Twenty Years of Congress Volume I Part 22

Jacob Collamer of Vermont was a senator of eminent worth and ability.

He had earned honorable fame as a member of the House of Representatives, and as a member of the Cabinet in the administration of General Taylor. He had entered the Senate at a ripe age, and with every qualification for distinguished service. To describe him in a single word, he was a wise man. Conservative in his nature, he was sure to advise against rashness. St.u.r.dy in his principles, he always counseled firmness. In the periods of excitement through which the party was about to pa.s.s, his judgment was sure to prove of highest value--influenced, as it always was, by patriotism, and guided by conscience. Without power as an orator, he was listened to in the Senate with profound attention, as one who never offered counsel that was not needed. He carried into the Senate the gravity, the dignity, the weight of character, which enabled him to control more ardent natures; and he brought to a later generation the wisdom and experience acquired in a long life devoted to the service of his State and of his country.

UNITED-STATES SENATORS.

Zachariah Chandler had been the recognized leader of the Republican party in Michigan from its formation. He had superseded General Ca.s.s with a people in whose affections the latter had been strongly intrenched before Chandler was born. He had been four years in the Senate when the war broke out, and he was well established in reputation and influence. He was educated in the common schools of his native State of New Hampshire, but had not enjoyed the advantage of collegiate training. He was not eloquent according to the canons of oratory; but he was widely intelligent, had given careful attention to public questions, and spoke with force and clearness. He was a natural leader. He had abounding confidence in himself, possessed moral courage of a high order, and did not know the sensation of physical fear. He was zealous in the performance of public duty, radical in all his convictions, patriotic in every thought, an unrelenting foe to all forms of corruption.

He distinguished between a friend and an enemy. He was always ready to help the one, and, though not lacking in magnanimity, he seldom neglected an opportunity to cripple the other.

Lyman Trumbull had entered the Senate six years before, when Illinois revolted against the course of Douglas in destroying the Missouri Compromise. Mr. Lincoln had earnestly desired the place, but waived his claims. The election of Trumbull was considered desirable for the consolidation of the new party, and the Republicans of Whig antecedents were taught a lesson of self-sacrifice by the promptness with which Mr. Lincoln abandoned the contest. Judge Trumbull had acquired a good reputation at the bar of his State, and at once took high rank in the Senate. His mind was trained to logical discussion, and as a debater he was able and incisive. His political affiliations prior to 1854 were with the Democracy, and aside from the issue in regard to the extension of slavery, he did not fully sympathize with the principles and tendencies of the Republican party. He differed from Mr. Lincoln just as Preston King, senator from New York, differed from Mr. Seward. Lincoln and Seward believed in Henry Clay and all the issues which he represented, while Trumbull and King were devoted to the policies and measures which characterized the administration of Jackson. The two cla.s.ses of men composing the Republican party were equally zealous in support of the principles that led to the political revolution of 1860, but it was not easy to see what would be the result of other issues which time and necessity might develop.

Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio had been ten years in the Senate when the war broke out. He entered in March, 1851--the immediate successor of Thomas Ewing who had been transferred to the Senate from the Cabinet of Taylor, to take the place of Thomas Corwin who left the Senate to enter the Cabinet of Fillmore. Mr. Wade was elected as a Whig--the last senator chosen by that party in Ohio. His triumph was a rebuke to Mr. Corwin for his abandonment of the advanced position which he had taken against the aggressions of the slave power. It was rendered all the more significant by the defeat of Mr. Ewing, who with his strong hold upon the confidence and regard of the people of Ohio, was too conservative to embody the popular resentment against the odious features of the Compromise of 1850.

Mr. Wade entered the Senate with Mr. Sumner. Their joint coming imparted confidence and strength to the contest for free soil, and was a powerful re-enforcement to Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and Mr.

Hale, who represented the distinctively anti-slavery sentiment in the Senate. The fidelity, the courage, the ability of Mr. Wade gave him prominence in the North, and were a constant surprise to the South. He brought to the Senate the radicalism which Mr.

Giddings had so long upheld in the House, and was protected in his audacious freedom of speech by his steadiness of nerve and his known readiness to fight.

