inestimable benefit to the country as a +whole. Senator Hoar was a scholarly man. Indeed, I would say he +was the most cultivated man in the Senate. He was highly educated, +had travelled extensively, was a student all his life, and in debate +was very fond of Latin or Greek quotations, and especially so when +he wanted to make a point perfectly clear to the Senate. He opposed +imperialism and the acquisition of foreign territory. He opposed +the ratification of the treaty of peace with Spain. When the +Philippine question was up in the Senate, I made a speech in which +I compared Senator Hoar with his colleague, Senator Lodge, said +that Senator Lodge had no such fear as did Senator Hoar on account +of the acquirement of non-contiguous territory, and made the remark +that Senator Hoar was far behind the times. He was not present +when I made the speech, but afterwards read it in the _Record_. +He came down to my seat greatly out of humor one day and stated +that if three-fourths of the people of his State were not in harmony +with his position he would resign. + +He was one of the most kindly of men, but during this period he +was so deadly in earnest in opposition to the so-called imperialism +that he became very ill-natured with his Republican colleagues who +differed from him. I do not know but the passing of time has +demonstrated that Senator Hoar was right in his opposition to +acquirement of the Philippines; but at the time it seemed that the +burden was thrust upon us and we could not shirk it. + +Senator Hoar was disposed to be against the recognition of the +Republic of Panama, and it has been intimated that he was of the +opinion that the Roosevelt Administration had something to do with +the bloodless revolution that resulted in the uniting with the +United States of that part of Colombia which now forms the Canal +Zone. + +President Roosevelt entertained a very high regard for Senator +Hoar, and he wanted to disabuse his mind of that impression. He +asked him to call at his office one morning. I was waiting to see +the President and when he came in he told me that he had an engagement +with Senator Hoar, and asked me if I would wait until he had seen +the Senator first. I promptly answered that he should see the +Senator first at any rate, as he was an older man than I, and was +older in the service. Senator Hoar and the President entered the +room together. Just as they went in, the President turned to me. +"You might as well come in at the same time," said he. I accompanied +them. And this is what took place: + +The President wanted the Senator to read a message which he had +already prepared, in reference to Colombia's action in rejecting +the treaty and the canal in general; which message showed very +clearly that the President had never contemplated the secession of +Panama, and was considering different methods in order to obtain +the right of way across the Isthmus from Colombia, fully expecting +to deal only with the Colombian Government on the subject. The +President was sitting on the table, first at one side of Senator +Hoar, and then on the other, talking in his usual vigorous fashion, +trying to get the Senator's attention to the message. Senator Hoar +seemed adverse to reading it, but finally sat down, and without +seeming to pay any particular attention to what he was perusing, +he remained for a minute or two, then arose and said: "I hope I +may never live to see the day when the interests of my country are +placed above its honor." He at once retired from the room without +uttering another word, proceeding to the Capitol. + +Later in the morning he came to me with a typewritten paper containing +the conversation between the President and himself, and asked me +to certify to its correctness. I took the paper and read it over, +and as it seemed to be correct, as I remembered the conversation, +I wrote my name on the bottom of it. I have never seen or heard +of the paper since. + +Senator Hoar was very much interested in changing the date of the +inauguration of the President of the United States. March, in +Washington, is one of the very worst months of the year, and it +frequently happens that the weather is so cold and stormy as to +make any demonstration almost impossible. Inaugurations have cost +the lives of very many men. I was looking into the subject myself, +and I took occasion to write Senator Hoar a letter, asking his +views. He replied to me very courteously and promptly. I was so +pleased with the letter that I retained it, and give it here. + + "Worcester, Mass., _August 26, 1901_. + +"My dear Senator:-- + +"I do not think the proposed change of time of inauguration can be +made without change in the Constitution. I prepared an article +for so changing the Constitution. It has passed the Senate twice +certainly, and I think three times. It was reported once or twice +from the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and once from the +Committee on the Judiciary. It received general favor in the +Senate, and as I now remember there was no vote against it at any +time. The only serious question was whether the four years should +terminate on a certain Wednesday in April or should terminate as +now on a fixed day of the month. The former is liable to the +objection that one Presidential term should be in some cases slightly +longer than another. The other is liable to the objection that if +the thirtieth of April were Sunday or Saturday or Monday, nearly +all persons from a distance who come to the inauguration would have +to be away from home over Sunday. + +"The matter would, I think, have passed the House, if it could have +been reached for action. But it had the earnest opposition of +Speaker Reed. It was, as you know, very hard to get him to approve +anything that was a change. + +"I have prepared an amendment to be introduced at the beginning of +the next section, and have got some very carefully prepared tables +from the Coast Survey, to show the exact length of an administration +under the different plans. The advantage of the change seems to +me very clear indeed. In the first place, you prolong the second +session of Congress until the last of April; you add six or seven +weeks, which are very much needed, to that session. And you can +further increase that session a little by special statute, which +should have Congress meet immediately after the November election, +a little earlier than now. In that case, you can probably without +disadvantage shorten the first session of Congress so as to get +away by the middle of May or the first of June and get rid of the +very disagreeable Washington heat. + +"I wish you would throw your great influence, so much increased by +the renewed expression of the confidence of your State, against +what seems to me the most dangerous single proposition now pending +before the people, a plan to elect Senators of the United States +by popular vote. + + "I am, with high regard, faithfully yours, + "Geo. F. Hoar. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + "Chicago, Ills." + +Senator Dawes, of Massachusetts, Senator Hoar's colleague, was not +the cultivated man that Senator Hoar was, and neither would I say +he was a man of strong and independent character. He was very +popular in the Senate, probably far more popular with Senators than +his colleague, and it was much easier for him to pass bills in +which he was interested. He was influential as a legislator and +a man of great probity of character. + +For some reason or other--why, I never knew--he was one of the very +few Eastern Senators of my time who gave special attention to Indian +affairs. He was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs for +years, and was the acknowledged authority on that subject in the +Senate. When he retired he was placed at the head of the so-called +Dawes Commission, having in charge the interests of the tribes of +Indians in Oklahoma and the Indian territory. He was an honest +man, and having inherited no fortune, he consequently retired from +the Senate a poor man. The appointment was very agreeable to him +on that account, but it was given to him more especially because +he knew more about Indian matters than any other man. + +As I have been writing these recollections of the men with whom I +have been associated in public life for the last half-century, I +have had occasion to mention a number of times, Senator Orville H. +Platt, of Connecticut, who was two years older than I, and who took +his seat in the Senate in 1879, serving there until his death in +1905. + +We became very friendly almost immediately after I entered the +Senate. One bond of friendship between us from the beginning was, +we each had a senior colleague a celebrated General of Civil War +fame--Hawley, of Connecticut and Logan, of Illinois. Senator Platt +and I necessarily were compelled to take what might be termed a +back seat, our colleagues being almost always in the lime-light. +As a member of the select committee on Interstate Commerce, Senator +Platt rendered much valuable assistance in the investigation and +in the passage of the Act of 1887, although he was almost induced +finally to oppose it on account of the anti-pooling and the long- +and-short-haul sections. + +He was a modest man, and it was some years before Senators that +were not intimate with him really appreciated his worth. Had he +not yielded to the late Senator Hoar, he would have been made +chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary instead of Senator Hoar, +a position for which there was no Senator more thoroughly qualified +than Senator Platt. It seems strange that he never did succeed to +an important chairmanship until he was made chairman of the Committee +on Cuban Relations during the war with Spain, and he really made +that an important committee. Not only in name but in fact was he +the author of those very wise pieces of legislation known as the +Platt Amendments. I was a member of the Committee on Cuban Relations, +and know whereof I speak in saying that it was Senator Platt who +drafted these so-called amendments and secured their passage in +the Senate. They were finally embodied in the Cuban Constitution, +and also in the treaty between Cuba and the United States. + +After the late Senator Dawes retired, Senator Platt was an authority +on all matters pertaining to Indian affairs. + +As the years passed by he became more and more influential in the +Senate. Every Senator on both sides of the chamber had confidence +in him and in his judgment. As an orator he was not to be compared +with Senator Spooner, but he did deliver some very able speeches, +especially during the debates preceding the Spanish-American War. + +I have often said that Senator Platt was capable in more ways than +any other man in the Senate of doing what the exigencies of the +day from time to time put upon him. He was always at his post of +duty, always watchful in caring for the interests of the country, +always just and fair to all alike, and ever careful and conservative +in determining what his duty should be in the disposition of any +public question; and I regarded his judgment as a little more +exactly right than that of any other Senator. + +General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, was quite a figure in +the Senate when I entered it, and was regarded as one of the leaders, +especially on military matters. He was a man of fine ability and +address, brave as a lion and enjoyed an enviable Civil War record. +He was president of the Centennial at Philadelphia and permanent +President of the Republican Convention of 1868, which nominated +General Grant. He was a very ambitious man, and wanted to be +President; several times the delegation from his State presented +his name to national conventions. He had no mean idea of his own +merits; and his colleague, Senator Platt, told me once in a jocular +way that if the Queen of England should announce her purpose of +giving a banquet to one of the most distinguished citizens from +each nation, and General Hawley should be invited as the most +distinguished citizen of the United States, he would take it as a +matter of course. + +Senator F. M. Cockrell and Senator George Vest represented Missouri +in the United States Senate for very many years. + +Senator Cockrell was one of the most faithful and useful legislators +I ever knew. I served with him for years on the Committee on +Appropriations. That committee never had a better member. He kept +close track of the business of the Senate, and when the calendar +was called, no measure was passed without his close scrutiny, +especially any measure carrying an appropriation. He was a Democrat +all his life, but never allowed partisanship to enter into his +action on legislation. It was said of him that he used to make +one fiery Democratic speech at each Congress, and then not think +of partisanship again. He was not given much to talking about +violating the Constitution, because he knew he had been in the +Confederate Army himself and that he had violated it. + +One day Senator George, who was, by the way, a very able Senator +from the South, was making a long constitutional argument against +a bill, extending over two or three days. I happened to be conversing +with Cockrell at the time, and he remarked: "Just listen to George +talk. He don't seem to realize that for four years he was violating +the Constitution himself." Senator Cockrell retired from the Senate +in 1905, his State for the first time in its history having elected +a Republican Legislature. + +President Roosevelt had the very highest regard for him, and as +soon as it was known he could not be re-elected, he wired Senator +Cockrell, tendering him a place on either the Interstate Commerce +Commission or the Panama Canal Commission. He accepted the former, +serving thereon for one term. He gave the duties of this position +the same attention and study that he did when a member of the +Senate. + +Senator Vest was an entirely different style of man. He did not +pay the close attention to the routine work of the Senate that +Senator Cockrell did, but he was honest and faithful to his duty, +and an able man as well. He was a great orator, and I have heard +him make on occasion as beautiful speeches as were ever delivered +in the Senate. At the time of his death he was the last surviving +member of the Confederate Senate. + +He told me a rather interesting story once about how he came to +quit drinking whiskey. He said he came home to Missouri after the +war, found little to do, and being almost without means, took to +drinking whiskey pretty hard. He awoke one night and thought he +saw a cat sitting on the end of his bed. He reached down, took up +his boot-jack and threw it at the cat, as he supposed. Instead, +a pitcher was smashed to atoms. Needless to add there was no cat +at all, which he realized, and he never took another drink of +liquor. + +Senator Vest was not a very old man, but he was in poor health and +feeble for his years. One day he looked particularly forlorn, +sitting at his desk and leaning his head on his hands. I noticed +his dejected attitude, and said to Senator Morrill, who was then +eighty-five or eighty-six years old: "Go over and cheer up Vest." +Morrill did so in these words: "Vest, what is the matter? Cheer +up! Why, you are nothing but a boy." + +Senator Vest retired from the Senate, and shortly thereafter died +at his home in Washington. + +Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, was another very prominent Democrat in +this Congress. He was one of the leading lawyers of the Senate, +ranking, probably, with Edmunds in this respect. He was chairman +of the Committee on the Judiciary for a brief period, was later +nominated for Vice-President of the United States, but was defeated +with the rest of the Democratic ticket. + +Senator Eugene Hale, who retired from the Senate on his own motion, +March 4, 1911, was elected in 1881, and was always regarded as a +very strong man. It was unfortunate for the Senate and country +that Senator Hale determined to leave this body. He was chairman +of the Committee on Appropriations, and chairman of the Republican +caucus, in which latter capacity I succeeded him in April, 1911. +He was for years chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs; and +there is no man in the country, in my judgment, who knows more +about the work and condition of the Navy and the Navy Department +than does Senator Hale. Hence it has been for years past, that +when legislation affecting the Navy came up to be acted upon by +Congress, generally we have looked to Senator Hale to direct and +influence our legislative action. + +He is a very independent character, and was just the man for chairman +of the great Committee on Appropriations. Senator Hale was more +than ordinarily independent, even to the extent of voting against +his party at times, and was very little influenced by what a +President or an Administration might desire. I regretted exceedingly +to see him leave the Senate, where for many years he served his +country so well. + +Charles F. Manderson, of Nebraska, was twice elected to the United +States Senate, and was an influential member. I have regarded him +as one of the most amiable men with whom I have served. He was a +splendid soldier, a splendid legislator, and a splendid man generally. +He was the presiding officer of the Senate, and a good one. I have +always thought that he ought to have been the Republican nominee +for Vice-President of the United States; but for some reason or +other he never seemed to seek the place, and finally became one of +the attorneys for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, +since when he seems to have lost interest in political affairs. +He visit old friends in Washington once each year, and it is always +a great pleasure for me to greet Mr. and Mrs. Manderson. + +Another Senator who first served many years in the House, was +Philetus Sawyer, of Wisconsin. It was in the Senate that I served +with him, and came to have for him a very great respect. He was +not very well educated, not a lawyer nor an orator, and excepting +in a conversational way, not regarded as a talker; yet he was an +uncommonly effective man in business as well as in politics, and +was once or twice invited to become chairman of the National +Republican Committee. + +I cannot resist the temptation to tell a little story in connection +with Senator Sawyer. One day he was undertaking to pass an +unimportant bill in the Senate concerning some railroad in his own +State, and as was the custom when he had anything to say or do in +the Senate, he took his place in the centre aisle close to the +clerk's desk, so that he could be heard. Senator Van Wyck offered +an amendment to the bill, and was talking in favor of the amendment, +when Sawyer became a little alarmed lest the bill was going to be +beaten. He turned his back to the clerk, and said in a tone of +voice that could be distinctly heard: + +"If you will stop your damned yawp I will accept your amendment." + +Van Wyck merely said, "All right." The amendment was adopted, and +the bill passed. + +As is quite the custom in the disposal of new members, I was +appointed a member of the Committee on Pensions--really the only +important committee appointment I received during my first service +in the Senate. I naturally felt very liberal toward the old +soldiers, and it seemed that every case that was referred to me +was a worthy one, and that a liberal pension should be allowed. +I became a little uneasy lest I might be too liberal, and I went +to Sawyer, knowing that he was a man of large wealth, seeking his +advice about it. + +He said, and I have been guided by that advice largely ever since: +"You need not worry; you cannot very well make a mistake in allowing +liberal pensions to the soldier boys. The money will get into +circulation and come back into the treasury very soon; so go ahead +and do what you think is right in the premises; and there will be +no trouble." + +Senator Sawyer retired from the Senate voluntarily at a ripe old +age. He was largely instrumental in selecting as his successor, +one of the greatest lawyers and ablest statesmen who has ever served +in that body, of whom I shall speak later, my distinguished friend, +the Hon. John C. Spooner. + +In the Forty-eighth Congress the Democrats had a majority in the +House and the Republicans a majority in the Senate, and as is always +the case when such a situation prevails, little or no important +legislation was enacted. + +I entered the Senate having three objects in view: First, the +control of Interstate Commerce; second, the stamping out of polygamy; +third, the construction of the Hennepin Canal. + +I was not quite as modest as I have since advised younger Senators +to be, because I see by the _Record_ that on January 11, 1884, a +little more than a month after I had entered the Senate, I made an +extended address on the subject of Territorial Government for Utah, +particularly referring to polygamy. I was especially bitter in +what I said against the Mormons and the Mormon Church. I used such +expressions as these: + +"There is scarcely a page of their history that is not marred by +a recital of some foul deed. The whole history of the Mormon Church +abounds in illustrations of the selfishness, deceit, and lawlessness +of its leaders and members. Founded in fraud, built up by the most +audacious deception, this organization has been so notoriously +corrupt and immoral in its practices, teachings, and tendencies as +to justify the Government in assuming absolute control of the +Territory and in giving the Church or its followers no voice in +the administration of public affairs. The progress of Mormonism +to its present strength and power has been attended by a continual +series of murders, robberies, and outrages of every description; +but there is one dark spot in its disgraceful record that can never +be effaced, one crime so heinous that the blood of the betrayed +victims still calls aloud for vengeance." + +I introduced a bill on the subject, in which I provided for the +appointment of a legislative council by the President, this council +to have the same legislative power as the legislative assembly of +a Territory. I distrusted the local Legislature because it was +dominated by men high up in the Mormon Church. + +During this Congress I pushed the bill as best I could, but was +never able to secure its passage. Laws were passed on the subject, +and the Mormon question is practically now a thing of the past. + +Since that time conditions in Utah and in the Mormon Church have +changed greatly. The Prophets received a new revelation declaring +polygamy unlawful, and I believe that the practice has ceased. As +a matter of fact, Judge Zane, the Territorial Judge of Utah, did +more to stamp it out than any other one man. He sentenced those +guilty of the practice to terms in the penitentiary, and announced +that he would continue to do so until they reformed. I do not +think that the Church or the Mormon people deserve to-day the severe +criticism they merited twenty-five years ago. + + +CHAPTER XVI +CLEVELAND'S FIRST TERM +1884 to 1887 + +The Republican Convention of 1884 was held at Chicago. The names +of Joseph R. Hawley, John A. Logan, Chester A. Arthur, John Sherman, +George F. Edmunds, and James G. Blaine were presented as candidates +for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. +Blaine and Logan finally were the nominees, neither of them having +much of a contest to secure the nomination for President and Vice- +President respectively. + +The Democratic Convention met later, and nominated Grover Cleveland +and Thomas A. Hendricks. + +The Presidential campaign of 1884 was unique in the extreme. It +was the most bitter personal contest in our history. The private +lives of both candidates, Cleveland and Blaine, were searched, and +the most scandalous stories circulated, most of which were false. + +The tide was in favor of Blaine only a short time before the +election. I do not intend to go into the cause of his defeat. It +was accomplished by a margin so narrow that any one of a dozen +reasons may be given as the particular one. The Burchard incident, +the dinner given by the plutocrats at Delmonico's, certainly changed +several hundred votes--important when we remember that a change of +less than six hundred votes in the State of New York would have +elected him. Conkling, too, was accused of playing him false, and +it was alleged that there were hundreds of fraudulent votes cast +in the city of New York and on Long Island. Colonel A. K. McClure, +in "Our Presidents and How We Make Them," says, with reference to +this contest: + +"Blaine would have been matchless in the skilful management of a +Presidential campaign for another, but he was dwarfed by the +overwhelming responsibilities of conducting a campaign for himself, +and yet he assumed the supreme control of the struggle and directed +it absolutely from start to finish. He was of the heroic mould, +and he wisely planned his campaign tours to accomplish the best +result. In point of fact, he had won his fight after stumping the +country, and lost it by his stay in New York on his way home. He +knew how to sway multitudes, and none could approach him in that +important feature of a conflict; but he was not trained to consider +the thousand intricacies that fell upon the management of every +Presidential contest." + +Grover Cleveland was inaugurated on the fourth of March, 1885, +being the first Democratic President since James Buchanan, who was +elected in 1856, and marking the first defeat of the Republican +party since the election of Lincoln. + +There was a wild scramble for offices on the part of the Democrats +as soon as Cleveland was inaugurated. He proceeded to satisfy them +as rapidly as he could, and out of 56,134 Presidential positions +he appointed 42,992 Democrats. + +I always admired Grover Cleveland. I first saw him at the time of +his inaugural address, which he delivered without notes. He never +faltered from the beginning to the end, never skipped a line or +missed a word, or made a false start. He was the first, and so +far as I know the only President who did not read his inaugural +address. His speeches, his messages, and his public utterances +generally all showed that he was a man of extraordinary ability. +He made a wonderful impression upon the country. As Chief Executive, +he was strong-minded and forceful, and adhered to his views on +public questions with a remarkable degree of tenacity, utterly +regardless of his party. + +He appointed a very fair cabinet. There was really no great man +in it, but they were all men of some ability. The Secretary of +State, Thos. F. Bayard, of Delaware, was one of the prominent +Democrats of the Senate when I entered it, and had represented his +State in that body for many years. I believe he conducted the +affairs of the State Department satisfactorily, and he was later +made Minister to the Court of St. James. + +Daniel Manning, of New York, was Secretary of the Treasury. And, +referring to Manning, I am reminded of a little story. + +Soon after he came into the office I had occasion to go to the +Treasury Department on some business. I saw the office secretary, +who had been there under the previous Administration, and whom I +knew well. He informed me that the Secretary of the Treasury was +not in, but that he would be in a few minutes. I expressed a desire +to see him and said that I would like very much to be introduced +to him. Mr. Manning came in presently, and I was introduced, after +which I disposed of my business without delay. Looking around, I +saw Senator Beck and a number of other Senators, accompanied by a +horde of Democratic office-seekers from the South, sitting against +the wall waiting for me to get through with my business. Beck came +forward, and in a half serious sort of way said to me: "You do +not seem to know that the Administration has changed. You march +in here and take possession, and we Democrats are sitting here +against the wall cooling our heels and waiting for an opportunity +to see the Secretary. You have seen him already, and are ready to +go." It did plague me a little, as I was not quite sure whether +Beck was in earnest or not. He soon returned to the Senate from +the Treasury, and coming into the Senate Chamber a little later I +found that he had been telling my colleagues how he had "plagued +Cullom" and how Cullom was much embarrassed about it. He considered +it quite a joke on me. + +L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, was made Secretary of the Interior. +Lamar was also one of the prominent Democrats of the Senate when +I entered it. I had the very greatest respect for him as a Senator +and as a man. Later, Mr. Cleveland nominated him for Associate +Justice of the Supreme Court. The nomination pended before the +Judiciary Committee for a long time, as it was well known that Mr. +Lamar had not been an active, practising lawyer. + +I happened to be at the White House one day, and Mr. Cleveland said +to me: "I wish you would take up Lamar's nomination and dispose +of it. I am between hay and grass with reference to the Interior +Department. Nothing is being done there; I ought to have some one +on duty, and I can not do anything until you dispose of Lamar." + +He had, I suppose, spoken to other Senators along the same line. +The nomination was taken up soon after, and he was confirmed. I +voted against his confirmation in the Senate; not because I had +anything against him personally, or because he was a Southern +Democrat, but I understood that he had not practised law at all, +and I did not believe that sort of man should be appointed to fill +so high and responsible a position. + +Generally speaking, I got along very well with President Cleveland, +considering the fact that he was a Democrat and I a Republican. +I visited the White House frequently, and he generally granted +anything that I asked for. + +He was keenly interested in the passage of the first Interstate +Commerce Act. It became a law under his administration, and although +the Democrats supported it, it succeeded mainly through the influence +of Republican Senators and a Republican Senate. When the bill went +to the President, and while he had it under consideration, he sent +for me to explain one or two sections which he did not understand. +I called one night about nine o'clock and found him surrounded by +a multitude of papers, hard at work reading the bill. I explained +the sections concerning which he was in doubt as best I could, and +he said: "I will approve the bill." + +I immediately took advantage of the occasion to say: "Now, Mr. +President, I might just as well take this opportunity to talk with +you with reference to the appointment of a Commission. A Republican +Senate has passed this bill, and as I had charge of it in the +Senate, I think you ought to permit me to recommend the appointment +of one commissioner." He agreed to this, asking me to present the +name of some Republican whom I desired appointed. + +Afterward there were complications with the members of his own +party in Congress, and he sent for me to tell me that Colonel +Morrison, of Illinois, had been recommended by the whole "Free +Trade Party," as he called it, and that he did not see how he was +going to avoid appointing him. I suggested that he give Morrison +something else. He undertook to do so; but Morrison, true to his +independent nature, declined to accept anything else, declaring +that he would like to have the office of commissioner, and if he +could not have that he would accept nothing. + +The President sent for me again, and told me he could not satisfy +Morrison, and he did not know how he was going to solve the +complication. I said, in effect, that I had been a Governor of a +State and I knew sometimes that an executive officer had to do +things he did not expect to do, and did not desire to do, but that +he had to yield to party pressure. I ceased insisting upon an +appointment, and allowed Morrison to be named. At the same time +I was a little provoked and out of patience and I added: "Colonel +Morrison knows nothing about the subject whatever. If you are +going to appoint broken-down politicians who have been defeated at +home, as a sort of salve for the sores caused by their defeat, we +might as well repeal the law." + +I inquired of him: "Who else are you going to appoint on that +Commission?" I had previously recommended Judge Cooley. + +"I will appoint Cooley," promised the President. + +"Will Cooley take it?" I asked; to which he replied, "I will offer +any place on the Commission he desires, and will telegraph him at +once." + +I expressed my satisfaction with this arrangement. He did telegraph +Judge Cooley, who accepted, and was the first and most distinguished +chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission. + +The Forty-ninth Congress assembled on December 7, 1885, with Thomas +A. Hendricks, Vice-President, presiding in the Senate, John Sherman +having been elected President _pro tempore_. The Senate was still +in the control of the Republicans by a majority of five. The +Democrats had a majority of something like forty in the House, and +elected John G. Carlisle Speaker. This is practically the same +situation that had prevailed during the previous Congress, except +this time the Democrats, in addition to a majority, had the Chief +Executive as well. But they were just as powerless to enact +legislation as they had been before. + +Senators Evarts, of New York; Spooner, of Wisconsin; Teller, of +Colorado; Stanford, of California; Gray, of Delaware; Brown, of +Georgia; Blackburn, of Kentucky; and Walthall, of Mississippi, were +a few of the prominent men who entered the Senate at the beginning +of the Cleveland Administration. + +Senator Evarts was recognized for many years as the leader of the +American Bar. He was not only a profound lawyer, but one of the +greatest public speakers of the day. I remember him as a good +natured, agreeable man, who was pre-eminently capable of filling +the highest places in public life. He was Attorney-General under +President Johnson, Secretary of State under President Hayes, and +counsel representing the United States before many great international +tribunals. He defended President Johnson in his impeachment +proceedings, and I remember yet his lofty eloquence on that memorable +occasion. He did not accomplish much as a Senator, but he did take +an active part where a legal or constitutional question came before +the Senate. + +Illustrating how great lawyers are as apt to be wrong on a legal +question as the lesser legal lights, Senator Evarts expressed the +opinion that Congress did not possess the constitutional power to +pass the Act of 1887 to regulate commerce. He contended in the +debate that the act was a restriction and not a regulation of +commerce, and consequently was beyond the power of Congress. The +Supreme Court of the United States very soon afterwards sustained +the constitutionality of the act. + +Before his term expired he became partially blind, and the story +is told by the late Senator Hoar that Senator Evarts and he had +delivered speeches in the Senate on some great legal, constitutional +question, Senator Hoar on one side, Senator Evarts on the other. +The latter asked Senator Hoar to look over the proof of his speech +and correct it, and in reading over the proof Senator Hoar told me +that he became convinced that his position was wrong and that Evarts +was right. + +I do not know of a Democrat with whom I have served in the Senate +for whom I have greater respect than George Gray, of Delaware. We +became quite intimate and were paired all during his service. He +was one of the few Senators that every Senator on both sides believed +in and was willing to trust. Indeed, our country would not suffer +if he were elected President of the United States. He has held +many important positions,--Senator, member of the Paris Peace +Commission, United States Circuit Judge, member of many arbitration +commissions,--in all of which he acquitted himself with great honor. + +My friend, Senator Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, returned to the +Senate at the beginning of this Congress. He had previously served +in the Senate, and resigned to accept a Cabinet position under +President Arthur. Senator Teller has had a long and honorable +public career. He was elected to the Senate several times as a +Republican, and appointed to the office of Secretary of the Interior +as a Republican. He continued this affiliation until the silver +agitation, in 1896, when he regarded himself as being justified in +leaving the party, and was twice elected afterward to the Senate +by the Legislature of his State, and during this last term I believe +he became a pretty strong Democrat; yet he never allowed partisanship +to enter into his action on legislation, excepting where a party +issue was involved, when he would vote with his party. + +I served with him on the Appropriation Committee and other committees +of the Senate, and regarded him as one of the best Senators for +committee service with whom I was ever associated. The friendly +relations between Senator Teller and myself have been very close +and intimate since I first knew him, and I am glad to say that the +fact that he left the Republican party has not disturbed them in +the least. + +Mr. Teller's withdrawal from the Republican party after its +declaration for the Gold Standard in the St. Louis Convention of +1896 was due to his abiding conviction in support of the principles +of bimetallism. He had been a member of the party almost since +its organization, and up to '96, although independent upon many +points at issue, had been regarded as one of the party's stanchest +and most reliable adherents. The severance of the ties of a lifetime +could not be made without producing a visible effect upon a man of +Mr. Teller's fine sensibilities, but I was pleased to observe that +he did not allow the incident to change his personal relations. +He continued as a member of the Senate for twelve or thirteen years +after he left the Republican party, and I am sure that he did not +lose the respect or personal regard of a single Republican member +of the body. Personally, I regarded him just as warmly as a Democrat +as I had esteemed him as a Republican, and I am sure that my attitude +toward him was reflected by his attitude toward myself. + +The Colorado Senator's nature is such that he cannot dissemble, +and when his conviction led him to condemn the Republican party +because of its position on the money question, he could not find +it in his conscience to remain in that party. Time has shown that +he was mistaken as to the results that might follow the adoption +of the gold standard, but it has not served to alter the character +of the man. He will stand for what he believes to be right, whatever +the consequences to himself. As a legislator, he was faithful in +his work in committee and in the Senate. No man was more constant +in his attendance, and none gave more conscientious attention to +the problems of legislation. An unusually strong lawyer and a man +given to studious research, he never failed to strengthen any cause +which he espoused nor to throw light upon any subject which came +within his range of vision. With the exception of three years +spent as Secretary of the Interior he was a member of the Senate +from 1876, the year of Colorado's admission to the Union, until +1909, during which time he had nine different colleagues from his +own State. + +Mr. Teller was a resident of Illinois before he removed to Colorado +in 1861, and was one of the earliest supporters of Mr. Lincoln. +His father and mother remained in Illinois as long as they lived, +and Senator Teller always has retained interests in that State. +I think he still has relatives residing in Whiteside County. + +William Eaton Chandler, of New Hampshire, was one of the first +government officials with whom I became acquainted when I came to +Washington, in 1865, as a member of the House of Representatives. +He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. We became quite intimate +and our relations ever since have been the most cordial and +friendly. + +Senator Chandler is a man of wonderfully acute intellect. For many +years he served his people in the Legislature of New Hampshire and +was a member of the Senate of the United States for several terms. +After he retired from the Senate in 1901, President McKinley +appointed him a member of the Spanish Claims Commission. In the +discharge of the duties of that office he manifested the same high +conception of his trust as in every position he occupied, either +elective or appointive, and I think he saved to the government of +the United States many millions of dollars in the adjudication of +claims growing out of the Spanish-American War. + +While Senator Chandler is very combative in his attitude toward +others, yet his innate sincerity draws one close to him after +becoming acquainted with him. A little incident which will illustrate +this trait, occurred in the Senate of the United States some years +ago. Mr. Chandler was induced to believe that the late Senator +Proctor, of Vermont, did not like him very much. So Chandler went +up to Proctor, and said: "Proctor, don't you like me?" Proctor +in his coarse gruff voice replied: "I have acquired a liking for +you." He established the point without circumlocution or diplomacy. + +As Chairman of the Committee on Interstate Commerce of the Senate, +I objected to the appointment of Chandler as a member of that +committee. I did not believe he would be very attentive. It turned +out that I was mistaken and I often wished that he would stay away +from the meetings, because he was always stirring up some new +question that involved the time of the committee. He was inspired, +however, by the highest motive, recognizing as he did that the +control of the railroads of the country was a matter of supreme +importance to the people of the United States. He rendered valuable +service on the committee in the enactment of legislation on this +important subject. + +Senator Leland Stanford, of California, was a man of large wealth, +and became famous on account of his having built the Central Pacific +Railroad. He was a man of business experience and made a valuable +Senator. He died as a member of the Senate, and his wife founded +Leland Stanford Jr. University. + +Senator Stanford's colleague, Senator Hearst, who entered the Senate +two years after Senator Stanford, was also a man of very large +wealth and possessor of a interesting character. Concerning him +many amusing stories are told. He gave an elaborate dinner one +evening, which I attended. There were twenty-five of us present +with our wives, and after dinner was over the men went down to the +smoking-room. Senator Hearst had thought out a little speech to +make to us, in which he said: "I do now know much about books; I +have not read very much; but I have travelled a good deal and +observed men and things, and I have made up my mind after all my +experience that the members of the Senate are the survival of the +fittest." Senator Hearst died while serving as a member of the +Senate. + +Matthew Stanley Quay was a conspicuous figure in our political +history. He had been a soldier in the Civil War and afterwards +occupied many positions of importance in the civil affairs in his +State. Few men in American political life have had so constant a +struggle as did Senator Quay to retain his ascendancy in Republican +politics in Pennsylvania. Quay in Pennsylvania, and T. C. Platt +in New York, were regarded as two of the greatest political bosses +in the country. In national convention after national convention +they exercised a paramount influence over the nomination of +Presidents, and the two usually worked together. Their political +methods were about the same. Quay was the bigger man of the two; +but it must be said, in justice to both of them, that the word of +either was as good as his bond. Senator Quay was returned to the +Senate after a desperate struggle. I was glad to see him return, +but saddened to see that he was sorely afflicted with a disease +that finally proved fatal. Senator Quay and Senator Platt have +both passed away. They were the two last survivors of the old +coterie of politicians who so long dominated Republican national +conventions. + +Toward the close of the Cleveland Administration, a vacancy occurred +in the office of Chief Justice of the United States, to fill which +President Cleveland appointed the Hon. Melville W. Fuller, of +Illinois. I had something to do with this appointment. + +Chief Justice Fuller has only recently passed away, after serving +as Chief Justice of the United States for a longer period than any +of his predecessors in that high office, with the two exceptions +of Marshall and Taney. I knew Melville W. Fuller for many years +before he became Chief Justice. Away back in war times, I knew +him as a member of the Illinois Legislature and as a member of the +Constitutional Convention, and subsequently as one of the leading +lawyers of the Chicago Bar. + +President Cleveland was in a considerable quandary over the +appointment of a Chief Justice. He wanted to bestow the seat upon +an able lawyer, and he wanted a Democrat, but as the Senate was in +control of the Republicans he wanted to make sure to name some one +whom the Senate would confirm. He at first seriously considered +Judge Phelps, of Vermont, a cultivated and able man, who had been +Minister to England, but for some reason or other--why I never knew +--he finally rejected Phelps as an available candidate and determined +upon a Western man as Chief Justice. + +Prior to this, however, he had considered the appointment of Justice +Scholfield, of our own State, who was then a member of the Supreme +Court of Illinois, which never had an abler or better lawyer as a +member of its personnel. He would have been given the honor had +he signified a willingness to accept; but when he was approached +by Representative Townsend, at the suggestion of President Cleveland, +after considering the matter, he demurred, asserting that although +he would enjoy the distinction of being Chief Justice of the United +States, he did not think that life in Washington, and especially +the social side of the life which the Chief Justice of the United +States naturally is expected to lead, would suit either him or his +family. He had a family of growing children, who had been raised +in the country, and they would naturally have to accompany him to +Washington. He feared that Washington life would ruin them, so he +finally declined the appointment. + +Judge Fuller had been a close friend of President Cleveland, had +been a member of the national convention that nominated him, was +recognized as one of the leading Democrats of Illinois, and had +been consulted by Mr. Cleveland in the distribution of the patronage +in that State; so naturally Judge Fuller was considered in connection +with the office. It was not surprising, considering that the Senate +was then in the control of the Republicans, that he would want to +enlist my aid in securing his confirmation. + +I called on Mr. Cleveland about nine o'clock one morning in regard +to some personal matter. He at once sent out word for me to come +in, that he wanted to see me. I apologized for appearing at so +early an hour, whereupon he said that he was very glad that I had +come because he desired to have a talk with me. Then he inquired +whom I considered the best lawyer, belonging to his party, in +Illinois, who would make a good Chief Justice. He at once himself +mentioned Judge Fuller. I told him that Judge Gowdy was probably +the ablest Democratic lawyer in Illinois, but that he was a railroad +attorney, and it would probably not be a good thing to appoint him. +He next questioned me particularly about Fuller. I told him that +I knew Fuller very well indeed; that if I were called upon to name +five of the best lawyers of Illinois belonging to his party, I +would name Fuller among the five; that he was not only a good +lawyer, but a scholarly man, a gentleman who would grace the +position. He at once intimated that he would send his name to the +Senate. + +I said to him: "Mr. President, the selection of a Chief Justice +is one of the greatest duties you have to perform. _You_ can make +a mistake; we can raise the devil in Congress; but with a capable +Supreme Court standing steady and firm, doing its full duty, the +country is safe." + +He agreed with me; and very soon thereafter Melville W. Fuller was +nominated as Chief Justice of the United States. + +But this was only the prelude to the real struggle. The nomination +was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, of which Senator +Edmunds, of Vermont, was chairman. The latter was very much out +of humor with the President, because he had fully expected that +Judge Phelps, of his own State, was to receive the honor, and he +did not take it kindly that the appointment should go to Illinois. +He had told me himself, in confidence, that he had every assurance +that Judge Phelps was to be nominated. + +The result was the Senator Edmunds held the nomination, without +any action, in the Judiciary Committee for some three months, as +I now recollect. Finally there began to be more or less scandal +hinted at and suggestions of something wrong, and so forth; which +I considered so entirely uncalled for and unfair to Judge Fuller +that I appeared before the Judiciary Committee of the Senate and +asked that the nomination be reported favorably if possible, +unfavorably if the committee so determined; and if the committee +was not disposed to report the nomination either favorably or +unfavorably that they report the nomination to the Senate without +recommendation, so that the Senate itself might have an opportunity +to act upon it. The latter action was taken, and the nomination +was laid naked before the Senate. The matter was considered in +executive session. Senator Edmunds at once took the floor and +attacked Judge Fuller most viciously as having sympathized with +the Rebellion, together with much to the same effect. + +In the meantime some one had sent me a printed copy of a speech +which Judge Phelps had delivered during the war, attacking Mr. +Lincoln in the most outrageous and undignified fashion. When I +read that speech I then and there determined that Judge Phelps +would never be confirmed as Chief Justice, even though the President +might send his nomination to the Senate. I put the speech in my +desk, determining that if I ever had a good chance I would read it +in the Senate, at the same time pointing out that the only objection +which Senator Edmunds opposed to Judge Fuller was his pique because +Phelps had not received the appointment. Edmunds' attack on Judge +Fuller gave me the opportunity, and I read the speech of Judge +Phelps to the Senate, much to the chagrin and mortification of +Senator Edmunds. + +The Democrats in the Senate enjoyed the controversy between Senator +Edmunds and myself; Senator Voorhees was particularly amused, +laughing heartily all through it. Naturally, it appeared to them +a very funny performance, two Republicans quarreling over the +confirmation of a Democrat. They sat silent, however, and took no +part at all in the debate, leaving us Republicans to settle it +among ourselves. The vote was taken and Judge Fuller was confirmed +by a substantial majority. + +Judge Fuller was very grateful to me for what I had done in behalf +of his confirmation, and afterwards he wrote me a letter of thanks: + + "Chicago, _July 21, 1888_. + +"My dear Senator:-- + +"I cannot refrain from expressing to you my intense appreciation +at the vigorous way in which you secured my confirmation. I use +the word 'vigorous' because, though it was more than that, that +was the quality that struck me most forcibly when I saw the newspapers +this morning. When we meet, as I hope we will soon, I would very +much like to talk this matter over with you. I hope you will never +have cause to regret your action. I can't tell you how pleased I +am that Maine and Illinois, both so dear to me, stood by me. But +because I love them, I do not love my country any the less, as you +know. + +"And so I am to be called 'Judge' after all! This is between +ourselves. + + "Faithfully yours, + "M. W. Fuller." + +Senator Frye voted in favor of Judge Fuller's confirmation. He +did this partly, I believe, because Fuller was a Maine man and a +classmate of his at Bowdoin College, he previously having entertained +some doubts, as he told me afterwards, whether Fuller was really +qualified to be Chief Justice of the United States. Very soon +after his appointment, the Chief Justice was invited to deliver an +address before the Joint Session of the two Houses of Congress. +I think it was on the occasion of the one-hundredth anniversary of +the inauguration of the first President of the United States. +Senator Frye and I walked together over to the hall of the House +where the joint session assembled, and he said as we went along: +"I will determine to-day, after I hear Fuller deliver his address, +whether I did right or wrong in voting for his confirmation as +Chief Justice." Judge Fuller delivered a most beautiful speech, +which would have done credit to any man, no matter how high a +position he occupied in this or any other country; and as we returned +together to our own chamber, Senator Frye remarked: "Cullom, it +is all right. I am satisfied now that I did right in voting in +favor of the confirmation of Fuller's nomination." + +Melville W. Fuller filled the position of Chief Justice of the +United States with great credit and dignity. He wrote, during his +long term of service, many very able opinions. I did not agree +with his conclusions in the Income Tax case; but I think every +lawyer will conceded that this opinion was about as able a presentation +of that side of the case as could be made. He was a most conservative +and safe man for the high position which he occupied. Of necessity +the Chief Justice of the United States must be an executive officer +as well as an able lawyer and judge. There was no better executive +officer than Chief Justice Fuller. Justice Miller told me on one +occasion that Fuller was the best presiding judge that the Supreme +Court had had within his time; and in addition he was a most lovable, +congenial man. + +The last time I saw Judge Fuller he was particularly agreeable. +I called to invite him to deliver an address at a great banquet to +be held in Springfield on Lincoln's birthday in February, 1909. +I have had a great deal of experience in trying to prevail upon +prominent men to deliver addresses in Illinois, and I know how they +always hesitate, and hem and haw, then, if they do accept, destroy +all feelings of gratitude and appreciation by the ungracious manner +in which they do so. It was certainly a pleasant surprise and a +contrast to custom to hear Judge Fuller's reply when I extended +the invitation to him. "Why, certainly," he responded promptly; +"I will be delighted to accept. I have been wanting to visit +Springfield for twenty years, and I am glad to receive the +invitation." + +This reply was quite characteristic of Chief Justice Fuller. I +could not imagine him saying an unkind word to any one. His +disposition was to treat his colleagues on the Bench, the members +of the Bar who appeared before him, and every one with whom he came +in contact, with the greatest kindness and consideration. He passed +away, quietly and peacefully, as he would have wished, honored and +respected by the Bench and Bar of the Nation, and by the people of +his home State, who took pride in the fact that Illinois had +furnished to the United States a Chief Justice for so long a period. + +Chief Justice Fuller was succeeded by Hon. Edward D. White, of +Louisiana, with whom I served for three years in the Senate of the +United States. Justice White was an able Senator, and in the +disposition of some of the most important cases which have come +before the Supreme Court in recent years affecting corporations he +has shown great ability and is a worthy successor of his predecessors +in that high office. + +Aside from the act to regulate commerce, an act providing for +the Presidential succession, and an act in reference to polygamy, +there was very little, if any, important legislation during the +first Cleveland Administration. + +It was a very quiet administration. The country clearly comprehended +that the Senate stood in the way of any Democratic doctrine being +enacted into law, and generally, as I remember it now, the country +was fairly prosperous. This condition continued until President +Cleveland's famous Free Trade message of December 5, 1887, came as +a startling blow to the business and manufacturing interests of +the United States. + +Why he should have sent such a message to Congress when his +administration was about to come to a close, and when he knew +perfectly well that no tariff legislation could be enacted with a +Democratic House and a Republican Senate, I do not know. He for +the first time stepped out boldly and asserted his Free Trade +doctrine, and made the issue squarely on tariff for protection as +against Free Trade, or tariff for revenue. This message naturally +precipitated a tariff discussion in both House and Senate, and the +Democratic majority of the House considered it incumbent on them +to make some attempt to carry out the President's policy. As a +result the so-called Mills Bill was reported, upon which debates +continued for many months. One member in closing this discussion +very aptly said: + +"This debate will perhaps be known as the most remarkable that has +ever occurred in our parliamentary history. It has awakened an +interest not only throughout the length and breadth of our own +country, but throughout the civilized world, and henceforth, as +long as our government shall endure, it will be known as 'the great +tariff debate of 1888.'" + +It was in this debate in the House that both Mr. Reed and Mr. +McKinley so distinguished themselves as the great advocates of +Protection. Mr. Reed was then the floor leader of the minority. +He made a magnificent speech against Free Trade in which he used +many familiar allegories, one of which I have often used myself in +campaign speeches. It is substantially as follows: + +"Once there was a dog. He was a nice little dog--nothing the matter +with him, except a few foolish Free Trade ideas in his head. He +was trotting along, happy as the day, for he had in his mouth a +nice shoulder of succulent mutton. By and by he came to a stream +bridged by a plank. He trotted along, and looking over the side +of the plank, he saw the markets of the world, and dived for them. +A minute afterwards he was crawling up the bank the wettest, the +sickest, the nastiest, the most muttonless dog that ever swam +ashore." + +Thomas B. Reed was one whom I unquestionably would term a great +man. He was conspicuous among the most brilliant presiding officers +that ever occupied the chair of the Speaker. He ruled the House +with a rod of iron, thus earning for himself the nickname of "Czar." + +And this was more or less warranted. He was the first Speaker to +inaugurate the new rules. He found a demoralized House in which +it was difficult to enact legislation, and in which the right of +the majority to rule was questioned and hampered. He turned the +Lower House into an orderly legislative body in which legislation +was enacted expeditiously by the majority. He had more perfect +control over the House than any former Speaker, and his authority +remained unquestioned until he retired. He ruled alone; after he +became Speaker he had no favorites; he had no little coterie of +men around him to excite the jealousy of the members of the House, +and it has even been said that so careful was he in this respect +that he would scarcely venture to walk in public with a member of +the House. He was a powerful man intellectually and physically, +and he looked the giant he was among the members of the House. He +wanted to be President; and it seems rather a queer coincidence +that his election as Speaker paved the way for his rival, Mr. +McKinley, as by his acceptance of the chair Mr. McKinley became +the leader of the majority, chairman of the Committee on Ways and +Means, the author of the McKinley Bill, which finally resulted in +its author's defeat for Congress, but in his election as President +of the United States in 1896. + +But to return to the Mills Bill. It passed the House by a substantial +majority and came to the Senate, where a substitute was prepared +by the Finance Committee and reported by Senator Allison early in +October. I remember the discussion on it in the Senate very well. +We all thought it incumbent upon us to make speeches for home +consumption, for campaign use, showing the iniquities of the Mills +Bill, and of the Democratic tariff generally, although we knew it +was impossible for either bill to become law. + +The Congressional session continued until about the middle of +October with nothing done in the way of practical legislation. + +This was the situation when the National Republican Convention +assembled in 1888. + + +CHAPTER XVII +CLEVELAND'S DEFEAT AND HARRISON'S FIRST TERM +1888 to 1891 + +At the time the delegates gathered, Cleveland's Free Trade message +of 1887 was before the country, interest in it having been augmented +and enlivened by the passage of the Mills Bill and the renowned +tariff debate of that year. The issue was clear. It was Protective +Tariff _versus_ Free Trade. After a rather strenuous contest in +the convention in which nineteen candidates were voted for, for +the nomination for President, including the leading candidates, +John Sherman, of Ohio, Walter Q. Gresham, of Indiana, Harrison, of +Indiana, and Allison, of Iowa, Benjamin Harrison finally was chosen +on the eighth ballot. + +In his autobiography Senator Hoar affirms that William B. Allison +came nearer being the nominee of the party than any other man in +its history who was a candidate and failed to secure the endorsement. +According to Senator Hoar, it was the opposition of Senator Depew, +angered by the agrarian hostility toward himself, that prevented +Senator Allison's nomination. I have no personal knowledge that +might refute this statement, but I have been disposed to question +its correctness. + +President Cleveland was of course renominated. The campaign came +on, and he was defeated squarely on the Tariff issue, and the +Republicans were again in the ascendancy in both branches of the +Government, the Senate being composed of forty-seven Republicans +and thirty-seven Democrats, while the House contained one hundred +and seventy Republicans and one hundred and sixty Democrats, Mr. +Reed being elected Speaker. + +President Harrison was inaugurated with a great civic and military +display, equalling, if not surpassing, that of any other President. +There was great rejoicing among Republicans on account of the return +of the party to power. The Cabinet was duly appointed, with Mr. +Blaine, the foremost Republican and statesman of his day, as +Secretary of State--which, by the way, was an unfortunate appointment +both for Mr. Harrison and Mr. Blaine. There was the usual scramble +for offices, the usual changes in the foreign service, in the +executive departments in Washington and in the federal offices +generally throughout the country. Robert T. Lincoln, of whom I +have already written, was appointed Minister to the Court of St. +James. + +Colonel Clark E. Carr, of Illinois, was appointed Minister to +Denmark, and made a splendid record in that position. He was very +popular with the royal family. I had the pleasure of visiting +Copenhagen while he was Minister there, and was the guest of Colonel +and Mrs. Carr, who entertained me very handsomely. They gave a +dinner in my honor, which was attended by the whole diplomatic +corps at Copenhagen. The Colonel also arranged for a private +audience with the King, and he presented me to him, as he also did +my friend, Colonel Bluford Wilson, who accompanied me on my visit +to Copenhagen. Altogether, through the courtesy of Colonel Carr, +I enjoyed my stay in Copenhagen exceedingly. + +He retired from office after Mr. Cleveland was elected, and has +since achieved distinction as an author. He has written several +very interesting books which have had a wide circulation. For many +years Colonel Carr has taken an active part in our State and National +campaigns. He is a forceful speaker, so naturally his services +have been in constant requisition by the State and National Republican +Committees. He has rendered very valuable service to the Republican +party both in the State and in the Nation. + +I had known President Harrison for many years. He represented a +neighboring State in the Senate, of which body he was a leader when +I entered it in 1883. I probably knew him as well as any of my +Republican colleagues; but his was a very cold, distant temperament, +even in the Senate, hardly capable of forming a very close friendship +for any one, and he had no particular friends. + +In justice to Mr. Harrison, however, it must be said that he was +a masterly lawyer, and his appointments generally were first-class. +Especially was he fortunate in his selection of Federal judges. +He selected them himself, and would tolerate no interference from +any one. He did select the very best men he could find. For +instance, he appointed such men as Justice Brewer, of Kansas; +Justice Brown, of Michigan; Judge Woods, of Indiana; and it was +Harrison who appointed President Taft as a Federal Judge. He was +an exceptionally able President, and gave the country an excellent +administration. + +But at the same time he was probably the most unsatisfactory +President we ever had in the White House to those who must necessarily +come into personal contact with him. He was quite a public speaker, +and the story has often been told of him that if he should address +ten thousand men from a public platform, he would make every one +his friend; but that if he should meet each of those ten thousand +men personally, each man would go away his enemy. He lacked the +faculty of treating people in a manner to retain their friendship. +Even Senators and Representatives calling on official business he +would treat with scant courtesy. He scarcely ever invited any one +to have a chair. + +Senator Platt, of Connecticut, asked me one day if I was going to +the White House to dine that evening, stating that he had an +invitation. I told him no, that I had not yet been invited, that +I had never yet during the Harrison administration even been invited +to take a seat in the White House. Some one overheard the remark +and it was published in the newspapers. I visited the White House +shortly afterwards, and I assume that Harrison had seen it because +as soon as he saw me, without a smile on his face or a gleam in +his eye, he hastened to get me a chair, inviting me to be seated. +I declined to sit down, explaining that I was in a hurry, and closed +the business I had come for, and left. Afterwards he invited me +to dinner and treated me with marked consideration. + +I have sometimes wondered whether President Harrison's apparent +coldness may not be ascribed to an absorption in his duties that +made him unintentionally neglectful of the little amenities of +polite usage, they never even having occurred to him. Despite his +cold exterior and frigid manner, it may have been he was sympathetic +at heart. When the Tracey homestead was destroyed by fire, which +resulted in the death of several persons, including the daughter, +and finally resulted in the death of Mrs. Tracey, President Harrison +took the family into the White House and did everything a man could +do to relieve their sufferings. + +I suppose he treated me about as well in the way of patronage as +he did any other Senator; but whenever he did anything for me it +was done so ungraciously that the concession tended to anger rather +than please. + +In looking over the letters which I received from President Harrison, +I find one which would show that he placed considerable confidence +in my recommendations. + + "Executive Mansion, + "Washington, _Oct. 24, 1889_. + +"Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, + "Springfield, Ills. + +"My dear Senator:-- + +"I want to say a few words further to you about the Chicago +appointments. There has been for some months a good deal of +complaint that changes were not made. + +"I find that the Collector of Customs and the Collector of Internal +Revenue were appointed, the one Sept. 14, and the other Sept. 10, +1885, and that the first was confirmed May 17, 1886; and the last, +April 17, 1886. I do not have before me the record as to the +appointment of the United States District Attorney. The Assistant +Treasurer was appointed Sept. 29, 1885, and confirmed May 6, 1886. +If there had been no question raised as to the qualifications and +fitness of the persons recommended, it is quite possible that I +would have taken some steps in the matter during this month; but +the fact is, as you have told me, that at least one, and possibly +two, of the persons suggested were not of a high order of fitness, +to say the least, and some members of your Congressional delegation +interested have given me the same impression, while from outside +sources there have been a good many things said to the prejudice +of persons named for appointment. I am informed that Senator +Farwell desires to leave the case just where his recommendations +have placed it, feeling that he cannot change to any one else. I +write to know whether you also feel in that way, or whether you +desire to make any further suggestions about the matter. I have +no other purpose in connection with these appointments than to find +men, the mention of whose names will commend them to the great +business community they are to serve. No one of those named, so +far as I know, is suggestive of any personal claim upon me, and I +have no personal ends to serve. You agreed with me, I think, when +we conversed, that the appointees there should be men of as high +character for integrity and intelligence, etc., as those they would +supersede. + +"In the case of the Assistant Treasurer I found on examining the +papers yesterday, very full and strong papers for Mr. Nichols, whom +I do not know. He is supported, apparently, by the bankers and +many leading merchants of Chicago, and their letters give in detail +his business character and experience. Of the gentleman recommended +by you and Senator Farwell, there is absolutely nothing said in +the papers, so that Mr. Windom or I could have any information as +to whether his business experience had been such as to fit him for +this place. Now, I am sure that on reflection you will agree that +we ought to have full information, and that it should be upon +record. + +"I told Mr. Taylor, in conversation, day before yesterday, that I +could not appoint Mr. Babcock marshal, as I told you when you were +here; and I remember that you said you had yourself refused to +recommend him. If things have assumed that shape that you are of +the opinion that it must be left to me as it stands, then I will +do the best I can with it. I do not conceal the fact that after +the essential of fitness is secured that I have a desire to please +our party friends in these selections. But I cannot escape the +responsibility for the appointments, and must therefore insist upon +full information about the persons presented, and upon my ultimate +right, in all kindness to everybody, to decide upon what must be +done. It would be very gratifying to me if the responsibility were +placed upon some one else. + +"Please let me have any suggestions you may care to make. + + "Very truly yours, + "Benj. Harrison. + +"P. S. Responding to your telegram asking delay till Nov. 5, I +would say that I have no disposition to hurry a decision. Others +have been pressing me and complaining bitterly of delay. I think, +however, that the sooner some of these cases can be treated as +submitted for decision the better. If the appointments are delayed +till the middle of Nov. there is little use of making temporary +appointments, as the appointee would have to make two bonds. If +you can in writing, confidentially if you prefer, give me your +views and submit any alternative suggestions for these places I +will carefully consider them. But if you prefer to see me personally +before any decision is made as to Collector of the Port I will of +course lay that case to one side till the time you have suggested. + + "Yours, + "B. H." + +I never became entirely estranged from him, however, and when his +term was about to expire, and he wanted a renomination, I supported +him. My motive in so doing was not so much that I favored Harrison +as because I felt outraged at the way _The Chicago Tribune_ had +treated me. The _Tribune_ was then supporting Blaine with all its +power, and I determined that Mr. Medill should not have his way; +hence I became one of the leaders in the renomination of President +Harrison. + +Before leaving Washington for the convention I called to see the +President to learn what information he had to impart to me as one +of the delegates who expected to support him. He was more friendly, +free, and frank than he had ever been during his term as President. +We talked about different things, and in the course of the conversation +he adverted to Secretary Blaine. + +Harrison and Blaine had fallen out. Jealousy was probably at the +bottom of their disaffection. Harrison did not treat Blaine with +that degree of confidence and courtesy one would expect from the +Chief Executive to the premier of his cabinet; while on the other +hand Blaine hated Harrison and was plotting more or less against +him while he was a member of the cabinet. The President talked +very freely about Mr. Blaine. He declared that he had been doing +the work of the State Department himself for a year or more; that +he had prepared every important official document, and had the +originals in his own handwriting in the desk before him. And yet, +he said, Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, was giving out accounts +of what was being done in the State Department, taking all the +credit to himself. He expressed himself as being perfectly willing, +to use a familiar figure, to carry a soldier's knapsack when the +soldier was sore of foot and tired, and all that he wanted in return +was acknowledgment of the act and a show of appreciation. This +was all he expected of Mr. Blaine. He said, in closing the +conversation, that he intended some day to disclose the true +condition of their relations. + +The Harrison Administration was a very busy one, and should have +been a very satisfactory one to the country at large. The first +great subject taken up by Congress was the tariff, the final +disposition of which was embodied in what afterwards became known +as the "McKinley Tariff Bill." I never thought that Mr. McKinley +showed any particular skill in framing that tariff. My understanding +is that it was prepared by the majority of the Committee on Ways +and Means. + +The manufacturers of the country appeared before that committee +and made known what protective duties they thought they ought to +have in order to carry on their industries, and the committee gave +them just about the rate of duty they desired. It was a high +protective tariff, dictated by the manufacturers of the country. +It resulted in a great stimulus to the country's industries, and +great prosperity followed its enactment. It has been difficult +from then till now to reduce duties below the McKinley rate. The +manufacturers have since persisted and insisted upon higher duties +than they really ought to have. + +I may remark here, in passing, that the McKinley Law was not passed +until October, and we were immediately plunged into the campaign. +The McKinley Law was the issue, and the Democrats swept everything +before them, carrying the House by the overwhelming majority of +ninety-seven. The Senate still remained Republican, forty-seven +Republicans to thirty-nine Democrats. McKinley himself was beaten +and never afterwards returned to Congress. + +It is strange what a revolution periodically occurs among the voters +of the United States. When the Mills Bill was the issue the +Democratic party was beaten, and badly beaten; the Republican party +came into power; the McKinley Bill was passed, and we suffered +about as bad a defeat as had the Democrats two years previously. +The difference was that the Democrats were cleaned out on the shadow +of an issue, without the reality (the Mills Bill never having become +a law), and we went down in defeat on the reality, the McKinley +Bill having become a law. + +It was during this time also that the bill known as the Sherman +Law, or the Coinage Act of 1890, was passed, which directed the +purchase of silver bullion to the aggregate of 4,500,000 ounces in +each month, and the issuance for such purchases silver bullion +treasury notes. This was probably the beginning of the silver +agitation. It created a long discussion in the Senate and House, +and that subject was constantly before Congress until it was finally +settled by the election of McKinley, in 1896. + +It was this Congress also that passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act +(April 8, 1890). It was one of the most important enactments ever +passed by Congress; and yet, if it were strictly and literally +enforced, the business of the country would have come to a standstill. +The courts have given it a very broad construction, making it cover +contracts never contemplated when the act was passed. It was never +seriously enforced until the coming in of the Roosevelt Administration, +when the great prosperity brought about under the McKinley +Administration tended to the formation of vast combinations which +seriously threatened the country. The people do not seem disposed +to consent even to its amendment, much less its repeal; and yet we +all realize that if strictly enforced as construed by our courts, +it would materially affect the business prosperity of the nation. +The people take the same attitude towards the Sherman Law as they +take toward the anti-pooling section of the Interstate Commerce +Act; they will allow neither of them to be tampered with by Congress. +There has been considerable dispute as to the paternity of the +Sherman Anti-Trust Law. Senator Hoar claims he wrote it; it bears +Senator Sherman's name; and my own opinion is that Senator Edmunds +had more to do with framing it than any other one Senator. + +It was during the first and second session of the Fifty-first +Congress that the Federal Election Bill, so-called, or as it is +familiarly known, the "Force Bill," was discussed. It was in charge +of Senator Hoar, and occupied the attention of both sessions for a +long time. The Republicans seemed determined to force it through, +but the Democrats from the South were bitterly opposed to it, +resorting to all sorts of tactics to kill or delay it. + +This measure I never considered much of a "force" bill. I could +never see that there was any force to it, but on the contrary, +considered it a very mild measure, and gave it my support. The +opposition to it was so bitter and strong and so skillfully managed +by the late Senator Gorman on the part of the minority, and it +stood for so long a time in the way of other legislation, that one +after Senator Wolcott arose in his seat and, very much to the +astonishment of every one, moved to lay it aside and take up some +other bill. The motion carried, and that was the last we heard of +the Force Bill. + +The McKinley Tariff, the Anti-Trust Law, the Sherman Coinage Act, +and the Federal Election Bill were the important bills passed before +this Congress. + +Notwithstanding the magnificent record in the way of legislation +made by the first Congress under the Harrison Administration, the +Democratic victory was so complete that at the beginning of the +first session of the Fifty-second Congress, which met December 7, +1891, there were but eighty-eight Republicans in the House, as +against two hundred and thirty-six Democrats, and Mr. Charles F. +Crisp, of Georgia, was elected Speaker. The Senate still remained +in the control of the Republicans. + +It was during this Congress that the silver agitation came to the +front as one of the foremost issues. Senator Stewart of Nevada, +introduced his bill for the free coinage of gold and silver bullion. +The free coinage question consumed months of the time of both Senate +and House, and finally came to naught. + +The Act to establish the World's Fair at Chicago was passed. I +took a very active interest in this in behalf of Chicago. A meeting +was held in the Marble Room of the Capitol, where Senator Depew +represented New York, and Colonel Thomas B. Bryan, Chicago. They +each made a speech. Very much to my surprise, Colonel Bryan's was +the more effective. We afterwards, by all sorts of efforts in the +House and Senate, captured the location for Chicago. The Fair, +when it was finally held, was the greatest world's fair ever known. +There was an almost utter abandon in the expenditure of money, and +Congress assisted by a liberal appropriation. That Fair was a +great injury, rather than a benefit, to the city of Chicago. The +hard times came on, and it was years before the city was restored +to normal conditions. + +Toward the end of this session, the Homestead riots were a subject +of debate and investigation by Congress. A Presidential campaign +was approaching, and the Democrats were eager to throw upon the +Republicans the blame for all labor disturbances, the riots at +Homestead in particular. + + +CHAPTER XVIII +CLEVELAND'S SECOND TERM +1892 to 1896 + +I have already, in other parts of these recollections, referred to +the National Convention of 1892, and the reasons which induced me +to support President Harrison for renomination. I attended as one +of the delegates, and took a more or less active part in the work +of the convention. Harrison was chosen on the first ballot. No +other candidate had any chance. Mr. Blaine and Mr. McKinley on +that ballot received one hundred and eighty-two votes each, but +neither was really considered for the nomination. + +Grover Cleveland, of course, was the principal candidate before +the Democratic Convention, and had no serious opposition aside from +the bitter personal enmity evinced toward him by David B. Hill, of +New York, who had succeeded him as Governor of that State, and had +hoped to succeed him as President. Senator Hill has only recently +passed away. He was one of the most astute and ablest politicians +in the history of the Democratic party. President Cleveland +determined, for some reason or other, to drive him out of public +life, and he succeeded in doing so during his second administration +as President. + +The campaign of 1892, just as the previous Presidential campaign +had been, was entirely fought out on the tariff issue; and the +question in general was the McKinley Law and its results. The +Democrats were able to show that there had been increase in cost +in many articles regarded as necessaries, while the Republicans +pointed to a great era of national prosperity. The Republicans +contended also that wages had advanced and prices declined under +the McKinley Law; but I have always doubted whether we were able +to sustain that contention. For instance, the department stores +and retail merchants generally marked up prices, and wholly without +reason, on articles on which there had been no increase in the +tariff; and when asked why, they would reply, "It is because of +the McKinley tariff." + +For these economic reasons, added to the labor disturbances, Mr. +Cleveland was again elected President of the United States, and +carried with him for the first time both the Senate and the House. +The Democrats now had complete control of all branches of the +Government, and were in a position, if united, to enact any +legislation they might desire. The result of the election was a +complete surprise to every one. Why the voters should have turned +against the Republican administration, it is hard to say. Mr. +Harrison's personality had much to do with it. + +The times were never more prosperous. In his message to the Congress +which convened after his defeat, President Harrison appositely +said: "There never has been a time in our history when work was +so abundant, or when wages were so high, whether measured in the +currency in which they are paid, or by their power to supply the +necessaries and comforts of life." And yet, with this admitted +condition prevailing, the Democratic party was returned to power. + +I felt very badly over President Harrison's defeat, as I had done +everything I could to secure, first, his renomination and then his +re-election. After the election I wrote President Harrison as +follows: + + "U. S. Senate Chamber, + "Washington, D. C., _Nov. 11, 1890_. + +"Dear Mr. President:-- + +"I have delayed writing you since the election for the reason that +the result so surprised me I scarcely knew what to make of it. We +lost Illinois by the overwhelming Democratic vote in Chicago. I +feared that city all the time, but was assured by the committees +that it would not be very much against us. I said all the time +that we would take care of the country and carry the State if the +Cook County vote could be kept below ten thousand Democratic, and +was assured by all hands there that it would be. We did carry the +country about as heretofore. As things have gone bad nearly +everywhere, I am not feeling so chagrined as I would if Illinois +had been the pivotal State. I specially desire to say that the +cause of the defeat does not lie at your door personally. Any man +in the country standing upon the doctrine of high protection would +have been defeated. The people sat down upon the McKinley Tariff +Bill two years ago, and they have never gotten up. They were +thoroughly imbued with the feeling that the party did not do right +in revising the tariff up instead of down. They beat us for it in +'90 and now again. + +"Hoping to see you in ten days, I am, with great respect, + + "Truly yours, + "S. M. Cullom." + +Curtis, in his work on the Republican party, in commenting on the +result of this election, said: + +"It will be seen that to the Solid South were added, California, +Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, +and Wisconsin; while Mr. Cleveland obtained one electoral vote in +Ohio, and five in Michigan. The result was certainly disastrous, +and left no doubt that the people at large for the time being had +rebuked the Republican party for what they wrongly supposed to be +against their best interests. And yet, though a large majority of +the people had voted for Mr. Cleveland, they were probably sorry +for it within twenty-four hours after the election. There was no +such rejoicing as took place in 1885. In fact, as soon as it was +determined without doubt that the next Congress would be Democratic +in both branches, and would enable Mr. Cleveland and his party to +carry out their threats to repeal the McKinley Law and enact in +its stead a Free Trade measure, apprehension and alarm took possession +of the industrial and financial interests of the country, and could +the election have been held over again within ten days, it may be +estimated that a million or more votes would have been changed from +the Cleveland column to that of Harrison. The people, as it were, +awoke from a dream; they saw at once how they had been deceived by +the methods of the Democratic campaign managers, and how an incident +which had no bearing whatever upon the issue of the campaign had +influenced their vote in a time of temporary anger and resentment." + +This perfectly sums up the situation, as I now recollect it, on +the election of President Cleveland; it was the beginning of the +most protracted era of hard times that this country has ever known. + +Mr. Cleveland was inaugurated the second time on March 4, 1893, +and, as Mr. Curtis says, there was very little enthusiasm. The +ceremonies were quiet and unenlivened. + +Of course, it goes without saying, that I was not glad to see the +Democratic party returned to power; but I confess I was a little +pleased to meet President Cleveland in the White House again. His +manner, his treatment of those with whom he came in contact, was +so different from that of his predecessor, that it was a real +pleasure, rather than a burden, to call at the executive offices. + +Mr. Cleveland promptly proceeded to remove Republicans from +Presidential offices and appoint Democrats. This even went to the +extent of the removal of postmasters, large and small, against whom +almost any sort of charge might be trumped up. + +Adlai E. Stevenson was a past master in this respect. He was First +Assistant Postmaster-General under Cleveland's first Administration +and removed Republican postmasters whose terms had not expired, +without cause or reason. He was elected Vice-President when Mr. +Cleveland again came into office. He was a great favorite among +the Democrats, because he believed in appointing Democrats to every +office within the gift of the Executive. + +I remember, after Stevenson was elected, Senator Harris, of Tennessee, +remarking to me: "Now we have got Cleveland and Stevenson elected, +if Cleveland would drop out and Stevenson was President, we would +get along finely." He meant that Stevenson would never permit a +single Republican to remain in office, if he could help it. + +Mr. Stevenson made a popular presiding-officer of the Senate. He +has been a strong Democrat all his life, and it has repeatedly been +charged against him, although I believe he denies it, that he was +a Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He served in Congress +two terms, having been elected from the Bloomington district, and +was quite an influential member. He was defeated as a candidate +for Vice-President with Mr. Bryan in 1900, and was also defeated +as a candidate of the Democratic party for Governor of Illinois, +in 1908. + +As a candidate for Governor he made a splendid showing in 1908, as +he was defeated by 23,164 votes, while President Taft carried +Illinois by 179,122. + +President Cleveland's Cabinet contained some very able men. He +appointed Judge Walter Q. Gresham as Secretary of State. Why he +should have appointed Gresham, I do not know. It would seem to me +that there were men of as much ability in his own party whom he +might have selected, but for some reason or other he did appoint +him. + +Judge Gresham was then serving as United States Circuit Judge, at +Chicago. He had always been a Republican, and in the convention +which nominated Harrison he received on one ballot one hundred and +twenty-three votes as the candidate of the Republican party for +President of the United States. He probably supported Mr. Cleveland, +although of this I am not sure. He was a bitter enemy of President +Harrison,--so much so, indeed, that he could scarcely be polite to +any one whom he thought favored Harrison. He was holding court in +Springfield, during the Harrison Administration, when I met him, +and, not appreciating his feeling, I casually commended President +Harrison for some particular thing which I approved. Gresham did +not like it, and he almost told me in so many words that he did +not think much of me or any one else who thought well of Harrison. +Whereupon we separated somewhat coolly, I giving him to understand +that I would insist upon my views and my right to commend a man +who I thought was following a proper course. I do not believe he +ever avowed himself a Democrat, and in the State Department he +always declined to make any recommendations for appointments, on +the ground that he was not a Democrat, and that those appointments +must be left to the President himself. I had more or less intercourse +with him as Secretary of State, and always found him polite and +agreeable. He was regarded as an able Secretary, and served in +that office until his death. + +Richard Olney succeeded him as Secretary of State. He had been +the Attorney-General in the cabinet. He was to me a much more +satisfactory Secretary than Judge Gresham, and fully as able as a +lawyer. + +John G. Carlisle was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. He had +been seven times elected to Congress and three times Speaker. He +resigned his seat in the House, having been elected as a member of +the Senate from Kentucky, and remained in the Senate until he +resigned to accept the position of Secretary of the Treasury under +Cleveland. + +Mr. Carlisle was in entire harmony with the President on the tariff +and also on the monetary questions--and, indeed, I remark here that +Mr. Carlisle had very much to do toward the defeat of Mr. Bryan in +1896. Although a life-long Democrat himself, he believed that Mr. +Bryan's theories on the monetary question would ruin the country, +and he stood with Mr. Cleveland in opposing his election. Had +Cleveland, Carlisle, and other patriotic Gold Democrats stood with +their party, Mr. Bryan would probably have been elected and the +history of this country would have been written differently. + +After Mr. Cleveland's election, our industrial conditions became +so depressed--and it was alleged by many that the cause for this +was the Sherman Coinage Act of 1890--that a special session of +Congress was called to meet August 7, 1893. The President said in +his message to this Congress: + +"The existence of an alarming and extraordinary business situation, +involving the welfare and prosperity of all our people, has +constrained me to call in extra session the people's representatives +in Congress, to the end that through a wise and patriotic exercise +fo the legislative duty with which they are solely charged, present +evils may be mitigated and danger threatening the future may be +averted. . . . With plenteous crops, with abundant promise of +remunerative production and manufacture, with unusual invitation +to safe investment, and with satisfactory returns to business +enterprise, suddenly financial fear and distrust have sprung up on +every side. . . . Values supposed to be fixed are fast becoming +conjectural, and loss and failure have involved every branch of +business. I believe these things are principally chargeable to +Congressional legislation touching the purchase and coinage of +silver by the general Government." + +And Mr. Cleveland earnestly recommended the prompt repeal of the +Sherman Coinage Act of 1890. + +The extra session continued until October 30, when the Sherman Act +was finally repealed. + +But the repeal of the Sherman Act did not at all remedy industrial +conditions. It was not the Sherman Act that was at fault, but the +well-grounded fear on the part of our manufacturers of the passage +of a free trade measure. The panic commenced, it is true, under +the McKinley Bill, but it was the direct result of what the business +interests felt sure was to come; and that was the passage of a +Democratic Tariff act. + +The year 1893 closed with the prices of many products at the lowest +ever known, with many workers seeking in vain for work, and with +charity laboring to keep back suffering and starvation in all our +cities. And yet, in view of the condition, Mr. Cleveland sent to +Congress at the beginning of the annual session a free trade message, +advocating the repeal of the McKinley Act and the passage of a +Democratic free trade, or Tariff for Revenue, measure. From the +tone of this message, however, he seems to have changed somewhat +from his message of 1887; yet it was strong enough to startle the +business interests, and make more widespread financial panic. + +Speaker Crisp at once proceeded to the formation of the committees +of the House, and particularly the Committee on Ways and Means. + +I was naturally anxious concerning our industries in Illinois, and +I wanted one of our strongest Illinois Representatives placed on +that committee. I happened to enjoy particularly friendly relations +with Mr. Crisp, he having been a House conferee on the Interstate +Commerce Act of 1887, and I felt quite free to call upon him. +After looking over the Illinois delegation, I came to the conclusion +that the Hon. A. J. Hopkins, my late colleague in the Senate, and +who was then serving in the House, was the very best man he could +select for that place. I urged Mr. Crisp to appoint him, saying +that he was capable of doing more and better work on the committee +than any other man in the delegation. Crisp was very nice about +it, and whether he did it on my recommendation or not I do not +know; but he appointed Hopkins. Senator Hopkins was, during his +service on that committee, regarded as one of its leading members, +and had a prominent part in framing the Dingley tariff. He served +in the House until elected to the Senate, where he remained for +six years. Senator Hopkins is an able man, and was constantly +growing in influence and power in the Senate. He was an agreeable +colleague, and I regretted very much indeed that he was not re- +elected. + +It did not take long for the Democratic majority of the Committee +on Ways and Means of the House to frame and report the Wilson Bill, +repealing the McKinley Bill, and recommending in its stead the +enactment of a Tariff for Revenue, which was fairly in harmony with +Democratic Free Trade principles, and in harmony with the President's +message. The bill was passed without long delay, Mr. Reed leading +the ineffectual opposition to its passage in the House, with a +speech of great eloquence, in which he depicted conditions that +would surely arise after the passage of such a measure. + +But this bill still had to run the gantlet of the Senate, where +many Democratic Senators did not sympathize to the full extent with +the Cleveland-Carlisle Free Trade theory. Senators Gorman, Hill, +Murphy, Jones, Brice, and Smith of New Jersey, led the opposition, +uniting with the Republicans in securing some seven hundred +amendments, all in the interest, more or less, of Protection. + +The truth is, we were all--Democrats as well as Republicans--trying +to get in amendments in the interest of protecting the industries +of our respective States. I myself secured the adoption of many +such amendments. After I had exhausted every resource, I went to +Senator Brice one day and asked him if he would not offer some +little amendment for me, as I felt pretty sure that if Brice offered +it it would be adopted, and I knew if I did it myself it stood a +good chance of being defeated. Brice, by the way, was a very bluff, +frank man; he replied to me, half jocularly, "Now, you know when +your party is in power you will never do anything for a Democrat, +and I won't offer this amendment for you. You go and get your +colleague, Senator Palmer, to offer it for you." I left him and +went to General Palmer; he presented the amendment, and it was +adopted. + +The bill passed the Senate; and after going to conference, when it +seemed likely the Conference Committee would not agree, the Democratic +leaders of the House, fearing the bill would fail entirely, decided +to surrender to the Senate and accept the Senate bill with all its +amendments. President Cleveland denounced this temporizing, coining +the famous expression, "party perfidy and party dishonor" in the +Wilson letter, evidently referring to Mr. Gorman and other leaders +of the Senate. + +There has been endless controversy and discussion over the attitude +of Senator Gorman on the Wilson Bill. I myself have always believed +that Senator Gorman felt that the industries of the country could +not prosper under a Democratic Free Trade Tariff, and that he was +willing to afford them a certain amount of protection. Especially +was he criticised on account of the sugar schedule. Senator Tillman +in his memorial address in the Senate, on the occasion of the +delivery of eulogies on Senator Gorman, said in reference to this: + +"In the conversations I had with the Democratic leaders, it was +clearly brought out that the sugar refineries were ready to contribute +to the Democratic campaign fund if it could be understood that the +industry would be fostered and not destroyed by the Democratic +Tariff policy, and I received the impression, which became indelibly +fixed on my mind then and remains fixed to this day, that President +Cleveland understood the situation and was willing to acquiesce in +it if we won at the polls. I did not talk with Mr. Cleveland in +person on this subject, though I called at his hotel to pay my +respects, and I am thoroughly satisfied that the charge of party +perfidy and party dishonor was an act of the grossest wrong and +cruelty to Senator Gorman. If Mr. Cleveland, as I was told, knew +of these negotiations and was the beneficiary of such a contribution, +it is inconceivable how he could lend his great name and influence +toward destroying Senator Gorman's influence and popularity, in +the way he did." + +Senator Gorman himself was very justly indignant and displayed much +feeling when he addressed the Senate on July 23, 1894, replying to +Mr. Cleveland's letter. + +He used, in part, the following language: + +"As I have said, sir, this is a most extraordinary proceeding for +a Democrat, elected to the highest place in the Government, and +fellow Democrats in another high place, where they have the right +to speak and legislate generally, to join with the commune in +traducing the Senate of the United States, to blacken the character +of Senators who are as honorable as they are, who are as patriotic +as they ever can be, who have done as much to serve their party as +men who are now the beneficiaries of your labor and mine, to taunt +and jeer us before the country as the advocates of trust and as +guilty of dishonor and perfidy." + +It was a Democratic controversy, and I am not in a position to say +whether Mr. Cleveland or Mr. Gorman was right; whether it was a +bargain in advance of the election to secure campaign funds; whether +the sugar schedule was framed to secure the support of the Louisiana +Senators; but I do know that Mr. Cleveland's attacks on Mr. Gorman +turned the State of Maryland over to the Republicans and relegated +Mr. Gorman to private life. + +The Wilson Bill became a law without the approval of the President, +Mr. Cleveland taking the position that he would not permit himself +to be separated from his party to such an extent as might be implied +by a veto of the tariff legislation which, though disappointing to +him, he said was still chargeable to Democratic efforts. + +There was one provision of the Wilson Bill which, I have been +convinced since, was a very wise measure, and which will yet be +enacted into law; and that is the income tax provision. That bill +provided for a tax of two per cent on incomes above four thousand +dollars. A separate vote was taken on this section and I voted +against it. It was Republican policy then to oppose an income-tax, +and the view I took then was, that if we started out taxing incomes +the end would be that we would derive, from the source, sufficient +amount of revenue to run the Government and that it would gradually +break down the protective policy. It was declared unconstitutional +by a vote of five to four of the Supreme Court. A previous income- +tax had been declared constitutional during the Civil War, and I +am very strongly of the opinion that if the case is again presented +to the Court the decision will be in harmony with the first decision, +overruling the decision of 1895. An income-tax is the fairest of +all taxes. It is resorted to by every other nation. It falls most +heavily on those who can best afford it. The sentiment in the +Republican party has changed, and I believe that at no far distant +day Congress will pass an income-tax as well as an inheritance-tax +law. + +The passage of the Wilson Bill increased, rather than diminished, +the hard times commencing with the panic of 1893. The Democratic +party, or the free silver element of it, claimed that the panacea +was the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen +to one. The silver question was argued week after week in both +branches of Congress, and was never finally settled until the +election of McKinley and the establishment by law of the Gold +Standard. In recent years we hear very little about free silver; +but the Democratic party split on that issue, Mr. Cleveland heading +the faction in favor of sound money. + +In those closing days of the Cleveland Administration, it was very +seldom that a Democratic Senator was seen at the White House. The +President became completely estranged from the members of his party +in both House and Senate, but it seemed to bother him little. He +went ahead doing his duty as he saw it, utterly disregarding the +wishes of the members of his party in Congress. + +I saw him many times during this period, and I remember on one +occasion I had seen a notice in one of the papers indicating that +the President was about to appoint my old friend Mr. Charles Ridgely, +of Springfield, Illinois, as Comptroller of the Currency. I had +the highest regard for Mr. Ridgely, and I called at the White House +to congratulate the President on the selection. He seemed to be +out of humor, and was more than usually abrupt. He declared that +he knew nothing about it, that he did not know Ridgely, and never +had had any intention of appointing him. I repeated that I had +seen the announcement in a newspaper, adding that it looked to me +as though the report were authentic, and that I only wanted to +congratulate him. But the President merely reiterated, somewhat +curtly, that he knew nothing about it. I became a little annoyed, +finally losing my temper. + +"I don't care a damn whether you appoint him or not," I exclaimed; +"Ridgely's a Democrat, anyhow." + +Thereupon his attitude quickly changed, and he inquired about +Ridgely, listening with interest to what I had to say. He then +talked with me on the silver question and other matters, detaining +me while he kept his back to the crowd waiting to see him. I almost +had to break away in order to give others a chance. + +Among the other embarrassments and difficulties of the Cleveland +Administration were the famous Chicago riots of 1893. The trouble +grew out of a railroad strike; much damage was done and a great +deal of property was destroyed, with consequent loss of life. The +city itself seemed to be threatened, the business and manufacturing +interests appealed to the Governor first, and then to the President, +to send troops to Chicago to protect property. When the Governor +failed to act, the President ordered Federal troops to Chicago. +The action was regarded as very wise, and it endeared him to the +business people of that city. Governor Altgeld protested, and that +was one of the reasons why he became Mr. Cleveland's most bitter +enemy. + +I think I should say a few words in reference to Governor Altgeld. +He has been called an anarchist and a socialist. In my judgment, +he was neither. Of his honesty, his integrity, his sincerity of +purpose, his determination to give the State a good administration, +I never had the slightest doubt. The mainspring of the trouble, +I believe, was an inability to select good men for public office. +He was not a good judge of men; he surrounded himself with a coterie +that betrayed his trust and used the State offices for personal +gain. I have always sympathized with Governor Altgeld. Had he +been eligible I believe he would have been the nominee of his party +for the Presidency; but he was born abroad. + +One can scarcely imagine industrial conditions in a worse state +than they were at the close of the Cleveland Administration. The +election of a Republican Congress in 1894 had helped some, but the +revenues were not sufficient to meet the ordinary running expenses +of the Government; bonds had to be issued, labor was out of +employment, the mills and factories were closed, and business was +at a standstill. + +This was the condition of affairs when the Republican National +Convention assembled in 1896. + + +CHAPTER XIX +McKINLEY'S PRESIDENCY +1896 to 1901 + +The hard times, the business depression, all attributable to the +Wilson Tariff Bill, made the Republicans turn instinctively to +Governor McKinley, the well-known advocate of a high protective +tariff, as the nominee of the Republican party, who would lead it +to victory at the polls. + +The Republican National Convention of 1896 was held at St. Louis. +It was one of the few national conventions which I failed to attend. +Since entering the Senate, I have been usually honored by my party +colleagues in the State by being made chairman of the Illinois +delegation to Republican national conventions. But for some reason +or other--just why I do not now recollect--I was not a delegate to +the St. Louis Convention. Congress was in session until near the +time when the convention was to meet, and Mr. McKinley, who, it +was well known, would be the nominee of the party, invited me to +stop off in Canton on my way from Washington to Illinois and spend +a day with him. I did so, arriving at Canton about nine in the +morning, Mr. McKinley meeting me at the station and driving me to +his house, where I remained until my train left at nine in the +evening. From his residence in Canton, I wired the Illinois +delegation, appealing them to vote for McKinley. He received all +but two of the votes of the delegation. He was nominated without +any serious opposition, through the brilliant generalship of that +master of party manipulation, the Hon. Marcus A. Hanna. + +I was talked about a little as a candidate for President during +the closing days of the Cleveland Administration. I was urged to +lend my name for the purpose, particularly by men in the East whom +I always regarded as my friends. I afterwards learned, although +I was not so informed at the time, that they had determined to beat +McKinley at all hazards and nominate Speaker Reed if they could, +their policy being to have the different States send delegations +in favor of "favorite sons." Senator Allison was selected as the +"favorite son" from Iowa, and efforts were made to carry the Illinois +delegation for me. They hoped by this means, when the delegates +assembled at St. Louis, to agree on some one, almost any one, except +McKinley--Reed if they could, or Allison, or me. + +Mr. McKinley, through friends, about this time offered me all sorts +of inducements to withdraw. Judge Grosscup was the intermediary, +and there was hardly anything in the Administration, or hardly any +promise, he would not have made me if I had consented to withdraw. +I felt that I could not do so. When they found it was impossible +to beg me off they determined to carry the State over me. Money +was spent freely in characteristic Hanna fashion, his motto being, +"accomplish results." McKinley was exceedingly popular, in addition, +and after our State Convention had assembled and endorsed him, I +withdrew from the contest. At the time I thought that if I could +have carried the delegation from my own State, as Senator Allison +did his, it would have broken the McKinley boom, and one or the +other of us would have been nominated. But as I look back on it +now, it seems to me that no one could have beaten McKinley; and +even if he had lost Illinois, as he lost Iowa, he still would have +had sufficient delegates to secure his nomination. + +The McKinley campaign was one of the most interesting and quite +the liveliest in which I have ever participated. It was a campaign +of education from beginning to end. At first the Republicans tried +to make the tariff the issue, and in a sense it remained one of +the most important; but we were soon compelled to accept silver as +the issue, and fight it out on that line. Silver was comparatively +a new question; the people did not understand it, and they attended +the meetings, listening attentively to the campaign speeches. + +There was considerable satisfaction in speaking during the campaign +of 1896: one was always assured of a large and interested audience. +In addition to this, the prevailing sentiment was one of cheerful +good-feeling; and while there had been several candidates before +the St. Louis Convention, including Speaker Reed, Senator Allison, +and Levi P. Morton, the convention left no bitterness--the party +was united, and every Republican did his full duty. Southern +Illinois was a little uncertain; but it finally came around, and +the full Republican vote was cast for McKinley and Hobart. + +I took a very active part in this campaign. Mr. McKinley was +exceedingly polite to me and invited Senator Thurston and me to +open the campaign in Canton, which invitation I accepted, addressing +there a vast audience. It was said that some fifty or seventy-five +thousand people were assembled there that day. Subsequently I +spoke in Kentucky and Michigan, and made a thorough campaign in my +own State. + +While the Republicans were united, the Democrats were hopelessly +divided. The so-called Gold Democrats held a convention and +nominated my colleague, Senator Palmer, and General Buckner as its +candidates for President and Vice-President respectively. They +did not receive a very large vote, because I believe they advised +the Gold Democrats to vote for McKinley. The Gold Democrats had +great influence in the election. General Palmer was thoroughly in +earnest on the silver question, more so perhaps than any Democrat +whom I knew. He believed strongly in the Democratic doctrine on +the tariff, and was a Democrat on every other issue; but he could +not follow his party in espousing free silver. + +There was doubt all the time over the result of the election. +After the Democratic convention was held in Chicago, and in the +early Summer and Fall, the Democrats certainly seemed to have the +best of it; but later in the campaign, as the people became educated, +it began to look brighter. I was very much surprised at the result, +however. McKinley carried the election by a vote of 7,111,000 as +against 6,509,000 for Mr. Bryan, and the electoral vote by 271 as +against 176 for Mr. Bryan. + +When Mr. McKinley was inaugurated I cannot forget the expression +of apparent relief in President Cleveland's face, as he accompanied +his successor to the ceremony. He seemed rejoiced that he was +turning his great office over to Mr. McKinley. The last days of +his Administration had been troublesome ones. Estranged from his +own party, war clouds appearing in the near distance,--I do not +wonder that he gladly relinquished the office. + +Mr. McKinley came into office under the most favorable circumstances. +A Congress was elected fully in harmony with him, whose members +gladly acknowledged him as not only the titular, but the real head +of the Republican party. We never had a President who had more +influence with Congress than Mr. McKinley. Even President Lincoln +had difficulties with the leaders of Congress in his day, but I +have never heard of even the slightest friction between Mr. McKinley +and the party leaders in Senate and House. + +In many respects, President McKinley was a very great man. He +looked and acted the ideal President. He was always thoroughly +self-poised and deliberate; nothing ever seemed to excite him, and +he always maintained a proper dignity. He had the natural talent +and make-up to be successful to a marked degree in dealing with +people with whom he came into contact. He grew in popular favor +from the day of his election until his death, and I have always +maintained that he would go down in history as our most popular +President among all classes of people in all sections of the country. +His long training in public life--his service as a member of the +House and Governor of Ohio--had well fitted him for the high office +of President. He had many favorites whom he desired to get into +office; and on many occasions, instead of going ahead and appointing +his friends without consulting any one, he asked me if I would have +any objection to his appointing some personal friend living in +Illinois to one office or another in or out of the State. I always +yielded; in fact it was impossible to resist him. + +Illustrating this, there happened to be a vacancy in a Federal +Judgeship in Chicago. Presidents usually have selected their own +judges regardless of Senatorial recommendation, and McKinley selected +his; but he managed to secure Senatorial recommendation at the same +time. I was in favor of the appointment of a certain lawyer in +Chicago whom I regarded as thoroughly well qualified for the place, +and the President wanted to appoint Judge Christian C. Kohlsaat. +My colleague and I insisted for a long time on our recommendation. +The President and I debated the question frequently, he always +listening to me and seeming impressed with what I had to say, at +the same time remaining fully determined to have his own way in +the end. Finally, when I was in the executive office one day, he +came over to where I was and, putting his arm on my shoulder, said: +"Senator, you won't get mad at me if I appoint Judge Kohlsaat, +will you?" I replied: "Mr. President, I could not get mad at you +if I were to try." He sent the nomination in; Judge Kohlsaat was +confirmed, and is now serving on the United States Circuit Bench. + +Mr. McKinley wanted to appoint his old friend and commander, General +Powell, as Collector of Internal Revenue at East St. Louis. I did +not want General Powell to have the office, as I did not believe +he had rendered any service to the party sufficient to justify +giving him one of the general Federal offices in the State. State +Senator P. T. Chapman, who has since been elected to Congress +several times, and Hon. James A. Willoughby, then a member of the +Illinois State Senate, were both candidates, and I should have been +very glad to have had either one of them appointed. + +Chapman came to Washington to my office, where he waited while I +went to the White House to attempt to have the matter of the +appointment settled. I saw the President, to whom I expressed a +willingness to have the post of Collector of Internal Revenue for +the East St. Louis District to go either to Chapman or Willoughby. + +"Cullom," returned the President, "if you had come to me this way +in the first place, and urged me to appoint one of them, I would +have done it; but you have waited until everything is filled, and +now I must either appoint Powell to this place, or turn him out to +grass." He continued: "I was a boy when I entered the army, and +General Powell took me under his wing; he looked after me, and I +became very much attached to him. I was standing only a little +way off and saw him shot through." The tears came to the President's +eyes and ran down his cheeks. When I saw with what feeling he +regarded the matter, I threw up my hands. + +"I am through," said I; "I have nothing more to say." + +General Powell was given the office. This illustrates the manner +in which Mr. McKinley always managed to get his own way in the +matter of appointments without the slightest friction with Senators +and Representatives. + +During the early days of his Administration I did not feel so close +to him as I had felt toward some of his predecessors. I did not +feel that he quite forgave my not yielding to him, and declining +to become a candidate for President in 1896. He was always polite +to me, as he was to every one, yet I could not but feel that he +was holding me at arm's length. My colleague, Senator Mason, who +was an old friend of his, had secured a number of appointments, +and the President himself was constantly asking me to yield to the +appointment of this or that "original McKinley man," mostly either +my enemies or men of whom I knew nothing. I was much out of humor +about it, and several consular appointments having been made about +that time, I wrote some one in the State a letter setting forth +that those appointments were but the carrying out of promises made +in advance of McKinley's nomination. This letter, or a copy of +it, was sent to the President. I called at the White House one +day concerning the appointment of some man, whose name I do not +remember, but whom I regarded as my personal enemy. I told him I +had no objection, but that I regarded the man as a jackass. McKinley +evidently did not like my remark very well; he reached back on his +table, pulled out this letter, or a copy of it, and asked me if I +had written it. I replied that I did not know whether I had or +not, but that it sounded very much as I felt at the moment. He +said that he had not expected an expression of that sort from me. +Whereupon we had a general overhauling, in the course of which I +told him with considerable feeling that I had been more or less +intimate with every President since, and including, Mr. Lincoln, +and had always been treated frankly and not held at arm's length; +but with himself that I had been constantly made to feel that he +was reserved with me. We quarrelled about it a little, and finally +he asked me what I wanted done. I told him. He promptly promised +to do it, and did. + +That quarrel cleared the atmosphere, and we remained devoted friends +from that day until his death. + +Had it not been for the Hon. Marcus A. Hanna, Mr. McKinley would +probably never have been nominated or elected President of the +United States. + +I knew Mr. Hanna very many years before he became identified with +the late President McKinley. He always took an interest in Republican +politics, particularly in Ohio politics; and when Mr. Blaine was +a candidate for the Presidency, and I was campaigning in Ohio, I +rode with Mr. Hanna from Canton to Massillon, some seven or eight +miles distant, where a great meeting was held, with Mr. Blaine as +the central figure. I was even then very much impressed with Mr. +Hanna as a man of the very soundest judgment and common sense. + +But it was not until Mr. McKinley became a candidate for President +that Hanna took a very great interest in national political affairs. +He had the deepest affection for the late President, and was +determined that he should be nominated and elected President of +the United States, at whatever cost. Mr. Hanna took hold of Mr. +McKinley's campaign for the nomination and controlled it absolutely +and, to use the common expression, he "ran every other candidate +off the track." + +He came into Illinois and carried the State easily. He was not +sparing in the use of money, but believed in using it legitimately +in accomplishing results. + +It must have been a great satisfaction to him when the St. Louis +Convention nominated his candidate, William McKinley, of Ohio, on +the first ballot by a vote of 661 as against 84 votes for Thomas +B. Reed, of Maine, the next highest candidate. He had it all +organized so perfectly that the St. Louis convention was perfunctory +so far as Mr. McKinley's nomination was concerned. The Convention +recognized that it was Mr. Hanna had achieved this great triumph; +and after Senator Lodge, Governor Hastings, and Senators Platt and +Depew had moved that the nomination of Mr. McKinley be made unanimous, +a general call was made for Mr. Hanna. He finally yielded in a +very brief address: + +"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention:--I am glad there +was one member of this Convention who has had the intelligence at +this late hour to ascertain how this nomination was made--by the +people. What feeble effort I may have contributed to the result, +I am here to lay the fruits of it at the feet of my party and upon +the altar of my country. I am now ready to take my position in +the ranks alongside of my friend, General Henderson, and all good +Republicans from every State, and do the duty of a soldier until +next November." + +Naturally, Mr. Hanna was made chairman of the Republican National +Committee, and as such conducted Mr. McKinley's campaign for election +just as he had conducted the preliminary campaign for the nomination. +He there showed the shrewdest tact and ability in its management, +and many people believe that he elected McKinley very largely by +his own efforts. + +I do not know whether Mr. Hanna was very ambitious to enter the +Senate or not, but I do believe that Mr. McKinley saw that he would +be probably the most useful Senator to his Administration; and he +contrived to make a vacancy in the Senatorship from Ohio by inducing +John Sherman to accept the position of Secretary of State in his +Cabinet, thereby making a place for Mr. Hanna in the Senate. +Senator Sherman resigned to enter the State Department; and on +March 5, 1897, Mr. Hanna was appointed by Governor Bushnell to fill +the vacancy. + +From the very first Mr. Hanna took rank as one of the foremost +leaders of the Senate. Of course, he had everything in his favor. +He had nominated and elected McKinley; he had been Chairman of the +Republican National Committee, and it was known that he stood closer +to the President than any other man in public life. + +But notwithstanding this, he had the real ability naturally to +assume his place as a leader. He assumed a prominent place more +rapidly than any Senator whom I have ever known. He took hold of +legislation with a degree of skill and confidence that was remarkable, +and carried his measures thorough apparently by his own individual +efforts and energy. He changed the whole attitude of the Senate +concerning the route for an interoceanic canal. We all generally +favored the Nicaraguan route. Senator Hanna became convinced that +the Panama route was best, and he soon carried everything before +him to the end that the Panama route was selected. + +During the first McKinley campaign, Mark Hanna was probably the +most caricatured man in public life. He was made an issue in the +campaign and was usually pictured as being covered with money-bags +and dollars. But it is very strange how public sentiment changed +concerning him. Before the first McKinley Administration was over, +Mark Hanna enjoyed quite a degree of popularity; but it was not +until he entered the campaign of 1900 that he really became one of +the popular figures in American politics. + +Some one, I do not know who, induced him to go among the people +and show himself, and try to make some speeches. His first few +efforts were so successful that it was determined he should make +a speech-making tour. Senator Frye, of Maine, one of the oldest +and most experienced and finest orators in the country, accompanied +him on his tour. Senator Frye told me that he prevailed upon +Senator Hanna to make short campaign speeches first. He requested +him to try a fifteen-minute speech, then extend them to thirty +minutes. Before their tour was ended, he was making just as long +and just as good a speech as any old experienced campaigner. During +this campaign, there were more calls on the Republican National +Committee for Senator Hanna than there were for any other campaign +speaker. Everywhere he went he made friends, not only for President +McKinley, the nominee of the party, but for himself as well. Mark +Hanna became one of the most popular leaders in the Republican +party, and I have never for a moment doubted that he could have +been the nominee of the party for the Presidency in 1904, had he +consented to accept it. He told me in a private conversation had +been gratified when he had seen his great personal friend, Mr. +McKinley, twice elected President of the United States, and now +that he had passed away he had no particular ambition on his own +account. + +Mr. McKinley promptly proceeded to call a special session of +Congress, which convened March 15, 1897, and in which Mr. Reed was +elected Speaker of the House. This session was called for the +purpose of enacting a law for the raising of sufficient revenue to +carry on the Government; and on March 31 the Dingley Bill passed +the House. The bill was debated in the Senate for several weeks, +and after eight hundred and seventy-two amendments were incorporated, +it passed the Senate July 7, 1897. The conference report was agreed +to, and the act was approved July 24, 1897. The country was in +such condition then that we heard no complaint concerning the high +protective tariff. The Republicans were united in advocating such +a protective tariff as would enable the mills and factories to +open, thereby affording employment and restoring prosperity. + +From the election of President McKinley and the enactment of the +Dingley Law I do not hesitate to say that we can date the greatest +era of prosperity, and the greatest material advancement, of any +period of like duration in our history. + +Toward the close of the Cleveland Administration and all during +the first part of the McKinley Administration, conditions were +leading up inevitably to the Spanish-American War. The enthusiasm +of some Senators, especially Senator Proctor, of Vermont, and my +own colleague, Senator Mason, of Illinois, became so intense that +war was brought on before the country was really prepared for it. +Mr. McKinley held back. He knew the horrors of war and, if he +could avoid it, did not desire to see his country engage in +hostilities with any other country. He acted with great discretion, +holding things steadily until some degree of preparation was made; +and I have no doubt at all that the war would have been averted +had not the _Maine_ been destroyed in Havana harbor. The country +forced us into it after that appalling catastrophe. + +The entire Nation stood behind the President, and so did Congress. +One of the most dignified and impressive scenes I ever witnessed +since I became a member of the Senate was the passage of the bill +appropriating fifty million dollars to be expended under the +direction of the President, in order to carry on the war. The +Committee on Appropriations, of which I had long been a member, +directed Senator Hale to report the bill. It was agreed in committee +that we should endeavor to secure its passage without a single +speech for or against it. Some of the Senators who seemed disposed +to talk, were prevailed upon to desist, and it was passed without +any speeches. The ayes and nays were called, and amid the most +solemn silence the bill was passed. The galleries were crowded; +a great many members of the House were on the floor, and it reminded +me of the days when the great Reconstruction legislation was being +enacted, in the sixties. It was a demonstration to the country +and the world of our confidence in the President, and the determination +on the part of Congress to do what was necessary to uphold the +dignity and honor of the United States. The vote for the bill in +the Senate was unanimous. + +The war came on immediately afterwards. The history of it is yet +too fresh in the minds of the people to need repetition here. It +was soon over, and with its conclusion came new and greater +responsibilities. Whether it was wise for the United States to +assume these new responsibilities, I am not prepared to say. Time +alone can determine that. + +I have always had great sympathy for General Russell A. Alger, of +Michigan, who was in President McKinley's Cabinet as Secretary of +War. It was not his fault that conditions in the War Department +were as they existed in 1897, when he assumed office. We must +remember that the country had enjoyed a continuous period of peace +from 1865 to 1898. We were unprepared for war, and in the scramble +and haste the Department of War was not administered satisfactorily, +the whole blame being laid upon General Alger. It had been the +policy of the Democratic party in Congress to oppose liberal +appropriations for the maintenance of the War Department and the +Army. Many Republicans thought that the best means of limiting +appropriations was in cutting down the estimates for the War +Department. They seemed to think that we would never again engage +in a foreign war. + +General Alger was a thoroughly honest man, of whose integrity I +never had any doubt. He was made the scapegoat, and President +McKinley practically was forced by public sentiment to demand his +resignation. Personally, I have always believed the President +should have stood by General Alger. I was much gratified when his +own people in Michigan showed their confidence in him, very soon +after he was forced out of the McKinley Cabinet, by electing him +to a seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the death of +the late Senator McMillan. + +During his Administration, President McKinley did me quite an honor +by appointing me chairman of a commission to visit the Hawaiian +Island, investigate conditions there, and report a form of government +for those islands. He appointed with me my colleague, Senator +Morgan of Alabama, and my friend the Hon. R. R. Hitt, chairman of +the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In all my public life this +was the second executive appointment that I ever received, the +first being from President Lincoln during the Civil War, to +investigate commissary and quartermasters' accounts, to which I +have already referred. + +It had been the well-known policy of the United States for many +years that in no event could the entity of Hawaiian statehood cease +by the passage of the islands under the domination or influence of +another power than the United States. Their annexation came about +as the natural result of the strengthening of the ties that bound +us to those islands for many years. The people had overthrown the +monarchy and set up a republic. It seemed certain that the republic +could not long exist, and they appealed to the United States for +annexation. The treaty of annexation was negotiated and then +ratified by Hawaii, but it was withdrawn by President Cleveland +before the Senate acted upon it; finally, the islands were annexed +by the passage of an act of Congress during the McKinley +Administration. + +It was under these circumstances that Senator Morgan, Mr. Hitt, +and I visited the islands. The appointment came about in this way. +I had been urging the President to appoint Mr. Rheuna Lawrence, of +Springfield, Illinois, as one of the commissioners. The Hon. James +A. Connolly, then representing the Springfield district in Congress, +had also been very active in trying to secure Lawrence's appointment. +He came to me in the Senate one day and told me that there was no +chance of Lawrence being appointed and that the President had +determined to appoint me. I told Connolly I did not see how I +could accept an appointment, under the circumstances, and that +Lawrence might misunderstand it. Connolly said he thought I must +take the place. The President himself afterwards talked with me +about it. I hesitated. He urged me, insisting that I could not +very well afford to decline. Finally I said that if he insisted, +I would accept. He nominated us to the Senate for confirmation. +This precipitated considerable debate in the Senate, for, by the +member of the Committee on the Judiciary, the appointment of Senators +and members on such a commission was regarded as unconstitutional; +but the committee determined to take no action on the nominations +at all, so we were neither confirmed nor rejected. President +McKinley urged us to go ahead, however, visit the islands, and make +our report, which we did. This was the beginning of expansion, or +Imperialism, in the campaign of 1900. + +One writer, in speaking of the acquisition of these islands, said: + +"One of the brightest episodes in American history was the acquisition +of the Hawaiian Islands, and Senator Cullom's name is prominently +associated with that act. He read aright our history as a nation +of expansionists. He was not afraid to permit the great republic +to become greater. He deemed it wise that to the lines of our +influence on land should be added a national influence on the seas. +This view was accepted by the people and by the national Legislature. +By President McKinley, Senator Cullom was appointed chairman of +the Hawaiian Commission, composed of Senator Morgan of Alabama, +and Congressman Hitt of Illinois, and Senator Cullom, to visit the +islands and frame a new law providing for their civil government +and defining their future relations with the United States. Since +the days of Clyde in India, few men have been clothed with a more +important duty than this commission, whose mission it was to prepare +a Government for the Hawaiian Islands. The bill recommended by +the commission was enacted by Congress, and stands as the organic +law of the islands to-day." + +We had an exceedingly interesting time in the Hawaiian Islands. +They were not known so well then as they are to-day. We visited +several of the islands composing the group, and publicly explained +our mission. The people seemed to have the impression that American +occupancy of the islands was only temporary, and that as soon as +the Spanish-American War was over they would return to old conditions. +We told them that annexation was permanent, and they would remain +a part of the United States for all time to come. I did not favor +giving them statehood. There was not a sufficient number of whites +and educated natives to justify giving them the franchise as an +independent State in the American Union. Senator Morgan and I +differed on this a great deal, and on several occasions in the +hearings of the commission, he stated that they were to become a +State. I always interposed to the effect that, so far as my +influence was concerned, they would remain a Territory. + +There was one island of the group called Molokai devoted entirely +to the care of lepers, leprosy being quite common in the Hawaiian +Islands. We deemed it our duty to visit this island as well as +the others. It was one of the most interesting and pathetic places +of which the human mind can conceive--a place of grim tragedies. +There were about twelve hundred lepers on the island, divided into +two colonies, one at each end of the island. The island itself +forms a natural fortress from which escape is almost impossible, +the sea on one side and mountains on the other. We spent the day +there and ate luncheon on the island. We saw the disease in all +its stages. We entered a schoolhouse in which there were a crowd +of young girls ranging from ten to sixteen years of age. They were +all lepers. They sang for us. It was very pathetic. We visited +the cemetery and saw the monument erected to the memory of a Catholic +priest, Father Damien, who went there from Chicago, to devote his +life to the spiritual care of the unfortunates, but who, like all +others residing on the island, finally succumbed to the disease. +We met an old lady at the cemetery and I asked her if there was +any danger of contracting the disease. She said there was not +unless we had some abrasions on the skin, and advised us as a matter +of caution to wear gloves. I promptly put mine on and kept them +on until I left the island. + +I was told that they expected me to speak to them, and I did make +them a speech. A large number of them assembled. I have addressed +many audiences in my life, but this was the queerest I was ever +obliged to face. There were men and women in all stages of the +disease. Leprosy attacks the fingers and they fall off, and some +natural instinct prompts the victim to hide his hands; but as my +speech was translated to them, in the excitement they would forget +and throw out their hands and applaud. It was a hideous sight and +I most fervently wish never to see the like of it again. + +For our expenses one hundred thousand dollars had been appropriated. +I am not one of those who believe in lavish expenditures of public +money by commissions. While I was willing as chairman of the +commission to permit travelling expenses and the reasonable +necessaries and probably the luxuries of life while abroad, yet I +differed with my colleague, Senator Morgan, and insisted that no +money should be spent for entertaining. Out of the hundred thousand +dollars we spent something like fifteen thousand; and Senator +Morgan, Mr. Hitt, and I agreed that it would not be lawful or right +for us to accept any compensation for our services as members of +the commission. Something like eight-five thousand dollars reverted +to the Treasury. + +We returned and made our report to Congress, and the bill which we +recommended was enacted. I do not think the present form of +government of Hawaii will be changed for many years to come. I +have regretted exceedingly that, despite the repeated recommendations +of Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, Congress has not seen fit to +make an appropriation to improve the harbor and fortify the islands. +It is true they afford us a coaling station in the middle of the +Pacific, but that is all. Should hostilities break out in the Far +East, our country being a party, it would be almost impossible for +us to defend them, and they would become easy prey to foreign +aggression. I hope that this policy will change in the near future, +and that Pearl Harbor will be improved and the islands fortified. + +The important events of the first McKinley Administration were the +enactment of the Dingley Tariff, the successful conclusion of the +war with Spain, the ratification of the Treaty of Peace, the +independence of Cuba, and the acquisition of Porto Rico, the +Philippines, and the Island of Guam; the establishment of the gold +standard by law, and the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. + +At the close of the Administration no one questioned that the +country was in a more prosperous condition than it ever had been +before, and that McKinley was probably the most popular President +that ever occupied the White House. He was unanimously nominated +at the Republican Convention, at Philadelphia, for a second term. + +The campaign of 1900 was fought out on the issue of Imperialism; +the tariff was almost forgotten, and the silver question was only +discussed incidentally. + +Mr. McKinley's popular vote was not much greater than it was in +1896. He received 7,207,000 as against 6,358,000 votes cast for +Mr. Bryan. + +During the short session which convened after his election, the +Platt amendment concerning our future relations with Cuba was +passed. The War Revenue Act was reduced. It was an uneventful +session, and Mr. McKinley was again inaugurated March 4, 1901. + +On September 6, 1901, the President attended the Buffalo Exposition, +accompanied by Mrs. McKinley and the members of his cabinet, and +during the reception which he held at the Temple of Music on that +day, he was shot and wounded by an assassin, one Leon F. Czolgosz. +After lingering along until Saturday, September 14, he passed away, +and Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-President, was sworn in as President +of the United States. On taking the oath of office, he uttered +but one sentence: + +"I wish to say that it shall be my aim to continue absolutely +unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace, prosperity, +and the honor of our beloved country." + + +CHAPTER XX +ROOSEVELT'S PRESIDENCY +1901 to 1909 + +Colonel Roosevelt served as President of the United States from +September 13, 1901, to March 4, 1909. What he accomplished during +those years is still too fresh in the minds of the people of the +United States to justify its recital by me here; suffice it to say +that he gave one of the best Administrations ever known in the +history of the United States. He accomplished more in that term +than any of his predecessors; more laws were enacted, laws of more +general benefit to the people; but above all, his Administration +enforced all laws on the statute books as they had never been +enforced before. + +The Sherman Anti-Trust Law was a dead letter until Mr. Roosevelt +instructed the Attorney-General to prosecute its violators, both +great and small. No fear or favor was shown in the enforcement of +the laws against the rich and poor alike. There were many other +notable features of his administration, but that, to my mind, stands +out conspicuously before all the others. By his speeches, by his +public messages, he awakened the slumbering conscience of the +Nation, and he made the violators of the law in high places come +to realize that they would receive the same punishment as the lowest +offenders. He did more than any of his predecessors to prevent +this country from drifting into socialism. + +I have known Colonel Roosevelt for many years. I knew him as Civil +Service Commissioner under President Harrison. In that position, +as in every other public office he held, he saw to it that the law +was strictly enforced. I once wrote him a note, when he was Civil +Service Commissioner, requesting him to act favorably on some +matter, which he considered was contrary to his duty. He promptly +returned this characteristic reply: "You have no right to ask me +to do this, and I have no right to do it." + +As Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President McKinley, he +was able, aggressive, and pushing in preparing the Navy for the +Spanish-American War. He seemed so interested in what he was doing +that he would appear to an outsider to be nervous and excitable. +My old friend, the Hon. W. I. Guffin, than whom there was no better +man, was visiting the Department with me one day, and I took occasion +to introduce him to Colonel Roosevelt, who was then Assistant +Secretary. Guffin was astonished at Roosevelt's manners and his +way of speaking, and I recall Guffin's remark when we left the +office. I was very much amused at it. He said: "Well, that is +Roosevelt, is it! He is one hell of a Secretary." Doubtless that +was the impression that Colonel Roosevelt left on many people whom +he met in the Navy Department, who did not know him and who had +not yet come to know the degree of promptness and ability with +which he despatched public business. + +I was at the Philadelphia Convention which nominated Colonel +Roosevelt for Vice-President. I know that he did not desire the +nomination, but it was thrust on him through the manipulation of +Senator T. C. Platt, of New York, then the acknowledged "easy boss" +of that State. Platt himself said afterwards that he did it to +get rid of him as Governor of New York, and that he regretted it +every day of his life after Roosevelt became President. The +politicians of New York did not want Roosevelt in control at Albany, +and they thought it would be an admirable plan to remove him from +the State, and eventually relegate him to private life--to nominate +him for Vice-President. But the fates willed differently, and the +nomination for Vice-President opened the way for him to become Mr. +McKinley's successor, in which position he made such a splendid +record that no one thought of opposing him for the nomination for +President in 1904. + +As President, Colonel Roosevelt was not popular with Senators +generally. Personally, I got along with him very well. In all +the years that he was President, I do not think he ever declined +to grant any favor that I asked of him, with one exception. In +that case, while he declined to give a very distinguished gentleman +in Illinois a position, for which I thought him admirably qualified, +and for which I was urging him, he later tendered him another +office, which my friend declined to accept. His methods of +transacting business were far more expeditious than those of any +of his predecessors. President McKinley, in every case, insisted +on Senators placing in writing their recommendations for Federal +offices; I do not think he ever made an appointment without such +written endorsements; but Colonel Roosevelt never bothered much +about written endorsements. He would either do or not do what you +asked, and would decide the question promptly. + +He took a deep interest in the passage of the necessary amendments +to the Interstate Commerce Act, and as I have said elsewhere, had +it not been for Colonel Roosevelt, the Hepburn Bill would not have +been passed. He thought that I could be of very great service in +securing the passage of the amendments which both he and I deemed +necessary to the Interstate Commerce Act, by remaining chairman of +the Senate's Committee on Interstate Commerce, and when the time +came for me to decide whether I should remain chairman of that +committee, or accept the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign +Relations, he took occasion personally to urge me to remain at the +head of the Interstate Commerce Committee. But at the time the +personnel of the committee was such that I had despaired of securing +favorable action in the committee on an amended Interstate Commerce +Act, and I retired to accept the chairmanship of the Committee on +Foreign Relations. + +Colonel Roosevelt has proven over and over again, in every position +he has occupied, from Police Commissioner of New York to the +Presidency itself, that he is a marvellous man, a man of great +resources, great intellect, great energy and courage, and a man of +the highest degree of integrity. He will go down in the history +of this country as the most remarkable man of his day. + +The Hon. John Hay, at the urgent request of Colonel Roosevelt, +continued to act as Secretary of State (to which position he had +been appointed by President McKinley) until his death in 1905. +John Hay was the most accomplished diplomat, in my judgment, who +ever occupied the high position of Secretary of State. + +I knew him from his boyhood, and knew his father and all the members +of his family. The Hon. Milton Hay, whom I have mentioned elsewhere, +and who was my law partner, was an uncle of John Hay. John was a +student in our law office in Springfield, and as a student of the +law he showed marked intellectual capacity and grasp. It was from +our law office that President Lincoln took him to act as one of +his private secretaries when he left Springfield for Washington to +be inaugurated as President of the United States, and Mr. Hay +continued to act as such until the President's death. He abandoned +the law as a profession and became finally the editor of _The New +York Tribune_. I probably knew him more intimately than any one +else in public life, and when Mr. McKinley became President I urged +him to appoint Hay as Ambassador to Great Britain. He served in +that position with great credit to himself and his country. He +was very popular with the members of the British Government, and +seemed to have more influence, and to be more able to accomplish +important results, than any of his predecessors in that office. +When it was rumored that there was to be a vacancy in the State +Department, by the retirement of Mr. Day, who was ambitious to go +on the Federal Bench, I wrote Mr. McKinley a letter, in which I +told him that he could find no better man to succeed Mr. Day as +Secretary than his Ambassador to Great Britain, John Hay. And he +was appointed. + +As Secretary of State, Mr. Hay was successful in carrying to a +triumphant conclusion our Far Eastern diplomacy. For years the +situation in the Far East, and especially in China, had been delicate +and critical to an extreme. The acquisition of Hawaii and the +Philippines gave to the United States an extraordinary interest in +events occurring in the Orient. The United States stood for the +"open door" in China; and as the result of the diplomacy and +influence of Secretary Hay, freedom of commerce was secured, and +the division of China among the powers has been prevented. In our +relations with China, we have pursued a disinterested policy of +disavowal of territorial aggrandizement, and a disposition to +respect the rights of that Government, confining our interests to +the peaceful development of trade. Secretary Hay never hesitated +on all proper occasions to assert our influence to preserve its +independence and prevent its dismemberment. + +For many centuries China had been a hermit nation, successfully +resisting foreign influence and invasion; but gradually, on one +pretext or another, she was compelled to open her ports, and Great +Britain, Russia, and Germany had gained special advantages and +exceptional privileges in portions of China, where, under the guise +of "spheres of interest," they were exercising considerable control +over an important part of that Empire. It seemed probable that +not only would these nations absorb the trade of China, but that +the Empire itself would be dismembered and divided among the powers. +To prevent this, Secretary Hay advanced the so-called "open door" +policy and successfully carried it out. + +In September, 1899, he addressed communications to the Governments +of Great Britain, Russia, Germany, Italy, and Japan, suggesting +that, as he understood it to be the settled policy and purpose of +those countries not to use any privileges which might be granted +them in China as a means of excluding any commercial rival, and +that freedom of trade for them in that ancient empire meant freedom +of trade for all the world alike, he considered that the maintenance +of this policy was alike urgently demanded by the commercial +communities of these several nations, and that it was the only one +which would improve existing conditions and extend their future +operation. He further suggested that it was the desire of the +United States Government that the interests of its citizens should +not be prejudiced through exclusive treatment by any of the +controlling powers within their respective spheres of interest in +China, and that it hoped to retain there an open market for all +the world's commerce, remove dangerous sources of international +irritation, and promote administrative reform. Secretary Hay +accordingly invited a declaration by each of them in regard to the +treatment of foreign commerce in their spheres of interest. Without +inconsiderable delay the Governments of Great Britain, Russia, +Germany, Italy, and Japan replied to his circular note, giving +cordial and full assurance of endorsement of the principles suggested +by our Government. Thus was successfully begun the since famous +"open door" policy in China. + +But this great triumph in the interest of the freedom of the world's +commerce was followed by the Boxer outbreak of 1900. The German +Minister was murdered in the streets of Peking, the legations were +attacked and in a state of siege for a month. + +The Boxer outbreak was made the occasion of a joint international +expedition for the relief of the diplomatic representatives and +other foreigners whose lives were in peril. Congress was not in +session, but on Secretary Hay's advice, there was despatched a +division of the American Army composed of all arms of the service. +This almost amounted to a declaration of war, or the waging of war +without the consent of Congress. The Executive was justified, +however, and did not hesitate to assume the responsibility. + +In the midst of the intense excitement throughout the world, when +the downfall of the Empire of China seemed almost certain, Secretary +Hay, with the foresight which always distinguished his official +acts, issued a circular note on July 3, 1900, to all the powers +having interests in China, stating the position of the United +States; that it would be our policy to find a solution which would +bring permanent safety and peace to China, preserve its territorial +and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed by treaty +and international law, and safeguard for the world the principle +of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire. +Secretary Hay's note gave notice to the world that the United States +would not permit the dismemberment of China, and it was so in accord +with the principles of justice that it met with the approval of all. + +After the relief of the legations and the suppression of the Boxer +troubles by the allied powers, there followed a long period of +negotiation, and an enormous and exorbitant demand was made by the +allies as an indemnity. So exorbitant was it as first that China +probably never would have been able to pay. Secretary Hay constantly +intervened to reduce the demands of the powers and cut down to a +reasonable limit the enormous indemnity they were seeking to exact. +Finally the protocol of 1901 was signed, imposing very heavy and +humiliating burdens on China. It has been the province of the +United States to alleviate these burdens, and we have only recently +remitted a very large portion of the indemnity which was to have +come to the United States. + +Later, Secretary Hay negotiated a very favorable commercial treaty +with China which further strengthened the "open door," gave increased +privileges to our diplomatic and consular officers, and to our +citizens in China, and opened new cities to international trade +and residence. + +One of Secretary Hay's last acts in the State Department was another +diplomatic triumph in the interest of China. It had been apparent +for some time that war between Russia and Japan was inevitable, +and Mr. Hay realized that war might seriously impair the integrity +of China and the benefits of the "open door" policy. Immediately +after the war commenced, therefore, on February 10, 1904, Mr. Hay +addressed to the Governments of Russia, Japan, and China, and to +all other powers having spheres of influence in China, a circular +note in which he said: + +"It is the earnest desire of the Government of the United States +that in the military operations which have begun between Russia +and Japan, the neutrality of China, and in all practicable ways +her administrative entity, shall be protected by both parties, and +that the area of hostilities shall be localized and limited as much +as possible, so that undue excitement and disturbance of the Chinese +people may be prevented, and the least possible loss to the commerce +and peaceful intercourse of the world may be occasioned." + +Mr. Hay's proposition was commended by the world and was accepted +by the neutral nations, and also by China, Russia, and Japan. + +Secretary Hay's measures respecting China were of the greatest +importance and significance, because they not only tended to the +peace of the world, but they have preserved the extensive territory +and enormous population of that empire to the free and untrammelled +trade and commerce of all countries. + +In addition to securing from Great Britain, through the Hay-Pauncefote +treaty, the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, thereby making +it possible for the United States to construct the Isthmian Canal, +Secretary Hay succeeded in settling the controversy over the Alaskan +boundary, which had been a subject of dispute between the United +States and Great Britain for half a century. The treaty of 1868, +between the United States and Russia, by which we acquired Alaska, +in describing the boundary of Alaska, adopted the description +contained in the treaty of 1825, between Great Britain and Russia. +Years ago it was discovered that the boundary described in the +treaty of 1825 was incorrect as a geographical fact. + +While the country remained unsettled the definite boundary was not +so material, but since the first Cleveland Administration the +Alaskan boundary had been an important subject of dispute. The +feeling among our people in Alaska and among the Canadians became +very bitter. This was one of the principal reasons for the creation +of the Joint High Commission in 1899, whose purpose it was to settle +all outstanding questions between the United States and Canada, +the principal one being the Alaskan boundary. The Joint High +Commission made considerable progress in adjusting these questions, +but failing to reach an agreement as to the Alaskan boundary, the +commission adjourned without disposing of any of the subjects in +controversy. President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay, in view of +our long and undisputed occupation of the territory in question, +declined to allow the reference of the Alaskan boundary to a regular +arbitration at the Hague, but instead, Secretary Hay proposed the +creation of a judicial tribunal composed of an equal number of +members from each country, feeling confident that our claim would +be successfully established by such a body. There was very great +opposition, and there were many predictions of failure, but on +January 24, 1903, a treaty between the United States and Great +Britain was signed, providing for such a tribunal. + +The treaty was duly ratified, and the tribunal appointed, and on +October 20, 1903, reached a conclusion which was a complete victory +for the United States, sustaining as it did every material contention +of our Government. + +The settlement of the Alaskan boundary was a very notable diplomatic +triumph, and Secretary Hay is entitled to much credit for it. + +I cannot go into the many important matters which Mr. Hay disposed +of as Secretary of State. He left a splendid record. I made it +a point to keep in constant touch with him by visiting at his office +frequently, and he always talked with me frankly and freely concerning +the important negotiations in which he was engaged. The only +criticism I have to make of him as Secretary of State is, that he +was disposed, wherever he could possibly do so, to make international +agreements and settle differences without consulting the Senate. +And, in addition, I never could induce him to come before the +Committee on Foreign Relations and explain to the committee personally +various treaties and important matters in which the State Department +was interested. Why he would not do so I do not know. He was an +exceedingly modest man and shrank from all controversy. It is +seldom, however, that the State Department has had at its head so +brilliant and scholarly a man as John Hay. He will go down in +history as among the greatest of our Secretaries of State. + +I will make some further references to the important results of +the Roosevelt Administration in what I shall say in a later chapter +concerning the work of the Committee on Foreign Relations. + +William Howard Taft, now President of the United States, was +President Roosevelt's Secretary of War, and a very able Secretary +he was. I first knew him in Washington when, as a young man but +thirty-three years of age, he was serving as Solicitor General +under President Harrison. I followed his career very closely from +the time that I first became acquainted with him. + +As a United States Circuit Judge, to which position he was appointed +by President Harrison, he was regarded as one of the ablest in the +country. The Circuit Court of Appeals on which he served was a +notable one. It was composed of three men