a? ; V ; LIFE OF MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. VIEW OF THE HONORS AND ACHIEVEMENTS THAT, IN THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, ARE THE FRUITS OF WELL-DIRECTED AMBITION AND PERSISTENT INDUSTRY. BY FRANK A. FLOWER. THIRD EDITION. MADISON, WIS.: DAVID ATWOOD AND COMPANY. 1884. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty.three BY FRANK A. FLOWER, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. DAVID ATWOOD, AND STEREOTYPED MADISON, WW. NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION. The third edition of the LIFE OF MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER is pre sented at this early date with pardonable gratification, shared equally by the publishers and the author. It is a revised edition as far as needed correc tions or desirable alterations have been discovered. MADISON, March 31, 1884. A PREFATORY NOTE. It is to be hoped no one will be deceived by the volume in hand. Its homely garb has no ambush of promise or pre tense. It is not a scarlet banner sent out to infuriate the Tauri, nor a literary performance to challenge the vivisectors in the arena of criticism. Nor has the author uncovered his head for the meeds and bays of those who, kindlier if not wiser, pass through the fragrant garden of literature point ing out only what is good or beautiful. It is only a humble tribute, designed to serve until something better and more fitting shall take its place. Nothing could be less; the author begs the belief that it is nothing more. But there shall be no apology. He will not assume such a dishonor as that, having been able, he yet neglected to do better. He has, so far as he knows, under the circumstances, done the best he could. Numerous difficulties in the way of compiling this volume have intervened. Some of them were not successfully sur mounted, but all have been cheerfully met. With the free and active aid of Carpenter's family and friends, an effort to make the volume chiefly a record of facts, presented as much without malice as without fear or favor, has been steadily maintained from beginning to end. Only those, therefore, who would desire to see certain truths suppressed or hidden, can complain that the offering is partisan or un fair. An endeavor has also been made to have all statements 5 A PREFATORY NOTE. clear and understandable. In this perhaps such success has been attained as will suffice for those who follow these pages for what may be discovered in them concerning Carpenter. If so, there is little left to be desired. The career of our subject in Congress has been somewhat closely followed. It was no less impossible than unnecessary to embellish the chapters thereon with excursive digressions and free descriptions; yet they will nevertheless be found the most interesting, as they certainly are the most valuable sec tions of the publication. Sometimes the traveler will hesitate about penetrating a great forest whose paths are strange to him; but once entered, he will find in its deepest recesses and remotest aisles, those rare flowers, rich perfumes and unrivaled songsters that never grace common groves and plains. Perhaps the quotations from the writings and speeches of the subject are more liberal than is usual in a single volume of this character; but time will undoubtedly prove the value of such a plan. It shows with greater clearness and authen ticity what he thought, and how he expressed those thoughts, upon vital subjects to which he gave attention, than could be done by the most expert re-composition. The estimates placed upon him by the foremost men of modern times, have also been interwoven with the narrative. This is in some sense a new departure, but it is a bulwark behind which the author can successfully defend himself from any charge that, having become intoxicated with his subject, he elevated Car penter one jot above his rightful place as a lawyer, as a statesman or as a genius. Herein the paths may be crooked and the hedges gro tesquely planned or inartistically trimmed; yet no one ever A PREFATORY NOTE. 7 discarded the rose because it budded among thorns, or re fused to harvest corn because it grew in crooked rows. Take this volume as a conscientious compilation of some of the sayings and doings of a splendid genius and a great heart, and for nothing more. Those doings and sayings will be no less fresh and authentic because not surrounded by the pyrotechnics of literature and the pretensions of ambition. FRANK A. FLOWER. MADISON, December, 1883. LIFE OF MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A Rugged Birthplace An Ancient Family The Carpenters in America. . . . Childhood ... CHAPTER II. At Paul Dillingham's Two Years at West Point. . Again at Mr. Dillingham's CHAPTER III. In Boston Rufus Choate CHAPTER IV. Settling in Wisconsin CHAPTER V. Blindness In New York Return to Wisconsin Marriage Bundy's Recollections. . . CHAPTER VI. Beginning the Law Carpenter against his Grand father Carpenter against Edmunds . . . First Cause in Wisconsin First Case in U. S. Supreme Court CHAPTER VII. Conveyance of Beloit Lands. . . An Increasing Practice The Mormons CHAPTER VIII. The Bashford-Barstow Case... CHAPTER IX. Removes to Milwaukee Newcomb Cleveland's Retainer 34 39 45 93 CHAPTER X. The Booth Case 102 Murder of Rev. James Cook Richmond 104 Test-Oath Cases 106 CHAPTER XI. The McCardle Case 108 CHAPTER XII. Trial of W. W. Belknap 117 CHAPTER XIII. The Electoral Commission 125 CHAPTER XIV. Miscellaneous Cases 132 Military and Martial Law 132 Myra Brad well 133 The Slaughter-House Cases 134 The Whisky Cases 136 The Louisiana Lottery 137 Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas 138 The North- Western University 139 Other Great Cases 140 CHAPTER xv. A Battle with Corporations. . . 142 State Fair Oration of 1869 144 A Test Case 151 The Potter Law 154 The Power of Legislatures Over Corporations 158 CHAPTER XVI. Courts and Law Partners 162 CHAPTER XVII. United States Supreme Court. . 167 Mr. Justice Bradley 's Tribute . . 171 An Estimate by Mr. Justice Miller 172 CHAPTER XVIII. Attributes and Tributes 174 Methods of Labor 170 10 CONTENTS. Professional Estimates 180 David Daris and J. S. Black. . . 182 CHAPTER XIX. Politics l8 ^ Machine Politicians i3 Carpenter's First Office 184 The Missouri Compromise i6 Again in Office l8 7 Letter to Samuel Crawford .... 188 Stephen A. Douglas I9 1 CHAPTER XX. The Rebellion *93 The First Gun 194 Welcoming the Minute-Men . . . 197 Letter to Isaac Woodle, Esq. . . 200 Declining Congressional Hon ors 206 The Emancipation Proclamation 208 The Ryan Address 212 CHAPTER XXI. Revolt against the Draft 217 Stanton's ** Stay-at-Home " Or der 218 War Meeting at Camp Hamil ton 219 Letter to R. L. Reed, Esq 221 CHAPTER XXII. The Janesville Convention .... 230 Declines Being a Candidate for Congress 233 McClel.an and Pendleton 234 Letter to John A. Brigham, Esq 235 Letter to A. Hyatt Smith, Esq. 237 CHAPTER XXIII. Reconstruction Negro Suf frage 239 Speech at the Sherman Banquet in Janesville 239 The Votaries of " My Policy " . 243 Speech at Academy of Music in Milwaukee, October 4, 1866. . 245 CHAPTER XXIV. First Senatorial Campaign 252 CHAPTER XXV. Greeley and Secession 270 CHAPTER XXVI. Second Senatorial Campaign.. 276 CHAPTER XXVII. On the Hustings 302 Letter to Hon. E. W. Keyes. . . .304 Letter to the Editor of the "La Crosse Republican and Leader 37 Reply to Hon. C. C. Washburn 309 CHAPTER XXVIII. Third Senatorial Campaign 315 CHAPTER XXIX. In the United States Senate... 336 His First Speech 337 So-called Loyal Claimants 339 Reconstructing Georgia 340 Georgia and Mississippi 345 Return of the Old Dominion.. 347 The Spanish Gun Boats Cuba 349 An "Inhabitant" or a "Resi dent." 355 Enforcing the Fifteenth Amend ment 35 6 Protecting Citizens Abroad 358 The Franking Privilege 359 The Texas Pacific Railway Bill 361 Tariff and Taxes 3 62 Citizenship of the Chinese 362 Pensions Corporations . . 363 Wisconsin Measures 364 CHAPTER XXX. Forty-first Congress Third Session 366 Co-education of Whites and Blacks 368 Salaries of Judges.. 369 Southern Claims 370 Four Georgia Senators 371 The Iron-clad Oath 372 Amending the Bankrupt Laws. 373 CHAPTER XXXI. Forty-second Congress 374 The Washington Treatv 375 Newspaper Correspondents.... 375 CHAPTER XXXII. Forty-second Congress Second Session 380 Civil Service Reform 380 The Chicago Fire 383 Sumner's Civil Rights Bill 383 Carpenter's Amendment 384 Lesser Matters 385 Void Votes Defined 386 Tariff 388 A Bill to Further the Adminis tration of Justice 388 The Ku-Klux Act 389 Labor and Capital 390 CONTENTS. II CHAPTER XXXIII. Sale of Arms to French Agents 392 Sumner's Attack on Grant 392 Carpenter's Defense of Grant.. 395 A View of the Controversy. . . . 401 Death of Sumner 403 " Peace to his Ashes " 404 CHAPTER XXXIV. Forty-second Congress Third Session 405 The Boston Fire. 405 Franking Privilege Abolished. . 406 Fillmore's Sanction of Pol/g amy 47 44 Back Pay " 407 Tribute to Wisconsin 408 CHAPTER XXXV. Money in Politics 410 Forty-third Congress 410 Enemy's Property Defined.... 411 A Senator's Luxuries 412 Foreign Provinces in America. 413 Earl of St. Germans' Papers... 414 Cuban Freedom 416 Civil Rights Bill 416 Imposts Commerce and Suf. frage 416 B. F. Butler's Civil Rights Bill. 418 CHAPTER XXXVI. Re-appearance in the Senate . . . 420 Contest to Unseat Wm P. Kel- logsf 421 Shields and Webster 423 "The Jury System 424 Carpenter and the Navy 425 Riots on Election Days 425 CHAPTER XXXVII. Forty-Sixth Congress Second Session 428 Indian Wars 429 Fitz John Porter 430 Carpenter's Argument 432 A Tilt with Blaine 434 Geneva Award 437 Red Tape 438 Pure Elections 438 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Forty-Sixth Congress Third Session 440 Consular and Diplomatic Ap propriation Bill 440 Closing Labors 443 Last Vote. 444 CHAPTER XXXIX. President Pro Tempore ....... 445 Committee Service ............ 445 CHAPTER XL. Louisiana Tumult and Blood shed ....................... 451 The Two Governments ........ 453 The Remedy ................. 455 A Visit to Louisiana .......... 456 Carpenter and Ingraham ...... 458 Speech at Exposition Hall, New Orleans .................... 459 Back in the Senate ............ 462 The Hayes-Tilden Dead-Lock Predicted .................. 464 CHAPTER XLI. Speech at Janesville June 26, , 1873 ....................... 465 Back Pay " ................. 466 CHAPTER XLII. " The Whisky Ring " ......... 474 CHAPTER XLIII. Miscellaneous Addresses ...... 481 Unveiling Soldiers' Monument at Lancaster, Wis ......... 482 Dedicating Memorial Hall, at Beloit, Wis ................ 485 Addressing the Graduating Class of the Columbian Law College .................... 488 Laying Corner Stone of the Taylor Orphan Asylum, at Racine ..................... 491 Addressing the Republican Fenian Club, at Chicago ..... 494 A Funeral Oration ............ 495 Republics Not Ungrateful ..... 497 A Tribute to the Press ........ 497 Speech at the Grand Duke Alexis Banquet, in Milwau kee ........................ 497 Death of Reverdy Johnson . . . 499 Yellow Fever Sufferers Speech at Fond du Lac ...... 500 CHAPTER XLIV. Impartial Suffrage ............ 502 Myra Bradwell's Case ......... 503 The Fifteenth Amendment. . . . 504 Susan B. Anthony Arrested . . . 505 A Man of the People .......... 510 CHAPTER XLV. Use and Love of Books Love of Children Letter to W. S. Carter. 515 516 12 CONTENTS. Moral Courage 521 Official Integrity 522 A Powerful Memory 523 W. P. Kellogg's Illustration... 524. A Wonderful Voice 526 Peculiarities of Oratory 528 Carpenter Describes Oratory . . 529 CHAPTER XLVI. Physical Appearance 532 Portraits 535 Charity 536 CHAPTER XLVII. Religious Views 543 Favorite Divines 545 Letter to David Swing 546 " I Believe This " 547 Without Malice 548 The Carpenter Homestead 550 Domestic Life 551 CHAPTER XLVIII. Notes and Anecdotes 553 Joseph L. Atherton's Letter . . . 559 Carpenter arid Black 562 Prophecies Letter from Gen. Grant . . CHAPTER XLIX. Sickness and Death 568 Official Formalities 575 The Funeral 578 Tributes 580 An Epitaph by J. S. Black 584 LIFE OF MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. CHAPTER I. A RUGGED BIRTHPLACE. At the very heart of Vermont, in the center of Washing ton county, torn by a torrent called Mad river and pierced by the eastern spine of the Green mountain range, in ro mantic quietness nestles Moretown, the birthplace of Matthew Hale Carpenter. It was a rugged and beautiful belief of the ancient Greeks that their ancestors sprung directly from the sacred soil of Greece. Their love of country was deep and intense, because, when they worshiped their native land, it was honoring their beloved mother. Therefore, when the Greek orators came forth to eulogize statesmen and warriors, or pronounce funeral orations, they began by an apostrophe to the land of their birth. This custom exercised great influence in making Greece one of the marked nations of the earth in patriotism and subsequently in enlightenment. Thus, every country sends forth her sons stamped with the characteristics of the locality in which they were born. The children of the prairie are broad, untrammeled and progressive, while the dwellers of the mountains are sturdy, thrifty, valorous and lovers of freedom. " It has often occurred to me since Carpenter's untimely death," observed a colleague in the senate chamber, " that the scenes and natural surroundings of his childhood scenes with which I am personally somewhat familiar may have exercised no little influence upon his later career. He was born on the side of a mountain, down which and past his dwelling rushed the Mad river, impatient of all obstacles, at 14 LIFE OF CARPENTER. times swollen with rains or melted snows, a torrent resist- lessly impetuous in its force, and at other times sparkling in the generous sunlight and filling the pleasant valleys below with liquid music. The varied moods of nature in his moun tain home were reflected in his after life, and gave tone and color to his maturer years." Moretown is indeed a sequestered spot. It is stretched on a mountain-side, sloping mostly to the westward. The lesser peaks of the eastern ridge of the Green mountains form its eastern boundary; adown its western half dashes the Mad river, which falls into the Winooski or Onion river on the north; and out of the west, overlooking a beautiful panorama of broken rock and green, the blue and bold outlines of the Camel's Hump rise four thousand feet into the clouds. Mont- pelier, the capital of the state, is ten or a dozen miles up the Winooski river, and Waterbury an equal distance below staid, quiet, cultivated places, in strange contrast with the rough surroundings and the tumultuous waters that sometimes rush past their doors. But it is, withal, just such a vale as a poet would have chosen to be the birthplace of a man like Carpenter. "'Tis a rough land of earth and stone and tree, Where breathes no castled lord or cabin'd slave; Where thoughts and tongues and hands are bold and free, And friends will find a welcome, foes a grave ; And where none kneel save when to Heaven they pray . Nor even then, unless in their own way. "They love their land because it is their own, And scorn to give aught other reason why Would shake hands with a king upon his throne And think it kindness to his majesty. A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none Such are they nurtured, such they live and die. "And minds have there been nurtured whose control Is felt even in their nation's destiny ; Men who swayed senates with a statesman's soul And look'd on armies with a leader's eye Names that adorn and dignify the scroll _ Whose leaves contain their country's history." 1 JFitz-GreeneHalleck. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 15 AN ANCIENT FAMILY. The inhabitants of the northern provinces of France, more particularly those of Normandy, began, very soon after the year 1000, for the purpose of preserving an uncorrupted line of distinction for those who had acquired fame or property, to use family surnames. This custom was carried into Eng land by the Normans under William the Conquerer. Among William's sixty thousand soldiers, present at the battle of Has tings, A. D. 1066, were warriors of the name of Charpentier, who remained in Britain to carry out over his new subjects the deep and tyrannous plans of that rigorous invader. But as Domesday Book, that stupendous monument to William's far-reaching genius, and the most valuable record of olden times possessed by any nation, mentions Carpenters in the various " hundreds " of Hereford, Kent, and other districts, it is impossible to say definitely in what direction through Eng land came the present family of Carpenters whether from ancient Britons, more ancient Romans, or ancient Normans, or a mixture of all. There were two principal sources of family surnames in establishing distinct families, those arising from locality and those describing occupation. The Carpenters were of the latter; and, therefore, as surnames were not in vogue in Britain at the invasion of William the Conquerer, those pure Britons entered in Domesday Book under that name were undoubtedly such builders or wood-workers as had arrived at the dignity of possessing a pig or a yardland of ground, and were therefore to be put upon record as carpenters (the same as bakers or websters) owing tribute to the king. As soon as the habit of adopting fixed names became estab lished, the significance of these descriptive titles disappeared, and the sons of Carpenters, while bearing a name indicating that they originally sprung from builders and wood artisans, became masons, miners, physicians, gentlemen and nobles; and the sons of Bakers and Miners became carpenters, web sters, tanners, and the like. 1 6" LIFE OF CARPENTER. It is asserted, though the records in proof are vague, that Edward II caused an act to be passed compelling the use of family names according to locality and occupation, thus fix ing the date for the common use in England of Carpenter, Baker, etc., to describe families and tribes, at 1308. It is certain, however, that in 146$ Edward IV had an act pub lished compelling all subjects who had not yet adopted that style to " goe apparelled like Englishmen, weare their beards like Englishmen, and take English surnames like unto their townes, as Chester, their arte, as Carpenter, or their office, as Cooke or Butler." The reign of the Norman kings in Great Britain closed in 1154, and thereafter, under the reign of the Plantagenets and the Tudors, some of the Carpenter family arose to distinc tion. They spread into various counties and became bishops, sheriffs, judges and gentlemen. There is a tradition that the Carpenter with whom this volume will deal descended from an ancient family of that name in Hereford, a county border ing on Wales. A moment's attention will therefore be given to this source of descent. The Hereford portion of the Domesday Book mentions Carpenters and Carpentarii, so they were early and prominent occupants of that fertile and beautiful section. The Norman nobles who settled in Hereford and along the Welsh border were called the " Lords Marchers." Sub sequently, in the Red Book of the Exchequer they were styled Marchiones Wallias (marchers or governors of the border land of Wales). During the reign of Richard II a nobleman of this sort became a marquis. These primal lords marchers were similar to barons and sat in parliament. They made laws, and all suits, not concerning a barony itself, between tenants, or between tenants and others, were begun and concluded before them. Their jurisdiction being original and unlimited, they fell into the ways of tyranny, in justice and public outrage. Their " exactions, molestations, undue delays, malpractices, exorbitant fees and intolerable impoverishments" became such a scandal that a court of LIFE OF CARPENTER. 1 7 judicature was instituted under Edward IV with noblemen residing at Ludlow castle as lords lieutenants of the marches. These lieutenants were surrounded by the highest circum stances of royalty until their dissolution by act of parliament under William and Mary. The first lord lieutenant of the marches was John Carpenter, who opened court amidst the costliest splendors, in 1469. He wore the robes about four teen years, "making certain ordinances and punishments for the weale and tranquility of the towne." Hereford, though ancient and rich, has had less of her his tory written than almost any other county of Great Britain; so but little more is seen of this particular line of Carpenters until Cromwell's time, in which they are mentioned as sol diers of great strength and valor. Charles II succeeded Richard Cromwell in 1660, and in the official lists of " men of Noble and Gentle birth " made at that time for Hereford, appear "Thomas Carpenter, gentleman, Rudhall Carpen ter, Esquire, Thomas Carpenter, Esquire, 1 and Corne- wall Carpenter, gentleman," all of whom had sons and brothers. The list of sheriffs, doing the earl's will and carrying the king's writs, extends in Hereford from a period previous to the Norman conquest. In this list may be found several Carpenters, who were especially strong under Queen Anne and George I. Subsequently, the Carpenter nobility and gentry descendants of the honorable men of Domesday lln "recording and accurately displaying the remarkable actions and sufferings, virtues, vices, parts and learning" of the Hereford Carpen ters, " from the earliest accounts of time to the present period," an early English biographical work in eight volumes has this account of George (Lord) Carpenter: "He was descended from an ancient family in Hertford shire [Hereford], and born in Pitchers Ocull, in that county, on the loth of February, 1657, and was the son of Warncomb Carpenter, sixth son of Thomas Carpenter, Esq., lord of the manor of Homme [Holme] in the parish of Dilwynne, near Woebly ; which manor, with a considerable estate, has been in this family and lineally descended from father to son for above four hundred years, and is now [1795] in the possession of the Earl of Tyrcon- nel." 1 8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. were endowed with coat-armor. 1 It is difficult to trace the circumstances under which this armor fell to them, as com paratively few families of the gentry have any exact date of their arms. The College of Arms goes back only to the reign of Richard III. Previous to that time, coat-armor was the immediate gift of royalty, or conferred by commanders upon those who had earned it by valor in battle. The crest and motto of the Carpenters have the appearance of having come from the latter class. At least, several of the family in early generations were distinguished commanders. It may now be discernible that the Carpenter family is ancient, noble and gentle one of the very oldest of dis tinctive human tribes in Britain. The large number of that name found in the records with the Christian prefix of William tends to establish their Norman descent; yet, as Carpenters were listed in 1080 in Domesday who could not have been Normans, they may have come down through feuds and blood from the Fabers, Fabricuses and Carpentarii of the Romans. Lower, one of the most noted of English phi lologists, says the Carpentarii of Domesday Book were " tenants-in-chief and honorable men." They would seem, therefore, to have been Romans. The subject of this memoir was descended from those hardy immigrants who were among the very first settlers of New England. With the crossing of the ocean not only all nobility but all connection with it was technically destroyed. Otherwise, a vast estate, lying in trust in England for the Carpenters, might be secured, and a perfect line of descent back to the Norman invasion be herein presented. But where indefatigable lawyers, drawn forward by the enticing glow of an almost limitless legacy, have failed, a mere biog rapher is content to go on, admitting his defeat in the attempt to connect, in close legal manner, the Carpenter line 1 " Paly of six ar. and gu. on a cher. az. three crosses crosslet or. Crest A globe in frame, all or. Supporters Two horses, per fesse embattled ar. and gu. Motto Per acuta belli." BurkJs General Armory. LIFE OF CARPENTER. Ip of primogeniture in England and America, feeling safe to assert, however, after exhaustive research, that British and American records and traditions are sufficiently corrobora tive of each other to give credence to the genealogy now assumed, THE CARPENTERS IN AMERICA. (i) William Carpenter, born in England in 1576, sailed from Southampton in the Bevis in May, 1638, and landed probably at Boston. He was accompanied by his son (2) William, aged 33, who had a wife, Abigail, and four chil dren " of ten years olde and less." He settled at Weymouth, Mass., became a freeman in May, 1640, and was a repre sentative in 1641 and 1643. He died in 1659. The second (2) William took up an abode with his family and servant at Rehoboth, Mass. Among his four children, born in Eng land and brought over in the Bevis, was (3) William, who, October 5, 1651, married Priscilla Bonnet (or Bonette). Of his children, (4) Benjamin, born October 20, 1663, married Hannah, daughter of Jedediah Strong. Benjamin's tenth child, (5) Ebenezer, born at Coventry, Ct, November 9, 1709, married Eunice Thompson, and among his children was (6) James, born at Coventry, April 15, 1741, who mar ried Irene Ladd. James had fourteen children, of whom (7) Cephas, born at Coventry, July 8, 1770, married Anna Benton and reared ten children, of whom (8) Ira, born at Moretown, Vt., April 29, 1798, married Esther Ann Luce (born December 24, 1802). She died February i, 1835, leav ing four children (9) Decatur Merritt Hammond, 1 whose narrative we are now following, born December 22, 1824; Anna Amelia, born June 17, 1827, married and resides at Grand Forks, Dakota; Esther Johnson, born March 23, 1 Subsequently, as will appear farther on, his name was changed to Mat thew Hale Carpenter; but Merritt will be used to designate him in connec tion with any incident related in this work that transpired before that change was made. 2O LIFE OF CARPENTER. 1830, married and resides at St. Paul, Minn.; and Cephas Warner, born August 2, 1832, and resides at St. Paul, Minn. Ira Carpenter, marrying a second time, increased his family by four sons and two daughters. The second marriage resulted in sending the children of the first wife out to early efforts in their own behalf, making, prac tically, a separate family of them, as we shall see pres ently by following the footsteps of Merritt, whose early fortunes were but little different from those of his brother and sisters. The Carpenters were generally of good stock, mentally and physically. They have, beginning as far back as 1641, held various offices of honor and trust and occupied respect able positions in their several communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. They have, for more than two centuries, fought all the battles of their country against the aborigines in defense of their humble cabins and plantations; against the French and Indians, twice against the British, against the Mexicans, and at last in the Rebellion for the extirpation of the oligarchy of slavery. Their names have entered history as clergymen, attorneys, manufacturers, sol diers, representatives, journalists, physicians and judges of rather more than ordinary reputation. Coming to America in the earliest colonial times, "their sons and their sons' sons," having wrought the desert into a garden, planted civilization in the abodes of savagery, and reared, amidst the surrounding realms of autocracy and bondage, an empire of freedom that is shaking the gyves from all mankind, have now " compassed all the lands round about." Esther Ann Luce, Merritt's mother, was the daughter of a minister of some renown, and a woman of more than ordinary personal attractions and mental accomplishments. She was a sweet-tempered, gentle, Christian woman, who had the fear of God before her eyes. Naturally ambitious concerning the worldly welfare and honor of her children, she was yet more solicitous for their spiritual well-being. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 21 Living, she reared them gently, teaching the beauty and sweetness of the golden rule; and dying, committed their future to Him who sent manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness and who tempereth the winds to the shorn lamb. She died blessing her babes and her Savior, but blessed the world by leaving in Merritt's sobbing breast the sunny temper and the tender heart that had made herself so lovely. Ira Carpenter was a particularly fine-looking man, easy in his manner, social in his habits, and a favorite among acquaintances. For more than twenty years he held the office of deputy sheriff or sheriff, and was frequently con stable of the town, justice of the peace, postmaster and repre sentative in the legislature. He was well posted in politics, a fluent debater among his neighbors, and stronger than the ordinary run of men in argument and logic. Although agile, trustworthy and shrewd in business methods, he never theless accumulated no property. He departed this life at Warren, Vt., October 23, 1862. Cephas Carpenter was a man of vigorous intellect, giant frame and prominent characteristics. He was robust phys ically and mentally. For the extraordinary period of forty years he was a justice of the peace in Moretown, and pre sided at the trial of cases almost without number. If a cause chanced to go to trial before another justice, Cephas Carpen ter was generally present acting as counsel for one or the other of the parties litigant. He had a clear idea of equity and knew a great deal of law. " The Vermont Historical Gazetteer " records of him : " He was a good lawyer though not a member of any bar." His adroitness and sturdy eloquence hardly ever failed to bring discomfiture upon the best regular practitioners who opposed him. Law was his business, theology his pleasure, and it was notorious that he whipped the professional advocates of the former as easily as he put to rout the regular divines of the latter. If there was any one to oppose him, he would argue theology 22 LIFE OF CARPENTER. by the day, and it was the common understanding in his neighborhood that "Col. Carpenter had never met his match." It is certain that he was a man of no ordinary parts, and that, had he been schooled and trained in law or theology, he would have become a famous character. His admirable mental and many of his physical qualities re appeared in his grandson, whose' life is presented in this vol ume, and there received the culture and training he lacked so much but so richly deserved. His death occurred in peace and quietness, at the ripe age of eighty-nine, beloved and respected by all who knew him. He was one of the very first settlers of Moretown, and amid many privations and hardships, helped to pay for the land in the original purchase at so many ears of maize per acre, CHILDHOOD. If it had any bearing further than to picture traits of char acter, much that is interesting might be said concerning Carpenter's childhood. His mother dying when he was slightly more than ten years of age, a step-mother was brought to take her place less than a twelve-month later. Although this was a wise move for his younger brothers and sisters, it was not relished by him, who never got on harmo niously with the second mother. In babyhood or boyhood he was not an ordinary child. At the age of two years his shapely head was stroked by Paul Dillingham, the successful Waterbury attorney, who expanded and nourished the mother's natural pride by ob serving that her child had a fine brain and must be trained for a distinguished future. This semi-prophecy was never forgotten, and as soon as he could utter simple words, Mrs. Carpenter began to teach her babe the letters of the alpha bet from the few stiff sentences that adorned the family cook-stove. He learned easily, and before his little legs could carry him straight and steady, was in the habit of astonishing the neighbors by repeating every letter the stove LIFE OF CARPENTER. 23 contained. From this he advanced to other things, and when he had arrived at school age, was the "smartest lad in Moretown." Although Merritt grew rapidly, had thick, beautiful hair and was a handsome child, he was not robust. On the con trary he was rather pale and slim, and by his companions was sometimes called " spindle-shanks." He loved reading and was very studious in school, but from the very first was on exceedingly bad terms with all forms of manual labor. To be exactly truthful, he hated work, and manifested his first shrewdness in devising means to avoid it. He loved to read and play, and if left to himself would divide the time about evenly between the two. His father, as constable, sheriff, and deputy sheriff, was generally compelled to spend much of his time in absence from home. Before leaving in the morning it was usual for him to lay out a day's work for Merritt, and it was equally usual for him to return at night and find the task incomplete or untouched. All the means of coercion known in those sturdy days were resorted to in vain; the boy did not and would not work. Upon one occa sion, the paternal Carpenter told the son he must hoe a certain piece of corn or receive a " sound whipping." After the father had mounted his horse and departed, Merritt shouldered a hoe and proceeded to avoid chastisement. On the following morning, Mr. Carpenter went to the garden to view the labors of his promising offspring, and found that each hill of corn had been slightly scratched around close up to the roots of the stalks, while in between the rows the swamp of noxious weeds remained untouched. Returning briskly to the house, the father called Merritt before him. " I thought I told you to hoe that corn," was the stern ejaculation. " I did hoe it, father, every hill of the patch," replied the boy with becoming gravity. "Yes, you did, at a great rate! The weeds are just as thick as ever," said the father, in a still more threatening tone. "You never touched them." " But father," pleaded the young Bacon with well-assumed 24 LIFE OF CARPENTER, simplicity of manner, " you only told me to hoe the corn. I didn't know you wanted the weeds hoed, too! " Shrewdness and naiveness probably saved him a whipping, but finally Merritt was obliged to hoe both the weeds and the corn, greatly to his childish disgust. At another time, before riding to Montpelier to attend to the day's business, Mr. Carpenter said to his son : " Mer ritt, I have hired Johnny Eagan to hoe potatoes. Now you must help him, and what you and he don't do to-day, you will be obliged to finish to-morrow without help, for I can afford to hire but one day's work." Now, Johnny Eagan was exceedingly fond of Merritt and also partial toward "just the laste dhrap of the cratur." The two un derstood each other perfectly. The boy, therefore, having formulated his plan for the day, went early and purchased a small demijohn of whisky, and leaving his hoe hanging comfortably in the wood-shed, proceeded to the potato-patch with a book and the bottle. At seven o'clock, at the first hill of the first row, he gave Johnny a light draught, and, running to the other side of the field, shook the bottle, cried " come on," and settled down to read. Johnny hoed through the row as if propelled by steam, and as a reward had another brief pull at the liquor. Merritt then turned back to the place of beginning, again raised aloft the bottle so the sun would glint through the amber depths of the " water of life" it contained, shouted again "come on, Johnny," and resumed his book. This process was repeated in various forms during the day, and when the elder Carpenter re turned at night, he found Merritt as fresh and jolly as a cricket, every hill of potatoes well hoed, and Johnny stretched upon a bench asleep, exhausted with the day's unusual exertions. Since that day it has not been uncommon in Moretown to hear whisky mentioned as " Carpenter's potato cultivator." But the most interesting feature remains to be related. A still deeper friendship sprung up between Mer ritt Carpenter and Johnny Eagan, which lasted until the end LIFE OF CARPENTER. 25 of life, and never, after Carpenter went west and became a conspicuous figure in the nation, did he go back to Vermont without procuring a carriage and driving up the Green mountains to " Hardscrabble Hill," to greet and visit in his humble home the jolly Irishman who saved him a day's work in the potato-patch. The last time these curious friends met was after the kind-hearted Irishman had passed his eightieth year. Carpenter was to pay a brief . visit to Moretown, and sent in advance to have a carriage bring the withered com panion of his youth down from the mountain. The request was complied with, and when the two came together they clasped each other like brothers. After he had been elected to the senate, Carpenter came across an old friend from Moretown, and the two settled down together to review the scenes of their childhood. One after another the fates and successes of old acquaintances were discussed, and when the friend announced that Johnny Eagan had " gone the way of all the earth," Carpenter bowed his head and wept. But it is not difficult to account for the apparently strange freak of love between a bright, playful child and a poor old Irishman. Merritt was a boy of conspicuous winsomeness and promise, and Eagan, though brought down to poverty and obscurity by many misfortunes, had been well bred and well educated, and retained all his intellectuality and love of it in others. He delighted in the sympathetic and eloquent reading of his young friend, and would at any time, in order to hear it, saw wood, hoe in the garden, or lift other tasks from Merritt's shoulders. After all, the boy was not lazy. He was misjudged. The work-a-day people of Moretown thought his hatred of hoe and " hard-pan " meant indolence. Therein they were hon estly mistaken. He would begin any book or branch of study with eagerness and pursue it to the end with persist ent diligence, but he simply would not bend his back to manual labor when there was a possible mode of escape, though extremely industrious in the direction of his inclina- 26 LIFE OF CARPENTER. tions. His favorite companion was a playful, sturdy lad named " Joe " Sawyer. They were almost constantly to gether, although their homes were on opposite sides of the Mad river. They did nothing particularly mischievous or out of character, simply played up and down the river or sat in some rocky nook listening to each other's spirited reading. This Utopian programme of boyhood brought no return to either family, but greatly annbyed the fathers of both, who, as was wont in those close and thrifty days, looked upon idleness or play as something actually next to the bad. The elder Carpenter and Sawyer, counseling together upon the general unproductiveness of their boys, determined to keep them apart. Each, therefore, told his son not to cross the Mad river. The order was delivered in the early morning to young Carpenter, with the father's addendum that he was determined to prevent the squandering of so much valuable time in play with " Joe " Sawyer. After breakfast Merritt went to the bridge crossing the river, hung his legs over the side of the structure, and began a loud, long whistle, a sort of bugle-call. In a short time "Joe " came sauntering toward the whistler. The two boys, with mutually droll winks, met and played together, spending an exceedingly joyous day on the bridge. When they parted at night Mer ritt shrewdly observed: "Now, we haven't crossed the river nor disobeyed our fathers, have we, Joe ? " The boys learned their lessons easily and quickly, and therefore had an overabundance of leisure for those gallop ing frolics and mischievous pranks in school which, though perpetrated without the faintest trace of wickedness or malice, were nevertheless extremely annoying to the teach ers. On one occasion during the winter after Merritt was thirteen years of age, he and his crony, with other large boys, had turned two teachers out of the Moretown school. That is, they had made things so disagreeable generally that the teachers, who were really incompetent both in education and discipline, abandoned the school. A third had been en- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 27 gaged, but as he was no improvement upon the others, the boys, unable to proceed satisfactorily with their studies, began to vex him and to lay plans for his dethronement. At this point Merritt and " Joe " were sent by their respective fathers, who had counseled together again, into the neigh boring forest to chop wood. They received with their axes a promise that whenever they would bind themselves to cease their vexatious conduct toward the pedagogue, they might return from the forest and resume steady attendance upon school. At the end of a week, sore and weary, they resolved that the lot of a meek and subjugated student was preferable to that of the greatest wood-chopper. With axes and buoyancy equally dulled, they thereupon returned to Moretown, and on the following Monday created a gentle sensation by resuming their accustomed seats. The boys were fine scholars for persons of their ages, and really de sirous of further proficiency ; but the third teacher proving as weak and inefficient as the others, they soon determined to expel him, and in a very few days accomplished it by bar ricading the doors against his entrance. This action was not much regretted by the officers of the district, though naturally it could not be openly indorsed. They at once in stalled an elderly gentleman named Miller. He was of lib eral education and stern discipline, and carried the school through with success and satisfaction. In connection with his pedagogic reign an incident must be brought in at this point. Among the leading features of winter life in the country as far back as 1837 were the jolly, old-fashioned spelling-schools. They were planned and consummated with a zest unknown to modern days, and possessed a charm that never failed to draw out the entire community, old and young. In the spelling-schools of Moretown Merritt always had a prominent part, being the best declaimer in the village. Mr. Miller's term was not without the usual number of them, and at a certain one Merritt was to declaim one of the brilliant orations of Henry Clay. He and his Grandfather 28 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Carpenter were both ardent admirers of the Kentucky statesman, and when the crowd gathered in the evening, it was noted with interest that a large and striking portrait of Clay occupied the most sightly place on the rostrum. Miller was of the opposite political devotions, and, being of determined convictions, disliked Clay even more vehe mently than young Carpenter admired him. On entering the school -house his eye fell instantly upon the offending picture. The audience knew full well his hatred of Clay, and dropped suddenly into an anxious silence to observe what course of procedure the teacher would adopt. He halted with abrupt and tragic indignation, and throwing his piercing glances searchingly over the crowded room, de manded: "Who had the temerity to perpetrate this insult who swung that picture ? " Merritt, with the frankness and fearlessness that characterized his youth as well as his man hood, arose without delay and answered: "I did, sir." The master's eyes blazed as he hesitated for a moment to deter mine what should be done, and he thundered: "Remove it instantly; take it out of the house !" Merritt proceeded to the rostrum in silent but grieved obedience to the master's command. He had hardly unstrung the reflective face of the immortal author of the American System before the massive head and shoulders of his grandfather, Cephas Car penter, towered above the assemblage. All eyes turned toward him apprehensively, for it was possible that he would hurl the angry teacher from the room. Though his every ligament and motion betrayed agitation, he made no demon stration toward the offender, but stretching forth his long arms he said, with all the eloquence of earnestness: "Come here with it, my boy ! " Merritt obeyed as implicitly as though he had received no contradictory order from the teacher, and his aged grandparent, still erect, clasped the portrait, kissed it tenderly and pressed it to his bosom. Silence reigned for some minutes after the closing of this in tensely dramatic scene. The baffled master stood motion- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2p less and speechless, and all were pained with the apparent impossibility of finding a way to start the proceedings for ward in their usual rut. Fortunately, a sleigh of visitors from a neighboring district unloaded and poured in at that moment, and matters again resumed their accustomed course. When everybody had been " spelled down," declamations were in order. As Merritt in his turn mounted the little rostrum, no one failed to notice that his boyish spirit was aroused to its highest pitch. Grandfather Carpenter, still hugging the portrait, advanced a few seats forward that he might better see and hear his pet grandchild. This move ment added increased interest to that already imparted by the earlier incident of the evening, and Merritt, influenced by what had been transpiring, surpassed all his previous efforts. As he descended to his seat the building trembled under the demonstrations of applause that greeted him, while Grandfather Carpenter, waiving the portrait of Clay high over his head, cried, " Bravo ! Bravo ! " The term of school taught by Miller was the last one attended by Merritt in Moretown. Mock schools, mock military maneuvers, play-house building, leaping, wrestling and things of that sort, indulged in by every hale child in the land to a greater or less extent, had no charms for Merritt. He was rarely known to partic ipate in the ordinary athletic sports of boyhood. But he en gaged in amusements of his own conception with ardor. During political campaigns he gathered a few choice cronies in secluded barns or sheds and gravely addressed them on the chief issues of the day. " Playing funeral " was a source of amusement at home in which he took great delight. His younger sister, Esther, was laid out by himself and older sister Anna as the corpse, and stretched on an old-fashioned chest, the lid of which, removable, served as a bier. Mer ritt acted as preacher, and in addition to giving out hymns to be sung by the choir, and directing things generally, always mounted a box or chair and pronounced an elaborate funeral 30 LIFE OF CARPENTER. sermon upon the late lamented, setting forth her admirable qualities in eloquent and feeling terms. These remarkable performances, which originated wholly in young Carpenter's active brain, frequently attracted the attention of the neigh bors, who gathered in wonder rather than woe, and departed in merriment rather than sorrow. The genuineness and originality of his funeral sermons were generally discussed by the neighbors, who pronounced the boy far too remark able for a long life. At numerous points through Moretown the banks of Mad river were skirted with willows. Under their thick shade, in secluded bends or hollows, Merritt frequently convened the children of the village and held regular "protracted meetings." These gatherings were in all their appointments similar to the religious " revivals " indulged in by the Meth odists and other denominations for the purpose of revivify ing religious sentiment and recruiting the ranks of those who serve the Lord. Merritt, on such occasions, always did the talking or exhorting, and so eloquent and earnest were his appeals, that, according to the testimony of one or two surviv ing participants, some of his hearers were in the habit of being deeply moved, bearing public evidence to the power of his oratory by " going forward," and signifying their in tention to renounce the world and enter the straight and narrow way that leadeth unto life everlasting. Sometimes Merritt's revivals were largely attended. They were always interesting and successful, adults and gray-heads frequently crowding the back seats. At that time the villagers, in their discussions, predicted that he would one day be the most re nowned pulpit orator in America. Having a natural relig ious sentiment, full of the spirit of power and of eloquence, had Carpenter's lot fallen to the ministry instead of the law, this prophecy would undoubtedly have become a verity. Although " fair Moretown's vale " was generally quiet and peaceful beyond expression, Carpenter grew up to be an ardent lover of mental excitement and a joyous participant LIFE OF CARPENTER. 3! in stormy proceedings. In the fulness of life, the tumult of war and the excitement of political contentions roused him to his greatest efforts. The Mad river, which dashed by the rear of his father's house, frequently became a roaring tor rent. Whenever he observed the angry waters creeping into the garden and threatening the out-buildings of his humble home, young Carpenter was in high glee. His spirits seemed to rise and expand with the floods, and he leaped and danced up and down the banks of the stream in search of the wildest rapids and the noisiest cataracts. These demonstrations were not looked upon without wonder, as children generally tremble at storms and floods and shrink in terror from a roaring waterfall. When he was a very small child, an unusual flood swept down the jagged channel of the river. In his mother's arms Merritt watched the turgid element advance to the threshold of his father's dwel ling, which, as the waters continued to rise, was abandoned by the entire family in the middle of the night. By the early light of the following morning they saw it move from the foundations, quickly break up, and the scattered timbers go dancing down the flooded valley. His father was then postmaster of Moretown, but as mail was received only once a week, the public loss was small. When Merritt arrived at the period where he began to have an interest in public men, Daniel Webster was the fore most statesman and orator on the American continent. His speeches were the general theme of conversation, and Mer ritt began to turn his attention to the man whose fame per meated every community and entered the remotest social circle. In 1835 a new edition of Webster's speeches and ora tions was published, which renewed public interest in his reply to Hayne on the Foote resolutions and against the nullifica tion theories of the south. When, a year or two later, the volume reached the secluded passes of the Green mountains, the bright young boy caught the spirit of the lofty patriot ism, the ponderous logic and the sonorous eloquence of that 32 LIFE OF CARPENTER. splendid effort, and began to commit to memory its sevent}' matchless pages. This unusual task he completed in two weeks, at the same time keeping up all the studies of his classes in school. It was then given out that Ira Carpen ter's son would deliver one of Webster's speeches from memory, in a neighboring school-house, for the benefit of the Sunday school. An admission fee was charged, yet such was the reputation of the boy that hardly standing room re mained when the hour arrived for him to begin the declama tion. He made his appearance like a trained orator, without trepidation or hesitancy, and although nearly two hours were consumed in the delivery of the oration, he went through without skip or break. This feat was considered so re markable, and the elocutionary powers displayed were so unusual, that for some time young Carpenter was called the "Green Mountain Webster." Beginning at about his ninth year, Carpenter read the public addresses of Webster, Clay, Choate and their contem poraries, and committed many of them to memory for deliv ery at spelling-schools, exhibitions, the regular rhetorical exercises of the schools he attended, or for any other occa sions that might arise. For several years before leaving his father's roof in Moretown, he preserved all the speeches made in congress, reading and re-reading them to his father and grandfather. The latter pointed out and dwelt upon their eloquent passages and clear statements of principles, which thus became fastened upon the lad's memory for all time. When he left home a chest in his room was found to contain hundreds of those orations and addresses, carefully arranged and marked. They were preserved by the family for some years, but finally the mice found a way into the box and devoured them for food, or reduced them to tatters for nests. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of Carpenter's childhood was that he always had a little ready money in his pocket. How or where it was obtained his father never LIFE OF CARPENTER. 33 knew, and for years related the fact as one of the mysteries of the neighborhood. Whence the money came that bought the liquor for Johnny Eagan, the elder Carpenter had no knowledge, nor how Merritt found the wherewith to pur chase the books that from time to time were found in his possession. The secret, however, could have been explained by the proud old grandfather, who would forego any lux ury, or, if necessary, any ordinary necessity, that his favorite might buy books. Other relatives were also in the habit of bestowing small sums of money upon the boy, which, instead of going for tobacco, sweetmeats or rubbish of any sort, were treasured until their aggregate would procure some coveted volume. In Moretown, because of his thorough aversion for manual labor, Merritt's reputation was that of being "lazy, but smart," and the steady people of that section regarded with wonder the prodigious achievements of his after-life most pf them due alone to application and industry, which they thought he had not, rather than to " smartness," which they knew he had. 34 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER II. AT PAUL DILLINGHAM'S. During Carpenter's boyhood the attorney who enjoyed the largest practice at Moretown and in the Mad river valley was Paul Dillingham, subsequently governor of Ver mont and representative in congress, who then resided and still resides at Waterbury, in the same county. For more than a quarter of a century Carpenter's father, in discharg ing the diities of his offices, was frequently thrown in contact with the attorneys doing business in that vicinity, and thus became acquainted with Mr. Dillingham, a man of the most genial and cordial manners and successful business methods. Subsequently, closer business relations grew into a warm and life-long friendship, and Ira Carpenter's house became Dillingham's habitual stopping-place in Moretown. During these frequent and informal visits, little Merritt's beauty and brightness attracted Dillingham's attention, and in due time the courtly attorney and the affectionate lad had realty fallen in love with each other. Merritt frequently rode short distances in Dillingham's carriage, and on days when the attorney was expected in Moretown, sat on the fence, eagerly watching for the appearance of the well-known Waterbury turn-out. Thoroughly in love with his profession, and regarding Merritt as a child of exceeding promise, Dil lingham proposed that, in the course of a few years, the boy should go and live with him and learn the law. Merritt re plied that he would, though Dillingham regarded the prompt affirmative simply as an honest expression of affection, which would be forgotten amidst the new ideas and ambi tions of advancing youth. In that he was wholly mistaken, for, taking his genial friend as an admired example, Merritt concluded that nothing could equal the law in producing re spectability, success and fine manners. He therefore deter- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 35 mined to become a lawyer a resolution which, he declared in later years, he never ceased for a moment to entertain, although but six years of age at the time of receiving the promise that, at fourteen, he should enter the office at Waterbury, and be put in training. Thus, in the boy's mind, the whole matter was settled. Discovering, however, soon after his father's second marriage, that he was not getting on as amiably with the step-mother as he had with his own mother, he became more eager than ever for the time to arrive when he could go to claim the fulfillment of the prom ise, which, although made in good faith, Dillingham had forgotten. One November evening, some weeks before the arrival of the long-looked-for fourteenth birthday, Merritt, while discussing the near opening of the winter term of school, announced that he was " done with Moretown teach ers." In response to his father's inquiry, he replied that he " knew more than the teachers ; " they couldn't teach him anything in the least of his studies, and he was going to Waterbury to enter Paul Dillingham's law office. Mr. Carpenter interposed no objection, for he thought Merritt would be " homesick " and ready to return home and to school at the end of three or four days, or a week, at the utmost, and that the experience would prove beneficial. A few sentences may now be quoted from " The Vermont Historical Gazetteer," the facts for which compilation, so far as they concern Carpenter, came directly from Dillingham. It relates: On the occasion of a certain trip to Moretown, while passing over the height of land midway between the latter village and Waterbury, Mr. Dil lingham was surprised to meet young Carpenter, then a lad of fourteen, trudging along on foot,! with all his worldly effects in a small bundle. 