Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 docx

CHAPTER XVTHE NATIONAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 1869... CHAPTER XVIIICOMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE HOUSE... CHAPTER XXVIIFOUR NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1876... CHAPTER XXVIIIFOUR NATIONAL CONV

Seventy Years, Vol 1-2, by George Hoar

Project Gutenberg's Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol 1-2, by George Hoar This eBook is for the use ofanyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

www.gutenberg.org

Title: Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol 1-2

Author: George Hoar

Release Date: October 15, 2006 [EBook #19548]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY ***

Produced by Ed Ferris

[Frontispiece: v1.jpg] SENATOR GEORGE F HOAR From a photograph taken in 1897 Copyright, 1897, by

H Schervee, Worcester, Mass.

[Title page] AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS

BY GEORGE F HOAR

WITH PORTRAITS

VOLUME I

NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1903

[Dedication] TO MY WIFE AND CHILDREN THIS RECORD OF A LIFE WHICH THEY HAVE MADEHAPPY IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

[Table of Contents] CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER II

ROGER SHERMAN AND HIS FAMILY

CHAPTER III

SAMUEL HOAR

CHAPTER IV

BOYHOOD IN CONCORD

CHAPTER V

FAMOUS CONCORD MEN

CHAPTER VI

FARM AND SCHOOL

CHAPTER VII

HARVARD SIXTY YEARS AGO

CHAPTER VIII

1849 TO 1850 FOUNDATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DANIEL WEBSTER

CHAPTER IX

LIFE IN WORCESTER

CHAPTER X

POLITICAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM 1848 TO 1869

CHAPTER XI

THE KNOW NOTHING PARTY AND ITS OVERTHROW

CHAPTER XII

ELECTION TO CONGRESS

CHAPTER XIII

SUMNER AND WILSON

CHAPTER XIV

PERSONALITIES IN DEBATE

CHAPTER XV

THE NATIONAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 1869

CHAPTER XVI

POLITICAL CONDITION IN 1869

CHAPTER XVII

RECONSTRUCTION

CHAPTER XVIII

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE HOUSE

CHAPTER XIX

SALMON P CHASE

CHAPTER XX

ADIN THAYER

CHAPTER XXI

POLITICAL CORRUPTION

CHAPTER XXII

CREDIT

MOBILIER

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SANBORN CONTRACTS

CHAPTER XXIV

BENJAMIN F BUTLER

CHAPTER XXV

BELKNAP IMPEACHMENT

CHAPTER XXVI

ELECTORAL COMMISSION

CHAPTER XXVII

FOUR NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1876

CHAPTER XXVIII

FOUR NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1880

CHAPTER XXIX

FOUR NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1884

CHAPTER XXX

FOUR NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1888

CHAPTER XXXI

SATURDAY CLUB

In my younger days there were among my kindred and near friends persons who knew the great actors of theRevolutionary time and the time which followed till I came to manhood myself But I did not know enough toask questions If I had, and had recorded the answers, I could write a very large part of the political andliterary history of the United States I never kept a diary, except for a few and brief periods So for what I have

to say, I must trust to my memory I have no doubt that after these volumes are published, there will come up

in my mind matter enough to make a dozen better ones

I invoke for this book that kindly judgment of my countrymen which had attended everything I have done in

my life so far I have tried to guard against the dangers and the besetting infirmities of men who write theirown biography An autobiography, as the word implies, will be egotistical An old man's autobiography ispretty certain to be garrulous If the writer set forth therein his own ideals, he is likely to be judged by them,even when he may fall far short of them Men are likely to think that he claims or pretends to have lived up tothem, however painfully conscious he may be that they are only dreams which even if he have done his besthave had little reality for him

There is another danger for a man who tells the story of great transactions, in which he has taken part, whetherlegislative, executive, military, or political, or any other, in which the combined action of many persons wasrequired for the result He is apt to claim, consciously or unconsciously, that he himself brought the wholething about

"Papa," said the little boy to the veteran of the Civil War, "Did anybody help you to put down the Rebellion?"This peril specially besets narrators in their old age I am afraid I can hardly escape it

I once heard General George H Thomas relate to a brilliant company at a supper party, among whom wereChief Justice Chase, General Eaton, Commissary General in two wars, Senator Trumbull, William M Evarts,Joseph Henry, John Sherman, his brother the General, and several other gentlemen of equal distinction, thestory of the battles of Nashville and Franklin The story was full of dramatic interest Yet no one who heard itwould have known that the speaker himself had taken part in the great achievement, until, just at the end, hesaid of the Battle of Nashville that he thought of sending a detachment to cut off Hood's army at a ford bywhich he escaped after they were defeated, but he concluded that it was not safe to spare that force fromimmediate use in the battle "If I had done it," he added, with great simplicity, "I should have captured hiswhole army There is where I made my mistake."