who have since occupied +the highest positions in the United States. William R. Day was +first Assistant Secretary of State, then Secretary of State, one +of the negotiators of the Paris Peace Treaty, Circuit Judge, and +later a Supreme Court Justice. Judge Taft was first civil Governor +of the Philippines, Secretary of War, and then President; and he +has only recently appointed his old colleague, Judge Lurton, the +third member of the Court of Appeals, to the position of Justice +of the Supreme Court of the United States. + +Judge Taft has occupied many high positions, all of which he has +filled with great honor and distinction. I doubt whether he has +enjoyed the high office of President of the United States. I myself +have always thought that he would have made one of our greatest +Chief Justices had he been appointed to that position. + +Just before the National Convention of 1908 assembled at Chicago, +in which convention I was chairman of the Illinois delegation, when +every one knew that Taft was sure to be the nominee, I called on +him at the War Department, and in the course of the conversation +I took occasion to remark that I had always been in favor of him +for Chief Justice, but it seemed now that he was certain to be the +nominee for President, and his career would consequently go along +another line. He replied: "If your friend Chief Justice Fuller +should retire and the President should send me a commission as +Chief Justice, I would take it now." + +It is my purpose to practically close these memoirs with the end +of the Roosevelt Administration, for the reason that I do not feel +at liberty to write in detail of events occurring within the past +two years. All that I will venture to say is that my relations +with Mr. Taft as President have been of the most cordial and friendly +character; and no one can question that he has been thoroughly +conscientious in the discharge of the duties of President of the +United States. That in 1910 the party went down in defeat for the +first time in eighteen years cannot be charged to President Taft. +Nothing that he did as Chief Executive was responsible for that +defeat. I myself believe that it was simply the result of the +people becoming tired of too much prosperity under Republican +administration. The newspaper agitation over the Aldrich-Payne +Tariff Bill was mainly instrumental in turning the House of +Representatives over to the Democracy. + +The Hon. Philander C. Knox was Attorney-General in President +Roosevelt's cabinet, as he had been in the cabinet of his predecessor. +He is now serving as Secretary of State under President Taft. He +has had a long and highly distinguished career at the bar, and is +probably one of the greatest lawyers of his day. He served in the +Senate of the United States for some years, and upon entering that +body he at once took his place as a leader on all questions of a +legal and constitutional nature. As a member of the Judiciary +Committee, he had quite a commanding influence on important +legislation coming from that committee. As Secretary of State Mr. +Knox has been successful to an eminent degree, and I have no doubt +that his career as the Premier of the Taft Administration will add +to his great fame as a lawyer and statesman. + +I cannot refrain from saying a word in reference to the Hon. James +Wilson, who was appointed Secretary of Agriculture by President +McKinley, in which position he has been retained by both President +Roosevelt and President Taft. He has served as a cabinet officer +for a longer consecutive term than any man in our history. + +I have been more or less familiar with the administration of the +Agricultural Department ever since its creation, and I do not +hesitate to say that Mr. Wilson has been the most efficient Secretary +of Agriculture that we have ever had. He has accomplished greater +results in that office than any of his predecessors, and should +remain there as long as he will consent to serve. + + +CHAPTER XXI +INTERSTATE COMMERCE + +At the time I am writing these lines, no question of governmental +policy occupies so prominent a place in the thoughts of the people +as that of controlling the steady growth and extending influence +of corporate power, and of regulating its relations to the public. +And there are no corporations whose proceedings so directly affect +every citizen in the daily pursuit of his business as the corporations +engaged in transportation. + +Of the many new forms introduced into every department of civilized +life during the past century, none have brought about more marvellous +changes than the railroad, as an instrumentality of commerce. The +substitution of steam and electricity for animal power was one of +the most important events in our industrial history. The commercial, +social, and political relations of the nations, have been revolutionized +by the development of improved means of communication and +transportation. With this changed condition of affairs in the +commercial world came new questions of the greatest importance for +the consideration of those upon whom devolved the duty of making +the nation's laws. + +In the early days of railroads, the question was not how to regulate, +but how to secure them; but in the early seventies their importance +grew to such proportions that the railroads threatened to become +the masters and not the servants of the people. There were all +sorts of abuses. Railroad officers became so arrogant that they +seemed to assume that they were above all law; rebating and +discrimination were the rule and not the exception. It was the +public indignation against long continued discrimination and undue +preferences which brought about the Granger Movement, which resulted, +seventeen years later, in the enactment of the first Interstate +Commerce Act. + +With the Granger Movement of the early seventies, and the passage +of State laws for the control of railroad transportation, began +the discussion which is still before Congress and the public as +one of the live issues of the day. + +It so happens that I have been intimately connected with this +subject from the time I was serving as Speaker of the Illinois +House of Representatives in 1873. + +The State of Illinois, like most of the Western States, had a law +on the subject of railroad regulation; but it was ineffective, and +the commission under it had no practical power. I appointed the +committee of the House of Representatives of the Illinois Legislature +in 1873, of which John Oberly, of Cairo, Illinois, was a member, +and it was that committee that reported to the House the bill which +finally became a law, known as the Railroad and Warehouse Law of +1873. It is still the existing law in Illinois, and was for many +years regarded as one of the broadest and most far-reaching of +State enactments. + +After I became Governor of the State, in 1877, I appointed a new +Railroad and Warehouse Commission under the new law, and naturally +took a deep interest in its work. During my term as Governor a +resolution was adopted by the General Assembly really looking to +the abolition of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, but on its +face inquiring of me as Governor for information concerning the +cost of maintaining the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, and the +benefits, if any, of the commission, to the people of the State of +Illinois. + +To this resolution I promptly responded in a message to the General +Assembly, dated February 17, 1879, which in part I take the liberty +of quoting here, because never afterwards in Illinois, so far as +I know, was there any movement to abolish the Railroad and Warehouse +Commission and repeal the Illinois Railroad and Warehouse Act. + +After giving the pay and expenses of the board, I continued: + +"To answer this portion of the resolution in a manner satisfactory +to myself would include a recital of the many attempts that have +been made in this and other countries to control railroad corporations +by legislation. In a paper of this kind such a reply can not be +made. I must therefore be satisfied with a glance at the advance +that resulted in the enactment of the railroad and warehouse laws +of this State. + +"Since the passage of the laws creating the railroad and warehouse +commission, in 1871, Illinois has made very important advances +toward the solution of the railroad problem. + +"The questions involved in this problem have not only been before +the people of this State, but in other States and countries. + +"In England, after the railroad had become a fact, it was recognized +as a public highway. The right of Parliament to fix rates for the +transportation of passengers and freight by railroad corporations +was therefore asserted, and schedules of rates were put into their +charters. Those familiar with the subject need not be told that +the attempt to establish rates in this manner was a failure. Then +it was asserted that competition, if encouraged by the Government, +would prove a remedy for the abuses with which the railroads were +charged. The suggestion was acted upon. The Government encouraged +the construction of competing lines. As a result, rates fell. +Competition, however, finally began to entail disaster upon the +competitors and compel them to become allies to escape destruction. +The competitors combined; railroads were consolidated; rival lines +were united, and competition was thus destroyed. The danger of +great combinations of this kind, not only to the business interests +of the country, but also to the State, was at once suggested, and +occasioned alarm. This alarm resulted in a public opinion that +the Government should own the railroads. But consolidation, to +the surprise of the prophets of evil, did not result in higher +rates. On the contrary, lower rates and higher dividends resulted. + +"Thus by a logical process of attempt and failure to control railroad +corporations, the conclusion was reached that wise policy required +permission to such corporations to operate their railroads in their +own way upon ordinary business principles. But at the same time +a board of commissioners was wisely created and authorized to hear +and determine complaints against railroad corporations, and to +exercise other important powers. This board was created about five +years ago; and the most notable feature in its career, says Charles +Francis Adams, junior, is the very trifling call that seems to have +been made upon it. The cases which come before it are neither +numerous nor of great importance. It would, however, be unwholly +safe to conclude from this fact that such a tribunal is unnecessary. +On the contrary, it may be confidently asserted that no competent +board of railroad commissioners clothed with the peculiar power of +the English board, will, either there or anywhere else, have many +cases to dispose of. The mere fact that a tribunal is there, that +a machinery does exist for the prompt and final decision of that +class of questions put an end to them. They no longer arise. + +"The process through which the public mind in America has passed +on the railroad question is not dissimilar to that through which +the public mind of England passed. But here competition was relied +on from the first. To all who asked for them railroad charters +were granted. The result has been the construction of railroads +in all parts of the country, many of them through districts of +country without business, or even population, as well as between +all business centres and through populous, fertile, and well +cultivated regions. Free trade in railroad building, and the too +liberal use of municipal credit in their aid, has induced the +building of some lines which are wholly unnecessary, and which +crowd, duplicate, and embarrass lines previously built and which +were fully adequate to the needs of the community. + +"In Illinois, railroad enterprises have been particularly numerous +and have made the State renowned for having the most miles of +railroad track--for being the chief railroad State. + +"But competition did not result according to public anticipation. +The competing corporations worked without sufficient remuneration +at competing points, and, to make good the losses resulting, were +often guilty of extortion at the non-competing points. They +discriminated against persons and places. Citizens protested +against these abuses in vain. The railroad corporations, when +threatened with the power of the Government, indulged in the language +of defiance, and attempted to control legislation to their own +advantage. At last public indignation became excited against them. +They did not heed it. They believed the courts would be their +refuge from popular fury. The indignation of the people expressed +itself in many ways and finally found utterance in the Constitution +of 1870. In this Constitution may be found all the phases of +opinion on the railroad question through which the English mind +has run. The railroad is declared a public highway. The establishment +of reasonable rates of charges is directed; competition between +railroads is recognized as necessary to the public welfare; and +the General Assembly is required to pass laws to correct abuses +and to prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in the rates +and passenger tariffs on the different railroads of the State, and +enforce such laws by adequate penalties to the extent, if necessary +for that purpose, of forfeiture of their property and franchises. + +"The Constitution did more than this. To correct abuses of the +interests of the farmers from whose fields warehousemen in combination +with corporate common carriers had been drawing riches, it declared +all elevators or structures where grain or other property was stored +for a compensation, public warehouses, and expressly directed the +General Assembly to pass laws for the government of warehouses, +for the inspection of grain, and for the protection of producers, +shippers, and receivers of grain and produce. + +"Promptly after the adoption of the Constitution the Legislature +attempted to give these provisions vitality by the enactment of +laws to carry them out. One of these created the Railroad and +Warehouse Commission and imposed on it important duties. Another +was an act to regulate public warehouses and warehousing. By this +act other important duties were imposed upon the Railroad and +Warehouse Commission." + +After reviewing the attempt to enforce these laws the message +continues: + +"In 1873, the present law to prevent extortion and unjust discrimination +in rates charged for the transportation of passengers and freight +on railroads in this State was passed. It was prepared and enacted +with the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of _Illinois_ +vs. _C. and A. R. R._, fresh in the minds of the members of the +General Assembly, and every suggestion made by the court was +observed. + +"The Commission since the enactment of this statute has brought +many suits against railroad corporations for violation of the law." + +After reviewing the various cases I proceeded: + +"In 1871, the Railroad and Warehouse Commission was established. +Its creation was resisted by both railroad corporations and public +warehousemen, and after its organization they treated it with little +consideration. They refused to recognize its authority, but after +the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States declaring +the doctrine that the Government may regulate the conduct of its +citizens to each other, and, when necessary, for the public good, +the manner in which each shall use his own property, the railroad +corporations and public warehousemen began to grow less determined +in their opposition to the attempts to control them, until at this +time there is very little opposition. They now give prompt attention +to requests of the Commission for the correction of abuses called +to its notice by their patrons; and thus the Commissioners not only +settle questions arising between railroad corporations and those +who patronize them, but it may as truthfully be said of this as of +the English or Massachusetts Commission, that the very fact of its +existence has put an end to many of the abuses formerly practised +by such corporations, and which were angrily complained of by the +people. . . . + +"It is a curious fact that the conclusion reached by the English +statesmen in 1874, was reached in Illinois in 1873; the conclusion +that railroad companies ought to have the right to control their +own affairs, fix their own rates of transportation, be free from +meddlesome legislation, and, as has been said, work out their own +destiny in their own way, just so long as they show a reasonable +regard for the requirements of the community." + +After analyzing the law of 1873, referring to the procedure under +it, to the decision of the courts, and the fact that the Railroad +and Warehouse Commissioners made under it a schedule of maximum +rates of charges, I said: + +"The schedule will require revision from time to time, and this +work can only be done by men who can give it their whole time, and +who will become students of the great subject of transportation. + +"Before action by the Supreme Court it has not been deemed advisable +that the Commissioners should revise the schedule, and put the +State thereby to what might be unnecessary expense; nor that they +should multiply suits under the law of 1873, against railroad +companies for similar offences to those set up in the cases now +pending. + +"Ever since its organization the board has been putting into +operation new laws founded upon old principles applied to new facts +and it has been compelled to walk with slow step. It has been +required, in the assertion of its authority to go from one court +to another, and await the approval by the Supreme Court of the +legislation directed by the Constitution of 1870. + +"It has won a victory in the warehouse controversy and secured the +judicial endorsement of doctrines which in this age of concentration +and monopoly, are absolutely necessary to the public welfare. . . . + +"Leaving out of view the benefits that have resulted to the people +by the mere fact of the existence of the Board, which has prevented +many abuses that would have been committed save for its presence +in the State, it has been at work, and useful. It has perfected +the organization of the Grain Inspection Department at Chicago; it +has gathered statistics in reference to transportation that are of +very great benefit to the public; it has adopted the policy of +railroad examinations with a view to security of life; and, in my +judgment, the authority of the Commission ought to be enlarged so +as to enable it to compel the railroad companies to improve their +tracks and bridges, when, in the judgment of the Commission, such +portions of railroads become unsafe. The Railroad Commissioners +act as arbitrators between the railroad companies and their patrons; +and in the Commissioners' report they say they have succeeded in +settling most of the complaints made to them in a manner satisfactory +to all the parties to the controversies. + +"In my judgment if the Commission were dispensed with by the +Legislature, difficulties would soon arise, agitation would commence +again, and controversies would run riot. New legislation would +follow, another board of some kind would soon be created, and the +track we have just passed over would be again travelled by the +people's representatives. + +"The Board should be sustained in the interest of all the people. +Instead of being destroyed it should be strengthened. It should +not only have the authority with which it is now vested, but more. +It should be made a legal arbitrator in all matters of controversy +between railroad companies and warehouses and their patrons; and +it should be required to make examination of roads, and be invested +with authority to compel reparation of unsafe and defective bridges, +culverts, track, and rolling-stock. + + "(Signed) S. M. Cullom, + "Governor." + +My experience, as Chief Executive of the State, with the practical +workings of the Railroad and Warehouse Law, clearly demonstrated +to me that a State statute, no matter how drastic it might be, was +utterly inadequate to meet the evils complained of, and that +effective regulation must be Federal and not State, or probably +Federal and State combined. Some of the States had attempted to +exercise control over interstate traffic which originated in the +State, but it seemed perfectly clear from a long line of decisions +of the Supreme Court, beginning with _Gibbons_ vs. _Ogden_, and +continuing with _Reading Railway_ vs. _Pennsylvania; Baltimore and +Ohio_ vs. _Maryland_, and many other cases, that the States as such +had no control over interstate commerce. But it was not until our +own Illinois case (_Wabash Railroad_ vs. _Illinois_), that the +Supreme Court settled it once and for all. It was clearly stated +in that case that the power of Congress was exclusive, and the +Court said that, "notwithstanding whatever _dicta_ might appear in +other cases, this court holds now and has never consciously held +otherwise, that a statute of a State intended to regulate or tax +or to impose any restriction upon the transmission of persons or +property from one State to another is not within the class of +legislation which the States may enact in the absence of legislation +by Congress, and that such statutes are void." + +This decision of the Supreme Court was rendered just about the time +I was elected to the United States Senate, and I then and there +determined that I would make it one of my great aims in the Senate +to secure the enactment of a Federal statute regulating interstate +commerce. + +It would seem astonishing that the Commerce clause of the Constitution +should have remained dormant, as it did for nearly a century. +Aside from two unimportant acts, no statute had been passed under +it from the beginning of the Government until the Act to Regulate +Commerce was passed in 1887. + +Not even a serious attempt had been made to pass an act for the +regulation of interstate commerce. Bills were introduced from +Congress to Congress and laid aside; some investigations were made +--as, for instance, the Windom investigation by a select committee +of the House in 1873--but it all came to naught. It seemed that +no one man, either in the Senate or House, had made it his business +to secure the passage of such an act. + +Very fortunately, as I see it now, when I first came to the Senate, +I received no important committee assignments. Having been in +public life for many years, member of Congress, Governor of my +State, I naturally felt that I would be properly taken care of +without appealing to my older colleagues for assistance. Even my +own colleague, General Logan, did not interest himself in the +matter. I attended the caucus when the committee announcements +were made, and observing that I received nothing of any consequence, +I addressed the caucus and protested that I had not been treated +properly. Later Senator Edmunds resigned his place as a regent of +the Smithsonian Institution and I was appointed to succeed him in +that position. + +I was assigned, however, to the Committee on Railroads--which was +then what we know now in the Senate as a non-working committee. +I determined that the committee should have something to do, and +I immediately became active in securing the consideration of an +act for the regulation of interstate commerce. I drew up a bill, +introduced it, had it referred to the committee, and finally secured +its consideration and report to the Senate. No one paid any +particular attention to what I was doing until then. When the bill +was reported to the Senate, and I was pushing and urging and doing +everything in my power to secure its consideration, Senator Allison, +always my friend, always wanting to assist me in any way in his +power, came to me one day and said: + +"Cullom, we know nothing about this question; we are groping in +the dark; and I believe that there ought to be a select committee +of the Senate appointed to investigate the question, to go out +among the people, take testimony, and find out what they know about +it,--what the experts know, what the railroad officials know, what +public opinion generally is, and report their conclusions to the +Senate at the beginning of the next session. I am willing to help +you secure the passage of a resolution with that end in view." + +This was perfectly agreeable to me and, on March 17, 1885, a +resolution of the Senate, introduced by me, was adopted. This +resolution provided-- + +"That a select committee of five Senators be appointed to investigate +and report upon the subject of the regulation of the transportation +by railroad and water routes in connection or in competition with +said railroads of freights and passengers between the several +States, with authority to sit during the recess of Congress, and +with power to summon witnesses, and to do whatever is necessary +for a full examination of the subject, and report to the Senate on +or before the second Monday in December next. Said committee shall +have power to appoint a clerk and stenographer, and the expenses +of such investigation shall be paid from the appropriation for +expenses of inquiries and investigations ordered by the Senate." + +The committee, of which I was made chairman, was appointed in due +course, my colleagues being Senator O. H. Platt, of Connecticut; +Senator Warner Miller, of New York; Senator Arthur Pugh Gorman, of +Maryland; and Senator Isham G. Harris, of Tennessee. Leaving out +any reference to myself, the selection was regarded as having been +most judicious and suitable. + +And here let me digress to say a few words in reference to my +colleagues on that committee. + +Senator Warner Miller was a strong man intellectually, and a good +business man. He had succeeded Senator T. C. Platt on March 4, +1881, and readily took his place in the Senate as one of its +influential members, although he served but one term. He was a +valuable man as a member of the committee, and took a very prominent +part in the debates preceding the passage of the act. + +Senator Gorman had a remarkable public career. Without the advantages +of influential family, without wealth, with only limited education, +through his own exertions alone he arose from the position of a +page in the United States Senate to the position of Senator and +leader of his party in the Senate. He was a _protégé_, friend, +and follower of that illustrious son of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas. +He was one of the most sagacious politicians of his day. By his +shrewd management of the Cleveland campaign he secured the defeat +of Mr. Blaine and the election of Mr. Cleveland. His charming +personality, his suavity of manner, his magnetic influence over +men with whom he came into contact, combined with his marked ability, +made it easy for him to retain the difficult position of a leader +of his great party. He enjoyed in the highest degree the respect +and confidence of every Senator with whom he served, on both sides +of the chamber, and specially was his influence felt in securing +the support of the Democratic Senators in the passage of the Act +of 1887. + +Senator Harris, of Tennessee, was a very useful member of the +Senate, and was a man possessed of more than ordinary ability. +His ability, perhaps, was not as great as Senator Gorman's, although +he was a very influential and highly respected member of the Senate. +He was a hard worker; and one trait in particular that I remember +about him was, he never failed to attend promptly on time the +meeting of any committee of which he was a member. Indeed, I do +not know of any man with whom I have served in the Senate, aside +from my respected colleague, Senator Frye, who was so punctual. + +He was a man of convivial habits, and used to poke considerable +fun at me because I would not drink or play poker. At the time +when the select committee was to meet in Memphis, the home of +Senator Harris, the prominent business men of that place waited on +him and told him they understood a very eminent committee was coming +there in a few days, and they would like to show them some courtesies. +Harris replied that he did not know who would be there; that Senator +Platt would not, and he did not believe Senator Gorman would--in +fact, he did not believe any one would be there, excepting the +chairman and himself; and so far as the chairman, Senator Cullom, +was concerned, they could not do anything for him, as he did not +drink or smoke, and was "one of the damnedest, poorest card-players +he had ever known." So, about all the entertaining they could do +for him would be to show him about the city. + +Many amusing stories were told of him. When I called the committee +together, preliminary to starting out on our tour, I told them that +I would be very glad to allow them everything within reason that +was necessary, but the Government would not pay for their whiskey +and cigars. Harris promptly replied: "That's right, Mr. Chairman. +So far as I am concerned, if I can't get my whiskey by standing +around the bar when other people are drinking, I will pay for it +myself." + +When the committee were in Minneapolis, we were sitting at a long +table at dinner; I was at one end, and Harris was at the other, +facing me. An old soldier came up to speak to me, and glancing +down toward the other end of the table, he asked: "Is n't that +old Harris of Tennessee?" When I replied that it was, he continued: +"Well, well! The last time I saw him, he was wearing a linen- +duster, riding a mule, and going South like hell." + +Harris was a man of the most rigid honesty. He not only rendered +valuable assistance in conducting the investigation, especially +through the South, which section of the country he particularly +represented, but took a prominent part in the debates and generally +performed his full share toward securing the passage of the act. + +Of Senator O. H. Platt I have already written. + +But to return. Immediately after the adjournment of Congress this +select committee visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, +Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Des Moines, Omaha, Minneapolis, and +St. Paul, where we adjourned to meet in the South. We went to +Memphis first, then to New Orleans and Atlanta, whence we returned +to Washington, where I prepared the report of the committee which +was submitted to the Senate, January 18, 1886. + +The committee began its work impressed with the importance of the +duty with which it had been charged, and with each step taken in +prosecuting the inquiry we realized more fully how heavy were the +obstacles to be overcome, how serious were the abuses that existed, +how the public sentiment over the entire country was aroused, and +how difficult it was going to be to frame and secure the passage +of a measure adequate to relieve the situation. After many sessions +and long conferences the select committee finally agreed upon a +bill which, in its opinion, would correct the evils complained of. + +Even after the committee had agreed to the bill, I was not entirely +satisfied; I feared the existence of some absurdities, some features, +which the railroads could not possibly comply with; and so I asked +Senator Platt to meet me in New York, previously having arranged +with Mr. Fink and Mr. Blanchard, two of the great railroad men of +their day, and a gentleman representing specially the people's +interests, whose name I do not recall, but who had been interested +in securing regulation in New York and was an expert on the +proposition, to meet with us in that city. We all met as planned. +I stated that I desired to take the bill up with them, section by +section, paragraph by paragraph, and if anything absurd or +impracticable was found, or anything that could not be carried out, +attention should be called to it, and we would discuss it and amend +it if necessary. We went ahead on this line and were arguing over +some proposition, when Mr. Fink got up and remarked: "Let it go; +the whole thing is absurd anyhow." I arose and said that if that +was the attitude of the railroad men, when the committee's only +object was to report to the Senate a fair bill, that the conference +might as well end. The other members of the conference intervened +and said it was not fair that the chairman of the committee should +be treated in this way, that Senator Cullom was acting in absolute +good faith, whereupon Mr. Fink apologized, and the reading was +resumed, and some amendments made where found necessary. + +And this incident recalls to mind another aspect of the investigation. +While the select committee was considering the subject, travelling +from city to city, the high railroad officials paid no attention +to us; rather, I might say, they avoided being called before us, +probably considering it a waste of time, as they had no serious +thought that anything would come of the investigation. They +considered the railroads superior to the laws of Congress, and +depended upon their old State charters. In those days they were +the most arrogant set of men in this country; they have since +learned that they are the servants and not the masters of the +people. But when the bill seemed pretty certain to pass, the +attitude of the railroad officials suddenly changed. They came to +Washington and complained that they had not been given the opportunity +to be heard; that it would not be fair under the circumstances to +pass a bill so largely affecting them; and they seemed to be sorely +aggrieved when they could not prevent or delay its passage. + +I introduced the bill in the first session of the Forty-ninth +Congress, and after a great deal of difficulty, even with my +colleague, General Logan, against it, finally had it made the +special order. General Logan knew nothing about the subject; he +cared nothing about it, and on one occasion he told me that I would +ruin myself by advocating it. + +When I called the bill up for consideration, I was so anxious to +press it along that I did not care to make any general speech, +excepting to explain as carefully and minutely as I could the +various provisions of the measure. I said, in opening: + +"I believe I am justified in saying that there is no subject of a +public nature that is before the country about which there is so +great unanimity of sentiment as there is upon the proposition that +the National Government ought in some way to regulate interstate +commerce. The testimony taken by the Committee shows conclusively +to my mind, and I think to every man's mind who reads it, that +there is necessity for some legislation by the National Government, +looking to the regulation of interstate commerce by railroad and +by waterways in connection therewith. + +"I believe the time has gone by when it is necessary for any one +to take up the time of the Senate in discussing the proposition +that Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce. These +questions have been discussed over and over again in Congress, and +the highest judicial tribunals of the country have decided over +and over again that Congress has the power to regulate commerce +among the States. So I do not feel at liberty, if I were disposed, +to occupy the attention of the Senate in discussing the general +subject of whether there is any necessity for our doing anything, +or the question of constitutional right of Congress to pass some +act regulating commerce among the States. + +"If the three propositions are correct: that the public sentiment +is substantially unanimous that we should act; that the necessity +for action exists; and that the power of Congress is admitted,-- +the only question left is, what Congress ought to do specifically; +in other words, what kind of an act should Congress pass. The +committee has reported a bill which is the best judgment that the +committee had upon the subject." + +I then proceeded to explain the bill carefully, section by section, +and concluded by saying: + +"I am led to believe that the bill as it stands is perhaps a more +perfect bill on this subject than has ever been introduced in the +Congress of the United States before. There may be many suggestions +of amendment by honorable Senators during the consideration of the +bill; and if any Senator has any suggestion of amendment to make, +of course it is within the privilege of the Senate to adopt it, +but I am very anxious that this bill shall be as promptly considered +as possible, and as promptly acted upon and passed as possible, if +in the judgment of the Senate it ought to be passed at all. + +"As the Senate know, this subject has been up for consideration +from one term of Congress to another, almost time out of mind; +until the people of the United States have come almost to believe +that there is no real purpose on the part of Congress to do anything +more than introduce and report bills and discuss them a while, and +then let them die before any final action is reached upon them. + +"I said in the outset that in my judgment there is no public question +before the American people to-day about which there is greater +unanimity of sentiment than there is upon the proposition that the +Congress of the United States ought to enact some law looking to +the regulation of commerce among the several States, and I trust +without taking up the time of the Senate longer that every Senator +will give attention to this subject until we can pass some bill +and get it to the other branch of Congress in the hope that before +this session adjourns we shall get some legislation on this subject +that will be of some service to the people and reasonably satisfy +public opinion." + +I pressed the bill on the attention of the Senate every day, never +allowing it to be displaced where I could avoid it. I was determined +that some bill should be passed at that session. The debate was +long and interesting. There were comparatively few set speeches. +It was a hot, running debate almost from the beginning, participated +in by the strongest men in the Senate, many of whom were the ablest +men of their day. Senators Aldrich, Edmunds, Evarts, Gorman, Hoar, +Ingalls, Manderson, Miller, Mitchell, Morrill, Platt, Sewell, +Sherman, Spooner, Teller, Vest, Morgan, Cameron, Dawes, Frye, Hale, +Harrison, and Voorhees all engaged in it. + +The bill was finally passed May 12, 1886. + +In the meantime, Mr. Reagan, of Texas, who had been urging a bill +in the House, and had it up for consideration during the same time +the Senate bill was being considered, passed his bill, which differed +essentially from the Senate bill. Both bills went to conference +together, Mr. Reagan being the head of the conferees on the part +of the House, and I being the head of the conferees on the part of +the Senate. Then came the real struggle, the two measures remaining +in conference from June to the following January. The contention +finally centred on the pooling provision. Reagan had yielded on +nearly everything else; but Platt of Connecticut was bound there +should be no prohibition against pooling. Reagan affirmed that +the whole matter would have to drop, that he would never yield on +that. I came back and consulted the leaders in the Senate, Allison +among others, and they advised me to yield; that the country demanded +a bill, and I had better accept Reagan's anti-pooling prohibition +section than offer no measure at all--which I did. + +Whether it is right or wrong, I do not know even to this day. I +have never been quite certain in my mind on the question of pooling, +and it is still a subject on which legislators and statesmen differ. +But one thing does seem certain--public sentiment is as much opposed +to pooling to-day as it was twenty years ago. There was a great +fight in the Senate to secure the adoption of the conference report. +Its adoption was opposed by such Senators as Cameron, Frye, Hawley, +Hoar, Morrill, Sawyer, Sewell, Sherman, and Spooner. The pooling +and long-and-short-haul clauses were the most fought over. Senator +Platt, although a member of the conference, made a very able speech +on the subject of pooling, in which he showed considerable feeling, +and I at one time feared that he would oppose the adoption of the +conference report on that account altogether. He concluded a very +able address during the last days of the consideration of the +report, by saying: + +"Nine-tenths of all the interstate commerce business done to-day +is done under these arrangements which are sought to be damned +because of the evil meaning which has been given to the word +'pooling.' Whatever stability has been given to the railroad +business, and through it to other business of the country, has been +secured by these traffic arrangements, and in my judgment a bill +which breaks them all up ruthlessly within sixty days, which invites +the competition which is to demoralize business, will be far-reaching +in its injurious results. For one I prefer to stand by my judgment. +I will try to have the courage of my convictions; I will try to do +what I believe to be right, and I cannot consent to a bill which, +though I accept its other provisions, contains a provision which +I regard as positively vicious and wrong." + +I was greatly provoked, almost outraged, at the manner in which +Senators opposed the adoption of the conference report. It became +almost a personal matter with me, and I finally concluded on the +very day the vote was to be taken, whether the adoption of the +report was to be beaten or not, that I would make a speech, and in +that speech I indicated just how I felt. I said in part: + +"I have been sitting here to-day listening to the assaults upon +this bill, until I have become almost convinced that I am the most +vicious man toward the railroads of any man I know. I started in +upon the investigation of this subject two or three years ago with +no prejudices, no bias of sentiment or judgment, no disposition +whatever to do anything except that which my deliberate judgment +told me was the best thing to do. I have believed I have occupied +that position ever since, until within the last twenty-four hours, +when the attacks upon this bill have become such that I have become +a little doubtful whether I have not been inspired from the beginning, +so far as my action has been concerned, with a determination to +destroy the railroads of this country. To listen to the Senator +from Alabama [Mr. Morgan] descanting upon the provisions of the +bill, one can scarcely resist the conclusion that it is a bill to +destroy the commerce of the country, and especially to break down +all the railroads. + +"So far as I am concerned, I repeat that I have no disposition of +that kind, and I am unaware that either of the Senators on the +conference committee have had any such disposition. We tried to +do the best we could with the bill the Senate passed during the +last session, to keep the bill as near to what the Senate had it +as we could do, and to arrive at an agreement between the House +and Senate conferees. + +"I submit that the majority of the assaults have been against +provisions that were in the bill when the Senate voted for it during +the last session of Congress. I am of the opinion that if this +discussion lasted another day Senators would find in every line of +the bill a very serious objection to its adoption. They started +in to object to some provisions of the fourth and fifth sections. +The Senator who has just concluded his remarks got over to the +thirteenth section and I believe went one or two sections beyond +that, and if there are any more speeches to be made against the +bill I suppose the very last section of it will be attacked before +a vote is taken. + +"The Senate conferees regarded it as their duty to cling to every +portion of the Senate bill, as it was passed, that they could cling +to and reach an agreement between the conferees of the House and +Senate. Hence it was that all these portions of the Senate bill +not objected to by the House conferees were allowed to remain in +the bill by the Senate conferees, the Senate conferees, as a matter +of course, believing that the Senate of the United States knew what +it was doing when it voted for the bill in the first place, and +thinking that it remained of the same mind still. . . . + +"The Senator from Georgia assaults the bill because he says that +under it the provisions are so rigid that the railroads of the +country can do no business at all. The Senator from Oregon assaults +the bill because he says the fourth section amounts to nothing, +and that the words 'under like circumstances and conditions' ought +to be taken out. + +"The Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Hoar] assaults the bill because +he says it is going to interfere with foreign commerce, and that +the fourth section will be construed as not allowing a rebate of +five cents a hundred upon commerce shipped across the country for +exportation. . . . + +"So I might go on referring to every Senator who has spoken against +the bill, and nearly every one of them has founded his objections +to the bill upon the use of the language that he had previously +voted for in the Senate of the United States before the bill went +to conference at all." + +Men who opposed any legislation at all never supposed that the +conference report would be agreed to, and I so stated in the Senate +of the United States. I pointed out, moreover, that when they were +met by a conference report the railroad men of the Senate rallied +to the support of the transportation companies. I continued: + +"Sir, it has just come to the point where you have got to face the +music and vote for an interstate commerce bill, or vote it down. +That is all there is to it. I have nothing more to say. I have +discharged my duty as best I knew how. I reported on the part of +the Senate conferees the bill that is before you. I am not +responsible for what the Senate does with it. I am not going to +find fault with anybody upon the question whether we concur in the +report or reject it, but I warn Senators that the people of the +United States for the last ten years have been struggling to assert +the principle that the Government of the United States has the +power to regulate transportation from one end of the country to +another. I believe that if this report is rejected it is very +doubtful whether we shall get any legislation at all during this +present Congress, so when the Senate acts upon the question my duty +will have been done so far as I am able to see it. + +"I have believed from the time I have given any attention to public +affairs that it was necessary to bring into force the provisions +of the Constitution giving Congress the power to regulate commerce +among the States. The Senator from New York [Mr. Evarts] attacked +the bill and said that it was unconstitutional because, as I +understand it, the Constitution was framed for the purpose of +facilitating commerce, and this was a bill to hinder or to militate +against it. + +"I undertake to say that the purpose of the bill, at least, whatever +may be the strained construction which has been placed upon it or +which may be placed upon it by the transportation companies of the +country, has been to facilitate commerce and to protect the individual +rights of the people as against the great railroad corporations. +I have no disposition to interfere with their legitimate business. +I have no disposition, God knows, to interfere with the commerce +of the country, properly conducted, but I do say that it is the +duty of the Congress of the United States to place upon the statute +book some legislation which will look to the regulation of commerce +upon the railroads that they will not treat one man differently +under similar circumstances and conditions. . . . + +"The Senator from Alabama [Mr. Morgan] says that we had better go +slow and remain quiet under the old regime. Well, Mr. President, +I remember only a few days ago hearing the Senator from Alabama +alleging that the railroads, the common carriers of the country, +were eating up the people, were destroying the interests of the +people. I do not know whether he confined his remark to his own +State or extended it to the country, but I should have inferred +from the language he used against the railroad companies that he +would have been in favor of almost any legislation that would in +any way restrict them in their reckless disregard of the rights of +the people. I can only conclude that the Senator from Alabama +would rather that destructive system should go on, as he charged +it to exist when he made his speech the other day, without control, +than to trust a commission who he says are individually liable to +corrupt influences either at the hands of the President or somebody +else outside. + +"Sir, we have got to trust somebody. We must either leave this +matter to the discretion and judgment and sense of honor of the +officers of the railroad companies, or we must trust the commission +and the courts of the country to protect the people against unjust +discrimination and extortion on the part of the common carriers. +Is it the President of the United States as against a corporation? +Is it an honest commission honestly selected by the President of +the United States as against a railroad company? I say that there +are not those inducements to be placed in the hands of a set of +men selected for their integrity, selected for their ability, +selected for their capacity to regulate railroads and enforce the +law, that are left in the hands of the officers of the railroad +companies themselves. + +"I take it that there is somebody honest in this country, and that +the President, if this bill becomes a law, will select the broadest +gauge men, the men highest in integrity and intelligence as the +men to enforce this law as against the corporations and as a go- +between, if you please, between the shippers and the railroads of +the country. I am willing to trust them. If they are not honest +the President has the right to remove them; and if the shipper is +unwilling to submit to their judgment, under the bill he has a +right to go directly to the courts. I say that there is not anything +that can be done by these corporations against individuals where +the shipper himself has not a right to get into court in some way +or other, if he is not willing to abide by the decision of the +commissioners appointed by the President." + +The conference report was adopted by a vote of thirty-seven yeas +to twelve nays; but it was a rather significant fact that there +were twenty-six absent, including Senators Aldrich, Dawes, Evarts, +Morgan, and some of the most bitter opponents of railroad +regulation. + +The provisions of the Act of 1887 are too well known to need any +recital here. In a word, it was partly declaratory of the common +law, its essential features being that railroad charges must be +reasonable; that there must be no discriminations between persons +and no preference between localities; railroads were prohibited +from charging less for a long haul than for a shorter haul, "included +within it under substantially similar circumstances"; pooling was +prohibited; and a commission was established with power to hear +and decide complaints, to make investigations and reports, and +generally to see to the enforcement of the Act. + +Considering the abuses that existed, the Act of 1887 was conservative +legislation, but in Congress and among the people generally it was +considered radical, until the courts robbed it by judicial construction +of much of its intended force. During the debates, Senators remarked +that never in the history of governments was a bill under consideration +which would inevitably affect directly or remotely so great financial +and industrial interests. It marked the beginning of a new era in +the management of the railway business of the United States. It +was the beginning of Governmental regulation which has finally +culminated in the legislation of the Sixty-first Congress. And it +is no little satisfaction to me to say that the fundamental principles +of the original Act of 1887 have been retained in all subsequent +acts. No one has seriously advocated that the fundamental principles +of the Act of 1887 be changed, and subsequent legislation has been +built upon it. + +After the passage of the original Act of 1887, a permanent Interstate +Committee of the Senate, of which I had the honor to be chairman, +and in which position I remained for many years, was created. It +was a very active committee at first. Necessarily, amendments were +made to the law, and the railroads generally observed the law in +good faith. Even the long-and-short-haul clause was observed, as +it was intended by Congress that it should be. That is, the +railroads did not set up at first that competition would create a +dissimilarity of conditions and circumstances so as to justify them +in charging more for the short haul than for the long haul. But +it was not many years before the railroads attacked first one and +then another provision of the law, and they generally secured +favorable decisions from the courts. I do not intend to go into +the details of these decisions, the last one being the decision in +the case which held that the Commission had no power to fix a future +rate, because the act did not give it that express power. My own +judgment is, and was at the time, that the original act by implication +did give to the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to say +after complaint and hearing, and after a given rate had been declared +to be unreasonable, what in that case would be a reasonable rate; +but the courts decided otherwise. Immediately, I drew up and +introduced a bill, number 1439, of the Fifty-sixth Congress, and +had it referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce. This bill +contained provisions substantially the same as were contained in +the Hepburn Bill which passed the Senate in 1906. And in addition +it was designed to give effect to the provisions of the original +act which had been nullified by judicial construction. I worked +my hardest to secure a favorable report of this bill. We had many +hearings; but the Committee on Interstate Commerce, far from being +in favor of favorably reporting the bill, were inclined to decline +to allow me to report it to the Senate at all. I insisted that I +would report it even though adversely, which I was finally permitted +to do. But when reported to the Senate I stated that I reported +it adversely because a majority of the committee were against it, +but that I favored the bill personally, and would do what I could +to secure its passage. This was in the year 1899. + +It was not until seven years later that public sentiment was aroused +to such an extent that it was possible to secure the amendments to +the Act of 1887 which were embodied in Senate bill 1439. + +I think it is only justice to myself to say--and I say it with much +regret--that there were two reasons why it was impossible to secure +at that time the report and passage of Senate bill 1439. First of +all, the Executive did not manifest any special interest in securing +additional railroad regulation. Secondly, the railroads themselves +had been very active in securing a change of the personnel of the +Committee on Interstate Commerce, and men had been elected to the +Senate and placed on that committee whose sympathies were in favor +of very conservative regulation, if any regulation at all. The +railroads had firmly determined to stop any further railroad +regulation. And finally, in the make-up of the Committee, a majority +of the Senators placed on the Committee on Interstate Commerce were +men whose sympathies were with the railroads. + +But even with the personnel of the committee made up against me, +I have thought that had the late President McKinley given me the +active support which he could have given, I could have secured, in +1899, practically all the legislation that was secured six years +later. It is only justice to ex-President Roosevelt to say that +had it not been for his earnest advocacy of railroad rate regulation +the Hepburn Bill would never have been passed. With a chairman of +the Committee on Interstate Commerce well known for his conservatism +on the subject, with a majority of Republicans on the committee in +sympathy with him, without the arousing of public sentiment by +President Roosevelt, nothing would have been done. + +I continued to take an exceptionally active part in railroad +regulation until I was placed at the head of the Foreign Relations +Committee of the Senate, and even afterwards I remained as the +ranking member, next to the Chairman, of the Committee on Interstate +Commerce, where I was glad to further as best I could such measures +as came before the Committee in the way of strengthening and giving +force to the original act. + +I consented very reluctantly to leave the chairmanship of the +Committee on Interstate Commerce, where I had served during all my +term in the Senate, and I do not believe I would have done so had +it not been for the manner in which the committee was packed against +me in the interest of non-action. At the last it became so that +even the simplest measures which affected the railroads in the +slightest degree would receive adverse action or none at all. I +was utterly disgusted, and on several occasions told prominent +railroad men that if they continued such methods the time would +surely come when the people would become so aroused that they would +see enacted the most drastic of railroad rate laws. + +I had much to do with the passage of the Hepburn Act of 1906. +After President Roosevelt had repeatedly urged it in his messages +to Congress, and privately brought influence to bear on Senators, +it seemed pretty certain that public sentiment demanded that +practically the amendments to the original act embodied in Senate +bill 1439, to which I have already referred, would sooner or later +have to be enacted into law. As usual, those opposed to such +legislation demanded that hearings be held, and the Committee on +Interstate Commerce was authorized to sit during the recess of +Congress and to hold hearings. Many weeks were consumed in these +hearings, and many volumes of testimony were taken. I do not +believe that I missed a session of the committee, and I tried as +best I could to bring forth from the numerous witnesses summoned +before the committee evidence to assist in securing the passage of +the amendments to the original act, which I then thought necessary +to perfect it. + +I had expected to render what assistance I could during the next +session, which convened in December, in framing the bill in committee +and to assist in its passage in the Senate. But very unfortunately, +just at the beginning of the next session of Congress, when the +hearings were all concluded and the committee was prepared to go +into executive session to consider the bill itself, I was taken +ill and compelled to spend a couple of months in Florida to recover +my health. It may seem strange, but the fact is, that my absence +expedited the consideration of the bill by the committee and its +report to the Senate. I had telegraphed and written my late +colleague, Senator Dolliver, to record me as voting for the favorable +report of the bill from the committee to the Senate. It was expected +that the committee would have to hold many sessions to consider the +numerous amendments that had been offered. Senator Dolliver, at +one of the first meetings of the committee called to consider the +bill, read my telegram and letter asking to be voted in favor of +reporting the bill. Objection was made to recording me, and one +distinguished Senator raised the point respecting how I was to be +recorded on the question of amendments. Considerable controversy, +I understand, took place, and Senator Dolliver then moved to report +the bill to the Senate with the amendments already adopted in +committee. This closed the discussion in the committee; the vote +was taken, and the bill was ordered reported to the Senate, my vote +being recorded in the affirmative; after which Senator Aldrich, in +order to make it appear all the more ridiculous, moved that Senator +Tillman, a minority member of the committee, be authorized to report +the bill. This motion prevailed; Senator Tillman did report it, +and he had charge of its passage in the Senate. So, as I have +stated, my absence, through the controversy over counting my vote, +really expedited the bill through the committee. + +I returned to my seat in the Senate in February, while the bill +was being considered, and assisted as best I could through conferences +with President Roosevelt and members of the Senate in agreeing on +sections of the bill which were in controversy, particularly the +court review section. I was also one of the conferees on the part +of the Senate that finally settled the differences between the two +Houses. + +It was a very satisfactory bill, in the form in which it finally +became a law. + + +CHAPTER XXII +JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN + +I have always admired Mr. Justice John Marshall Harlan, who has +served some thirty-five years as a member of the Supreme Court of +the United States, and who for a time after the death of Chief +Justice Fuller acted as Chief Justice of the United States. + +Upon the death of Judge Allen, who had for many years been United +States District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois, it +was suggested that his portrait be placed in the court room of the +United States Circuit and District Court at Springfield, Illinois. +The movement developed into the broader suggestion that portraits +of other distinguished judges, who had presided over the United +States Court at Springfield, and also a portrait of Chief Justice +Marshall, be procured and added to the collection. The portraits +of Judges John Marshall, Walter Q. Gresham, David Davis, Samuel H. +Treat, Thomas Drummond, William J. Allen, John McLean, Nathaniel +Pope, and John Marshall Harlan were procured, and it was planned +that a suitable ceremony should take place in Springfield on June +2, 1903. + +Judge Humphrey wrote me, telling me of the plans of the committee +appointed by the Bar of the United States Court at Springfield, +and asking me to say something concerning any one of these +distinguished judges whom I might designate, leaving the selection +to me. + +I thought the matter over and determined that, inasmuch as I had +known Justice Harlan more or less intimately ever since I became +a member of the Senate, I should like to talk about him. + +The occasion was quite a notable one. Vice-President Fairbanks +delivered an address on Judge Gresham; Judge Kohlsaat, on Chief +Justice Marshall; Lawrence Weldon, on David Davis; Judge Creighton, +on Samuel H. Treat; Mr. John W. Jewett, on Thomas Drummond; J. C. +Allen, on W. J. Allen; Mr. Logan Hay, on John McLean; General Alfred +Orendorff, on Nathaniel Pope; and the portraits were accepted in +the name of the Court at Springfield by the Hon. J. Otis Humphrey, +the District Judge. + +There was a very distinguished gathering of lawyers, of Federal +and State judges from Illinois and adjacent States, and of many +members of the families of the deceased jurists. Judges Kohlsaat, +Humphrey, and Anderson occupied the bench. The whole proceeding +was a very dignified and appropriate one. + +I cannot give a better estimate of my regard for Justice Harlan +than by quoting some extracts from the address I delivered on that +occasion: + +"The Supreme Court to-day is composed on nine eminent justices, of +one of whom I have been asked to speak; and I do believe that the +Justice of whom I speak, in all that goes to make a noted and able +jurist, is second only to that learned Chief Justice, John Marshall, +of whom Judge Kohlsaat has so interestingly spoken. + +"I speak of John Marshall Harlan, who has been an honored member +of the Supreme Court of the United States for more than a quarter +of a century. + +"Justice Harlan from his youth was the architect of his own fortune; +he has been a man of remarkable individuality and force of character; +he impressed himself from boyhood upon the community in which he +lived. Before he reached his nineteenth year he was made Adjutant- +General of the State of Kentucky. Like Lincoln, he performed the +obligations of a citizen, both in private and official life, with +zeal and faithfulness to duty. . . . + +"When Justice Harlan was but a young man, slavery became the +paramount issue of the day, and naturally being a staunch Union +man, he took an active part in the discussion and struggles that +became more or less bitter in his very early manhood. He was one +of the first to enlist and lead his regiment in the field in favor +of the Union and was assigned a place in that division of the army +commanded by the gallant old soldier and patriot, General Thomas. . . . + +"Justice Harlan's record as a soldier was a brilliant one. Certain +promotion and higher honors were assured him, and he was nominated +by President Lincoln to the position of Brigadier-General; but the +responsibilities resulting from the death of his father compelled +him to abandon what was certain to have been a distinguished military +career, and he reluctantly returned to Kentucky. . . . + +"Following the struggle in arms came important reconstruction +legislation and important Constitutional amendments, necessitating +judicial interpretations. These grave questions of state gave +opportunity for the development of great statesmen and judges. + +"Great crises produce great men. Justice Harlan was at home in +the thickest of the struggle, through the period of reconstruction, +an able lawyer, an uncompromisingly bold man, asserting his position +without fear or favor. While many of the important judicial and +Constitutional questions growing out of reconstruction legislation +remained unsettled, Justice Harlan took his place on the Supreme +Bench, having been appointed by President Hayes in 1877, and an +examination of the decisions of the Court since that year will show +the prominent part he has taken in the disposition of these +Constitutional questions. + +"It has been said that there never was a very powerful character, +a truly masculine, commanding man, who was not made so by struggles +with great difficulties. Daily observation and history prove the +truth of this statement. Hence I believe that the rough-and-tumble +existence to which the majority of ambitious young men of our +country are subjected, does much to prepare them for the higher +duties of substantial, valuable citizenship. The active life and +early struggles of Justice Harlan in his State have had their +influence in making him the fearless jurist that he is. + +"Shortly after his appointment, Justice Harlan was assigned as the +Supreme Justice for this circuit, and served here for eighteen +years. Many of you present remember his visit to Springfield and +his holding court in this room. + +"To be a member of the Federal Judiciary is the highest honor that +can be conferred upon an American lawyer. The crowning glory of +our Nation was the establishment, by the fathers, of the independent +Federal Judiciary, which is the conservator of the Constitution. +I have unbounded faith in it. It is the protector of those +fundamental liberties so dear to the Anglo-Saxon race. State +Legislatures and the Congress may be swayed by the heat and passion +of the hour; but so long as our independent Federal Judiciary +remains, our people are safe in their legal, fundamental, Constitutional +rights. + +"Perhaps there is nothing that illustrates so well Justice Harlan's +character, the equality of all men before the law, as do some of +his dissenting opinions." + +I then referred to his famous dissent in the Civil Rights case, +delivered in 1883; to his dissent in the Income Tax case, and others +of his notable utterances from the Supreme Bench; and at the same +time I referred to the fact that he had written more than seven +hundred opinions, covering nearly every branch of the law, the +opinions on Constitutional questions being unusually large. I +added: + +"In many respects Justice Harlan resembles his namesake, John +Marshall. Like John Marshall, he received his early training for +the bench in the active practice at the Bar. Like John Marshall, +he enlisted and fought for his country. Like John Marshall, while +still a young man, he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court, +and has for more than a quarter of a century occupied that position. +And like John Marshall, his great work on the bench has been in +cases involving the construction and application of the Constitution. +He has been especially assigned by the Court to the writing of +opinions on Constitutional Law. In my opinion he stands to-day as +the greatest living Constitutional lawyer. + +"If the Court please, I desire to refer to one more phase of Justice +Harlan's character. He is a religious man. He does not parade +his belief before the world, yet he possesses deep and devout +convictions and has given deep study to church questions. And it +may be said that the great men of the world from the earliest dawn +of civilization, with but few exceptions, have believed that the +life of the soul does not end with the death of the body. Cicero, +long before the birth of the Saviour, said: + +'When I consider the wonderful activity of the mind, so great a +memory of what has passed, and such a capacity of penetrating into +the future; when I behold such a number of arts and sciences, and +such a multitude of discoveries thence arising, I believe and am +firmly persuaded that a nature which contains so many things within +itself can not be mortal.' + +"Centuries later the famous Dr. Johnson well said: 'How gloomy +would be the mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he +should never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency, +and what now thinks shall think on for ever.' + +"Justice Harlan is a firm and devout believer in the immortality +of the soul. + +"He is now approaching the age when under the law he may retire +from the bench, yet he is in the vigor of health and is perhaps +the greater judge to-day than at any time in his past career. I +am sure I voice the general desire of the Bar of the whole country +that he shall, so long as his health and strength continue, remain +an active member of that great Court." + +It is more than eight years since I delivered that address. In +the ensuing period, five justices of the Supreme Court have either +retired under the law, or passed away, none of whom enjoyed a length +of service equal to Judge Harlan's; and yet Justice Harlan is +attending daily to his duties as a member of that court, apparently +in vigorous health and certainly as profound and learned a judge +to-day as at any time in his past career. And I repeat now what +I said eight years ago--that I hope he shall for years to come +remain an active member of that great court. + + +CHAPTER XXIII +MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS + +It has been said that Charles Sumner considered the chairmanship +of the Committee on Foreign Relations as the highest honor that +could have been conferred upon him by the United States Senate. + +I have been chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations for a +longer consecutive period than any man in our history, aside from +Mr. Sumner, who served as chairman for ten years. If I continue +as chairman during the remainder of my term, I shall have exceeded +the long service of Mr. Sumner. + +The Committee on Foreign Relations was among the first of the +permanent standing committees of the Senate. Prior to 1816, there +were no permanent standing committees, the custom being to appoint +select committees to consider the different portions of the +President's messages, and for the consideration of any other subject +which the Senate might from session to session determine necessary +for committee reference. On December 13, 1816, the Senate, by +rule, proceeded to the appointment of the following standing +committees, agreeably to the resolution of the tenth instant, which +was as follows: + +"Resolved, that it shall be one of the rules of the Senate that +the following standing committees be appointed at each session: +a Committee on Foreign Relations, a Committee on Finance, a Committee +on Commerce and Manufactures, a Committee on Military Affairs, a +Committee on the Militia, a Committee on Naval Affairs, a Committee +on Public Lands, a Committee on Claims, a Committee on the Judiciary, +a Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, and a Committee on +Pensions." + +It will be noted that under this rule, the Committee on Foreign +Relations was named first, and Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, was its +first chairman. Whether it was at that time considered the most +important committee, I do not know; but I do know that from the +date of its formation, the Committee on Foreign Relations has been +among the most important committees of the Senate, and at times in +our history it has been _the_ most important committee. It has +been from the beginning particularly noted for the high character +of the men who composed its membership, and we find in the archives +of the Senate the names of some of the greatest men in our national +history, who have from time to time acted as its chairmen. + +Barbour of Virginia, Henry Clay, James Buchanan, Rives, Benton, +King, Cass, Sumner, Windom, John F. Miller, John T. Morgan, John +Sherman, and Cushman K. Davis are a few of those who have at +different times occupied the position of chairman of the Committee +on Foreign Relations. + +My predecessors, as their names will indicate to those familiar +with American history, have been noted for their conservatism in +dealing with matters pertaining to our foreign relations, and there +is no position in the Senate where conservatism is so essential. +My ambition has been so to conduct the business coming before the +committee as to keep up the high standard set and the high standing +maintained by the distinguished statesmen who have preceded me in +the position. + +The work of the Foreign Relations Committee is almost exclusively +executive and confidential, and consists largely in the consideration +of treaties submitted by the President to the Senate for ratification. +Very little important legislative business comes before this +committee, although it has jurisdiction over claims of foreign +citizens against the United States, and all legislation that in +any wise affects our relations with other nations. + +It was almost, I might say, by accident that I became a member of +this important committee. I had been a member of the Committee on +Commerce for a number of years, and took quite an interest in the +very important legislation coming before that committee; and the +improvement of rivers and harbors was a subject in which Illinois +was greatly interested. + +The late Senator Mitchell, of Oregon, was in 1895 chairman of the +Committee on Organization, having in charge the make-up of the +committees of the Senate, and he wanted a place on the Committee +on Commerce for some Western Senator. He came to me and explained +his embarrassment, and asked me if I would be willing to be +transferred from the Committee on Commerce to the Committee on +Foreign Relations. I wanted to accommodate Senator Mitchell, and +I told him that I would consent to be transferred, but at the same +time I was not at all anxious to leave the Committee on Commerce. +The transfer was made in due course, and I have served continuously +on the Foreign Relations Committee since that time, 1895. + +John Sherman was chairman of the committee when I became a member +of it. It was at a period when there were very few material foreign +matters to engage the attention of the Senate. Sherman served as +chairman of the committee, at different periods, for nearly ten +years. He was a wise, conservative chairman; not especially +brilliant, as was Senator Davis, or Senator Sumner; but every one +had confidence in him and felt that in his hands nothing unwise or +foolish would emanate from the committee. + +I was chairman of the Committee on Interstate Commerce at that +time, and the work of that committee, added to the work devolving +upon me as a member of the Committee on Appropriations, engrossed +most of my time; and while I regularly attended the meetings of +the Committee on Foreign Relations, I cannot say that I took a +prominent part, or, indeed, a very deep interest, in it until I +became its chairman, succeeding the late Cushman K. Davis in 1901. + +Cushman K. Davis was a warm personal friend of mine. As the years +passed by and I grew to know him more and more intimately, I became +more deeply attached to him, and my respect for him as a statesman +constantly increased. He was what I would term a specialist in +legislation. He took little or no interest in any other subject +than matters pertaining to our foreign relations. He was a prominent +figure in public affairs for many years. A soldier in the Civil +War, serving in many prominent places in civil affairs in his State, +including the position of Governor, he came to the Senate as a +ripened statesman. He entered the Senate in 1887, and in 1891 +became a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and very early +became one of its leading members. Succeeding the late Senator +Sherman, in 1897, he became its chairman and served in that position +until his death. Few more scholarly or cultivated men have ever +occupied a seat in the Senate. + +He was a peculiar man in many respects, and did not court, or even +encourage, the advice of his colleagues on the committee, or even +of the Secretary of State. I had served on the Committee on Foreign +Affairs of the House when Mr. Seward was Secretary of State and I +knew what a help it was to the committee to have the Secretary meet +with us personally and discuss matters of more or less importance. +We all listened to Secretary Seward with the profoundest respect +and attention; but as I look back on it now, I think that Secretary +Seward probably entertained more than he instructed the members. +He seemed to enjoy attending the sessions. + +I thought that it would be a help if we could have Mr. Olney, then +Secretary of State, before us. I suggested to Senator Davis at +one meeting, that Secretary Olney should be invited to come and +explain some question concerning which we seemed to be in doubt. +Senator Davis declined to invite him, and said so in so many words. +Apparently he did not desire any interference or information from +the Executive Department. I felt pretty free to express my opinion +to Senator Davis, and I told him that inasmuch as he did not care +to invite Secretary Olney, I would invite him myself, if he did +not object. I did so, and Secretary Olney, at a subsequent meeting, +met with the committee and very quickly explained the question +under consideration. + +Senator Davis was a well recognized authority on international law, +both as a lecturer on that subject and a writer. Judging from his +display of ability, he ought to have been able to write a monumental +work on the subject. But he was an indolent man and contented +himself with publishing merely a little volume containing a _résumé_ +of his lectures before a Washington college of law. The publication +of this work detracted from, rather than added to, his reputation +as a student and writer. + +He was not an orator, but on occasions, in executive session, when +great international questions were before the Senate, I have heard +him deliver wonderfully eloquent speeches. He always commanded +the closest attention whenever he spoke in the Senate, whether in +executive or open session (which latter he only infrequently did, +by the way), and he always exhausted the subject. + +President McKinley appointed him a member of the Paris Peace +Commission to frame the treaty of peace with Spain. How well he +performed that service those of his colleagues on the commission +who are still living, can attest. He returned from Paris and had +charge of the ratification of the treaty in the Senate. + +I have always believed that Senator Davis's death was the result +of his indolent habits. I do not believe he ever took any physical +exercise; at least he did not do so during the time that I knew +him. He was so much of a student, and so interested in books, that +he seemed to think that time devoted to the proper care of his +physical condition was so much time wasted. The result was that +when disease attacked him he became an easy prey, and when he passed +away it was said that he bore all the marks of a very old man, even +though he was comparatively young in years. It was my sad duty, +as a member of the United States Senate, to attend his funeral in +St. Paul, in 1900. + +The northwest section of the United States has not now, and never +had before, as capable a scholar and statesman as Cushman K. Davis. + +I succeeded Senator Davis as chairman of the Committee on Foreign +Relations. I have enjoyed my work on the committee more than I +have enjoyed any other work that I have done in the Senate. There +are a number of reasons for this. First, the members of the +committee, during my service, have been particularly able and +agreeable men, and during those years some of the greatest men of +the Senate have been numbered among its members. Aside from one, +whom I have long since forgiven, I do not recall now that I have +had a single controversy or unkind word with any member. In +addition, the work is not only of the greatest importance, but it +has been very satisfactory, because partisanship has not at all +entered into the disposition of matters pertaining to our foreign +affairs. The members of the committee during my time have always +seemed to take a deep interest in the work coming before them, and, +unlike most of the committees of the Senate, it has never been +difficult to secure the attendance of a working quorum. In the +ten years that I have been chairman, I do not believe the committee +has ever been compelled to adjourn for want of a quorum when any +important business was before it. + +Until his death in 1911, Senator Wm. P. Frye, of Maine, was in +point of service the oldest member of the committee. He had served +as one of its members ever since 1885. He could have been chairman, +by right of seniority, when Mr. Davis was made chairman in 1891, +on the retirement of Mr. Sherman; and again he could have become +chairman when Senator Davis died. He did act in that capacity for +nearly a year, but he always seemed to prefer the chairmanship of +the Committee on Commerce. + +I believe that the late Senator Hanna had a good deal to do with +Senator Frye's declining to succeed the late Senator Davis as +chairman. Ship-subsidy and the building up of the merchant marine +of the United States were then before the Senate, and Senator Hanna, +a ship owner himself, was deeply interested in that legislation. +Senator Hanna and Senator Frye were devoted friends; and, although +I do not know, I have always felt that it was Senator Hanna who +induced Senator Frye to remain at the head of the Committee on +Commerce. + +Senator Frye was a very capable and faithful Senator, and enjoyed +the confidence and respect of the people of his State to a greater +degree than any other Maine statesman, with the exception of Mr. +Blaine. As chairman of the Committee on Commerce, I would say he +dominated that committee, and at the same time he was a most +satisfactory chairman to every Senator who served on it. He was +thoroughly familiar with every question pertaining to rivers and +harbors, the shipping interests, and the multitude of matters coming +before the committee. Senator Burton, of Ohio, is probably the +only member of the United States Senate at present who is as well +posted on matters before the Committee on Commerce. + +Mr. Frye was an active member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, +and during the brief periods when I have been compelled by reason +of illness to remain away from the Senate I always designated +Senator Frye to act in my stead. + +Among his colleagues in the Senate, he enjoyed the greatest degree +of popularity; and aside from one or two occasions when his own +colleague opposed him, no Senator ever objected to any ordinary +bill which Senator Frye called up and asked to have placed on its +passage. In fact it was his custom to report a bill from his +committee, or the Committee on Foreign Relations, the only two +working committees of which he was a member, and ask for its +immediate consideration. No one ever objected, and the bill went +through as a meritorious measure without question, on his word +alone to the Senate. + +He was an ideal presiding officer. For years he was president _pro +tempore_, and the death of Vice-President Hobart, and the accession +of Mr. Roosevelt to the Presidency, necessitated his almost constant +occupancy of the chair. With the peculiar rules existing in the +Senate, the position of presiding officer is comparatively an easy +one. Senator Frye made an especially agreeable presiding officer, +expediting the business of the Senate in a degree equal to that of +any presiding officer during my service. + +I recollect when he was elected president _pro tempore_, in 1896, +I had been talked of for the place, but he had not heard that I +desired it; and a Republican caucus was held which named him +president. Senator Chandler, for whom I have always had the greatest +respect as a man and as a Senator, after the caucus was held told +Senator Frye that he had heard I had some ambition for the place. +Mr. Frye came at once to my house and to my study and asked me, in +so many words, if I had desired to be president of the Senate. I +replied that I had not, adding that I had had no particular concern +about it at any time. He thereupon asserted that he had called +simply to apprise me that whenever I wanted the position he would +very cheerfully resign and yield it to me. I assured him that if +he did not yield it until I asked him to do so, he would hold it +for a long time. He never had any opposition, and on both sides +of the chamber he was, as presiding officer, equally popular. He +voluntarily relinquished the office at the beginning of the Sixty- +second Congress. + +When the tariff was one of the issues--during the first Cleveland, +the Harrison, and the second Cleveland campaigns and to a lesser +degree in 1896 and 1900,--Senator Frye was regarded as one of the +foremost orators and stump speakers on the tariff question. During +his later years it was very much to be regretted that he did not +feel able to take an active part in national campaigns. + +The news of Senator Frye's death comes to me while I am engaged in +reading the proof of what I have said about him in this book. He +died at four o'clock on the eighth day of August, 1911, passing +away at the age of eighty-one years. When asked by a newspaper +man for a brief estimate of Mr. Frye's character, I said: "He was +not only one of the ablest and most devoted of public servants, +but one of the most charming men that I have ever known." This +expression I desire to repeat here for perpetuation in endurable +form. + +Seldom has this country commanded the services of a more enlightened +or more self-sacrificing man than Mr. Frye. He was patriotic to +the very heart's core; no sacrifice for the country would have been +too great for him. He, and his colleague Mr. Hale, and Senators +Allison, of Iowa, Platt, of Connecticut, Teller, of Colorado, +Cockrell, of Missouri, Morgan, of Alabama, and Spooner, of Wisconsin, +constitute a coterie of public men of the last half century such +as any nation should be proud of. Unselfish, energetic, and +patriotic, they have done much to keep the United States on the +proper level. Let us hope, as we must, that the public councils +of the nation may always be guided by men of their character and +abilities. + +Senator Frye's death leaves me the oldest member of the Senate in +point of service. He entered the Senate in March, 1881, giving +him more than thirty years of service, while I entered in March, +1883, which gives me more than twenty-eight years up to date. It +thus will be seen that we have served together for almost an average +lifetime. + +Senator Jacob H. Gallinger of New Hampshire, who was promoted from +the House to the Senate in 1891, now becomes the second member of +the latter body in respect to length of service. Mr. Gallinger is +not a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, of whose +membership I am now especially speaking, but it cannot be out of +place for me to pause here to give him a word of commendation and +salutation as I pursue my way through this maze of memory. A +physician by profession, and a native of Canada, Mr. Gallinger has +shown marked adaptability in taking on the American spirit and in +performing the public's service. He has for many years been Chairman +of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, which, possessing +many of the attributes of an ordinary city council, requires minute +attention to detail. Mr. Gallinger is the second member of the +important Committee on Commerce, and one of the leading members of +the Committee on Appropriations. His committee work therefore +covers a wide range of subjects. Never has he been known to fail +in the performance of his duties in all these connections. Moreover, +he is a constant attendant upon the sessions of the Senate, and +one of the most alert of its members. Apparently, often, he is +impulsive and explosive, and occasionally under the excitement of +debate says what seems to be a harsh thing. If, however, his manner +is indicative of feeling, such a feeling, like a passing summer +cloud, is soon dissipated, and almost immediately gives way to the +sunshine of his really genial and lovable nature. Senator Gallinger +as a member of the House and Senate has given the American public +as much genuine and patriotic service as any man in public life +during the past quarter of a century. I hope he may continue long +to adorn the Senate. + +Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama, was appointed a member of the +Foreign Relations Committee in 1879, and served continuously as a +member of it until his death in 1907, a total service of twenty- +eight years. I do not know of any other Senator who served on that +committee for so long a period. When the Senate was in control of +the Democrats under the second Cleveland Administration, he was +chairman of the committee. + +Senator Morgan was an extraordinary man in many respects. He had +a wonderful fund of information on every subject, but was not a +man of very sound judgment, and I could not say that he was a man +on whose advice one could rely in solving a difficult problem. At +the same time, no one could doubt his honesty and sincerity of +purpose. He did not have the faculty of seeing both sides of a +question, and once he made up his mind, it was impossible to change +him, or by argument and reason to move him from a position deliberately +taken. I probably had as intimate an acquaintance with him as any +other Senator enjoyed, for we not only served as colleagues on the +Committee on Foreign Relations, but, as I have stated in another +chapter, we served together on the Hawaiian Commission. He was +one of the most delightful and agreeable of men if you agreed with +him on any question, but he was so intense on any subject in which +he took an interest, particularly anything pertaining to the +interoceanic canal, that he became almost vicious toward any one +who opposed him. + +If an Isthmian canal be finally constructed, Senator Morgan must +be accorded a large share of the credit; and his name will go down +as the father of it, even though he himself affirmed in debate in +the Senate one day, after the Panama route had been selected, that +he would not be "the father of such a bastard." Senator Morgan +fought for the Nicaraguan route with all the power at his command. +He fought the treaties with Colombia and Panama, first for many +weeks in the committee, and then in the executive sessions of the +Senate. He wanted to arouse public sentiment against the Panama +route, and he addressed the Senate about five hours every day for +thirteen days on the subject, desisting only when we consented to +publish his speeches and papers on the subject, notwithstanding +they had been made and presented in executive session. Nevertheless, +it was Senator Morgan who for very many years kept the subject of +an interoceanic canal before Congress and the country, and finally, +partially through his efforts, interest in the project was kept +alive until it was determined, first, that the canal should be +constructed; and second, that it should be over the Panama route. +Many people thought that the selection of the Panama route would +break Senator Morgan's heart; but they did not know him. He made +the best fight he could, and when the Panama route was selected he +took the same deep interest in the legislation to carry the work +forward that he had always taken in the possible alternative route. +He was firmly convinced that the canal, on account of certain +physical reasons, could never be constructed across the Isthmus of +Panama. + +Time alone will tell whether or not Senator Morgan was right. Time +has demonstrated that he was right in his contention that the Panama +Canal could never be constructed for the amount estimated by the +engineers, one hundred and eighty-three million dollars. It has +already cost over two hundred million dollars, and it is not yet +nearly completed. The latest estimates are that it will cost over +three hundred and eighty-five million dollars. How much more it +will cost the United States, no one can say. + +During the later years of his life, he was probably the most +interesting and unique figure in the Senate. Toward the close of +his Senatorial career he became very feeble, but he attended to +his Senatorial duties as long as he was able to be about at all. +The last time I saw him alive was on the fourth of March, 1907, +the last day of the session, and the last time he ever entered the +Senate or the Capitol. He looked very emaciated and feeble. I +spoke to him, inquiring about his health. He replied, "I am just +tottering around," and after a pause, added, "Cullom, when I die +and you die and Frye dies, and one or two others, this Senate will +not amount to much, will it?" + +He died a few months afterwards at his home in Washington, and in +his death there passed away the last of the old familiar type of +Southern statesmen, so frequently to be met with in Washington +before the Civil War, and the last Senator who served as a Brigadier- +General in the Confederate Army. + +Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, became a member of +the committee at the same time that I was placed on it; but, by +reason of my longer service in the Senate, according to the usual +custom, I outranked him. + +Senator Lodge, by general consent I believe, is regarded to-day as +the most cultivated man in the Senate. He is a scholar, an author, +and a noted historian. He is a very able man in any position in +which he is placed. Judged by the standard of his great predecessor +in the Senate from Massachusetts, Daniel Webster, he is not an +orator, but he is a very effective speaker and a good debater. He +is one of the very active members and has always taken a prominent +part in the disposition of matters coming before the Upper House. +He is always ready to work, and when I desire any matter to be +disposed of without delay, I refer it to Senator Lodge as a +subcommittee, with confidence that it will be attended to quickly +and correctly. + +He is a strong, active Republican, and a politician (using that +term in its higher sense) of no mean order. For years in Republican +National Conventions he has been a conspicuous figure; and twice +at least--once at Philadelphia in 1900, and again in Chicago in +1908--he has been permanent chairman. On both occasions--and I +attended both conventions--he proved himself to be a splendid +presiding officer. He regards his position as the senior Senator +from Massachusetts, the successor of Webster and Sumner and a long +line of noted men, as even a higher honor then the Presidency +itself. + +I have seen it repeatedly stated that Senator Lodge is unpopular +in the Senate,--that he is cold and formal. From my long acquaintance +with him, extending over some seventeen years, I have not found +this to be true. In times of trouble and distress in my own life, +I have found him to be warm and sympathetic. + +I hope that he will remain in the Senate for many years to come. +Should he retire, his loss would be severely felt both as a member +of the Committee on Foreign Relations and as a member of the Senate. + +Senator Augustus O. Bacon, of Georgia, is now the senior member of +the minority on the committee; and should the control of the Senate +pass into the hands of the Democrats, he will, if he remain in the +Senate, naturally become its chairman. He is an able lawyer, and +if subject to criticism at all, I would say that he is a little +too technical as a jurist. I do not say this to disparage him, +because in the active practice of his profession at the bar this +would be regarded to his credit rather than otherwise; and even as +a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, this disposition +to magnify technicalities makes him one of the most valuable members +of that committee. As a Senator, he is jealous of the prerogatives +of the Senate, and vigorously resists the slightest encroachment +on the part of the Executive. He is one of the effective debaters +on the Democratic side of the Senate, and seems to enjoy a controversy +for its own sake. My intercourse with Senator Bacon as a member +of the Committee on Foreign Relations has been most agreeable, and +I have come to like and respect him very much. In my time, he has +been an exceptionally active, useful member, and he has often told +me that he prefers his place as a member of the Foreign Relations +Committee to any other committeeship in the Senate. He is well +equipped, by education and training, for the work of the committee, +and gives close attention to important treaties and other measures +coming before it. He stood with Senator Morgan in opposing the +ratification of the Panama canal treaty, and he was as much in +earnest in his opposition to it as was Senator Morgan; but unlike +the Senator from Alabama, he did not attack Senators personally +who differed from him. When technical matters of importance came +before the committee I usually appointed Senator Spooner and Senator +Bacon as a subcommittee, as I felt that anything that these two +might agree upon would be right, and would be concurred in by the +committee and by the Senate as well. + +Senator Clarence D. Clark, of Wyoming, was a member of the House +for two terms, and has served in the Senate for about fifteen years. +In point of service, he is one of the oldest of the Western Senators. +Unlike the Eastern States, very few of the Western States return +their Senators for term after term; and the value of this, as a +matter of State pride, is well demonstrated in the case of Senator +Clark. It has enabled him to reach the high position of chairman +of the Judiciary Committee, the successor of a long line of able +lawyers,--Trumbull, Edmunds, Thurman, Hoar, and O. H. Platt being +a few of his immediate predecessors. + +Senator Clark has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations +for thirteen years, and a more agreeable member of a committee it +would be difficult to find. He is a capable lawyer, and a man of +sound common sense. I regret that his arduous duties as chairman +of the Judiciary Committee do not permit him to give as close +attention to the Foreign Relations Committee as I would like; but +he always attends when there are matters of particular importance +before it; and I have great respect for his judgment in the +disposition of matters in which he takes any interest at all. + +The Hon. Hernando de Soto Money, of Mississippi, has for years been +one of the leading Democratic members of Congress. For fourteen +years he was a member of the House of Representatives, a prominent +member, too, and he has been a member of the Senate since 1897. +His long service in the House at once enabled him to take his place +as a leader of his party, a Senator admired and respected by his +colleagues on both sides. He was appointed to the Foreign Relations +Committee in 1899, and I have been intimately acquainted with him +since. + +Senator Money is a highly educated, cultured gentleman, and has +travelled extensively over the world. His broad liberal education, +added to his travel, and his extensive knowledge of world history, +made him an especially valuable member of the committee of which +I am chairman. During the past few years I have sympathized with +him very greatly as he has suffered physical pain to a greater +degree than any other man whom I have known, and yet has insisted +on attending diligently to his official duties. He must be a man +of extraordinary will power, or he would never have been able to +conquer his physical suffering to such an extent as to enable him +to attend to his Senatorial duties, and at the same time to obtain +the fund of information which he possesses, as he demonstrated over +and over again in the Senate. + +He retired voluntarily from the Senate on the fourth of March, 1911. + +Of the many Senators with whom I have been associated in the +committee on Foreign Relations, and especially since I became its +chairman, there are two, both now retired to private life, in whom +I had the greatest confidence and for whom I entertained great +affection, as they both did for me--these Senators were the Hon. +J. B. Foraker of Ohio, and the Hon. John C. Spooner of Wisconsin. + +Senator Foraker preceded Senator Spooner as a member of this +committee by some four years. I do not know how it first came +about, but I became very intimate with Senator Foraker almost +immediately after he entered the Senate, and at once grew to admire +him exceedingly. He is a very brilliant man, and has had a notable +career. He enlisted in the Union Army as a private when sixteen +years old, and retired at the close of the war, a Captain. He then +completed his education, and entered upon the practice of the law. +He was elected Judge of the Superior Court at Cincinnati, and later +became a candidate for Governor. The occupant of many civil +positions of importance in his State, a prominent figure in national +convention after national convention, nominating Senator Sherman +for the Presidency in 1884 and 1888, and placing in nomination Mr. +McKinley in 1896, Senator Foraker had established a record in public +life, and had gathered a wealth of experience, sufficient to satisfy +the ambitions of most men, before his great public career really +commenced as a member of the United States Senate, in 1897. He +also nominated McKinley in 1900. + +Senator Foraker was one of the most independent men with whom I +ever served in the Senate. He was a man of such ability and +unquestioned courage that he did not hesitate to take any position +which he himself deemed to be right, regardless of the views of +others. It would inure to the advantage of the country if there +was a more general disposition among public men to adhere to their +own convictions, regardless of what current opinion might be. +Senator Foraker always made up his mind on public questions and +clung to his own opinion in the face of all criticism. The most +striking instance of this trait was when he, the only Republican +Senator to do so, voted against the Hepburn Rate Bill, because he +believed it to be unconstitutional. The very fact that he stood +alone in his opposition to that bill did not seem to bother him in +the least. + +On the recommendation of President Roosevelt, the Committee on +Immigration of the Senate attempted to pass a very drastic Chinese +exclusion law. I examined the bill and became convinced at once +that it was absolutely contrary to and in violation of our treaties +with China. I was very much surprised at the time that even Senator +Lodge, one of the most conservative of Senators, supported the +bill. I was deluged with telegrams from labor organizations, as +I knew Senator Foraker was, favoring the passage of the bill; but +he, with Senator Platt of Connecticut, and some others in the +Senate, whom I assisted as best I could, led the opposition to the +bill reported by the Committee on Immigration and defeated it. +Senator Foraker very well knew that his opposition to this bill +would not strengthen him at home, but he disregarded that fact and +opposed it because he believed it was contrary to our treaty +obligations. + +A more recent case in which he showed his independence was his +taking up the fight of the troops dismissed on account of the so- +called Brownsville affair. This was very unselfish on the part of +Senator Foraker. He had nothing to gain by espousing the cause of +a few negroes, but much to lose by antagonizing the National +administration. He did not hesitate a moment, however. There is +no question that President Roosevelt acted hastily in dismissing +the entire company; but this was one occasion when President +Roosevelt would not recede even though it became perfectly clear +to almost every one in Congress that he was wrong. + +Senator Foraker always did make it a point to attend the meetings +of the Committee on Foreign Relations, but for some reason or other +he was never punctual and was seldom in attendance when the committee +was called to order. But at the same time he was prepared on all +important questions coming before the committee. He seemed to me +to have given attention beforehand to subjects which he knew would +come before a particular meeting, and his opinion on any treaty or +bill before the committee was always sought by his colleagues and +listened to with respect, and almost without exception his opinion +prevailed. + +I regretted exceedingly to see him retire from the Senate. From +the time he entered that body, he was consistently one of the +principal defenders of Republican policies and Republican +administrations on the floor of the Senate. + +Senator John C. Spooner, of Wisconsin, was, in my judgment, one of +the best lawyers who ever served as a member of the Senate, and +among its membership we find the names of the greatest lawyers and +judges of America. He had served in the Civil War, having retired +at its close with the brevet of Major. He early took up the law +as a career, and never abandoned it, even when elected to the +Senate; and as I write this, I believe he is regarded as one of +the foremost lawyers of New York. + +He came into the Senate two years after I entered that body, and +I remember him there as opposing the conference report on the +Interstate Commerce Act. His State having passed into the control +of the Democrats, he retired from the Senate in 1891, but was re- +elected in 1897. He declined several tenders of cabinet positions, +preferring to remain independent as a Senator. + +I knew him for a good many years. Representing a neighboring State, +as he did in the Senate, I became very intimate with him, and never +had the slightest hesitancy in seeking his advice when I was in +doubt concerning any legal or constitutional question. + +Senator Spooner was a much more technical lawyer than Senator +Foraker, but not quite so technical as Senator Bacon. On questions +coming before the Committee on Foreign Relations, his advice was +always to be trusted. My judgment in this respect may be influenced +by our close personal friendship; but I always felt that when I +had his support on any question I was safe and right in the position +I took respecting it. Seldom within my knowledge did the Senate +fail to agree with any attitude that Senator Spooner assumed on a +controverted question. + +Senator Spooner was placed on the committee at the time I became +its chairman. At that time there were before the committee treaties, +legislation, and matters of the utmost importance. He entered upon +the work with the greatest interest, and exercised commanding +influence in the disposition of matters under consideration. He +always seemed to take particular interest in my success as chairman +of the committee, and always wanted to assist and help me wherever +he could. + +We were wrestling with the Reciprocity treaty with Cuba at a meeting. +It had been before the committee for a number of meetings; Senator +Spooner feared that I was about to turn the treaty over to another +Senator to report, and he sent me, while the committee was in +session, a brief note marked "Confidential." It read: + +"The report is that you will give this treaty to another to report. +I think you should report it yourself, as you are not only chairman +of the committee, but you are also a member of the Committee on +Relations with Cuba. Platt spoke to me about it. He felt sensitive +in the first place because the treaty did not go to his committee. +The fact that you and others on this committee were on his committee +reconciled him. I will stand to your shoulder in the fight for +its ratification. + + "Yours, + "Spooner." + +I hope Senator Spooner, if he does me the honor of glancing through +these rambling recollections, will forgive my quoting this confidential +note without his consent; but I do so only to show the very friendly +and confidential relationship that existed between us. + +I doubt very much whether the Colombia or Panama treaty would have +been ratified, or the Panama route selected in preference to the +Nicaraguan route for the Isthmian canal, despite the great influence +of Senator Hanna, had not Senator Spooner joined in advocating the +Panama route. + +It was a long and difficult struggle, not only before the Committee +on Foreign Relations, but before the Committee on Interoceanic +Canals, and resulted in the retirement of Senator Morgan as chairman +of the last-mentioned committee--a position he had held for many +years--and in the selection of Senator Hanna to succeed him. But +Senator Spooner, through his technical knowledge, dominated the +Committee on Interoceanic Canals, and succeeded finally in the +passage of the Spooner act which designated Panama, if that route +could be purchased, as the route for the canal. + +Senator Spooner was one of the real leaders of the Senate from 1897 +until he retired. He was one of the most eloquent men who served +in the Senate during that period. During all the debates on the +Cuban question, the important results growing out of the Spanish- +American War, the question of Imperialism--his participation in +all these momentous subjects was above criticism. I have heard +him in the Senate, speaking day after day. He never grew tiresome; +never repeated himself; always held the most profound attention of +the Senate; and his closing words were listened to with the same +attention and with the same interest, by his colleagues and by the +galleries, as marked the beginning of any of his speeches. After +his conclusions his Republican colleagues invariably gathered around +him, offering their congratulations. + +Senator Spooner and Senator Foraker have both retired. It was +thought at the time that their places could not be filled, and I, +as one of the older Senators who remember them well, can not believe +that their places have been filled. Of all the Senators with whom +I have served, Spooner and Foraker were most alike in their combative +natures, in their willingness to take the responsibility to go to +the front to lead the fight. Senators come and go, the personnel +of the Senate changes, one Senator will be replaced by another, +but the Senate itself will go on as long as the Republic endures. + +One of the most dignified, honest, straightforward, capable men +with whom I have served, was the Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, of +Indiana. He was a devoted adherent, friend, and follower of the +late President McKinley, and had been his friend long before he +was nominated for President in 1896. Senator Fairbanks took a very +prominent part in that convention, was its temporary chairman, and +in 1900 was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions of the National +Convention which met at Philadelphia. He entered the Senate in +1897, and during the following year was appointed by President +McKinley a member of the United States and British Joint High +Commission for the adjustment of all outstanding questions concerning +the United States and Canada. The commission was an exceedingly +important one, but failing to agree on the Alaskan boundary, it +was compelled to adjourn without settling any of the questions +before it. Its labors were not wasted, however, as it furnished +the nucleus for the final adjustment of those questions under the +administration of Mr. Root, in the State Department. + +Senator Fairbanks was a close personal friend of President McKinley, +and almost immediately assumed quite an important position in the +Senate. He was appointed to the Committee on Foreign Relations, +of which he was quite an able and influential member, as he was of +every committee of the Senate on which he served. He accepted the +nomination of the Republican Convention of 1904 for Vice-President. +I considered that his proper place was in the Senate; but for some +reason or other he gave it out that he would not decline the +nomination for the office of Vice-President, and neither would he +seek it. The Convention very wisely determined that he was the +best candidate that could be nominated. The duties of the Vice- +President are not very arduous; but in all my service in the Senate +I do not know of a Vice-President who so strictly observed the +obligation adherent to the office as did Mr. Fairbanks. He was a +candidate for President in 1908 but was defeated by President Taft. + +Since his retirement from the Vice-Presidency, he has at least +twice been tendered high appointments in the diplomatic service, +first as Ambassador to the Court of St. James, and, later (it having +been rumored while he was travelling in China that he had expressed +himself as favorably inclined toward the acceptance of the position +of minister to that country), Secretary Knox indicated a desire +through mutual friends to have him appointed. Mr. Fairbanks thanked +his friends, but declined the appointment. + +In his tour around the world after retiring from the office of Vice- +President, he conducted himself with great dignity and propriety. + +Senator Albert J. Beveridge succeeded Senator Fairbanks, as a member +of the Committee on Foreign Relations. For years Senator Beveridge +had seemed more than anxious to become a member of this committee. +When he first entered the Senate he thought he should have been +made one of its members, as he had always taken a deep interest in +foreign matters; but the Committee on Organization determined that +his colleague, Senator Fairbanks, was entitled to the preference. +When Senator Fairbanks retired, I requested the Committee on +Organization to place Senator Beveridge on my committee, which it +did. + +I have always admired Senator Beveridge. He is an exceptionally +engaging speaker, a brilliant man, and so talented that one cannot +help being attracted to him. I had heard of him years before he +entered the Senate. The late Senator McDonald of Indiana, a strong, +gifted lawyer and the highest type of a man, told me one day that +he had a young man in his office, named Beveridge, who knew more +about the politics of the day than almost any other man in the +State, and he believed he would be a controlling factor in Republican +politics in Indiana. + +Senator Beveridge is a popular magazine writer, as he is one of +the most popular public speakers of to-day. As a campaign orator, +his services are constantly in demand. + +I regret very much to say, that notwithstanding Senator Beveridge's +prior anxiety to become a member of the Committee on Foreign +Relations, after his appointment he attended very few meetings and +apparently took little interest in its business. His duties as +Chairman of the Committee on Territories, combined with work on +other committees, necessarily consumed most of his time. + +For a number of years after the Hon. John Kean, of New Jersey, +entered the Senate, I had no special acquaintance with him, and I +did not welcome him particularly when he was made a member of the +Committee on Foreign Relations, in 1901. Since then I have become +very intimate with Senator Kean, and there have been few men on +the committee for whom I entertained a higher regard, or in whom +I placed more confidence. He was a very industrious and useful +member, as he is in the Senate. He filled quite a prominent place +in the Senate, and watched legislation probably more closely than +any other member. He was always familiar with the bills on the +calendar, and made it a point to object to any questionable measures +that came before the Senate. He advanced in influence and power +very rapidly in the last few years of his service. Through Senator +Kean, I have been enabled very often to expedite the passage of +measures, not only coming from the Committee on Foreign Relations, +but bills in which I have been interested pertaining to the affairs +of my own State. If the Senate had what is known as a "whip," I +would say that Senator Kean comes more nearly being the Republican +"whip" than any other Senator, with the possible exception, in +recent years, of Senator Murray Crane, of Massachusetts. + +Senator Thomas H. Carter, of Montana, a member of the committee in +the Sixty-first Congress, was one of the most popular members of +the Senate. His ability as a lawyer and legislator, combined with +his wit and keen sense of humor, enabled him to assume quite a +commanding position in that body. When feeling ran high in debate, +sometimes almost to the point of personal encounter, Senator Carter +would appear, and by a few well-chosen words, voiced in his calm, +quiet manner, throw oil upon the troubled waters, and peace again +reigned supreme. + +I have known Senator Carter for very many years. I knew him as a +young man. His home was at one time in Illinois, at the little +town of Pana, about twenty-five miles from my own home at Springfield. +He has held many public offices. Delegate from the Territory of +Montana, member of the Fifty-first Congress, Commissioner of the +General Land Office, Senator from 1895 to 1901 and from 1905 to +1906, Chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1892, he +has in all these positions distinguished himself as a man of a high +order of ability. I have always liked Senator Carter very much, +and I was glad indeed that he was named a member of the Committee +on Foreign Relations. He is a very useful and influential member, +as he is of the Senate. + +Senator William Alden Smith, of Michigan, was only recently placed +on the Committee on Foreign Relations, quite a distinction for a +Senator who had served for so brief a time as a member of the +Senate. Senator Smith, however, was a prominent member of the +House for many years, and was elected to the Senate while serving +as a member of the House of Representatives. He has taken position +in the Senate very rapidly. He is a lawyer of experience and long +practice, and an industrious and competent legislator. He is always +watchful of the interests of his State. He took a prominent part +in the consideration of the treaties between the United States and +Great Britain concerning Canada, more especially the boundary and +water-way treaties. It was through his efforts that an amendment +to the latter treaty was adopted, which he considered necessary to +protect the interests of his State, and which I greatly feared +would result in the rejection of the treaty by the Canadian +Parliament. I am very glad to say, however, that the treaty has +been ratified by both Governments, and only recently proclaimed. + +Senator Smith has taken a keen interest in matters before the +Committee on Foreign Relations, and with his experience, industry, +and capacity, he is bound to become a very useful member of the +committee. + +One of the last members to be appointed on the Committee on Foreign +Relations was the Hon. Elihu Root, of New York. He is one of the +greatest men and ablest Senators who have ever been members of the +committee. When he became a member of it, he was not at all a +stranger, for the reason that he, on my invitation, had, while +Secretary of State, for two years previous to his retirement from +that office, attended almost every meeting of the committee. +Between Mr. Hay and the members of the Senate, there was not the +close relationship which should have existed between that body and +the State Department. + +Secretary Hay was not disposed to cultivate friendly relations with +Senators, and certain remarks he made concerning the Senate as a +body were very distasteful to Senators; and although I had invited +him, he seemed very averse to coming before the Committee on Foreign +Relations. I did not press the point. The result was that important +treaties and other matters were constantly sent in, with which the +members of the committee were not familiar, and we had to grope in +the dark, as it were, and inform ourselves concerning them as best +we could. + +But when Mr. Root became Secretary of State, I resolved to insist +that the Secretary meet with us from time to time, and explain such +treaties and measures as might need explanation, and upon which +the Administration was anxious to secure favorable action. In +other words, there should be closer relationship between the +Committee on Foreign Relations and the State Department than had +formerly existed. I first saw President Roosevelt and told him I +hoped Mr. Root would come before the committee as occasion might +require. The President seemed at once impressed with the propriety +of the proposed plan, and remarked in his own characteristic fashion: +"That is just the thing." I then saw Mr. Root, whom I knew very +well as Secretary of War, and he was more than pleased with the +suggestion, asserting that it was just what he wanted to do. It +so happened that during his administration of the State Department +he found it necessary to negotiate more treaties, and treaties of +greater importance, than any of his more recent predecessors in +that high office, and he became so constant and punctual in his +attendance at the meetings of the committee that we grew almost to +regard him as a regular member, even before he entered the Senate. + +He has served on the committee but two sessions, but even in that +short time he has proved his fitness to fill the gap left by the +retirement of Senators Spooner and Foraker. As a lawyer he is as +brilliant as either of those men, and probably, owing to his +executive experience, a more efficient statesman. I regard him as +the best qualified man in this country for any position in the +public service which he would accept. He would make a strong +President, and as a Senator he is equipped with extraordinary +qualifications. If he remains in the Senate, by sheer force of +ability alone he is bound to become its acknowledged leader. We +have never had a stronger Secretary of State. Mr. Hay was a very +great man in many respects, and could handle an international +question, especially pertaining to the Far East, with more skill +than any of his predecessors; but Mr. Root, while probably not as +well versed in diplomacy as Mr. Hay, is one of the foremost lawyers +in America, and has the faculty of going into the minutest details +of every question, large or small, even to the extent of reorganizing +all the multitude of details of the State Department. He was the +real head of the department, and supervised every matter coming +before it. + +As Secretary of State he made it one of his policies to bring the +republics of this hemisphere into closer relationship with one +another. He visited South and Central America, and did much to +bring about a friendly feeling with the republics of those regions. + +He is one of those who insisted upon the absolute equality of +nations, both great and small; and in this he was particularly +pointed in his instructions to the delegates representing the United +States at the Second Peace Conference at The Hague. + +He did not retire from the State Department until he had adjusted +almost, if not all, outstanding questions between the United States +and other Nations. He closed up the work of the Joint High +Commission, and by a series of treaties adjusted every factor of +difference between the United States and Great Britain concerning +Canada. + +Bringing the consideration of the personnel of the committee up to +the close of the Sixty-first Congress, there remain to be mentioned +only William J. Stone, of Missouri, and Benjamin F. Shively, of +Indiana, both Democrats. Mr. Stone and Mr. Shively are not only +new men on the committee, but both of them are comparatively new +to the Senate. They had, however, been sufficiently tried in other +fields of effort to justify their States in sending them to this +exalted body, and the records both have made here have well vindicated +their selection. In a comparatively brief time they have attained +to positions of leadership on the Democratic side of the chamber, +and since they have become members of this committee they have +manifested an unusual grasp of international subjects. They are +from States which adjoin my own State of Illinois, and I am especially +pleased to have them as members of the committee of which I am +chairman. + + +CHAPTER XXIV +WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS + +When I became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, in +1901, I found a large quantity of undisposed of matter on the +dockets, both legislative and executive. I determined that I would +at once proceed to clear the docket and endeavor to make the +committee an active working one. I have since made it a policy, +as best I could, to secure some action, favorable or unfavorable, +on every matter referred to the committee by the Senate. + +The first subject to which I turned my attention was the reciprocity +treaties between the United States and Barbados, Bermuda, British +Guiana, Turk Islands and Caicos, Jamaica, Argentine Republic, +France, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Denmark. + +These treaties had been pending before the committee for two years, +and I resolved as I expressed it to one Senator, who was opposed +to them, that I would get them out of the committee "if I had to +carry them out in a basket." These treaties were negotiated under +the authority contained in the fourth section of the Dingley Act, +which provided: + +"Section 4. That whenever the President of the United States, by +and with the advice and consent of the Senate, with a view to secure +reciprocal trade with foreign countries, shall, within a period of +two years from and after the passage of this act, enter into +commercial treaty or treaties with any other country concerning +the admission to such country of goods, wares, or merchandise of +the United States . . . and in such treaty or treaties shall provide +for reduction during a specified period of the duties imposed by +this act, to the extent of twenty per centum thereof, upon such +goods, wares, or merchandise as may be designated therein, . . . +or shall provide for the transfer during such period from the +dutiable list of this act to the free list thereof of such goods, +wares, or merchandise the product of foreign countries; and when +. . . any such treaty shall have been duly ratified by the Senate +and approved by Congress, then and thereafter the duties which +shall be collected by the United States upon any of the designated +goods, wares, or merchandise from the foreign country with which +such treaty has been made, shall, during the period provided for, +be the duties specified and provided in such treaty, and none +other." + +There was a considerable opposition to the ratification of these +treaties in the Senate, and very strong opposition to them in the +committee. President McKinley was very much in favor of their +ratification, and as one treaty after another expired, a new one +would be made reviving it. + +The first problem which confronted me was this: The fourth section +of the Dingley Act provided that such treaties should be made only +within two years after the passage of the act; the two years had +long since expired--could the Senate ratify them at all? + +I submitted to the Senate a report on the constitutional question. +The single question covered was, whether the treaties not having +been ratified by the Senate within the two years specified in the +Dingley Act were still within its jurisdiction. + +The committee determined that the President and the Senate are, +under the Constitution, the treaty-making power. The initiative +lies with the President. He can negotiate such treaties as may +seem to him wise, and propose them to the Senate for the advice +and consent of that body. The power of the President and the Senate +is derived from the Constitution. There is under our Constitution +no other source of treaty-making power. The Congress is without +power to grant to the President or to the Senate any authority with +respect to treaties; nor does the Congress possess any power to +fetter or limit in any way the President or the Senate in the +exercise of this constitutional function. It cannot in any way +enlarge, limit, or attach conditions to the treaty-making power, +and the subcommittee concluded their report on this branch of the +subject with this statement: + +"The committee is clearly of the opinion that nothing contained in +section four of the Dingley Act constitutes any valid restriction +upon the jurisdiction and power of the Senate to act upon the +commercial treaties now pending." + +That question being disposed of to my satisfaction, I proceeded to +urge the consideration of the treaties at every meeting of the +committee for many months, but it was not until June, 1902, that +I secured the favorable report of all the treaties, excepting the +treaty with the Argentine Republic and that with Jamaica. + +There was another very serious question which I raised myself, and +that was, whether legislation was necessary to carry them into +effect, or whether the treaties were self-executing. None of the +treaties contained any provision for legislation, and by their +terms, they would go into effect without legislation. John A. +Kasson, who negotiated them, told me that he purposely left out +any reference to legislative action, because the executive department +had serious doubts on the subject, and preferred to permit the +Senate itself to pass upon it. + +I have always contended that reciprocity treaties, like other +treaties in general, are self-executing, if by their terms they do +not provide for legislative action. + +I made a very extended address in the Senate on January 29, 1902, +because I wanted to get the attention of the Senate to this important +constitutional subject. I said in opening: + +"Has Congress any power or authority, under the Constitution, over +treaties? This subject has been discussed at different times during +our entire Constitutional history. It is a very complicated +question, not only because the authority of the House on the subject +of treaties has been disputed and argued almost from the very +adoption of the Constitution, but the fourth section of the Dingley +Act specifically provides how and when such treaties shall be made. +. . . In my opinion the fourth section of the Dingley Act, so far +as it attempts to confer, limit, or define the treaty-making power +is not only an unwarranted interference with the powers of the +President and Senate, but is unconstitutional, because it comes in +conflict with that clause of the Constitution which says that the +President shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of +the Senate to make treaties. No law of Congress can in any way +modify or limit those powers. The Dingley Law can not limit the +time in which we shall be allowed to make a treaty; it can not give +to Congress any power on the subject of treaties not given it by +the Constitution, and under the Constitution Congress as a legislative +body is not a part of the treaty-making power." + +I contended that the fourth section of the Dingley Act, if considered +by the Executive at all, should be merely as an expression of the +views of Congress in the adjustment of the specific terms of each +treaty. + +But the particular question in which I was more interested and to +which I devoted most of my remarks was, whether a reciprocity +treaty, which by its terms provides that the duties to be collected +after its ratification shall be those specified in the treaty, and +none other (and which makes no reference to further Congressional +action), would of its own force operate to repeal so much of the +tariff act as may come in conflict with it, or whether it would be +necessary for Congress to act on a treaty before those duties are +reduced, and before the treaty shall become the supreme law of the +land. + +I then proceeded to a minute examination into the history of the +treaty-making provision in the Constitution, tracing it through +the Constitutional Convention, and giving the views of the framers +of the Constitution as to its scope and effect. It was Alexander +Hamilton who drafted the treaty-making clause of the Federal +Constitution, and it was purposely so framed as to exclude the +House from all consideration of treaties. Twice it was proposed +in the Constitutional Convention to unite the House of Representatives +with the Senate in the approval of treaties, but both times it was +rejected almost unanimously, Pennsylvania alone voting in the +affirmative. The treaty-making clause of the Federal Constitution +was adopted in the Constitutional Convention only after a most +vigorous fight against it by those who contended that the authority +conferred was too great. Patrick Henry thought that, "If the clause +were adopted as it was submitted to the State, two-thirds of a +quorum of the Senate would be empowered to make treaties that might +relinquish and alienate territorial rights and our most valuable +commercial advantages. In short, should anything be left, it would +be because the President and Senators would be pleased to admit +it. The power of making treaties under the Constitution extends +farther than in any country in the world. Treaties have more force +here than in any part of Christendom." And he begged the convention +to stop before it conceded this power unguarded and unaltered. + +The power was conferred on the President and the Senate, unguarded +and unaltered, when the Constitution was adopted. + +The question came before the House of Representatives the first +time just seven years after the Constitution was adopted, and has +been before the House many times since then. The Jay Treaty called +for an appropriation of eighty thousand dollars. It was a very +unpopular treaty, and a very notable debate took place on the +resolution requesting the President to lay before the House copies +of the correspondence and other papers relating to the treaty. +President Washington declined to furnish the papers, on the ground +that the treaty needed no legislative action, and the House had +nothing whatever to do with treaties, but was morally bound to make +the appropriation, thereby carrying out the contract. The House +responded by passing a long series of resolutions; but finally the +appropriation was made. + +The whole question has been discussed in the House, practically +every time an appropriation has been called for to carry out a +treaty; but the House, while always contending that it had a voice +in the treaty-making power, never declined to make the appropriation, +and only on one occasion do I now recall that the House declined +to enact legislation to carry out a treaty where the treaty +specifically itself provided for such legislation. This was in +the case of the reciprocity treaty with Mexico, negotiated by +General Grant. + +I concluded my speech in the Senate with this statement: + +"This question before us here has been before the Senate for a +hundred years. The Executive and Senate have taken one position, +and that is a treaty is the supreme law of the land. That position +has been sustained by the Supreme Court. On the other hand, during +all these hundred years, the House of Representatives has, as a +rule, insisted that they should be considered in reference to +certain treaties. That does not relieve the Senate from standing +by its prerogatives and rights and insisting that the rights of +the Executive be maintained. The point here is this: the Constitution +gives to the Executive, with the advice and consent of the Senate, +the right to negotiate treaties. We have been negotiating commercial +treaties continuously prior and subsequent to the adoption of the +Constitution, and those treaties have been sustained as the supreme +law of the land. + +"It is said that the Constitution has given to Congress the right +to regulate commerce with foreign nations, to lay and collect taxes, +duties, and imposts, and to the House of Representatives the right +to originate bills for raising revenues, and to the President and +Senate the right to make and ratify treaties. These are all co- +equal and independent powers. One does not interfere with the +other. One is not exclusive of the other. A law passed in any of +the ways provided by the Constitution is the supreme law of the +land until it is changed or repealed. A treaty made by the Executive +and ratified by the Senate is the supreme law of the land as well +as an act of Congress. If the Congress is not satisfied with the +treaty, it has a perfect right to repeal it, as it has any other +law; but until such action is taken, the treaty remains as a part +of the supreme law of the land; and I cannot see any distinction +between treaties which affect the tariff laws, and treaties affecting +any other law." + +The subject was very seriously and carefully considered, but it +was thought expedient that the committee should not take any position +either for or against the unlimited power of the Senate over +reciprocity treaties. It was Senator Spooner who suggested that +each of the treaties be amended by inserting therein a provision +that "the treaty not take effect until the same shall have been +approved by the Congress." + +The merits of the question were not considered; but my position +was, and still is, that amending the treaties in the manner suggested +by Senator Spooner, by inference indicated that if such a provision +had not been inserted, the treaties would go into effect immediately +without any Congressional action. + +Aside from the reciprocity treaty with France, none of the treaties +was considered by the Senate itself. I pressed them as best I +could, but Senator Aldrich, Senator Hanna, and other advocates of +high protection, were so bitterly opposed to them--no one in the +Senate aside from myself seeming to have much interest in them-- +that they were dropped and allowed to expire by their own terms. +I particularly regretted that the Kasson treaties were not ratified. + +Had the Senate ratified those treaties, a large number of other +treaties probably would have been negotiated, and we would not have +been compelled to go through the long struggle and agitation over +the passage of the Aldrich-Payne Tariff Bill. There would have +been no tariff revision necessary. At the same time, we could not +possibly help vastly increasing our foreign commerce. It was a +very short-sighted policy on the part of Senator Aldrich and others +in the Senate when they insisted that those treaties should be +killed. After it was determined, and it became so known to the +country that it would be impossible to secure the ratification of +reciprocity treaties, the agitation for tariff revision commenced, +and finally culminated in the act of 1909, which resulted in the +election of a Democratic House of Representatives. + +The committee did favorably report, and the Senate ratify, a +reciprocity treaty with Cuba. This was the treaty of December 11, +1902, and it was the third reciprocal agreement in all our history +ratified, proclaimed, and placed in effect. The first one was the +treaty of 1854, providing for reciprocity with Canada. The second +was the treaty of 1875, with the Hawaiian Islands, and the third +and the only one now in effect is the treaty with Cuba. + +That treaty would never have been ratified, and would have suffered +the same fate as the Kasson treaties, had it not been for the +determined, vigorous fight made by President Roosevelt for its +ratification, and had not Cuba stood in a relation to us entirely +different from any other country. We bound her to us by insisting +that the Platt amendments be made a part of her Constitution, and +in addition that a treaty be made between the two countries embodying +those amendments. + +This treaty with Cuba and the law carrying it into effect were the +occasion of a very bitter struggle in both Senate and House. The +sugar and tobacco interests used all the power at their command to +defeat, first the treaty, and then the law carrying the treaty into +effect. The beet-sugar people asserted that it would ruin that +industry, and that a reduction of twenty per cent on Cuban sugar +would enable the Cubans to ship their sugar into the United States +and undersell the beet sugar. I never could see that there was +any force in their contention, because the United States does not +produce more than half the sugar we consume, and it was absolutely +necessary to import sugar from Cuba and other sugar-producing +countries. + +When the treaty was before the committee for consideration, it was +amended by inserting the following proviso: + +"Provided that while this convention is in force, no sugar exported +from the Republic of Cuba and being the product of the soil or +industry of the Republic of Cuba, shall be admitted to the United +States at a reduction of duty greater than twenty per centum of +the rates of duty thereon as provided by the tariff act of the +United States, approved July 24, 1897; and no sugar, the product +of any other foreign country, shall be admitted by treaty or +convention into the United States, while this convention is in +force, at a lower rate of duty than that provided by the tariff +act of the United States, approved July 24, 1897." + +The effect of this amendment was not only to prevent a greater +reduction being made on Cuban sugar, but it had a more important +effect that it made reciprocity treaties with the sugar-producing +countries, including the West Indies, impossible so long as the +Cuban treaty remains in force. + +I had charge of this treaty in the Senate, and addressed the Senate +at considerable length explaining its provisions. + +There was a spirited contest in the Senate over the ratification +of the treaty, but there was more of a contest both in the Senate +and the House when the bill to carry the treaty into effect came +up at the next session of Congress, it first having been considered +at a special session called by President Roosevelt in November, +1903. A provision was inserted in the treaty (which I opposed, as +I thought it was unnecessary), that it should not go into effect +until it was approved by the Congress. The bill was passed in the +House and came to the Committee on Foreign Relations, was considered +there, and favorably reported to the Senate. The bill, of course, +was considered in open session, and I again made some remarks, +probably more in the nature of a report than a speech, trying to +show where the treaty was not only absolutely necessary, if Cuba +was to be prosperous at all, but that it would open a considerable +market for American products. + +The Cuban reciprocity treaty has increased very materially our +trade with that Republic. Since that treaty went into effect our +imports from Cuba have increased from $62,942,000 in value to +$122,528,000 in value; and our exports to Cuba have increased from +$21,000,000 in 1903, to nearly $53,000,000 in 1910, or more than +doubled. But even with this considerable increase in our exports +to Cuba, I had hoped that by this time we should have increased +them to at least one hundred million dollars. Our own exporters +and manufacturers are at fault, because they will not do business +with the Cubans on the same credit basis as will the exporters of +Spain, Germany, and England; and American exporters do not cater +to the peculiar needs of the Cubans. They seem to go on the theory +that if their goods are good enough for Americans they should be +good enough for Cubans, too. + +The Cuban treaty is a good illustration of the scare and the +unwarranted opposition on the part of American industries when even +the slightest reduction of the tariff is attempted. To listen to +the beet-sugar and tobacco interests during the consideration of +the Cuban treaty, one would think they would have been absolutely +ruined if the treaty were ratified. The Cuban treaty has not in +the slightest degree injuriously affected the American sugar or +tobacco interests. + +The principle of Reciprocity as heretofore applied in this country +has been extended somewhat by the agreement of 1911 between the +United States and Canada. This compact was negotiated by President +Taft and Secretary Knox on the one side, and by Premier Laurier +and Mr. Fielding on the other. Under this agreement a wide exchange +of articles of every-day use is provided for, and it is hoped and +believed that if the treaty becomes effective it will prove more +satisfactory and enduring than the previous reciprocal agreement +with the Dominion of Canada. + +The pending agreement was entered into between representatives of +the two Governments in January, 1911, but it was not until the +latter part of July of that year that a law was enacted by Congress +to provide for its enforcement. Much opposition was manifested, +especially in the Senate, in both the Sixty-first and Sixty-second +Congresses, on the ground that under its terms a great many +agricultural products are admitted free from Canada; but this +objection has been, I think, successfully met by the Administration +and its friends in the argument that any injury that might be +sustained by agriculture would be more than compensated for by the +benefits derived by the manufacturing interests. For one I have +never believed that agriculture would suffer in any degree through +the operation of the agreement, and I do believe that the general +industries of the country will experience much benefit. Too much +is to be gained through the cultivation of proper trade relations +with our great and growing neighbor on the North to abandon the +general principle involved in the agreement on account of an +apprehension which may not and probably will not be realized. + +In many respects nations are like individuals, and in their relations +with one another they should be controlled by the same rules of +amity and equity as pertain to the associations of mankind generally. +In the end no nation can lose any material thing through an act of +generosity or fair-dealing. + +Notwithstanding the United States has acted favorably upon the +agreement, it is not yet in force. This circumstance is due to +the fact that in the matter of ratification Canada has waited upon +this country. There is opposition there as there was here, and at +this writing (August, 1911) Sir Wilfred Laurier is engaged in a +struggle for favorable endorsement such as that from which President +Taft has just emerged. + + +CHAPTER XXV +THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL + +Probably the most important work before the Committee on Foreign +Relations since the treaty of peace with Spain, were the several +treaties concerning the construction of the Isthmian Canal. + +In 1850, the United States entered into what is known as the Clayton- +Bulwer Treaty with Great Britain, the purpose of which was to +facilitate the construction of a canal; but instead of operating +to this end, it stood for fifty years or more as an effectual +barrier against the construction by the United States of any canal +across the Isthmus of Panama. Succeeding Administrations had +endeavored to secure the consent of Great Britain to its abrogation, +but it was not until Secretary Hay's time that Great Britain +finally agreed to annul it and substitute in its place a new treaty. +Secretary Hay had been Ambassador to Great Britain, and he enjoyed +the confidence of the then existing British Ministry to a greater +degree than almost any minister or ambassador we have ever sent to +Great Britain. After entering the State Department, Mr. Hay at +once directed his attention to the making of a new treaty with +Great Britain and this resulted in the first Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. +This convention was considered by the committee, but was not found +satisfactory, and certain amendments were added to it. These +amendments Great Britain would not accept, and the treaty died. + +Secretary Hay was very much disappointed, but he at once set to +work to negotiate such a treaty as would go through the Senate +without amendment and such a one as Great Britain would consent +to. He wrote to a number of Senators, members of the committee, +I suppose, asking for suggestions as to just what the Senate would +agree to. I was not at that time chairman of the Committee on +Foreign Relations, but I was very deeply interested in the subject +and had given it considerable study and thought. Secretary Hay +wrote me, and I replied at length, giving my views both as to the +Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and what I thought should be inserted in the +new treaty. + +Mr. Hay promptly renewed negotiations, which resulted in what is +known as the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. After a good deal of +effort this agreement was ratified without amendment. This act +signalized the beginning of my service as chairman of the Committee +on Foreign Relations. + +The principal contention arose over the subject of fortifications, +a question that is still a mooted one. It occurs to me that the +proper reasoning is this--and I believe I took the same position +when the treaty was under consideration: + +The first and second Hay-Pauncefote treaties must be construed +together; the first Hay-Pauncefote Treaty contained a prohibition +against fortification; the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty neither +prohibited nor in terms agreed to fortifications, but was silent +on the subject; therefore, the legal construction would be that +Great Britain had receded from the position that the canal should +not be fortified. In any event, we will go ahead and fortify the +canal, and do with it whatever we please, regardless of any of the +nations of the world. + +That obstacle having been finally removed, the question which next +arose was: What route should be selected? The selection of the +route was not a subject over which the Foreign Relations Committee +had jurisdiction; but after the Panama route was decided on, it +became necessary to negotiate with Colombia, the owner of that +route, for the right of way for the canal. Secretary Hay promptly +proceeded with the negotiation, as it was his duty to do, under +the Spooner Act, and on January 3, 1903, submitted the treaty to +the Senate for its Constitutional action thereon. Senator Morgan +and others led the fight against it; but a vote was taken, and the +treaty was ordered favorably reported. On February 12, 1903, I +called it up in the Senate and made quite an extended speech, +explaining its provisions, and urging its ratification. The session +was to close on March 4, and it finally became manifest that it +would be hopeless to attempt to ratify it before that day, and the +effort was abandoned. President Roosevelt called a special session +of the Senate after the fourth of March, when there would be nothing +for the Senate to consider except the Colombian treaty and other +executive matters. According to the usual rule, the treaty was +referred back to the committee, at the beginning of the special +session, and the subject was again gone over in committee as if +there had been no proceedings on it at all during the regular +session. The proposed agreement was finally reported to the Senate, +and ratified. There is no need for me to go over the story of its +rejection by Colombia. The action of the Colombian Congress was +a hold-up pure and simple, and the treaty was rejected in the hope +that the United States would offer a greater amount for the right- +of-way. Panama promptly seceded, which she had a perfect right to +do. Many people have charged that the Roosevelt Administration +actually incited the revolution. Whether this is true or not, I +do not know. I contended at the time, and still believe, that it +is not true. I hope it is not; but the correspondence did show +that the State Department had pretty close knowledge of events +which were occurring on the Isthmus, and had seen to it that there +was a sufficient naval force in the vicinity "to protect American +interests." It was a remarkable revolution--I think the most +remarkable I have ever read of in history. It was practically +bloodless. One or two shots were fired, a Chinaman was killed, +and yet a new and independent republic entered the family of +Nations. + +We were able to make with Panama a much more satisfactory treaty +than we had with Colombia. Senator Morgan this time was assisted +by most of his Democratic colleagues; he denounced the treaty and +made all sorts of charges against the Administration; but after +numerous long sessions of the Committee on Foreign Relations, I +was authorized to report it to the Senate with certain minor +amendments, which, in my opening speech, I asked the Senate to +reject, and to ratify the treaty without amendment. I did this at +the earnest insistence of the State Department. And, in addition, +I did not think that the amendments were of such importance as +would justify resubmitting the treaty to Panama after that little +country had once ratified it. The State Department was led to this +action by the receipt of the following cable from Mr. Buchanan, +the first Minister of the United States to Panama: + + "Panama, _January 22, 1904_. + +"Hay, Washington: + +"I can not refrain from referring to my belief that no amendment +to the treaty should be made. The delimitation of Panama and Colon +involves several things which can only be satisfactorily adjusted +on the ground by joint action. There are several other points in +the treaty which will require a mutual working agreement, or +regulation, including sanitation. While the treaty covers broadly +all these things, my observation here is that the details of +development of the authority conferred by the treaty in these +regards can not be satisfactorily carried out by amendments, but +should be done through a mutually agreed upon regulation or +understanding reached here on the ground between the two countries. +The executive power here can secure for the convention ample +authority to do such things without their being referred to the +convention hereafter. Would it not be possible and best to adopt +this course with these amendments to the treaty; will bring up here +much discussion of many articles which can all be avoided and our +purpose gained by above course. Any time when any specific grants +of land or power not implied in the treaty is desired, it appears +to me the wise course to take will be to do this by a supplemental +convention. + + "(Signed) Buchanan." + +Secretary Hay showed the most eager anxiety to have the treaty +ratified as it stood, and he wrote me quite a lengthy letter on +the subject, which I now feel at liberty to quote. + + "Department of State, Washington. + "_January 20, 1904_. + +"Dear Senator Cullom:-- + +"I enclose a copy of a letter from the Panama Minister which he +sent me last night. He, as well as Mr. Buchanan, who is on the +ground, is greatly disturbed over the possible complications which +may arise if amendments are added to the treaty in the Senate. Of +course, I need not say nobody questions the right of the Senate to +amend the treaty as may seem to them best. I am only speaking of +the matter of opportuneness and expediency. We insisted on an +immediate ratification of the treaty by the Panama Government, and +they acceded to our wishes. If we now, after a very long delay, +send the treaty back to them amended, you can at once imagine the +state of things that it will find there. The moment of unanimity +and enthusiasm, which only comes once in the life of a revolution, +will have passed away and given way to the play of politics and +factions. They will have a certain advantage which they have not +had before in dealing with the matter. We shall have ratified the +treaty with amendments, which gives them another chance to revise +their perhaps hasty and enthusiastic action. They will consider +themselves as entitled to make amendments as well as we, and it +needs only a glance at the treaty to show what an infinite field +of amendments there is from every point of view. The Junta in +making their report to the present Constitutional Convention said +that, although many of the provisions seemed harsh and hard, yet +it was judged for the public good to accept it as it was. When +they get the amended treaty in their hands again, they will compare +it with the treaty we made with Colombia, and see how vastly more +advantageous to us this treaty is than that one was, and there are +never lacking in a body of men like the Constitutional Convention +a plenty of members who like to distinguish themselves by defending +the interests of their country through the advantageous amendment +of a treaty. Meanwhile the country will be open to the intrigues +of the Colombians, and even to the military attacks upon the +frontier. + +"All these considerations would, of course, have no weight whatever +if the amendments were vital to our interests, but, as I said to +you yesterday, it was the opinion of all of us who have studied +the matter that every point made by the amendments was intended to +be covered--I do not say how successfully--by the provisions of +the treaty itself. This letter of Mr. Varilla's shows that the +intentions of each Government were thoroughly understood by the +other, exactly in the sense of the amendments now proposed. I +earnestly hope that our friends in the Senate may see the strength +of our present position if the treaty is ratified without amendment, +and the certain complications that will arise if, after a long +debate here, the treaty is put once more in the hands of the Panamans +for reconsideration and amendment. + +"If the object of the amendments, as some people say, is to get it +ratified by the new permanent Government, nothing is easier. I +have no doubt we can have a solemn resolution of that sort adopted +by the Convention at any time. + + "Very sincerely yours, + "John Hay. + +"The Honorable S. M. Cullom, + "United States Senate." + +After nearly a month and a half of debate in executive session, +devoted to its consideration, the treaty was finally ratified +without amendment. + +Considerable discussion arose over the question of the recognition +of Panama and the right of that country to make the treaty at all. +I contended in the Senate, in open as well as executive session, +that the new Republic of Panama had a perfect right to make the +treaty with the United States because it was a complete, sovereign, +and independent State. The recognition given the new Government +was the highest recognition we could accord. It was not a recognition +of belligerency, which is only a recognition that war exists; it +was not a virtual recognition, which is a recognition only for +commercial purposes; but it was what Pomeroy and Fillmore define +to be a formal recognition--that is, an absolute recognition of +independence and sovereignty. The recognition of the Republic was +a complete and formal recognition of independence, because the +President had received an envoy-extraordinary and minister- +plenipotentiary from that State. The United States Senate was a +party to that complete and formal recognition, because we confirmed +the nomination of Mr. Buchanan as envoy-extraordinary and minister- +plenipotentiary to that country. + +This ended the long fight over the construction of the Panama Canal +--at least, so far as it in any way involved the jurisdiction of +the Committee on Foreign Relations. With the ratification of the +treaty, the subject was transferred to the Committee on Interoceanic +canals, where, during every session, matters of more or less +importance connected with the canal are considered. + +I do not know whether or not it was wise to change from the Nicaraguan +to the Panama route. Senator Hanna and Senator Spooner were +responsible for the change; and time alone will demonstrate whether +we acted wisely. + + +CHAPTER XXVI +SANTO DOMINGO'S FISCAL AFFAIRS + +For some years the Santo Domingo protocol and treaty were before +the Committee on Foreign Relations, and in the Senate. They came +before the Senate very suddenly. On January 20, 1905, there appeared +in the press what purported to be a protocol, agreed to by Commander +Dillingham on the one hand, and Minister Sanchez of the Dominican +Republic on the other, by the terms of which the United States was +to take charge of the custom houses of the Dominican Republic, +adjust and liquidate its debt, and generally to take charge of the +fiscal affairs of the Republic. By the terms of this protocol, it +was to go into effect February 1, and there was no provision at +all for Senatorial action. Senator Bacon and other Democratic +Senators became very much aroused over this as a usurpation of the +rights of the Senate. Resolutions were introduced, calling upon +the State Department for information, and the subject was considered +by the committee at several meetings. + +I confess that I too was considerably surprised at the action of +the State Department, and I called on Secretary Hay one morning +and asked to be informed as to the