1 In this Dillingham is incorrectly quoted. Merritt went on horseback to Waterbury to learn whether the cherished promise was to be fulfilled, and thus mounted met Mr. Dillingham on the road. Having arrived in Waterbury and made friends with Mrs. Dillingham, he awaited her hus band's return. Well pleased with his wife's reception of the boy, the at torney told Merritt to draft a writ, which he did with precision as to spelling 36 LIFE OF CARPENTER. When asked where he was going, the boy replied, " To Waterbury, to live with you and be a lawyer." 'Squire Dillingham, as he was then popularly called, finding his former proposals thus unexpectedly accepted, directed the lad to go ahead, report to Mrs. Dillingham and await his return at night. Mrs. Dillingham was greatly pleased with her youthful visitor, who made such good use of his undeveloped arts as an advocate, that, when Mr. Dillingham returned, he found an entente cordiale had already been es tablished between his wife and the boy. And this is how young Carpenter became a protege, though never a formally adopted son, of Hon. Paul Dil lingham, whose house thereafter was the only home he had until he en- tered upon the practice of his profession and made one for himself in the west. The change thus recorded, though the boy left a proud and indulgent father, was in every way a fortunate one for the embryo lawyer. The estate of Mr. Dillingham is amid some of the finest of Vermont scenery. Close to Mount Mansfield, in one of those fertile nooks that hide themselves under the shadow of the mighty hills, is his shaded and sunny home, ample as his heart, where he has dwelt in modest honor and abundant hospitality for many years. These more liberal and cultivated surroundings at once pro duced a favorable effect upon young Carpenter's mind and broadened his view of the world and of his own future. He was sent to the more advanced and progressive schools of Waterbury, where the rivalry of older scholars and the spur of his growing ambition urged him on in his studies at an astonishing rate. He did not miss a term for four years, and was absent from his classes only on a very few occasions in which necessity made his presence impossible. Even at that period of his life, although he had not been honored as he was subsequently by the people of Vermont, Dillingham was a man of influence and high standing, whose personal acquaintances included all the leading men of the state, many of whom were more or less frequent visitors at as well as legal form. He was then told he could come and at once begin attending the high school. He returned home on the following day, and two days later was taken by his father in a sleigh, called a "jumper," to his new residence. LIFE OF CARPENTER. his house Thus brought in contact with the moving spirits of the time, an unmistakable suasion was exerted upon young Carpenter, confirming his ambitions, and giving him an early insight into public life just as it was. His mind, always a perfect absorbent, made the most of all opportunities, treas uring the anecdotes, the political events and the general in formation thus obtained as eagerly as a miser hoards his gold. Thus the better schools, Mr. Dillingham's large li brary, and frequent association with distinguished personages which he enjoyed at Waterbury, afforded opportunities for advancement and development the youth could not have had in his own home, and which undoubtedly gave bent and in clination to his subsequent career. His record in school as to advancement and deportment was without equal in Waterbury, and his rapid acquirement of general informa tion during vacations was equally remarkable. In a very few months after taking up his abode at Dilling ham's, as the richer fields of literature were opened to him, the young student became more completely than ever enamored of books. He pursued his legal studies with avidity during holidays, interims and evenings, taking intense delight in the fundamental principles governing justice and equity, and in the decisions and arguments of the profoundest jurists of the age. But his mind was searching as well in all directions outside of the law for the fountains of knowledge, and he de voured the works of general literature with such rapidity, and yet with such a clear understanding, as to astonish all his friends, not excepting his tutor. In this manner passed the first four and one-half years of Carpenter's residence with Mr. Dillingham, without the occurrence of any incident worth recording, except that before the expiration of that time he was frequently intrusted by his foster-father with the prep aration of complaints, drafts of preliminary proceedings, gen eral office and, during the last year, justice court business. At the age of eighteen, before entering the military acad emy, Merritt Carpenter's thoroughness in searching out and 38 LIFE OF CARPENTER. arranging all existing confirmatory authorities and decisions on any given question had become a matter of common re mark among the attorneys of Washington county, and Mr. Dillingham never hesitated to trust him implicitly in such labors, knowing they could not be in better hands. In a letter written at Waterbury in January, 1883, Mr. Dillingham makes reference to Carpenter's youth: Merritt came to our house and family at the age of fourteen years no mistake about that.l I have a distinct recollection that when he was about six years of age I told him to be a good boy at home, go to school con stantly and be the best pupil there, and when he was fourteen years of age come to my house and live with me, and I would make a lawyer of him. I forgot the promise, but he did not, and shortly before his fourteenth birthday (with nothing having been said about it in the meantime) he made his appearance, as told in public prints. Then the old promise came fresh to my mind, and I admired the boy's memory and trust. It was then and thereafter his one wish to become a lawyer, and a great lawyer ; and he looked through every difficulty in his way with a certain confidence that it would be accomplished. From this, my bargain with him, he at tended the village school in Moretown constantly, and had learned all he could be taught by his instructors there. When he came to me we talked the future over together, and I advised that he attend our graded school until he should arrive at the age of eight een, when I would try my best to get him a cadetship at West Point. In the four years that ensued he attended our school at all its terms, and the residue of the time he was in my office, and he was nowhere so happy as there. He did everything I wanted done when at home, and when I was absent he ran the office so far as justice business was concerned. I did not call him a law-student, but I found that he had thoroughly ac quainted himself with the elementary principles of the law before he went to West Point in 1843. After being at West Point two years he came home on sick-leave; and partly on account of his health, and partly on account of his ambition to become a lawyer, he resigned his cadetship in August, 1845. From this time until November i, 1847, he was a most faithful and progressive stu dent in my office. At the November term of our court in that year, on my motion and recommendation, he was admitted as an attorney, Chief Justice Redfield expressing gratification at his legal attainments and bright prospects of professional success. 1 This emphasis arose from the numerous contradictory reports on this point which had found their way into print and into popular circulation. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 39 This was done on the first day of the first week of the session. In two or three days after, Merritt left to go to Boston, there to finish his preparations for, a professional life. At Boston he entered the office, and, after a time, the family, of Rufus Choate, who then stood on the pinnacle of profes sional fame. He remained there until about June, 1848. During this time he was admitted to the superior court and the supreme court of Massa chusetts. He then left for the west, as it was then called, his objective point being Beloit, Wisconsin, where he settled and opened an office. TWO YEARS AT WEST POINT. The recorded history of Carpenter's career in the United States Military Academy at West Point is of a meager and formal character. He received his appointment through Congressman John Mattocks, of Vermont, a confidential friend of Paul Dillingham. He was admitted to that rigid school of thorough physical and mental training, with a class of fifty-two 1 others, July i, 1843. In those days it was con sidered that a course at West Point carried with it no small degree of honor, and placed upon the graduate the seal of semi-aristocracy. But the academy, viewed from the fresh green hills of Vermont, presented more fascinations to the youth than after he had descended the Hudson and could observe its unbending discipline and well-defined class-castes from the close walls of the dormitory or section-room. It can not be positively stated that he entered the ,school fully intending to devote his life to the army. If he did, his ideas 1 Julian McAllister, John C. Symmes, Daniel T. Van Buren, Daniel Beltzhoover, John Hamilton, Orlando B. Wilcox, Joseph J. Woods, John H. Dickerson, Samuel Chalfin, George Patten, Lewis C. Hunt, John S. Mason, Geo. W. Hazzard, Richard H. Long, H. B. Hendershott, John M. Hockaday, Otis H." Tillinghast, Romeyn B. Ayres, Mark W. Collett, Thomas H. Neill, Horatio G. Gibson, Charles Griffin, James R. Darra- cott, Egbert L. Viele, Augustus H. Seward, E. F. Abbott, P. W. L. Plymp- ton, James B. Fry, Caleb R. Layton, Ambrose E. Burnside, Geo. C. Barber, Edward D. Blake, Joseph S. Totten, Daniel Huston, Jr., Andrew Gil- braith Miller, Wm. H. Hill, Henry Heth, Tredwell Moore, John de Russy, Thomas A. Harris, John Bonnycastle, J. C. P. Smith, Washington P. Street, C. K. K. Ellis, Geo. H. p'aige, J. B. Hogan, Jr., John L. Gamble, R. W. Jones, Henry B. Ware, T. O. Barry, Chas. F. Reed, and Walter a Clark. 40 LIFE OF CARPENTER. underwent a marked change in the course of a year. Dur ing his second furlough home, after having carefully looked into the future of the average cadet, he imitated the military step and posture, and half -humorously, half-sarcastically, ex plained: "I don't believe a man can ever become great by learning to walk a crack with a stiff neck and his fingers on the seams of his pantaloons!" The highest honors and emoluments of a military life were down in the books, he explained, and if he should ever attain them, the public would simply understand that he had faith fully worn a regulation uniform the required number of years, and was being rewarded for it according to law. There was small honor in that, he declared, and he " would rather be somebody as the result of his own efforts, upon the merit of individual achievements." Nevertheless, he con tinued in the academy during another year, half-intending to graduate, believing the mental discipline thus to be obtained would be beneficial in after life. The close confinement of a cadet, however, was not only irksome to his spirit but injuri ous to his health, and in August, 1845, while at home on a fur lough on account of illness, he resigned. While he made as an excuse for this course the unfavorable effect confinement had upon his physical condition, it is believed his heart was in the resignation. He had determined to become as great a lawyer as Daniel Webster or Rufus Choate, both then in the zenith of their professional glory, and longed to return to the fragrant paths leading in that direction. It was undoubtedly the highest of good fortune that Car penter left the military academy, for to have finished the prescribed course might have thrown him into a fatal con sumption; indeed, at the time he was granted the short fur lough which he soon after made permanent by resignation, his condition was such as to excite the gravest apprehensions. One of his classmates, General Daniel T. Van Buren, says the general supposition was that "he had gone home to die." The very least that can be said, if Carpenter's resignation LIFE OF CARPENTER. 4 1 did not save him from an early grave, is that, through his own philosophy and foresight, the military academy was not permitted to spoil one of the very greatest lawyers and orators of the Union for the sake of turning out an ordinary post-commander. The record of Carpenter's sojourn at West Point is as fol lows, taken from the books of the institution, and attested by the superintendent: DECATUR M. H. CARPENTER, Name afterwards changed to MATT. H. CARPENTER.! Admitted July i, 1843 aged 18 years, 6 months. Born in Vermont. Residence, Waterbury, Washington Co., Vt Father, Ira Carpenter, Moretown, Washington Co., Vt. June, 1844 4th Class. Was in Mathematics 17 "] " French 14 j- Class of 53 members. " General merit n J June, 1843 3 d Class. Was in Mathematics 16 ~] " French 4 j * English Grammar, etc.. n [ Class of 44 members. " Drawing 34 j " General merit 10 j Resigned August 21, 1845. Member of the Board of Visitors in 1871 from U. S. Senate. This record will bear some explanation. The fourth class is composed of those passing their first year; the third class of those in the second year, and so on. And further: " general merit, eleven," in the fourth class, means that out of a class of fifty-three members there were ten who averaged higher and forty-two lower than Carpenter in their studies and general progress and conduct. In his second year, or third 1 This is not intended to indicate that Carpenter changed his name while in the academy, but the change he made in later years was thus recorded upon the books of the institution to show that D. M. H. and Matt H. Carpenter were not different individuals. 42 LIFE OF CARPENTER. class, he stood unusually high except in drawing, which had no charms whatever for him for one not in love with the military profession. Several members of the class had studied French much longer than Carpenter, and three of them therefore stood technically higher ; but none of them progressed so rapidly or spoke the language with such beauty and fluency. Some of his living classmates, in reply to letters of inquiry concerning his military tutelage, give a clear idea of the tall and handsome but sensitive Green Mountain boy of that day. Thus General Wilcox: MADISON BARRACKS, SACKETT'S HARBOR, Oct. 29, 1883. DEAR SIR : In reply to yours of 7th, I am glad to give you a good account of Matt. H. Carpenter's career at West Point Though brief, it was brilliant. He stood high in his academic studies, was very unassum ing, but an indefatigable, industrious, conscientious and energetic student and soldier. With many disadvantages against him, he pushed his way up among the head men of the class the first year, much to the surprise of more pretentious and self-asserting fellows. His mind was of a religious cast, and he developed but little of that bonhomie which so eminently char acterized him as a man. On the contrary, he was outwardly shy and retir ing rather than forward in his class and social deportment; but inwardly there burned the fire of a Bayard. Why and how he ever became a politi cian, I never knew, and I look forward with the greatest interest to the dis covery in his forthcoming Life. O. B. WILCOX, Brev. Maj. Gen. Thus General Van Buren: KINGSTON, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1883. DEAR SIR: In answer to yours of this month, I regret to say that my recollections of the late Matt H. Carpenter, whilst he was a cadet, are very meagre. In personal appearance, he was tall, thin and angular, stoop-shouldered,! as if he had grown up too fast, with a fair, rosy, flushed face, and large, prominent nose. He was very studious, a better scholar than soldier. His conduct was excellent; I do not think that he ever walked a "Saturday afternoon extra." He stood well in his class, somewhere above the middle of it, and resigned at the close of his second year on account of ill health. It was generally 1 On leaving the academy, Carpenter showed no sign of having ever been as stoop-shouldered as his classmates describe him. He was just six feet in height, straight, and of almost absolutely perfect figure. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 43 understood that he was going home to die, his appearance indicating con sumption well advanced. Indeed, I had supposed he was dead until he appeared as a conspicuous war orator and in the senate of the United States. Respectfully, DANIEL T. VAN BURKN. General H. G. Gibson, of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, says " the most prominent recollection he has of his classmate at West Point, the late Senator Carpenter, is the fact of having sat beside him for a year in the section-room ; that he did not possess a very strong desire for a military career, and that, although standing high in his class and in discipline, he resigned with plain demonstrations of pleasure." Notwithstanding his well-marked dislike for military af fairs, all accounts agree that Carpenter's career at West Point was really one of great promise. He was made " color corporal," a post of considerable honor among cadetmen. Gen. W. Merritt, superintendent of the military academy, says : " The color corporal here is selected from among the corporals of his class for his military bearing and neatness of dress and person. It is an honorable distinction among cadets. These corporals guard the colors while in ranks." After accepting his resignation, the superintendent of the academy sent to Carpenter a "certificate of proficiency," mentioning these branches: In the Department of Mathematics. In algebra, geometry and trigo nometry, descriptive geometry, shades, shadows and perspective, spherical projections and warped surfaces, surveying, analytical geometry, and cal culus. In the Department of French. In French grammar, Lecons Francaise, and Voyages du Jean Anachaisis. In the Department of Drawing. Topography and the human figure. In the Department of English Grammar^ etc. Bullion's grammar, Wil- lett's geography. In the Department of Artillery and Cavalry. In receiving practical instruction in the school of the piece and battery. In the senate, Carpenter frequently referred to his sojourn at West Point, and while sitting in that body always partici pated actively and intelligently in whatever was intended to 44 LIFE OF CARPENTER. -. promote the welfare or usefulness of the institution. As a member of the board of visitors in 1871, he made a thorough examination of the condition of the academy, and as chair man of the committee on discipline, prosecuted an exhaustive investigation. He composed the chapter on discipline in the report made to the secretary of war for the information of congress, from which an interesting excerpt may be brought forward. After expressing in general terms the fact that the discipline was less strict than formerly, he wrote: Twenty-five years ago West Point was substantially separate from the outside world; for several months of the year a mail was not received oftener than once in three or four days. The presence of visitors was almost wholly unknown, and the officers and cadets formed a community by and of themselves. The relations existing between the officers and cadets was like that at present existing between the officers and soldiers at a military post. Cadets were permitted to visit at the quarters of professors and officers on Saturday afternoons, and at no other time. But so reserved were the manners of officers, even on such occasions, that the privilege, though recognized, was very rarely exercised. There was substantially no social intercourse between the officers and the cadets. In those days, too, the rigor of discipline put all cadets, the sons of the rich and the sons of the poor, upon a common footing. The regulations not only prohibited any cadet from receiving money from his parents and friends, but no place existed, or was permitted to exist, on the limits, where cadets could expend money. Occasionally a cadet was allowed to purchase what he pleased under the head of " sundries," not exceeding one dollar hi amount, and that only on the order ot an officer in charge. But all this has changed. West Point is now, or fast becoming, a place of fashionable resort. Hotels have been erected in near proximity to the post, and hundreds of visitors now repair thither where one did in former years. This influx of fashionable life has caused a relaxation of the rules in regard to cadets visiting. The great distance between officers and cadets has been gradually diminished. Cadets of the first class may now visit officers every day in the week, and officers and cadets associate together with a freedom of intercourse not formerly known. Insensibly the stand ard of discipline has been lowered, until the academy has less than formerly the character of the regular army, and more the features of a militia estab lishment, where officers and men are separated while on duty, but mingle in social intercourse when the hour of drill or parade has passed. Although the regulation in regard to cadets receiving money remains unchanged, yet, at present, a new functionary, known as the " cadet con- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 45 fectioner," is allowed to keep open on cadet limits a place of resort which cadets are known to frequent daily to enjoy the table, and where they may treat their fellows without stint or limit Thus, one of the elements of equality which formerly existed among the cadets is destroyed, and the son of a wealthy man may fare sumptuously, while the poor boy must confine himself to such food as the mess-hall affords. He closed the chapter with the declaration that " an army must be governed by different methods and upon different principles from a civil society, and to an army and to every military establishment discipline is a necessity." In addition to this, Carpenter made an enlarged and separate report, which included the testimony adduced by his committee. During a speech on the salary bill, delivered March i, 1873, Carpenter thus made reference to his military tutelage: The most perfect equality between the sons of the rich and the sons of the poor that I ever saw was in the military academy at West Point twenty-five years ago. The pay of every cadet was the same, and no cadet was allowed to receive a cent from any relative or source whatever except the government. He was credited with his pay and charged with the things he was permitted to buy. I was there two years, and the only cent of money I saw during that time was a ten-cent piece that I picked up on the pavement one morning. As I could not spend it, I threw it into my trunk, and it remained there till I went on furlough. The result of that system was that merit, industry, brains alone determined the standing of a cadet. And not unfrequently the cadet who graduated at the head of his class was the son of a poor and obscure man. As long as he lived Carpenter never ceased to observe the good effects of West Point. The discipline strengthened his mind, and the knowledge of military affairs obtained there was of value during the Rebellion, in congress, and in the courts. AGAIN AT MR. DILLINGHAM'S. On returning to Dillingham's from West Point, Carpenter devoted himself to the law with greater enthusiasm and per sistency than ever. The steady confinement which he thus imposed upon himself prevented him from growing as strong and robust as nature had designed; nevertheless, his general health having become good soon after resigning the cadet- 46 LIFE OF CARPENTER. ship, so continued during his subsequent period of study. His condition on his return, however, was a matter of con siderable apprehension among his friends. He was pale and slim so thin, in fact, that his father related he could easily compass the youth's waist with his thumbs and middle fingers. The return to mountain air and outdoor freedom undoubtedly saved Carpenter's life. The two years following the abandonment of West Point may be said to have been uneventful. In addition to his close application to the law and general literature, he made a study of orators and oratory, and attended the meetings of a local literary club, always participating in its debates, and rarely failing to win his side of the case, no matter whether it was right or wrong. He thus earned a reputation for close and eloquent reasoning as well as for thorough study and re search. So far had this reputation extended, that during Dillingham's absence in congress Carpenter was invited to go some distance from Waterbury to a secluded neighbor hood and speak at the usual religious revival inaugurated for the long winter months. Thinking it a fair opportunity to further test and strengthen his powers as a public speaker, the invitation was accepted. For almost a week, without the knowledge of any one in Waterbury, accompanied by a bright and mischievous young law-student named Demmon, Carpenter drove daily to the scene of the revival, and there, during the evenings, expounded the Bible and enlarged upon Christian ethics. The regularity of his absence and the lateness of his return aroused the curiosity of members of the family, who raised inquiries for discovering why and whither he went. Thereupon the revival business was brought to a sudden close. Those who were listeners on that curious occasion reported that Carpenter's ways were very winning and his speaking interesting and effective. In 1847, having arrived at such proficiency as secured a creditable admission to the bar, Carpenter received from Dil- linghatn a generous proposition of partnership arrangements. LIFE OF CARPENTER. tf Although flattered by the offer, he did not accept, having previously resolved to settle in the boundless and growing west, where opportunities for advancement seemed to be more numerous and promising. In order to be fully pre pared to make the most of whatever the west might offer, he proposed to go to Boston and serve an apprenticeship under Rufus Choate, the unrivaled jury-lawyer of Massa chusetts. Therefore, two days after being admitted to the bar at Montpelier, he started for Boston, with Mr. Dilling- ham's blessing: "Merritt, if you shall pursue in the future the course which you have thus far followed, you will cer tainly become a successful lawyer and a popular citizen ; and if you ever want money, a friend or a home, remember that my purse, myself and my house will be at your service." Mr. Dillingham finally became Carpenter's father-in-law, and at various periods was associated with him in carrying on several of those business enterprises which depended particularly upon legal proceedings for their outcome. The peculiarly strong relations of father and son, adviser and friend, which subsisted between them for a dozen years in Vermont, continued undiminished and unbroken through life. 4*> LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER III. IN BOSTON RUFUS CHOATE. In his earliest years of ambition Carpenter was a strong admirer of Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate, and the great esteem in which they were held by the public made a deep and lasting impression on his mind. He resolved to visit both of them, in order to learn whether they were like other men, and, if possible, study in their offices the methods and secrets which had won such lofty positions and such univer sal public applause. Mr. Dillingham had some acquaintance with Choate, and so, with letters of introduction from him and others, Carpenter started for Boston, Oliver Wendell Holmes' " Hub of the Universe," in November, 1847. The journey was mostly accomplished by stage, but he entered Boston on the first railroad built out of that city, toward Lowell. That was his first ride after the " iron horse," and proved to be an interesting event. He examined the coaches, tracks and locomotives very carefully, and wrote to his friends in Vermont that " steam was so far ahead of all other modes of travel and transportation that it was certain to come into general and profitable use." It is superfluous to refer to the extent to which he saw that prediction fulfilled, made, as it was, when thousands were declaring that railways were too costly and too dangerous to ever become popular or profit able. After arriving in Boston he wandered about the city for some time before finally discovering the modest sign, " R. Choate, Counsellor at Law," which hung in Court Square. He glanced up at the windows above, to see if he could dis cover any unusual face, such as might belong to R. Choate, but saw none. He therefore ascended the stairs, and, upon entering, inquired if Choate was in. He was not, the clerks replied, eying the tall Green Mountain boy, who, Mr. Crown- LIFE OF CARPENTER, 49 mshield (Choate's law partner) afterward said, "though fieatly attired, was not dressed in the latest Boston fashion." Young Carpenter then inquired when the great advocate would be in, and received in reply the query of what business he desired to have with Choate. Although this rather lead ing question was repeated several times by the tantalizing clerks, they did not find out what he wanted, but he finally learned from them, what they undoubtedly did not intend he should, that Choate would be in at three o'clock that afternoon. At that hour Carpenter called again, and after considerable delay was shown into Choate's room. He found the famous lawyer stretched on a sofa, weary from a hard day's work in an important trial. Taking the young stranger by the hand, Choate kindly asked what he could do for him. Car penter exhibited his letters of introduction, told who he was and what he wanted, and ended by saying that he had jour neyed from Vermont to enter the office and study the meth ods of the greatest jury-lawyer in Massachusetts, in order to be able to follow his example and reap similar rewards. The winsome face, modest demeanor, simple statements and apparent ambition of young Carpenter made a favorable impression upon Choate, who called to an attendant in an adjoining room to know if there was a place for another student. The reply came back that there was none. " Then," said Choate, " I shall have to give you a place in my private office. You may come to-morrow morning." FAVOR IN CHOATE'S EYES. A small desk was ordered and placed in his own private room by Choate, with instructions to the clerks to allow the new student to enter the office and occupy it. Ac cordingly, next morning bright and early Carpenter was at his desk, greatly pleased with his success in attaining at once the very object that had so long been the fondest wish of his heart. When Choate arrived he was not a little gratified to note that Carpenter had discovered some of his most im- $O LIFE OF CARPENTER. portant printed briefs and opinions, and was deeply absorbed in their perusal, marking paragraphs and sentences here and there on their pages. Before going to court, Choate handed to his new student a letter from an attorney of Exeter, New Hampshire, asking an opinion upon a somewhat intricate question of law, and told him to answer it. This was doubt less done more to test Carpenter's abilities than with any idea that the work would really be satisfactorily accom plished. Carpenter worked diligently upon the complex question, hunting through Choate's fine library for authori ties and decisions in such a rapid and masterly manner as to astonish all the clerks. When he had satisfied himself on all the points involved, he embodied the result of his researches in a handsomely- written letter, stating the principles and au thorities in a clear and concise form, and laid the document on Choate's desk. An hour later Choate returned and found the paper complete. He sat down at once and carefully read every line of it, and when he had finished the last page, pushed down his spectacles, peered over the sheets he had been reading and silently studied for some moments the head and face of his student. Thoroughly surprised, he could not resist gratifying his desire to have a quiet study of the young man who had exceeded all his expectations. He then said: "Well, judge, I guess I can put R. Choate to the end of that and tell that lawyer to send me one hundred dollars." Thereupon the startling scrawl then current in Boston as the sign-manual of Rufus Choate was affixed, the opinion was inclosed in a note, written by Carpenter, asking for a fee of one hundred dollars, and sent to Exeter. In due time the money returned, and thereafter Choate generally addressed Carpenter as "the judge," though sometimes he made use of his given-name, Merritt. A strong and broth erly attachment now sprung up between Choate and Car penter, which grew warmer and stronger until death put an end to earthly friendships. Many of Carpenter's first ideas about books were obtained LIFE OF CARPENTER. 51 from Choate, and his advice to the students of the Colum bian law school " to purchase all the books they could for cash or credit" was but a repetition, in different form, of Choate's injunction when his beloved young student started for the west. The training and counsel he thus received strengthened and benefited his whole after life. Choate was the king of jury-lawyers, and combined with exalted genius, to an unusual extent, practical methods and common wisdom, and spent a great deal of time in transmitting them to Carpenter, in explaining intricate points of law, and in teaching him the secrets of controlling the court or a jury. He also taught his devoted and admiring student the great advantage resulting from that patient study and preparation of a case which made the attorney ready for all surprises, pitfalls and technicalities. Carpenter often said that Rufus Choate told him never to leave a case "until he had become fully satisfied and convinced upon its every phase and ques tion," and he always followed the advice. Choate also told him to study principles to become familiar with all the underlying elements of the laws of the world, and he would be prepared for the equity of any possible matter that could come up in a life-time of legal practice. This theory Car penter followed to a greater extent even than had his pre ceptor, for he purchased and devoured all the decisions, *' reports, commentaries and treatises published in the English language. ENTERS CHOATE'S FAMILY. In a few months after Carpenter went to Boston, Choate's eyes became very weak; in fact, temporarily useless. Car penter then acted as his amanuensis, and those he always referred to as his richest days with Choate, a man who fairly reveled in literature and all descriptions of learning. He discovered what were his preceptor's favorite books, how he studied them, how he prepared cases and arguments ; in short, learned all his secrets of work and business. During 52 LIFE OF CARPENTER. this period of harvest, Carpenter was an inmate of Choate's family, as well as his companion in court and in almost all other places. He therefore could and frequently did relate many interesting incidents that came under his actual ob servation. Among others he often told this: Choate was once indulging in the luxury of " a little good wine," when ' footsteps were heard on the outside. " Merritt, get that decanter and those glasses out of the way quick; that step /Jhath a Congregational sound," said Choate. The decanter and glasses were hardly out of sight, when, with a rap at the door, in walked the Rev. Nehemiah Adams, Choate's pastor. In the spring of 1848, upon Choate's motion, Carpenter was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Massa chusetts. But he looked the field over occupied by Web ster, Choate, Curtis, and scores of lesser but still distinguished practitioners and concluded Massachusetts was not the place for a young man without means or reputation. He had, before leaving Vermont, told Mr. Dillingham that he should probably go west, in the wisdom of which opinion his foster-father concurred. He announced to Choate that Boston was no place for poor young lawyers, and that he intended to start soon for Wisconsin, which was about to be admitted into the Union as a state. 1 Choate replied: "I honor your determination, but I was selfish enough to hope you might remain with me ; yet, as you have resolved upon this step, you would better not recede from it. Neverthe less, you can always rely upon my friendship. Have you any money?" Carpenter replied that he had no means with which to purchase a law library. " Go, then," said Choate, " to Little, Brown & Co., select your books, and refer them to me for security." Carpenter was delighted beyond expression at this substantial mark of esteem and confidence, and at the 1 Admitted May 39, 1848. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 53 prospect of being able to take a library with him the idea of going to a new country as an attorney with no books hav ing deeply concerned his mind from the day he resolved to go west. He went to the great house of Little, Brown & Co., and selected not only what he conceived would be a pretty good assortment of books for a new country, but a pretty heavy draught upon Choate's guaranty of credit. He took the list back to Choate, who, after glancing over it, said: " Your list is too small ;" and taking up a catalogue, marked an admirable collection, to the value of about one thousand dollars a very large sum in those days for a young and briefless barrister and added, "With these tools you can begin something like effective work." Carpenter's serious affliction of the eyes, after he went to Beloit, prevented the payment of the notes given for the books when they fell due, and Choate either carried the debt or guarantied its pay ment, Little, Brown & Co. have now forgotten which. In this connection, the subjoined letter from Choate's son-in-law may be of interest: BOSTON, Dec. 27, 1882. DEAR SIR: 41** * * ***** In the winter of 1873, I was in Washington, and had two or three long talks with Mr. Carpenter. He talked a great deal of Mr. Choate, and told me, in substance, that when he was about to start for the west, Mr. Choate said to him that a good law library would be found to be a scarcity in that country, and therefore a great necessity to him ; that, owing to the absence of law books, his possession of a good assortment of them would be a material factor in his future and early success. Mr. Carpenter replied that while all that was very true, he had no money with which to purchase a Hbrary, and therefore must get along, as did the others, without one. Thereupon, Mr. Choate proceeded to Little, Brown & Co., the largest law- publishing firm here, selected a library for young Carpenter, and guaran tied the pay for it Mr. Carpenter told me that if, by walking barefooted to Boston and back to Washington, he could in any way add to the prosperity or comfort of Mr. Choate's family, he would gladly undertake the journey. EDWARD ELLERTON PRATT. 54 LIFE OF CARPENTER. In volume I of John W. Forney's " Anecdotes of Public Men," are recorded almost the same facts as appear in the foregoing letter, with the additional statement that Carpenter was in a comparatively short time enabled to liquidate the debt. Mr. Forney closed the reminiscence by relating that he heard Carpenter say: " As long as life lasts I shall never cease to cherish the name of Rufus Choate, and I would walk from here to Boston barefooted to serve any of his kith or kin." This letter from Little, Brown & Co. will add authenticity to the account: No. 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, Dec. 30, 1882. DEAR SIR : Mr. Carpenter was introduced to us by Mr. Choate as one interested in books and in whom we could place confidence. From that moment Mr. Carpenter became a buyer of books, not only professional but works in general literature. His selections always showed good judgment and great familiarity with authors. He continued these relations with us through life, and we were always glad to have his name on our books.l He met some misfortunes in his earliest struggles, but we do not think Mr. Choate ever really had to pay for the purchases he guarantied for Mr. Car penter. Respectfully, LITTLE,- BROWN & Co. PREPARING TO LEAVE BOSTON. When Carpenter was ready for the journey to Wisconsin, Choate asked him how much money he had. The amount was small, and the reply slow in getting out. Carpenter, however, finally admitted the unpleasant truth, but added that he could get whatever might be necessary from Mr. Dillingham, in Vermont. Choate did not seem to notice the last portion of the reply, but counted out for his young friend a sum sufficient to liquidate the cost of traveling between Boston and Beloit, and handed it to him with a written intro duction and recommendation, which Carpenter subsequently IThe inquiry which brought this answer from Little, Brown & Co. caused them to look over their account with Carpenter. As a result, Mrs. Carpenter soon received a draft for $33 the amount they discovered Carpenter had overpaid them during his life-time. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 55 had placed in a neat frame, and which still occupies a con spicuous place in the library of the family residence in Mil waukee: BOSTON, May 25, 1848. I have great pleasure in stating that D. M. H. Carpenter, Esquire, is well known to me; that his character is excellent; his talents of a very high order; his legal attainments very great for his time of life; and that his love of labor and his fondness for his profession insure his success wheresoever he may establish himself. He studied the law in my office for the closing portion of his term, and I part with him with great regret. To the profession and the public I recommend [him] as worthy of the utmost confidence, honor and patronage. RUFUS CHOATE, Counsellor at Law. TENDER GRATITUDE. As will appear subsequently, in the account of Carpenter's blindness, Choate's friendship again took substantial form in several instances ; but eventually, when he had emerged from all his early misfortunes, Carpenter paid every dollar of these obligations. A fine bust of Choate, that seemed to possess every attribute of the great pleader save the power of speech, always had the place of honor in Carpenter's house, and he never showed it to his friends without expressing the warmest affection for its gifted original. In his great speech in the United States senate on the memorable resolution of Charles Sumner relative to the sale of arms to the French by the agent of Remington & Sons during the Franco-Prussian war, Carpenter uttered the fol lowing splendid tribute: Mr. Choate had been a member of this body ; he stood at the head of the legal profession of his native state and had no superior at any bar, English or American. As an advocate, he had no peer. In this department of his profession, I do not believe his equal ever lived. A mass of uninteresting facts, the tedious details of the dryest subject, touched by his magic wand, stood forth to the quickened apprehension of court or jury with the beauty and freshness of spring; and his nervous oratory and magnetic eloquence moved the tenderest emotions and strongest passions of men, as the wind sways the forest With international and municipal law, and especially 56 LIFE OF CARPENTER. with constitutional law, he was entirely familiar. He was full of learning, but not incumbered by it, for the details of his knowledge were not attached to him, like the merchandise strapped to a dromedary, but were digested, assimilated, made part of himself, by the fusing power of his transcendent genius. He was a great man in every way. Choate's written indorsement of Carpenter was of great value in the west. It caused the young lawyer to "pass current " among strangers, until he had wrought out for him self fame and credit. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 57 CHAPTER IV. SETTLING IN WISCONSIN. Having declined a partnership with his foster-father, as well as a warm invitation to remain in Boston, and having procured a law library, as related, Carpenter was prepared to bid adieu to the friends, refinements and luxuries of an old community, and take up his abode among the eager, shrewd and energetic strangers of the west. He had been advised to settle in Iowa, but thought more favorably of Wisconsin, which had just submitted a constitution for a state government to the popular vote for adoption or rejec tion. He had previously intimated to Choate, that, if the people of the territory should adopt the constitution and apply to congress for admission to the Union as a state, he would at once start for Beloit, a village in Rock county, in which several Vermont people were settlers. The election to decide whether the proposed state constitution should be adopted or rejected, took place March 13, 1848, and resulted favorably, but Carpenter did not learn the fact positively until the latter part of April, owing to unavoidable delay in securing the returns from remote precincts, the absence of railway and telegraphic communication with the west, and the slow travel of stages over the heavy roads of the spring season. Packing his books, and purchasing for a small sum those portions of a new suit of clothing most needed, Carpenter was ready, toward the close of May, to bid adieu to New England. Passing over the mountains to Vermont, he spent a day or two each at Moretown, Waterbury and Burlington. At the latter place his future wife, then a young girl, was at tending school with an elder sister, and he went to pay them a farewell visit. Both were sorrowful when he bade them good-bye, for it was then considered that Wisconsin was on 58 LIFE OF CARPENTER. the very confines of human habitations, and that whoever set tled among its Indians and forests would never again be seen alive in New England. Farewells over, the ambitious young lawyer turned his face westward. Although he compassed a portion of the distance by steamboat on the lakes, taken as a whole the journey was long and tedious, owing to the rough roads and the overloaded condition of the stage coaches, emigration to the west then being at high-tide. He afterward said that the ride from Boston to Beloit was the most discouraging undertaking of his life, and that more than once, while threading vast forests yet undisturbed by the ax, or miring across miles and miles of beautiful but unin habited prairie, he felt that railroads and civilization could never reach Wisconsin during his life-time. He also thought, when wallowing through an Illinois bog, wet and hungry, that no young man ever departed from such a pleasant home as Dillingham's, or refused more promising offers of business relations than he had left behind. IN BELOIT. Arriving at Beloit on a warm day in June, he was happily disappointed to find everything contrary to expectations. Civilization had been a much earlier settler in Rock county than himself, and he found Beloit a beautiful and growing village of twelve hundred inhabitants, thriftily hugging a fine water-power on Rock river, and surrounded by farming lands unsurpassed for richness and beauty. David Noggle, Hazen Cheney, and one or two other attorneys, had opened offices in the village, and he found grist-mills, machine-shops, a fe male seminary, several churches, and one hundred and sev enty natives of Vermont all in a prosperous condition. A college building had also been erected, a learned faculty had been chosen, and the rates for the opening term in Septem ber were advertised. Material was also on the ground for the publication of a newspaper, which appeared a few days later. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 59 Carpenter was attracted to Beloit by "The New England Emigrating Company," formed in 1836 in New Hampshire and Vermont by Dr. Horace White, father of the well- known journalist and political economist of the same name. He found it all that had been represented, and the doubts and misgivings of the tiresome journey gave way to feel ings of perfect satisfaction and delight before the natural at tractions of the place and its apparent promise of future growth and prosperity, in which, of course, he would be a participant. It has been stated that Rufus Choate loaned Carpenter such a sum of money as would probably maintain his pas sage to the west and leave something with which to start in business in his new home. The journey was so long and costly that when the young lawyer reached Beloit his entire cash possessions, except seventy-five cents in jingling silver coins, had been consumed. And thus can be presented, unburdened by numerous de scriptions and cumbrous terms, an inventory of all that con stituted the foundation upon which Carpenter began the most brilliant and distinguished career belonging to any citi zen of Wisconsin, to wit: A good library, a well-anchored ambition to excel in his profession, a handsome figure and winning countenance, an inexhaustible supply of good hu mor, an unusually liberal education for that day, a prodigious capacity for labor and research, and seventy-five cents in silver. RENTS AN OFFICE. Carpenter rented an office of Bicknell Brothers, in the sec ond story of their solid stone block and over their drug-store. He opened the boxes containing his library and arranged the volumes tastefully in the office. Their number, fine binding and costliness became the talk of the village. Thus the ad vent of the young attorney received a liberal advertisement without any effort on his part, and the people at the same time conceived a high opinion of his ability and learning. 60 LIFE OF CARPENTER. After taking one or two meals at the hotel, he discovered that without a change of programme his money would soon be gone, and therefore requested the Bicknells to direct him to a less costly boarding-place. They introduced him to the Atwood family, with whom he boarded for some months. Dr. C. H. Bicknell, who still survives, testifies that Carpen ter, after a few weeks, always paid not only his office rent and board bills, but all other obligations, promptly and with apparent self-gratification. If he did not have sufficient ready money for any purpose, he was so popular that anybody was willing to grant him the favor of a loan. After renting an office and arranging his books, Carpenter felt the need of a sign, a " shingle." Thrusting either hand gently into his pockets, he discovered the homeopathic bolus of silver had departed. Nevertheless there must be a sign board to direct people to his office. A painter was found, and an order left for as handsome a sign as could be painted " D. M. H. Carpenter, counselor at law." Two days later he was again revolving the subject in his mind. The job was done, and how to get it without cash or credit was the problem, though only the sum of fifty cents was involved. He could not go in person and beg to be trusted for that insignificant amount; so hailing a small boy he ordered, with the air of a millionaire : " Go over to Smith's and tell him to send up my sign, with his bill." Within five minutes the lad returned, carefully bearing at arm's length the coveted and glittering sign. In a few days Carpenter borrowed fifty cents and paid the painter, at the same time relating how deeply he had been chagrined over a matter which, though infinitely small, was yet too great for his financial resources. In those early days there were no railways, telegraph lines or daily newspapers to crowd the little New England com munity with startling news and momentous events. The probable history of new-comers, local enterprises and neigh borhood transactions limited the field of interest and gossip, and thus every person became well-known of every other LIFE OF CARPENTER. 