Henry B. Anthony entered the Senate on the 4th of March, 1859, at forty-four years of age. He had been Governor of Rhode Island ten years before. He received a liberal education at Brown University, and was for a long period editor of the _Providence Journal_, a position in which he established an enviable fame as a writer and secured an enduring hold upon the esteem and confidence of his State. In the Senate he soon acquired the rank to which his thorough training and intelligence, his graceful speech, his ardent patriotism, his stainless life ent.i.tled him. No man has ever enjoyed, among his a.s.sociates of all parties, a more profound confidence, a more cordial respect, a warmer degree of affection.

UNITED-STATES SENATORS.

John P. Hale of New Hampshire was still pursuing the career which he had begun as an early advocate of the anti-slavery cause, and in which he had twice overthrown the power of the Democratic party in New Hampshire.--Henry Wilson was the colleague of Mr. Sumner, and was a man of strong parts, self-made, earnest, ardent, and true.--Lot M. Morrill was the worthy a.s.sociate of Mr. Fessenden, prominent in his profession, and strong in the regard and confidence of the people of his States.--The author of the Wilmot Proviso came from Pennsylvania as the successor of Simon Cameron, and as the colleague of Edgar Cowan, whose ability was far greater than his ambition or his industry.--James W. Grimes, a native of New Hampshire, who had gone to Iowa at the time of its organization as a Territory and had been conspicuously influential in the affairs of the State, entered the Senate in March, 1859. He possessed an iron will and sound judgment. He was specially distinguished for independence of party restraint in his modes of thought and action. He and Judge Collamer of Vermont were the most intimate a.s.sociates of Mr.

Fessenden, and the three were not often separated on public questions.

--The colleague of Mr. Grimes was James Harlan, one of Mr. Lincoln's most valued and most confidential friends, and subsequently a member of his Cabinet.--James R. Doolittle came from Wisconsin, a far more radical Republican than his colleague, Timothy O. Howe, and both were men of marked influence in the councils of their party.--John Sherman filled the vacancy occasioned by the appointment of Mr.

Chase to the Treasury. Mr. Chase had been chosen as the successor of George E. Pugh, and remained in the Senate but a single day.

Mr. Sherman had been six years in the House, and had risen rapidly in public esteem. He had been the candidate of his party for Speaker, and had served as chairman of Ways and Means in the Congress preceding the war.--From the far-off Pacific came Edward d.i.c.kinson Baker, a senator from Oregon, a man of extraordinary gifts of eloquence; lawyer, soldier, frontiersman, leader of popular a.s.semblies, tribune of the people. In personal appearance he was commanding, in manner most attractive, in speech irresistibly charming. Perhaps in the history of the Senate no man ever left so brilliant a reputation from so short a service. He was born in England, and the earliest recollection of his life was the splendid pageant attending the funeral of Lord Nelson.** He came with his family to the United States when a child, lived for a time in Philadelphia, and removed to Illinois, where he grew to manhood and early attained distinction. He served his State with great brilliancy in Congress, and commanded with conspicuous success one of her regiments in the war with Mexico. The Whigs of the North- West presented Colonel Baker for a seat in the Cabinet of President Taylor. His failure to receive the appointment was a sore mortification to him. He thought his political career in Illinois was broken; and in 1852, after the close of his service in Congress, he joined the throng who were seeking fortune and fame on the Pacific slope. When leaving Washington he said to a friend that he should never look on the Capitol again unless he could come bearing his credentials as a senator of the United States. He returned in eight years.

Among the opposition senators, some fourteen in number, the most prominent was John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, who had stepped from the Vice-President's chair to the floor of the Senate as the successor of Mr. Crittenden. Mr. Breckinridge at that time was forty years of age, attractive in personal appearance, graceful, and cordial in manner, by inheritance and by cultivation a gentleman.

He came from a section where family rank gave power and influence.

He united in his person the best blood of the South and the North, --preserving and combining the most winning traits of each. His lineage in Kentucky naturally brought to him the sympathy and support of the State. He was born to success and authority among his people. Originally he had anti-slavery convictions, as had all the members of his eminent family. So strongly was this tendency developed in his mind that, when he came to the bar, he removed to the Territory of Iowa, intending to identify himself with the growth of the free North-West. Circ.u.mstances overcame the determination, and carried him back to Kentucky, where he was welcomed at the hearth-stones and in the hearts of her people.

MR. CLAY AND MR. BRECKINRIDGE.

