CHAPTER XXV.

PERSONAL.

CONTESTED SEATS-MR. STOCKTON VOTES FOR HIMSELF-NEW JERSEY'S LOSS OF TWO SENATORS-LOSSES OF VERMONT-SUICIDE OF JAMES H. LANE— DEATH IN THE HOUSE-GENERAL SCOTT-LINCOLN'S EULOGY AND STATUEMR. SUMNER ON FINE ARTS IN THE CAPITOL-CENSURE OF MR. CHANLERPETITION FOR THE EXPULSION OF GARRET DAVIS-GRINNELL ASSAULTED BY ROUSSEAU-THE ACTION OF THE HOUSE-LEADER OF THE HOUSE.

[ATTERS of interest relating to the members of the Thirty

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ninth Congress remain to be noticed. Some names of members appear in the opening scenes of Congress which were substituted by others before the close. This was occasioned partly through successful contests for seats by persons who, after an investigation of their claims, were declared to have been legally elected, but failed, through fraud or mistake, to receive their credentials. The right of Mr. Voorhees, of Indiana, to a seat in the Thirty-ninth Congress was contested by Henry D. Washburn. The testimony in this case was laid before the Committee on Elections early in the session, and after patient hearing of the parties and careful consideration of the subject, the committee reported in favor of Mr. Washburn and unseated Mr. Voorhees.

The seat in Congress taken at the opening of the session by James Brooks, of New York, was decided by the committee, after consideration of the claims of the contestant, to belong to William E. Dodge, a merchant of New York city.

The right of John P. Stockton, of New Jersey, to a seat in the Senate having been disputed on account of irregularity in his election, the Senate came to a vote on the question, after considerable discussion, on the 23d of March, 1866. Mr. Stockton was declared entitled to his place by the close vote of 22 to 21, he giving the decisive vote in favor of himself. There arose

a very exciting debate as to the right of a Senator to vote for himself under such circumstances. Mr. Stockton finally yielded to the arguments against his right to sit in judgment on his own case, and he was unseated March 27th by a vote of 22 to 21. For a time the seat thus vacated, to which New Jersey was entitled in the Senate, remained unoccupied on account of the refusal of the Republican Speaker of the New Jersey Senate to give his vote in favor of the nominee of the Union caucus, Mr. Cattell. On account of the nearly equal balance of the parties, the choice was long deferred, but eventually made in favor of Mr. Cattell. The other seat held by New Jersey in the Senate was practically vacant for a considerable time on account of the illness of its incumbent, Mr. William Wright, who consequently resigned and eventually died before the expiration of the Thirtyninth Congress.

Other seats in Congress were vacated by death. Of all the States, Vermont suffered most severely in this respect. A part of the proceedings of the Thirty-ninth Congress consists of funeral addresses and eulogies upon Judge Collamer, a distinguished Senator from Vermont, whose term of service, had he lived, would have expired with the close of this Congress. He died, lamented by the nation, on the 8th of November, 1865. One who took a prominent part in the funeral obsequies of Mr. Collamer was Solomon Foot, the surviving Senator from Vermont. A man termed, from his length of service, "the father of the Senate," long its presiding officer, of purest morals, incorruptible integrity, and faithful industry, he died universally lamented on the 28th of March, 1866. Mr. Foot's death created a profound impression, since it exhibited, in a most remarkable manner, the effect of Christianity in affording its possessor a happy close of life.

The death of another Senator stands forth in striking contrast with that of Mr. Foot. On the first of July, 1866, Senator James H. Lane shot himself at Leavenworth, Kansas. While on his way home from Washington, when at St. Louis, he had intimated a determination to commit suicide. His friends watched him closely, and obtained possession of his pocket-knife lest he might use it for the fatal purpose. Mr. Lane having reached Leavenworth, two of his friends invited him to ride with them. on Sabbath afternoon. After getting into the carriage, he

expressed a desire to return to his room for his cane, refusing to allow any one to go for him. Mr. Lane having returned with his cane, they drove to the heights overlooking the city. He entered cheerfully into the conversation, remarking upon the beauty of the city and landscape. On returning, they had to pass through a gate that separated two fields. One of the gentlemen alighted to open the gate. At the same time Mr. Lane stepped down from the carriage, and, passing around behind it, said, "Good-by, gentlemen," and instantly discharged a pistol with its muzzle in his mouth. The ball passed out at the top of his head, near the center of the skull, producing a fatal wound. The unhappy man lingered for a few days in a state of unconsciousness and died. Thus ended the stirring, troubled life of one who as a politician had occupied no inconsiderable space in the public eye.