facts. + +Secretary Hay stated that he would communicate with me in writing, +which he did on March 13, 1905, saying: + +"In answer to your verbal request, I submit herewith a statement +of the facts with reference to the making of the Santo Domingo +protocol, and enclose herewith a copy of the protocol of January +20, 1905. That protocol was not drawn up by the Department of +State and was never seen by any of its officials until it appeared +in the newspapers on January 22d last, as given out by the Dominican +officials. The Department has never authorized its signing; it +never gave any instructions authorizing its signature; and no full +powers had ever been given authorizing the signature on the part +of the United States Government. The Minister of Foreign Affairs +of the Dominican Republic visited Washington during the Spring of +1904, and during a stay of nearly three months repeatedly solicited +the assistance of the United States Government for the restoration +of order in the island and for the regeneration of his country, +but the responsible officials of the Department advised against +meeting his request, and the President, to whom the matter was +referred, decided against taking any action as long as it could +wisely be avoided. + +"The Dominican Government again brought the matter to the attention +of the United States Minister at Santo Domingo the latter part of +1904. In the meantime an investigation had been going on quietly +by our Government through Commander Dillingham, to obtain information +as to the real condition in the island. After the President became +thus familiar with the situation there, and on the report of the +United States Minister, and after repeated requests for help from +the Dominican Government, the Department of State, on January 6, +1905, prepared a cablegram setting forth the basis on which alone +the United States would be able to render assistance. . . . + +"Neither that cablegram nor any other despatch whatsoever went +further than simply lay down a basis; and acting on this, but +without instructions authorizing it, the Dillingham-Sanchez protocol +was signed. The Department was advised by cable on January 20 that +an arrangement had been agreed to, and thereupon the Department +officials at once set to work to prepare a treaty; and its officials +were actually engaged in drafting one to send to Santo Domingo, +when the publication of the protocol of January 20 appeared. The +Department at once cabled to Santo Domingo to forward a copy of +the protocol; and as soon as its text could be received, the +Department began work in making amendments and adjusting terms on +which the United States Government could consent to act. As soon +as the two Governments could arrive at substantial agreement as to +the terms, full powers were communicated to Dawson, and the protocol +now before the Senate was accordingly signed. + +"In view of the misapprehensions that at once arose, growing out +of publication of the protocol, which upon its face stated it was +to go into effect February 1st, and from which it might naturally +be inferred it was intended to go into effect before the Senate +could have an opportunity to consider it, and without its having +been referred to the Senate for consideration, I considered the +question of the propriety of stating the fact that no instructions +and no powers had ever been granted authorizing the signing of the +protocol of January 20. The decision was reached that repudiation +of the action of Dillingham and Dawson might be construed as a +censure, and that it might cause offence to them as well as to +their friends, who might feel that when the circumstances should +become fully known, that Dillingham and Dawson were justifiable in +assuming the responsibility they did in signing the protocol instead +of making a formal memorandum of the basis agreed on and communicating +it to the Department for the drafting of a treaty. Both of these +officials have a record of faithful and skilful service and +competency, and it was hoped when the facts should become more +fully known, a correct understanding of the actual situation would +remove any ill effects of previous misapprehension. + +"The department has been advised that the protocol of January 20 +was given out for publication by the Dominican Government in order +to calm the popular mind on account of its uncertainty as to the +character of negotiations which were actually being carried on +between the two Governments. + + "(Signed) John Hay." + +From 1865, until the time that the United States assumed the +collection of customs, conditions in Santo Domingo were about as +bad as they could be in every respect. One revolution succeeded +another. There had been twenty-six different Administrations since +1865, only one of which was brought about by means of a regular +election. Most of the others were caused by revolutions, assassination, +forced resignations, and a general condition of anarchy. Debt +after debt, bond issue after bond issue, piled up, each Administration +seemingly bent only on seeing how much actual cash could be raised, +utterly regardless of obligations assumed. None of the principal +and only a trifling portion of the interest were paid, and it seems +that the different Administrations never had any intention of +liquidating the obligations of the Republic. The principal portion +of the bonds was held by European creditors. + +But finally the Santo Domingo Improvement Company, an American +corporation, succeeded as the fiscal agents of the Republic, to +float its bond issues. The improvement company was displayed, and +its claim was settled for four million, five hundred thousand +dollars. Then a protocol was entered into between the United States +and Santo Domingo by which the manner of payment was submitted to +arbitration, our arbitrators being Judge George Gray and John G. +Carlisle. An award was rendered providing that an agent of the +United States should take possession of certain custom houses, in +order to pay a debt which the Government of Santo Domingo had +acknowledged to be due an American corporation. + +This did not satisfy foreign creditors, French, Belgian and Italian, +who had actually been given, by an agreement with Santo Domingo, +the right to collect revenues at certain custom houses. Santo +Domingo appealed to the United States and the foreign Governments +threatened that if the United States did not enforce some remedial +plan, they would be compelled to take action for the relief of +their own citizens, whose claims aggregated twenty million dollars. +Italian warships were already in Santo Domingo waters ready to +enforce their demands. This, briefly, was the condition of affairs +when the protocol of 1905 was submitted to the Senate for +ratification. + +For more than a quarter of a century we have had a peculiar interest +in Santo Domingo. As is well known, under the Administration of +President Grant a treaty was negotiated and sent to the Senate +providing for the annexation of Santo Domingo. Senator Sumner was +Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and as such was +able to prevent the consideration of the treaty by the committee, +and its ratification by the Senate. Some one said that the only +objection that Charles Sumner had to the treaty was that President +Grant had suggested it first. This was one of the reasons why +Senator Sumner was deposed as chairman of the Foreign Relations +Committee. It would probably have been better for the United +States, and it certainly would have been better for the Dominican +Republic, if the treaty had been ratified. + +The protocol submitted to the Senate involved very large responsibilities +on the part of the United states. It provided that the United +States was to adjust all the obligations of the Republic, the +arrangement of the payment, to pass upon all claims of Santo Domingo, +determine their amount and validity, take charge of all the custom +houses, and collect and disburse the customs receipts, giving to +Santo Domingo forty-five per cent of the customs receipts and +devoting the balance to the liquidation of her debts. + +This protocol had the active opposition of the minority of the +committee and in the Senate and, in addition, such conservative +members as Senator Hale and other prominent Republicans opposed +it. We fought over it in committee month after month; but finally, +on March 10, 1905, it was reported by me to the Senate with a large +number of amendments. It was considered by the Senate, recommitted +at the end of the Congress, and again reported at the following +Congress. But those in favor of it became convinced that we did +not have the two-thirds necessary to ratify it, and it was never +brought to a vote. It was thought that nothing more would be heard +of the Santo Domingo protocol; but Senator Root, when Secretary of +State, took the subject up _de novo_, and made a new treaty, in +which the United States did not assume the broad obligations it +assumed under the first one, and which was not generally of so +complicated a character. + +It imposed the duty upon the Santo Domingo Republic itself of +arriving at an adjustment with its creditors, conditioned only on +the administration of the custom houses by the United States. + +In the meantime, an arrangement was made by American banking houses +to furnish the money to liquidate the debt; the creditors were +satisfied; the foreign debt was liquidated on a basis of fifty per +cent of the face value, and domestic debts and other claims less +than ten per cent. A loan of twenty million dollars was made +through Kuhn, Loeb & Company, of which the Dominican Republic +received nineteen million dollars for the payment of its debts; +seventeen million dollars was used to satisfy thirty-one million, +eight thousand dollars worth of bonded debts, and the remaining +two million, two thousand dollars were to go for internal +improvements. + +There was some objection to the ratification of the treaty negotiated +by Secretary Root, but not of a very serious character, and the +treaty went through, even Senator Morgan not opposing it. I had +the honor of reporting it and having charge of it in the Senate. + +The treaty has now been in force several years, and it has proved +even more advantageous than was expected when it was ratified. It +has restored order in the Republic, and the country's debts are +rapidly being liquidated. The time may come when the United States +may be compelled to take similar action with some of the other +republics south of us. Such action would be beneficial both to +the United States and to the people of those republics. + + +CHAPTER XXVII +DIPLOMATIC AGREEMENTS BY PROTOCOL. + +During the public discussion of the Santo Domingo question and the +protocol by which the Santo Domingo Improvement Company claim was +sent to arbitration, and later during the consideration of it, +there was criticism of the Executive branch of the Government on +account of its disposition to make international agreements of +various kinds, and put them into operation without submitting them +to the Senate. The practice became more general under President +McKinley and Secretary Hay than it had under other Administrations, +and it seemed the policy to get along in every case, if possible, +without Senatorial action. It was a subject in which I took very +great interest; I came to the conclusion that the practice had +become too general, and I took occasion to tell Secretary Hay my +views. + +I found that the State Department, under different Administrations, +had submitted private claims of our citizens against foreign +Governments to arbitration by protocol. This has been the rule +frequently adopted for very many years. There were cases, I found, +where the protocol submitting a claim to arbitration had been sent +to the Senate and ratified, and it was the general rule that where +a claim is presented by a foreign Government against this government, +and the same is submitted to arbitration, it is done by treaty. + +I took occasion to look into the question of the effect of an +unratified protocol. It may be said generally that an unratified +protocol differs from a treaty in that the protocol is not ratified +by the Senate and is not a part of the supreme law of the land. +Under our system of government, treaties occupy a unique position. +They are not only binding internationally, but the Constitution +makes treaties a part of the supreme law of the land--that is, a +part of our own municipal law. A treaty, if of later date, and in +conflict with a law passed by Congress, repeals so much of the law +as it conflicts with; but an unratified protocol, or any other +international agreement, no matter by what name it is called, not +submitted to the Senate, does not have the effect of a treaty, as +that term is defined in the Constitution. A protocol is binding +merely on the Executive who makes it, and, as has been well said, +such protocol is binding on the administration in a moral sense +only. + +Nevertheless it has been the practice to make so-called diplomatic +agreements concerning very important matters without their submission +to the Senate. + +For instance, the agreement of 1817, concerning the naval forces +on the Great Lakes, was considered in force and observed by the +two Governments for a year or more before it was submitted to the +Senate at all. Horse Shoe Reef, in Lake Erie, was transferred to +the Government by a mere exchange of notes between Lord Palmerston +and Mr. Lawrence, our Minister to Great Britain; and I might refer +to a long list of arbitrations, some of very great importance, +agreed to by unratified protocols. The very important protocol +concluded by the powers after the Boxer troubles in China was not +sent to the Senate. Important agreements are often made under the +name of _modus vivendi_ without submission to the Senate. + +Very little comment is to be found in books on international law +concerning protocols or diplomatic agreements. There is no doubt +that the Executive has the right to enter into a protocol preliminary +to the negotiation of a treaty. This is a common practice. We +have such protocols preliminary to treaties of peace. As to the +claims protocols, the Executive Department has taken the position +that the President, who is in charge of our foreign relations, has +wide discretion in settling disputes by diplomacy; and that a claims +protocol is in the nature of a settlement of a claim of a citizen +of our country against a foreign Government, by diplomacy. + +The term "protocol," or diplomatic agreement, or _modus vivendi_, +is not found in the Constitution. The Constitution uses only one +term in describing agreements between this Government and foreign +powers, and that is the term "treaty"; and every agreement between +the United States and a foreign Government, to have the effect of +a treaty, to be a part of the supreme law of the land, must be +ratified as the Constitution prescribes, by a two-thirds vote of +the Senate. + +When Mr. Root entered the State Department, it seems to me that he +stopped the practice very largely of making diplomatic agreements. +It seemed to be his policy, and a very wise one, to seek, rather +than avoid, consulting the Senate. I know that under his administration +agreements were made in the form of a treaty and sent to the Senate +which other administrations would consider they had a perfect right +to make without consulting the Senate. It will be wise for future +Administrations to adhere to Mr. Root's policy in this respect. + + +CHAPTER XXVIII +ARBITRATION + +During the year 1904, there was a great general movement all over +the world in the direction of arbitration treaties. Indeed, so +general did it become, and so universal was the form used, that it +became known as the Mondel or world treaty. The treaties were very +brief, and merely provided that differences which may arise of a +legal nature or relating to the interpretation of treaties existing +between two contracting parties, and which it may not have been +possible to settle by diplomacy, shall be referred to the permanent +court of arbitration established at The Hague; provided, nevertheless, +that they do not affect the vital interests, the independence, or +the honor of the two contracting States, and do not concern or +involve the interests of third States. There was a second article +in the treaty, which provided that in each case a special agreement +should be concluded defining clearly the matter in dispute, the +scope of the powers of the arbitrator, the periods to be fixed for +the formation of the arbitral tribunal, and the several stages of +the procedure. + +President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay were very much in favor of +these treaties, and sent to the Senate, for its ratification, +treaties in substantially the foregoing form, with France, Portugal, +Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Sweden, +Norway, and Mexico. The treaties were considered with great care +by the Committee on Foreign Relations. We all favored arbitration +in theory, and I do not think any one wanted to oppose the treaties; +but a number of questions confronted us. I neither have the right +nor do I expect to detail what has taken place in the Committee on +Foreign Relations; but I can say that the subject was discussed in +the press, whether such treaties would not compel us to consider +as matters for arbitration claims against the States, growing out +of the Civil War and Reconstruction. + +In the judgment of some, such claims were proper subjects of +arbitration under this Mondel form of treaty. + +President Roosevelt, who was following closely the treaties in the +Senate, and with whom I had talked concerning these objections, +wrote me a letter, which he marked personal, but which appeared in +the afternoon papers almost before the letter reached me, it having +been given out at the White House, in which he said: + + "_January 10, 1905_. + +"My dear Senator Cullom: + +"I notice in connection with the general arbitration treaties now +before the Senate, that suggestions have been made to the effect +that under them it might be possible to consider as matters for +arbitration claims against certain States of the Union in reference +to certain State debts. I write to say, what of course you personally +know, that under no conceivable circumstances could any such +construction of the treaty be for a moment entertained by any +President. The holders of State debts take them with full knowledge +of the Constitutional limitations upon their recovery through any +action of the National Government, and must rely solely on State +credit. Such a claim against a State could under no condition be +submitted by the general Government as a matter for arbitration, +any more than such a claim against a county or municipality could +thus be submitted for arbitration. The objection to the proposed +amendment on the subject is that it is a mere matter of surplusage, +and that it is very undesirable, when the form of these treaties +has already been agreed to by the several Powers concerned, needlessly +to add certain definitions which affect our own internal policy +only; which deal with the matter of the relation of the Federal +Government to the States which it is of course out of the question +ever to submit to the arbitration of any outside tribunal; and +which it is certainly absurd and probably mischievous to treat as +possible to be raised by the President or by any foreign power. +No one would even think of such a matter as being one for arbitration +or for any diplomatic negotiation whatever. Moreover, these treaties +run only for a term of five years; until the end of that period +they will certainly be interpreted in accordance with the view +above expressed. + + "Very truly yours, + "(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. + +"Hon S. M. Cullom, U. S. Senate." + +But a more serious question was met when we came to consider the +second article of the treaty, which provided that in each case a +special agreement should be made defining clearly the matter in +dispute, the scope and powers of the arbitrators, and the periods +to be fixed for the formation of the arbitral tribunal. The +difficulty confronting us was whether it was the intention to submit +the special agreements referred to in article two for the ratification +of the Senate. It was the unanimous opinion that these special +agreements should be submitted to the Senate. + +I believe that as the treaties were drafted it would be the +Constitutional duty of the President to have each special agreement +submitted for ratification, because the article provided that "the +high contracting parties shall conclude such special agreement." +The Senate is a part of the treaty-making power, and would be +included in the term "high contracting parties." But the wording +of article two left some doubt as to the intention of those +negotiating the treaty; and then, again, it might have been claimed +that article one, agreeing to arbitrate the questions therein +enumerated, might be construed as an agreement in advance on the +part of the Senate, to give to the Executive the general power to +make arbitration agreements without reference to the Senate. Of +course, the Senate, even if it so desired, could not thus delegate +the treaty-making power to the Executive alone. + +There was so much difference of opinion that I took occasion to +submit the question to both President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay, +whether it was the intention on the part of the executive department +to send these special agreements to the Senate for ratification. +They both replied that it was not; that one of the purposes of the +Executive in making the treaties was to enable the Administration +to go ahead and make the special agreements without consulting the +Senate. + +Under these circumstances, it was almost the unanimous judgment of +the Senate that the treaties should be amended by striking out the +words "special agreement": and substituting the word "treaty," a +Constitutional term about which there could be no doubt. I considered +at the time that the declaration and agreement contained in these +treaties in favor of arbitration were just as strong, just as broad, +and just as obligatory with the proposed amendment as without it. +It was an agreement on the part of the President and Senate that +the President and Senate, the treaty-making power, would submit +differences to arbitration. + +The Senate was severely criticised at the time for being too +technical and standing in the way of arbitration; but in my judgment +it was not a trifling question. It could not be put aside. Even +if the amendment had not been adopted, the President, if he followed +the Constitution, should have submitted these special agreements +to the Senate for ratification; but he took the positive stand that +he would not submit them, and nothing remained for the Senate to +do but to assert and uphold its rights as a part of the treaty- +making power, and adopt the amendment to which I have referred. + +I do not think I violate any of the rules of etiquette by quoting +here President Roosevelt's letter written to me after he had learned, +through the press, that the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations +had amended the treaties. + + "White House, Washington, + "_February 10, 1905_. + +"My dear Senator Cullom: + +"I learn that the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has reported +the arbitration treaties to the Senate, amending them by substituting +for the word 'agreement' in the second article the word 'treaty.' +The effect of the amendment is to make it no longer possible, as +between its contracting parties, to submit any matter whatever to +arbitration without first obtaining a special treaty to cover the +case. This will represent not a step forward but a step backward. +If the word 'agreement' were retained it will be possible for the +Department of State to do as, for instance, it has already done +under The Hague treaty in the Pious Fund arbitration case with +Mexico, and submit to arbitration such subordinate matters as by +treaty the Senate had decided could be left to the Executive to +submit under a jurisdiction limited by the general treaty of +arbitration. If the word 'treaty' be substituted the result is +that every such agreement must be submitted to the Senate; and +these general arbitration treaties would then cease to be such, +and indeed in their amended form they amount to a specific +pronouncement against the whole principle of a general arbitration +treaty. + +"The Senate has, of course, the absolute right to reject or to +amend in any way it sees fit any treaty laid before it, and it is +clearly the duty of the Senate to take any step which, in the +exercise of its best judgment, it deems to be for the interest of +the Nation. If, however, in the judgment of the President a given +amendment nullifies a proposed treaty it seems to me that it is no +less clearly his duty to refrain from endeavoring to secure a +ratification by the other contracting power or powers, of the +amended treaty; and after much thought I have come to the conclusion +that I ought to write and tell you that such is my judgment in this +case. + +"As amended, we would have a treaty of arbitration which in effect +will do nothing but recite that this Government will when it deems +it wise hereafter enter into treaties of arbitration. Inasmuch as +we, of course, now have the power to enter into any treaties of +arbitration, and inasmuch as to pass these amended treaties does +not in the smallest degree facilitate settlements by arbitration, +to make them would in no way further the cause of international +peace. It would not, in my judgment, be wise or expedient to try +to secure the assent of the other contracting powers to the amended +treaties, for even if such consent were secured we would still +remain precisely where we were before, save where the situation +may be changed a little for the worse. There would not even be +the slight benefit that might obtain from the more general statement +that we intend hereafter, when we can come to an agreement with +foreign powers as to what shall be submitted, to enter into +arbitration treaties; for we have already, when we ratified The +Hague treaty with the various signatory powers, solemnly declared +such to be our intention; and nothing is gained by reiterating our +adherence to the principle, while refusing to provide any means of +making our intention effectual. In the amended form the treaties +contain nothing except such expression of barren intention, and +indeed, as compared with what has already been provided in The +Hague arbitration treaty, they probably represent not a step forward +but a slight step backward, as regards the question of international +arbitration. As such I do not think they should receive the sanction +of this Government. Personally it is not my opinion that this +Government lacks the power to enter into general treaties of +arbitration, but if I am in error, and if this Government has no +power to enter into such general treaties, then it seems to me that +it is better not to attempt to make them, rather than to make the +attempt in such shape that they will accomplish literally nothing +whatever when made. + + "Sincerely yours, + "(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, U. S. Senate." + +This letter was read to the Senate, and notwithstanding the positive +declaration by Mr. Roosevelt that he would not ask any of the +foreign Governments to consent to the amendment made by the Senate, +the treaties were amended and ratified by the Senate. + +I told the President in advance of the action of the Senate what +would be done, and he rather curtly remarked that the matter was +closed, and that he would not ask the other Governments to agree +to the treaties as amended. And no further action was taken on +the treaties. + +When Secretary Root entered the State Department he took an entirely +different view of the subject. I do not know whether Mr. Root was +of the opinion that the Senate was right in insisting on what it +considered to be its duty in amending the treaties, but I do know +that he negotiated arbitration treaties with Austria, China, Costa +Rica, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Mexico, +The Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Salvador, Spain, +Sweden, and Switzerland, every one of which treaties contained the +stipulation that the special agreements referred to in article two +were to be made by the President of the United States, by and with +the advice and consent of the Senate. These treaties were promptly +ratified and are a part of the supreme law of the land to-day. + +Secretary Root was very wise in negotiating and sending to the +Senate this series of Mondel or world treaties. All the Nations +of the world were agreeing to these treaties among themselves, and +it would have been a rather remarkable condition if the United +States, of all the great Nations, should have remained aloof. I +do not believe that Mr. Root had any difficulty in obtaining the +consent of the signatory powers to the treaties, with the stipulation +that the special agreement should come to the Senate for ratification; +but for some reason or other, at the time when the first treaties +were under consideration, President Roosevelt, as indicated in the +letter which I have quoted, and probably more particularly Secretary +Hay, were both very much incensed at the action of the Senate, and +permitted the first treaties to expire. + +This general movement in the direction of arbitration was one of +the most important events of the beginning of the twentieth century. +The importance of the adoption of this principle by the Nations of +the world cannot be overestimated. It has been well said that +international arbitration is the application of law and of judicial +methods to the determination of disputes between Nations, and that +this juristic idea in the settlement of international disputes is +largely an outgrowth of the international relations, the new and +advanced civilization of the nineteenth century. + +I do not believe the time will ever come when wars will cease,-- +the United States obtained its independence by means of a revolution +and war; but peace and arbitration have been advocated by the great +majority of the enlightened statesmen of the world. There were +many great wars during the nineteenth century, including our own +Civil War, the greatest, the bloodiest, recorded in all history; +but during this century arbitration has made wonderful strides. +In the same period there were four hundred and seventy-one instances +of international settlements involving the application of the +principle of international arbitration. Many of these arbitrations +were of the greatest importance; and I remark here that in the +number of arbitrations and the importance of the questions involved, +the United States and Great Britain have unquestionably led the +way. In fact, since the War of 1812, every subject of dispute +between the two Nations, which it was found impossible to settle +by diplomacy, has been submitted to arbitration. Only within a +few years the Alaskan boundary was settled by arbitration, and +within the past year a fisheries dispute, a cause of embarrassment +since 1818, was submitted to The Hague tribunal and a decision +rendered, which, though not entirely satisfactory to the United +States, we accepted as the final settlement. + +We have uniformly adopted arbitration as a means of settlement for +disputes with the Central and South American Republics. With Mexico +the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, of 1848, stipulates that future +disputes between the two republics shall be submitted to arbitration. +We have a general arbitration treaty for the settlement of pecuniary +claims with all the Central and South American Republics. At the +first Hague Conference, which met in 1899, a general arbitration +treaty was agreed to. It was a non-compulsory arbitration, and at +the time represented the farthest steps in advance in the direction +of arbitration which all the Nations were willing to take together. +That treaty was perfected at the second Hague Conference of 1907; +and, in addition, a series of treaties were agreed to concerning +the opening of hostilities, the laws and customs of war on land, +the rights and duties of neutrals, submarine contact mines, +bombardment by naval forces, the right of capture in naval war, +neutral powers in naval war, an international prize court, and the +discharge of projectiles from balloons, and the Geneva Convention +was revised. Aside from the prize court treaty, concerning which +there were Constitutional objections, these treaties were ratified +by the Senate, the United States being one of the first Nations of +the world to take this step. Unlike the first Hague Conference, +the South American Republics participated in the Second Conference, +and it was the first time in all the world's history that the +representatives of all the independent Nations in the world gathered +together in the interest of peace and agreed on certain principles +which should guide them in the conduct of war, if war must come. + +I take pride in the fact that the treaties agreed to at the first +Hague Conference, and the treaties agreed to at the second Hague +Conference, and the series of Mondel treaties, were reported from +the Committee on Foreign Relations, and ratified by the Senate +during my chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations. + +The last step to date in the interest of the peaceful settlement +of international disputes has been taken by President Taft in the +arbitration treaties between the United States and Great Britain +and between the United States and France, both of which were signed +by the representatives of this and the other two Governments in +August, 1911. The ban of secrecy has been removed from these +documents, and I feel at liberty to make brief mention of them, +although, as they still are pending in the Senate, I should not +feel disposed to discuss them at length. The treaties mark an +advance over the arbitration treaties of 1908 in that they bring +into arbitration a much wider range of subjects than is covered by +the older conventions. In the latter, questions of "national +honor," "vital interest," etc., were excluded from consideration, +whereas, under the pending agreements, "all differences which are +justiciable in their nature by reason of being susceptible of +decision by the application of the principles of law and equity," +are made subject to arbitration under the rules laid down in the +documents. + +There also is a provision granting to the Commission created by +the treaties the right to determine whether any given question +presented to it may be considered justiciable under the language +of the treaties. This latter provision is regarded by the President +and Secretary Knox as highly desirable in the interest of the +expedition of business, but it met such opposition in the Committee +on Foreign Relations that its elimination from the treaties was +recommended to the Senate. The objection to the provision is based +upon the theory that it would deprive the Senate of its constitutional +right to pass upon all treaties. I have not accepted this view, +because I do not believe in hampering working bodies when such a +course can be avoided without doing violence to the fundamental +law as I believe in this case it can be. + +With this provision expunged, the Committee is largely favorable +to the treaties, and they are now pending in the Senate. It, +however, has become evident that they cannot be speedily acted +upon, and as I write, in the closing days of the special session, +called at the beginning of the Sixty-second Congress, the indications +are strong that they will be compelled to go over to the regular +session in December for final consideration. What their fate then +may be no one can foretell. + +It is well understood that if these treaties should be ratified +they will be followed by similar agreements with the other civilized +nations of the world. The spirit of arbitration has taken strong +hold on our big-hearted and peace-loving President, and I am +confident that he will leave no stone unturned to promote good will +among nations as he is wont to do among men. Whatever differences +of opinion there may be, regarding the details of any particular +negotiation, no person of whatever party or creed can doubt President +Taft's splendid patriotism and devotion to the highest ideals of +citizenship. I am sure that these treaties have been inspired by +these sentiments, and, being honest and benevolent in their purpose, +the principle they embody must prevail in the end. + + +CHAPTER XXIX +TITLES AND DECORATIONS FROM FOREIGN POWERS + +The Constitution of the United States provides: + +"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and +no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, +without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, +office, or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince, or +foreign State." + +When I became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, there +were numerous bills pending, and numerous requests submitted through +the State Department, for authority, on the part of officers of +the United States, to accept gifts and decorations from foreign +Governments. At first I was disposed to consent to the report and +passage of such bills, and during the first year or two they were +reported from the committee from time to time and passed in the +Senate. The House did not act upon the individual bills, but a so- +called "omnibus bill" was passed in the House containing all the +bills that previously had been passed by the Senate, and in addition +quite a number of House bills. I had not realized until then how +extensive the practice had become, and I thereupon determined to +use what influence I had to put a stop to it. Since then but two +decorative bills of an exceptionally meritorious nature, one in +favor of Captain T. deWitt Wilcox, and one in favor of Admiral B. +H. McCalla, have been enacted by Congress. + +I thoroughly disapprove of the practice, and wanted to put an +effectual stop to it. At the same time the requests came pouring +in from session to session, and certain Senators, both on the +committee and others who were not members of it, insisted and urged +that favorable action be taken in behalf of officers of the United +States in whom they were interested. After more than two hundred +requests had accumulated, I determined to appoint a subcommittee +to consider the whole matter and report to the committee such cases +as were meritorious, or to adopt a general rule against the whole +practice. As chairman of that subcommittee, I appointed Mr. Root, +and with him Mr. Lodge, Mr. Carter, Mr. Bacon, and Mr. Stone. The +subcommittee, on March 10, 1910, submitted its report, which was +adopted by the full committee and submitted to the Senate. Besides +reviewing at considerable length the reasons for legislation, the +report included the following salient features: + +First, the existence of the provision in the Constitution indicates +that the presumption is against the acceptance of the present, +emolument, office, or title. A habit of general and indiscriminate +consent by Congress upon such applications would tend practically +to nullify the Constitutional provision, which is based upon an +apprehension, not without foundation, that our officers may be +affected in the performance of their duties by the desire to receive +such recognition from other Governments. A strong support for the +view that the practice should not be allowed to become general is +to be found in the fact that the Government of the United States +does not confer decorations or titles, or--unless in very exceptional +cases--make presents to the officers of other Governments. The +report then recommended that the following five rules be observed; + +"1. That no decoration should be received unless possibly when it +is conferred for some exceptional, extraordinary, and highly +meritorious act, justifying beyond dispute a special mark of +distinction. + +"2. That no presents should be received except such articles as +are appropriate for souvenirs and marks of courtesy and appreciation, +and having an intrinsic value not disproportionate to such a +purpose. + +"3. That the acceptance of presents within the limitation above +stated should be further limited to cases in which some exceptional +service or special relation justifying the mark of courtesy exists +between the recipient and the Government offering the present. + +"4. That no offer of any other title or emolument or office should +be considered. + +"5. We consider that membership in learned societies, even though +the appointment thereto may have a _quasi_ Governmental origin, +should not be considered as coming within the Constitutional +provision, and it may well be that as to certain trifling gifts, +such as photographs, the rule of _de minimis lex non curat_ should +be deemed to apply." + +I agreed to the report of the subcommittee and agreed to the bill, +permitting certain officers to accept the presents tendered to +them, where there were good reasons therefor; but I am free to say +that I was somewhat disappointed that the subcommittee had not +reported in favor of abolishing the practice entirely, instead of +discriminating between presents and decorations, as they did. + +The bill passed the Senate without debate and without objection. +It went to the House, and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, +through Mr. Denby, of Michigan, submitted a most admirable report, +which was far more in line with my own ideas than was the report +of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. I agree with the +conclusions arrived at by the Committee on Foreign Affairs so +thoroughly that I am going to give most of that report here: + +" . . . The subcommittee expresses the hope that this adverse +disposition of these bills, which contains items fairly representative +of the great majority of the requests for Congressional sanction +for the acceptance of foreign orders, decorations, or presents, by +officials of the United States, will be regarded as notice to +officials of the United States that this committee at least, and +it is hoped all future committees dealing with this subject-matter, +will refuse to consider such requests, except as hereinafter noted. + +"The Committee of Foreign Affairs has been required to devote much +time to the consideration of bills to grant permission to accept +such gifts. The committee has in the past very generally declined +to recommend favorably any such legislation, except in the case of +decorations offered to American citizens by official or quasi- +official scientific associations for eminent scientific achievements." + +Article 1, section 9, paragraph 8, of the Constitution of the United +States is quoted, and the report proceeds: + +"The Congress has been frequently importuned since the adoption of +the Constitution to grant its consent for the acceptance of orders, +decorations, and presents offered to officials of our Government, +frequently upon pretexts the most trivial and for services the most +commonplace, when services of any kind were rendered at all. A +glance at the requests now on file, summarized in Calendar No. 378, +which accompanies S. 7096, will show that the offers of foreign +gifts, decorations, etc., have been made in the great majority of +cases to officials for services in the direct line of their duty, +and which in themselves, in the majority of cases, were not deserving +of any special commendation. Following a practice which, because +of reciprocal considerations, probably operates satisfactorily +between foreign powers, the Governments of the world frequently +tender to our officers decorations or presents upon such occasions +as the first visit of a fleet to a foreign power, or the presence +of individual officers representing our Government at reviews and +public ceremonials, and to our diplomatic officials upon the +termination of their missions, or upon occasions of rejoicing, +jubilees of sovereigns, etc. While the practice of exchanging such +graceful souvenirs is not unpleasing among the nations which +recognize and reciprocate the courtesy, it is entirely inappropriate +that officials of this Government should accept, or desire to +accept, such presents. + +"The prohibition of the Constitution appears to have been put there +out of a well-founded desire to safeguard our officials from the +insidious influence of a natural but not desirable sense of obligation +toward the powers donor. The history of nations abounds with +instances of the giving of rich presents to retiring ambassadors +and ministers upon the conclusion of treaties or the satisfactory +termination of negotiations. There can be no doubt of the danger +of recognizing that the agent of our Government may properly be +compensated by another to which he is accredited. Another and +obvious objection to permitting our officials to receive gifts or +decorations from foreign powers is that, having no orders of nobility +and no decorations in this country, and not recognizing the propriety +of offering to officials of other powers, we can in no way reciprocate. +It is beneath the dignity of the American Government to receive, +through its representatives, presents for which it can make no +return. The Constitutional prohibition is, in the opinion of the +subcommittee, a wise one, to which Congress should very seldom +permit any exception. + +"Therefore the subcommittee earnestly hopes that the Committee may +put itself on record so unequivocally in this instance as to clearly +indicate that it will not, except under circumstances the most +unusual and extraordinary, grant permission to any official of the +Government to receive such presents. + +"To that end the subcommittee further recommends that this report +may, by resolution, be adopted as expressing the view of the members +of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; +that this report may be printed, and that a copy may be communicated +to the Secretary of State. + + "(Signed) Edwin Denby, + "H. W. Palmer, + "H. D. Flood, Subcommittee, + +"Adopted by the Committee of Foreign Affairs, April 7, 1910. + "Frederic L. Davis, Clerk." + +I have no doubt that these two reports, first the report of the +Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and second, the report +of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House, taken together, +will effectually stop the application for permission to accept both +presents and decorations from foreign Governments. Indeed, I do +not think that the Secretary of State will again consent to apply +to Congress in behalf of officers who have been tendered presents +and decorations. + + +CHAPTER XXX +ISLE OF PINES, DANISH WEST INDIES, AND ALGECIRAS + +For a number of years there was considerable controversy over the +ownership of the Isle of Pines, a small island separated from Cuba +by about thirty miles of water, containing 1200 square miles. This +dot of land was not of the slightest account to the United States, +so far as I could see; but after the treaty of peace with Spain, +a number of Americans purchased land there for the purpose of +establishing homes. When the United States withdrew from Cuba and +the Cuban Republic was established, and the flag of Cuba was extended +over the Island of Pines, those American residents protested and +insisted that the island belonged to the United States. They had +considerable ground for this contention, as Mr. Meikeljohn, when +Assistant Secretary of War, had written a number of letters in +which he stated that the Isle of Pines had been ceded to the United +States by Spain, and therefore was a part of our territory, although +attached at the time to the division of Cuba for governmental +purposes. + +The treaty of peace provided in article one that Spain relinquishes +all claims of sovereignty over, and title to, Cuba; and in article +two, that Spain cedes to the United States the Island of Porto +Rico, and other islands under Spanish sovereignty in the West +Indies, and the Island of Guam in the Marianas or Ladrones. + +A strict construction of the treaty of peace with Spain would +probably give the island to the United States under article two. + +Cuba, however, insisted that the island was a part of Cuban territory, +but it was provided in article six of the Platt amendments that +the title to the island should be left to future adjustment by +treaty. + +Cuba granted to the United States two very valuable coaling stations, +and the United States on its part agreed to enter into a treaty by +which we should relinquish whatever title we might have to the +Island of Pines in favor of Cuba. + +A rather interesting incident occurred in connection with this +treaty which I believe I violate no confidence in now detailing, +as both Presidents have retired from office. President Roosevelt +was very anxious that the treaty be ratified; he was also most +solicitous that we should retain friendly relations with the Republic +of Cuba, and felt that the island was not of the slightest importance +to the United States from any standpoint, declaring that he would +not accept it. I was at the White House one day when the treaty +was before the committee, and he showed me a letter written to him +by President Palma, of Cuba, and my recollection is that he gave +me a copy of it for such use as I might desire to make. Mr. Palma +urged in that letter that the Senate act favorably on the treaty, +because if it did not his re-election as President of the Cuban +Republic would thereby be endangered. + +So much opposition to the treaty developed in the Senate that I +deemed it useless to endeavor to bring it to a vote; and really, +as I look at it now, there is very little use for the treaty at +all, as Cuba is and has been exercising jurisdiction over the Isle +of Pines. Cuba must be giving the island a good government for +the American residents, as I have heard nothing from the island +for several years. + +It was during the Fifty-seventh Congress that the treaty with +Denmark, providing for the purchase by the United States of the +Danish West Indies, consisting of the Islands of St. Thomas, St. +John, and St. Croix, came before the committee. I reported the +treaty to the Senate and urged, and finally secured, its +ratification. + +The United States by this treaty agreed to pay five million dollars +to Denmark for the islands. + +We first attempted to purchase the islands in 1865, during the +administration of President Lincoln. Secretary Seward was particularly +anxious that the United States should acquire them, and a treaty +was negotiated and agreed to by Denmark. The treaty was not acted +upon during the administration of President Johnson, and because +President Grant was particularly anxious for its ratification, +Charles Sumner, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations (as +in the case of the Santo Domingo treaty), opposed its ratification +by the Senate, and it was defeated. + +President Grant showed a far-sighted policy in favoring the +acquisition of every foot of territory which we could secure in +the West Indies. The Danish islands are of great importance to +the United States in a strategic way, whether the strategy be +military or commercial. St. Thomas is the natural point of call +for all European trade bound for the West Indies, Central America, +or Northern South America. These islands, together with Porto +Rico, occupy the north-eastern corner of the Caribbean Sea; and +they are of more importance now than ever, because of the fact that +we are constructing the Isthmian canal. In view of that canal, +and the European settlements in South America, every additional +acquisition by the United States in the West Indies is invaluable. +Porto Rico is difficult of defense. The harbors are poor, while +the harbor in the Island of St. Thomas can be made one of the very +best in the West Indies. Our own officers who investigated the +subject reported that the Island of St. Thomas possesses all the +natural advantages of a second Gibraltar. + +The Danish Parliament, after a long debate, declined to ratify the +treaty of 1901 which had been ratified by the Senate, and for the +present at least the subject is in abeyance. + +I still hope, before I shall retire from the Committee on Foreign +Relations, that the United States may succeed in purchasing these +valuable islands. + +During the Winter of 1906 there occurred in the Senate a very +interesting debate over the appointment of representatives of the +United States to participate in the so-called Algeciras Conference, +held in Algeciras in 1905 to consider conditions in Morocco. No +action was taken by the Senate, and in due course the act or treaty +agreed to at that conference was submitted to the Senate for +ratification. + +I do not think there can be the slightest doubt that President +Roosevelt had full authority to appoint the delegates on the part +of the United States, and that he was thoroughly justified in +contending that it was not only the right but the duty of the United +States to participate in this conference. The action of the +President in accepting the invitation to the conference and appointing +the delegates, and the very important part therein which he took +personally, in addition to the interest manifested through his +representatives, very properly received the commendation of the +people of this country and of the whole European world. + +The Moroccan Empire was one of the earliest and most interesting +of the world's Governments. During the latter part of the eighteenth +century Morocco occupied the attention of the maritime nations of +the civilized world, as it was the home of the Barbary pirates who +preyed upon the commerce of all the nations. The United States +itself paid tribute for the purchase of immunity from these pirates. +One of our earliest treaties, made before the adoption of the +Constitution in 1787, was a treaty of peace and friendship with +Morocco. We entered into several treaties with Morocco later, and +joined in treaties concerning that country in 1865 and 1880 with +Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, +and other Nations. + +For many years Great Britain and France have claimed to have superior +rights in Morocco, and it has seemed to be the desire of France to +annex it. Germany has intervened, and the country has been a bone +of contention among the European Nations. In 1904 Great Britain +and France, by a secret treaty, agreed that France should have the +dominating control in Morocco, and that Great Britain should dominate +in Egypt. Germany opposed the French Protectorate and insisted +that an international conference of the powers should be called. +At one time it seemed that war was inevitable, and it probably was +averted only by the Algeciras Conference. The United States was +asked to participate, as we had participated in the conference of +1880. If we had not accepted the invitation there would have been +no conference, as two of the great powers had served notice that +all nations represented at the 1880 conference must participate in +the Algeciras Conference, or they would withdraw. Our participation +was in the interest of averting a European war. + +The General Act or Treaty agreed to at that conference was a lengthy +and important one. Its details are not of much importance, as our +delegates signed it under a significant reservation that we would +not assume any obligation or responsibility for the enforcement of +the Act. + +When it came to the Senate, there was quite a combat over its +ratification. We could not secure its endorsement during the +session which closed the first of July, 1906, but we were able to +reach an agreement that it should be voted on in committee and in +the Senate during the month of December following. + +President Roosevelt was very much concerned about its ratification, +and on June 26, 1906, when it seemed pretty certain that the Senate +would adjourn without acting on the general Act, he wrote me this +quite characteristic letter: + + "White House, Washington, _June 26, 1906_. + +"My dear Senator Cullom: + +"Having reference to the letter which Secretary Root wrote you +yesterday about the Algeciras Convention, I can only add that I +earnestly hope this matter will receive favorable report from the +committee at this session. I am literally unable to understand +how any human being can find anything whatever to object to in this +treaty; and to reject it would mean that for the first time since +the adoption of the Constitution this Government will be without +a treaty with Morocco. It seems incredible that there should be +a serious purpose to put us in such a position. + + "Sincerely yours, + "(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt." + +The General Act would probably not have been ratified by the Senate +had we not agreed on the form of the resolution of ratification. +That resolution provided: + +"Resolved further, that the Senate, as a part of this act of +ratification, understands that the participation of the United +States in the Algeciras Conference and in the formation and adoption +of the general Act and Protocol which resulted therefrom, was with +the sole purpose of preserving and increasing its commerce in +Morocco, the protection as to life, liberty, and property of its +citizens residing and travelling therein, and of aiding by its +friendly offices and efforts in removing friction and controversy +which seemed to menace the peace between powers signatory with the +United States to the treaty of 1880, all of which are on terms of +amity with this Government, and without purpose to depart from the +traditional American foreign policy which forbids participation by +the United States in the settlement of political questions which +are entirely European in their scope." + +After this form of resolution had been agreed to by those favoring +and those opposing the treaty, I showed it to President Roosevelt. +He expressed his satisfaction with it, and the Act was ratified by +the Senate. + +I have endeavored to cover only a very few of the more important +matters which have come before the Committee on Foreign Relations +since I have been its chairman. The treaties before the committee +have embraced almost every subject of contact between two independent +Nations. Numerous treaties involving extradition, boundaries, +naturalization, claims, sanitation, trade-marks, consular and +diplomatic friendship, and commerce, and many other subjects, have +been before the committee and have been acted upon and ratified by +the Senate. During the period of which I am now writing, I believe +that we have ratified treaties with almost every independent Nation +of the world. The many important matters now pending, or of more +recent date, I am not at liberty to refer to, the injunction of +secrecy not yet having been removed. + +The Foreign Relations Committee will continue in the future, as it +has in the past, one of the Senate's foremost committees. + + +CHAPTER XXXI +CONGRESS UNDER THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION + +It had been my intention to close these recollections with the +beginning of the Taft Administration, but their publication has +been deferred until the Administration extended so far that it +seems proper to bring my observations up to date. I am especially +impelled to this course by the fact that the present era has +developed a very marked change in the character of the Senate, and, +to a limited extent at least, in the trend of political thought in +the country at large--a change which should be noted in any permanent +writing dealing with the period. Still, I have no intention of +entering upon a detailed consideration of men or of conditions. +My only purpose is to make brief mention of these conditions and +to refer in very general terms to some who have given direction to +recent public affairs. + +Observers of public events and students of political questions +probably were given their first insight into the tendency of the +times through the resignation from the Senate of Honorable John C. +Spooner, of Wisconsin, which was tendered March 30, 1907. I have +made frequent reference to Mr. Spooner's connection with the Senate, +and I do not intend to say more of him here than that he stood for +conservatism and the old traditions. Sensitive to a degree to the +promptings of his conscience, and still desirous of representing +the sentiment of his constituents, apparently he found himself +embarrassed by the growth in his State of what, without intending +any disrespect, I may designate as "La Follette-ism." + +Gradually Hon. Robert M. La Follette, who previously had served +several terms in the House of Representatives, had been forging +his way to the front in Wisconsin politics until in 1905 he was +elected to serve as Mr. Spooner's colleague in the Senate. He +stood for radicalism in the Republican party as against Mr. Spooner's +conservatism; he was the advocate of many innovations and experiments, +while Mr. Spooner held to the old and tried forms of procedure in +public affairs. Whether Mr. La Follette was the leader of this +new propaganda or the follower of a growing sentiment in the State +does not matter to this record. It is sufficient to know that +apparently Wisconsin public opinion did not support Mr. Spooner to +a sufficient extent to justify a man of his conscientious disposition +in retaining his place as the representative of the people of that +State in the highest legislative body of the Nation. Moreover, +splendid lawyer that he was, he knew that he could find much more +lucrative employment outside the halls of legislation, and he felt +the need of making adequate provision for his family. In consequence +of these conditions, he left the Senate, and thus opened the way +for the more rapid promotion in that body of the new school of +politics for which his colleague stood, a school which, while it +has found some exponents in the House of Representatives, is not +comparatively so largely represented there as in the Senate. + +The La Follette group is designated by its own disciples as +"Progressivism," whereas by outsiders it is generally referred to +as "Insurgency." Mr. La Follette came to the Senate with the Fifty- +ninth Congress, and no sooner had he entered that body then he +began to propound his doctrines there. At first, he stood alone, +but natural inclination soon drew to him such of the older Senators +as the late Jonathan P. Dolliver, of Iowa, and Moses E. Clapp, of +Minnesota, both of them men of splendid attainments and of high +moral character. With the incoming of Mr. Taft as President came +also Albert B. Cummins, of Iowa, Joseph L. Bristow, of Kansas, and +Coe I. Crawford, of South Dakota, all of whom joined heartily with +Mr. La Follette in his efforts to shape legislation. + +During the Sixty-first Congress, the tariff law was revised. The +Dingley Act of 1897 had grown unpopular in some portions of the +country, because it was believed that under it the duties were not +equitably distributed, and the campaign of 1908 had been fought +upon a platform declaring for a revision. When, therefore, Congress +met in March, 1909, being called together in extraordinary session +by President Taft, every one recognized the necessity for entering +upon this work. There had been no specific declaration in the +platform as to the character of the revision. Some, commonly called +"stand-patters," contended for a readjustment without any general +lowering of rates, while others held out stiffly for a reduction +all along the line. The result of the work of Congress was the +enactment of what is known as the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Law of 1909, +the measure taking its name on account of the joint efforts in its +behalf of the Honorable Sereno Payne, of New York, Chairman of the +Committee of Ways and Means of the House, and Honorable Nelson W. +Aldrich, of Rhode Island, Chairman of the Committee on Finance of +the Senate. The Payne-Aldrich law is a Protective measure, as it +was intended to be. The Progressives, in both the Senate and House, +sought at every step to reduce the schedules, but generally without +success. In this effort, they were supported by Democratic Senators +and Representatives, but the "Old Guard" controlled such a pronounced +majority in both Houses as to render the opposing efforts futile, +fierce though they were. So general was this conflict that in many +matters the Progressives soon established a faction of their own. +There were many skirmishes all along the line. Their divergence +from the views of Regular Republicanism was indicated not on the +tariff alone, but on many other questions of public policy which +I may say I regard as extremely visionary and impracticable. + +The controversy also covered the methods of procedure of both the +Senate and the House, and the fight on "Uncle" Joe Cannon as Speaker, +or on "Cannonism," which characterized the last session of the +Sixty-first Congress, was one of the instances of this difference +of opinion in the party. In a less pronounced manner the Progressives +also have shown an inclination to antagonize and overturn the +customs of the Senate. They feel the restraint of some of the +Senate's established rules, and, together with the radical element +which has been introduced on the Democratic side of the Senate +Chamber, they manifest evident impatience with these regulations. +That fine old term "senatorial courtesy" has lost much of its +meaning as a result of the brusque and breezy manner of the time. +No longer is it said that the young Senator must be seen rather +than heard. Indeed, while formerly the spectacle of a Senator +rising to make a speech before the close of his second year in the +Senate was regarded as unusual, it recently has come to be remarked +upon if a new man remains in his seat for two months before +undertaking to enlighten the Senate as to its duties towards itself +and the world. + +I am not undertaking here to pronounce against these innovations, +but merely to record facts. I have shown my advocacy of proper +railroad legislation and of other progressive legislation which +commended itself to my judgment. However, I am classed as a Regular +and desire to be. My votes have been with the party organization. +I have made it a rule throughout my political career to stand for +the general principles of the party as enunciated by its authorized +bodies; but while that is my course, I do not pretend to say that +that organization always represents all that is good and best for +the country or that in many cases the Progressives and Insurgents +may not be nearer right than the Regulars. In the main, however, +I have found that the best results are obtained through following +the course indicated by the united wisdom of the party. My plan +has been to exert my influence in the direction of careful and +conservative progression within established party lines, and in +such a course do I believe that the Republican party can best insure +its perpetuity. + +Senator Spooner's resignation from the Senate was followed by the +refusal of Senators Hale and Aldrich to stand for re-election in +1911. The retirement of those three distinguished leaders constitutes +the best index of the tendency of the times. Men of experience, +dignity, and conservatism, they voluntarily gave way before the +press of public exigency. True, they consulted their own inclinations, +but I always have thought that if the old conditions had continued +in the Senate they would have elected to remain there. Their seats +are filled by good and true men, but by men of very different +characteristics, unless an exception may be made in Senator Aldrich's +case, whose successor, Henry F. Lippitt, appears to be a man much +like his predecessor. Whether the change will be beneficial or +otherwise remains to be seen, but my optimism is so great I do not +believe that anything but good can come permanently to this great +country of ours. I confess to a liking for the old methods. + +This general change of public sentiment has brought into the Senate +not only Mr. La Follette, Mr. Bristow, Mr. Clapp, Mr. Cummins, and +Mr. Crawford, but also a number of other men of similar views, so +that within six or seven years the progressive group has increased +to thirteen members, more than one-fourth of the membership of the +Senate. + +I shall not undertake to mention all of those contained in this +little body, but I have been so impressed with the bearing of +Senator William E. Borah, of Idaho, and Senator Joseph M. Dixon, +of Montana, that I do not feel justified in passing them by unnoticed. +They are both very able men and men of high purpose. They do not +stand with this group all the time; neither goes where his convictions +do not lead. + +Moreover, these Republicans of supposedly advanced thought have +found their counterpart in a number of new Senators who have taken +their seats on the Democratic side. The Democrats, as well as the +Republicans, have their Progressive, or Radical, element, and while +the Democratic representatives of this thought differ from those +on the Republican side on the subject of Protection, they have co- +operated in the interest of what they consider a closer approach +to the demands of the people on other subjects of legislation. On +the tariff schedules, which have been presented during the special +session of the Sixty-second Congress now coming to a close, they +also have stood together, forming what some have been pleased to +christen the "Unholy Alliance." Both Republicans and Democrats of +the radical type are contending for a lower tariff, but this one +important difference is noticeable: while there is a tendency on +the Democratic side toward free trade, the Republican members of +the alliance hold out for the protective principle. + +It is pleasant to me to be able to record that while a sufficient +number of new men have come into the Senate to cause a modification +of its general appearance and apparent purposes, there still are +enough representatives of the old element to cause it to retain +its distinctive character as the most conservative deliberative +body in this country. In addition to the new men, such capable +legislators remain as Lodge and Crane, of Massachusetts, Brandegee, +of Connecticut, Burton, of Ohio, Jones, of Washington, Root, of +New York, Gallinger and Burnham, of New Hampshire, Heyburn, of +Idaho, Penrose and Oliver, of Pennsylvania, Perkins, of California, +Smoot and Sutherland, of Utah, Clark and Warren, of Wyoming, +Dillingham and Page, of Vermont, Wetmore, of Rhode Island, Curtis, +of Kansas, McCumber, of North Dakota, Gamble, of South Dakota, +William Alden Smith and Charles E. Townsend, of Michigan, Bradley, +of Kentucky, and others, all Republicans, while among the old-time +Democrats should be mentioned such stanch and true men as Martin, +of Virginia, Bacon, of Georgia, Bailey and Culberson, of Texas, +Taylor, of Tennessee, Shively, of Indiana, Tillman, of South +Carolina, Fletcher, of Florida, Foster, of Louisiana, Johnston and +Bankhead, of Alabama, Stone, of Missouri, Clarke, of Arkansas, +Newlands, of Nevada, and still others who, though their names may +not be mentioned, all command the high regard of their colleagues. + +The question is often asked, "Who has succeeded Aldrich as leader +of the Senate?" No one. Practically, there are three parties in +the Senate, consisting of thirty-seven Regular Republicans, forty- +one Democrats, and thirteen Insurgent Republicans. In caucus, the +Insurgents act with the Regulars, but in legislation, they more +frequently line up with the Democrats. The consequence is that no +party is in control, and therefore that no party can dictate the +course of leadership. Under such circumstances, real leadership +is out of the question. Senator Penrose succeeds Senator Aldrich +as Chairman of the Committee on Finance, and is proving thoroughly +competent for his work in that capacity. If emergency should arise +throwing the direction of affairs into the hands of the Republican +party, he might also succeed the Rhode Island Senator to the +leadership of the Republican forces, but until such emergency +presents itself, no one can see whether that position would fall +to him or to some other Republican. Leaders are born, not made. +Leadership is not a matter of selection, but of fitness. + +Up to the present writing (August, 1911), President Taft has been +in office almost two and a half years, and while, like all Presidents, +he has been criticised, I am confident that in the end the first +half of his administration will receive the approval of the historian. +Personally, no more popular man ever occupied the office of Chief +Executive, and his popularity is due to his honesty of purpose and +his love for his fellow man. His administration has witnessed such +a prosecution of the unlawful trusts as never before has been known, +and the President himself has been engaged in a constant endeavor +for legislation which would equalize the benefits of American +citizenship, relieve the distresses of the less fortunate, and put +a stop to graft, wherever found. Under his direction, the Interstate +Commerce Law has been vastly improved, postal savings banks have +been established, and the conservation of our natural resources +has been placed upon a safe and sane basis. He has pressed +Reciprocity and Arbitration with other Nations, and he has established +such an era of good fellowship among public men of all parties and +beliefs as seldom has been known in our history. If the remainder +of his administration proves as successful as that which has passed, +he will deserve, as I believe he will receive, the endorsement of +the people through an election to a second term. + +The present presiding officer of the Senate is Hon. James Schoolcraft +Sherman, who was elected Vice-President on the national ticket of +1908 with President Taft. Mr. Sherman brings to this office an +experience of twenty years as a member of the House of Representatives +from the Utica district, much of which time he was a member of the +Committee on Rules. He is an accomplished parliamentarian, a fact +which taken in connection with his genial disposition, his kindness +of heart, and, above all, his love of justice, renders him one of +the most acceptable presiding officers that the Senate ever has +had. He has held his office during all of the regular session of +the Sixty-first Congress and has been constantly in his seat during +the special session of the Sixty-second Congress, and it is safe +to say that in so brief a time no man has more thoroughly endeared +himself to members of the Senate of whatever party or faction. +Occasionally, of course, as is the case with all presiding officers, +his decisions are challenged; but I believe he has been uniformly +sustained; and even such proceedings are stripped of all appearance +of rancor through his kindness of manner and his evident conviction. +He is a fit successor of Hobart and Fairbanks. + + +CHAPTER XXXII +LINCOLN CENTENNIAL: LINCOLN LIBRARY + +The name of Springfield will forever be immortalized as the home +and burial-place of Abraham Lincoln. As the hundredth anniversary +of his birth approached, it was determined to hold a great celebration, +and it was generally agreed that Springfield was the fitting and +proper place in which to hold it. + +In 1907 the Legislature of Illinois passed a joint resolution +providing: + +"Whereas, the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham +Lincoln will occur on the twelfth day of February, 1909; and, + +"Whereas, it is fitting and proper that the State of Illinois should +celebrate the anniversary of the birth of this greatest of all +American statesmen; therefore, be it + +"Resolved, by the Senate of the State of Illinois, the House of +Representatives concurring therein, that the one hundredth anniversary +of the birth of Abraham Lincoln be celebrated in the City of +Springfield, on the twelfth day of February, 1909, and, be it +further + +"Resolved, that the Governor is hereby authorized and empowered to +appoint a commission of fifteen representative citizens of this +State to have charge of all arrangements for such celebration." + +The Governor thereupon appointed fifteen of the most distinguished +citizens of Springfield as the State Centennial Commission to have +charge of the celebration. + +It was determined that the celebration should not be a local one, +but should be more in the nature of a State celebration, and that +it would be well to incorporate it under the name of "The Lincoln +Centennial Association." The original incorporators were: + +The Hon. Melville W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States; +the Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, United States Senator; the Hon. Albert +J. Hopkins, United States Senator; the Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, +Speaker of the National House of Representatives; the Hon. Adlai +E. Stevenson; the Hon. Charles S. Deneen, Governor of Illinois; +the Hon. John P. Hand, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the +State of Illinois; the Hon. J. Otis Humphrey, Judge of the United +States District Court; the Hon. James A. Rose, Secretary of State +of Illinois; the Hon. Ben. F. Caldwell, Member of Congress; the +Hon. Richard Yates; Melville E. Stone, Esq.; Horace White, Esq.; +John W. Bunn, Esq.; and Dr. William Jayne. + +I was requested to secure speakers of national reputation, and it +at once occurred to me that I would invite the Ambassadors of France +and Great Britain, and Senator J. P. Dolliver, to visit Springfield, +on February 12, 1909, and deliver addresses. These distinguished +gentlemen at once accepted the invitation which I extended them on +behalf of the Governor and the committee. Later, the Hon. William +Jennings Bryan was invited to be present also and deliver an address, +which invitation he accepted. + +The memorial exercises celebrating the hundredth anniversary of +Lincoln's birth were held under the direction of the State Centennial +Commission, appointed by the Governor, working in conjunction with +the Lincoln Centennial Association. There were a number of distinct +events, but the most important were the great memorial exercises +held in the State Armory, at which addresses were made by Ambassadors +Jusserand and Bryce, and by Senator Dolliver and Mr. Bryan, and a +banquet served to eight hundred guests. The celebration was in +every way a great success, largely due to the efforts of Judge +Humphrey. + +It was quite an event in the history of Springfield, as it was the +first time, so far as I know, that the Ambassadors of two great +Nations visited Springfield. + +I regretted very much that I was so engaged in matters pertaining +to my official duties in Washington that it seemed impossible for +me to be present. I was requested to write something which could +be read at the banquet, and so I addressed to Judge Humphrey the +following letter: + + "Washington, D. C., + "_February 6, 1909_. + +"Hon. J. Otis Humphrey, + "President Lincoln Centennial Association, + "Springfield, Illinois. + +"My dear Judge: + +"It is a matter of sincere regret to me that I am unable to be +present at your great anniversary celebration of the birth of the +immortal Lincoln, and to welcome to my home city the Ambassadors +of Great Britain and France and the distinguished guests who are +to be with you. + +"Abraham Lincoln, greatest of Americans, greatest of men, emancipator, +martyr, his service to his country has not been equalled by any +American citizen, not even by Washington. His name and life have +been an inspiration to me from my earliest recollection. + +"On this one hundredth anniversary of his birth, the people, without +regard to creed, color, condition, or section, in all parts of this +Union which he saved, are striving to do honor to his memory. No +American has ever before received such deserved universal praise. +Not only in his own country, but throughout the civilized world, +Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of the few, the very few, truly +great men in history. His memory is as fresh to-day in the minds +and hearts of the people as it was forty years ago, and the passing +years only add to his fame and serve to give us a truer conception +of his noble character. The events of his life, his words of +wisdom, have been gathered together in countless volumes to be +treasured up and handed down to generations yet to come. + +"I knew him intimately in Springfield; I heard him utter his simple +farewell to his friends and neighbors when he departed to assume +a task greater than any President had been called upon to assume +in our history; it was my sad duty to accompany his mortal remains +from the capital of the Nation to the capital of Illinois; and as +I gazed upon his face the last time, I thanked God it had been my +privilege to know him as a friend; and I felt then, as I more fully +realize now, that the good he had done would live through all the +ages to bless the world. + +"Springfield, his only real home, the scene of his great political +triumph, was his fitting resting-place. In the midst of this great +continent his dust shall rest a sacred treasure to myriads who +shall pilgrim to his shrine to kindle anew their zeal and +patriotism. + +"Again expressing regret that I can not be with you to take part +in honoring the memory of our greatest President, on the one +hundredth anniversary of his birth, and feeling sure that the +Springfield celebration will be the most notable of all, as it +should be, I remain + + "Sincerely yours, + "(Signed) S. M. Cullom." + +Of all the notable celebrations held on the one hundredth anniversary +of the birth of Lincoln in every part of the United States, the +Springfield observance was the most dignified and impressive; and +it was determined that on Lincoln's birthday each year, under the +auspices of the Lincoln Centennial Association, fitting memorial +exercises should take place in Springfield, to which guests and +speakers of national and international renown, from all parts of +the United States, should be invited. + +Springfield has a great public library, called the "Lincoln Library," +toward which Andrew Carnegie very generously contributed seventy- +five thousand dollars. I took considerable interest in the +Springfield Library, and I did what I could to prevail upon Mr. +Carnegie to make as generous a contribution as he would toward the +project. I remember that I wrote him a letter on the subject. + +It was at first proposed by the Springfield people to name the +Library "The Lincoln-Carnegie Memorial Library"; but after Mr. +Carnegie had made his contribution, through his secretary he informed +the Rev. E. S. Walker, of Springfield, who carried on the correspondence +with him, that he would consider it a desecration to have any name +listed with that of Lincoln. "He trusts that the library will be +known as the 'Lincoln Library,' not the 'Lincoln Memorial Library,' +as Lincoln needs no memorial, being one of the dozen supremely +great rulers of men the world has ever seen." + +The Library was completed in 1904, and I was invited to deliver +the dedicatory address, which invitation I was very glad to accept. +It was an interesting occasion, held in the main room of the library +building, which was crowded with the very best people of the city. +I give a few extracts from the speech I delivered that evening: + +"Mr. Chairman: It was a great pleasure to me to be invited by your +library board to participate in these exercises attending the +opening of this splendid library building. + +"I can not resist on this occasion the inclination to say a few +words in reference to Springfield and my early relations to it. + +"Old historic Springfield! Here have taken place many of the most +important events in the history of Illinois. Springfield has been +the centre of the political struggles of both parties since it has +been the capital of the State. Many of the great statesmen of +Illinois have occupied seats in the legislative hall in Springfield. +Here were mobilized during the Civil War the thousands of troops +who went forth to do and die for the Union. Here the greatest +General of the age received his first command. Here Lincoln and +Douglas met, and from here Lincoln went forth to assume a task +greater than any President has been called upon to undertake in +all our history. + +"Springfield is endeared to me by all the sacred memories of +friendship, family, and home. + +"I came here fifty years ago. In Springfield I received my legal +education, was admitted to the Bar, and in your old courthouse here +I practised my profession. In Springfield I married and reared my +family, and here my children are laid in their final resting-place. + +"Those early days of my residence here are among the happiest of +my life. Official duties have necessitated my absence a great part +of the time for the past twenty years, but my heart lingers with +it, and the ties which made those early days so happy will never +be broken so long as I shall live." + +After giving a history of the library and referring to the generosity +of Mr. Carnegie, I continued: + +"This is a material age. Carnegie, the great captain of industry, +is a typical representative of the leaders of this age. It is well +worth our while to stop to consider why he should devote a part of +his great wealth to the founding of public libraries. + +"Andrew Carnegie was a poor boy, enjoying none of the advantages +and opportunities which are afforded by a good library. He missed +in his early life the opportunity for culture which is now obtained +through the facilities supplied by libraries in the towns and +cities. He knew that there was no other agency so valuable for +the purpose of spreading culture among the people as the public +library. No word so precisely describes the influence of good +reading as does the word 'culture'. Emerson tells us that the word +of ambition of the present day is 'culture.' + +"Andrew Carnegie, the great leader of the industrial world, desiring +to give to the young men and the young women of this day an +opportunity for education, for culture, whose value to the young +he realizes so well, has devoted the enormous fortune of over one +hundred million dollars for the founding of public libraries. . . . + +"There should be no pleasure like the pleasure derived from reading +a good book. Emerson, expressing our debt to a book says: 'Let +us not forget the genial, miraculous, we have known to proceed from +a book. We go musing into the vaults of day and night; no +constellation shines, no muse descends, the stars are white points, +the roses brick-colored leaves; and frogs pipe, mice cheep, and +wagons creak along the road. We return to the house and take up +Plutarch or Augustine, and read a few sentences or pages, and lo, +the air swims with life, secrets of magnanimity and grandeur invite +us on every hand, life is made of them. Such is our debt to a +book.' + +"The founding of public libraries is the surest mark of advanced +civilization. The origin of libraries is lost in the dim twilight +of the early ages. When they commenced, how they commenced, we do +not know; but we have authentic records that centuries before the +Christian era the temples of those countries of the East where +civilization had made the greatest advances, contained libraries +of clay tablets, carefully shelved in regular order. Among the +Greeks, private libraries existed at least four hundred years before +the birth of Christ. The Roman Caesars returning from conquest to +the development of the arts of peace, established libraries in the +then great Capital of the World. + +"But the United States is pre-eminently the home of the free public +libraries, supported by taxation. This country has more free public +libraries than any other country in the world. + +"What a great thing it is for our people to have these advantages! +The foundations of our Republic are being well laid. The family, +the church, the school--and the library! A people who will adhere +to the great principles of the sacredness of the family, the church, +and the school, will not perish from the earth. Virtue and +intelligence are the necessary foundations on which a republic must +rest. Education is more necessary in a republic, where the people +are the sovereigns, than it is in a monarchy, where the people are +subjects. With education and the library comes culture. The +family, the church, the school, and the library are all necessary +to qualify the citizen for the great duties of life. . . . + +"Mr. Carnegie has given us this building and has requested that it +be named in honor of the great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. Like +a number of others who are in this room to-night, I knew Abraham +Lincoln intimately and well. We are proud that this city was the +home of Abraham Lincoln while living, and now that he has passed +away, it is the home of his sacred dust. The words of Mr. Carnegie, +that no name should be coupled with the name of Mr. Lincoln manifested +the highest appreciation by him of the great name of Lincoln. He +was a noble man. Only forty-three years ago, he was going in and +out among us, interested in the local affairs of our city, doing +his duty in the common affairs of our community, and at the same +time grappling with the great questions pressing upon the attention +of the people and touching the life of the Nation. + +"My friends, in the language of Mr. Carnegie, Lincoln has been 'one +of a dozen supremely great rulers of men that the world has seen.' +He was one of a few men in the world's history whose great and +noble life and deeds will be remembered forever. I rejoice that +he lived among us and that he was loved by our people while he +lived, and that his memory is fresh and green in our hearts. + +"My friends, as we reflect upon the progress of our Nation in wealth +and power and influence among the Nations of the world in the +century just closed, our hearts swell with pride and thankfulness +that we have been so favored. As a Nation we are now in the first +rank of the nations of the earth. + +"Let us do our part in maintaining our national supremacy. We can +hold our place by standing by the right as a community, as a State, +and as a Nation, adhering rigidly to the foundation principles of +our Republican Government, cherishing liberty, and obeying law; +upholding the sacredness of the family, the church, and the school; +with school, the library will follow, and in the time to come our +Nation will endure, and its people will cultivate from generation +to generation, a better and higher civilization." + + +CHAPTER XXXIII +CONSECUTIVE ELECTIONS TO UNITED STATES SENATE + +I was twice elected Governor of Illinois, and have been elected to +the United States Senate for five consecutive terms, and as I write +this narrative I have served in the Senate more than twenty-eight +years. I consider this a greater honor than an election to the +Presidency of the United States. I owe the deepest debt of gratitude +to the people of the State of Illinois, who have for so many years +continued me in the public service. To my many friends who have +so loyally supported me during all these years, I am profoundly +grateful. + +I have already referred to my first election to the United States +Senate. At the conclusion of my first term, I was, on January 22, +1889, re-elected without opposition. + +The country had turned the Republican party out of power and elected +Mr. Cleveland in 1892; and for the first time since 1856, the State +of Illinois went Democratic and elected Mr. Altgeld as Governor. +I returned to Illinois, from Washington, to enter the campaign in +1894, having little or no hope that I could be re-elected to the +Senate, as I supposed, of course, that the State would continue in +the control of the Democratic party. Having been twice elected to +the United States Senate, I deemed it my duty to make the best +fight I could for Republican success, regardless of my own personal +interest in the matter. The Democrats were confident they would +carry the Legislature, and Mr. Franklin MacVeagh, who is now +Secretary of the Treasury under a Republican President, was the +candidate of the Democratic party for the Senate to succeed me. +Mr. MacVeagh made a canvass of the State as a candidate for United +States Senator against me. Very much to his surprise, the State +went overwhelmingly Republican and elected a Republican Legislature, +insuring the election of a Republican to the Senate. + +While I had made the canvass of the State, it was not until after +the election, when it became known that we had elected a Republican +Legislature, that opposition to my re-election developed in the +Republican party. + +Mr. George E. Adams, and Mr. George R. Davis who had served in +Congress and been Director General of the World's Columbian Exposition +at Chicago, were candidates against me. Mr. Joseph E. Medill, the +owner of _The Chicago Tribune_, also considered the question whether +he would be a candidate. He advised with the late Hon. John R. +Tanner, asking him if he thought that he (Medill) could be elected +if he could secure the solid support of the Cook County delegation. +Mr. Tanner replied that he could not, that I had a sufficient number +of votes in the country outside of Cook to defeat every candidate; +whereupon he declined to consider the possibility of election at +all. + +The Hon. John R. Tanner managed my campaign. He had served in the +Legislature, where he had been a very influential member, and was +then chairman of the State Central Committee. He was popular and +possessed shrewd political sagacity. Tanner was very loyal to me +then, and for many years I considered him my closest and most +devoted political friend. I have always had the firm conviction +that if he had remained loyal and had supported me for re-election +in 1900, he would have been re-elected Governor himself, and would +have succeeded the late John M. Palmer as my colleague in the +Senate. + +The Legislature met in January, 1895. I secured the caucus nomination, +and on January 22, in the joint session of the Thirty-ninth General +Assembly, I was elected the third time to succeed myself in the +United States Senate. + +There were a number of very complimentary speeches made on that +occasion. My old friend, the Hon. David T. Littler, who then +represented the Springfield District in the Senate, made the first +speech. He began by saying: + +"Mr. President: Twelve years ago, from my seat as a member of the +Lower House of this General Assembly, I had the honor to place in +nomination as the candidate of the Republican party for the great +office of United States Senator, the Hon. Shelby M. Cullom. I took +occasion at that time to predict that in the office to which he +had been elected he would show his usefulness and increase his +reputation not only among the people of our own State, but the +whole people of this country. After the lapse of twelve years and +with his record perfectly familiar to the people of the whole +country, I ask you Senators whether my prediction has not been +fulfilled. His name has been connected with every important measure +introduced in the United States Senate; and his discussion of +important questions there on many occasions testified as to his +patriotism and as to his ability as a statesman. I take great +pleasure on this occasion to place in nomination for that high +office the same Shelby M. Cullom who has served the people of this +State so long and so creditably. In doing so I believe I state +but the truth when I say he has the longest and most distinguished +record in public life of any man who ever lived in the State of +Illinois." + +Speeches were made in the Senate by Senators Coon, Aspinwall, and +Mussett; and in the House of Representatives William J. Butler, of +Springfield, E. Callahan, George W. Miller, D. S. Berry, A. J. +Dougherty, J. E. Sharrock, and Charles E. Selby. + +I was present in Springfield, and was invited before the joint +session of the General Assembly, after they had elected me, to +deliver an address. I appeared before the joint session and +expressed my obligations to the members of the Thirty-sixth General +Assembly for the high honor conferred upon me. I made a short +address, reviewing conditions in the State and the country generally, +and concluded by saying: + +"The prosperity and happiness of the people depend upon wise and +just laws to be enacted both by the State and by the Nation. In +the discharge of the high duty which you have just imposed upon +me, it shall be my single aim to dy my part in so shaping the policy +of the country, that we shall soon stand upon the high ground of +permanent prosperity. + +"Gentlemen, it should be our ambition so to legislate that the +freedom and rights of every citizen shall be secured and respected; +that all interests shall be protected; that one portion of our +people shall not oppress another, and so that ample remedies shall +be found and applied for every existing wrong. To this end an +enlarged humanity bids us look forward with renewed hope and trust." + +My reference to the Hon. Joseph E. Medill in connection with this +contest reminds me that I should say something of Mr. Medill. I +regarded him as one of the three really great editors of his day-- +Horace Greeley, Henry Watterson, and Joe Medill. + +He made _The Chicago Tribune_ one of the most influential newspapers +of the United States. At time Medill and I were very friendly, +and he gave me his hearty support. At other times he was against +me, but we always remained on speaking terms at least, and I admired +and respected him very much. + +He was one of the most indefatigable and inveterate letter-writers +within my experience. From the time I was Governor of Illinois, +and even before that, and almost to the time of his death, he wrote +me at great length upon every conceivable public question. His +letters were always interesting, but as he did not avail himself +of a stenographer, and as he wrote a very difficult hand to read, +they became at times a trifle tiresome. I have retained a large +number of his letters, and as they are so characteristic of the +man I venture to quote a few of them. + + "The Chicago Tribune, Editorial Rooms. + "_Feb. 6, 1887_. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + +"Dear Sir:-- + +"Well, he signed the bill, and it out of the woods. All right so +far. His signing it shows that he is a candidate for a second +term. That was the test. The next thing is the composition of +the Board of Commissioners. The successful working of the law +depends upon the action of the Board. There is an impression that +he will probably let you name one of the commissioners and Reagan +another. If that be so, let me suggest among other names Mr. C. +M. Wicker, manager Chicago Freight Bureau, for the position. You +probably know him. He has had large experience in freighting, and +is widely known to both shippers and railroad men, and is well +liked. He is a friend of the law, and supported it vigorously +while before Congress, writing some good letters in its explanation +and defence for _The Tribune_. He is a sound Republican though +not much of a politician. You may find other and better men to +recommend, but I don't think of any belonging to this State at this +moment. I hear Judge Cooley's name mentioned. He is of course a +first-class A No. 1 man, but I write on the hypothesis that your +preference will be for an Illinois man if you are allowed to have +a say in it. + +"The passage of the bill is a great triumph for you, if the bill +works well. People always judge of measures by their effect; hence +the act should have fair play. + +"Now that it is safely in the shape of a law, I thought _The Tribune_ +might indulge in a little horn-blowing as per enclosed article, + + "Yours truly, + "(Signed) J. Medill." + + + "Hotel Ponce de Leon, + "St. Augustine, Fla., + "_March 13, 1888_. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + +"My dear Sir:-- + +"I have just received your favor of 9 inst. and confess that I am +taken a little by surprise. I had got the impression from various +quarters that you did not desire to secure the Illinois delegation, +and did not want to be considered a candidate. Acting on this idea +_The Tribune_ has been leaning towards Gresham as an available +candidate, as you have noticed. However, you have lost no ground +by standing in the shade. If I was managing your boom I would keep +your name in the background and out of the newspapers as a candidate +seeking the nomination until the last. A few strong judicious +friends among the Illinois delegation is all you want to watch +events and move quickly at the opportune moment, if it arrives. +I should say that on general principles you would be the second +choice of any set of Illinois delegates and the chances are all in +the direction of some second-choice candidate. Harrison is likely +to have a pledged delegation from Indiana, but what good will it +do him? Logan had a pledged delegation from Illinois; Sherman, +from Ohio; Windom, from Minn.; and Hawley, from Conn. The convention +will be largely chiefly actuated and governed by the stability +idea. Personal friendship won't count for much in that search for +the most available candidate. This you see as clearly as I do. +Whatever Western man the New York delegates (or a majority of them) +favor will stand a good chance of getting it. It is almost impossible +to figure out a victory without the electoral vote of New York. +Indiana and Connecticut would be absolutely indispensable in the +absence of New York. But even then we have doubtful States that +voted for Blaine. Michigan, for instance, and the three Pacific +Coast States, in case any such man as Sherman, Harrison, or Hawley, +who voted against restricting Chinese immigration, should be +nominated. And then it remains to be seen what sort of action will +be had in Congress on tariff reduction. If we are obliged to go +before the people defending the present tariff, that is breeding +trust monopolies all over the country, a nomination will not be +worth having. High protection is a nice thing for those who pocket +it, but not so fascinating to the unprotected classes who have to +pay the big bounties out of their pockets sold at free trade prices. +All those things must be taken into consideration. I am about +leaving Florida for home, either via Atlantic or Washington. If +the latter, I shall see you when I get there, when we can talk over +the whole matter more fully than on paper. All I can really say +is, I am peering about in the dark for the strongest candidate, +the most available man on an available platform, and even then we +shall have desperate hard work to win in the face of the immense +losses our party is suffering from the ravages in the rank and +file, committed by the prohibitionists. We shall have to face a +loss of fifty thousand in New York. How is that to be made good? +and twenty-five to thirty thousand in Illinois and five to seven +thousand in Indiana, and thirty thousand in Michigan. How can we +stand this loss of blood and men? + + "(Signed) J. Medill." + + + "Niagara Falls, N. Y., + "_Aug. 5, 1888_. + +"My dear Sir:-- + +"Searching for a cool place I found it here, where I shall remain +a few days and then proceed to Kaetershill Mountain top, which is +the best hot-weather place I found last year. + +"I take it for granted that none of your friends keep you posted +about the secret negotiations going on between Palmer and the +Socialistic Labor element for a fusion. You have seen by _The +Tribune_ that all the labor element is not disposed to support +Palmer, in consideration of his pardoning the imprisoned anarchists. +You may rely on _The Tribune_ ventilating this unholy alliance. +At the same time there are ten thousand to twelve thousand of these +socialists who will vote for Palmer and the Democratic ticket in +Cook County; and this fusion may with the aid of the prohibitionists +cost the Republicans second seats in the Legislature, which is the +phase of the matter in which you are specially interested. There +is considerable coldness among the Irish Catholics toward Cleveland, +but whether it will continue until election night remains to be +seen. They think he is too pro-English, but they dislike Harrison. +Blaine was their ideal. + +"I have spent a good deal of spare time to point out flaws and +tricks in the sugar and whiskey sections of the Mills bill. The +latter really opens and invites universal evasion of taxes and the +multiplication of small moonshine distilleries; and the former +perpetuates the sugar trust profits and affords the public no +relief. + +"The Republican members of the House did not expose these defects +enough. Cannon did well on sugar, but nobody dissected the whiskey +section which bored gimlet holes into the bottom of every barrel +of high wine to let it out without paying a cent of tax. The +Democrats are therefore the real free whiskeyites. This ought to +be shown up thoroughly in the Senate. Our miserable platform places +us on the defensive. The Mills bill places the Democrats on the +defensive if it is rightly handled. I do not mean attacking the +free wool part of it, for that portion if enacted would do your +constituents certainly ten or twenty times more good than harm, +nor the free lumber or free salt or free soap, etc., etc., which +would benefit all Illinois; but I mean fraud free sugar, and fraud +free whiskey, and a hundred per cent tax on rice--these are the +things to hit. On these the Democrats are placed with their noses +on the grindstone. + +"I have been reading the discussion in the Senate over your resolution +in regard to the competition of the Canadian railways with our +transcontinental railway freight charges. It is well enough perhaps +to inquire into the matter, but I have a notion that the sharp +competition is of great benefit to the masses. I know that I am +a little heterodox in looking at the interest of the consumers +instead of railroad plutocrats, of the millions instead of the +millionaires, but I can't help it. Senator Gorman had much to say +in his speech about the undue advantage the Canadian roads had over +ours by reason of Government subsidies received in constructing +the Canadian railways, and to a line of steamers from Victoria to +Japan and Hongkong. But his memory failed in the most astonishing +manner to recall and perceive the fact that all the American roads +west of the Mississippi to the Pacific have been enormously subsidized +by our Government. In fact the subsidies amount to a good deal +more than the actual total cost of the construction of the whole +of them. For twenty years some of these roads have been plundering +the American people by the most outrageous charges, and Congress, +the people's representatives, have not lifted a finger to stop the +rapacious robbery. And now, when the Canadian road, built by +Government subsidies, begins to compete with the American roads +built with Government subsidies, the latter who have pocketed +hundreds of millions of subsidy spoils and overcharge plunder, +appeal to the Senate to protect the scoundrels against a little +healthy competition, and Senator Gorman pleads for the robbers on +the floor of the Senate with tears in his eyes! So whatever extent +the competing Canadian roads cause our contiguous roads to lower +their freights so much the better for the public. They act just +the same as competing waterways. The Grand Trunk, beginning at +Chicago and running through Michigan to Sarma; crossing at Niagara +Falls and feeding the Lackawanna and Erie to New York; running to +Boston through Vermont, etc., and also to Montreal; and the Alden +line of steamers carrying cattle to England, as a healthy competition +with our pooling trunk lines east from Chicago, is of enormous +value to Chicago and all the shippers, cattle-dealers, grain-raises, +farmers, and merchants of half a dozen States in the Northwest. +Any interference with its competitive activity will harm millions +of Western people, tending as it will to increase cost of transportation +and re-establish trunk line pooling monopoly. + +"So the competition of the Canadian transcontinental at the Red +River and at the '500' ensures cheaper freights for all Minnesota +and Dakota, and the effect extends clear down into Nebraska and +Iowa. So, too, the Canadian road's rates at its Pacific terminal +--Victoria--are exercising a most beneficent and ameliorating +influence on the charges of the enormously subsidized Northern +Pacific, forcing down to a reasonable rate Pacific Coast; and as +it climbs down from its extortionate schedule of charges the Union +and Central and Southern and Santa Fe Pacifics will be forced to +do likewise. I'd give something handsome to have had the opportunity +to reply for thirty minutes to Senator Gorman, to present the other +side of the question from the American standpoint. On one point +I am in agreement with you, viz.: that the British flag should be +removed from this continent. This territory along our northern +border should be incorporated into the American Union. It is +ridiculous that Uncle Sam should allow a foreign power to hold it. +We have as much need for it and right to it as England has for +Scotland. If we had a respectable navy and a supply of fortification +guns the problem would be easy of solution, and won't be until then. + +"Each day convinces me more and stronger that if we lose this +election McKinley--will be the cause. They make the party say in +its platform 'Rather than surrender any part of our protective +system, the whiskey, tobacco, and oleomargarine excises shall be +repealed.' The Democrats are making much capital out of this. +The tax on lumber and on salt are parts of our 'protective system.' +Now the Mc. plank discloses that rather than reduce the tax on +lumber, the Rep. party will repeal the tax on oleo butter. How +many farmers' votes will that give us? Rather than allow any +lowering of the high taxes on clothes, or salt, or lumber or +crockery, etc., the tax on whiskey must be repealed, and the old +evil era of cheap rotgut and still-houses everywhere shall be +restored! Do you really think that position will make votes for +us this fall among the farmers? The final outcome will probably +turn on the character of the Senate bill, of which I am not sanguine. +About two thousand millionaires run the policies of the Rep. party +and make its tariffs. What modifications will they permit the Rep. +Senators to support? We other thirty million of Republicans will +have precious little voice in the matter. Turn this over in your +mind, and you will see that I am right. Whatever duties protect +the two thousand plutocrats is protection to American industries. +Whatever don't is free trade. + + "(Signed) J. Medill." + + + "The Windsor, N. Y., + "_Nov. 25, 1890_. + +"Senator Cullom. + +"Dear Sir: + +"I did not think the blow would be a cyclone when I saw you just +before the election. I knew that a storm was coming, but did not +dream that its severity would be so dreadful. + +"The thing to do this Winter is to repeal the McKinley bill, and +strengthen the reciprocity scheme by giving Blaine the sugar duties +to work on--freeing no sugar before reciprocal equivalents are +secured from respective cane-sugar tropical countries; or (2) fail +to pass the chief appropriation bills, so that an extra session of +the Dem. Congress would be called, and that party must deal with +the tariff and be responsible for their action or failure to act; +or (3) pass the apn. bills; adjourn; next year, have the Senate +defeat the Dem. tariff bill, or the President veto it, and go before +the people in 1892 on the issue of standing by the McKinley bill +till overwhelmed and wiped out in Nov. of that year, as the Whigs +were in '52 when standing by the Forsythe-Stone Law of Fillmore +and Clay. + +"The last course I presume is the one that will be pursued. When +men who are statesmen of the Quay-Reid-McKinley calibre start in +wrong their pride keeps them in the same downward path till they +tumble the whole outfit into the bottomless pit. + +"I do not consider a Presidential nomination for any man worth a +nickel on the issue of standing by the McKinley bill. The fate of +Gen. Scott in '52 surely awaits him. + +"Either of the other mentioned courses might give our party a +fighting chance. But it won't get it, if the perverse members who +have landed us in the ditch have their way. + +"Read the suggestions from the article in _The N. Y. Times_ for +Republicans. + + "Yours truly, + "(Signed) J. Medill." + +I was elected to the Senate, the fourth time, in January, 1901. +This time I had a very serious contest. More opposition had +developed, and there were more strong men against me, than at any +previous election. This was largely the outgrowth of the opposition +of the late Governor Tanner, who had just completed his term as +Governor of Illinois, and who had announced he would not be a +candidate for renomination, but would be a candidate to succeed +me. I believe it was mainly through the efforts of Governor Tanner +and his friends that the Hon. Robert R. Hitt, the Hon. Joseph G. +Cannon, and the Hon. George W. Prince were induced to become +candidates, in the hope of weakening me in their respective districts. +I do not believe that either Mr. Hitt or Mr. Cannon was a party to +any particular scheme to defeat me. They were candidates in good +faith, and aspired to the office of United States Senator, but +neither of them had any desire to defeat me unless he could get +the office himself. + +The campaign continued for a year or more. My friends were active, +as were the friends of Governor Tanner. He had a horde of office- +holders whom he had given places while Governor, who had been more +or less actively working for him as my successor almost from the +very time that the Governor entered that office. The bitter personal +attacks made on me by the Governor and his friends did not help +him, but tended rather to help me. + +The preliminary contest was in the State Convention held at Peoria +in 1900. There were a number of candidates for Governor before +that convention. The Hon. Walter Reeves, the Hon. O. H. Carter, +and Judge Elbridge Hanecy were the leading aspirants. My friends +had insisted that I should be endorsed for re-election by the State +Convention, and my friends controlled the organization of the +convention and elected the Hon. Charles G. Dawes temporary chairman +and the Hon. Joseph W. Fifer permanent chairman. + +Governor Fifer has always been my friend, as I have always been +his. He was a brave, gallant soldier in the Civil War, in which +he served as a private until he was so badly wounded that his life +was despaired of. He has been forced to go through life under +exceptionally difficult circumstances, never fully recovering from +his wound. He is entitled to far more than ordinary credit for +the success which he achieved in life. He is an able lawyer, and +as State's Attorney he was one of the most vigorous of prosecutors. +He was nominated and elected Governor, and gave the State an honest +and capable administration. He was renominated, but local questions +in the State, combined with the Democratic landslide of 1892, +resulted in his defeat. President McKinley, on my recommendation, +appointed Governor Fifer a member of the Interstate Commerce +Commission, in which position he served with credit for some years. +He resigned voluntarily and returned to his home in Bloomington to +resume the practice of law. I have always liked Governor Fifer, +and consider him one of the foremost citizens of the State living +to-day. + +Returning to the Peoria Convention, over which Governor Fifer +presided, I will only say that Mr. Reeves had the votes in that +convention to be nominated; but for reasons I do not have to discuss, +he did not secure the nomination, and the Hon. Richard Yates became +the nominee. I was endorsed by the convention as the candidate of +the Republican party to succeed myself as United States Senator. +The opposition to me in the convention was by Governor Tanner and +his friends, he being the only avowed candidate against me. I +thought that the endorsement of that convention should have settled +the matter; but the contest went on, and Messrs. Hitt, Cannon, and +Prince entered it actively. Several others were standing around +waiting for a chance, and this continued to be the situation until +the Legislature met in January. A sufficient number of the members +of the Legislature to elect me had pledged themselves in writing +to stand by me as long as I was a candidate. The other candidates, +probably aside from Governor Tanner, did not believe I had these +written pledges. I told them so, but they did not believe me. +Governor Tanner and his friends realized that I would have a majority +of the caucus, and they then began scheming for the purpose of +having a secret ballot in the caucus, hoping that if certain members +who had been pledged to me would not have to vote openly, they +would go back on the pledges and vote secretly for one of the other +candidates, thus defeating me. I had enough votes to defeat the +secret ballot proposition, as many of the supporters of Tanner were +really in favor of my re-election. Hon. Fred A. Busse, one of the +most influential members of the State Senate at that time, and more +recently Mayor of Chicago--one of the best the city ever had--and +who has long been my personal friend, was pledged to vote for the +Governor, but at heart was strongly for me. With many others, +Busse would not consent to a secret caucus, and this really ended +the contest. Tanner, after trying to induce the other candidates +to unite on him, or on some one else to defeat me (which proposition +Mr. Cannon and Mr. Hitt rejected), announced that he would withdraw. +Friends of the Governor in the Legislature came to me and announced +that Tanner had quit the race, and later Mr. Cannon and Mr. Hitt +came to my room and announced their withdrawal. + +This ended the contest; my name was the only one presented to the +caucus, and I was the only Republican voted for in the joint session +of the Legislature. It was an interesting fight, and as it may +well be supposed, the result was very satisfactory to my friends +and to me. + +When I returned to Washington after having been re-elected, I was +warmly greeted by my colleagues in the Senate who had been watching +the contest; and I recollect that Senator Hanna was particularly +warm in his congratulations, and remarked that it was the prettiest +political fight he had witnessed in a long time. + +I want to say something in reference to the Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, +who was a candidate against me at this time, and who is now, as he +has been for years past, the leading member of the Illinois +delegation. + +I regard him as my personal friend, and was very glad indeed to +support his candidacy for the Presidency in 1908, I being chairman +of the Illinois delegation to the Chicago convention that year. + +At the time he entered the contest against me, he had long been +one of the leaders of the House of Representatives in Congress. +After refusing to enter the scheme of Governor Tanner to defeat +me, as I have stated, he retired from the contest, was soon re- +elected to Congress, and almost immediately elected as Speaker, in +which position he continued for a larger number of consecutive +terms than any statesman in our history. He is a strong, courageous +man, and a man of splendid ability. He had rather a stormy career +as Speaker, but he controlled the situation all the time. During +his last term as Speaker he might have gotten along with the House +a little more smoothly, and at the same time just as satisfactorily +to himself, if he had yielded a little to his colleagues in his +party who differed from him. If he had been disposed to do so, +much friction could have been avoided, and at the same time he +would have had his own way in caring for the interests of the +country. I have believed in him and have stood by him through +thick and thin, and I know he has done nothing but what he himself +believed right. + +Joseph G. Cannon has his own notions of what is right and what is +wrong, and fearlessly follows what he thinks is right, without +reference to what anybody else may think or say. The apparently +determined effort on the part of the masses of the people, and +especially the newspapers, to discredit the Payne-Aldrich Tariff +Bill resulted in the Democrats carrying the House in the campaign +of 1910 with the result that in the Sixty-second Congress the +Democratic party has a substantial majority, causing the retirement +of Mr. Cannon from the Speakership. + +For a time Mr. Cannon was apparently very unpopular and the people +seemed disposed to hold him responsible for much they did not +approve of in legislation; but his feeling is passing away, and +Mr. Cannon will be regarded as an able legislator, an able Speaker, +a man who has during his service in Congress saved the Government +untold millions. His honesty and devotion to duty cannot be doubted, +and he will go down in history as one of the foremost leaders in +Congress of his day, when those who are now criticising him are +forgotten. + +On January 16, 1907, I was by the Forty-fifth General Assembly +elected for the fifth time as United States Senator from the State +of Illinois. This was an entirely different contest from any +previous one I had ever had, as the State had enacted a primary +law which contained a proviso that the names of candidates for +United States Senator could be placed on the ballot and voted for +at the primaries, but that such vote was advisory merely. This is +as far as the primary law can go on the question of the election +of United States Senators. I had not the slightest objection to +having my name go before the people, the individual voters, as a +candidate for the Senate. The first primary law was declared +unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the State, and as soon as +I heard the decision I promptly wired the Governor, commending him +for his announcement that he would call a special session of the +Legislature to enact a new primary law, and I took occasion to add +that I hoped by friends would work with him in the passage of the +law, and that it would provide for a vote on United States Senator. + +The Legislature did enact a new law, providing that the primaries +be held in August, 1906. Former Governor Richard Yates was the +only candidate against me. He made a canvass of the State, and a +very thorough one. He had a considerable advantage in that he had +almost all the politicians in the State who were holding State +offices actively working for him. I made no canvass and personally +did very little about it at all. I was willing to leave the matter +to the people, and determined, if it was a fair vote, to abide by +the result of the primaries, and if defeated at the primaries to +support Governor Yates. I believe that Governor Yates had the same +determination,--at least his conduct after the primaries, in +withdrawing from the contest, would indicate that he had. I am +glad to be able to say that throughout the contest and at its close, +he acted very fairly. He made a straight, fair fight, and lost, +then abided by the result, just as I would have done had I lost. +My friends in different parts of the State took an active interest +in my behalf, for which I want to avail myself of this opportunity +to express to them my appreciation. I might add here that all +during my public career it has been my good fortune to have the +support and friendship of a very high class of men, men whose honor +and integrity were beyond question, and who were capable of filling +any office. I cannot undertake to name them, but I know that they +will understand the deep debt of gratitude that I owe to them. + +It was very flattering to me that I carried the primaries by a +substantial majority, having carried the popular vote, a majority +of the Senatorial districts, and a majority of the Congressional +districts. It demonstrated to me that the people had confidence +in me and were satisfied with my record as a Senator. It was the +first time that I had been voted for directly by the people for +any office since my re-election as Governor in 1880. The result +could not but be gratifying. + +Every one in the State accepted the result of the primaries, and +the question was regarded as settled. When the Legislature convened, +I was the unanimous choice of the Republican caucus and was voted +for by every Republican in the Legislature on joint ballot. There +seemed to be no bitterness or hard feeling on the part of any one. + +After the general election in November, I returned to Washington +to prepare for the session of Congress, and there was so much +important work before my committee and in the Senate generally, +that it seemed impossible for me to leave there in order to thank +the members of the Legislature for the high honor they had conferred +upon me. + +I addressed a letter to the members of the Forty-fifth General +Assembly, which was read, and from which I will quote: + +"I desire to express to the Republican members of the Forty-fifth +General Assembly my profound gratitude for your action in unanimously +declaring in favor of my re-election to again represent Illinois +in the United States Senate. + +"In electing me to the United States Senate for five consecutive +terms, a greater distinction will be conferred by the State than +has been conferred upon any other man in the history of Illinois. + +"I shall appreciate this election the more, because for the first +time the question of the selection of a United States Senator was +submitted to the people, and without any active campaign on my +part, the great majority of the voters declared me to be their +preference. + +"Until the recent primaries, my name had not been submitted directly +to the voters of the State since I was re-elected Governor in 1880, +and it was no small gratification to me, after twenty-six years +had come and gone, to have this expression of continued confidence +and approval of my record as a Senator. + +"I wish now to return my most sincere thanks to the people of the +State who have thus signally honored me. + +"During the twenty-four years I have represented the State in the +Senate, I have endeavored to the best of my ability to perform my +whole duty to the country and the State, and the only pledge I can +make is, that I shall continue in the performance of my duty in +the future as in the past. + +"I would prefer to have the pleasure of being present when a +Senatorial election takes place, in order to express personally to +the Legislature my appreciation; but there are so many important +questions to settle, and so much important legislation to enact +during the short session of Congress, ending as it does on March +4, that it has seemed to me to be more in accord with my duty to +remain in Washington in the performance of my official business. + +"Your Legislature assembles this year in the midst of the greatest +era of prosperity that has ever prevailed in this country. There +has never been a time in our history that we have had so long an +uninterrupted period of prosperity. This prosperous and happy +condition has come as the result, in a large part, of Republican +rule and Republican policy. + +"For nearly forty-five years the history of the United States has +been the history of the Republican party, because, with the exception +of two short periods, Republican administration has guided the +destinies of the Nation; and the achievements of Republican +administrations during those forty-five years constitute the greatest +record in our history, and that record is a complete defence of +the party against assaults from whatever quarter. + +"We stand to-day at the head of all the Nations in the value of +imports and exports, and these maintain the prosperity our country +has enjoyed since the American people declared in favor of a +protective tariff and a sound-money standard. + +"The people do not prosper under vicious government. Good government +is essential to real prosperity, to properly develop and to advance +it. The Republican party has always secured for the Nation stability, +confidence and prosperity at home, and respect and prestige abroad. + +"We are to-day at peace with all the Nations of the world. Perhaps +never before in our history have we had such intimate and friendly +relations with all the great Nations as we have to-day. Our country +has the respect of all the Governments of the world, great and +small. We are gradually assuming the first place among the naval +powers; but, unlike the older Nations, we are acquiring a great +navy in the interest of peace. Under the policy of this Government, +such a navy is one of the surest assurances against war. The +Nations know that the United States stands for peace, and under +Roosevelt's Republican administration, greater progress has been +made in the direction of international arbitration as a means of +settling disputes among nations than under any other previous +administration in our history. + +"While the nations know that we stand for peace, they also know +that we will not tamely submit to the imposition of wrong, or to +offenses against our own honor and dignity, or to the oppression +of our sister republics in this Western world. We have no desire +to rob these republics of their independence, or a single foot of +their territory. Our recent action in Cuba has been an object +lesson to these republics, and to the world at large, of our +disinterested friendship. As we have repeatedly assured them, our +only desire is that they shall follow us in peace and prosperity. + +"The construction of the great canal across the isthmus of Panama +will bind them closer to us, and at the same time will almost double +our strength as a naval power. + +"Too much credit cannot be given to President Roosevelt for the +great and wonderful results which he has accomplished in the interest +of the country, but the legislative branch of the Government has +done its full share. + +"The record made during the last session of Congress in the enactment +of wise laws for the direct benefit of the people has not been +equalled since the Civil War--if at all, since the adoption of the +Constitution. + +"I will not detain the caucus longer than to repeat my sincere +obligations to you and to express through you my thanks to the +people of the State, whose representatives you are, for the signal +honor that has been conferred upon me." + + +CHAPTER XXXIV +CONCLUSION + +Generally I might say that I am quite content; but as I sit down +now in the evening time of my life, it is a source of sadness and +wonder to me that I have survived both my wives and all of my +children. One by one I have laid them away in beautiful Oak Ridge +Cemetery, in Springfield, where I myself will one day be laid beside +them. I have had a delightful home life; no man could have had a +more happy and peaceful one. As I look back now, I cannot remember +that either wife or children ever caused me one moment's pain. I +was twice married. My first wife, Hannah M. Fisher, to whom I was +married in 1855, and who died in 1861, was of a very amiable spirit, +a woman of more than ordinary culture, and was the mother of my +first two children, Mrs. Ridgely and Mrs. Hardie, who lived to +womanhood, but both of whom have passed away. My second wife, +Julia Fisher, was the sister of my first wife. No better or truer +woman ever lived. She was a devoted helpmate to me during all the +years that I have occupied high public office and needed the support +and help of a woman. She did her full part and filled her place +on every occasion with dignity and propriety. It seems that her +death is the last great sorrow I shall have to bear. + +The memory of the children whom I lost in their infancy is naturally +dimmed by the passage of time, but it is hard for me to understand +the justice of things when I remember the death of my two daughters, +Ella, wife of William Barret Ridgely, and Carrie, wife of Robert +Gordon Hardie, who were taken just in the very prime of womanhood, +just in the most beautiful period of a woman's life, and just at +a time when they had the most to live for. + +As I think of it now, I do not know where I obtained the strength +to survive all these sorrows. I have no great fear of death, except +the natural dread of the physical pain which usually accompanies +it. I certainly wish beyond any words I have power to express that +I could have greater assurance that there will be a reuniting with +those we love and those who have loved us in some future world; +but from my reading of Scripture, and even admitting that there is +a hereafter, I cannot find any satisfactory evidence to warrant +such a belief. Could I believe that I should meet the loved ones +who have gone before, I do not know but that I should look forward +with pleasure to the "passing across." Not having this belief, I +am quite content to stay where I am as long as I can; and finally, +when old Charon appears to row me over the river Styx, I shall be +ready to go. + + +INDEX [omitted] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Fifty Years of Public Service, by Shelby M. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23097-8.zip b/23097-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce9745c --- /dev/null +++ b/23097-8.zip diff --git a/23097.txt b/23097.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e257ab5 --- /dev/null +++ b/23097.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15671 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Fifty Years of Public Service, by Shelby M. Cullom + +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: Fifty Years of Public Service + +Author: Shelby M. Cullom + +Release Date: October 20, 2007 [EBook #23097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE *** + + + + +Produced by Ed Ferris + + + + +Transcriber's notes: + + The dieresis is transcribed by a preceding hyphen. Caps and small + caps have been set as upper and lower case. Names have been corrected + + Chapter VIII: "La Fayette", Indiana, kept as a contemporary + variant spelling. McPherson, "clerk of the house" changed to "Clerk + of the House" (of Representatives). + + LoC call number: E661.C9 + + +FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE + + +[Frontispiece] +_Photo, by Prince Tota, Washington, D. C._ +[Facsimile signature] +SMCullom + + +FIFTY YEARS +OF +PUBLIC SERVICE + +_PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF_ +SHELBY M. CULLOM +_SENIOR UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS_ + +WITH PORTRAITS + +_SECOND EDITION_ +CHICAGO +A. C. McCLURG & CO. +1911 + + +Copyright +A. C. McCLURG & Co. +1911 + +Published October, 1911 +Second Edition, December, 1911 + +PRESS OF THE VAIL COMPANY +COSHOCTON, U. S. A. + + +CONTENTS +CHAPTER + I Birth to Admission to the Bar, 1829 to 1855 + II Service as City Attorney at Springfield, 1855 and 1856 + III Election to the Illinois Legislature: Lincoln-Douglas + Debates, 1856 to 1858 + IV Other Distinguished Characters of that Day, 1858 and 1859 + V Nomination of Lincoln and Douglas for the Presidency, 1859 + and 1860 + VI Speaker of the Illinois Legislature, and a Member of + Congress, 1860 to 1865 + VII Lincoln, 1860 to 1864 + VIII Notables in the Thirty-ninth Congress, 1864 to 1870 + IX The Impeachment of President Johnson + X Speaker of the Legislature, and Governor, 1871 to 1883 + XI Grant + XII General John A. Logan + XIII General John M. Palmer + XIV Governor Richard J. Oglesby + XV Senatorial Career, 1883 to 1911 + XVI Cleveland's First Term, 1884 to 1887 + XVII Cleveland's Defeat and Harrison's First Term, 1888 to 1891 + XVIII Cleveland's Second Term, 1892 to 1896 + XIX McKinley's Presidency, 1896 to 1901 + XX Roosevelt's Presidency, 1901 to 1909 + XXI Interstate Commerce + XXII John Marshall Harlan + XXIII Members of the Committee on Foreign Relations + XXIV Work of the Committee on Foreign Relations + XXV The Interoceanic Canal + XXVI Santo Domingo's Fiscal Affairs + XXVII Diplomatic Agreements by Protocol +XXVIII Arbitration + XXIX Titles and Decorations from Foreign Powers + XXX Isle of Pines, Danish West Indies, and Algeciras + XXXI Congress under the Taft Administration + XXXII Lincoln Centennial: Lincoln Library +XXXIII Consecutive Elections to United States Senate + XXXIV Conclusion + + Index + + +LIST OF PORTRAITS + +S. M. Cullom +Shelby M. Cullom, while a Law Student +Richard Yates +Stephen A. Douglas +Abraham Lincoln +James G. Blaine +Andrew Johnson +Shelby M. Cullom, while Governor of Illinois +Ulysses S. Grant +John A. Logan +John M. Palmer +Richard J. Oglesby +Grover Cleveland +James A. Garfield +William McKinley +William Howard Taft +Cushman K. Davis +William P. Frye +John C. Spooner +Theodore Roosevelt +Elihu Root + + +FOREWORD + +"Oh, that mine adversary had written a book!" + +Such was the exclamation of one who, through the centuries, has +been held up to the world as the symbol of patience and long +suffering endurance, and who believed that he thus expressed the surest +method of confounding an enemy. + +I have come to that age in life where I feel somewhat indifferent +as to consequences, and, yielding to the suggestions and insistence +of friends, I determined that I would undertake to write some +recollections, as they occurred to me, of the men and events of my +time. + +Naturally, to me the history of the period covered by my life since +1829 is particularly interesting. I do not think that I am prejudiced +when I assert that while this period has not been great in Art and +Letters, from a material, scientific, and industrial standpoint it +has been the most wonderful epoch in all the world's history. + +About the period of my birth General Andrew Jackson was first +elected President of the United States. Jackson to me has always +been an interesting character. Theodore Roosevelt has declared +very little respect for him, and has written deprecatingly--I might +say, even abusively--of him. But the truth is, there were never +two Presidents in the White House who, in many respects, resembled +each other more nearly than Jackson and Roosevelt. + +Jackson was sixty-one years old when elected President--an unusually +old man to be elected to that high office; and he had served his +country during the War of the Revolution. When I consider this +the thought occurs to me, How young as a Nation we are, after all. +Why, I date almost back to the Revolution! President Taft jocularly +remarked to me recently: "Here's my old friend, Uncle Shelby. He +comes nearer connecting the present with the days of Washington +than any one whom I know." And I suppose there are few men in +public life whose careers extend farther into the past than mine. + +During my early life the survivors of the Revolutionary War, to +say nothing of the War of 1812, were very numerous and abundantly +in evidence. Up to that time, no man who had not served his country +in some capacity in the Revolutionary War had been elevated to the +Presidency, and this was the case until the year 1843. + +During the year 1829 the crown of Great Britain descended from King +George IV to King William IV. That reign passed away, and I have +lived to see the long reign of Victoria come and go, the reign of +Edward VII come and go, and the accession of King George V. Charles +X ruled in France, Francis I in Austria (the reign of Francis Joseph +had not yet begun), Frederick William III in Prussia, Nicholas I +in Russia; while Leo XII governed the Papal States, the Kingdom of +Italy not yet having come into existence. The United Kingdom of +Great Britain and Ireland had not yet a population of 24,000,000, +all told. + +From the dawn of this epoch may well date the practical beginning +of a long cycle of political and intellectual upheaval, and the +readjustment of relations which go to make up world-history, arriving +at a culmination in our great Civil War. + +In the last half-century--nay, I might say, within the last two +decades--there has been a mighty impulse in the direction of +scientific investigation, of mechanical invention, of preventive +medicine, of economic improvement, and the like. Germany, in some +respects, has led, but our own country has not been far behind. +Independent research has been wonderfully productive, and rivalry +has been keen. Often the mere suggestion of one scientist has been +taken up and elaborated (or discredited) by other scientists; the +idea of one inventor has been seized upon and bettered, or possibly +proved valueless, by other inventors. The paths to the remote and +inaccessible have been toiled over by rival explorers; new records +have been made by rival aviators; while competitive and co-operative +activities in every line have known a phenomenal growth. New names +have been placed in the Pantheon of the immortals, new planets +discovered in the solar system, new stars added to the clear skies +of our nightly vision. Out of all the striving has come a sweeping +advance in lingual requirements. In most departments of Science, +Art, and Manufacture, the processes and methods of to-day are not +those of yesterday, and the doers of new things have freely coined +new words or given new meaning to old ones. The most complete and +exhaustive encyclopaedia of yesterday is to-day found not entirely +adequate to the already increased wants. Upon all these momentous +factors must these "Recollections," in one way or another, touch +from time to time. + + Shelby M. Cullom. + +Washington, D. C. + _July, 1911_. + + +FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE + +CHAPTER I +BIRTH TO ADMISSION TO THE BAR +1829 to 1855 + +Tides of migration set in about the close of the Revolutionary War, +originating in the most populous of the late Colonies (now States), +debouching from the western slopes of the mountain border-passes +into the headwaters of Kentucky's rivers, and mingling at last in +the fertile valley through which those rivers, in their lower +reaches, find an outlet into the Ohio. + +The westward flowing current brought with it two families--the +Culloms of Maryland, and the Coffeys of North Carolina--who settled +in a beautiful valley, not far from the banks of the Cumberland, +which bore the euphonious name of Elk Spring Valley. Richard +Northcraft Cullom, of the first-named family, married Elizabeth +Coffey. They remained in Kentucky until seven children had been +born to them, I being the seventh, the date of my birth occurring +on the twenty-second day of November, 1829. We were a large family, +but not extraordinarily numerous for those times, there being five +brothers and seven sisters. + +Kentucky was a Slave State, and my father did not believe in slavery. +He was fairly well to do, and after considering the situation he +determined to seek a home in a Free State and live there to the +end of his days. + +A treaty with the Indians in 1784, at Fort Stanwix, had secured +from the Iroquois all claims to the lands which now make up the +States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. At the time of our removal +the State of Illinois was only eleven years old, and but a small +portion of it had any considerable settlements. These were mainly +in the south half of the State. Chicago was then a small village, +Fort Dearborn being at that time of more consequence than the +village. Now Chicago is the second greatest city in the Union in +population and business. + +My father, together with Alfred Phillips and William Brown, his +two brothers-in-law, entered land in the same portion of the County +of Tazewell, and at once, on their arrival from Kentucky, pitched +their tents and began the erection of log cabins, in preparation +for winter. Phillips was a large, vigorous man, both in body and +mind. He was a man of the highest integrity, and soon became one +of the leading citizens of Tazewell County, continuing so until +his death. William Brown was a Methodist preacher and was a worthy +example of the consistent minister of the Gospel of Christ. He +was called upon by the people for many miles around to perform +ceremonies on wedding occasions and, in time of sorrow, to preach +at the funerals of departed friends. + +My father lived longer than either Phillips or Brown. They both +raised large families, and to-day the youngest son of Phillips-- +the Hon. Isaac N. Phillips--is recognized as one of the able lawyers +of the State, and is the reporter of the Supreme Court of Illinois. +My father was a farmer, but he always took great interest in the +affairs of the country, and especially of the State in which he +lived. He was a Whig, and believed in Henry Clay. He took an +active part in political campaigns, and was several times a member +of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature, and once +of the State Senate. + +Tazewell County, in which he resided, became a very strong Whig +county, the Whigs having their own way until the Free-soil party, +which soon became the Republican party, took its place as against +the Democratic party. When that time came, Tazewell, like Sangamon, +became Democratic. Sangamon County, in which I live, and Tazewell +County, in which I was raised, were both strong Whig counties while +the Whig party survived; but when it died, the population being +largely from Kentucky and other Southern States, naturally sympathized +with the South on the question of slavery. They drifted into the +Democratic party in large numbers, and gave the control to the +Democracy for a time; and the two parties still struggle for control +in both counties. + +My father became well acquainted with Abraham Lincoln while the +latter was a young man. The first time I ever heard of Lincoln, +was when two men came to my father's house to consult with him on +the question of employing an attorney to attend to a law case for +them at the approaching term of the Circuit Court. I remember +hearing my father say to them that if Judge Stephen T. Logan should +be in attendance at court, they should employ him; but if he were +not, a young man named Lincoln would be there, who would do just +about as well. Readers will see by this that while Lincoln was +yet a young man he was ranked among the foremost lawyers at the +Bar. At that time Stephen A. Douglas was beginning to be heard +from. + +Judge Logan was one of the best lawyers of the Mississippi Valley. +He was a Kentuckian by birth, and, as a lawyer, was a very great +man. Douglas was a great statesman and a leader of men; a great +debater, but, in my opinion, not a great lawyer. The law is a +jealous mistress; there are no great lawyers who do not give +undivided attention to its study, and Douglas devoted much time to +public affairs. + +On the arrival of my father at the grove where he had previously +determined to locate his family, he pitched his tent near a little +stream, then called Mud Creek, afterwards called Deer Creek, because +it was a great resort for wild deer. He soon erected a log cabin +and moved into it with his family. I was less than one year old +when the family located in Illinois. We lived in the cabin for +several years. It was not a single cabin, but there were two cabins +connected together by a covered porch; which was a very pleasant +arrangement in both summer and winter. + +Finally, my father built a frame house. During all this time the +wild deer were numerous, and often I have counted from the door +from five to twenty deer feeding in a slough not a quarter of a +mile away. + +I never killed a deer. The beautiful animals always seemed to me +so innocent that I had not the heart to shoot them. + +The Winter of 1830-31 was long remembered by the early settlers of +Illinois, and of all the now so-called Middle States, as the "winter +of the deep snow." For months it was impossible to pass from one +community to another in the country. + +My education was obtained at the local schools and at the seminary +at Mount Morris two hundred miles distant from my father's home. + +In my boyhood years there were no common schools. There were only +such schools in the country as the people by subscription saw proper +to provide. The schoolhouse in the neighborhood in which I lived +was built of logs, covered with thick boards, and supplied with +rude benches on its puncheon floor for the scholars to sit upon. +We sat bolt upright, there being nothing to lean against. There +were no desks for our books; and had desks been obtainable there +were but few books to use or care for. We boys whispered to the +girls at our peril; but we took the risk occasionally. + +It was my duty as a school-boy, after doing the chores and work +inseparable from farm life, to walk every morning a long distance +over rough country roads to school. After I had attained to a fair +common-school education, I concluded that I could teach a country +school, and was employed to teach in the neighborhood; first for +three months at eighteen dollars per month, and then for a second +term of three months at twenty. I think I have a right to assume +that I did well as a teacher, since the patrons raised my wages +for the second term two dollars per month. + +My efforts in teaching school did not secure sufficient funds to +enable me to remain at school away from home very long, and I +determined to try another plan. My father had five yoke of oxen. +I prevailed on him to lend them to me. I obtained a plough which +cut a furrow eighteen to twenty inches wide, and with the oxen and +plough I broke prairie for some months. I thereby secured sufficient +money, with the additional sums which I made from the institution +at Mount Morris at odd times, to enable me to remain at the Mount +Morris Seminary for two years. + +I never shall forget the journey from my home in Tazewell County +to Mount Morris, when I first left home to enter the school. As +it well illustrates the difficulties and hardships of travel in +those early days in Illinois, I may be pardoned for giving it +somewhat in detail. + +It was in the Spring of the year. My father started with me on +horseback from my home in Tazewell County to Peoria, a distance of +fifteen miles. A sudden freeze had taken place after the frost +had gone out of the ground, and this had caused an icy crust to +form over the mud, but not of sufficient strength to bear the weight +of a horse, whose hoofs would constantly break through. Whereupon +I dismounted and told father that he had better take the horses +back home, and that I would go to Peoria on foot, which I did. + +The weather was cold, and I was certainly used up when I arrived +in Peoria. I went to bed, departing early the following morning, +by steamer, for Peru, a distance of twenty-five miles. From there +I took the stage-coach to Dixon, a distance of twelve miles. + +There came up another storm during the journey from Peru to Dixon, +and the driver of the stage-coach lost his way and could not keep +in the road. I ran along in front of the coach most of the way, +in order to keep it in the road, the horses following me. From +Dixon I crossed the river, proceeding to Mount Morris by private +conveyance. I never had a more severe trip, and I felt its effects +for very many years afterwards. + +The days I spent in old Mount Morris Seminary were the pleasantest +of my life. I was just at the age which might be termed the +formative period of a young man's career. Had I been surrounded +then by other companions, by other environment, my whole future +might have been entirely different. Judged by the standard of the +great Eastern institutions, Mount Morris was not even a third-class +college; but it was a good school, attended by young men of an +unusually high order. In those early days it was the leading +institution of higher learning in Northern Illinois. I enjoyed +Mount Morris, and the friendships formed there continued throughout +my life. + +I do not know whether I was a popular student or not, but I was +president of the Amphictyon Society, and, according to the usual +custom, was to deliver the address on retiring from the presidency. +During the course of the address I fainted and was carried from +the chapel, which was very hot and very crowded. I was rolled +around in the snow a while and speedily revived. I was immediately +asked to let one of the boys read the remainder of the address, +but the heroic treatment to which I had been subjected stirred me +to profane indifference respecting its fate. Later I was selected +to deliver the valedictory. So I suppose I must have enjoyed a +reasonable degree of popularity among my fellow students. + +It was at Mount Morris that I first became intimate with the late +Robert R. Hitt. He and his brother John, who recently died, were +classmates of mine, their father being the resident Methodist +preacher at Mount Morris. Robert R. Hitt remained my friend from +our school days until his death. He was a candidate for the Senate +against me at one time, but he was no politician, and I defeated +him so easily that he could not harbor a bitter feeling against +me. He was quite a character, and enjoyed a long and distinguished +public career in Illinois. One of the early shorthand reporters +of the State, the reporter of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, he became +intimate with Lincoln, and Lincoln was very fond of him. He filled +numerous important positions at home and abroad, and married a most +beautiful lady, who still survives. He was later appointed Secretary +of Legation at Paris. + +Bob Hitt told me that he asked President Grant for the appointment, +and the President at once said that he would give it to him. +Washburne, who had been Secretary of State for a few days, and who +was then minister at Paris, was much astonished when Hitt appeared +and said that he had been appointed Secretary of Legation. Mr. +Washburne denounced both President Grant and Secretary of State +Fish for appointing anybody to fill such an intimate position +without his consent. + +Ambassadors and ministers, however, are not consulted as to who +shall be appointed secretaries. These appointments are made by +the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; +but Mr. Washburne, as usual, though that he was a bigger man than +any one else, and that an exception should have been made in his +case. But, when officially informed of the appointment, he submitted +gracefully, and they got along together quite amicably. Strange +to say, Hitt represented Washburne's old district in Congress for +a number of years--many more years than Washburne himself represented +it. + +It was as a member of Congress that Mr. Hitt distinguished himself. +He did what every man should do who expects to make a reputation +as a national legislator; and that is to specialize, to become an +expert in some particular branch. He was peculiarly fitted for +foreign affairs. He was a man of education and culture, a student +always, had served abroad for years, had mingled in the highest +society, and it is not strange than in a comparatively few years +he was recognized as the leading authority on all matters coming +before the House pertaining to our foreign relations. + +The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House is not nearly so important +a committee as the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, and +I may be pardoned for saying that I am chairman of the latter +committee myself. + +The reason is this: the Constitution provides that treaties shall +be made only with the advice and consent of the Senate; hence it +is that all such treaties, and consequently the foreign policy of +the general Government, must pass the scrutiny of the Foreign +Relations Committee of the Senate while the House and its committees +have nothing whatever to do with them. + +But nevertheless of all the House committees, that of Foreign +Affairs is at times the foremost, and it never had an abler chairman +than Robert R. Hitt. He was certainly in the most remarkable degree +what might be termed a specialist in legislation. He gave but +scant attention to any other branch of legislation. He had little +time or liking for the tariff, finance, appropriations, or for any +branch of legislation that failed to come within his own especial +province. He was, in fact, so indifferent to the general business +of the House that he told me one day that he did not even take the +trouble to select a regular seat; that when any question came up +in which he was interested he would talk from the seat of some +absent colleague. Hence it was that he was seldom seen on the +floor of the House except when some question was raised concerning +our foreign relations; at which time he was immediately sent for. +And it is only justice to him to say that he was the only man in +the House in his time, and no one has since appeared there, who +could so successfully defend or attack the policy of an administration +concerning its foreign affairs. + +The late Senator Morgan of Alabama, a most extraordinary character, +of whom I shall have something to say later, and Robert R. Hitt +and myself were appointed members of a commission to frame a form +of government for the Territory of Hawaii, which we had just +acquired. We travelled to Hawaii together. No two more delightful, +entertaining, or interesting men could be found. They are both +dead, and it was my sad privilege to eulogize their public achievements +in the Senate. + +In what I am writing from time to time, now, as the months and +years go by, when I have the leisure from my public duties to devote +to it, and without knowing whether what I am writing will ever be +published, I do not want to eulogize any one. If what I say about +men and events shall offend their friends living, I can not help +it. I want only to give my own estimate of the men whom I have +known. Robert R. Hitt was a good man; his honesty and uprightness +were never questioned; he never did a great deal for his district +but he was one of the most useful legislators in his own line-- +foreign affairs--whom I have ever known during my service in +Congress. I think this is a fair and just estimate of him. + +But to return to Mount Morris, Professor D. J. Pinckney was president +of the Seminary when I was a student there. He knew my father +intimately, and naturally took more than ordinary interest in me. +When I became ill at school, he took me into his own home and kept +me there for a month or more, treating me with the greatest kindness +and consideration. + +Years after I left the institution he became interested in politics, +and ran as an independent for Congress against Horatio C. Burchard, +Republican (who was, by the way, a very excellent man and my friend). +Burchard defeated him. When the campaign was on I was invited to +go to Galena and make a speech for Mr. Burchard. It never occurred +to me at the time that I was going into Pinckney's district; but +when I discovered the truth, I could not very well back out. I +made my speech, but was careful not to say a word against Professor +Pinckney, simply advocating the election of Mr. Burchard as a good +Republican. Professor Pinckney, however, took great offense, and +was very cold toward me from that time until his death. I felt +that he had been misled, that it would all come right, and that +some day I would have a plain talk with him; but he died before we +ever got together. He has a son now living in Chicago, a prominent +circuit judge of Cook County. + +Among other classmates of mine at Mount Morris, was the late General +John A. Rawlins, who became a distinguished officer and was General +Grant's chief of staff. No better, no truer, man ever lived than +General Rawlins. He was essentially a good man and never had a +bad habit. + +Rawlins was a Democrat, and a strong one, during his school days, +and I believe that he remained one until the Civil War. Robert +Hitt and his brother John, together with Rawlins and myself, formed +a sort of four-in-hand, and we were very intimate. We would take +part in the discussions in our society, and Rawlins was especially +strong when a political question was raised. I have heard him, +during his school days, make speeches that would have done credit +to a statesman. He would have done himself and country credit in +any civil office. He served as Secretary of War a few months. +Like so many others who entered the war without the slightest +military training, he came out of it with a brilliant record as an +officer and soldier. + +Judge Moses Hallett, a United States judge, retired, of Colorado, +was another classmate of mine. He was an exceptionally good man, +and developed into a very able lawyer and judge. He is still +living, and has become quite wealthy through fortunate real-estate +investments in the vicinity of Denver. + +But I fear I might tire the reader by dwelling longer on my school +life at Mount Morris. To look back over those happy early days is +interesting to me; but it is sad to think how few, how very few, +of my schoolmates, then just beginning the journey of life, with +all the enthusiasm and hope of youth, are living to-day. They soon +scattered, some to one vocation, some to another; some to achieve +distinction and fame, some failure; but certain it is that I know +of very few who are now living. + +My health was impaired when I left school, and I returned home to +work on the farm. Soon I became strong again, but the labor was +so arduous and uncongenial that I determined upon a change: if +there was any other way of making a honest living, I would try to +find it. + +In the meantime I had leased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres +from my father. When Spring came I told him that I wanted to be +released from my contract; that I had deliberately come to the +conclusion that I could make my living some other way--that I +intended to study law. My father did not hesitate to relieve me +of my obligations, and the succeeding October, 1853, I started for +Springfield to enter upon the study of law. I consulted with +Abraham Lincoln, and on his advice I entered the law offices of +Stuart and Edwards, both of whom were Whigs and friends of my +father. They were both very good men and distinguished lawyers. + +At that time Abraham Lincoln and Stephen T. Logan and Stuart and +Edwards were the four ablest lawyers of the capital city. I studied +two years in the offices of Stuart and Edwards, pursuing the usual +life of a law student in a country law office, and was admitted to +the Bar in 1855, and elected City Attorney the same year. + +Meanwhile, however, I had been ill of typhoid fever for several +months. During the period of my convalescence, I was advised to +return to my home in the country and spend much time riding horseback. +I did so, but the time seemed to drag, and finally I went to the +city of Peoria to learn whether I could direct my restorative +exercise to an additional profitable end. The result was that for +several ensuing weeks I rode about the countryside, buying hogs +for Ting & Brotherson; at the expiration of which time I had regained +my health, was richer by about five hundred dollars, and was thus +enabled to return at once to Springfield and take up again my +interrupted studies. + +Having been inducted into the office of City Attorney, I was fairly +launched upon a political career, exceeding in length of unbroken +service that of any other public man in the country's history. In +fact I never accepted but two executive appointments: the first +was an unsought appointment by Abraham Lincoln, after he had become +the central figure of his time, if not of all time; and, second, +an appointment from President McKinley as chairman of the Hawaiian +Commission. + + +CHAPTER II +SERVICE AS CITY ATTORNEY AT SPRINGFIELD +1855 and 1856 + +My election as City Attorney of Springfield signalized at once my +active interest in politics at the very moment when the war cloud +was beginning to take shape in the political heavens--a portentous +cloud, but recognized as such at that time by comparatively few of +the thinking people. It had seemed certain for years that a struggle +was sure to come. Being a very young man, I suppose I did not +realize the horrors of a civil war, but I watched with keen interest +the signs of dissolution in political parties, and realignments in +party ties. + +In 1854 the country seemed on the verge of a war with Spain over +Cuba which happily was averted. The _Black Warrior_ had been seized +in Havana Harbor, and the excitement throughout the country when +Congress prepared to suspend the neutrality laws between the United +States and Spain was intense. + +It was about this time also that the famous Ostend manifesto was +issued without authority from any one. The American representatives +at the Courts of England, France, and Spain met at Ostend to confer +on the best method of settling the difficulties concerning Cuba +and obtaining possession of the island. They issued a manifesto in +which they recommended that Cuba should be purchased if possible, +failing which that it should be taken by force: + +"If Spain, actuated by stubborn pride and a false sense of honor, +should refuse to sell Cuba to the United States, then by every law, +human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain, +if we possess the power." + +The Ostend manifesto was repudiated; but it is certain that we +would have then intervened in favor of freeing Cuba, had it not +been for the dark war clouds which were so quickly gathering over +our own country. + +Among the other vital conditions which helped to keep the country's +interest and attention divided at this critical time was the Missouri +Compromise repeal, May 30, 1855. This repealing act early began +to bear political fruit. Already treaties had been made with half +a score of the Indian Nations in Kansas, by which the greater part +of the soil for two hundred miles west was opened. Settlers, +principally from Missouri, immediately began to flock in, and with +the first attempt to hold an election a bloody epoch set in for +that region between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, +fanned by attempts in Massachusetts and other Eastern States to +make of Kansas a Free State. + +By methods of intimidation, Whitfield, a slave-holder, was elected +the first delegate to Congress. At a second election thirteen +State Senators and twenty-six members of a Lower House were declared +elected. For this purpose 6,320 votes were cast--more than twice +the number of legal voters. + +Foreign affairs other than Spain's unfriendly activities also had +a share in distracting attention. The United States paid Mexico +ten million dollars to be free of the Guadalupe Hidalgo obligation +to defend the Mexican frontier against the Indians. + +My first experience after I was elected City Attorney, was to +prosecute persons charged with violating the ordinances prohibiting +the sale of intoxicating liquors. One of my preceptors, the Hon. +Benjamin S. Edwards, was a strong and earnest temperance man. He +volunteered to assist me in the prosecution of what we called +"liquor cases." The fact is that for a time he took charge of the +cases, and I assisted him. Life was made a burden to violators of +liquor ordinances that year in Springfield. + +The following year, 1856, was a Presidential year. I was chosen +as an elector on what was called the "Fillmore Ticket." I did not +at that time believe very strongly in Fremont for President. During +the same year, I was nominated as a candidate for the House of +Representatives of the Illinois Legislature, and was supported by +both the Fillmore party and the Free-soil party and thus elected. + +The House of Representatives of the Legislature of 1856 was so +close that if all the members who had not been elected as Democrats +united, they had one majority. If any one of them went to the +Democrats, the Democrats would have the control. One of the men +elected on the Fillmore ticket went over, thus giving the Democracy +the coveted one necessary. The Republicans, or as they were then +called, Free-soilers, attempted to organize the House by recognizing +the clerk of the previous House, who was a Free-soiler, it then +being the custom to have the clerk call the House to order and +preside until a temporary organization was perfected. The Democrats +refused to recognize the clerk whom the opposition recognized. +The Democrats declared by vote the election of a temporary chairman, +nominated and elected a sergeant-at-arms and a deputy, and ordered +the two latter officers to carry the clerk out of the hall; which +was promptly done at the expense of a good suit of clothes to the +clerk who departed reluctantly. This was my first experience in +legislation. + +A careful reading of the annals of the State of Illinois will show +that this incident is by no means unique in its history. + +To go back a few years, when Edward Coles, who had been private +secretary to President Madison, was elected Governor, it was by a +mere plurality vote over his highest competitor, and--to use the +language of former Governor Ford--he was so unfortunate as to have +a majority of the Legislature against him during his whole term of +service. The election had taken place soon after the settlement +of the Missouri question. The Illinois Senators had voted for the +admission of Missouri as a Slave State, while her only Representative +in the Lower House voted against it. This all helped to keep alive +some questions for or against the introduction of slavery. + +About this time, also, a tide of immigrants was pouring into Missouri +through Illinois, from Virginia and Kentucky. In the Fall of the +year, every great road was crowded with them, all bound for Missouri, +with their money and long trains of teams and negroes. These were +the most wealthy and best educated immigrants from the Slave States. +Many people who had land and farms to sell, looked upon the good +fortune of Missouri with envy; whilst the lordly immigrant, as he +passed along with his money and droves of negroes, took a malicious +pleasure in increasing it by pretending to regret the short-sighted +policy of Illinois, which excluded him from settlement, and from +purchasing and holding lands. + +In this mode a desire to make Illinois a Slave State became quite +prevalent. Many persons had voted for Brown or Phillips with this +view, whilst the friends of a Free State had rallied almost in a +body for Coles. + +Notwithstanding the defeat of the Democrats at this election, they +were not annihilated. They had been beaten for Governor only by +a division in their own ranks, whilst they had elected a large +majority of each House of the Assembly, and were determined to make +a vigorous effort to carry their measure at the session of the +Legislature to be held in 1822-23. Governor Coles, in his first +message, recommended the emancipation of the French slaves. This +served as the spark to kindle into activity all the elements in +favor of slavery. + +Slavery could not be introduced, nor was it believed that the French +slaves could be emancipated, without an amendment to the Constitution; +the Constitution could not be amended without a new convention, to +obtain which two thirds of each branch of the Legislature had to +concur in recommending it to the people; and the voters, at the +next election, had to sanction it by a majority of all the votes +given for members of the Legislature. + +When the Legislature assembled, it was found that the Senate +contained the requisite two-thirds majority; but in the House of +Representatives, by deciding a contested election in favor of one +of the candidates, the Slave party would have one more than two- +thirds, while by deciding in favor of the other, they would lack +one vote of having the majority. These two candidates were John +Shaw and Nicholas Hanson, who claimed to represent the County of +Pike, which then included all the military tract and all the country +north of the Illinois River to the northern limits of the State. + +The leaders of the Slave party were anxious to re-elect Jesse B. +Thomas to the United States Senate. Hanson would vote for him, +but Shaw would not; Shaw would vote for the convention, but Hanson +would not. The party had use for both of them, and they determined +to use them both, one after the other. For this purpose, they +first decided in favor of Hanson, admitted him to a seat, and with +his vote elected their United States Senator; and then, toward the +close of the session, with mere brute force, and in the most +barefaced manner, they reconsidered their former vote, turned Hanson +out of his seat, and decided in favor of Shaw, and with his vote +carried their resolution for a convention. + +There immediately resulted a very fierce contest before the people, +characterized by lavish detraction and personal abuse--one of the +most bitter, prolonged, and memorable in the history of the State +--and the question of making Illinois permanently a Slave State +was put to rest by a majority of about two thousand votes. The +census of 1850 was the first that enumerated no slaves in our State. + +In this connection I cannot avoid giving a little account of +Frederick Adolphus Hubbard, who was Lieutenant-Governor when Coles +was Governor. Hubbard seemed to be a very ignorant man, but +ambitious to become Governor of the State, or to attain some other +position that would give him reputation. + +"It is related of him that while engaged in the trial of a lawsuit, +involving the title to a certain mill owned by Joseph Duncan [who +afterwards became Governor], the opposing counsel, David J. Baker, +then recently from New England, had quoted from Johnson's New York +reports a case strongly against Hubbard's side. Reading reports +of the decisions of courts before juries was a new thing in those +days; and Hubbard, to evade the force of the authority as a precedent, +coolly informed the jury that Johnson was a Yankee clock-peddler, +who had been perambulating up and down the country gathering up +rumors and floating stories against the people of the West, and +had them published in a book under the name of 'Johnson's Reports.' +He indignantly repudiated the book as authority in Illinois, and +clinched the argument by adding: 'Gentlemen of the jury, I am sure +you will not believe anything that comes from that source; and +besides that, what did Johnson know about Duncan's mill anyhow?'"