The recollections of the actors in important political transactions are doubtless of great historic value But Iought to say frankly that my experience has taught me that the memory of men, even of good and true men, as

to matters in which they have been personal actors, is frequently most dangerous and misleading I couldrecount many curious stories which have been told me by friends who have been writers of history and

biography, of the contradictory statements they have received from the best men in regard to scenes in whichthey have been present

If any critic think this book lacking in dignity, or wisdom, or modesty, it is hoped that it may, by way ofoffset, make up for it in sincerity I have so far lived in the world without secrets If my countrymen, or thepeople of Massachusetts, have trusted me, they have fully known what they were doing "They had eyes andchose me."

I have never lifted any finger or spoken a word to any man to secure or to promote my own election to anyoffice I do not mean to criticise other men who advance their honorable ambition for public service or exertthemselves to get office for which they think themselves fit It was the "high Roman fashion." It has been thefashion in England always English gentlemen do not disdain a personal solicitation for political support, andthink no harm in it, to which no American gentleman would for a moment stoop

It has been the custom in other parts of the country almost from the beginning of the Government But what Ithink a better custom has prevailed in Massachusetts I arrogate to myself no virtue in this respect I only saythat it has been my supreme good fortune to be the son of a Commonwealth among whose noble and

high-minded people a better and more fastidious habit has prevailed

The lesson which I have learned in life, which is impressed on me daily, and more deeply as I grow old, is thelesson of Good Will and Good Hope I believe that to-day is better than yesterday, and that to-morrow will bebetter than to- day I believe that in spite of so many errors and wrongs and even crimes, my countrymen of allclasses desire what is good, and not what is evil I repeat what I said to the State Convention of Massachusettsafter the death of President McKinley:

"When I first came to manhood and began to take part in public affairs, that greatest of crimes, human slavery,was entrenched everywhere in power in this Republic Congress and Supreme Court, Commerce and Tradeand Social Life alike submitted to its imperious and arrogant sway Mr Webster declared that there was noNorth, and that the South went clear up to the Canada line The hope of many wise and conservative and, as Inow believe, patriotic men, of saving this country from being rent into fragments was in leaving to slaveryforever the great territory between the Mississippi and the Pacific, in the Fugitive Slave Law, a law underwhich freemen were taken from the soil of Massachusetts to be delivered into perpetual bondage, and in thejudgment of the Supreme Court which declared it as the lesson of our history that the Negro had no rights that

a white man was bound to respect

"Last week at Dartmouth, at the great celebration in honor of Daniel Webster, that famous college gave thehighest honor in its power to a Negro, amid the applause of the brilliant assembly And there was no applausemore earnest or hearty than that of the successor of Taney, the Democratic Chief Justice of the United States Iknow that the people of that race are still the victims of outrages which all good men deplore But I alsobelieve that the rising sense of justice and of manhood in the South is already finding expression in indignantremonstrance from the lips of governors and preachers, and that the justice and manhood of the South willsurely make their way

"Ah, Fellow Citizens, amid the sorrow and the mourning and the tears, amid the horror and the

disappointment and the baffled hope, there comes to us from the open grave of William McKinley a voice ofgood omen! What pride and love must we feel for the republic that calls such men to her high places? Whathope and confidence in the future of a people, where all men and all women of all parties and sections, of allfaiths and creeds, of all classes and conditions, are ready to respond as ours have responded to the emotion of

a mighty love

"You and I are Republicans You and I are men of the North Most of us are Protestants in religion We aremen of native birth Yet if every Republican were to-day to fall in his place, as William McKinley has fallen, Ibelieve our countrymen of the other party, in spite of what we deem their errors, would take the Republic andbear on the flag to liberty and glory I believe if every Protestant were to be stricken down by a

lightning-stroke, that our brethren of the Catholic faith would still carry on the Republic in the spirit of a true

and liberal freedom I believe if every man of native birth within our borders were to die this day, the men offoreign birth, who have come here to seek homes and liberty under the shadow of the Republic, would carry it

on in God's appointed way I believe if every man of the North were to die, the new and chastened South, withthe virtues it has cherished from the beginning, with its courage and its constancy, would take the country andbear it on to the achievement of its lofty destiny The Anarchist must slay 75,000,000 Americans before hecan slay the Republic

"Of course there would be mistakes Of course there would be disappointments and grievous errors Of coursethere would be many things for which the lovers of liberty would mourn But America would survive themall, and the nation our fathers planted would endure in perennial life

"William McKinley has fallen in high place The spirit of Anarchy, always the servant of the spirit of

Despotism, aimed its shaft at him, and his life for this world is over But there comes from his fresh grave avoice of lofty triumph: 'Be of good cheer It is God's way.'"