6 1 person. Therefore, that Carpenter had come from dis tinguished surroundings; that he was the -protege of Paul Dillinghasn ; that he had spent two years at West Point; that he was the ward of the great Rufus Choate ; that he had the finest library in the country and was the best-looking young man in Rock county, passed from mouth to mouth for miles around with a rapidity and relish not known to modern times. But a brief period elapsed before he had a client, and as the legal business in a small way was very good in those days, one case brought another, and Carpenter soon enjoyed a practice as large as that of any attorney in Beloit. Then, as always afterward, much of his business brought no fees. He gave his services to all comers, whether they could pay or not. This trait became well understood, and was employed to impose on Carpenter's generosity by many who were in reality able to pay. Hence his income was probably less than that of David Noggle, Hazen Cheney or John M. Keep, rival attorneys. THE SEWING SOCIETY. Socially Carpenter became popular in a very brief period. Everybody was young, spirited and joyous, and as the old survivors depose, " he was the gem of the town." Although the only time he was ever known to dance in Beloit was at the opening of a hotel, he was invited to and present at every social gathering, no matter what its character, and was gen erally the center of considerable attraction. His military step and bearing and his attractive face and figure, made him a favorite with the softer sex, while his wit, learning, genius and humor drew the attention of all others. He invariably attended church and the evening gatherings of the church people, and never failed to respond liberally at " mite societies " and to the passing contribution box. On one occasion, in the autumn of 1848, he was introduced to the ladies of a sewing society. After a season of light conversation, during which a crowd pressed around the young visitor, some one raised 62 LIFE OF CARPENTER. the cry, " a speech, a speech ! " Carpenter's friends were in a state of trepidation, not understanding how he could re spond in a speech on an occasion like that, or how he could otherwise extricate himself. To their delight and astonish ment, however, he arose with the utmost good humor and self-possession, delivering a speech of rare felicity. The sur roundings, those for the promotion of charity, instead of being such as to embarrass him, were just the ones to call out his finest eloquence. Carpenter's rapid social advancement was the result of no steps of his own in that direction, though he was from child hood a lover of congenial company and good cheer. His education, previous condition and natural endowments placed him somewhat above the ordinary level in a village of more than the usual advancement and culture of the new west, and people clustered about him as a pleasant leader. TRAINS A MILITARY COMPANY. In front of Carpenter's office was a beautiful level plat of un occupied land, covered with fresh, green grass. He suggested that it would be an admirable drill-ground, and that a military company be formed to take advantage of its eligi bility. In a brief period the suggestion was acted upon and a company was organized, Beloit containing at that time but a small number of men who were either too old or too young for military service. Carpenter, having been at West Point, was unanimously chosen drill-master. The members of the company were highly pleased when he first came down to drill them. His military coat was buttoned closely across the breast, and he walked up and down in front of the line to show them the erect figure and measured but spir ited tread of a regular. For some time the meetings were prompt and full. The boys thought the village could easily be transformed, for public occasions at least, into regular army barracks, and that in a few months everybody would look as gallant and distinguished as their drill-master. But LIFE OF CARPENTER. 63 they soon discovered that a good military company is the absolute servant of its commander, and that proficiency in maneuvres and perfection in military carriage can only be achieved after long and faithful discipline. Carpenter, de termined they should achieve this, put them through accord ing to the most rigid rules of the regular army, demanding quick and strict obedience of all. He would pass in the rear of the line and straighten the stoop-shouldered, stiffen the lop-headed, and square up those whose knees had an inward and heels an outward draw. Three or four of the most head strong, who cared more for the display and the name of be longing to a military company than for the discipline and real benefits to accrue, were decidedly averse to being thus " or dered around," and, after indignantly informing the drill- master that "he couldn't show off on them any more," resigned. This left the company harmonious, and its affairs moved forward in pleasant prosperity. This early military organization, undoubtedly the first in the state of Wisconsin, became pleasantly proficient in warlike tactics, and was a source of much pride to the citizens of Beloit as well as of credit to Carpenter, who bestowed his time and learning for the benefit of the public. The few survivors speak with pride of their connection with it, and with affection and ad miration for Carpenter, who was a model drill-master. 64 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER V. BLINDNESS. Suddenly, with no apparent cause, during the autumn of 1848, Carpenter was prostrated by a violent attack of inflam mation of the eyes. The local physicians, of whom Beloit then contained a half-dozen, offered all the relief in their power, but were unable to cope with the disease, which for a time obstinately held its own as inflammation, and then as sumed a more complicated and dangerous form, steadily growing worse. He continued to take cases for trial before justices and to go out into the country to manage them. At this time he had a room-mate named E. P. King, still a resi dent of Beloit, who looked up authorities, performed the necessary writing, and went with Carpenter into court to ren der any aid that might be required. The people sympa thized with Carpenter in this heavy affliction and brought more cases than ever to him, so that blindness increased rather than diminished his professional business. With the kind help of Mr. King he continued to serve his clients, con trary to the advice of physicians, who forbade labor and ex citement of every kind. He had the treatment of all the doctors in Beloit, but was impatient of their efforts because they did not heal his eyes. This impatience, together with his persistent labors, made it impossible for human skill to advance him in any perceptible degree toward convales cence. He was therefore advised to go to Delavan, in an adjoining county, where he would find complete rest and an oculist of some note. By this time Carpenter had to be led everywhere by Mr. King, and never left the room without a heavy green veil over his face, which was frequently supple mented by a close bandage. The advice to go to Delavan was urgent, and notwithstanding the cold weather and rough roads, he determined to heed it. Bundled up like a little babe from head to foot, accompanied by his faithful friend LIFE OF CARPENTER. 65, King, he beat across the country to a little village in Wai- worth county, and there, living in a bad hotel and under the treatment of a charlatan, he remained during a period of ten days, perhaps a fortnight. There King read Shakespeare, Scott, Erskine and the Bible to his afflicted patient to no purpose. He chafed under the ineffectual treatment of the pretended oculist, and returned to Beloit worse rather than better. Here, for a brief period, he refrained from labor, his physicians having otherwise refused to treat him. He had kind care from the friends and relatives of the Atwood household, and from Mr. King, who, like a close and faithful companion, led him about and read to him from choice vol umes by the hour every day and evening. At first Carpen ter shortened the days by playing checkers, a game of which he was exceedingly fond, and in which he was an expert; but soon he became too blind for this, and, of course, for participation in any other recreation or labor. The reading, music and conversation of others were then drawn upon more heavily than ever. Up to this time the power of the organs of sight had not been impaired except from sympathy, the partial loss of their use resulting from the inflamed and swollen condition of the lids. But it was becoming apparent that the orbs themselves were weakening, and that, unless relief should soon be af forded, he would entirely lose the use of them. Under these circumstances, Dr. Bicknell advised his patient to go to New York without delay and enter the noted eye infirmary, then under the direction of Dr. Kearney Rogers. In fact .he was told by the Beloit physicians that his sight probably could never be fully restored, and certainly not even partially re tained, unless no time were lost in seeking special skill and special facilities for treatment. Struck with horror by the thought of a life-time of darkness, in which all reading, writing, professional labors and literary pursuits must be abandoned or carried on through an amanuensis, he pre pared with all possible haste to do as advised. 5 66 LIFE OF CARPENTER. IN NEW YORK. Early in 1849, having gathered about $50, Carpenter un dertook what, in a fair summer atmosphere, would be a perilous journey for a person in his condition, but which was rendered ten-fold more precarious by the bad roads and in clement weather. Having paid the bills of passage, he dis covered, on arrival in New York, that his cash possessions would meet the demands of the landlady for only a few weeks. A kind-hearted Mrs. Green was the proprietor of the boarding-house connected with the infirmary, and Car penter obtained quarters with her temporarily. But, finding that she and her family were unusually obliging and attentive, and, above all, that her charges were moderate, he concluded to remain with her as long as it might be necessary to con tinue in the city, which he did. The patient did not make his straitened financial condition known to Dr. Rogers or Mrs. Green, but at once dispatched a letter to Rufus Choate, giving an account of his misfortune, describing how, blind folded, he had " staggered from Beloit to New York," as the last and only hope of saving his eye-sight, and confessing a lack of the funds necessary to enable him to remain in the infirmary until healed. The letter was not sealed, however, until Carpenter had expressed sanguine hopes of professional and financial success in his thrifty western home, whenever he should be sufficiently recovered to return to his labors. In the shortest possible time, an answer to this note was received. It contained not only a sympathetic and cheering letter from the great jurist, but a check for a liberal sum of money, and an invitation to call upon him for further assist ance, whenever circumstances might render such a course necessary. Carpenter had been in the infirmary but a few days when he became totally blind the dark event prophesied by the Beloit physicians. He was naturally greatly alarmed, and asked Dr. Rogers' opinion concerning the case, saying he LIFE OF CARPENTER. 67, wanted to know the worst. The doctor replied that he was not hopeless of effecting a cure, though the disease had become a very complicated one, with the chances between recovery and permanent or partial blindness about evenly divided. This was indeed gloomy news to one who loved the use of all his faculties as fondly as did Carpenter, and whose prospects of achieving success in his profession were of such uncommon brightness, and depending so particularly upon his eye-sight. He afterward said that he thought he could not be blamed for almost losing hope under circum stances like those, as no one who had not suffered that whelming affliction could have any conception of how impen etrable is the shadow that envelops the soul when the light of day is shut out, or how black and sterile the world seems to those who can no longer look upon its changes, its beauties, and its opportunities. Nevertheless, he added, blindness that is only temporary will have upon a person of literary tastes, who has already acquired considerable general information by extensive reading, a lasting beneficial effect. Up to this recess, he had been devouring every volume of law, literature, history and biography that fell in his way, and the period of blindness, costly and unpleasant as it was, gave Carpenter time to digest them, draw conclusions from them, and arrange their valuable portions in his mind for future use. In March, chills and fever were added to his bodily ills, and at one time they reached a very aggravated stage. On a certain night, as he lay alone in a fireless room, the rigors approached a climax. It seemed, he related, that they would certainly shake the life out of him. " Oh, how cold I was," he said, " and how I longed for some one to come and cover me! At last, after I was almost frozen to death, my mother came. She changed my pillow, spread on more coverlets, and tucked up the bed. Then I was warm. Her face had almost passed from my mind, but when she appeared at my 68 LIFE OF CARPENTER. bedside, it came back to me instantly. Her dear, sweet image has never left me since. I know she came. I felt her hand, saw her face as plainly as I ever saw anything, and watched her arrange the bed. God bless her! She came back from on high to save my life." Thus, after he was able to return briefly to Vermont, Carpenter related the story of the vision to his sisters. He was probably delirious, but not then nor ever after could any force of argument shake the belief that his mother, who died fourteen years before, came to visit and soothe him in the hour of loneliness and distress. Mrs. Green, his landlady, wrote to the friends in Vermont: "The poor boy thought, in his delirium, that his mother came from Heaven to assuage his woe ; but it was only poor, old Mrs. Green who spread on the coverlets and smoothed his pillow." CARPENTER AND BENEDICT. A young man of ample education, named Benedict, from one of the southern states, became Carpenter's companion soon after his arrival in New York. This young gentleman had lost the use of one eye, and was in the infirmary for the purpose of having the sightless orb removed and replaced by one of glass. Having one good eye, he offered to read the newspapers to Carpenter, and to read and answer his letters. It is needless to record that this generous proposition was gratefully accepted, and equally needless to say that the two young men, who were of about the same age, became the warmest friends. Not only did this philanthropic Polyphe mus from the south read newspapers and letters to his blind companion, but gave him copious draughts from general literature. Young Benedict either brought to New York, or pur chased while there, a volume of miscellaneous poems, which was read and re-read, dissected, discussed and digested with the greatest freedom and impartiality. During this period, and from the reading of this volume by Benedict, Carpenter LIFE OF CARPENTER. 69, committed to memory all, save the ballads, of Scott's " Lady of the Lake " [eqiial to about one hundred pages of this vol ume], Burns' "Brigs of Ayr" and "The Jolly Beggars," Byron's "Corsair" and "The Prisoner of Chillon," besides several lesser poems. Such an extraordinary achievement at once made the " blind young Milton of the Wilderness," as Carpenter was called, a noted character in the neighbor hood, and hardly an evening passed without a crowd gather ing to hear him recite passages from "The Lady of the Lake," or from that splendid description of the tribula tions of Robert Bruce, "The Lord of the Isles," or with inimitable felicity, that roaring trespass upon broad humor, " The Jolly Beggars." On such occasions the center of the room, from one end to the other, was cleared, in order to give him opportunity to indulge his invariable habit of walk ing back and forth while entertaining his unseen but de lighted audience. These were indeed rare evenings to those permitted to be present, for at no subsequent period of his life, rich and entrancing as were his recitations of poetry, could Carpenter surpass, in eloquence and dramatic effect, those peculiarly interesting efforts of his early days, in an obscure chamber in New York, before hearers whose faces he was never permitted to look upon. TRUE PHILOSOPHY. And thus several weeks and months passed, not without some pleasure and considerable profit to the afflicted patient, it must be acknowledged. The young southerner, through whose unremitting kindness Carpenter was able to learn the current news of the day and commit to memory almost a vol ume of poems, returned home, leaving no one to take his place. The film or pigment which grew over the patient's eyes had in the meantime been removed by Dr. Rogers, enabling Carpenter to see well enough to move about the neighboring streets and to write short letters. But the returning hope of 7O LIFE OF CARPENTER. restored sight was dampened by the fact that the money sent by Choate had been exhausted, and a letter advising him of that fact had remained unanswered for four weeks. Think ing the letter might have been miscarried, another was sent in accordance with Choate's urgent invitation; but when, at the end of another week, no answer was received, Carpenter explained to Dr. Rogers and Mrs. Green his exact situa tion, exhibiting Choate's promise of whatever financial aid might be necessary to restore his sight. Mrs. Green was poor and unable to bestow much charity, but Dr. Rogers at once offered to continue his treatment of Carpenter at any boarding-place he might be able to secure. Here was a di lemma of no mean proportions. Dr. Rogers declared his patient could only undertake a journey to Wisconsin or Ver mont at the certain peril of his eyes, though their condition had at this time begun to materially improve. Carpenter replied that, let the results be what they might, he saw no alternative but to leave New York, as his money was entirely gone, his board bill was past due, and two letters to Rufus Choate had not been answered in any form whatever. The unanswered letters were more puzzling than his sev eral other troubles, and he thus expressed himself to Dr. Rogers, knowing that Choate, if alive and well, was not the man to be so discourteous as to refuse to notice the corre spondence of even a stranger. The doctor answered that he should not listen to the proposition to leave New York; that there was doubtless some good reason for the failure of Choate to write, and that sooner or later satisfactory tidings would be received from him ; that he could, if Carpenter had no false pride, secure comfortable quarters and wholesome food for him at the Belle vue Hospital, and that he would go there and continue the treatment as long as might be necessary, trusting to the future for remuneration, or even making no charge at all. Carpenter, without any hesitancy or apparent squeamishness, said he would go, and it was ar- LIFE OF CARPENTER. Jl ranged that at the end of that week Dr. Rogers should drive him in his carriage over to the hospital. At this point it may be stated that the reason Carpenter did not call upon his foster-father, Paul Dillingham, for financial succor, which he knew would be promptly and gladly forthcoming, was that he had already received aid from Choate, and, expecting every mail from Boston would bring further and ample relief from the same abundant source, neglected to send to Water- bury a statement of his pressing necessities until face to face with the alternative recorded. Dr. Rogers went, as he had promised, over to the Belle- vue Hospital, and secured for his patient, in whom he took hardly less than a father's interest, good accommodations and a promise of special care, " the case being one of no ordinary character," he carefully impressed upon the superintendent. But on returning he found Carpenter, who had received a letter from Choate, in high spirits. The message, dated on shipboard, inclosed a draft for all the money Carpen ter would be likely to need for some months, and contained an explanation of Choate's long silence. Having become prostrate and exhausted by overwork, his physician had per emptorily ordered him to Europe for rest and a change of scene, and in the hurry of preparation he had forgotten to make the intended provision for Carpenter. This narrow escape of Carpenter from being for a few days or weeks an inmate of a public hospital, owing to cir cumstances over which he had no control, is chiefly interest ing because his willingness to enter such a place until he could hear from his friends, shows that he was a true man and genuine philosopher. He interposed no fanciful notions or aristocratic objections to what is by many regarded too much in the nature of a personal humiliation, but which, as a matter of fact, is not more so than the use of the public highways or the enjoyment of the benefits and protection of government by those who are not tax-payers. 7 2 LIFE OF CARPENTER. A VISIT TO VERMONT. Carpenter was compelled to remain in the infirmary during a period of sixteen months. Even then he had not so far recovered that Dr. Rogers would consent to his removal to Vermont except upon condition that he would do no reading or writing for at least six months. Nothing worthy of men tion transpired after the narrow escape from Bellevue Hos pital, except that a very warm friendship sprung up be tween the generous physician and his modest but talented patient; so, having made the required promise, it only remains to record that Carpenter left New York during the summer of 1850 for Dillingham's. There, wearing dark glasses and a broad shade over his eyes to protect them from sunlight, for about six weeks he visited, rode and wandered away the soft summer hours. The promise to Dr. Rogers to do no reading was diligently kept more, perhaps, through the watchfulness of the members of the Dillingham family than the efforts of the patient himself. The children, who were then at home from school on a vacation, joined heartily with the other members of the family in bestowing such tender and constant attention that convalescence was fully as rapid as, under the pleasant circumstances, the young invalid could wish. RETURNS TO WISCONSIN. Toward the close of August Carpenter concluded he was as nearly healed as he ever would be, and prepared to return to Wisconsin. Understanding full well that after so long an absence he would not only find his previous business relations broken and destroyed, but that it would be neces sary to make arrangements to live for some months without earning much from his profession, he began the journey home by going to Boston, where he negotiated with Francis B. Crowninshield for $500, securing the " accommodation ac ceptance " by a chattel mortgage on his office furniture and LIFE OF CARPENTER. ^3 a portion of his library. On this he received $50 in cash, and subsequently drew on Crowninshield for $200, the draft being honored; the balance of the accommodation was never negotiated. The notes were dated " Boston, September 9, 1850," and the chattel mortgage was filed with B. W. Small, town clerk of Beloit, October 20, 1850. During the last days of September, 1850, Carpenter reached Beloit, having been absent eighteen months. Although cor dially greeted by the entire population of the village, who re joiced at his return, they were nevertheless pained to observe the unfavorable condition of his eyes. And Carpenter him self found he was more helpless than he had supposed. Therefore, for some months Mr. King, Jonas M. Bundy and others all were willing were compelled to read, write, and perform other like services for him at home and in his office. Mr. King recollects that he never heard Carpenter utter a word of complaint 1 or express a regret that fortune was less generous with him than with others never saw him despondent or wince under any suffering. On the contrary, he seemed even more cheerful and witty, and the sunshine of his soul shed more effulgence than had the light of his wondrous eyes. He desired to be told the identity of all persons met on the street, in order that he might, though blind, address them by name and extend a pleasant greeting; and at social gatherings the flow of his humor was never more full and enjoyable than during this long night of his youth. Carpenter's eyes never fully recovered. They were less strong than formerly and less clear and beautiful. It was always thereafter necessary for him to hold a book or news paper very close to them in order to read ; sometimes an ap parent film would cover the iris, and nothing was clearly 1 During the most hopeless period of the affliction he caused cheerful letters to be written to his sisters and others. In October, 1850, he wrote to his sister Esther that the clouds were clearing away ; his eyes were bet ter, his health good, and his weight one hundred and sixty-five pounds. 74 LIFE OF CARPENTER. discernible at even a moderate distance. He was thus unable to recognize any except the most familiar forms and faces unless they were comparatively near to him, which frequently gave rise to the unjust charge that he was thoughtless of his friends and contemptuous of his formal acquaintances. This early misfortune, therefore, cost Carpenter a large number of unpleasant experiences and explanations in later life. Be fore starting for New York his Beloit physician told him that he would be marked for life. He found, sometimes to his annoyance, and often to his discomfort, that the prediction was a true one, for the lids ever after drooped unnaturally over the eyes, and his power of vision was uncertain. Thus, those who never saw him previous to 1849 had no conception of the perfection of his personal attractions nor of the beauty of the deep, winning, omnipotent orbs that nature had set in his large and shapely head. A BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT. On returning from the east Carpenter did not resume board and lodging with the Atwoods, but furnished rooms and had his meals in the house of Samuel B. Cooper, a well-known justice of the peace. Soon after becoming an inmate of that household a bright and beautiful little daughter was born to the lady of the house. He asked the privilege of naming the child, which was granted, and it was by him christened Cara Dillingham Cooper, in honor of the young lady whom he subsequently married. Such an important event, in a community in which all happenings were made important by general discussion, could not long escape public attention. Although she was then but a child, comparatively speaking, the bestowal of her name in this manner was generally accepted as announcing his engagement to Caroline Dilling ham. As a plain matter of truth, however, the formal engagement did not take place until some years later, though the romance of the incident was never destroyed by announc ing the facts. LIFE OF CARPENTER. A PARTNERSHIP MARRIAGE. Shortly after returning to Beloit Carpenter formed a part nership with Hazen Cheney, and was at about the same time nominated for and and afterward duly elected district attor ney. Business began to return with unexpected liberality, and in a brief period he 'was one of the busiest attorneys in the county. He took but a small part in politics, attended vigorously to his profession, and in less than a year had cleared away his smaller debentures and begun to reduce his obligations to Choate and Crowninshield, in addition to giv ing liberally to the various charities of the time and place. Thus he went on growing in popularity as a citizen and in demand as a successful lawyer, until his business extended into all the adjoining counties, and to Dubuque, Milwaukee and Chicago. Having risen above his indebtedness, and having, as he thought, formed a pretty firm friendship with prosperity, Carpenter went to Vermont in the fall of 1855, and on the 2yth day of November was married to Caroline, the youngest daughter of Paul Dillingham. This was an important event in the social history of Beloit, as the groom was perhaps the most conspicuous figure in the place, and the bride the daughter of a distinguished and well-known citizen of Vermont. Discovering at an early day that per haps sooner or later he would be compelled to seek a wider field of business, Carpenter purchased no permanent resi dence in Beloit, and therefore, until 1858, when he removed to Milwaukee, he and his wife had rooms and board in the leading hotel of the place, where their first child was born. BUNDY'S RECOLLECTIONS. Jonas M. Bundy, editor of the New York Post and Mail, has been mentioned as one of Carpenter's companions during the vicissitudes of his early life in Beloit. This chapter, >j6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. therefore, can be closed no more fitly than by extracts from a letter describing that period: NEW YORK, September 10, 1883. DEAR SIR: I think, in fact I am sure, I never was so much filled with admiration for any man on first sight, in my life, as I was with Carpenter when he first dawned on my boyish vision in 1848 in Beloit. Even those who knew him twenty or twenty-five years ago can hardly comprehend how winningly, magnetically handsome he was before a prolonged disease of the eyes dimmed the beauty of what at one time was the most attractive feature of a man singularly endowed with every attribute of a splendid physique. Tall, erect, with the fine military bearing that he had acquired at West Point and had cultivated since, with a freshness, buoyancy and rollicking sense of humor running out in all directions, with a laugh the most musical and a smile the most fascinating that I had ever known, the young lawyer at once captivated all classes in that little New England town, which then and afterward was admirably calculated to stimulate the best qualities of the intellectual and ambitious. Boy as I was at that time, it was not long before I was taken into the confidence and friendship of Carpenter, and from that time until the day of his death there never was a moment when either one of us could, not, on the shortest notice, have called upon and had either for any service or effort within his power. From the first, the large-hearted generosity of the man was evident. He had none of that art which enables some lawyers to manage their friend ships so that they pay. From the first, many of his friends were among those who were not only poor, but destined to remain so during their nat ural existence, and it was for such people that his life was largely spent. The men who were most sure to retain his best efforts and most courage ous advocacy were those who belonged to the class he always designated as " the Lord's poor." Spending, as I did, a great deal of time at Carpenter's office and in his rooms, where we pursued the same course of reading, I had opportunities of seeing how firmly he laid the foundations of that lucid and powerful style of legal argument which afterward so captivated the justices of the United States supreme court and such great lawyers as Edwin M. Stanton and Jeremiah S. Black. In drawing up the most ordinary brief, Carpenter was never satisfied with the words that he had first written, but kept con tinually working out through the dictionaries or the works of standard authors the most certain and exact shades of meaning which he desired to express. Of course, the great affliction which fell upon him, in the spring of his manhood, in the almost total loss of eye-sight, was one of the inscrutable dispensations of Providence which will never be forgotten by those who LIFE OF CARPENTER. ^7 knew Carpenter at that trying time. I might say a great deal about that period ot his life which probably will never be published. I shall, how ever, only say quite emphatically, that I know nothing in regard to the private life of any of my friends who have become famous which showed such a combination of pluck, patience and endurance, coupled with trials of the most heart-rending character, as were triumphantly endured by Car penter at that time. For many months he was confined to a room in this city, not only nearly blind, but with little prospect of ever seeing again, and dependent almost entirely upon the aid furnished him from time to time by his great friend and instructor, Rufus Choate. I have many times talked with Carpenter about that terrible period of blindness and almost entire helplessness. He often told me that he regarded that time of trial as one in which there was formed in him more character, more of a feeling of necessity for trust in God, of the vanity of human ambition, of the ten derness of unselfish human love, of the pricelessness of the affections and sentiment, that were only strengthened and made more fervent by afflictions, separation and almost utter hopelessness. Yours, now and hereafter, J. M. BUNDY. 78 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER VI. BEGINNING THE LAW. The covers of no ordinary volume would contain the de tails of the career of Carpenter as a lawyer, for he was pre-eminently that, though his labors as a senator, reconstruc- tionist and supporter of the Union during the Rebellion, brought nearly all the popular fame his name enjoyed. He left his father's roof for the purpose of following the foot steps of Erskine and John Marshall; returned from West Point, where he had attained an enviable position in his class, in order that the expanding genius of an enthusiastic lawyer might not be withered and destroyed by the forced, uncon genial marches of the regular army; studied with rare dili gence at Dillingham's, having the fame of Daniel Webster, Jeremiah Mason and Rufus Choate steadily in view; jour neyed to Boston to sit beneath the savory teachings of Choate and discover the secrets of his abundant success; delved into the uttermost recesses of human lore that no competitor might distance him in the use of apt and correct knowledge; turned his back on the classic and historic at tractions of Massachusetts, because the expanding west would afford a wider and more fruitful field for the growth of his ability and ambition ; and explored, as long as he lived, every new realm of legal literature, at home and abroad, that no correct principle or wholesome doctrine governing the eternal search for equity and the just settlement of the controversies of mortals might escape him. Thus he was a lawyer before he was a public servant or a public character, and it is therefore proper to first devote some attention to his professional career. Carpenter always defended his professional character, while other attacks were passed by without notice. When the cataclysm of political slander poured its poisonous streams LIFE OF CARPENTER. upon him, he was fully consoled with the cheerful remark: " Well, I have never yet been accused of being a bad law yer." When his fellows in the senate evolved sophistical theories or high-sounding clap-trap, or advocated an uncon stitutional measure, he would say that being " only a lawyer " he must oppose them, and close by begging to be " spared from degenerating into a mere statesman." One of the- things that more than any other exasperated Charles Sum- ner was Carpenter's frequent taunt: " My friend from Mas sachusetts, once a sound and upright lawyer, has been degraded by public life to the blase purlieus of a common statesman, as may be observed by the unsound views he is advocating." He regarded a learned and conscientious lawyer as the only true and safe law-making statesman. It was well known that James G. Elaine was not and never had been a lawyer. Therefore, when he essayed to speak on a legal question, the mode of ridicule that gave Carpenter the most abundant relish was that of ironically praising the senator from Maine as "beyond all comparison a distin guished and learned attorney." As Burns was displeased with any title save that of poet or Highland bard, so Car penter desired no title of distinguishment beyond that of law-giver. It was originally the conception of Paul Dillingham that Carpenter should become a lawyer; but it was the splendor of Daniel Webster's fame which gave birth to that infatua tion for the profession which retained possession of him to the last day of his life. Webster was, in his time, the only man who successfully sat in the senate of the United States and at the same time carried on a large practice before the United States supreme and other courts. Carpenter's ambi tion was to equal Webster in that respect, and he accom plished it. After 1870 he was equally busy and successful in the senate chamber and the chamber of the supreme court, carrying a multiplicity of burdens in both. Let us begin at the beginning and trace Carpenter's pro- 8O LIFE OF CARPENTER. fessional growth. At Dillingham's he was trusted with drafting legal documents and trying petty cases before jus tices of the peace. His papers were ever drawn with perfect neatness and literary taste, and Dillingham was in the habit of exhibiting them with pride as models of their kind. AGAINST HIS GRANDFATHER. The first suit before a justice, or any other judicial tribu nal, that he undertook to conduct without the aid or presence of friends, was in 1841, when between sixteen and seventeen years of age. A jeweler had lost a quantity of goods, and brought suit before a justice of the peace in Moretown to recover possession. Cephas Carpenter, the boy's grand father, had been engaged by the defense, and was probably instrumental in having the prosecution engage Merritt to oppose him, for he was exceedingly proud of his brilliant young grandson, and lost no opportunity of pushing him for ward. The case came to trial in the old school-house at Moretown. The building was crowded with neighbors and friends, all eager to witness so novel a spectacle as a contest between a fearless and hard-striking old advocate of seventy and his stripling grandson of sixteen. Merritt's brother and sisters, with dozens of his former schoolmates and childhood acquaintances, gathered under the windows of the scarred temple of learning and justice, as the only available stations whence they could observe the proceedings on the inside; and these openings were closely occupied during the entire day and until the verdict was rendered. Cephas Carpenter resorted to all the feints and maneuvres that he thought would be likely to bring the metal and ingenuity of his grandson to view, and thus made the trial, on his part, one of more than ordinary interest and display of ability. The con flict was protracted as long as possible by the grandfather, in order to test his youthful adversary at every point, but the verdict was against him. All tongues were busy in More- town that evening, for a sixteen-year-old boy had compassed LIFE OF CARPENTER. Si, the defeat of the oldest and most noted justice-court advocate in Washington county. For his fee, young Carpenter re ceived a gold ring, which he soon after gave to his sister Anna, by whom it is still worn and cherished. During the year following his first suit, or when he was seventeen, Merritt compiled the evidence, applied the law, and prepared the papers asking a pension for his grand mother, as the widow of a soldier of the Revolution. He succeeded in securing the annuity. This was a conception of his own, after learning that the grandfather on his mother's side fought against the British, and was carried to fruition without aid, greatly to his youthful glory in that sec tion. At various times afterward, Cephas Carpenter tried petty suits against his grandson, always managing the cases in such a manner as to best develop the boy's skill at nisij>rius. There are perhaps no instances on record, where the successful practice of an attorney dates back to his seventeenth year, or where a fledgling of seventeen triumphantly prosecuted his first pension claim against the federal government. It should be added, however, that the first of his early business was obtained for him by his grandfather, who always predicted that Merritt would make a great lawyer. This course was like that of the shrewd old cat, who, desirous that her kittens should turn out good mousers, gave them an early taste of blood. CARPENTER AGAINST EDMUNDS. Young Carpenter's first professional engagement, after returning from West Point, was made early in 1846, when he was between twenty-one and twenty-two years of age. The opposing counsel was no less than Geo. F. Edmunds, then living at Richmond, something like twenty miles dowri the Winooski river. The two fledglings, each afraid of the other, met in a little, gray wooden school-house in the town of Bolton, in a gap of the Green mountains, and half-way from Waterbury to Richmond. The suit, small as it really was, attracted no little attention from the people of the 82 LIFE OF CARPENTER. neighborhood, and the shrewd and attentive audience was present, until far into the night, to listen to the forensic efforts, the sharp retorts, and the crude legerdemain of the young Blackstones. In his memorial address to the senate in 1881, Mr. Edmunds thus referred to that spirited contest amidst the lofty grandeur and quiet solitude of the Green mountains: Carpenter's birth-place and the home of his youthful days was only a dozen miles from the town of my own nativity, the hills of which I can still see from my present home, and we first met, when we were both very young and studying law, at a small school-house situated in the very heart of the mountains, to contend through the whole day and night for the rights of our respective clients in a very small affair, before a farmer justice of the peace and a jury of six. Although the instances cited cover his first management of formal trials, they do not include young Carpenter's first appearance in court under fee and in response to a regular engagement. A matter of some moment was pending, when he was sixteen, before a mountain justice of the peace and a rural jury, and he was engaged as " of counsel." He re ceived the interesting fee of fifty cents, the first lucre earned in the legal profession that ever enriched his palms. His duties were thus set forth when the retainer was passed: " When the other side makes a point, just look as sour and glum as you can ; but when ive gain a score, you Just cheer and stamp like the devil." The instructions were obeyed strictly, at least fifty cents in shoe-leather being stamped out. The effectiveness of this peculiar affair will be fully appreci ated by those professional men who can remember that in early years the applause and approbation of the crowd often had more influence in bringing a verdict from the jury than all the evidence of witnesses and the oratory of attorneys. A. V. H. Carpenter, a relative of the subject of this mem oir, and an early student and practitioner of the law in Ver mont, relates: Matt. H. Carpenter and myself were born in adjoining towns. I had completed my law studies while he was yet a student. We were both at our original homes on a visit, and chanced to meet at an intermediate LIFE OF CARPENTER. 83 point where an important examination upon a complaint setting forth forgery was in progress before a magistrate. Matt, in a manner that I do not now recollect, was asked to assist the prosecuting attorney, and I was retained by the respondent, as his attorney was from western New York and not thoroughly familiar with the court usages of Vermont. Matt, and I were well acquainted with each other, and I recollect th .t at the conclu sion of the examination he said he had never before made an argument before a court Whether this was before or after the cases already men tioned is of no consequence. The fact intended to be con veyed in the letter is that young Carpenter had never appeared before a magistrate simply to make a special ar gument. FIRST CAUSE IN WISCONSIN. Although he tried numerous small matters very success fully, and was well known in Washington county as a bright young man, Carpenter did not trust himself, while in Vermont, to take a case higher than the court of a justice of the peace, and while with Rufus Choate entered upon no practice except that of drafting legal papers and attending to miscellaneous office business, as heretofore mentioned. He removed to Beloit to begin the regular practice of his profession. His first appearance in a Wisconsin court was at the June term of the United States district court at Janesville. He was also present in Janesville at the organization of the circuit court system of the new state, and from his knowledge of practice in older states, was able to make many valuable sug gestions to the newly-chosen judge, Edward V. Whiton, afterwards chief justice of the Wisconsin supreme court. His first case after settling in Beloit was heard before a justice of the peace at a point in Rock county, ten or a dozen miles above Beloit. A farmer named Ebenezer N. Baldwin came down in search of a lawyer, and, observing Carpenter's sign, entered the office and made known his errand. Of course he could " go at once," and in five minutes the young attorney was seated beside the farmer on the hewed poles which constituted the box of a lumber wagon, and thus jolted 84 LIFE OF CARPENTER. over the rough, unworked roads of a new country. As the twain ascended the valley of the river the farmer recited all the facts and circumstances of his case, and when they ar rived at the office of the justice Carpenter was ready for trial. Who opposed him, or what the cause of litigation was, is wrapt in obscurity. Late at night the cause was ended and the farmer brought Carpenter back to Beloit. On inquiring of him what fee and charges were to be paid, Carpenter replied: " Oh, I guess about a dollar." The smallness of the fee might lead to the supposition that he was defeated, but the accompanying letter proves the contrary: AFTON, WISCONSIN, August, 1883. DEAR SIR : In July, 1848, 1 sued Cyrus Woodbridge before a justice of the peace. Matt, conducted the suit the first he had in Wisconsin. He won the case, and when I asked him what his charges were, he answered : " One dollar." I asked if that was enough, and he said: "Oh, I guess so." You did not ask concerning anythmg but that early suit, but I can not re frain from adding that Matt, was one of the best lawyers and best citizens that ever lived. He was an open-hearted, generous man. He was a great friend to the poor, and would rather give his last dollar than see them suffer. They all loved him, and I loved him, too. Respectfully, EBENEZER N. BALDWIN. The first case Carpenter had in the circuit court was brought on a writ of certiorari in the matter of T. C. Demary, plaintiff in error, vs. J. P. Oilman, defendant in error, and judgment in his favor, reversing the decree of the justice, was entered early in 1849. He was then twenty-four years of age. The first case taken by him to the supreme court of Wis consin was that of Kirby vs. Martin. The suit was origi nally brought for the plaintiff to recover the value of a horse in the sum of $40. The defendant carried the case, having been defeated before a justice of the peace, to the circuit court of Rock county, and there succeeded in securing a judgment of reversal. Carpenter appealed, for his client, to the supreme court, filing the papers May i, 1852. The case LIFE OF CARPENTER. 85 was argued on June 23d and decided June 2pth of that year, in his favor. This gave him something of a standing for judicial learning, as it was generally held by his legal breth ren in Rock county that he had taken a wrong position in the case and would be defeated. , FIRST CASE IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. ' The first case Carpenter carried to the supreme court of the United States was that of Bronson and Soutter, trustees, vs. The La Crosse & Milwaukee Railway Company et al. 9 in which, February 20, 1863, he argued a motion to dismiss the cross-appeal of other parties. On February 2, 1864, he appeared before the same court, in the same matter, for complainants, to make an argument on the merits of the case. In one sense he was victorious, and in another he was not. The court held that the United States district court, from which the appeal was taken, exceeded its jurisdiction, but decided, " for the present," to withhold the remedy. This case was, in many respects, the most extraordinary that had been taken to the United States supreme court. Its inter minable complications, the charges of collusion and fraud, and the voluminous papers brought with it, gave the court a severe test, and completely confused all the laymen before w r hose attention it came. Justice Nelson, in delivering the opinion of the court, admitted this by characterizing it as a " most complicated, difficult and severely contested cause." John William Wallace, the famous reporter of the court, was compelled to admit, in a note on page 411, of i Wallace's Reports, that he was unable to make a clear and full report of a case in which the record consisted of over one thousand octavo pages of closely printed matter, and the discussion of which by counsel occupied " no small fraction of a five months* term." To prepare and fight through this cause, which trav eled in so many new fields and untrodden paths, must have required an almost inconceivable amount of labor and re search. In its conduct Carpenter won from the bench and from his eminent professional brethren great praise for learn- 86 LIFE OF CARPENTER. ing and ability. The subjoined tender letter to Mrs. Car penter, written late on Saturday evening, February 6, 1864, after the first case had been given to the court, discloses the labors and excitement of that period: MY DEAR WIFE:-*-! have just returned from the theater, where Vesta- ralli has again been acting the man. I still think she is splendid. I have passed an exciting week, and am dreadfully tired at its close. I have succeeded, you will be glad to know, even better than I anticipated. ****** My argument in the supreme court has made considerable remark and elicited high praise from high sources. The congratulations and compliments that have been showered upon me for the last two days are quite embarrassing: even so, vain as I am, and panting, as I do always, for the approbation that is accorded to a good speech. I think I may say, without at all over-stating the thing, that I made a very favorable impression upon nine most intelligent and experienced gen tlemen, who are better qualified than any other nine men in America to judge a speech correctly. You may be sure I am proud of it, and repeat it to you because I know you will be proud of it, too, though I hope not so vain about it as I am. ********* A volume of respectable proportions might be composed on this one case and those of a similar kind that followed and grew out of it, and involved the same parties. It began, as previously related, by Newcomb Cleveland's romantic re tainer of 1858, and is still pending. Carpenter's briefs, arguments and papers in that behalf, with the answers to them, comprise hundreds, perhaps thousands, of volumes, and in the office of John W. Gary, solicitor-general of the Chi cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, form a large and val uable librar}^. It was a torrent of litigation that brought Carpenter fame, made good lawyers of his numerous oppo nents, jeopardized millions and millions of dollars, threat ened the existence of heavy railway corporations, occupied the deepest attention of courts for a quarter of a century, and developed and settled the great principles of railway law. Its parallel, so far as the matter itself or Carpenter's part in it is concerned, is hardly found in the histor}?- of American jurisprudence. LIFE OF CARPENTER. gjr CHAPTER VII. CONVEYANCE OF BELOIT LANDS. From the digression of the preceding chapter, let us re turn to Beloit, where Carpenter first achieved notoriety as an attorney by engaging in some curious litigation involving not only the title to lands in the village, but the good will and friendship of his fellow-townsmen. An act of congress of May 30, 1830, subsequently amended, was framed for the purpose of preventing that speculation in village lots by which sharpers had robbed many eastern capitalists. It prohibited the pre-emption of public lands for any other than farming purposes. The New England Emigrating Company, whose members settled Beloit, planned to outwit the government. They agreed that several persons whom they could trust should claim all the lands embraced in the plat of the village, with the understanding that these parties should, after re ceiving patents from the government, reconvey in lots to the various proper owners. This was carried out strictly. In November, 1838, R. P. Crane filed his pre-emption on a cer tain quarter-section, and then, before receiving a patent from the government, deeded the lots to various parties. In the land undergoing this jugglery of titles was a piece on the Rock river which was then considered navigable set apart for a "public landing;" but no conveyance having been made to the village, its title remained in R. P. Crane. When it came time to bridge the river, the authorities pro posed to exchange with one Brown, for land necessary for one of the approaches to the structure, a portion of the "public landing." Brown agreed to the proposition, and after the trade had been consummated by an exchange of deeds, Carpenter discovered that Crane and not Beloit was the real owner of the " public landing," and that he, for the sum of $50, had some time previously quitclaimed to one 88 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Gardner. Gardner brought a suit of ejectment against Tis- dale and Tondro, occupants of that portion of the " public landing " which Beloit had pretended to convey to Brown, and Brown's tenants. Carpenter, as attorney for Gardner, carried this case to the supreme court and won it. While engaged in its preparation, he conceived the theory that Crane and those engaged with him for the purpose mentioned, having conveyed the land in Beloit to numerous persons before they had received patents from the govern ment, and consequently before they themselves were the de jure owners thereof, had made no legal- transfer, and were therefore the technical, if not the rightful, owners of all the lands pre-empted by them for themselves and their neigh bors. To test this theory he had Crane convey his entire portion of the village site to S. B. Cooper, in 1855 ; Cooper conveyed to J. L. Demmon (Paul Dillingham's law partner), and Demmon conveyed to Dillingham. An issue was made up, and Carpenter, for Dillingham, tried the title to several lots in the Rock county circuit court, where he was defeated. He then transferred the cause to the supreme court on a writ of error. Vast interests were involved and a desperate fight must be made. Accordingly, an extraordinary array of legal talent was engaged on both sides. Carpenter and Ed ward G. Ryan, with Rufus Choate^pJL Boston, as counsel, were Dillingham's attorneys, while J. R. Doolittle, of Wis consin, Daniel Cady, of New York, and Abr^hajri_Lincoln, of Illinois, prepared the defense. The practice of conveying title before a patent had been received was a comparatively common one in early days, and the eyes of the entire north west, desirous of knowing what property had been be clouded, were intently watching the case and the array of giants gathered around it. The supreme court affirmed the decision of the lower court, and Carpenter's clients appealed to the United States supreme court. There a similar suit from Louisiana was already on the docket, which, being decided adversely, induced him to withdraw the action. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 89 Beloit, at the date of the commencement of this action, was a village of considerable wealth and pretensions. The people, therefore, when Carpenter brought the title to their real estate into question, wrought themselves into a certain state of excitement. Every community contains rash, headstrong characters, and of this class Bsloit had a small share. Their counsels were various. Some thought Carpenter should be pursued with sticks and staves, others were for personal chastisement, and others still for inviting him to leave the vil lage. While the ugly were at their ugliest, a public meeting to consider the matter was held, one warm evening, in the open space in front of the church known as the " stone-pile." A large crowd was present, which was addressed by Carpen ter from the steps of the edifice. He explained the object and tenor of the entire matter. During the progress of the meeting he asked the hair-brained members of the crowd what they proposed or imagined they could do by a public demonstration to settle a cause pending in regular form be fore an impartial judicial tribunal. One old character shouted: "We can hang you, can't we?" Instantly Car penter retorted: "Yes, indeed, you can hang me, but that will only settle me, the attorney in the case. Lynchings do not destroy or transfer titles, nor terminate vested rights. If you should take my life, every right and title belonging to me would descend to my heirs. So my destruction would make you shedders of blood, not the givers of equity." The chief desire, he then went on to explain, was to test the prac tice of conveying lands before final title had been vested in the party making the conveyance, and to settle the title to the lands in Beloit, so that subsequent deeds should be valid. Residents, he said, need feel no alarm. They would, in case his suit should be won, be treated fairly. He should deed to them for such a nominal sum as would cover the expense, and pay for the re-survey he had caused to be made. He did not care to make anything out of his friends and neigh bors, but, in case of success, he might squeeze the specula- pO LIFE OF CARPENTER. tors, who, living in other cities, held unimproved lands in Beloit for the purpose of profiting by the industry and thrift of its residents. Few men would have had the courage to adopt such a course. It was the first demonstration of inde pendence and that peculiar fearlessness of personal conse quences that characterized Carpenter's entire life. More than three-fourths of the people were satisfied with his ex planation, and many of them, even though the suit had been decided in their favor in the lower courts, went to him and paid nominal sums for quitclaim deeds, feeling that they had received the value of their money in having the real or im aginary cloud forever removed from the title to their landed possessions. This litigation, which extended over a considerable period, brought Carpenter into wide notoriety. The case, as to the value of the interests involved, was important, and to be as sociated with the best line of legal talent from Boston to the Father of Waters was also a valuable professional honor. AN INCREASING PRACTICE. Carpenter now began to enjoy a very liberal practice. Al though the youngest lawyer in that section, many important causes found their way into his hands. In matters where large property interests were involved, he took charge of them upon a contingent fee; that is, agreed to carry them through to final judgment with the understanding that, if successful, he should receive a certain, usually a fair, per centage of the amount in action. This plan had its advan tages for both client and attorney. It called to the latter a certain amount of lucrative business, and led him to be care ful not to take particularly bad cases. At the same time the former was comfortable in the belief that his interests would be more vigorously contended for than if the contract were such that the lawyer's fee would be as great in defeat as in victory. His first large fee under this plan grew out of litigation LIFE OF CARPENTER. pi involving the Beloit water-power. He was victorious, and received for his services a tract of land then worth $1,200, but which subsequently sold for a very large sum. Fol lowing that were a large number of suits to determine ma terial interests of great value, but they came mostly from points remote from Beloit. An exception, however, was his action against the city and town of Beloit for $100,000 in bonds, voted to aid the construction of a railroad through the place from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. The city resorted to various methods to escape payment, and Carpenter was at last engaged by the holders to bring the matter before the courts, which he agreed to do for a cer tain liberal percentage of the par value of the bonds on which he might recover. The suit was successful and his reward desirable. Another early case that brought to Carpenter the confi dence and patronage of the rural population was his defense of a farmer in a suit brought by a Beloit physician for serv ices and medicine. The farmer had refused to pay the bill, alleging that the medicine, given under the doctor's own in structions, proved seriously injurious rather than beneficial to his daughter, who was the person under treatment, and suit was brought to compel its payment. Carpenter saved the farmer harmless from the action, and then began pro ceedings against the doctor for malpractice the first of the kind in that portion of the state. The physician was driven out of Beloit, and the farmers regarded that lawyer who could help them escape paying the doctors not only, but drive those doctors out of the community, as a very good one. THE MORMONS. In the town of Newark, next to the line between Illinois and Wisconsin, and not far distant from Beloit, the Mor mons formed a settlement at an early day, and when Car penter began to be heard of as an attorney, had grown to 92 LIFE OF CARPENTER. such proportions as to be able to hold public meetings after the manner of Methodists, Catholics and other sects, in the interest of their "religious" views. A class of lively in dividuals known in almost every community as " the boys," fell into the rude habit of attending the Mormon meetings for the sole purpose of creating disturbances and enjoying seasons of boisterous and unruly sport. Several times the Mormons invoked the aid of the law in attempting to sup press the roisterers, but without success. At last they engaged Carpenter. He set about preparing the case, and at once discovered that his predecessors in that line had failed from inability to establish in a legal sense that it was a " religious " meeting the turbulent youngsters had disturbed. Naturally the community Baptists, Methodists and all had no sympathy for the Mormons, and it was difficult to obtain impartial testimony or an impartial jury. So-called " expert " religionists were called, all of whom declared that Mormonism was contrary to " true religion," and therefore Mormons could not hold " religious meetings." However, by ingenious and persistent cross-examination, Carpenter secured admissions from all the church members that those who addressed the Mormon meetings "spoke eloquently, earnestly and * piously." On this admission, and on the last word of it, he predicated the case, and by skilful argument showing that neither witnesses nor magistrates had any legal right to say that any given religion was not the " true religion," simply because it did not accord with their own, so long as it was the regularly practiced and avowed belief of those who professed it, he won a verdict. From that time on the Mormon meetings, which were good though the belief was bad, were not unlawfully disturbed, and Car penter enjoyed the entire patronage of the sect until its removal. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 93 CHAPTER VIII. THE BASHFORD-BARSTOW CASE. Public excitement was probably never carried to a more alarming tension in Wisconsin than when it was announced that Wm. A .Barstow had been made governor by a fraud ulent count and manipulation of the votes cast for himself and Coles Bashford at the election held November 6, 1855. On January 7, 1856, Barstow was inaugurated and sworn in with more pomp and parade than belonged to the custom of the time, and on the same day Bashford, without any ado or demonstration, went before Chief Justice Edward V. Whiton and also took the oath of office as governor. Thus, in a remote sense, the state had two chief executive officers, and it became a matter of grave public concern as to how, without internecine strife and bloodshed, the contro versy could be settled and the rightful party duly installed. The savage arbitrament of physical force was largely believed to be the only means that could be employed, as legal history afforded no precedent for civil proceedings in a precisely similar case. But the attorney-general, Wm. R. Smith, on the relation of Bashford, filed an information in the nature of a quo ivarranto with the supreme court of the state, for the purpose of judicially inquiring in what manner Barstow held and exercised the office of governor " without any legal warrant, right, title, election or appointment." This information set forth that by an iniquitous system of supplemental returns Barstow had been given a majority of one hundred and fifty-seven votes, and then fraudulently declared elected by the board of canvassers (Alex. T. Gray as secretary of state, Ed. H. Janssen as state treasurer, and Geo. B. Smith as attorney-general), when in fact he had been defeated at the polls. The board of canvassers (aU democrats like Barstow), as the returns came in, at once dis- 94 LIFE OF CARPENTER. covered that Barstow had been defeated. Additional, called "supplemental,"- returns were then prepared for several counties, increasing the vote for Barstow. These fraudulent returns were received and counted by the canvassers. Although this iniquity was carried forward with great secrecy, it was discovered by Bashford's friends. He then engaged as counsel Timothy O. Howe, of Green Bay, Edward G. Ryan, of Milwaukee, James H. Knowlton, of Shullsburg, and Alex. W. Randall, of Waukesha, who pre pared the information, setting forth in detail the real and fraudulent votes of the state. Some difficulty was experienced in getting the writ before the supreme court, as Attorney-General W. R. Smith, hav ing been chosen on the ticket with Barstow, was his friend, and therefore refused to file the original information left with him for that purpose by Bashford's attorneys. However, on appearing before the court, a motion for substitution was made and granted and the trial proceeded. It had been well-noised abroad at that day, as previously described, that Carpenter was an ingenious and successful lawyer of superior learning. He was therefore engaged, with Harlow S. Orton (now a justice of the Wisconsin su preme court) and Jonathan E. Arnold, of Milwaukee, to conduct Barstow's defense. These three, men of great but differing ability, appeared and pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court. Carpenter's effort was in writing, prepared with literary taste and perfection, and stands as one of the most ingenious, polished and plausible arguments unsupported by authorities and decisions ever made in Wisconsin. As a rich and entertaining piece of legal literature, his opening sentences in that famous case are often quoted: We come here to argue a question of vital importance; we come to re list an attempt to maim the proportions and mar the harmony of our state government by striking down one of its independent departments; we come to resist the endeavor now made to subject the executive to the control of this court. * * * The chief executive magistrate has sent us into your presence to make it known to you that the attorney -general has filed in LIFE OF CARPENTER. pj your court an information in the nature of a quo -warranto, calling him to how cause why he exercises the office of governor of Wisconsin. His excellency entertains no doubt that your honors, once in formed of what has been done, will instantly dismiss these proceedings; and while he knows that any such proceeding in this court is unwarranted, that the court can not constitutionally, and therefore will not, pass any judgment questioning the authority ot an officer of the state of co-ordinate and equal commission with this court, yet he has been pleased to send us as his representatives to answer the writ of this court, as a king of England, in merry mood, might answer his own writ and enter his own court, to enjoy the look of surprise with which a Denman or a Brougham would learn by his presence, that, like careless necromancers, they had conjured up a spirit that would not down at their bidding. " Go," says the governor, " and acquaint my cous ins, the judges, what an excellent joke our subordinate officers have played tjpon us." And the governor was, like the king in the song, in right gra- cious mood. But kings, princes and governors, clothed with the terrors and commanding the thunders of the state, are often calm and confident "when their ministers, counselors and friends are most anxious and dis tressed. The members of our profession are all grave and honest men. We make no feints ; we play no jokes. We know, too, that the jocularity which your honors would return in kind to your cousin, the governor, would never be pardoned in us, your subordinate officers. We come, there fore, observing the etiquette of this court. We enter an appearance as counsel and bring this matter to your honors' notice. We file, according to the practice of the court, a motion. This proceeding has no precedent in any kingdom, state or nation. Never before has a judicial tribunal been invoked by a claimant of the chief magistracy to disrobe an occupant of the chair of the state and place him in his stead. Contests between such claimants constitute a great portion of the history of every nation, but never before has such a contest been fought in a court of justice. England furnishes us the model of government, and its maxims, customs and jurisprudence we have adopted almost en masse. We daily consult her books of reports to learn what judgment is proper for this court to pronounce, but now we consult them in vain ! The soil of Eng land has been moistened often with the best blood of her sons in deadly strife to set up or pull down this or that executive head. But no applica tion was ever made by usurpers or pretenders to the lord chief justice to restrain the princes of the white rose or the red. To God and his good sword the rightful magistrate has looked for his support in power, or to bring him to his own when withheld from it. No injunction ever issued from the high court of chancery commanding " Grim-visaged War to smooth his wrinkled front." Shadows affrighted the soul of Richard in Bosworth field ; and ghosts troubling his sleep denounced against him every curse, threatened him with every harm; but never a ghost croaked quo ivarranto! 96 LIFE OF CARPENTER. The court decided that it had jurisdiction, and ordered the- relator, Bashford, to bring in proof of the allegations of fraud set out in the information. Thereupon Barstow's counsel, on March 8th, formally withdrew from the case. In doing so, Carpenter addressed the court to the effect that " Gov. Barstow is not, by simply not pleading, to be regarded as a convicted man. The court must judicially regard him as the legal governor until he shall have been proven to the con trary." Saying this, he added, " We leave this case with out regrets for the past, without fears for the future," and withdrew. Before departing, he handed up to the court a communi cation from Barstow, which was, as the official proceedings declare, " couched in such indecent language that the judges would not receive it." Subsequently, Carpenter published that he had no knowledge that his client's paper contained anything of an improper or discourteous nature. This is easily believed, as he was always consistent in observing dua respect to the courts. The court held, as Carpenter requested, that Bashford must bring proof, at the same time entering against Barstow an " interlocutory judgment." The proof showed that town 25, range 10, in Waupaca county, the town of Gilbert's Mills, Dunn county, and the town of Spring Creek, in Polk county, from which large supplemental returns had been brought in Barstow's favor, were then, and always had been, totally uninhabited! The persons sent to look up evidence found nothing more than a trail through one of the towns, and in another that only two entries of land by speculators had ever been made ! This outrage upon the ballot-box, this corruption of the very foundation of republican institutions, was so wicked and stupendous that the court at once turned the interlocutory judgment into a final affirmation that Bar- stow was an intruder and usurper, and Bashford the rightful governor. Although Carpenter's cause was an unholy one (which LIFE OF CARPENTER. p? was publicly admitted by his withdrawal while it was pend ing), his polished and ingenious argument in its behalf wid ened his reputation and contributed more to his public advancement than" anything that had previously transpired. He did not, however, realize one cent for his services, 1 1 While speaking in the senate, January 6, 1874, in favor of repealing what was popularly calld the "salary-grab" act, Carpenter said, referring to this suit: 41 1 have practiced law twenty-five years. I charge my clients what I think they ought to pay. If they object to the amount, I receive what they are willing to pay. To this there has been only one exception. In one case I thought my client acted badly, and sued him for compensation, de manding $1,000. He pleaded that my services had been of no value. I discontinued the suit, paid my own costs, and sued him again for $2,000 and interest. He interposed the same defense. I noticed the case for trial, called his own lawyer to the stand, proved my services to be worth consid erably more than $2,000, and recovered judgment for that sum and interest My client then came to me and told me what I did not know that he owned a lot of land worth $6,000, upon which my judgment was a lien ; that he was in great distress financially, and that if I would discharge his judgment, he would sell the lot and pay me $1,000; and if he ever could pay the balance of the judgment, he would, and if he could not, he would not. I said 'all right.' I discharged the judgment; he sold the lot, put the money in his pocket, and I have never seen him since." 7 98 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER IX. REMOVES TO MILWAUKEE. After his appearance for the respondent in the Bashford- Barstow quo warranto case, in 1856, which we have already examined, Carpenter's most lucrative engagements began to come from parties outside of Beloit. These causes were gen erally for trial in the supreme court of Wisconsin, the United States district and United States circuit courts, and the cir cuit court for Milwaukee county. Beloit was in the extreme southern portion of the state, away from courts of every kind, and so situated that she would always continue in that condition, which necessitated for Carpenter almost continuous absence from home. He therefore resolved upon removing to some larger and more central business point. Some at tempt was made to draw him to Chicago, but it was not seriously considered. He already had a large practice in Milwaukee, and as that point was then, and in all probability would forever remain, the commercial metropolis of the state, he determined to make that his permanent home. But the date- of removal for some time after a change of base was discussed remained undecided, and perhaps might never have come to material result, except for a romantic incident which proved in his case to be that " Tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at its flood, leads on to fortune." During his first year in Beloit he made a speech on the license question. Among his listeners was Newcomb Cleveland, of New York. Subsequently Cleveland became interested in the contract for constructing the Milwaukee & La Crosse Railway, and finally a trouble that arose between him and the railway corporation became so important that he resolved to bring suit for damages in the sum of $150,000. On a pleasant morning of the summer of 1858, as Carpen- LIFE OF CARPENTER, 99 ter sat in the open window of his office reading a maga zine, Cleveland, a stranger, entered and greeted him by name. After a brief conversation the visitor related that he had decided to begin litigation against the railway company and that he desired to place the sole management of the case in Carpenter's hands. When an arrangement to this effect had been agreed upon, Carpenter was informed that his engagement was the result of the brief argument made years before on the license question. " I was then," said Cleveland, " so thoroughly impressed with your clear rea soning and solid conclusions that I determined you should have exclusive charge of my first important law suit. I have kept my resolution." As soon after that as he could settle his affairs, Carpenter removed to Milwaukee and began that flood of railroad liti gation which he fought in all the courts, high and low, until his death, some of which is now as far from settlement as ever. His success was such that Cleveland engaged him to conduct his railway and other actions for a period of ten years at $6,000 per year. The attorneys who opposed him were the best in the land, yet he combated them all in the vast domain of corporate powers, rights and limits, without aid or counsel, and with such signal ability as gave him a national reputation. Twenty years later, in illustrating how the current of a man's life may be changed by the slightest incident, he said: "If it had not been for that little speech on the license question I probably would have continued in Beloit for some years, perhaps during the remainder of my life. If I had remained there I never should have been en gaged in the McCardle case and never should have been sena tor. Cleveland brought me into a wider field, and then I studied as no man ever before studied to carry his litigation through successfully. That license speech was the turning-point of my life and made me all that I am." Before the Cleveland engagement, however, Josiah A. Noonan, one of the great political engines of the Wisconsin IOO LIFE OF CARPENTER. democracy, had seen and admired Carpenter. He was also a firm friend of E. G. Ryan, and conceived the idea of get ting those two brilliant attorneys into one firm, with head quarters in Milwaukee. Therefore, after the railway liti gation mentioned had begun, he went to Carpenter and suggested that the little city of Beloit could never grow to a place of great importance ; that Milwaukee was and always would be a much broader and richer field for professional labor and success ; that the various managers, contractors, stockholders and bondholders of the railways were becoming more and more involved in a multiplicity and complexity of transactions, out of which endless litigation would grow, and that he should return home and prepare at once for per manent removal to Milwaukee and a partnership with Ryan. Carpenter replied that he was satisfied the railway com plications would soon make a large amount of business for the lawyers; that he was favorably impressed with Mil waukee and her prospects, that he already had contem plated leaving Beloit, and that if satisfactory terms with Ryan could be arranged, he would make the change at once. This was in August, and a few weeks later the partnership articles were agreed upon, and Carpenter and his family removed permanently to Milwaukee. They took up their residence in what was then the largest and finest hotel in the northwest, the Newhall House, 1 and continued to make it their home foi some years. In 1869 Carpenter rented, and during the following year purchased, the brick house on Van Buren street which then became, and has since con tinued to be, the family residence. In his new home personal acquaintances and friendships were formed rapidly, for Carpenter was already a well- known and clearly-defined figure in the public eye, and his social and popular career in Milwaukee was but a repetition of that at Beloit on an enlarged scale. He eschewed politics entirely until 1860, when he made a few public speeches for 1 Destroyed by fire January 10, 1883, with eighty human lives. LIFE OF CARPENTER. IOI Douglas, and devoted himself, it seemed to those who watched his labors, with more than human vigor to his pro fession. Nevertheless, he found time to meet with social and literary gatherings, and when his fascinating conversa tional powers and literary accomplishments became fully known, few occasions of that sort passed without attempts to secure his presence, though they did not always succeed. Chapters might be written of his popularity with all classes in the " Cream City " young and old, high and low, German and Irish, Christian and Saracen, republican and democrat but it is not necessary to do it here. The fact appears more clearly in connection with various incidents of his public life, as related in subsequent pages, than could be shown by mere description. The story may be condensed, however, into a single sentence: Nothing like it was ever known in Wisconsin perhaps in the Union. His many public references, therefore, to "fair, white Milwaukee" were always tender. He loved the place and its people, and long before the shadow of death fell across his pathway, expressed the wish that there, in the quiet, shaded aisles of Forest Home, by the side of his beloved children, his ashes might at last be laid to their final rest, lulled by Lake Michigan's eternal murmurs. IO2 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER X. THE BOOTH CASE. The grand jury for the April term of the circuit court for Milwaukee county found a bill of indictment against Sher man M. Booth, charging him with contaminating the chas tity of Caroline N. Cook. This is a memorable case in the annals of jurisprudence and politics in Milwaukee, and in Carpenter's professional career. Booth was an original anti- slavery agitator and editor. At the time mentioned he was editor of the Free Democrat, the most conspicuous republican paper in Wisconsin, and had been the leading figure in rescu ing from the officers one Joshua Glover, a fugitive slave, which act resulted in a long and bitter series of legal pro ceedings involving the question of state-rights, so-called, and precipitating an exciting conflict of authority between the state and federal courts. He had kept up the anti-slavery agitation, with intense vigor, for fifteen years ; out of it had grown the republican party, which had taken from the dem ocrats the control of the state, and still the fire of the Free Democrat was not less incessant or less effective. The de mocracy, therefore, determined to compass his ruin. Under such circumstances, Booth was indicted. The dis trict attorney, Dwight Corson, was a democrat, the judge was a democrat, the officials generally were democrats, and the democratic party had desperately resolved to convict the defendant if it could be done. Somebody not known to the public had engaged E. G. Ryan to aid the district attorney. The democratic papers prepared caricatures for publication in case defendant should be convicted; the community was excited to an unusual degree, and the case was being spicily tried in the opposition newspapers. Things generally indi cated that conviction was to be had at all hazards. Booth engaged H. L. Palmer for his defense, and the trial was LIFE OF CARPENTER. IO3 drawing near. Josiah A. Noonan went to Carpenter and explained that, for a new-comer who had not yet secured a foot-hold, here was an opportunity of rare advantages to achieve professional fame. The case appeared to be, he argued, that a conspicuous politician was being assailed by the armies of the opposition, with the wicked intention of destroying his influence and power and thus injuring his party, the artillery in the enemy's hands being several per sons of questionable character who had been lured into it by golden promises, and that the conspiracy was so well organ ized, that, without the ablest defense, Booth, however inno cent he might be, would be convicted as a republican, if not as a debaucher of virtue. Carpenter consented to go into the case. The partnership of Ryan, Carpenter & Jenkins had just been dissolved, and the two senior members of the firm were not friendly. The Milwaukee & La Crosse Railway litigation was in an in cipient and semi-comatose condition, and Carpenter was without important engagements. He therefore entered upon the defense, " rejoicing as a strong man to run a race." The trial began July 25, 1859, and lasted two weeks. The court house was crowded with spectators from the opening to the closing hour. His address to the jury, which occupied two days, was the prominent feature of the affair. Many distin guished persons listened to it, among them the noted Thomas Marshall, of Kentucky. He had halted in Milwaukee with the intention of opening a school of eloquence and elocution, but after being irresistibly held to a seat in the court-room for several days by the fascinating oratory of Carpenter and Ryan, he abandoned his project with the remark that " Mil waukee had no need of any more teachers of eloquence." Carpenter, in his address, drew a divine picture of chas tity of a perfectly chaste woman which yet stands unri valed in judicial history. " She is not," he said, " simply a person of undefiled body, but pure and unsullied in thought, free from lustful desire. A chaste character requires a pure IC4 LIFE OF CARPENTER. mind as well as a pure body pure actions and modest, delicate deportment ' in maiden meditation fancy free.' " The jury did not agree, and before a new trial could be had for the vindication of Booth, all the members of the Cook family, by the same influence that procured the in dictment and engaged unusual counsel to aid the district attorney, were sent to England, and none of them were ever after heard of in Wisconsin. Carpenter was well satisfied with the results of his effort. Ryan had been defeated, the conspirators thwarted, and his reputation as an advocate of surpassing ability fully estab lished in Milwaukee. After the excitement had been quieted, it is still related, one of the jurymen stated that he and others took their seats as jurors " sworn to convict Booth according to the charge in the indictment, whatever the evi dence might be." The division of a jury under such circum stances showed with what skill and power Carpenter con ducted the defense. Booth has written that Carpenter received no fee for his valuable services in defending that celebrated persecution, "except the plaudits of the public and the lucrative professional business it afterward brought him." MURDER OF REV. JAMES COOK RICHMOND. With perhaps a single exception, Carpenter entertained a deeper regard for Reverend James Cook Richmond than for any other man of God he ever knew. When, therefore, in July, 1866, news reached him that Father Richmond had been brutally murdered by two of his man-servants, while engaged on his farm in Dutchess county, New York, he was unspeakably shocked, and determined at once to make every contribution in his power toward bringing the guilty wretches to the utmost punishment of the law. He learned by corre spondence that the murderers would be arraigned at the next session of the court, and when the oyer and terminer calendar for Dutchess county was reached, in December, pre sented himself before Allard Anthony, the district attorney, LIFE OF CARPENTER. IO$ and offered to aid in the prosecution. Not knowing Carpen ter, the district attorney had declined the first offer, but on being informed by the presiding judge, Jasper W. Gilbert, of the eminence of the volunteer, Mr. Anthony quickly changed his mind, and received Carpenter with great cour tesy. The prisoners' counsel made a strong attempt to prej udice the jury by alleging that Carpenter, by his long journey and free services, showed that he was seeking re venge, not justice. Carpenter made the closing argument. There is no record of what he said, but, according to the judgment of those who listened to him, it must have been a great effort. His heart was in the task, and he was then, at forty-two years of age, in the pride and prime of mental and physical existence. What effect the charge that he was a mere avenger had upon the jury may be left to the reader, for a verdict of murder in the first degree was returned within twenty minutes. The sentence of the court was death by hanging, to be carried into effect on January 25, 1867 ; but through the instrumentalities of an appeal and a plea of guilty of manslaughter, the prisoners escaped the death penalty, though one committed self-destruction. Judge Gilbert, in a letter dated at Brooklyn, N. Y., Decem ber 20, iSS'2, 1 says: My recollection of the trial of Lewis will always remain fresh. Mr. Carpenter conducted the prosecution and made the concluding address. He exhibited uncommon skill in the examination of witnesses, and rare ability in the argument of the legal questions which arose during the trial. His summing up of the evidence was never excelled within the view of my experience. It was impassioned, but truly eloquent; strong in argument, convincing in its array of facts and in the disclosure of the intent which actuated the prisoner. But it was, nevertheless, free from all invective and harshness of expression. I look back to Mr. Carpenter's part in that case as one of the most conspicuous in the annals of criminal jurisprudence. He was certainly one of the most remarkable attorneys that ever appeared before me. Judge Gilbert is and was a good Presbyterian, and when Carpenter had concluded the argument, very naturally called 1 At this time he was a judge of the supreme court of New York. IO6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. down to him: "I presume, Mr. Carpenter, you were a member of Father Richmond's church." "No," was the instant reply, "I take my religion by the curtesy." The average layman will not, perhaps, at first discover the wit of this, but to all lawyers it must be a delicate relish. TEST-OATH CASES. A circumstance that brought a large amount of lucrative business from the south was Carpenter's argument of what are known as the " Test-oath " cases. Augustus H. Gar land, of Arkansas, since governor and United States sen ator, appeared in Washington soon after the close of the war, in 1865, and filed his application for permission to practice before the supreme court. He had been regularly admitted in 1860, and having subsequently taken part in the Rebellion as a confederate, was disbarred from further appearance before federal courts by the act of congress of January, 1865, which declared that no person should be admitted to practice as an attorney in any federal court unless he had taken the oath prescribed in the act of July 2, 1862. He filed an application for permission to proceed with- his prac tice without taking that oath, which required every appli cant to swear that he had not given aid, countenance or counsel to persons engaged in hostility to the government; that he had not sought, accepted or exercised the functions of any office in the confederate service, and that he had yielded no allegiance or support to any power, government or pre tended power, government or constitution inimical to the fed eral Union. Garland and hundreds of other lawyers in the south could not subscribe to this oath; therefore the law of 1865, if held valid and constitutional, would prevent them from practicing in the various federal courts and in the supreme court. Garland's case was made a test for the entire south ern bar. Reverdy Johnson had volunteered to support the LIFE OF CARPENTER. application, but the southern bar, originally advised so to do, engaged Carpenter to appear as regular counsel. He held that exclusion from the practice of the law in fed eral courts for past conduct was punishment for such con duct; that the act of 1865, being of such a character, was in the nature of a bill of pains and penalties, and subject to the constitutional inhibition against bills of attainder; that such exclusion acted as a punishment for offenses which were not so punishable at the time they were committed, and was therefore an ex -post facto law ; that attorneys are not federal but judicial officers, admitted at the pleasure of the court, and disbarred only for misconduct ascertained and declared in judgment form after an opportunity to be heard has been afforded. He also held that if the act of 1865 were other wise valid, Garland, having been granted by President John son full pardon and general amnesty, the law could not set aside and annul that pardon and disbar him from practice, for the generally accepted reason that executive clemency makes the recipient of it a new man returns to him all the privileges and immunities he had theretofore enjoyed. The opinion of the court, delivered by Justice Stephen J. Field, affirmed as valid the propositions submitted by Car penter and supported by Reverdy Johnson, and Garland at once proceeded with his practice without subscribing to the test-oath. The balance of the southern bar was, of course, allowed to follow him into the federal courts. IO8 LIFE OF CARPENTER- CHAPTER XL THE McCARDLE CASE. As an exploration upon an unknown sea, the greatest case ever argued by Carpenter or any other attorney before the United States supreme court, was that of " Exfarte Wm. H. McCardle." One of the reconstruction acts of March 7, 1867, provided for the division of the states lately in rebel lion into military districts, to be governed by officers of the army not less than brigadier-generals, who should protect life and property, preserve the peace and punish all offend ers. One Wm. H. McCardle, of Mississippi, in his news paper, libeled the federal officials, incited disobedience to the acts of congress and to the authority of the military com manders. For this he was imprisoned by the order of General Ord to await trial by a military commission. A writ of habeas corpus was obtained for his release, which was argued before the United States circuit court for Mississippi. The pris oner, upon judgment of the court, was remanded to jail. An appeal was taken to the United States supreme court, and as the case involved the constitutionality of the entire series of reconstruction acts of congress, the administration was deeply concerned in the matter. If the reconstruction acts should be declared unconstitu tional, and McCardle snatched from trial and punishment under them, the ten seceding states would be placed by the highest court on the continent where they had failed to place themselves by four years of the most terrific warfare the world had ever seen. Edwin M. Stanton, the great secre tary of war whom Andrew Johnson could not remove, and U. S. Grant, lieutenant-general of the armies, were in a state of extreme trepidation lest the genius and power of Jeremiah S. Black, who had been engaged by McCardle, should carry LIFE OF CARPENTER. the case through to a result disastrous to the Union. Car penter had at this time achieved wide distinction as an able and earnest supporter of the war and the reconstruction measures of congress, and was, with the advice and con sent of others, engaged by Stanton to argue the cause jointly with Lyman Trumbull. He went to Washington in February, and, occupying Stanton's rooms, remained there until his argument was complete. On March 2, 1868, Trumbull argued a motion to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. The motion was denied. Judge Black then argued in favor of McCardle's discharge, urging the unconstitutionality of the laws under which Mis sissippi was being governed and reconstructed. On March 3d and 4th Carpenter made his now world-famous argu ment l in opposition, affirming the validity of all the recon struction laws and the legality of all rightful acts under them, and holding that McCardle must be, as he had been by the circuit court, remanded to jail. This effort, which had the attention of the entire public north and south, occupied the advertence of the court during two days, and in print comprised about one hundred octavo pages. He opened in this solemn and sonorous strain: This is the first time in the history of the world that a bench of judges has been invoked to redress the wrongs, real or imaginary, of eleven mill ions of people, and to establish the authority of ten pretending govern ments. Such controversies have been decided by force, not by reason; in the field, not in the courts. Waterloo determined the fate of Napoleon, and he went in sullen silence to his ocean rock, never dreaming of the habeas l The following letter to his wife discloses how Carpenter viewed the effect of his reasoning: TUESDAY, March 3, 1868. DEAR GIRL: Yours of zyth received, and I am greatly relieved, as I was beginning to be anxious, it had been so long since I heard from you. I spoke two and one-half hours to-day and did as well as I expected or hoped to do. I am praised nearly to death. I had more than half the sen ate for an audience. Miller's face was "as the face of an angel," radiant with light and joy; Davis and Field looked troubled; Nelson, Clifford and Grier dead against me. But I shook them up and rattled their dry bones. Kiss the pets, and believe me, always the same. MATT. IIO LIFE OF CARPENTER. corpus. No lawyer can argue, no judge decide this cause without a painful sense of responsibility. Its consequences will be upon us and upon our children ; and generations yet unborn will rejoice or mourn over the prin ciples to be here established. This court has been told, not for the first time, that it is the great con servative department of the government; that if it does not keep constant vigil over the other departments, they will rush, as would the planets with out the law of gravitation, into " hopeless and headlong ruin." There is nothing within the circle of human emotions, unless it be the pleasure with which a lover praises the real or imaginary charms of his mistress, at all to be compared to the delight experienced by a lawyer in glorifying a court. It results from our studies and our training that we entertain the utmost reverence for those who must declare what the law is. Within proper bounds this disposition is commendable; but the bar, in a free country, often have higher duties to perform; and this adulation of the judges may be carried to excess. The judges of this court, like the apostles of our Lord, are men of like passions and infirmities with other men. The bar stands in much the same relation to the court that the prophets held to the ruling powers of the ancient dispensation. It is our duty, when occasions require, to admonish and warn, and that, too^ whether courts -will listen^ or whether they will refrain. There are times when general truths should have personal application ; times when a prophet in Israel must say to a king of Israel, " Thou art the man" But to do this, he should be a prophet, not a mere technical Levite. He should stand among his brethren like Saul in the multitude, head and shoulders above them all. The man to speak thus to this court should have the mien and the manner of a prophet ; his hair whiter than milk, streaming down his shoulders. He should be as old as the apostles would have been had they lived to read McCardle's newspaper. With no qualification to perform this duty, except that I have read McCardle's newspaper, the task is before me; and it will be my aim to show, while conceding that this court is a very grave body, that it does not furnish the law of gravitation either to the material universe or to our po litical system. Judge Black had engaged himself principally in lauding the court, in disparaging the military tribunals acting under the reconstruction laws, and in proclaiming that the President, congress, the departments, and almost everything else, re volved around, and was governed by, the supreme court. This sophistry and adulation called out the closing sentence in the foregoing extract from Carpenter's speech. He held that the supreme court, instead of being above and over all, was not even co-ordinate with congress, but was, in every LIFE OF CARPENTER. Ill sense not conflicting with the constitution, to be governed by the legislation of that body. The court could not organize and re-organize congress, but congress could organize and re-organize the United States supreme court. In combating Black's argument that the court should overturn all the mil itary districts and tribunals in the states lately in rebellion, Carpenter declared: The truth is, all these arguments rest upon doctrines repugnant to the first principles of our political faith ; and, should they prove successful, the ultimate control over political subjects will pass finally and forever from the people. Instead of congress, subject to constant popular control, we shall have a tribunal of judges totally independent of the people. No prophet need come from his grave to tell us that such a government would not comport with the national genius or long continue. It is immaterial in what form this power is exercised, or by what name it is called. When ten men can decide such a question, and the people can not turn them out of office if they decide erroneously, without a revolution, then it is certain that the supreme power has passed from the millions to the ten. Augustus / /^ assumed, consolidated and exercised all the powers of a despotism through V the forms and in the name of a republic. And, in the case supposed, this I government would not be the less an oligarchy because the ten ruling mag. istrates were called judges, instead of dukes or princes. That our government has stood thus long, that the decisions of this court are respected and submitted to by all parties and by all men, is owing to the fact that it has, at all times, most scrupulously confined itself to its proper province, and refused to embark in political discussions for party ends. Its aid has often been sought by politicians. It has uniformly been denied, as I shall have occasion to show hereafter. The success of all free govern ment depends upon a religious observance of this division of powers. When this court decides a cause, no matter how erroneous congress or the Presi dent may think the decision, congress is powerless to grant re-argument or new trial ; and if the President does not see the judgment executed, an impeachment will sweep him away as a tc cumberer of the ground." When the President grants a pardon, no matter what congress or this court may think of the propriety of the act, both are bound by it. When congress determines any political matter, never so erroneously in the opinion ot this court or the President, its action is final and conclusive. It is far better that individual instances of injustice committed by either department should go unredressed than that the liberties of all should be swallowed up. The rule is general that a discretion committed to one authority is not to be reviewed V/\ by another. No principle has been more repeatedly and emphatically de- / clared by this court. 112 LIFE OF CARPENTER. On the second day, with the most distinguished men in the nation about him, listening with heart and soul to the flood of his argument for the Union, Carpenter, after quot ing the opinion of Chief Justice Taney in Ableman vs. Booth, 1 closed by enunciating this immortal doctrine: I am aware that this line of argument is not fashionable. This govern ment, from the first, has held the language of a supplicant to the south. Much that was due to the insulted majesty of the nation was concealed from anxiety to win home deluded brethren. We entered the south with the pretended purpose of looking for our postoffices and our forts, our arsenals and our custom-houses property for which we had paid our money, and evidences of our title to which were deposited in our safe. We went in sorrow, not in anger; remonstrating, not threatening; beseeching, not commanding ; and as often as we would have gathered her people into our fold, and extended to them our fellowship and protection, they would not. Our overtures for peace were met with war, bitter and relentless war to the knife, and war to the end until the land was dotted over with fresh-laid graves "on every high hill and beneath every green tree." Had the conciliatory measures of the government accomplished the pur pose without the shedding of blood, that would have been some compensa tion. Were the rebel states even now willing to take their place in the Union under the reasonable regulations provided by congress, it might be wisdom to forget, as soon as possible, the dreadful past. If, instead of this, however, these states come into this court charging oppression and tyranny upon the most indulgent government that ever existed on earth; if, instead of confessing their fault, they come here to contest and wrangle ; come here claiming immunity from punishment while resisting and thwarting the purposes of congress ; if they will drive on a discussion of this question, then it must be discussed. And if the result shall tend to remind the peo ple of the north that they have conquered the rebels of the south ; and if it shall provoke the government to speak with its sovereign voice; if meanwhile reconstruction in the south stands still, and her people have to submit to military rule; if her fair fields remain desolate, her trade and commerce languish, her industry be not employed, or fail of its reward, she can not say we did it. Unpleasant as it may be to review the history of the last six years, or dwell upon the wickedness of this Rebellion, in no other way can we prop erly consider, or correctly determine, upon the existing state of things. Counsel have done well for their clients by ignoring secession, rebellion and war. They have argued this case as though Mississippi were as inno cent as Massachusetts, and had been as faithful to her constitutional duty ; l 21 of Howard's Reports. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 113 and when compelled, now and then, to allude to the fact that war has existed, they have changed the subject as soon as possible, and besought this court to relieve those they represent from the just consequences of their folly and crime. They admit that, during the war, the United States could overthrow and demolish the rebel governments; but they insist that the surrender of Lee and Johnston entitled those governments, or any which the people of those states might establish, to full communion as states of the Union. I remember to have heard a clergyman dealing in bold rhetoric, in view of the fact that the Son of Man might have called legions of angels to defend him, yet submitted to be crucified by his ene mies, exclaim, "Jesus overcame the world by submitting to the world." The argument of our opponents reverses the proposition, and maintains that we lost all control over the south by conquering the south. All admit that the government which existed de facto in Mississippi, the day before the surrender of Lee and Johnston, was subject to the absolute will of the nation. We might have crushed it beneath the iron heel of war. But it is preposterous for counsel to say that by conquering the rebel armies, the only power which could sustain that government, and by effecting complete conquest of the south its territory, its people, and its rebel governments congress lost the right even to make a respectful request in regard to the results of our victory; and that the consequences of this fearful Rebellion, which for four years shook the continent, are to be "trammeled up" by the rules of special pleading, upon a bill in equity. When Carpenter finished his speech, Stanton clasped him in his arms, and, with tears in his eyes, exclaimed fervently: " Carpenter, you have saved us ! " l The court held the matter under advisement, and on March 27th, of that year, congress repealed the act of March, 1867, under which McCardle was enabled to appeal 1 When Carpenter was ready to return to Wisconsin, he received this letter: WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, April 7, 1868. MY DEAR SIR: In taking leave of you, I can not forbear expressing my very great satisfaction with the able and successful services you have ren dered the government in the important cases committed to your charge in the supreme court of the United States. The personal intercourse between us, occasioned by your relation to these cases, has impressed me not only with a high appreciation of your profes sional attainments and ability, but has been to me a very great pleasure. Wishing you every success and fortune in life, and desirous to contribute to the same whenever opportunity may offer, I am, with sincere regard, your friend. EDWIN M. STANTON. To Matt. H. Carpenter. 8 114 LIFE OF CARPENTER. to the United States supreme court. Carpenter and Trurn- bull then appeared and argued that the court, having lost jurisdiction of the case, must drop it, and McCardle must return to jail. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase delivered the opinion of the court sustaining that view of the matter. Carpenter's part in this critical cause gave him an enviable name. He was praised everywhere, and, what is extremely uncommon, received in person high tributes from the bench itself. Before the argument was made, Stanton desired its text submitted to Wm. M. Meredith, one of the greatest lawyers in Pennsylvania. Not in the least offended, Carpenter started for Philadelphia, to comply with the unusual request. He entered Meredith's presence greatly embarrassed, and began reading the argument, expecting to be frequently and sharply interrupted. Pleasantly surprised, he continued the reading to the end, thus occupying several hours, without a single inter ruption or question. When he had finished, Meredith in quired: "Mr. Carpenter, how old are you?" The reply was, "Forty-three last December." With evident surprise and admiration, Meredith took his visitor by the hand, say ing: "That is a remarkable production, and you must be a remarkable man. I have no suggestions to make in regard to it." Shortly after, Stanton received a letter from Meredith, congratulating the government on the good fortune of having secured such able counsel, and declaring he " could not add one word to Carpenter's argument and would not take one from it." But a few months elapsed before Carpenter was being urged as a candidate for the United States senate. His enemies then alleged that the argument in the McCardle case was not his own, but Reverdy Johnson's. This libel was at once settled by an unequivocal denial from Johnson. Probably no graver constitutional questions were ever presented before the United States supreme court than those involved in the McCardle matter. Carpenter's brief is often LIFE OF CARPENTER. 