( 1) + +Hubbard, in 1826, became a candidate for Governor of Illinois. He +canvassed the State, and the following is a sample of his speeches, +recorded by Ford: + +"Fellow-citizens, I offer myself as a candidate before you for the +office of Governor. I do not pretend to be a man of extraordinary +talents, nor do I claim to be equal to Julius Caesar or Napoleon +Bonaparte, nor yet to be as great a man as my opponent, Governor +Edwards. Nevertheless I think I can govern you pretty well. I do +not think it will require a very extraordinary smart man to govern +you; for to tell you the truth, fellow-citizens, I do not believe +you will be very hard to govern, nohow."( 2) + +In 1825, Governor Coles notified Lieutenant-Governor Hubbard that +he had occasion to leave the State for a time and required the +latter to take charge of affairs. Hubbard did so, and when Governor +Coles returned Hubbard declined to give up the office, asserting +that the Governor had vacated it. He based his contention upon +that clause of the Constitution that provided that the Lieutenant- +Governor should exercise all the power and authority appertaining +to the office of Governor, in case of the latter's absence from +the State, until the time provided by the Constitution for the +election of Governor should arrive. He claimed that the Governor +had vacated the office until the time of the election of a new +Governor, and declined to surrender. The result was, the Governor +had to get a decision of the Supreme Court, which was to the effect +that there was no ground on which to award the writ. Coles was +obliged to submit, but not until he had appealed to the Legislature, +where his contention was equally unsuccessful. + +At one time, after repeated and annoying application, Hubbard +obtained from Governor Edwards what he had reason to believe was +a recommendation for a certain office. He became a little suspicious +that the letter was not very strong in his behalf, and in speaking +of it afterwards, in his lisping manner, said: "Contrary to the +uthage amongst gentlemen, he thealed it up; and contrary to the +uthage amongst gentlemen, I broke it open; and what do you think +I found? Instead of recommending me, the old rathcal abuthed me +like a pickpocket." + +( 1) Moses, page 334. + +( 2) Ford, page 61. + + +CHAPTER III +ELECTION TO THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE: LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES +1856 to 1858 + +In the year 1856 I had rather unusual experiences of both victory +and defeat in one and the same political campaign. As candidate +for the Legislature I won out, being elected; as the chosen elector +on the Fillmore ticket, I went down in the party's defeat. The +Whig party was in its expiring days, and what was called the "Know- +Nothing" party was apparently a temporary substitute for it. +Fillmore carried one solitary state--Maryland. Buchanan was elected +by quite a large majority over both Fremont and Fillmore combined. + +The administration of President Buchanan has been so frequently +and fully described that there is little, if anything, new to say +about it; but such were the fearful responsibilities incurred by +it for the subsequent bloodshed, that its shortcomings cannot be +entirely ignored in the intelligible presentation of the course of +events which gave direction to my observations and activities. + +The campaign of 1856 had been one of the most exiting and hotly +contested ever fought in the State. The only hope the Democrats +had of success was in the division of their opponents and in +preventing their fusion. Their denunciations of abolitionists and +"Black Republicans," as they termed their antagonists, were without +bounds. But here and there some one would be called to account, +as in the case of the late John M. Palmer, since distinguished in +war and peace, and some years ago candidate of the Gold Democrats +for the Presidency. + +Between him and Major Harris, then running for Congress in his +district, there had been considerable ill-feeling. The major had +written a letter to be read at a Democratic meeting at which Palmer +was present. It was very abusive of the Republicans, and Palmer +rising, remarked the fact that the author would not dare make such +charges to the face of any honest man. Harris, as related by the +historian Moses, hearing of this, announced that he would resent +it at the first opportunity. This Palmer soon gave him by attending +one of his meetings. The major in the course of his remarks indulged +in the most vituperative language against abolitionists, calling +them disturbers of the peace, incendiaries, and falsifiers; and at +length, turning to Palmer and pointing his finger at him, said, "I +mean you, sir!" Palmer rising to his feet, instantly replied, +"Well, sir, if you apply that language to me you are a dastardly +liar!" And drawing a pistol, he started toward the speaker's stand. +"Now, sir," he continued, "when you get through, I propose to reply +to you." The major had not anticipated this turn of affairs, but +prudently kept his temper and finished his speech. Then Palmer +arose and, laying his weapon before him, cocked, proceeded to give +the Democratic party such a castigation as none of those present +had ever heard before. + +It was in the campaign of 1856 that I first began to make political +speeches. James H. Matheny, who was then our circuit clerk, +accompanied me to several meetings where we both delivered addresses. +He was an old Whig inclined toward Democracy, and I was a Whig +inclined toward Republicanism. The result was I made Republican +speeches, while Judge Matheny made Democratic speeches. + +Our first meeting away from home was at Petersburg, Menard County. +Being a candidate for elector on the Fillmore ticket, I made my +first away-from-home speech, which I thought was a pretty good +Republican speech. Matheny followed me with a hot Democratic +speech, attacking especially Judge Trumbull, then our United States +Senator. I remained pretty steadily in the campaign of that year, +making about the same character of speech wherever I went. + +Fillmore was very popular in Central Illinois, where the Whig party +also had quite a large following during its palmy days, but he did +not receive votes enough to come anywhere near carrying the State. +Sangamon, my home county, and Tazewell County, where I was brought +up, both gave their majority votes for Fillmore. + +The Hon. John T. Stuart and his partner, the Hon. B. S. Edwards, +with whom I studied law, besides being able lawyers and first-class +men, were both Whigs; Mr. Stuart especially took an active part in +the campaign. The latter was invited to attend what was called a +Fillmore meeting at Shelbyville, several counties away from Sangamon. +It so happened that he could not go, and the people of Shelbyville +telegraphed for me. I went, and it turned out to be a combined +Fremont, Buchanan, and Fillmore meeting--at least the three meetings +there were held all on the same day. + +The Fillmore camp gathered its forces out in the woods until about +two o'clock in the afternoon. The Buchanan and Fremont crowds then +marched in, informing the first-comers that they regarded their +right to have the first meeting pre-eminent. An agreement was +arrived at after some little wrangling, and old General Thornton +was chosen to preside. He determined that, as I was not only a +young man but the farthest from home, I should make the first speech +--an arrangement that suited me very well. + +I made my speech, as good a one as I could, and in closing, somewhat +hurriedly announced that I was obliged to leave for home, much as +I might wish to remain with them to the close of the meeting. The +result was that most of the Fillmore people followed me away and +came nearly breaking up the whole performance. I urged them to go +back and listen to the other speakers; but they declined to do so +until I had gotten off for home. It was my first venture at speech- +making away from home on national issues. + +I worked and voted for Fillmore because I had a very high opinion +of him as a good man, and did not then think very much of Fremont +as a proper candidate for the Presidency. Subsequently Fremont +became better known, and occupied a high place in the estimation +of the people of the United States, as a gallant soldier and a +statesman, enjoying the unique honor of having been the first +candidate of the Republican party for President. + +I have taken an active part in every campaign since 1856, excepting +when poor health prevented a regular speaking campaign. + +The animosities of the campaign of 1856 were carried into the +Legislature and kept alive in the House during the entire session. +Governor Bissell's inaugural address was a dignified State paper +in which he referred to the administration of his predecessor in +highly complimentary terms. He concurred in all his recommendations, +but suggested no measures of his own. Although he had commented +briefly upon the Kansas-Nebraska controversy, and in mild terms, +his remarks stirred the ire of the Democrats. Upon the motion to +print the address, a virulent attack was made upon him, led, strange +to say, by John A. Logan, afterwards the foremost volunteer general +of the Union, and a Republican of Republicans. The rancor of the +Democrats against Governor Bissell, who at that time was a physical +wreck from a stroke of paralysis, though mentally sound, was largely +due to their recollection of the fearless manner in which he had +responded, some years before, to a challenge given him by Jefferson +Davis to a duel. That episode has long since become historic, and +I need not enlarge upon it here. + +As was the political temper in the State of Illinois, so was it, +to a greater or less degree, throughout the entire Nation. + +Buchanan's first message repeated the assurance that the discussion +of slavery had come to an end. The clergy were criticised for +fomenting prevalent disturbances. The President declared in favor +of the admission of Kansas, with a Constitution agreeable to a +majority of the settlers. He also referred to an impending decision +of the Supreme Court, with which he had been made acquainted, and +asked acquiescence in it. This was Judge Taney's decision in the +Dred Scott case, rendered two days after Buchanan's inauguration. + +An action had been begun in the Circuit Court in Missouri by Scott, +a negro, for the freedom of himself and children. He claimed that +he had been removed by his master in 1834 to Illinois, a Free State, +and afterwards taken into territory north of the compromise line. +Sanford, his master, replied that Scott was not a citizen of +Missouri, and could not bring an action, and that he and his children +were Sanford's slaves. The lower courts differed, and the case +was twice argued. The decision nullified the Missouri restriction, +or, indeed, any restriction by Congress on slavery in the Territories. +Chief-Justice Taney said: + +"The question is whether the class of persons (negroes) compose a +portion of the people, and are constituent members of this sovereignty. +We think they are not included under the word 'citizen' in the +Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and +privileges of that instrument." + +Negroes, as a race, were at that time considered as a subordinate +and inferior class who had been subjugated by the dominant whites, +and had no rights or privileges except such as those who held the +power and the government might choose to grant them. They had for +more than a century been regarded as beings of an inferior grade-- +so far inferior that they possessed no rights which the white man +was bound to respect; and the negro might justly and lawfully be +reduced to slavery for his (the white man's) benefit. The negro +race by common consent had been excluded from civilized governments +and the family of nations, and doomed to slavery. The unhappy +black race was separated from the whites by indelible marks long +before established, and was never thought of or spoken of except +as property. + +The Chief-Justice further annulled the Missouri restriction, by +asserting that "the act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from +holding property of this kind north of the line therein mentioned +is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore void." +Benton said that it was "no longer the exception, with freedom the +rule; but slavery was the rule, with freedom the exception." + +It was a year of financial distress in America, which recalled the +hard times of twenty years before. The United States treasury was +empty. + +Early in this year (1856) a Legislature had met at Topeka, Kansas, +and was immediately dissolved by the United States marshals. A +Territorial Legislature also met at Lecompton and provided for a +State Constitution. The people of Kansas utterly refused to +recognize the latter body which had been chosen by the Missouri +invaders, and both parties continued to hold their elections. + +Thus it may be seen that these episodes were the culmination of a +long series of events leading to a new alignment of the country's +political forces. The Republican party was the child of this +ferment of unrest. The formation of a new political party, or the +regeneration of an old one, is always due to events, and not to +the schemes and purposes of men except as events sometimes originate +in such purposes and schemes. In this case the steps in the course +of events which had rendered the formation of an anti-slavery party +inevitable were: The pro-slavery provisions of the Constitution, +the foreign slave trade, the acquisition of the Territory of +Louisiana, the invention of the cotton-gin and its effects, the +Missouri Compromise, the nullification schemes of South Carolina, +the colonization and annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, the +contest over the admission of California, the Compromise Measure +of 1850, and finally the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854. + +The name of the party was an incident only, and not an essential +or very important incident; its principles and purposes were the +vital facts. When events demand a new party, or the reorganization +of an old one, all resistance is usually borne down speedily. On +the other hand, it is a wasteful exhibition of human power to +attempt the creation of a new party by the force of combined will +and resolutions formulated in public meetings. Abraham Lincoln's +great experience or keener penetration, or both, guided him at the +outset of the realignments on political issues, and at the opening +of the Congressional campaign of 1858, I followed him firmly and +without mental reservation into the ranks of the Republican party. + +Hence it was that I was present on that historic occasion when the +Republican party of the State of Illinois held a convention at +Springfield, June 17 of the year named, and nominated Lincoln for +the seat in the United States Senate, then held by Stephen A. +Douglas, who at that time was usually affectionately referred to +by his partisan followers as "The Little Giant." This nomination +was anticipated, and Mr. Lincoln had prepared a speech, which he +then delivered, in which he set forth, in a manner now universally +recognized as masterly, the doctrines of the Republican party. He +arraigned the administration of Mr. Buchanan and denounced the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise under the lead of Senator Douglas. +In that speech he made the declaration, which I remember as clearly +as though an event of yesterday, then characterized as extravagant +but long since accepted as prophetic: "I believe this Government +cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free." + +That address inaugurated a discussion which has no exact parallel +in history--certainly no equal in American political history. It +introduced Mr. Lincoln to the country at large, and prepared the +way for his nomination to the Presidency two years later. On the +declaration above quoted Mr. Douglas based many arguments, in vain +attempts to prove that Mr. Lincoln was a disunionist. + +During this period Douglas addressed an enthusiastic assemblage at +Chicago, and in the course of his speech adverted to the arraignment +of himself by Mr. Lincoln. He took direct issue with that gentleman +on his proposition that, as to Freedom and Slavery, "the Union will +become _all_ one thing or _all_ the other," and maintained strenuously +that "it is neither desirable nor possible that there should be +uniformity in the local institutions and domestic regulations of +the different States of this Union." + +An announcement that Mr. Lincoln would reply to Mr. Douglas on the +following evening brought out another assemblage, July 10, which +was awakened, before the speaker had concluded, to an enthusiasm +at least equal to that which the eloquence of Douglas had aroused. + +The issues involved in this famous series of debates are too familiar +to all students of our Nation's political history to be considered +at length in these pages. Mr. Lincoln analyzed and answered the +various arguments advanced by Mr. Douglas the evening before; and +the closing paragraphs of his reply to the insistent reminders +"that this Government was made for white men," were memorable: + +"Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be +treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; +that as much is to be done for them as their conditions will allow. +What are these arguments? They are the arguments that kings have +made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world. You will +find that all the arguments in favor of kingcraft were of this +class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they +wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being +ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge is +the same old serpent that says: 'You work, and I eat; you toil, +and I will enjoy the fruits of it.'" + +Six days thereafter, July 16, Senator Douglas in a great speech +again tried to break the force of his opponent's facts and logic. +This was at Bloomington, and Mr. Lincoln was again a careful +listener. On the evening following, July 17, at Springfield, before +an enthusiastic audience, he proceeded to dissect the matters so +plausibly presented. + +At the same hour Douglas was addressing a Springfield audience of +his own, ridiculing especially Mr. Lincoln's alleged attitude toward +the Supreme Court. + +Contrasting the disadvantages under which, by reason of an unfair +apportionment of State Legislature representation and otherwise, +the Republicans labored in that campaign, Mr. Lincoln on that +occasion said in the course of his talk: + +"Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious politicians +of his party, or who have been of his party for years past, have +been looking upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the +President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly, +fruitful face, post-offices, land-offices, marshalships, and cabinet +appointments, _charge_-ships and foreign missions, bursting and +sprouting out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by +their greedy hands. And as they have been gazing upon this attractive +picture so long, they cannot, in the little distraction that has +taken place in the party, bring themselves to give up the charming +hope; but with greedier anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, +and give him marches, triumphal entries, and receptions, beyond +what even in the days of his highest prosperity they could have +brought about in his favor. On the contrary, nobody has ever +expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face, nobody +has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out." + +He affirmed that Popular Sovereignty, "the great staple" of the +Douglas campaign, was "the most arrant Quixotism that was ever +enacted before a community." + +As a result of these preliminary speeches of the Congressional +campaign it was generally conceded that, at last, the "Little Giant" +had met his match, and the intellectual and political appetites of +the public called for more. In recognition of this demand, Mr. +Lincoln opened a correspondence which led to an agreement with Mr. +Douglas for a series of joint discussions, seven in number, on fixed +dates in August, September, and October. Alternately they were, +in succession, to open the discussion and speak for an hour, with +another half-hour at the close after the other had spoken for an +hour and a half continuously. My friend and schoolmate, the late +Mr. R. R. Hitt, an efficient stenographer, was employed to report +the whole series, and thus we have a full record of the most +remarkable debate, viewed from all points, that has ever occurred +in American history--possibly without a parallel in the world's +history. Vast assemblages gathered from far and near and listened +with breathless attention to these absorbingly interesting +discussions. + +Notwithstanding the intense partisan feeling that was evoked, the +discussion proceeded amidst surroundings characterized by the utmost +decorum. The people evidently felt that the greatest of all +political principles, that of human liberty itself, was hanging on +the issue of this great political contest between intellectual +giants, thus openly waged before the world. They accordingly rose +to the dignity and solemnity of the occasion, as has been well said +by one who was then a zealous follower of Douglas, vindicating by +their very example the sacredness with which the right of free +speech should be regarded at all times and everywhere. + +I have elsewhere described the disappointment I personally felt at +the result, when the election returns came in. Although the popular +vote stood 125,698 for Lincoln to 121,130 for Douglas--showing a +victory for Lincoln among the people--yet enough Douglas Democrats +were elected to the Legislature, when added to those of his friends +in the Illinois Senate elected two years before and held over, to +give him fifty-four members of both branches of the Legislature on +joint ballot, against forty-six for Mr. Lincoln. + + +CHAPTER IV +OTHER DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS OF THAT DAY +1858 and 1859 + +More than four months had elapsed since Lincoln's epoch-marking +speech at Springfield had brought on his great discussion with +Douglas, when on October 20, 1858, Governor Seward at Rochester, +New York, intensified the political inflammation of the times by +saying in a notable speech: + +"These antagonistic systems (free labor and slave labor) are +continually coming close in contact. It is an irrepressible conflict +between opposing and enduring forces; and it means that the United +States must and will, sooner or later, become either an entirely +slave-holding or entirely a free-labor nation." + +A book written by a young Southerner, "The Impending Crisis in the +South--How to Meet It," was recommended in a circular signed by a +large number of the Republican Congressmen, and thus given a vogue +and weight out of all proportion to the standing of the author, +whose recent death under tragic circumstances at an advanced age +has drawn the name of Hinton Rowan Helper for a brief hour from +its long obscurity. + +"Dred, a Tale of the Dismal Swamp," by the author of "Uncle Tom's +Cabin," served, if such service were at all needed, to keep fresh +in all civilized lands the name of Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe. +The British Museum has a long shelf filled with different translations, +editions, and versions of her greatest literary work. + +In the month of September Mr. Lincoln delivered a speech at +Cincinnati, in reply to Mr. Douglas. In that speech he addressed +himself to the citizens of Kentucky, and advocated the nomination +of Mr. Douglas to the Presidency, upon the ground that he was more +devoted to the South than were the Southern leaders themselves, +and that he was wiser in methods for defending their rights. + +This was a form of attack which Douglas had not anticipated, and +which he could neither resent nor answer. As the event proved, +the seed thus sown was to bear fruit abundantly in results at the +ensuing National Democratic conventions, and at the Presidential +election two years later. Until June, Mr. Lincoln was unknown +outside of Illinois and Indiana. Judge Douglas had already taken +a high place among the able men of his time of national and +international reputation. In September, Lincoln's character was +understood and his ability was recognized in all the non-slaveholding +States of the Union. His mastery over Douglas had been complete. +His logic was unanswerable, his ridicule fatal; every position +taken by him was defended successfully. At the end Douglas had +but one recourse. He misstated Lincoln's positions, and then +assailed them. + +But Lincoln was ever on the alert to expose his opponent's fallacies, +and to hold up the author to the derision or condemnation of his +hearers. + +Mr. Lincoln's first fame rests, therefore, on that great debate. +Judge Douglas had long been famous as an experienced politician +and an exceptionally skilful debater. As lawyers both ranked high +in their State at a time when the bar of Illinois could boast of +exceptionally brilliant and able forensic talent. + +As it is my purpose to treat of both these great men in some detail +in subsequent pages of this work, devoting at least a full chapter +to Mr. Lincoln, so long my admired and never failing friend, I +shall now proceed to give some personal recollections concerning +certain other of the distinguished characters of that day, chiefly +those connected with the bar. + +I knew Judge David Davis very well. He was Circuit Judge on our +State circuit for a number of years, and until Mr. Lincoln became +President, when he was made Associate Justice of the Supreme Court +of the United States. When a young lawyer Davis was a Whig; and +my father, being also a Whig, took a great interest in him, as he +did in every young lawyer he knew who became affiliated with that +party. My father thought himself justified in believing that Davis +would become a power in the land. Hence he took up the young man +soon after he had settled in the practice of the law at Bloomington; +and I have heard him state that he gave Davis the first case he +ever had in Tazewell County, by advising another to employ him. +But he re-enacted, on the less conspicuous forum, the distressing +experience of failure of Disraeli in his first attempt to address +the English House of Commons. Davis broke down in the speech he +had prepared to make, to the great mortification of my father, who +had exhibited such unusual pride and confidence as to counsel his +employment in the case. Subsequently Davis redeemed himself, as +did Disraeli, and became a most prominent and successful lawyer. + +Among other interesting circumstances of his career was that of a +little claim he had for a client in Boston against a merchant in +Chicago. He could not collect the debt, except by levying on a +tract of land in Chicago--eighty acres, I think. Davis reported +what he had done, and his client manifested dissatisfaction with +the result. He so vigorously stated his disappointment to Davis, +that the latter immediately redeemed the land by taking it himself +and paying the amount of money due the client. This tract grew in +value with the growth of Chicago until it became worth a million +dollars or more. + +Judge Davis was a remarkably popular man on his circuit. He was +thoroughly honest, and could not endure a dishonest man on the +witness-stand or anywhere else. I remember a man in Chicago who +on one occasion filed a bill of discovery for the purpose of finding +real estate that he seemed once to have had an interest in, and +which also involved the insertion of Judge Davis's own name, since +he had himself at one time owned the tract of land involved. The +man had lost his voice to a considerable extent, so that he had +come to be called "Whispering Smith." He became notorious as a +successful collector of debts, where persons had failed and were +unable to pay their debts. He had filed in this case a bill of +discovery consisting of thirty or forty printed pages which included +the names of many persons who had been found to have owned the real +estate at one time or another, among them being Judge Davis. +Discovering this, and being entirely innocent of any complicity +with the party who had failed, the Judge denounced Smith in open +court for the outrage of swearing to something he did not know +anything about, and practically threw him out of court. + +There was an incident characteristic of his fidelity to friendships +which I think well worth relating. It occurred when I was Governor +of Illinois. I was invited by the Agricultural Society of McLean +County to deliver an address, and went to Bloomington on the day +designated. I was called upon by Judge Davis, who resided there. +He was a very polite man, and asked me if he could not take me out +to the fair-ground. I told him I would be delighted if he would +do so. He came for me with his carriage, and on our arrival at +the grounds took me to the stand, disregarding the prearrangements +of the officials of the fair, and introduced me to the audience. +In doing so he made a speech, very complimentary to my father, but +scarcely mentioning me at all--not more than to introduce me at +the end of his eulogistic remarks. Many of the lawyers of the town +were present. I knew them all, and they were much amused at this +unusual style of introduction. And so was I. I knew, of course, +that he was a great friend of my father, and a great friend of mine +as well. + +Judge Davis was elected to the Senate in 1877 to succeed General +Logan, and resigned his seat on the bench to accept the position. +He became quite fond of the Senate, and during his one term there +he was elected president _pro tempore_ of the body under somewhat +unusual conditions. The Senate at that time was almost evenly +divided between the two parties. The two senators from New York, +however (both Republicans), and Mr. Aldrich, of Rhode Island, had +been elected by their respective Legislatures, but had not taken +their seats. This gave the Democrats a temporary majority, and +the Senate proceeded to elect Senator Bayard, of Delaware, as its +president _pro tempore_. Within the next day or two, however, the +two New York senators and Senator Aldrich were admitted to their +seats; this left a majority of two for the Republicans if Davis +acted with them, and the two parties tied if Davis acted with the +Democrats. Under these circumstances, General Logan, who after +being out for two years had been re-elected to the Senate, moved +in the caucus that David Davis be the Republican candidate for +president _pro tempore_. Later he made the nomination in the Senate +itself, and Senator Davis was elected, Senator Bayard descending, +amid general laughter, from the chair which he had occupied for +but a short time. + +Senator Davis was very proud of the position of president _pro +tempore_, which he retained to the end of his Senate term. He had +been acting quite independently, but seemed to incline a little +toward the Democrats. After he became president _pro tempore_, +while he never announced himself a Republican, he generally acted +with the Republicans. + +I was in the Senate the day before Senator Davis's term expired. +He was soliloquizing to himself in the intervals of putting motions +and attending to the routine of his office. He was very fond of +Senator Isham G. Harris of Tennessee, and when he had occasion to +call a senator to the chair, generally it would be Harris. He +called Harris to him while I was there, and I heard him say as his +friend came up: "Harris, Harris! When I get out of here I won't +have to listen to old Bayard any more!" + +He was a very remarkable man and a friend of Lincoln, and Lincoln +was a friend of his. I suppose that Davis did as much to secure +Lincoln's nomination over Seward as any one man, although Judge +Logan worked with equal zeal. But Davis knew more people than did +Judge Logan, although the latter was, in my opinion, the better +lawyer. + +In the days of Davis's judicial life on the State bench, the judge +and the lawyer had a pretty large circuit. Davis's circuit was +composed of several large counties. It was the custom to travel +the circuit, judge, lawyers, and all, together. At that period +there were no railway facilities worth mentioning, and they had to +go by private conveyance--wagon or carriage or on horseback as the +case might be. Probably a dozen lawyers might go together, all +putting up at the same hotel, and generally having a good time at +night, spinning yarns. Lincoln was a good story-teller, and so +was Davis; and the evenings were made exceedingly agreeable to all +concerned. + +In no small measure as a result of the influences thus put into +operation, the lawyers of the period were better qualified to get +along in life than those of later days; that is to say, for the +rough-and-tumble life they were better able to take care of themselves +than the lawyers of a more recent date have been, as a general rule. + +Judge Stephen T. Logan was, I think, the best lawyer that I have +ever known in Illinois. He went to Illinois at an early age and +lived there until his death; he had attained the age of a little +more than eighty years before he died. He was purely a lawyer. +I think I never knew another lawyer who could so everlastingly ruin +a man who undertook to misrepresent the truth. He seemed to +understand intuitively whether a man was trying to tell the truth +or was lying; if the latter, his words would so effectually be torn +to pieces that they could be of no earthly value. But he was not +an adept as a politician. He ran for Congress at one time against +a man named Thomas L. Harris, and was beaten. He also ran later +for Judge of the Supreme Court, and was beaten. This defeat was +not his fault, however, as the community was a strongly Democratic +one. I recall a story current in those days, to the effect that +some man who had recently come from the east inquired, while talking +with him, "By the way, Judge, didn't you run for the Supreme Court +last year?" In his squeaky voice, the judge replied, "No; I hardly +walked." + +But the judge was a true man in every respect,--honest, faithful +to his friends, and fearless in doing whatever he believed to be +right. He felt, I think, a little bit disappointed that President +Lincoln did not appoint him instead of Davis a Judge of the Supreme +Court. + +I came to Washington and saw Mr. Lincoln in Judge Logan's behalf +without any suggestion that I do so from Logan or any one else, +but simply because I believed that the President ought to appoint +him on the Supreme Bench in preference to any other man in the +State. + +Logan was a better lawyer than Davis; but Davis was an abler +politician than Logan. I have always felt that in view of the fact +that Lincoln and Logan had been partners earlier, and also neighbors +and close friends, he ought to have nominated Logan instead of +Davis. Davis, Logan, and Browning were all well qualified for the +Supreme Court, all of them friends of Lincoln, and all Whigs. +Lincoln had to make the choice, and I think the selection was +influenced by Davis's great assistance in securing his nomination. + +Judge Logan was also a close Whig friend of my father, and earnest +in his friendship for me on that account. When I was a candidate +for the nomination for Governor I had a pretty stiff fight for the +first term. There were rumors that men were going to attack my +personal character. I did not know about the judge's action in +the premises, but when the convention met, Judge Logan went to it +as a private citizen and crowded himself into the hall, remaining +here until I was nominated. Then he went home. I was told afterwards +that he had gone there for the purpose of defending me in case of +an attack against my personal character. + +Of course, I could not but greatly appreciate a friendship so +manifest. + +He had a son, David Logan, who went to Oregon as a young lawyer, +and became very eminent there. In later years the judge wrote to +him, proposing that if he would come back home he would take him +into partnership. To this the father received a reply from David, +proposing that if he would come out there a partnership with the +son was subject to his acceptance or refusal. The judge died after +attaining full four-score years, and the son at an age less +advanced. + +I think Judge Logan also felt a bit sour toward Mr. Lincoln because +the latter, he thought, ought to have been more helpful than he +was to his son in his effort to be elected to the United States +Senate from Oregon, at the time Baker was elected. + +Speaking of Judges Logan and Davis, I am reminded of the exceptionally +high character of the lawyers of Illinois of that day, and more +especially of Springfield. I think there has never been a time +when it had another such splendid bar. It must be that high personal +character in leaders has a direct and marked influence in elevating +the general characters of the followers. The young lawyers, +especially, are impelled by a force implanted by nature to admire +and to strive to imitate or attain to the great qualities manifested +in life of those to whom leadership is conceded by common consent. + +Colonel E. D. Baker was a very good lawyer. Also Orville H. +Browning, of Quincy, who was in Springfield attending the various +courts whose sittings were at the State capital much of the time. +Then there was Archibald Williams; and Stephen A. Douglas, a great +man in every way, was on the bench a part of the time. Abraham +Lincoln was, of course, the equal of any man, on the bench or off +of it. Such men prominently in the lead as lawyers, and as men +among men, could not but stimulate the ambitions and loftier +aspirations of other lawyers, especially the younger ones. In +striving to pay the tributes--imitation, etc.,--that can be accorded +to greatness, they become great themselves; and perhaps here may +be found the real or chief cause of the very large numbers of +conspicuously eminent men congregated at the capital of Illinois +in those days. + +Judge Lyman Trumbull I always regarded as one of the exceptional +lawyers of the country. I came to know him well while I was a +member of the House and he a United States Senator. During those +days I saw very much of him. When Trumbull came to the Senate +there was some prejudice against him, growing out of circumstances +(related elsewhere in these pages) which prevented the election of +Mr. Lincoln, and which seemed to be plainly within Mr. Trumbull's +control. But the feeling soon vanished, and Trumbull's course in +the Senate was so true to the principles of the party which Mr. +Lincoln had championed, that the manner in which he had secured +the election was soon forgotten, or at least condoned, and the +judge remained there for a long period of service--three terms. + +While he was there I came to the House of Representatives, and came +to be, as our association grew more and more intimate, very fond +of Senator Trumbull. I also admired his ability. He was one of +the few in that body who could hold his own with Judge Douglas in +debate, and when he came into the Senate he at once took issue with +Douglas, they being in controversy with each other very frequently +on slavery and other political questions, until Douglas's career +ended, about the beginning of the Civil War. + +I was, perhaps, as intimate personally with Judge Trumbull during +my stay in the House as any other member. Barton C. Cook and Norman +B. Judd also were as intimate with the judge, as any other members +of the Illinois delegation. Nothing ever happened to change these +conditions, until the vote which Trumbull cast against the impeachment +of Andrew Johnson. Mr. Cook and Mr. Judd, especially the latter, +seemed to be almost bitterly angry against Judge Trumbull. + +As a result of that vote opposition to him began to grow in the +party. However, almost immediately after the impeachment he was +re-elected, although at the time not a candidate. He was subsequently +nominated by the Democratic party for Governor of Illinois. I ran +against him as the candidate of the Republican party, and was +elected over him by a majority of about thirty-eight thousand. He +imagined, so I have heard, that he was going to beat me, and was +considerably surprised at his failure to do so. + +He died only a few years ago, at an advanced age. His first wife +was a sister of Dr. Jayne, an excellent man, and, I am glad to add, +he and I are warm personal friends. I am very sorry to say, though, +that his children, I believe, are all gone, as are mine. + +There were other men who had risen to prominence in Illinois, of +whom I wish to write, and some who were then new upon the stage of +public life, whom I knew and who subsequently achieved distinction. +I have already postponed my reminiscences of Mr. Lincoln to a later +chapter than I could wish, but in point of time we have now come +to the year of his nomination and election to the Presidency of +the United States, and the beginning of a career which was to be +finished in the course of only a little over four years. + +The reference to my old friend Doctor William Jayne reminds me that +I should say something of my Springfield friends,--some living, +but many dead. It is to these friends that I am indebted for my +success in public life, and they have generally loyally supported +me, although friends in other parts of the State have been quite +as loyal and devoted to my interests when I have been a candidate +for high public office. + +In the days of Lincoln, I do not believe that there ever was a +community that contained so many really splendid men, men who were +so well fitted to fill any place in the State or Nation, as did +Springfield. I can refer to only a few of those of State and +National renown. If I have overlooked some whom I should have +mentioned, I hope I shall be pardoned. + +First of all comes Lincoln. From time to time, as I have written +these recollections, I have spoken of him. I will later give my +estimate of Douglas, who, while not a citizen of Springfield, spent +a great deal of time there as a member of the Supreme Court, as a +member of the Legislature, and on legal, political, and social +affairs. In the last-mentioned connection he at one time was a +rival for the hand of Mary Todd, afterwards Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. +I have thought and written something of Stephen T. Logan, and to +my own old law partner, Milton Hay, I refer in other parts of these +recollections. There were no better lawyers in their day. + +William H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, was a capable lawyer +also. He wrote an excellent life of his distinguished partner. +Herndon was one of the earliest Republicans of his State. While +Lincoln believed in the principles of the party from the very +beginning, the truth is, he was a little slow in becoming a member +of it; and Herndon always claimed that he had much to do with making +Abraham Lincoln an active member of the Republican party. Herndon +believed that he was qualified to fill almost any office, and I +think he was a little dissatisfied that Lincoln did not give him +some high position. + +William Butler, belonging to this same period, was one of the +leading citizens and a devoted friend of Lincoln and an excellent +man. Nor can I forget Antram Campbell, one of my first law partners. +We were always warm friends. I saw him on his death-bed when I +returned home from Washington, where I was serving as a Member of +Congress. He recognized me, but could not speak, and I can see +now the tears falling from his eyes. + +Of the State officers of that day, Richard Yates was Governor. +The State, under the lead of its War Governor, did not waste time +or spare money in putting the troops in readiness for the field, +and perhaps there was no governor of any State more watchful of +the State's interests, or more devoted to the interests of the +Union, or more loved by the people of his own State, including the +troops in the field, than was Governor Yates. He was loyalty +itself, and for many years was an apostle of liberty. He retired +from the office of governor, to take his place as a senator from +Illinois in the United States Senate. His fame, however, rests on +being the great War Governor of the State of Illinois, the compeer +of Morton, Andrews, and Curtin. + +His son, Richard Yates, many years later succeeded to the office +of governor, and is one of the prominent men of Springfield to-day. + +O. M. Hatch was Secretary of State. He was among my early influential +friends in Springfield. Uncle Jesse K. Dubois, for whom I had high +regard, and who was quite well known in and out of Illinois, was +one of the State officers. O. H. Miner was Auditor of the State +at one time. He was a very good man. His son, Louis Miner, and +Harry Dorwin, a nephew of my deceased wife, are joint owners of +the Springfield _Journal_, one of the oldest Republican organs of +the State. + +Colonel John Williams could not be said to be a National or State +character, but he was a good business man, and one of the best +friends I ever had, so I cannot refrain from a passing tribute to +his memory. + +When I was elected to Congress the first time, in 1864, my friends +knew that I had spent a considerable sum of money for election +expenses. It being Lincoln's district, and Lincoln being a candidate +for re-election as President, the National Committee helped some; +but I was naturally compelled to spend a great deal myself. I +considered to whom I should apply for assistance, and thought of +Colonel Williams. I went to him, candidly explaining that I should +be unable to make the race without financial assistance; he told +me to draw on him for whatever funds I might want, and at the end +to let him know the total amount, and that he would take care of +it. I did so. He gave me what I asked for, and I gave him my +note, which I paid as soon as I could; but he never bothered me +about it. I always had a warm spot for him in my heart. + +Nicholas H. Ridgely, the grandfather of the Hon. William Barret +Ridgely, who married one of my daughters, and who served as United +States Comptroller of the Currency for a number of years, was one +of the leading bankers of the State, and was reputed to be one of +the first millionaires of Illinois. He was a very careful banker, +and was probably too careful to be popular among the people generally; +but every one knew that there was no sounder institution in the +State than the Ridgely National Bank. His son, Charles Ridgely, +whom I always regarded as one of the most interesting men in +Springfield, has passed away just about the time that I am writing +these lines. Mr. Charles Ridgely was a man of great reading and +great cultivation, and a man whom any one would like to meet. His +death was a loss to Springfield of one of its most interesting and +enterprising characters. + +S. H. Jones ("Sam" Jones, as he was known) was another well-known +character in Springfield, as well as throughout Illinois. He was +a warm friend and supporter of mine in the early days. + +James C. Robinson was twice elected to Congress. He and Governor +Oglesby were opponents for State Senator from the district. A +little story in this connection occurs to me, which Oglesby used +to tell. + +When running for the Senate, before the Civil War, Oglesby and +Robinson travelled together over the district. The settlements in +those days were very scattering, and as the rivals were good friends +personally they agreed to go together and hold joint discussions. +They held one every day, the understanding being that if either +desired to talk anywhere else aside from the joint debate he had +a right to do so. + +At one place Robinson announced that he would make a speech in the +courthouse. A large crowd greeted him, which he captured with one +of his characteristic speeches. Oglesby was sitting in front of +the hotel across the way by himself, and listening to the cheering. +He became very uneasy lest Robinson should get the best of it. + +Now it chanced that Oglesby could play a violin splendidly. A man +came along with one in his hands, and Oglesby asked if he might +borrow it for the evening, to which the man consented. He commenced +playing in order to attract the crowd from Robinson, and in order +to break up his meeting. He succeeded; one by one they came out +of the courthouse, and when Oglesby swung into a stirring dance +measure the crowd at once responded with an impromptu hoe-down. + +Robinson, seeing his audience dwindling, quit speaking and came +out himself. Taking in the situation at a glance, he pulled off +his shoes and became the most enthusiastic participant, dancing +first with one and then with another of his late hearers, winning +them all back again and completely turning the tables against his +adroit opponent. + +This is a good illustration of early campaigning in the country +districts of Illinois. There was the utmost good feeling, and a +disposition to let the best man win. + +Among the early men and incidents connected with the practice of +the law in Springfield, in the sixties, and before and during the +time I was Speaker of the House, the Rev. Peter Cartwright must +not be forgotten. He was one of the prominent figures in the +pioneer educational and religious life of the Western country, more +particularly of Illinois. He was a wonderful type of the times-- +a man of great courage, of considerable ability, and most remarkable +in his capacity as a minister of the Gospel. He believed in camp- +meetings; and when Peter Cartwright conducted a camp-meeting the +loafers and rowdies inclined to interrupt the worship knew they +would invite trouble if they ventured to interfere with or annoy +the meeting. He was ready, not only to preach the Gospel but to +fight, as sometimes he felt it his duty to do. No man dared in +the presence of Cartwright to interrupt the meeting, as in those +times irresponsible parties hanging about such gatherings frequently +attempted to do in his absence. + +Cartwright was not only an able pioneer preacher, but he was a +loyal Democrat, too. He believed in Democracy, and was ready to +run on the Democratic ticket, or to advance the party's cause in +any other way. He was nominated for Congress as against Mr. Lincoln, +the only time Lincoln ever ran for Congress. + +Some persons disapproved of Cartwright's activity in politics, +questioning the propriety of it on the part of a minister. Among +these was Judge Treat, then our Federal Judge in the Springfield +district. The story goes that the Judge signified to Mr. Lincoln +his dislike of Cartwright, and his willingness to lend a helping +hand in case Lincoln should need help and would let him know the +fact. He thought he could get a good many votes for Lincoln, and +the latter thanked him and told him if he found need of his help +he would let him know. On one occasion during the campaign Lincoln +was walking along one side of the street when he saw Treat on the +farther side, proceeding in the opposite direction, toward his +home. Lincoln called out to him: "Judge, I won't need your help. +I have got the better of the old Methodist preacher, and I will +beat him; so I will not have to call upon you for help." This so +embarrassed the judge, lest some one should hear what was being +said, that he almost ran, in his hurry to get into his house. + +It so happened that some of Peter Cartwright's grandchildren were +somewhat reckless boys, and one of them killed another young man. +Mr. Peyton Harrison, the father of the slayer, was a friend of Mr. +Lincoln and also of Judge Logan, and had grown to be a good friend +of mine, I being a young lawyer. The two and I were employed in +the defence of the young man. I did the running about, and other +things necessary to be done until the time arrived for the trial. +I had the accused man in my house part of the intervening time. +When the Circuit Court convened he, having been previously indicted, +was delivered up and the trial came on. It lasted some ten or +twelve days. In the meantime, Peter Cartwright, and his daughter +Mrs. Harrison, the mother of the young man on trial, were at my +house most of the time. They drove into town from where they lived, +some ten or twelve miles out, every day, and remained until nearly +night, going back and forth as long as the trial lasted. Cartwright +became somewhat attached to me on account of my efforts in the +young man's behalf. + +The trial resulted in the acquittal of young Harrison, in whose +behalf Mr. Lincoln and Judge Logan exerted themselves very +earnestly. + +Springfield seems changed to me since my old friend, David T. +Littler, passed away. If I visited Springfield during the heat of +Summer, when every one else was gone, I was always sure that Dave +Littler would be there to greet me. Littler was a unique character. +His manners and speech were bluff and frank; he never was afraid +of any one, and never was afraid to speak just exactly what he +thought. Senator Littler, Colonel Bluford Wilson, a particularly +devoted friend, and I travelled through Europe together, and we +had a great time. + +Littler was for many years a member of the State Senate of Illinois, +and was a very useful member in securing favors for his district; +and there is no district in the State more dependent upon the +Legislature than the Springfield district. He was very ambitious, +and when many of my friends in Illinois believed that President +McKinley would honor me with an appointment to his cabinet, he +thought he was pretty sure to succeed me in the United States +Senate. My secret opinion was that the politicians who were running +State affairs at that time were fooling him; but it never came to +a test, as I did not enter the cabinet. + +It is a pleasure to record that I was able to show a substantial +token of friendship when, through my influence, Senator Littler +was appointed by President Cleveland one of the Pacific Railroad +Commissioners. + +Speaking of Colonel Littler reminds me of our mutual friend, Mr. +Rheuna Lawrence, an estimable citizen of Springfield in his day. +When I was re-elected to the Senate in the Winter of 1901, Rheuna +Lawrence and David Littler were both desperately ill. I visited +them both before leaving for Washington. Lawrence died soon after, +but Littler recovered and lived for a year or two. + +Rheuna Lawrence was intensely interested in my campaign in 1900. +He attended the Peoria convention as one of the Springfield delegates. +There was a contesting delegation from Sangamon County, and my +friends, among whom were Lawrence and Littler, were seated. My +friends won out all along the line, and the excitement was too much +for Rheuna, who was not a drinking man at all; but he and Dave got +in their cups, and it was very amusing to those who knew Mr. Lawrence +as one of the cleanest and most estimable of our citizens to hear +Littler refer to him as "my drunken friend, Rheuna." All of which, +of course, was only a little pleasantry which I repeat for the +benefit of those who attended that convention, and knew Lawrence +and Littler well. + +James C. Conkling was a prominent lawyer at home, in the days of +Lincoln. He was a zealous Republican and a stanch supporter of +Lincoln; also a lawyer and a business man; but for some reason or +other, I do not know why, he became involved and failed, and the +people, especially the older citizens, insisted that he be appointed +postmaster. I recommended him, and the appointment was made. He +served a term and passed away. His son, Mr. Clinton Conkling, is +now one of the leading attorneys of the city. + +Henry Green was noted as a great lawyer. He came to Illinois from +Canada and studied law in Clinton County with the Hon. Lawrence +Weldon, who was a prominent lawyer himself, and for years served +as a member of the Court of Claims at Washington. Weldon was a +lovable character. Green was for some years the partner of Milton +Hay, the firm being Hay, Green, and Littler; it changed later to +Green and Humphrey. While I always believed that Hay was the best +lawyer in the State, many lawyers believed that Green was the ablest +in connection with railroad litigation. + +The Hon. O. H. Browning was one of the most prominent men of Illinois +in the early times, and was about Springfield, the capital, a great +deal, attending the Federal Court, and also the Supreme Court of +the State. Browning, Archibald Williams, and Jack Grimshaw were +all three very excellent lawyers, quite prominent in their profession, +as well as associates in the Whig party. Browning was probably +the most prominent of the three. He was appointed by Governor +Yates to succeed Douglas, after the death of the latter, in the +United States Senate. Of course he did not remain there long, +being succeeded, I think, by William A. Richardson, a strong Democrat +of Quincy, and a man of considerable ability. After he went out +of the Senate, Browning was appointed by Andrew Johnson as Secretary +of the Interior. He became a follower of Mr. Johnson, who had +broken with the Republican party, and when he got out of office, +I think he ceased to take any part in politics. He had been talked +about a good deal at one time as the proper man for the Supreme +bench, but as between him and Logan and Davis, Mr. Lincoln decided +in favor of Davis. + +It is impossible to mention all the many friends and supporters +loyal and devoted to me who are now living, but I shall be pardoned, +I am sure, for saying a few words in reference to some of them at +present in Springfield, who are especially esteemed. + +I have been away from Springfield most of the time for nearly thirty +years, and as I go back there during the vacations for brief periods, +I feel lonely, because so many of the familiar faces of earlier +days have passed away. As I walk the streets now it seems that I +know comparatively few people; but I have the best of reasons for +knowing that among them are many splendid men. + +I like to feel, on the eve of visiting Springfield, that I shall +see my friend, Judge J. Otis Humphrey, United States District Judge +for the Southern District of Illinois. I have all the affection +and interest in Judge Humphrey that one could entertain for a +brother, and I know that he has the same feeling for me. He is an +able man, and is regarded by the Bar as the ablest judge who has +ever occupied the United States District Bench at Springfield. I +have known him from his boyhood, and knew his father before him. +It was one of the great pleasures of my public career to have been +able to secure from the late President McKinley his appointment as +United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, and +later to have secured his promotion to the position of United States +District Judge. He is now the senior United States District Judge +of the seventh circuit, and I regard him as the ablest judge of +them all. I sincerely hope that higher honors, which he so well +deserves in his chosen career, are still in store for him. + +In connection with Judge Humphrey I am reminded of the late Judge +Solomon H. Bethea, who was appointed United States Attorney for +the Northern District of Illinois, and who was later promoted to +the Federal Bench. Humphrey and Bethea I have always regarded as +my two judges, as they were both appointed on my recommendation. +Bethea was a man of very strong and positive character. These +traits were so conspicuous that his manners were, by some, regarded +as extremely dictatorial. He was highly educated, a student all +his life, and a very cultivated man. At the same time he was a +first-rate politician. I do not know of two more useful men to +lead a floor fight in a convention than Bethea and Humphrey. Judge +Bethea was my friend and supporter from the time I was elected to +the United States Senate, in 1883, until his death. He made a +splendid record as United States Attorney, and am informed that +during his incumbency of that office, he never lost a case before +a jury. Very unfortunately, just when he reached the goal of his +highest ambition, a Federal judgeship, his health failed. I have +never for a moment doubted that had he lived and retained his health +he would have made an enviable record on the bench. + +There is no better man in Springfield than John W. Bunn. He has +been my friend ever since I first went to Springfield. He was a +friend of Lincoln, and there was no one in Springfield in whom +Lincoln placed more confidence. I believe that one of the first +appointments he made, after entering the office of President, was +that of John W. Bunn as Pension Agent at Springfield. He was the +trusted friend of the War Governor, Yates, and performed many +important duties for him during the Civil War. From those early +days down to the present, every one has had confidence in John W. +Bunn and in his integrity and honesty. I am glad to say that he +is still living as one of the foremost citizens of his city. + +The Hon. James A. Connelly, who for two terms represented the +district in Congress, was a very influential and popular member of +Congress; and being a good lawyer he was a prominent member of the +Judiciary Committee of the House. He is a forcible speaker, and +has always taken an active part in behalf of the party in campaigns +in the State. + +Mr. E. F. Leonard--Frank Leonard, as he was familiarly known among +his friends--was my secretary when I was Governor of Illinois. He +was later president of the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad, +stationed at Peoria, and I have always believed him to be one of +the best railroad presidents in the State. He was particularly +noted for his sound common sense and as a scholarly, well posted +man in public affairs. I do not think he ever said or did a foolish +thing in his life. He has retired from business, and lives quietly +and elegantly, being a man of wealth, at the beautiful little +college town of Amherst, Massachusetts, in the vicinity of which +he was born. + +One of the oldest men in Springfield is Edward Thayer. He has been +a merchant in that town ever since I first went there, and was +engaged in business some years before that, I believe. His father +was living when I first went to Springfield, and was a very refined, +cultivated, elegant Eastern gentleman. Mr. Thayer, although over +ninety-five, still seems to enjoy the best of health, and attends +his store every day. + +The present Governor of Illinois, the Hon. Charles S. Deneen, +although a citizen of Chicago, has lived in Springfield for nearly +six years, during his incumbency of office. Governor Deneen has +had a very successful public career. He has creditably filled +every public office which he has held. I have been interested in +him, not only on his own account, but on account of his father, +whom I knew well and whom I respected highly. Years ago I obtained +his appointment in the consular service, in which he served during +the Harrison administration. Governor Deneen has taken a prominent +part in public affairs in Cook County and has held several responsible +positions there. He made a splendid State's Attorney of Cook +County. His honor and integrity were above suspicion. His record +as State's Attorney paved the way to the higher office of Governor +of Illinois. He is a conservative man, and has given the State a +conservative administration. Unfortunately he has had difficulties +with the Legislature, but on the whole I regard his administration +as a successful and creditable one. Governor Deneen and I are the +only two men in the history of the State who have been honored by +its people by being re-elected to succeed themselves as Governor. + + +CHAPTER V +NOMINATION OF LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS FOR THE PRESIDENCY +1859 and 1860 + +Returning to the period preceding the Civil War, we observe that +the whole nation was stirred by the conduct of a man whom most people +believed to be crazy, but who in my judgment was not. He was an +enthusiast, fired by an abnormal zeal, perhaps; but he filled a +most important place in the development leading to the Civil War. +I refer to old John Brown. + +With a score of followers he seized the arsenal at Harpers Ferry +in October, 1859. The nation was then on the very verge of civil +war. There was tremendous excitement even in far-off Springfield +when the news came over the wires that John Brown had opened war +almost single-handed and alone. Under orders from General-in-Chief +Winfield Scott, Colonel Robert E. Lee with a battalion of soldiers +marched on Harpers Ferry, and, after a series of siege operations, +summoned John Brown to surrender, the demand being borne to the +besieged by J. E. B. Stuart, a young lieutenant, afterwards +distinguished as the foremost cavalry leader of the Confederacy. + +The story of John Brown is too familiar to be repeated here; but +how strange that in so short a time his captor, Robert E. Lee, +should become famous as one of the greatest leaders of force in +rebellion against the government he then served. + +John Brown was captured and hanged. He had but few sympathizers +in the North, but his attempt to incite the slaves to rebellion +greatly stirred up the entire South, and hastened secession. + +Very soon the second National Republican Convention was held at +Chicago. At this convention, which nominated Lincoln for the +Presidency, the resolutions declared for "the maintenance inviolate +of the right of each State to order and control its own domestic +institutions according to its own judgment exclusively," and +condemned the attempt to enforce the extreme pretensions of a purely +local interest (meaning the slave interest), through the intervention +of Congress and the courts, by the Democratic administration. They +derided the new dogma that the Constitution of its own force carried +slavery into the Territories, and denied the authority of Congress, +or of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individual to give leave +of existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States. + +After the failure of the efforts to make of Kansas a Slave State, +it had become plain that the South could not hope to keep its +equality of representation in the Senate without reversing what +appeared to be settled popular opinion concerning the status of +the Northern Territories. Resolutions to this general effect were +moved by Jefferson Davis early in February, 1860, and passed by +the Senate. It was in effect the ultimatum presented to the +Democratic party at its National Convention when it assembled, +April 23, at Charleston, S. C. The warring factions failed to come +to an agreement, and the convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore +on the eighteenth of June. There Douglas was at last nominated. +The delegates who had seceded at Charleston were joined by other +seceders at Baltimore, and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky +for President. A month later, May 19, a third faction, calling +itself the "Constitutional Union Party," assembled in convention +at the same city, Baltimore, and nominated John Bell of Tennessee +and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, on a platform whose distinguishing +battle-cry was "The Constitution, the Union of the States, and the +enforcement of the laws." Three days before this, May sixteenth, +the Republican Convention had met at Chicago, and had nominated +Lincoln and Hamlin on a platform which rang true on great principles +and with high resolve. + +In many particulars this platform was a contrast to, rather than +a growth from, that of 1856. It asserted that the normal condition +of all the territory of the United States was that of freedom; it +denounced the outrages in Kansas, and demanded her immediate +admission into the Union, with her Constitution, as a Free State; +it branded the re-opening of the African slave-trade as a crime; +and in expressing the abhorrence of the Republican party to all +schemes of disunion, the Democratic party was arraigned for its +silence in the presence of threats of secession made by its own +members. The doctrine of encouragement to domestic industry was +announced; the sale of the public lands was condemned; the coming +measure of securing homesteads for the landless was approved; and +a pledge of protection was given to all citizens, whether native +or naturalized, and whether at home or abroad. The party was again +pledged to the construction of a railway to the Pacific Ocean, and +to the improvement of the rivers and harbors of the country. + +During the four years preceding, the home State of Lincoln and +Douglas had decreased its public debt $3,104,374. She had become +the fourth State of the Union in population and wealth, having +during the decade then closing outstripped Virginia, Massachusetts, +North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Indiana. In production of +wheat and corn she now surpassed all other States and occupied the +foremost position. She had in successful operation two thousand, +nine hundred miles of railways, being surpassed in this respect by +Ohio only. Chicago, her marvellous lake mart, had grown from a +population of 29,963 to 109,206, an increase of nearly three +hundred per cent. From nine Congressmen in 1850, she was entitled +in 1860 to thirteen; and so, on every hand, might the recital of +her growth be continued indefinitely. + +For the first time in twenty years, during the progress of a +political campaign in Illinois, the voice of Lincoln was not heard. +But the record of his former speeches, printed by an enterprising +Ohio publishing firm, in a volume which sold in enormous numbers, +afforded the text from which the Republican stump-orators in every +Free State gathered at once their logic and their inspiration. +Though the orator himself remained silent, the potent echo of his +eloquence resounded in countless voices from the Atlantic to the +Pacific. + +The political contest that followed the various nominations was a +memorable one. Douglas made his last effort for the Presidency +with wonderful vigor and spirit. He canvassed the whole country, +and great throngs were greatly moved by his eloquent and energetic +oratory. Jefferson Davis and other Southern orators canvassed +portions of the Northern States in support of the nominee of the +Southern wing of the Democratic party. In some parts of the North +fusions were attempted among the opponents of the Republican +candidate. In the South the interest in the contest was even more +intense than in the North. Douglas had a good following in many +portions of the South, but a majority of the ruling class there, +whether they had formerly been Democrats or Whigs, were now disposed +to bring the long sectional controversy to an issue. Therefore, +besides the debate over the Presidential issue, there was a serious +discussion also of what course the South should take in the event +of Mr. Lincoln's election. In all the Cotton States the sentiment +for secession was now very strong. The Alabama Legislature, early +in 1860, had instructed her Governor to call a convention in case +a "Black Republican" should be elected President in November. +South Carolina had long been ready to join in such a movement, or +to lead in it. + +At last, election day came, and the results, immediate as well as +ulterior, are deserving of some remark. The aggregate popular vote +exceeded four million, six hundred and eighty thousand; and of the +total, one million, eight hundred and sixty-six thousand votes were +given for Mr. Lincoln; and of the three hundred and three electoral +votes, he received one hundred and eighty. Mr. Breckinridge, the +candidate of the South, received eight hundred and forty-seven +thousand votes, and seventy-two votes in the Electoral College; +while Mr. Douglas received only twelve electoral votes, although +his popular vote reached a million, three hundred and seventy-five +thousand. Bell received thirty-nine electoral votes on a popular +vote of less than six hundred thousand. Thus the popular vote for +Mr. Lincoln was nearly a half-million less than a majority; but +his predecessor, Mr. Buchanan, was also a minority President, so +that this fact as a pretext for secession was wholly without point. + +Eleven States voted for Mr. Breckinridge, including Delaware and +Maryland; and eleven States became members of the Confederacy, +including Virginia and Tennessee, which had voted for Mr. Bell. +It all went to show that the Democratic party as represented by +Breckinridge was in fact a secession party first of all. The +division of the Democratic party decided the election in favor of +Mr. Lincoln. + +Had that party supported Mr. Douglas in good faith, his election +would probably have been secured; but the South would have been +left without excuse had it persisted in the scheme of secession. + +Therefore it came to pass that the Democratic party was disorganized +by its own leaders of the South as a step preliminary to the election +of Mr. Lincoln, and the making of that election a pretext for +disunion. This part of the conspiracy was managed with consummate +skill and eminent success; but the conspirators were perfectly well +aware that ultimate success depended largely on prompt, effective, +and decisive steps which must be taken while their efficient friend +in the Executive Mansion still remained in office. + +This allowed them four months of precious time between the election +of Mr. Lincoln and his inauguration as President. The vigilance +and effectiveness of their work is an interesting and familiar +story, but I shall not attempt here a narration of it. This work +eventuated in war, and with the opening of war, Mr. Douglas was +quickly found in the attitude of a leader in the cause of the Union +--the closing and the noblest episode of his whole remarkable +career. + +I knew Senator Douglas quite well. Of course, he was considerably +older than I, and was one of the great men of the Nation, when I +was just starting in public life. I knew him before the Civil War. +He was a wonderful man with the people. I do not think there was +ever a man in public life who was more thoroughly loved by the +party to which he belonged than Senator Douglas. His adherents +were devoted to him at all times and under all circumstances. When +he came through the State, the whole Democratic party was alive +and ready to rally to his support. I heard him deliver addresses +on two occasions before the War. I heard one of the Lincoln-Douglas +debates at Ottawa. I heard Lincoln deliver the famous Springfield +address, in which he uttered the immortal sentiment, "A house +divided against itself cannot stand." To this address Douglas +afterwards replied. When Lincoln was inaugurated, Douglas was +present on the platform and held Lincoln's hat while he delivered +his inaugural address; the tremendous significance of which trivial +act can be appreciated only in the light of later years. + +But Douglas did not hesitate for a moment after Fort Sumter was +fired upon, April 12, 1861. He voluntarily called upon President +Lincoln and tendered his support to the cause of the Union, and +immediately gave out to the Associated Press a statement, calling +upon the people of the North, regardless of party, to rally to its +defence. + +I believe it was Mr. Lincoln who asked him to visit Illinois, where, +especially in the southern part of the State, there was considerable +disunion sentiment. There was a great effort to induce the region +where the Democracy predominated, the people being loyal followers +of Douglas, to go with the South instead of the North. Douglas +alone could save it. He came to Illinois, as he told me, partly on +that account; to rally the State to the support of the Union, +earnestly desiring that the country should understand where he +stood. + +He visited Springfield while the Legislature was in session. +Senator Douglas was invited to address a joint session of that +body, which he did on the evening of April 25, 1861. Being Speaker +of the House, I presided. In addition to the members of the +Legislature, there was a great crowd present. + +I have a vivid recollection of the evening. Prior to that time I +had not believed in Senator Douglas; which was only natural, I +having been a Whig and an enthusiastic adherent of Lincoln. The +duty of introducing Senator Douglas to the joint Assembly devolved +upon myself; I cannot at this late day recall the words I used, +but I am sure that I presented him in as complimentary a manner as +my prejudices allowed. + +As he continued speaking, however, I, as thousands--nay, millions +--of others had done, succumbed to the magic of his eloquence and +the irresistible logic of his brilliant mind; and I must here +confess that never before or since have I heard a more masterful, +a more inspired, plea for the integrity of the Union and the +indivisibility of the Nation than Senator Douglas delivered upon +that occasion. + +It seemed to me, as he hurled the thunders of his eloquence broadcast, +that the very rafters rang in harmony, that the air vibrated in +accord with his denunciations of rebellion. + +The address was not a long one. As it was printed by order of the +General Assembly, I shall take the liberty of presenting it in full: + +"Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives: +I am not insensible to the patriotic motives which have prompted +you to do me the honor to invite me to address you on the momentous +issues now presented in the condition of our country. With a heart +filled with sadness and grief, I proceed to comply with your +request. + +"For the first time since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, +a widespread conspiracy exists to destroy the best government the +sun of heaven ever shed its rays upon. Hostile armies are now +marching upon the Federal Capitol, with a view of planting a +revolutionary flag upon its dome; seizing the National archives; +taking captive the President elected by the votes of the people, +and holding him in the hands of secessionists and disunionists. +A war of aggression and of extermination is being waged against +the Government established by our fathers. The boast has gone +forth by the authorities of this revolutionary Government that on +the first day of May the revolutionary flag shall float from the +walls of the Capitol at Washington, and that on the fourth day of +July the Rebel army shall hold possession of the Hall of Independence +in Philadelphia. + +"The simple question presented to us is, whether we will wait for +the enemy to carry out his boast of making war upon our soil; or +whether we will rush as one man to the defence of the Government +and its capital, and defend it from the hands of all assailants +who have threatened to destroy it. Already the piratical flag has +been unfurled against the commerce of the United States. Letters +of marque have been issued, appealing to the pirates of the world +to assemble under that revolutionary flag and commit depredations +on the commerce carried on under the Stars and Stripes. The +navigation of our great river into the Gulf of Mexico is obstructed. +Hostile batteries have been planted upon its banks; custom houses +have already been established; and we are now required to pay +tribute and taxes, without having a voice in making the laws imposing +them, or having a share in the proceeds after they have been +collected. The question is, whether this war of aggression shall +proceed, and we remain with folded arms, inattentive spectators; +or whether we shall meet the aggressors at the threshold and turn +back the tide of revolution and usurpation. + +"So long as there was a hope of peaceful solution, I prayed and +implored for compromise. I can appeal to my countrymen with +confidence that I have spared no effort, omitted no opportunity, +to secure a peaceful solution of all these troubles, and thus +restore peace, happiness, and fraternity to the country. When all +propositions of peace fail, and a war of aggression is proclaimed, +there is but one course left for the patriot, and that is to rally +under that flag which has waved over the capitol from the days of +Washington, and around the Government established by Washington, +Madison, Hamilton, and their compeers. + +"What is the alleged cause for this invasion of the rights and +authority of the Government of the United States? The cause alleged +is that the institutions of the Southern States are not safe under +the Federal Government. What evidence has been presented that they +are insecure? I appeal to every man within the sound of my voice +to tell me at what period from the time that Washington was +inaugurated down to this hour, have the rights of the Southern +States--the rights of the slave-holders--been more secure than they +are at this moment? When in the whole history of this Government +have they stood on so firm a basis? For the first time in the +history of this republic, there is no restriction by act of Congress +upon the institution of slavery, anywhere within the limits of the +United States. Then it cannot be the Territorial question that +has given them cause for rebellion. When was the Fugitive Slave +Law executed with more fidelity than since the inauguration of the +present incumbent of the Presidential office? Let the people of +Chicago speak and tell us when were the laws of the land executed +with as much firmness and fidelity, so far as the fugitive slaves +are concerned, as they are now. Can any man tell me of any one +act of aggression that has been committed or attempted since the +last Presidential election, that justifies this violent disruption +of the Federal Union? + +"I ask you to reflect, and then point out any one act that has been +done--any one duty that has been omitted to be done--of which any +one of these disunionists can justly complain. Yet we are told, +simply because a certain political party has succeed in a Presidential +election, they choose to consider that their liberties are not +safe, and therefore they are justified in breaking up the +Government. + +"I had supposed that it was a cardinal and fundamental principle +of our system of government that the decision of the people at the +ballot box, without fraud, according to the forms of the Constitution, +was to command the implicit obedience of every good citizen. If +defeat at a Presidential election is to justify the minority, or +any portion of the minority, in raising the traitorous hand of +rebellion against the constituted authorities, you will find the +future history of the United States written in the history of +Mexico. According to my reading of Mexican history, there has +never been one presidential term, from the time of the Revolution +of 1820 down to this day, when the candidate elected by the people +ever served his four years. In every instance, either the defeated +candidate has seized upon the Presidential chair by use of the +bayonet, or he has turned out the duly elected President before +his term expired. Are we to inaugurate this Mexican system in the +United States of America? Suppose the case to be reversed. Suppose +the disunion candidate had been elected by any means--I care not +what, if by any means in accordance with the forms of the Constitution +--at the last Presidential election; then, suppose the Republicans +had raised a rebellion against his authority--in that case you would have +found me tendering my best efforts and energies to John C. Breckinridge +to put down the Republican rebels. And if you had attempted such +a rebellion I would have justified him in calling forth all the +power and energies of this country to have crushed you out. + +"The first duty of an American citizen, or of a citizen of any +constitutional Government, is obedience to the Constitution and +laws of his country. I have no apprehension that any man in +Illinois, or beyond the limits of our own beloved State, will +misconstrue or misunderstand my motive. So far as any of the +partisan questions are concerned, I stand in equal, irreconcilable, +and undying opposition both to the Republicans and the secessionists. +You all know that I am a very good partisan fighter in partisan +times, and I trust you will find me equally as good a patriot when +the country is in danger. + +"Now permit me to say to the assembled Representatives and Senators +of our beloved States, composed of men of both political parties, +in my opinion it is your duty to lay aside, for the time being, +your party creeds and party platforms; to dispense with your party +organizations and partisan appeals; to forget that you were ever +divided, until you have rescued the Government and the country from +their assailants. When this paramount duty shall have been performed, +it will be proper for each of us to resume our respective political +positions according to our convictions of public duty. Give me a +country first, that my children may live in peace; then we will +have a theatre for our party organizations to operate upon. + +"Are we to be called upon to fold our arms, allow the national +capital to be seized by a military force under a foreign revolutionary +flag; to see the archives of the Government in the hands of a people +who affect to despise the flag and Government of the United States? +I am not willing to be expelled by military force, nor to fly from +the Federal capitol. It has been my daily avocation six months in +the year, for eighteen years, to walk into that marble building, +and from its portico to survey a prosperous, happy, and united +country on both sides of the Potomac. I believe I may with confidence +appeal to the people of every section of the country to bear +testimony that I have been as thoroughly national in my political +opinions and actions as any man that has lived in my day. And I +believe if I should make an appeal to the people of the State of +Illinois, or of the Northern States, for their impartial verdict, +they would say that whatever errors I have committed have been in +leaning too far to the Southern section of the Union against my +own. I think I can appeal to friend and foe--I use the term in a +political sense, and I trust I use the word _foe_ in a past sense +--I can appeal to them with confidence, that I have never pandered +to the prejudice or passion of my section against the minority +section of this Union; and I will say to you now, with all frankness +and in all sincerity, that I will never sanction nor acquiesce in +any warfare whatever upon the constitutional rights or domestic +institutions of the people of the Southern States. On the contrary, +if there was an attempt to invade these rights--to stir up servile +insurrection among their people--I would rush to their rescue, and +interpose with whatever of strength I might possess to defend them +from such a calamity. While I will never invade them--while I will +never fail to defend and protect their rights to the full extent +that a fair and liberal construction of the Constitution can give +them--they must distinctly understand that I will never acquiesce +in their invasion of our constitutional rights. + +"It is a crime against the inalienable and indefeasible rights of +every American citizen to attempt to destroy the Government under +which we were born. It is a crime against constitutional freedom +and the hopes of the friends of freedom throughout the wide world +to attempt to blot out the United States from the map of Christendom. +Yet this attempt is now being made. The Government of our fathers +is to be overthrown and destroyed. The capital that bears the name +of the Father of his Country is to be bombarded and levelled with +the earth among the rubbish and the dust of things that are past. +The records of your Government are to be scattered to the four +winds of heaven. The constituted authorities, placed there by the +same high authority that placed Washington and Jefferson and Madison +and Jackson in the chair, are to be captured and carried off, to +become a byword and a scorn to the nations of the world. + +"You may think that I am drawing a picture that is overwrought. +No man who has spent the last week in the city of Washington will +believe that I have done justice to it. You have all the elements +of the French Revolution surrounding the capital now, and threatening +it with its terrors. Not only is our constitutional Government to +be stricken down; not only is our flag to be blotted out; but the +very foundations of social order are to be undermined and destroyed; +the demon of destruction is to be let loose over the face of the +land, a reign of terror and mob law is to prevail in each section +of the Union, and the man who dares to plead for the cause of +justice and moderation in either section is to be marked down as +a traitor to his section. If this state of things is allowed to +go on, how long before you will have the guillotine in active +operation? + +"I appeal to you, my countrymen--men of all parties--not to allow +your passions to get the better of your judgment. Do not allow +your vengeance upon the authors of this great iniquity to lead you +into rash, and cruel, and desperate acts upon loyal citizens who +may differ with you in opinion. Let the spirit of moderation and +of justice prevail. You cannot expect, within so few weeks after +an excited political canvass, that every man can rise to the high +and patriotic level of forgetting his partisan prejudices and +sacrifice everything upon the altar of his country; but allow me +to say to you, whom I have opposed and warred against with an energy +you will respect--allow me to say to you, you will not be true to +your country if you ever attempt to manufacture partisan capital +out of the misfortunes of your country. When calling upon Democrats +to rally to the tented field, leaving wife, child, father, and +mother behind them to rush to the rescue of the President that you +elected, do not make war upon them and try to manufacture partisan +capital at their expense out of a struggle in which they are engaged +from the holiest and purest of motives. + +"Then I appeal to you, my own Democratic friends--those men that +have never failed to rally under the glorious banner of the country +whenever an enemy at home or abroad has dared to assail it--to you +with whom it has always been my pride to act--do not allow the +mortification, growing out of a defeat in a partisan struggle, and +the elevation of a party to power that we firmly believe to be +dangerous to the country--do not let that convert you from patriots +into traitors to your native land. Whenever our Government is +assailed, when hostile armies are marching under new and odious +banners against the Government of our country, the shortest way to +peace is the most stupendous and unanimous preparations for war. +The greater unanimity, the less blood will be shed. The more prompt +and energetic the movement, and the more imposing in numbers, the +shorter will be the struggle. + +"Every friend of freedom--every champion and advocate of constitutional +liberty throughout the land--must feel that this cause is his own. +There is and should be nothing disagreeable or humiliating to men +who have differed in times of peace on every question that could +divide fellow men, to rally in concert in defence of the country +and against all assailants. While all the States of this Union, +and every citizen of every State has a priceless legacy dependent +upon the success of our efforts to maintain this Government, we in +the great valley of the Mississippi have peculiar interests and +inducements to the struggle. What is the attempt now being made? +Seven States of the Union chose to declare that they will no longer +obey the Constitution of the United States; that they will withdraw +from the Government established by our fathers; that they will +dissolve without our consent the bonds that have united us together. +But, not content with that, they proceed to invade and obstruct +our dearest and most inalienable rights, secured by the Constitution. +One of their first acts is to establish a battery of cannon upon +the banks of the Mississippi, on the dividing line between the +States of Mississippi and Tennessee, and require every steamer that +passes down the river to come to under their guns to receive a +custom-house officer on board, to prescribe where the boat may land +and upon what terms it may put out a barrel of flour or a cask of +bacon. + +"We are called upon to sanction this policy. Before consenting to +their right to commit such acts, I implore you to consider that +the same principle which will allow the cotton States to exclude +us from the ports of the gulf, would authorize the New England +States and New York and Pennsylvania to exclude us from the Atlantic, +and the Pacific States to exclude us from the ports of that ocean. +Whenever you sanction this doctrine of secession, you authorize +the States bordering upon the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to withdraw +from us, form alliance among themselves, and exclude us from the +markets of the world and from communication with all the rest of +Christendom. Not only this, but there follows a tariff on imports, +levying taxes upon every pound of tea and coffee and sugar and +every yard of cloth that we may import for our consumption; the +levying too of an export duty upon every bushel of corn and every +pound of meat we may choose to send to the markets of the world to +pay for our imports. + +"Bear in mind that these very cotton States, who in former times +have been so boisterous in their demands for free trade, have, +among their first acts, established an export duty on cotton for +the first time in American history. + +"It is an historical fact, well known to every man who has read +the debates of the convention which framed the Constitution, that +the Southern States refused to become parties to the Constitution +unless there was an express provision in the Constitution prohibiting +Congress to levy an export duty on any product of the country. No +sooner have these cotton States seceded than an export duty is +levied, and if they will levy it on their own cotton do you not +think they will levy it on our pork and our beef and our corn and +our wheat and our manufactured articles, and all we have to sell? +Then what is the proposition? It is to enable the tier of States +bordering on the Atlantic and the Pacific and on the Gulf, surrounding +us on all sides, to withdraw from our Union, form alliances among +themselves, and then levy taxes on us without our consent, and +collect revenues without giving us any just proportion or any +portion of the amount collected. Can we submit to taxation without +representation? Can we permit nations foreign to us to collect +revenues off our products, the fruits of our industry? I ask the +citizens of Illinois--I ask every citizen in the great basin between +the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies, in the valley of the Ohio, +Mississippi, and Missouri to tell me whether he is willing to +sanction a line of policy that may isolate us from the markets of +the world and make us dependent provinces upon powers that thus +choose to surround and hem us in? + +"I warn you, my countrymen, whenever you permit this to be done in +the Southern States, New York will very soon follow their example. +New York--that great port where two-thirds of all our revenue is +collected, and whence two-thirds of our products are exported, will +not long be able to resist the temptation of taxing fifteen millions +of people in the great West, when she can monopolize the resources +and release her own people thereby from any taxation whatsoever. +Hence I say to you, my countrymen, from the best consideration I +have been able to give to this subject, after the most mature +reflection and thorough investigation, I have arrived at the +conclusion that, come what may,--war if it must be, although I +deplore it as a great calamity,--yet, come what may, the people of +the Mississippi Valley can never consent to be excluded from free +access to the ports of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Gulf of +Mexico. + +"Hence, I repeat, that while I am not prepared to take up arms or +to sanction war upon the rights of the Southern States, upon their +domestic institutions, upon their rights of person or property, +but, on the contrary, would rush to their defence and protect them +from assault, I will never cease to urge my countrymen to take up +arms and to fight to the death in defence of our indefeasible +rights. + +"Hence, if a war does come, it will be a war of self-defence on +our part. It will be a war in defence of our own just rights; in +defence of the Government which we have inherited as a priceless +legacy from our patriotic fathers; in defence of those great rights +of the freedom of trade, commerce, transit, and intercourse from +the centre to the circumference of our great continent. These are +rights we can never surrender. + +"I have struggled almost against hope to avert the calamities of +war and to effect a reunion and reconciliation with our brethren +of the South. I yet hope it may be done, but I am not able to +point out to you how it may be effected. Nothing short of Providence +can reveal to us the issue of this great struggle. Bloody--calamitous +--I fear it will be. May we so conduct it if a collision must +come, that we will stand justified in the eyes of Him who knows +our hearts and who will judge our every act. We must not yield to +resentments, nor to the spirit of vengeance, much less to the desire +for conquest or ambition. + +"I see no path of ambition open in a bloody struggle for triumph +over my own countrymen. There is no path for ambition open for me +in a divided country, after having so long served a united and +glorious country. Hence, whatever we may do must be the result of +conviction, of patriotic duty--the duty that we owe to ourselves, +to our posterity, and to the friends of constitutional liberty and +self-government throughout the world. + +"My friends, I can say no more. To discuss these topics is the +most painful duty of my life. It is with a sad heart--with a grief +that I have never before experienced, that I have to contemplate +this fearful struggle; but I believe in my conscience that it is +a duty we owe ourselves and our children and our God, to protect +this Government and that flag from every assailant, be he who he +may." + +Of all the members of that joint assembly who listened to the +eloquence of Senator Douglas that evening, forty-nine years ago, +aside from Dr. William Jayne of Springfield, and myself, I do not +know of a single one now living. + +After he concluded his address, the joint session of the Legislature +dissolved. He and I remained together in conversation, and I +accompanied him to his hotel. During that talk he expressed to me +the great anxiety which he felt for the safety of the country and +the preservation of the Union. I am satisfied that it was his +ambition to enter the army and possibly lead it in suppressing the +Rebellion. What would have been the result in that case, no one +can tell; but I am inclined to think that he would have made a very +great general. + +Senator Douglas's Springfield speech had a tremendous effect on +public opinion. It brought his followers, and they were legion in +all parts of the country, to the support of the Government and the +North. + +Senator Douglas went from Springfield to Chicago, where he delivered +another eloquent address, along the same lines as the one delivered +at Springfield, to tens of thousands of people. Very soon thereafter +he was taken ill with pneumonia and passed away. + +He was a man of extraordinary intellect. He did his full part, at +one of the most critical periods of our history, in saving the +Nation. His speeches in and out of Congress are among the most +able and eloquent delivered by any American statesman. + + +CHAPTER VI +SPEAKER OF THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE AND A MEMBER OF CONGRESS +1860 to 1865 + +The election of Mr. Lincoln was made the pretext for secession. +It has always seemed to me that the South was determined to secede +no matter at what cost; and it has also seemed to me that this +determination was not due to the great body of the people of the +South, than whom there were no better, but to the jealous politicians +of that section, who saw the gradual growth in wealth and power of +the Northern States threaten their domination of the National +Government, which they had firmly held since the days of Washington. +They saw that domination slipping away, and they determined to form +a nation of their own--in which slavery, indeed, would be paramount; +but it was not so much slavery as it was their own desire for +control that influenced them. + +As soon, therefore, as Mr. Lincoln was elected President they began +the organization of a Government of their own. President Buchanan +declared in his message that the Southern States had no right to +secede--"unless they wanted to," as some one aptly expressed it; +in other words, that he had no right under the Constitution to keep +them forcibly in the Union, and thus the constitutional opinions +of the President harmonized effectively with the purposes of the +secessionists. Fortunate it was that Mr. Buchanan had so short a +term remaining after the election of Mr. Lincoln. Had a year or +two elapsed, the Confederacy would have been firmly and irrevocably +established. + +It has never been quite clear to my mind whether Mr. Buchanan cared +to preserve the Union or not. In the heat and passion of that day, +we all thought he was a traitor. As I look back now and think of +it, remembering his long and distinguished service to the country +in almost every capacity--as a legislator, as a diplomat, as +Secretary of State, as President, I think now he was only weak. +His term was about expiring, and he saw and feared the awful +consequences of a civil war. + +One State after another seceded; the United States' arms and arsenals +were seized; on January 9, the _Star of the West_, carrying supplies +to Fort Sumter, was fired upon and driven off. South Carolina, +Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas went +out. The Confederate States of America were organized in the capital +of Alabama on the fourth of February, and Jefferson Davis was +elected President. + +We watched with great interest the famous Peace Conference which +met in Washington and over which John Tyler, ex-President of the +United States, presided. It sat during the month of February, +preceding Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, and recommended the adoption +of seven additional articles to the Constitution, which were +afterwards rejected by the Senate of the United States. + +But the fourth of March finally came, and new life was infused into +the national councils. + +Mr. Lincoln's speeches on his way East were a disappointment, in +that they failed in the least to abate the rising Southern storm; +the calmly firm tone of his inaugural address impressed the North, +but his appeals to the South were in vain. Said he: + +"I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to +interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it +exists. . . . The Union of these States is perpetual. It is safe +to assert that no Government proper ever had a provision in its +organic law for its own termination. The power confided to me will +be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places +belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts." + +It was a notable appeal that he made, in closing, to the +Southerners: + +"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, +is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail +you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the +aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the +Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, +protect, and defend it.' + +"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. The mystic chords of memory, stretching +from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and +hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of +the union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better +angels of our nature." + +At the same time that Mr. Lincoln was first elected President of +the United States, I was for the second time elected to the +Legislature of Illinois. I received the vote of what they called +the Republicans, or Free-soil men, and of those who were previously +known as Fillmore men. I was always in thorough accord with Mr. +Lincoln in political sentiment, though I had supported Fillmore +rather than Fremont in 1856. I most heartily supported Lincoln's +candidacy, and as candidate for the Legislature received more votes +than Mr. Lincoln received in Sangamon County. Douglas carried the +county as against Lincoln, and I carried it as against my opponent. +There was great enthusiasm for Mr. Lincoln in the county, but he +was so positive and outspoken in his convictions on the slavery +question that he failed to get a considerable number of votes; many +went to other Republicans who did not express their views so +vigorously as he did. Of course, what he lost at home because of +zeal and earnestness in his cause, was more than made up to him on +the wider field covered by his candidacy. + +Stephen A. Hurlbut was a member of that Legislature, and afterward +became a prominent general in the army. I might say that General +Hurlbut and Lawrence Church were two very strong men, both from +the northern part of the State, and both became prominent in the +public service. I might say also that but for these two men, who +put me forward as a candidate for the Speakership, I probably would +not have become a candidate. On the Saturday night before the +Monday on which the Legislature was to convene, they pressed me so +strongly that I consented, and became the nominee of my party +associates. J. W. Singleton was the Democratic nominee. Before +the Legislature convened, and during the intervening Sunday, a +feeling got abroad among the older members of the Legislature that +I was too young to be trusted in such a responsible position as +that of Speaker. When I came down-town on Sunday I found that +feeling prevailing. + +I at once took notice of it, and stated that if there was any +feeling that I had done wrong in becoming a candidate, I would +submit the question to another test of the sense of the Republicans +in the Legislature, and if they thought I ought not to have the +position I would cheerfully yield to their judgment. The caucus +was called together Monday morning, and I stated that I had heard +that there was some dissatisfaction, and I desired to have another +vote. A vote was accordingly taken, and I was again nominated, +and by a larger vote then in the first instance; whereupon the older +men gave in, and I was duly elected, receiving thirty-nine votes +to twenty-nine cast for the Democratic candidate. + +I think I made more friends, in the conduct of the office of Speaker +during that term, than I ever did afterwards; and in subsequent +campaigns I was frequently gratified to find men, some of them +Democrats, who had been in the Legislature with me at that time, +working for me with a stronger zeal and earnestness because of the +associations and intimate relations there formed and cemented. +All classes, Republicans and Democrats alike, took occasion to +manifest their satisfaction, and some who became my friends then +continued so as long as they lived. I think, of all that Legislature, +I am the only one left. + +A little incident occurred at a reception given by Mr. Lincoln +after he was elected President, but before he left his home to come +to Washington, that vitally affected my life. In speaking to the +President, I expressed a desire to visit Washington while he was +President of the United States. He replied heartily: "Mr. Speaker, +come on." And that was about the origin of my thinking seriously +that I would like to come to Washington as a member of Congress. + +The more I thought of the idea, the more interested I became, and +I so shaped matters during that session of the Legislature as to +secure a district in which some Republican could hope to be elected. +In the apportionment under the census of 1860, I had our Congressional +district elongated to the north and south rather than to the east +and west, and let it be known that I would be a candidate. + +But when the time came for a nomination the Hon. Leonard Swett, +who was then a prominent lawyer and politician, also took the field +to secure the Republican nomination. He visited Springfield, and +persuaded some of his friends there that he ought to be the nominee, +and they determined to try their hands toward securing my withdrawal, +if possible by persuasion. They sent for me to come to the library, +where they were proposing to hold a meeting. I went over, and +found that their project was to get me to withdraw in favor of +Swett, and I declined. But I said I would "draw straws," or assent +to any other fair means that could be found by which it was to be +settled who was to be the nominee of the party. Then, after some +further parleying, I finally left the conference. + +That evening after dusk I met Swett on the street. We sat down +upon the curbstone, as it was growing a little dark, and talked +the matter over. Swett said to me that he was an older man than +I was; that he had been knocked about a good deal, and, though he +had done much work for the party, he had never got anything; and +if the present opportunity for reward for services were allowed to +pass him by another opportunity was not likely, at his age, to come +to him. Finally, I said: "Mr. Swett, if you had come to me and +made this suggestion at first, I would have been very glad indeed +to make the concession to you, and I am ready to do so now. Here +is my hand on it, and I will help you at the convention." He became +the party candidate by general consent, as I remember it. At all +events he was the candidate, and unfortunately he was beaten at +the polls. That was in 1862. So that while the Congressional +district was made by me, and for myself, I gave way to Mr. Swett, +and the opposition carried it. Two years afterwards I was the +candidate and was elected. + +The majority in the counties composing the district was ordinarily +Republican. As a result of Mr. Swett's defeat, he left the district, +though a very prominent lawyer, and went to Chicago, never to return +to the Congressional district in which he had lived so many years, +really quitting politics entirely. + +I suppose I ought to state the fact that, having made the district +for myself and then given it up to Mr. Swett, I determined to be +a candidate at the next election; whereupon I found that Mr. James +C. Conkling, a friend of mine, and a special friend of Mr. Lincoln +also, some of whose family are still living, was disposed to try +for the same office. I made up my mind that in order to keep myself +in trim for the future it was well to keep in touch with the voters; +and I determined to run for the State Senate, though the four +counties composing the Senatorial district were all Democratic and +all in the Congressional district in which Swett was the defeated +candidate, yet I desired to run for the Senate, in order to keep +Conkling from getting such a hold on the district as to strengthen +him for the contest two years afterwards. + +So I made the run, and was beaten, of course, every county in the +district being Democratic; and the rest of my plans also worked +out as I had calculated they would. + +Soon after I was elected to Congress, and soon after Mr. Lincoln +was elected the second time, I came on to Washington. Having been +intimate with Mr. Nicolay and Mr. Hay who were his secretaries, I +was in the habit of frequenting their rooms without ceremony. One +evening, just after dusk, I went to the White House and quietly, +as usual, entered Mr. Nicolay's room. It so happened that Mr. +Lincoln and Mr. Seward, with some other cabinet officers, were in +the room, holding a consultation. I had opened the door before I +observed who were there. President Lincoln saw me quite as soon +as I saw him, and I was very much embarrassed. He sang out cheerily, +"Come in!" and turning to his Secretary of State, he added, "Seward, +you remember my old friend Stuart? Here is the boy that beat him." +I stayed for only a moment, and then went out. That is the nearest +I ever came to participating in a cabinet meeting. + +That incident in my life, as I now look back, punctuates, in my +individual way of thinking at this moment, the substantial close +of what was mortal in that great man's earthly career. The close +of the four years of civil war was clearly in sight. It was in +many respects a record-making and a record-breaking war. The navies +of the world, rendered helpless by the incidental effects of its +thundering guns, had to be rebuilt. For the first time in the +world's history the railroad and the electric telegraph played a +very considerable part. The grip of insatiate despotism on Democratic +institutions was effectually loosened far and wide. For the first +time in war the lessons taught in the art of warfare by Alexander +and Caesar were utterly ignored, and the "Maxims of Napoleon" were +relegated to the shelf, there to gather dust. In short, in +inaugurated a new era in the history not only of our own country +but of the entire world. + + +CHAPTER VII +LINCOLN +1860 to 1864 + +As days and years pass by and an enlightened humanity studies and +comprehends the real greatness and simplicity of Abraham Lincoln, +he comes nearer and becomes dearer to all. No weak compliment of +words can add to his renown, nor will any petty criticism detract +from the glory which has crowned his memory. The passing of time +has only added brightness to his character; the antagonisms of +bitter war have left no shade upon his name; and the hatred which, +for a brief time, spent itself in harmless words has turned to +reverence and love. + +Had he lived until February 12, 1911, he would have been one hundred +and two years old. Less than forty-five years ago, in the very +prime of life, he was the Chief Magistrate of the Nation, guiding +and controlling it in its great struggle for national existence. +Such a vast accumulation of history has been compressed into those +years, and such a wonderful panorama of events has passed before +us in that comparatively brief time, that we are apt to think of +Lincoln as of the long ago, as almost a contemporary of Washington +and of the Revolutionary fathers. The immensity of the history +which has been crowded into those forty-five years has distorted +our mental vision, as ordinary objects are sometimes distorted by +refraction. Yet when we reflect, the distortion disappears. But +the wonder still remains. The years during which the deeds of +Lincoln have been a memory to us do not carry us back to the early +days of our own country. They do not carry us back even to the +time of Jackson, Webster, Clay, or Calhoun; yet the sacred halo of +patriotic veneration invests as completely the name of Lincoln as +of Washington. + +The many personal memories of the martyred patriot that I can recall +seem almost a dream to me. It seems almost a vision of the +unsubstantial imagination, when I think that I have known the one +immortal man of the century, and enjoyed his friendship. He was +the very impersonation of humanity; his stature was above and beyond +all others. One hand reached back to the very portals of Mount +Vernon, while the other, giving kindly protection to the oppressed, +still reaches forward to guide, encourage, and sustain the people +of this Nation. + +It was my great good-fortune to know something of Abraham Lincoln +from the time I was about twelve years old, and even earlier than +that I have a distinct recollection of hearing my father advising +men to employ Lincoln in important litigation. Lincoln at that +time was about thirty years old, and even then was regarded as a +really great lawyer. + +The first time I ever saw him in court he, assisted by Colonel E. +D. Baker (afterwards a senator from Oregon, and killed at Ball's +Bluff), was engaged in the defence of a man on trial for murder. +The conduct of the defence made by those great lawyers produced an +impression on my mind that will never be forgotten. Lincoln became +then my ideal of a great man, and has so remained ever since. + +In 1846, Mr. Lincoln was the Whig candidate for Congress, and it +was then that I first heard him deliver a political speech. The +county in which my father resided was a part of his Congressional +district. When Lincoln came to the county my father met him with +his carriage and took him to all his appointments. I went to the +meeting nearest my home--an open-air meeting held in a grove. On +being introduced, he began his speech as follows: "Fellow citizens, +ever since I have been in Tazewell County my old friend, Major +Cullom, has taken me around; he has heard all my speeches, and the +only way I can hope to fool the old Major and make him believe I +am making a new speech is by turning it end for end once in a +while." + +When I determined to abandon the hard work on the farm to enter +the study of law at Springfield, my father being so close to Mr. +Lincoln, I went to him for advice. He expressed a willingness to +take me into his own office as a student, but said that he was +absent on the circuit so much that he would advise me to enter the +law office of Stuart and Edwards, two prominent Springfield lawyers, +of whom I have written more at length in an earlier chapter. There +I would have the advantage of the constant supervision of one or +the other member of the firm. + +From that time until he left Springfield never to return, I had +constant means of observing Lincoln as a lawyer. I was at times +associated with him as a junior counsel in the trial of law suits. +I was employed in a murder case which Lincoln and Logan were +defending, I being the boy lawyer in the case. They made a wonderful +defence. I do not know whether the defendant was guilty or not, +but I do know that he was acquitted. + +During my life I have been acquainted with very many able lawyers, +and I have no hesitation in saying that Lincoln was the greatest +trial lawyer I ever knew. He was a man of wonderful power before +a court or jury. When he was sure he was right, his strength and +resourcefulness were well-nigh irresistible. In the court-room he +was at home. He was frank with the court, the juries, and the +lawyers, to such an extent that he would state the case of the +opposite side as fairly as the opposing counsel could do it; he +would then disclose his client's case so strongly, with such honestly +and candor, that the judge and jury would be almost convinced at +once in advance of the testimony. Judge Davis once said that the +framework of Lincoln's mental and moral being was honesty, and that +a wrong cause was poorly defended by him. + +The story is told that a man offered to employ him in a case and +told him the facts, which did not satisfy Lincoln that there was +any merit in it. He said to him: "I can gain your case; I can +set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a widowed +mother and six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six +hundred dollars, which it appears to me as rightfully belongs to +them as to you. I will not take your case, but I will give you a +little advice for nothing. You seem to be a sprightly young man, +and I advise you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in +some other way." + +Mr. Lincoln was for a time employed by the Illinois Central Railroad +as one of its attorneys. In a case in one of the counties of Judge +Davis's circuit to which the railroad was a party, it was announced +that the company was not ready for trial, and the court inquired +the reason; to which Mr. Lincoln replied that Captain McClellan +was absent. The court asked, "Who is Captain McClellan?" Lincoln +replied that all he knew about him was that he was the engineer of +the Illinois Central Railroad. + +What a strange juggling of destiny and of fate! In little more +than two years McClellan's fame had become world-wide as the general +in charge of all the armies of the Republic, only to prove in the +estimation of many people the most stupendous failure as a commander +in all our military history; Davis had become a Justice of the +Supreme Court of the United States; and Lincoln had reached the +Presidency. + +In the trial of the murder case to which I have referred, I never +saw more striking evidence of Mr. Lincoln's power over a court. +There came a question of the advisability of certain testimony +which was very vital to the defendant. The question was thoroughly +argued by Judge Logan and Mr. Lincoln until the court took a recess +for dinner at noon. The Judge announced that he would render his +decision when the court reconvened. The courthouse was filled on +the reconvening of court in the afternoon, and the Judge began +rendering his opinion on the point in dispute. It seemed to Mr. +Lincoln and those present that he was about to decide against the +admissibility of the evidence. Lincoln sprang to his feet. +Apparently he towered over the Judge, overawing him. He made such +a tremendous impression that the court apparently gave way, and +decided the point in the defendant's favor. + +Mr. Lincoln was not only a great statesman, but he was one of the +ablest, most astute, and shrewdest politicians whom I have ever +known. From my earliest recollection of him he took keen interest +in public affairs and was the foremost public man or politician in +his section of the State. He was not among the first to join the +Republican party. He clung to the old Whig party as long as a +vestige of it remained. Almost immediately after he drifted into +the Republican party, he became its recognized leader in Illinois, +and his public utterances attracted the attention of the Nation to +him. + +I recollect having heard him utter the memorable words in the +Republican Convention of my State in 1858: + +"A house divided against itself cannot stand. This Government +cannot permanently endure 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 that it will cease to be divided. It will become all +one thing, or all the other." + +What words of wisdom! He looked through the veil between him and +the future and saw the end more clearly than any other man in public +life. This was a carefully prepared speech, in which every word +was weighed. Some of his friends, to whom it was read, advised +him not to use the clause I have quoted, "a house divided against +itself." He was wiser than any of them. With a self-reliance born +of earnest conviction he said that the time had come when the +sentiments should be uttered, and that if he should go down because +of their utterance by him, then he would go down linked with the +truth. + +I listened to much of the great debate between Lincoln and Douglas, +the greatest political debate which ever took place in this country. +I have always felt that Lincoln never expected to be elected to +the Senate in 1858. I think he saw more clearly than any of us +that the advanced position which he took in that debate made his +election to the Senate at that time impossible. He was then fighting +for a great principle. He did carry a majority of the popular +vote, but Douglas secured a majority of the Legislature. + +His defeat apparently affected him little, if at all. I felt very +badly when it became apparent that Douglas had secured a majority +of the Legislature. I met Lincoln on the street one day, and said: +"Mr. Lincoln, is it true that Douglas has a majority of the +Legislature?" His reply was an affirmative. I then expressed the +great sorrow and disappointment that I felt. He placed a hand upon +my shoulder, and said: "Never mind, my boy; it will all come +right." I believe that he then felt certain that the position he +took in that memorable debate would make him the logical candidate +of the Republican party for the Presidency in 1860, which it did. +And two years from that very day the Republican party celebrated +its first national victory in his election as President of the +United States. + +It has been said that Mr. Lincoln never went to school; and he +never did to any great extent, but in a broad sense of the word, +he was an educated man. He was a student, a thinker; he educated +himself, and mastered any question which claimed his attention. +There was no man in this country who possessed to a greater degree +the power of analyzation. + +He was a student all his life. One incident that occurred in +Springfield, some years before he finally left, will serve as an +illustration. + +An old German came through the town and claimed that he could teach +us all to read and speak German in a few weeks. A class was +organized for the purpose of studying German. Lincoln became a +member of the class, and I also was in it, and I can see him yet +going about with the German book in his pocket, studying it during +his leisure moments in court and elsewhere. None of the rest of +us learned much, but Lincoln mastered it, as he did every other +subject which engaged his attention. + +His home life was a pleasant one. I often visited at his home, +and so far as my observation went, I do not hesitate to say that +not the slightest credence should be given to the many false stories +that have from time to time appeared, manufactured largely by those +who desired to write something new and sensational concerning the +life of President Lincoln in his home, and concerning Mrs. Lincoln. + +Mr. Lincoln was regarded generally as an ungainly man, and so he +was; and yet on occasions he appeared to me to be superior in +dignity and nobility to almost any other man whom I have ever seen. +I was present when the committee from the National Convention, that +gave his first nomination for President, came to Springfield to +notify him of his nomination. He stood in the rear of a double +parlor in his home, and as the Hon. George F. Ashmun, president of +the convention, presented the members of the delegation one by one +to him, I thought that he looked what he was--the superior of any +man present. Many of the eminent men composing that delegation +had believed that Lincoln was some sort of a monster. I stood +among them after they had met him and listened to their comments. +The lofty character, the towering strength, the majesty of the man +had made a great impression upon them. They had come expecting to +see a freak; they discovered one of the princes of men. + +In this connection, I must be permitted to refer to another occasion. +It so happened that I was in Washington when the President's son +Willie died. The funeral ceremony took place in the East Room of +the White House, in the presence of the President and his cabinet +and a few other friends. When the ceremony was about concluded +and President Lincoln stood by the bier of his dead boy, with tear- +drops falling from his face, surrounded by Seward, Chase, Bates, +and others, I thought I never beheld a nobler-looking man. He was +at that time truly, as he appeared, a man of sorrow, acquainted +with grief, possessing the power and responsibilities of a President +of a great Nation, yet with quivering lips and face bedewed with +tears, from personal sorrow. + +The morning that Abraham Lincoln left his home in Springfield never +to return is not to be forgotten. It was early on the morning of +the eleventh of February, dark and gloomy, with a light snow falling. +There was a large crowd of his neighbors and friends at the station +to bid him good-bye. He held a sort of impromptu reception in the +little railroad station. There was no noisy demonstration. As I +recollect it now, it was a solemn leave-taking. Just before the +train pulled out, Mr. Lincoln appeared on the rear platform of his +car. Every head was bared, as if to receive a benediction, as he +uttered his farewell address: + +"My Friends: No one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling +of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of +these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a +century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my +children have been born and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing +when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater +than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of +that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed; with +that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with +me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us +confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending +you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an +affectionate farewell." + +I was not present at the first inauguration of President Lincoln, +but I visited Washington many times during the years that he was +President, and, knowing him as well as I did, and having known both +Nicolay and Hay, his secretaries, in Springfield, I naturally spent +much time around the executive offices. I had many conversations +with him during the early years of the war. He had no military +education, but he soon demonstrated that he was in fact the real +commander-in-chief. He liked General McClellan, and stuck to him +until McClellan had demonstrated his absolute inefficiency for +command. McClellan was a great organizer. He made the Army of +the Potomac the most perfect fighting machine, I might almost say, +that was ever known in military history. But there he stopped. +He could organize, but he could not and did not, despite the urging +and the anxiety of Mr. Lincoln, push forward his army to victory. +I knew something of Mr. Lincoln's anxiety at the failure of McClellan +to inaugurate an aggressive campaign. + +The late O. M. Hatch of Illinois told me of a rather interesting +incident which occurred on one occasion when the President, +accompanied by Mr. Hatch, visited McClellan's army a few days prior +to the battle of Antietam in September, 1862. They spent the night +in a tent, and, rising very early, at the President's suggestion +they took a walk before sunrise about the great camp, inspecting +the field, the artillery, the quarters, and all the appurtenances +of the army. Lincoln was in a pensive mood, and scarcely a word +was spoken. Finally, just as the sun was rising, they reached a +commanding point; the President stopped, placed his left hand upon +Mr. Hatch's shoulder, and slowly waving his right in the direction +of the great city of tents, seriously inquired: "Mr. Hatch, what +is all this before us?" + +"Why, Mr. President," was the surprised reply, "this is General +McClellan's army." + +"No, Mr. Hatch, no," returned Lincoln soberly, "this is General +McClellan's body-guard." + +It will be understood what these utterances signified: they +expressed perfectly the prevailing belief that McClellan had failed +to appreciate the purpose for which that magnificent fighting +machine had been created. + +I think I am justified in saying that after the earlier contests +of the war had proven that great soldiers and great generals were +not always great leaders, President Lincoln became the able director, +the actual commander-in-chief of the forces of the United States. +He planned and ordered the larger movements of the War, and he held +the reins above and about all his armies, scarcely relaxing his +watchful care for a moment,--until events demonstrated the wisdom +with which he confided the military interests of our beloved country +and the conduct of the war to Ulysses S. Grant. + +Some of us remember with what persistence during the Winter of 1862 +and 1863 many newspapers and a large share of the Northern people +joined in the cry of "On to Richmond!" Censure and criticism ran +riot even among Northern Republicans. In a three-line memorandum +the President showed the fallacy of that outcry, when he wrote: +"Our prime object is the enemy's army in front of us, and not with +or about Richmond at all, unless it be incidental to the main +object." At a later day he said to Hooker: "I think Lee's army, +and not Richmond, is your sure objective point." + +Modest and simple as he always was, never seeking power with +inordinate ambition, simply that he might use power; still he was +never afraid to assume responsibility when it was his duty to assume +it. + +I called on him one evening at the Soldiers' Home. We spent the +evening together, and naturally we talked of the war. He discussed +almost all of his generals, beginning with McClellan. At that time +McClellan was down on the James, and Pope was in the saddle in +Virginia. Pope, he feared, would be whipped, unless he could get +more troops, and he was trying to get McClellan back in order to +save Pope. At that time he had not yet lost his faith in McClellan, +but he was complaining that McClellan was never ready for battle. +After making all possible preparations, and with the enemy in front, +he would overestimate the size of the enemy's force, and demand +more troops. Yet Mr. Lincoln said that he would rather trust +McClellan to get his army out of a tight place than any other +general that he had. + +After his election he invited his principal competitors for the +nomination to enter his cabinet. He had not the slightest jealousy +of any living man. He was not afraid, as some of our Presidents +have been, to have his cabinet composed of the greatest men of his +time. He was a bigger man than any of them, and no thought of +jealousy ever entered his mind. Both Seward and Chase fancied they +were greater men than Lincoln, and each of them, at the beginning +at least, entertained the idea that on him rested the responsibility +of the administration. Seward felt that he should have been the +nominee of his party. Chase felt perfectly sure that he, and not +Lincoln, should have been President. + +Before many months had passed, Seward was compelled to acknowledge +that Mr. Lincoln was the superior of any of them, as he expressed +it in a letter to his wife. He soon became one of the most devoted +friends and loyal supporters of the President. The publication of +the diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to +1865, shows that Mr. Lincoln was the leader of them all, and was +in fact the real head of every department of his administration. + +Chase was an able man, and loyal to the Union; but, unlike Seward, +he was never loyal to the President personally, and was constantly +plotting in his own interest to supplant Lincoln as the nominee of +his party in 1864,--a most reprehensible course on the part of a +cabinet officer. This did not give concern to Mr. Lincoln in the +slightest degree. He cared very little what Mr. Chase said or +thought of him personally, so long as he was doing his duty as +Secretary of the Treasury. + +I was in Washington the latter part of February, 1864, before he +was nominated the second time. I happened to hear of the Pomeroy +letter in behalf of Mr. Chase, and I learned with amazement that +Chase was conspiring with his friends to secure the nomination for +the Presidency, and was untrue and unloyal to his chief. I felt +justly indignant. I saw Mr. Lincoln and talked with him about it +with great earnestness. I told him that Chase should be turned +out. He answered by saying: "Let him alone; he can do no more +harm in here than he can outside." + +If things did not go to suit him, Chase was in the habit of tendering +his resignation every few days. It was not accepted; but he offered +it once too often, and, very much to his surprise and chagrin, it +was promptly accepted; and Chase was relegated to private life, +where he belonged, and where he should have remained. + +Chief Justice Taney passed away unmourned, the most pathetic and +desolate figure in the Civil War, with his long, faithful, and +distinguished service on the bench forgotten. Chase's friends, +and Chase himself, at once commenced overtures of friendship toward +Mr. Lincoln, in the interest, solely, of securing Chase's appointment +as Chief Justice. Considerable pressure was brought to bear in +behalf of Chase. The President would give no intimation as to what +he intended to do, although I myself believe that he all the time +intended appointing him to the vacant position, and that the so- +called pressure on the part of Sumner and other radicals had little, +if any, influence with him. + +During this period, after the death of Chief Justice Taney, Chase +was not at all averse to writing the President the most friendly +letters. One day his secretary brought him a letter from Mr. Chase. +The President asked, "What is it about?" "Simply a kind and friendly +letter," the secretary answered. Mr. Lincoln, without reading it, +replied with his shrewd smile: "File it with his other recommendations." + +Chase was finally appointed Chief Justice of the United States. +After his conduct as a member of the cabinet, I do not believe we +have ever had another President, except Lincoln, magnanimous enough +to have made that appointment under similar circumstances. Lincoln +entertained a very exalted opinion of Chase's ability as a lawyer +and a man. He believed that he possessed the qualifications of a +great Chief Justice, and the appointment was made entirely free +from any personal feelings or prejudices. + +I happened to be alone in Mr. Nicolay's room in the White House +when Mr. Chase called to thank the President for his nomination. +He came into Mr. Nicolay's room first, and inquired of me if the +President was in. I told him I did not know, but his room was next +to the one we were in, and he might ascertain for himself. Knowing +of Chase's disparaging remarks concerning Mr. Lincoln, and of his +disloyalty as a member of his cabinet, I was very curious to hear +what he would have to say to the President. He left the door ajar, +and I overheard the conversation. Mr. Chase proceeded to thank +the President for his nomination. Mr. Lincoln's reply was brief, +merely that he hoped Mr. Chase would get along well and would do +his duty. Very few words passed between them, and the interview +closed. + +Montgomery Blair was Postmaster-General in President Lincoln's +cabinet. He was appointed from the District of Columbia. He was +a man of considerable ability, and was thoroughly loyal to the +President. Montgomery Blair became exceedingly unpopular among +certain classes, not only on his own account, but because of his +brother Frank, whose home was in Missouri. I thought his remaining +in the cabinet was injuring the Administration, and I told Mr. +Lincoln, in a conversation I had with him at the White House, that +under all the circumstances Montgomery Blair should be relieved +from office; that he was unpopular; that the people were not for +him. Mr. Lincoln seemed annoyed, even to the extent of petulance +(a rare thing with him), that I should say anything against Montgomery +Blair. He asserted that Blair was a loyal man, was doing his full +duty as Postmaster-General, and that he would not turn him out. + +Later, Montgomery Blair, always loyal under all circumstances, told +the President that he was ready to tender his resignation whenever, +in the judgment of the President, his remaining in the cabinet +would be an embarrassment; and Mr. Lincoln in a very kindly note +sometime afterwards said that he felt himself compelled to accept +Mr. Blair's offer and ask for his resignation. They continued +personal friends until the President's death. + +The year 1862, on account of the proclamation of President Lincoln, +in September, that he would free the slaves in those States or +parts of States whose people continued in rebellion on and after +January 1, 1863, was a disastrous year to the Republican party; +but the final effect of the proclamation was beneficial to the +cause of the Union. It stimulated greater enthusiasm on the part +of those who desired to see the end of slavery in this country. +Many people so hated that institution that they were more desirous +of having it abolished than to have the Union preserved with it. + +While President Lincoln was always opposed to slavery, unequivocally +opposed to it, yet his oath called upon him to preserve the +Constitution and the Union. He said that his paramount object was +to save the Union and not to save or destroy slavery. + +In 1862 President Lincoln appointed three men, namely, Governor +George S. Boutwell, the Hon. Stephen T. Logan, and the Hon. Charles +A. Dana, a commission to go to Cairo, Illinois, and settle the +claims of numerous persons against the Government, arising from +property purchased by commissary officers and quartermasters in +the volunteer service before the volunteers knew anything about +military rules or regulations. Judge Logan went to Cairo, remained +a few days, became ill, tendered his resignation, and returned +home. The President telegraphed me an appointment, and asked me +to go at once to Cairo for duty, which I did. I had not known +either Boutwell or Dana before. The commission finished its work +in about a month, and forwarded to Washington all papers, with its +report. The claims were paid on the basis of our allowance, and +justice was done to all concerned. + +Early in 1862 an old friend of President Lincoln's, James Lamb, +came to see me, stating that he had been furnishing beef cattle to +the army; that he had received orders to furnish a given number on +the hoof at a certain place in the South, which he had done; but +before his cattle arrived the army had gone, and he had thereby +suffered great loss. He asked me to look after his claim when I +went to the National capital, and I agreed to do so. I knew nothing +about such things in Washington, nor how such business with the +Government was transacted. I went to the President as the only +official with whom I was acquainted, and stated to him, "Uncle +Jimmie Lamb, your old friend, has a claim," setting forth the same +in full. "You know he is a good man," I urged, "and he ought to +have his money." Lincoln answered me by saying: "Cullom, there +is this difference in dealing between two individuals and between +an individual and the Government: if an individual does not do as +he agreed and the other person is injured thereby, he can sue the +one responsible for the injury, and recover damages; but in the +case of the Government, if it does not do right, the individual +can't help himself." He gave me a note, however, to the proper +officer and the matter was arranged. + +The gossip around the Capitol in Washington among Senators and +Representatives is a very poor gauge of public sentiment in the +country toward a President. I was in Washington a few months before +the second nomination. I talked with numerous Representatives and +Senators, and it really seemed to me as if there was hardly any +one in favor of the renomination of Mr. Lincoln. I felt much +discouraged over the circumstance. When I was about to leave for +home, I called at the White House. I asked the President if he +permitted anybody to talk to him about himself. He replied that +he did. I said: "I would like to talk to you about yourself." +He asked me to be seated. Whereupon I told him that I had been in +Washington some ten days or more, and that everybody seemed to be +against him. + +"Well, it is not quite so bad as that," he said. He took down his +directory, and I soon discovered that he had a far more intimate +knowledge of the situation than I had. He had every one marked, +knew how he stood, and the list made a better showing than I had +expected. + +The truth is, however, that many of the strong men in Congress, +especially the radicals, were against his renomination, and would +have rejoiced to see some one else the nominee of the party; but +they knew full well, that the great body of the people of the North +were with him, and that it would be useless to attempt to prevent +his renomination. + +The next time I called at the White House after the convention, he +reminded me of our previous conversation, and remarked that it did +not turn out so badly after all. + +He was reminded of a little story. A couple of Irishmen came to +America and started out on foot into the country. They travelled +along until they came to a piece of woods. They thought they heard +a noise, but did not know what it was. They deployed on either +side of the road to find out, but were unable to do so, and finally +one called to the other, "Pat, Pat, let's go on; this is nothing +by a domned noise." So the opposition to him, he said, was apparently +nothing but a noise. + +But if he never had any doubts as to his renomination, he at one +time almost despaired of being re-elected, as did many of his +closest and most intimate friends. The Democrats had not yet +selected their candidates, and as he remarked: "At this period we +had no adversary, and seemed to have no friends." + +An incident in this connection is related by the late Secretary, +John Hay. The President felt that the campaign was going against +him, and he had made up his mind deliberately as to the course he +should pursue. He resolved to lay down for himself a course of +action demanded by his then conviction of duty. He wrote on the +twenty-third of August the following memorandum: + +"This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable +that this administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be +my duty to so co-operate with the President-elect as to save the +Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have +secured his election on such grounds that he cannot possibly save +it afterwards." + +He then folded and pasted the sheet in such manner that its contents +could not be read, and as the cabinet came together he handed this +paper to each member successively, requesting him to write his name +across the back of it, without intimating to any member of the +cabinet what the note contained. In this manner he pledged himself +to accept loyally the anticipated verdict of the people against him. + +Mr. Hay's diary relates what took place at the next cabinet meeting +after the election, as follows: + +"At the meeting of the cabinet to-day the President took out a +paper from his desk and said: 'Gentlemen, do you remember last +summer I asked you all to sign your names to the back of a paper +of which I did not show you the inside? This is it. Now, Mr. Hay, +see if you can open this without tearing it.' He had pasted it up +in so singular a style that it required some cutting to get it +open. He then read this memorandum (quoted above). + +"The President said: 'You will remember that this was written at +the time, six days before the Chicago nominating convention, when +as yet we had no adversary and seemed to have no friends. I then +solemnly resolved on the course of action indicated in this paper. +I resolved in the case of the election of General McClellan, being +certain that he would be the candidate, that I would see him and +talk matters over with him. I would say, "General, the election +has demonstrated that you are stronger, have more influence with +the American people than I. Now let us together, you with your +influence, and I with all the executive power of the Government, +try to save the country. You raise as many troops as you possibly +can for the final trial, and I will devote all my energies to assist +and finish the war."' + +"Seward said: 'And the General would have answered you, "Yes, +yes," and the next day when you saw him again and pressed these +views upon him, he would have said, "Yes, yes," and so on forever, +and would have done nothing at all.' + +"'At least,' rejoined Lincoln, 'I should have done my duty and have +stood clear before my own conscience.'" + +Not the least of his troubles and embarrassments during the trying +period preceding his second election was the overzealous advice,-- +persistence, I might say--on the part of certain New Yorkers and +New Englanders who seemed to think that they had the interest of +the Union and the country more at heart than had Mr. Lincoln. + +Horace Greeley was one of the most troublesome of this lot. He +was an honest and a most loyal man, but was willing to temporize +upon the most vital questions. At one time he advised that the +"erring sisters" should be permitted to depart in peace. At this +particular time of which I speak he had devised a plan for a peace +conference, with certain prominent Confederates, Clement C. Clay, +among others, to be held in Canada. Mr. Lincoln felt sure that +the conference would do no good, and that the Confederates were +fooling Mr. Greeley, and that they had no real power to act. + +This turned out to be exactly the truth. I was with the President +just as he was sending Mr. Hay to Niagara with written instructions, +which were given to see that nothing which threatened the interests +of the Government should be done. The President was very much +annoyed, and he remarked to me: "While Mr. Greeley means right, +he makes me almost as much trouble as the whole Southern +Confederacy." + +While, as I have previously observed, Greeley was intensely loyal +to the country, yet he was so nervous and unstable in his mind that +he could not resist the effort to bring about a condition of peace. +I think he would have consented to almost anything in order to +secure it. He was very anxious for the issuance of a proclamation +abolishing slavery, and on the nineteenth of August, 1862, addressed +a very arrogant open letter to President Lincoln on the subject. + +Lincoln's reply was so good, so perfect, and so conclusive that I +give it, as follows: + + "Executive Mansion, + "Washington, _Friday, August 22, 1863_. + +"Hon. Horace Greeley: + +"Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the nineteenth instant, +addressed to myself through _The New York Tribune_. + +"If there be any statements or assumptions of facts which I may +know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. + +"If there may be any inferences which I may to believe to be falsely +drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. + +"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, +I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always +supposed to be right. + +"As to the policy 'I seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not +meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would +save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. + +"The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the +Union will be--the Union as it was. + +"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could +at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. + +"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could +at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. + +"_My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save +or destroy slavery_. + +"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do +it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do +it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, +I would do that. + +"What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I +believe it helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear +because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. + +"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts +the cause, and shall do more whenever I believe doing more will +help the cause. + +"I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall +adopt new views so fast as they will appear to be true views. + +"I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official +duty, and I intend no modifications of my oft-expressed personal +wish that all men everywhere could be free. + + "Yours, + "A. Lincoln." + +It is said that Mr. Greeley remarked after reading the letter that +he had been knocked out by one letter from Mr. Lincoln, and that +he "would be damned if he ever wrote him another." + +There was more personal bitterness evinced against Mr. Lincoln in +the campaign of 1864 than ever before or since in a Presidential +campaign. He was denounced in the most intemperate language as a +tyrant, a dictator, whose administration had proven a failure. A +certain element of so-called "high class" New Englanders, men of +the Wendell Phillips type, were particularly bitter in their +denunciation. And I may remark in passing that the New England +men of letters never did have a proper appreciation of the worth +of Abraham Lincoln. + +He was triumphantly re-elected amid the universal rejoicing of the +friends of liberty throughout the North. He took the election very +quietly. He apparently felt no sense of personal triumph over his +opponents and those who had so bitterly attacked him during the +campaign. He seemed only to have a feeling of deep gratitude to +his fellow citizens who had testified their confidence in his +administration. On the evening of election day, when it became +evident that he was re-elected to the Presidency, in response to +a serenade he said: + +"I am thankful to God for this approval by the people. While deeply +grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know my +heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph, +but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's +resolution to stand by free government and the rights of humanity." + +And again in that eloquent, simple little response which he made +to the joint committee of Congress appointed to wait upon him to +notify him of his second election, after the count of the electoral +votes by a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives +in Congress, he said: + +"With deep gratitude to my countrymen for this mark of their +confidence; with a distrust of my own ability to perform the duty +required under the most favorable circumstances, and now rendered +doubly difficult by existing national perils; yet with a firm +reliance on the strength of our free Government, and the eventual +loyalty of the people to the just principles upon which it is +founded, and, above all, with an unshaken faith in the Supreme +Ruler of Nations, I accept this trust. Be pleased to signify this +to the respective Houses of Congress." + +These utterances show more clearly than any one else can describe +the state of mind in which the President received his re-election, +and in which he was about to enter his second term as President of +the Republic. Without any personal feeling of pride, he was certain +in his own mind that his re-election was necessary in order to save +the Union. + +I attended the second inauguration, March 4, 1865. I have a +particularly vivid recollection of the scene which took place in +the Senate chamber when Mr. Johnson took the oath as Vice-President. +The simple truth is, and it was plain to every one present in that +chamber, Mr. Johnson was intoxicated. Johnson delivered a rambling, +senseless address. I sat next to Senator Lane of Indiana, and I +remarked that somebody should stop him. Lane sent up a note to +the Secretary of the Senate, telling him to get Johnson to cease +speaking and take the oath. We felt Johnson was making an exhibition +of himself in the presence of the President, the Cabinet, the +Foreign Representatives, and two Houses of Congress, and a gathering +of the most distinguished men of the Nation. The Secretary wrote +some lines and placed them before Mr. Johnson, who did not appear +to notice them. Finally he was made to understand that he must +take the oath, as the time had come when the President, according +to usual custom, would have to go to the east front of the Capitol +to take the oath as President of the United States. Johnson, with +a sort of wild sweep of his arm said, "I will take the oath, but +I regard my devotion to the Union as greater evidence of my loyalty +than any oath I could take." + +I was close to Mr. Lincoln at the solemn moment when Chief Justice +Chase administered to him the oath of office. There was a vast +crowd of people, great enthusiasm and rejoicing, and the war was +practically over,--a far different scene from the one which took +place just four years before, when Chief Justice Taney in the same +place administered the same oath. At that time there was no noisy +demonstration. There was a solemn hush, as every one realized that +the country was about to be plunged into one of the mightiest civil +wars of all history. Indeed many men believed that there was a +concerted plot to assassinate Mr. Lincoln at that time, and that +he would never be permitted to enter upon the duties of his office. + +I heard him deliver his second inaugural address,--one of his two +greatest speeches. + +The last time I saw Abraham Lincoln alive was about three weeks +before his assassination, as I now recollect. He was at the White +House. There had been constant rumors throughout his first term +that he was in danger of some such outrage, but as the war drew to +a close, with the natural bitter and resentful feeling in the South, +these rumors seemed to increase. I told him what I had heard, and +urged him to be careful. It did not seem to concern him much, and +the substance of his reply was that he must take his chances; that +he could not live in an iron box, as he expressed it, and do his +duty as President of the United States. + +It is difficult for one who did not live in those terrible days +from 1861 to 1865 to realize the awful shock of horror that went +through the whole Nation on the morning of April 15, 1865, when +the message came, "Abraham Lincoln is dead." In his old home at +Springfield, it seemed the whole population assembled in the public +square, and the duty devolved upon me to announce to the assembled +people that the great President had passed away. There was intense +suppressed excitement. No one dared utter a word in disparagement +of Abraham Lincoln. The crowd was in the humor for hanging to the +limb of the first convenient tree any one who dared to make a +slighting suggestion. It was not alone in Springfield, but it was +throughout the entire North that this feeling prevailed. There +was fear that the Government would go to pieces, almost that the +end of the world was at hand. + +Soon the news came from different sources that he was to be buried +in Washington, or somewhere in the East. The people of Springfield +became very much worked up. A committee was appointed to go to +Washington to insist that the remains should be taken to Springfield. +I was a member of this committee. We left immediately, but before +we arrived at Harrisburg it had been determined that the only +fitting final resting place of all that remained of the immortal +Lincoln was at his old home in Springfield; and the funeral train +had already left Washington. The committee waited at Harrisburg +for its arrival. Through the courtesy of Governor Curtin, of +Pennsylvania, we were permitted to board the train, and we accompanied +the remains from there to Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, +Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and finally to Springfield. At +each place the remains lay in state and were viewed by hundreds of +thousands of people. + +In all, the entire journey consumed some twelve days from the time +the party left Washington until it arrived in Springfield. It was +determined that the funeral train should follow the same route and +stop at practically the same places that Lincoln visited on his +way to Washington to be inaugurated as the first Republican President +of the United States. The country was so wrought up no one seemed +certain what was to happen; no one knew but that there would be a +second and bloodier revolution, in which the Government might fall +into the hands of a dictator; and it was thought the funeral trip +would serve to arouse the patriotism of the people, which it did. + +I never witnessed anything like the universal demonstration of +sorrow, not only at every city where the remains lay in state but +all during the entire route, at every little village and hamlet; +even at cross-roads thousands of people would be gathered to catch +a glimpse of the funeral train as it passed by. In Philadelphia +the casket rested in Independence Hall. In New York I suppose not +less than half a million people passed by to view the body. General +Scott came down with the procession to the station, and to him I +introduced our Illinois friends. His response was given in a most +dignified and ponderous style: "Gentlemen, you do me great honor." + +The farther west we proceeded, drawing constantly nearer to the +home of Lincoln, the more wrought up the people seemed to be. In +the West there were not only expressions of deep sorrow, but of +vengeance as well, especially toward the South. Before the facts +became fully known, it was thought that the assassination was the +result of a Southern conspiracy, and there was a feeling that the +whole South should be punished for the act of one of her misguided +sons. The body lay in state for two days in Chicago, and then came +the last stage of the journey to Springfield. It first was taken +to the State House, and was afterwards placed in the old vault at +the foot of the hill in Oak Ridge Cemetery, where it remained until +the monument was completed. Bishop Simpson, one of the most eloquent +men in the Methodist Church, and a devoted friend of Mr. Lincoln +during his life, preached the funeral sermon. The services at +Springfield were simple in the extreme, just as Mr. Lincoln would +have wished. Steps were at once taken for the erection of the +monument, which stands in Oak Ridge Cemetery to-day. + +So far as I can learn, every member of the funeral party that +accompanied the remains of Abraham Lincoln from Washington to +Springfield, with the exception of Mr. E. F. Leonard and myself, +has passed away. + +It was my good fortune to know Abraham Lincoln in all the walks of +life. I knew him as President, and I was permitted to know him in +the sacred precincts of his family at home. I have studied the +lives of the great men of the world, and I do not hesitate to say +now, after nearly fifty years have passed away since his death, +that Abraham Lincoln was the peer in all that makes a man great, +useful, and noble, of any man in all the world's history. + + +CHAPTER VIII +NOTABLES IN THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS +1864 to 1870 + +I had a very active campaign for election to Congress in 1864. As +I have stated elsewhere, I had, while Speaker, so framed the district +that I thought it would surely be a Republican one; but very much +to my surprise, it went Democratic when Mr. Swett was a candidate. +For a number of reasons I was more than anxious to carry the +district. First, naturally I did not want to be defeated; second, +I wanted to show that it was really a Republican district, and more +especially still on President Lincoln's account, I was solicitous +that a Republican should be elected from the President's own +district, as was President Lincoln also. The National Committee +assisted a good deal, and the President himself helped whenever +there was an opportunity. I was elected by a good, safe majority, +and entered the Thirty-ninth Congress in December, 1865. + +The Illinois delegation in the Thirty-ninth Congress, when I entered +the House, while containing few members, still compared favorably +with other delegations, and consisted of very good men who reflected +credit on the State, and some of whom had far more than ordinary +ability. General John A. Logan, of whom I have written in another +part of these memoirs, was a very prominent member of the delegation +and of the House. E. B. Washburne was also a leading member. He +was very influential, and at one time was in a sense the leader of +the House. He early became prominent as one of the intimate friends +and supporters of General Grant, who, every one supposed, would be +the nominee of the Republican party to succeed President Johnson. +Thaddeus Stevens was the real leader on every occasion when he +chose to assume that position. His whole interest, however, seemed +to be concentrated on reconstruction, one of the greatest problems +that has ever confronted this country, and consequently he gave +little attention to general legislation. This gave Washburne quite +a commanding voice in shaping the general legislation of the House. + +John Wentworth was one of the best known citizens of Chicago of +his day, and was closely identified with the early history of the +city. He was several times a member of the House. I found him to +be a capable member of the Thirty-ninth Congress, a man of influence, +and I liked him very much. He was Mayor of Chicago when President +Lincoln was assassinated, and I recall that he was at the station +at the head of the committee when the funeral train arrived in +Chicago. John Wentworth was quite a character in our State politics, +but he was particularly noted as being one of the foremost citizens +of his home city. + +Burton C. Cook, of Ottawa, was one of the ablest men in the Illinois +delegation. He was a splendid man, a man of high character, one +of the leaders of the bar of the State of Illinois, and retired +from Congress to become general counsel of the Northwestern Railroad. +He occupied a very important place in the House, and was chairman +of the Committee on the District of Columbia. He could not endure +ridicule, and he was not particularly quick in argument, although +a very good debater. + +A rather humorous incident occurred on one occasion when he was +pushing a bill to have Pennsylvania Avenue paved. Proctor Knott, +from Kentucky, was then a member of the House, and one of its +cleverest and wittiest speakers. I was called to the chair because +Cook knew that I would take care of him the best I could in the +conduct of the bill through the committee of the whole. We got +along with the bill very well for a good part of the day, until +Knott took the floor and made one of his incomparably funny speeches, +depicting the situation on Pennsylvania Avenue, with its fine +carriages and outfits, with buckles on the coachmen's hats as big +as garden gates. He made so much fun of the bill that Cook, being +unable to stand it, moved that the committee rise. We never heard +of the bill afterwards. + +S. S. Marshall, a Democrat from Southern Illinois, and prominent +as such, was a member of Congress for many terms, and at one time +was the leader of the minority in the House. At that time the +Democrats in the House were so few in number that occasionally they +were unable to secure the ayes and noes. They exercised very little +influence on legislation, and were not much in evidence in debate, +the main contest then being between the radical and conservative +elements of the Republican party over Reconstruction. + +General John F. Farnsworth of St. Charles was quite influential as +a member, and a very strong man, but was particularly noted for +his dauntless courage. On one occasion I saw him shake his fist +in General Benjamin F. Butler's face, daring him to resent it. +Butler did not resent it, as the House was in session; and, any +way, excepting with his tongue, Butler was not a fighting man. + +Ebon C. Ingersoll, who was familiarly called by his friends Clark +Ingersoll, served in that Congress. He was a very clever man, +possessed of considerable talent, and could on occasions deliver +a capitally witty speech. I remember a rather ingenious passage +from one of his speeches delivered when the controversy between +the President and Congress was at its height. He asserted that +the country was sorely afflicted; that it suffered all sorts of +troubles, trials, embarrassments and difficulties. First, he said, +it was afflicted with cholera, next with trichinae, and then with +Andy Johnson, all in the same year, and that was more than any +country could stand. Ebon C. Ingersoll was a brother of the famous +Robert G. Ingersoll, the world's greatest agnostic. + +Robert G. Ingersoll was one of the most eloquent men whom I have +ever heard. He could utter the most beautiful sentiments clothed +in language equally beautiful. Speaking of death and the hereafter +one day, I heard him express himself in about the same language he +afterward used on the lecture platform. It made a wonderful +impression on me. He said: + +"And suppose after all that death does end all? Next to eternal +joy, next to being forever with those we love and those who have +loved us, next to that, is to be wrapt in the dreamless drapery of +eternal peace. Next to eternal life is eternal sleep. Upon the +shadowy shore of death, the sea of trouble casts no wave. Eyes +that have been curtained by the everlasting dark, will never know +again the burning touch of tears. Lips touched by eternal silence +will never speak again the broken words of grief. Hearts of dust +do not break. The dead do not weep. Within the tomb no veiled +and weeping sorrow sits, and in the rayless gloom is crouched no +shuddering fear. + +"I had rather think of those I have loved, and lost, as having +returned to earth, as having become a part of the elemental wealth +of the world--I would rather think of them as unconscious dust, I +would rather dream of them as gurgling in the streams, floating in +the clouds, bursting in the form of light upon the shores of worlds, +I would rather think of them as the lost visions of a forgotten +night, than to have even the faintest fear that their naked souls +have been clutched by an orthodox God. I will leave my dear where +Nature leaves them. Whatever flower of hope springs up in my heart, +I will cherish, I will give it breath of sighs and rain of tears. +But I cannot believe that there is any being in this universe who +has been created for eternal pain." + +Had it not been for the manner in which Robert Ingersoll outraged +the members of every Christian denomination by attacking and +ridiculing their beliefs, he would certainly have been called to +high office in the Nation. He did not spare any denomination. +Beginning with the Catholics and ending with the Baptists, he abused +them all, made fun of them, and mercilessly pointed out their weak +points. He was always particularly bitter against the Presbyterian +Church, because, he declared, he was raised a Presbyterian, and +knew more about that church than any other. The two brothers were +very fond of each other, and Ebon C. never seemed to tire of talking +about his brother's great talent. Robert G. was nearly broken- +hearted when his brother died. One of the most touching and eloquent +addresses which I have ever heard was the address he delivered on +the occasion of Ebon's funeral. He stood at the head of the casket +and once or twice nearly broke down. It was in that address, +standing there in the presence of death, that he expressed some +doubts as to the truth of his own teaching and intimated the +possibility of some life beyond the grave. This was the only public +occasion of which I have any knowledge in which Robert G. Ingersoll +seemed to falter in his course. + +We were very intimate, and it is a real pleasure to me to pay him +here a tribute. He was a man of extraordinary talent and ability, +one of the most lovable natures, and a man of the cleanest, most +delightful home life. In many respects, I regard him as one of +the greatest men of his day; certainly he was the greatest agnostic +of his time, if not of all time. No one has taken his place. The +very name, Agnostic, is now rarely heard. And why? Because Robert +G. Ingersoll mercilessly tore down. He did not create, or build +anything; he attempted to take away the beliefs in all religion, +and he offered nothing in return. Hence it is that his teachings +have practically died with him. + +Another member of the Illinois delegation in the Thirty-ninth +Congress, a well-known citizen of the State, was Anthony Thornton. +He had been a member of the Supreme Court of the State, was a fine +lawyer of the best type of manhood, and he enjoyed the confidence +and respect of the members of the House. He resided in Shelbyville, +but after retiring from Congress he decided to go to Decatur, where +there was more business for a lawyer, and better opportunities. +He did not succeed very well, however, because it was too late in +his life to make a change and enter new fields. + +A little incident connected with him occurred while I was Governor +of the State. A young boy, whose parents the Judge knew, committed +a burglary and was sent to the penitentiary. The parents of the +boy were naturally anxious to get him out, and appealed to Judge +Thornton to assist in securing his pardon. The Judge and I had +served in Congress together, and, naturally, any plea bearing his +endorsement would have great weight with me. Believing that the +boy had been influenced by bad companions, he yielded and came to +Springfield to see me. I looked the case over and finally said: + +"Judge Thornton, you are an older man than I am; you were in Congress +with me; you have been a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State; +if you will say that you would issue this pardon if you occupied +the chair I now occupy as Governor of this State, I will pardon +him." + +He replied: "Governor, I would not ask you to do a thing I would +not do myself, to save my right arm." + +Whereupon I at once issued the pardon. + +"Judge," I told him, "the train will leave in a short time; go to +Joliet and take the boy home with you." + +He did not do this; but he thanked me very cordially and said that +he would see the boy as soon as he got home. The very night the +boy left the penitentiary and returned home, he committed another +burglary and was immediately arrested. I happened to see an account +of the crime in the papers next morning, and I cut it out and sent +it to Judge Thornton, with the inquiry, "Judge, what does this +mean?" He at once came to Springfield, and told me that he had +been fooled in prevailing upon me to pardon the young man, and +pledged me that he would follow him to the ends of the earth if +necessary in order to punish him for his crime. The boy was sent +back to the penitentiary and I never heard of him afterwards. + +Judge Thornton was one of the most honorable of men, a man of +learning and legal ability as well. + +One day, before I was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, President +Lincoln was talking with me about the different members of that +body. "There is a young man by the name of Blaine now serving in +Congress," said he, "who seems to be one of the brightest men in +the House. His speeches are always short, always full of facts, +and always forcible. I am very fond of him. He is one of the +coming men of the country." + +This was one of the reasons why I was early attracted to Mr. Blaine. + +He was candidate for Speaker in the Forty-first Congress. I was +rather zealous in his behalf, and had more or less of a prominent +part in his selection. When Mr. Blaine concluded that he would be +a candidate for the Speakership, a little dinner was given at +Welkers', a rather famous restaurant in Washington, at which Judge +Kelley, Judge Orth, the late Senator Allison, who was then a member +of the House from the State of Iowa; Mr. Mercur of Pennsylvania, +the gentleman at the head of the Associated Press in Washington, +and myself were present. After the dinner it was given out to the +press that Mr. Blaine was a candidate for Speaker. As the campaign +progressed it seemed to depend on Mr. Allison and me more largely +than on any other members to take care of his interests. He was +elected Speaker, and I had been given to understand by him, and +had so communicated to friends in Congress whom I had induced to +support Mr. Blaine, that I should be consulted in the make-up of +the committees. Mr. Blaine never said a word to me on the subject, +but almost at the last moment wrote me this note: + +"Dear Cullom: + +"Which committee would you prefer, Territories or Claims? + + "James G. Blaine." + +I selected Territories and became chairman of that committee. +Allison told me he never spoke to him in reference to committees, +although he gave him important assignments. + +Probably the most bitter enemy Mr. Blaine ever had in public life +was Roscoe Conkling, a Senator from New York. The quarrel between +Blaine and Conkling commenced in the Thirty-ninth Congress, over +some very trivial matter, and continued from that time on until +Blaine was nominated as the candidate of the Republican party for +the Presidency, in 1884, in which contest he was defeated by Grover +Cleveland. + +I occupied a seat next to Mr. Conkling during the early years of +my service in Congress. He was a very friendly, companionable man, +especially to any one whom he did not consider a rival, and, as I +was a young man just entering Congress and politics, he gave me +his friendship. I was present, sitting next to Conkling, when the +famous controversy in the House took place between Blaine and +Conkling. During the session, from time to time, they had been +quarreling. Conkling had seemed to have a little the best of the +argument. Blaine became exasperated one day, and in the course of +the debate gave Conkling the worst "tongue lashing" probably ever +given by one man to another on the floor of the House. Conkling, +although unable to reply effectively, demeaned himself with great +dignity. His manners were placid and his reply was in measured +terms. It was in striking contrast to what Mr. Blaine said. To +use a phrase graphic if inelegant, he jumped on Conkling with both +feet and literally tore him to pieces without any attempt at dignity. +This controversy with Conkling probably caused the defeat of Mr. +Blaine for the nomination--first, in conventions prior to 1884, +and finally after he became the nominee of that year. + +Blaine was a candidate for President for many years. It seemed to +be his destiny, as it was that of Henry Clay, to be able to secure +the nomination only when the Republican party went down in defeat, +as it did for the first time since the election of Lincoln. He +was beaten in the Republican National Conventions by men of mediocre +ability when the party was victorious. + +He was a leading candidate at the Cincinnati Convention, when Hayes +was nominated. I was there and heard Ingersoll's great speech +placing him in nomination. I have always felt that Blaine would +have been nominated by that convention if a strong, courageous +presiding officer had been in the chair. As I sat behind Mr. +McPherson, the presiding officer, and watched the proceedings, I +thought that if I had had that gavel in my hands there would have +been no adjournment and James G. Blaine would have been nominated. +An adjournment was secured, however; the lights were extinguished, +and the enemies of Blaine united, and Hayes became the nominee. + +But at the convention held in Chicago, in 1884, no other candidate +was seriously considered, and Blaine was nominated for President +and Logan for Vice-President. + +I had to do much in connection with Blaine in the campaign of 1884. +He was a very agreeable man so long as things went to suit him; +but he did not attempt to control himself when things went at all +against him. He was campaigning through Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, +in 1884; I had been on the platform with him at Massillon, Ohio, +when the people would scarcely listen to any one except Mr. McKinley. +It was arranged that Blaine should come from La Fayette, Indiana, +to Springfield, Illinois. I was chairman of the delegation consisting +of one hundred of the most prominent men of the State, selected to +accompany him to Springfield. The delegation went to La Fayette, +and the Adjutant-General of the State and I waited on Mr. Blaine +at the residence of Mr. George Williams, who is still living and +whom I have always known intimately. Mr. Blaine's son came down +in response to our call, announcing that his father had retired, +ill, and would not be disturbed until eight o'clock in the morning. +At the hour appointed we still had difficulty in seeing him, and +finally I enlisted the assistance of Mr. McKinley, who was there, +and the Hon. Joseph Medill of _The Chicago Tribune_, to help me to +prevail upon Blaine to keep his engagement. He had come to the +conclusion that he ought to go back East; that he was needed there +more than he was in the West. The truth was that he was trying to +evade the Springfield engagement. I told him that there would be +no less than a hundred thousand people from all parts of the State +gathered at Springfield to see him, and it would not do to disappoint +so vast a crowd. He finally consented to go, but was very ungracious +about it, telling us not to disturb him during the trip from La +Fayette to Springfield, and at once retired to his drawing-room. + +We soon came to a city in Indiana where there was a large crowd to +greet him, and following his orders, the train did not stop. He +emerged from his drawing-room very angry because the train had not +been stopped when a crowd was waiting to hear him. Afterwards we +halted at almost every station on the line to Springfield, where +we did not arrive until almost dusk. Probably a hundred thousand +people had been gathered there during the day, and at least fifty +thousand waited until we arrived; but it was so dark that the +audience could scarcely see the speaker. He left for Chicago that +night, hurrying through that city; hence to Wisconsin, I believe, +making enemies rather than friends. He had gained the election by +his Western tour, but lost it during his stay in New York City. +"Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," the Delmonico dinner, the old row +with Conkling beginning in the Thirty-ninth Congress, caused his +defeat. I told him afterwards that if he had broken his leg in +Springfield and been compelled to remain as my guest there, he +would have been elected. He agreed with me that he would. + +Notwithstanding his defeat, however, he continued as one of the +foremost leaders of the Republican party up to the time of his +death. He might have been nominated at the Chicago Convention, +when Mr. Harrison received the nomination the first time had he +not retired to Europe, apparently so disgusted at his own defeat +four years before that he had not the heart to make the race again. + +I do not think Harrison ever did like Blaine, but he invited him +to become the Premier of his cabinet, a position which Mr. Blaine +had held for a few months under General Garfield. Harrison and +Blaine never got along. As I say elsewhere in these recollections, +Harrison seemed jealous of Blaine, and Blaine was not true to his +chief. Mr. Blaine sent for me one evening, and I called at his +house. He related to me with considerable feeling how the President +had treated both his family and himself. He urged me to become a +candidate for President, but I told him that I would not think of +doing so. I afterwards supported Mr. Harrison for reasons personal +to myself, and not because I was particularly fond of Mr. Harrison. + +James G. Blaine retired to private life and died soon afterwards, +a broken, disappointed man. He was one of the greatest men of his +day, and was the most brilliant and probably the most popular man +with the masses in the history of the Republican party. + +Rutherford B. Hayes was the nineteenth President of the United +States, and preceded General Garfield in that office. He was +neither as great a man nor as great an orator as General Garfield, +although he was a much better executive officer, and in my opinion +gave a better administration than General Garfield would have given +had he served the term for which he was elected. Rutherford B. +Hayes was an inconspicuous member of the House, as I recollect him +now. He was what I would term a very good, conscientious man, who +never made any enemies; but I do not think that any one would say +that he was a great man. He did not talk very much in the House, +nor accomplish very much. I became quite friendly with him there. +Subsequently he was nominated for Governor of Ohio, and he invited +me to come to the State and campaign for him, which I did. + +Thurman was his opponent, a very strong and able man, who subsequently +became a Senator from Ohio, and was a nominee of the Democratic +party for Vice-President. But Hayes defeated him for the Governorship, +and was once re-elected. He was nominated for President at the +Cincinnati Convention of 1876, when Blaine really should have been +the nominee, and would have been had the permanent chairman of the +convention, Edward McPherson, grasped the situation and held it +with a firm hand. + +McPherson, while a man of good intentions, earnest and sincere, +was Clerk of the House for many years and had occupied what might +be termed a subordinate position. The fact of the matter is that +he permitted the convention to get away from him; an adjournment +was secured, and the same night it was framed up to beat Blaine by +nominating Hayes. + +Hayes was just the kind of man for a compromise candidate. He was +seriously handicapped all through his administration owing to the +manner in which he secured the office. The Electoral Commission, +an unheard-of thing, created by act of Congress, by eight to seven +declared that Hayes was elected over Tilden. Very many people were +of the opinion that Tilden was entitled to the office. The Electoral +Commission never would have been agreed to by the Democrats had +they known that Judge David Davis, of our own State, would retire +from the Bench to take a place in the Senate; and it is almost +certain that had Judge Davis remained on the bench he would have +been a member of the Electoral Commission, and would have surely +voted in favor of Tilden, which would have made him President. + +While Hayes was President the "green-back craze" seemed to almost +take possession of the country. I delivered an address at Rockford, +Illinois, before an agricultural society, taking issue to some +extent with the public sentiment of the country, and favoring sound +money. The President was going through the country at that time +on a speaking tour, and in the course of some of his addresses he +commended what I had said. He, accompanied by General Sherman, +visited Springfield, and I entertained them at the Executive +Mansion. + +President Hayes, himself realizing the embarrassment under which +he entered the office of President, was not a candidate for +renomination, and very wisely so. But as I have said, President +Hayes was a good man; he made a very commendable record as President +of the United States, and he was specially fortunate in the selection +of his cabinet, showing rare discrimination in selecting some of +the ablest men in the country as his advisers. Evarts was his +Secretary of State, and John Sherman Secretary of the Treasury. + +It is a rather peculiar coincidence that both James A. Garfield +and R. B. Hayes were members of the Ohio delegation in the Thirty- +ninth Congress, and both afterwards arrived at the Presidency. + +James A. Garfield was a man of extraordinary ability. I was very +intimate with him during our service in the House. He was an +extremely likable man; I became very fond of him, and I believe +the feeling was reciprocated. Also he was distinguished for his +eloquence, and I have heard him make some of the most wonderfully +stirring and impressive speeches in the House. He was probably +not the orator that Robert G. Ingersoll was, but I should say that +he was one of the most effective public speakers of his period; +his speeches were deeper and more serious, uttered in a graver +style than the beautiful poetic imagery of the great agnostic. +President Lincoln liked Garfield, and he was one of the younger +men in the House who always supported the President, and on whom +the President relied. He entered the Thirty-eighth Congress and +served many terms. He enjoyed the peculiar distinction of being +a member of Congress from Ohio, Senator-elect from Ohio, and +President-elect of the United States, all at the same time. + +I attended the National Republican Convention of 1880, in which +Grant and Blaine were the leading candidates. I was at the time +Governor of Illinois and a candidate for re-election myself; +consequently I could not take any active part in the contest between +Blaine and Grant, but of course, naturally, my sympathies were with +General Grant. + +I was not a delegate to the National Convention, but I attended +it, and it so happened that I occupied a room directly opposite +that occupied by General Garfield. + +One evening, leaving my room, I met General Garfield just as he +was leaving his, and we dropped into general conversation and walked +along together. + +I have always been considered a pretty fair judge of a political +situation in State and National conventions, and it struck me as +soon as Garfield had completed one of the most eloquent of all his +eloquent addresses, placing in nomination Mr. Sherman, that he was +the logical candidate before that convention. + +To digress for a moment, it is a peculiar coincidence that McKinley +made his great reputation, in part, by nominating Mr. Sherman as +a candidate for the Presidency in the Minneapolis convention of +1892. Like General Garfield in 1880, Mr. McKinley was perfectly +willing to receive the nomination himself, although he was then, +as Garfield was in 1880, the leader of the Sherman forces. + +But to return. General Garfield and I walked down the hall together, +and being very intimate friends, I used to call him by his first +name, as he did me. I said: "James, if you will keep a level +head, you will be nominated for the Presidency by this convention +before it is over." This was a couple of days before he was actually +nominated. + +He replied: "No, I think not." + +But as we walked along together discussing the matter, I contended +that I was right. + +At the end of that memorable struggle between Grant and Blaine, in +which the great Republican party refused to accept General Grant, +the foremost Republican and soldier of his time, Garfield was +nominated. + +I remember vividly the form and features of Garfield in that +convention. I see him placing Sherman in nomination, probably not +realizing at the time that he was nominating himself. I see him +taking an active part in all the debates, and as I look back now +I do not think I ever saw a man apparently so affected as General +Garfield was when it was announced that he was the nominee of the +Republican party for the Presidency of the United States. Seemingly +he almost utterly collapsed. He sank into his seat, overcome. He +was taken out of the convention and to a room in the Grand Pacific, +where I met him a very few minutes afterward. + +After General Garfield was elected to the Presidency, but before +his inauguration, I determined that I would urge upon him the +appointment of Mr. Robert T. Lincoln as a member of his cabinet. +I thought then that his selection would not only be an honor to +the State, but that the great name of Lincoln, so fresh then in +the minds of the people, would materially strengthen General +Garfield's administration. + +With this purpose in view, I visited Garfield at his home in Mentor. +This journey was an extremely difficult one, owing to the circumstance +that the snow was yet deep on the ground; so I arranged with the +conductor to stop at the nearest point to General Garfield's house +to let me off, which he did. I walked from the train through banks +of snow, and after the hardest kind of a walk, finally reached his +house. + +I at once told him the mission on which I had come. We had quite +a long talk, at the end of which he announced that he would appoint +Mr. Lincoln his Secretary of War. + +In this connection I desire to say a few words concerning Robert +T. Lincoln. He is still living. I have known him from boyhood. +He has the integrity and the character which so distinguished his +father, and was marked in his mother's people as well. It is my +firm conviction that long ago Robert T. Lincoln could have been +President of the United States had he possessed the slightest +political aspiration. He has never been ambitious for public +office; but, on the contrary, it has always seemed to me that the +Presidency was especially repugnant to him, which would be natural, +considering the untimely death of his father, if for no other +reason. He was almost forced to take an active interest in public +affairs, but as soon as he was permitted to do so he retired to +private life to engage in large business undertakings, and finally +to become the head of the Pullman Company. + +It seems strange to me that he should consider the presidency of +a private corporation, no matter how great the emoluments, above +the Presidency of the greatest of all Republics. How unlike his +father! He was a most excellent Secretary of War, and one of +General Garfield's cabinet officers whom General Arthur invited to +remain in his cabinet, which he did. + +Under President Harrison he consented to become Minister to England. +Neither my colleague, Senator Farwell, nor I favored this appointment +--not because of any antipathy for Mr. Lincoln, for whom I not only +have the highest respect and admiration, but like personally as +well; but Mr. Blaine, who was Harrison's Secretary of State, called +on me one day and asked me to recommend some first-class man from +Illinois for the post. After a consultation with my colleague, we +determined to recommend an eminent lawyer and cultured gentleman +of Chicago, John N. Jewett. We did recommend him, and assumed that +his appointment was assured; but Harrison--probably to humiliate +Mr. Blaine--called Senator Farwell and me to him one day and +announced that he had determined to appoint Robert T. Lincoln +Minister to England. + +Farwell was extremely angry, and wanted to fight the nomination. +However, I counselled moderation. I pointed out that no criticism +could be made of Mr. Lincoln, and that since he was my personal +friend I could not very well oppose him. So I was glad to favor +the appointment, although I was as humiliated as my colleague at +the cool manner with which Harrison had snubbed us after Mr. Blaine's +overtures. + +I recollect very well the telegram which Mr. Lincoln received when +he was in Springfield, attending the business of the Pullman Company. +It was from his office in Chicago. It stated that there was a +letter there that demanded immediate attention, and asked whether +it should be forwarded. He gave instructions to forward it to +Springfield. It turned out to be the invitation of General Garfield +to enter his cabinet as Secretary of War, and asking an immediate +reply. He brought it to me in the Governor's office, where he sat +down and wrote his reply accepting General Garfield's invitation. + +But to return to General Garfield. He was not a strong executive +officer. In the brief period in which he occupied the White House, +he did not make a good President, and in my judgment would never +have made a good one. He vacillated in the disposition of his +patronage. When I visited him while he was yet President-elect, +he told me that Mr. Conkling would be with him the next day, and +asked my advice as to what he should say to him. It was understood +that Conkling was coming to protest against the appointment of +Blaine as Secretary of State. My advice was to let Mr. Conkling +understand that he would appoint whomsoever he pleased as members +of his cabinet; that he would run the office of President without +fear or favor; and that he would appoint Mr. Blaine as Secretary +of State because he considered him the very man best qualified for +that high office. Garfield agreed with me, asserting that I had +expressed exactly what he intended saying to Conkling; but if we +are believe the stories of Senator Conkling's friends, he made far +different promises to Senator Conkling in reference to this as also +to other appointments. + +But the culmination of the trouble between Garfield and Conkling +was the appointment of Robertson as Collector of Customs at the +Port of New York. The President took the ground, for his own +reasons, that the Collector of Customs of New York was a National +office, in which every State had an interest, and was not to be +considered as Senatorial patronage. Conkling strenuously contended +that it was exclusively Senatorial patronage, and in this he was +sustained by precedents. + +It so happened that I was in Washington when the trouble between +Conkling and Garfield was at its height, over the appointment of +Robertson. I called to see the President to pay my respects. He +asked me if I knew what General Logan would do in reference to the +nomination of Mr. Robertson. I told him I did not know, and he +asked me if I could find out, and to come to breakfast with him +next morning. I did find out that General Logan expected to stand +by the President, and I so reported to him next morning. + +I bade him good-bye and this was the last time that I ever saw him +alive. I attended his funeral at Cleveland, and as I saw his body +laid away, I thought of the strange caprice of fate. Was it +premonition that made him so sad and castdown--so utterly crushed, +as it seemed to me--when he became the Republican candidate for +President before that great convention of 1880? Had he not been +elected President, he would probably have enjoyed a long, useful, +and highly creditable public career. He would have been one of +the most distinguished representatives that Ohio ever had in the +upper branch of Congress. He was to the most eminent degree fitted +for a legislator. In the national halls of Congress his public +life had been spent; there he was at home. He was not at all fitted +for the position of Chief Executive of the United States. And I +say this not in a spirit of hostility, but in the most kindly way, +because I loved General Garfield as one of my earliest friends, in +those days of long ago, when I served in the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +There was no man in the Thirty-ninth Congress with whom I was +afterwards so long and intimately associated as I was with the late +Senator William B. Allison of Iowa, with whom I served in the Senate +for a quarter of a century. + +Senator Allison was quite a prominent member of the House when I +entered Congress, and was serving then as a member of the important +Ways and Means Committee. He was regarded as one of the ablest +and most influential of the Western members. + +From the very earliest time I knew him, Senator Allison was an +authority on matters pertaining to finance. While he was in favor +of a protective tariff, he was not particularly a high-tariff +advocate; he, and the late General Logan who was then in the House, +and I worked together on tariff matters, as against the high-tariff +advocates, led by General Schenck. + +On one occasion we defeated a high-tariff proposition that General +Schenck was advocating. He was furious, and rising up in his place, +declared: + +"I might as well move to lay the bill on the table and to write as +its epitaph--'nibbled to death by pismires!'" + +The remark made General Logan terribly angry; but Senator Allison, +who had a quiet, keen sense of humor, and I were very much amused, +--as much at the fury of Logan as at the remark of Schenck. + +As a member of the House, Senator Allison followed the more radical +element against President Johnson. He was much more radical than +I was in those days, and he attacked President Johnson repeatedly +on the floor of the House, in tone and manner utterly unlike himself +when later he served in the Senate. + +In the upper body he was decidedly a conservative. He never +committed himself until he was absolutely certain. He was always +regarded as a wise man, and he exercised an extraordinary control +over members, in settling troublesome questions and bringing about +harmony in the Senate. He had powerful influence, not only with +members of his own party, but with members of the opposition. +Every one had confidence in him. His statements were accepted +without question. He never attempted oratory, but by cool statement +of facts he moulded the opinions of legislators. He was one of +those even tempered, level-headed, sound, sensible men to whom we +naturally turned when there were difficult questions to settle. + +There has been no man in our history who had a longer or more +distinguished public career, and I do not know of any man who was +more often invited to enter the cabinets of different Presidents +than was Senator Allison. The Secretaryship of the Treasury was +urged and almost forced upon him repeatedly. I visited Indianapolis +to see the President-elect, Mr. Harrison, and it so happened that +Senator Allison and I entered together, Mr. Harrison having sent +for him. I saw Harrison first, and he told me that he was going +to ask Senator Allison to become his Secretary of the Treasury. +I assured him that I was confident that he would decline the office +--an assertion that occasioned much surprise, even a display of +temper. Mr. Harrison seemed to think that it was Senator Allison's +duty to accept the place. When Senator Allison saw him a short +time later, the office was tendered him and he promptly declined +to accept it. Nothing that Mr. Harrison could do or say would +induce him to change his mind. + +Mr. McKinley was anxious to have Senator Allison in his cabinet, +and I do not think I shall be violating any confidence, now that +they are both dead, in saying that in declining the appointment +Allison urged McKinley, as he afterwards told me, to appoint me as +Secretary of the Treasury, and McKinley gave him so strong an +assurance that he intended to invite me to enter his cabinet, that +when Allison saw me in Washington at the beginning of the session, +I being a member of his Committee on Appropriations, he said: +"Cullom, you are to enter the cabinet; now you will not be able to +do much work on the Appropriations Committee, and you had better +devote your time to getting your affairs in shape preparing to +leave the Senate and become Secretary of the Treasury." + +I had urged President McKinley to beg Senator Allison to enter his +cabinet. Coming from the source that Allison's assurance did, I +naturally took it more or less seriously, but I did not give the +matter much thought. + +The nearest that Mr. McKinley came to inviting me to enter the +cabinet, was an inquiry he made of me, which position I would prefer +in a cabinet, Secretary of State or Secretary of the Treasury. I +replied that, personally, I should prefer the Treasury, as I had +at that time no particular interest or training in foreign affairs. +I know now that Mr. McKinley did fully intend to tender to me the +Treasury portfolio, and I also know, but I do not feel at liberty +at this time to reveal, the influence in Illinois which induced +him to change his mind. I am very glad now that the position was +not tendered to me, as I might have accepted it, because of the +known desire of certain friends in this State to secure my seat in +the Senate, in which event I should have been long since retired +to private life. + +Senator Allison was the trusted adviser of President after President +--Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt +all called upon him. There was no Senator who had to a greater +extent their confidence. Had he lived he would have been as close, +if not closer to President Taft. He served in the Senate longer +than any other man in all our history. He broke Benton's long +record. He broke the long record of Senator Morrill. He served +eight years in the House and more than thirty-five years in the +Senate, a total of forty-three years and five months in Congress. +For forty-three years the history of his life embodies the complete +financial legislative history of the United States. + +Another conspicuous member of the Thirty-ninth Congress was Nathaniel +P. Banks of Massachusetts. He had a long, varied, and interesting +career, both in public and private life. He was many times elected +to Congress from Massachusetts, and in 1856, after a long contest +which lasted more than two months, was elected Speaker of the House +of Representatives. He was Governor of his State, and in 1861, +for a short time, president of the Illinois Central Railroad, from +which position he resigned to enter the Union army as a major- +general, serving throughout the war. + +I did not know him when he was stationed at Chicago but I became +very well acquainted with him in Congress. He was Chairman of the +Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which committee I was a member. +Not only was General Banks a polite, agreeable man, but he was an +exceptionally effective speaker, and very popular in the House. + +There occurs to me a little controversy which he had with the late +Senator Dawes, who was at that time a member of the House from +Massachusetts. + +General Banks was undertaking to pass a bill to which Mr. Dawes +objected. Banks was nettled. Taking the floor, he accused his +colleague of always objecting to bills he attempted to pass. Dawes +arose in his place, and in the most ponderous fashion, turned to +Banks. + +"I appeal to my colleague," he asked, "when did I ever before object +to any bill which he was attempting to pass?" + +Banks jumped to his feet, and said in his high-pitched voice: "I +do not know that my colleague ever did, but I always thought that +he was just about to." + +General Banks served during the six years that I was a member of +the House, and several terms afterwards, his public service ending +with the Fifty-first Congress. He died at his home in Massachusetts, +in 1894. + +Daniel W. Voorhees was another celebrated member of the Thirty- +ninth Congress, and was later a Senator from Indiana. Senator +Voorhees was a very able man and a zealous, consistent Democrat. +He was charged, and I have no doubt at all that it was true, with +being a Rebel sympathizer, and a prominent member of the Knights +of the Golden Circle. A fine, gifted speaker, a kind-hearted +gentleman, he was very popular with the people of Indiana. Dan +Voorhees and Thomas A. Hendricks, who was afterward Vice-President +of the United States, were the two most prominent Democrats of +Indiana in all its history, and indeed were two of the foremost +Democrats of the North. + +Senator Voorhees' seat, as a member of the House in the Thirty- +ninth Congress, was successfully contested; and I can see him now, +with his imposing presence, making his final speech in the House, +after the result of the contest had become known. Garbed in a long +cloak, he defended his right to his seat with the greatest dignity. +The vote was taken; his opponent was seated; then he drew his cloak +about him, and with the air of a king, walked out of the House, +almost triumphantly. I had voted against him, but the dignity with +which he carried off the occasion certainly commanded my deepest +admiration. + +He was a great admirer of Mr. Lincoln. He knew him well; had been +associated with him in many lawsuits on the circuit, at Danville, +and in the eastern part of the State; and although they belonged +to opposing political parties, he evinced for Lincoln a very warm +feeling. + +Senator Voorhees once told me a rather interesting story in connection +with President Lincoln. It was the occasion of the dedication of +what was known as the Foundery Methodist Church in Washington. +Mr. Lincoln was present, Voorhees was there, and Bishop Simpson +delivered the dedicatory address. The bishop was an eloquent +speaker and his sermon was a characteristic one. The President +was seated in an armchair in front of the pulpit, with his back to +the minister, and after the sermon was over, an effort was at once +made to raise funds to pay the debt of the church. This phase of +the meeting was tiresomely protracted, the minister, in the customary +style, earnestly urging an unresponsive congregation to contribute +until nearly every inducement had been exhausted. Finally someone +started a movement to raise a certain definite amount of money, +the achievement of which would make the President a life member of +some church society. But even this scheme was not accepted with +much enthusiasm, and Bishop Simpson renewed his plea for donations. +At last Mr. Lincoln, who had been growing tired and bored at the +performance, craned his head around toward Bishop Simpson, and said +in a tone that everybody heard: "Simpson, if you will stop this +auction I will pay the money myself." + +And since Bishop Simpson's name has been mentioned, another incident +in which he figured is suggested, which might as well be related +here. + +In the Methodist Church Bishop Simpson's name is a household word. +He was one of its most prominent divines, and in sympathy with that +branch which remained loyal to the Union. Naturally he was a great +admirer of Mr. Lincoln--in fact, so close was he to the President +that it was his influence that secured the appointment of Senator +Harlan of Iowa as Secretary of the Interior. What follows will +demonstrate that this statement is not made on hearsay. + +Several prominent men of Illinois, and other parts of the country, +were in Washington trying to secure the appointment of Uncle Jesse +K. Dubois (the father of Senator Dubois of Idaho who served in the +United States Senate two terms with great credit to himself and +State), as Secretary of the Interior. Uncle Jesse Dubois was there +himself, and we all met one evening at the National Hotel, at which +meeting I was designated to go to the White House and use my +influence with President Lincoln in Uncle Jesse's behalf. Uncle +Jesse had no business coming to Washington when he was being pushed +for a cabinet office; but he did, nevertheless, and he was not in +good health. About ten o'clock at night I saw the President, and +laid before him Uncle Jesse's claims. His reply was: + +"I cannot appoint him. I must appoint Senator Harlan. I promised +Bishop Simpson to do so. The Methodist Church has been standing +by me very generally; I agreed with Bishop Simpson to give Senator +Harlan this place, and I must keep my agreement. I would like to +take care of Uncle Jesse, but I do not see that I can as a member +of my cabinet." + +I replied: "If you have determined it, that is the end of the +matter, and I shall so report to the friends who are gathered at +the National, so that Uncle Jesse may go on home." + +President Lincoln seemed much affected. He followed me to the +door, repeating that he would like to take care of Uncle Jesse, +but could not do so. + +Jesse Dubois went home to Springfield, but he remained as stanch +a friend to Lincoln as ever, and was one of the committee sent from +Springfield to accompany the remains of the immortal President to +their last resting-place. + +George S. Boutwell was another member of the Thirty-ninth Congress +who merits some attention. He afterward became very influential +among the radical element, and was one of the managers on the part +of the House in the impeachment of President Johnson. It is hard +to understand in a man of his sober, sound sense; but I am convinced +that he firmly believed President Johnson to have been a conspirator +in securing the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. He was Secretary of +the Treasury under President Grant, who had for him the greatest +respect and confidence. I never was very intimate with him, but +I knew him fairly well, and considered him one of the leading public +men of Massachusetts of his day. + +One of the leading members of the Pennsylvania delegation in the +Thirty-ninth Congress was William D. Kelley. He was a prominent +member of the House, a good speaker, although he always prepared +his addresses at great length, principally on the tariff; but he +did not confine himself to his manuscripts entirely. His specialty +in Congress was the tariff. He was called "Pig-iron Kelley" because +he was for high duties on pig-iron and, in fact, everything +manufactured in Pennsylvania. That State, as everybody knows, is +the great iron and steel manufacturing State of the Union, and its +representatives in Congress were in that day, as they are in this, +the highest of high protective tariff advocates. + +Before entering Congress, William D. Kelley for a number of years +had been a judge of one of the more important courts of Philadelphia. +He was elected to and kept in the House, without any particular +effort on his own part, because he was considered one of the most +valuable men in Congress in matters pertaining to the tariff. When +I was a candidate for re-election to the House he visited my district +and made several very able speeches for me at my request, and, with +his wife, was my guest in Springfield for several days. At that +time Republicans were for a high protective tariff, and it was not +considered then, as it seems to be in these days of so-called +insurgency, a crime for a Republican to stand up and say that he +was in favor of high tariff duties. In any event, Judge Kelley +did me much good in the speeches he made in my district. + +We occupied apartments in the same house in Washington--on F Street +near the Ebbitt House, at which hotel we took our meals. F Street +is now the heart of the business centre, but it was then one of +the principal residence streets, and many Representatives and +Senators lived in that vicinity. The only objection I had to living +in the same house with Judge Kelley was that he was always preparing +speeches, and when he got ready to deliver a speech he would insist +on reading it all over to me; and as his speeches were generally +two or three hours long, and always on the tariff, in which I did +not take an extraordinary amount of interest, I became pretty tired +of hearing them. + +On one occasion when he was making quite an eloquent speech in the +House, he was interrupted by a member from Kentucky, whose name I +do not remember. He had already answered him once or twice and +then gone on. He was interrupted again, and this time he answered: +"Oh, don't interrupt me when the glow is on." The "glow" did happen +to be on at that time, and naturally he did not desire to be +interrupted. + +In the same Pennsylvania delegation there were two members named +Charles O'Neill and Leonard Myers, who were very short in stature. +For some reason or other, some wag dubbed them "Kelley's ponies." +They heard of it and became very angry, and on every occasion, when +there was half a chance, they watched to see how Judge Kelley voted +and would then vote the opposite. + +They were both good men and good Republicans, and O'Neill served +the same number of terms as Judge Kelley--fifteen--but O'Neill +remained his full fifteen terms and retired from Congress. Judge +Kelley was serving his fifteenth term when he died in Washington, in +1890. + +Samuel J. Randall was one of the prominent Democrats of his day; +but strange to say he favored a protective tariff. He also served +about fifteen terms, two of them in the Speaker's chair. He had +an anxious solicitude for the success of his party, and made many +political speeches. He was a young member when I first knew him, +away back in the sixties, but even then he occupied an influential +position. + +I remember meeting him in Mr. Blaine's office one day, when the +latter was Secretary of State, and Mr. Blaine not being in, we sat +on the settee and had a talk. He was in poor health, but curious +respecting the relations between President Harrison and his party. +I told him they were not getting along very well; that he satisfied +his party about as well as Mr. Cleveland satisfied his when he was +in the White House. + +"I think," he observed, "he is better than our President. We never +could do much with Cleveland." Then he added this characteristic +remark: "If you want an army to fight, you must feed it. It is +the same with a political party: if a party is to take care of +itself, its workers must be recognized in the distribution of its +patronage." + +I never saw Samuel J. Randall afterwards. + +Judge Godlove S. Orth was one of my most intimate friends in the +House of Representatives. He was a splendid man, and was regarded +as an honorable and able member. He and I saw much of each other +every day, as we roomed in the same neighborhood and generally +visited the departments together. We were seen with each other so +often on the streets, in fact, that when we were separated, friends +would ask either one or the other of us: "What has become of your +partner?" At one time I canvassed his district for him and he was +re-elected. + +He had a peculiar name, "Godlove." I never heard of a man named +Godlove, either before or since. The story was told of a lady +sitting in the gallery, listening to the proceedings of the House. +She could not hear very well. When the roll was being called, and +she heard the name "Godlove" called by the clerk, she did not +understand it; she wend down stairs and told her friends that the +House of Representatives was a most pious body; that every time +they called the roll, and the clerk got about half way through, he +would stop and exclaim: "God love us all!" + +Judge Orth has been dead for many years, but I have always remembered +with great pleasure our friendship when we served as colleagues in +the House, nearly half a century ago. + +Oakes Ames of Boston was a prominent member of the House. He had +charge of the Union Pacific Railroad construction, and it was +charged--and proven, I believe, afterwards--that he secured the +concessions for the railroad by undue influence,--the use of money, +gifts of stock, etc.,--and the whole thing finally culminated in +what is known as the _Credit Mobilier_ scandal, the exposure of +which came after I retired from the House. + +Ames was a member of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, +Forty-first, and Forty-second Congresses, and I knew him very well +during my six years' service. I was made chairman of the Committee +on Territories in the Forty-first Congress, by Mr. Blaine, who was +then Speaker. Ames annoyed me very much by coming to me almost +every day in the interest of legislation in the Territories affecting +the Union Pacific, and I asked him one day, being a little out of +temper, whether he was so absorbed in the Pacific Railroad that he +had not time to devote to anything else. He made some light +rejoinder; sometime later the exposure came, and I found that he +was engaged in most unfortunate and unlawful practices in securing +legislation in the interest of his road. + +I never believed that Oakes Ames was naturally a dishonest man, +but the proof was against him, and the scandal resulted in his +death, as it also did in the death of James Brooks, of New York, +and the ruination of other public men. + +I knew S. S. Cox ("Sunset" Cox, as he was called), as a member of +the Forty-first Congress. He had served in some previous Congress +as a member from Ohio; but when I knew him he was serving as a +member from New York. + +Cox was an able man, as a speaker, a writer, and a diplomat. He +was always listened to with great respect and attention when he +addressed the House, but a considerable amount of fun was poked at +him after a certain occasion when he had interrupted General Butler +a time or two in debate, and the General, finally losing patience, +replied to one of his questions with the admonition: "Shoo, fly, +don't bodder me!" I was present at the time; the galleries were +filled, as they always were in those days; and when General Butler +uttered this reproof the whole House, galleries, and floor, was in +an uproar, maintaining the confusion for some minutes. When it +seemed like subsiding, it would break out again and again, and so +it continued for quite a while. When order was finally restored +Cox undertook to reply; but he could not do so. He had been so +crippled by the response of the audience to Butler's remark that +he never recovered from it. + +Cox was a splendid man. He always thought in those days that he +had not been quite appreciated by his friends in the Democratic +party, and they thought the same way; but he was so good-humored, +and such a whole-souled man and so fond of wit that he really never +did get what he was entitled to. + +I was trying to pass a bill which I had prepared for the purpose +of prohibiting and wiping out polygamy in Utah. I had reported +the bill from the Committee on Territories, and I was doing my best +to pass it. For some reason or other (afterwards I learned it was +an ulterior reason to help out a friend), General Schenck undertook +to defeat the measure, and for this purpose he asked to have it +referred to the Committee on Judiciary. This committee probably +had jurisdiction over the subject; I did not think so at the time, +and believed that such a reference would kill the bill. He seemed +to be making some headway with the Republicans, when Cox came over +to me from the Democratic side of the House, and proposed that if +I would yield to him for five minutes he would help me to pass the +bill. I told him to go back to his seat and that I would yield to +him directly. When I did Cox took the floor, and to my utter +astonishment he denounced the bill as the most outrageous bill that +had ever been brought before the House, declaring in the most +spirited manner that of course it ought to be referred to the +Judiciary Committee, because every one knew that such a reference +would kill it. + +But he was shrewder than I apprehended at the moment. His talk +had the desired effect, for the Republicans who had been following +Schneck determined that they would not be responsible for killing +the bill; they came back to me, and the measure was passed through +the House by a substantial majority. + + +CHAPTER IX +THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON +1865 + +As I look back now over the vista of years that have come and gone, +it seems to me that I entered the Lower House of Congress just at +the beginning of the most important period in all our history. +The great President had been assassinated; the war was over; Andrew +Johnson, a Union Democrat, was President of the United States. +Reconstruction was the problem which confronted us, how to heal up +the Nation's wounds and remake a Union which would endure for all +time to come. These were the difficult conditions that had to be +dealt with by the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +Andrew Johnson was the queerest character that ever occupied the +White House, and, with the exception of Lincoln only, he entered +it under the most trying and difficult circumstances in all our +history; but Lincoln had, what Johnson lacked, the support and +confidence of the great Republican party. Johnson was never a +Republican, and never pretended to be one. He was a lifelong +Democrat, and a slave-holder as well; but he was loyal to the Union, +no man living more so. As a Senator from Tennessee, alone of all +the Southern Senators he faced his colleagues from the South in +denouncing secession as treason. His subsequent phenomenal course +in armed opposition to the rebellion brought about his nomination +for the Vice-Presidency as a shrewd stroke to secure the support +of the War Democrats of the North and the Union men of his State +and section. + +He came to the Presidency under the cloud of President Lincoln's +assassination, when the majority of the North believed that a +Southern conspiracy had laid the great President low. The seceding +States hated him as a traitor to his own section; the North distrusted +him as a Democrat. At first I believe the very radical element of +the Republican party in Congress, led by old Ben Wade of Ohio, than +whom there was no more unsafe man in either house of Congress, were +disposed, if not openly to rejoice, which they dared not do, to +see with some secret satisfaction the entrance of Johnson into the +White House. It is well known that Wade did say in his first +interview with President Johnson, when, as a member of the committee +on the conduct of the war, he waited on him, "Johnson, we have +faith in you. By the gods, there will be no more trouble in +running the Government." + +I have already, in another chapter, described the scene which took +place in the Senate chamber when Johnson was inducted into office +as Vice-President; the exhibition he made of himself at the time +of taking the oath of office, in the presence of the President of +the United States and the representatives of the Governments of +the world. All this, advertised at the time in the opposition +press, added to the prejudice against Johnson in the North and made +his position more trying and difficult. + +There were two striking points in Johnson's character, and I knew +him well: First, his loyalty to the Union; and, second, his utter +fearlessness of character. He could not be cowed; old Ben Wade, +Sumner, Stevens, all the great leaders of that day could not, +through fear, influence him one particle. + +In 1861, when he was being made the target of all sorts of threats +on account of his solitary stand against secession in the Senate, +he let fall this characteristic utterance: + +"I want to say, not boastingly, with no anger in my bosom, that +these two eyes of mine have never looked upon anything in the shape +of mortal man that this heart has feared." + +This utterance probably illustrates Johnson's character more clearly +than anything that I could say. He sought rather than avoided a +fight. Headstrong, domineering, having fought his way in a State +filled with aristocratic Southerners, from the class of so-called +"low whites" to the highest position in the United States, he did +not readily yield to the dictates of the dominating forces in +Congress. + +Lincoln had a well-defined policy of reconstruction. Indeed, so +liberal was he disposed to be in his treatment of the Southern +States, that immediately after the surrender of Richmond he would +have recognized the old State Government of Virginia had it not +been for the peremptory veto of Stanton. Congress was not in +session when Johnson came to the Presidency in April, 1865. To do +him no more than simple justice, I firmly believe that he wanted +to follow out, in reconstruction, what he thought was the policy +of Mr. Lincoln, and in this he was guided largely by the advice of +Mr. Seward. + +But there was this difference. Johnson was, probably in good faith, +pursuing the Lincoln policy of reconstruction; but when the +Legislatures and Executives of the Southern States began openly +passing laws and executing them so that the negro was substantially +placed back into slavery, practically nullifying the results of +the awful struggle, the untold loss of life and treasure, Mr. +Lincoln certainly would have receded and would have dealt with the +South with an iron hand, as Congress had determined to do, and as +General Grant was compelled to do when he assumed the Presidency. + +From April to the reassembling of Congress in December, Johnson +had a free hand in dealing with the seceded States, and he was not +slow to take advantage of it. He seemed disposed to recognize the +old State Governments; to restrict the suffrage to the whites; to +exercise freely the pardoning power in the way of extending executive +clemency not only to almost all classes, but to every individual +who would apply for it. The result was, it seemed to be certain +that if the Johnson policy were carried out to the fullest extent, +the supremacy of the Republican party in the councils of the Nation +would be at stake. + +To express it in a word, the motive of the opposition to the Johnson +plan of reconstruction was the firm conviction that its success +would wreck the Republican party, and by restoring the Democrats +to power bring back Southern supremacy and Northern vassalage. +The impeachment, in a word, was the culmination of the struggle +between the legislative and the executive departments of the +Government over the problem of reconstruction. The legislative +department claimed exclusive jurisdiction over reconstruction; the +executive claimed that it alone was competent to deal with the +subject. + +This is a very brief summary of the conditions which confronted us +when I entered the Thirty-ninth Congress. Representatives of the +eleven seceding States were there to claim their seats in Congress. +The Republican members met in caucus the Saturday evening preceding +the meeting of Congress on Monday. I, as a member-elect, was +present, and I remember how old Thaddeus Stevens at once assumed +the dominating control in opposition to the President's plan. +Stevens was a most remarkable character,--one of the most remarkable +in the legislative history of the United States. He believed firmly +in negro equality and negro suffrage. As one writer eloquently +expresses it: + +"According to his creed, the insurgent States were conquered +provinces to be shaped into a paradise for the freedman and a hell +for the rebel. His eye shot over the blackened southern land; he +saw the carnage, the desolation, the starvation, and the shame; +and like a battered old warhorse, he flung up his frontlet, sniffed +the tainted breeze, and snorted 'Ha, Ha!'" + +It was at once determined by the Republican majority in Congress +that the representatives of the eleven seceding States should not +be admitted. The Constitution expressly gives to the House and +Senate the exclusive power to judge of the admission and qualification +of its own members. + +We were surprised at the moderation of the President's message, +which came in on Tuesday after Congress assembled. In tone and +general character the message was wholly unlike Johnson. It was +an admirable state document, one of the finest from a literary and +probably from every other standpoint that ever came from an Executive +to Congress. It was thought at the time that Mr. Seward wrote it, +but it has since been asserted that it was the product of that +foremost of American historians, J. C. Bancroft, one of Mr. Johnson's +close personal friends. + +There existed three theories of dealing with the Southern States: +one was the President's theory of recognizing the State Governments, +allowing the States to deal with the suffrage question as they +might see fit; the Stevens policy of wiping out all State lines +and dealing with the regions as conquered military provinces; and +the Sumner theory of treating them as organized territories, +recognizing the State lines. + +Johnson dealt in a masterful manner with the subject in his message. +He said: + +"States, with proper limitations of power, are essential to the +existence of the Constitution of the United States. + +"The perpetuity of the Constitution bring with it the perpetuity +of the States; their mutual relations makes us what we are, and in +our political system this connection is indissoluble. The whole +cannot exist without the parts nor the parts without the whole. +So long as the Constitution of the United States endures, the States +will endure; the destruction of the one is the destruction of the +other; the preservation of the one is the preservation of the other. + +"The true theory is that all pretended acts of secession were, from +the beginning, null and void. The States cannot commit treason, +nor screen the individual citizens who may have committed treason, +any more than they can make valid treaties or engage in lawful +commerce with any foreign power. The States attempting to secede +placed themselves in a condition where their vitality was impaired +but not extinguished, their functions suspended but not destroyed." + +It was but the Johnson theory which we presented to the world, +denying the right of any State to secede; asserting the perpetuity, +the indissolubility of the Union. + +But the question was, whether the members from the seceding States +should be admitted to the Senate and House; and he dealt with this +most difficult problem in a statesmanlike way. He said: + +"The amendment to the Constitution being adopted, it would remain +for the States whose powers have been so long in abeyance, to resume +their places in the two branches of the National Legislature, and +thereby complete the work of restoration. Here it is for you, +fellow citizens of the Senate, and for you, fellow citizens of the +House of Representatives, to judge, each of you for yourselves, of +the elections, returns and qualifications of your own members." + +On the suffrage question, he said: + +"On the propriety of making freedmen electors by proclamation of +the Executive, I took for my counsel the Constitution itself, the +interpretations of that instrument by its authors, and their +contemporaries, and the recent legislation of Congress. They all +unite in inculcating the doctrine that the regulation of the suffrage +is a power exclusively for the States. So fixed was this reservation +of power in the habits of the people, and so unquestioned has been +the interpretation of the Constitution, that during the Civil War +the late President never harbored the purpose,--certainly never +avowed it,--of disregarding it; and in acts of Congress nothing +can be found to sanction any departure by the Executive from a +policy which has so uniformly obtained." + +Aside from the worst radicals, the message pleased every one, the +country at large and the majority in Congress; and there was a +general disposition to give the President a reasonably free hand +in working out his plan of reconstruction. But as I stated, the +Legislatures of the Southern States and their Executives assumed +so domineering an attitude, practically wiping out the results of +the war, that the Republican majority in Congress assumed it to be +its duty to take control from the Executive. + +What determined Johnson in his course, I do not know. It was +thought that he would be a radical of radicals. Being of the "poor +white" class, he may have been flattered by the attentions showered +on him by the old Southern aristocrats. Writers of this period +have frequently given that as a reason. My own belief has been +that he was far too strong a man to be governed in so vital a matter +by so trivial a cause. My conviction is that the radical Republican +leaders in the House were right; that he believed in the old +Democratic party, aside from his loyalty to the Union; and was a +Democrat determined to turn the Government over to the Democratic +party, reconstructed on a Union basis. + +I cannot undertake to go into all the long details of the memorable +struggle. As I look back over the history of it now, it seems to +me to bear a close resemblance to the beginning of the French +Revolution, to the struggle between the States General of France +and Louis XVI. Might we not, if things had turned differently, +drifted into chaos and revolution? If Johnson had been impeached +and refused to submit, adopting the same tactics as did Stanton in +retaining the War Department; had Ben Wade taken the oath of office +and demanded possession, Heaven only knows what might have been +the result. + +But reminiscing in this way, as I cannot avoid doing when I think +back over those terrible times, I lose the continuity of my subject. + +An extension to the Freedman's Bureau bill was passed, was promptly +vetoed by the Executive, the veto was as promptly overruled by the +House, where there was no substantial opposition, but the Senate +failed to pass the bill, the veto of the President to the contrary +notwithstanding. + +I had not the remotest idea that Johnson would dare to veto the +Freedman's Bureau bill, and I made a speech on the subject, declaring +a firm conviction to that effect. A veto at that time was almost +unheard of. Except during the administration of Tyler, no important +bill had ever been vetoed by an Executive. It came as a shock to +Congress and the country. Excitement reigned supreme. The question +was: "Should the bill pass the veto of the President regardless +thereof?" + +Not the slightest difficulty existed in the House; Thaddeus Stevens +had too complete control of that body to allow any question concerning +it there. The bill, therefore, was promptly passed over the veto +of the President. + +But the situation in the Senate was different. At this time the +Sumner-Wade radical element did not have the necessary two-thirds +majority, and the bill failed to pass over the veto of the President. +The war between the executive and legislative departments of the +Government had fairly commenced, and the first victory had been +won by the President. + +The Civil Rights bill, drawn and introduced by Judge Trumbull, than +whom there was no greater lawyer in the United States Senate, in +January, 1866, on the reassembling of Congress, was passed. Then +began the real struggle on the part of the radicals in the Senate, +headed by Sumner and Wade, to muster the necessary two-thirds +majority to pass a bill over the veto of the President. + +Let me digress here to say a word in reference to Charles Sumner. +For ten years he was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee +of the United States Senate, and no man, by education, experience, +knowledge of world politics, and travel, was ever more fitted to +occupy that high position. He was one of the most cultivated men +of his day, a radical, and filled one of the most important places +in the history of his time. When he entered the Senate, the South +dominated this Government; the great triumvirate, Webster, Clay, +and Calhoun, had just passed. The day he entered, Clay for the +last time, feeble, emaciated, appeared on the Senate floor. +Compromise was the word, and the Southerners so dominated that it +was considered treason to mention the slavery question. Charles +Sumner was an abolitionist; he was not afraid, and at the very +first opportunity he took the floor and denounced the institution +in no unmeasured terms. Chase and Seward were present that day, +and quickly followed Sumner's lead. Seward, however, was far more +conservative than either Sumner or Chase. + +It was the mission of Charles Sumner to awake the public conscience +to the horrors of slavery. He performed his duty unfalteringly, +and it almost cost him his life. Mr. Lincoln was the only man +living who ever managed Charles Sumner, or could use him for his +purpose. Sumner's end has always seemed to me most pitiful. +Removed from his high position as chairman of the Foreign Relations +Committee of the Senate, followed relentlessly by the enmity of +President Grant, than at the very acme of his fame; drifting from +the Republican party, his own State repudiating him, Charles Sumner +died of a broken heart. + +But to return to the struggle between the President and Congress. +Trumbull, Sumner, Wade, and the leaders were bound in one way or +another to get the necessary two-thirds. The vote was taken in +the Senate: "Shall the Civil Rights bill pass the veto of the +President to the contrary notwithstanding?" It was well understood +that the vote would be very close, and the result uncertain. + +The excitement was intense. The galleries were crowded; members +of the House were on the Senate floor. The result seemed to depend +entirely upon the vote of Senator Morgan, of New York, and he seemed +to be irresolute, uncertain in his own mind which way he would +vote. The call of the roll proceeded. When his name was reached +there was profound silence. He first voted nay, and then immediately +changed to yea. A wonderful demonstration burst forth as it was +then known that the bill would pass over the veto of the President, +and that the Republican party in Congress at last had complete +control. Senator Trumbull made a remarkable speech on that occasion, +and I was never prouder of any living man. + +So the struggle went on from day to day and year to year, growing +all the time more intense. I have always been disposed to be +conservative; I was then; and it was with profound regret that I +saw the feeling between the President and Congress becoming more +and more strained. + +I disliked to follow the extreme radical element, and when the row +was at its height, Judge Orth, a colleague in the House from Indiana, +and I concluded to go and see the President and advise with him, +in an attempt to smooth over the differences. I will never forget +that interview. It was at night. He received us politely enough, +and without mincing any words he gave us to understand that we were +on a fool's errand and that he would not yield. We went away, and +naturally joined the extreme radicals in the House, always voting +with them afterwards. + +The row continued in the Fortieth Congress. Bills were passed, +promptly vetoed, and the bills immediately passed over the President's +veto. Many of the bills were not only unwise legislation but were +unconstitutional as well. We passed the Tenure of Office bill; we +attempted to restrict the President's pardoning power; and as I +look back over the history of the period, it seems to me that we +did not have the slightest regard for the Constitution. Some of +President Johnson' veto messages were admirable. He had the advice +and assistance of one of the ablest lawyers of his day, Jeremiah +Black. + +To make the feeling more intense, just about this time Johnson made +his famous "swing around the circle," as it was termed. His speeches +published in the opposition press were intemperate and extreme. +He denounced Congress. He threatened to "kick people out of office," +in violation of the Tenure of Office act. He was undignified in +his actions and language, and many people thought he was intoxicated +most of the time, although I do not believe this. + +The radicals in both the House and Senate determined that he should +be impeached and removed from office. They had the votes in the +House easily, and they thought they could muster the necessary +number in the Senate, as we had been passing all sorts of legislation +over the President's veto. When the subject was up, I was doubtful, +and I really believe, strong Republican that I was, that had it +not been for Judge Trumbull I would have voted against the impeachment +articles. I advised with the Judge, for whom I had profound respect. +I visited him at his house. I explained to him my doubts, and I +recall very clearly the expression he used in reply. He said: +"Johnson is an obstruction to the Government and should be removed." +Judge Trumbull himself changed afterwards, much to the astonishment +of every one, and denounced the impeachment proceeding as unworthy +of a justice of the peace court. + +It seems to me difficult to realize that it was as far back as +March 2, 1868, that I addressed the House in favor of the impeachment +articles. I think I made a pretty good speech on that occasion +and supported my position very well. I took rather an extreme view +in favor of the predominance of the legislative department of the +Government, contending that the executive and judiciary departments +of the Government, while they are finally responsible to the people, +are directly accountable to the legislative department. + +The first and principal article in the impeachment proposed by the +House was the President's issuance of an order removing Edwin M. +Stanton as Secretary of War, he having been duly appointed and +commissioned by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and +the Senate having been in session at the time of his removal. + +I contended then, on the floor of the House, that such a removal +was a violation of the Constitution and could not be excused on +any pretext whatever, in addition to being a direct violation of +the Tenure of Office act. + +I do not intend to go into the details of the various articles +proposed by the House; suffice it to say that they were mainly +based on the attempted removal of Mr. Stanton, and the appointment +of Mr. Thomas as Secretary of War. + +I was very serious in concluding my speech. My words were: + +"Mr. Chairman: The administration of Mr. Johnson since he became +President of the United States has been characterized by an utter +disregard of the laws and Constitution of the United States. And, +sir, I am of the opinion that there should be another article +adopted by this House, and sent to the Senate, upon which he should +be tried, the substance of which should be that Andrew Johnson, +President of the United States, is guilty of high crimes in office, +in that he violated the Constitution and laws of the United States, +by using his influence, patronage and power of said office to +hinder, delay and prevent a restoration of the States lately in +rebellion against the Government, to their proper practical relations +to the Union. Congress provided by law for the reconstruction of +the rebel States. The President, from whatever motives it matters +not, stands in his Executive Office, and by all his influence and +power opposes restoration according to law. As an Executive Officer, +he has no such right, and his opposition to the laws of Congress +on the subject of reconstruction has cost this Nation thousands of +loyal men who have been murdered in the South on account of their +devotion to the Flag, and millions of money which is to be added +to the enormous public debt to be cast upon the necks of the people. +Shall the Nation endure it longer? Shall we struggle on and on +until the welcome day comes when his term shall expire? The people +say 'No'; men struggling in business say 'No'; men longing for +peace and harmony in the land say 'No'; the loyal men of the South, +who have been abused and hunted by wicked rebels, say 'No'; and I +trust that the answer of all these may be the answer of this House +to-day, and the answer of the Senate of the United States within +a reasonable time after these articles shall be sent to them." + +Needless for me to say, that as the subject continued feeling +remained at a high pitch in the House. It was debated from day to +day. Stevens was urging the impeachment with all the force at his +command; some were doubtful and holding back, as I was; some changed +--for instance, James G. Blaine, who was taunted by Stevens and +sneered at for his change of front. + +Under the law then existing the President of the Senate succeeded +a Vice-President who became, by the death or removal of the President, +President of the United States. The radicals in complete control +--and I have no doubt that Stevens had a hand in it--elected the +most radical of their number as President of the Senate--Ben Wade, +of Ohio. Johnson removed, Wade would have been President, and the +extreme radicals would have been in supreme control of the legislative +and executive departments of the Government. + +This condition is what made Mr. Blaine hesitate. He told me on +one occasion: "Johnson in the White House is bad enough, but we +know what we have; Lord knows what we would get with old Ben Wade +there. I do not know but I would rather trust Johnson than Wade." +But in the end Blaine supported the impeachment articles, just as +I did, and as Senator Allison and other somewhat conservative +members did, all feeling at the same time not a little doubtful of +our course. + +Stevens, Logan, Boutwell, Williams, and Wilson were appointed +managers on the part of the House, and solemnly and officially +notified the Senate of the action of the House in impeaching the +President of the United States. The Senate proceeded without long +delay to resolve itself as a High Court of Impeachment, for the +purpose of trying the President of the United States for high crimes +and misdemeanors. The most eminent counsel of the Nation were +engaged. Mr. Evarts was President Johnson's principal counsel. +He was ably assisted by lawyers of scarcely less renown. + +The trial dragged along from day to day. Part of the time the +Senate considered the matter in executive session. The corridors +were crowded; and I remember with what astonishment we heard that +Judge Trumbull had taken the floor denouncing the proceeding as +unworthy of a justice of the peace court. The Illinois delegation +held a meeting, and Logan, Farnsworth, and Washburne urged that we +unite in a letter to Judge Trumbull, with a view to influencing +his vote for conviction, or of inducing him to withhold his vote +if he could not vote for conviction. A number of our delegation +opposed it, and the letter was not sent. + +I do not think that it would have made the slightest effect on +Judge Trumbull had we sent it. All sorts of coercing methods were +used to influence wavering Senators. Old Bob Schenck was the +chairman of this movement, and he sent telegrams broadcast all over +the United States to the effect that there was great danger to the +peace of the country and the Republican cause if impeachment failed, +and asking the recipients to send their Senators public opinion by +resolutions and delegations. And responses came from all over the +North, urging and demanding the impeachment of the President. + +It is difficult now to realize the intense excitement of that +period. General Grant was there, tacitly acknowledged as the next +nominee of the Republican party for the Presidency. He took no +active part, but it was pretty well understood, from the position +of his friends such as Logan and Washburne, that the impeachment +had his sympathy; and in the Senate Conkling was especially +vindictive. Grimes, Fessenden, and Trumbull led the fight for +acquittal. Many were noncommittal; but in the end the struggle +turned on the one doubtful Senator, Edmund G. Ross of Kansas. + +It was determined to vote on the tenth article first, as that +article was the strongest one and more votes could be mustered for +it than any other. It was well understood that the vote on that +article would settle the matter. + +More than forty-three years have passed into history since that +memorable day when the Senate of the United States was sitting as +a Court of Impeachment for the purpose of trying the President of +the United States for high crimes and misdemeanors. The occasion +is unforgettable. As I look back now, I see arising before me the +forms and features of the great men who were sitting in that high +court: I see presiding Chief Justice Chase; I see Sumner, cold +and dignified; Wade, Trumbull, Hendricks, Conkling, Yates; I see +Logan as one of the managers on the part of the House; I see old +Thad Stevens, weak and wasted from illness, being carried in--all +long since have passed to the beyond, the accused President, the +members of the high court, the counsel. Of all the eminent men +who were present on that day, aside from the Hon. J. B. Henderson, +I do not know of a single one now living. + +As the roll was called, there was such a solemn hush as only comes +when man stands in the presence of Deity. Finally, when the name +of Ross was reached and he voted "No"; when it was understood that +his vote meant acquittal, the friends of the President in the +galleries thundered forth in applause. + +And thus ended for the first, and I hope the last, time the trial +of a President of the United States before the Senate, sitting as +a Court of Impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors. + + +CHAPTER X +SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATURE, AND GOVERNOR +1871 to 1883 + +After my six years' service in the Lower House of Congress, I +returned home, not expecting ever again to take office, or engage +in politics. There was a contest going on in the State over the +location of the State Capitol. The State had committed itself to +the erection of a new Capitol building, and had really made +considerable progress on its construction. + +In the meantime, the question of changing the location from +Springfield to some other city was agitated. Peoria made a very +strong effort for the removal to that city. The work on the new +building, as an immediate result, was stopped. The Legislature +had adjourned, and another election of members was to occur. This +condition of local affairs existed when I returned home after my +service was finished in Washington. + +The friends in my home county, in which the State Capitol is located, +waited on me and expressed a desire that I should allow my name to +be used as a candidate for the Legislature. I made known my resolve +not to enter politics again; but they based the proposal upon a +ground that made it extremely difficult and embarrassing not to +accede, to-wit: they had been with me for anything I had ever +wanted, and now they wanted me to reciprocate, and do as _they_ +desired. I did not feel that I could disregard their wishes, and +so yielded to their demand; it was nothing less. + +They then went to the Hon. Milton Hay, who was a great lawyer, and +as good a man as I ever knew, and made the same demand upon him. +He was under no special obligation to yield to their wishes, for +he had never asked for office at the hands of the people. He +declined; but they also declined to take "No" for an answer. The +result was that both Hay and I became candidates, were both elected, +and the contest over the removal of the State Capitol was renewed. + +I was chosen Speaker. Mr. Hay was the foremost lawyer of the +Legislature. One million dollars was reported from the proper +committee of the House, and passed without opposition, and the work +on the Capitol was once more taken up. + +Finding myself again in politics, I determined to become a candidate +for Governor. To be successful, it seemed to be important that I +should go back into the Legislature, which I did. After my re- +election I was supported by the Republican party for Speaker for +my second term. + +However, the House of Representatives was in control of the +opposition, composed of Democrats and Independents, the latter +being more generally wrong than the Democrats, and much less +reliable. The combination organized the House, the Hon. Elijah +Haines being elected Speaker, and the Republicans casting their +united vote for me. This Legislature has ever since been known as +the "Haines Legislature," the most notorious Legislature ever known +in the State. Haines was a man of ability--especially, to stir up +strife and produce confusion. + +The Legislature convened in the Winter of 1875. I was nominated +for Governor early in 1876, elected in November of the same year, +and sworn in January, 1877. + +On re-examining my inaugural address, I find much stated there that +is at the present time, and must long remain, of historic interest +to the people of Illinois; but since its length precludes reproduction +here, I can merely touch upon certain points, more fully covered +in the address, that offer many curious aspects and contrasts in +the light of latter-day conditions. + +To begin with, the Legislature of that year was the first to meet +in the new Capitol. The effects of the financial panic of 1873 +were still felt, but it was pointed out that the State's resources +were in no way impaired; that on the contrary--circumstances to be +proud of--the volume of private indebtedness had been materially +reduced, while the productive wealth of farms, buildings, factories, +mines, and railroads had never before been so great. + +Of matters educational, there had been enrolled as pupils the +preceding year (1876) 687,446 persons, and appropriations for public- +school purposes for the corresponding period had amounted to +$8,268,539.58. + +Among other matters of local interest adverted to, which to-day +are as alive and momentous as they were then, were the subjects of +navigation--particularly on the Illinois River and the canal--and +the supervision of the railroads by the Railroad and Warehouse +Commission. At that time there were 7,285 miles of railroad in +the State--a greater mileage than any other State in the Union +could boast of. + +Only eleven years had elapsed since the close of the Civil War, +and its after-effects still worked like an obnoxious ferment in +the State's political conditions; closely allied with this was the +influence of the Hayes-Tilden contest, all of which commanded a +large proportion of my speech. + +One extract I wish to quote in full, since it was prelude to events +which followed so soon afterwards: + +"I desire to add one suggestion in reference to the affairs of our +own State, by calling your attention to the Militia Law. I believe +a more perfect law should be enacted, which will secure a more +thorough organization of the State militia. + +"The spirit of our institutions and the temper of our people are +hostile to a standing army, and I am opposed to any policy, State +or National, looking to governing the people by bayonet; yet in +the most highly civilized communities a trained militia, recruited +from the intelligent and industrious classes, is an almost +indispensable auxiliary to the civil power in the interests of +peace and good order." + +Little did I dream that within six months of my inauguration the +timeliness and force of the suggestions, and any recommendations +contained in the closing paragraphs above, would find convincing +illustrations in conditions throughout the Nation, and especially +in Illinois. + +In July, 1877, the famous strike of the railway employees came on. +It was exceptionally strong in the cities of Illinois--Chicago, +Decatur, Springfield, Galesburg, East St. Louis, and every other +city of considerable size. The State was ill prepared for such a +crisis. The strike ran along for several days with the State +unready to bring the matter to a close. Having been in office but +a few months, I had not yet secured any arms or other military +equipment with which to combat organized violations of the law. +The Illinois National Guard was inchoate--in fact, scarcely organized +at all, except in companies voluntarily formed, which were almost +entirely without military equipment. Finally, however, I determined +to order the National Guard to East St. Louis. + +I telegraphed to Chicago for a locomotive and car to take me to +East St. Louis about two o'clock on a specified night. After +ordering the troops from different parts of the State to assemble +at East St. Louis on a given day, I went to East St. Louis myself, +three or four gentlemen accompanying me. There I found several +thousand men sitting about on the curbs of the sidewalks, apparently +perfectly quiet and inoffensive, if not unconcerned, and I concluded +that there was no reason why trains should not move. + +However, I first consulted with several railroad men, expressing +the opinion that the strikers and their sympathizers did not seem +desirous of disturbing anybody, and insisted that they proceed to +move out their trains. + +The superintendent of one of the roads finally promised to have a +train made up, and undertake to move it. + +"All right," said I. "Fire up, and I will come around about the +time you are ready to move." He did as he had promised, and I went +around with the friends who were accompanying me. + +But about the time the train was ready to move, these mild-mannered +laboring men, to the number of five or six hundred, gently closed +in upon the train, and put out the fire in the engine so it could +not be moved. + +Thereupon, I stood upon the sidewalk and addressed this crowd of +five or six hundred fire-extinguishers. I told them that I had +come there to move the trains, and while I did not want to hurt +any one, that the trains would be started, if everybody who interfered +first had to be disabled. They gradually skulked away, and I +ordered the fire built up again, asserting that I would be back in +half an hour to see the trains move. But the men notified the +engineer that they would kill any man who undertook to take the +train out, and in the fact of that threat no one could be prevailed +upon the man engines or train. + +Finally, however, one man agreed, if I would accompany him as far +as Decatur, about a hundred miles, to endeavor to go out with the +train. I told him I could not do that, but I would stand by his +side while he was going through the streets of East St. Louis. +But he would not agree to this, so that my efforts to move a single +train had met with complete failure. The result was that I was +driven to the expediency of calling upon the military arm of the +State authority. + +That evening the troops began to arrive. They were stationed at +the strategic points of the city during the night, and the next +morning the trains moved out without a single accident or +disturbance. + +In Chicago, the National Guard did not seem to accomplish anything. +The people there did not take them seriously, and the result was +that I called upon the National Government to send to that city a +few companies of regular troops. I think they came from Omaha. +When they arrived, and marched up the streets--that was the end of +the strike in that city. + +So I managed to get through the trouble without injury to a single +person, or the loss of any property except that caused by the delay +in the transaction of business. These results were quite different +from those in some other parts of the country. My chief private +secretary was in the East somewhere, and could not return to me +until the trouble was all over. + +As Governor of a State in a time when actual war was not flagrant, +I could only watch, as might any other American citizen, the exciting +proceedings at the National Capital, and hope that our country +might issue from the political contest without a weakening of our +institutions or loss of prestige. At the same time, I felt that +I might appropriately express my approval of the attitude of the +National administration, which I did in a letter to the President. + +When I was Governor of the State of Illinois, I had the good fortune +of becoming intimately acquainted with one of the great soldiers +of the recent Civil War, who was, in my judgment, the greatest +cavalry leader of modern times,--General Phil Sheridan. He was +Commander of the Department of the Lakes during my administration, +and I had the pleasure of meeting him on numerous occasions. + +At an immense reunion of volunteer soldiers from Northern Illinois, +Michigan, and Wisconsin, which was held in Aurora, I, as Governor +of the State, was invited to make the first address. General +Sheridan was invited to be present and take part in this celebration, +and he came down from Chicago, accompanied by his wife. I met them +at Aurora. We rode in the same carriage, at the rear of the +procession, to the fair grounds, a mile or so distant from the +city. The day was hot, and as we entered a dense grove, on the +road, the soldiers halted for a breathing spell, and while at rest +many of them went to a well near by for water. It was observed by +some of the soldiers that General Sheridan remained in the carriage, +and they immediately surrounded us. He greeted all cordially and +good-naturedly, being very fond of soldiers who had fought on the +Union side of the great struggle between the North and the South. +What immediately followed pleased Mrs. Sheridan and those who were +near, and amused Sheridan himself. A big Irish soldier-boy got +hold of Sheridan's hand and pulled him out of the carriage. Being +of small stature, General Sheridan was at the mercy of the stalwart +Irishman, who dealt with him in a very rough way, slapping him on +the back with great force, and with as much earnestness exclaiming: +"Boys, this is the damnedest, bravest little Mick in America!" + +As is well known now, the operations of General Sheridan in the +Shenandoah Valley and the region of Richmond called forth the +plaudits of the Nation and the commendation of his superiors. His +victories had much to do with bringing the Civil War to a close. +He was conscious of the power and value of the cavalry arm of the +army. In discussing his great achievements he made the remarkable +statement that with a force of five or ten thousand cavalrymen, +will organized, he could run over an army of almost any size. +Whether this be true or not, it remains that General Grant had +implicit confidence in Sheridan's ability to command the cavalry +forces in a manner superior to any other officer in the Union Army. + +It was on the suggestion of Grant that Sheridan was brought from +the West to take command of the cavalry. After coming East, he +was presented to President Lincoln. The President scrutinized him +closely. He did not appear to be the officer recommended to him +by Grant as the one man who could bring the cavalry forces to that +standard which was so much desired. + +The first time Lincoln met Grant after Sheridan called on him he +expressed his doubt. "The officer you brought from the West seems +rather a little fellow to handle your cavalry," said he. + +Grant, however, unshaken in the belief that he at last had an +officer under him whom he could trust in charge of all the armies +of the Union if necessary, replied: "You will find him big enough +for the purpose before we get through with him." + +Sheridan was not only popular with his superior officers and men +under him, but with the people generally. He was held in the +highest esteem by the people of my State. After his promotion to +the rank of Lieutenant-General, the citizens of Chicago presented +him with a house in Washington, as a mark of their friendship and +devotion. + +While Governor I rendered a decision in an extradition case, which +formed a precedent, and which is referred to by writers on +extradition. + +Moore comments on it as follows: + +"In December, 1878, an interesting decision was made by Governor +Cullom, of Illinois, in the case of two persons named Gaffigan and +Merrick, whose surrender was demanded by the Governor of Pennsylvania +on a charge of murder committed in that State in January, 1865. +Accompanying the requisition was an indictment found against them +in Pennsylvania in March, 1865, for the crime for which their +rendition was demanded. It was alleged in their behalf that soon +after the murder was committed, and before the indictment was found, +they left their place of residence in Pennsylvania and went to +Illinois, where they had resided continuously in an open manner, +bearing their own names, transacting daily business, and holding +responsible public positions. In 1870 or 1871 Gaffigan was joined +by his father, who left their former place of residence in Pennsylvania +with the avowed purpose of joining his son in Illinois. The +residence of the latter in Illinois was also known to other persons +in the particular locality in Pennsylvania, among whom were a +constable and a witness whose name was endorsed on the indictment. +On the other hand, the prosecuting attorney in Pennsylvania denied +that there had been any laches in the matter, and declared that he +had acted upon the first knowledge that he had acquired in respect +to the whereabouts of the persons charged. Governor Cullom held +that while it might be inferred from the fact that the accused left +the State of Pennsylvania shortly after the date of the murder that +they were fugitives from justice, yet this character did not always +adhere to them; and that their long residence in Illinois, which +was so entirely unconcealed and well known, that the officers of +justice in Pennsylvania could have been ignorant of it only because +they made no effort to find it out, had purged them of the character +of fugitives from justice. It may be argued that this decision +rests on moral rather than on strictly legal grounds. It is +generally held that there is no limitation as to the time in recovery +of fugitives from justice other than such as may be established by +statutes of limitations of the Governments concerned, and it does +not appear to have been suggested in the case under consideration +that any such limitation had been established either by the laws +of Pennsylvania or of Illinois. The decision of Governor Cullom +may also be thought to involve the theory that the authorities of +the demanding State may be called upon to show that they have used +due diligence in pursuing the fugitives and in seeking their +surrender." + +The decision created much comment at the time, some adverse, +suggesting that it amounted to the exercise of the pardoning power +by a Governor of one state for a crime committed in another. + +My administration as Governor of Illinois was a very quiet, uneventful +one. I endeavored to give the State strictly a business administration, +and I believe I succeeded. I appointed the very best men that I +could find to State offices. I did not interfere with the conduct +of the various departments and institutions, except to exercise a +general supervision over them. I held my appointees strictly +accountable for the conduct of the affairs of their respective +offices, and did not attempt to dictate to them the appointment of +their subordinates. + +During the six years I served as Governor there was not a single +scandal connected with the executive department of Illinois. I +never had the slightest trouble with the Legislature. I never +interfered in the organization of the Senate or House. I believed +then, and I believe now, in the independence of the three co-ordinate +branches of the Government. I no more thought of influencing the +Legislature than I would have thought of attempting to influence +the Judiciary. My recommendations were made in official messages, +as the Constitution prescribes, and generally, I might say, the +Legislature carried out my recommendations. The administration +was an economical one, and it was during this period that the entire +State debt was paid. + + +CHAPTER XI +GRANT + +My acquaintance with General Grant began when he visited Springfield +the first time immediately after the beginning of the Civil War. +He came to Springfield with a company of soldiers raised at Galena. +General John A. Rawlins, afterwards Secretary of War under President +Grant, one of the best men whom I ever knew, and especially my +friend, was with this company. General Grant offered his services +to Governor Yates in any capacity, and the Governor requested him +to aid General Mather, then our Adjutant-General. General Grant, +having been a West Point graduate, and having served as a captain +in the regular army, rendered the Adjutant-General very material +service. On the morning I saw him in the Adjutant-General's office +at Springfield, nobody ever dreamed that this quiet, unassuming +subordinate would, in less than four years, become one of the +greatest generals in all the world's history. At the outbreak of +the war he resided at Galena, where he was in business. + +He was sent by Governor Yates to muster in the various regiments, +and continued in that work until made Colonel of the Twenty-fist +Illinois Regiment. This regiment had been raised and organized by +another man, whose habits were not regular, and under whose command +the regiment had become demoralized. General Grant took the Twenty- +first Illinois on foot from Springfield into Missouri, and before +he had travelled very far with it, the men quickly learned that he +was a real commanding officer, a strict disciplinarian, and that +orders were issued to be obeyed. The regiment became one of the +best in the service. + +General Grant was soon made a Brigadier-General, the first to be +commissioned from Illinois, and was sent to command at Cairo. + +I became pretty well acquainted with him at Springfield, and +subsequently I visited Cairo, and found there General Grant, Governor +Oglesby, and other Illinoisans in command of regiments. + +General Grant's career as a soldier is too well known to the world +to be repeated by me here. The history of his career is the history +of the Civil War. He was formally received by the people of +Springfield on two occasions: once while he was still in command +in the army; and again in 1880, after his trip around the world, +he was my guest at the Executive Mansion in Springfield. He was +then accompanied by Mrs. Grant, and by E. B. Washburne, who had +been one of his closest personal friends during his administration. + +The time was approaching for the National Convention at Chicago, +and General Grant's friends had prevailed upon him to permit the +use of his name as a candidate for a third term. Washburne had +become considerably flattered by the demonstration that was made +over him on the road from Galena to Springfield, and I believe he +had an idea that he might be the nominee instead of General Grant, +and hence for some reason or other he did not want to identify +himself with General Grant at all. When the time came to go to +the reception at the State House, Washburne could not be found. +It seemed that he had hid in his bedroom until the party left the +Executive Mansion for the State House, and then went by himself to +the State House, and secreted himself in the office of the Secretary +of State, where he surreptitiously watched proceedings from behind +the sheltering folds of a curtain. + +His conduct in the evening was still more remarkable. I had arranged +a reception to General and Mrs. Grant and Mr. Washburne at the +Executive Mansion that same evening, but Mr. Washburne gave some +excuse which he claimed necessitated his presence in the East, and +departed--apparently with the conviction that he might secure the +Presidential nomination himself, and feeling that his presence in +company with General Grant--an avowed candidate--created an +embarrassing situation that he could not endure. I know that +General Grant was deeply grieved at his conduct. The General's +friends were so outraged that they determined Washburne should have +no place upon the ticket at all. + +General Grant was not a candidate for re-election at the end of +his second term; I am not at all sure whether he would not have +been glad to be re-elected for a third term--at least, he would +have accepted the nomination had it been tendered to him. But the +third-term proposition, at that time, received a severe blow when, +in December, 1875, the House of Representatives passed a resolution +by a vote of 234 to 18, declaring that in its opinion, the precedent +established by Washington and other Presidents of the United States, +in retiring from the Presidential office after their second terms, +had become, by universal concurrence, a part of our republican +system of government, and that any departure from this time-honored +custom would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with peril to our +free institutions. + +The passage of this resolution, the scandals in the administration, +the hard times, and the bitter and determined opposition to General +Grant at this time, put an end temporarily to all third-term talk. + +But during his absence, when he was making his tour of the world, +after he had retired from the Presidency, Senator Conkling, General +Logan, Don Cameron, and other leading politicians concluded that +they would nominate him to succeed Rutherford B. Hayes, who was +not a candidate. After his return to the United States, they +secured his consent to use his name as a candidate for the nomination +in 1880; but after a bitter fight in the Chicago Convention they +failed, and General Garfield obtained the nomination. + +Mr. Blaine, before the Convention met, was the leading candidate +against General Grant. I had been a warm friend of Mr. Blaine's +in Congress; but as General Grant was a candidate from my own State, +and as I was at that time Governor of Illinois and a candidate for +renomination, I did not feel that I could take any part in the +contest between Grant and Blaine. + +When the State Convention met to select a candidate to succeed me +as Governor, the contest between Grant and Blaine was very bitter. +Mr. Blaine and I had been very friendly in the House; indeed, I +was one of the few personal friends who brought him out as a +candidate for Speaker of the House. From our past relations, he +felt perfectly free to write me, and about the time of the Convention, +I received a letter from him, in which he said, among other things, +"Why cannot you put yourself at the head of my forces, and lead +them? If you are not careful you will fall between." + +The tone of the letter annoyed me, and I did not answer it until +the contest was over, which resulted in my own nomination, and +until after the National Convention met, in which Blaine was +defeated. I then wrote him a letter, informing him that I had been +nominated; but, of course, I did not refer to his defeat. + +During the session of the convention in Springfield, about the time +it was to convene, General Logan came down from Chicago, proceeding +at once to my house. He told me that he desired I should help him +to secure the delegation for General Grant. + +I replied: "General Logan, if you are my friend, and I suppose +you are, you will not ask me to take any part in this contest, as +I am a candidate for renomination myself." + +He was a little huffy about it, and seemed to be disappointed that +I would not do as he asked. And I may remark that this was +characteristic of Logan. He went away considerably out of humor, +but saying nothing especially to the point. + +A short time afterwards the Hon. Charles B. Farwell, who was later +an honored colleague of mine in the Senate, drove up to my house +and said: "Cullom, I want you to help me carry this State for +Blaine." + +"Charley," I replied, "you know very well that I am a candidate +for re-election; and you know very well, also, that if I were to +take a hand in this contest, I would probably be beaten." He agreed +with me, and went away satisfied, assuring me that in his opinion +I was doing the right thing. + +The contest in our State Convention between Blaine and Grant lasted +for at least three days, and resulted in the division of the +delegation to the National Convention, part for Grant and part for +Blaine. I had quite a contest for the nomination, but was finally +named on the fourth ballot. I had expected to be nominated on the +third ballot. Farwell was about my office a good deal during the +convention. When the third ballot was taken, and I had not been +nominated, I said: "Farwell, there is something wrong upstairs; +I wish you would go up and straighten it out." + +He went; but what he did, if anything, I do not know. However, I +was nominated on the next ballot. + +General Grant was nominated both the first and second times without +opposition. He was first nominated in Chicago, with great enthusiasm. +The second time he was nominated in Philadelphia. I was chairman +of the Illinois delegation at Philadelphia, and as such placed him +in nomination. + +I believe I made about the shortest nominating speech for a Republican +candidate for President ever made in a National Republican Convention. +I said: + +"Gentlemen of the Convention: On behalf of the great Republican +party of Illinois, and that of the Union--in the name of liberty, +of loyalty, of justice, and of law--in the interest of economy, of +good government, of peace, and of the equal rights of all--remembering +with profound gratitude his glorious achievements in the field, +and his noble statesmanship as Chief Magistrate of this great Nation +--I nominate as President of the United States, for a second term, +Ulysses S. Grant." + +There was a considerable contest over the platform, and as usual, +it was determined to adopt the platform before making the nominations +of President and Vice-President. But the Convention became very +restless after the day of speechmaking; evening was approaching, +and the Committee on Platform being still out, it was determined +to make the nomination for President that day. I mounted the +platform, and in the brief speech I have quoted, placed General +Grant in nomination. I never saw such a fervid audience. The +floors and galleries were crowded, and the people seemed wild with +enthusiasm for Grant. As I uttered the word "Grant," at the +conclusion of my speech, and his picture was lowered from the +ceiling of the hall, the demonstration was indescribable. + +While we were waiting for the Committee on Platform to report, +there were quite a number of speeches by favorite sons of the +different States, Senator Logan and Governor Oglesby, from Illinois, +being among them. + +Senator Logan's speech is not very clear in my memory; but I do +remember very well the speech by Governor Oglesby. He made a +wonderful impression. I do not recall that I ever saw a man +electrify an audience as did Governor Oglesby on that occasion. +It was the first convention where there were colored men admitted +as delegates. Some of the colored delegates occupied the main +floor. Old Garret Smith, the great abolitionist, was in the gallery, +at the head of the New York delegation. Oglesby took for his theme +first the colored man, represented there on the floor of that +convention, and then Garret Smith. He set the crowd wild. They +cheered him to the echo. We adjourned for luncheon immediately +after he concluded his speech, and many of the delegates asked me +who that man was. I was proud to be able to tell them that it was +Governor Oglesby of Illinois; and the remark was frequently made +that it was no wonder that Illinois gave sixty thousand Republican +majority with such a man as its Governor. + +The platform was finally adopted, and Wilson of Massachusetts was +nominated for Vice-President, in place of Schulyer Colfax. Colfax +was much mortified at his defeat, but it turned out for the best, +because Colfax became involved in the _Credit Mobilier_ before the +campaign was over, and his name on the ticket would have injured +the chances for success. Wilson, who was nominated to succeed +Colfax for Vice-President, was a very good man. He was a Senator, +and it was said of him that he came from the shoemaker's bench to +the Senate of the United States. + +General Grant got along very well during his first term as President. +He was wonderfully popular, and no one could have beaten him; but +during his second term, so many scandals came to light, and the +finances were in such bad shape, that generally his second term as +President cannot be said to have been a success. One trouble with +him as President was that he placed too much implicit reliance on +those about him, and he never could be convinced that any friend +of his could do a wrong. Some of his friends were clearly guilty +of the grossest kind of misconduct, and yet he would not be convinced +of it, and stuck to them until they nearly dragged him down into +disgrace with them. He was not a politician. Before entering the +White House he had had no previous experience in public office. +For a considerable time he attempted to act as Chief Executive with +the same arbitrary power that he used as commander of an army; +hence he was constantly getting into trouble with Senators and +Representatives. + +I remember one little experience along this line which I had with +him. It is an unwritten rule that Representatives in Congress, if +in harmony with the Administration, control the post-office +appointments in their respective districts. On my recommendation +Isaac Keyes was appointed postmaster of my own city of Springfield. +Much to my astonishment and mortification, in a month, without any +warning, without any request for Keyes' resignation, General Grant +sent in the appointment of Elder Crane. When I came to inquire +the cause, he said he had just happened to remember that he had +promised the office to Elder Crane, and he immediately sent in the +appointment without considering for a minute the position in which +he left Keyes and the embarrassment it would cause me. + +Sometime afterward, as Colonel Bluford Wilson tells me, General +Grant asked Colonel Wilson, then Solicitor of the Treasury, who +would make a good Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Colonel Wilson +replied that Cullom was just the man for the place, and General +Grant said at once, "I will appoint him." When Colonel Wilson went +to the White House with the commission prepared for my appointment, +General Grant said: "I have changed my mind about making that +appointment. I offended Cullom in reference to the appointment of +a postmaster of his town; and if I should appoint him Commissioner +of Internal Revenue now, I know he would decline it, so I will not +appoint him." + +And in this he was quite right. I would have declined the office, +not because I was offended at him, but because I would not accept +that or any other appointive office. + +Not being quite certain that my memory served me correctly in +reference to this incident, I took occasion to ask Colonel Bluford +Wilson, who had called on me at Washington, to give me the facts, +which he later did in a long letter that sets forth the facts +somewhat more elaborately than I have given them, but presenting +the incident in an identical light. + +While I would not say that General Grant was a failure as President, +certain it is that he added nothing to his great fame as a soldier. +Indeed, in the opinion of very many people, who were his friends +and well-wishers, when he retired from the White House he had +detracted rather than added to his name. It would probably have +been better if General Grant had been content with his military +success, and had entered neither politics nor business. + +General Grant was one of the greatest soldiers of modern times; +indeed, if not of all time. Standing as he does the peer of +Frederick, Napoleon, Wellington, the time will come when the very +fact that he was President of the United States will be forgotten, +while he will be remembered only as one of the world's great +captains. + +The last time I saw the General was about a month before he died. +I was in New York, with the select Committee on Interstate Commerce, +and on Sunday morning we learned that General Grant, General Arthur, +and ex-President Hayes were all in town, and that Grant and Arthur +were ill. We determined to call on each of them. + +We first called on General Grant at his home, and found that his +son, General Frederick D. Grant, was with him. To him we sent our +cards and asked to see his father. He said he would ascertain, +and he came back directly and said that his father would be glad +to see us, but cautioned us not to permit him to talk too much, as +the trouble was in his throat. We went in and took seats for a +moment. He greeted us all very cordially, and seemed to be specially +interested in meeting Secretary Gorman. He wanted to talk, and +did talk so rapidly and so incessantly that, fearing it was injuring +him, we arose from our seats and told him that we had called simply +to pay our respects, and expressed our gratification that he was +so well. + +I can see him yet, as I saw him then. He was sitting up, surrounded +by the manuscript of his memoirs. He knew that his end was +approaching, and he talked about it quietly and unconcernedly; said +he was about through with his book, that if he could live a month +or two longer he could improve it, but did not seem to feel very +much concern whether he had any more time or not. Mrs. Grant and +Nellie, and Mrs. Frederick D. Grant were in an adjoining room, with +the door open, and knowing them all very well, I went in to pay my +respects. Mrs. Grant at once inquired about my daughters. I told +her that one of them was married, and she expressed surprise. +General Grant, hearing us, came into the room and said, "Julia, +don't you remember that we received cards to the wedding?" He +again began to talk, so I took my leave. + +From there we called on General Arthur, and then on General Hayes. +Both passed away within a short time. + +I returned to my home in Springfield, and in about a month the news +came that General Grant was dead. On the day of his funeral in +New York, in cities of any importance in the country, services were +held. Services were conducted in Springfield, on which occasion +I delivered the principal address. + + +CHAPTER XII +GENERAL JOHN A. LOGAN + +General John A. Logan was a man much more capable of accomplishing +results than either General Palmer or General Oglesby. + +I first met him when he was a member of the Legislature, in 1856. +He was a Democrat then, and a very active and aggressive one. It +was in that year that we first elected a Republican Administration +in Illinois, the Republican party having been organized only two +years previously. Bissell was elected Governor; Hatch, Secretary +of State; and Dubois, Auditor. + +Governor Bissell was ill, having suffered a stroke of paralysis, +and it became necessary for the Legislature, after organizing, to +go to the Executive Mansion to witness the administration of the +oath of office to him. After the Legislature reconvened in their +respective Houses, General Logan immediately obtained recognition +and made a bitter attack on Governor Bissell on the ground that +the latter had sworn to a falsehood, he having challenged, or been +challenged by Jefferson Davis to fight a duel. The duel was never +actually fought; but Governor Bissell took the ground that whatever +did occur was outside the jurisdiction of the State of Illinois, +and he therefore could truthfully take the oath of office. Logan +was then about as strong a Democrat as he afterwards was a Republican. +His attack on Bissell was resented by Republicans and under the +circumstances was regarded as cruel. I became very much prejudiced +against him. + +After this episode Logan was elected to Congress as a Democrat, +and was a follower of Douglas. Douglas was true to the Union, and +after he made his famous speech before the Legislature at Springfield, +General Logan entered the war and finally became a Republican. + +It was alleged that there was an understanding between Douglas and +the Democratic delegation in Congress from Illinois that they should +all act together in whatever course they pursued. The delegation +from Illinois contained some very able men, among them being General +Logan. Douglas came out for the Union without consulting his +colleagues in the delegation, and it was said that General Logan +and the other Democratic members of the delegation were quite angry. +However, they all followed Douglas and became loyal Union men. + +Like Governor Oglesby, General Logan had a brief military service +in the Mexican War, and also like Governor Oglesby, and General +McClernand, he was among the first to raise a regiment for service +in the Civil War. He resigned his seat in Congress in 1861, and +immediately went into active service. Senator Douglas and General +Logan did much to save Southern Illinois to the Union, and that +portion of the State contributed its full quota to the Union Army. + +To describe the part General Logan took in the Civil War, after he +raised the Thirty-first Illinois Regiment and took the field, would +be to recite the history of the war itself. The records of his +bravery at Belmont; of his gallant charge at Fort Donelson, where, +as a Colonel, he was dangerously wounded; of his service as Major- +General commanding the Army of the Tennessee; of the memorable +siege of Vicksburg, when with the great leader of the Union armies +he stood knocking at the door of that invincible stronghold; of +his service with Sherman on his famous march to the sea, all are +written on the pages of history and lend undying lustre to the name +of Logan. + +He was a natural soldier. His shoulders were broad, his presence +was commanding; with his swarthy face and coal black hair, "and +eye like Mars, to threaten and command," he was every inch a warrior. +There is no question that General Logan was the greatest volunteer +officer of the Civil War. + +After the war Logan returned to Illinois, intending to re-enter +the practice of the law; but he loved public life and politics, +was the idol of the people of his section of the State, and was +soon elected Congressman-at-large on the Republican ticket. When +I entered the House in 1865, I found General Logan there, ranking +as one of the leaders of the more radical Republicans. He was a +forceful speaker, and did his full share as one of the mangers on +the part of the House in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. + +He was devoted to General Grant and General Grant was very fond of +him. General Grant, in talking of General Logan and Senator Morton +of Indiana, used to say that they were the two most persistent men +in the Senate in securing offices for their friends; but there was +this difference between them: if Morton came to him and wanted +ten offices and he gave him one, he would go away feeling perfectly +satisfied, and make the impression on the people that he was running +the Administration; while if Logan came to the White House to secure +ten offices, and did not get more than nine of them, he would raise +a great row, and claim that he could not get anything out of the +Administration. + +But Logan stood strongly for General Grant, no only during his two +terms, where he had little or no opposition, but he was one of the +leaders in the unsuccessful attempt to nominate him for a third +term. Logan, Conkling, Cameron and others failed, and I believe +that General Logan felt the failure more than even General Grant +himself. + +General Logan was a tremendously industrious man. He was always +doing favors for his people, and seemed to delight in being of +service to any one. That was the difference between him and Governor +Oglesby. Logan was always willing and anxious to do favors for +people, while Oglesby was not. + +I remember an incident that illustrates this very well. Jacob +Bunn, of Springfield, as honest a man as ever lived and a man of +high standing, was compelled to take a distillery in part payment +of a very large debt which was owing to him, and to make it of any +account he had to operate it until such a time as he could dispose +of it. He had some explanation he desired to make to the Commissioner +of Internal Revenue, and he came to Washington and asked Governor +Oglesby, who was then in the Senate, to introduce him to the +Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Oglesby knew Bunn very well, +and yet he cross-examined him at great length and detail. Bunn +left Oglesby and next morning sought Logan, who at once agreed to +perform the favor, with the result that Mr. Bunn very readily +adjusted the matter with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. +Bunn afterwards said to me: "I had a good deal more trouble +convincing Governor Oglesby that I was an honest man than I had +convincing the Commissioner of Internal Revenue." + +I give this incident as illustrating the difference between the +characters of Oglesby and Logan. + +The latter's honesty and integrity were never doubted. I believe +he would not have hesitated for a moment to kill any one who would +have questioned his honesty. He was a poor man, and when I came +to the Senate as his colleague we often sat together condoling with +each other on our poverty, and "abusing" the men in the Senate who +were wealthy. This was one of the common bonds between us. When +I became well acquainted with General Logan, I believed in him and +admired him as one of the ablest men of Illinois. He was a man of +intense feeling, intense friendships, and I might also add that he +was a man of the most intense hatreds. + +General Logan, while never doubting his friends, yet expected his +friends to swear devotion to him every time they saw him. He was +"touchy" in this respect, and would not readily overlook any fancied +slights. On one occasion, my old friend, the Hon. David T. Littler, +now deceased, of Springfield, Illinois, who was also a warm friend +of Logan, went to Washington, and neglected to call on Logan until +he had been there several days. Logan knew that he was in town, +and when he finally did call, Logan abused him roundly for not +coming to see him the first thing. It made Littler angry for the +time being, and he showed his resentment as only Littler could. +He made Logan apologize and agree never to find fault with him +again. They were on good terms as long as they lived. + +General Logan was my friend, and was always for me when I was +running for office. It was sometimes tolerably hard to him to be +for me as against a soldier, because there was never a man who was +more thoroughly devoted to the soldiers. As colleagues in the +Senate, we got along very agreeably and never had any cross-purposes +or differences of opinion. + +The only time I remember of ever having any feeling at all was on +one occasion when Senator Logan, Senator Evarts, and Senator Teller +were strongly advocating the seating of Henry B. Payne, of Ohio, +as a matter of right and without investigation. I was disposed to +vote for the taking of evidence and an investigation. When the +discussion was going on, I stated to Logan that I felt like voting +in favor of the investigation. He was very much out of humor about +it. I consulted with some friends in the Senate as to what I ought +to do under the circumstances, and they advised me, in view of +General Logan's personal feeling on the subject--and he felt that +he was personally involved--that I ought to vote with him. + +After the vote was announced, I went around to General Logan's +seat, and he expressed intense gratification that I had voted with +him, remarking that if I had been involved in a struggle as he was, +he would take the roof off the house before he would let me be +beaten; and I believe he would have gone to almost any extent. + +I then said to him: "General Logan, I want to assure you that +hereafter you must not feel concerned about my vote being the same +as yours. In other words, when I want to vote one way and you want +to vote another, I shall be perfectly satisfied, and shall have no +feeling against you on account of it; I want you to feel the same +way when conditions are reversed." He acquiesced in this proposal; +but we never afterwards had occasion to differ on any important +question before the Senate. + +General Logan had an ambition to become President, and I believe +he would have realized his ambition had he lived. + +I placed him in nomination for President at the National Convention +which met at Chicago in 1884. In _The Washington National Tribune_ +appears the following report: + +"The next State that responded was Illinois, and as Senator Cullom +mounted the platform to present the name of General John A. Logan, +cheer after cheer followed him. When he was at last allowed to +proceed, he began by referring to the nominations of Lincoln and +Grant, both from Illinois, and both nominated at Chicago: + +'In 1880, the party, assembled again at Chicago, achieved success +by nominating Garfield; and now in 1884, in the same State, Illinois, +which has never wavered in its adherence to the Republican party, +presents, as the standard-bearer of that party, another son, one +whose name would be recognized from one end of the land to the +other as an able statesman, a brilliant soldier, and an honest man +--John A. Logan.' + +"The announcement of General Logan's name was received with a wild +burst of applause, a great many persons rising to their feet, waving +their hats and handkerchiefs, and the thousands of people in the +gallery joining in the roars of applause. The cheers were renewed +again and again. The speaker resumed: + +'A native of the State which he represents in the Council of the +Nation, reared among the youth of a section where every element of +manhood is early brought into play, he is eminently a man of the +people. The safety, the permanency, and the prosperity of the +Nation depend upon the courage, the integrity, and the loyalty of +its citizens. . . . Like Douglas, he believed that in time of war +men must be either patriots or traitors, and he threw his mighty +influence on the side of the Union; and Illinois made a record +second to none in the history of States in the struggle to preserve +the Union. . . . + +'During the long struggle of four years he commanded, under the +authority of the Government, first a regiment, then a brigade, then +a division, then an army corps, and finally an army. He remained +in the service until the war closed, when at the head of his army, +with the scars of battle upon him, he marched into the capital of +the Nation, and with the brave men whom he had led on a hundred +hard-fought fields was mustered out of the service under the very +shadow of the Capitol building which he had left four years before +as a member of Congress to go and fight the battles of his country. + +'When the war was over and peace victoriously restored, he was +again invited by his fellow-citizens to take his place in the +Councils of the Nation. In a service of twenty years in both Houses +of Congress he has shown himself to be no less able and distinguished +as a citizen than he was renowned as a soldier. Conservative in +the advocacy of measures involving the public welfare, ready and +eloquent in debate, fearless--yes, I repeat again, fearless--in +defence of the rights of the weak against the oppression of the +strong, he stands to-day closer to the great mass of the people of +this country than almost any other man now engaging public +attention.'" + +At the conclusion of my speech there was a tremendous demonstration, +and General Prentiss seconded the nomination. General Logan received +sixty-three and one-half votes on the first ballot, and sixty-one +votes on the second and third ballots. + +Immediately after the third ballot, I received this telegram from +General Logan, who was in Washington: + + "Washington, D. C., _June 6, 1884_. + +"To Senator Cullom, Convention Hall, Chicago, Ill.:" + +"The Republicans of the States that must be relied upon to elect +the President having shown a preference for Mr. Blaine, I deem it +my duty not to stand in the way of the people's choice, and recommend +my friends to assist in his nomination. + + "John A. Logan." + +When Illinois was called on the fourth ballot, I attempted to read +the telegram to the convention, but a point of order was raised by +Senator Burrows, which the Chair sustained. It was thoroughly well +understood in the convention that I had such a telegram, and after +the chair sustained the point of order I made the following statement: +"The Illinois delegation withdraws the name of General John A. +Logan, and gives for Blaine thirty-four votes, for Logan seven, +and for Arthur three." + +This announcement was punctuated with another deafening outburst, +and Blaine was nominated amidst great enthusiasm. After I withdrew +General Logan's name and cast the vote for Blaine the result was +a foregone conclusion. + +There was immediately a strong disposition to place Logan on the +ticket as our candidate for Vice-President. There was considerable +doubt as to whether he would accept. Finally he sent a telegram +in which he said: "The Convention must do what they think best +under the circumstances." + +He was then nominated for Vice-President without much opposition. + +It was a superb ticket, and every one thought it would sweep the +country. Blaine, in the opinion of many people, was the most +popular statesman since the days of Henry Clay; Logan, the greatest +volunteer officer of the Civil War. + +I do not, however, believe that Blaine and Logan got along very +well together in the campaign. In my opinion Logan felt that he +would have been a stronger candidate for the Presidency than Blaine, +as after events proved that he would. Had Logan headed the ticket, +there would have been none of the scandal nor charges of corruption +that were made in the campaign with Blaine at the head. There +would have been no "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," which in the +opinion of many people resulted in the defeat of Blaine and Logan. + +Whatever the causes, the ticket was defeated; and then came Logan's +famous fight for re-election to the Senate, continuing three and +a half months, the Legislature being tied; but the fight ended by +a rather clever trick on the part of Dan Shepard and S. H. Jones +of Springfield, in electing by a "still hunt" a Republican in the +thirty-fourth District to succeed a Democrat who died during the +session, and finally on May 19, 1885, I received a telegram from +Logan while in New York saying, "I have been elected." + +Three or four days before General Logan's death he and Mrs. Logan +were at my house to dinner, to meet some friends--General and Mrs. +Henderson and Senator Allison. After dinner, we were in the smoking- +room. General Logan was talking about the book he had recently +written, showing a conspiracy on the part of the South, entitled +"The Great Conspiracy." He had sent each of us a copy of the book, +and he remarked that he ventured to say that neither of us had read +a word of it; the truth was that we had not, and we admitted it. + +General and Mrs. Logan went home a little early, because he was +then suffering with rheumatism. They invited Mrs. Cullom and me +to dinner the following Sunday evening. General Logan had grown +worse, and he could not attend at the table, but rested on a couch +in an adjoining room. He never recovered, and passed away some +two or three days afterward. I was present at his death-bed. The +last words he uttered were, "Cullom, I am terribly sick." + +The death of no other General, with the possible exception of +General Grant, was so sorrowfully and universally mourned by the +volunteer soldiery of the Union as was the death of General Logan. + + +CHAPTER XIII +GENERAL JOHN M. PALMER + +General Palmer had a long, varied, and honorable career, beginning +as an Anti-Nebraska Democrat in the State Senate of Illinois, in +1855, and ending as a Gold Democrat in the United States Senate in +1897, after being for a time a Republican. + +I first met him as a member of the State Senate, in which service +he showed considerable ability. His one leading characteristic, +I should say, was his independence, without any regard to what +party he might belong to or what the question might be. He would +not yield his own convictions to his party. If the party to which +he belonged differed from him on any question, he did not hesitate +to abandon it and join the opposition party; and this change he +did make several times during his public career. He was one of +the four Anti-Nebraska Democrats in the Legislature of 1855, who +might be said to have defeated Lincoln for the Senate by supporting +Trumbull, until it became apparent that if Lincoln continued as a +candidate, Governor Matteson would be elected. Lincoln sacrificed +himself to insure the election of Judge Trumbull, a Free-soiler. +The other Anti-Nebraska Democrats, who with General Palmer, elected +Trumbull, were Norman B. Judd, Burton C. Cook, G. T. Allen, and +Henry S. Baker, the last two from Madison County. + +For some reason or other General Palmer resigned from the Senate. +He was one of the first to join the Republican party. He was a +delegate to the first Republican State Convention of Illinois. I +attended that convention, and recall that General Palmer made quite +an impression on the assemblage, in discussing some question with +General Turner, himself quite an able man, and then Speaker of the +House of Representatives of the Illinois Legislature. Intellectually, +General Palmer was a superior man, but he lacked stability of +judgment. You were never quite sure that you could depend on him, +or feel any certainty as to what course he would take on any +question. + +His qualifications as a lawyer were not exceptional, nevertheless +I would rather have had him as my attorney to try a bad case than +almost any lawyer I ever knew; his talent for manipulating a jury +nearly, if not quite, offset all his legal shortcomings. + +General Palmer was well known as the friend of the colored people, +both individually and as a race. His sympathy for them was so +thoroughly understood, that whenever a colored man had an important +case, or whenever there was a case involving the rights of the +colored people--such, for instance, as the school question of Alton +--General Palmer was appealed to, and he would take the case, no +matter how much trouble and how little remuneration there would be +in it for him. + +He started out as a Democrat, but became a strong Republican, and +so continued for many years; but finally he became dissatisfied +with the Republican party and left it to support Tilden for President. +He continued a Democrat, being elected to the United State Senate +as such; but he left the regular organization of that party, and +became the head of the Gold Democracy, was its candidate for +President, and as such advised his friends to vote for McKinley. + +He was the Republican Governor of Illinois during the great Chicago +fire. He acted with the poorest kind of judgment in his controversy +with General Sheridan and the National Administration, for using +the Federal troops in Chicago to protect the lives and property of +the people of that stricken city. He had visited Chicago, witnessed +the splendid work which the troops were doing, seemed to be satisfied, +returned to Springfield, and commenced a quarrel with General +Sheridan and President Grant over the right of the National +Administration to send troops into Chicago, and this quarrel finally +became so bitter that it was one of the reasons for his leaving +the Republican party. + +General Palmer had a fairly good record as an officer during the +Civil War; but he did far better at the head of the Department of +Kentucky than he did as a fighting general. He was a native +Kentuckian, understood the people, was a man of good nature and +considerable tact, and handled that trying situation very much to +the satisfaction of Mr. Lincoln. He might have had a brilliant +record as a general had it not been for his unfortunate controversy +with General Sherman at the capture of Atlanta, which resulted in +his resigning his command as the head of the Fourteenth Army Corps, +and being granted leave to return to Illinois, there to await +further orders. General Sherman says of this incident in his +memoirs: + +"I placed the Fourteenth Corps (Palmer's) under General Schofield's +orders. This corps numbered at the time 17,288 infantry and 826 +artillery; but General Palmer claimed to rank General Schofield in +the date of commission as Major-General, and denied the latter's +right to exercise command over him. General Palmer was a man of +ability, but was not enterprising. His three divisions were compact +and strong, well commanded, admirable on the defensive but slow to +move or to act on the offensive. His corps had sustained up to +the time fewer hard knocks than any other corps in the whole army, +and I was anxious to give it a chance. I always expected to have +a desperate fight to get possession of the Macon Road, which was +then the vital objective of the campaign. Its possession by us +would in my judgment result in the capture of Atlanta and give us +the fruits of victory. . . . On the fourth of August I ordered +General Schofield to make a bold attack on the railroad, anywhere +about East Point, and ordered General Palmer to report to him for +duty. He at once denied General Schofield's right to command him; +but, after examining the dates of their respective commissions, +and hearing their arguments, I wrote to General Palmer: + +'From the statements made by yourself and General Schofield to-day, +my decision is, that he ranks you as a Major-General, being of the +same date of present commission, by reason of his previous superior +rank as a brigadier-general. The movements of to-morrow are so +important that the orders of the superior on that flank must be +regarded as military orders and not in the nature of co-operation. +I did hope that there would be no necessity for my making this +decision, but it is better for all parties interested that no +question of rank should occur in actual battle. The Sandtown Road +and the railroad if possible must be gained to-morrow if it costs +half your command. I regard the loss of time this afternoon as +equal to the loss of two thousand men.' + +"I also communicated the substance of this to General Thomas, to +whose army Palmer's corps belonged, who replied on the fifth: + +'I regret to hear that Palmer has taken the course he has, and I +know that he intends to offer his resignation as soon as he can +properly do so. I recommend that his application be granted.' + +"On the fifth I again wrote to General Palmer, arguing the point +with him, as a friend, not to resign at that crisis lest his motives +might be misconstrued and because it might damage his future career +in civil life; but at the same time I felt it my duty to say to +him that the operations on that flank during the fourth and fifth +had not been satisfactory, not imputing to him any want of energy +or skill, but insisting that the events did not keep pace with my +desires. . . . + +"I sanctioned the movement and ordered two of Palmer's divisions +to follow in support of Schofield, and summoned General Palmer to +meet me in person. He came on the sixth to my headquarters and +insisted on his resignation being accepted, for which formal act +I referred him to General Thomas. He then rode to General Thomas's +camp, where he made a written resignation of his office as commander +of the Fourteenth Corps and was granted the usual leave of absence +to go to his home in Illinois, there to await further orders." + +I quote freely from General Sherman on this incident, as I do not +want to do General Palmer an injustice. No one for a moment doubted +General Palmer's bravery, and I must say that it took a brave man, +and I might add an extraordinarily stubborn man, to resign a +magnificent command just before one of the great movements of the +war on a mere question of some other general's outranking him. + +I happened to be on the same ferry-boat crossing from St. Louis +with General Palmer when he was taken home ill. He had brought a +colored servant with him, who accompanied him to his home in +Carlinville. It created considerable excitement, and General Palmer +was indicted for bringing the colored man into the State. There +was not much disposition to try him, but he insisted on being placed +on trial, conducted his own defence, and was acquitted. + +He made an honest, conscientious Governor, but did not work in +harmony with the Legislature. He vetoed more bills than any Governor +before or since. His vetoes became too common to bear any influence, +and a great many of the bills were passed over his veto. + +I was very much opposed to his renomination. I supported Governor +Oglesby, and I prepared a letter, to be signed by members of the +Legislature, asking Governor Oglesby to be a candidate. Furthermore, +an agent was employed to go to Decatur to remain there until the +obtained a favorable reply from Oglesby, and then go to Chicago +and have the letter and reply published in the Chicago papers. + +The scheme worked successfully. Governor Oglesby was nominated +and elected. + +Oglesby, Palmer, Logan, and Yates were all ambitious to go to the +Senate, and were rivals for the place at one time or another, and +they all succeeded in their ambition, Palmer being the last. When +Governor Yates was a candidate, in 1865, Senator Palmer thought +that he should have been elected. I liked Governor Yates and +believed that his record as Governor entitled him to a seat in the +Senate. Governor Palmer complained of me for taking any active +part in the contest, and thought that as I was a member of Congress +I should remain neutral. In those days Governor Palmer and I were +not on very friendly terms, although after he came to the Senate +we became quite intimate. He had a struggle in securing his election +as Senator. It was a long contest, but he was finally successful. + +General Palmer was very popular with his colleagues in the Senate. +He was one of the best _raconteurs_ in the Senate, and he delighted +to sit in the smoking-room, or in his committee room, entertaining +those about him with droll stories. During his term he made some +very able speeches, and was always sound on the money question. +He was consistently in harmony with President Cleveland, and +consequently he controlled the patronage in the State. He was a +man of great good heart, full of generosity and good humor; and +altogether it would have been impossible to have a more agreeable +colleague. + +We had been neighbors in Springfield, and when General Palmer was +elected to the Senate, he felt quite free to write to me. I retain +the letter and quote it here: + + "Springfield, _March 14, 1891_. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + "Washington, D. C. + +"My dear Sir:-- + +"I am just in receipt of your kind favor of the eleventh inst., +and thank you for its friendly and neighborly expressions. More +than once since my election, Mrs. Palmer has expressed the hope +that when she meets Mrs. Cullom at Washington, or here, they may +continue to enjoy the friendly relations that have so long existed +between them, to which I add the expression of my own wish that in +the future, as in the past, we may be to each other good neighbors +and good friends. + +"I do not know what the usage is in such cases, but I suppose I +might forward my credentials at an early date to the Secretary of +the Senate, who is, I believe, my old army friend, Gen. Anson G. +McCook. If such is the proper course I would be glad to do so +through you, if agreeable to you. I will depend upon you also for +such information as your experience will enable you to furnish me. +I will be glad to know about what time you will probably leave +Washington. + + "I am, very respectfully, + "John M. Palmer." + +While General Sherman and General Palmer were not particularly +friendly, General Palmer was always ready to forgive and forget +and do the agreeable thing. + +On the occasion of a celebration in Springfield, where there was +a very large crowd, General Sherman was present, and, with General +Oglesby and General Palmer, occupied a seat on the platform. +Looking over the crowd, General Palmer recognized General McClernand +in the audience. McClernand and Sherman were not friends, McClernand +being bitterly inimical to Sherman. General Palmer, thinking only +of doing an agreeable act, at one pushed his way through the crowd +to where General McClernand was seated and invited him to come onto +the platform. It was only after a great deal of urging that he +consented to go, but he finally said, "I will go, _pro forma_." +He did go "_pro forma,_" and paid his respects to General Sherman, +but remained only a short time. + +General Palmer retired from the Senate at the end of his term, the +Legislature of Illinois being Republican. + +I recollect that I went home from Washington to Springfield, and +on arriving there was informed that General Palmer had just died. +I immediately called at the house. He had only just passed away, +and was still lying on his death-bed. I attended the funeral at +his old home in Carlinville, and I do not know that I was ever more +impressed by such a ceremony. He was buried with all the pomp +attending a military funeral. + + +CHAPTER XIV +GOVERNOR RICHARD J. OGLESBY + +I knew the late Governor Oglesby intimately for very many years. +As a young man, he served as a lieutenant in the gallant Colonel +E. D. Baker's regiment in the Mexican War, was at the battle of +Cerro Gordo, and fought the way thence to the City of Mexico. He +remained with the army until he saw the Stars and Stripes waving +over the hall of the Montezumas. Returning to Illinois, he took +up again the practice of law; but with the gold fever of 1849 he +took the pioneers' trail to California, where, in a short time, he +was financially successful, then returned home, and later went on +an extended tour through the Holy Land, where he remained nearly +two years. + +On his return home, in 1860, he was elected to the State Senate. +I recall the night the returns came in. He had a fisticuff encounter +with "Cerro Gordo" Williams, in which he came out victorious, having +knocked Williams into the gutter. By many of the onlookers this +was regarded as the first fight of the Rebellion. + +With his military experience in the Mexican War, it was only natural +that he should be one of the first to enlist for service in the +Civil War. He resigned from the Senate, raised a regiment, was +appointed its Colonel, and participated in a number of important +engagements under General Grant, acquitting himself with great +honor at Donelson, and was subsequently appointed a Brigadier- +General. He was severely wounded at Corinth, and his active service +in the Civil War was over. Although he was elevated to the rank +of Major-General, he was assigned to duty at Washington, where he +remained until 1864, and saw no more service on the field of battle. + +He enjoyed the distinction of being elected Governor of Illinois +three times, first in 1864, again in 1872, resigning the following +year, after having been elected to the United States Senate; and +after he had served one term in the Senate and retired to private +life, he was again elected Governor of Illinois in 1884. + +Governor Oglesby was a remarkable man in many respects. Judged by +the standards of Lincoln and Grant, he was not a great man. In +some respects he was a man of far more than ordinary ability. He +was a wonderfully eloquent speaker, and I have heard him on occasion +move audiences to a greater extent than almost any orator, aside +from the late Robert G. Ingersoll. + +I have already referred, in these reminiscences, to the speech he +delivered at the Philadelphia Convention of 1872. He produced a +greater impression on that assemblage than any orator who spoke. +On rare occasions he would utter some of the most beautiful +sentiments. For instance, his speech on "Corn" at Chicago was a +masterpiece in its way. But generally speaking, with all his +eloquence, he seldom delivered a speech that would read well in +print; hence it was that his speeches were hardly ever reported. +His earnestness, his appearance, his gestures, his personality, +all carried the audience with him, as much as, if not more, than +the actual words he used, and hence it was that when a speech +appeared in print, one was very apt to be disappointed. + +His record in the Civil War was honorable, but not exceptional. +He was not the dashing, brilliant soldier that General Logan was, +and I may remark here in passing that after the war was over there +was considerable jealousy between General Logan and General Oglesby. +They were rivals in politics. On one occasion both Governor Oglesby +and General Logan made each a splendid address, and each was cheered +to the echo by the audience, but Governor Oglesby sat silent and +glowering when the audience applauded General Logan, and General +Logan occupied the same attitude when the audience cheered Governor +Oglesby. I was present, and was glad to cheer them both. + +Under the administration of General Oglesby, as Governor, the +affairs of the State were administered in an honest, businesslike +manner. There was no scandal or thought of scandal, so far as the +Executive was concerned, during all the years that he was Governor, +although there was considerable corruption in one or two of the +Legislatures, and some very bad measures were passed over his veto. + +Having been a Major-General in the Civil War, and considering his +excellent record as Governor, his popularity, his eloquence, it +seemed certain that Governor Oglesby would take his place as one +of the foremost United States Senators, when he entered the Senate +in 1873; but strange to say, his service in that body added nothing +to the reputation he had made as a soldier and as Governor of +Illinois; indeed, I am not sure but that it detracted from rather +than added to his reputation. Perhaps too much was expected of +him. The environment did not suit him. His style of oratory was +neither appreciated nor appropriate to a calm, deliberative body +such as the United States Senate. He did not have the faculty of +disposing of business. As Chairman of the Committee on Pensions, +he was so conscientious that he wanted to examine every little +detail of the hundreds of cases before his committee, and would +not trust even the routine to his subordinates. The result was +the business of the committee was far behind, much to the +dissatisfaction of Senators. + +I do not believe that Governor Oglesby ever did feel at home in +the Senate; but nevertheless he was much chagrined at his defeat, +and retired reluctantly. + +But he was soon again elected Governor of Illinois, a place that +suited him much better than the Senate of the United States. + +His honesty, his patriotism, his earnest eloquence, the uniqueness +of his character, made him beloved by the people of his State; and +wherever he went, to the day of his death, Uncle Dick Oglesby, as +he was called, was enthusiastically and affectionately received. + +He was a true Republican from the very beginning of the party, +although toward the end of his life I do not believe that he was +quite satisfied with the expansion policy of the party. + +The last campaign in which he took an active part was that of 1896. +Owing to his advanced years and failing health, and perhaps being +somewhat dissatisfied with our candidate for Governor, it took +considerable urging to induce him to enter that campaign actively; +but when it was arranged that all the living ex-Governors of Illinois +--Oglesby, Beveridge, Fifer, Hamilton, and myself--should tour the +State on a special train, he consented to join, and christened the +expedition "The Flying Squadron." He did his full part in speaking, +and seemed to enjoy keenly the enthusiasm with which he was everywhere +received. He was particularly bitter in his denunciation of Mr. +Bryan--even to the extent of using profanity (to which he was much +addicted), greatly to the delight of the thousands of people whom +he addressed. + +Governor Oglesby was one of the most delightfully entertaining +conversationalists whom one would wish to meet. He will go down +in the history of Illinois, as one of the most popular men among +the people of our State. + +Late in life Governor Oglesby took up a church affiliation. It +always seemed strange to me, in his later life, that a man of his +undoubted bravery should have such a perfect horror of death, which +was an obsession with him. To his intimate friends he constantly +talked of it. It was not the physical pain of dying; with a man +of his pronounced religious convictions it could not have been the +uncertainty of the hereafter. What was the basis of the fear I +cannot imagine--but certain it is, I do not remember ever knowing +a man who seemed to have such a fear of death. + +At an advanced age, he passed away peacefully and painlessly at +his beautiful home at Elkhart, Illinois, mourned by the people of +the whole State, whom he had served so long and faithfully and well. + + +CHAPTER XV +SENATORIAL CAREER +1883 to 1911 + +After I was re-elected Governor of Illinois, in 1880, my friends +in the State urged me to become a candidate for the United States +Senate to succeed the late Hon. David Davis, whose term expired +March 3, 1883. I finally consented. There were several candidates +against me, Governor Richard Oglesby and General Thomas J. Henderson +being the two most prominent. It was not much of a contest, and +I had no serious struggle to secure the caucus nomination. The +objection was then raised in the Legislature itself that I was not +eligible under the Constitution of our State for election to the +United States Senate while I was serving as Governor of Illinois. +The point looked somewhat serious to me, and I consulted with my +friend, the Hon. Wm. J. Calhoun, then a member of the Legislature, +later Minister to China, for whose ability I had the most profound +respect. I asked him to give attention to the subject and, if he +agreed with me that I was eligible, to make the fight on the floor +of the House. He looked into it and came to the conclusion there +was no doubt as to my eligibility. He made a speech in the +Legislature, which was regarded then as one of the ablest efforts +ever delivered on the floor of the House, and he carried the +Legislature with him. When the time came, I received the vote of +every Republican member of both Houses, excepting one, the Hon. +Geo. E. Adams. He was thoroughly conscientious in voting against +me, and did so from no ulterior motive, as he honestly believed +that I was not eligible. We became very good friends afterwards, +and I never harbored any ill feeling against him on account of that +vote. + +I appreciated the high distinction conferred upon me by the people +of the State, through the Legislature, in electing me to the United +States Senate, but I confess that I felt considerable regret on +leaving the Governorship, as during my six years I had enjoyed the +work and had endeavored to the best of my ability to give to the +people of my State a businesslike administration. + +I retired from the office of Governor on February 5, 1883, and +remained in Springfield until sworn in as a member of the Senate, +December 4, 1883. General Arthur was President at that time, having +succeeded to the office after the assassination of General Garfield. + +I liked General Arthur very much. I had met him once or twice +before. I went with my staff to attend the Yorktown celebration, +and I may remark here that it was the first and only time during +my service of six years as Governor on which my whole military +staff accompanied me. We stopped in Washington to pay our respects +to the President. It was soon after the assassination of General +Garfield, and Arthur had not yet moved into the White House. He +was living in the old Butler place just south of the Capitol, and +I called on him there and presented the members of my staff to him. +The President was exceedingly polite, as he always was, and was +quite interested, having been a staff officer himself, by appointment +of Governor Morgan of New York. We were all very much impressed +with the dignity of the occasion and the kindly attention the +President showed us. + +General Arthur had taken considerable interest in New York politics +and belonged to the Conkling faction. He came into the office of +President under the most trying circumstances. The party was almost +torn asunder by factional troubles in New York and elsewhere. +Blaine, the bitter enemy of Conkling, had been made the Secretary +of State; Garfield had made some appointments very obnoxious to +Conkling--among them the Collector of the Port of New York--and, +generally, conditions were very unsatisfactory. Arthur entered +the office bent on restoring harmonious conditions in the party, +as far as he could. He did not allow himself to be controlled by +any faction, but seemed animated by one desire, and that was to +give a good administration and unite the party. + +He was a man of great sense of propriety and dignity, believing +more thoroughly in the observance of the etiquette which should +surround a President than any other occupant of the White House +whom I have known. He was very popular with those who came into +contact with him, and especially was he popular with the members +of the House and Senate. I have always thought that he should have +been accorded the honor of a nomination for President in 1884; as +a matter of fact most of the Republican Senators agreed with me, +and many of us went to the National Convention at Chicago, determined +to nominate him; but we soon found there was no chance, and that +the nomination would go to Blaine. + +President Arthur was very kind to me in the way of patronage. He +not only recognized my endorsement for Federal offices in my State, +but gave me a number of appointments outside. One of the first of +these was the appointment of Judge Zane as Territorial Judge of +Utah. President Arthur showed his confidence in me by appointing +Judge Zane, without any endorsement, excepting a statement of his +qualifications, written by me on a scrap of paper in the Executive +Office. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary called on the +President for the endorsements of Judge Zane, and Senator Edmunds +was quite disgusted when the President could send him only this +little slip of paper written by me, which was all the President +had when he made the appointment. Senator Edmunds hesitated to +recommend his confirmation. There was no question about Judge +Zane's qualifications. He had been a circuit judge in our State +for many years. I saw Senator Teller, whom I knew, and who knew +something of Judge Zane, and asked him to help us, as he could do, +being then Secretary of the Interior. On one occasion I spoke to +Teller about Judge Zane, and purposely spoke so loud that Senator +Edmunds could hear me. I said, among other things, there had not +been a man nominated for Territorial Judge in the country who was +better qualified for the position. Judge Zane's nomination was +soon reported from the committee and confirmed. He made a great +record on the Bench and did much to break up the practice of +polygamy. He is still living, a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah. + +I entered the Senate at a very uninteresting period in our history. +The excitement and bitterness caused by the Civil War and Reconstruction +had subsided. It was what I would term a period of industrial +development, and there were no great measures before Congress. +The men who then composed the membership of the Senate were honest +and patriotic, trying to do their duty as best they could, but +there was no great commanding figure. The days of Webster, Clay, +and Calhoun had passed; the great men of the Civil War period were +gone. Stevens, Sumner, Chase of the Reconstruction era, had all +passed away. + +Among the leaders at the beginning of the Forty-eighth Congress +were Senators Aldrich and Anthony, of Rhode Island; Edmunds and +Morrill, of Vermont; Sherman and Pendleton, of Ohio; Sewell, of +New Jersey; Don Cameron, of Pennsylvania; Platt and Hawley, of +Connecticut; Harrison, of Indiana; Dawes and Hoar, of Massachusetts; +Allison, of Iowa; Ingalls, of Kansas; Hale and Frye, of Maine; +Sawyer, of Wisconsin; Van Wyck and Manderson, of Nebraska; all on +the Republican side. There were a number of quite prominent +Democrats--Bayard, of Delaware; Voorhees, of Indiana; Morgan, of +Alabama; Ransom and Vance, of North Carolina; Butler and Hampton, +of South Carolina; Beck, of Kentucky; Lamar and George, of Mississippi; +and Cockrell and Vest, of Missouri. + +The Senate was controlled by the Republicans, there being forty +Republican and thirty-six Democratic Senators; and Senator George +F. Edmunds, of Vermont, was chosen President _pro tempore_. In +the House the Democrats had the majority, and John G. Carlisle was +chosen Speaker. + +Senator Edmunds is still living, and he has been for many years +regarded as one of the foremost lawyers of the American bar. I +know that in the Senate when I entered it, he was ranked as its +leading lawyer. He was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary +of the Senate and, with Senator Thurman, of Ohio, dominated that +committee. I became very intimately acquainted with him. He was +dignified in his conversation and deportment, and I never knew him +to say a vicious thing in debate. + +I believe I had considerable influence with Senator Edmunds. He +always seemed to have a prejudice against appropriations for the +Rock Island (Illinois) Arsenal. He had never visited Rock Island, +but he seemed to think that the money spent there was more or less +wasted, and he was disposed to oppose appropriations for its +maintenance. One day we were considering an appropriation bill +carrying several items in favor of Rock Island, and I anticipated +Senator Edmunds' objections. Sitting beside him, I asked him not +to oppose these items. I told him that I did not think he was +doing right by such a course. He asked me where they were in the +bill and I showed them to him without saying a word. Just before +we reached them I observed him rising from his seat and leaving +the chamber. He remained away until the items were passed, then +he returned, and the subject was never mentioned between us +afterwards. + +Senator Edmunds resigned before his last term expired. There were +two reasons for his resignation, the principal one being the illness +of his only daughter; but in addition, he had come to feel that +the Senate was becoming less and less desirable each year, and +began to lose interest in it. He did not like the rough-and-tumble +methods of debate of a number of Western Senators who were coming +to take a more prominent place in the Senate. On one occasion +Senator Plumb, of Kansas, attacked Senator Edmunds most violently, +and without any particular reason. + +During his service in the Senate, Senator Edmunds seemed to be +frequently arguing cases before the Supreme Court of the United +States. His ability as a lawyer made him in constant demand in +important litigation before that court. Personally, I do not +approve of Senators of the United States engaging in the active +practice of the law or any other business, but his practice before +the Supreme Court did not cause him to neglect his Senatorial +duties. + +Justice Miller, one of the ablest members of the court, was talking +with me one day about Senator Edmunds, and he asked me why I did +not come into the Supreme Court to practise, remarking that Edmunds +was there a good deal. I replied that I did not know enough law, +to begin with; and in addition it did not seem to me proper for a +Senator of the United States to engage in that kind of business. +Justice Miller replied that Senators did do so, and that there +seemed to be no complaint about it, and he urged me to come along, +saying that he would take care of me. But needless for me to say, +I never appeared in any case before the Supreme Court of the United +States during my service as Senator. + +Senator Edmunds' colleague, Justin S. Morrill, was one of the most +lovable characters I ever met. I served with him in the House. +Later he was a very prominent member of the Senate, when I entered +it, and was Chairman of the Committee on Finance. He was a +wonderfully capable man in legislation. He had extraordinary power +in originating measures and carrying them through. He was not a +lawyer, but was a man of exceptional common sense. His judgment +was good on any proposition. I do not believe he had an enemy in +the Senate. Every one felt kindly toward him, and for this reason +it was very easy for him to secure the passage of any bill he was +interested in. + +While Senator Morrill was chairman of the Committee on Finance, +owing to his advanced age and the feeble condition of his health +the real burden of the committee for years before his death fell +on Nelson W. Aldrich, of Rhode Island. He was prominent as far +back as the Forty-eighth Congress, and was a dominant unit even +then. His recent retirement is newspaper history and need not be +aired here. + +Senator Aldrich has had a potent influence in framing all tariff +and financial legislation almost from the time he entered the +Senate. Personally, I have great admiration for him and for his +great ability and capacity to frame legislation, and it is a matter +of sincere regret with me that he has determined to retire to +private life. His absence is seriously felt, especially in the +Finance Committee. + +The Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, was one of the most valuable +statesmen of his day and one of the ablest men. He was exceedingly +industrious, and well posted on all financial questions. Toward +the close of his Senatorial term, he failed rapidly, but he was +just as clear on any financial question as he was at any time in +his career. He was Secretary of the Treasury when in his prime, +and I believe his record in the office stands second only to +Hamilton's. He was of the Hamilton school of financiers, and his +judgment was always reliable and trustworthy. He was a very serious +man and could never see through a joke. He was one of the very +best men in Ohio, and would have made a splendid President. For +years he was quite ambitious to be President, and the business +interests of the country seemed to be for him. His name was before +the National Convention of the Republican party many times, but +circumstances always intervened to prevent his nomination when it +was almost within his grasp. + +I have always thought that one reason was that his own State had +so many ambitious men in it who sought the honor themselves, that +they were never sincerely in good faith for Sherman. At least +twice he went to National Conventions, apparently with his own +State behind him, but he was unfortunate in the selection of his +managers, and, really, when the time came to support him they seemed +only too ready to sacrifice him in their own interests. + +I have always regretted that he closed his career by accepting the +office of Secretary of State under President McKinley. It was +unfortunate for him that it was at a most trying and difficult time +that he entered that department. The Spanish-American War was +coming on, and there was necessity for exercising the most careful +and skillful diplomacy. Senator Sherman's training and experience +lay along other lines. He was not in any sense a diplomat, and +his age unfitted him for the place. He retired from office very +soon, and shortly thereafter passed away. His brief service as +Secretary of State will be forgotten, and he will be remembered as +the great Secretary of the Treasury, and one of the most celebrated +of Ohio Senators. + +Senator George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, was quite prominent at +the beginning of the Forty-eighth Congress. He was jealous of New +England's interests, and was always prejudiced in its favor, and +in favor of New England men and men with New England ancestry, or +affiliations. He opposed the Interstate Commerce Act because he +thought it would injuriously affect his locality, although he knew +very well it would be of inestimable benefit to the country as a +whole. Senator Hoar was a scholarly man. Indeed, I would say he +was the most cultivated man in the Senate. He was highly educated, +had travelled extensively, was a student all his life, and in debate +was very fond of Latin or Greek quotations, and especially so when +he wanted to make a point perfectly clear to the Senate. He opposed +imperialism and the acquisition of foreign territory. He opposed +the ratification of the treaty of peace with Spain. When the +Philippine question was up in the Senate, I made a speech in which +I compared Senator Hoar with his colleague, Senator Lodge, said +that Senator Lodge had no such fear as did Senator Hoar on account +of the acquirement of non-contiguous territory, and made the remark +that Senator Hoar was far behind the times. He was not present +when I made the speech, but afterwards read it in the _Record_. +He came down to my seat greatly out of humor one day and stated +that if three-fourths of the people of his State were not in harmony +with his position he would resign. + +He was one of the most kindly of men, but during this period he +was so deadly in earnest in opposition to the so-called imperialism +that he became very ill-natured with his Republican colleagues who +differed from him. I do not know but the passing of time has +demonstrated that Senator Hoar was right in his opposition to +acquirement of the Philippines; but at the time it seemed that the +burden was thrust upon us and we could not shirk it. + +Senator Hoar was disposed to be against the recognition of the +Republic of Panama, and it has been intimated that he was of the +opinion that the Roosevelt Administration had something to do with +the bloodless revolution that resulted in the uniting with the +United States of that part of Colombia which now forms the Canal +Zone. + +President Roosevelt entertained a very high regard for Senator +Hoar, and he wanted to disabuse his mind of that impression. He +asked him to call at his office one morning. I was waiting to see +the President and when he came in he told me that he had an engagement +with Senator Hoar, and asked me if I would wait until he had seen +the Senator first. I promptly answered that he should see the +Senator first at any rate, as he was an older man than I, and was +older in the service. Senator Hoar and the President entered the +room together. Just as they went in, the President turned to me. +"You might as well come in at the same time," said he. I accompanied +them. And this is what took place: + +The President wanted the Senator to read a message which he had +already prepared, in reference to Colombia's action in rejecting +the treaty and the canal in general; which message showed very +clearly that the President had never contemplated the secession of +Panama, and was considering different methods in order to obtain +the right of way across the Isthmus from Colombia, fully expecting +to deal only with the Colombian Government on the subject. The +President was sitting on the table, first at one side of Senator +Hoar, and then on the other, talking in his usual vigorous fashion, +trying to get the Senator's attention to the message. Senator Hoar +seemed adverse to reading it, but finally sat down, and without +seeming to pay any particular attention to what he was perusing, +he remained for a minute or two, then arose and said: "I hope I +may never live to see the day when the interests of my country are +placed above its honor." He at once retired from the room without +uttering another word, proceeding to the Capitol. + +Later in the morning he came to me with a typewritten paper containing +the conversation between the President and himself, and asked me +to certify to its correctness. I took the paper and read it over, +and as it seemed to be correct, as I remembered the conversation, +I wrote my name on the bottom of it. I have never seen or heard +of the paper since. + +Senator Hoar was very much interested in changing the date of the +inauguration of the President of the United States. March, in +Washington, is one of the very worst months of the year, and it +frequently happens that the weather is so cold and stormy as to +make any demonstration almost impossible. Inaugurations have cost +the lives of very many men. I was looking into the subject myself, +and I took occasion to write Senator Hoar a letter, asking his +views. He replied to me very courteously and promptly. I was so +pleased with the letter that I retained it, and give it here. + + "Worcester, Mass., _August 26, 1901_. + +"My dear Senator:-- + +"I do not think the proposed change of time of inauguration can be +made without change in the Constitution. I prepared an article +for so changing the Constitution. It has passed the Senate twice +certainly, and I think three times. It was reported once or twice +from the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and once from the +Committee on the Judiciary. It received general favor in the +Senate, and as I now remember there was no vote against it at any +time. The only serious question was whether the four years should +terminate on a certain Wednesday in April or should terminate as +now on a fixed day of the month. The former is liable to the +objection that one Presidential term should be in some cases slightly +longer than another. The other is liable to the objection that if +the thirtieth of April were Sunday or Saturday or Monday, nearly +all persons from a distance who come to the inauguration would have +to be away from home over Sunday. + +"The matter would, I think, have passed the House, if it could have +been reached for action. But it had the earnest opposition of +Speaker Reed. It was, as you know, very hard to get him to approve +anything that was a change. + +"I have prepared an amendment to be introduced at the beginning of +the next section, and have got some very carefully prepared tables +from the Coast Survey, to show the exact length of an administration +under the different plans. The advantage of the change seems to +me very clear indeed. In the first place, you prolong the second +session of Congress until the last of April; you add six or seven +weeks, which are very much needed, to that session. And you can +further increase that session a little by special statute, which +should have Congress meet immediately after the November election, +a little earlier than now. In that case, you can probably without +disadvantage shorten the first session of Congress so as to get +away by the middle of May or the first of June and get rid of the +very disagreeable Washington heat. + +"I wish you would throw your great influence, so much increased by +the renewed expression of the confidence of your State, against +what seems to me the most dangerous single proposition now pending +before the people, a plan to elect Senators of the United States +by popular vote. + + "I am, with high regard, faithfully yours, + "Geo. F. Hoar. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + "Chicago, Ills." + +Senator Dawes, of Massachusetts, Senator Hoar's colleague, was not +the cultivated man that Senator Hoar was, and neither would I say +he was a man of strong and independent character. He was very +popular in the Senate, probably far more popular with Senators than +his colleague, and it was much easier for him to pass bills in +which he was interested. He was influential as a legislator and +a man of great probity of character. + +For some reason or other--why, I never knew--he was one of the very +few Eastern Senators of my time who gave special attention to Indian +affairs. He was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs for +years, and was the acknowledged authority on that subject in the +Senate. When he retired he was placed at the head of the so-called +Dawes Commission, having in charge the interests of the tribes of +Indians in Oklahoma and the Indian territory. He was an honest +man, and having inherited no fortune, he consequently retired from +the Senate a poor man. The appointment was very agreeable to him +on that account, but it was given to him more especially because +he knew more about Indian matters than any other man. + +As I have been writing these recollections of the men with whom I +have been associated in public life for the last half-century, I +have had occasion to mention a number of times, Senator Orville H. +Platt, of Connecticut, who was two years older than I, and who took +his seat in the Senate in 1879, serving there until his death in +1905. + +We became very friendly almost immediately after I entered the +Senate. One bond of friendship between us from the beginning was, +we each had a senior colleague a celebrated General of Civil War +fame--Hawley, of Connecticut and Logan, of Illinois. Senator Platt +and I necessarily were compelled to take what might be termed a +back seat, our colleagues being almost always in the lime-light. +As a member of the select committee on Interstate Commerce, Senator +Platt rendered much valuable assistance in the investigation and +in the passage of the Act of 1887, although he was almost induced +finally to oppose it on account of the anti-pooling and the long- +and-short-haul sections. + +He was a modest man, and it was some years before Senators that +were not intimate with him really appreciated his worth. Had he +not yielded to the late Senator Hoar, he would have been made +chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary instead of Senator Hoar, +a position for which there was no Senator more thoroughly qualified +than Senator Platt. It seems strange that he never did succeed to +an important chairmanship until he was made chairman of the Committee +on Cuban Relations during the war with Spain, and he really made +that an important committee. Not only in name but in fact was he +the author of those very wise pieces of legislation known as the +Platt Amendments. I was a member of the Committee on Cuban Relations, +and know whereof I speak in saying that it was Senator Platt who +drafted these so-called amendments and secured their passage in +the Senate. They were finally embodied in the Cuban Constitution, +and also in the treaty between Cuba and the United States. + +After the late Senator Dawes retired, Senator Platt was an authority +on all matters pertaining to Indian affairs. + +As the years passed by he became more and more influential in the +Senate. Every Senator on both sides of the chamber had confidence +in him and in his judgment. As an orator he was not to be compared +with Senator Spooner, but he did deliver some very able speeches, +especially during the debates preceding the Spanish-American War. + +I have often said that Senator Platt was capable in more ways than +any other man in the Senate of doing what the exigencies of the +day from time to time put upon him. He was always at his post of +duty, always watchful in caring for the interests of the country, +always just and fair to all alike, and ever careful and conservative +in determining what his duty should be in the disposition of any +public question; and I regarded his judgment as a little more +exactly right than that of any other Senator. + +General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, was quite a figure in +the Senate when I entered it, and was regarded as one of the leaders, +especially on military matters. He was a man of fine ability and +address, brave as a lion and enjoyed an enviable Civil War record. +He was president of the Centennial at Philadelphia and permanent +President of the Republican Convention of 1868, which nominated +General Grant. He was a very ambitious man, and wanted to be +President; several times the delegation from his State presented +his name to national conventions. He had no mean idea of his own +merits; and his colleague, Senator Platt, told me once in a jocular +way that if the Queen of England should announce her purpose of +giving a banquet to one of the most distinguished citizens from +each nation, and General Hawley should be invited as the most +distinguished citizen of the United States, he would take it as a +matter of course. + +Senator F. M. Cockrell and Senator George Vest represented Missouri +in the United States Senate for very many years. + +Senator Cockrell was one of the most faithful and useful legislators +I ever knew. I served with him for years on the Committee on +Appropriations. That committee never had a better member. He kept +close track of the business of the Senate, and when the calendar +was called, no measure was passed without his close scrutiny, +especially any measure carrying an appropriation. He was a Democrat +all his life, but never allowed partisanship to enter into his +action on legislation. It was said of him that he used to make +one fiery Democratic speech at each Congress, and then not think +of partisanship again. He was not given much to talking about +violating the Constitution, because he knew he had been in the +Confederate Army himself and that he had violated it. + +One day Senator George, who was, by the way, a very able Senator +from the South, was making a long constitutional argument against +a bill, extending over two or three days. I happened to be conversing +with Cockrell at the time, and he remarked: "Just listen to George +talk. He don't seem to realize that for four years he was violating +the Constitution himself." Senator Cockrell retired from the Senate +in 1905, his State for the first time in its history having elected +a Republican Legislature. + +President Roosevelt had the very highest regard for him, and as +soon as it was known he could not be re-elected, he wired Senator +Cockrell, tendering him a place on either the Interstate Commerce +Commission or the Panama Canal Commission. He accepted the former, +serving thereon for one term. He gave the duties of this position +the same attention and study that he did when a member of the +Senate. + +Senator Vest was an entirely different style of man. He did not +pay the close attention to the routine work of the Senate that +Senator Cockrell did, but he was honest and faithful to his duty, +and an able man as well. He was a great orator, and I have heard +him make on occasion as beautiful speeches as were ever delivered +in the Senate. At the time of his death he was the last surviving +member of the Confederate Senate. + +He told me a rather interesting story once about how he came to +quit drinking whiskey. He said he came home to Missouri after the +war, found little to do, and being almost without means, took to +drinking whiskey pretty hard. He awoke one night and thought he +saw a cat sitting on the end of his bed. He reached down, took up +his boot-jack and threw it at the cat, as he supposed. Instead, +a pitcher was smashed to atoms. Needless to add there was no cat +at all, which he realized, and he never took another drink of +liquor. + +Senator Vest was not a very old man, but he was in poor health and +feeble for his years. One day he looked particularly forlorn, +sitting at his desk and leaning his head on his hands. I noticed +his dejected attitude, and said to Senator Morrill, who was then +eighty-five or eighty-six years old: "Go over and cheer up Vest." +Morrill did so in these words: "Vest, what is the matter? Cheer +up! Why, you are nothing but a boy." + +Senator Vest retired from the Senate, and shortly thereafter died +at his home in Washington. + +Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, was another very prominent Democrat in +this Congress. He was one of the leading lawyers of the Senate, +ranking, probably, with Edmunds in this respect. He was chairman +of the Committee on the Judiciary for a brief period, was later +nominated for Vice-President of the United States, but was defeated +with the rest of the Democratic ticket. + +Senator Eugene Hale, who retired from the Senate on his own motion, +March 4, 1911, was elected in 1881, and was always regarded as a +very strong man. It was unfortunate for the Senate and country +that Senator Hale determined to leave this body. He was chairman +of the Committee on Appropriations, and chairman of the Republican +caucus, in which latter capacity I succeeded him in April, 1911. +He was for years chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs; and +there is no man in the country, in my judgment, who knows more +about the work and condition of the Navy and the Navy Department +than does Senator Hale. Hence it has been for years past, that +when legislation affecting the Navy came up to be acted upon by +Congress, generally we have looked to Senator Hale to direct and +influence our legislative action. + +He is a very independent character, and was just the man for chairman +of the great Committee on Appropriations. Senator Hale was more +than ordinarily independent, even to the extent of voting against +his party at times, and was very little influenced by what a +President or an Administration might desire. I regretted exceedingly +to see him leave the Senate, where for many years he served his +country so well. + +Charles F. Manderson, of Nebraska, was twice elected to the United +States Senate, and was an influential member. I have regarded him +as one of the most amiable men with whom I have served. He was a +splendid soldier, a splendid legislator, and a splendid man generally. +He was the presiding officer of the Senate, and a good one. I have +always thought that he ought to have been the Republican nominee +for Vice-President of the United States; but for some reason or +other he never seemed to seek the place, and finally became one of +the attorneys for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, +since when he seems to have lost interest in political affairs. +He visit old friends in Washington once each year, and it is always +a great pleasure for me to greet Mr. and Mrs. Manderson. + +Another Senator who first served many years in the House, was +Philetus Sawyer, of Wisconsin. It was in the Senate that I served +with him, and came to have for him a very great respect. He was +not very well educated, not a lawyer nor an orator, and excepting +in a conversational way, not regarded as a talker; yet he was an +uncommonly effective man in business as well as in politics, and +was once or twice invited to become chairman of the National +Republican Committee. + +I cannot resist the temptation to tell a little story in connection +with Senator Sawyer. One day he was undertaking to pass an +unimportant bill in the Senate concerning some railroad in his own +State, and as was the custom when he had anything to say or do in +the Senate, he took his place in the centre aisle close to the +clerk's desk, so that he could be heard. Senator Van Wyck offered +an amendment to the bill, and was talking in favor of the amendment, +when Sawyer became a little alarmed lest the bill was going to be +beaten. He turned his back to the clerk, and said in a tone of +voice that could be distinctly heard: + +"If you will stop your damned yawp I will accept your amendment." + +Van Wyck merely said, "All right." The amendment was adopted, and +the bill passed. + +As is quite the custom in the disposal of new members, I was +appointed a member of the Committee on Pensions--really the only +important committee appointment I received during my first service +in the Senate. I naturally felt very liberal toward the old +soldiers, and it seemed that every case that was referred to me +was a worthy one, and that a liberal pension should be allowed. +I became a little uneasy lest I might be too liberal, and I went +to Sawyer, knowing that he was a man of large wealth, seeking his +advice about it. + +He said, and I have been guided by that advice largely ever since: +"You need not worry; you cannot very well make a mistake in allowing +liberal pensions to the soldier boys. The money will get into +circulation and come back into the treasury very soon; so go ahead +and do what you think is right in the premises; and there will be +no trouble." + +Senator Sawyer retired from the Senate voluntarily at a ripe old +age. He was largely instrumental in selecting as his successor, +one of the greatest lawyers and ablest statesmen who has ever served +in that body, of whom I shall speak later, my distinguished friend, +the Hon. John C. Spooner. + +In the Forty-eighth Congress the Democrats had a majority in the +House and the Republicans a majority in the Senate, and as is always +the case when such a situation prevails, little or no important +legislation was enacted. + +I entered the Senate having three objects in view: First, the +control of Interstate Commerce; second, the stamping out of polygamy; +third, the construction of the Hennepin Canal. + +I was not quite as modest as I have since advised younger Senators +to be, because I see by the _Record_ that on January 11, 1884, a +little more than a month after I had entered the Senate, I made an +extended address on the subject of Territorial Government for Utah, +particularly referring to polygamy. I was especially bitter in +what I said against the Mormons and the Mormon Church. I used such +expressions as these: + +"There is scarcely a page of their history that is not marred by +a recital of some foul deed. The whole history of the Mormon Church +abounds in illustrations of the selfishness, deceit, and lawlessness +of its leaders and members. Founded in fraud, built up by the most +audacious deception, this organization has been so notoriously +corrupt and immoral in its practices, teachings, and tendencies as +to justify the Government in assuming absolute control of the +Territory and in giving the Church or its followers no voice in +the administration of public affairs. The progress of Mormonism +to its present strength and power has been attended by a continual +series of murders, robberies, and outrages of every description; +but there is one dark spot in its disgraceful record that can never +be effaced, one crime so heinous that the blood of the betrayed +victims still calls aloud for vengeance." + +I introduced a bill on the subject, in which I provided for the +appointment of a legislative council by the President, this council +to have the same legislative power as the legislative assembly of +a Territory. I distrusted the local Legislature because it was +dominated by men high up in the Mormon Church. + +During this Congress I pushed the bill as best I could, but was +never able to secure its passage. Laws were passed on the subject, +and the Mormon question is practically now a thing of the past. + +Since that time conditions in Utah and in the Mormon Church have +changed greatly. The Prophets received a new revelation declaring +polygamy unlawful, and I believe that the practice has ceased. As +a matter of fact, Judge Zane, the Territorial Judge of Utah, did +more to stamp it out than any other one man. He sentenced those +guilty of the practice to terms in the penitentiary, and announced +that he would continue to do so until they reformed. I do not +think that the Church or the Mormon people deserve to-day the severe +criticism they merited twenty-five years ago. + + +CHAPTER XVI +CLEVELAND'S FIRST TERM +1884 to 1887 + +The Republican Convention of 1884 was held at Chicago. The names +of Joseph R. Hawley, John A. Logan, Chester A. Arthur, John Sherman, +George F. Edmunds, and James G. Blaine were presented as candidates +for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. +Blaine and Logan finally were the nominees, neither of them having +much of a contest to secure the nomination for President and Vice- +President respectively. + +The Democratic Convention met later, and nominated Grover Cleveland +and Thomas A. Hendricks. + +The Presidential campaign of 1884 was unique in the extreme. It +was the most bitter personal contest in our history. The private +lives of both candidates, Cleveland and Blaine, were searched, and +the most scandalous stories circulated, most of which were false. + +The tide was in favor of Blaine only a short time before the +election. I do not intend to go into the cause of his defeat. It +was accomplished by a margin so narrow that any one of a dozen +reasons may be given as the particular one. The Burchard incident, +the dinner given by the plutocrats at Delmonico's, certainly changed +several hundred votes--important when we remember that a change of +less than six hundred votes in the State of New York would have +elected him. Conkling, too, was accused of playing him false, and +it was alleged that there were hundreds of fraudulent votes cast +in the city of New York and on Long Island. Colonel A. K. McClure, +in "Our Presidents and How We Make Them," says, with reference to +this contest: + +"Blaine would have been matchless in the skilful management of a +Presidential campaign for another, but he was dwarfed by the +overwhelming responsibilities of conducting a campaign for himself, +and yet he assumed the supreme control of the struggle and directed +it absolutely from start to finish. He was of the heroic mould, +and he wisely planned his campaign tours to accomplish the best +result. In point of fact, he had won his fight after stumping the +country, and lost it by his stay in New York on his way home. He +knew how to sway multitudes, and none could approach him in that +important feature of a conflict; but he was not trained to consider +the thousand intricacies that fell upon the management of every +Presidential contest." + +Grover Cleveland was inaugurated on the fourth of March, 1885, +being the first Democratic President since James Buchanan, who was +elected in 1856, and marking the first defeat of the Republican +party since the election of Lincoln. + +There was a wild scramble for offices on the part of the Democrats +as soon as Cleveland was inaugurated. He proceeded to satisfy them +as rapidly as he could, and out of 56,134 Presidential positions +he appointed 42,992 Democrats. + +I always admired Grover Cleveland. I first saw him at the time of +his inaugural address, which he delivered without notes. He never +faltered from the beginning to the end, never skipped a line or +missed a word, or made a false start. He was the first, and so +far as I know the only President who did not read his inaugural +address. His speeches, his messages, and his public utterances +generally all showed that he was a man of extraordinary ability. +He made a wonderful impression upon the country. As Chief Executive, +he was strong-minded and forceful, and adhered to his views on +public questions with a remarkable degree of tenacity, utterly +regardless of his party. + +He appointed a very fair cabinet. There was really no great man +in it, but they were all men of some ability. The Secretary of +State, Thos. F. Bayard, of Delaware, was one of the prominent +Democrats of the Senate when I entered it, and had represented his +State in that body for many years. I believe he conducted the +affairs of the State Department satisfactorily, and he was later +made Minister to the Court of St. James. + +Daniel Manning, of New York, was Secretary of the Treasury. And, +referring to Manning, I am reminded of a little story. + +Soon after he came into the office I had occasion to go to the +Treasury Department on some business. I saw the office secretary, +who had been there under the previous Administration, and whom I +knew well. He informed me that the Secretary of the Treasury was +not in, but that he would be in a few minutes. I expressed a desire +to see him and said that I would like very much to be introduced +to him. Mr. Manning came in presently, and I was introduced, after +which I disposed of my business without delay. Looking around, I +saw Senator Beck and a number of other Senators, accompanied by a +horde of Democratic office-seekers from the South, sitting against +the wall waiting for me to get through with my business. Beck came +forward, and in a half serious sort of way said to me: "You do +not seem to know that the Administration has changed. You march +in here and take possession, and we Democrats are sitting here +against the wall cooling our heels and waiting for an opportunity +to see the Secretary. You have seen him already, and are ready to +go." It did plague me a little, as I was not quite sure whether +Beck was in earnest or not. He soon returned to the Senate from +the Treasury, and coming into the Senate Chamber a little later I +found that he had been telling my colleagues how he had "plagued +Cullom" and how Cullom was much embarrassed about it. He considered +it quite a joke on me. + +L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, was made Secretary of the Interior. +Lamar was also one of the prominent Democrats of the Senate when +I entered it. I had the very greatest respect for him as a Senator +and as a man. Later, Mr. Cleveland nominated him for Associate +Justice of the Supreme Court. The nomination pended before the +Judiciary Committee for a long time, as it was well known that Mr. +Lamar had not been an active, practising lawyer. + +I happened to be at the White House one day, and Mr. Cleveland said +to me: "I wish you would take up Lamar's nomination and dispose +of it. I am between hay and grass with reference to the Interior +Department. Nothing is being done there; I ought to have some one +on duty, and I can not do anything until you dispose of Lamar." + +He had, I suppose, spoken to other Senators along the same line. +The nomination was taken up soon after, and he was confirmed. I +voted against his confirmation in the Senate; not because I had +anything against him personally, or because he was a Southern +Democrat, but I understood that he had not practised law at all, +and I did not believe that sort of man should be appointed to fill +so high and responsible a position. + +Generally speaking, I got along very well with President Cleveland, +considering the fact that he was a Democrat and I a Republican. +I visited the White House frequently, and he generally granted +anything that I asked for. + +He was keenly interested in the passage of the first Interstate +Commerce Act. It became a law under his administration, and although +the Democrats supported it, it succeeded mainly through the influence +of Republican Senators and a Republican Senate. When the bill went +to the President, and while he had it under consideration, he sent +for me to explain one or two sections which he did not understand. +I called one night about nine o'clock and found him surrounded by +a multitude of papers, hard at work reading the bill. I explained +the sections concerning which he was in doubt as best I could, and +he said: "I will approve the bill." + +I immediately took advantage of the occasion to say: "Now, Mr. +President, I might just as well take this opportunity to talk with +you with reference to the appointment of a Commission. A Republican +Senate has passed this bill, and as I had charge of it in the +Senate, I think you ought to permit me to recommend the appointment +of one commissioner." He agreed to this, asking me to present the +name of some Republican whom I desired appointed. + +Afterward there were complications with the members of his own +party in Congress, and he sent for me to tell me that Colonel +Morrison, of Illinois, had been recommended by the whole "Free +Trade Party," as he called it, and that he did not see how he was +going to avoid appointing him. I suggested that he give Morrison +something else. He undertook to do so; but Morrison, true to his +independent nature, declined to accept anything else, declaring +that he would like to have the office of commissioner, and if he +could not have that he would accept nothing. + +The President sent for me again, and told me he could not satisfy +Morrison, and he did not know how he was going to solve the +complication. I said, in effect, that I had been a Governor of a +State and I knew sometimes that an executive officer had to do +things he did not expect to do, and did not desire to do, but that +he had to yield to party pressure. I ceased insisting upon an +appointment, and allowed Morrison to be named. At the same time +I was a little provoked and out of patience and I added: "Colonel +Morrison knows nothing about the subject whatever. If you are +going to appoint broken-down politicians who have been defeated at +home, as a sort of salve for the sores caused by their defeat, we +might as well repeal the law." + +I inquired of him: "Who else are you going to appoint on that +Commission?" I had previously recommended Judge Cooley. + +"I will appoint Cooley," promised the President. + +"Will Cooley take it?" I asked; to which he replied, "I will offer +any place on the Commission he desires, and will telegraph him at +once." + +I expressed my satisfaction with this arrangement. He did telegraph +Judge Cooley, who accepted, and was the first and most distinguished +chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission. + +The Forty-ninth Congress assembled on December 7, 1885, with Thomas +A. Hendricks, Vice-President, presiding in the Senate, John Sherman +having been elected President _pro tempore_. The Senate was still +in the control of the Republicans by a majority of five. The +Democrats had a majority of something like forty in the House, and +elected John G. Carlisle Speaker. This is practically the same +situation that had prevailed during the previous Congress, except +this time the Democrats, in addition to a majority, had the Chief +Executive as well. But they were just as powerless to enact +legislation as they had been before. + +Senators Evarts, of New York; Spooner, of Wisconsin; Teller, of +Colorado; Stanford, of California; Gray, of Delaware; Brown, of +Georgia; Blackburn, of Kentucky; and Walthall, of Mississippi, were +a few of the prominent men who entered the Senate at the beginning +of the Cleveland Administration. + +Senator Evarts was recognized for many years as the leader of the +American Bar. He was not only a profound lawyer, but one of the +greatest public speakers of the day. I remember him as a good +natured, agreeable man, who was pre-eminently capable of filling +the highest places in public life. He was Attorney-General under +President Johnson, Secretary of State under President Hayes, and +counsel representing the United States before many great international +tribunals. He defended President Johnson in his impeachment +proceedings, and I remember yet his lofty eloquence on that memorable +occasion. He did not accomplish much as a Senator, but he did take +an active part where a legal or constitutional question came before +the Senate. + +Illustrating how great lawyers are as apt to be wrong on a legal +question as the lesser legal lights, Senator Evarts expressed the +opinion that Congress did not possess the constitutional power to +pass the Act of 1887 to regulate commerce. He contended in the +debate that the act was a restriction and not a regulation of +commerce, and consequently was beyond the power of Congress. The +Supreme Court of the United States very soon afterwards sustained +the constitutionality of the act. + +Before his term expired he became partially blind, and the story +is told by the late Senator Hoar that Senator Evarts and he had +delivered speeches in the Senate on some great legal, constitutional +question, Senator Hoar on one side, Senator Evarts on the other. +The latter asked Senator Hoar to look over the proof of his speech +and correct it, and in reading over the proof Senator Hoar told me +that he became convinced that his position was wrong and that Evarts +was right. + +I do not know of a Democrat with whom I have served in the Senate +for whom I have greater respect than George Gray, of Delaware. We +became quite intimate and were paired all during his service. He +was one of the few Senators that every Senator on both sides believed +in and was willing to trust. Indeed, our country would not suffer +if he were elected President of the United States. He has held +many important positions,--Senator, member of the Paris Peace +Commission, United States Circuit Judge, member of many arbitration +commissions,--in all of which he acquitted himself with great honor. + +My friend, Senator Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, returned to the +Senate at the beginning of this Congress. He had previously served +in the Senate, and resigned to accept a Cabinet position under +President Arthur. Senator Teller has had a long and honorable +public career. He was elected to the Senate several times as a +Republican, and appointed to the office of Secretary of the Interior +as a Republican. He continued this affiliation until the silver +agitation, in 1896, when he regarded himself as being justified in +leaving the party, and was twice elected afterward to the Senate +by the Legislature of his State, and during this last term I believe +he became a pretty strong Democrat; yet he never allowed partisanship +to enter into his action on legislation, excepting where a party +issue was involved, when he would vote with his party. + +I served with him on the Appropriation Committee and other committees +of the Senate, and regarded him as one of the best Senators for +committee service with whom I was ever associated. The friendly +relations between Senator Teller and myself have been very close +and intimate since I first knew him, and I am glad to say that the +fact that he left the Republican party has not disturbed them in +the least. + +Mr. Teller's withdrawal from the Republican party after its +declaration for the Gold Standard in the St. Louis Convention of +1896 was due to his abiding conviction in support of the principles +of bimetallism. He had been a member of the party almost since +its organization, and up to '96, although independent upon many +points at issue, had been regarded as one of the party's stanchest +and most reliable adherents. The severance of the ties of a lifetime +could not be made without producing a visible effect upon a man of +Mr. Teller's fine sensibilities, but I was pleased to observe that +he did not allow the incident to change his personal relations. +He continued as a member of the Senate for twelve or thirteen years +after he left the Republican party, and I am sure that he did not +lose the respect or personal regard of a single Republican member +of the body. Personally, I regarded him just as warmly as a Democrat +as I had esteemed him as a Republican, and I am sure that my attitude +toward him was reflected by his attitude toward myself. + +The Colorado Senator's nature is such that he cannot dissemble, +and when his conviction led him to condemn the Republican party +because of its position on the money question, he could not find +it in his conscience to remain in that party. Time has shown that +he was mistaken as to the results that might follow the adoption +of the gold standard, but it has not served to alter the character +of the man. He will stand for what he believes to be right, whatever +the consequences to himself. As a legislator, he was faithful in +his work in committee and in the Senate. No man was more constant +in his attendance, and none gave more conscientious attention to +the problems of legislation. An unusually strong lawyer and a man +given to studious research, he never failed to strengthen any cause +which he espoused nor to throw light upon any subject which came +within his range of vision. With the exception of three years +spent as Secretary of the Interior he was a member of the Senate +from 1876, the year of Colorado's admission to the Union, until +1909, during which time he had nine different colleagues from his +own State. + +Mr. Teller was a resident of Illinois before he removed to Colorado +in 1861, and was one of the earliest supporters of Mr. Lincoln. +His father and mother remained in Illinois as long as they lived, +and Senator Teller always has retained interests in that State. +I think he still has relatives residing in Whiteside County. + +William Eaton Chandler, of New Hampshire, was one of the first +government officials with whom I became acquainted when I came to +Washington, in 1865, as a member of the House of Representatives. +He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. We became quite intimate +and our relations ever since have been the most cordial and +friendly. + +Senator Chandler is a man of wonderfully acute intellect. For many +years he served his people in the Legislature of New Hampshire and +was a member of the Senate of the United States for several terms. +After he retired from the Senate in 1901, President McKinley +appointed him a member of the Spanish Claims Commission. In the +discharge of the duties of that office he manifested the same high +conception of his trust as in every position he occupied, either +elective or appointive, and I think he saved to the government of +the United States many millions of dollars in the adjudication of +claims growing out of the Spanish-American War. + +While Senator Chandler is very combative in his attitude toward +others, yet his innate sincerity draws one close to him after +becoming acquainted with him. A little incident which will illustrate +this trait, occurred in the Senate of the United States some years +ago. Mr. Chandler was induced to believe that the late Senator +Proctor, of Vermont, did not like him very much. So Chandler went +up to Proctor, and said: "Proctor, don't you like me?" Proctor +in his coarse gruff voice replied: "I have acquired a liking for +you." He established the point without circumlocution or diplomacy. + +As Chairman of the Committee on Interstate Commerce of the Senate, +I objected to the appointment of Chandler as a member of that +committee. I did not believe he would be very attentive. It turned +out that I was mistaken and I often wished that he would stay away +from the meetings, because he was always stirring up some new +question that involved the time of the committee. He was inspired, +however, by the highest motive, recognizing as he did that the +control of the railroads of the country was a matter of supreme +importance to the people of the United States. He rendered valuable +service on the committee in the enactment of legislation on this +important subject. + +Senator Leland Stanford, of California, was a man of large wealth, +and became famous on account of his having built the Central Pacific +Railroad. He was a man of business experience and made a valuable +Senator. He died as a member of the Senate, and his wife founded +Leland Stanford Jr. University. + +Senator Stanford's colleague, Senator Hearst, who entered the Senate +two years after Senator Stanford, was also a man of very large +wealth and possessor of a interesting character. Concerning him +many amusing stories are told. He gave an elaborate dinner one +evening, which I attended. There were twenty-five of us present +with our wives, and after dinner was over the men went down to the +smoking-room. Senator Hearst had thought out a little speech to +make to us, in which he said: "I do now know much about books; I +have not read very much; but I have travelled a good deal and +observed men and things, and I have made up my mind after all my +experience that the members of the Senate are the survival of the +fittest." Senator Hearst died while serving as a member of the +Senate. + +Matthew Stanley Quay was a conspicuous figure in our political +history. He had been a soldier in the Civil War and afterwards +occupied many positions of importance in the civil affairs in his +State. Few men in American political life have had so constant a +struggle as did Senator Quay to retain his ascendancy in Republican +politics in Pennsylvania. Quay in Pennsylvania, and T. C. Platt +in New York, were regarded as two of the greatest political bosses +in the country. In national convention after national convention +they exercised a paramount influence over the nomination of +Presidents, and the two usually worked together. Their political +methods were about the same. Quay was the bigger man of the two; +but it must be said, in justice to both of them, that the word of +either was as good as his bond. Senator Quay was returned to the +Senate after a desperate struggle. I was glad to see him return, +but saddened to see that he was sorely afflicted with a disease +that finally proved fatal. Senator Quay and Senator Platt have +both passed away. They were the two last survivors of the old +coterie of politicians who so long dominated Republican national +conventions. + +Toward the close of the Cleveland Administration, a vacancy occurred +in the office of Chief Justice of the United States, to fill which +President Cleveland appointed the Hon. Melville W. Fuller, of +Illinois. I had something to do with this appointment. + +Chief Justice Fuller has only recently passed away, after serving +as Chief Justice of the United States for a longer period than any +of his predecessors in that high office, with the two exceptions +of Marshall and Taney. I knew Melville W. Fuller for many years +before he became Chief Justice. Away back in war times, I knew +him as a member of the Illinois Legislature and as a member of the +Constitutional Convention, and subsequently as one of the leading +lawyers of the Chicago Bar. + +President Cleveland was in a considerable quandary over the +appointment of a Chief Justice. He wanted to bestow the seat upon +an able lawyer, and he wanted a Democrat, but as the Senate was in +control of the Republicans he wanted to make sure to name some one +whom the Senate would confirm. He at first seriously considered +Judge Phelps, of Vermont, a cultivated and able man, who had been +Minister to England, but for some reason or other--why I never knew +--he finally rejected Phelps as an available candidate and determined +upon a Western man as Chief Justice. + +Prior to this, however, he had considered the appointment of Justice +Scholfield, of our own State, who was then a member of the Supreme +Court of Illinois, which never had an abler or better lawyer as a +member of its personnel. He would have been given the honor had +he signified a willingness to accept; but when he was approached +by Representative Townsend, at the suggestion of President Cleveland, +after considering the matter, he demurred, asserting that although +he would enjoy the distinction of being Chief Justice of the United +States, he did not think that life in Washington, and especially +the social side of the life which the Chief Justice of the United +States naturally is expected to lead, would suit either him or his +family. He had a family of growing children, who had been raised +in the country, and they would naturally have to accompany him to +Washington. He feared that Washington life would ruin them, so he +finally declined the appointment. + +Judge Fuller had been a close friend of President Cleveland, had +been a member of the national convention that nominated him, was +recognized as one of the leading Democrats of Illinois, and had +been consulted by Mr. Cleveland in the distribution of the patronage +in that State; so naturally Judge Fuller was considered in connection +with the office. It was not surprising, considering that the Senate +was then in the control of the Republicans, that he would want to +enlist my aid in securing his confirmation. + +I called on Mr. Cleveland about nine o'clock one morning in regard +to some personal matter. He at once sent out word for me to come +in, that he wanted to see me. I apologized for appearing at so +early an hour, whereupon he said that he was very glad that I had +come because he desired to have a talk with me. Then he inquired +whom I considered the best lawyer, belonging to his party, in +Illinois, who would make a good Chief Justice. He at once himself +mentioned Judge Fuller. I told him that Judge Gowdy was probably +the ablest Democratic lawyer in Illinois, but that he was a railroad +attorney, and it would probably not be a good thing to appoint him. +He next questioned me particularly about Fuller. I told him that +I knew Fuller very well indeed; that if I were called upon to name +five of the best lawyers of Illinois belonging to his party, I +would name Fuller among the five; that he was not only a good +lawyer, but a scholarly man, a gentleman who would grace the +position. He at once intimated that he would send his name to the +Senate. + +I said to him: "Mr. President, the selection of a Chief Justice +is one of the greatest duties you have to perform. _You_ can make +a mistake; we can raise the devil in Congress; but with a capable +Supreme Court standing steady and firm, doing its full duty, the +country is safe." + +He agreed with me; and very soon thereafter Melville W. Fuller was +nominated as Chief Justice of the United States. + +But this was only the prelude to the real struggle. The nomination +was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, of which Senator +Edmunds, of Vermont, was chairman. The latter was very much out +of humor with the President, because he had fully expected that +Judge Phelps, of his own State, was to receive the honor, and he +did not take it kindly that the appointment should go to Illinois. +He had told me himself, in confidence, that he had every assurance +that Judge Phelps was to be nominated. + +The result was the Senator Edmunds held the nomination, without +any action, in the Judiciary Committee for some three months, as +I now recollect. Finally there began to be more or less scandal +hinted at and suggestions of something wrong, and so forth; which +I considered so entirely uncalled for and unfair to Judge Fuller +that I appeared before the Judiciary Committee of the Senate and +asked that the nomination be reported favorably if possible, +unfavorably if the committee so determined; and if the committee +was not disposed to report the nomination either favorably or +unfavorably that they report the nomination to the Senate without +recommendation, so that the Senate itself might have an opportunity +to act upon it. The latter action was taken, and the nomination +was laid naked before the Senate. The matter was considered in +executive session. Senator Edmunds at once took the floor and +attacked Judge Fuller most viciously as having sympathized with +the Rebellion, together with much to the same effect. + +In the meantime some one had sent me a printed copy of a speech +which Judge Phelps had delivered during the war, attacking Mr. +Lincoln in the most outrageous and undignified fashion. When I +read that speech I then and there determined that Judge Phelps +would never be confirmed as Chief Justice, even though the President +might send his nomination to the Senate. I put the speech in my +desk, determining that if I ever had a good chance I would read it +in the Senate, at the same time pointing out that the only objection +which Senator Edmunds opposed to Judge Fuller was his pique because +Phelps had not received the appointment. Edmunds' attack on Judge +Fuller gave me the opportunity, and I read the speech of Judge +Phelps to the Senate, much to the chagrin and mortification of +Senator Edmunds. + +The Democrats in the Senate enjoyed the controversy between Senator +Edmunds and myself; Senator Voorhees was particularly amused, +laughing heartily all through it. Naturally, it appeared to them +a very funny performance, two Republicans quarreling over the +confirmation of a Democrat. They sat silent, however, and took no +part at all in the debate, leaving us Republicans to settle it +among ourselves. The vote was taken and Judge Fuller was confirmed +by a substantial majority. + +Judge Fuller was very grateful to me for what I had done in behalf +of his confirmation, and afterwards he wrote me a letter of thanks: + + "Chicago, _July 21, 1888_. + +"My dear Senator:-- + +"I cannot refrain from expressing to you my intense appreciation +at the vigorous way in which you secured my confirmation. I use +the word 'vigorous' because, though it was more than that, that +was the quality that struck me most forcibly when I saw the newspapers +this morning. When we meet, as I hope we will soon, I would very +much like to talk this matter over with you. I hope you will never +have cause to regret your action. I can't tell you how pleased I +am that Maine and Illinois, both so dear to me, stood by me. But +because I love them, I do not love my country any the less, as you +know. + +"And so I am to be called 'Judge' after all! This is between +ourselves. + + "Faithfully yours, + "M. W. Fuller." + +Senator Frye voted in favor of Judge Fuller's confirmation. He +did this partly, I believe, because Fuller was a Maine man and a +classmate of his at Bowdoin College, he previously having entertained +some doubts, as he told me afterwards, whether Fuller was really +qualified to be Chief Justice of the United States. Very soon +after his appointment, the Chief Justice was invited to deliver an +address before the Joint Session of the two Houses of Congress. +I think it was on the occasion of the one-hundredth anniversary of +the inauguration of the first President of the United States. +Senator Frye and I walked together over to the hall of the House +where the joint session assembled, and he said as we went along: +"I will determine to-day, after I hear Fuller deliver his address, +whether I did right or wrong in voting for his confirmation as +Chief Justice." Judge Fuller delivered a most beautiful speech, +which would have done credit to any man, no matter how high a +position he occupied in this or any other country; and as we returned +together to our own chamber, Senator Frye remarked: "Cullom, it +is all right. I am satisfied now that I did right in voting in +favor of the confirmation of Fuller's nomination." + +Melville W. Fuller filled the position of Chief Justice of the +United States with great credit and dignity. He wrote, during his +long term of service, many very able opinions. I did not agree +with his conclusions in the Income Tax case; but I think every +lawyer will conceded that this opinion was about as able a presentation +of that side of the case as could be made. He was a most conservative +and safe man for the high position which he occupied. Of necessity +the Chief Justice of the United States must be an executive officer +as well as an able lawyer and judge. There was no better executive +officer than Chief Justice Fuller. Justice Miller told me on one +occasion that Fuller was the best presiding judge that the Supreme +Court had had within his time; and in addition he was a most lovable, +congenial man. + +The last time I saw Judge Fuller he was particularly agreeable. +I called to invite him to deliver an address at a great banquet to +be held in Springfield on Lincoln's birthday in February, 1909. +I have had a great deal of experience in trying to prevail upon +prominent men to deliver addresses in Illinois, and I know how they +always hesitate, and hem and haw, then, if they do accept, destroy +all feelings of gratitude and appreciation by the ungracious manner +in which they do so. It was certainly a pleasant surprise and a +contrast to custom to hear Judge Fuller's reply when I extended +the invitation to him. "Why, certainly," he responded promptly; +"I will be delighted to accept. I have been wanting to visit +Springfield for twenty years, and I am glad to receive the +invitation." + +This reply was quite characteristic of Chief Justice Fuller. I +could not imagine him saying an unkind word to any one. His +disposition was to treat his colleagues on the Bench, the members +of the Bar who appeared before him, and every one with whom he came +in contact, with the greatest kindness and consideration. He passed +away, quietly and peacefully, as he would have wished, honored and +respected by the Bench and Bar of the Nation, and by the people of +his home State, who took pride in the fact that Illinois had +furnished to the United States a Chief Justice for so long a period. + +Chief Justice Fuller was succeeded by Hon. Edward D. White, of +Louisiana, with whom I served for three years in the Senate of the +United States. Justice White was an able Senator, and in the +disposition of some of the most important cases which have come +before the Supreme Court in recent years affecting corporations he +has shown great ability and is a worthy successor of his predecessors +in that high office. + +Aside from the act to regulate commerce, an act providing for +the Presidential succession, and an act in reference to polygamy, +there was very little, if any, important legislation during the +first Cleveland Administration. + +It was a very quiet administration. The country clearly comprehended +that the Senate stood in the way of any Democratic doctrine being +enacted into law, and generally, as I remember it now, the country +was fairly prosperous. This condition continued until President +Cleveland's famous Free Trade message of December 5, 1887, came as +a startling blow to the business and manufacturing interests of +the United States. + +Why he should have sent such a message to Congress when his +administration was about to come to a close, and when he knew +perfectly well that no tariff legislation could be enacted with a +Democratic House and a Republican Senate, I do not know. He for +the first time stepped out boldly and asserted his Free Trade +doctrine, and made the issue squarely on tariff for protection as +against Free Trade, or tariff for revenue. This message naturally +precipitated a tariff discussion in both House and Senate, and the +Democratic majority of the House considered it incumbent on them +to make some attempt to carry out the President's policy. As a +result the so-called Mills Bill was reported, upon which debates +continued for many months. One member in closing this discussion +very aptly said: + +"This debate will perhaps be known as the most remarkable that has +ever occurred in our parliamentary history. It has awakened an +interest not only throughout the length and breadth of our own +country, but throughout the civilized world, and henceforth, as +long as our government shall endure, it will be known as 'the great +tariff debate of 1888.'" + +It was in this debate in the House that both Mr. Reed and Mr. +McKinley so distinguished themselves as the great advocates of +Protection. Mr. Reed was then the floor leader of the minority. +He made a magnificent speech against Free Trade in which he used +many familiar allegories, one of which I have often used myself in +campaign speeches. It is substantially as follows: + +"Once there was a dog. He was a nice little dog--nothing the matter +with him, except a few foolish Free Trade ideas in his head. He +was trotting along, happy as the day, for he had in his mouth a +nice shoulder of succulent mutton. By and by he came to a stream +bridged by a plank. He trotted along, and looking over the side +of the plank, he saw the markets of the world, and dived for them. +A minute afterwards he was crawling up the bank the wettest, the +sickest, the nastiest, the most muttonless dog that ever swam +ashore." + +Thomas B. Reed was one whom I unquestionably would term a great +man. He was conspicuous among the most brilliant presiding officers +that ever occupied the chair of the Speaker. He ruled the House +with a rod of iron, thus earning for himself the nickname of "Czar." + +And this was more or less warranted. He was the first Speaker to +inaugurate the new rules. He found a demoralized House in which +it was difficult to enact legislation, and in which the right of +the majority to rule was questioned and hampered. He turned the +Lower House into an orderly legislative body in which legislation +was enacted expeditiously by the majority. He had more perfect +control over the House than any former Speaker, and his authority +remained unquestioned until he retired. He ruled alone; after he +became Speaker he had no favorites; he had no little coterie of +men around him to excite the jealousy of the members of the House, +and it has even been said that so careful was he in this respect +that he would scarcely venture to walk in public with a member of +the House. He was a powerful man intellectually and physically, +and he looked the giant he was among the members of the House. He +wanted to be President; and it seems rather a queer coincidence +that his election as Speaker paved the way for his rival, Mr. +McKinley, as by his acceptance of the chair Mr. McKinley became +the leader of the majority, chairman of the Committee on Ways and +Means, the author of the McKinley Bill, which finally resulted in +its author's defeat for Congress, but in his election as President +of the United States in 1896. + +But to return to the Mills Bill. It passed the House by a substantial +majority and came to the Senate, where a substitute was prepared +by the Finance Committee and reported by Senator Allison early in +October. I remember the discussion on it in the Senate very well. +We all thought it incumbent upon us to make speeches for home +consumption, for campaign use, showing the iniquities of the Mills +Bill, and of the Democratic tariff generally, although we knew it +was impossible for either bill to become law. + +The Congressional session continued until about the middle of +October with nothing done in the way of practical legislation. + +This was the situation when the National Republican Convention +assembled in 1888. + + +CHAPTER XVII +CLEVELAND'S DEFEAT AND HARRISON'S FIRST TERM +1888 to 1891 + +At the time the delegates gathered, Cleveland's Free Trade message +of 1887 was before the country, interest in it having been augmented +and enlivened by the passage of the Mills Bill and the renowned +tariff debate of that year. The issue was clear. It was Protective +Tariff _versus_ Free Trade. After a rather strenuous contest in +the convention in which nineteen candidates were voted for, for +the nomination for President, including the leading candidates, +John Sherman, of Ohio, Walter Q. Gresham, of Indiana, Harrison, of +Indiana, and Allison, of Iowa, Benjamin Harrison finally was chosen +on the eighth ballot. + +In his autobiography Senator Hoar affirms that William B. Allison +came nearer being the nominee of the party than any other man in +its history who was a candidate and failed to secure the endorsement. +According to Senator Hoar, it was the opposition of Senator Depew, +angered by the agrarian hostility toward himself, that prevented +Senator Allison's nomination. I have no personal knowledge that +might refute this statement, but I have been disposed to question +its correctness. + +President Cleveland was of course renominated. The campaign came +on, and he was defeated squarely on the Tariff issue, and the +Republicans were again in the ascendancy in both branches of the +Government, the Senate being composed of forty-seven Republicans +and thirty-seven Democrats, while the House contained one hundred +and seventy Republicans and one hundred and sixty Democrats, Mr. +Reed being elected Speaker. + +President Harrison was inaugurated with a great civic and military +display, equalling, if not surpassing, that of any other President. +There was great rejoicing among Republicans on account of the return +of the party to power. The Cabinet was duly appointed, with Mr. +Blaine, the foremost Republican and statesman of his day, as +Secretary of State--which, by the way, was an unfortunate appointment +both for Mr. Harrison and Mr. Blaine. There was the usual scramble +for offices, the usual changes in the foreign service, in the +executive departments in Washington and in the federal offices +generally throughout the country. Robert T. Lincoln, of whom I +have already written, was appointed Minister to the Court of St. +James. + +Colonel Clark E. Carr, of Illinois, was appointed Minister to +Denmark, and made a splendid record in that position. He was very +popular with the royal family. I had the pleasure of visiting +Copenhagen while he was Minister there, and was the guest of Colonel +and Mrs. Carr, who entertained me very handsomely. They gave a +dinner in my honor, which was attended by the whole diplomatic +corps at Copenhagen. The Colonel also arranged for a private +audience with the King, and he presented me to him, as he also did +my friend, Colonel Bluford Wilson, who accompanied me on my visit +to Copenhagen. Altogether, through the courtesy of Colonel Carr, +I enjoyed my stay in Copenhagen exceedingly. + +He retired from office after Mr. Cleveland was elected, and has +since achieved distinction as an author. He has written several +very interesting books which have had a wide circulation. For many +years Colonel Carr has taken an active part in our State and National +campaigns. He is a forceful speaker, so naturally his services +have been in constant requisition by the State and National Republican +Committees. He has rendered very valuable service to the Republican +party both in the State and in the Nation. + +I had known President Harrison for many years. He represented a +neighboring State in the Senate, of which body he was a leader when +I entered it in 1883. I probably knew him as well as any of my +Republican colleagues; but his was a very cold, distant temperament, +even in the Senate, hardly capable of forming a very close friendship +for any one, and he had no particular friends. + +In justice to Mr. Harrison, however, it must be said that he was +a masterly lawyer, and his appointments generally were first-class. +Especially was he fortunate in his selection of Federal judges. +He selected them himself, and would tolerate no interference from +any one. He did select the very best men he could find. For +instance, he appointed such men as Justice Brewer, of Kansas; +Justice Brown, of Michigan; Judge Woods, of Indiana; and it was +Harrison who appointed President Taft as a Federal Judge. He was +an exceptionally able President, and gave the country an excellent +administration. + +But at the same time he was probably the most unsatisfactory +President we ever had in the White House to those who must necessarily +come into personal contact with him. He was quite a public speaker, +and the story has often been told of him that if he should address +ten thousand men from a public platform, he would make every one +his friend; but that if he should meet each of those ten thousand +men personally, each man would go away his enemy. He lacked the +faculty of treating people in a manner to retain their friendship. +Even Senators and Representatives calling on official business he +would treat with scant courtesy. He scarcely ever invited any one +to have a chair. + +Senator Platt, of Connecticut, asked me one day if I was going to +the White House to dine that evening, stating that he had an +invitation. I told him no, that I had not yet been invited, that +I had never yet during the Harrison administration even been invited +to take a seat in the White House. Some one overheard the remark +and it was published in the newspapers. I visited the White House +shortly afterwards, and I assume that Harrison had seen it because +as soon as he saw me, without a smile on his face or a gleam in +his eye, he hastened to get me a chair, inviting me to be seated. +I declined to sit down, explaining that I was in a hurry, and closed +the business I had come for, and left. Afterwards he invited me +to dinner and treated me with marked consideration. + +I have sometimes wondered whether President Harrison's apparent +coldness may not be ascribed to an absorption in his duties that +made him unintentionally neglectful of the little amenities of +polite usage, they never even having occurred to him. Despite his +cold exterior and frigid manner, it may have been he was sympathetic +at heart. When the Tracey homestead was destroyed by fire, which +resulted in the death of several persons, including the daughter, +and finally resulted in the death of Mrs. Tracey, President Harrison +took the family into the White House and did everything a man could +do to relieve their sufferings. + +I suppose he treated me about as well in the way of patronage as +he did any other Senator; but whenever he did anything for me it +was done so ungraciously that the concession tended to anger rather +than please. + +In looking over the letters which I received from President Harrison, +I find one which would show that he placed considerable confidence +in my recommendations. + + "Executive Mansion, + "Washington, _Oct. 24, 1889_. + +"Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, + "Springfield, Ills. + +"My dear Senator:-- + +"I want to say a few words further to you about the Chicago +appointments. There has been for some months a good deal of +complaint that changes were not made. + +"I find that the Collector of Customs and the Collector of Internal +Revenue were appointed, the one Sept. 14, and the other Sept. 10, +1885, and that the first was confirmed May 17, 1886; and the last, +April 17, 1886. I do not have before me the record as to the +appointment of the United States District Attorney. The Assistant +Treasurer was appointed Sept. 29, 1885, and confirmed May 6, 1886. +If there had been no question raised as to the qualifications and +fitness of the persons recommended, it is quite possible that I +would have taken some steps in the matter during this month; but +the fact is, as you have told me, that at least one, and possibly +two, of the persons suggested were not of a high order of fitness, +to say the least, and some members of your Congressional delegation +interested have given me the same impression, while from outside +sources there have been a good many things said to the prejudice +of persons named for appointment. I am informed that Senator +Farwell desires to leave the case just where his recommendations +have placed it, feeling that he cannot change to any one else. I +write to know whether you also feel in that way, or whether you +desire to make any further suggestions about the matter. I have +no other purpose in connection with these appointments than to find +men, the mention of whose names will commend them to the great +business community they are to serve. No one of those named, so +far as I know, is suggestive of any personal claim upon me, and I +have no personal ends to serve. You agreed with me, I think, when +we conversed, that the appointees there should be men of as high +character for integrity and intelligence, etc., as those they would +supersede. + +"In the case of the Assistant Treasurer I found on examining the +papers yesterday, very full and strong papers for Mr. Nichols, whom +I do not know. He is supported, apparently, by the bankers and +many leading merchants of Chicago, and their letters give in detail +his business character and experience. Of the gentleman recommended +by you and Senator Farwell, there is absolutely nothing said in +the papers, so that Mr. Windom or I could have any information as +to whether his business experience had been such as to fit him for +this place. Now, I am sure that on reflection you will agree that +we ought to have full information, and that it should be upon +record. + +"I told Mr. Taylor, in conversation, day before yesterday, that I +could not appoint Mr. Babcock marshal, as I told you when you were +here; and I remember that you said you had yourself refused to +recommend him. If things have assumed that shape that you are of +the opinion that it must be left to me as it stands, then I will +do the best I can with it. I do not conceal the fact that after +the essential of fitness is secured that I have a desire to please +our party friends in these selections. But I cannot escape the +responsibility for the appointments, and must therefore insist upon +full information about the persons presented, and upon my ultimate +right, in all kindness to everybody, to decide upon what must be +done. It would be very gratifying to me if the responsibility were +placed upon some one else. + +"Please let me have any suggestions you may care to make. + + "Very truly yours, + "Benj. Harrison. + +"P. S. Responding to your telegram asking delay till Nov. 5, I +would say that I have no disposition to hurry a decision. Others +have been pressing me and complaining bitterly of delay. I think, +however, that the sooner some of these cases can be treated as +submitted for decision the better. If the appointments are delayed +till the middle of Nov. there is little use of making temporary +appointments, as the appointee would have to make two bonds. If +you can in writing, confidentially if you prefer, give me your +views and submit any alternative suggestions for these places I +will carefully consider them. But if you prefer to see me personally +before any decision is made as to Collector of the Port I will of +course lay that case to one side till the time you have suggested. + + "Yours, + "B. H." + +I never became entirely estranged from him, however, and when his +term was about to expire, and he wanted a renomination, I supported +him. My motive in so doing was not so much that I favored Harrison +as because I felt outraged at the way _The Chicago Tribune_ had +treated me. The _Tribune_ was then supporting Blaine with all its +power, and I determined that Mr. Medill should not have his way; +hence I became one of the leaders in the renomination of President +Harrison. + +Before leaving Washington for the convention I called to see the +President to learn what information he had to impart to me as one +of the delegates who expected to support him. He was more friendly, +free, and frank than he had ever been during his term as President. +We talked about different things, and in the course of the conversation +he adverted to Secretary Blaine. + +Harrison and Blaine had fallen out. Jealousy was probably at the +bottom of their disaffection. Harrison did not treat Blaine with +that degree of confidence and courtesy one would expect from the +Chief Executive to the premier of his cabinet; while on the other +hand Blaine hated Harrison and was plotting more or less against +him while he was a member of the cabinet. The President talked +very freely about Mr. Blaine. He declared that he had been doing +the work of the State Department himself for a year or more; that +he had prepared every important official document, and had the +originals in his own handwriting in the desk before him. And yet, +he said, Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, was giving out accounts +of what was being done in the State Department, taking all the +credit to himself. He expressed himself as being perfectly willing, +to use a familiar figure, to carry a soldier's knapsack when the +soldier was sore of foot and tired, and all that he wanted in return +was acknowledgment of the act and a show of appreciation. This +was all he expected of Mr. Blaine. He said, in closing the +conversation, that he intended some day to disclose the true +condition of their relations. + +The Harrison Administration was a very busy one, and should have +been a very satisfactory one to the country at large. The first +great subject taken up by Congress was the tariff, the final +disposition of which was embodied in what afterwards became known +as the "McKinley Tariff Bill." I never thought that Mr. McKinley +showed any particular skill in framing that tariff. My understanding +is that it was prepared by the majority of the Committee on Ways +and Means. + +The manufacturers of the country appeared before that committee +and made known what protective duties they thought they ought to +have in order to carry on their industries, and the committee gave +them just about the rate of duty they desired. It was a high +protective tariff, dictated by the manufacturers of the country. +It resulted in a great stimulus to the country's industries, and +great prosperity followed its enactment. It has been difficult +from then till now to reduce duties below the McKinley rate. The +manufacturers have since persisted and insisted upon higher duties +than they really ought to have. + +I may remark here, in passing, that the McKinley Law was not passed +until October, and we were immediately plunged into the campaign. +The McKinley Law was the issue, and the Democrats swept everything +before them, carrying the House by the overwhelming majority of +ninety-seven. The Senate still remained Republican, forty-seven +Republicans to thirty-nine Democrats. McKinley himself was beaten +and never afterwards returned to Congress. + +It is strange what a revolution periodically occurs among the voters +of the United States. When the Mills Bill was the issue the +Democratic party was beaten, and badly beaten; the Republican party +came into power; the McKinley Bill was passed, and we suffered +about as bad a defeat as had the Democrats two years previously. +The difference was that the Democrats were cleaned out on the shadow +of an issue, without the reality (the Mills Bill never having become +a law), and we went down in defeat on the reality, the McKinley +Bill having become a law. + +It was during this time also that the bill known as the Sherman +Law, or the Coinage Act of 1890, was passed, which directed the +purchase of silver bullion to the aggregate of 4,500,000 ounces in +each month, and the issuance for such purchases silver bullion +treasury notes. This was probably the beginning of the silver +agitation. It created a long discussion in the Senate and House, +and that subject was constantly before Congress until it was finally +settled by the election of McKinley, in 1896. + +It was this Congress also that passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act +(April 8, 1890). It was one of the most important enactments ever +passed by Congress; and yet, if it were strictly and literally +enforced, the business of the country would have come to a standstill. +The courts have given it a very broad construction, making it cover +contracts never contemplated when the act was passed. It was never +seriously enforced until the coming in of the Roosevelt Administration, +when the great prosperity brought about under the McKinley +Administration tended to the formation of vast combinations which +seriously threatened the country. The people do not seem disposed +to consent even to its amendment, much less its repeal; and yet we +all realize that if strictly enforced as construed by our courts, +it would materially affect the business prosperity of the nation. +The people take the same attitude towards the Sherman Law as they +take toward the anti-pooling section of the Interstate Commerce +Act; they will allow neither of them to be tampered with by Congress. +There has been considerable dispute as to the paternity of the +Sherman Anti-Trust Law. Senator Hoar claims he wrote it; it bears +Senator Sherman's name; and my own opinion is that Senator Edmunds +had more to do with framing it than any other one Senator. + +It was during the first and second session of the Fifty-first +Congress that the Federal Election Bill, so-called, or as it is +familiarly known, the "Force Bill," was discussed. It was in charge +of Senator Hoar, and occupied the attention of both sessions for a +long time. The Republicans seemed determined to force it through, +but the Democrats from the South were bitterly opposed to it, +resorting to all sorts of tactics to kill or delay it. + +This measure I never considered much of a "force" bill. I could +never see that there was any force to it, but on the contrary, +considered it a very mild measure, and gave it my support. The +opposition to it was so bitter and strong and so skillfully managed +by the late Senator Gorman on the part of the minority, and it +stood for so long a time in the way of other legislation, that one +after Senator Wolcott arose in his seat and, very much to the +astonishment of every one, moved to lay it aside and take up some +other bill. The motion carried, and that was the last we heard of +the Force Bill. + +The McKinley Tariff, the Anti-Trust Law, the Sherman Coinage Act, +and the Federal Election Bill were the important bills passed before +this Congress. + +Notwithstanding the magnificent record in the way of legislation +made by the first Congress under the Harrison Administration, the +Democratic victory was so complete that at the beginning of the +first session of the Fifty-second Congress, which met December 7, +1891, there were but eighty-eight Republicans in the House, as +against two hundred and thirty-six Democrats, and Mr. Charles F. +Crisp, of Georgia, was elected Speaker. The Senate still remained +in the control of the Republicans. + +It was during this Congress that the silver agitation came to the +front as one of the foremost issues. Senator Stewart of Nevada, +introduced his bill for the free coinage of gold and silver bullion. +The free coinage question consumed months of the time of both Senate +and House, and finally came to naught. + +The Act to establish the World's Fair at Chicago was passed. I +took a very active interest in this in behalf of Chicago. A meeting +was held in the Marble Room of the Capitol, where Senator Depew +represented New York, and Colonel Thomas B. Bryan, Chicago. They +each made a speech. Very much to my surprise, Colonel Bryan's was +the more effective. We afterwards, by all sorts of efforts in the +House and Senate, captured the location for Chicago. The Fair, +when it was finally held, was the greatest world's fair ever known. +There was an almost utter abandon in the expenditure of money, and +Congress assisted by a liberal appropriation. That Fair was a +great injury, rather than a benefit, to the city of Chicago. The +hard times came on, and it was years before the city was restored +to normal conditions. + +Toward the end of this session, the Homestead riots were a subject +of debate and investigation by Congress. A Presidential campaign +was approaching, and the Democrats were eager to throw upon the +Republicans the blame for all labor disturbances, the riots at +Homestead in particular. + + +CHAPTER XVIII +CLEVELAND'S SECOND TERM +1892 to 1896 + +I have already, in other parts of these recollections, referred to +the National Convention of 1892, and the reasons which induced me +to support President Harrison for renomination. I attended as one +of the delegates, and took a more or less active part in the work +of the convention. Harrison was chosen on the first ballot. No +other candidate had any chance. Mr. Blaine and Mr. McKinley on +that ballot received one hundred and eighty-two votes each, but +neither was really considered for the nomination. + +Grover Cleveland, of course, was the principal candidate before +the Democratic Convention, and had no serious opposition aside from +the bitter personal enmity evinced toward him by David B. Hill, of +New York, who had succeeded him as Governor of that State, and had +hoped to succeed him as President. Senator Hill has only recently +passed away. He was one of the most astute and ablest politicians +in the history of the Democratic party. President Cleveland +determined, for some reason or other, to drive him out of public +life, and he succeeded in doing so during his second administration +as President. + +The campaign of 1892, just as the previous Presidential campaign +had been, was entirely fought out on the tariff issue; and the +question in general was the McKinley Law and its results. The +Democrats were able to show that there had been increase in cost +in many articles regarded as necessaries, while the Republicans +pointed to a great era of national prosperity. The Republicans +contended also that wages had advanced and prices declined under +the McKinley Law; but I have always doubted whether we were able +to sustain that contention. For instance, the department stores +and retail merchants generally marked up prices, and wholly without +reason, on articles on which there had been no increase in the +tariff; and when asked why, they would reply, "It is because of +the McKinley tariff." + +For these economic reasons, added to the labor disturbances, Mr. +Cleveland was again elected President of the United States, and +carried with him for the first time both the Senate and the House. +The Democrats now had complete control of all branches of the +Government, and were in a position, if united, to enact any +legislation they might desire. The result of the election was a +complete surprise to every one. Why the voters should have turned +against the Republican administration, it is hard to say. Mr. +Harrison's personality had much to do with it. + +The times were never more prosperous. In his message to the Congress +which convened after his defeat, President Harrison appositely +said: "There never has been a time in our history when work was +so abundant, or when wages were so high, whether measured in the +currency in which they are paid, or by their power to supply the +necessaries and comforts of life." And yet, with this admitted +condition prevailing, the Democratic party was returned to power. + +I felt very badly over President Harrison's defeat, as I had done +everything I could to secure, first, his renomination and then his +re-election. After the election I wrote President Harrison as +follows: + + "U. S. Senate Chamber, + "Washington, D. C., _Nov. 11, 1890_. + +"Dear Mr. President:-- + +"I have delayed writing you since the election for the reason that +the result so surprised me I scarcely knew what to make of it. We +lost Illinois by the overwhelming Democratic vote in Chicago. I +feared that city all the time, but was assured by the committees +that it would not be very much against us. I said all the time +that we would take care of the country and carry the State if the +Cook County vote could be kept below ten thousand Democratic, and +was assured by all hands there that it would be. We did carry the +country about as heretofore. As things have gone bad nearly +everywhere, I am not feeling so chagrined as I would if Illinois +had been the pivotal State. I specially desire to say that the +cause of the defeat does not lie at your door personally. Any man +in the country standing upon the doctrine of high protection would +have been defeated. The people sat down upon the McKinley Tariff +Bill two years ago, and they have never gotten up. They were +thoroughly imbued with the feeling that the party did not do right +in revising the tariff up instead of down. They beat us for it in +'90 and now again. + +"Hoping to see you in ten days, I am, with great respect, + + "Truly yours, + "S. M. Cullom." + +Curtis, in his work on the Republican party, in commenting on the +result of this election, said: + +"It will be seen that to the Solid South were added, California, +Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, +and Wisconsin; while Mr. Cleveland obtained one electoral vote in +Ohio, and five in Michigan. The result was certainly disastrous, +and left no doubt that the people at large for the time being had +rebuked the Republican party for what they wrongly supposed to be +against their best interests. And yet, though a large majority of +the people had voted for Mr. Cleveland, they were probably sorry +for it within twenty-four hours after the election. There was no +such rejoicing as took place in 1885. In fact, as soon as it was +determined without doubt that the next Congress would be Democratic +in both branches, and would enable Mr. Cleveland and his party to +carry out their threats to repeal the McKinley Law and enact in +its stead a Free Trade measure, apprehension and alarm took possession +of the industrial and financial interests of the country, and could +the election have been held over again within ten days, it may be +estimated that a million or more votes would have been changed from +the Cleveland column to that of Harrison. The people, as it were, +awoke from a dream; they saw at once how they had been deceived by +the methods of the Democratic campaign managers, and how an incident +which had no bearing whatever upon the issue of the campaign had +influenced their vote in a time of temporary anger and resentment." + +This perfectly sums up the situation, as I now recollect it, on +the election of President Cleveland; it was the beginning of the +most protracted era of hard times that this country has ever known. + +Mr. Cleveland was inaugurated the second time on March 4, 1893, +and, as Mr. Curtis says, there was very little enthusiasm. The +ceremonies were quiet and unenlivened. + +Of course, it goes without saying, that I was not glad to see the +Democratic party returned to power; but I confess I was a little +pleased to meet President Cleveland in the White House again. His +manner, his treatment of those with whom he came in contact, was +so different from that of his predecessor, that it was a real +pleasure, rather than a burden, to call at the executive offices. + +Mr. Cleveland promptly proceeded to remove Republicans from +Presidential offices and appoint Democrats. This even went to the +extent of the removal of postmasters, large and small, against whom +almost any sort of charge might be trumped up. + +Adlai E. Stevenson was a past master in this respect. He was First +Assistant Postmaster-General under Cleveland's first Administration +and removed Republican postmasters whose terms had not expired, +without cause or reason. He was elected Vice-President when Mr. +Cleveland again came into office. He was a great favorite among +the Democrats, because he believed in appointing Democrats to every +office within the gift of the Executive. + +I remember, after Stevenson was elected, Senator Harris, of Tennessee, +remarking to me: "Now we have got Cleveland and Stevenson elected, +if Cleveland would drop out and Stevenson was President, we would +get along finely." He meant that Stevenson would never permit a +single Republican to remain in office, if he could help it. + +Mr. Stevenson made a popular presiding-officer of the Senate. He +has been a strong Democrat all his life, and it has repeatedly been +charged against him, although I believe he denies it, that he was +a Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He served in Congress +two terms, having been elected from the Bloomington district, and +was quite an influential member. He was defeated as a candidate +for Vice-President with Mr. Bryan in 1900, and was also defeated +as a candidate of the Democratic party for Governor of Illinois, +in 1908. + +As a candidate for Governor he made a splendid showing in 1908, as +he was defeated by 23,164 votes, while President Taft carried +Illinois by 179,122. + +President Cleveland's Cabinet contained some very able men. He +appointed Judge Walter Q. Gresham as Secretary of State. Why he +should have appointed Gresham, I do not know. It would seem to me +that there were men of as much ability in his own party whom he +might have selected, but for some reason or other he did appoint +him. + +Judge Gresham was then serving as United States Circuit Judge, at +Chicago. He had always been a Republican, and in the convention +which nominated Harrison he received on one ballot one hundred and +twenty-three votes as the candidate of the Republican party for +President of the United States. He probably supported Mr. Cleveland, +although of this I am not sure. He was a bitter enemy of President +Harrison,--so much so, indeed, that he could scarcely be polite to +any one whom he thought favored Harrison. He was holding court in +Springfield, during the Harrison Administration, when I met him, +and, not appreciating his feeling, I casually commended President +Harrison for some particular thing which I approved. Gresham did +not like it, and he almost told me in so many words that he did +not think much of me or any one else who thought well of Harrison. +Whereupon we separated somewhat coolly, I giving him to understand +that I would insist upon my views and my right to commend a man +who I thought was following a proper course. I do not believe he +ever avowed himself a Democrat, and in the State Department he +always declined to make any recommendations for appointments, on +the ground that he was not a Democrat, and that those appointments +must be left to the President himself. I had more or less intercourse +with him as Secretary of State, and always found him polite and +agreeable. He was regarded as an able Secretary, and served in +that office until his death. + +Richard Olney succeeded him as Secretary of State. He had been +the Attorney-General in the cabinet. He was to me a much more +satisfactory Secretary than Judge Gresham, and fully as able as a +lawyer. + +John G. Carlisle was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. He had +been seven times elected to Congress and three times Speaker. He +resigned his seat in the House, having been elected as a member of +the Senate from Kentucky, and remained in the Senate until he +resigned to accept the position of Secretary of the Treasury under +Cleveland. + +Mr. Carlisle was in entire harmony with the President on the tariff +and also on the monetary questions--and, indeed, I remark here that +Mr. Carlisle had very much to do toward the defeat of Mr. Bryan in +1896. Although a life-long Democrat himself, he believed that Mr. +Bryan's theories on the monetary question would ruin the country, +and he stood with Mr. Cleveland in opposing his election. Had +Cleveland, Carlisle, and other patriotic Gold Democrats stood with +their party, Mr. Bryan would probably have been elected and the +history of this country would have been written differently. + +After Mr. Cleveland's election, our industrial conditions became +so depressed--and it was alleged by many that the cause for this +was the Sherman Coinage Act of 1890--that a special session of +Congress was called to meet August 7, 1893. The President said in +his message to this Congress: + +"The existence of an alarming and extraordinary business situation, +involving the welfare and prosperity of all our people, has +constrained me to call in extra session the people's representatives +in Congress, to the end that through a wise and patriotic exercise +fo the legislative duty with which they are solely charged, present +evils may be mitigated and danger threatening the future may be +averted. . . . With plenteous crops, with abundant promise of +remunerative production and manufacture, with unusual invitation +to safe investment, and with satisfactory returns to business +enterprise, suddenly financial fear and distrust have sprung up on +every side. . . . Values supposed to be fixed are fast becoming +conjectural, and loss and failure have involved every branch of +business. I believe these things are principally chargeable to +Congressional legislation touching the purchase and coinage of +silver by the general Government." + +And Mr. Cleveland earnestly recommended the prompt repeal of the +Sherman Coinage Act of 1890. + +The extra session continued until October 30, when the Sherman Act +was finally repealed. + +But the repeal of the Sherman Act did not at all remedy industrial +conditions. It was not the Sherman Act that was at fault, but the +well-grounded fear on the part of our manufacturers of the passage +of a free trade measure. The panic commenced, it is true, under +the McKinley Bill, but it was the direct result of what the business +interests felt sure was to come; and that was the passage of a +Democratic Tariff act. + +The year 1893 closed with the prices of many products at the lowest +ever known, with many workers seeking in vain for work, and with +charity laboring to keep back suffering and starvation in all our +cities. And yet, in view of the condition, Mr. Cleveland sent to +Congress at the beginning of the annual session a free trade message, +advocating the repeal of the McKinley Act and the passage of a +Democratic free trade, or Tariff for Revenue, measure. From the +tone of this message, however, he seems to have changed somewhat +from his message of 1887; yet it was strong enough to startle the +business interests, and make more widespread financial panic. + +Speaker Crisp at once proceeded to the formation of the committees +of the House, and particularly the Committee on Ways and Means. + +I was naturally anxious concerning our industries in Illinois, and +I wanted one of our strongest Illinois Representatives placed on +that committee. I happened to enjoy particularly friendly relations +with Mr. Crisp, he having been a House conferee on the Interstate +Commerce Act of 1887, and I felt quite free to call upon him. +After looking over the Illinois delegation, I came to the conclusion +that the Hon. A. J. Hopkins, my late colleague in the Senate, and +who was then serving in the House, was the very best man he could +select for that place. I urged Mr. Crisp to appoint him, saying +that he was capable of doing more and better work on the committee +than any other man in the delegation. Crisp was very nice about +it, and whether he did it on my recommendation or not I do not +know; but he appointed Hopkins. Senator Hopkins was, during his +service on that committee, regarded as one of its leading members, +and had a prominent part in framing the Dingley tariff. He served +in the House until elected to the Senate, where he remained for +six years. Senator Hopkins is an able man, and was constantly +growing in influence and power in the Senate. He was an agreeable +colleague, and I regretted very much indeed that he was not re- +elected. + +It did not take long for the Democratic majority of the Committee +on Ways and Means of the House to frame and report the Wilson Bill, +repealing the McKinley Bill, and recommending in its stead the +enactment of a Tariff for Revenue, which was fairly in harmony with +Democratic Free Trade principles, and in harmony with the President's +message. The bill was passed without long delay, Mr. Reed leading +the ineffectual opposition to its passage in the House, with a +speech of great eloquence, in which he depicted conditions that +would surely arise after the passage of such a measure. + +But this bill still had to run the gantlet of the Senate, where +many Democratic Senators did not sympathize to the full extent with +the Cleveland-Carlisle Free Trade theory. Senators Gorman, Hill, +Murphy, Jones, Brice, and Smith of New Jersey, led the opposition, +uniting with the Republicans in securing some seven hundred +amendments, all in the interest, more or less, of Protection. + +The truth is, we were all--Democrats as well as Republicans--trying +to get in amendments in the interest of protecting the industries +of our respective States. I myself secured the adoption of many +such amendments. After I had exhausted every resource, I went to +Senator Brice one day and asked him if he would not offer some +little amendment for me, as I felt pretty sure that if Brice offered +it it would be adopted, and I knew if I did it myself it stood a +good chance of being defeated. Brice, by the way, was a very bluff, +frank man; he replied to me, half jocularly, "Now, you know when +your party is in power you will never do anything for a Democrat, +and I won't offer this amendment for you. You go and get your +colleague, Senator Palmer, to offer it for you." I left him and +went to General Palmer; he presented the amendment, and it was +adopted. + +The bill passed the Senate; and after going to conference, when it +seemed likely the Conference Committee would not agree, the Democratic +leaders of the House, fearing the bill would fail entirely, decided +to surrender to the Senate and accept the Senate bill with all its +amendments. President Cleveland denounced this temporizing, coining +the famous expression, "party perfidy and party dishonor" in the +Wilson letter, evidently referring to Mr. Gorman and other leaders +of the Senate. + +There has been endless controversy and discussion over the attitude +of Senator Gorman on the Wilson Bill. I myself have always believed +that Senator Gorman felt that the industries of the country could +not prosper under a Democratic Free Trade Tariff, and that he was +willing to afford them a certain amount of protection. Especially +was he criticised on account of the sugar schedule. Senator Tillman +in his memorial address in the Senate, on the occasion of the +delivery of eulogies on Senator Gorman, said in reference to this: + +"In the conversations I had with the Democratic leaders, it was +clearly brought out that the sugar refineries were ready to contribute +to the Democratic campaign fund if it could be understood that the +industry would be fostered and not destroyed by the Democratic +Tariff policy, and I received the impression, which became indelibly +fixed on my mind then and remains fixed to this day, that President +Cleveland understood the situation and was willing to acquiesce in +it if we won at the polls. I did not talk with Mr. Cleveland in +person on this subject, though I called at his hotel to pay my +respects, and I am thoroughly satisfied that the charge of party +perfidy and party dishonor was an act of the grossest wrong and +cruelty to Senator Gorman. If Mr. Cleveland, as I was told, knew +of these negotiations and was the beneficiary of such a contribution, +it is inconceivable how he could lend his great name and influence +toward destroying Senator Gorman's influence and popularity, in +the way he did." + +Senator Gorman himself was very justly indignant and displayed much +feeling when he addressed the Senate on July 23, 1894, replying to +Mr. Cleveland's letter. + +He used, in part, the following language: + +"As I have said, sir, this is a most extraordinary proceeding for +a Democrat, elected to the highest place in the Government, and +fellow Democrats in another high place, where they have the right +to speak and legislate generally, to join with the commune in +traducing the Senate of the United States, to blacken the character +of Senators who are as honorable as they are, who are as patriotic +as they ever can be, who have done as much to serve their party as +men who are now the beneficiaries of your labor and mine, to taunt +and jeer us before the country as the advocates of trust and as +guilty of dishonor and perfidy." + +It was a Democratic controversy, and I am not in a position to say +whether Mr. Cleveland or Mr. Gorman was right; whether it was a +bargain in advance of the election to secure campaign funds; whether +the sugar schedule was framed to secure the support of the Louisiana +Senators; but I do know that Mr. Cleveland's attacks on Mr. Gorman +turned the State of Maryland over to the Republicans and relegated +Mr. Gorman to private life. + +The Wilson Bill became a law without the approval of the President, +Mr. Cleveland taking the position that he would not permit himself +to be separated from his party to such an extent as might be implied +by a veto of the tariff legislation which, though disappointing to +him, he said was still chargeable to Democratic efforts. + +There was one provision of the Wilson Bill which, I have been +convinced since, was a very wise measure, and which will yet be +enacted into law; and that is the income tax provision. That bill +provided for a tax of two per cent on incomes above four thousand +dollars. A separate vote was taken on this section and I voted +against it. It was Republican policy then to oppose an income-tax, +and the view I took then was, that if we started out taxing incomes +the end would be that we would derive, from the source, sufficient +amount of revenue to run the Government and that it would gradually +break down the protective policy. It was declared unconstitutional +by a vote of five to four of the Supreme Court. A previous income- +tax had been declared constitutional during the Civil War, and I +am very strongly of the opinion that if the case is again presented +to the Court the decision will be in harmony with the first decision, +overruling the decision of 1895. An income-tax is the fairest of +all taxes. It is resorted to by every other nation. It falls most +heavily on those who can best afford it. The sentiment in the +Republican party has changed, and I believe that at no far distant +day Congress will pass an income-tax as well as an inheritance-tax +law. + +The passage of the Wilson Bill increased, rather than diminished, +the hard times commencing with the panic of 1893. The Democratic +party, or the free silver element of it, claimed that the panacea +was the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen +to one. The silver question was argued week after week in both +branches of Congress, and was never finally settled until the +election of McKinley and the establishment by law of the Gold +Standard. In recent years we hear very little about free silver; +but the Democratic party split on that issue, Mr. Cleveland heading +the faction in favor of sound money. + +In those closing days of the Cleveland Administration, it was very +seldom that a Democratic Senator was seen at the White House. The +President became completely estranged from the members of his party +in both House and Senate, but it seemed to bother him little. He +went ahead doing his duty as he saw it, utterly disregarding the +wishes of the members of his party in Congress. + +I saw him many times during this period, and I remember on one +occasion I had seen a notice in one of the papers indicating that +the President was about to appoint my old friend Mr. Charles Ridgely, +of Springfield, Illinois, as Comptroller of the Currency. I had +the highest regard for Mr. Ridgely, and I called at the White House +to congratulate the President on the selection. He seemed to be +out of humor, and was more than usually abrupt. He declared that +he knew nothing about it, that he did not know Ridgely, and never +had had any intention of appointing him. I repeated that I had +seen the announcement in a newspaper, adding that it looked to me +as though the report were authentic, and that I only wanted to +congratulate him. But the President merely reiterated, somewhat +curtly, that he knew nothing about it. I became a little annoyed, +finally losing my temper. + +"I don't care a damn whether you appoint him or not," I exclaimed; +"Ridgely's a Democrat, anyhow." + +Thereupon his attitude quickly changed, and he inquired about +Ridgely, listening with interest to what I had to say. He then +talked with me on the silver question and other matters, detaining +me while he kept his back to the crowd waiting to see him. I almost +had to break away in order to give others a chance. + +Among the other embarrassments and difficulties of the Cleveland +Administration were the famous Chicago riots of 1893. The trouble +grew out of a railroad strike; much damage was done and a great +deal of property was destroyed, with consequent loss of life. The +city itself seemed to be threatened, the business and manufacturing +interests appealed to the Governor first, and then to the President, +to send troops to Chicago to protect property. When the Governor +failed to act, the President ordered Federal troops to Chicago. +The action was regarded as very wise, and it endeared him to the +business people of that city. Governor Altgeld protested, and that +was one of the reasons why he became Mr. Cleveland's most bitter +enemy. + +I think I should say a few words in reference to Governor Altgeld. +He has been called an anarchist and a socialist. In my judgment, +he was neither. Of his honesty, his integrity, his sincerity of +purpose, his determination to give the State a good administration, +I never had the slightest doubt. The mainspring of the trouble, +I believe, was an inability to select good men for public office. +He was not a good judge of men; he surrounded himself with a coterie +that betrayed his trust and used the State offices for personal +gain. I have always sympathized with Governor Altgeld. Had he +been eligible I believe he would have been the nominee of his party +for the Presidency; but he was born abroad. + +One can scarcely imagine industrial conditions in a worse state +than they were at the close of the Cleveland Administration. The +election of a Republican Congress in 1894 had helped some, but the +revenues were not sufficient to meet the ordinary running expenses +of the Government; bonds had to be issued, labor was out of +employment, the mills and factories were closed, and business was +at a standstill. + +This was the condition of affairs when the Republican National +Convention assembled in 1896. + + +CHAPTER XIX +McKINLEY'S PRESIDENCY +1896 to 1901 + +The hard times, the business depression, all attributable to the +Wilson Tariff Bill, made the Republicans turn instinctively to +Governor McKinley, the well-known advocate of a high protective +tariff, as the nominee of the Republican party, who would lead it +to victory at the polls. + +The Republican National Convention of 1896 was held at St. Louis. +It was one of the few national conventions which I failed to attend. +Since entering the Senate, I have been usually honored by my party +colleagues in the State by being made chairman of the Illinois +delegation to Republican national conventions. But for some reason +or other--just why I do not now recollect--I was not a delegate to +the St. Louis Convention. Congress was in session until near the +time when the convention was to meet, and Mr. McKinley, who, it +was well known, would be the nominee of the party, invited me to +stop off in Canton on my way from Washington to Illinois and spend +a day with him. I did so, arriving at Canton about nine in the +morning, Mr. McKinley meeting me at the station and driving me to +his house, where I remained until my train left at nine in the +evening. From his residence in Canton, I wired the Illinois +delegation, appealing them to vote for McKinley. He received all +but two of the votes of the delegation. He was nominated without +any serious opposition, through the brilliant generalship of that +master of party manipulation, the Hon. Marcus A. Hanna. + +I was talked about a little as a candidate for President during +the closing days of the Cleveland Administration. I was urged to +lend my name for the purpose, particularly by men in the East whom +I always regarded as my friends. I afterwards learned, although +I was not so informed at the time, that they had determined to beat +McKinley at all hazards and nominate Speaker Reed if they could, +their policy being to have the different States send delegations +in favor of "favorite sons." Senator Allison was selected as the +"favorite son" from Iowa, and efforts were made to carry the Illinois +delegation for me. They hoped by this means, when the delegates +assembled at St. Louis, to agree on some one, almost any one, except +McKinley--Reed if they could, or Allison, or me. + +Mr. McKinley, through friends, about this time offered me all sorts +of inducements to withdraw. Judge Grosscup was the intermediary, +and there was hardly anything in the Administration, or hardly any +promise, he would not have made me if I had consented to withdraw. +I felt that I could not do so. When they found it was impossible +to beg me off they determined to carry the State over me. Money +was spent freely in characteristic Hanna fashion, his motto being, +"accomplish results." McKinley was exceedingly popular, in addition, +and after our State Convention had assembled and endorsed him, I +withdrew from the contest. At the time I thought that if I could +have carried the delegation from my own State, as Senator Allison +did his, it would have broken the McKinley boom, and one or the +other of us would have been nominated. But as I look back on it +now, it seems to me that no one could have beaten McKinley; and +even if he had lost Illinois, as he lost Iowa, he still would have +had sufficient delegates to secure his nomination. + +The McKinley campaign was one of the most interesting and quite +the liveliest in which I have ever participated. It was a campaign +of education from beginning to end. At first the Republicans tried +to make the tariff the issue, and in a sense it remained one of +the most important; but we were soon compelled to accept silver as +the issue, and fight it out on that line. Silver was comparatively +a new question; the people did not understand it, and they attended +the meetings, listening attentively to the campaign speeches. + +There was considerable satisfaction in speaking during the campaign +of 1896: one was always assured of a large and interested audience. +In addition to this, the prevailing sentiment was one of cheerful +good-feeling; and while there had been several candidates before +the St. Louis Convention, including Speaker Reed, Senator Allison, +and Levi P. Morton, the convention left no bitterness--the party +was united, and every Republican did his full duty. Southern +Illinois was a little uncertain; but it finally came around, and +the full Republican vote was cast for McKinley and Hobart. + +I took a very active part in this campaign. Mr. McKinley was +exceedingly polite to me and invited Senator Thurston and me to +open the campaign in Canton, which invitation I accepted, addressing +there a vast audience. It was said that some fifty or seventy-five +thousand people were assembled there that day. Subsequently I +spoke in Kentucky and Michigan, and made a thorough campaign in my +own State. + +While the Republicans were united, the Democrats were hopelessly +divided. The so-called Gold Democrats held a convention and +nominated my colleague, Senator Palmer, and General Buckner as its +candidates for President and Vice-President respectively. They +did not receive a very large vote, because I believe they advised +the Gold Democrats to vote for McKinley. The Gold Democrats had +great influence in the election. General Palmer was thoroughly in +earnest on the silver question, more so perhaps than any Democrat +whom I knew. He believed strongly in the Democratic doctrine on +the tariff, and was a Democrat on every other issue; but he could +not follow his party in espousing free silver. + +There was doubt all the time over the result of the election. +After the Democratic convention was held in Chicago, and in the +early Summer and Fall, the Democrats certainly seemed to have the +best of it; but later in the campaign, as the people became educated, +it began to look brighter. I was very much surprised at the result, +however. McKinley carried the election by a vote of 7,111,000 as +against 6,509,000 for Mr. Bryan, and the electoral vote by 271 as +against 176 for Mr. Bryan. + +When Mr. McKinley was inaugurated I cannot forget the expression +of apparent relief in President Cleveland's face, as he accompanied +his successor to the ceremony. He seemed rejoiced that he was +turning his great office over to Mr. McKinley. The last days of +his Administration had been troublesome ones. Estranged from his +own party, war clouds appearing in the near distance,--I do not +wonder that he gladly relinquished the office. + +Mr. McKinley came into office under the most favorable circumstances. +A Congress was elected fully in harmony with him, whose members +gladly acknowledged him as not only the titular, but the real head +of the Republican party. We never had a President who had more +influence with Congress than Mr. McKinley. Even President Lincoln +had difficulties with the leaders of Congress in his day, but I +have never heard of even the slightest friction between Mr. McKinley +and the party leaders in Senate and House. + +In many respects, President McKinley was a very great man. He +looked and acted the ideal President. He was always thoroughly +self-poised and deliberate; nothing ever seemed to excite him, and +he always maintained a proper dignity. He had the natural talent +and make-up to be successful to a marked degree in dealing with +people with whom he came into contact. He grew in popular favor +from the day of his election until his death, and I have always +maintained that he would go down in history as our most popular +President among all classes of people in all sections of the country. +His long training in public life--his service as a member of the +House and Governor of Ohio--had well fitted him for the high office +of President. He had many favorites whom he desired to get into +office; and on many occasions, instead of going ahead and appointing +his friends without consulting any one, he asked me if I would have +any objection to his appointing some personal friend living in +Illinois to one office or another in or out of the State. I always +yielded; in fact it was impossible to resist him. + +Illustrating this, there happened to be a vacancy in a Federal +Judgeship in Chicago. Presidents usually have selected their own +judges regardless of Senatorial recommendation, and McKinley selected +his; but he managed to secure Senatorial recommendation at the same +time. I was in favor of the appointment of a certain lawyer in +Chicago whom I regarded as thoroughly well qualified for the place, +and the President wanted to appoint Judge Christian C. Kohlsaat. +My colleague and I insisted for a long time on our recommendation. +The President and I debated the question frequently, he always +listening to me and seeming impressed with what I had to say, at +the same time remaining fully determined to have his own way in +the end. Finally, when I was in the executive office one day, he +came over to where I was and, putting his arm on my shoulder, said: +"Senator, you won't get mad at me if I appoint Judge Kohlsaat, +will you?" I replied: "Mr. President, I could not get mad at you +if I were to try." He sent the nomination in; Judge Kohlsaat was +confirmed, and is now serving on the United States Circuit Bench. + +Mr. McKinley wanted to appoint his old friend and commander, General +Powell, as Collector of Internal Revenue at East St. Louis. I did +not want General Powell to have the office, as I did not believe +he had rendered any service to the party sufficient to justify +giving him one of the general Federal offices in the State. State +Senator P. T. Chapman, who has since been elected to Congress +several times, and Hon. James A. Willoughby, then a member of the +Illinois State Senate, were both candidates, and I should have been +very glad to have had either one of them appointed. + +Chapman came to Washington to my office, where he waited while I +went to the White House to attempt to have the matter of the +appointment settled. I saw the President, to whom I expressed a +willingness to have the post of Collector of Internal Revenue for +the East St. Louis District to go either to Chapman or Willoughby. + +"Cullom," returned the President, "if you had come to me this way +in the first place, and urged me to appoint one of them, I would +have done it; but you have waited until everything is filled, and +now I must either appoint Powell to this place, or turn him out to +grass." He continued: "I was a boy when I entered the army, and +General Powell took me under his wing; he looked after me, and I +became very much attached to him. I was standing only a little +way off and saw him shot through." The tears came to the President's +eyes and ran down his cheeks. When I saw with what feeling he +regarded the matter, I threw up my hands. + +"I am through," said I; "I have nothing more to say." + +General Powell was given the office. This illustrates the manner +in which Mr. McKinley always managed to get his own way in the +matter of appointments without the slightest friction with Senators +and Representatives. + +During the early days of his Administration I did not feel so close +to him as I had felt toward some of his predecessors. I did not +feel that he quite forgave my not yielding to him, and declining +to become a candidate for President in 1896. He was always polite +to me, as he was to every one, yet I could not but feel that he +was holding me at arm's length. My colleague, Senator Mason, who +was an old friend of his, had secured a number of appointments, +and the President himself was constantly asking me to yield to the +appointment of this or that "original McKinley man," mostly either +my enemies or men of whom I knew nothing. I was much out of humor +about it, and several consular appointments having been made about +that time, I wrote some one in the State a letter setting forth +that those appointments were but the carrying out of promises made +in advance of McKinley's nomination. This letter, or a copy of +it, was sent to the President. I called at the White House one +day concerning the appointment of some man, whose name I do not +remember, but whom I regarded as my personal enemy. I told him I +had no objection, but that I regarded the man as a jackass. McKinley +evidently did not like my remark very well; he reached back on his +table, pulled out this letter, or a copy of it, and asked me if I +had written it. I replied that I did not know whether I had or +not, but that it sounded very much as I felt at the moment. He +said that he had not expected an expression of that sort from me. +Whereupon we had a general overhauling, in the course of which I +told him with considerable feeling that I had been more or less +intimate with every President since, and including, Mr. Lincoln, +and had always been treated frankly and not held at arm's length; +but with himself that I had been constantly made to feel that he +was reserved with me. We quarrelled about it a little, and finally +he asked me what I wanted done. I told him. He promptly promised +to do it, and did. + +That quarrel cleared the atmosphere, and we remained devoted friends +from that day until his death. + +Had it not been for the Hon. Marcus A. Hanna, Mr. McKinley would +probably never have been nominated or elected President of the +United States. + +I knew Mr. Hanna very many years before he became identified with +the late President McKinley. He always took an interest in Republican +politics, particularly in Ohio politics; and when Mr. Blaine was +a candidate for the Presidency, and I was campaigning in Ohio, I +rode with Mr. Hanna from Canton to Massillon, some seven or eight +miles distant, where a great meeting was held, with Mr. Blaine as +the central figure. I was even then very much impressed with Mr. +Hanna as a man of the very soundest judgment and common sense. + +But it was not until Mr. McKinley became a candidate for President +that Hanna took a very great interest in national political affairs. +He had the deepest affection for the late President, and was +determined that he should be nominated and elected President of +the United States, at whatever cost. Mr. Hanna took hold of Mr. +McKinley's campaign for the nomination and controlled it absolutely +and, to use the common expression, he "ran every other candidate +off the track." + +He came into Illinois and carried the State easily. He was not +sparing in the use of money, but believed in using it legitimately +in accomplishing results. + +It must have been a great satisfaction to him when the St. Louis +Convention nominated his candidate, William McKinley, of Ohio, on +the first ballot by a vote of 661 as against 84 votes for Thomas +B. Reed, of Maine, the next highest candidate. He had it all +organized so perfectly that the St. Louis convention was perfunctory +so far as Mr. McKinley's nomination was concerned. The Convention +recognized that it was Mr. Hanna had achieved this great triumph; +and after Senator Lodge, Governor Hastings, and Senators Platt and +Depew had moved that the nomination of Mr. McKinley be made unanimous, +a general call was made for Mr. Hanna. He finally yielded in a +very brief address: + +"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention:--I am glad there +was one member of this Convention who has had the intelligence at +this late hour to ascertain how this nomination was made--by the +people. What feeble effort I may have contributed to the result, +I am here to lay the fruits of it at the feet of my party and upon +the altar of my country. I am now ready to take my position in +the ranks alongside of my friend, General Henderson, and all good +Republicans from every State, and do the duty of a soldier until +next November." + +Naturally, Mr. Hanna was made chairman of the Republican National +Committee, and as such conducted Mr. McKinley's campaign for election +just as he had conducted the preliminary campaign for the nomination. +He there showed the shrewdest tact and ability in its management, +and many people believe that he elected McKinley very largely by +his own efforts. + +I do not know whether Mr. Hanna was very ambitious to enter the +Senate or not, but I do believe that Mr. McKinley saw that he would +be probably the most useful Senator to his Administration; and he +contrived to make a vacancy in the Senatorship from Ohio by inducing +John Sherman to accept the position of Secretary of State in his +Cabinet, thereby making a place for Mr. Hanna in the Senate. +Senator Sherman resigned to enter the State Department; and on +March 5, 1897, Mr. Hanna was appointed by Governor Bushnell to fill +the vacancy. + +From the very first Mr. Hanna took rank as one of the foremost +leaders of the Senate. Of course, he had everything in his favor. +He had nominated and elected McKinley; he had been Chairman of the +Republican National Committee, and it was known that he stood closer +to the President than any other man in public life. + +But notwithstanding this, he had the real ability naturally to +assume his place as a leader. He assumed a prominent place more +rapidly than any Senator whom I have ever known. He took hold of +legislation with a degree of skill and confidence that was remarkable, +and carried his measures thorough apparently by his own individual +efforts and energy. He changed the whole attitude of the Senate +concerning the route for an interoceanic canal. We all generally +favored the Nicaraguan route. Senator Hanna became convinced that +the Panama route was best, and he soon carried everything before +him to the end that the Panama route was selected. + +During the first McKinley campaign, Mark Hanna was probably the +most caricatured man in public life. He was made an issue in the +campaign and was usually pictured as being covered with money-bags +and dollars. But it is very strange how public sentiment changed +concerning him. Before the first McKinley Administration was over, +Mark Hanna enjoyed quite a degree of popularity; but it was not +until he entered the campaign of 1900 that he really became one of +the popular figures in American politics. + +Some one, I do not know who, induced him to go among the people +and show himself, and try to make some speeches. His first few +efforts were so successful that it was determined he should make +a speech-making tour. Senator Frye, of Maine, one of the oldest +and most experienced and finest orators in the country, accompanied +him on his tour. Senator Frye told me that he prevailed upon +Senator Hanna to make short campaign speeches first. He requested +him to try a fifteen-minute speech, then extend them to thirty +minutes. Before their tour was ended, he was making just as long +and just as good a speech as any old experienced campaigner. During +this campaign, there were more calls on the Republican National +Committee for Senator Hanna than there were for any other campaign +speaker. Everywhere he went he made friends, not only for President +McKinley, the nominee of the party, but for himself as well. Mark +Hanna became one of the most popular leaders in the Republican +party, and I have never for a moment doubted that he could have +been the nominee of the party for the Presidency in 1904, had he +consented to accept it. He told me in a private conversation had +been gratified when he had seen his great personal friend, Mr. +McKinley, twice elected President of the United States, and now +that he had passed away he had no particular ambition on his own +account. + +Mr. McKinley promptly proceeded to call a special session of +Congress, which convened March 15, 1897, and in which Mr. Reed was +elected Speaker of the House. This session was called for the +purpose of enacting a law for the raising of sufficient revenue to +carry on the Government; and on March 31 the Dingley Bill passed +the House. The bill was debated in the Senate for several weeks, +and after eight hundred and seventy-two amendments were incorporated, +it passed the Senate July 7, 1897. The conference report was agreed +to, and the act was approved July 24, 1897. The country was in +such condition then that we heard no complaint concerning the high +protective tariff. The Republicans were united in advocating such +a protective tariff as would enable the mills and factories to +open, thereby affording employment and restoring prosperity. + +From the election of President McKinley and the enactment of the +Dingley Law I do not hesitate to say that we can date the greatest +era of prosperity, and the greatest material advancement, of any +period of like duration in our history. + +Toward the close of the Cleveland Administration and all during +the first part of the McKinley Administration, conditions were +leading up inevitably to the Spanish-American War. The enthusiasm +of some Senators, especially Senator Proctor, of Vermont, and my +own colleague, Senator Mason, of Illinois, became so intense that +war was brought on before the country was really prepared for it. +Mr. McKinley held back. He knew the horrors of war and, if he +could avoid it, did not desire to see his country engage in +hostilities with any other country. He acted with great discretion, +holding things steadily until some degree of preparation was made; +and I have no doubt at all that the war would have been averted +had not the _Maine_ been destroyed in Havana harbor. The country +forced us into it after that appalling catastrophe. + +The entire Nation stood behind the President, and so did Congress. +One of the most dignified and impressive scenes I ever witnessed +since I became a member of the Senate was the passage of the bill +appropriating fifty million dollars to be expended under the +direction of the President, in order to carry on the war. The +Committee on Appropriations, of which I had long been a member, +directed Senator Hale to report the bill. It was agreed in committee +that we should endeavor to secure its passage without a single +speech for or against it. Some of the Senators who seemed disposed +to talk, were prevailed upon to desist, and it was passed without +any speeches. The ayes and nays were called, and amid the most +solemn silence the bill was passed. The galleries were crowded; +a great many members of the House were on the floor, and it reminded +me of the days when the great Reconstruction legislation was being +enacted, in the sixties. It was a demonstration to the country +and the world of our confidence in the President, and the determination +on the part of Congress to do what was necessary to uphold the +dignity and honor of the United States. The vote for the bill in +the Senate was unanimous. + +The war came on immediately afterwards. The history of it is yet +too fresh in the minds of the people to need repetition here. It +was soon over, and with its conclusion came new and greater +responsibilities. Whether it was wise for the United States to +assume these new responsibilities, I am not prepared to say. Time +alone can determine that. + +I have always had great sympathy for General Russell A. Alger, of +Michigan, who was in President McKinley's Cabinet as Secretary of +War. It was not his fault that conditions in the War Department +were as they existed in 1897, when he assumed office. We must +remember that the country had enjoyed a continuous period of peace +from 1865 to 1898. We were unprepared for war, and in the scramble +and haste the Department of War was not administered satisfactorily, +the whole blame being laid upon General Alger. It had been the +policy of the Democratic party in Congress to oppose liberal +appropriations for the maintenance of the War Department and the +Army. Many Republicans thought that the best means of limiting +appropriations was in cutting down the estimates for the War +Department. They seemed to think that we would never again engage +in a foreign war. + +General Alger was a thoroughly honest man, of whose integrity I +never had any doubt. He was made the scapegoat, and President +McKinley practically was forced by public sentiment to demand his +resignation. Personally, I have always believed the President +should have stood by General Alger. I was much gratified when his +own people in Michigan showed their confidence in him, very soon +after he was forced out of the McKinley Cabinet, by electing him +to a seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the death of +the late Senator McMillan. + +During his Administration, President McKinley did me quite an honor +by appointing me chairman of a commission to visit the Hawaiian +Island, investigate conditions there, and report a form of government +for those islands. He appointed with me my colleague, Senator +Morgan of Alabama, and my friend the Hon. R. R. Hitt, chairman of +the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In all my public life this +was the second executive appointment that I ever received, the +first being from President Lincoln during the Civil War, to +investigate commissary and quartermasters' accounts, to which I +have already referred. + +It had been the well-known policy of the United States for many +years that in no event could the entity of Hawaiian statehood cease +by the passage of the islands under the domination or influence of +another power than the United States. Their annexation came about +as the natural result of the strengthening of the ties that bound +us to those islands for many years. The people had overthrown the +monarchy and set up a republic. It seemed certain that the republic +could not long exist, and they appealed to the United States for +annexation. The treaty of annexation was negotiated and then +ratified by Hawaii, but it was withdrawn by President Cleveland +before the Senate acted upon it; finally, the islands were annexed +by the passage of an act of Congress during the McKinley +Administration. + +It was under these circumstances that Senator Morgan, Mr. Hitt, +and I visited the islands. The appointment came about in this way. +I had been urging the President to appoint Mr. Rheuna Lawrence, of +Springfield, Illinois, as one of the commissioners. The Hon. James +A. Connolly, then representing the Springfield district in Congress, +had also been very active in trying to secure Lawrence's appointment. +He came to me in the Senate one day and told me that there was no +chance of Lawrence being appointed and that the President had +determined to appoint me. I told Connolly I did not see how I +could accept an appointment, under the circumstances, and that +Lawrence might misunderstand it. Connolly said he thought I must +take the place. The President himself afterwards talked with me +about it. I hesitated. He urged me, insisting that I could not +very well afford to decline. Finally I said that if he insisted, +I would accept. He nominated us to the Senate for confirmation. +This precipitated considerable debate in the Senate, for, by the +member of the Committee on the Judiciary, the appointment of Senators +and members on such a commission was regarded as unconstitutional; +but the committee determined to take no action on the nominations +at all, so we were neither confirmed nor rejected. President +McKinley urged us to go ahead, however, visit the islands, and make +our report, which we did. This was the beginning of expansion, or +Imperialism, in the campaign of 1900. + +One writer, in speaking of the acquisition of these islands, said: + +"One of the brightest episodes in American history was the acquisition +of the Hawaiian Islands, and Senator Cullom's name is prominently +associated with that act. He read aright our history as a nation +of expansionists. He was not afraid to permit the great republic +to become greater. He deemed it wise that to the lines of our +influence on land should be added a national influence on the seas. +This view was accepted by the people and by the national Legislature. +By President McKinley, Senator Cullom was appointed chairman of +the Hawaiian Commission, composed of Senator Morgan of Alabama, +and Congressman Hitt of Illinois, and Senator Cullom, to visit the +islands and frame a new law providing for their civil government +and defining their future relations with the United States. Since +the days of Clyde in India, few men have been clothed with a more +important duty than this commission, whose mission it was to prepare +a Government for the Hawaiian Islands. The bill recommended by +the commission was enacted by Congress, and stands as the organic +law of the islands to-day." + +We had an exceedingly interesting time in the Hawaiian Islands. +They were not known so well then as they are to-day. We visited +several of the islands composing the group, and publicly explained +our mission. The people seemed to have the impression that American +occupancy of the islands was only temporary, and that as soon as +the Spanish-American War was over they would return to old conditions. +We told them that annexation was permanent, and they would remain +a part of the United States for all time to come. I did not favor +giving them statehood. There was not a sufficient number of whites +and educated natives to justify giving them the franchise as an +independent State in the American Union. Senator Morgan and I +differed on this a great deal, and on several occasions in the +hearings of the commission, he stated that they were to become a +State. I always interposed to the effect that, so far as my +influence was concerned, they would remain a Territory. + +There was one island of the group called Molokai devoted entirely +to the care of lepers, leprosy being quite common in the Hawaiian +Islands. We deemed it our duty to visit this island as well as +the others. It was one of the most interesting and pathetic places +of which the human mind can conceive--a place of grim tragedies. +There were about twelve hundred lepers on the island, divided into +two colonies, one at each end of the island. The island itself +forms a natural fortress from which escape is almost impossible, +the sea on one side and mountains on the other. We spent the day +there and ate luncheon on the island. We saw the disease in all +its stages. We entered a schoolhouse in which there were a crowd +of young girls ranging from ten to sixteen years of age. They were +all lepers. They sang for us. It was very pathetic. We visited +the cemetery and saw the monument erected to the memory of a Catholic +priest, Father Damien, who went there from Chicago, to devote his +life to the spiritual care of the unfortunates, but who, like all +others residing on the island, finally succumbed to the disease. +We met an old lady at the cemetery and I asked her if there was +any danger of contracting the disease. She said there was not +unless we had some abrasions on the skin, and advised us as a matter +of caution to wear gloves. I promptly put mine on and kept them +on until I left the island. + +I was told that they expected me to speak to them, and I did make +them a speech. A large number of them assembled. I have addressed +many audiences in my life, but this was the queerest I was ever +obliged to face. There were men and women in all stages of the +disease. Leprosy attacks the fingers and they fall off, and some +natural instinct prompts the victim to hide his hands; but as my +speech was translated to them, in the excitement they would forget +and throw out their hands and applaud. It was a hideous sight and +I most fervently wish never to see the like of it again. + +For our expenses one hundred thousand dollars had been appropriated. +I am not one of those who believe in lavish expenditures of public +money by commissions. While I was willing as chairman of the +commission to permit travelling expenses and the reasonable +necessaries and probably the luxuries of life while abroad, yet I +differed with my colleague, Senator Morgan, and insisted that no +money should be spent for entertaining. Out of the hundred thousand +dollars we spent something like fifteen thousand; and Senator +Morgan, Mr. Hitt, and I agreed that it would not be lawful or right +for us to accept any compensation for our services as members of +the commission. Something like eight-five thousand dollars reverted +to the Treasury. + +We returned and made our report to Congress, and the bill which we +recommended was enacted. I do not think the present form of +government of Hawaii will be changed for many years to come. I +have regretted exceedingly that, despite the repeated recommendations +of Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, Congress has not seen fit to +make an appropriation to improve the harbor and fortify the islands. +It is true they afford us a coaling station in the middle of the +Pacific, but that is all. Should hostilities break out in the Far +East, our country being a party, it would be almost impossible for +us to defend them, and they would become easy prey to foreign +aggression. I hope that this policy will change in the near future, +and that Pearl Harbor will be improved and the islands fortified. + +The important events of the first McKinley Administration were the +enactment of the Dingley Tariff, the successful conclusion of the +war with Spain, the ratification of the Treaty of Peace, the +independence of Cuba, and the acquisition of Porto Rico, the +Philippines, and the Island of Guam; the establishment of the gold +standard by law, and the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. + +At the close of the Administration no one questioned that the +country was in a more prosperous condition than it ever had been +before, and that McKinley was probably the most popular President +that ever occupied the White House. He was unanimously nominated +at the Republican Convention, at Philadelphia, for a second term. + +The campaign of 1900 was fought out on the issue of Imperialism; +the tariff was almost forgotten, and the silver question was only +discussed incidentally. + +Mr. McKinley's popular vote was not much greater than it was in +1896. He received 7,207,000 as against 6,358,000 votes cast for +Mr. Bryan. + +During the short session which convened after his election, the +Platt amendment concerning our future relations with Cuba was +passed. The War Revenue Act was reduced. It was an uneventful +session, and Mr. McKinley was again inaugurated March 4, 1901. + +On September 6, 1901, the President attended the Buffalo Exposition, +accompanied by Mrs. McKinley and the members of his cabinet, and +during the reception which he held at the Temple of Music on that +day, he was shot and wounded by an assassin, one Leon F. Czolgosz. +After lingering along until Saturday, September 14, he passed away, +and Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-President, was sworn in as President +of the United States. On taking the oath of office, he uttered +but one sentence: + +"I wish to say that it shall be my aim to continue absolutely +unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace, prosperity, +and the honor of our beloved country." + + +CHAPTER XX +ROOSEVELT'S PRESIDENCY +1901 to 1909 + +Colonel Roosevelt served as President of the United States from +September 13, 1901, to March 4, 1909. What he accomplished during +those years is still too fresh in the minds of the people of the +United States to justify its recital by me here; suffice it to say +that he gave one of the best Administrations ever known in the +history of the United States. He accomplished more in that term +than any of his predecessors; more laws were enacted, laws of more +general benefit to the people; but above all, his Administration +enforced all laws on the statute books as they had never been +enforced before. + +The Sherman Anti-Trust Law was a dead letter until Mr. Roosevelt +instructed the Attorney-General to prosecute its violators, both +great and small. No fear or favor was shown in the enforcement of +the laws against the rich and poor alike. There were many other +notable features of his administration, but that, to my mind, stands +out conspicuously before all the others. By his speeches, by his +public messages, he awakened the slumbering conscience of the +Nation, and he made the violators of the law in high places come +to realize that they would receive the same punishment as the lowest +offenders. He did more than any of his predecessors to prevent +this country from drifting into socialism. + +I have known Colonel Roosevelt for many years. I knew him as Civil +Service Commissioner under President Harrison. In that position, +as in every other public office he held, he saw to it that the law +was strictly enforced. I once wrote him a note, when he was Civil +Service Commissioner, requesting him to act favorably on some +matter, which he considered was contrary to his duty. He promptly +returned this characteristic reply: "You have no right to ask me +to do this, and I have no right to do it." + +As Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President McKinley, he +was able, aggressive, and pushing in preparing the Navy for the +Spanish-American War. He seemed so interested in what he was doing +that he would appear to an outsider to be nervous and excitable. +My old friend, the Hon. W. I. Guffin, than whom there was no better +man, was visiting the Department with me one day, and I took occasion +to introduce him to Colonel Roosevelt, who was then Assistant +Secretary. Guffin was astonished at Roosevelt's manners and his +way of speaking, and I recall Guffin's remark when we left the +office. I was very much amused at it. He said: "Well, that is +Roosevelt, is it! He is one hell of a Secretary." Doubtless that +was the impression that Colonel Roosevelt left on many people whom +he met in the Navy Department, who did not know him and who had +not yet come to know the degree of promptness and ability with +which he despatched public business. + +I was at the Philadelphia Convention which nominated Colonel +Roosevelt for Vice-President. I know that he did not desire the +nomination, but it was thrust on him through the manipulation of +Senator T. C. Platt, of New York, then the acknowledged "easy boss" +of that State. Platt himself said afterwards that he did it to +get rid of him as Governor of New York, and that he regretted it +every day of his life after Roosevelt became President. The +politicians of New York did not want Roosevelt in control at Albany, +and they thought it would be an admirable plan to remove him from +the State, and eventually relegate him to private life--to nominate +him for Vice-President. But the fates willed differently, and the +nomination for Vice-President opened the way for him to become Mr. +McKinley's successor, in which position he made such a splendid +record that no one thought of opposing him for the nomination for +President in 1904. + +As President, Colonel Roosevelt was not popular with Senators +generally. Personally, I got along with him very well. In all +the years that he was President, I do not think he ever declined +to grant any favor that I asked of him, with one exception. In +that case, while he declined to give a very distinguished gentleman +in Illinois a position, for which I thought him admirably qualified, +and for which I was urging him, he later tendered him another +office, which my friend declined to accept. His methods of +transacting business were far more expeditious than those of any +of his predecessors. President McKinley, in every case, insisted +on Senators placing in writing their recommendations for Federal +offices; I do not think he ever made an appointment without such +written endorsements; but Colonel Roosevelt never bothered much +about written endorsements. He would either do or not do what you +asked, and would decide the question promptly. + +He took a deep interest in the passage of the necessary amendments +to the Interstate Commerce Act, and as I have said elsewhere, had +it not been for Colonel Roosevelt, the Hepburn Bill would not have +been passed. He thought that I could be of very great service in +securing the passage of the amendments which both he and I deemed +necessary to the Interstate Commerce Act, by remaining chairman of +the Senate's Committee on Interstate Commerce, and when the time +came for me to decide whether I should remain chairman of that +committee, or accept the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign +Relations, he took occasion personally to urge me to remain at the +head of the Interstate Commerce Committee. But at the time the +personnel of the committee was such that I had despaired of securing +favorable action in the committee on an amended Interstate Commerce +Act, and I retired to accept the chairmanship of the Committee on +Foreign Relations. + +Colonel Roosevelt has proven over and over again, in every position +he has occupied, from Police Commissioner of New York to the +Presidency itself, that he is a marvellous man, a man of great +resources, great intellect, great energy and courage, and a man of +the highest degree of integrity. He will go down in the history +of this country as the most remarkable man of his day. + +The Hon. John Hay, at the urgent request of Colonel Roosevelt, +continued to act as Secretary of State (to which position he had +been appointed by President McKinley) until his death in 1905. +John Hay was the most accomplished diplomat, in my judgment, who +ever occupied the high position of Secretary of State. + +I knew him from his boyhood, and knew his father and all the members +of his family. The Hon. Milton Hay, whom I have mentioned elsewhere, +and who was my law partner, was an uncle of John Hay. John was a +student in our law office in Springfield, and as a student of the +law he showed marked intellectual capacity and grasp. It was from +our law office that President Lincoln took him to act as one of +his private secretaries when he left Springfield for Washington to +be inaugurated as President of the United States, and Mr. Hay +continued to act as such until the President's death. He abandoned +the law as a profession and became finally the editor of _The New +York Tribune_. I probably knew him more intimately than any one +else in public life, and when Mr. McKinley became President I urged +him to appoint Hay as Ambassador to Great Britain. He served in +that position with great credit to himself and his country. He +was very popular with the members of the British Government, and +seemed to have more influence, and to be more able to accomplish +important results, than any of his predecessors in that office. +When it was rumored that there was to be a vacancy in the State +Department, by the retirement of Mr. Day, who was ambitious to go +on the Federal Bench, I wrote Mr. McKinley a letter, in which I +told him that he could find no better man to succeed Mr. Day as +Secretary than his Ambassador to Great Britain, John Hay. And he +was appointed. + +As Secretary of State, Mr. Hay was successful in carrying to a +triumphant conclusion our Far Eastern diplomacy. For years the +situation in the Far East, and especially in China, had been delicate +and critical to an extreme. The acquisition of Hawaii and the +Philippines gave to the United States an extraordinary interest in +events occurring in the Orient. The United States stood for the +"open door" in China; and as the result of the diplomacy and +influence of Secretary Hay, freedom of commerce was secured, and +the division of China among the powers has been prevented. In our +relations with China, we have pursued a disinterested policy of +disavowal of territorial aggrandizement, and a disposition to +respect the rights of that Government, confining our interests to +the peaceful development of trade. Secretary Hay never hesitated +on all proper occasions to assert our influence to preserve its +independence and prevent its dismemberment. + +For many centuries China had been a hermit nation, successfully +resisting foreign influence and invasion; but gradually, on one +pretext or another, she was compelled to open her ports, and Great +Britain, Russia, and Germany had gained special advantages and +exceptional privileges in portions of China, where, under the guise +of "spheres of interest," they were exercising considerable control +over an important part of that Empire. It seemed probable that +not only would these nations absorb the trade of China, but that +the Empire itself would be dismembered and divided among the powers. +To prevent this, Secretary Hay advanced the so-called "open door" +policy and successfully carried it out. + +In September, 1899, he addressed communications to the Governments +of Great Britain, Russia, Germany, Italy, and Japan, suggesting +that, as he understood it to be the settled policy and purpose of +those countries not to use any privileges which might be granted +them in China as a means of excluding any commercial rival, and +that freedom of trade for them in that ancient empire meant freedom +of trade for all the world alike, he considered that the maintenance +of this policy was alike urgently demanded by the commercial +communities of these several nations, and that it was the only one +which would improve existing conditions and extend their future +operation. He further suggested that it was the desire of the +United States Government that the interests of its citizens should +not be prejudiced through exclusive treatment by any of the +controlling powers within their respective spheres of interest in +China, and that it hoped to retain there an open market for all +the world's commerce, remove dangerous sources of international +irritation, and promote administrative reform. Secretary Hay +accordingly invited a declaration by each of them in regard to the +treatment of foreign commerce in their spheres of interest. Without +inconsiderable delay the Governments of Great Britain, Russia, +Germany, Italy, and Japan replied to his circular note, giving +cordial and full assurance of endorsement of the principles suggested +by our Government. Thus was successfully begun the since famous +"open door" policy in China. + +But this great triumph in the interest of the freedom of the world's +commerce was followed by the Boxer outbreak of 1900. The German +Minister was murdered in the streets of Peking, the legations were +attacked and in a state of siege for a month. + +The Boxer outbreak was made the occasion of a joint international +expedition for the relief of the diplomatic representatives and +other foreigners whose lives were in peril. Congress was not in +session, but on Secretary Hay's advice, there was despatched a +division of the American Army composed of all arms of the service. +This almost amounted to a declaration of war, or the waging of war +without the consent of Congress. The Executive was justified, +however, and did not hesitate to assume the responsibility. + +In the midst of the intense excitement throughout the world, when +the downfall of the Empire of China seemed almost certain, Secretary +Hay, with the foresight which always distinguished his official +acts, issued a circular note on July 3, 1900, to all the powers +having interests in China, stating the position of the United +States; that it would be our policy to find a solution which would +bring permanent safety and peace to China, preserve its territorial +and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed by treaty +and international law, and safeguard for the world the principle +of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire. +Secretary Hay's note gave notice to the world that the United States +would not permit the dismemberment of China, and it was so in accord +with the principles of justice that it met with the approval of all. + +After the relief of the legations and the suppression of the Boxer +troubles by the allied powers, there followed a long period of +negotiation, and an enormous and exorbitant demand was made by the +allies as an indemnity. So exorbitant was it as first that China +probably never would have been able to pay. Secretary Hay constantly +intervened to reduce the demands of the powers and cut down to a +reasonable limit the enormous indemnity they were seeking to exact. +Finally the protocol of 1901 was signed, imposing very heavy and +humiliating burdens on China. It has been the province of the +United States to alleviate these burdens, and we have only recently +remitted a very large portion of the indemnity which was to have +come to the United States. + +Later, Secretary Hay negotiated a very favorable commercial treaty +with China which further strengthened the "open door," gave increased +privileges to our diplomatic and consular officers, and to our +citizens in China, and opened new cities to international trade +and residence. + +One of Secretary Hay's last acts in the State Department was another +diplomatic triumph in the interest of China. It had been apparent +for some time that war between Russia and Japan was inevitable, +and Mr. Hay realized that war might seriously impair the integrity +of China and the benefits of the "open door" policy. Immediately +after the war commenced, therefore, on February 10, 1904, Mr. Hay +addressed to the Governments of Russia, Japan, and China, and to +all other powers having spheres of influence in China, a circular +note in which he said: + +"It is the earnest desire of the Government of the United States +that in the military operations which have begun between Russia +and Japan, the neutrality of China, and in all practicable ways +her administrative entity, shall be protected by both parties, and +that the area of hostilities shall be localized and limited as much +as possible, so that undue excitement and disturbance of the Chinese +people may be prevented, and the least possible loss to the commerce +and peaceful intercourse of the world may be occasioned." + +Mr. Hay's proposition was commended by the world and was accepted +by the neutral nations, and also by China, Russia, and Japan. + +Secretary Hay's measures respecting China were of the greatest +importance and significance, because they not only tended to the +peace of the world, but they have preserved the extensive territory +and enormous population of that empire to the free and untrammelled +trade and commerce of all countries. + +In addition to securing from Great Britain, through the Hay-Pauncefote +treaty, the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, thereby making +it possible for the United States to construct the Isthmian Canal, +Secretary Hay succeeded in settling the controversy over the Alaskan +boundary, which had been a subject of dispute between the United +States and Great Britain for half a century. The treaty of 1868, +between the United States and Russia, by which we acquired Alaska, +in describing the boundary of Alaska, adopted the description +contained in the treaty of 1825, between Great Britain and Russia. +Years ago it was discovered that the boundary described in the +treaty of 1825 was incorrect as a geographical fact. + +While the country remained unsettled the definite boundary was not +so material, but since the first Cleveland Administration the +Alaskan boundary had been an important subject of dispute. The +feeling among our people in Alaska and among the Canadians became +very bitter. This was one of the principal reasons for the creation +of the Joint High Commission in 1899, whose purpose it was to settle +all outstanding questions between the United States and Canada, +the principal one being the Alaskan boundary. The Joint High +Commission made considerable progress in adjusting these questions, +but failing to reach an agreement as to the Alaskan boundary, the +commission adjourned without disposing of any of the subjects in +controversy. President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay, in view of +our long and undisputed occupation of the territory in question, +declined to allow the reference of the Alaskan boundary to a regular +arbitration at the Hague, but instead, Secretary Hay proposed the +creation of a judicial tribunal composed of an equal number of +members from each country, feeling confident that our claim would +be successfully established by such a body. There was very great +opposition, and there were many predictions of failure, but on +January 24, 1903, a treaty between the United States and Great +Britain was signed, providing for such a tribunal. + +The treaty was duly ratified, and the tribunal appointed, and on +October 20, 1903, reached a conclusion which was a complete victory +for the United States, sustaining as it did every material contention +of our Government. + +The settlement of the Alaskan boundary was a very notable diplomatic +triumph, and Secretary Hay is entitled to much credit for it. + +I cannot go into the many important matters which Mr. Hay disposed +of as Secretary of State. He left a splendid record. I made it +a point to keep in constant touch with him by visiting at his office +frequently, and he always talked with me frankly and freely concerning +the important negotiations in which he was engaged. The only +criticism I have to make of him as Secretary of State is, that he +was disposed, wherever he could possibly do so, to make international +agreements and settle differences without consulting the Senate. +And, in addition, I never could induce him to come before the +Committee on Foreign Relations and explain to the committee personally +various treaties and important matters in which the State Department +was interested. Why he would not do so I do not know. He was an +exceedingly modest man and shrank from all controversy. It is +seldom, however, that the State Department has had at its head so +brilliant and scholarly a man as John Hay. He will go down in +history as among the greatest of our Secretaries of State. + +I will make some further references to the important results of +the Roosevelt Administration in what I shall say in a later chapter +concerning the work of the Committee on Foreign Relations. + +William Howard Taft, now President of the United States, was +President Roosevelt's Secretary of War, and a very able Secretary +he was. I first knew him in Washington when, as a young man but +thirty-three years of age, he was serving as Solicitor General +under President Harrison. I followed his career very closely from +the time that I first became acquainted with him. + +As a United States Circuit Judge, to which position he was appointed +by President Harrison, he was regarded as one of the ablest in the +country. The Circuit Court of Appeals on which he served was a +notable one. It was composed of three men who have since occupied +the highest positions in the United States. William R. Day was +first Assistant Secretary of State, then Secretary of State, one +of the negotiators of the Paris Peace Treaty, Circuit Judge, and +later a Supreme Court Justice. Judge Taft was first civil Governor +of the Philippines, Secretary of War, and then President; and he +has only recently appointed his old colleague, Judge Lurton, the +third member of the Court of Appeals, to the position of Justice +of the Supreme Court of the United States. + +Judge Taft has occupied many high positions, all of which he has +filled with great honor and distinction. I doubt whether he has +enjoyed the high office of President of the United States. I myself +have always thought that he would have made one of our greatest +Chief Justices had he been appointed to that position. + +Just before the National Convention of 1908 assembled at Chicago, +in which convention I was chairman of the Illinois delegation, when +every one knew that Taft was sure to be the nominee, I called on +him at the War Department, and in the course of the conversation +I took occasion to remark that I had always been in favor of him +for Chief Justice, but it seemed now that he was certain to be the +nominee for President, and his career would consequently go along +another line. He replied: "If your friend Chief Justice Fuller +should retire and the President should send me a commission as +Chief Justice, I would take it now." + +It is my purpose to practically close these memoirs with the end +of the Roosevelt Administration, for the reason that I do not feel +at liberty to write in detail of events occurring within the past +two years. All that I will venture to say is that my relations +with Mr. Taft as President have been of the most cordial and friendly +character; and no one can question that he has been thoroughly +conscientious in the discharge of the duties of President of the +United States. That in 1910 the party went down in defeat for the +first time in eighteen years cannot be charged to President Taft. +Nothing that he did as Chief Executive was responsible for that +defeat. I myself believe that it was simply the result of the +people becoming tired of too much prosperity under Republican +administration. The newspaper agitation over the Aldrich-Payne +Tariff Bill was mainly instrumental in turning the House of +Representatives over to the Democracy. + +The Hon. Philander C. Knox was Attorney-General in President +Roosevelt's cabinet, as he had been in the cabinet of his predecessor. +He is now serving as Secretary of State under President Taft. He +has had a long and highly distinguished career at the bar, and is +probably one of the greatest lawyers of his day. He served in the +Senate of the United States for some years, and upon entering that +body he at once took his place as a leader on all questions of a +legal and constitutional nature. As a member of the Judiciary +Committee, he had quite a commanding influence on important +legislation coming from that committee. As Secretary of State Mr. +Knox has been successful to an eminent degree, and I have no doubt +that his career as the Premier of the Taft Administration will add +to his great fame as a lawyer and statesman. + +I cannot refrain from saying a word in reference to the Hon. James +Wilson, who was appointed Secretary of Agriculture by President +McKinley, in which position he has been retained by both President +Roosevelt and President Taft. He has served as a cabinet officer +for a longer consecutive term than any man in our history. + +I have been more or less familiar with the administration of the +Agricultural Department ever since its creation, and I do not +hesitate to say that Mr. Wilson has been the most efficient Secretary +of Agriculture that we have ever had. He has accomplished greater +results in that office than any of his predecessors, and should +remain there as long as he will consent to serve. + + +CHAPTER XXI +INTERSTATE COMMERCE + +At the time I am writing these lines, no question of governmental +policy occupies so prominent a place in the thoughts of the people +as that of controlling the steady growth and extending influence +of corporate power, and of regulating its relations to the public. +And there are no corporations whose proceedings so directly affect +every citizen in the daily pursuit of his business as the corporations +engaged in transportation. + +Of the many new forms introduced into every department of civilized +life during the past century, none have brought about more marvellous +changes than the railroad, as an instrumentality of commerce. The +substitution of steam and electricity for animal power was one of +the most important events in our industrial history. The commercial, +social, and political relations of the nations, have been revolutionized +by the development of improved means of communication and +transportation. With this changed condition of affairs in the +commercial world came new questions of the greatest importance for +the consideration of those upon whom devolved the duty of making +the nation's laws. + +In the early days of railroads, the question was not how to regulate, +but how to secure them; but in the early seventies their importance +grew to such proportions that the railroads threatened to become +the masters and not the servants of the people. There were all +sorts of abuses. Railroad officers became so arrogant that they +seemed to assume that they were above all law; rebating and +discrimination were the rule and not the exception. It was the +public indignation against long continued discrimination and undue +preferences which brought about the Granger Movement, which resulted, +seventeen years later, in the enactment of the first Interstate +Commerce Act. + +With the Granger Movement of the early seventies, and the passage +of State laws for the control of railroad transportation, began +the discussion which is still before Congress and the public as +one of the live issues of the day. + +It so happens that I have been intimately connected with this +subject from the time I was serving as Speaker of the Illinois +House of Representatives in 1873. + +The State of Illinois, like most of the Western States, had a law +on the subject of railroad regulation; but it was ineffective, and +the commission under it had no practical power. I appointed the +committee of the House of Representatives of the Illinois Legislature +in 1873, of which John Oberly, of Cairo, Illinois, was a member, +and it was that committee that reported to the House the bill which +finally became a law, known as the Railroad and Warehouse Law of +1873. It is still the existing law in Illinois, and was for many +years regarded as one of the broadest and most far-reaching of +State enactments. + +After I became Governor of the State, in 1877, I appointed a new +Railroad and Warehouse Commission under the new law, and naturally +took a deep interest in its work. During my term as Governor a +resolution was adopted by the General Assembly really looking to +the abolition of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, but on its +face inquiring of me as Governor for information concerning the +cost of maintaining the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, and the +benefits, if any, of the commission, to the people of the State of +Illinois. + +To this resolution I promptly responded in a message to the General +Assembly, dated February 17, 1879, which in part I take the liberty +of quoting here, because never afterwards in Illinois, so far as +I know, was there any movement to abolish the Railroad and Warehouse +Commission and repeal the Illinois Railroad and Warehouse Act. + +After giving the pay and expenses of the board, I continued: + +"To answer this portion of the resolution in a manner satisfactory +to myself would include a recital of the many attempts that have +been made in this and other countries to control railroad corporations +by legislation. In a paper of this kind such a reply can not be +made. I must therefore be satisfied with a glance at the advance +that resulted in the enactment of the railroad and warehouse laws +of this State. + +"Since the passage of the laws creating the railroad and warehouse +commission, in 1871, Illinois has made very important advances +toward the solution of the railroad problem. + +"The questions involved in this problem have not only been before +the people of this State, but in other States and countries. + +"In England, after the railroad had become a fact, it was recognized +as a public highway. The right of Parliament to fix rates for the +transportation of passengers and freight by railroad corporations +was therefore asserted, and schedules of rates were put into their +charters. Those familiar with the subject need not be told that +the attempt to establish rates in this manner was a failure. Then +it was asserted that competition, if encouraged by the Government, +would prove a remedy for the abuses with which the railroads were +charged. The suggestion was acted upon. The Government encouraged +the construction of competing lines. As a result, rates fell. +Competition, however, finally began to entail disaster upon the +competitors and compel them to become allies to escape destruction. +The competitors combined; railroads were consolidated; rival lines +were united, and competition was thus destroyed. The danger of +great combinations of this kind, not only to the business interests +of the country, but also to the State, was at once suggested, and +occasioned alarm. This alarm resulted in a public opinion that +the Government should own the railroads. But consolidation, to +the surprise of the prophets of evil, did not result in higher +rates. On the contrary, lower rates and higher dividends resulted. + +"Thus by a logical process of attempt and failure to control railroad +corporations, the conclusion was reached that wise policy required +permission to such corporations to operate their railroads in their +own way upon ordinary business principles. But at the same time +a board of commissioners was wisely created and authorized to hear +and determine complaints against railroad corporations, and to +exercise other important powers. This board was created about five +years ago; and the most notable feature in its career, says Charles +Francis Adams, junior, is the very trifling call that seems to have +been made upon it. The cases which come before it are neither +numerous nor of great importance. It would, however, be unwholly +safe to conclude from this fact that such a tribunal is unnecessary. +On the contrary, it may be confidently asserted that no competent +board of railroad commissioners clothed with the peculiar power of +the English board, will, either there or anywhere else, have many +cases to dispose of. The mere fact that a tribunal is there, that +a machinery does exist for the prompt and final decision of that +class of questions put an end to them. They no longer arise. + +"The process through which the public mind in America has passed +on the railroad question is not dissimilar to that through which +the public mind of England passed. But here competition was relied +on from the first. To all who asked for them railroad charters +were granted. The result has been the construction of railroads +in all parts of the country, many of them through districts of +country without business, or even population, as well as between +all business centres and through populous, fertile, and well +cultivated regions. Free trade in railroad building, and the too +liberal use of municipal credit in their aid, has induced the +building of some lines which are wholly unnecessary, and which +crowd, duplicate, and embarrass lines previously built and which +were fully adequate to the needs of the community. + +"In Illinois, railroad enterprises have been particularly numerous +and have made the State renowned for having the most miles of +railroad track--for being the chief railroad State. + +"But competition did not result according to public anticipation. +The competing corporations worked without sufficient remuneration +at competing points, and, to make good the losses resulting, were +often guilty of extortion at the non-competing points. They +discriminated against persons and places. Citizens protested +against these abuses in vain. The railroad corporations, when +threatened with the power of the Government, indulged in the language +of defiance, and attempted to control legislation to their own +advantage. At last public indignation became excited against them. +They did not heed it. They believed the courts would be their +refuge from popular fury. The indignation of the people expressed +itself in many ways and finally found utterance in the Constitution +of 1870. In this Constitution may be found all the phases of +opinion on the railroad question through which the English mind +has run. The railroad is declared a public highway. The establishment +of reasonable rates of charges is directed; competition between +railroads is recognized as necessary to the public welfare; and +the General Assembly is required to pass laws to correct abuses +and to prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in the rates +and passenger tariffs on the different railroads of the State, and +enforce such laws by adequate penalties to the extent, if necessary +for that purpose, of forfeiture of their property and franchises. + +"The Constitution did more than this. To correct abuses of the +interests of the farmers from whose fields warehousemen in combination +with corporate common carriers had been drawing riches, it declared +all elevators or structures where grain or other property was stored +for a compensation, public warehouses, and expressly directed the +General Assembly to pass laws for the government of warehouses, +for the inspection of grain, and for the protection of producers, +shippers, and receivers of grain and produce. + +"Promptly after the adoption of the Constitution the Legislature +attempted to give these provisions vitality by the enactment of +laws to carry them out. One of these created the Railroad and +Warehouse Commission and imposed on it important duties. Another +was an act to regulate public warehouses and warehousing. By this +act other important duties were imposed upon the Railroad and +Warehouse Commission." + +After reviewing the attempt to enforce these laws the message +continues: + +"In 1873, the present law to prevent extortion and unjust discrimination +in rates charged for the transportation of passengers and freight +on railroads in this State was passed. It was prepared and enacted +with the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of _Illinois_ +vs. _C. and A. R. R._, fresh in the minds of the members of the +General Assembly, and every suggestion made by the court was +observed. + +"The Commission since the enactment of this statute has brought +many suits against railroad corporations for violation of the law." + +After reviewing the various cases I proceeded: + +"In 1871, the Railroad and Warehouse Commission was established. +Its creation was resisted by both railroad corporations and public +warehousemen, and after its organization they treated it with little +consideration. They refused to recognize its authority, but after +the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States declaring +the doctrine that the Government may regulate the conduct of its +citizens to each other, and, when necessary, for the public good, +the manner in which each shall use his own property, the railroad +corporations and public warehousemen began to grow less determined +in their opposition to the attempts to control them, until at this +time there is very little opposition. They now give prompt attention +to requests of the Commission for the correction of abuses called +to its notice by their patrons; and thus the Commissioners not only +settle questions arising between railroad corporations and those +who patronize them, but it may as truthfully be said of this as of +the English or Massachusetts Commission, that the very fact of its +existence has put an end to many of the abuses formerly practised +by such corporations, and which were angrily complained of by the +people. . . . + +"It is a curious fact that the conclusion reached by the English +statesmen in 1874, was reached in Illinois in 1873; the conclusion +that railroad companies ought to have the right to control their +own affairs, fix their own rates of transportation, be free from +meddlesome legislation, and, as has been said, work out their own +destiny in their own way, just so long as they show a reasonable +regard for the requirements of the community." + +After analyzing the law of 1873, referring to the procedure under +it, to the decision of the courts, and the fact that the Railroad +and Warehouse Commissioners made under it a schedule of maximum +rates of charges, I said: + +"The schedule will require revision from time to time, and this +work can only be done by men who can give it their whole time, and +who will become students of the great subject of transportation. + +"Before action by the Supreme Court it has not been deemed advisable +that the Commissioners should revise the schedule, and put the +State thereby to what might be unnecessary expense; nor that they +should multiply suits under the law of 1873, against railroad +companies for similar offences to those set up in the cases now +pending. + +"Ever since its organization the board has been putting into +operation new laws founded upon old principles applied to new facts +and it has been compelled to walk with slow step. It has been +required, in the assertion of its authority to go from one court +to another, and await the approval by the Supreme Court of the +legislation directed by the Constitution of 1870. + +"It has won a victory in the warehouse controversy and secured the +judicial endorsement of doctrines which in this age of concentration +and monopoly, are absolutely necessary to the public welfare. . . . + +"Leaving out of view the benefits that have resulted to the people +by the mere fact of the existence of the Board, which has prevented +many abuses that would have been committed save for its presence +in the State, it has been at work, and useful. It has perfected +the organization of the Grain Inspection Department at Chicago; it +has gathered statistics in reference to transportation that are of +very great benefit to the public; it has adopted the policy of +railroad examinations with a view to security of life; and, in my +judgment, the authority of the Commission ought to be enlarged so +as to enable it to compel the railroad companies to improve their +tracks and bridges, when, in the judgment of the Commission, such +portions of railroads become unsafe. The Railroad Commissioners +act as arbitrators between the railroad companies and their patrons; +and in the Commissioners' report they say they have succeeded in +settling most of the complaints made to them in a manner satisfactory +to all the parties to the controversies. + +"In my judgment if the Commission were dispensed with by the +Legislature, difficulties would soon arise, agitation would commence +again, and controversies would run riot. New legislation would +follow, another board of some kind would soon be created, and the +track we have just passed over would be again travelled by the +people's representatives. + +"The Board should be sustained in the interest of all the people. +Instead of being destroyed it should be strengthened. It should +not only have the authority with which it is now vested, but more. +It should be made a legal arbitrator in all matters of controversy +between railroad companies and warehouses and their patrons; and +it should be required to make examination of roads, and be invested +with authority to compel reparation of unsafe and defective bridges, +culverts, track, and rolling-stock. + + "(Signed) S. M. Cullom, + "Governor." + +My experience, as Chief Executive of the State, with the practical +workings of the Railroad and Warehouse Law, clearly demonstrated +to me that a State statute, no matter how drastic it might be, was +utterly inadequate to meet the evils complained of, and that +effective regulation must be Federal and not State, or probably +Federal and State combined. Some of the States had attempted to +exercise control over interstate traffic which originated in the +State, but it seemed perfectly clear from a long line of decisions +of the Supreme Court, beginning with _Gibbons_ vs. _Ogden_, and +continuing with _Reading Railway_ vs. _Pennsylvania; Baltimore and +Ohio_ vs. _Maryland_, and many other cases, that the States as such +had no control over interstate commerce. But it was not until our +own Illinois case (_Wabash Railroad_ vs. _Illinois_), that the +Supreme Court settled it once and for all. It was clearly stated +in that case that the power of Congress was exclusive, and the +Court said that, "notwithstanding whatever _dicta_ might appear in +other cases, this court holds now and has never consciously held +otherwise, that a statute of a State intended to regulate or tax +or to impose any restriction upon the transmission of persons or +property from one State to another is not within the class of +legislation which the States may enact in the absence of legislation +by Congress, and that such statutes are void." + +This decision of the Supreme Court was rendered just about the time +I was elected to the United States Senate, and I then and there +determined that I would make it one of my great aims in the Senate +to secure the enactment of a Federal statute regulating interstate +commerce. + +It would seem astonishing that the Commerce clause of the Constitution +should have remained dormant, as it did for nearly a century. +Aside from two unimportant acts, no statute had been passed under +it from the beginning of the Government until the Act to Regulate +Commerce was passed in 1887. + +Not even a serious attempt had been made to pass an act for the +regulation of interstate commerce. Bills were introduced from +Congress to Congress and laid aside; some investigations were made +--as, for instance, the Windom investigation by a select committee +of the House in 1873--but it all came to naught. It seemed that +no one man, either in the Senate or House, had made it his business +to secure the passage of such an act. + +Very fortunately, as I see it now, when I first came to the Senate, +I received no important committee assignments. Having been in +public life for many years, member of Congress, Governor of my +State, I naturally felt that I would be properly taken care of +without appealing to my older colleagues for assistance. Even my +own colleague, General Logan, did not interest himself in the +matter. I attended the caucus when the committee announcements +were made, and observing that I received nothing of any consequence, +I addressed the caucus and protested that I had not been treated +properly. Later Senator Edmunds resigned his place as a regent of +the Smithsonian Institution and I was appointed to succeed him in +that position. + +I was assigned, however, to the Committee on Railroads--which was +then what we know now in the Senate as a non-working committee. +I determined that the committee should have something to do, and +I immediately became active in securing the consideration of an +act for the regulation of interstate commerce. I drew up a bill, +introduced it, had it referred to the committee, and finally secured +its consideration and report to the Senate. No one paid any +particular attention to what I was doing until then. When the bill +was reported to the Senate, and I was pushing and urging and doing +everything in my power to secure its consideration, Senator Allison, +always my friend, always wanting to assist me in any way in his +power, came to me one day and said: + +"Cullom, we know nothing about this question; we are groping in +the dark; and I believe that there ought to be a select committee +of the Senate appointed to investigate the question, to go out +among the people, take testimony, and find out what they know about +it,--what the experts know, what the railroad officials know, what +public opinion generally is, and report their conclusions to the +Senate at the beginning of the next session. I am willing to help +you secure the passage of a resolution with that end in view." + +This was perfectly agreeable to me and, on March 17, 1885, a +resolution of the Senate, introduced by me, was adopted. This +resolution provided-- + +"That a select committee of five Senators be appointed to investigate +and report upon the subject of the regulation of the transportation +by railroad and water routes in connection or in competition with +said railroads of freights and passengers between the several +States, with authority to sit during the recess of Congress, and +with power to summon witnesses, and to do whatever is necessary +for a full examination of the subject, and report to the Senate on +or before the second Monday in December next. Said committee shall +have power to appoint a clerk and stenographer, and the expenses +of such investigation shall be paid from the appropriation for +expenses of inquiries and investigations ordered by the Senate." + +The committee, of which I was made chairman, was appointed in due +course, my colleagues being Senator O. H. Platt, of Connecticut; +Senator Warner Miller, of New York; Senator Arthur Pugh Gorman, of +Maryland; and Senator Isham G. Harris, of Tennessee. Leaving out +any reference to myself, the selection was regarded as having been +most judicious and suitable. + +And here let me digress to say a few words in reference to my +colleagues on that committee. + +Senator Warner Miller was a strong man intellectually, and a good +business man. He had succeeded Senator T. C. Platt on March 4, +1881, and readily took his place in the Senate as one of its +influential members, although he served but one term. He was a +valuable man as a member of the committee, and took a very prominent +part in the debates preceding the passage of the act. + +Senator Gorman had a remarkable public career. Without the advantages +of influential family, without wealth, with only limited education, +through his own exertions alone he arose from the position of a +page in the United States Senate to the position of Senator and +leader of his party in the Senate. He was a _protege_, friend, +and follower of that illustrious son of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas. +He was one of the most sagacious politicians of his day. By his +shrewd management of the Cleveland campaign he secured the defeat +of Mr. Blaine and the election of Mr. Cleveland. His charming +personality, his suavity of manner, his magnetic influence over +men with whom he came into contact, combined with his marked ability, +made it easy for him to retain the difficult position of a leader +of his great party. He enjoyed in the highest degree the respect +and confidence of every Senator with whom he served, on both sides +of the chamber, and specially was his influence felt in securing +the support of the Democratic Senators in the passage of the Act +of 1887. + +Senator Harris, of Tennessee, was a very useful member of the +Senate, and was a man possessed of more than ordinary ability. +His ability, perhaps, was not as great as Senator Gorman's, although +he was a very influential and highly respected member of the Senate. +He was a hard worker; and one trait in particular that I remember +about him was, he never failed to attend promptly on time the +meeting of any committee of which he was a member. Indeed, I do +not know of any man with whom I have served in the Senate, aside +from my respected colleague, Senator Frye, who was so punctual. + +He was a man of convivial habits, and used to poke considerable +fun at me because I would not drink or play poker. At the time +when the select committee was to meet in Memphis, the home of +Senator Harris, the prominent business men of that place waited on +him and told him they understood a very eminent committee was coming +there in a few days, and they would like to show them some courtesies. +Harris replied that he did not know who would be there; that Senator +Platt would not, and he did not believe Senator Gorman would--in +fact, he did not believe any one would be there, excepting the +chairman and himself; and so far as the chairman, Senator Cullom, +was concerned, they could not do anything for him, as he did not +drink or smoke, and was "one of the damnedest, poorest card-players +he had ever known." So, about all the entertaining they could do +for him would be to show him about the city. + +Many amusing stories were told of him. When I called the committee +together, preliminary to starting out on our tour, I told them that +I would be very glad to allow them everything within reason that +was necessary, but the Government would not pay for their whiskey +and cigars. Harris promptly replied: "That's right, Mr. Chairman. +So far as I am concerned, if I can't get my whiskey by standing +around the bar when other people are drinking, I will pay for it +myself." + +When the committee were in Minneapolis, we were sitting at a long +table at dinner; I was at one end, and Harris was at the other, +facing me. An old soldier came up to speak to me, and glancing +down toward the other end of the table, he asked: "Is n't that +old Harris of Tennessee?" When I replied that it was, he continued: +"Well, well! The last time I saw him, he was wearing a linen- +duster, riding a mule, and going South like hell." + +Harris was a man of the most rigid honesty. He not only rendered +valuable assistance in conducting the investigation, especially +through the South, which section of the country he particularly +represented, but took a prominent part in the debates and generally +performed his full share toward securing the passage of the act. + +Of Senator O. H. Platt I have already written. + +But to return. Immediately after the adjournment of Congress this +select committee visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, +Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Des Moines, Omaha, Minneapolis, and +St. Paul, where we adjourned to meet in the South. We went to +Memphis first, then to New Orleans and Atlanta, whence we returned +to Washington, where I prepared the report of the committee which +was submitted to the Senate, January 18, 1886. + +The committee began its work impressed with the importance of the +duty with which it had been charged, and with each step taken in +prosecuting the inquiry we realized more fully how heavy were the +obstacles to be overcome, how serious were the abuses that existed, +how the public sentiment over the entire country was aroused, and +how difficult it was going to be to frame and secure the passage +of a measure adequate to relieve the situation. After many sessions +and long conferences the select committee finally agreed upon a +bill which, in its opinion, would correct the evils complained of. + +Even after the committee had agreed to the bill, I was not entirely +satisfied; I feared the existence of some absurdities, some features, +which the railroads could not possibly comply with; and so I asked +Senator Platt to meet me in New York, previously having arranged +with Mr. Fink and Mr. Blanchard, two of the great railroad men of +their day, and a gentleman representing specially the people's +interests, whose name I do not recall, but who had been interested +in securing regulation in New York and was an expert on the +proposition, to meet with us in that city. We all met as planned. +I stated that I desired to take the bill up with them, section by +section, paragraph by paragraph, and if anything absurd or +impracticable was found, or anything that could not be carried out, +attention should be called to it, and we would discuss it and amend +it if necessary. We went ahead on this line and were arguing over +some proposition, when Mr. Fink got up and remarked: "Let it go; +the whole thing is absurd anyhow." I arose and said that if that +was the attitude of the railroad men, when the committee's only +object was to report to the Senate a fair bill, that the conference +might as well end. The other members of the conference intervened +and said it was not fair that the chairman of the committee should +be treated in this way, that Senator Cullom was acting in absolute +good faith, whereupon Mr. Fink apologized, and the reading was +resumed, and some amendments made where found necessary. + +And this incident recalls to mind another aspect of the investigation. +While the select committee was considering the subject, travelling +from city to city, the high railroad officials paid no attention +to us; rather, I might say, they avoided being called before us, +probably considering it a waste of time, as they had no serious +thought that anything would come of the investigation. They +considered the railroads superior to the laws of Congress, and +depended upon their old State charters. In those days they were +the most arrogant set of men in this country; they have since +learned that they are the servants and not the masters of the +people. But when the bill seemed pretty certain to pass, the +attitude of the railroad officials suddenly changed. They came to +Washington and complained that they had not been given the opportunity +to be heard; that it would not be fair under the circumstances to +pass a bill so largely affecting them; and they seemed to be sorely +aggrieved when they could not prevent or delay its passage. + +I introduced the bill in the first session of the Forty-ninth +Congress, and after a great deal of difficulty, even with my +colleague, General Logan, against it, finally had it made the +special order. General Logan knew nothing about the subject; he +cared nothing about it, and on one occasion he told me that I would +ruin myself by advocating it. + +When I called the bill up for consideration, I was so anxious to +press it along that I did not care to make any general speech, +excepting to explain as carefully and minutely as I could the +various provisions of the measure. I said, in opening: + +"I believe I am justified in saying that there is no subject of a +public nature that is before the country about which there is so +great unanimity of sentiment as there is upon the proposition that +the National Government ought in some way to regulate interstate +commerce. The testimony taken by the Committee shows conclusively +to my mind, and I think to every man's mind who reads it, that +there is necessity for some legislation by the National Government, +looking to the regulation of interstate commerce by railroad and +by waterways in connection therewith. + +"I believe the time has gone by when it is necessary for any one +to take up the time of the Senate in discussing the proposition +that Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce. These +questions have been discussed over and over again in Congress, and +the highest judicial tribunals of the country have decided over +and over again that Congress has the power to regulate commerce +among the States. So I do not feel at liberty, if I were disposed, +to occupy the attention of the Senate in discussing the general +subject of whether there is any necessity for our doing anything, +or the question of constitutional right of Congress to pass some +act regulating commerce among the States. + +"If the three propositions are correct: that the public sentiment +is substantially unanimous that we should act; that the necessity +for action exists; and that the power of Congress is admitted,-- +the only question left is, what Congress ought to do specifically; +in other words, what kind of an act should Congress pass. The +committee has reported a bill which is the best judgment that the +committee had upon the subject." + +I then proceeded to explain the bill carefully, section by section, +and concluded by saying: + +"I am led to believe that the bill as it stands is perhaps a more +perfect bill on this subject than has ever been introduced in the +Congress of the United States before. There may be many suggestions +of amendment by honorable Senators during the consideration of the +bill; and if any Senator has any suggestion of amendment to make, +of course it is within the privilege of the Senate to adopt it, +but I am very anxious that this bill shall be as promptly considered +as possible, and as promptly acted upon and passed as possible, if +in the judgment of the Senate it ought to be passed at all. + +"As the Senate know, this subject has been up for consideration +from one term of Congress to another, almost time out of mind; +until the people of the United States have come almost to believe +that there is no real purpose on the part of Congress to do anything +more than introduce and report bills and discuss them a while, and +then let them die before any final action is reached upon them. + +"I said in the outset that in my judgment there is no public question +before the American people to-day about which there is greater +unanimity of sentiment than there is upon the proposition that the +Congress of the United States ought to enact some law looking to +the regulation of commerce among the several States, and I trust +without taking up the time of the Senate longer that every Senator +will give attention to this subject until we can pass some bill +and get it to the other branch of Congress in the hope that before +this session adjourns we shall get some legislation on this subject +that will be of some service to the people and reasonably satisfy +public opinion." + +I pressed the bill on the attention of the Senate every day, never +allowing it to be displaced where I could avoid it. I was determined +that some bill should be passed at that session. The debate was +long and interesting. There were comparatively few set speeches. +It was a hot, running debate almost from the beginning, participated +in by the strongest men in the Senate, many of whom were the ablest +men of their day. Senators Aldrich, Edmunds, Evarts, Gorman, Hoar, +Ingalls, Manderson, Miller, Mitchell, Morrill, Platt, Sewell, +Sherman, Spooner, Teller, Vest, Morgan, Cameron, Dawes, Frye, Hale, +Harrison, and Voorhees all engaged in it. + +The bill was finally passed May 12, 1886. + +In the meantime, Mr. Reagan, of Texas, who had been urging a bill +in the House, and had it up for consideration during the same time +the Senate bill was being considered, passed his bill, which differed +essentially from the Senate bill. Both bills went to conference +together, Mr. Reagan being the head of the conferees on the part +of the House, and I being the head of the conferees on the part of +the Senate. Then came the real struggle, the two measures remaining +in conference from June to the following January. The contention +finally centred on the pooling provision. Reagan had yielded on +nearly everything else; but Platt of Connecticut was bound there +should be no prohibition against pooling. Reagan affirmed that +the whole matter would have to drop, that he would never yield on +that. I came back and consulted the leaders in the Senate, Allison +among others, and they advised me to yield; that the country demanded +a bill, and I had better accept Reagan's anti-pooling prohibition +section than offer no measure at all--which I did. + +Whether it is right or wrong, I do not know even to this day. I +have never been quite certain in my mind on the question of pooling, +and it is still a subject on which legislators and statesmen differ. +But one thing does seem certain--public sentiment is as much opposed +to pooling to-day as it was twenty years ago. There was a great +fight in the Senate to secure the adoption of the conference report. +Its adoption was opposed by such Senators as Cameron, Frye, Hawley, +Hoar, Morrill, Sawyer, Sewell, Sherman, and Spooner. The pooling +and long-and-short-haul clauses were the most fought over. Senator +Platt, although a member of the conference, made a very able speech +on the subject of pooling, in which he showed considerable feeling, +and I at one time feared that he would oppose the adoption of the +conference report on that account altogether. He concluded a very +able address during the last days of the consideration of the +report, by saying: + +"Nine-tenths of all the interstate commerce business done to-day +is done under these arrangements which are sought to be damned +because of the evil meaning which has been given to the word +'pooling.' Whatever stability has been given to the railroad +business, and through it to other business of the country, has been +secured by these traffic arrangements, and in my judgment a bill +which breaks them all up ruthlessly within sixty days, which invites +the competition which is to demoralize business, will be far-reaching +in its injurious results. For one I prefer to stand by my judgment. +I will try to have the courage of my convictions; I will try to do +what I believe to be right, and I cannot consent to a bill which, +though I accept its other provisions, contains a provision which +I regard as positively vicious and wrong." + +I was greatly provoked, almost outraged, at the manner in which +Senators opposed the adoption of the conference report. It became +almost a personal matter with me, and I finally concluded on the +very day the vote was to be taken, whether the adoption of the +report was to be beaten or not, that I would make a speech, and in +that speech I indicated just how I felt. I said in part: + +"I have been sitting here to-day listening to the assaults upon +this bill, until I have become almost convinced that I am the most +vicious man toward the railroads of any man I know. I started in +upon the investigation of this subject two or three years ago with +no prejudices, no bias of sentiment or judgment, no disposition +whatever to do anything except that which my deliberate judgment +told me was the best thing to do. I have believed I have occupied +that position ever since, until within the last twenty-four hours, +when the attacks upon this bill have become such that I have become +a little doubtful whether I have not been inspired from the beginning, +so far as my action has been concerned, with a determination to +destroy the railroads of this country. To listen to the Senator +from Alabama [Mr. Morgan] descanting upon the provisions of the +bill, one can scarcely resist the conclusion that it is a bill to +destroy the commerce of the country, and especially to break down +all the railroads. + +"So far as I am concerned, I repeat that I have no disposition of +that kind, and I am unaware that either of the Senators on the +conference committee have had any such disposition. We tried to +do the best we could with the bill the Senate passed during the +last session, to keep the bill as near to what the Senate had it +as we could do, and to arrive at an agreement between the House +and Senate conferees. + +"I submit that the majority of the assaults have been against +provisions that were in the bill when the Senate voted for it during +the last session of Congress. I am of the opinion that if this +discussion lasted another day Senators would find in every line of +the bill a very serious objection to its adoption. They started +in to object to some provisions of the fourth and fifth sections. +The Senator who has just concluded his remarks got over to the +thirteenth section and I believe went one or two sections beyond +that, and if there are any more speeches to be made against the +bill I suppose the very last section of it will be attacked before +a vote is taken. + +"The Senate conferees regarded it as their duty to cling to every +portion of the Senate bill, as it was passed, that they could cling +to and reach an agreement between the conferees of the House and +Senate. Hence it was that all these portions of the Senate bill +not objected to by the House conferees were allowed to remain in +the bill by the Senate conferees, the Senate conferees, as a matter +of course, believing that the Senate of the United States knew what +it was doing when it voted for the bill in the first place, and +thinking that it remained of the same mind still. . . . + +"The Senator from Georgia assaults the bill because he says that +under it the provisions are so rigid that the railroads of the +country can do no business at all. The Senator from Oregon assaults +the bill because he says the fourth section amounts to nothing, +and that the words 'under like circumstances and conditions' ought +to be taken out. + +"The Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Hoar] assaults the bill because +he says it is going to interfere with foreign commerce, and that +the fourth section will be construed as not allowing a rebate of +five cents a hundred upon commerce shipped across the country for +exportation. . . . + +"So I might go on referring to every Senator who has spoken against +the bill, and nearly every one of them has founded his objections +to the bill upon the use of the language that he had previously +voted for in the Senate of the United States before the bill went +to conference at all." + +Men who opposed any legislation at all never supposed that the +conference report would be agreed to, and I so stated in the Senate +of the United States. I pointed out, moreover, that when they were +met by a conference report the railroad men of the Senate rallied +to the support of the transportation companies. I continued: + +"Sir, it has just come to the point where you have got to face the +music and vote for an interstate commerce bill, or vote it down. +That is all there is to it. I have nothing more to say. I have +discharged my duty as best I knew how. I reported on the part of +the Senate conferees the bill that is before you. I am not +responsible for what the Senate does with it. I am not going to +find fault with anybody upon the question whether we concur in the +report or reject it, but I warn Senators that the people of the +United States for the last ten years have been struggling to assert +the principle that the Government of the United States has the +power to regulate transportation from one end of the country to +another. I believe that if this report is rejected it is very +doubtful whether we shall get any legislation at all during this +present Congress, so when the Senate acts upon the question my duty +will have been done so far as I am able to see it. + +"I have believed from the time I have given any attention to public +affairs that it was necessary to bring into force the provisions +of the Constitution giving Congress the power to regulate commerce +among the States. The Senator from New York [Mr. Evarts] attacked +the bill and said that it was unconstitutional because, as I +understand it, the Constitution was framed for the purpose of +facilitating commerce, and this was a bill to hinder or to militate +against it. + +"I undertake to say that the purpose of the bill, at least, whatever +may be the strained construction which has been placed upon it or +which may be placed upon it by the transportation companies of the +country, has been to facilitate commerce and to protect the individual +rights of the people as against the great railroad corporations. +I have no disposition to interfere with their legitimate business. +I have no disposition, God knows, to interfere with the commerce +of the country, properly conducted, but I do say that it is the +duty of the Congress of the United States to place upon the statute +book some legislation which will look to the regulation of commerce +upon the railroads that they will not treat one man differently +under similar circumstances and conditions. . . . + +"The Senator from Alabama [Mr. Morgan] says that we had better go +slow and remain quiet under the old regime. Well, Mr. President, +I remember only a few days ago hearing the Senator from Alabama +alleging that the railroads, the common carriers of the country, +were eating up the people, were destroying the interests of the +people. I do not know whether he confined his remark to his own +State or extended it to the country, but I should have inferred +from the language he used against the railroad companies that he +would have been in favor of almost any legislation that would in +any way restrict them in their reckless disregard of the rights of +the people. I can only conclude that the Senator from Alabama +would rather that destructive system should go on, as he charged +it to exist when he made his speech the other day, without control, +than to trust a commission who he says are individually liable to +corrupt influences either at the hands of the President or somebody +else outside. + +"Sir, we have got to trust somebody. We must either leave this +matter to the discretion and judgment and sense of honor of the +officers of the railroad companies, or we must trust the commission +and the courts of the country to protect the people against unjust +discrimination and extortion on the part of the common carriers. +Is it the President of the United States as against a corporation? +Is it an honest commission honestly selected by the President of +the United States as against a railroad company? I say that there +are not those inducements to be placed in the hands of a set of +men selected for their integrity, selected for their ability, +selected for their capacity to regulate railroads and enforce the +law, that are left in the hands of the officers of the railroad +companies themselves. + +"I take it that there is somebody honest in this country, and that +the President, if this bill becomes a law, will select the broadest +gauge men, the men highest in integrity and intelligence as the +men to enforce this law as against the corporations and as a go- +between, if you please, between the shippers and the railroads of +the country. I am willing to trust them. If they are not honest +the President has the right to remove them; and if the shipper is +unwilling to submit to their judgment, under the bill he has a +right to go directly to the courts. I say that there is not anything +that can be done by these corporations against individuals where +the shipper himself has not a right to get into court in some way +or other, if he is not willing to abide by the decision of the +commissioners appointed by the President." + +The conference report was adopted by a vote of thirty-seven yeas +to twelve nays; but it was a rather significant fact that there +were twenty-six absent, including Senators Aldrich, Dawes, Evarts, +Morgan, and some of the most bitter opponents of railroad +regulation. + +The provisions of the Act of 1887 are too well known to need any +recital here. In a word, it was partly declaratory of the common +law, its essential features being that railroad charges must be +reasonable; that there must be no discriminations between persons +and no preference between localities; railroads were prohibited +from charging less for a long haul than for a shorter haul, "included +within it under substantially similar circumstances"; pooling was +prohibited; and a commission was established with power to hear +and decide complaints, to make investigations and reports, and +generally to see to the enforcement of the Act. + +Considering the abuses that existed, the Act of 1887 was conservative +legislation, but in Congress and among the people generally it was +considered radical, until the courts robbed it by judicial construction +of much of its intended force. During the debates, Senators remarked +that never in the history of governments was a bill under consideration +which would inevitably affect directly or remotely so great financial +and industrial interests. It marked the beginning of a new era in +the management of the railway business of the United States. It +was the beginning of Governmental regulation which has finally +culminated in the legislation of the Sixty-first Congress. And it +is no little satisfaction to me to say that the fundamental principles +of the original Act of 1887 have been retained in all subsequent +acts. No one has seriously advocated that the fundamental principles +of the Act of 1887 be changed, and subsequent legislation has been +built upon it. + +After the passage of the original Act of 1887, a permanent Interstate +Committee of the Senate, of which I had the honor to be chairman, +and in which position I remained for many years, was created. It +was a very active committee at first. Necessarily, amendments were +made to the law, and the railroads generally observed the law in +good faith. Even the long-and-short-haul clause was observed, as +it was intended by Congress that it should be. That is, the +railroads did not set up at first that competition would create a +dissimilarity of conditions and circumstances so as to justify them +in charging more for the short haul than for the long haul. But +it was not many years before the railroads attacked first one and +then another provision of the law, and they generally secured +favorable decisions from the courts. I do not intend to go into +the details of these decisions, the last one being the decision in +the case which held that the Commission had no power to fix a future +rate, because the act did not give it that express power. My own +judgment is, and was at the time, that the original act by implication +did give to the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to say +after complaint and hearing, and after a given rate had been declared +to be unreasonable, what in that case would be a reasonable rate; +but the courts decided otherwise. Immediately, I drew up and +introduced a bill, number 1439, of the Fifty-sixth Congress, and +had it referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce. This bill +contained provisions substantially the same as were contained in +the Hepburn Bill which passed the Senate in 1906. And in addition +it was designed to give effect to the provisions of the original +act which had been nullified by judicial construction. I worked +my hardest to secure a favorable report of this bill. We had many +hearings; but the Committee on Interstate Commerce, far from being +in favor of favorably reporting the bill, were inclined to decline +to allow me to report it to the Senate at all. I insisted that I +would report it even though adversely, which I was finally permitted +to do. But when reported to the Senate I stated that I reported +it adversely because a majority of the committee were against it, +but that I favored the bill personally, and would do what I could +to secure its passage. This was in the year 1899. + +It was not until seven years later that public sentiment was aroused +to such an extent that it was possible to secure the amendments to +the Act of 1887 which were embodied in Senate bill 1439. + +I think it is only justice to myself to say--and I say it with much +regret--that there were two reasons why it was impossible to secure +at that time the report and passage of Senate bill 1439. First of +all, the Executive did not manifest any special interest in securing +additional railroad regulation. Secondly, the railroads themselves +had been very active in securing a change of the personnel of the +Committee on Interstate Commerce, and men had been elected to the +Senate and placed on that committee whose sympathies were in favor +of very conservative regulation, if any regulation at all. The +railroads had firmly determined to stop any further railroad +regulation. And finally, in the make-up of the Committee, a majority +of the Senators placed on the Committee on Interstate Commerce were +men whose sympathies were with the railroads. + +But even with the personnel of the committee made up against me, +I have thought that had the late President McKinley given me the +active support which he could have given, I could have secured, in +1899, practically all the legislation that was secured six years +later. It is only justice to ex-President Roosevelt to say that +had it not been for his earnest advocacy of railroad rate regulation +the Hepburn Bill would never have been passed. With a chairman of +the Committee on Interstate Commerce well known for his conservatism +on the subject, with a majority of Republicans on the committee in +sympathy with him, without the arousing of public sentiment by +President Roosevelt, nothing would have been done. + +I continued to take an exceptionally active part in railroad +regulation until I was placed at the head of the Foreign Relations +Committee of the Senate, and even afterwards I remained as the +ranking member, next to the Chairman, of the Committee on Interstate +Commerce, where I was glad to further as best I could such measures +as came before the Committee in the way of strengthening and giving +force to the original act. + +I consented very reluctantly to leave the chairmanship of the +Committee on Interstate Commerce, where I had served during all my +term in the Senate, and I do not believe I would have done so had +it not been for the manner in which the committee was packed against +me in the interest of non-action. At the last it became so that +even the simplest measures which affected the railroads in the +slightest degree would receive adverse action or none at all. I +was utterly disgusted, and on several occasions told prominent +railroad men that if they continued such methods the time would +surely come when the people would become so aroused that they would +see enacted the most drastic of railroad rate laws. + +I had much to do with the passage of the Hepburn Act of 1906. +After President Roosevelt had repeatedly urged it in his messages +to Congress, and privately brought influence to bear on Senators, +it seemed pretty certain that public sentiment demanded that +practically the amendments to the original act embodied in Senate +bill 1439, to which I have already referred, would sooner or later +have to be enacted into law. As usual, those opposed to such +legislation demanded that hearings be held, and the Committee on +Interstate Commerce was authorized to sit during the recess of +Congress and to hold hearings. Many weeks were consumed in these +hearings, and many volumes of testimony were taken. I do not +believe that I missed a session of the committee, and I tried as +best I could to bring forth from the numerous witnesses summoned +before the committee evidence to assist in securing the passage of +the amendments to the original act, which I then thought necessary +to perfect it. + +I had expected to render what assistance I could during the next +session, which convened in December, in framing the bill in committee +and to assist in its passage in the Senate. But very unfortunately, +just at the beginning of the next session of Congress, when the +hearings were all concluded and the committee was prepared to go +into executive session to consider the bill itself, I was taken +ill and compelled to spend a couple of months in Florida to recover +my health. It may seem strange, but the fact is, that my absence +expedited the consideration of the bill by the committee and its +report to the Senate. I had telegraphed and written my late +colleague, Senator Dolliver, to record me as voting for the favorable +report of the bill from the committee to the Senate. It was expected +that the committee would have to hold many sessions to consider the +numerous amendments that had been offered. Senator Dolliver, at +one of the first meetings of the committee called to consider the +bill, read my telegram and letter asking to be voted in favor of +reporting the bill. Objection was made to recording me, and one +distinguished Senator raised the point respecting how I was to be +recorded on the question of amendments. Considerable controversy, +I understand, took place, and Senator Dolliver then moved to report +the bill to the Senate with the amendments already adopted in +committee. This closed the discussion in the committee; the vote +was taken, and the bill was ordered reported to the Senate, my vote +being recorded in the affirmative; after which Senator Aldrich, in +order to make it appear all the more ridiculous, moved that Senator +Tillman, a minority member of the committee, be authorized to report +the bill. This motion prevailed; Senator Tillman did report it, +and he had charge of its passage in the Senate. So, as I have +stated, my absence, through the controversy over counting my vote, +really expedited the bill through the committee. + +I returned to my seat in the Senate in February, while the bill +was being considered, and assisted as best I could through conferences +with President Roosevelt and members of the Senate in agreeing on +sections of the bill which were in controversy, particularly the +court review section. I was also one of the conferees on the part +of the Senate that finally settled the differences between the two +Houses. + +It was a very satisfactory bill, in the form in which it finally +became a law. + + +CHAPTER XXII +JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN + +I have always admired Mr. Justice John Marshall Harlan, who has +served some thirty-five years as a member of the Supreme Court of +the United States, and who for a time after the death of Chief +Justice Fuller acted as Chief Justice of the United States. + +Upon the death of Judge Allen, who had for many years been United +States District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois, it +was suggested that his portrait be placed in the court room of the +United States Circuit and District Court at Springfield, Illinois. +The movement developed into the broader suggestion that portraits +of other distinguished judges, who had presided over the United +States Court at Springfield, and also a portrait of Chief Justice +Marshall, be procured and added to the collection. The portraits +of Judges John Marshall, Walter Q. Gresham, David Davis, Samuel H. +Treat, Thomas Drummond, William J. Allen, John McLean, Nathaniel +Pope, and John Marshall Harlan were procured, and it was planned +that a suitable ceremony should take place in Springfield on June +2, 1903. + +Judge Humphrey wrote me, telling me of the plans of the committee +appointed by the Bar of the United States Court at Springfield, +and asking me to say something concerning any one of these +distinguished judges whom I might designate, leaving the selection +to me. + +I thought the matter over and determined that, inasmuch as I had +known Justice Harlan more or less intimately ever since I became +a member of the Senate, I should like to talk about him. + +The occasion was quite a notable one. Vice-President Fairbanks +delivered an address on Judge Gresham; Judge Kohlsaat, on Chief +Justice Marshall; Lawrence Weldon, on David Davis; Judge Creighton, +on Samuel H. Treat; Mr. John W. Jewett, on Thomas Drummond; J. C. +Allen, on W. J. Allen; Mr. Logan Hay, on John McLean; General Alfred +Orendorff, on Nathaniel Pope; and the portraits were accepted in +the name of the Court at Springfield by the Hon. J. Otis Humphrey, +the District Judge. + +There was a very distinguished gathering of lawyers, of Federal +and State judges from Illinois and adjacent States, and of many +members of the families of the deceased jurists. Judges Kohlsaat, +Humphrey, and Anderson occupied the bench. The whole proceeding +was a very dignified and appropriate one. + +I cannot give a better estimate of my regard for Justice Harlan +than by quoting some extracts from the address I delivered on that +occasion: + +"The Supreme Court to-day is composed on nine eminent justices, of +one of whom I have been asked to speak; and I do believe that the +Justice of whom I speak, in all that goes to make a noted and able +jurist, is second only to that learned Chief Justice, John Marshall, +of whom Judge Kohlsaat has so interestingly spoken. + +"I speak of John Marshall Harlan, who has been an honored member +of the Supreme Court of the United States for more than a quarter +of a century. + +"Justice Harlan from his youth was the architect of his own fortune; +he has been a man of remarkable individuality and force of character; +he impressed himself from boyhood upon the community in which he +lived. Before he reached his nineteenth year he was made Adjutant- +General of the State of Kentucky. Like Lincoln, he performed the +obligations of a citizen, both in private and official life, with +zeal and faithfulness to duty. . . . + +"When Justice Harlan was but a young man, slavery became the +paramount issue of the day, and naturally being a staunch Union +man, he took an active part in the discussion and struggles that +became more or less bitter in his very early manhood. He was one +of the first to enlist and lead his regiment in the field in favor +of the Union and was assigned a place in that division of the army +commanded by the gallant old soldier and patriot, General Thomas. . . . + +"Justice Harlan's record as a soldier was a brilliant one. Certain +promotion and higher honors were assured him, and he was nominated +by President Lincoln to the position of Brigadier-General; but the +responsibilities resulting from the death of his father compelled +him to abandon what was certain to have been a distinguished military +career, and he reluctantly returned to Kentucky. . . . + +"Following the struggle in arms came important reconstruction +legislation and important Constitutional amendments, necessitating +judicial interpretations. These grave questions of state gave +opportunity for the development of great statesmen and judges. + +"Great crises produce great men. Justice Harlan was at home in +the thickest of the struggle, through the period of reconstruction, +an able lawyer, an uncompromisingly bold man, asserting his position +without fear or favor. While many of the important judicial and +Constitutional questions growing out of reconstruction legislation +remained unsettled, Justice Harlan took his place on the Supreme +Bench, having been appointed by President Hayes in 1877, and an +examination of the decisions of the Court since that year will show +the prominent part he has taken in the disposition of these +Constitutional questions. + +"It has been said that there never was a very powerful character, +a truly masculine, commanding man, who was not made so by struggles +with great difficulties. Daily observation and history prove the +truth of this statement. Hence I believe that the rough-and-tumble +existence to which the majority of ambitious young men of our +country are subjected, does much to prepare them for the higher +duties of substantial, valuable citizenship. The active life and +early struggles of Justice Harlan in his State have had their +influence in making him the fearless jurist that he is. + +"Shortly after his appointment, Justice Harlan was assigned as the +Supreme Justice for this circuit, and served here for eighteen +years. Many of you present remember his visit to Springfield and +his holding court in this room. + +"To be a member of the Federal Judiciary is the highest honor that +can be conferred upon an American lawyer. The crowning glory of +our Nation was the establishment, by the fathers, of the independent +Federal Judiciary, which is the conservator of the Constitution. +I have unbounded faith in it. It is the protector of those +fundamental liberties so dear to the Anglo-Saxon race. State +Legislatures and the Congress may be swayed by the heat and passion +of the hour; but so long as our independent Federal Judiciary +remains, our people are safe in their legal, fundamental, Constitutional +rights. + +"Perhaps there is nothing that illustrates so well Justice Harlan's +character, the equality of all men before the law, as do some of +his dissenting opinions." + +I then referred to his famous dissent in the Civil Rights case, +delivered in 1883; to his dissent in the Income Tax case, and others +of his notable utterances from the Supreme Bench; and at the same +time I referred to the fact that he had written more than seven +hundred opinions, covering nearly every branch of the law, the +opinions on Constitutional questions being unusually large. I +added: + +"In many respects Justice Harlan resembles his namesake, John +Marshall. Like John Marshall, he received his early training for +the bench in the active practice at the Bar. Like John Marshall, +he enlisted and fought for his country. Like John Marshall, while +still a young man, he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court, +and has for more than a quarter of a century occupied that position. +And like John Marshall, his great work on the bench has been in +cases involving the construction and application of the Constitution. +He has been especially assigned by the Court to the writing of +opinions on Constitutional Law. In my opinion he stands to-day as +the greatest living Constitutional lawyer. + +"If the Court please, I desire to refer to one more phase of Justice +Harlan's character. He is a religious man. He does not parade +his belief before the world, yet he possesses deep and devout +convictions and has given deep study to church questions. And it +may be said that the great men of the world from the earliest dawn +of civilization, with but few exceptions, have believed that the +life of the soul does not end with the death of the body. Cicero, +long before the birth of the Saviour, said: + +'When I consider the wonderful activity of the mind, so great a +memory of what has passed, and such a capacity of penetrating into +the future; when I behold such a number of arts and sciences, and +such a multitude of discoveries thence arising, I believe and am +firmly persuaded that a nature which contains so many things within +itself can not be mortal.' + +"Centuries later the famous Dr. Johnson well said: 'How gloomy +would be the mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he +should never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency, +and what now thinks shall think on for ever.' + +"Justice Harlan is a firm and devout believer in the immortality +of the soul. + +"He is now approaching the age when under the law he may retire +from the bench, yet he is in the vigor of health and is perhaps +the greater judge to-day than at any time in his past career. I +am sure I voice the general desire of the Bar of the whole country +that he shall, so long as his health and strength continue, remain +an active member of that great Court." + +It is more than eight years since I delivered that address. In +the ensuing period, five justices of the Supreme Court have either +retired under the law, or passed away, none of whom enjoyed a length +of service equal to Judge Harlan's; and yet Justice Harlan is +attending daily to his duties as a member of that court, apparently +in vigorous health and certainly as profound and learned a judge +to-day as at any time in his past career. And I repeat now what +I said eight years ago--that I hope he shall for years to come +remain an active member of that great court. + + +CHAPTER XXIII +MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS + +It has been said that Charles Sumner considered the chairmanship +of the Committee on Foreign Relations as the highest honor that +could have been conferred upon him by the United States Senate. + +I have been chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations for a +longer consecutive period than any man in our history, aside from +Mr. Sumner, who served as chairman for ten years. If I continue +as chairman during the remainder of my term, I shall have exceeded +the long service of Mr. Sumner. + +The Committee on Foreign Relations was among the first of the +permanent standing committees of the Senate. Prior to 1816, there +were no permanent standing committees, the custom being to appoint +select committees to consider the different portions of the +President's messages, and for the consideration of any other subject +which the Senate might from session to session determine necessary +for committee reference. On December 13, 1816, the Senate, by +rule, proceeded to the appointment of the following standing +committees, agreeably to the resolution of the tenth instant, which +was as follows: + +"Resolved, that it shall be one of the rules of the Senate that +the following standing committees be appointed at each session: +a Committee on Foreign Relations, a Committee on Finance, a Committee +on Commerce and Manufactures, a Committee on Military Affairs, a +Committee on the Militia, a Committee on Naval Affairs, a Committee +on Public Lands, a Committee on Claims, a Committee on the Judiciary, +a Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, and a Committee on +Pensions." + +It will be noted that under this rule, the Committee on Foreign +Relations was named first, and Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, was its +first chairman. Whether it was at that time considered the most +important committee, I do not know; but I do know that from the +date of its formation, the Committee on Foreign Relations has been +among the most important committees of the Senate, and at times in +our history it has been _the_ most important committee. It has +been from the beginning particularly noted for the high character +of the men who composed its membership, and we find in the archives +of the Senate the names of some of the greatest men in our national +history, who have from time to time acted as its chairmen. + +Barbour of Virginia, Henry Clay, James Buchanan, Rives, Benton, +King, Cass, Sumner, Windom, John F. Miller, John T. Morgan, John +Sherman, and Cushman K. Davis are a few of those who have at +different times occupied the position of chairman of the Committee +on Foreign Relations. + +My predecessors, as their names will indicate to those familiar +with American history, have been noted for their conservatism in +dealing with matters pertaining to our foreign relations, and there +is no position in the Senate where conservatism is so essential. +My ambition has been so to conduct the business coming before the +committee as to keep up the high standard set and the high standing +maintained by the distinguished statesmen who have preceded me in +the position. + +The work of the Foreign Relations Committee is almost exclusively +executive and confidential, and consists largely in the consideration +of treaties submitted by the President to the Senate for ratification. +Very little important legislative business comes before this +committee, although it has jurisdiction over claims of foreign +citizens against the United States, and all legislation that in +any wise affects our relations with other nations. + +It was almost, I might say, by accident that I became a member of +this important committee. I had been a member of the Committee on +Commerce for a number of years, and took quite an interest in the +very important legislation coming before that committee; and the +improvement of rivers and harbors was a subject in which Illinois +was greatly interested. + +The late Senator Mitchell, of Oregon, was in 1895 chairman of the +Committee on Organization, having in charge the make-up of the +committees of the Senate, and he wanted a place on the Committee +on Commerce for some Western Senator. He came to me and explained +his embarrassment, and asked me if I would be willing to be +transferred from the Committee on Commerce to the Committee on +Foreign Relations. I wanted to accommodate Senator Mitchell, and +I told him that I would consent to be transferred, but at the same +time I was not at all anxious to leave the Committee on Commerce. +The transfer was made in due course, and I have served continuously +on the Foreign Relations Committee since that time, 1895. + +John Sherman was chairman of the committee when I became a member +of it. It was at a period when there were very few material foreign +matters to engage the attention of the Senate. Sherman served as +chairman of the committee, at different periods, for nearly ten +years. He was a wise, conservative chairman; not especially +brilliant, as was Senator Davis, or Senator Sumner; but every one +had confidence in him and felt that in his hands nothing unwise or +foolish would emanate from the committee. + +I was chairman of the Committee on Interstate Commerce at that +time, and the work of that committee, added to the work devolving +upon me as a member of the Committee on Appropriations, engrossed +most of my time; and while I regularly attended the meetings of +the Committee on Foreign Relations, I cannot say that I took a +prominent part, or, indeed, a very deep interest, in it until I +became its chairman, succeeding the late Cushman K. Davis in 1901. + +Cushman K. Davis was a warm personal friend of mine. As the years +passed by and I grew to know him more and more intimately, I became +more deeply attached to him, and my respect for him as a statesman +constantly increased. He was what I would term a specialist in +legislation. He took little or no interest in any other subject +than matters pertaining to our foreign relations. He was a prominent +figure in public affairs for many years. A soldier in the Civil +War, serving in many prominent places in civil affairs in his State, +including the position of Governor, he came to the Senate as a +ripened statesman. He entered the Senate in 1887, and in 1891 +became a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and very early +became one of its leading members. Succeeding the late Senator +Sherman, in 1897, he became its chairman and served in that position +until his death. Few more scholarly or cultivated men have ever +occupied a seat in the Senate. + +He was a peculiar man in many respects, and did not court, or even +encourage, the advice of his colleagues on the committee, or even +of the Secretary of State. I had served on the Committee on Foreign +Affairs of the House when Mr. Seward was Secretary of State and I +knew what a help it was to the committee to have the Secretary meet +with us personally and discuss matters of more or less importance. +We all listened to Secretary Seward with the profoundest respect +and attention; but as I look back on it now, I think that Secretary +Seward probably entertained more than he instructed the members. +He seemed to enjoy attending the sessions. + +I thought that it would be a help if we could have Mr. Olney, then +Secretary of State, before us. I suggested to Senator Davis at +one meeting, that Secretary Olney should be invited to come and +explain some question concerning which we seemed to be in doubt. +Senator Davis declined to invite him, and said so in so many words. +Apparently he did not desire any interference or information from +the Executive Department. I felt pretty free to express my opinion +to Senator Davis, and I told him that inasmuch as he did not care +to invite Secretary Olney, I would invite him myself, if he did +not object. I did so, and Secretary Olney, at a subsequent meeting, +met with the committee and very quickly explained the question +under consideration. + +Senator Davis was a well recognized authority on international law, +both as a lecturer on that subject and a writer. Judging from his +display of ability, he ought to have been able to write a monumental +work on the subject. But he was an indolent man and contented +himself with publishing merely a little volume containing a _resume_ +of his lectures before a Washington college of law. The publication +of this work detracted from, rather than added to, his reputation +as a student and writer. + +He was not an orator, but on occasions, in executive session, when +great international questions were before the Senate, I have heard +him deliver wonderfully eloquent speeches. He always commanded +the closest attention whenever he spoke in the Senate, whether in +executive or open session (which latter he only infrequently did, +by the way), and he always exhausted the subject. + +President McKinley appointed him a member of the Paris Peace +Commission to frame the treaty of peace with Spain. How well he +performed that service those of his colleagues on the commission +who are still living, can attest. He returned from Paris and had +charge of the ratification of the treaty in the Senate. + +I have always believed that Senator Davis's death was the result +of his indolent habits. I do not believe he ever took any physical +exercise; at least he did not do so during the time that I knew +him. He was so much of a student, and so interested in books, that +he seemed to think that time devoted to the proper care of his +physical condition was so much time wasted. The result was that +when disease attacked him he became an easy prey, and when he passed +away it was said that he bore all the marks of a very old man, even +though he was comparatively young in years. It was my sad duty, +as a member of the United States Senate, to attend his funeral in +St. Paul, in 1900. + +The northwest section of the United States has not now, and never +had before, as capable a scholar and statesman as Cushman K. Davis. + +I succeeded Senator Davis as chairman of the Committee on Foreign +Relations. I have enjoyed my work on the committee more than I +have enjoyed any other work that I have done in the Senate. There +are a number of reasons for this. First, the members of the +committee, during my service, have been particularly able and +agreeable men, and during those years some of the greatest men of +the Senate have been numbered among its members. Aside from one, +whom I have long since forgiven, I do not recall now that I have +had a single controversy or unkind word with any member. In +addition, the work is not only of the greatest importance, but it +has been very satisfactory, because partisanship has not at all +entered into the disposition of matters pertaining to our foreign +affairs. The members of the committee during my time have always +seemed to take a deep interest in the work coming before them, and, +unlike most of the committees of the Senate, it has never been +difficult to secure the attendance of a working quorum. In the +ten years that I have been chairman, I do not believe the committee +has ever been compelled to adjourn for want of a quorum when any +important business was before it. + +Until his death in 1911, Senator Wm. P. Frye, of Maine, was in +point of service the oldest member of the committee. He had served +as one of its members ever since 1885. He could have been chairman, +by right of seniority, when Mr. Davis was made chairman in 1891, +on the retirement of Mr. Sherman; and again he could have become +chairman when Senator Davis died. He did act in that capacity for +nearly a year, but he always seemed to prefer the chairmanship of +the Committee on Commerce. + +I believe that the late Senator Hanna had a good deal to do with +Senator Frye's declining to succeed the late Senator Davis as +chairman. Ship-subsidy and the building up of the merchant marine +of the United States were then before the Senate, and Senator Hanna, +a ship owner himself, was deeply interested in that legislation. +Senator Hanna and Senator Frye were devoted friends; and, although +I do not know, I have always felt that it was Senator Hanna who +induced Senator Frye to remain at the head of the Committee on +Commerce. + +Senator Frye was a very capable and faithful Senator, and enjoyed +the confidence and respect of the people of his State to a greater +degree than any other Maine statesman, with the exception of Mr. +Blaine. As chairman of the Committee on Commerce, I would say he +dominated that committee, and at the same time he was a most +satisfactory chairman to every Senator who served on it. He was +thoroughly familiar with every question pertaining to rivers and +harbors, the shipping interests, and the multitude of matters coming +before the committee. Senator Burton, of Ohio, is probably the +only member of the United States Senate at present who is as well +posted on matters before the Committee on Commerce. + +Mr. Frye was an active member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, +and during the brief periods when I have been compelled by reason +of illness to remain away from the Senate I always designated +Senator Frye to act in my stead. + +Among his colleagues in the Senate, he enjoyed the greatest degree +of popularity; and aside from one or two occasions when his own +colleague opposed him, no Senator ever objected to any ordinary +bill which Senator Frye called up and asked to have placed on its +passage. In fact it was his custom to report a bill from his +committee, or the Committee on Foreign Relations, the only two +working committees of which he was a member, and ask for its +immediate consideration. No one ever objected, and the bill went +through as a meritorious measure without question, on his word +alone to the Senate. + +He was an ideal presiding officer. For years he was president _pro +tempore_, and the death of Vice-President Hobart, and the accession +of Mr. Roosevelt to the Presidency, necessitated his almost constant +occupancy of the chair. With the peculiar rules existing in the +Senate, the position of presiding officer is comparatively an easy +one. Senator Frye made an especially agreeable presiding officer, +expediting the business of the Senate in a degree equal to that of +any presiding officer during my service. + +I recollect when he was elected president _pro tempore_, in 1896, +I had been talked of for the place, but he had not heard that I +desired it; and a Republican caucus was held which named him +president. Senator Chandler, for whom I have always had the greatest +respect as a man and as a Senator, after the caucus was held told +Senator Frye that he had heard I had some ambition for the place. +Mr. Frye came at once to my house and to my study and asked me, in +so many words, if I had desired to be president of the Senate. I +replied that I had not, adding that I had had no particular concern +about it at any time. He thereupon asserted that he had called +simply to apprise me that whenever I wanted the position he would +very cheerfully resign and yield it to me. I assured him that if +he did not yield it until I asked him to do so, he would hold it +for a long time. He never had any opposition, and on both sides +of the chamber he was, as presiding officer, equally popular. He +voluntarily relinquished the office at the beginning of the Sixty- +second Congress. + +When the tariff was one of the issues--during the first Cleveland, +the Harrison, and the second Cleveland campaigns and to a lesser +degree in 1896 and 1900,--Senator Frye was regarded as one of the +foremost orators and stump speakers on the tariff question. During +his later years it was very much to be regretted that he did not +feel able to take an active part in national campaigns. + +The news of Senator Frye's death comes to me while I am engaged in +reading the proof of what I have said about him in this book. He +died at four o'clock on the eighth day of August, 1911, passing +away at the age of eighty-one years. When asked by a newspaper +man for a brief estimate of Mr. Frye's character, I said: "He was +not only one of the ablest and most devoted of public servants, +but one of the most charming men that I have ever known." This +expression I desire to repeat here for perpetuation in endurable +form. + +Seldom has this country commanded the services of a more enlightened +or more self-sacrificing man than Mr. Frye. He was patriotic to +the very heart's core; no sacrifice for the country would have been +too great for him. He, and his colleague Mr. Hale, and Senators +Allison, of Iowa, Platt, of Connecticut, Teller, of Colorado, +Cockrell, of Missouri, Morgan, of Alabama, and Spooner, of Wisconsin, +constitute a coterie of public men of the last half century such +as any nation should be proud of. Unselfish, energetic, and +patriotic, they have done much to keep the United States on the +proper level. Let us hope, as we must, that the public councils +of the nation may always be guided by men of their character and +abilities. + +Senator Frye's death leaves me the oldest member of the Senate in +point of service. He entered the Senate in March, 1881, giving +him more than thirty years of service, while I entered in March, +1883, which gives me more than twenty-eight years up to date. It +thus will be seen that we have served together for almost an average +lifetime. + +Senator Jacob H. Gallinger of New Hampshire, who was promoted from +the House to the Senate in 1891, now becomes the second member of +the latter body in respect to length of service. Mr. Gallinger is +not a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, of whose +membership I am now especially speaking, but it cannot be out of +place for me to pause here to give him a word of commendation and +salutation as I pursue my way through this maze of memory. A +physician by profession, and a native of Canada, Mr. Gallinger has +shown marked adaptability in taking on the American spirit and in +performing the public's service. He has for many years been Chairman +of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, which, possessing +many of the attributes of an ordinary city council, requires minute +attention to detail. Mr. Gallinger is the second member of the +important Committee on Commerce, and one of the leading members of +the Committee on Appropriations. His committee work therefore +covers a wide range of subjects. Never has he been known to fail +in the performance of his duties in all these connections. Moreover, +he is a constant attendant upon the sessions of the Senate, and +one of the most alert of its members. Apparently, often, he is +impulsive and explosive, and occasionally under the excitement of +debate says what seems to be a harsh thing. If, however, his manner +is indicative of feeling, such a feeling, like a passing summer +cloud, is soon dissipated, and almost immediately gives way to the +sunshine of his really genial and lovable nature. Senator Gallinger +as a member of the House and Senate has given the American public +as much genuine and patriotic service as any man in public life +during the past quarter of a century. I hope he may continue long +to adorn the Senate. + +Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama, was appointed a member of the +Foreign Relations Committee in 1879, and served continuously as a +member of it until his death in 1907, a total service of twenty- +eight years. I do not know of any other Senator who served on that +committee for so long a period. When the Senate was in control of +the Democrats under the second Cleveland Administration, he was +chairman of the committee. + +Senator Morgan was an extraordinary man in many respects. He had +a wonderful fund of information on every subject, but was not a +man of very sound judgment, and I could not say that he was a man +on whose advice one could rely in solving a difficult problem. At +the same time, no one could doubt his honesty and sincerity of +purpose. He did not have the faculty of seeing both sides of a +question, and once he made up his mind, it was impossible to change +him, or by argument and reason to move him from a position deliberately +taken. I probably had as intimate an acquaintance with him as any +other Senator enjoyed, for we not only served as colleagues on the +Committee on Foreign Relations, but, as I have stated in another +chapter, we served together on the Hawaiian Commission. He was +one of the most delightful and agreeable of men if you agreed with +him on any question, but he was so intense on any subject in which +he took an interest, particularly anything pertaining to the +interoceanic canal, that he became almost vicious toward any one +who opposed him. + +If an Isthmian canal be finally constructed, Senator Morgan must +be accorded a large share of the credit; and his name will go down +as the father of it, even though he himself affirmed in debate in +the Senate one day, after the Panama route had been selected, that +he would not be "the father of such a bastard." Senator Morgan +fought for the Nicaraguan route with all the power at his command. +He fought the treaties with Colombia and Panama, first for many +weeks in the committee, and then in the executive sessions of the +Senate. He wanted to arouse public sentiment against the Panama +route, and he addressed the Senate about five hours every day for +thirteen days on the subject, desisting only when we consented to +publish his speeches and papers on the subject, notwithstanding +they had been made and presented in executive session. Nevertheless, +it was Senator Morgan who for very many years kept the subject of +an interoceanic canal before Congress and the country, and finally, +partially through his efforts, interest in the project was kept +alive until it was determined, first, that the canal should be +constructed; and second, that it should be over the Panama route. +Many people thought that the selection of the Panama route would +break Senator Morgan's heart; but they did not know him. He made +the best fight he could, and when the Panama route was selected he +took the same deep interest in the legislation to carry the work +forward that he had always taken in the possible alternative route. +He was firmly convinced that the canal, on account of certain +physical reasons, could never be constructed across the Isthmus of +Panama. + +Time alone will tell whether or not Senator Morgan was right. Time +has demonstrated that he was right in his contention that the Panama +Canal could never be constructed for the amount estimated by the +engineers, one hundred and eighty-three million dollars. It has +already cost over two hundred million dollars, and it is not yet +nearly completed. The latest estimates are that it will cost over +three hundred and eighty-five million dollars. How much more it +will cost the United States, no one can say. + +During the later years of his life, he was probably the most +interesting and unique figure in the Senate. Toward the close of +his Senatorial career he became very feeble, but he attended to +his Senatorial duties as long as he was able to be about at all. +The last time I saw him alive was on the fourth of March, 1907, +the last day of the session, and the last time he ever entered the +Senate or the Capitol. He looked very emaciated and feeble. I +spoke to him, inquiring about his health. He replied, "I am just +tottering around," and after a pause, added, "Cullom, when I die +and you die and Frye dies, and one or two others, this Senate will +not amount to much, will it?" + +He died a few months afterwards at his home in Washington, and in +his death there passed away the last of the old familiar type of +Southern statesmen, so frequently to be met with in Washington +before the Civil War, and the last Senator who served as a Brigadier- +General in the Confederate Army. + +Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, became a member of +the committee at the same time that I was placed on it; but, by +reason of my longer service in the Senate, according to the usual +custom, I outranked him. + +Senator Lodge, by general consent I believe, is regarded to-day as +the most cultivated man in the Senate. He is a scholar, an author, +and a noted historian. He is a very able man in any position in +which he is placed. Judged by the standard of his great predecessor +in the Senate from Massachusetts, Daniel Webster, he is not an +orator, but he is a very effective speaker and a good debater. He +is one of the very active members and has always taken a prominent +part in the disposition of matters coming before the Upper House. +He is always ready to work, and when I desire any matter to be +disposed of without delay, I refer it to Senator Lodge as a +subcommittee, with confidence that it will be attended to quickly +and correctly. + +He is a strong, active Republican, and a politician (using that +term in its higher sense) of no mean order. For years in Republican +National Conventions he has been a conspicuous figure; and twice +at least--once at Philadelphia in 1900, and again in Chicago in +1908--he has been permanent chairman. On both occasions--and I +attended both conventions--he proved himself to be a splendid +presiding officer. He regards his position as the senior Senator +from Massachusetts, the successor of Webster and Sumner and a long +line of noted men, as even a higher honor then the Presidency +itself. + +I have seen it repeatedly stated that Senator Lodge is unpopular +in the Senate,--that he is cold and formal. From my long acquaintance +with him, extending over some seventeen years, I have not found +this to be true. In times of trouble and distress in my own life, +I have found him to be warm and sympathetic. + +I hope that he will remain in the Senate for many years to come. +Should he retire, his loss would be severely felt both as a member +of the Committee on Foreign Relations and as a member of the Senate. + +Senator Augustus O. Bacon, of Georgia, is now the senior member of +the minority on the committee; and should the control of the Senate +pass into the hands of the Democrats, he will, if he remain in the +Senate, naturally become its chairman. He is an able lawyer, and +if subject to criticism at all, I would say that he is a little +too technical as a jurist. I do not say this to disparage him, +because in the active practice of his profession at the bar this +would be regarded to his credit rather than otherwise; and even as +a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, this disposition +to magnify technicalities makes him one of the most valuable members +of that committee. As a Senator, he is jealous of the prerogatives +of the Senate, and vigorously resists the slightest encroachment +on the part of the Executive. He is one of the effective debaters +on the Democratic side of the Senate, and seems to enjoy a controversy +for its own sake. My intercourse with Senator Bacon as a member +of the Committee on Foreign Relations has been most agreeable, and +I have come to like and respect him very much. In my time, he has +been an exceptionally active, useful member, and he has often told +me that he prefers his place as a member of the Foreign Relations +Committee to any other committeeship in the Senate. He is well +equipped, by education and training, for the work of the committee, +and gives close attention to important treaties and other measures +coming before it. He stood with Senator Morgan in opposing the +ratification of the Panama canal treaty, and he was as much in +earnest in his opposition to it as was Senator Morgan; but unlike +the Senator from Alabama, he did not attack Senators personally +who differed from him. When technical matters of importance came +before the committee I usually appointed Senator Spooner and Senator +Bacon as a subcommittee, as I felt that anything that these two +might agree upon would be right, and would be concurred in by the +committee and by the Senate as well. + +Senator Clarence D. Clark, of Wyoming, was a member of the House +for two terms, and has served in the Senate for about fifteen years. +In point of service, he is one of the oldest of the Western Senators. +Unlike the Eastern States, very few of the Western States return +their Senators for term after term; and the value of this, as a +matter of State pride, is well demonstrated in the case of Senator +Clark. It has enabled him to reach the high position of chairman +of the Judiciary Committee, the successor of a long line of able +lawyers,--Trumbull, Edmunds, Thurman, Hoar, and O. H. Platt being +a few of his immediate predecessors. + +Senator Clark has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations +for thirteen years, and a more agreeable member of a committee it +would be difficult to find. He is a capable lawyer, and a man of +sound common sense. I regret that his arduous duties as chairman +of the Judiciary Committee do not permit him to give as close +attention to the Foreign Relations Committee as I would like; but +he always attends when there are matters of particular importance +before it; and I have great respect for his judgment in the +disposition of matters in which he takes any interest at all. + +The Hon. Hernando de Soto Money, of Mississippi, has for years been +one of the leading Democratic members of Congress. For fourteen +years he was a member of the House of Representatives, a prominent +member, too, and he has been a member of the Senate since 1897. +His long service in the House at once enabled him to take his place +as a leader of his party, a Senator admired and respected by his +colleagues on both sides. He was appointed to the Foreign Relations +Committee in 1899, and I have been intimately acquainted with him +since. + +Senator Money is a highly educated, cultured gentleman, and has +travelled extensively over the world. His broad liberal education, +added to his travel, and his extensive knowledge of world history, +made him an especially valuable member of the committee of which +I am chairman. During the past few years I have sympathized with +him very greatly as he has suffered physical pain to a greater +degree than any other man whom I have known, and yet has insisted +on attending diligently to his official duties. He must be a man +of extraordinary will power, or he would never have been able to +conquer his physical suffering to such an extent as to enable him +to attend to his Senatorial duties, and at the same time to obtain +the fund of information which he possesses, as he demonstrated over +and over again in the Senate. + +He retired voluntarily from the Senate on the fourth of March, 1911. + +Of the many Senators with whom I have been associated in the +committee on Foreign Relations, and especially since I became its +chairman, there are two, both now retired to private life, in whom +I had the greatest confidence and for whom I entertained great +affection, as they both did for me--these Senators were the Hon. +J. B. Foraker of Ohio, and the Hon. John C. Spooner of Wisconsin. + +Senator Foraker preceded Senator Spooner as a member of this +committee by some four years. I do not know how it first came +about, but I became very intimate with Senator Foraker almost +immediately after he entered the Senate, and at once grew to admire +him exceedingly. He is a very brilliant man, and has had a notable +career. He enlisted in the Union Army as a private when sixteen +years old, and retired at the close of the war, a Captain. He then +completed his education, and entered upon the practice of the law. +He was elected Judge of the Superior Court at Cincinnati, and later +became a candidate for Governor. The occupant of many civil +positions of importance in his State, a prominent figure in national +convention after national convention, nominating Senator Sherman +for the Presidency in 1884 and 1888, and placing in nomination Mr. +McKinley in 1896, Senator Foraker had established a record in public +life, and had gathered a wealth of experience, sufficient to satisfy +the ambitions of most men, before his great public career really +commenced as a member of the United States Senate, in 1897. He +also nominated McKinley in 1900. + +Senator Foraker was one of the most independent men with whom I +ever served in the Senate. He was a man of such ability and +unquestioned courage that he did not hesitate to take any position +which he himself deemed to be right, regardless of the views of +others. It would inure to the advantage of the country if there +was a more general disposition among public men to adhere to their +own convictions, regardless of what current opinion might be. +Senator Foraker always made up his mind on public questions and +clung to his own opinion in the face of all criticism. The most +striking instance of this trait was when he, the only Republican +Senator to do so, voted against the Hepburn Rate Bill, because he +believed it to be unconstitutional. The very fact that he stood +alone in his opposition to that bill did not seem to bother him in +the least. + +On the recommendation of President Roosevelt, the Committee on +Immigration of the Senate attempted to pass a very drastic Chinese +exclusion law. I examined the bill and became convinced at once +that it was absolutely contrary to and in violation of our treaties +with China. I was very much surprised at the time that even Senator +Lodge, one of the most conservative of Senators, supported the +bill. I was deluged with telegrams from labor organizations, as +I knew Senator Foraker was, favoring the passage of the bill; but +he, with Senator Platt of Connecticut, and some others in the +Senate, whom I assisted as best I could, led the opposition to the +bill reported by the Committee on Immigration and defeated it. +Senator Foraker very well knew that his opposition to this bill +would not strengthen him at home, but he disregarded that fact and +opposed it because he believed it was contrary to our treaty +obligations. + +A more recent case in which he showed his independence was his +taking up the fight of the troops dismissed on account of the so- +called Brownsville affair. This was very unselfish on the part of +Senator Foraker. He had nothing to gain by espousing the cause of +a few negroes, but much to lose by antagonizing the National +administration. He did not hesitate a moment, however. There is +no question that President Roosevelt acted hastily in dismissing +the entire company; but this was one occasion when President +Roosevelt would not recede even though it became perfectly clear +to almost every one in Congress that he was wrong. + +Senator Foraker always did make it a point to attend the meetings +of the Committee on Foreign Relations, but for some reason or other +he was never punctual and was seldom in attendance when the committee +was called to order. But at the same time he was prepared on all +important questions coming before the committee. He seemed to me +to have given attention beforehand to subjects which he knew would +come before a particular meeting, and his opinion on any treaty or +bill before the committee was always sought by his colleagues and +listened to with respect, and almost without exception his opinion +prevailed. + +I regretted exceedingly to see him retire from the Senate. From +the time he entered that body, he was consistently one of the +principal defenders of Republican policies and Republican +administrations on the floor of the Senate. + +Senator John C. Spooner, of Wisconsin, was, in my judgment, one of +the best lawyers who ever served as a member of the Senate, and +among its membership we find the names of the greatest lawyers and +judges of America. He had served in the Civil War, having retired +at its close with the brevet of Major. He early took up the law +as a career, and never abandoned it, even when elected to the +Senate; and as I write this, I believe he is regarded as one of +the foremost lawyers of New York. + +He came into the Senate two years after I entered that body, and +I remember him there as opposing the conference report on the +Interstate Commerce Act. His State having passed into the control +of the Democrats, he retired from the Senate in 1891, but was re- +elected in 1897. He declined several tenders of cabinet positions, +preferring to remain independent as a Senator. + +I knew him for a good many years. Representing a neighboring State, +as he did in the Senate, I became very intimate with him, and never +had the slightest hesitancy in seeking his advice when I was in +doubt concerning any legal or constitutional question. + +Senator Spooner was a much more technical lawyer than Senator +Foraker, but not quite so technical as Senator Bacon. On questions +coming before the Committee on Foreign Relations, his advice was +always to be trusted. My judgment in this respect may be influenced +by our close personal friendship; but I always felt that when I +had his support on any question I was safe and right in the position +I took respecting it. Seldom within my knowledge did the Senate +fail to agree with any attitude that Senator Spooner assumed on a +controverted question. + +Senator Spooner was placed on the committee at the time I became +its chairman. At that time there were before the committee treaties, +legislation, and matters of the utmost importance. He entered upon +the work with the greatest interest, and exercised commanding +influence in the disposition of matters under consideration. He +always seemed to take particular interest in my success as chairman +of the committee, and always wanted to assist and help me wherever +he could. + +We were wrestling with the Reciprocity treaty with Cuba at a meeting. +It had been before the committee for a number of meetings; Senator +Spooner feared that I was about to turn the treaty over to another +Senator to report, and he sent me, while the committee was in +session, a brief note marked "Confidential." It read: + +"The report is that you will give this treaty to another to report. +I think you should report it yourself, as you are not only chairman +of the committee, but you are also a member of the Committee on +Relations with Cuba. Platt spoke to me about it. He felt sensitive +in the first place because the treaty did not go to his committee. +The fact that you and others on this committee were on his committee +reconciled him. I will stand to your shoulder in the fight for +its ratification. + + "Yours, + "Spooner." + +I hope Senator Spooner, if he does me the honor of glancing through +these rambling recollections, will forgive my quoting this confidential +note without his consent; but I do so only to show the very friendly +and confidential relationship that existed between us. + +I doubt very much whether the Colombia or Panama treaty would have +been ratified, or the Panama route selected in preference to the +Nicaraguan route for the Isthmian canal, despite the great influence +of Senator Hanna, had not Senator Spooner joined in advocating the +Panama route. + +It was a long and difficult struggle, not only before the Committee +on Foreign Relations, but before the Committee on Interoceanic +Canals, and resulted in the retirement of Senator Morgan as chairman +of the last-mentioned committee--a position he had held for many +years--and in the selection of Senator Hanna to succeed him. But +Senator Spooner, through his technical knowledge, dominated the +Committee on Interoceanic Canals, and succeeded finally in the +passage of the Spooner act which designated Panama, if that route +could be purchased, as the route for the canal. + +Senator Spooner was one of the real leaders of the Senate from 1897 +until he retired. He was one of the most eloquent men who served +in the Senate during that period. During all the debates on the +Cuban question, the important results growing out of the Spanish- +American War, the question of Imperialism--his participation in +all these momentous subjects was above criticism. I have heard +him in the Senate, speaking day after day. He never grew tiresome; +never repeated himself; always held the most profound attention of +the Senate; and his closing words were listened to with the same +attention and with the same interest, by his colleagues and by the +galleries, as marked the beginning of any of his speeches. After +his conclusions his Republican colleagues invariably gathered around +him, offering their congratulations. + +Senator Spooner and Senator Foraker have both retired. It was +thought at the time that their places could not be filled, and I, +as one of the older Senators who remember them well, can not believe +that their places have been filled. Of all the Senators with whom +I have served, Spooner and Foraker were most alike in their combative +natures, in their willingness to take the responsibility to go to +the front to lead the fight. Senators come and go, the personnel +of the Senate changes, one Senator will be replaced by another, +but the Senate itself will go on as long as the Republic endures. + +One of the most dignified, honest, straightforward, capable men +with whom I have served, was the Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, of +Indiana. He was a devoted adherent, friend, and follower of the +late President McKinley, and had been his friend long before he +was nominated for President in 1896. Senator Fairbanks took a very +prominent part in that convention, was its temporary chairman, and +in 1900 was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions of the National +Convention which met at Philadelphia. He entered the Senate in +1897, and during the following year was appointed by President +McKinley a member of the United States and British Joint High +Commission for the adjustment of all outstanding questions concerning +the United States and Canada. The commission was an exceedingly +important one, but failing to agree on the Alaskan boundary, it +was compelled to adjourn without settling any of the questions +before it. Its labors were not wasted, however, as it furnished +the nucleus for the final adjustment of those questions under the +administration of Mr. Root, in the State Department. + +Senator Fairbanks was a close personal friend of President McKinley, +and almost immediately assumed quite an important position in the +Senate. He was appointed to the Committee on Foreign Relations, +of which he was quite an able and influential member, as he was of +every committee of the Senate on which he served. He accepted the +nomination of the Republican Convention of 1904 for Vice-President. +I considered that his proper place was in the Senate; but for some +reason or other he gave it out that he would not decline the +nomination for the office of Vice-President, and neither would he +seek it. The Convention very wisely determined that he was the +best candidate that could be nominated. The duties of the Vice- +President are not very arduous; but in all my service in the Senate +I do not know of a Vice-President who so strictly observed the +obligation adherent to the office as did Mr. Fairbanks. He was a +candidate for President in 1908 but was defeated by President Taft. + +Since his retirement from the Vice-Presidency, he has at least +twice been tendered high appointments in the diplomatic service, +first as Ambassador to the Court of St. James, and, later (it having +been rumored while he was travelling in China that he had expressed +himself as favorably inclined toward the acceptance of the position +of minister to that country), Secretary Knox indicated a desire +through mutual friends to have him appointed. Mr. Fairbanks thanked +his friends, but declined the appointment. + +In his tour around the world after retiring from the office of Vice- +President, he conducted himself with great dignity and propriety. + +Senator Albert J. Beveridge succeeded Senator Fairbanks, as a member +of the Committee on Foreign Relations. For years Senator Beveridge +had seemed more than anxious to become a member of this committee. +When he first entered the Senate he thought he should have been +made one of its members, as he had always taken a deep interest in +foreign matters; but the Committee on Organization determined that +his colleague, Senator Fairbanks, was entitled to the preference. +When Senator Fairbanks retired, I requested the Committee on +Organization to place Senator Beveridge on my committee, which it +did. + +I have always admired Senator Beveridge. He is an exceptionally +engaging speaker, a brilliant man, and so talented that one cannot +help being attracted to him. I had heard of him years before he +entered the Senate. The late Senator McDonald of Indiana, a strong, +gifted lawyer and the highest type of a man, told me one day that +he had a young man in his office, named Beveridge, who knew more +about the politics of the day than almost any other man in the +State, and he believed he would be a controlling factor in Republican +politics in Indiana. + +Senator Beveridge is a popular magazine writer, as he is one of +the most popular public speakers of to-day. As a campaign orator, +his services are constantly in demand. + +I regret very much to say, that notwithstanding Senator Beveridge's +prior anxiety to become a member of the Committee on Foreign +Relations, after his appointment he attended very few meetings and +apparently took little interest in its business. His duties as +Chairman of the Committee on Territories, combined with work on +other committees, necessarily consumed most of his time. + +For a number of years after the Hon. John Kean, of New Jersey, +entered the Senate, I had no special acquaintance with him, and I +did not welcome him particularly when he was made a member of the +Committee on Foreign Relations, in 1901. Since then I have become +very intimate with Senator Kean, and there have been few men on +the committee for whom I entertained a higher regard, or in whom +I placed more confidence. He was a very industrious and useful +member, as he is in the Senate. He filled quite a prominent place +in the Senate, and watched legislation probably more closely than +any other member. He was always familiar with the bills on the +calendar, and made it a point to object to any questionable measures +that came before the Senate. He advanced in influence and power +very rapidly in the last few years of his service. Through Senator +Kean, I have been enabled very often to expedite the passage of +measures, not only coming from the Committee on Foreign Relations, +but bills in which I have been interested pertaining to the affairs +of my own State. If the Senate had what is known as a "whip," I +would say that Senator Kean comes more nearly being the Republican +"whip" than any other Senator, with the possible exception, in +recent years, of Senator Murray Crane, of Massachusetts. + +Senator Thomas H. Carter, of Montana, a member of the committee in +the Sixty-first Congress, was one of the most popular members of +the Senate. His ability as a lawyer and legislator, combined with +his wit and keen sense of humor, enabled him to assume quite a +commanding position in that body. When feeling ran high in debate, +sometimes almost to the point of personal encounter, Senator Carter +would appear, and by a few well-chosen words, voiced in his calm, +quiet manner, throw oil upon the troubled waters, and peace again +reigned supreme. + +I have known Senator Carter for very many years. I knew him as a +young man. His home was at one time in Illinois, at the little +town of Pana, about twenty-five miles from my own home at Springfield. +He has held many public offices. Delegate from the Territory of +Montana, member of the Fifty-first Congress, Commissioner of the +General Land Office, Senator from 1895 to 1901 and from 1905 to +1906, Chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1892, he +has in all these positions distinguished himself as a man of a high +order of ability. I have always liked Senator Carter very much, +and I was glad indeed that he was named a member of the Committee +on Foreign Relations. He is a very useful and influential member, +as he is of the Senate. + +Senator William Alden Smith, of Michigan, was only recently placed +on the Committee on Foreign Relations, quite a distinction for a +Senator who had served for so brief a time as a member of the +Senate. Senator Smith, however, was a prominent member of the +House for many years, and was elected to the Senate while serving +as a member of the House of Representatives. He has taken position +in the Senate very rapidly. He is a lawyer of experience and long +practice, and an industrious and competent legislator. He is always +watchful of the interests of his State. He took a prominent part +in the consideration of the treaties between the United States and +Great Britain concerning Canada, more especially the boundary and +water-way treaties. It was through his efforts that an amendment +to the latter treaty was adopted, which he considered necessary to +protect the interests of his State, and which I greatly feared +would result in the rejection of the treaty by the Canadian +Parliament. I am very glad to say, however, that the treaty has +been ratified by both Governments, and only recently proclaimed. + +Senator Smith has taken a keen interest in matters before the +Committee on Foreign Relations, and with his experience, industry, +and capacity, he is bound to become a very useful member of the +committee. + +One of the last members to be appointed on the Committee on Foreign +Relations was the Hon. Elihu Root, of New York. He is one of the +greatest men and ablest Senators who have ever been members of the +committee. When he became a member of it, he was not at all a +stranger, for the reason that he, on my invitation, had, while +Secretary of State, for two years previous to his retirement from +that office, attended almost every meeting of the committee. +Between Mr. Hay and the members of the Senate, there was not the +close relationship which should have existed between that body and +the State Department. + +Secretary Hay was not disposed to cultivate friendly relations with +Senators, and certain remarks he made concerning the Senate as a +body were very distasteful to Senators; and although I had invited +him, he seemed very averse to coming before the Committee on Foreign +Relations. I did not press the point. The result was that important +treaties and other matters were constantly sent in, with which the +members of the committee were not familiar, and we had to grope in +the dark, as it were, and inform ourselves concerning them as best +we could. + +But when Mr. Root became Secretary of State, I resolved to insist +that the Secretary meet with us from time to time, and explain such +treaties and measures as might need explanation, and upon which +the Administration was anxious to secure favorable action. In +other words, there should be closer relationship between the +Committee on Foreign Relations and the State Department than had +formerly existed. I first saw President Roosevelt and told him I +hoped Mr. Root would come before the committee as occasion might +require. The President seemed at once impressed with the propriety +of the proposed plan, and remarked in his own characteristic fashion: +"That is just the thing." I then saw Mr. Root, whom I knew very +well as Secretary of War, and he was more than pleased with the +suggestion, asserting that it was just what he wanted to do. It +so happened that during his administration of the State Department +he found it necessary to negotiate more treaties, and treaties of +greater importance, than any of his more recent predecessors in +that high office, and he became so constant and punctual in his +attendance at the meetings of the committee that we grew almost to +regard him as a regular member, even before he entered the Senate. + +He has served on the committee but two sessions, but even in that +short time he has proved his fitness to fill the gap left by the +retirement of Senators Spooner and Foraker. As a lawyer he is as +brilliant as either of those men, and probably, owing to his +executive experience, a more efficient statesman. I regard him as +the best qualified man in this country for any position in the +public service which he would accept. He would make a strong +President, and as a Senator he is equipped with extraordinary +qualifications. If he remains in the Senate, by sheer force of +ability alone he is bound to become its acknowledged leader. We +have never had a stronger Secretary of State. Mr. Hay was a very +great man in many respects, and could handle an international +question, especially pertaining to the Far East, with more skill +than any of his predecessors; but Mr. Root, while probably not as +well versed in diplomacy as Mr. Hay, is one of the foremost lawyers +in America, and has the faculty of going into the minutest details +of every question, large or small, even to the extent of reorganizing +all the multitude of details of the State Department. He was the +real head of the department, and supervised every matter coming +before it. + +As Secretary of State he made it one of his policies to bring the +republics of this hemisphere into closer relationship with one +another. He visited South and Central America, and did much to +bring about a friendly feeling with the republics of those regions. + +He is one of those who insisted upon the absolute equality of +nations, both great and small; and in this he was particularly +pointed in his instructions to the delegates representing the United +States at the Second Peace Conference at The Hague. + +He did not retire from the State Department until he had adjusted +almost, if not all, outstanding questions between the United States +and other Nations. He closed up the work of the Joint High +Commission, and by a series of treaties adjusted every factor of +difference between the United States and Great Britain concerning +Canada. + +Bringing the consideration of the personnel of the committee up to +the close of the Sixty-first Congress, there remain to be mentioned +only William J. Stone, of Missouri, and Benjamin F. Shively, of +Indiana, both Democrats. Mr. Stone and Mr. Shively are not only +new men on the committee, but both of them are comparatively new +to the Senate. They had, however, been sufficiently tried in other +fields of effort to justify their States in sending them to this +exalted body, and the records both have made here have well vindicated +their selection. In a comparatively brief time they have attained +to positions of leadership on the Democratic side of the chamber, +and since they have become members of this committee they have +manifested an unusual grasp of international subjects. They are +from States which adjoin my own State of Illinois, and I am especially +pleased to have them as members of the committee of which I am +chairman. + + +CHAPTER XXIV +WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS + +When I became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, in +1901, I found a large quantity of undisposed of matter on the +dockets, both legislative and executive. I determined that I would +at once proceed to clear the docket and endeavor to make the +committee an active working one. I have since made it a policy, +as best I could, to secure some action, favorable or unfavorable, +on every matter referred to the committee by the Senate. + +The first subject to which I turned my attention was the reciprocity +treaties between the United States and Barbados, Bermuda, British +Guiana, Turk Islands and Caicos, Jamaica, Argentine Republic, +France, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Denmark. + +These treaties had been pending before the committee for two years, +and I resolved as I expressed it to one Senator, who was opposed +to them, that I would get them out of the committee "if I had to +carry them out in a basket." These treaties were negotiated under +the authority contained in the fourth section of the Dingley Act, +which provided: + +"Section 4. That whenever the President of the United States, by +and with the advice and consent of the Senate, with a view to secure +reciprocal trade with foreign countries, shall, within a period of +two years from and after the passage of this act, enter into +commercial treaty or treaties with any other country concerning +the admission to such country of goods, wares, or merchandise of +the United States . . . and in such treaty or treaties shall provide +for reduction during a specified period of the duties imposed by +this act, to the extent of twenty per centum thereof, upon such +goods, wares, or merchandise as may be designated therein, . . . +or shall provide for the transfer during such period from the +dutiable list of this act to the free list thereof of such goods, +wares, or merchandise the product of foreign countries; and when +. . . any such treaty shall have been duly ratified by the Senate +and approved by Congress, then and thereafter the duties which +shall be collected by the United States upon any of the designated +goods, wares, or merchandise from the foreign country with which +such treaty has been made, shall, during the period provided for, +be the duties specified and provided in such treaty, and none +other." + +There was a considerable opposition to the ratification of these +treaties in the Senate, and very strong opposition to them in the +committee. President McKinley was very much in favor of their +ratification, and as one treaty after another expired, a new one +would be made reviving it. + +The first problem which confronted me was this: The fourth section +of the Dingley Act provided that such treaties should be made only +within two years after the passage of the act; the two years had +long since expired--could the Senate ratify them at all? + +I submitted to the Senate a report on the constitutional question. +The single question covered was, whether the treaties not having +been ratified by the Senate within the two years specified in the +Dingley Act were still within its jurisdiction. + +The committee determined that the President and the Senate are, +under the Constitution, the treaty-making power. The initiative +lies with the President. He can negotiate such treaties as may +seem to him wise, and propose them to the Senate for the advice +and consent of that body. The power of the President and the Senate +is derived from the Constitution. There is under our Constitution +no other source of treaty-making power. The Congress is without +power to grant to the President or to the Senate any authority with +respect to treaties; nor does the Congress possess any power to +fetter or limit in any way the President or the Senate in the +exercise of this constitutional function. It cannot in any way +enlarge, limit, or attach conditions to the treaty-making power, +and the subcommittee concluded their report on this branch of the +subject with this statement: + +"The committee is clearly of the opinion that nothing contained in +section four of the Dingley Act constitutes any valid restriction +upon the jurisdiction and power of the Senate to act upon the +commercial treaties now pending." + +That question being disposed of to my satisfaction, I proceeded to +urge the consideration of the treaties at every meeting of the +committee for many months, but it was not until June, 1902, that +I secured the favorable report of all the treaties, excepting the +treaty with the Argentine Republic and that with Jamaica. + +There was another very serious question which I raised myself, and +that was, whether legislation was necessary to carry them into +effect, or whether the treaties were self-executing. None of the +treaties contained any provision for legislation, and by their +terms, they would go into effect without legislation. John A. +Kasson, who negotiated them, told me that he purposely left out +any reference to legislative action, because the executive department +had serious doubts on the subject, and preferred to permit the +Senate itself to pass upon it. + +I have always contended that reciprocity treaties, like other +treaties in general, are self-executing, if by their terms they do +not provide for legislative action. + +I made a very extended address in the Senate on January 29, 1902, +because I wanted to get the attention of the Senate to this important +constitutional subject. I said in opening: + +"Has Congress any power or authority, under the Constitution, over +treaties? This subject has been discussed at different times during +our entire Constitutional history. It is a very complicated +question, not only because the authority of the House on the subject +of treaties has been disputed and argued almost from the very +adoption of the Constitution, but the fourth section of the Dingley +Act specifically provides how and when such treaties shall be made. +. . . In my opinion the fourth section of the Dingley Act, so far +as it attempts to confer, limit, or define the treaty-making power +is not only an unwarranted interference with the powers of the +President and Senate, but is unconstitutional, because it comes in +conflict with that clause of the Constitution which says that the +President shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of +the Senate to make treaties. No law of Congress can in any way +modify or limit those powers. The Dingley Law can not limit the +time in which we shall be allowed to make a treaty; it can not give +to Congress any power on the subject of treaties not given it by +the Constitution, and under the Constitution Congress as a legislative +body is not a part of the treaty-making power." + +I contended that the fourth section of the Dingley Act, if considered +by the Executive at all, should be merely as an expression of the +views of Congress in the adjustment of the specific terms of each +treaty. + +But the particular question in which I was more interested and to +which I devoted most of my remarks was, whether a reciprocity +treaty, which by its terms provides that the duties to be collected +after its ratification shall be those specified in the treaty, and +none other (and which makes no reference to further Congressional +action), would of its own force operate to repeal so much of the +tariff act as may come in conflict with it, or whether it would be +necessary for Congress to act on a treaty before those duties are +reduced, and before the treaty shall become the supreme law of the +land. + +I then proceeded to a minute examination into the history of the +treaty-making provision in the Constitution, tracing it through +the Constitutional Convention, and giving the views of the framers +of the Constitution as to its scope and effect. It was