I account it my supreme good fortune that my public life has been spent in the service of Massachusetts Noman can know better than I do how unworthy I have been of a place in the great line of public men who haveadorned her history for nearly three hundred years What a succession it has been What royal house, whatempire or monarchy, can show a catalogue like that of the men whom in every generation she has called tohigh places Bradford, and Winthrop, and Sir Henry Vane, Leverett, and Sam Adams and John Adams and hisillustrious son, and Cabot and Dexter, Webster and Everett and Sumner and Andrew Nothing better can besaid in praise of either than that they have been worthy of her, and she has been worthy of them They havegiven her always brave and honest service, brave and honest counsel She has never asked of them

obsequiousness, or flattery, or even obedience to her will, unless it had the approval of their own judgmentand conscience That relation has been alike most honorable and most advantageous to both sides They havenever been afraid to trust the people and they have never been afraid to withstand the people They knew wellthe great secret of all statesmanship, that he that withstands the people on fit occasions is commonly the manwho trusts them most and always in the end the man they trust most

CHAPTER II

ROGER SHERMAN AND HIS FAMILY

My mother, who died in 1866, at the age of eighty-three, was the daughter of Roger Sherman of Connecticut.Her father died when she was ten years old She lived in her mother's house, opposite the College in NewHaven, until her marriage in 1812 New Haven was one of the capital cities of New England Its society hadthe special attraction which belonged to the seat of a famous college Her mother's house was visited by thesurvivors of the great period of the Revolution and the framing of the Constitution, whom her father hadknown during an eminent public service of nearly forty years

My mother was the most perfect democrat, in the best sense of the word, that I ever knew It was a democracywhich was the logical result of the doctrines of the Old Testament and of the New It recognized the dignity ofthe individual soul, without regard to the accident of birth or wealth or power or color of the skin If she were

in the company of a Queen, it would never have occurred to her that they did not meet as equals And if theQueen were a woman of sense, and knew her, it would never occur to the Queen The poorest people in thetown, the paupers in the poorhouse, thought of her as a personal friend to whom they could turn for sympathyand help No long before her death, an old black woman died in the poorhouse She died in the night An oldman who had been a town pauper a good part of his life sat up with her and ministered to her wants as well as

he could Just before she died, the old woman thanked him for his kindness She told him she should like togive him something to show her gratitude, but that she had nothing in the world; but she thought that if hewould go to Mrs Hoar and ask her to give him a dollar, as a favor to her she would do it The draft on thebank of kindness was duly honored And I think the legacy was valued as highly by her who paid it as if it hadbeen a costly gem or a work of art from an emperor's gallery

Mr Calhoun was very intimate in my grandmother's household when he was in college, and always inquiredwith great interest after the young ladies of the family when he met anybody who knew them He had aspecial liking for my mother, who was about his own age, and always inquired for her

William M Evarts visited Washington in his youth and called upon Mr Calhoun, who received him withgreat consideration, went with him in person to see the President and what was worth seeing in Washington

Mr Calhoun spoke in the highest terms of Roger Sherman to Mr Evarts, said that he regarded him as one ofthe greatest of our statesmen, and that he had seen the true interests of the South when Southern statesmenwere blind to them This Mr Calhoun afterward said in a speech in the Senate, including, however, Mr.Paterson of New Jersey and Oliver Ellsworth in his eulogy

The story of Roger Sherman's life has never been told at length There is an excellent memoir of him inSanderson's "Lives of the Signers," written by Jeremiah Evarts, with the assistance of the late Governor andSenator Roger S Baldwin of Connecticut But when that was written the correspondence of the great actors ofhis time, and indeed the journals of the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention and theMadison Papers, were none of them accessible to the public

An excellent though brief memoir of Mr Sherman was published a few years ago by L H Boutell, Esq., ofChicago Mr Sherman was a man who seemed to care nothing for fame He was content to cause great things

to be done for his country, and cared nothing for the pride and glory of having done them The personalpronoun I is seldom found in any speech or writing of his He had a large share in the public events that led tothe Revolution, in the conduct of the War, in the proceedings of the Continental Congress, in the framing ofthe Constitution, in securing its adoption by Connecticut, and in the action of the House and Senate in

Washington's first Administration He was also for many years Judge of the highest court of his State He was

a man of indefatigable industry An accomplished lady employed to make investigations in the public archives

of the Department of State, reported that she did not see how he could ever have gone to bed