1 15 referred to as one of the masterpieces in forensic literature; and it is not less than remarkable that the positions argued by him constituted the very grounds upon which the recon struction measures enacted by congress were founded, and the states related back to their places in the federal Union. " It is not often," Judge Mac Arthur says, " that a mere law yer has the good fortune to mold and re-instate the jurispru dence of his country. Erskine, when he vindicated and saved freedom of speech in the Stockdale trials, for the bene fit of all English-speaking people; Hamilton, when in a single effort he re-established the true doctrine of libel; and Carpenter, when he enforced the principles upon which the national Union must ever repose for its safety, had that great good fortune." Nothing can be so fitting to close this chapter as the fol lowing letter to his wife, written while Carpenter was occu pying rooms in the war department: FEBRUARY 24, 1868. MY DEAR CARA: I have been in such a fearful whirl for five or six days that I could not find time to write you. I got my "big" brief into the hands of the government printer this morning. Stanton has ordered one thousand copies to be printed, so I shall be able to send you one, prob ably. Stanton sent for me this morning and said to me: "You may as well understand that you are in for the whole fight. Take a room in the de partment and be at home." He then delivered me the key to No. 29, which is an elegant office, occupied by the solicitor of the war department until that office was abolished, at the close of the war. It is only four doors from the secretary's office, and one of the finest apartments in the building. After giving me the key he gave me a check for five thousand dollars as a retainer. What will come of all this fight I can not predict. The "house will to day, at five P. M., vote the impeachment, and the chances are that the sen ate will convict. If this programme shall be carried fully into execution, Stanton will be firmly seated in the department, and I shall have a chance in all the big cases that come up. But however it may terminate, I shall not be affected injuriously; that is, whatever comes of it, the fact of my retainer in this matter, if I can only manage to make a good argument in the McCardle case a week from to day, will be a big thing for me professionally. I went by Stanton's direc- Il6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. tion to Philadelphia last week to confer with Mr. Meredith, who, he say, is the biggest lawyer he ever knew. I read my brief to him, and he said he had not a single suggestion to make it was unanswerable on every point That pleased Stanton as much as it did me, which, I confess, was considerable. Kiss the babies, the darlings. How I do want to see them ; how much I would give to drop in an hour only and kiss you all and hear the boy call da-da." Farewell, my darlings ; God bless you all. Your loving MATT. LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XII. TRIAL OF W. W. BELKNAP, A state trial that attracted rapt attention throughout the American republic was that of Wm. W. Belknap, President Grant's secretary of war. In March, 1876, the judiciary committee of the house of representatives brought in articles of impeachment against Belknap for " high crimes and mis demeanors." The senate, which hears all impeachments, allowed the filing of the articles and fixed a day for the trial by the " managers " appointed by the house. 1 The senate convened for the hearing on April 4, 1876, Belknap appearing with his counsel, Matt. H. Carpenter, Jeremiah S. Black and Montgomery Blair. Carpenter at once submitted that his client was merely a private citizen, having resigned the office of secretary of war on March 2, 1876, and the senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, there fore had no jurisdiction. He filed an affidavit to this effect, in which was the additional averment that the resignation was accepted on the day it was sent in. The question of jurisdiction was argued at length, but finally decided ad versely to Belknap. Carpenter then asked that the trial be postponed until December until after the heat and acrimony of the pending presidential campaign had subsided. In argu ing he said: On the 6th day of April, 1876, we find my client is pleading that his trial may be postponed until there will be no political occasion for convicting him, and when there will be nothing but the ends of justice to answer; and on the 6th day of April, 1862, at about the same hour, General Belknap was in the forefront of the line of Union troops who made their last stand and rolled back the confederate forces on the bloody field of Shiloh. 1 Scott Lord, of New York ; J. Proctor Knott, of Kentucky ; William P. Lynde, of Wisconsin; J. A. McMahon, of Ohio; G. A. Jenks, of Pennsyl vania; E. O. Lapham, of New York, and George F. Hoar, of Massachu setts. Il8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. This brought forth applause which the presiding officer could not suppress. Both political parties were anxiously seeking a shibboleth for the pending campaign, and expect ing to wring one from the ruins of private reputations by this trial. The senate refused to grant any adjournment. Carpenter then argued on the jurisdiction of the senate over a private citizen, saying if Belknap could be tried for any act done in an office formerly held by him, Andrew Jackson might, under the same principle, be impeached in his grave for arresting a federal judge during the siege of New Or leans. In the course of the argument he quoted from the remarks made by several sitting senators at the trial of Wm. Blount, of Tennessee, in which they declared that "only civil officers could be impeached." Belknap, having re signed, was not a civil officer; but many senators did not propose to grant the respondent any particular rights or privileges, nor proceed against him under accepted rules of practice, if thereby they could gain any advantage for their respective partisan campaigns. Carpenter thus referred to one of their lawless propositions: The honorable manager [Mr. Lord] claims this court is exempt from adherence to rules of pleading and the methods of judicial tribunals, and that in reaching its conclusions it may proceed with the freedom of the wind, " which bloweth where it listeth." So is a mob on the Rocky moun tains administering lynch-law upon a supposed murderer exempt from such rules and methods, and the mob could as fairly pretend to be exercising judicial power as could this august tribunal while denying the principles and overstepping the limits of the law. On the following day Carpenter's motion to vacate the order overruling the plea of abatement, or want of jurisdic tion, was filed by Judge Black, and argued upon the ground that it was entered upon a mere majority vote, whereas it should have been supported by two-thirds of the senators. The motion was denied, and Belknap was ordered to plead further to the exhibit of impeachment. Carpenter, who was ill during the entire trial which lasted nearly four months at one time necessitating an adjournment LIFE OF CARPENTER. upon an affidavit of total disability by Dr. Bliss, carried the burden of defense, conducted the examination of witnesses and kept the run of the testimony. Not only this, but the closing argument for the defense, the principal one of the trial, was intrusted to him. That argument, which was begun on Wednesday, July 25, occupied two days, and was delivered from the seat formerly occupied by him as a senator. It was an entertaining effort, covering all the great state trials of civilized history. In spite of threatened imprisonment of the audience for disturbance, he was frequently interrupted by applause. In justification of his argument for a rehearing, to which some of the senators had objected, he quoted the highest authority in the universe, thus, receiving the marked approbation of the populace: It was after Aaron had directed the people to mold a golden calf, and the people rising in the morning had offered before it holocausts and peace- victims, and, after sitting down to eat and drink, had risen up to play : " And the Lord said nto Moses, Go, get thee down." Moses had been presenting the case of Israel, and the Lord had heard enough of it. " Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; " 8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. "9. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, be hold, it is a stiff-necked people : " 10. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them : and I will make of thee a great nation." But Moses persisted! u ii. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said: Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? "12. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. * 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou 120 LIFE OF CARPENTER. swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. " 14. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." Thus it appears that the judgment of the Almighty was reconsidered, and upon the re-argument of Moses was reversed. Carpenter and his counsel had a task of great delicacy, for Belknap had ordered them not to bring his wife into the case in any manner whatever, but to defend him as though he were guilty. Belknap was charged with receiving as pay ment for their appointments, money from those (C. P. Marsh and John S. Evans) to whom he had given post-traderships. The theory of the defense was that Mrs. Belknap influenced her husband to make the appointment, and Marsh made a present of money to her therefor without Belknap's knowl edge, without exercising any influence over him, and without evil intent. In referring to w r hat grew out of this, Carpenter said: Considering this branch of the case, I think it sheds light upon other parts of the testimony and contributes greatly to support the theory of the respondent's innocence. It certainly affords no evidence of guilt, but sug gests one great moral lesson which I state for the benefit of the ladies in the gallery : sweethearts and wives, never keep a secret from your lovers and husbands. While making reference to the peculiar anomalies of poli tics he roused the galleries with this startling contrast: The part the respondent bore during the war, is recorded history. Upon a former occasion I referred to the coincidence that the articles of impeach ment were served upon him on the anniversary of the battle of Shiloh, and at the very hour of the day when, under the eye of General Grant, he moved into the line which made a successful stand against the fierce on slaught of General Beauregard and turned the tide of battle in favor of the Union. This was the first time the great commander ever saw Belknap. General Grant never can forget the men whose bravery in the war for the Union attracted his attention. That day's work made Belknap secretary of war. And, as though to keep this matter fresh in the mind of the senate, on Friday, July 7 (see Congressional Record], the proceedings of this court were suspended to pass a bill removing General Beauregard's political dis- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 121 abilities; and then the court resumed its proceedings to determine whether it should impose political disabilities upon General Belknap. The brief summing up of the evidence in that memorable case and the final plea by Carpenter must be perpetuated here: Evans has testified most positively that he never paid the secretary, di rectly or indirectly, a cent for his appointment. That the contract he made with Marsh he understood to be a business transaction between himself and Marsh ; and that he did not understand, when he entered into the contract, that the secretary had or was to have the slightest interest in it. This positive, uncontradicted and unquestioned testimony of Evans re duces the case to this single question : Was there such arrangement, under standing and agreement between the secretary and^ Marsh? and let me repeat, Marsh is the chief witness of the prosecution, without whose testi mony there is no case; and reminding you ot the legal maxim in relation to witnesses, canonized by ages of judicial experience: Falsits in uno, Jalsus in omnibus, let me turn to the Record and read you the questions I put to Mr. Marsh and the answers he gave: " Question. Was there any agreement on your part to pay Mr. Belknap any money in consideration that he would appoint you post- trader at Fort Sill? " Answer. There was not. "Q. (By Mr. Carpenter.) At any time? " A. At any time. " Q. Was there ever any agreement between you and Mr. Belknap that you should pay him any pecuniary consideration for or in consideration of his appointing Mr. Evans post-trader at Fort Sill? " A. There was not. "Q. Was there ever any agreement between you and Mr. Belknap that you would pay him any money or other valuable consideration in consider ation of his continuing Mr. Evans as post- trader at Fort Sill? "A. Never. "Q. So far as you know, was not the only inducement leading to that ap pointment the kindness which you and your wife had shown to Mrs. Bel knap at your house? " A. That certainly had a great deal to do with it, I presume. "Q. Did you make, or claim to have, any bill against him for anything done for Mrs. Belknap? "A. No, sir. "Q. Your treatment of her was entirely gratuitous? " A. Yes, sir. "Q. But of course led to a feeling of friendship between the families? * A. Yes, sir. 122 LIFE OF CARPENTER. " Q. You say that the friendship which arose from the fact that Mrs. Belknap had been sick at your house, and been kindly treated, had a great deal to do with that appointment ; was there, apart from that friendly feel ing, any consideration moving from you to Belknap to procure that ap pointment? "A. None." If this testimony is true, it ends this case. If not true, it is wilfully and corruptly false. Marsh must know whether there was or not any agree ment in this behalf between the respondent and himself, and it is well- settled law, that, if a jury believe that a witness has committed wilful perjury in one part of his testimony, they are at liberty to disregard his tes timony altogether. Now, senators, let me appeal to you, upon your honor and your con science for that is where the case must rest whether in a case like this, where every supposed criminating circumstance is fully explained, and every ground for suspicion is entirely removed; and where the only direct testimony, and that, too, from the chief prosecuting witness, fully and fairly and absolutely contradicts all presumption of criminality, you can convict this respondent. Upon what can a conviction rest? Every circumstance relied upon for inference of criminality fully explained, every ground of suspicion removed, the only direct evidence in the case completely acquit ting the respondent of any criminal intent, corrupt agreement or purpose, how are you to find him guilty? You are sworn to judge this matter impartially and according to law. You can not fall back upon misguided public opinion, nor upon the clamor of the press. No matter what the people believe, no matter what the press declares -what does the proof establish? For your judgment in this case you must answer, not to editors, not to the excited and misled people, but to God, who is truth itself. * * * Is it possible that in 1876 a citizen before the highest tribunal in the land is to be convicted of a crime which rests in intent, when no circumstantial testimony worth a fig bears upon it, and when the only witnesses who have any positive knowledge or can give any direct testimony, swear to his per fect innocence? Eighteen hundred and seventy-six, the centennial year in the life of a great nation, its highest tribunal in session, exercising the most awful jurisdiction ot the government; trying a citizen who has filled sta tions of high trust, and rendered gallant service in the field ; and he de manding justice justice, that a peasant may demand from a king justice, that any court of law would award to the lowest miscreant is justice to be denied to him because the exigencies of a political campaign demand his conviction? When this was uttered, in clarion voice and with stirring effect, Carpenter stood half-way down the centre aisle of the senate chamber, every eye riveted upon his splendid figure LIFE OF CARPENTER. 123 and every ear strained to catch his lightest word. Suddenly stopping for an instant, he strode directly to the front desk in a startling and impressive manner, and pointing his finger at acting Vice President Ferry, finished the sentence : " No, Mr. President, this senate will not yield to such a considera tion, will not fix such a blot upon our national escutcheon ! " That scene will never be forgotten by those who saw it a drama tragic and effective beyond description. It must have recalled vividly to every auditor that prodigious denoue ment in the trial of the dean of St. Asaph, where Erskine stands, like a tiger at bay, between the threats of a perverse and wicked court and the equitable rights of his client. The gifted pen of the late John W. Forney left a word- painting of the occasion: Carpenter's appearance on the scene was characteristic of the man. Strikingly handsome, he was the central figure in one of the rarely im pressive incidents of the upper chamber. He had the full, open face of Beecher, with a head of abnormal massiveness. His eyes, a liquid blue, beamed with an irrepressible merriment. His hair, tinged with gray, fell in a loose fringe to the base of the brain, relieving him of any appearance of mere foppishness. His voice was a combination of the flute and nightin gale. He might have talked commonplace and held an audience en chanted the livelong day. His speech was a mingling of biting wit, exu berant fancy and unerring logic. Speech inebriated him. He rose and rose to higher flights of fancy, missing no detail, daunted by no figure, no matter how complex, and never losing the sequence, no matter how com plicated the parentheses. It was by his consummate cleverness that the senate took courage to dismiss the impeachment On July 3ist the final vote in the senate was had, each senator, on his feet, voting orally on all of the five articles and seventeen specifications of the exhibit separately, and on that day a judgment of acquittal was entered. Among those who voted not guilty were T. O. Howe and Angus Cam eron, senators from Wisconsin. General Belknap has always been of the opinion that his acquittal, during a period of bitter partisan feeling and in tense political excitement, when Abraham was willing to offer up Isaac to appease the cry of corruption, was due largely, 124 LIFE OF CARPENTER. if not wholly, to the personal influence of Carpenter and the powerful manner in which he presented the case. The weather was destructively hot during the progress of the trial, and Carpenter was not in good health even when spring opened. The burden of the case, which he fought against the combined ability, adroitness and determination of both houses of congress, was put upon him, both as to the law and the facts, and when his client received a verdict of acquittal he was so worn and prostrated that weeks passed before he fully recovered from the effects of the effort. When the exhibit of impeachment was made, Belknap consulted privately with Justice Miller as to who should be engaged as counsel. " Matt. Carpenter and Judge Black," was Miller's reply; "the best lawyers in America." LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XIII. THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. Previous to the arrival of the day fixed for counting the electoral votes claimed to have been cast in 1876 for R. B. Hayes and S. J. Tilden, the opposing candidates for Presi dent, it had been ascertained there would be a contest as to one elector in Wisconsin and all the electors in Florida, Louisiana, Oregon and South Carolina. As the loss of one of the one hundred and eighty-five votes claimed for Hayes would give the Presidency to Tilden, the public was natu rally led into some excitement by this dispute. The country was aroused from ocean to ocean, and civil war was appre hended. In order to settle the question without strife or disturb ance, the electoral commission was organized by act of con gress, approved January 29, 1877. It consisted of five sen ators Geo. F. Edmunds, Fred. T. Frelinghuysen, Oliver P. Morton, Allen G. Thurman 1 and Thomas F. Bayard; 1 five representatives Henry B. Payne, 1 Eppa Hunton, 1 Geo^ F. Hoar, James A. Garfield and Josiah G. Abbott, 1 and five associate justices of the United States supreme court Nathan Clifford, 1 W. Strong, Joseph P. Bradley, Sam. F. Miller and Stephen J. Field. 1 The commission had all the authority of both houses or either house of congress as to taking testimony and admit ting evidence, and was, under its own rules, to enter upon an investigation whenever more than one set of returns should be received from any state, and was to make a report of its decision to congress. But that decision was not to de prive the defeated candidate of the right to try the title of his opponent, under quo ivarranto proceedings, to the office of President. 1 Democrats. 126 LIFE OF CARPENTER. The opposing candidates were permitted to be represented by counsel before the commission. Wm. H. Barnum, chair man of the democratic national committee, went quickly to Carpenter and asked if he was willing to be retained to argue the Lousiana feature of Tilden's case for a fee of $10,000. Before giving a definite answer to Barnum he was approached by Zach. Chandler, chairman of the re publican committee, who inquired whether he would act as counsel for Hayes. Yes, he would ; but, telling Chandler of Barnum's proposition, Carpenter stipulated that the arrange ments between them must be completed on a given day, or he should conclude the republicans did not desire his serv ices. To this Chandler agreed. However, owing to the excitement of the time and the enormous pressure of polit ical business, the day fixed passed, and he forgot to keep the promise. The other chairman was more alert and prompt, and the moment the stipulated time expired, paid Carpenter a retainer on behalf of Tilden. Two days later Chandler appeared for the purpose of completing the contract, and was informed by Carpenter that it was too late, he had re ceived Tilden's retainer. Both felt deeply chagrined over the unfortunate outcome of a little negligence that was wholly natural, Chandler being particularly bitter in denun ciation of himself. These circumstances were never given out to have their proper effect on the public mind, and Carpenter was brought under a torrent of the severest censure. 1 The republican masses, not understanding the scope of professional privi leges, entertained the erroneous impression that he was 1 When the clamor of the press against Carpenter's professional engage ments was loudest and most unreasonable, his wife wrote that she was sorry and annoyed, and asked whether he could not engage in causes that would please the newspapers. In his reply occurs this sentence : " While I live and have my health, I must walk the mountain ranges of the profession, swept by the storm of human hate and passion. Neither self-respect nor my love for you will permit me to seek the obscurity and consequent shelter of deep valleys and smooth meadows." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 127 actively engaged, in the fullness of his heart, in an attempt to place the democracy on the throne of power. No amount of explanation could, at that time, change the public belief. The democrats understood Carpenter's eminence as a consti tutional lawyer, his perfect grasp of the chaos and wicked ness of Louisiana politics, and the influence of his arguments upon the members of the supreme court, five of whom were to sit on the commission. They engaged him, therefore, as a lawyer, not as a republican or as a politician. The elect oral commission was the highest tribunal that ever sat on the American or any other continent, and the matter to be decided by it, that of who was rightfully entitled to stand at the head of the American republic for the ensuing four years, was beyond all the most important of any ever sub mitted to human judgment for rightful adjudication. The peace and prosperity, and, it seemed to many, the very life and form of government of a powerful nation were at stake. Carpenter felt this in all its force, for he said in opening the argument : I beg your honors to pause a moment and consider the lesson to be taught to the politicians of this country by this day's work. This is no ordinary occasion, no ordinary tribunal, no ordinary cause. A n emergency has arisen which has induced congress to create a tribunal never before known in this country; a tribunal composed of whatever is most distin guished for integrity, for learning, for judicial and legislative experience, to conduct the nation through a great crisis. Your decision will stand as a land-mark in the history of this country. Therefore, to be selected out of hundreds of able and dis tinguished jurists to specially argue the most complicated and important branch of the questions involved, that of who had been duly appointed presidential electors in the distracted state of Louisiana, was an honor no ambitious lawyer could decline simply because his client chanced to entertain politi cal tenets not in accord with his own. His friends, also, looked upon it as a professional compliment of the highest character. Anticipating, however, the assaults that might 128 LIFE OF CARPENTER. be made upon his political patriotism and integrity, he pref aced his argument with a plain statement of his position: Permit me to state in the outset why I appear here. It is not because Mr. Tilden was my choice for President; nor is my judgment in this case at all affected by friendship for him as a man, for I have not the honor of a personal acquaintance with him. I voted against him on the 7th of No vember last, and if this tribunal could order a new election I should vote against him again ; believing as I do that the accession of the democratic party to power atfhis time would be the greatest calamity that could befall our country except one, and that one greater calamity would be to keep them out by falsehood and fraud. I appear here professionally, to assert, and, if possible, establish the right of ten thousand legal voters of Louisi ana, who, without accusation or proof, indictment or trial, notice or hear ing, have been disfranchised by four persons incorporated with perpetual succession under the name and style of " the returning-board of Louisiana." I appear, also, in the interests of the next republican candidate for Pi-esi- dent, whoever he may be, to insist that this tribunal shall settle principles by which, if we carry Wisconsin for him by ten thousand majority, as I hope we may, no canvassing-board, by fraud, or induced by bribery, shall be able to throw the vote of that state against him and against the voice and will of our people. But as the masses generally had no knowledge that Carpen ter thus explained his political status, nor that he refused to argue in favor of any of the disputed Tilden electors save those from Louisiana, the republicans, of his own state especially, were variously incensed, astonished and sorrowful when it was announced that he had really appeared for the democrats. They seemed wholly unable to separate Car penter the advocate from Carpenter the distinguished repub lican citizen and senator, and sincerely felt that the public record of the latter had been contaminated and his party patriotism shaken by the professional engagements of the former. Although such were the conclusions of that strained and tempestuous hour, it will not be the judgment of pos terity. All will then see that the tender of a retainer in that case was a proud professional triumph, equal to his loftiest achievements as an orator and senator, such a garland to be added to the chaplet of fame as no man could trample beneath LIFE OF CARPENTER. his feet without a sacrifice greater than men are asked or expected to make. In his argument Carpenter held that the act creating the electoral commission was constitutional, and that the tribunal thus created had authority to make all the investigations con templated. He then showed that, although the Hayes elect ors in Louisiana were defeated by about eight thousand votes, the returning-board threw out ten thousand, and there upon declared the Tilden electors defeated by about two thousand votes. This he held to be unconstitutional, as the returning-board had assumed judicial when it only possessed ministerial powers, and, by throwing out their votes, disfran chised ten thousand citizens of the state of Louisiana, for the alleged but insufficient reason that other voters had commit ted some crime. Louisiana once enacted a law providing that in case three persons should certify, in a certain manner, that riot, tumult, intimidation or bribery affected the result at any poll or vot ing place, the returning-board should investigate the alleged facts, and, if found true, exclude the entire vote of that pre cinct. Under this law the board acted, though no such sworn statement as its provisions required accompanied any of the returns. Therefore, had the law been constitutional, which Carpenter contended it was not, because nobody can be disfranchised except for crime of which he has been duly convicted, there was no authority for the board to proceed to any investigation or throw out any votes. He also contended that William P. Kellogg, being governor of the state, could not certify to his own election as presidential elector, nor legally hold at the same time, which in fact he did, the two offices of governor and elector; and that Brewster and Levissee, two Hayes electors, could not, without violating section I of article 2 of the constitution, perform the func tions of their office, because they were both, at the moment of their election, holding offices of profit and trust under the federal government 130 LIFE OF CARPENTER. He argued that the commission could go behind the cer tificates and the returns and discover these facts, and having ascertained them, overturn the results accomplished in viola tion of the law. He admitted there had been "murders, maimings and whippings in Louisiana," but declared "these fell upon individuals," and did not form a lawful reason for the disfranchisement of even one voter, much less ten thou sand. He said: If you shall say of the Hayes electors that although they were defeated by the people by eight thousand majority, and although two of them were forbidden by the constitution of the United States to be electors, and four others were so forbidden by the constitution of the state, yet having been counted in by fraud, and having in fact acted, although in violation of express constitutional provisions state and federal, they were duly appointed, and their votes must be accepted, you will thereby declare that a fraud is as good as a majority. The commission decided by a vote of eight to seven (contraiy to Carpenter's argument) that it was not compe tent under the constitution to go into any evidence aliundc the papers or certificates opened by the president of the sen ate, to prove that other persons than those certified by the governor of Louisiana had been chosen electors; nor com petent to prove that any electors so certified held at the time of their election any office of profit or trust under the United States. And so the eight votes of Louisiana, upon the face of the returns sent to the senate, though defeated by the people, were counted for Hayes. 1 Carpenter became ill while making his argument, from the smoke of the candles in the United States supreme court room, and the commission adjourned over from the evening of February I3th to the morning of Wednesday, February 1 5th, at his request. He was so thoroughly in the habit of making his exami nation of every subject from a strictly legal and constitutional stand-point, that frequently he failed to discern party lines. I By the votes of S. F. Miller, W. Strong, J. P. Bradley, G. F. Edmunds, O. P. Morton, F. T. Frelinghuysen, J. A. Gar field and Geo. F. Hoar. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 13 1 Always, after he became allied with the republicans, he contented himself with the theory that by this rule he could not often go astray in a party sense, for his party was almost always in the right, as were also the law and the constitution. He was considerably chafed, however, by the clamor his appearance as a mere attorney for Tilden brought from numerous republican sources. He received hundreds of letters from those who did not understand that an attorney can not, in accepting retainers, be limited any more by party than religious lines, either berating him for " abandoning re publicanism," as they put it, or expressing sorrow over the injury his course would entail upon the party. He answered those letters, and this, to a well-known gentleman of Colum bia county, is preserved: WASHINGTON, f). C., February 20, 1877. MR. G. C. BUTTERFIELD: Dear Sir: Yours of the th was duly received. The ink with which it was written was so pale that I found it impossible to read it. It may have been wet in the passage. If it is about anything that you are inter- ested in you will probably write again. The weather here is delightful and the excitement regarding the election is subsiding. Yours truly, MATT. H. CARPENTER. Accompanying the bland little note was a bound copy of Carpenter's speech before the electoral commission. A daintier packet of keener sarcasm was never more graciously and courteously sent. \ LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XIV. MISCELLANEOUS CAUSES. One of the suits that occupied Carpenter's attention during a series of years was that of Hasbrouck against the city of Milwaukee for about a quarter of a million dollars on a dredging contract. It was begun in 1859 an ^ not settled until after the close of the Rebellion. A case of considerable importance, in which his theories were fully confirmed and adopted by the court, was that of John Druecker vs. Edward Salomon. The democrats of Ozaukee county, in Wisconsin, resisted the draft of 1862. They not only drove out W. A. Pors, the draft commis sioner, but indulged in riot and bloodshed. Upon orders from Washington, Gov. Salomon sent troops to quell the riot and arrest the rioters. Druecker, a leader, was one of those arrested and thrown into prison. Subsequently he brought suit against the governor for false imprisonment, and Car penter conducted the defense. The case was tried before Judge Arthur MacArthur, who, in an opinion of some length, in consonance with Carpenter's argument, gave judgment against the rioter. It was the first case of the kind ever brought to final judgment in this country, and Carpenter was therefore a pioneer in searching out and setting forth the principles governing in such matters. MILITARY AND MARTIAL LAWS. In April, 1865, Carpenter wrote an opinion for Brig.-Gen. T. C. H. Smith on " martial law." It was somewhat elaborate, and set forth with indefective clearness the wide difference between martial and military laws, which is not under stood, on the average, by more than one lawyer in ten. It covered the ground so completely, and so plainly defined the duties of provost-marshals and executors of martial law, that LIFE OF CARPENTER. 133 it was published in pamphlet form and circulated through the south for the enlightenment and guidance of those in command of military districts in the lately rebellious states, and for the benefit of courts and commissions organized or acting under them. It passed as standard authority during the early periods of reconstruction, and was pronounced one of the clearest and ablest expositions of the constitution and the laws concerning those subjects ever given to the public. MYRA BRADWELL. A case that attracted great attention during its pendency, being the first of its kind taken to the United States supreme court after the adoption of the fourteenth amendment, was that of Myra Bradwell, plaintiff in error, vs. The State of Illinois. The supreme court of that state had refused her admission to practice at its bar, upon the ground that her clients could not enforce any contracts made with her as a married woman. Carpenter took the case for review on a writ of error to the United States supreme court, and argued it before that tribunal at the December term, I87I. 1 He held that it was not a question of taste, propriety or polite ness, but of civil right. The argument that clients could not enforce contracts with Mrs. Bradwell, because she was a married woman, he declared was frivolous, as every attor ney, being an officer of the court, can be, for unprofessional conduct or malpractice, fined, imprisoned, or disbarred, Or visited with all three of these punishments. He thus carried his argument: If the legislature may, under pretense of fixing qualifications, declare that no female citizen shall be permitted to practice law, they may as well de clare that no colored citizen shall practice law. It should be borne in mind that the only provision in the constitution which secures to colored citizens admission to the bar, or pursuit of other ordinary avocations of life, is that " No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of a citizen." If this provision does not open the profes sions, all the avocations, all the methods by which a man may pursue hap- Ii6 Wallace, p. 130. 134 LIFE OF CARPENTER. piness, to the colored as well as the white, then the legislatures of the states may exclude colored men from all the honorable pursuits of life, and com pel them to support their existence in a condition of servitude. And if this provision does protect the colored citizen, then it protects every citizen, black or white, male or female. * * * While a legislature may pre scribe qualifications for entering upon this pursuit of the law, it can not, under the guise of fixing qualifications, exclude a class of citizens from admission to the bar. The legislature may say at what age candidates shall be admitted may elevate or depress the standard of learning ; but a qual ification to which a whole class of citizens can never attain is not a regula tion of admission, but it is, as to such citizens, prohibition. * * * I maintain that the fourteenth amendment opens to every citizen of the United States, male or female, black or white, married or single, the honor able professions, as well as the servile employments of life; and that no citizen can be excluded from any one of them. The broad shield ot the constitution is over them all, and protects each in that measure of success which his or her individual merits may secure. The court, by Justice Miller, held that " No provision of the federal constitution had been violated by the refusal of the court of Illinois to admit Mrs. Bradwell; that the right to practice law is not a privilege or immunity of a citizen of the United States, within the meaning of the fourteenth amendment of the constitution; and that the power of a state to prescribe qualifications for admission to the bar of its courts is unaffected by that amendment." It will be observed that Carpenter admitted the right to prescribe qualifications, but denied the power to prohibit, for extraneous reasons, persons who possessed those prescribed qualifications. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase dissented from the opinion and the judgment of the court, believing Car penter's position to be right. THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE CASES. There is no exercise of human authority, in despotic or republican countries, so far-reaching and so almighty as that of the police power of states and municipal corporations. In the very nature of things it must be more or less undefined and almost absolutely unlimited. Under it the health, safety, morality and good order of communities are secured. This LIFE OF CARPENTER. 135 was well set forth in the noted " slaughter-house cases " of New Orleans. In 1869 the legislature of Louisiana passed an act incor porating the " Crescent City Live Stock Landing and Slaughter-house Company," with exclusive privilege to main tain, for twenty-five years, yards, landings and slaughter houses, in a particular place and no other. The law provided that no cattle or food animals should be landed or slaughtered in New Orleans except in the Crescent City Company's ab attoir. This compelled all slaughtering, for a certain reason able fee, to be done on the company's premises, and against it the butchers demurred. Several of them joined their strength and engaged John A. Campbell, the ablest attorney in the south, and others to bring a suit for the destruction o the " monopoly," as they termed it. The supreme court of Louisiana decided against the butchers and in favor of the validity of the law. An appeal was taken to the United States supreme court by writ of error, and Carpenter was engaged as principal counsel for the state of Louisiana and the Crescent City Company, assisted by Jeremiah S. Black and J. T. Durant. He argued that the act creating the slaughter-house cor poration was not a violation of the thirteenth or fourteenth amendment, as had been set forth by appellants, and that the granting of exclusive privileges to a few, properly guarded, when clearly, as in this case, it was for the health, life and comfort of a great community, was a police regulation within the power of state legislatures and beyond the reach of the amendments of the constitution. The matter was the most important of that kind that had reached the supreme court, the attorneys on each side were the ablest in the Union, and the argument was literally a battle of giants. The court, by Justice Miller, in April, 1872, affirmed the decision of the state court, and Carpenter was victorious. 1 His conduct in this 1 At the conclusion of the case Carpenter sent to New Orleans the now noted telegram : " The banded butchers are busted. Matt." 136 WFE OF CARPENTER. case gave him strong prestige in the south, and subsequently several very important professional engagements from that section. THE WHISKY CASES. In 1875 the business of illicit distilling had grown to such enormous proportions that all the knavery of dishonest sub ordinates in the federal service could no longer hide its exist ence from the government. Secretary B. H. Bristow at once organized a strong system of prosecution, stiffened and sup ported by President Grant's famous epigram, "Let no guilty man escape," and caused numerous arrests of the wealthiest men in several communities in Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri. In Wisconsin the illicit distillers were congre gated in Milwaukee, and Carpenter was engaged to defend them. This he did with indomitable pertinacity, making in December, 1875, * n ^ e case recorded in the reports as the " United States vs. Three Tons of Coal," his great argument maintaining the sacredness from search of the books, docu ments, accounts and private papers of any citizen engaged in business. The court did not, in the case of distillers, who are subject to public espionage and control, sustain his prop ositions, and ordered the books, accounts and papers of his client to be produced. It was during the trial of one of these cases that Carpenter attempted to " pass by " Judge Drummond, figuratively speaking, for the purpose oi enlight ening, instructing and mellowing the jury. The judge at once called his attention to the fact that it was the province of no one but the court to instruct the jury. As this pro ceeding was slightly outside of the prescribed path, some of Carpenter's friends asked him why he undertook what might have entailed a fine for contempt of court. He re plied: "All the law was against me, public opinion was against me, the press was against me, the court was against me, my clients were as guilty as Cain, so what could I do? My only possible chance was to get by the judge and at the jury." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 137 THE LOUISIANA LOTTERY. On November 13, 1879, Postmaster-General D. M. Key issued an order to the postmaster at New Orleans forbidding the payment of any postal money order addressed to M. A. Dauphin, for the reason that he was " conducting the Louis iana State Lottery, a scheme for obtaining money under fraudulent pretenses." Carpenter was engaged by Dauphin to discover what relief the law would afford him. The case was argued at length before the supreme court of the Dis trict of Columbia upon the novel prayer for an injunction to restrain the order from remaining in force. He held that the statute under which the postmaster-general acted was unconstitutional, because it vested judicial powers in that official ; that therefore the order forbidding Dauphin the privileges of the mails was void, and that it is always the duty of the judicial branch of government to restrain the unlawful or unjust acts of ministerial officers. His brief was very interesting. It showed how a court could not hesitate because the relief asked was against a cabinet officer, as courts theretofore had commanded Presi dent Jefferson to appear and produce a certain letter at the trial of Aaron Burr, and Grant, while President, had been called thousands of miles to testify in petty cases, and both had obeyed. The order withheld from Dauphin all registered letters, whether a part of his lottery business or not. This, Car penter declared, was partial disfranchisement punishment without trial by a person not vested with judicial powers. In concluding, he thus pictured the duties of a court, no matter how high and mighty the person to fall under its judgment: If we convince you that these acts of congress are unconstitutional, you can not shrink from so declaring without violating your consciences and disgracing your office. There may well be a nation without a king; per haps a church without a bishop; but the liberties of our people will be gone should we have courts without judges. Courts, like corporations, 138 LIFE OF CARPENTER. have neither " bodies to be kicked," nor " souls to be damned." Judges have both, and are amenable to the just criticisms of men, and for corrupt judg ment answerable at the bar of Divine justice. Carpenter secured relief for his client, whether justly or not is not in question, which continued until the middle of 1883, when Postmaster-General Gresham renewed the order. MRS. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. The boldness of Carpenter in pointing out to courts the wickedness of permitting or becoming a party to injustice through rigid adherence to mere technicalities of laws or contracts, constituted one of his noblest characteristics as a lawyer. There were few judges that had the hardihood to follow the zigzag path of technicalities while he practiced before them, as he never failed in such instances to torture their consciences. When he learned that the widow of his idolized friend, Stephen A. Douglas, was compelled to seek relief in court against the strange business management of her husband's adviser, executor and supposed friend, he hastened to offer his professional services in rescuing her from injustice. He appeared for her on appeal before the supreme court of Illi nois. In the widow's suit for an accounting of her husband's estate and for one-half of the unsold lands, the court below denied her prayer, alleging that she had been "guilty of laches, legal remissness, in not suing at an earlier day." In common parlance it may be stated that the executor of the Douglas estate pleaded that Mrs. Douglas had so long neg lected to sue him that her property had now become his own, and the court below sustained this plea. Carpenter's brief was long, weighted with authorities, and, in its prayer for relief, extremely eloquent. In connection with a subject so noteworthy, a few lines may be quoted: The complainant was a woman ; in social life a queen, indeed, but still a woman. She loved her husband as all good wives do; but added to this was her knowledge that a nation followed Senator Douglas to admire him. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 139 Under these circumstances, could she doubt his wisdom, his power to read the characters of men, his capacity for selecting true friends for their ster ling worth? Rhodes had been her husband's confidant and "familiar." In those dreadful hours which preceded his final dissolution, when the dying rise to the supremacy of prophets, her husband, Senator Douglas, the trib une of millions of the people, had exhorted her, soon to become a lone woman, to trust in Rhodes; to take his advice, yield to his counsel, and look to him as her sure and best friend. His final warning to the court was thus: If a widow, thus cheated and defrauded by one in whom her confidence is centered, one whom she regards as a father, one in whose honor her dying husband has commanded her to repose confidence, can have no relief from fraud such as this case discloses, the benefit of a court of chancery is not very apparent. THE NORTH-WESTERN UNIVERSITY. One of Carpenter's important briefs, in which his reason ing and conclusions became those of the court in its decision, was that of the North-western University vs. The People of Illinois. In 1851 the state of Illinois incorporated the North western University at Evanston. In 1855 the charter of in corporation was amended so "That all property, of whatever kind or description, belonging" to or owned by said corporation, sJiall be forever free from taxation for any and all purposes" This amendment was accepted by the association, and about $200,000, by reason of the tax-exemption, was donated to the institution. In 1870 the state made a new constitution. The constitution of 1848 provided: "The property of the state and counties, both real and personal, and such other property as the general assembly may deem necessary for school, relig ious and charitable purposes, may be exempt from taxation." The new constitution limited the exemptions to real and per sonal property " used exclusively " for such purposes. This cut off real and other property whose proceeds, instead of the property itself, were used for school purposes. The state authorities, under the new constitution, levied a tax on the university property and went into court to enforce 140 LIFE OF CARPENTER. it. The court held the levy valid, and directed the sale of the university in satisfaction of it. Carpenter appealed to the United States supreme court, and there contended that, inasmuch as the legislature, under the old constitution, had ample power to exempt the property of the university, its action was valid; and as large donations were made by rea son of the said exemption, that proviso became a part of the contract, and the new constitution and law destroying it, " impaired the obligation " of the contract, contrary to the federal constitution, and was for that reason void. The court so held. OTHER GREAT CASES. Thus cases, important as to principles, and interesting, if not to the general public, certainly to lawyers the most learned of the larger classes of professional men might be mentioned into the thousands. They embrace every con ceivable branch of litigation, test all the great principles of constitutions, statutes and common law, and involve property interests and rights of incalculable value. To make simply an index to them would require a volume, for Carpenter's practice in the various courts of Washington and the Union, for many years, was of enormous proportions. He had nu merous cases for the New York Life Insurance Company; was the attorney for the heirs of Charles Bent to secure their one-fourth interest in the great Maxwell grant from the Spanish government; for William McGarrahan, in his noted claim against the New Idra Mining Company; for Pierre Frayolle, in his suits against the Texas & Pacific Railway; for J. F. Schuette, against the Florida Central Railway (in which an attempt was made to defeat him by imposing a rotten bond on Justice Bradley) ; for Hallett's heirs (with J. B. Stewart), against the Kansas Pacific Railway, for about $25,000,000; for the French heirs in the Jumel will case; for the Jackson, Shreveport & Texas Railway, against Oakes Ames; for various army and navy attaches^ where LIFE OF CARPENTER. military or martial laws were to be expounded or tested; for the great Amory estate in New York; and he also had suits against the cities of Milwaukee, Leavenworth, Kenosha, St. Joseph and Beloit, and against numerous railway corpora tions, in addition to almost numberless claims before the de partments at Washington and the committees of congress. No man ever had a more varied and distinguished prac tice. 142 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XV. A BATTLE WITH CORPORATIONS. For some years the stupendous growth of corporations, under the peculiar American system of granting charters, has attracted the attention of the wisest political economists, leg islators and jurists. It was a subject of weight that did not escape Carpenter's early attention, either as a lawyer, law maker, or statesman. That he was a pioneer in that limitless domain of difficulties and intricacies, not so much for as against corporations, must already have become clear. His views as to the foundation principles governing the formation and control of railway corporations and common /carriers were, at first, and for some years, antagonistic to the decisions of the courts. They were in favor of the people, and therefore enlisted the powerful hostility of the corpora tions. They constitute an important part of his doings and sayings in public, and will be regarded with greater wonder and admiration as time reveals and confirms their wisdom. He was one of the earliest and most reviled of prophets, op posed by courts, corporations and attorneys, but, after all, the only one of distinction whose prophecies came to pass. Although engaged in a maze of railway litigation that puzzled and confounded courts, receivers, railway owners, bondsmen, managers and opposition attorneys, Carpenter made no formal avowal of his tenets in regard to the relations subsisting, or that of right should subsist, betwixt the corpo rations and the people, until the year of his election to the United States senate. In so far as the causes litigant brought them out in his professional briefs and arguments, his views must have been more or less publicly known, 1 for the officers 1 At a large Fourth of July celebration at Milwaukee, in 1865, Carpenter (with Carl Schurz and Alex. W. Randall) was the orator of the day. In the course of his remarks, he said : ' The war is over, and the question of LIFE OF CARPENTER. 