At twenty-five years of age Mr. Breckinridge was appointed major in one of the Kentucky regiments, which served in the Mexican war.

After his return he entered upon the practice of his profession in Lexington, and against all the traditions of his family identified himself with the Democratic party. An apparently slight incident had an important bearing upon his earlier political career. He was selected to deliver the address of welcome to Mr. Clay on his return to Kentucky in the autumn of 1850, from the field of his senatorial triumph in securing the adoption of the celebrated compromise of that year. Mr. Breckinridge's speech was graceful and effective. He eulogized Mr. Clay's work with discrimination, and paid the highest tribute to the ill.u.s.trious statesman. Mr.

Clay was visibly touched by the whole scene. His old opponents were present by the thousand to do him honor. The enmities and antagonisms of earlier years were buried. He had none but friends and supporters in Kentucky. He responded with earnestness, and even with emotion: "My welcome," he said, "has been made all the more grateful from being p.r.o.nounced by my eloquent young friend, the son of an eloquent father, the grandson of a still more eloquent grandfather, both of whom were in days long gone my cherished companions, my earnest supporters." Mr. Clay's words were so warm, his manner was so cordial, that it seemed as if he intended to confer upon Breckinridge the leadership in Kentucky, which, after a half century's domination, he was about to surrender. Undoubtedly the events of that day aided Breckinridge the next year in carrying the Ashland District for Congress, and drew to him thereafter the support of many influential Whigs. He entered Congress when the slavery discussion was absorbing public attention, and by the irresistible drift of events he was carried into an a.s.sociation with extreme Southern men. It was by their friendly influence that he was promoted to the Vice-Presidency as soon as he became eligible under the Const.i.tution. During the four stormy years of Buchanan's administration, when the sectional contest approached its crisis, Mr. Breckinridge became more and more the representative of Southern opinion, and, though unequal to Douglas in the arena of debate, he became the leader of those who opposed the "popular sovereignty"

dogma of the Illinois senator. He was thence drawn by influences which he could not have controlled if he had desired, into the prolonged and exciting controversy which disrupted the Democratic party. Intellectually Mr. Breckinridge was not the equal of many Southern men who deferred to him as a leader. His precedence was due to his personal character, to his strong connections, to his well-tempered judgment, and especially to a certain attractiveness of manner which was felt by all who came in contact with him.

The prominence of New England in the Senate was exceptional. So many positions of influence were a.s.signed to her that it created no small degree of jealously and ill-feeling in other sections.

The places were allotted according to the somewhat rigid rules of precedence which obtain in that body, but this fact did not induce senators from the Middle and Western States to acquiesce with grace.

The chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations was given to Mr. Sumner; Mr. Fessenden was placed at the head of the Finance Committee, which then included Appropriations; Mr. Wilson was made chairman of Military Affairs; Mr. John P. Hale, chairman of Naval Affairs; Mr. Collamer, chairman of Post-office and Post-roads; Mr.

Foster of Connecticut, chairman of Pensions; Mr. Clark of New Hampshire, chairman of Claims; Mr. Simmons of Rhode Island, chairman of Patents; Mr. Foot of Vermont, chairman of Public Buildings and Grounds; Mr. Anthony, chairman of Printing; Mr. Dixon of Connecticut, chairman of Contingent Expenses. Mr. Lot M. Morrill, who had just entered the public service from Maine, was the only New-England senator left without a chairmanship. There were in all twenty-two committees in the Senate. Eleven were given to New England. But even this ratio does not exhibit the case in its full strength.

The Committees on Foreign Relations, Finance, Military Affairs, and Naval Affairs shaped almost the entire legislation in time of war, and thus New England occupied a most commanding position.

The retirement of Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and Mr. Cameron from the Senate to enter the Cabinet undoubtedly increased the number of important positions a.s.signed to New England. Twenty-two States were represented in the Senate, and it was impossible to make sixteen of them, including the four leading States of the Union, recognize the justice of placing the control of National legislation in the hands of six States in the far North-East. It was not a fortunate arrangement for New England, since it provoked prejudices which proved injurious in many ways, and lasted for many years.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House of Representatives was promptly organized by the election of Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania as Speaker. Mr. Grow came from the Wilmot district, on the northern border of the State, where the anti-slavery sentiment had taken earliest and deepest root.