Alexander +Hamilton who drafted the treaty-making clause of the Federal +Constitution, and it was purposely so framed as to exclude the +House from all consideration of treaties. Twice it was proposed +in the Constitutional Convention to unite the House of Representatives +with the Senate in the approval of treaties, but both times it was +rejected almost unanimously, Pennsylvania alone voting in the +affirmative. The treaty-making clause of the Federal Constitution +was adopted in the Constitutional Convention only after a most +vigorous fight against it by those who contended that the authority +conferred was too great. Patrick Henry thought that, "If the clause +were adopted as it was submitted to the State, two-thirds of a +quorum of the Senate would be empowered to make treaties that might +relinquish and alienate territorial rights and our most valuable +commercial advantages. In short, should anything be left, it would +be because the President and Senators would be pleased to admit +it. The power of making treaties under the Constitution extends +farther than in any country in the world. Treaties have more force +here than in any part of Christendom." And he begged the convention +to stop before it conceded this power unguarded and unaltered. + +The power was conferred on the President and the Senate, unguarded +and unaltered, when the Constitution was adopted. + +The question came before the House of Representatives the first +time just seven years after the Constitution was adopted, and has +been before the House many times since then. The Jay Treaty called +for an appropriation of eighty thousand dollars. It was a very +unpopular treaty, and a very notable debate took place on the +resolution requesting the President to lay before the House copies +of the correspondence and other papers relating to the treaty. +President Washington declined to furnish the papers, on the ground +that the treaty needed no legislative action, and the House had +nothing whatever to do with treaties, but was morally bound to make +the appropriation, thereby carrying out the contract. The House +responded by passing a long series of resolutions; but finally the +appropriation was made. + +The whole question has been discussed in the House, practically +every time an appropriation has been called for to carry out a +treaty; but the House, while always contending that it had a voice +in the treaty-making power, never declined to make the appropriation, +and only on one occasion do I now recall that the House declined +to enact legislation to carry out a treaty where the treaty +specifically itself provided for such legislation. This was in +the case of the reciprocity treaty with Mexico, negotiated by +General Grant. + +I concluded my speech in the Senate with this statement: + +"This question before us here has been before the Senate for a +hundred years. The Executive and Senate have taken one position, +and that is a treaty is the supreme law of the land. That position +has been sustained by the Supreme Court. On the other hand, during +all these hundred years, the House of Representatives has, as a +rule, insisted that they should be considered in reference to +certain treaties. That does not relieve the Senate from standing +by its prerogatives and rights and insisting that the rights of +the Executive be maintained. The point here is this: the Constitution +gives to the Executive, with the advice and consent of the Senate, +the right to negotiate treaties. We have been negotiating commercial +treaties continuously prior and subsequent to the adoption of the +Constitution, and those treaties have been sustained as the supreme +law of the land. + +"It is said that the Constitution has given to Congress the right +to regulate commerce with foreign nations, to lay and collect taxes, +duties, and imposts, and to the House of Representatives the right +to originate bills for raising revenues, and to the President and +Senate the right to make and ratify treaties. These are all co- +equal and independent powers. One does not interfere with the +other. One is not exclusive of the other. A law passed in any of +the ways provided by the Constitution is the supreme law of the +land until it is changed or repealed. A treaty made by the Executive +and ratified by the Senate is the supreme law of the land as well +as an act of Congress. If the Congress is not satisfied with the +treaty, it has a perfect right to repeal it, as it has any other +law; but until such action is taken, the treaty remains as a part +of the supreme law of the land; and I cannot see any distinction +between treaties which affect the tariff laws, and treaties affecting +any other law." + +The subject was very seriously and carefully considered, but it +was thought expedient that the committee should not take any position +either for or against the unlimited power of the Senate over +reciprocity treaties. It was Senator Spooner who suggested that +each of the treaties be amended by inserting therein a provision +that "the treaty not take effect until the same shall have been +approved by the Congress." + +The merits of the question were not considered; but my position +was, and still is, that amending the treaties in the manner suggested +by Senator Spooner, by inference indicated that if such a provision +had not been inserted, the treaties would go into effect immediately +without any Congressional action. + +Aside from the reciprocity treaty with France, none of the treaties +was considered by the Senate itself. I pressed them as best I +could, but Senator Aldrich, Senator Hanna, and other advocates of +high protection, were so bitterly opposed to them--no one in the +Senate aside from myself seeming to have much interest in them-- +that they were dropped and allowed to expire by their own terms. +I particularly regretted that the Kasson treaties were not ratified. + +Had the Senate ratified those treaties, a large number of other +treaties probably would have been negotiated, and we would not have +been compelled to go through the long struggle and agitation over +the passage of the Aldrich-Payne Tariff Bill. There would have +been no tariff revision necessary. At the same time, we could not +possibly help vastly increasing our foreign commerce. It was a +very short-sighted policy on the part of Senator Aldrich and others +in the Senate when they insisted that those treaties should be +killed. After it was determined, and it became so known to the +country that it would be impossible to secure the ratification of +reciprocity treaties, the agitation for tariff revision commenced, +and finally culminated in the act of 1909, which resulted in the +election of a Democratic House of Representatives. + +The committee did favorably report, and the Senate ratify, a +reciprocity treaty with Cuba. This was the treaty of December 11, +1902, and it was the third reciprocal agreement in all our history +ratified, proclaimed, and placed in effect. The first one was the +treaty of 1854, providing for reciprocity with Canada. The second +was the treaty of 1875, with the Hawaiian Islands, and the third +and the only one now in effect is the treaty with Cuba. + +That treaty would never have been ratified, and would have suffered +the same fate as the Kasson treaties, had it not been for the +determined, vigorous fight made by President Roosevelt for its +ratification, and had not Cuba stood in a relation to us entirely +different from any other country. We bound her to us by insisting +that the Platt amendments be made a part of her Constitution, and +in addition that a treaty be made between the two countries embodying +those amendments. + +This treaty with Cuba and the law carrying it into effect were the +occasion of a very bitter struggle in both Senate and House. The +sugar and tobacco interests used all the power at their command to +defeat, first the treaty, and then the law carrying the treaty into +effect. The beet-sugar people asserted that it would ruin that +industry, and that a reduction of twenty per cent on Cuban sugar +would enable the Cubans to ship their sugar into the United States +and undersell the beet sugar. I never could see that there was +any force in their contention, because the United States does not +produce more than half the sugar we consume, and it was absolutely +necessary to import sugar from Cuba and other sugar-producing +countries. + +When the treaty was before the committee for consideration, it was +amended by inserting the following proviso: + +"Provided that while this convention is in force, no sugar exported +from the Republic of Cuba and being the product of the soil or +industry of the Republic of Cuba, shall be admitted to the United +States at a reduction of duty greater than twenty per centum of +the rates of duty thereon as provided by the tariff act of the +United States, approved July 24, 1897; and no sugar, the product +of any other foreign country, shall be admitted by treaty or +convention into the United States, while this convention is in +force, at a lower rate of duty than that provided by the tariff +act of the United States, approved July 24, 1897." + +The effect of this amendment was not only to prevent a greater +reduction being made on Cuban sugar, but it had a more important +effect that it made reciprocity treaties with the sugar-producing +countries, including the West Indies, impossible so long as the +Cuban treaty remains in force. + +I had charge of this treaty in the Senate, and addressed the Senate +at considerable length explaining its provisions. + +There was a spirited contest in the Senate over the ratification +of the treaty, but there was more of a contest both in the Senate +and the House when the bill to carry the treaty into effect came +up at the next session of Congress, it first having been considered +at a special session called by President Roosevelt in November, +1903. A provision was inserted in the treaty (which I opposed, as +I thought it was unnecessary), that it should not go into effect +until it was approved by the Congress. The bill was passed in the +House and came to the Committee on Foreign Relations, was considered +there, and favorably reported to the Senate. The bill, of course, +was considered in open session, and I again made some remarks, +probably more in the nature of a report than a speech, trying to +show where the treaty was not only absolutely necessary, if Cuba +was to be prosperous at all, but that it would open a considerable +market for American products. + +The Cuban reciprocity treaty has increased very materially our +trade with that Republic. Since that treaty went into effect our +imports from Cuba have increased from $62,942,000 in value to +$122,528,000 in value; and our exports to Cuba have increased from +$21,000,000 in 1903, to nearly $53,000,000 in 1910, or more than +doubled. But even with this considerable increase in our exports +to Cuba, I had hoped that by this time we should have increased +them to at least one hundred million dollars. Our own exporters +and manufacturers are at fault, because they will not do business +with the Cubans on the same credit basis as will the exporters of +Spain, Germany, and England; and American exporters do not cater +to the peculiar needs of the Cubans. They seem to go on the theory +that if their goods are good enough for Americans they should be +good enough for Cubans, too. + +The Cuban treaty is a good illustration of the scare and the +unwarranted opposition on the part of American industries when even +the slightest reduction of the tariff is attempted. To listen to +the beet-sugar and tobacco interests during the consideration of +the Cuban treaty, one would think they would have been absolutely +ruined if the treaty were ratified. The Cuban treaty has not in +the slightest degree injuriously affected the American sugar or +tobacco interests. + +The principle of Reciprocity as heretofore applied in this country +has been extended somewhat by the agreement of 1911 between the +United States and Canada. This compact was negotiated by President +Taft and Secretary Knox on the one side, and by Premier Laurier +and Mr. Fielding on the other. Under this agreement a wide exchange +of articles of every-day use is provided for, and it is hoped and +believed that if the treaty becomes effective it will prove more +satisfactory and enduring than the previous reciprocal agreement +with the Dominion of Canada. + +The pending agreement was entered into between representatives of +the two Governments in January, 1911, but it was not until the +latter part of July of that year that a law was enacted by Congress +to provide for its enforcement. Much opposition was manifested, +especially in the Senate, in both the Sixty-first and Sixty-second +Congresses, on the ground that under its terms a great many +agricultural products are admitted free from Canada; but this +objection has been, I think, successfully met by the Administration +and its friends in the argument that any injury that might be +sustained by agriculture would be more than compensated for by the +benefits derived by the manufacturing interests. For one I have +never believed that agriculture would suffer in any degree through +the operation of the agreement, and I do believe that the general +industries of the country will experience much benefit. Too much +is to be gained through the cultivation of proper trade relations +with our great and growing neighbor on the North to abandon the +general principle involved in the agreement on account of an +apprehension which may not and probably will not be realized. + +In many respects nations are like individuals, and in their relations +with one another they should be controlled by the same rules of +amity and equity as pertain to the associations of mankind generally. +In the end no nation can lose any material thing through an act of +generosity or fair-dealing. + +Notwithstanding the United States has acted favorably upon the +agreement, it is not yet in force. This circumstance is due to +the fact that in the matter of ratification Canada has waited upon +this country. There is opposition there as there was here, and at +this writing (August, 1911) Sir Wilfred Laurier is engaged in a +struggle for favorable endorsement such as that from which President +Taft has just emerged. + + +CHAPTER XXV +THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL + +Probably the most important work before the Committee on Foreign +Relations since the treaty of peace with Spain, were the several +treaties concerning the construction of the Isthmian Canal. + +In 1850, the United States entered into what is known as the Clayton- +Bulwer Treaty with Great Britain, the purpose of which was to +facilitate the construction of a canal; but instead of operating +to this end, it stood for fifty years or more as an effectual +barrier against the construction by the United States of any canal +across the Isthmus of Panama. Succeeding Administrations had +endeavored to secure the consent of Great Britain to its abrogation, +but it was not until Secretary Hay's time that Great Britain +finally agreed to annul it and substitute in its place a new treaty. +Secretary Hay had been Ambassador to Great Britain, and he enjoyed +the confidence of the then existing British Ministry to a greater +degree than almost any minister or ambassador we have ever sent to +Great Britain. After entering the State Department, Mr. Hay at +once directed his attention to the making of a new treaty with +Great Britain and this resulted in the first Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. +This convention was considered by the committee, but was not found +satisfactory, and certain amendments were added to it. These +amendments Great Britain would not accept, and the treaty died. + +Secretary Hay was very much disappointed, but he at once set to +work to negotiate such a treaty as would go through the Senate +without amendment and such a one as Great Britain would consent +to. He wrote to a number of Senators, members of the committee, +I suppose, asking for suggestions as to just what the Senate would +agree to. I was not at that time chairman of the Committee on +Foreign Relations, but I was very deeply interested in the subject +and had given it considerable study and thought. Secretary Hay +wrote me, and I replied at length, giving my views both as to the +Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and what I thought should be inserted in the +new treaty. + +Mr. Hay promptly renewed negotiations, which resulted in what is +known as the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. After a good deal of +effort this agreement was ratified without amendment. This act +signalized the beginning of my service as chairman of the Committee +on Foreign Relations. + +The principal contention arose over the subject of fortifications, +a question that is still a mooted one. It occurs to me that the +proper reasoning is this--and I believe I took the same position +when the treaty was under consideration: + +The first and second Hay-Pauncefote treaties must be construed +together; the first Hay-Pauncefote Treaty contained a prohibition +against fortification; the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty neither +prohibited nor in terms agreed to fortifications, but was silent +on the subject; therefore, the legal construction would be that +Great Britain had receded from the position that the canal should +not be fortified. In any event, we will go ahead and fortify the +canal, and do with it whatever we please, regardless of any of the +nations of the world. + +That obstacle having been finally removed, the question which next +arose was: What route should be selected? The selection of the +route was not a subject over which the Foreign Relations Committee +had jurisdiction; but after the Panama route was decided on, it +became necessary to negotiate with Colombia, the owner of that +route, for the right of way for the canal. Secretary Hay promptly +proceeded with the negotiation, as it was his duty to do, under +the Spooner Act, and on January 3, 1903, submitted the treaty to +the Senate for its Constitutional action thereon. Senator Morgan +and others led the fight against it; but a vote was taken, and the +treaty was ordered favorably reported. On February 12, 1903, I +called it up in the Senate and made quite an extended speech, +explaining its provisions, and urging its ratification. The session +was to close on March 4, and it finally became manifest that it +would be hopeless to attempt to ratify it before that day, and the +effort was abandoned. President Roosevelt called a special session +of the Senate after the fourth of March, when there would be nothing +for the Senate to consider except the Colombian treaty and other +executive matters. According to the usual rule, the treaty was +referred back to the committee, at the beginning of the special +session, and the subject was again gone over in committee as if +there had been no proceedings on it at all during the regular +session. The proposed agreement was finally reported to the Senate, +and ratified. There is no need for me to go over the story of its +rejection by Colombia. The action of the Colombian Congress was +a hold-up pure and simple, and the treaty was rejected in the hope +that the United States would offer a greater amount for the right- +of-way. Panama promptly seceded, which she had a perfect right to +do. Many people have charged that the Roosevelt Administration +actually incited the revolution. Whether this is true or not, I +do not know. I contended at the time, and still believe, that it +is not true. I hope it is not; but the correspondence did show +that the State Department had pretty close knowledge of events +which were occurring on the Isthmus, and had seen to it that there +was a sufficient naval force in the vicinity "to protect American +interests." It was a remarkable revolution--I think the most +remarkable I have ever read of in history. It was practically +bloodless. One or two shots were fired, a Chinaman was killed, +and yet a new and independent republic entered the family of +Nations. + +We were able to make with Panama a much more satisfactory treaty +than we had with Colombia. Senator Morgan this time was assisted +by most of his Democratic colleagues; he denounced the treaty and +made all sorts of charges against the Administration; but after +numerous long sessions of the Committee on Foreign Relations, I +was authorized to report it to the Senate with certain minor +amendments, which, in my opening speech, I asked the Senate to +reject, and to ratify the treaty without amendment. I did this at +the earnest insistence of the State Department. And, in addition, +I did not think that the amendments were of such importance as +would justify resubmitting the treaty to Panama after that little +country had once ratified it. The State Department was led to this +action by the receipt of the following cable from Mr. Buchanan, +the first Minister of the United States to Panama: + + "Panama, _January 22, 1904_. + +"Hay, Washington: + +"I can not refrain from referring to my belief that no amendment +to the treaty should be made. The delimitation of Panama and Colon +involves several things which can only be satisfactorily adjusted +on the ground by joint action. There are several other points in +the treaty which will require a mutual working agreement, or +regulation, including sanitation. While the treaty covers broadly +all these things, my observation here is that the details of +development of the authority conferred by the treaty in these +regards can not be satisfactorily carried out by amendments, but +should be done through a mutually agreed upon regulation or +understanding reached here on the ground between the two countries. +The executive power here can secure for the convention ample +authority to do such things without their being referred to the +convention hereafter. Would it not be possible and best to adopt +this course with these amendments to the treaty; will bring up here +much discussion of many articles which can all be avoided and our +purpose gained by above course. Any time when any specific grants +of land or power not implied in the treaty is desired, it appears +to me the wise course to take will be to do this by a supplemental +convention. + + "(Signed) Buchanan." + +Secretary Hay showed the most eager anxiety to have the treaty +ratified as it stood, and he wrote me quite a lengthy letter on +the subject, which I now feel at liberty to quote. + + "Department of State, Washington. + "_January 20, 1904_. + +"Dear Senator Cullom:-- + +"I enclose a copy of a letter from the Panama Minister which he +sent me last night. He, as well as Mr. Buchanan, who is on the +ground, is greatly disturbed over the possible complications which +may arise if amendments are added to the treaty in the Senate. Of +course, I need not say nobody questions the right of the Senate to +amend the treaty as may seem to them best. I am only speaking of +the matter of opportuneness and expediency. We insisted on an +immediate ratification of the treaty by the Panama Government, and +they acceded to our wishes. If we now, after a very long delay, +send the treaty back to them amended, you can at once imagine the +state of things that it will find there. The moment of unanimity +and enthusiasm, which only comes once in the life of a revolution, +will have passed away and given way to the play of politics and +factions. They will have a certain advantage which they have not +had before in dealing with the matter. We shall have ratified the +treaty with amendments, which gives them another chance to revise +their perhaps hasty and enthusiastic action. They will consider +themselves as entitled to make amendments as well as we, and it +needs only a glance at the treaty to show what an infinite field +of amendments there is from every point of view. The Junta in +making their report to the present Constitutional Convention said +that, although many of the provisions seemed harsh and hard, yet +it was judged for the public good to accept it as it was. When +they get the amended treaty in their hands again, they will compare +it with the treaty we made with Colombia, and see how vastly more +advantageous to us this treaty is than that one was, and there are +never lacking in a body of men like the Constitutional Convention +a plenty of members who like to distinguish themselves by defending +the interests of their country through the advantageous amendment +of a treaty. Meanwhile the country will be open to the intrigues +of the Colombians, and even to the military attacks upon the +frontier. + +"All these considerations would, of course, have no weight whatever +if the amendments were vital to our interests, but, as I said to +you yesterday, it was the opinion of all of us who have studied +the matter that every point made by the amendments was intended to +be covered--I do not say how successfully--by the provisions of +the treaty itself. This letter of Mr. Varilla's shows that the +intentions of each Government were thoroughly understood by the +other, exactly in the sense of the amendments now proposed. I +earnestly hope that our friends in the Senate may see the strength +of our present position if the treaty is ratified without amendment, +and the certain complications that will arise if, after a long +debate here, the treaty is put once more in the hands of the Panamans +for reconsideration and amendment. + +"If the object of the amendments, as some people say, is to get it +ratified by the new permanent Government, nothing is easier. I +have no doubt we can have a solemn resolution of that sort adopted +by the Convention at any time. + + "Very sincerely yours, + "John Hay. + +"The Honorable S. M. Cullom, + "United States Senate." + +After nearly a month and a half of debate in executive session, +devoted to its consideration, the treaty was finally ratified +without amendment. + +Considerable discussion arose over the question of the recognition +of Panama and the right of that country to make the treaty at all. +I contended in the Senate, in open as well as executive session, +that the new Republic of Panama had a perfect right to make the +treaty with the United States because it was a complete, sovereign, +and independent State. The recognition given the new Government +was the highest recognition we could accord. It was not a recognition +of belligerency, which is only a recognition that war exists; it +was not a virtual recognition, which is a recognition only for +commercial purposes; but it was what Pomeroy and Fillmore define +to be a formal recognition--that is, an absolute recognition of +independence and sovereignty. The recognition of the Republic was +a complete and formal recognition of independence, because the +President had received an envoy-extraordinary and minister- +plenipotentiary from that State. The United States Senate was a +party to that complete and formal recognition, because we confirmed +the nomination of Mr. Buchanan as envoy-extraordinary and minister- +plenipotentiary to that country. + +This ended the long fight over the construction of the Panama Canal +--at least, so far as it in any way involved the jurisdiction of +the Committee on Foreign Relations. With the ratification of the +treaty, the subject was transferred to the Committee on Interoceanic +canals, where, during every session, matters of more or less +importance connected with the canal are considered. + +I do not know whether or not it was wise to change from the Nicaraguan +to the Panama route. Senator Hanna and Senator Spooner were +responsible for the change; and time alone will demonstrate whether +we acted wisely. + + +CHAPTER XXVI +SANTO DOMINGO'S FISCAL AFFAIRS + +For some years the Santo Domingo protocol and treaty were before +the Committee on Foreign Relations, and in the Senate. They came +before the Senate very suddenly. On January 20, 1905, there appeared +in the press what purported to be a protocol, agreed to by Commander +Dillingham on the one hand, and Minister Sanchez of the Dominican +Republic on the other, by the terms of which the United States was +to take charge of the custom houses of the Dominican Republic, +adjust and liquidate its debt, and generally to take charge of the +fiscal affairs of the Republic. By the terms of this protocol, it +was to go into effect February 1, and there was no provision at +all for Senatorial action. Senator Bacon and other Democratic +Senators became very much aroused over this as a usurpation of the +rights of the Senate. Resolutions were introduced, calling upon +the State Department for information, and the subject was considered +by the committee at several meetings. + +I confess that I too was considerably surprised at the action of +the State Department, and I called on Secretary Hay one morning +and asked to be informed as to the facts. + +Secretary Hay stated that he would communicate with me in writing, +which he did on March 13, 1905, saying: + +"In answer to your verbal request, I submit herewith a statement +of the facts with reference to the making of the Santo Domingo +protocol, and enclose herewith a copy of the protocol of January +20, 1905. That protocol was not drawn up by the Department of +State and was never seen by any of its officials until it appeared +in the newspapers on January 22d last, as given out by the Dominican +officials. The Department has never authorized its signing; it +never gave any instructions authorizing its signature; and no full +powers had ever been given authorizing the signature on the part +of the United States Government. The Minister of Foreign Affairs +of the Dominican Republic visited Washington during the Spring of +1904, and during a stay of nearly three months repeatedly solicited +the assistance of the United States Government for the restoration +of order in the island and for the regeneration of his country, +but the responsible officials of the Department advised against +meeting his request, and the President, to whom the matter was +referred, decided against taking any action as long as it could +wisely be avoided. + +"The Dominican Government again brought the matter to the attention +of the United States Minister at Santo Domingo the latter part of +1904. In the meantime an investigation had been going on quietly +by our Government through Commander Dillingham, to obtain information +as to the real condition in the island. After the President became +thus familiar with the situation there, and on the report of the +United States Minister, and after repeated requests for help from +the Dominican Government, the Department of State, on January 6, +1905, prepared a cablegram setting forth the basis on which alone +the United States would be able to render assistance. . . . + +"Neither that cablegram nor any other despatch whatsoever went +further than simply lay down a basis; and acting on this, but +without instructions authorizing it, the Dillingham-Sanchez protocol +was signed. The Department was advised by cable on January 20 that +an arrangement had been agreed to, and thereupon the Department +officials at once set to work to prepare a treaty; and its officials +were actually engaged in drafting one to send to Santo Domingo, +when the publication of the protocol of January 20 appeared. The +Department at once cabled to Santo Domingo to forward a copy of +the protocol; and as soon as its text could be received, the +Department began work in making amendments and adjusting terms on +which the United States Government could consent to act. As soon +as the two Governments could arrive at substantial agreement as to +the terms, full powers were communicated to Dawson, and the protocol +now before the Senate was accordingly signed. + +"In view of the misapprehensions that at once arose, growing out +of publication of the protocol, which upon its face stated it was +to go into effect February 1st, and from which it might naturally +be inferred it was intended to go into effect before the Senate +could have an opportunity to consider it, and without its having +been referred to the Senate for consideration, I considered the +question of the propriety of stating the fact that no instructions +and no powers had ever been granted authorizing the signing of the +protocol of January 20. The decision was reached that repudiation +of the action of Dillingham and Dawson might be construed as a +censure, and that it might cause offence to them as well as to +their friends, who might feel that when the circumstances should +become fully known, that Dillingham and Dawson were justifiable in +assuming the responsibility they did in signing the protocol instead +of making a formal memorandum of the basis agreed on and communicating +it to the Department for the drafting of a treaty. Both of these +officials have a record of faithful and skilful service and +competency, and it was hoped when the facts should become more +fully known, a correct understanding of the actual situation would +remove any ill effects of previous misapprehension. + +"The department has been advised that the protocol of January 20 +was given out for publication by the Dominican Government in order +to calm the popular mind on account of its uncertainty as to the +character of negotiations which were actually being carried on +between the two Governments. + + "(Signed) John Hay." + +From 1865, until the time that the United States assumed the +collection of customs, conditions in Santo Domingo were about as +bad as they could be in every respect. One revolution succeeded +another. There had been twenty-six different Administrations since +1865, only one of which was brought about by means of a regular +election. Most of the others were caused by revolutions, assassination, +forced resignations, and a general condition of anarchy. Debt +after debt, bond issue after bond issue, piled up, each Administration +seemingly bent only on seeing how much actual cash could be raised, +utterly regardless of obligations assumed. None of the principal +and only a trifling portion of the interest were paid, and it seems +that the different Administrations never had any intention of +liquidating the obligations of the Republic. The principal portion +of the bonds was held by European creditors. + +But finally the Santo Domingo Improvement Company, an American +corporation, succeeded as the fiscal agents of the Republic, to +float its bond issues. The improvement company was displayed, and +its claim was settled for four million, five hundred thousand +dollars. Then a protocol was entered into between the United States +and Santo Domingo by which the manner of payment was submitted to +arbitration, our arbitrators being Judge George Gray and John G. +Carlisle. An award was rendered providing that an agent of the +United States should take possession of certain custom houses, in +order to pay a debt which the Government of Santo Domingo had +acknowledged to be due an American corporation. + +This did not satisfy foreign creditors, French, Belgian and Italian, +who had actually been given, by an agreement with Santo Domingo, +the right to collect revenues at certain custom houses. Santo +Domingo appealed to the United States and the foreign Governments +threatened that if the United States did not enforce some remedial +plan, they would be compelled to take action for the relief of +their own citizens, whose claims aggregated twenty million dollars. +Italian warships were already in Santo Domingo waters ready to +enforce their demands. This, briefly, was the condition of affairs +when the protocol of 1905 was submitted to the Senate for +ratification. + +For more than a quarter of a century we have had a peculiar interest +in Santo Domingo. As is well known, under the Administration of +President Grant a treaty was negotiated and sent to the Senate +providing for the annexation of Santo Domingo. Senator Sumner was +Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and as such was +able to prevent the consideration of the treaty by the committee, +and its ratification by the Senate. Some one said that the only +objection that Charles Sumner had to the treaty was that President +Grant had suggested it first. This was one of the reasons why +Senator Sumner was deposed as chairman of the Foreign Relations +Committee. It would probably have been better for the United +States, and it certainly would have been better for the Dominican +Republic, if the treaty had been ratified. + +The protocol submitted to the Senate involved very large responsibilities +on the part of the United states. It provided that the United +States was to adjust all the obligations of the Republic, the +arrangement of the payment, to pass upon all claims of Santo Domingo, +determine their amount and validity, take charge of all the custom +houses, and collect and disburse the customs receipts, giving to +Santo Domingo forty-five per cent of the customs receipts and +devoting the balance to the liquidation of her debts. + +This protocol had the active opposition of the minority of the +committee and in the Senate and, in addition, such conservative +members as Senator Hale and other prominent Republicans opposed +it. We fought over it in committee month after month; but finally, +on March 10, 1905, it was reported by me to the Senate with a large +number of amendments. It was considered by the Senate, recommitted +at the end of the Congress, and again reported at the following +Congress. But those in favor of it became convinced that we did +not have the two-thirds necessary to ratify it, and it was never +brought to a vote. It was thought that nothing more would be heard +of the Santo Domingo protocol; but Senator Root, when Secretary of +State, took the subject up _de novo_, and made a new treaty, in +which the United States did not assume the broad obligations it +assumed under the first one, and which was not generally of so +complicated a character. + +It imposed the duty upon the Santo Domingo Republic itself of +arriving at an adjustment with its creditors, conditioned only on +the administration of the custom houses by the United States. + +In the meantime, an arrangement was made by American banking houses +to furnish the money to liquidate the debt; the creditors were +satisfied; the foreign debt was liquidated on a basis of fifty per +cent of the face value, and domestic debts and other claims less +than ten per cent. A loan of twenty million dollars was made +through Kuhn, Loeb & Company, of which the Dominican Republic +received nineteen million dollars for the payment of its debts; +seventeen million dollars was used to satisfy thirty-one million, +eight thousand dollars worth of bonded debts, and the remaining +two million, two thousand dollars were to go for internal +improvements. + +There was some objection to the ratification of the treaty negotiated +by Secretary Root, but not of a very serious character, and the +treaty went through, even Senator Morgan not opposing it. I had +the honor of reporting it and having charge of it in the Senate. + +The treaty has now been in force several years, and it has proved +even more advantageous than was expected when it was ratified. It +has restored order in the Republic, and the country's debts are +rapidly being liquidated. The time may come when the United States +may be compelled to take similar action with some of the other +republics south of us. Such action would be beneficial both to +the United States and to the people of those republics. + + +CHAPTER XXVII +DIPLOMATIC AGREEMENTS BY PROTOCOL. + +During the public discussion of the Santo Domingo question and the +protocol by which the Santo Domingo Improvement Company claim was +sent to arbitration, and later during the consideration of it, +there was criticism of the Executive branch of the Government on +account of its disposition to make international agreements of +various kinds, and put them into operation without submitting them +to the Senate. The practice became more general under President +McKinley and Secretary Hay than it had under other Administrations, +and it seemed the policy to get along in every case, if possible, +without Senatorial action. It was a subject in which I took very +great interest; I came to the conclusion that the practice had +become too general, and I took occasion to tell Secretary Hay my +views. + +I found that the State Department, under different Administrations, +had submitted private claims of our citizens against foreign +Governments to arbitration by protocol. This has been the rule +frequently adopted for very many years. There were cases, I found, +where the protocol submitting a claim to arbitration had been sent +to the Senate and ratified, and it was the general rule that where +a claim is presented by a foreign Government against this government, +and the same is submitted to arbitration, it is done by treaty. + +I took occasion to look into the question of the effect of an +unratified protocol. It may be said generally that an unratified +protocol differs from a treaty in that the protocol is not ratified +by the Senate and is not a part of the supreme law of the land. +Under our system of government, treaties occupy a unique position. +They are not only binding internationally, but the Constitution +makes treaties a part of the supreme law of the land--that is, a +part of our own municipal law. A treaty, if of later date, and in +conflict with a law passed by Congress, repeals so much of the law +as it conflicts with; but an unratified protocol, or any other +international agreement, no matter by what name it is called, not +submitted to the Senate, does not have the effect of a treaty, as +that term is defined in the Constitution. A protocol is binding +merely on the Executive who makes it, and, as has been well said, +such protocol is binding on the administration in a moral sense +only. + +Nevertheless it has been the practice to make so-called diplomatic +agreements concerning very important matters without their submission +to the Senate. + +For instance, the agreement of 1817, concerning the naval forces +on the Great Lakes, was considered in force and observed by the +two Governments for a year or more before it was submitted to the +Senate at all. Horse Shoe Reef, in Lake Erie, was transferred to +the Government by a mere exchange of notes between Lord Palmerston +and Mr. Lawrence, our Minister to Great Britain; and I might refer +to a long list of arbitrations, some of very great importance, +agreed to by unratified protocols. The very important protocol +concluded by the powers after the Boxer troubles in China was not +sent to the Senate. Important agreements are often made under the +name of _modus vivendi_ without submission to the Senate. + +Very little comment is to be found in books on international law +concerning protocols or diplomatic agreements. There is no doubt +that the Executive has the right to enter into a protocol preliminary +to the negotiation of a treaty. This is a common practice. We +have such protocols preliminary to treaties of peace. As to the +claims protocols, the Executive Department has taken the position +that the President, who is in charge of our foreign relations, has +wide discretion in settling disputes by diplomacy; and that a claims +protocol is in the nature of a settlement of a claim of a citizen +of our country against a foreign Government, by diplomacy. + +The term "protocol," or diplomatic agreement, or _modus vivendi_, +is not found in the Constitution. The Constitution uses only one +term in describing agreements between this Government and foreign +powers, and that is the term "treaty"; and every agreement between +the United States and a foreign Government, to have the effect of +a treaty, to be a part of the supreme law of the land, must be +ratified as the Constitution prescribes, by a two-thirds vote of +the Senate. + +When Mr. Root entered the State Department, it seems to me that he +stopped the practice very largely of making diplomatic agreements. +It seemed to be his policy, and a very wise one, to seek, rather +than avoid, consulting the Senate. I know that under his administration +agreements were made in the form of a treaty and sent to the Senate +which other administrations would consider they had a perfect right +to make without consulting the Senate. It will be wise for future +Administrations to adhere to Mr. Root's policy in this respect. + + +CHAPTER XXVIII +ARBITRATION + +During the year 1904, there was a great general movement all over +the world in the direction of arbitration treaties. Indeed, so +general did it become, and so universal was the form used, that it +became known as the Mondel or world treaty. The treaties were very +brief, and merely provided that differences which may arise of a +legal nature or relating to the interpretation of treaties existing +between two contracting parties, and which it may not have been +possible to settle by diplomacy, shall be referred to the permanent +court of arbitration established at The Hague; provided, nevertheless, +that they do not affect the vital interests, the independence, or +the honor of the two contracting States, and do not concern or +involve the interests of third States. There was a second article +in the treaty, which provided that in each case a special agreement +should be concluded defining clearly the matter in dispute, the +scope of the powers of the arbitrator, the periods to be fixed for +the formation of the arbitral tribunal, and the several stages of +the procedure. + +President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay were very much in favor of +these treaties, and sent to the Senate, for its ratification, +treaties in substantially the foregoing form, with France, Portugal, +Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Sweden, +Norway, and Mexico. The treaties were considered with great care +by the Committee on Foreign Relations. We all favored arbitration +in theory, and I do not think any one wanted to oppose the treaties; +but a number of questions confronted us. I neither have the right +nor do I expect to detail what has taken place in the Committee on +Foreign Relations; but I can say that the subject was discussed in +the press, whether such treaties would not compel us to consider +as matters for arbitration claims against the States, growing out +of the Civil War and Reconstruction. + +In the judgment of some, such claims were proper subjects of +arbitration under this Mondel form of treaty. + +President Roosevelt, who was following closely the treaties in the +Senate, and with whom I had talked concerning these objections, +wrote me a letter, which he marked personal, but which appeared in +the afternoon papers almost before the letter reached me, it having +been given out at the White House, in which he said: + + "_January 10, 1905_. + +"My dear Senator Cullom: + +"I notice in connection with the general arbitration treaties now +before the Senate, that suggestions have been made to the effect +that under them it might be possible to consider as matters for +arbitration claims against certain States of the Union in reference +to certain State debts. I write to say, what of course you personally +know, that under no conceivable circumstances could any such +construction of the treaty be for a moment entertained by any +President. The holders of State debts take them with full knowledge +of the Constitutional limitations upon their recovery through any +action of the National Government, and must rely solely on State +credit. Such a claim against a State could under no condition be +submitted by the general Government as a matter for arbitration, +any more than such a claim against a county or municipality could +thus be submitted for arbitration. The objection to the proposed +amendment on the subject is that it is a mere matter of surplusage, +and that it is very undesirable, when the form of these treaties +has already been agreed to by the several Powers concerned, needlessly +to add certain definitions which affect our own internal policy +only; which deal with the matter of the relation of the Federal +Government to the States which it is of course out of the question +ever to submit to the arbitration of any outside tribunal; and +which it is certainly absurd and probably mischievous to treat as +possible to be raised by the President or by any foreign power. +No one would even think of such a matter as being one for arbitration +or for any diplomatic negotiation whatever. Moreover, these treaties +run only for a term of five years; until the end of that period +they will certainly be interpreted in accordance with the view +above expressed. + + "Very truly yours, + "(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. + +"Hon S. M. Cullom, U. S. Senate." + +But a more serious question was met when we came to consider the +second article of the treaty, which provided that in each case a +special agreement should be made defining clearly the matter in +dispute, the scope and powers of the arbitrators, and the periods +to be fixed for the formation of the arbitral tribunal. The +difficulty confronting us was whether it was the intention to submit +the special agreements referred to in article two for the ratification +of the Senate. It was the unanimous opinion that these special +agreements should be submitted to the Senate. + +I believe that as the treaties were drafted it would be the +Constitutional duty of the President to have each special agreement +submitted for ratification, because the article provided that "the +high contracting parties shall conclude such special agreement." +The Senate is a part of the treaty-making power, and would be +included in the term "high contracting parties." But the wording +of article two left some doubt as to the intention of those +negotiating the treaty; and then, again, it might have been claimed +that article one, agreeing to arbitrate the questions therein +enumerated, might be construed as an agreement in advance on the +part of the Senate, to give to the Executive the general power to +make arbitration agreements without reference to the Senate. Of +course, the Senate, even if it so desired, could not thus delegate +the treaty-making power to the Executive alone. + +There was so much difference of opinion that I took occasion to +submit the question to both President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay, +whether it was the intention on the part of the executive department +to send these special agreements to the Senate for ratification. +They both replied that it was not; that one of the purposes of the +Executive in making the treaties was to enable the Administration +to go ahead and make the special agreements without consulting the +Senate. + +Under these circumstances, it was almost the unanimous judgment of +the Senate that the treaties should be amended by striking out the +words "special agreement": and substituting the word "treaty," a +Constitutional term about which there could be no doubt. I considered +at the time that the declaration and agreement contained in these +treaties in favor of arbitration were just as strong, just as broad, +and just as obligatory with the proposed amendment as without it. +It was an agreement on the part of the President and Senate that +the President and Senate, the treaty-making power, would submit +differences to arbitration. + +The Senate was severely criticised at the time for being too +technical and standing in the way of arbitration; but in my judgment +it was not a trifling question. It could not be put aside. Even +if the amendment had not been adopted, the President, if he followed +the Constitution, should have submitted these special agreements +to the Senate for ratification; but he took the positive stand that +he would not submit them, and nothing remained for the Senate to +do but to assert and uphold its rights as a part of the treaty- +making power, and adopt the amendment to which I have referred. + +I do not think I violate any of the rules of etiquette by quoting +here President Roosevelt's letter written to me after he had learned, +through the press, that the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations +had amended the treaties. + + "White House, Washington, + "_February 10, 1905_. + +"My dear Senator Cullom: + +"I learn that the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has reported +the arbitration treaties to the Senate, amending them by substituting +for the word 'agreement' in the second article the word 'treaty.' +The effect of the amendment is to make it no longer possible, as +between its contracting parties, to submit any matter whatever to +arbitration without first obtaining a special treaty to cover the +case. This will represent not a step forward but a step backward. +If the word 'agreement' were retained it will be possible for the +Department of State to do as, for instance, it has already done +under The Hague treaty in the Pious Fund arbitration case with +Mexico, and submit to arbitration such subordinate matters as by +treaty the Senate had decided could be left to the Executive to +submit under a jurisdiction limited by the general treaty of +arbitration. If the word 'treaty' be substituted the result is +that every such agreement must be submitted to the Senate; and +these general arbitration treaties would then cease to be such, +and indeed in their amended form they amount to a specific +pronouncement against the whole principle of a general arbitration +treaty. + +"The Senate has, of course, the absolute right to reject or to +amend in any way it sees fit any treaty laid before it, and it is +clearly the duty of the Senate to take any step which, in the +exercise of its best judgment, it deems to be for the interest of +the Nation. If, however, in the judgment of the President a given +amendment nullifies a proposed treaty it seems to me that it is no +less clearly his duty to refrain from endeavoring to secure a +ratification by the other contracting power or powers, of the +amended treaty; and after much thought I have come to the conclusion +that I ought to write and tell you that such is my judgment in this +case. + +"As amended, we would have a treaty of arbitration which in effect +will do nothing but recite that this Government will when it deems +it wise hereafter enter into treaties of arbitration. Inasmuch as +we, of course, now have the power to enter into any treaties of +arbitration, and inasmuch as to pass these amended treaties does +not in the smallest degree facilitate settlements by arbitration, +to make them would in no way further the cause of international +peace. It would not, in my judgment, be wise or expedient to try +to secure the assent of the other contracting powers to the amended +treaties, for even if such consent were secured we would still +remain precisely where we were before, save where the situation +may be changed a little for the worse. There would not even be +the slight benefit that might obtain from the more general statement +that we intend hereafter, when we can come to an agreement with +foreign powers as to what shall be submitted, to enter into +arbitration treaties; for we have already, when we ratified The +Hague treaty with the various signatory powers, solemnly declared +such to be our intention; and nothing is gained by reiterating our +adherence to the principle, while refusing to provide any means of +making our intention effectual. In the amended form the treaties +contain nothing except such expression of barren intention, and +indeed, as compared with what has already been provided in The +Hague arbitration treaty, they probably represent not a step forward +but a slight step backward, as regards the question of international +arbitration. As such I do not think they should receive the sanction +of this Government. Personally it is not my opinion that this +Government lacks the power to enter into general treaties of +arbitration, but if I am in error, and if this Government has no +power to enter into such general treaties, then it seems to me that +it is better not to attempt to make them, rather than to make the +attempt in such shape that they will accomplish literally nothing +whatever when made. + + "Sincerely yours, + "(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, U. S. Senate." + +This letter was read to the Senate, and notwithstanding the positive +declaration by Mr. Roosevelt that he would not ask any of the +foreign Governments to consent to the amendment made by the Senate, +the treaties were amended and ratified by the Senate. + +I told the President in advance of the action of the Senate what +would be done, and he rather curtly remarked that the matter was +closed, and that he would not ask the other Governments to agree +to the treaties as amended. And no further action was taken on +the treaties. + +When Secretary Root entered the State Department he took an entirely +different view of the subject. I do not know whether Mr. Root was +of the opinion that the Senate was right in insisting on what it +considered to be its duty in amending the treaties, but I do know +that he negotiated arbitration treaties with Austria, China, Costa +Rica, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Mexico, +The Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Salvador, Spain, +Sweden, and Switzerland, every one of which treaties contained the +stipulation that the special agreements referred to in article two +were to be made by the President of the United States, by and with +the advice and consent of the Senate. These treaties were promptly +ratified and are a part of the supreme law of the land to-day. + +Secretary Root was very wise in negotiating and sending to the +Senate this series of Mondel or world treaties. All the Nations +of the world were agreeing to these treaties among themselves, and +it would have been a rather remarkable condition if the United +States, of all the great Nations, should have remained aloof. I +do not believe that Mr. Root had any difficulty in obtaining the +consent of the signatory powers to the treaties, with the stipulation +that the special agreement should come to the Senate for ratification; +but for some reason or other, at the time when the first treaties +were under consideration, President Roosevelt, as indicated in the +letter which I have quoted, and probably more particularly Secretary +Hay, were both very much incensed at the action of the Senate, and +permitted the first treaties to expire. + +This general movement in the direction of arbitration was one of +the most important events of the beginning of the twentieth century. +The importance of the adoption of this principle by the Nations of +the world cannot be overestimated. It has been well said that +international arbitration is the application of law and of judicial +methods to the determination of disputes between Nations, and that +this juristic idea in the settlement of international disputes is +largely an outgrowth of the international relations, the new and +advanced civilization of the nineteenth century. + +I do not believe the time will ever come when wars will cease,-- +the United States obtained its independence by means of a revolution +and war; but peace and arbitration have been advocated by the great +majority of the enlightened statesmen of the world. There were +many great wars during the nineteenth century, including our own +Civil War, the greatest, the bloodiest, recorded in all history; +but during this century arbitration has made wonderful strides. +In the same period there were four hundred and seventy-one instances +of international settlements involving the application of the +principle of international arbitration. Many of these arbitrations +were of the greatest importance; and I remark here that in the +number of arbitrations and the importance of the questions involved, +the United States and Great Britain have unquestionably led the +way. In fact, since the War of 1812, every subject of dispute +between the two Nations, which it was found impossible to settle +by diplomacy, has been submitted to arbitration. Only within a +few years the Alaskan boundary was settled by arbitration, and +within the past year a fisheries dispute, a cause of embarrassment +since 1818, was submitted to The Hague tribunal and a decision +rendered, which, though not entirely satisfactory to the United +States, we accepted as the final settlement. + +We have uniformly adopted arbitration as a means of settlement for +disputes with the Central and South American Republics. With Mexico +the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, of 1848, stipulates that future +disputes between the two republics shall be submitted to arbitration. +We have a general arbitration treaty for the settlement of pecuniary +claims with all the Central and South American Republics. At the +first Hague Conference, which met in 1899, a general arbitration +treaty was agreed to. It was a non-compulsory arbitration, and at +the time represented the farthest steps in advance in the direction +of arbitration which all the Nations were willing to take together. +That treaty was perfected at the second Hague Conference of 1907; +and, in addition, a series of treaties were agreed to concerning +the opening of hostilities, the laws and customs of war on land, +the rights and duties of neutrals, submarine contact mines, +bombardment by naval forces, the right of capture in naval war, +neutral powers in naval war, an international prize court, and the +discharge of projectiles from balloons, and the Geneva Convention +was revised. Aside from the prize court treaty, concerning which +there were Constitutional objections, these treaties were ratified +by the Senate, the United States being one of the first Nations of +the world to take this step. Unlike the first Hague Conference, +the South American Republics participated in the Second Conference, +and it was the first time in all the world's history that the +representatives of all the independent Nations in the world gathered +together in the interest of peace and agreed on certain principles +which should guide them in the conduct of war, if war must come. + +I take pride in the fact that the treaties agreed to at the first +Hague Conference, and the treaties agreed to at the second Hague +Conference, and the series of Mondel treaties, were reported from +the Committee on Foreign Relations, and ratified by the Senate +during my chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations. + +The last step to date in the interest of the peaceful settlement +of international disputes has been taken by President Taft in the +arbitration treaties between the United States and Great Britain +and between the United States and France, both of which were signed +by the representatives of this and the other two Governments in +August, 1911. The ban of secrecy has been removed from these +documents, and I feel at liberty to make brief mention of them, +although, as they still are pending in the Senate, I should not +feel disposed to discuss them at length. The treaties mark an +advance over the arbitration treaties of 1908 in that they bring +into arbitration a much wider range of subjects than is covered by +the older conventions. In the latter, questions of "national +honor," "vital interest," etc., were excluded from consideration, +whereas, under the pending agreements, "all differences which are +justiciable in their nature by reason of being susceptible of +decision by the application of the principles of law and equity," +are made subject to arbitration under the rules laid down in the +documents. + +There also is a provision granting to the Commission created by +the treaties the right to determine whether any given question +presented to it may be considered justiciable under the language +of the treaties. This latter provision is regarded by the President +and Secretary Knox as highly desirable in the interest of the +expedition of business, but it met such opposition in the Committee +on Foreign Relations that its elimination from the treaties was +recommended to the Senate. The objection to the provision is based +upon the theory that it would deprive the Senate of its constitutional +right to pass upon all treaties. I have not accepted this view, +because I do not believe in hampering working bodies when such a +course can be avoided without doing violence to the fundamental +law as I believe in this case it can be. + +With this provision expunged, the Committee is largely favorable +to the treaties, and they are now pending in the Senate. It, +however, has become evident that they cannot be speedily acted +upon, and as I write, in the closing days of the special session, +called at the beginning of the Sixty-second Congress, the indications +are strong that they will be compelled to go over to the regular +session in December for final consideration. What their fate then +may be no one can foretell. + +It is well understood that if these treaties should be ratified +they will be followed by similar agreements with the other civilized +nations of the world. The spirit of arbitration has taken strong +hold on our big-hearted and peace-loving President, and I am +confident that he will leave no stone unturned to promote good will +among nations as he is wont to do among men. Whatever differences +of opinion there may be, regarding the details of any particular +negotiation, no person of whatever party or creed can doubt President +Taft's splendid patriotism and devotion to the highest ideals of +citizenship. I am sure that these treaties have been inspired by +these sentiments, and, being honest and benevolent in their purpose, +the principle they embody must prevail in the end. + + +CHAPTER XXIX +TITLES AND DECORATIONS FROM FOREIGN POWERS + +The Constitution of the United States provides: + +"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and +no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, +without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, +office, or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince, or +foreign State." + +When I became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, there +were numerous bills pending, and numerous requests submitted through +the State Department, for authority, on the part of officers of +the United States, to accept gifts and decorations from foreign +Governments. At first I was disposed to consent to the report and +passage of such bills, and during the first year or two they were +reported from the committee from time to time and passed in the +Senate. The House did not act upon the individual bills, but a so- +called "omnibus bill" was passed in the House containing all the +bills that previously had been passed by the Senate, and in addition +quite a number of House bills. I had not realized until then how +extensive the practice had become, and I thereupon determined to +use what influence I had to put a stop to it. Since then but two +decorative bills of an exceptionally meritorious nature, one in +favor of Captain T. deWitt Wilcox, and one in favor of Admiral B. +H. McCalla, have been enacted by Congress. + +I thoroughly disapprove of the practice, and wanted to put an +effectual stop to it. At the same time the requests came pouring +in from session to session, and certain Senators, both on the +committee and others who were not members of it, insisted and urged +that favorable action be taken in behalf of officers of the United +States in whom they were interested. After more than two hundred +requests had accumulated, I determined to appoint a subcommittee +to consider the whole matter and report to the committee such cases +as were meritorious, or to adopt a general rule against the whole +practice. As chairman of that subcommittee, I appointed Mr. Root, +and with him Mr. Lodge, Mr. Carter, Mr. Bacon, and Mr. Stone. The +subcommittee, on March 10, 1910, submitted its report, which was +adopted by the full committee and submitted to the Senate. Besides +reviewing at considerable length the reasons for legislation, the +report included the following salient features: + +First, the existence of the provision in the Constitution indicates +that the presumption is against the acceptance of the present, +emolument, office, or title. A habit of general and indiscriminate +consent by Congress upon such applications would tend practically +to nullify the Constitutional provision, which is based upon an +apprehension, not without foundation, that our officers may be +affected in the performance of their duties by the desire to receive +such recognition from other Governments. A strong support for the +view that the practice should not be allowed to become general is +to be found in the fact that the Government of the United States +does not confer decorations or titles, or--unless in very exceptional +cases--make presents to the officers of other Governments. The +report then recommended that the following five rules be observed; + +"1. That no decoration should be received unless possibly when it +is conferred for some exceptional, extraordinary, and highly +meritorious act, justifying beyond dispute a special mark of +distinction. + +"2. That no presents should be received except such articles as +are appropriate for souvenirs and marks of courtesy and appreciation, +and having an intrinsic value not disproportionate to such a +purpose. + +"3. That the acceptance of presents within the limitation above +stated should be further limited to cases in which some exceptional +service or special relation justifying the mark of courtesy exists +between the recipient and the Government offering the present. + +"4. That no offer of any other title or emolument or office should +be considered. + +"5. We consider that membership in learned societies, even though +the appointment thereto may have a _quasi_ Governmental origin, +should not be considered as coming within the Constitutional +provision, and it may well be that as to certain trifling gifts, +such as photographs, the rule of _de minimis lex non curat_ should +be deemed to apply." + +I agreed to the report of the subcommittee and agreed to the bill, +permitting certain officers to accept the presents tendered to +them, where there were good reasons therefor; but I am free to say +that I was somewhat disappointed that the subcommittee had not +reported in favor of abolishing the practice entirely, instead of +discriminating between presents and decorations, as they did. + +The bill passed the Senate without debate and without objection. +It went to the House, and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, +through Mr. Denby, of Michigan, submitted a most admirable report, +which was far more in line with my own ideas than was the report +of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. I agree with the +conclusions arrived at by the Committee on Foreign Affairs so +thoroughly that I am going to give most of that report here: + +" . . . The subcommittee expresses the hope that this adverse +disposition of these bills, which contains items fairly representative +of the great majority of the requests for Congressional sanction +for the acceptance of foreign orders, decorations, or presents, by +officials of the United States, will be regarded as notice to +officials of the United States that this committee at least, and +it is hoped all future committees dealing with this subject-matter, +will refuse to consider such requests, except as hereinafter noted. + +"The Committee of Foreign Affairs has been required to devote much +time to the consideration of bills to grant permission to accept +such gifts. The committee has in the past very generally declined +to recommend favorably any such legislation, except in the case of +decorations offered to American citizens by official or quasi- +official scientific associations for eminent scientific achievements." + +Article 1, section 9, paragraph 8, of the Constitution of the United +States is quoted, and the report proceeds: + +"The Congress has been frequently importuned since the adoption of +the Constitution to grant its consent for the acceptance of orders, +decorations, and presents offered to officials of our Government, +frequently upon pretexts the most trivial and for services the most +commonplace, when services of any kind were rendered at all. A +glance at the requests now on file, summarized in Calendar No. 378, +which accompanies S. 7096, will show that the offers of foreign +gifts, decorations, etc., have been made in the great majority of +cases to officials for services in the direct line of their duty, +and which in themselves, in the majority of cases, were not deserving +of any special commendation. Following a practice which, because +of reciprocal considerations, probably operates satisfactorily +between foreign powers, the Governments of the world frequently +tender to our officers decorations or presents upon such occasions +as the first visit of a fleet to a foreign power, or the presence +of individual officers representing our Government at reviews and +public ceremonials, and to our diplomatic officials upon the +termination of their missions, or upon occasions of rejoicing, +jubilees of sovereigns, etc. While the practice of exchanging such +graceful souvenirs is not unpleasing among the nations which +recognize and reciprocate the courtesy, it is entirely inappropriate +that officials of this Government should accept, or desire to +accept, such presents. + +"The prohibition of the Constitution appears to have been put there +out of a well-founded desire to safeguard our officials from the +insidious influence of a natural but not desirable sense of obligation +toward the powers donor. The history of nations abounds with +instances of the giving of rich presents to retiring ambassadors +and ministers upon the conclusion of treaties or the satisfactory +termination of negotiations. There can be no doubt of the danger +of recognizing that the agent of our Government may properly be +compensated by another to which he is accredited. Another and +obvious objection to permitting our officials to receive gifts or +decorations from foreign powers is that, having no orders of nobility +and no decorations in this country, and not recognizing the propriety +of offering to officials of other powers, we can in no way reciprocate. +It is beneath the dignity of the American Government to receive, +through its representatives, presents for which it can make no +return. The Constitutional prohibition is, in the opinion of the +subcommittee, a wise one, to which Congress should very seldom +permit any exception. + +"Therefore the subcommittee earnestly hopes that the Committee may +put itself on record so unequivocally in this instance as to clearly +indicate that it will not, except under circumstances the most +unusual and extraordinary, grant permission to any official of the +Government to receive such presents. + +"To that end the subcommittee further recommends that this report +may, by resolution, be adopted as expressing the view of the members +of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; +that this report may be printed, and that a copy may be communicated +to the Secretary of State. + + "(Signed) Edwin Denby, + "H. W. Palmer, + "H. D. Flood, Subcommittee, + +"Adopted by the Committee of Foreign Affairs, April 7, 1910. + "Frederic L. Davis, Clerk." + +I have no doubt that these two reports, first the report of the +Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and second, the report +of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House, taken together, +will effectually stop the application for permission to accept both +presents and decorations from foreign Governments. Indeed, I do +not think that the Secretary of State will again consent to apply +to Congress in behalf of officers who have been tendered presents +and decorations. + + +CHAPTER XXX +ISLE OF PINES, DANISH WEST INDIES, AND ALGECIRAS + +For a number of years there was considerable controversy over the +ownership of the Isle of Pines, a small island separated from Cuba +by about thirty miles of water, containing 1200 square miles. This +dot of land was not of the slightest account to the United States, +so far as I could see; but after the treaty of peace with Spain, +a number of Americans purchased land there for the purpose of +establishing homes. When the United States withdrew from Cuba and +the Cuban Republic was established, and the flag of Cuba was extended +over the Island of Pines, those American residents protested and +insisted that the island belonged to the United States. They had +considerable ground for this contention, as Mr. Meikeljohn, when +Assistant Secretary of War, had written a number of letters in +which he stated that the Isle of Pines had been ceded to the United +States by Spain, and therefore was a part of our territory, although +attached at the time to the division of Cuba for governmental +purposes. + +The treaty of peace provided in article one that Spain relinquishes +all claims of sovereignty over, and title to, Cuba; and in article +two, that Spain cedes to the United States the Island of Porto +Rico, and other islands under Spanish sovereignty in the West +Indies, and the Island of Guam in the Marianas or Ladrones. + +A strict construction of the treaty of peace with Spain would +probably give the island to the United States under article two. + +Cuba, however, insisted that the island was a part of Cuban territory, +but it was provided in article six of the Platt amendments that +the title to the island should be left to future adjustment by +treaty. + +Cuba granted to the United States two very valuable coaling stations, +and the United States on its part agreed to enter into a treaty by +which we should relinquish whatever title we might have to the +Island of Pines in favor of Cuba. + +A rather interesting incident occurred in connection with this +treaty which I believe I violate no confidence in now detailing, +as both Presidents have retired from office. President Roosevelt +was very anxious that the treaty be ratified; he was also most +solicitous that we should retain friendly relations with the Republic +of Cuba, and felt that the island was not of the slightest importance +to the United States from any standpoint, declaring that he would +not accept it. I was at the White House one day when the treaty +was before the committee, and he showed me a letter written to him +by President Palma, of Cuba, and my recollection is that he gave +me a copy of it for such use as I might desire to make. Mr. Palma +urged in that letter that the Senate act favorably on the treaty, +because if it did not his re-election as President of the Cuban +Republic would thereby be endangered. + +So much opposition to the treaty developed in the Senate that I +deemed it useless to endeavor to bring it to a vote; and really, +as I look at it now, there is very little use for the treaty at +all, as Cuba is and has been exercising jurisdiction over the Isle +of Pines. Cuba must be giving the island a good government for +the American residents, as I have heard nothing from the island +for several years. + +It was during the Fifty-seventh Congress that the treaty with +Denmark, providing for the purchase by the United States of the +Danish West Indies, consisting of the Islands of St. Thomas, St. +John, and St. Croix, came before the committee. I reported the +treaty to the Senate and urged, and finally secured, its +ratification. + +The United States by this treaty agreed to pay five million dollars +to Denmark for the islands. + +We first attempted to purchase the islands in 1865, during the +administration of President Lincoln. Secretary Seward was particularly +anxious that the United States should acquire them, and a treaty +was negotiated and agreed to by Denmark. The treaty was not acted +upon during the administration of President Johnson, and because +President Grant was particularly anxious for its ratification, +Charles Sumner, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations (as +in the case of the Santo Domingo treaty), opposed its ratification +by the Senate, and it was defeated. + +President Grant showed a far-sighted policy in favoring the +acquisition of every foot of territory which we could secure in +the West Indies. The Danish islands are of great importance to +the United States in a strategic way, whether the strategy be +military or commercial. St. Thomas is the natural point of call +for all European trade bound for the West Indies, Central America, +or Northern South America. These islands, together with Porto +Rico, occupy the north-eastern corner of the Caribbean Sea; and +they are of more importance now than ever, because of the fact that +we are constructing the Isthmian canal. In view of that canal, +and the European settlements in South America, every additional +acquisition by the United States in the West Indies is invaluable. +Porto Rico is difficult of defense. The harbors are poor, while +the harbor in the Island of St. Thomas can be made one of the very +best in the West Indies. Our own officers who investigated the +subject reported that the Island of St. Thomas possesses all the +natural advantages of a second Gibraltar. + +The Danish Parliament, after a long debate, declined to ratify the +treaty of 1901 which had been ratified by the Senate, and for the +present at least the subject is in abeyance. + +I still hope, before I shall retire from the Committee on Foreign +Relations, that the United States may succeed in purchasing these +valuable islands. + +During the Winter of 1906 there occurred in the Senate a very +interesting debate over the appointment of representatives of the +United States to participate in the so-called Algeciras Conference, +held in Algeciras in 1905 to consider conditions in Morocco. No +action was taken by the Senate, and in due course the act or treaty +agreed to at that conference was submitted to the Senate for +ratification. + +I do not think there can be the slightest doubt that President +Roosevelt had full authority to appoint the delegates on the part +of the United States, and that he was thoroughly justified in +contending that it was not only the right but the duty of the United +States to participate in this conference. The action of the +President in accepting the invitation to the conference and appointing +the delegates, and the very important part therein which he took +personally, in addition to the interest manifested through his +representatives, very properly received the commendation of the +people of this country and of the whole European world. + +The Moroccan Empire was one of the earliest and most interesting +of the world's Governments. During the latter part of the eighteenth +century Morocco occupied the attention of the maritime nations of +the civilized world, as it was the home of the Barbary pirates who +preyed upon the commerce of all the nations. The United States +itself paid tribute for the purchase of immunity from these pirates. +One of our earliest treaties, made before the adoption of the +Constitution in 1787, was a treaty of peace and friendship with +Morocco. We entered into several treaties with Morocco later, and +joined in treaties concerning that country in 1865 and 1880 with +Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, +and other Nations. + +For many years Great Britain and France have claimed to have superior +rights in Morocco, and it has seemed to be the desire of France to +annex it. Germany has intervened, and the country has been a bone +of contention among the European Nations. In 1904 Great Britain +and France, by a secret treaty, agreed that France should have the +dominating control in Morocco, and that Great Britain should dominate +in Egypt. Germany opposed the French Protectorate and insisted +that an international conference of the powers should be called. +At one time it seemed that war was inevitable, and it probably was +averted only by the Algeciras Conference. The United States was +asked to participate, as we had participated in the conference of +1880. If we had not accepted the invitation there would have been +no conference, as two of the great powers had served notice that +all nations represented at the 1880 conference must participate in +the Algeciras Conference, or they would withdraw. Our participation +was in the interest of averting a European war. + +The General Act or Treaty agreed to at that conference was a lengthy +and important one. Its details are not of much importance, as our +delegates signed it under a significant reservation that we would +not assume any obligation or responsibility for the enforcement of +the Act. + +When it came to the Senate, there was quite a combat over its +ratification. We could not secure its endorsement during the +session which closed the first of July, 1906, but we were able to +reach an agreement that it should be voted on in committee and in +the Senate during the month of December following. + +President Roosevelt was very much concerned about its ratification, +and on June 26, 1906, when it seemed pretty certain that the Senate +would adjourn without acting on the general Act, he wrote me this +quite characteristic letter: + + "White House, Washington, _June 26, 1906_. + +"My dear Senator Cullom: + +"Having reference to the letter which Secretary Root wrote you +yesterday about the Algeciras Convention, I can only add that I +earnestly hope this matter will receive favorable report from the +committee at this session. I am literally unable to understand +how any human being can find anything whatever to object to in this +treaty; and to reject it would mean that for the first time since +the adoption of the Constitution this Government will be without +a treaty with Morocco. It seems incredible that there should be +a serious purpose to put us in such a position. + + "Sincerely yours, + "(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt." + +The General Act would probably not have been ratified by the Senate +had we not agreed on the form of the resolution of ratification. +That resolution provided: + +"Resolved further, that the Senate, as a part of this act of +ratification, understands that the participation of the United +States in the Algeciras Conference and in the formation and adoption +of the general Act and Protocol which resulted therefrom, was with +the sole purpose of preserving and increasing its commerce in +Morocco, the protection as to life, liberty, and property of its +citizens residing and travelling therein, and of aiding by its +friendly offices and efforts in removing friction and controversy +which seemed to menace the peace between powers signatory with the +United States to the treaty of 1880, all of which are on terms of +amity with this Government, and without purpose to depart from the +traditional American foreign policy which forbids participation by +the United States in the settlement of political questions which +are entirely European in their scope." + +After this form of resolution had been agreed to by those favoring +and those opposing the treaty, I showed it to President Roosevelt. +He expressed his satisfaction with it, and the Act was ratified by +the Senate. + +I have endeavored to cover only a very few of the more important +matters which have come before the Committee on Foreign Relations +since I have been its chairman. The treaties before the committee +have embraced almost every subject of contact between two independent +Nations. Numerous treaties involving extradition, boundaries, +naturalization, claims, sanitation, trade-marks, consular and +diplomatic friendship, and commerce, and many other subjects, have +been before the committee and have been acted upon and ratified by +the Senate. During the period of which I am now writing, I believe +that we have ratified treaties with almost every independent Nation +of the world. The many important matters now pending, or of more +recent date, I am not at liberty to refer to, the injunction of +secrecy not yet having been removed. + +The Foreign Relations Committee will continue in the future, as it +has in the past, one of the Senate's foremost committees. + + +CHAPTER XXXI +CONGRESS UNDER THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION + +It had been my intention to close these recollections with the +beginning of the Taft Administration, but their publication has +been deferred until the Administration extended so far that it +seems proper to bring my observations up to date. I am especially +impelled to this course by the fact that the present era has +developed a very marked change in the character of the Senate, and, +to a limited extent at least, in the trend of political thought in +the country at large--a change which should be noted in any permanent +writing dealing with the period. Still, I have no intention of +entering upon a detailed consideration of men or of conditions. +My only purpose is to make brief mention of these conditions and +to refer in very general terms to some who have given direction to +recent public affairs. + +Observers of public events and students of political questions +probably were given their first insight into the tendency of the +times through the resignation from the Senate of Honorable John C. +Spooner, of Wisconsin, which was tendered March 30, 1907. I have +made frequent reference to Mr. Spooner's connection with the Senate, +and I do not intend to say more of him here than that he stood for +conservatism and the old traditions. Sensitive to a degree to the +promptings of his conscience, and still desirous of representing +the sentiment of his constituents, apparently he found himself +embarrassed by the growth in his State of what, without intending +any disrespect, I may designate as "La Follette-ism." + +Gradually Hon. Robert M. La Follette, who previously had served +several terms in the House of Representatives, had been forging +his way to the front in Wisconsin politics until in 1905 he was +elected to serve as Mr. Spooner's colleague in the Senate. He +stood for radicalism in the Republican party as against Mr. Spooner's +conservatism; he was the advocate of many innovations and experiments, +while Mr. Spooner held to the old and tried forms of procedure in +public affairs. Whether Mr. La Follette was the leader of this +new propaganda or the follower of a growing sentiment in the State +does not matter to this record. It is sufficient to know that +apparently Wisconsin public opinion did not support Mr. Spooner to +a sufficient extent to justify a man of his conscientious disposition +in retaining his place as the representative of the people of that +State in the highest legislative body of the Nation. Moreover, +splendid lawyer that he was, he knew that he could find much more +lucrative employment outside the halls of legislation, and he felt +the need of making adequate provision for his family. In consequence +of these conditions, he left the Senate, and thus opened the way +for the more rapid promotion in that body of the new school of +politics for which his colleague stood, a school which, while it +has found some exponents in the House of Representatives, is not +comparatively so largely represented there as in the Senate. + +The La Follette group is designated by its own disciples as +"Progressivism," whereas by outsiders it is generally referred to +as "Insurgency." Mr. La Follette came to the Senate with the Fifty- +ninth Congress, and no sooner had he entered that body then he +began to propound his doctrines there. At first, he stood alone, +but natural inclination soon drew to him such of the older Senators +as the late Jonathan P. Dolliver, of Iowa, and Moses E. Clapp, of +Minnesota, both of them men of splendid attainments and of high +moral character. With the incoming of Mr. Taft as President came +also Albert B. Cummins, of Iowa, Joseph L. Bristow, of Kansas, and +Coe I. Crawford, of South Dakota, all of whom joined heartily with +Mr. La Follette in his efforts to shape legislation. + +During the Sixty-first Congress, the tariff law was revised. The +Dingley Act of 1897 had grown unpopular in some portions of the +country, because it was believed that under it the duties were not +equitably distributed, and the campaign of 1908 had been fought +upon a platform declaring for a revision. When, therefore, Congress +met in March, 1909, being called together in extraordinary session +by President Taft, every one recognized the necessity for entering +upon this work. There had been no specific declaration in the +platform as to the character of the revision. Some, commonly called +"stand-patters," contended for a readjustment without any general +lowering of rates, while others held out stiffly for a reduction +all along the line. The result of the work of Congress was the +enactment of what is known as the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Law of 1909, +the measure taking its name on account of the joint efforts in its +behalf of the Honorable Sereno Payne, of New York, Chairman of the +Committee of Ways and Means of the House, and Honorable Nelson W. +Aldrich, of Rhode Island, Chairman of the Committee on Finance of +the Senate. The Payne-Aldrich law is a Protective measure, as it +was intended to be. The Progressives, in both the Senate and House, +sought at every step to reduce the schedules, but generally without +success. In this effort, they were supported by Democratic Senators +and Representatives, but the "Old Guard" controlled such a pronounced +majority in both Houses as to render the opposing efforts futile, +fierce though they were. So general was this conflict that in many +matters the Progressives soon established a faction of their own. +There were many skirmishes all along the line. Their divergence +from the views of Regular Republicanism was indicated not on the +tariff alone, but on many other questions of public policy which +I may say I regard as extremely visionary and impracticable. + +The controversy also covered the methods of procedure of both the +Senate and the House, and the fight on "Uncle" Joe Cannon as Speaker, +or on "Cannonism," which characterized the last session of the +Sixty-first Congress, was one of the instances of this difference +of opinion in the party. In a less pronounced manner the Progressives +also have shown an inclination to antagonize and overturn the +customs of the Senate. They feel the restraint of some of the +Senate's established rules, and, together with the radical element +which has been introduced on the Democratic side of the Senate +Chamber, they manifest evident impatience with these regulations. +That fine old term "senatorial courtesy" has lost much of its +meaning as a result of the brusque and breezy manner of the time. +No longer is it said that the young Senator must be seen rather +than heard. Indeed, while formerly the spectacle of a Senator +rising to make a speech before the close of his second year in the +Senate was regarded as unusual, it recently has come to be remarked +upon if a new man remains in his seat for two months before +undertaking to enlighten the Senate as to its duties towards itself +and the world. + +I am not undertaking here to pronounce against these innovations, +but merely to record facts. I have shown my advocacy of proper +railroad legislation and of other progressive legislation which +commended itself to my judgment. However, I am classed as a Regular +and desire to be. My votes have been with the party organization. +I have made it a rule throughout my political career to stand for +the general principles of the party as enunciated by its authorized +bodies; but while that is my course, I do not pretend to say that +that organization always represents all that is good and best for +the country or that in many cases the Progressives and Insurgents +may not be nearer right than the Regulars. In the main, however, +I have found that the best results are obtained through following +the course indicated by the united wisdom of the party. My plan +has been to exert my influence in the direction of careful and +conservative progression within established party lines, and in +such a course do I believe that the Republican party can best insure +its perpetuity. + +Senator Spooner's resignation from the Senate was followed by the +refusal of Senators Hale and Aldrich to stand for re-election in +1911. The retirement of those three distinguished leaders constitutes +the best index of the tendency of the times. Men of experience, +dignity, and conservatism, they voluntarily gave way before the +press of public exigency. True, they consulted their own inclinations, +but I always have thought that if the old conditions had continued +in the Senate they would have elected to remain there. Their seats +are filled by good and true men, but by men of very different +characteristics, unless an exception may be made in Senator Aldrich's +case, whose successor, Henry F. Lippitt, appears to be a man much +like his predecessor. Whether the change will be beneficial or +otherwise remains to be seen, but my optimism is so great I do not +believe that anything but good can come permanently to this great +country of ours. I confess to a liking for the old methods. + +This general change of public sentiment has brought into the Senate +not only Mr. La Follette, Mr. Bristow, Mr. Clapp, Mr. Cummins, and +Mr. Crawford, but also a number of other men of similar views, so +that within six or seven years the progressive group has increased +to thirteen members, more than one-fourth of the membership of the +Senate. + +I shall not undertake to mention all of those contained in this +little body, but I have been so impressed with the bearing of +Senator William E. Borah, of Idaho, and Senator Joseph M. Dixon, +of Montana, that I do not feel justified in passing them by unnoticed. +They are both very able men and men of high purpose. They do not +stand with this group all the time; neither goes where his convictions +do not lead. + +Moreover, these Republicans of supposedly advanced thought have +found their counterpart in a number of new Senators who have taken +their seats on the Democratic side. The Democrats, as well as the +Republicans, have their Progressive, or Radical, element, and while +the Democratic representatives of this thought differ from those +on the Republican side on the subject of Protection, they have co- +operated in the interest of what they consider a closer approach +to the demands of the people on other subjects of legislation. On +the tariff schedules, which have been presented during the special +session of the Sixty-second Congress now coming to a close, they +also have stood together, forming what some have been pleased to +christen the "Unholy Alliance." Both Republicans and Democrats of +the radical type are contending for a lower tariff, but this one +important difference is noticeable: while there is a tendency on +the Democratic side toward free trade, the Republican members of +the alliance hold out for the protective principle. + +It is pleasant to me to be able to record that while a sufficient +number of new men have come into the Senate to cause a modification +of its general appearance and apparent purposes, there still are +enough representatives of the old element to cause it to retain +its distinctive character as the most conservative deliberative +body in this country. In addition to the new men, such capable +legislators remain as Lodge and Crane, of Massachusetts, Brandegee, +of Connecticut, Burton, of Ohio, Jones, of Washington, Root, of +New York, Gallinger and Burnham, of New Hampshire, Heyburn, of +Idaho, Penrose and Oliver, of Pennsylvania, Perkins, of California, +Smoot and Sutherland, of Utah, Clark and Warren, of Wyoming, +Dillingham and Page, of Vermont, Wetmore, of Rhode Island, Curtis, +of Kansas, McCumber, of North Dakota, Gamble, of South Dakota, +William Alden Smith and Charles E. Townsend, of Michigan, Bradley, +of Kentucky, and others, all Republicans, while among the old-time +Democrats should be mentioned such stanch and true men as Martin, +of Virginia, Bacon, of Georgia, Bailey and Culberson, of Texas, +Taylor, of Tennessee, Shively, of Indiana, Tillman, of South +Carolina, Fletcher, of Florida, Foster, of Louisiana, Johnston and +Bankhead, of Alabama, Stone, of Missouri, Clarke, of Arkansas, +Newlands, of Nevada, and still others who, though their names may +not be mentioned, all command the high regard of their colleagues. + +The question is often asked, "Who has succeeded Aldrich as leader +of the Senate?" No one. Practically, there are three parties in +the Senate, consisting of thirty-seven Regular Republicans, forty- +one Democrats, and thirteen Insurgent Republicans. In caucus, the +Insurgents act with the Regulars, but in legislation, they more +frequently line up with the Democrats. The consequence is that no +party is in control, and therefore that no party can dictate the +course of leadership. Under such circumstances, real leadership +is out of the question. Senator Penrose succeeds Senator Aldrich +as Chairman of the Committee on Finance, and is proving thoroughly +competent for his work in that capacity. If emergency should arise +throwing the direction of affairs into the hands of the Republican +party, he might also succeed the Rhode Island Senator to the +leadership of the Republican forces, but until such emergency +presents itself, no one can see whether that position would fall +to him or to some other Republican. Leaders are born, not made. +Leadership is not a matter of selection, but of fitness. + +Up to the present writing (August, 1911), President Taft has been +in office almost two and a half years, and while, like all Presidents, +he has been criticised, I am confident that in the end the first +half of his administration will receive the approval of the historian. +Personally, no more popular man ever occupied the office of Chief +Executive, and his popularity is due to his honesty of purpose and +his love for his fellow man. His administration has witnessed such +a prosecution of the unlawful trusts as never before has been known, +and the President himself has been engaged in a constant endeavor +for legislation which would equalize the benefits of American +citizenship, relieve the distresses of the less fortunate, and put +a stop to graft, wherever found. Under his direction, the Interstate +Commerce Law has been vastly improved, postal savings banks have +been established, and the conservation of our natural resources +has been placed upon a safe and sane basis. He has pressed +Reciprocity and Arbitration with other Nations, and he has established +such an era of good fellowship among public men of all parties and +beliefs as seldom has been known in our history. If the remainder +of his administration proves as successful as that which has passed, +he will deserve, as I believe he will receive, the endorsement of +the people through an election to a second term. + +The present presiding officer of the Senate is Hon. James Schoolcraft +Sherman, who was elected Vice-President on the national ticket of +1908 with President Taft. Mr. Sherman brings to this office an +experience of twenty years as a member of the House of Representatives +from the Utica district, much of which time he was a member of the +Committee on Rules. He is an accomplished parliamentarian, a fact +which taken in connection with his genial disposition, his kindness +of heart, and, above all, his love of justice, renders him one of +the most acceptable presiding officers that the Senate ever has +had. He has held his office during all of the regular session of +the Sixty-first Congress and has been constantly in his seat during +the special session of the Sixty-second Congress, and it is safe +to say that in so brief a time no man has more thoroughly endeared +himself to members of the Senate of whatever party or faction. +Occasionally, of course, as is the case with all presiding officers, +his decisions are challenged; but I believe he has been uniformly +sustained; and even such proceedings are stripped of all appearance +of rancor through his kindness of manner and his evident conviction. +He is a fit successor of Hobart and Fairbanks. + + +CHAPTER XXXII +LINCOLN CENTENNIAL: LINCOLN LIBRARY + +The name of Springfield will forever be immortalized as the home +and burial-place of Abraham Lincoln. As the hundredth anniversary +of his birth approached, it was determined to hold a great celebration, +and it was generally agreed that Springfield was the fitting and +proper place in which to hold it. + +In 1907 the Legislature of Illinois passed a joint resolution +providing: + +"Whereas, the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham +Lincoln will occur on the twelfth day of February, 1909; and, + +"Whereas, it is fitting and proper that the State of Illinois should +celebrate the anniversary of the birth of this greatest of all +American statesmen; therefore, be it + +"Resolved, by the Senate of the State of Illinois, the House of +Representatives concurring therein, that the one hundredth anniversary +of the birth of Abraham Lincoln be celebrated in the City of +Springfield, on the twelfth day of February, 1909, and, be it +further + +"Resolved, that the Governor is hereby authorized and empowered to +appoint a commission of fifteen representative citizens of this +State to have charge of all arrangements for such celebration." + +The Governor thereupon appointed fifteen of the most distinguished +citizens of Springfield as the State Centennial Commission to have +charge of the celebration. + +It was determined that the celebration should not be a local one, +but should be more in the nature of a State celebration, and that +it would be well to incorporate it under the name of "The Lincoln +Centennial Association." The original incorporators were: + +The Hon. Melville W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States; +the Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, United States Senator; the Hon. Albert +J. Hopkins, United States Senator; the Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, +Speaker of the National House of Representatives; the Hon. Adlai +E. Stevenson; the Hon. Charles S. Deneen, Governor of Illinois; +the Hon. John P. Hand, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the +State of Illinois; the Hon. J. Otis Humphrey, Judge of the United +States District Court; the Hon. James A. Rose, Secretary of State +of Illinois; the Hon. Ben. F. Caldwell, Member of Congress; the +Hon. Richard Yates; Melville E. Stone, Esq.; Horace White, Esq.; +John W. Bunn, Esq.; and Dr. William Jayne. + +I was requested to secure speakers of national reputation, and it +at once occurred to me that I would invite the Ambassadors of France +and Great Britain, and Senator J. P. Dolliver, to visit Springfield, +on February 12, 1909, and deliver addresses. These distinguished +gentlemen at once accepted the invitation which I extended them on +behalf of the Governor and the committee. Later, the Hon. William +Jennings Bryan was invited to be present also and deliver an address, +which invitation he accepted. + +The memorial exercises celebrating the hundredth anniversary of +Lincoln's birth were held under the direction of the State Centennial +Commission, appointed by the Governor, working in conjunction with +the Lincoln Centennial Association. There were a number of distinct +events, but the most important were the great memorial exercises +held in the State Armory, at which addresses were made by Ambassadors +Jusserand and Bryce, and by Senator Dolliver and Mr. Bryan, and a +banquet served to eight hundred guests. The celebration was in +every way a great success, largely due to the efforts of Judge +Humphrey. + +It was quite an event in the history of Springfield, as it was the +first time, so far as I know, that the Ambassadors of two great +Nations visited Springfield. + +I regretted very much that I was so engaged in matters pertaining +to my official duties in Washington that it seemed impossible for +me to be present. I was requested to write something which could +be read at the banquet, and so I addressed to Judge Humphrey the +following letter: + + "Washington, D. C., + "_February 6, 1909_. + +"Hon. J. Otis Humphrey, + "President Lincoln Centennial Association, + "Springfield, Illinois. + +"My dear Judge: + +"It is a matter of sincere regret to me that I am unable to be +present at your great anniversary celebration of the birth of the +immortal Lincoln, and to welcome to my home city the Ambassadors +of Great Britain and France and the distinguished guests who are +to be with you. + +"Abraham Lincoln, greatest of Americans, greatest of men, emancipator, +martyr, his service to his country has not been equalled by any +American citizen, not even by Washington. His name and life have +been an inspiration to me from my earliest recollection. + +"On this one hundredth anniversary of his birth, the people, without +regard to creed, color, condition, or section, in all parts of this +Union which he saved, are striving to do honor to his memory. No +American has ever before received such deserved universal praise. +Not only in his own country, but throughout the civilized world, +Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of the few, the very few, truly +great men in history. His memory is as fresh to-day in the minds +and hearts of the people as it was forty years ago, and the passing +years only add to his fame and serve to give us a truer conception +of his noble character. The events of his life, his words of +wisdom, have been gathered together in countless volumes to be +treasured up and handed down to generations yet to come. + +"I knew him intimately in Springfield; I heard him utter his simple +farewell to his friends and neighbors when he departed to assume +a task greater than any President had been called upon to assume +in our history; it was my sad duty to accompany his mortal remains +from the capital of the Nation to the capital of Illinois; and as +I gazed upon his face the last time, I thanked God it had been my +privilege to know him as a friend; and I felt then, as I more fully +realize now, that the good he had done would live through all the +ages to bless the world. + +"Springfield, his only real home, the scene of his great political +triumph, was his fitting resting-place. In the midst of this great +continent his dust shall rest a sacred treasure to myriads who +shall pilgrim to his shrine to kindle anew their zeal and +patriotism. + +"Again expressing regret that I can not be with you to take part +in honoring the memory of our greatest President, on the one +hundredth anniversary of his birth, and feeling sure that the +Springfield celebration will be the most notable of all, as it +should be, I remain + + "Sincerely yours, + "(Signed) S. M. Cullom." + +Of all the notable celebrations held on the one hundredth anniversary +of the birth of Lincoln in every part of the United States, the +Springfield observance was the most dignified and impressive; and +it was determined that on Lincoln's birthday each year, under the +auspices of the Lincoln Centennial Association, fitting memorial +exercises should take place in Springfield, to which guests and +speakers of national and international renown, from all parts of +the United States, should be invited. + +Springfield has a great public library, called the "Lincoln Library," +toward which Andrew Carnegie very generously contributed seventy- +five thousand dollars. I took considerable interest in the +Springfield Library, and I did what I could to prevail upon Mr. +Carnegie to make as generous a contribution as he would toward the +project. I remember that I wrote him a letter on the subject. + +It was at first proposed by the Springfield people to name the +Library "The Lincoln-Carnegie Memorial Library"; but after Mr. +Carnegie had made his contribution, through his secretary he informed +the Rev. E. S. Walker, of Springfield, who carried on the correspondence +with him, that he would consider it a desecration to have any name +listed with that of Lincoln. "He trusts that the library will be +known as the 'Lincoln Library,' not the 'Lincoln Memorial Library,' +as Lincoln needs no memorial, being one of the dozen supremely +great rulers of men the world has ever seen." + +The Library was completed in 1904, and I was invited to deliver +the dedicatory address, which invitation I was very glad to accept. +It was an interesting occasion, held in the main room of the library +building, which was crowded with the very best people of the city. +I give a few extracts from the speech I delivered that evening: + +"Mr. Chairman: It was a great pleasure to me to be invited by your +library board to participate in these exercises attending the +opening of this splendid library building. + +"I can not resist on this occasion the inclination to say a few +words in reference to Springfield and my early relations to it. + +"Old historic Springfield! Here have taken place many of the most +important events in the history of Illinois. Springfield has been +the centre of the political struggles of both parties since it has +been the capital of the State. Many of the great statesmen of +Illinois have occupied seats in the legislative hall in Springfield. +Here were mobilized during the Civil War the thousands of troops +who went forth to do and die for the Union. Here the greatest +General of the age received his first command. Here Lincoln and +Douglas met, and from here Lincoln went forth to assume a task +greater than any President has been called upon to undertake in +all our history. + +"Springfield is endeared to me by all the sacred memories of +friendship, family, and home. + +"I came here fifty years ago. In Springfield I received my legal +education, was admitted to the Bar, and in your old courthouse here +I practised my profession. In Springfield I married and reared my +family, and here my children are laid in their final resting-place. + +"Those early days of my residence here are among the happiest of +my life. Official duties have necessitated my absence a great part +of the time for the past twenty years, but my heart lingers with +it, and the ties which made those early days so happy will never +be broken so long as I shall live." + +After giving a history of the library and referring to the generosity +of Mr. Carnegie, I continued: + +"This is a material age. Carnegie, the great captain of industry, +is a typical representative of the leaders of this age. It is well +worth our while to stop to consider why he should devote a part of +his great wealth to the founding of public libraries. + +"Andrew Carnegie was a poor boy, enjoying none of the advantages +and opportunities which are afforded by a good library. He missed +in his early life the opportunity for culture which is now obtained +through the facilities supplied by libraries in the towns and +cities. He knew that there was no other agency so valuable for +the purpose of spreading culture among the people as the public +library. No word so precisely describes the influence of good +reading as does the word 'culture'. Emerson tells us that the word +of ambition of the present day is 'culture.' + +"Andrew Carnegie, the great leader of the industrial world, desiring +to give to the young men and the young women of this day an +opportunity for education, for culture, whose value to the young +he realizes so well, has devoted the enormous fortune of over one +hundred million dollars for the founding of public libraries. . . . + +"There should be no pleasure like the pleasure derived from reading +a good book. Emerson, expressing our debt to a book says: 'Let +us not forget the genial, miraculous, we have known to proceed from +a book. We go musing into the vaults of day and night; no +constellation shines, no muse descends, the stars are white points, +the roses brick-colored leaves; and frogs pipe, mice cheep, and +wagons creak along the road. We return to the house and take up +Plutarch or Augustine, and read a few sentences or pages, and lo, +the air swims with life, secrets of magnanimity and grandeur invite +us on every hand, life is made of them. Such is our debt to a +book.' + +"The founding of public libraries is the surest mark of advanced +civilization. The origin of libraries is lost in the dim twilight +of the early ages. When they commenced, how they commenced, we do +not know; but we have authentic records that centuries before the +Christian era the temples of those countries of the East where +civilization had made the greatest advances, contained libraries +of clay tablets, carefully shelved in regular order. Among the +Greeks, private libraries existed at least four hundred years before +the birth of Christ. The Roman Caesars returning from conquest to +the development of the arts of peace, established libraries in the +then great Capital of the World. + +"But the United States is pre-eminently the home of the free public +libraries, supported by taxation. This country has more free public +libraries than any other country in the world. + +"What a great thing it is for our people to have these advantages! +The foundations of our Republic are being well laid. The family, +the church, the school--and the library! A people who will adhere +to the great principles of the sacredness of the family, the church, +and the school, will not perish from the earth. Virtue and +intelligence are the necessary foundations on which a republic must +rest. Education is more necessary in a republic, where the people +are the sovereigns, than it is in a monarchy, where the people are +subjects. With education and the library comes culture. The +family, the church, the school, and the library are all necessary +to qualify the citizen for the great duties of life. . . . + +"Mr. Carnegie has given us this building and has requested that it +be named in honor of the great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. Like +a number of others who are in this room to-night, I knew Abraham +Lincoln intimately and well. We are proud that this city was the +home of Abraham Lincoln while living, and now that he has passed +away, it is the home of his sacred dust. The words of Mr. Carnegie, +that no name should be coupled with the name of Mr. Lincoln manifested +the highest appreciation by him of the great name of Lincoln. He +was a noble man. Only forty-three years ago, he was going in and +out among us, interested in the local affairs of our city, doing +his duty in the common affairs of our community, and at the same +time grappling with the great questions pressing upon the attention +of the people and touching the life of the Nation. + +"My friends, in the language of Mr. Carnegie, Lincoln has been 'one +of a dozen supremely great rulers of men that the world has seen.' +He was one of a few men in the world's history whose great and +noble life and deeds will be remembered forever. I rejoice that +he lived among us and that he was loved by our people while he +lived, and that his memory is fresh and green in our hearts. + +"My friends, as we reflect upon the progress of our Nation in wealth +and power and influence among the Nations of the world in the +century just closed, our hearts swell with pride and thankfulness +that we have been so favored. As a Nation we are now in the first +rank of the nations of the earth. + +"Let us do our part in maintaining our national supremacy. We can +hold our place by standing by the right as a community, as a State, +and as a Nation, adhering rigidly to the foundation principles of +our Republican Government, cherishing liberty, and obeying law; +upholding the sacredness of the family, the church, and the school; +with school, the library will follow, and in the time to come our +Nation will endure, and its people will cultivate from generation +to generation, a better and higher civilization." + + +CHAPTER XXXIII +CONSECUTIVE ELECTIONS TO UNITED STATES SENATE + +I was twice elected Governor of Illinois, and have been elected to +the United States Senate for five consecutive terms, and as I write +this narrative I have served in the Senate more than twenty-eight +years. I consider this a greater honor than an election to the +Presidency of the United States. I owe the deepest debt of gratitude +to the people of the State of Illinois, who have for so many years +continued me in the public service. To my many friends who have +so loyally supported me during all these years, I am profoundly +grateful. + +I have already referred to my first election to the United States +Senate. At the conclusion of my first term, I was, on January 22, +1889, re-elected without opposition. + +The country had turned the Republican party out of power and elected +Mr. Cleveland in 1892; and for the first time since 1856, the State +of Illinois went Democratic and elected Mr. Altgeld as Governor. +I returned to Illinois, from Washington, to enter the campaign in +1894, having little or no hope that I could be re-elected to the +Senate, as I supposed, of course, that the State would continue in +the control of the Democratic party. Having been twice elected to +the United States Senate, I deemed it my duty to make the best +fight I could for Republican success, regardless of my own personal +interest in the matter. The Democrats were confident they would +carry the Legislature, and Mr. Franklin MacVeagh, who is now +Secretary of the Treasury under a Republican President, was the +candidate of the Democratic party for the Senate to succeed me. +Mr. MacVeagh made a canvass of the State as a candidate for United +States Senator against me. Very much to his surprise, the State +went overwhelmingly Republican and elected a Republican Legislature, +insuring the election of a Republican to the Senate. + +While I had made the canvass of the State, it was not until after +the election, when it became known that we had elected a Republican +Legislature, that opposition to my re-election developed in the +Republican party. + +Mr. George E. Adams, and Mr. George R. Davis who had served in +Congress and been Director General of the World's Columbian Exposition +at Chicago, were candidates against me. Mr. Joseph E. Medill, the +owner of _The Chicago Tribune_, also considered the question whether +he would be a candidate. He advised with the late Hon. John R. +Tanner, asking him if he thought that he (Medill) could be elected +if he could secure the solid support of the Cook County delegation. +Mr. Tanner replied that he could not, that I had a sufficient number +of votes in the country outside of Cook to defeat every candidate; +whereupon he declined to consider the possibility of election at +all. + +The Hon. John R. Tanner managed my campaign. He had served in the +Legislature, where he had been a very influential member, and was +then chairman of the State Central Committee. He was popular and +possessed shrewd political sagacity. Tanner was very loyal to me +then, and for many years I considered him my closest and most +devoted political friend. I have always had the firm conviction +that if he had remained loyal and had supported me for re-election +in 1900, he would have been re-elected Governor himself, and would +have succeeded the late John M. Palmer as my colleague in the +Senate. + +The Legislature met in January, 1895. I secured the caucus nomination, +and on January 22, in the joint session of the Thirty-ninth General +Assembly, I was elected the third time to succeed myself in the +United States Senate. + +There were a number of very complimentary speeches made on that +occasion. My old friend, the Hon. David T. Littler, who then +represented the Springfield District in the Senate, made the first +speech. He began by saying: + +"Mr. President: Twelve years ago, from my seat as a member of the +Lower House of this General Assembly, I had the honor to place in +nomination as the candidate of the Republican party for the great +office of United States Senator, the Hon. Shelby M. Cullom. I took +occasion at that time to predict that in the office to which he +had been elected he would show his usefulness and increase his +reputation not only among the people of our own State, but the +whole people of this country. After the lapse of twelve years and +with his record perfectly familiar to the people of the whole +country, I ask you Senators whether my prediction has not been +fulfilled. His name has been connected with every important measure +introduced in the United States Senate; and his discussion of +important questions there on many occasions testified as to his +patriotism and as to his ability as a statesman. I take great +pleasure on this occasion to place in nomination for that high +office the same Shelby M. Cullom who has served the people of this +State so long and so creditably. In doing so I believe I state +but the truth when I say he has the longest and most distinguished +record in public life of any man who ever lived in the State of +Illinois." + +Speeches were made in the Senate by Senators Coon, Aspinwall, and +Mussett; and in the House of Representatives William J. Butler, of +Springfield, E. Callahan, George W. Miller, D. S. Berry, A. J. +Dougherty, J. E. Sharrock, and Charles E. Selby. + +I was present in Springfield, and was invited before the joint +session of the General Assembly, after they had elected me, to +deliver an address. I appeared before the joint session and +expressed my obligations to the members of the Thirty-sixth General +Assembly for the high honor conferred upon me. I made a short +address, reviewing conditions in the State and the country generally, +and concluded by saying: + +"The prosperity and happiness of the people depend upon wise and +just laws to be enacted both by the State and by the Nation. In +the discharge of the high duty which you have just imposed upon +me, it shall be my single aim to dy my part in so shaping the policy +of the country, that we shall soon stand upon the high ground of +permanent prosperity. + +"Gentlemen, it should be our ambition so to legislate that the +freedom and rights of every citizen shall be secured and respected; +that all interests shall be protected; that one portion of our +people shall not oppress another, and so that ample remedies shall +be found and applied for every existing wrong. To this end an +enlarged humanity bids us look forward with renewed hope and trust." + +My reference to the Hon. Joseph E. Medill in connection with this +contest reminds me that I should say something of Mr. Medill. I +regarded him as one of the three really great editors of his day-- +Horace Greeley, Henry Watterson, and Joe Medill. + +He made _The Chicago Tribune_ one of the most influential newspapers +of the United States. At time Medill and I were very friendly, +and he gave me his hearty support. At other times he was against +me, but we always remained on speaking terms at least, and I admired +and respected him very much. + +He was one of the most indefatigable and inveterate letter-writers +within my experience. From the time I was Governor of Illinois, +and even before that, and almost to the time of his death, he wrote +me at great length upon every conceivable public question. His +letters were always interesting, but as he did not avail himself +of a stenographer, and as he wrote a very difficult hand to read, +they became at times a trifle tiresome. I have retained a large +number of his letters, and as they are so characteristic of the +man I venture to quote a few of them. + + "The Chicago Tribune, Editorial Rooms. + "_Feb. 6, 1887_. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + +"Dear Sir:-- + +"Well, he signed the bill, and it out of the woods. All right so +far. His signing it shows that he is a candidate for a second +term. That was the test. The next thing is the composition of +the Board of Commissioners. The successful working of the law +depends upon the action of the Board. There is an impression that +he will probably let you name one of the commissioners and Reagan +another. If that be so, let me suggest among other names Mr. C. +M. Wicker, manager Chicago Freight Bureau, for the position. You +probably know him. He has had large experience in freighting, and +is widely known to both shippers and railroad men, and is well +liked. He is a friend of the law, and supported it vigorously +while before Congress, writing some good letters in its explanation +and defence for _The Tribune_. He is a sound Republican though +not much of a politician. You may find other and better men to +recommend, but I don't think of any belonging to this State at this +moment. I hear Judge Cooley's name mentioned. He is of course a +first-class A No. 1 man, but I write on the hypothesis that your +preference will be for an Illinois man if you are allowed to have +a say in it. + +"The passage of the bill is a great triumph for you, if the bill +works well. People always judge of measures by their effect; hence +the act should have fair play. + +"Now that it is safely in the shape of a law, I thought _The Tribune_ +might indulge in a little horn-blowing as per enclosed article, + + "Yours truly, + "(Signed) J. Medill." + + + "Hotel Ponce de Leon, + "St. Augustine, Fla., + "_March 13, 1888_. + +"Hon. S. M. Cullom, + +"My dear Sir:-- + +"I have just received your favor of 9 inst. and confess that I am +taken a little by surprise. I had got the impression from various +quarters that you did not desire to secure the Illinois delegation, +and did not want to be considered a candidate. Acting on this idea +_The Tribune_ has been leaning towards Gresham as an available +candidate, as you have noticed. However, you have lost no ground +by standing in the shade. If I was managing your boom I would keep +your name in the background and out of the newspapers as a candidate +seeking the nomination until the last. A few strong judicious +friends among the Illinois delegation is all you want to watch +events and move quickly at the opportune moment, if it arrives. +I should say that on general principles you would be the second +choice of any set of Illinois delegates and the chances are all in +the direction of some second-choice candidate. Harrison is likely +to have a pledged delegation from Indiana, but what good will it +do him? Logan had a pledged delegation from Illinois; Sherman, +from Ohio; Windom, from Minn.; and Hawley, from Conn. The convention +will be largely chiefly actuated and governed by the stability +idea. Personal friendship won't count for much in that search for +the most available candidate. This you see as clearly as I do. +Whatever Western man the New York delegates (or a majority of them) +favor will stand a good chance of getting it. It is almost impossible +to figure out a victory without the electoral vote of New York. +Indiana and Connecticut would be absolutely indispensable in the +absence of New York. But even then we have doubtful States that +voted for Blaine. Michigan, for instance, and the three Pacific +Coast States, in case any such man as Sherman, Harrison, or Hawley, +who voted against restricting Chinese immigration, should be +nominated. And then it remains to be seen what sort of action will +be had in Congress on tariff reduction. If we are obliged to go +before the people defending the present tariff, that is breeding +trust monopolies all over the country, a nomination will not be +worth having. High protection is a nice thing for those who pocket +it, but not so fascinating to the unprotected classes who have to +pay the big bounties out of their pockets sold at free trade prices. +All those things must be taken into consideration. I am about +leaving Florida for home, either via Atlantic or Washington. If +the latter, I shall see you when I get there, when we can talk over +the whole matter more fully than on paper. All I can really say +is, I am peering about in the dark for the strongest candidate, +the most available man on an available platform, and even then we +shall have desperate hard work to win in the face of the immense +losses our party is suffering from the ravages in the rank and +file, committed by the prohibitionists. We shall have to face a +loss of fifty thousand in New York. How is that to be made good? +and twenty-five to thirty thousand in Illinois and five to seven +thousand in Indiana, and thirty thousand in Michigan. How can we +stand this loss of blood and men? + + "(Signed) J. Medill." + + + "Niagara Falls, N. Y., + "_Aug. 5, 1888_. + +"My dear Sir:-- + +"Searching for a cool place I found it here, where I shall remain +a few days and then proceed to Kaetershill Mountain top, which is +the best hot-weather place I found last year. + +"I take it for granted that none of your friends keep you posted +about the secret negotiations going on between Palmer and the +Socialistic Labor element for a fusion. You have seen by _The +Tribune_ that all the labor element is not disposed to support +Palmer, in consideration of his pardoning the imprisoned anarchists. +You may rely on _The Tribune_ ventilating this unholy alliance. +At the same time there are ten thousand to twelve thousand of these +socialists who will vote for Palmer and the Democratic ticket in +Cook County; and this fusion may with the aid of the prohibitionists +cost the Republicans second seats in the Legislature, which is the +phase of the matter in which you are specially interested. There +is considerable coldness among the Irish Catholics toward Cleveland, +but whether it will continue until election night remains to be +seen. They think he is too pro-English, but they dislike Harrison. +Blaine was their ideal. + +"I have spent a good deal of spare time to point out flaws and +tricks in the sugar and whiskey sections of the Mills bill. The +latter really opens and invites universal evasion of taxes and the +multiplication of small moonshine distilleries; and the former +perpetuates the sugar trust profits and affords the public no +relief. + +"The Republican members of the House did not expose these defects +enough. Cannon did well on sugar, but nobody dissected the whiskey +section which bored gimlet holes into the bottom of every barrel +of high wine to let it out without paying a cent of tax. The +Democrats are therefore the real free whiskeyites. This ought to +be shown up thoroughly in the Senate. Our miserable platform places +us on the defensive. The Mills bill places the Democrats on the +defensive if it is rightly handled. I do not mean attacking the +free wool part of it, for that portion if enacted would do your +constituents certainly ten or twenty times more good than harm, +nor the free lumber or free salt or free soap, etc., etc., which +would benefit all Illinois; but I mean fraud free sugar, and fraud +free whiskey, and a hundred per cent tax on rice--these are the +things to hit. On these the Democrats are placed with their noses +on the grindstone. + +"I have been reading the discussion in the Senate over your resolution +in regard to the competition of the Canadian railways with our +transcontinental railway freight charges. It is well enough perhaps +to inquire into the matter, but I have a notion that the sharp +competition is of great benefit to the masses. I know that I am +a little heterodox in looking at the interest of the consumers +instead of railroad plutocrats, of the millions instead of the +millionaires, but I can't help it. Senator Gorman had much to say +in his speech about the undue advantage the Canadian roads had over +ours by reason of Government subsidies received in constructing +the Canadian railways, and to a line of steamers from Victoria to +Japan and Hongkong. But his memory failed in the most astonishing +manner to recall and perceive the fact that all the American roads +west of the Mississippi to the Pacific have been enormously subsidized +by our Government. In fact the subsidies amount to a good deal +more than the actual total cost of the construction of the whole +of them. For twenty years some of these roads have been plundering +the American people by the most outrageous charges, and Congress, +the people's representatives, have not lifted a finger to stop the +rapacious robbery. And now, when the Canadian road, built by +Government subsidies, begins to compete with the American roads +built with Government subsidies, the latter who have pocketed +hundreds of millions of subsidy spoils and overcharge plunder, +appeal to the Senate to protect the scoundrels against a little +healthy competition, and Senator Gorman pleads for the robbers on +the floor of the Senate with tears in his eyes! So whatever extent +the competing Canadian roads cause our contiguous roads to lower +their freights so much the better for the public. They act just +the same as competing waterways. The Grand Trunk, beginning at +Chicago and running through Michigan to Sarma; crossing at Niagara +Falls and feeding the Lackawanna and Erie to New York; running to +Boston through Vermont, etc., and also to Montreal; and the Alden +line of steamers carrying cattle to England, as a healthy competition +with our pooling trunk lines east from Chicago, is of enormous +value to Chicago and all the shippers, cattle-dealers, grain-raises, +farmers, and merchants of half a dozen States in the Northwest. +Any interference with its competitive activity will harm millions +of Western people, tending as it will to increase cost of transportation +and re-establish trunk line pooling monopoly. + +"So the competition of the Canadian transcontinental at the Red +River and at the '500' ensures cheaper freights for all Minnesota +and Dakota, and the effect extends clear down into Nebraska and +Iowa. So, too, the Canadian road's rates at its Pacific terminal +--Victoria--are exercising a most beneficent and ameliorating +influence on the charges of the enormously subsidized Northern +Pacific, forcing down to a reasonable rate Pacific Coast; and as +it climbs down from its extortionate schedule of charges the Union +and Central and Southern and Santa Fe Pacifics will be forced to +do likewise. I'd give something handsome to have had the opportunity +to reply for thirty minutes to Senator Gorman, to present the other +side of the question from the American standpoint. On one point +I am in agreement with you, viz.: that the British flag should be +removed from this continent. This territory along our northern +border should be incorporated into the American Union. It is +ridiculous that Uncle Sam should allow a foreign power to hold it. +We have as much need for it and right to it as England has for +Scotland. If we had a respectable navy and a supply of fortification +guns the problem would be easy of solution, and won't be until then. + +"Each day convinces me more and stronger that if we lose this +election McKinley--will be the cause. They make the party say in +its platform 'Rather than surrender any part of our protective +system, the whiskey, tobacco, and oleomargarine excises shall be +repealed.' The Democrats are making much capital out of this. +The tax on lumber and on salt are parts of our 'protective system.' +Now the Mc. plank discloses that rather than reduce the tax on +lumber, the Rep. party will repeal the tax on oleo butter. How +many farmers' votes will that give us? Rather than allow any +lowering of the high taxes on clothes, or salt, or lumber or +crockery, etc., the tax on whiskey must be repealed, and the old +evil era of cheap rotgut and still-houses everywhere shall be +restored! Do you really think that position will make votes for +us this fall among the farmers? The final outcome will probably +turn on the character of the Senate bill, of which I am not sanguine. +About two thousand millionaires run the policies of the Rep. party +and make its tariffs. What modifications will they permit the Rep. +Senators to support? We other thirty million of Republicans will +have precious little voice in the matter. Turn this over in your +mind, and you will see that I am right. Whatever duties protect +the two thousand plutocrats is protection to American industries. +Whatever don't is free trade. + + "(Signed) J. Medill." + + + "The Windsor, N. Y., + "_Nov. 25, 1890_. + +"Senator Cullom. + +"Dear Sir: + +"I did not think the blow would be a cyclone when I saw you just +before the election. I knew that a storm was coming, but did not +dream that its severity would be so dreadful. + +"The thing to do this Winter is to repeal the McKinley bill, and +strengthen the reciprocity scheme by giving Blaine the sugar duties +to work on--freeing no sugar before reciprocal equivalents are +secured from respective cane-sugar tropical countries; or (2) fail +to pass the chief appropriation bills, so that an extra session of +the Dem. Congress would be called, and that party must deal with +the tariff and be responsible for their action or failure to act; +or (3) pass the apn. bills; adjourn; next year, have the Senate +defeat the Dem. tariff bill, or the President veto it, and go before +the people in 1892 on the issue of standing by the McKinley bill +till overwhelmed and wiped out in Nov. of that year, as the Whigs +were in '52 when standing by the Forsythe-Stone Law of Fillmore +and Clay. + +"The last course I presume is the one that will be pursued. When +men who are statesmen of the Quay-Reid-McKinley calibre start in +wrong their pride keeps them in the same downward path till they +tumble the whole outfit into the bottomless pit. + +"I do not consider a Presidential nomination for any man worth a +nickel on the issue of standing by the McKinley bill. The fate of +Gen. Scott in '52 surely awaits him. + +"Either of the other mentioned courses might give our party a +fighting chance. But it won't get it, if the perverse members who +have landed us in the ditch have their way. + +"Read the suggestions from the article in _The N. Y. Times_ for +Republicans. + + "Yours truly, + "(Signed) J. Medill." + +I was elected to the Senate, the fourth time, in January, 1901. +This time I had a very serious contest. More opposition had +developed, and there were more strong men against me, than at any +previous election. This was largely the outgrowth of the opposition +of the late Governor Tanner, who had just completed his term as +Governor of Illinois, and who had announced he would not be a +candidate for renomination, but would be a candidate to succeed +me. I believe it was mainly through the efforts of Governor Tanner +and his friends that the Hon. Robert R. Hitt, the Hon. Joseph G. +Cannon, and the Hon. George W. Prince were induced to become +candidates, in the hope of weakening me in their respective districts. +I do not believe that either Mr. Hitt or Mr. Cannon was a party to +any particular scheme to defeat me. They were candidates in good +faith, and aspired to the office of United States Senator, but +neither of them had any desire to defeat me unless he could get +the office himself. + +The campaign continued for a year or more. My friends were active, +as were the friends of Governor Tanner. He had a horde of office- +holders whom he had given places while Governor, who had been more +or less actively working for him as my successor almost from the +very time that the Governor entered that office. The bitter personal +attacks made on me by the Governor and his friends did not help +him, but tended rather to help me. + +The preliminary contest was in the State Convention held at Peoria +in 1900. There were a number of candidates for Governor before +that convention. The Hon. Walter Reeves, the Hon. O. H. Carter, +and Judge Elbridge Hanecy were the leading aspirants. My friends +had insisted that I should be endorsed for re-election by the State +Convention, and my friends controlled the organization of the +convention and elected the Hon. Charles G. Dawes temporary chairman +and the Hon. Joseph W. Fifer permanent chairman. + +Governor Fifer has always been my friend, as I have always been +his. He was a brave, gallant soldier in the Civil War, in which +he served as a private until he was so badly wounded that his life +was despaired of. He has been forced to go through life under +exceptionally difficult circumstances, never fully recovering from +his wound. He is entitled to far more than ordinary credit for +the success which he achieved in life. He is an able lawyer, and +as State's Attorney he was one of the most vigorous of prosecutors. +He was nominated and elected Governor, and gave the State an honest +and capable administration. He was renominated, but local questions +in the State, combined with the Democratic landslide of 1892, +resulted in his defeat. President McKinley, on my recommendation, +appointed Governor Fifer a member of the Interstate Commerce +Commission, in which position he served with credit for some years. +He resigned voluntarily and returned to his home in Bloomington to +resume the practice of law. I have always liked Governor Fifer, +and consider him one of the foremost citizens of the State living +to-day. + +Returning to the Peoria Convention, over which Governor Fifer +presided, I will only say that Mr. Reeves had the votes in that +convention to be nominated; but for reasons I do not have to discuss, +he did not secure the nomination, and the Hon. Richard Yates became +the nominee. I was endorsed by the convention as the candidate of +the Republican party to succeed myself as United States Senator. +The opposition to me in the convention was by Governor Tanner and +his friends, he being the only avowed candidate against me. I +thought that the endorsement of that convention should have settled +the matter; but the contest went on, and Messrs. Hitt, Cannon, and +Prince entered it actively. Several others were standing around +waiting for a chance, and this continued to be the situation until +the Legislature met in January. A sufficient number of the members +of the Legislature to elect me had pledged themselves in writing +to stand by me as long as I was a candidate. The other candidates, +probably aside from Governor Tanner, did not believe I had these +written pledges. I told them so, but they did not believe me. +Governor Tanner and his friends realized that I would have a majority +of the caucus, and they then began scheming for the purpose of +having a secret ballot in the caucus, hoping that if certain members +who had been pledged to me would not have to vote openly, they +would go back on the pledges and vote secretly for one of the other +candidates, thus defeating me. I had enough votes to defeat the +secret ballot proposition, as many of the supporters of Tanner were +really in favor of my re-election. Hon. Fred A. Busse, one of the +most influential members of the State Senate at that time, and more +recently Mayor of Chicago--one of the best the city ever had--and +who has long been my personal friend, was pledged to vote for the +Governor, but at heart was strongly for me. With many others, +Busse would not consent to a secret caucus, and this really ended +the contest. Tanner, after trying to induce the other candidates +to unite on him, or on some one else to defeat me (which proposition +Mr. Cannon and Mr. Hitt rejected), announced that he would withdraw. +Friends of the Governor in the Legislature came to me and announced +that Tanner had quit the race, and later Mr. Cannon and Mr. Hitt +came to my room and announced their withdrawal. + +This ended the contest; my name was the only one presented to the +caucus, and I was the only Republican voted for in the joint session +of the Legislature. It was an interesting fight, and as it may +well be supposed, the result was very satisfactory to my friends +and to me. + +When I returned to Washington after having been re-elected, I was +warmly greeted by my colleagues in the Senate who had been watching +the contest; and I recollect that Senator Hanna was particularly +warm in his congratulations, and remarked that it was the prettiest +political fight he had witnessed in a long time. + +I want to say something in reference to the Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, +who was a candidate against me at this time, and who is now, as he +has been for years past, the leading member of the Illinois +delegation. + +I regard him as my personal friend, and was very glad indeed to +support his candidacy for the Presidency in 1908, I being chairman +of the Illinois delegation to the Chicago convention that year. + +At the time he entered the contest against me, he had long been +one of the leaders of the House of Representatives in Congress. +After refusing to enter the scheme of Governor Tanner to defeat +me, as I have stated, he retired from the contest, was soon re- +elected to Congress, and almost immediately elected as Speaker, in +which position he continued for a larger number of consecutive +terms than any statesman in our history. He is a strong, courageous +man, and a man of splendid ability. He had rather a stormy career +as Speaker, but he controlled the situation all the time. During +his last term as Speaker he might have gotten along with the House +a little more smoothly, and at the same time just as satisfactorily +to himself, if he had yielded a little to his colleagues in his +party who differed from him. If he had been disposed to do so, +much friction could have been avoided, and at the same time he +would have had his own way in caring for the interests of the +country. I have believed in him and have stood by him through +thick and thin, and I know he has done nothing but what he himself +believed right. + +Joseph G. Cannon has his own notions of what is right and what is +wrong, and fearlessly follows what he thinks is right, without +reference to what anybody else may think or say. The apparently +determined effort on the part of the masses of the people, and +especially the newspapers, to discredit the Payne-Aldrich Tariff +Bill resulted in the Democrats carrying the House in the campaign +of 1910 with the result that in the Sixty-second Congress the +Democratic party has a substantial majority, causing the retirement +of Mr. Cannon from the Speakership. + +For a time Mr. Cannon was apparently very unpopular and the people +seemed disposed to hold him responsible for much they did not +approve of in legislation; but his feeling is passing away, and +Mr. Cannon will be regarded as an able legislator, an able Speaker, +a man who has during his service in Congress saved the Government +untold millions. His honesty and devotion to duty cannot be doubted, +and he will go down in history as one of the foremost leaders in +Congress of his day, when those who are now criticising him are +forgotten. + +On January 16, 1907, I was by the Forty-fifth General Assembly +elected for the fifth time as United States Senator from the State +of Illinois. This was an entirely different contest from any +previous one I had ever had, as the State had enacted a primary +law which contained a proviso that the names of candidates for +United States Senator could be placed on the ballot and voted for +at the primaries, but that such vote was advisory merely. This is +as far as the primary law can go on the question of the election +of United States Senators. I had not the slightest objection to +having my name go before the people, the individual voters, as a +candidate for the Senate. The first primary law was declared +unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the State, and as soon as +I heard the decision I promptly wired the Governor, commending him +for his announcement that he would call a special session of the +Legislature to enact a new primary law, and I took occasion to add +that I hoped by friends would work with him in the passage of the +law, and that it would provide for a vote on United States Senator. + +The Legislature did enact a new law, providing that the primaries +be held in August, 1906. Former Governor Richard Yates was the +only candidate against me. He made a canvass of the State, and a +very thorough one. He had a considerable advantage in that he had +almost all the politicians in the State who were holding State +offices actively working for him. I made no canvass and personally +did very little about it at all. I was willing to leave the matter +to the people, and determined, if it was a fair vote, to abide by +the result of the primaries, and if defeated at the primaries to +support Governor Yates. I believe that Governor Yates had the same +determination,--at least his conduct after the primaries, in +withdrawing from the contest, would indicate that he had. I am +glad to be able to say that throughout the contest and at its close, +he acted very fairly. He made a straight, fair fight, and lost, +then abided by the result, just as I would have done had I lost. +My friends in different parts of the State took an active interest +in my behalf, for which I want to avail myself of this opportunity +to express to them my appreciation. I might add here that all +during my public career it has been my good fortune to have the +support and friendship of a very high class of men, men whose honor +and integrity were beyond question, and who were capable of filling +any office. I cannot undertake to name them, but I know that they +will understand the deep debt of gratitude that I owe to them. + +It was very flattering to me that I carried the primaries by a +substantial majority, having carried the popular vote, a majority +of the Senatorial districts, and a majority of the Congressional +districts. It demonstrated to me that the people had confidence +in me and were satisfied with my record as a Senator. It was the +first time that I had been voted for directly by the people for +any office since my re-election as Governor in 1880. The result +could not but be gratifying. + +Every one in the State accepted the result of the primaries, and +the question was regarded as settled. When the Legislature convened, +I was the unanimous choice of the Republican caucus and was voted +for by every Republican in the Legislature on joint ballot. There +seemed to be no bitterness or hard feeling on the part of any one. + +After the general election in November, I returned to Washington +to prepare for the session of Congress, and there was so much +important work before my committee and in the Senate generally, +that it seemed impossible for me to leave there in order to thank +the members of the Legislature for the high honor they had conferred +upon me. + +I addressed a letter to the members of the Forty-fifth General +Assembly, which was read, and from which I will quote: + +"I desire to express to the Republican members of the Forty-fifth +General Assembly my profound gratitude for your action in unanimously +declaring in favor of my re-election to again represent Illinois +in the United States Senate. + +"In electing me to the United States Senate for five consecutive +terms, a greater distinction will be conferred by the State than +has been conferred upon any other man in the history of Illinois. + +"I shall appreciate this election the more, because for the first +time the question of the selection of a United States Senator was +submitted to the people, and without any active campaign on my +part, the great majority of the voters declared me to be their +preference. + +"Until the recent primaries, my name had not been submitted directly +to the voters of the State since I was re-elected Governor in 1880, +and it was no small gratification to me, after twenty-six years +had come and gone, to have this expression of continued confidence +and approval of my record as a Senator. + +"I wish now to return my most sincere thanks to the people of the +State who have thus signally honored me. + +"During the twenty-four years I have represented the State in the +Senate, I have endeavored to the best of my ability to perform my +whole duty to the country and the State, and the only pledge I can +make is, that I shall continue in the performance of my duty in +the future as in the past. + +"I would prefer to have the pleasure of being present when a +Senatorial election takes place, in order to express personally to +the Legislature my appreciation; but there are so many important +questions to settle, and so much important legislation to enact +during the short session of Congress, ending as it does on March +4, that it has seemed to me to be more in accord with my duty to +remain in Washington in the performance of my official business. + +"Your Legislature assembles this year in the midst of the greatest +era of prosperity that has ever prevailed in this country. There +has never been a time in our history that we have had so long an +uninterrupted period of prosperity. This prosperous and happy +condition has come as the result, in a large part, of Republican +rule and Republican policy. + +"For nearly forty-five years the history of the United States has +been the history of the Republican party, because, with the exception +of two short periods, Republican administration has guided the +destinies of the Nation; and the achievements of Republican +administrations during those forty-five years constitute the greatest +record in our history, and that record is a complete defence of +the party against assaults from whatever quarter. + +"We stand to-day at the head of all the Nations in the value of +imports and exports, and these maintain the prosperity our country +has enjoyed since the American people declared in favor of a +protective tariff and a sound-money standard. + +"The people do not prosper under vicious government. Good government +is essential to real prosperity, to properly develop and to advance +it. The Republican party has always secured for the Nation stability, +confidence and prosperity at home, and respect and prestige abroad. + +"We are to-day at peace with all the Nations of the world. Perhaps +never before in our history have we had such intimate and friendly +relations with all the great Nations as we have to-day. Our country +has the respect of all the Governments of the world, great and +small. We are gradually assuming the first place among the naval +powers; but, unlike the older Nations, we are acquiring a great +navy in the interest of peace. Under the policy of this Government, +such a navy is one of the surest assurances against war. The +Nations know that the United States stands for peace, and under +Roosevelt's Republican administration, greater progress has been +made in the direction of international arbitration as a means of +settling disputes among nations than under any other previous +administration in our history. + +"While the nations know that we stand for peace, they also know +that we will not tamely submit to the imposition of wrong, or to +offenses against our own honor and dignity, or to the oppression +of our sister republics in this Western world. We have no desire +to rob these republics of their independence, or a single foot of +their territory. Our recent action in Cuba has been an object +lesson to these republics, and to the world at large, of our +disinterested friendship. As we have repeatedly assured them, our +only desire is that they shall follow us in peace and prosperity. + +"The construction of the great canal across the isthmus of Panama +will bind them closer to us, and at the same time will almost double +our strength as a naval power. + +"Too much credit cannot be given to President Roosevelt for the +great and wonderful results which he has accomplished in the interest +of the country, but the legislative branch of the Government has +done its full share. + +"The record made during the last session of Congress in the enactment +of wise laws for the direct benefit of the people has not been +equalled since the Civil War--if at all, since the adoption of the +Constitution. + +"I will not detain the caucus longer than to repeat my sincere +obligations to you and to express through you my thanks to the +people of the State, whose representatives you are, for the signal +honor that has been conferred upon me." + + +CHAPTER XXXIV +CONCLUSION + +Generally I might say that I am quite content; but as I sit down +now in the evening time of my life, it is a source of sadness and +wonder to me that I have survived both my wives and all of my +children. One by one I have laid them away in beautiful Oak Ridge +Cemetery, in Springfield, where I myself will one day be laid beside +them. I have had a delightful home life; no man could have had a +more happy and peaceful one. As I look back now, I cannot remember +that either wife or children ever caused me one moment's pain. I +was twice married. My first wife, Hannah M. Fisher, to whom I was +married in 1855, and who died in 1861, was of a very amiable spirit, +a woman of more than ordinary culture, and was the mother of my +first two children, Mrs. Ridgely and Mrs. Hardie, who lived to +womanhood, but both of whom have passed away. My second wife, +Julia Fisher, was the sister of my first wife. No better or truer +woman ever lived. She was a devoted helpmate to me during all the +years that I have occupied high public office and needed the support +and help of a woman. She did her full part and filled her place +on every occasion with dignity and propriety. It seems that her +death is the last great sorrow I shall have to bear. + +The memory of the children whom I lost in their infancy is naturally +dimmed by the passage of time, but it is hard for me to understand +the justice of things when I remember the death of my two daughters, +Ella, wife of William Barret Ridgely, and Carrie, wife of Robert +Gordon Hardie, who were taken just in the very prime of womanhood, +just in the most beautiful period of a woman's life, and just at +a time when they had the most to live for. + +As I think of it now, I do not know where I obtained the strength +to survive all these sorrows. I have no great fear of death, except +the natural dread of the physical pain which usually accompanies +it. I certainly wish beyond any words I have power to express that +I could have greater assurance that there will be a reuniting with +those we love and those who have loved us in some future world; +but from my reading of Scripture, and even admitting that there is +a hereafter, I cannot find any satisfactory evidence to warrant +such a belief. Could I believe that I should meet the loved ones +who have gone before, I do not know but that I should look forward +with pleasure to the "passing across." Not having this belief, I +am quite content to stay where I am as long as I can; and finally, +when old Charon appears to row me over the river Styx, I shall be +ready to go. + + +INDEX [omitted] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Fifty Years of Public Service, by Shelby M. 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