A number of seats in the House of Representatives were vacated by death. James Humphrey, an able and honored member from New York, died in Brooklyn on the 16th of June, 1866. During the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, two members of the House of Representatives were removed by death-Philip Johnson, of Pennsylvania, in his third term of Congressional service, and Henry Grider, of Kentucky, a veteran member, who, having served in Congress from 1843 to 1847, was more recently a member of the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, and Thirty-ninth Congresses.

Congress was called upon to pay funeral honors to others than its members. The death of General Scott, so long the illustrious chief of the military establishment of the nation, was regarded with due solemnity and honor by Congress, who deputized a large committee to attend the funeral obsequies at West Point. An equestrian statue of the distinguished General was voted by Congress to adorn the public grounds of the national capital.

The name of Abraham Lincoln, the nation's martyred President, was always pronounced with profoundest respect and sincerest gratitude in the halls of Congress. His birthday, February 12th, was celebrated by the adjournment of Congress, and such an assembly as the hall of Representatives has rarely witnessed, to hear a eulogy pronounced by Mr. Bancroft, the American historian. An appropriation of ten thousand dollars was made to pay a young artist, Miss Minnie Ream, to model a statue

of Abraham Lincoln.

This proposition elicited an animated discussion, and was the occasion of a most interesting address by Mr. Sumner on Art in the Capitol. "Surely this edifice," said he, "so beautiful and interesting, should not be opened to the experiments of untried talent. Only the finished artists should be invited to its ornamentation.

"Sir, I doubt if you consider enough the character of this edifice in which we are now assembled. Possessing the advantage of an incomparable situation, it is one of the first-class structures in the world. Surrounded by an amphitheater of hills, with the Potomac at its feet, it resembles the capitol in Rome, surrounded by the Alban hills, with the Tiber at its feet. But the situation is grander than that of the Roman capitol. The edifice itself is worthy of the situation. It has beauty of form and sublimity in proportions, even if it lacks originality in conception. In itself it is a work of art. It ought not to receive in the way of ornamentation any thing which is not a work of art. Unhappily this rule has not always prevailed, or there would not be so few pictures and marbles about us worthy of the place they occupy. But bad pictures and ordinary marbles should warn us against adding to their number."

Perhaps no Congress in the history of the country presents fewer disagreeable incidents of a personal nature than this. The Democrats in Congress being in such a small minority as to be unable to do any thing effectual either to impede or advance legislation, could only present their vain protests in words. Chafing under the difficulties they encountered, it is not surprising that at times they used language so ill-timed and unparliamentary as to call forth the censure of the House.

On one occasion, Mr. Chanler, of New York, submitted a resolution "that the independent, patriotic, and constitutional course of the President of the United States, in seeking to protect, by the veto power, the rights of the people of this Union against the wicked and revolutionary acts of a few malignant and mischievous men meets with the approval of this House, and deserves the cordial support of all loyal citizens of the United States."

For introducing this resolution, the House voted to censure Mr. Chanler as having "attempted a gross insult to the House." Before the vote was taken, Mr. Chanler said: "If by my de

fiance I could drive your party from this, hall, I would do so; if by my vote I could crush you, I would do so, and put the whole party, with your leader, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens], into that political hell surrounded by bayonets referred to by him in his argument on Thursday last."

In the Senate a petition was presented from citizens of New York praying that Garret Davis be expelled from the Senate, and, "with other traitors, held to answer to the law for his crime, since he stood in the attitude of an avowed enemy of the Government"-since he had made the declaration in reference to the Civil Rights Bill "that if the bill should become a law, he should feel compelled to regard himself as an enemy of the Government, and to work for its overthrow."

"It is true," replied Mr. Davis, "that I used in substance the words that are imputed to me in that petition; but, as a part of their context, I used a great many more. As an example of garbling, the petition reminds me of a specimen that I heard when I was a young man. It was to this effect: 'The Bible

teaches "that there is no God." When those words were read in connection with the context, the passage read in about these terms: The fool hath said in his heart that there is no God.' That specimen of the Bible was about as fair as this garbled statement is of what I said upon the matter to which it refers."

The most serious subject coming up for the censure of the House was an assault made by Mr. Rousseau, of Kentucky, upon Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa. In many of its features this incident resembles the "affairs" of a personal character which were of frequent occurrence when Southern members were in Congress before the war. In February, 1866, Mr. Rousseau, in the course of a speech on the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, made the remark, "If you intend to arrest white people on the ex parte statement of negroes, and hold them to suit your convenience for trial, and fine and imprison them, then I say that I oppose you; and if you should so arrest and punish me, I would kill you when you set me at liberty."

To this Mr. Grinnell replied, "I care not whether the gentleman was four years in the war on the Union side or four years on the other side, but I say that he degraded his State and uttered a sentiment I thought unworthy of an American officer