As Connecticut had in the Colonial period claimed a large part of the area of North Pennsylvania, her emigration tended in that direction, and this fact had given a distinct and more radical type to the population. Mr. Grow was himself a native of Connecticut.

He was chosen Speaker because of his activity in the anti-slavery struggles of the House, and because of his apt.i.tude for the duties of the chair. Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri was a rival candidate, and was supported by strong influences. It was not considered expedient to hold a party caucus, and the Democratic minority declined to present a candidate. On the roll call, Mr.

Grow received 71 votes, Mr. Blair 40, while 48 votes, princ.i.p.ally of Democratic representatives, were cast for different gentlemen who were in no sense candidates. Accepting Mr. Grow's plurality as the best form of nomination to the office, a large number of the friends of Mr. Blair changed their votes before the result was authoritatively declared, and Mr. Grow was announced as receiving 90 votes,--a majority of all the members. Two members appeared from Virginia. The other Confederate States were without representation. Emerson Etheridge of Tennessee was chosen Clerk, in compliment to his fidelity and courage as a Union man.

The House was filled with able men, many of whom had parliamentary experience. The natural leader, who a.s.sumed his place by common consent, was Thaddeus Stevens, a man of strong peculiarities of character, able, trained, and fearless. Born in Vermont and educated at Dartmouth, he had pa.s.sed all his adult years in Pennsylvania, and was thoroughly identified with the State which he had served with distinction both in her own Legislature and in Congress. He had the reputation of being somewhat unscrupulous as to political methods, somewhat careless in personal conduct, somewhat lax in personal morals; but to the one great object of his life, the destruction of slavery and the elevation of the slave, he was supremely devoted. From the pursuit of that object nothing could deflect him. Upon no phase of it would he listen to compromise.

Any man who was truly anti-slavery was his friend. Whoever espoused the cause and proved faithless in never so small a degree, became his enemy, inevitably and irreconcilably. Towards his own race he seemed often to be misanthropic. He was learned in the law, and for a third of a century had held high rank at the bar of a State distinguished for great lawyers. He was disposed to be taciturn.

A brilliant talker, he did not relish idle and aimless conversation.

He was much given to reading, study, and reflection, and to the retirement which enabled him to gratify his tastes. As was said of Mr. Emerson, Mr. Stevens loved solitude and understood its use.

Upon all political questions Mr. Stevens was an authority. He spoke with ease and readiness, using a style somewhat resembling the crisp, clear sententiousness of Dean Swift. Seldom, even in the most careless moment, did a sentence escape his lips, that would not bear the test of grammatical and rhetorical criticism.

He possessed the keenest wit, and was unmerciful in its use toward those whom he did not like. He ill.u.s.trated in concrete form the difference between wit and humor. He did not indulge in the latter.

He did not enjoy a laugh. When his sharp sallies would set the entire House in an uproar, he was as impa.s.sive, his visage as solemn, as if he were p.r.o.nouncing a funeral oration. His memory of facts, dates, and figures was exact, and in argument he knew the book and chapter and page for reference. He was fond of young men, invited their society, encouraged and generously aided them.

He was easily moved by the distress of others. He was kind, charitable, lavish of his money in the relief of poverty. He had characteristics which seemed contradictory, but which combined to make one of the memorable figures in the Parliamentary history of the United States,--a man who had the courage to meet any opponent, and who was never overmatched in intellectual conflict.

Mr. Stevens had efficient colleagues from Pennsylvania. The most distinguished was John Hickman, who had been a Democrat until 1860, and who in debate was skillful and acute. William D. Kelley entered the House at this session for the first time, and was destined to serve his State for a long series of years, with ability, fidelity, and usefulness. James K. Moorhead, John Covode, Edward McPherson, and John W. Killinger were active and influential members.***

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

New York sent Reuben E. Fenton, already prominent, popular, and strong in the public service; Elbridge G. Spaulding, who became useful and even eminent as an adviser in financial legislation; William A. Wheeler, afterwards Vice-President of the United States; Theodore Pomeroy, the neighbor and confidential friend of Mr.

Seward; Charles B. Sedgwick, of p.r.o.nounced ability in the law; Charles H. Van Wyck, who afterwards sought distinction in the West; and Abraham Olin, subsequently well known in judicial life. The ablest and most brilliant man of the delegation was Roscoe Conkling.

