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.