He had been elected to the preceding Congress when but twenty-nine years of age, and had exhibited a readiness and eloquence in debate that placed him at once in the first rank. His command of language was remarkable. In affluent and exuberant diction Mr. Conkling was never surpa.s.sed in either branch of Congress, unless, perhaps, by Rufus Choate.

The Ohio delegation was especially strong. John A. Bingham, the oldest in service on the Republican side, was an effective debater, well informed, ready, and versatile. A man of high principle, of strong faith, of zeal, enthusiasm, and eloquence, he could always command the attention of the House. His colleague, Samuel Sh.e.l.labarger, was distinguished for the logical and a.n.a.lytical character of his mind. Without the gift of oratory, paying little heed to the graces of speech, Mr. Sh.e.l.labarger conquered by the intrinsic strength of his argument, which generally amounted to demonstration. His mind possessed many of the qualities which distinguished Mr. Lincoln. In fairness, lucidness, fullness of statement, the two had a striking resemblance. Valentine B. Horton was a valuable member on all questions of finance and business; and on the issues touching slavery James M. Ashley followed the radical example of Mr. Giddings. Among the Democrats, George H.

Pendleton, Clement L. Vallandigham, and Samuel S. c.o.x were especially conspicuous. Mr. Pendleton was regarded as the leader of the Democratic side of the House by a large section of his party, and his a.s.signment to the Committee of Ways and Means by the Speaker was intended as a recognition of that fact. Mr. c.o.x gave much attention to foreign affairs, to which his mind had been drawn by a brief but fruitful partic.i.p.ation in the diplomatic service of the country. Mr. Vallandigham possessed ability, and a certain form of dogged courage, combined with a love of notoriety, which allured him to the a.s.sumption of extreme positions and the advocacy of unpopular measures. No other State was in the aggregate so ably represented as Ohio.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Indiana was influential in the House. Schuyler Colfax was at the height of his successful career on the floor and destined to eminent promotion in the public service. Among his Republican colleagues were George W. Julian, long and creditably identified with the anti- slavery cause, and especially esteemed for the conscientious attention he had given to all questions relating to the public lands; Albert G. Porter, in his second Congress, well trained for debate, with ability and high character, rapidly winning public favor, but cut off from his legislative career by a Democratic majority in his district, although his strength with the people has since been strikingly attested; William McKee Dunn, a man of sound judgment, to be known and appreciated afterwards in other fields of honorable duty. On the Democratic side, William S. Holman already ranked as an old member. His efforts were steadily and persistently directed to the enforcement of public economy; and though he may have sometimes been unreasonable, and though he was often accused of acting the part of a demagogue, the country owes him a debt of grat.i.tude for the integrity, intelligence, and simplicity with which he has ill.u.s.trated a most honorable career as representative of the people. Daniel W. Voorhees, by nature a fierce partisan, yet always filled with generous impulses, was in his second Congress. His character was significantly ill.u.s.trated by his willingness to lend his attractive eloquence in the Virginia courts in defense of one of John Brown's a.s.sociates in the Harper's Ferry tragedy,--a magnanimous act in view of the risk to his position among the pro-slavery Democracy, with whom he was strongly identified in party organization.

Illinois sent Elihu B. Washburne, already eight years a representative in Congress, a man of courage, energy, and principle, devoted to the Republican party, constant in attendance upon the sessions of the House, expert in its rules, its most watchful and most careful member, an economist by nature, a foe to every form of corruption.

Owen Lovejoy, though a native of Maine, springing from Puritan ancestry, and educated to the Christian ministry in the faith taught by Calvin, had the fiery eloquence of a French Revolutionist. Not even the exasperating wit of Thaddeus Stevens, or the studied taunts of John Quincy Adams, ever threw the Southern men into such rage as the speeches of Lovejoy. He was recklessly bold. His brother had been killed by a mob for preaching the doctrine of the Abolitionists, and he seemed almost to court the same fate. He was daring enough to say to the Southern Democrats, at a time of great excitement in the House, in a speech delivered long before the war, that the negroes were destined to walk to emanc.i.p.ation, as the children of Israel had journeyed to the promised land, "through the _Red_ Sea." Among the Democrats the most conspicuous was William A. Richardson, who had been a devoted adherent of Douglas, and had co-operated with in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. A younger adherent of Douglas was John A. Logan, serving in his second term. He remained however but a short time in the Thirty-seventh Congress. His ardent patriotism and ambitious temperament carried him into the war, where his brilliant career is known and read of all men.

The most distinguished accession to the House was John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. He had never before served in that branch, but he had been chosen to the Senate six times by the Legislature of his State,--for five full terms and for the remainder of Mr. Clay's term when he retired in 1842. Only one other man, William E. King of Alabama, has ever been so many times elected to the Senate.

Mr. Crittenden, like Mr. Clay, entered the Senate at thirty years of age. His service began the day that Madison left the Presidency, and ended the day of Lincoln's inauguration. But in this long period he had served only two full terms, and his total service in the Senate was little more than twenty years. He resigned in 1819 "to get bread for his family," as he expressed it; the compensation of a senator for the session of Congress not averaging at that time more than nine hundred dollars per annum. He resigned in 1841 to become Attorney-General in the Cabinet of Harrison. He resigned in 1848 to run for Governor of Kentucky in aid of General Taylor's candidacy, and he left the governorship in 1850, after the death of Taylor, to accept his old position in the Cabinet. He was appointed to the Supreme Bench by John Quincy Adams in the last year of his administration; but the Senate, already under the influence of the Jackson men, refused to confirm him. Mr. Clay wrote to Mr. Crittenden in antic.i.p.ation of his failure, bidding him "cultivate calmness of mind and prepare for the worst event."

Mr. Crittenden's ability was of a high order. He stood at the head of that cla.s.s of statesmen who were next to the highest grade.

Like so many other eminent Whigs, he was excluded from the full recognition of his power by the overshadowing prestige of Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster. The appearance of Mr. Crittenden in the House in his seventy-fourth year was his patriotic response to the roll-call of duty. He loved his country and his whole country, and every effort of his waning strength was put forth in behalf of the Union.

It was his influence, more than that of any other man, which saved his State from the vortex of Rebellion. But for his strong hold upon the sympathy and pride of Kentucky, the malign influence of Breckinridge might have forced the State into the Confederacy.

Mr. Lincoln considered Mr. Crittenden's course ent.i.tled to the admiration and grat.i.tude of every man who was loyal to the Union.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Another Kentuckian gave n.o.ble aid to the National cause. Charles A. Wickliffe was a contemporary of Mr. Crittenden, and had for many years belonged to the same party. In the Whig dissensions which followed the accession of Mr. Tyler to the Presidency, Mr. Wickliffe supported the Administration. As an effective blow to Mr. Clay, the President called Mr. Wickliffe to his Cabinet. He served as Postmaster-General through Mr. Tyler's term, and with his chief went over to the Democratic party, supporting Mr. Polk in 1844.

There was much anger over his course, on the part of the Kentucky Whigs, resulting in personal estrangements. He was a man of ability, of commanding appearance, of high character. His return to Congress, where he had originally entered nearly forty years before, brought a valuable support to the cause of the Union.

a.s.sociated with Crittenden and Wickliffe were three men of mark.

Robert Mallory, William H. Wadsworth, and James S. Jackson were younger but not less devoted friends of the Union. Their example was especially valuable in holding thousands of young Kentuckians from following Breckinridge into the Confederate army. Jackson gave his life to his country on one of the battle-fields of the war.

--Missouri sent Francis P. Blair, Jr., and James S. Rollins, who had already been in the smoke and fire of civil conflict, and whose loyalty to the Union, under every form of peril, ent.i.tled them to the respect and confidence of patriotic men.

--Ma.s.sachusetts sent Benjamin F. Thomas of rare eloquence; Alexander H. Rice, afterwards the governor of his State; Thomas D. Elliott, John B. Alley, the venerable William Appleton; and Henry L. Dawes, whose long service attests his character, his ability, and the confidence of his const.i.tuents.

--From New Hampshire came Gilman Marston, who soon after gained credit in the field; from Vermont, Justin S. Morrill, one of the most useful, industrious, and honorable members of the House; from Maine, its distinguished ex-governor, Anson P. Morrill; and Frederick A. Pike, of strong mind, keen and incisive in debate, but lacking the ambition necessary to give him his proper rank in the House.