143 of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Association invited him to address the people at their annual exhibit in September of that year, at Madison, upon " The Growth of Monopoly in the Carrying Trade." The invitation was accepted, and a throng of people was drawn to the Capital City to hear him upon a matter which, under the fostering care of certain tribunals, land-grants and legislatures, had arrived at a period of alarming importance. There had been an extra session of congress, his professional engagements were numerous and exacting, but he hewed out of the crowded days and nights time enough to commit his words to paper. His biographer bears testimony, in sorrow, that Carpenter rarely had his public addresses in any manner perpetuated on paper; and Carpenter himself, on the occasion now mentioned, confirmed this affirmation by opening the speech with the remark that, " Wishing to say exactly what he meant, he had committed his words to writ ing; and never having done such a thing before, he should not, probably, be able to read half of them, which would be entirely in their favor." The supreme court of Wisconsin had just decided that railways were private property (not, therefore, subject to the control of the legislature) and that any tax levied in aid of them was, for that reason, unconstitutional and void. In plain terms, this decision meant that the aggressions, discrimina tions and extortions of the railways were beyond redress. In Iowa a similar decision had been made, and while the rail way corporations were becoming insolent and aggressive, the public mind, as a natural consequence, grew not only restless and anxious, but lost some faith in the justness of courts. Under such a condition of affairs and of the public temper, Carpenter pronounced his plan of salvation for the produc ing classes the masses. After setting forth, in figures Negro suffrage will soon be disposed of; then the next great struggle will ba betwixt the people and the corporations. I fear it will be upon us before we shall be prepared to fight it" Than this the records show no earlier prediction. ^ 144 LIFE OF CARPENTER. drawn from official sources, the magnitude of the internal commerce of the country, in order to shoVv the importance of the subject deputed to him for elucidation, he proceeded. It was for many years believed by our wisest and purest statesmen that our institutions were in danger from slavery. But it is my honest belief, that they are to-day in far greater danger from the combinations of capital, the consolidations of monopolies the great trinity of power, railroad, express and telegraph companies, which are struggling to control the des tinies of this country than they ever were from slavery. Slavery was spread over a vast territory ; it could only act through political agencies ; so that its plottings and proceedings were seen of all tnen. It was a sin so damning and a curse so heavy that the moral sentiments of the people and the sympathies of the world were against it against it altogether and under all circumstances, in detail and in general. It was circumscribed by geographic limits, and the numerical majority of our people, who watched it with jealousy and hatred, always had the foiver, if not the technical con stitutional right, to suppress it at any time; and it was always certain that whenever it should openly assail the existence of free institutions, the peo ple, who believe that constitutions are made for men and not that men are made for constitutions, would find a way to put it down. And so it finally was extinguished. But railroad, express and telegraph companies, under proper regulations and within wholesome restrictions, are not only harmless but absolutely a necessity of our modern civilization. They may proudly and truthfully point to the immense service they have rendered to the people in facilitat ing commerce and bringing the comforts of life to every man's door. The dangers to the public arise not from the use, but from the abuse of the powers which have been granted to these corporations. Un mixed evil is always condemned and avoided, and is therefore harmless. It is evil that comes in shining raiment, with seductive manner, with much that is really pleasant and good, that wins its destructive way into the par adise of popular approbation. There is no conflict between labor and the legitimate profits of capital. Each is necessary to the other. But the great passion in this country is the love of wealth. And as life is short and every man impatient of results, the great tendency is the consolida tion of agencies to accomplish vast results speedily. So that, whenever competition begins, consolidation results. A short time since the Mer chants' Express Company was organized with an immense capital, in the interests of the people, as it was said, to break down the monopolv of the then existing company. Competition went on until both companies came to the not unnatural contusion, that it would be more profitable to unite and plunder the people for their joint benefit, than it was to carry merchan dise for too low a rate to amount to compensation. So they consolidated, LIFE OF CARPENTER. 145 and now have everything their own way. Various telegraph companies have passed through the same experience and reached the same result. Railroad companies, not behind in the wisdom of this generation, are now bending all their energies to a consolidation which shall- prevent competition, and deliver the people bound hand and foot into their tender keeping. For aH practical purposes we have but one telegraph company in the United States, and but pne express company. If nothing is done to check the present tendencies, it will not be long until we have but one railroad com pany in the United States, and then it is by no means improbable that three monster monopolies may, " in order to form a more perfect union, insure domestic tranquillity" provide for their "common defense" and pro mote their "general welfare," "ordain and establish a constitution," which shall combine all three in one, and it will be owing to the mercy of Heaven or the vigilance of our people, if they do not so far extend their schemes as to ordiin a constitution for the people of the United States. This fearful consolidation tends to withdraw corporate action from public observation. Slave-holders could not plot in secret; but to execute their schemes they had to publish their platforms and "goto the country" for a trial. The people were thus informed of what was intended, and it was their own fault if they did not take care of themselves. But the railroads, express and telegraph corporations of the United States, embracing untold millions of capital, reaching into every state, territory, county, town, vil- . lage and farm of the country, may all be managed by a board of fi.teen di- // ause more i , to be ex- / / pnosed to rectors, sitting with closed doors, by candle-light, in Wall street. What they determine upon they need not submit to public examination nor to the contingency of a general election by the people, and thus a power more for midable than the powers of this gigantic national government, because more closely touching the rights and pockets of the people, will come ercised by a few men whose interests in all things are directly opposed the interests of the people, without the consent or even the knowledge of the people. The power of such an organization upon our popular elections, with their paid agents in every school-district, the immense number of their employes and officers, men of influence and intelligence, all capable of be ing directed by telegraphic communication by a central head in Wall street, and the immense capital capable of being poured out secretly at any point, their power to build up or destroy towns and cities by discriminating tariffs, and to create or destroy the fortunes of individuals, can not be overesti mated. But some good easy soul, who never smarts until he is hit, may think this is trembling at imaginary evils, or rallying to combat shadows. I hope so. But certainly it is wiser to apprehend a little too much danger and guard against it than to apprehend too little and be destroyed by it; and any candid man who looks back fifty years and considers from what feeble be ginnings these tremendous monopolies have attained their present power 10 146 LIFE OF CARPENTER, and greatness, may see reason to fear that they will still farther advance their views and their consummations. Railroad companies first sought franchises from the state upon the ground that railways were public highways, and as such under the control of the legislative power as any other highway. It was upon this ground, and this only, that the courts upheld the exercise of the right of eminent domain in favor of railroad companies, which enabled them, as agents of the state, to take any man's land for the use of the roads in face of a constitution which forbids the taking of private property, except for a public use. The theory upon which the roads were originally constructed is changing; and the supreme court of Wisconsin J and the supreme court of Iowa, two most intelligent and upright courts, recently decided that a railroad company is a mere private corporation, and that the legislature has no more power over its property or affairs than it has over those of a bank, a manufacturing company, or over a grist-mill. In a single sentence, spoken by the supreme court, the state of Iowa has abdicated its sovereignty over the great highways of the state, and trans, formed them from trust property, held by the corporations for public use, into absolute estate in individual and private right. This declaration is not less important and startling than the Dred Scott decision, and exhibits the dangerous tendencies I have been considering. It is evident that if the doctrine be conceded that our railroads are mere private property and legislatures powerless to control them, the grossest abuses and oppressions will follow. Most civilized countries regulate the rate of interest by penal laws, visiting severe penalties upon the capitalist who takes advantage of the necessities of the borrower. But there is in finitely more need of legislation here. Loaning money is a thing within the power of any private citizen having money; he needs and obtains no legislative franchise, or monopoly of the loaning business. Competition is therefore certain to exist; and this, of itseh, is thought by many to be a suf ficient protection against the extortion of lenders. But how does it stand with capital invested in railroads? In the first place, the company has a monopoly. The state has clothed it with corporate power and immunities. The farmer must export his produce over the railroad, because there is but one. Every man does not own a railroad ; every man could not operate it, exacting tolls from the public, if he did own one. That requires legislative sanction. But the new doctrine now contended for, that a railroad is pri vate and not public property, strikes a death-blow at all legislative control, and leaves the people at the mercy of our corporations, so far as the state government is concerned. The state can control the management of public property, but has no right to control the use of mere private properly. 1 In Whiting vs. Fond du Lac County, the case referred to, the decision of the state court was reversed by the supreme court of the United States shortly after the deliver/ of this speech. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 147 If the state of things now existing is an evil, and the tendency is to an aggravation of that evil, it is interesting to consider whether any, and what, remedy can be invoked. It is evident that a corporation which owns a railroad through a hali- dozen states can not be controlled by any one state, and if every state should enter upon the task, it is certain that each would have a theory of its own, and nothing but confusion would result. A regulation to be of any avail must be uniform; there can be no uniformity where thirty sover eignties are uttering their voices and enforcing their wills upon the same subject. This consideration led to the adoption, in the constitution of the United States, of the,provision that congress should have power "/^ Bridges, ferries, turnpikes, mill-dams and fisheries are illustrative subjects. V l6o LIFE OF CARPENTER. And when the character of railways is ascertained to fall within this class of property, full legislative control follows as matter of course. The prophecies of Isaiah, in which are recorded in advance the successive footfalls of an expiring nationality, are no truer than the language of the supreme court of South Carolina in regard to railroads, wherein they say that "railways, if placed aloof from such [legislative] control, would inevita bly become suspected of partiality and odious to the feofle" The railways of our own state, having thus far been exempt from such control, have become suspected of partiality, and, in a sense, have become odious to the people. No corporation can prosper under such circumstances. In this country nothing can exist which is not supported by public opinion. The true pol icy of railroad companies is to regain what they have lost public confi dence. How can this be so certainly achieved as by submitting to legislative control? * * There is not the slightest doubt that when they shall sub mit to the law and furl their insurrectionary banners, the legislature will deal not only justly but generously by them. * * But the power of the legislature must never be abandoned by the people. When that prin ciple shall once be established and conceded by all, the details of legislation should be so arranged, and will be, as to do complete justice both to the corporations and to the people. That power has not since been " abandoned by the people," either in Wisconsin or any other state, and the doctrines he enunciated subsequently became the decisions of the highest state courts, and were affirmed fully by the lasting judgment of the supreme court of the United States. They are now accepted everywhere, by railroads as well as courts and legis latures. They are settled principles which no cause or emergency brings into dispute or question. Curiously enough, while Carpenter was delivering an ad dress at Janesville, Wisconsin, and just as he had made a spirited reference to the contest between the people and the railways, he received a telegram from Madison, where Judges David Davis, of the United States supreme court, Thomas Drummond, of the United States circuit court, and James C. Hopkins, of the United States district court, were hearing a test-case under the Potter law, stating that the act in all its provisions had been held constitutional and valid. These great triumphs, the good influence of which will never cease to be felt by the people, came at the end of a LIFE OF CARPENTER. l6l long series of vituperations and personal as well as profes sional defamations that never have had a parallel in Wiscon sin. The stand he made was precisely like that of the individual who went out single-handed to do battle against the artillery, musketry and cavalry of an entire army. Few lawyers ever scored a more complete and important victory, and none ever moved more fearlessly forward in what he deemed to be the just cause of the people while receiving more numerous wounds or more lasting scars. IX X 1 62 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER COURTS AND LAW PARTNERS. But few attorneys ever practiced before as many courts as Carpenter. He was first admitted to the bar in Ver mont, the record being in this form : " At the November term, 1847, of the Washington county court, and on the 25th day of November, D. M. H. Carpenter was duly enrolled as an attorney of said court, having taken the oath prescribed by the rules." At this time he passed such an unusually creditable examination as to attract the atten tion of Chief Justice Redfield, who complimented him pub licly upon his attainments and his promising future. The admission was upon the recommendation of Mr. Dillingham. His next admission was on February 16, 1848, when, upon the motion of Rufus Choate, he was admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, in Boston, Suffolk county. His was the only admission on that day, and he signed the roll in a clear, clean hand, "D. M. H. Carpenter." Arriving in Wisconsin just after it had been admitted as a state but before its circuit courts had been organized, Car penter appeared before Judge David Irvin, in the United States district court, June term, 1848, for Rock county, and formally became an attorney of that court. At the first term of the circuit court for Rock county under the state government, and on September 18, 1848, the opening day of said term, Carpenter and twenty others were admitted to practice by Judge Edward V. Whiton. On December 20, 1850, he was, on motion, admitted as " an attorney and counselor " of the supreme court of the state of Wisconsin, took the prescribed oath, and signed his name to the roll: "Math. Hale Carpenter." This record is notable for the reason that, so far as known, it is the first LIFE OF CARPENTER. 163 instance in which he used the words " Matthew Hale " as a portion of his signature. 1 At Milwaukee, January 5, 1852, he was admitted to practice in the United States district court, before Judge A. G. Miller, and signed the roll " Matt. H. Carpenter." During the December term, 1861, of the United States supreme court, held at Washington, he became an attorney and counselor thereof, the record being in these words: " On motion first made to the court in this behalf by Hon. Jere miah S. Black, it is ordered that Matthew H. Carpenter, Esquire, of Milwaukee, state of Wisconsin, be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor of the court, and he was sworn accordingly, February 5, 1862." In later years, as Carpenter's practice became greatly enlarged and diversified, he was admitted to the supreme and other courts of New York, the supreme court of Maryland, the supreme and other courts of Pennsylvania, the various courts sitting in the District of Columbia, the various courts of Virginia, Illinois, and of several other states. LAW PARTNERS. In his early years, Carpenter conceived the idea that a first-class lawyer needs no partners in fact, that such a practitioner is generally hampered and injured, rather than benefited, by partnership relations. Therefore, when he settled in Beloit, having previously refused the partnership 1 In the postscript to a letter written to his sister, Esther J. Taylor, under date of January i, 1851, he explained: "Signing my name Matt. H. Car penter, reminds me that I should explain. I had so many initials every body fell into mistakes with them some writing P. Q. R., some D. H. M., some M. H. D., some H. D. M., some one thing, and some another. So I concluded to drop the D. Then, as Merritt Hammond was so plebeian^ I determined to change the thing altogether. I now write it Matthew Hale Carpenter." As Carpenter was always a derider of aristocracy, the reason he has given for the change, namely, that his childhood name was too " plebeian," is undoubtedly, like the balance of the letter from which this is quoted, jocular. He was originally named in honor of a friend, Decatur Merritt Hammond Carpenter, LIFE OF CARPENTER. offers of Paul Dillingham and Rufus Choate, he resolved to enter into no alliances with other attorneys, but to " paddle his own canoe." So determined, as has been properly re cited, he rented an office and hung out his "shingle" as plain " D. M. H. Carpenter, counselor at law." After returning, late in the summer of 1850, from the east, he received a proposition from Hazen Cheney, who had begun to achieve professional success, to enter into a partnership. The proposal was favorable, and in September of that year, being yet partially blind, Carpenter changed his mind, and the firm of Cheney & Carpenter was an nounced. In 1856, some months before Carpenter retired from his second term as district attorney of Rock county, the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Cheney going on an extended journey to Europe. His letters from abroad were edited by Carpenter, and published in the local papers of Rock county. In the fall of 1858, shortly after Carpenter took up his residence in Milwaukee, he joined professionally with Edward G. Ryan, under the name and style of Ryan & Carpenter. This was regarded at the time, as in fact it was, the strongest legal firm in the northwest. Distinguished honors and hand some retainers were predicted for them. In March, 1859, James G. Jenkins, a young man who had begun to attract attention, was added to the alliance, and the firm name changed to Ryan, Carpenter & Jenkins. The terms of the new agreement provided that Carpenter and Ryan should retain the proceeds of strictly counsel business. At the end of about sixty days this legal family was broken up, the cause being a marked misunderstanding between the senior members as to the division of the retainers in the famous pro ceedings involving the Milwaukee & La Crosse Railway, Carpenter being counsel for Newcomb Cleveland, and Ryan for Barnes, trustee of the third mortgage bonds. It is impossi ble to estimate the degree of fame and prosperity this firm would have achieved if its members had continued together harmoniously. They were all singularly brilliant and sue- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 165 cessful men. Ryan became chief justice of the Wisconsin supreme court, and Mr. Jenkins, having been once a nom inee for the governorship, is now at the head of one of the most successful law-firms in Wisconsin. Many laughable stories concerning the domestic infelicity of the firm of Ryan, Carpenter & Jenkins were afloat at the time of its dissolution. The popular belief was that the sepa ration grew out of the fact that Carpenter was unable to bring Ryan into a laugh, and Ryan unable to provoke Car penter to anger. Certain it was, that, though occupying ad joining rooms, connected by an ample and easy-swinging door, the two carried on all business transactions with each other through the medium of written messages, carried back and forth by the perplexed but faithful clerk. From 1859, until his election to the senate, Carpenter had no partners. In August, 1869, he formed a partnership with Newton S. Murphey, which continued until 1875, with offices in Milwaukee managed by Mr. Murphey, Carpenter being largely engaged at Washington, where he also had office apartments. In 1875 tne law-firm of Carpenter & Smiths was formed, which was not dissolved until shortly before Carpenter's death. The junior members of the firm (who occupied the Milwaukee office and attended to its western business, while Carpenter continued as before in Washington) were Winfield and A. A. L. Smith, gentlemen of fine professional character and accomplishments, and high business and social standing. In April, 1877, he formed another pact in order to keep pace with his large and increasing Washington business. The name and style of the firm was Carpenter & Coleman, the junior member being James Coleman, a prominent at torney, federal official and political manager of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. This business alliance was dissolved by Carpenter's death. Its professional transactions were simply enormous and its success exceptive. It can not, of course, be said that they were in formal l66 LIFE OF CARPENTER, partnership, but Carpenter, at various times, was engaged to assist, or had the assistance of in important causes, such great jurists as Stephen A. Douglas, Jeremiah S. Black, James A. Garfield, Caleb Gushing, Wayne MacVeagh, William Fullerton, Benjamin F. Butler, John A. Campbell, Charles O'Conor, Reverdy Johnson, Edwin M. Stanton, Montgomery Blair, Richard K. Merrick, Ashbel Green, Wm. C. Whitney, Samuel Shellabarger, Luther S. Dixon, Wm. M. Evarts, Wm. M. Meredith, Lyman Trumbull, Dan iel Cady, Jonathan E. Arnold, Timothy O. Howe, Harlow S. Orton, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, and many others. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 167 CHAPTER XVII. UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. The various members of the supreme court of the United States greeted the appearance of no contemporaneous attor ney who practiced before them with more genuine satisfaction than they inwardly accorded to Carpenter. He was always so genial and courteous in his manners, so attractive in appear ance, and withal so rich in his eloquence, original in his style and clear in his reasoning, that they esteemed it a rare treat to listen to his arguments. He entered the supreme court chamber for the first time in 1862, and, after making a brief argument on a preliminary motion in the matter of his first cause before that tribunal, seated himself before leaving the chamber and wrote to his wife: SUPREME COURT ROOM, Friday, 12 o'clock, M. MY DARLING BABIES: The gravest, most dignified body of men on earth is just now before me. A squeaking voice from Jersey is enlightening the court, yet my thought is over the prairie and my heart with you, dear, precious pair, who are to me more than courts or oratory, more than sov ereignty or power dearer than the ruddy drops that visit my heart. I am well and shall write you more at length when I get rested. MATT, Carpenter always entertained a profound respect and ad miration for the supreme court, and frequently, in some deli cate manner during his arguments, made this feeling known to its members. Whenever people were disposed to attack the courts and condemn litigation as a lottery which was as likely to mete out injustice as justice, he rebuked them, point ing out the incorruptibility, conscientiousness and great wis dom of the supreme court of the United States, with the invariable addendum that " no man was ever unjustly dealt with by that tribunal." But this admiration and respect was not all on one side; it seemed to be mutually cordial between the court and Carpenter. Salmon P. Chase said : " We re- 1 68 LIFE OF CARPENTER. gard that boy as one of the very ablest jurists in the country. I am not the only justice on this bench who delights in his eloquence and his reasoning." During several years he appeared before this court not less, an,d perhaps more frequently than any other lawyer in the United States, and became very familiar and friendly with the judges. This gave rise, no doubt, to the many ludicrous anecdotes extant in regard to his alleged contempt for judicial dignity, but all of which were as far from the truth as possible. For instance, it was published in almost every newspaper in the country, that the first time Carpen- penter entered the chamber after the appointment of Morri son R. Waite to be chief justice, he " swaggered up to the new presiding judge," and, reaching his hand toward the silver snuff-box that lay before Waite, exclaimed: " Mister , please give me a pinch of that snuff ! " For an unaccount able reason this story, ridiculously improbable as it was, dropped into very general belief, and afforded Carpenter more annoyance than any other of that sort ever concocted. There was, it must be admitted, some foundation for an ecdotes of that character, as he was the sunshine of that solemn and august chamber. Almost any practitioner can, before a justice of the peace or in the ordinary country courts, throw the groundlings into convulsions by exploding cheap jokes or reciting, with groan and grimace, the musty stories of his grandfathers; but the men who can be witty and jocular and yet not offensive before such a grave and learned body as the supreme court of the United States, are indeed few. Carpenter was among and the leader of those few. Caleb Cushing once said to Henry Wilson, as the twain sat in the chamber and observed Carpenter entering, his coat and vest unfastened on account of the excessive heat, a bundle of papers and a volume of reports in one hand and a large palm-leaf fan in the other: " I do love to watch the entry of that man into court; he comes in with such a sun shiny smile, such a boyish indifference of step, and such a LIFE OF CARPENTER. 1 69 roguish twinkle of the eyes, as seem to say, * Now, listen while I have some sport l with these old codgers.' " There was absolutely no other attorney of that court who could do those things and have them appear well on his part, and prove a source of pleasure to the occupants of the bench. During the nineteen years Carpenter was a practitioner before the supreme court, he presented a comparatively large number of brother attorneys for admission, and in making the necessary motions hardly ever failed to put forth a delicate compliment for the applicant or the court, or both. For instance, he introduced to the court, and moved the admission to practice as an attorney thereof, Joseph A. Sleeper, of Chicago, while Justice Nelson was on the bench. It was Nelson's habit on such occasions to ask the attorney presenting an applicant, "Is the candidate qualified under the rule ? " After having made his motion, Carpenter ob served the punctilious justice preparing to propound his usual question, and quickly added, " I may say, your honor, that Brother Sleeper is not only qualified under the rule, but far beyond the rule." At this unexpected destruction of his time-honored formality, a curious expression overspread Justice Nelson's face, the countenances of the other justices relaxed into broad smiles, and the attorneys present agreed 1 He himself has described how he once " took the court by the horns : " MONDAY NOON, February 13, 1865. DEAR WIFE : The agony is over. The motion is decided and in our favor. Our cause is to be taken up, out of its order, on the 27th instant Good! You don't know how relieved I feel, how gratified I am. Mr. Ewing and Mr. Carlisle said it would be useless to try it; such a motion would never prevail. It did, though. Judge Hall, of California, congratulating me this morning, said he never heard so bitter a speech in court as I made on this motion, and he expected every moment the judges would stop me. So did I, I must confess; though I kept my eye wide open on old Chase, and intended, if I saw him firing up, to dodge. They didn't stop me, but did stop Gary. Truly, MATT. I7O LIFE OF CARPENTER. that, under the circumstances, none of the cloth ever re ceived a better " send-off " in the supreme court. Notwithstanding occasional playfulness, Carpenter's argu ments and reasonings on mooted and unsettled questions of law or practice had great influence upon the court individ ually and collectively, and went as far as those of any other man of his time in determining them. This was on account of the wonderful perspicuity and clearness of his reasoning and the justness as well as strength of his conclusions. That fact the members of the court never denied, nor did they ever fail, in private intercourse, to pay the highest compli ments to his ability. In fact, at the conclusion of his first argument before this court, he was awarded the honorable distinction of a very unqualified and hearty compliment from the judges. The facts are to some extent related in his own way in the following letter, composed while his first real contest before the court was progressing: WASHINGTON, D. C., Thursday Evening. MY DEAR WIFE: I have been nearly intoxicated, not with whisky, but flattery. Day before yesterday I spoke a little over an hour and yester day all day. There is no end or limit to the praise I have received from the highest sources. Judge Grier told Middleton that I was as good an orator as Clay ever was, and that he, who had heard all the great lawyers of this country, had never listened to a better argument. Judge Nelson told Starkweather (the general) this morning that my speech yesterday was a perfect treat. Lawyers, congressmen and everybody seem to think I have made a great strike and made my mark in the supreme court for all time. All this is at least very pleasant, and you who are waiting in loneliness to have me make a " strike " and then return, are entitled to enjoy my tri umph. And I know you will forgive the vanity of repeating these things. Brown spoke again this morning two hours, and Browning now has the floor against me, and will probably speak an hour in the morning; then I shall reply to them three hours to-morrow. ***** Believe me, as ever, MATT. From time to time all the justices who knew him have uttered tributes to Carpenter's genius and learning. Stephen LIFE OF CARPENTER. 1 7 1 J. Field has written that " he was one of the most remarka ble men who ever appeared before the supreme court of the United States." Joseph P. Bradley is more generous but not more emphatic. He has written: WASHINGTON, D. C, January 28, 1883. DEAR SIR : Having never been in a social way very intimate with Mr. Carpenter, I can recall no anecdotes of his every-day life worth recording. As a lawyer I knew him much better. I esteemed him one of the best ad vocates I ever knew. He was extremely happy in possessing the court at once with the pith and gist of his case, no matter how occult or compli cated it might be. Although to always do this must have cost him an im mense amount of labor and exact investigation, his address did not betray them, except in the result, his manner and style having all the outward appearance of being perfectly off-hand and spontaneous. He was indeed a thorough-bred lawyer, and must have devoted himselt in the early part of his studies very closely and laboriously to the great classics of the law. It was a real pleasure to see him in any case; and whatever else came, we always knew we should have at least one strong beam 01 light poured upon the pending case before it was closed. As far as my personal intercourse with Mr. Carpenter did extend, I al ways found him genial, pleasant and full of life and heartiness. It really gave me pain once, when Mr. Middleton, our clerk, told me Mr. C irpenter had a fancy that I did not like him. 1 could not help exclaiming: ' If I do not like Carpenter whom do I like?" 1 suppose he became possessed of the erroneous impression from the fact that 1 really felt toward him more as one fellow-lawyer feels toward another whom he loves, and was, perhaps, more free in my remarks upon his positions in argument than I would have been toward a more prim and solemn and distant individual. An explana tion of this position made our subsequent relations exceedingly pleasant. It is sad past expression to think Mr. Carpenter's life has gone out. It was a brilliant light, and will live in the memory of those who knew him as long as their lives shall last. It is also sad to contemplate the fact that some of our most brilliant lawyers are forgotten after a few years, while the plodders-on-paper remain fixed in the public mind. They illustrate what Tacitus says or Quintus Haterius: " At the close of this year died those distinguished men, Asinius Agrippa, of honorable rather than an- cient ancestry, of which he was most worthy, and Quintus Haterius, of sen atorial family and an eloquence celebrated whilst he lived, but no monuments of whose genius have survived, for his strength lay in original vigor rather than preparation; and whilst the plodding industry of others comes down to us, the sweet voice and fluent eloquence of Haterius died with him." Mr. Carpenter's senatorial efforts are, of course, preserved in the mauso leum of the Congressional Record, but they are by no means his best. His 172 LlfE OF CARPENTER. noble forensic arguments, which ought to have made him immortal, are entirely lost especially the embellishment and charm ot "that sweet voice and fluent eloquence." Yours truly, JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. Justice Samuel F. Miller's special tribute is this: WASHINGTON, February 23, 1883. DEAR SIR : My first acquaintance with Mr. Carpenter was made when, in the summer of 1863, 1 went to Milwaukee to hold the circuit court of the United States for that district The short term of the court was mainly engrossed with what has been familiarly known as the La Crosse railway litigation. There were numerous cases on the docket, in which the road, its ownership, its mortgages and its ruins were involved, in all of which Mr. Carpenter was engaged. It was evident at once that he was the peer of any man at the bar, and the superior of most of them even then, although he was quite a young man. This relation was not changed when he came to the bar of the su preme court of the United States, where he at once, on his first appearance in fact, took a front rank among its members, which he retained until the day of his death. I well remember, on the occasion of his first argument, when the judges were exchanging their robes for their overcoats in the little room appropri ated for that purpose, that Judge Grier, addressing me, exclaimed : " Brother Miller, who is that Mr. Carpenter who has come down from your circuit? I want to know him, for I have heard nothing equal to his effort to-day since Mr. Webster was before us." Mr. Carpenter had a sweet voice, a manly, frank manner, with just enough animation to command the attention, without fatiguing the ear. His utterance was very distinct, and his command of the most appropriate words, whether technical or otherwise, was equal to that of any man to whom I ever listened. Of course, this constituted him a natural orator, and for places in which it was my fortune to hear him in the courts whether at nisi prius in the haste and excitement of every-day practice, or in the more sedate audience of the supreme court, I have not known his superior in that character. But he was more. He was a great lawyer. He was thoroughly versed in the learning ol his profession, with a mind eminently adapted to seize and elucidate its principles. I think the most remarkable trait in Mr. Carpenter's character was his industry. With an easy elocution, a fine command of the choicest lan guage, and a fullness of legal learning rarely equaled, he never came to the argument of any case without a previous preparation as laborious and thorough as the youngest lawyer in his first appearance would be expected to make. It was this which enabled him to be always prepared to answer LIFE OF CARPENTER. 1 73 questions put to him by the court in those colloquies they delighted to hold with him, and in which his readiness, his apt repartee and his enviable good nature showed him in the best phase of his character. He was my intimate and valued friend for the whole period ot his pub lic life, and I love to linger over his character as a great lawyer and great advocate. I know of no contemporary of his greater in this char acter. Yours truly, SAM'L F. MILLER. Not, perhaps, in the form of writings that may be herein preserved, but each in his own way, the other justices have honored Carpenter no less than is done in the foregoing let ters. The judicial history of the United States affords but few instances of this kind. It is a judgment from the high est source affirming Carpenter's genius and learning in those enactments and principles that govern our earthly actions and determine the equitable relations of all mankind. 174 LIFE OF CARPENTER* CHAPTER XVIII. ATTRIBUTES AND TRIBUTES. There never was an argument naturally so abstract and dry that Carpenter could not enrich and make it attractive. In traveling through the dreariest waste of citations and au thorities he never failed to strew the pathway with the roses of his illustration and the fragrance of his humor. His most grave and profound pleadings were now and then unexpect edly illuminated by the vivid corruscations of his wit, as through the blackest storm-clouds burst the brightest flashes of lightning. In this respect none of his contemporaries could imitate him. Therefore it was that counsel and judges always observed his coming with pleasure, for they knew that before finishing he certainly would give them something enjoyable. It is a matter of regret that those innumerable gleams of overflowing genius as well as all the inesistible illustrations of his court oratory have been lost, except where their dimmed and mangled fragments may remain in the memories of those who can not repeat but will never forget their original brilliancy. His printed briefs were frequently as quaint and laughable as his oral arguments were rich and variegated. One of his many suits for Newcomb Cleveland was against the insolv ent Marine Bank of Milwaukee, on a financial transaction in 1859. He prayed the court for an order to compel all the creditors of the bank to contribute to the expenses of his suit, asked for a receiver, and also prayed " that such other orders, regulations, special proceedings and unheard-of remedies may be from time to time in this action invented, ordered and had as the nature of the case may require, and that this plaintiff may from time to time and always (for he never ex pects to see the end of this action) have such other and further, new and extraordinary relief as the nature of this LIFE OP' CARPENTER. action may require ; and that everybody else may have all the relief they are entitled to in this action according to law and according to the decisions of the supreme court made or to be made, and that, too, as fully and amply as anybody can here after suggest, and as the plaintiff may hereafter have occasion to ask when he sees how this thing works." Nearly a quarter of a century later, after both Carpenter and Cleve land had been gathered to their fathers, the suit was revived and several judgments were entered; but the matter is still pending, and probably Cleveland's grandchildren will not see it finally concluded. In one of his printed briefs in the Milwaukee & La Crosse Railroad cases in the supreme court of the United States, Car penter replied to the advances of his adversary by saying he knew of but one possible authority that could be urged in support of his claim; and that was the Scriptures, which said: " From him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath; " but added, that never to his knowledge had that principle been applied to the rolling-stock of a railroad company. PROFESSIONAL INDUSTRY. Carpenter's industry as a lawyer, judged by all human tests, was abreast of the marvelous. His capacity for work was unequaled. He passed the most insurmountable diffi culties without demonstration and accomplished the heaviest tasks with apparent ease. He shrunk from nothing, never complained that the work before him was greater than he might wish, never regarded the most cloudy and intricate case as beyond reduction to a clear, simple, understandable proposition. He held that legal papers should be shorn of all useless verbiage and extraneous matter, and that premises, statements of fact, the law, authorities, decisions and con clusions should be so simple and palpable that whoever could read the English language would be able to understand them perfectly. Hence it was that his briefs were every where regarded as models of lucidity and simplicity. This reputation was earned through a system of unex- 176 LIFE OF CARPENTER. ampled labor. He searched everywhere for law or decisions bearing upon the matter in hand, and brooked no rest until fully satisfied he had found the governing principle, cleared it of underbrush and rubbish, and fortified it upon every possible point the court or the opposition could raise. He thus was without doubt on his feet, and under the frequent cross-questionings of the courts, the most unhesitating and learned attorney of his time. He bore that reputation, and a competent critic has never yet pronounced it undeserved. But he enjoyed an enviable fame as an advocate outside of the somewhat limited circle of courts and barristers. His arguments always drew large popular audiences. He was never less than pleasing and instructive to the commonest novice, and very frequently his pleas were entrancing or elec- f trifying. He was always eloquent. Cicero's estimate of Mucius Scasvola might have been pronounced in equal truth of Carpenter: "He was the most eloquent among lawyers and the best lawyer among men of eloquence." METHODS OF LABOR. Vj ) - The methods and labor that brought fame thus enviable and extended, are interesting and peculiar. In this regard is had the testimony of all his surviving partners and associates. James Coleman, his last partner, testifies: Carpenter's manner of working was different from that of lawyers ordi narily. Instead of having a regular routine of e very-day work, coming down to the office at nine and working till four, and then leaving everything until the next day, he worked at a case steadily day and night until his brief was complete. Then he would rest. He might spend days in appar ently doing no hard work. Yet he would be thinking of the case he had on hand, and when everything was ready, he did not stop until all he had on his mind was committed to paper and in the printer's office. While he did not work regularly, he worked more hours in a month or a year than any half-dozen lawyers of whom I ever heard. Winfield Smith, of Milwaukee, a member of the firm of Carpenter & Smiths, brings corroborative evidence: His habits of work were irregular. Studious and industrious, he often gave his days freely to mere friendly chat, and when darkness sent away LIFE OF CARPENTER. his visitors he would settle down to the serious business of study, which often lasted far after midnight Working with nervous rapidity, he made, in a few silent hours, such strides in the preparation of cases as, with other men, required days of patient labor. A. A. L. Smith, another member of the same firm, goes in a slightly different direction: The traits of character most noticeable in the office were his thorough and vigorous pursuit of any investigation he had in hand until he had mas tered and exhausted it; his genial, pleasant manner toward all, no matter what errand brought the visitor nor how inopportune the visit; the persist ence and rapidity with which he dispatched business, and above all his abounding cheerfulness, by which he made even the most laborious task a source of pleasure to whosoever assisted him in its performance. Clear ness, conciseness and accuracy of statement were always sought by him both in his own utterances and those of others, and it was frequently his practice to point out to those about him any language found in decisions under view which excelled in these respects. If the sentence contained an important rule of law, it was his practice to commit it to memory. Rufus Choate said "that " Young Carpenter was possessed of a love for devouring books that was more than remark able it amounted almost to a mania." Judge Geo. W. Gate, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, who was familiar with Carpenter's habits in Washington, says: People called Matt, brilliant, but they did not know by what exertions he became so. No one, except those who were closely connected with him, knew of his work. One moment he would be in the senate, and the next would be gone. If you had searched for him you would have found him in the senate library, the congressional library or in the supreme court room. It was a mystery to many what time he found to sleep and rest. The venerable Elisha Starr, of Milwaukee, who for many years was Carpenter's printer, deposes that a part of the bargain of that period was a proviso allowing his patron to read all proofs and compare printed with original briefs in the night, after the work of the day had been wholly laid aside. Mr. Starr alleges that Carpenter almost invariably appeared late in the evening to examine his proofs, and that he was very particular to know that every citation or quotation was absolutely correct. His custom was to bring one or two good cigars which were destroyed as the work 12 178 LIFE OF CARPENTER. proceeded. He thus could accomplish, Mr. Starr avers, more than any other man who ever entered his office. Frequently, after attending to office business all day in Milwaukee, he would take the cars in the evening for some point in the interior of the state, where he had been engaged to appear in court on the following morning. It is related by numerous railway conductors and employes that on such occasions he generally asked for a chair and a desk in the baggage car, and having spread before him the books brought from the office, would work with marvelous intensity upon the cause he was to represent on the morrow, oblivious of the rattle of the cars, the crash of incoming and outgoing baggage, or the stops and starts of the train, until the journey was finished. At such times he was regarded by the railway employes with deep curiosity. He generally unfastened his coat and vest, laid aside his soft crushed hat, and chewed with inces sant rapidity upon an unlighted cigar. If, after working and traveling all night in this manner, he could secure one hour's rest and sleep at the end of the journey, he was, to all ap pearances, perfectly refreshed, and entered into the business and labors of the day with such cheerfulness and overflow ing good humor as with others only succeed a long and happy vacation. / He believed sincerely in the substance of the ancient oath of English barristers: "To present nothing to the court in I falsehood, but to make war for his client;" and often declared / that he agreed with Lord Brougham that a lawyer's fealty to his client was above that to his king. These beliefs car ried him into those long sieges of labor and research in which whole libraries were literally devoured for the benefit of every client intrusting him with business. A WORK WITHOUT PAY. Perhaps no lawyer of equal or approximate eminence ever so successfully escaped the calumny of the charge that he LIFE OF CARPENTER. was an extorter of exorbitant fees. Certainly no one was ever more deserving of such an escape. He never turned away a client because of his poverty, holding that the poor were especially entitled to every consideration and advan tage before the courts. They must, he said, depend upon judicial tribunals to do for them what the power of wealth can generally accomplish for its possessors without the aid of judge, jury or attorney, outside of the tantalizing and costly delays of legal proceedings. " Courts," he once contended before the supreme court of Wisconsin, " are the poor man's only safe and sure protec tion ; and as I am a sworn officer of the court, it would be my duty, if it were not the impulse of my heart, to prose cute his cause with my best vigor and ability without fee or hope of reward. As your honors deal out justice without regard to the wealth of your petitioner, so must I, if I re main true to my profession, bestow upon him my professional services when his rights or possessions shall fall into jeop ardy, though he hath not a farthing for my fee." A mem ber of the court complimented him for this noble sentiment, declaring it not only adorned and elevated him and his pro fession, but " would enrich any system of religion in the world." Jeremiah S. Black, dwelling upon this character istic of his dead peer and friend, said : His notions of professional ethics were pure and high toned. He never acted upon motives of lucre or malice. He would take what might be called a bad case, because he thought that every man should have a fair trial; but he would use no falsehood to gain it; he was true to the court as well as to the client. He was the least mercenary of all lawyers ; a large proportion of his business was done for nothing. He could never turn a deaf ear to the pleadings of pov erty, though often the plea was that of the dissembler and scoundrel, against which a demurrer would have been sus tained in any court of equity under the sun. This generos ity amounted to almost a fault. With even those known to be in possession of the means for the liquidation of debts, he l8o LIFE OF CARPENTER. was not always exacting. Hundreds of his earned and ac knowledged fees remain unpaid to this day, because the debtor clients pleaded poverty or had suffered misfortune. PROFESSIONAL ESTIMATES. Some lawyers browbeat witnesses, some abuse and insult them, some attempt to frighten and others to anger them, and others still to lead them, by entangling questions, into unintentional misstatements or contradictions about those minor details with which the vital parts of a case can always be surrounded. These contemptible tricks, which are like short weights with the grocer, forgery with the banker, and general dishonesty with any business class, were never Car penter's. He was above them, and more successful before the jury or the court than any of their votaries. Judge MacArthur illustrates Carpenter's ability to expose instead of hide the truth, by this reference to cases coming under his judicial observation: Lord Brougham's cross-examination of the Italian witness in the House of Lords, upon the trial of Queen Caroline, has always been regarded as one of the greatest master-pieces in the history of English state trials. But I am quite sure that I have witnessed an instance of the same kind upon the Ottman trial, in this district, for the treasury robbery, in which for two days Carpenter conducted the cross-examination of an accomplice used as a witness by the government. The wonderful fertility of interrogation that was baffled by no evasion, and the patience with which he listened to tedious details, and utilized them by dexterous turns of expression and quick and unexpected questions, presented his wonderful skill and resources in a way which I have never seen approached. In two other instances, I have known him, by the mere force of probing the conscience and throw ing the witnesses off their guard, to trace the crimes of forgery and perjury to the witnesses themselves, in so clear a manner as to end the prosecutions and save his clients. While Carpenter always gave expression to his perfect respect for the bench, he was essentially intolerant, it may be said a despiser, of a judge who knew no law. He regarded it as an outrage to have such men on the bench, and thought them deserving of as little esteem as they possessed LIFE OF CARPENTER. l8l legal learning. In one of the cases brought in behalf of the United States treasury for robbery, he plainly intimated that one of the judges knew no law, and the imputation was meekly borne. Said the great English jurist, Lord Coke : " If I am asked a question of common law, I should be ashamed if I could not immediately answer it; but if I am asked a question of statute law, I should be ashamed to answer it without refer ring to the statute book." Carpenter's vast store of legal knowledge could not be justly described by Coke's estimate of himself. He was familiar not only with the rich princi ples of the common law, but with statutes, constructions and decisions generally. In 1856, Judge Samuel Ingham, of Connecticut, went out to Beloit. He there met Carpenter, of whom he had never heard. On his return he said: "I met in Beloit the most re markable young lawyer I ever saw. I have no doubt that some day he will be the biggest lawyer in the country. Oh, but he is a perfectly immense man." When Alexander W. Randall was postmaster-general under President Johnson, he received a letter inquiring about Carpenter as a lawyer, and returned this beautiful reply: I only know him at the bar, summing up the most hopeless and complex case with a clear head and comprehensive mind ; arranging facts from a promiscuous heap, in such admirable order that you comprehend all the minutice; apprehending delicate and intangible facts, and holding them up to view; drawing conclusions that startle from the very inflexibility of their logic; hurling contempt upon fraud, and calling tears into the eyes of all by a peroration as touching and eloquent as a slice of Cicero himself! And all in one continuous, unfaltering strain of fluency, unmoved by a momen tary bewilderment, unchecked by adverse ideas, couched in simple words that leap from the heart out of his mouth, and, with the imnetus of earnest ness, c&rrying conviction, proof and demonstration to all who listen. Lucien B. Caswell, who studied law in Carpenter's office and subsequently served in congress with him as a representative from Wisconsin, thus sets forth his professional character: When I first made his acquaintance he had practiced at his profession only two years, but he had already gained a reputation and experience seldom enjoyed by others in a half-score of years. He went, as it were, to 1 82 LIFE OF CARPENTER. the fountain-head for his law and his style of oratory. When there, he imbibed the ambition to rival, at some day, even his instructors. It was the pride of his heart to be placed in history by the side of Choate and Webster, and I believe, as I have heard him say, while yet a youth, he preferred a single feather from the plume those men wore to all the wealth which human hands could acquire. When he di.d he owed nothing to the bench or to the bar; he had not taken from, but had added to, the law. This paragraph, from Geo. C. Hazelton, who served with Carpenter in congress, is as full of truth as it is of emphasis : . He became familiar with all the authorities and the principles and prac tice of the civil and common law, with the code and all that pertained to it Such marvelous facility, such strength and practical knowledge h id he ac quired in the wide range of his profession, that there was no court of justice on earth whose adjudications were in the English language before which he could not easily and readily practice. Lawyers who could do this are few in any age or any country. As a trial lawyer, few men ever held a keener lance; and in the courts of final resort he was welcomed as an oracle of the law. David Davis, associate justice of the United States supreme court, and United States senator during the most brilliant period of Carpenter's career, knew him before the days of his national renown. At the memorial services in congress he referred to that period pleasantly: Carpenter was neither a statesmen nor a politician. He was pre-emi nently a lawyer, who may be said at a single bound to have leaped into the front rank of the profession which he loved, and which he honored. In another sphere, it was my privilege to have known, long before his na tional fame was achieved, how well he deserved distinction, and how cer tain it was to come with the first opportunity. He had one of the best and clearest minds ever known in this country. The late Jeremiah S. Black, one of the greatest lawyers on the American continent, who loved and was loved by Carpenter as a brother, gave him the loftiest niche in the pinnacle of professional fame: To what height his career might have reached if he had lived and kept his health another score of years, can now ba only a speculative question. But when we think of his great wisdom and his wonderful skill in the fo rensic use of it, together with his other qualities of mind and heart, we can not doubt that in his left hand would have been uncounted riches and abundant honor, if only length of days had been given to his right. As it was, he distanced his contemporaries and became the peer of the greatest among those who had started long before him. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 183 CHAPTER XIX. POLITICS. Those who knew Carpenter bear testimony that he was y not a politician. There were several reasons why he could not be a politician in the popular acceptation of the term. He was too much of a lawyer, the honors of his profession were too dear to him, he was too far removed from secretive- ness and cunning, too outspoken, too frank and too impulsive. \Z Yet he was not without ambition. ./> He respected the rewards of merit and great achievements in all directions, but in earlier life believed they could be more certainly attained through the profession of the law / by becoming influential before the highest courts and an expounder of the statutes and commandments of his coun try than by the devious methods and limitless trickery of professional politics. He was, however, always an active supporter of the candidates and approved principles of his party, and believed it one of the chief duties of citizen- | ship to be informed in the current affairs of government, and 1 ^ to cultivate an interest in the politics which creates and con- ) trols the machinery of government. ' MACHINE POLITICIANS." He was once asked if certain leading men to whom he had publicly referred were not " machine politicians," and gave this reply, which ought to ring perpetually in the ears of every citizen of this republic: I don't know as I understand what is meant by a machine politician. If it means one who takes a lively interest in the management and adminis tration of party affairs, attends caucuses and nominating-conventions, and endeavors to his utmost to secure the success of his party, then the more machine politicians the better. Every man ought to be one. In this country the people govern. Thev make the laws, and make and unmake public men. Every one knows that free institutions can only be adminis- 184 LIFE OF CARPENTER. tered through political organization ; and every organization implies some executive head, because it is impossible for the people en masse to execute the details of any plan whatever. This is true of every organization known among men from the most powerful government in the world down to a village debating society. It is the duty of every citizen to take an inter est and exercise his influence in public affairs, and this he can only do by acting in combination with others; or, in common phrase, uniting with some political party. He will of course act with that party which most nearly represents and executes his sentiments. And then, believing that his party is in the right, it is his duty to do every legitimate thing in his power to secure its success, because the success of his party promotes that line of policy which he regards as best for the interests of the country. In the fall of 1848, when Wisconsin, a fresh, new state, was first permitted to vote for presidential electors, Car penter addressed a public gathering in Beloit in advocacy of the principles of democracy and the election of Lewis Cass. The particular object of the speech was to contro vert certain theories put forth by speakers who had pre viously appeared in Beloit in the interest of Zachary Taylor and Martin Van Buren. Those present were astonished at the pungency and strength of the young barrister's argu ment and the elegance of his diction. The effort won numer ous friends, even among those who, constituting the majority in Beloit, did not agree with his premises or conclusions. HIS FIRST OFFICE. Having, in 1850, just recovered from blindness, and formed a law-partnership with Hazen Cheney, it was suggested that Carpenter's business prospects would be benefited by becoming a candidate for district attorney of Rock county. Such an idea could hardly be otherwise than pleasing to a man not yet twenty-six years of age, and he fell in with the suggestion. The plan was communicated to the leading democrats, and being almost unanimously indorsed, was promulgated and supported by the Democratic Standard^ the party newspaper organ of the county. The convention was held in Janesville on Saturday, Octo ber 19, 1850, with closed doors. Carpenter, a delegate in LIFE OF CARPENTER. the body, voted against locking out not only reporters but the voting masses, as it would afford the opposition press such an opportunity to howl " star-chamber " as they would not fail to improve. He was voted down, but his predictions were amply verified. He was nominated on the first formal ballot, and at once entered upon an active canvass, with a superabundance of spirit and enthusiasm, circulating through the county with great rapidity, and, as the returns show, with equal effect. Levi Alden, the foremost editor of Rock county in that day, accounts for Carpenter's successful canvass : " Matt, was a mighty good fellow, as smart as lightning, and the best-looking young man in the county. Everybody knew him and everybody liked him." There were two other can didates for district attorney in the field Joseph A. Sleeper (whig) and S. A. Hudson (free soil). In Beloit he polled two hundred and thirty-six votes, while both the others secured only one hundred and seventeen. In the city of Janesville the ratio was almost as favorable; in the towns, where he was less known, his majorities were less. The office brought him but $300 per year in cash, 1 but it was worth something as an advertisement. There were not many cases in those days for the district attorney, but the few that came into his hands were prosecuted with such vigor and ability as to win the applause of the press and tax-payers. In 1852, Carpenter supported Franklin Pierce, the regular democratic nominee for President, making the principal address at the great mass-meeting of the Rock county de mocracy, held in Janesville, September 6th. Mr. Warden, secretary of the meeting, officially reported: "Mr. Carpen ter answered the enthusiastic call for him by an animated strain of eloquence that delighted the audience through the . entire address, and fired them with the ardor of his own intrepid soul." IThe board of supervisors in 1852 passed a resolution granting him $100, as the record divulges, for " incidental expenses." 1 86 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Although not a candidate for re-election, he nevertheless received about one-third of the votes cast in the democratic convention of 1852 for district attorney. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. There was held at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, September 6, 1854, a democratic convention for the purpose of nomi nating a candidate for congress in the second district. Car penter was not a delegate to the convention or to any of the primaries, though it was said he was responsible for the adoption by one of the senatorial conventions of a set of semi-anti-slavery resolutions, 1 and was the author of them. He was present at Mineral Point during the convention, and advised that some rank pro-slavery resolutions presented by Mr. Rose be laid on the table. As the balloting for candi dates progressed, it was discovered that he had more than a respectable following among the delegates, and at one time his friends believed he would be nominated. On the tenth formal ballot, Ben. C. Eastman, who was finally chosen, 1 These are the resolutions imputed to Carpenter: Resolved, That we are in favor of an amendment to the fugitive slave law of 1850, giving the right of trial by jury to persons claimed as fugitive slaves. Rfso'ved, That the democracy of this senatorial district are opposed to the action of the congress of the United States in the passage of the Ne braska and Kansas bill, by which the Missouri compromise of 1820 was re pealed. For the reasons : First. That the union of the states was preserved by, and has rested upon, that compromise for thirty-four years. Second. That it opens to agitation the question of the extension of slav ery, where, by the compromise of 1820, it could not go. Third. That being opposed to an extension of slavery as a moral and political evil, it is an outrage on the settled policy of the country to open the door by which slavery can enter upon free territory. Resolved, That we repudiate the action of the President of the United States in opening the agitation of slavery in violation of the resolution of the late Baltimore convention, and of the doctrine of his inaugural address in putting forward thi bill organizing Nebraska and Kansas and truckling to the slave power. Resolved^ That we are opposed to the admission of any more slave terri tory into the Federal Union. LIFE OF CARPENTER. l8^ led him by one vote only. He was not a candidate, but was *"7 present as an opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska act, by which territories were to determine for themselves whether they would admit slavery. o AGAIN IN OFFICE. The Rock county democratic convention for 1854 was held in Janesville October nth. Carpenter was a delegate in it from Beloit and chairman of the committee on creden tials. He was unanimously nominated for district attorney, and in prosecuting his canvass made a speech at Janesville 4i to democrats, republicans and whigs ;" also two or three addresses in other parts of the county. The tide of re publicanism, which had just set in, was very strong through Wisconsin, and especially in Rock county, and nothing but his^great personal popularity carried him through. The county canvassers at first gave one thousand one hundred and nine votes to Carpenter, one thousand one hun dred and nine to G. B. Ely, and seven hundred and eighty-two to S. J. Todd, the three candidates for the office, but subse quently threw out the entire vote of the town of Turtle, which gave the election to Ely. Carpenter thereupon, on relation to the attorney-general of the state, filed an informa tion in the nature of a quo warranto with the supreme court. The issue, inquiring by what warrant Geo. B. Ely held, used .and enjoyed the office of district attorney of Rock county, was sent to the circuit court for trial. The jury found a -special verdict declaring the vote of the town of Turtle was thrown out without due warrant, that the several votes cast for D. M. H., D. H., D. M. and M. T. Carpenter were in tended for Matt. H. Carpenter, that he was duly elected, and that Ely was an interloper unlawfully exercising the functions of district attorney. On appeal by Ely to the supreme court this judgment was affirmed. Carpenter drew a full term's pay for a half-term's service. With this litigation a curious circumstance is connected. 1 88 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Ely had received the certificate of election, filed his bond and taken the oath .of office. To secure a judgment of ouster Carpenter must go behind this certificate. At the same time another, more important, case was pending. W. A. Barstow, democrat, had received his certificate of election as governor. Coles Bashford, his opponent, had filed an information to inquire by what right Barstow was holding the office. Car penter was engaged as one of Barstow's attorneys, and, to- protect his client in office, was compelled to argue that the court could not go behind the certificate of the proper can- vassing-board. In his own case he was contending that the court must do exactly the opposite. The court held that it was proper and competent to go behind the certificate, thus installing Carpenter but ousting his client, Barstow. CHARACTERISTIC LETTER. In October, 1856, Carpenter was unanimously re-nominated for district attorney, but promptly declined, in the following characteristic letter: BELOIT, Oct. 23, 1856. To the Democrats of Rock County: I am equally flattered and honored by having received from your late county convention a nomination for re-election to the office of district at torney. I may regard it as an evidence of your continuing confidence, to which I could never be indifferent. This office now requires that whoever would perform its duties should be able to cope with the best ot our lawyers ; should be efficient and persever ing as a business man ; and above all, firm and independent in exercising the powers reposed in him. In view of the importance of the position, it is an honor to receive your support for it. But I have already held the office two terms. I am a dem ocrat, and as such, in favor of rotation, particularly, when, as in this case, the event is inevitable. You will, therefore, please accept my thanks, and consider me out of the ring. Very respectfully, MATT. H. CARPENTER. Carpenter could see that the republicans would sweep everything, as they subsequently did ; hence the humor of the concluding lines. But before this declension was penned he LIFE OF CARPENTER. 1 89 had made another. A large number of the leading demo crats of Iowa, La Fayette and Grant counties united in a letter asking him to permit the use of his name in the next democratic congressional convention to be held at Mineral Point for the second district. He replied- BELOIT, June 26, 1856. HON. SAMUEL CRAWFORD and others: Gentlemen I have received your communication requesting that my name may be presented by you to our convention for nomination to the next congress. I am sensible of the honor done me by your request, and am grateful for the expressions of regard accompanying it. Proud as I should be to receive your support; prouder still to represent you, and all the true and gallant-hearted democracy of this district in con gress, a just regard to my own circumstances and to the claims of others upon me, says to ambition, " be still; " and omnipotent poverty commands, " decline." You are pleased to say I could strengthen the ticket. This is the partial ity of friendship. There are doubtless many who would receive greater support. Our chief opposition will be in this county; and I have so often and so warmly combated the errors of the prevailing party, that they would feel at my nomination that fortune had given their ancient foe into their power, and th -y would rally to a great revenge. While. I decline, I need hardly say that any aid in my power will be most cheerfully rendered to our candidate. ****** We have fallen upon stormy times. The sharp sorrows that softened the .hearts of our fathers, and led them in a spirit of concession and compro mise to form a government to be clothed wi h only such powers as con cerned all the states alike, have given place to a prosperity unknown to the nation. We are rich and powerful; unforgiving and uncharitable; and our prosperity threatens to be our ruin. Could Washington have seen our days and our dangers, a-* the prophetic eye of Moses read the destiny of the people he had led to Jordan's rippling stream, he could have warned us in language not unlike that of the Jewish lawgiver: "Beware. * * * When thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget " the union and charity that brought thee through tribulation and blood to peace and power. All confess that our country is in danger; all acknowledge the duty of preserving it from every danger, and to do this, while the ship of state is tossed by the billows of faction, our chart must be the constitution, our motto, " our whole country." LIFE OF CARPENTER. We have been eminently fortunate in the selection of our presidential' candidate, and offer along with principles that ; re indispensable to the existence of the republic, a champion known to the whole country as a statesman intelligent, conservative and honest; and to doubt his success were to lose faith in the intelligence of the people and their devotion to the land, and the whole land ot Washington. Very respectfully yours, MATT. H. CARPENTER. Carpenter could see there was no hope for the election of the democratic candidate in his district, whoever he might be. Otherwise, no doubt, he would have accepted a nomination. There is foresight in the preceding letter. Its writer feared the south had ample power to destroy the Union, and would not hesitate to do it if sufficiently exasperated. The leaders, of that section had threatened disunion if Fremont should be elected and an attempt be made to carry out the princi ples he represented. Carpenter thought the Union with slavery as permitted by the constitution preferable to dis memberment, fratricidal strife and governmental chaos. His reference to the ruin threatened by prosperity was more than an ordinary prophecy. It was literally fulfilled. The slave power, swollen with wealth, grew in arrogance until its leaders imagined nothing could stand before them. Then came the earthquakes and the tornadoes of the Rebell ion. As the contest progressed, many things developed as the policy of the southern democracy that Carpenter could not indorse. He said " the south was overreaching itself, the northern democrats were entirely submerged, and he had little heart in the battle." He only delivered one regular address during the campaign, and that, as the newspapers of the day reported, was "just such a speech as a lawyer with an exceedingly bad case would be expected to make." DECLINES A NOMINATION. On October 24, 1857, the democratic senatorial convention for the district in which Carpenter resided gave him the nomination. He declined in the following odd letter: LIFE OF CARPENTER. BELOIT, Oct. 25, 1857. To the Democracy of the i8th Senatorial District : I am told by returning delegates from the senatorial convention, held at Johnstown, on the 24th instant, that my name was put in nomination as democratic candidate for senator in the next legislature. Nothing can be more gratiiying to me at any time than the slightest ap probation of my democratic friends, and I duly appreciate this mark ot the convention's esteem. If this nomination were a mere matter of form and my name needed to keep up party organization, I should not object. But knowing that my election would be inevitable if I should run, and as my business will not permit me to be in Madison this winter, I deem it my duty to decline. There is another reason why I would not allow myself to be elected senator to the next legislature. I expect the whole " Shanghai " party will be tried on impeachment before the next senate, and I am consc r ous of so much prejudice against them that I could not, with propriety, sit as one of their judges. Very respectfully, MATT. H. CARPENTER. This letter was facetious. Its writer distinctly saw the approaching tidal wave of republicanism and shrewdly kept out of its path. Dr. Alden I. Bennett, the republican nomi nee for state senator in that district, received one thousand and seventy majority. Anticipating such a result, Carpenter gayly wrote that if he should run his election " would be inevitable." STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. Carpenter was always an admirer of Stephen A. Doug las. He regarded the " Little Giant " as a far-sighted statesman, an able lawyer, and above all a man who, though he might, as all mortals do, fall into occasional errors of pol icy and method, was nevertheless desirous of doing that which would most broaden, strengthen and glorify the re public. Entertaining, in addition to these views, a strong personal friendship for the man, a favored son, like himself, of the " Green Mountain State," he rejoiced when Douglas received the democratic nomination for the presidency in 1860. He thought no other democrat could avert civil war or LIFE OF CARPENTER. postpone its frightful advance for there were none so blind they could not plainly discern the gathering storm. There fore, while appealing to all to vote for Douglas as the only hope of averting an armed effort at governmental dismember ment, he directed his efforts principally to mollifying the spirit of rebellion, warning his fellow democrats that an insurrec tion against the old flag for no better reason than the election of Lincoln, would solidify the free states arouse the sturdy north to strike as one man to preserve from dishonor the sa cred blood of Yorktown and New Orleans. Without consulting his wishes, the democratic state central committee announced several addresses from him. Most of these he refused to fulfill. He was advertised by flaming posters to address a " grand mass-meeting at Madison," but failed to appear, and the occasion was thereafter dilated upon by the republican press as the " Mammoth Cave at Madi son." At Watertown, on Monday evening preceding the day of election, he addressed a large meeting. He pleaded for the election of Douglas, but closed by warning his audience that, if the democrats of the south should, in the event of Lincoln's election, attempt to leave the Union and set up a slave empire, he " hoped to be the first man to raise a musket in resistance, and should expect to see every northern demo crat by his side, ready to fight for the banner and the Union of our fathers." ) This portion of his speech did not meet the unqualified approval of his hearers.^ Lincoln was elected, as he expected, and war came, as he predicted. LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XX. THE REBELLION. It was at the outbreak of the great war of the Rebellion that Carpenter rose highest above party fealty, proclaiming that, when the republic was in danger, there could, by no possibility, be more than one party among patriotic men C all must be on the side of their country. It was then that his patriotism and love for the Union became most conspicu ous shone like a beacon, steady, bright and clear, far above the doubts, deflections, waverings, cowardice, sedition and stormy turmoil around him, guiding thousands safely into the harbor of Union and loyalty who otherwise would have been wrecked and lost amidst the surrounding dangers. When the hosts of the Rebellion dashed up from the south, democrat though he professed to be, Carpenter was the first man of note in the northwest to publicly raise his voice in support of the government, arousing the people as no other had ever before aroused them. He defended and supported the war measures of the administration, maintaining with matchless power and thrilling eloquence that the govern ment, like a human being, had the inalienable right to self- preservation, and that all measures of self-defense, whatso ever their nature, must, in the very nature of things, be right and lawful. This clear and simple doctrine gathered at once the scat tering doubters of the republican party, won over the patri otic Union men of the democracy, dismayed those who were arraying themselves on the side of the rebellious and seced ing south, and made Carpenter the Moses, the war oracle of his state. Not only that, but it gave him a hold upon the heart and affection of the people, which was never destroyed by all the subsequent attack and detraction of political oppcn sition. 13 LIFE OF CARPENTER. THE FIRST GUN. His first speech in behalf of the Union was delivered in Milwaukee on the ipth of April, 1861, on the occasion of formally raising the stars and stripes over the chamber of commerce building. There were not many flags in the country at the time General Beauregard fired upon Fort Sumter, and none in Milwaukee for public buildings. The commander of the revenue cutter then lying in the harbor sent its colors to be run up over the custom-house tempo rarily, and the members of the chamber of commerce voted to purchase a fine national banner for the flag-staff on their building. William Young begged the committee appointed for that purpose to make no purchase, as he desired to pre sent to the chamber a fine set of colors. The offer was ac cepted, and on the following day, April ipth, the glowing folds of the silken banner were thrown to the breeze in the midst of a vast concourse of people and such enthusiasm and dem onstrations of patriotism as no pen or tongue can describe. Carpenter delivered the dedicatory speech. Unfortunately nothing like a complete or accurate record of his utterances was made. It was not a time for record or details. It was a time for action. / No man could curb his rising passions for speech-writing; he must have the freedom born of and demanded by the inspiring greatness of the oc casion. He opened the address as follows : Nearly forty years of profound public tranquillity have passed over and blessed our land. We have forgotten to use the weapons of war and have cultivate J the arts of peace. We have engrossed our thoughts and enlisted our hearts in the pursuits of agriculture, manufactures and commerce, and in advancing the arts and sciences must useful to man. No nation has been so blessed none has so prospered. While we have been thus improving all our mutual interests, amassing wealth at home and accumulating honors abroad, other nations have been vexed and worried with the " dogs of war; " the war cloud has darkened the sunny sky of Italy; armies have trampled the vine-clad fields of France, and the recruiting drum has been heard on the green hills and in the sweet valleys of merry England. It has seemed that we alone were to be exempt from the terrible calamities which have LIFE OF CARPENTER. 195 desolated the hearth and wrung the heart in other lands. Our remote sit uation, the circumstances of our nationality, and the habits of our people, and above all, our reverence for the hereditary policy of our country, seemed sufficient to insure our continued peace and prosperity. But now, when we were least looking for it, our trial has come. Prosperity has debauched our people and corrupted our government. We have grown rich, have waxed fat; and as a nation have become proud and wicked. " Swinish gluttony Ne'er Ipoks to heaven amid his gorgeous feast, But with besotted, base ingratitude, Crams, and blasphemes his feeder.* With everything to fill the hearts of the American people with thanks to God and love toward each other, God has been forgotten and brother is in arms against brother. The union of these states, to accomplish which our fathers sacrificed so much, and which has been rendered sacred, as the nation thought, by the efforts of statesmen of all grades of intellect and every shade of political sentiment to preserve and protect, the Union is menaced with sacrilegious violence; and armies are marching on Amer ican soil to destroy our country ; and our country's flag has been displaced on the battlements of a national fortress for the treasonable banner that flouts the southern breeze. To quiet this unholy Rebellion, to avenge this unendurable insult to our national flag, our people are rising as one man ; and every man feels in sulted by this insult to his country. Secession is not a remedy for evils, but is the sum of all evils; it is a heresy that must be drowned in blood; it can not be reasoned down; and much as we all do and must regret it, there is but one of two things left us we must crush it or it will crush us. Such is the state of feeling in the south, that nothing but the sword can remedy it; and it becomes our duty, as good citizens and Christian men, to prosecute this war so effectually, and end it so speedily, that secession shall know no resurrec tion. The south, once more reduced to obedience, may ask an amendment to the constitution, which we may grant. In my opinion the constitution of the so-called Southern Confederacy has many valuable improvements upon ours ; but until this theory of secession is extirpated, of what value is any constitution? It is but a contract to bind one side it binds the faith ful and obedient, but lays no obligation upon the mischievous and trait orous. Suppose in a reconstruction of the Union, as some talk about it, it were expressed in the new constitution that no state should secede without consent of two-thirds of the other states. A sovereign state may as well secede from such a government as from any other. No constitution can be formed which, with this theory admitted, can bind an unwilling state. This creed is the lion in the path of our future progress as a nation, and we must destroy it or it will devour us. And no expenditure of blood or II 196 LIFE OF CARPENTER. treasure should be spared to accomplish this result Our prosperity is checked; our bright prospects as a nation darkened; we must pass through rivers of blood before we again repose in peaceful fields. . / LX" When the end drew near, he turned his glowing face, ^ lighted by unusual fires, and stretched his hands toward the ") glorious emblem above him and cried: We hang out our banner no dusty rag representing the twilight of seven stars, but the old banner that has floated triumphantly in every breeze, the banner Decatur unfurled to the Barbary States, that Jackson held over New Orleans, that Scott carried to the hall of Montezumas and thereby we mean to say, in no spirit of defiance, but with the firmness of_manly resolution, this flag shall wave while an American lives to pro tect it. And God grant it may float over a peaceful land long after the followers of the seven fallen stars shall have hung on gibbets or rotted in dungeons. ~ . No one can read these words, patriotic and stirring as they are in themselves, and form a conception of how they throbbed and burned under the marvelous power of Carpen ter's earnest eloquence, or how they lifted the vast concourse of people to the highest tense of patriotism, and then swept them, like the sea by a storm, into a tumult of wild enthusi asm. No one who was present ever forgot the occasion, or * how Carpenter's magic words carried all to that point where they were ready to devote any sacrifice to their country. On Monday, April I5th four days before the delivery of this address an informal war meeting was held in Milwau kee at which brief remarks were made by a score of leading citizens. Carpenter was absent from the city, having gone to Walworth county upon legal business; but he sent this telegram, quoting from Richard III before the decisive bat tle of Bos worth field: "I was unable to leave here to-day, but I am with you in spirit. ' My soul's in arms and eager for the fray.'" On his way from Walworth county the train halted at Waukesha. A crowd at the depot, observing Carpenter, demanded a speech. He appeared on the platform and said: Now that war is begun, push it to the bitter end. Let nothing be left undone. Strike your blows thick and fast; leave nothing to chance. The LIFE OF CARPENTER. only forties are unionists and disunionists. I belong to the former, thank God. All others are my enemies, and the enemies of our common country. We must fight them, not only abroad but at home. WELCOMING THE MINUTE-MEN. Thereafter, in private conversation, by interjections in his legal arguments before the courts, and in every possible man ner, Carpenter made his influence felt in favor of the admin istration and the Union. His most particular efforts were directed toward wavering democrats, with whom he pleaded: " There is no democracy now ; no true patriot can cling to the tenets of his party when his country is in danger. We must all be for the Union." Whilst thus engaged in a pri vate manner in strengthening the federal cause, there arose no occasion for any other public speech until the return of the First Wisconsin regiment. At about noon on Saturday, August 17, 1861, forty cOach- loads of the first soldiers who left Wisconsin for the war (ninety-day men) were welcomed home to Milwaukee by the firing of cannons, a monster procession, a speech from Carpenter and a grand banquet spread by the ladies. All business was suspended, and the surrounding country poured in thousands of visitors. The city was crowded with peo ple eager to do homage to their country's defenders. After the parade, the soldiers and their friends repaired to Camp Scott, where Carpenter delivered the welcoming address. In it he advocated freeing or capturing the slaves, and aroused the democracy. A few extracts should be quoted: I come in behalf of the loyal and patriotic people of Milwaukee to welcome home the First Wisconsin regiment. Called by the President of the United States to defend the menaced government under which we were born, and under which God grant we and our children may live and die, you cheerfuly, almost instantly, laid aside the profitable pursuits of private life, left business to lake care of it self, bade farewell to home and friends, and hastened to throw yourselves between our country and its traitorous assailants. You knew very well that the holiday of soldiering was over, that you were invited to no frolic feast, no national pageant ; but to the field where Americans would contend 198 LIFE OF CARPENTER. with Americans in a. nobler, holier cause than ever marshaled Greek against Greek. But with the joy and pride of this occasion there mingles the chastening sorrow that you are not all here. Some who went forth have not returned. George Drake is mustered with the hosts that learn war no more; and his poor mother has learned that even widowhood can be rendered more cheer less and desolate. With a grief which only a mother can know, we may not interfere; but we can offer to her the consolation that of old soothed the hearts of the Roman matrons, for son fell -with his face to the foe. And when the turmoils of this wicked Rebellion shall have subsided, the people of Wisconsin ought to rear a monument of marble to George Drake, her first martyr in the war we are waging for national existence. In this interval between the return of the First and the departure of the Seventh and Eighth Wisconsin regiments, we naturally pause and ask our selves, what are the ends and aims of this war? Is it a war fought for par tisan purposes, for private and selfish ends? or, is it a war for God, our country and truth? If in this struggle we fall, do we fall " blessed martyrs" or do we fall the just victims of an unholy ambition? This is an important question ; and we ought to examine the matter hon estly *and thoroughly. Patriots may say, "Our country, right or wrong; " but in this enlightened age the moral force necessary to success is in the thought that our country is right. This a question above all party politics. We should forget that we were ever separated by party lines. In this emergency we are all republicans, all democrats, all Americans. Perish every party distinction, watch- word and organization, save LIVE OUR COUNTRY! We are struggling, fighting, dying, to maintain the government our fathers established for themselves and their posterity forever. And all this for what? and why? Because slavery is sick with surfeit ing, and pants for fresh fields for her ambitious schemes. Tolerated, yes protected, by the constitution as an existing evil too deep for immediate eradication, slavery has grown deeper and deeper in its foundations, and higher and higher in its pretensions, undermining the strength and sapping the power of the constitution, until at length it feels itself stronger than the government, and turns its destructive and poisonous fangs upon the constitution under which it has grown to such fearful greatness. This black specimen of the reptile genus, warmed into life in our bosoms, now rears its scaly crest to wage a war, in which it may be that it or we must perish. The Revolution could have been stifled at its b r rth by a very little grace ful concession on the part of the British crown. The colonies sought only for a redress of grievances, and would gladly have accepted such favor and returned to their obedience. This the crown denied; and the colonies could not win the result they contended for without shaking the power of LIFE OF CARPENTER. . the mother country to its foundation. Before the colonies had achieved the long-sought-for redress of grievances they had achieved their total inde pendence. Can the south learn nothing from the lessons of history? Or has God decreed the destruction of slavery, and does he purpose to accom plish it through the folly and madness of slave-holders? If the south expects that we are much longer to fight this war with kid gloves, much longer to send armies to the south strictly watched to see they do not much injure the south, she is sadly mistaken. The powers that be may say so; wish so; but the rising determination of the north, the ab solute, imperious necessities of self-existence, are impelling things forward, where secretaries of war and smoo in-faced officials can not stop the course of events by crying, " Respect all the rights of southern property." ]_L j < If this state of things shall be long continued on the part of the south, ', armies will march in that direction with the express purpose of injuring j tlie south. This Rebellion was not begun in strict conformity with the con stitution, and the south may find that there is an unconstitutional way to suppress it. The south is carrying on a war that violates every principle of gratitude and of fealty, every oath and sanction of religion, and yet calls out to the north, " Now, remember your Christian principles ; remember i your oath to support the constitution, and protect our rights;" but the I south may find that, like the Methodist in the fight, tve, too, have fallen from grace. ******** Liberty is involved in this struggle. This last, best effort of self-govern ment must not perish thus. But we have work, -work before us. South erners are not Mexicans, will not run at a yell they, too, are Americans and have Washington among their fathers. They are foemen worthy of our steel, and foes that richly deserve our steel. This speech was enthusiastically received by the soldiers, and General John A. Starkweather, their commander, said it was the means of securing a large number of re-enlistments that he thought would otherwise have been lost. That is a tribute that can not often be paid to the power of oratory. PARTY vs. PATRIOTISM. But the copperheads of Wisconsin rejected the speech A / and reviled its author. They attacked Carpenter through the columns of the press and by private letters. Some of the ultra newspapers formally read him out of the democratic party, and leading democrats wrote to him that he was de- 2OO LIFE OF CARPENTER. stroying democracy. To one distinguished protester, Isaac Woodle, of Janesville, he made this memorable reply, , MILWAUKEE, Sept. 2, 1861. ISAAC WOODLE : Dear Sir I have received your favor in regard to my speech to the First regiment, and have read it with great surprise. Nothing could pain me more than to learn that the sentiments and opinions there expressed separate me in the least degree from the democratic party. Especially should I regret to have my political friends in Rock county think I have abandoned one principle for which we have contended; and I am per suaded that a little reflection will satisfy you and them that such is not the case. The first principle of democracy has been, and is, devotion to our whole country and fidelity to the constitution of the United States in every par ticular. Compared with this all other things are to be held as naught; and even the organization of the democratic party a party that has shown itself capable of administering the general government, because it has ever sympathized with the principles on which it is founded should be cheer fully abandoned for the present, if that be necessary, to preserve intact the government our fathers constructed for us. The sorrowing song of Judea is the language of every true patriot "remembering" his native land: '* Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" You say some of my friends think that my speech verges upon repub licanism, not to say abolitionism, in the method it hints at for prosecuting the war. This remark shows, does it not, that we are still thinking of party, when we should be thinking only of country. The question is not whether a certain line of conduct will please an abolitionist, but 'whether it will save the government. No two men can differ upon this proposition, that we have a terrible war upon our hands. Hoiu are -we to manage it? I do hope that in this terrible crisis of our country the democrats will be found, as they have been, on the side of their country against all assailants; they must not hesitate, not falter, for ruin will be the consequence. We must say of whoever is for upholding the constitution and preserving this union of states against open and secret enemies, he is my brother. We must look this war honestly in the face. We can not protect ourselves and save our country with cunning tricks, nor suppress this insurrection with a false hood. We must strike home to the rebels; hit them on their tenderest spot But it may be asked, how can a democrat, who through all the last cam paign opposed Lincoln upon the ground that his election would plunge the LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2OI country into war, now counsel a conduct of the war that most delights these very republicans who have provoked it? This question is, to my mind, very easily answered. In the last campaign we all believed that the people of the south were honest in professing their fear for the safety of slavery if Lincoln should be elected, and that, if so ex asperated, they would take up arms. It is perhaps impossible to determine, and it is immaterial, whether the south was honest in that pretense or not. It must be confessed that there are many reasons for believing that the southern leaders desired a dissolution of the Union upon other grounds, and that they would have made the effort of treason if Lincoln had been de feated. Their treatment of Douglas at Charleston, their conduct in the campaign, their undisguised preference for Lincoln's election over Douglas, can be explained upon no other hypothesis. The northern democrats treated the south as a father does a sickly son. We sought to avoid a row ; we did not think the election of Lincoln would justify the south in rebel ling, but we feared it would have that effect. Therefore we sought to avoid the struggle by preventing what we feared would cause it. We labored faithfully, but were defeated, and the influence of the south tended to that result. We were defeated in consequence of our fidelity to what we be lieved the just rights of the south, tinder the constitution; and the south, / which might by constitutional means have rendered Mr. Lincoln's admin istration powerless for harm, scorned peaceful security, and flew to arms. ) A more disgraceful act of ingratitude is not recorded in history. The \ democrats of the north had for years defended southern rights, at the ex- ; pense of popularity and place at home ; we had, for adhering to their cause, / been driven from office in every northern state; and the first time that the / consequence of their conduct was visited upon them, as well as upon us, they rebelled. Northern democrats then firmly resolved tJiat the Rebellion should be put down, and the government sustained. Did we mean what we said, or not? I take it ive did. If so, all the old issues are to be forgotten. We must " leave the dead past to bury its dead ; " and we have but one question before us now : How can this Rebellion be most speedily and most effectually crushed? We have nothing to do with repub licanism or abolitionism; we have simply to choose the readiest means to a wish^d-for end. Mr. Secretary Smith in a recent speech says: "The theory of this government is that the states are sovereign within their proper sphere. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS NO MORE RIGHT TO INTERFERE WITH THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY in South Carolina, than it has to interfere with the peculiar institutions of Rhode Island, whose benefits I have enjoyed to-day. It is not the province of the government of the. United States to enter into a crusade against the institution of slavery. I -would proclaim to the people of all the states of the Union th* right to manage their institutions in their own way" 2O2 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Well, to erery word of this, of course, everybody subscribes. But does Mr. Smith think that he solves the great question that lies at the gate of the government by these trite commonplaces? It is not the province of the government to enter into a crusade against slavery; but I take it to be the undoubted province of the government to maintain its authority in every state by any and all necessary means; and when a state is in rebellion, to reduce it to obedience in the most summary way; and if this can only be / j done by sweeping away slavery, then it is the province of this government i? / / and its bounden duty to sweep slavery away. ^>-r The most favorable view of the matter is to treat the south as an inde pendent power at war with us. This the revolted states claim to be, and they ought to thank us for treating them accordingly. And everybody knows that if such were the case we should be justified by the laws of na tions in despoiling them of their property ; and at the south slaves are prop erty. Grotius (the father of international law) says, book 3, chapter 5, sec tion i (edited by Whewellj: " Cicero says it is not against nature to despoil him whom it is honorable to kill. Wherefore, it is not to be wondered at, if the laws of nations permit the property of enemies to be destroyed and ravaged, when it has permitted them to be killed. Polybius says that by the laws of war all munitions of the enemy, ports, cities, men, ships, fruits, and everything of like kind, may be either plundered or destroyed. And in Livy we read : There are certain rights of war which may be exercised and must be submitted to; as to burn crops, to destroy buildings, to drive off booty of cattle and men" Again, in book 3, chapter 6, he speaks "of the right of acquiring things captured in war." Section 5, he says : " Those things are supposed to be taken from the enemy which are taken from his subjects." Burlamaqui, volume 2, chapter 7, says: " i. As to the goods of an enemy, it is certain that the state of war permits us to carry them off, to ravage, to spoil, or even entirely to destroy them." Again, section 2: " This right ot spoil or plunder extends in general to all things belonging to the enemy, and the law of nations, properly so-called, does not exempt even sacred things? This last quotation, "sacred things" embraces precisely what some seem to think slavery is. r This is the undoubted law of nations, and is daily acted on by inde- j pendent powers at war with each other. I am not aware that it has ever j been claimed for rebels that they were entitled to a more tender treatment than the law of nations prescribes to public enemies. The first diplomatic note addressed by this government to any foreign power, written by Thomas Jefferson, complained that the British army had carried away slaves belonging to the inhabitants of the United States ; not that the carrying away of slaves was an improper act of war^ but that the/ had been carried away after the treaty of peace had been signed, and in direct violation of the 7th article of that treaty. Not only would the gov ernment be justified in capturing slaves in the south, but by the familiar LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2O3 principles of national law they are contraband of war; in which (if the slave-trade were lawful) neutrals could not traffic with the south. Articles peculiarly subservient to war, without which the enemy could not carry on the war, or which enable him to carry it on at great advantage over his an tagonist, are contraband. See Vattel, Law of Nations, book 3, chapter 7, sec tion 112, and Bynkershock on War, chapter 10. Now, whether slaves are subservient to war, and put the south on a su perior footing to us, let the south speak for herself.l The method heretofore employed in prosecuting this war has carried to every secessionist a home market for whatever our troops have needed in that state. We have paid twice its value in coin for everything, including damages for trampling down crops. The coin we pay out is instantly ex changed for Southern Confederacy bonds, and finds its way into the treas ury of secession, to equip rebel armies. They can stand such a war easier than we can, and perhaps longer. The war has been a source of profit to the rebels, and expense only to the loyals. The wickedness of this revolt has no parallel; and the government would be justified in employing the most stringent means to suppress it. It has coaxed and caressed long enough to see that the people of the south are not inclined to lay down their arms as a matter of politeness. No ap peal to their reason, their justice or their loyalty can avail, for they seem to -have neither. Now let them be pursued and hunted with fire and sword, with halter and confiscation, until, they return to their obedience to the con* stitution and the laws, and then, and not before, can they claim to hold their slaves under the constitution. When they permit peace, they can claim the rights of peace ; but the/ can not insist that we shall guaranty to them all the benefits of peace while they are visiting upon us all the horrors of war. Suppose we march an army into the rebel states, and capture slaves, who is to complain of it? The loyal states 'will not; the rebel states can not. They have forced a state of -war upon us, and now must take the legitimate consequences, one of which I have shown this to be. The right of the master to hold his slave under the constitution is admitted as a civil right; but when he throws off the constitution and levies war against it, how absurd it is to say that he may, nevertheless, turn the constitution against itself, and make it protect him 1 Reference is had to the Alabama Advertiser, which declared: "The in stitution of slavery in the south alone enables her to place in the field a force much larger in proportion to her white population than the north, or indeed, than any country which is dependent entirely on free labor. The institution is a tmver of strength to the south, particularly in the present griefs, and our enemies will be likely to find that the * moral cancer,' about which their orators are so fond of prating, is really one ot the most ejfective weapons employed against them by the south" 2O4 LIFE OF CARPENTER. ivJiile lie destroys it. This makes the constitution give aid and comfort to its own enemies ; makes it contribute to its own destruction. The cry of our northern press, that this war must be so fought as to respect the rights which southern citizens would enjoy under the constitution if they were at peace with it, is treason. It is giving aid and comfort to the enemies of our country. Enemies, not in a very rhetorical sense, as we bandy words on the stump, but enemies in arms, and whose artillery is trained oa the federal capitol. Every word spoken to protect the rights of a rebel is a word spoken to weaken the government by narrowing the means which the government has of reducing him to obedience. I must confess I am tired and sick of it; and if I can not denounce it inside the democratic party,. / am ready to go out. It is said this will drive Kentucky out of the Union. Kentucky's greatest living son,l in a recent speech in Boston, says : " Fellow-citizens, I am gratified to say that during the somewhat extended tour that I have just made, I have nowhere found the public voice faint, or the public purpose faltering, in reference to the vigorous prosecution of this war, until the stars and stripes shall float from every flag-staff from which they have been torn. Nowhere have I heard the word compromise a word which can now be uttered only by disloyal lips, or by those openly and directly in the interests of the Rebellion. So long as the rebels have arms in their hands, there is nothing to compromise nothing but the honor of the country, and the integrity of the governpient; and who, but him who is ready to fill a coward's grave, is prepared for such humiliation as this?" 1 How favorably the loyal language of this eloquent extract contrasts with the halting, fault-finding, treason-aiding tone of a portion of the northern press. If such are the sentiments of Kentucky, then she will not go out of the Union because the government distinguishes between its friends and its foes. If, on the other hand, Kentucky is disloyal and rotten, is hypo critically remaining in the Union as Virginia did, till she was smoked out, for the purpose of controlling the policy of the government for the benefit of southern traitors, then the quicker she goes the better; we should have less to fear from her as an open enemy than as a false friend. Pardon so long a letter, but I could not more briefly discuss the matter. I believe what I have contended for is true, and I have great confidence in truth. Very truly yours, MATT. H. CARPENTER. This splendid defense was unanswerable. It soon found its way into print, and flew like the wind to all quarters of the loyal Union, and was published prominently in every Union paper in the north. It carried dismay into the ranks of the IJohn J. Crittenden. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2C>5 obstructionists, and crashed through the sophistries of the V copperhead democracy like a cannon-ball through a paper ' fortress. It was a lodestar for thousands who were patri otic and loyal at heart, but who were mentally at a loss to know precisely what was their duty under the new and un tried circumstances. It strengthened the administration, stiffened the democratic northern soldiery, and carried increased fire and patriotism to all loyal hearts. Judge Levi Hubbell sent a copy of it to the President. Secretary Welles declared "it came like a clear ray of light through the surrounding gloom." It pointed out, ahead of all contemporaneous statesmen, that the Rebellion could never be crushed so long as slavery re mained intact, and our armies were forbidden to capture or disturb colored bondmen a doctrine that was, after a year of disastrous delay, fully concurred in and acted upon by the administration. PREVENTED FROM ENLISTING. Carpenter now proposed to enlist as a soldier, but his friends protested that he could not be spared; that on the field of battle he could bear but one musket and would count but one among the slain, while at home, his logic, his patriotic earnestness and his inspired eloquence made him a host at the recruiting meetings a victorious army wherever he went among the people. His reply was characteristic: " I have done a great deal of talking, all that is required, I think. The people must understand the matter pretty thor oughly by this time, and I notice that Uncle Abe don't call for two hundred thousand more talkers, he wants fighters" He then went to the office of the examining surgeon, who V pronounced him physically unfit to bear arms. That sent / him back among the people, addressing mass-meetings every where. Not, however, until he had hired a substitute, for $800, who served through the war. What could be more patriotic? He was not subject to draft nor acceptable as a volunteer. 2O6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. DECLINING CONGRESSIONAL HONORS. On the nth of September, 1862, the republican convention for the first congressional district of Wisconsin met at Ra cine and nominated John F. Potter (since famous under the sobriquet of " Bowie-Knife " Potter, from choosing bowie- knives to fight a duel with Roger A. Pryor) for congress. Some favored the nomination of other candidates, and some thought that under the stormy circumstances there should have been no partisan, but a Union nomination. Conse quently a call, signed by a large number of prominent citi zens, asking Carpenter to become an independent Union candidate, was sent to him. He made reply: MILWAUKEE, September 15, 1862. MESSRS. DAVID FERGUSON, WILLIAM B. HIBBARD, JAMES B. CROSS, C. K. MARTIN, S. T. HOOKER, JOHN G. INBUSCH, F. S. ILSLEY, LEVI HUBBELL, D. A. J. UPHAM, T. C. TROWBRIDGE, EDWARD SANDERSON,, EMANUEL FRIEND, JOHN T. WENTWORTH, O. S. HEAD, LYNDSEY WARD, and others : Gentlemen With lively gratitude for the confidence reposed, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your call requesting me to become a candidate for representative in congress. In peace parties may be beneficial, but in war there should be no divis ions among the people. And it is one of the most melancholy signs of the times, that, while hostile hosts are marching upon the national capital, our // generals in the field are wrangling for personal preferment, and our politi- I cians are preparing to open a campaign of politics before the people. In the loyal states there are a few men of extreme and opposite views ;. some can see nothing worth preserving while slavery continues, and others will have it for a political creed that the servitude of an inferior to a supe rior race is the best condition for bo:h races, and would hamper and par alyze the government in its struggles for self-existence with new-fangled refinements of constitutional construction. But between these extremes, upon. a strong, broad platform at once conservative and patriotic, embodying the principles of the constitution for peace, sanctioning the vigor of Jackson for war, the great body of the people may meet and unite their efforts to save all that is so nearly lost. The proper creed for these times is exceedingly simple: The constitution to be applied in the courts, the sword to be applied to the enemy. Life, liberty and property are secured against everything but the paramount necessities of national preservation, but against these necessities neither life, liberty not LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2O7 property can or ought to be protected. If slavery in any instance or place is in the way of the nation's march to victory, sweep it away ; if, on the other hand, slavery in any instance or place is one side, do not let us be diverted by it from our first duty to restore the government and punish traitors. The hearty adoption and faithful application of these principles by the government, with reasonable skill in the field, will save the nation; and with all this party politics has nothing to do ; and while this is the only . business of the government, party organizations founded upon differences /( of civil policy are a hindrance and a nuisance. But the office-holding politicians of the republican party have con demned all these salutary principles, and have thrown down the gauntlet by calling a strict party convention, and nominating a strict and extreme party candidate. Those democrats who have thought it a duty to support the government, administered by republicans, and have advocated the sus pension of party strife during the war, have done so in good faith, and not as a pretense for sliding- into the republican party. The theory that the people choose their officers is one of the best jokes ot this mirthful land. A few politicians in each party fix the two tickets, and the people patiently submit and choose between them, often thoroughly convinced that neither / is fit for the place. With two candidates in the field, representing extreme politicians of the opposite parties, a third nomination would greatly increase the bitterness of the campaign, and multiply the difficulties it sought to avoid, unless the people at large were really interested and active in the matter. A call is not the best way to secure this unanimity of action, because it often anticipates public sentiment by forcing it into certain channels; so that while the people might be willing to ignore parties they might be equally anxious to ignore the so-called no-party candidate. A candidate placed before the people by a call from his friends might with great effort and ex pense be elected; but this would not accomplish the purpose, which is, not to elect some particular person, buJL to rej)esent_the_j)eople, and by the moral force of such an election, shame and silence party strife. For these reasons I think it would be unwise at this time to crowd the field with another candidate, and under the present circumstances I feel it a duty to decline your call. I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, MATT. H. CARPENTER. Frequently, for various reasons good and bad, young couples clandestinely take the marriage vows, but still retain their former names and places before the public. They are nevertheless married. Carpenter, in the foregoing letter, pro tests that he had not supported the war measures of the 2O8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Lincoln administration " as a pretense for sliding into the re publican party." He may not have realized the fact, but his -public actions had already landed him in the very center of the republican camp. The democrats made a congressional nomination, but he supported Potter. A CHANGE OF FRONT. Politics brings some curious changes in the relative posi tions of men. In 1848 Charles A. Eldredge delivered a free-soil address at Beloit, and Carpenter, as a democrat, in his first public speech in Wisconsin, combated Eldredge's propositions. In 1862 Eldredge was a candidate of the straight democracy for congress in the fourth district of Wisconsin, and Carpenter went into that section and opposed his election, favoring the elevation of Edward S. Bragg, the Union candidate, then a lieutenant-colonel in the army and leading the boys at the front. In opposing the election of Eldredge Carpenter was assisted by Ichabod Codding, the greatest abolitionist orator in the west, and they together addressed audiences of extraordinary size. At Beaver Dam and Fond du Lac Carpenter spoke alone to immense gather ings. At the latter place, the home of Eldredge, he was not permitted to retire until midnight. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. Carpenter was undoubtedly the first man of note in the republic to maintain that the Rebellion could never be crushed as long as the insurrectionists were backed by the resources of a vast slave population. Therefore, when the emancipa tion proclamation was issued, in September, 1862, he hastened to publicly approve it and to rally the loyal populace to sup port it with renewed hope as the great and only measure that could settle for all time the tremendous struggle that was shaking both continents. He telegraphed his congratu lations, approval and strengthened hopes to Washington, the message to Lincoln being in these words : " The great trans- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2Op action's done. Your immortality will be co-existent with that of the Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing but your decree of emancipation could have saved the republic." One of the very first mass-meetings in the country to rat ify the President's action was held in Chicago. Carpenter was present and made the chief address. As he was one of the earliest, perhaps the first, to urge the adoption of some measure of this kind, and as the proclamation itself is the noblest act of any American citizen, his remarks would be worthy of incorporation here in full if a perfect copy of them were to be had. There shall at least be presented an imper fect synopsis: We need not necessarily discuss the propriety of, or necessity for, the President's proclamation. Upon that subject there is understood to have been difference of opinion in the cabinet, hesitation on the part of the Pres ident; and very likely \ve should find difference of opinion among the speakers and hearers to-night. But that is not the question. Wise or un wise, necessary or unnecessary, it has gone forth, and the only question now to be con-idered is, shall the government be sustained in enforcing it? The ship of state is tossed by angry waves ; our liberties, our national ex istence even, hang on the results of military operations, and the com mander must take the responsibility of directing what shall and what shall not be done. He may not always do the wisest thing, but we have no hope but in executing, unitedly and without disputation, such plans as the Presi dent may devise. We are not presidents, not generals, not cabinet officers; the sovereign power of the people is delegated and can not be recalled until the expiration of the President's constitutional term of office; and during that term this grave question must be settled for or against the ex istence of the government. The necessities of military success require subordination to one guiding mind, and any policy, even the worst, is prefer able to no policy. We have drifted long enough, and our captain at length indicates a port and orders us tp make for it. It may not be the best that could have been selected; there may be shoals in our course, and breakers ahead, but it is certain that we must unite in our efforts to reach it, ot go down in the engulfing flood. For one, I propose to go ashore; and after ward, when delivered from the tempest, we shall have long winter nights and soft summer days to discuss political questions and court-martial the captain, if he deserves it. I would support the measure, even though I thought it unwise, so long as it remains the military policy of the country. But I do not believe it un- ivise. At first it was thought that there was a suppressed Union feeling in 2 IO LIFE OF CARPENTER. the south, and while that was beliered^ of course it was unwise to overlook the fact. But from all sources we receive the same advice southerners are bitter and desperate. They can not be won back to duty and allegiance; they are to whip us, or we them. Now the simple question is presented, shall we let them go, see the Union fall, let the Mississippi seek its outlet in a foreign land, or shall we at any and all events vindicate the government, maintain our dominion from the Lakes to the Gulf, and with a firm and vigorous hand put down this most unjust and wicked Rebellion? This is the only issue before the people. At this point we may say, in the language of Scripture, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." A broad, distinct line is drawn between the people; and on one hand are those who are willing to sustain the government at all events and by every nec essary means. On the other are those who support the government "/ sort and limitation; " who support it provided their views are carried out ; provided the President is willing to go into the ring with his feet shackled and his hands tied by refined constitutional constructions ; provided the in stitution of slavery is held more sacred than the constitution itself; and pro vided the President will consent to exhaust our means and waste our white men of the north by thousands and millions, rather than let one African escape. The division, in a word, is between those who would support the constitution unconditionally, and those who would support it only upon cer tain terms and conditions. And this proclamation, like the voice of Elijah on the Mount, separates the true from the false. Henceforth, the cavilers in the north must take sides they must be for the policy of the govern ment or against it. The rights of property and all other rights must give way, if necessaryA ( before the war power; and this proclamation merely announces the future \ policy of the government First, there is not the slightest doubt that it is the duty of the President \x to conduct the war to a successful end ; if it be necessary to desolate the south, then let the south be desolated the necessity is our justification. ' econd, the only remaining question is the necessity of the particular measure, and of that the President is for the present the sole judge. He says it is necessary. I believe it is. The slave is merely property to his master, and our northern objectors say, rather than weaken the south by \ depriving the rebels of their property, let us -waste another million of true, ) loyal men, and a thousand millions in treasure. _^-^ Considered in this point of view, the question is, upon whom shall fall the 'expense of restoring the government? Shall it fall upon the loyal north or the rebel south? Are we willing to sacrifice another thousand millions of dollars to protect the same amount to the south in the property of their slaves? But this is not all of the question are we willing to send for the other million of our northern men to waste by disease and tall pierced by insurgent bullets ? LIFE OF CARPENTER. 211 I have no language to express my detestation of such a policy. I would not sacrifice my father, or brother, or the son or brother of one of my neighbors, to continue a hundred million Negroes in slavery eternally, much less send another great army from our green fields and comfortable homes to die in southern swamps, and mingle their bones with southern slaves, if the same end can be accomplished by emancipation. Slavery, like every other right of property, should be protected under the constitution ; but, when the master rebels against the constitution, he can not use it as a shield to protect himself in his efforts to destroy the constitution. This makes the constitution give aid and comfort to its enemies. \\ e have this gigantic Rebellion raging and surging around the capital ; we have an Indian war on the border; foreign nations are threatening to intervene, our case is desperate, we need desperate remedies, and I uphold and applaud this proclamation for this reason. It is impossible to foresee all its results. I? look upon it in great hope, and with some apprehension ; I may illustrate ) by saying it is an overloaded gun, directed towards the enemy; it may kill.( them, or us, God knows which, I hope not us; but, at all events, and in ' every contingency, / hold it my duty to stand by the gun. Returning from Chicago, Carpenter stopped at Racine and addressed a mass-meeting (September 2pth), exhorting all lovers of the Union to sustain the President, and to go on with recruiting, as the north had brighter prospects of suc cess than ever before. Here he prepared an illustrative ticket showing his audience the exact political condition of the north. ONLY Two PARTIES. Traitors. No Neutrals, Patriots. At Janesville, on October 3d, he addressed another ratifica tion mass-meeting. Judge John R. Bennett, who was one of the vice-presidents of the meeting, described the speech as " the ablest ever delivered in Janesville. On the main question of the -poiver of the President to issue and enforce his recent proclamations, as war measures, he was convincing and con clusive ; while, on the propriety and necessity of those meas ures, he was explicit and unqualified in his approval." At the close of this meeting, a large number of citizens met at the 212 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Hyatt House, and tendered Carpenter an elegant banquet. He thus proceeded over the state during several weeks, making similar speeches to the masses, doing effective service in reducing and preventing conscription by draft. THE RYAN ADDRESS. In August, 1862, the anti-war democrats held a convention in Milwaukee and adopted as a platform or address a docu ment of great length and greater sedition, known in subse- - quent history as the " Ryan Address." It was, without doubt, the most unpatriotic pronunciamento given to the pub- | ; lie in any northern state during the Rebellion. Carpenter at once wrote a " review " of it, which appeared in not only the loyal papers of Wisconsin but those of the entire north. The address declared slavery to be right and the only natural condition for an inferior race, denounced the administra tion for usurpation of power, denied the authority of the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, put the blame for the Rebellion on the north, and generally afforded aid and comfort to the enemy. Although it was a production of ex treme wickedness and disloyalty, the digestive historian of to-day can see the good fortune that attended its birth; for it added ten-fold to the power and earnestness of Carpenter in his ceaseless efforts in behalf of the Union. After the " review " had been published, a writer, supposed to have been Judge Ryan himself, advised " the boys," as he characterized Carpenter and his followers, to read Jack son and Washington as the very embodiment of the princi ples of the " Ryan Address." Carpenter replied to this on September n, 1862, receiving a letter of thanks from Ed win M. Stanton, secretary of war. It is too full of history, law and logic for excision from this volume. It proceeds : To the Editor of the Evening Wisconsin : A writer never was more unfortunate, when trying to sustain an un founded document, than was the editor of the News when he tried to draw consolation from either Washington or Jackson. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 213 The quotations have not the slightest application to the subject; but the whole public life of Jackson is a refutation of Mr. Ryan's address. To say nothing of his Florida campaign, in which he exercised innumer able imperial powers, which he and his friends justified, not by the consti tution, but by the necessities of the case, let us come directly to the last war when Jackson had military command at New Orleans, and there we shall find many cases directly to the point, and completely overthrowing Mr. Ryan's theory that the constitution is a regulator of war, or a guide to the President and his military subordinates in conducting the war. We shall see many things which Jackson did outside the constitution, and how he and his political friends defended his conduct. He first proclaimed martial law, and while it was in force, though after the report of peace had reached the United States, the Louisiana Gazette, a newspaper printed at New Orleans, published a certain article which called from the old hero a communication denying its truth, which he sent by an aid-de-camp to the offending editor, with a written order requiring its in sertion in the next issue of the paper, and concluding as follows: " Henceforth it is expected that no publication of the nature of that herein alluded to and censured will appear in any -paper of the city, unless the ed itor shall have previously ascertained its correctness and gained permission for its insertion from the proper source" During this state of things, Fienchmen attempted to elude the general's iron grasp, under so-called protections from the French consul at New Or leans; and Jackson issued an order requiring all unnaturalized Frenchmen, together with the French consul, to leave New Orleans within three days, and not to return to within one hundred and twenty miles of the city until the news of the ratification of peace should be officially published. This order was thought by some to be " outside the constitution ; " and they protested against it in an article in the Louisiana Courier (another newspaper of the city), which protest r^ads exceedingly like Mr. Ryatfs address, and denounces the order as illegal and unconstitutional. Thereupon Jackson ordered the editor to headquarters, and compelled him to disclose the name of the writer, Louallier; and then Jackson sent a file of soldiers to arrest Loual- lier. Indignant that his article, which is in the very strain of Mr. Ryan's address, and written to prove that " the constitution provides for all the ex igencies of war,"- should be regarded as cause for his arrest Louallier ap plied to Judge Hall, of the United States court, for a writ of habeas corpus. That worthy functionary, believing, like Mr. Ryan, that the constitution does indeed provide for all the exigencies of war, that the freedom of the press could not be trammeled, and that the arrest of Louallier without proo ess, in a loyal, state was illegal, allowed the writ. The officer came to serve it ; and Jackson being informed of what had taken place, rushed to meet the officer, seized the writ of habeas corpus from his hand, and detained it; 214 XIFE OF CARPENTER. t and immediately ordered Judge Hall to be arrested and imprisoned in the I same room with the French expounder of the doctrine that tlie constitution frovid.es for all the exigencies of war. Now, actions speak louder than words. This is what Jackson did; and ""that too in a loyal state; and this he did as a representative of the President, exercising by delegation from the then President, Mr. Madison, the Presi dent's executive power. Turn now to Mr. Ryan's address and see how it is supported by the authority of Gen. Jackson. 1. " We deny the power of the executive to suspend the writ of habeas corf us in the loyal states. We deny that this act, materially changing the laws of the land, is an executive act." y Jackson suspended the writ, and then suspended the judge who issued it, and all this in a loyal state. 2. " We deny the power of the executive to make arrests in the loyal states. * * There are federal courts in all the loyal states with full power and jurisdiction to punish all crimes against the United States." Jackson made arrests in a loyal state; and arrested the judge of a federal court in a loyal state. 3. " We deny the power of the executive to trammel the freedom of the press, by the suppression of newspapers." Jackson trammeled the freedom of the press; and if he did not do it by suppressing the newspapers, it was because the editor, who had heard the lion's roar, did not provoke his paw. Here, then, are three distinct planks of Mr. Ryan's platform, which ex clude Jackson from the tents of the democracy as clearly as other portions exclude Douglas. When this address shall be universally applied, and all those shall be excluded who do not deny its doctrines or practice its les sons, Mr Ryan will remain the leader, and the News the organ, of a glo rious little party, the harmony of which will never be disturbed by any impulsive patriotism. But this is not all; not only did Jackson, when exercising by delegation the executive power of the President, deliberately violate these three fun damental dogmas of Mr Ryan's address, but he, and his friends afterwards in many places, and during many years, in speeches before the people, in loyal arguments, in state papers, in reports and debates in congress, added the weight of their opinions and their votes to sustain the conduct of Gen eral Jackson, and thus to condemn the principles of this address. After martial law ceased in New Orleans, the released Judge Hall called the conquering hero before him to teach him that thereafter he must con duct wars inside the constitution; must not trammel the freedom of the press; must not make arrests in loyal states, and a great many other things, all of which can be found in Mr. Ryan's address. Upon this occasion Jackson delivered a long paper in his defense over his own signature, fully justify- LIFE OF CARPENTER. ing his conduct, which fills eleven columns of Niles 1 Register^ and every paragraph of which is in deadly antagonism with the doctrine of Mr. Ryan's address. The judge, however, was inexorable, and General Jackson was fined one j< thousand dollars, and paid his fine. Subsequently, and alter General Jackson had been President, and had retired to private life, a bill was introduced into congress to refund the fine, upon the ground that the conduct of Jackson had been perfectly proper; and this led to a debate by most of the statesmen of that day upon the verj point now under discussion. Robert J. Walker, in the senate, submitted a report upon this subject, in which he said : "The law which justified this act was the great law of necessity; it was \ the law of self-defense. This great law of necessity of defense of self^ of home and of country never was designed to be abrogated by anj statute, or by any constitution" A. Mr. Payne, of Alabama, speaking upon this subject, said : "I shall not con tend that the constitution or laws of the United States authorize the declarer ^. tion of martial law by any authority wliatever; on the contrary, it is unknown to the constitution or laws." And speaking of the argument that, if the con stitution did not autho-ize it, the general ought not to declare martial law, he says: " Who could tolerate this idea? An Arnold might; but no patri otic American could. It may be asked upon what principle a commander can declare martial law, when it is conceded that the constitution or laws afford him no authority to do so. I answer, upon that principle of self- defense which rises paramount to all written law; and the justification of the ( officer who assumes the responsibility of acting upon that principle must rest upon the necessity of the case" Mr. Livingston, in a written document submitted by Jackson to the court ( as a part of his defense, gave his opinion as follows: "On the nature and 1 effect ot the proclamation of martial law by Major-General Jackson, my opinion is, that such proclamation is unknown to the constitution and laws of the United States; that it is to be justified only by the necessity of the case" \ The speech of Smith, of Connecticut, was equally pointed; and we might quote many columns from the discussions of those days equally to the point. Douglas himself made his first great speech upon this subject; but as he is no longer recognized as a democrat, the News would never forgive my quoting his speech against Mr. Ryan's address. One of General Jackson's letters, in justification of his military conduct, -contains the following postscript: " It will be recollected that in the Revo- 1 lutionary War, at a time of great trial, General Washington ordered desert- ( ers to be shot without trial. Captain Reed, under this order, having arrested / three, had one shot without trial; but he (General Washington) reprUX/ ittianded Reed for not shooting the whole three? / 2l6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. ' ~ After the maturest consideration, congress paid back the fine ; and thus was Jackson vindicated by the democratic party, and by the nation, in the vigorous exercise of power which marked his New Orleans campaign. V And how fully and perfectly is Jackson vindicated by the people (the source of all authority), in the universal exclamation that now rises up from every /patriotic American heart "Oh! that Jackson were President to-day!" Washington and Jackson met the exigencies of war, not with statutes and constitutions, but with a healthy application of military law ; and, in the proper case, with summary arrest and speedy death. The severity and military vigor of Jackson's New Orleans campaign would end this Rebell ion in six weeks; hence Breckenridge labored to prove that the war power was limited by the constitution. The principle announced by Breckenridge is elaborated, polished, hid in meal, sugared over with an artful expression of conceded truths, in this address, and democrats are bidden to fall down before it. The News, the organ of this doctrine in Wisconsin, says '* the boys" that is, those who do not believe in it should read Jackson. Bowing to its authority, and willing to have our democracy corrected if it was at fault, " the boys " have been to-day to the fountain-head of democratic faith, illustrated by practice not any barren recital of dead dogmas, but the living, abiding, daily coun sel and conduct of Andrew Jackson ; and it appears that if this address em- bodies democratic opinions, democracy has sprung up since Jackson went down in the grave. > Now, Mr. Editor of the News, the above quotations are the fruit of a reading of the times of Jackson, undertaken upon your suggestion. If you know any other father of democracy whose writings you think can be afely relied on to prove that the war power is limited by the constitution, please name him, and " the boys " will search and give you the result of the investigation. MATT. H. CARPENTER. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 21 7 CHAPTER XXI. REVOLT AGAINST THE DRAFT. On the night before election, in 1860, Carpenter delivered in Watertown, Wisconsin, a powerful speech in favor of the elec tion of Stephen A. Douglas. He was in fine health and spirits, and deeply in earnest. He had never spoken with more warmth and effect. He said his soul was full of apprehension, he could feel danger in the air and smell the smoke of civil war. " Such a war," he cried, " can only be averted by the elec tion of Judge Douglas, and I think all patriots, irrespective of party, should turn in with their mighty forces to place him in the President's chair, and thus bridge over the terri ble crisis that is pending." Then, paying a generous tribute to Douglas, he predicted that if Lincoln should be elected the sound of the recruiting drum would be heard in Watertown in less than a year. " But if the first blow of such fratricidal strife shall come from the south that is, if she shall raise her hand in violence against the government, the flag and the Union I will, if possible, be the first man in the field in their defense, where I hope I shall meet every one of you, ready to fight to the last for the banner and the chart of 1776, for 'none can die too soon who die for their country.' " All the prophecies of that occasion were literally fulfilled. Lincoln was, as he anticipated, elected, the fife and recruit ing drum were heard at Watertown in less than a year, and Carpenter was one of the first " in the field in defense of the Union." But the first call for volunteers did not summon an army which could crush the Rebellion. The business of recruiting, therefore, had to be more closely organized, and the quota of each state was advertised, which in turn was sub divided into quotas for the counties, towns and wards. This brought the matter into definite shape before the large class 2l8 LIFE OF CARPENTER of foreign-born settlers of Watertown and vicinity. The |j leading German paper of Wisconsin opposed the war, and /( advised its countrymen to avoid enlisting and resist the drafts. The argument used among the Germans was: "Shall you who have left your fatherland to escape the army and the tyranny of conscription, enter this abolition strife to be butchered for a cause in which you have no interest?" Scores of the foreigners living at Watertown and vicinity, in flamed by this seditious reasoning, prepared to return to Europe. Secretary Stanton's " stay-at-home order " 1 had little or no effect. The war leaders, half-baffled, yet determined to win, while the excitement was most intense and the anti-war feeling at its bitterest, telegraphed Carpenter to come with out delay. Dropping everything he started on the first train sprung to obey the cry from Macedonia, " Come over and help us." Reaching the city in the early evening he was met at the depot by a large concourse of Union men who conducted him to the center of the place. A dry-goods box was pushed into the middle of the street and an impromptu 1 That manifesto was issued August 8, 1862, by order of President Lin coln, and in his great debate on the admission of Georgia, April 18, 1870, Carpenter declared that although "in a mere constitutional sense it was a great outrage, in the higher atmosphere of national necessity was found its justification," and that " a more beneficial act was not performed during the entire war." Observe how strongly this confirms all his doctrines during the Rebellion that a nation has a right to every means of self-preserva tion, and that no nation can be destroyed by interposing constitutional ob jections to the necessary modes of self-defense. The order was as follows: " By direction of the President of the United States, it is herebv ordered that, until further order, no citizen liable to be drafted into the militia shall be allowed to go to a foreign country. And all marshals, deputv marshals and military officers of the United States are directed, and all police author, ities, especially at the ports of the United States on the sea-board and on the frontier, are requested to see that this order is faithfully carried into effect And the\ are hereby authorized and directed to arrest and detain any per son or persons about to depart from the United States in violation of this order, and report to Major L. C. Turner, judge advocate, at Washington City, for further instructions respecting the person or persons so arrested or detained." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2Ip choir sang " The Star Spangled Banner." The effect was marvelous. That stirring air, ringing with patriotism, brought the assembled country folk and the residents of the city, trooping from every corner. As Carpenter observed them appear mysteriously upon sidewalks and corners, the mystic whistle of Roderick Dhu flashed through his mind. Turning to those who sat near him he said: " This is wonderful." A moment later, stretch ing his hand toward the assembling crowds, he repeated, in exact consonance with the occasion, that extract from the Lady of the Lake which describes how, like the appearance of a " subterranean host," the whistle of the Highland chief " garrisoned the glen." Just as the song died away he finished the quotation and rose to speak. He was greeted at first with some manifesta tions of disapprobation. In ten minutes that was silenced; in twenty minutes it was transformed into respectful interest, and in half an hour the crowd belonged wholly to the speaker and was swayed at his will. Enemies became friends, the luke-warm became patriotic and the patriotic enthusiastic. Never was a change more amazing. The enlistment rolls were called for. Signatures came with rapid ity for some time, and before the night was done almost the full quota had been enrolled. More wonderful still, a number of the volunteers were from among those who, if S they had not actually packed their satchels for the journey, / had fully resolved to depart for Canada or return to Europe. WAR MEETING AT CAMP HAMILTON. The magnitude of the war-meeting addressed by Carpen ter on the camp-grounds of the Third and Fourteenth regi ments, called Camp Hamilton, in 1862, had never been -equaled in Wisconsin. The throng was entirety in sym pathy with him, and responded to his splendid tributes and appeals with rounds of applause. There was .no phalanx of copperheads to be subdued, and the luke-warm fell into 22O LIFE OF CARPENTER. the line of marching patriots as though led by some irresist ible power. At the close of the meeting Carpenter said: " Give me one hundred counties like Fond du Lac and I can put down the Rebellion alone!" This remark contained more truth than may be popularly supposed, for Fond du Lac, first and last, sent a large number of men into the field. From that time he always loved to go to Fond du Lac, and after returning to Milwaukee from the first meeting, exclaimed: " Oh, I had a glorious meeting! I. am more en couraged than I have been for a long time. The war will end all right, and I know it; no country can be defeated whose cause is just and whose armies are recruited by such men as I addressed by the thousand in Camp Hamilton." Thus he went from place to place, swelling the enlistment rolls, rousing the people to offer more liberal bounties in order to avert the drafts, and cheering those who had already enlisted; and one who knew publicly observed that "the /imoney earned at intervals in his profession was freely given to the wives and children of those who had gone to the front." Nor did he relax his efforts for the Union until Lee delivered his sword to Grant under the hallowed apple-tree at Appomattox. On the 2Oth day of October, 1862, Governor Edward Sal omon appointed Carpenter "judge advocate general of militia for Wisconsin." In the counties of Washington, Ke- waunee, Ozaukee and Manitowoc the operations of the draft commissioners were being interfered with, and Governor Sal omon thought to bring into use Carpenter's knowledge of military law. The duties of the office to which he was appointed required him to prosecute at all sessions of courts- martial, any offenders against military laws and regulations. In 1863, especially during the gubernatorial campaign, Carpenter devoted a large share of his time to addressing war and political meetings, appearing at every considerable city in Wisconsin. He supported James T. Lewis, the re publican or Union candidate for governor, and attacked the LIFE OF CARPENTER. 221 heresies of H. L. Palmer's platform with great energy and effect. Lewis was elected by a majority unprecedented in Wisconsin. A FAMOUS LETTER. Early in 1863 Carpenter received a letter from one of his early democratic friends in Grant county inquiring: "Are you still in favor of a vigorous prosecution of this abolition war, which started out for the sole and only purpose of abol ishing slavery? It seems to me that it has gone far enough for such an inhuman, unholy and unconstitutional purpose. I wish the readers of the Good Book would carefully read and inwardly digest (and the abolition preachers too) the 25th chapter of Leviticus, which relates to master and servants." Carpenter's reply, which found its way into the public prints, and disconnected extracts from which, five years later, afforded a rare feast for C. C. Washburn, the La Crosse Republican, and other opponents of his election to the United States senate, was as follows: MILWAUKEE, Feb. 28, 1863. R. L. REED, ESQ.: Dear Sir Returning yesterday, I find yours of the I2th instant Pass ing its business matters, which I will attend to, I desire to answer your political questions, which I understand to be pointed at me in friendly re monstrance for the position I have taken upon the subject to which you refer. You speak of the war as having " started out for the sole and only pur pose of abolishing slavery." This I regard as a very dangerous and fundamental error. The election of Abraham Lincoln, however unwise, was constitutional and binding upon the whole people of the United States. It was, therefore, not an act of war against the south, nor a justifiable cause of war by the squth against the government. See the Ryan Address. Yet South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas seceded from the Union ; the Confederate government was organized, Jeft* Davis elected and inaugu rated President, and forts, ships, public buildings, arms and treasures of the United States, in the seceded states, were seized by the Confederacy before ^/ even the inauguration of Lincoln ; all of which were undoubted acts of A war. The attack upon Fort Sumter commenced actual hostilities before the ^ present administration had passed a law or done any official acts affecting the rights of the south. This ends the idea that the war was commenced 222 LIFE OF CARPENTER. by abolitionists for any purpose whatever. Lincoln, in his inaugural,, pledged himself to sustain all the constitutional rights of the south ; the senate was democratic, and the republicans were powerless to touch slav ery, even if they desired to do so. The south, well knowing no overt act of the government would ever be attempted against them, chose to dissolve the Union upon the mere pretext of Lincoln's election ; and, so far as I / have heard, not even a southern newspaper has ever assigned an unrriendly S or unjust, much less an unconstitutional act of the government against the i south, as the cause of the Rebellion. This is the point from which we must take our bearings and departure. Was the Rebellion justified or not in its inception? This question settled,. all else must follow. To say that the election of a President authorized the minority to fly to arms to overthrow the government, would canonize revolt, and no government of free institutions, state or national, could stand beyond its first election, for there must always be a dissatisfied minor ity. If the Rebellion was not justifiable, then it was not only the right, but the duty, of the government to put it down by m litary force, and to con tinue the use of force until the proper object, obedience to the constitution,. should be fully accomplished. And, if this is the duty of the government, then all good citizens ought to aid and sustain the government in the pros ecution of just such war to a satisfactory and honorable end, whether it continue one year or ten generations. Thus do I deduce the duty of all democrats to support the government, "even unto the end of the world." The position of the party on the breaking out of the Rebellion was most perplexing, and called for the exercise of the loftiest public virtues. We had just passed through a presidential campaign, in which we foretold all that has happened; we warned the country ot the danger; we implored our opponents to moderate their madness; to desist from the fatal scheme of- electing a sectional President; to aid us in elevating to the highest seat in the republic, one since gone to his reward who could, if it were pos sible for man, avert the horrors of civil war; who might, if such war must come, conduct us safely through it, to a haven of union, justice and peace. Our warnings were disregarded, prudence silenced, and from all our great ones, who, though dead, still live, the people turned away, rejected Doug las and chose one for whom his most sanguine friends have never claimed, any other qualification than honest incapacity. As soon as the result was known, the catastrophe hastened. While democrats were smarting under defeat, and before the farthing lamps of the Wide- Awakes were extinguished, '] the war-cloud we had seen rising, " no bigger than a man's hand" instantly grew black, and enveloped and burst upon the land. It is cause of regret, but not of wonder, that many faltered, and were disposed to let the repub licans get out of the war as best they might; and it is cause of rejoicing,. of thanksgiving to God, that the democrat s had a leader in that hour whose LIFE OF CARPENTER. 223 eye blanched not, and who saw plainly our whole duty to the state. Douglas "is in his grave; After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well." It may be thought whimsical or extravagant, but to my mind there is not in all human history a more conspicuous example of grand, self-forgetting patriotism, than he exhibited in those memorable last days of his life, when, standing before his open grave, he forgot his own disappointment, rebuked the murmurs of his friends, and uttered those counsels of wisdom, those exhortations to duty, that like a. trumpet aroused the democratic party and rallied it around the constitution to beat back its murderers. From his last speeches, especially since we know they are his last, we naturally turn to Washington's farewell address. But how widely different the circum stances of the writers. Washingt >n, at the close of a life of" dazzling splendor, with eve y ambition gratified, turned to the people, and from an impulse of common gratitude bade them farewell with counsels and bless ings. Douglas had been rejected, derided, scoffed at, spit upon, crucified; yet above it all he arose, in the very spirit of the prayer, "Father, forgive, them, they know not what they do." The angry emotions an unsuccess ful campaign had created in hi^ followers could not blind him. He had foretold that war would follow Lincoln's election; but he had also boldly said in Virginia that such election would not justify a revolt, and he would aid to put it down. And when the war came he rose like a tower of light and \ strength between the government and its assailants. Had he lived there / would have been no uncertain sound from the trumpet of democracy ; we should have had no Ryan adqrjSj>es; and New York politicians would have been spared the humiliation of eating their own words, and the shame * of their coquetry with " the wayward sisters" All admit that it is our duty, that we have sworn, to support the constitu tion the constitution as Washington and the fathers made it; as it was, as it is; every word; every sentence; without discrimination of provisions; without mental or moral reservation. Among our political duties, this rises in altitude of obligation like the commandments above the laws; to sup port the constitution, which is and because it is the cementing princi ple, the circling band, the life and soul of the Union. But how is this, which all acknowledge, to be performed? And here, men who mean the same thing are found face to face; so difficult it is to descend from the gen eralities to the details of pat iotism. To support the constitution is to main- 1 / tain and perpetuate the government of which it is the soul. And the V manner of our support must be determined by the character of the danger that threatens it. When assailed by the theoretical dogmas of nullification, Webster supported the constitution by the Hayne speech. Now, when it is sought to overthrow it by armed Rebellion, we can only support the con stitution by overthrowing the Rebellion. To do this, the people of the 224 LIFE OF CARPENTER. north must stand together; must, for the time, forget old party disputa tions; must, to quote from Douglas' great speech, which is a perfect patri otic " sermon on the mount," full of all doctrine and exhortation, " Cease discussing party issues, make no allusion to old party tests, have no crim ination or recrimination, indulge in no taunt one against the other, as to who has been the cause of these troubles." Douglas here taught a lesson of patriotism too high for popular comprehension ; and it is settled by the action of the republicans themselves that we must keep up party organiza tions. But let us not divide the people upon the great duty of supporting the government. But, you may say, thus to support the government is to support an administration which is violating the constitution by illegal arrests, and squandering Negroes by proclamation. Now here I rise to a question of order. Before we discuss this question of the power of the President to do certain things that is, before we enter upon a construction of the provisions of the constitution let us first settle the question, whether we have any constitution to be construed. The sum mary arrest of a few northern sympathizers with treason may be very un constitutional ; that, however, is a question that we can discuss hereafter. But this Rebellion must be suppressed now or never. Beauregard, in his late proclamation at Charleston, called upon the people to come with or without arms, come with scythes, with flails, with anything to kill a federal soldier. So here in this hand-to-hand fight for national life we have no time to examine closely whether every blow that is given be according to the constitution, if it kill or help to kill a traitor in arms, if it darken the chances of southern success, and tend thus to give preponderance to the government. We will settle this constitutional scrape after the peace, when * we shall not be interrupted in our investigation by the roar of battle, or seduced away by the stirring enchantment of drum and fife. Jackson, by proclaiming martial law at New Orleans, arresting editors and judges, and threatening to blow up the legislature, repelled a threatened invasion, pre served the sanctity of our soil, and supported the constitution. But you may say this was unconstitutional. I suppose so; but was it not wise in that emergency to violate the form of the constitution to preserve its substance? The people so declared by electing Jackson twice to the Presidency against all the whig criticisms upon his so-called arbitrary and illegal conduct^ The principles by which our public men are to be judged are plain. If it was necessary, then it was right to suspend the habeas corpus. If you think it was unnecessary in those states where the courts were sitting, so do I ; if you think it was unwise to suspend the habeas corpus, which the Anglo- Saxon has always regarded as an invitation to revolt, so do I ; but is this the time to enter into an angry contention with the government, upon this sub ject, which will certainly weaken it and aid the Rebellion? Of two evils, but one of which can be corrected at the same time, let us by all means first correct the greater. There have not been five hundred persons sum- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 225 marily arrested in all the north. They have been confined in forts, and fed and clothed by the government. Compare the sum total of their sufferings with the condition of five hundred thousand of our loyal men, whose blood is daily sinking in southern soil, and crying to heaven for vengeance upon southern traitors and northern sympathizers with treason. Let us rescue these first, put down the Rebellion, establish the constitution ; then we will attend to the case of these fat fellows in Fort LaFayette and other healthy places of restraint, where they have been kept from danger, perhaps from crime, and if it turns out that they have been unjustly imprisoned, let us make them ample restitution, and punish those who imprisoned them. Con sidering that nearly if not quite all who have been arrested have been offered their liberty upon merely taking the oath of allegiance, and have been detained because they refused, their case, though exceedingly interesting in a constitutional point of view, can await an hour of the breathing- time of peace, for final adjustment. These illegal arrests are very bad, but they fall upon white men, and that can be endured. But the unpardonable sin of this administration u its, blasphemy against the holy ghost of politics, is the Emancipation Procla mation. A democrat might consent to be imprisoned himself, but it breaks NJ/ his heart to think a Negro may be free. Why, we are told by men black in the face with wrath, it is unconstitu tional. Well, that is my understanding of it. But after the best investiga tion I have been able to give the subject, I am of the opinion that the Rebellion is unconstitutional L also ! If the plaintiff demur to my defense I may attack his statement of action, and judgment must be given upon the whole record. If an accomplished soldier be set upon by a painted savage at midnight, may not the soldier defend himself by a blow not taught by ~- the rules of art? If traitors attack the government by unconstitutional means, may not loyal men defend it by the same means? Qr does the con-y stitution only tie the hands of its friends? No one justifies the proclama-/ tion except as an exercise of the war power. In and of itself it accom plishes nothing; it merely announces the future war policy of the government. When the war ceases the war power ceases with it, and the south can return to their duty to-day and thus end the war, and plead the constitution in defense of themselves and their property. The white population of the south is under arms and fed by crops raised by slaves. Without this resource the Rebellion could not sustain itself a month. If its provisions protect to the traitor the only means he has for continuing the struggle, then the constitution is giving aid and comfort to its own enemies, and ought to be sent to Fort LaFayette for treason ! If one Negro can be captured and sent out of the south, then one Negro is with drawn from aiding the Rebellion; and if a proclamation can seduce him from toiling for traitors in arms, then I say : " good for the proclamation." This is no question of philanthropy with me. I am no abolitionist. If we 15 226 LIFE OF CARPENTER. have a right to enslave blacks for our benefit, have we not as good a right r if our salvation requires it, to set them free? I do not support the procla mation because it may emancipate slaves, but because it may withdraw slave labor from furnishing supplies for the Rebellion. I am not trying to free slaves, but to whip traitors; and one way, in my belief the quickest and easiest way, is to cut off their supplies. It may be a part of the prej udices which many years of reading and speaking upon this subject have generated, yet I do not believe it an act of kindness to emancipate them. But when God visits a nation in wrath, the innocent and guilty, men, women and children, black and white, bond and free, even the cattle on the thousand hills, must suffer together. If it is really necessary, we must harden our hearts, drive the fat, happy black man from his kind master, his genial home in the sunny south (land of chivalry and beauty, so precious to Negroes), and compel him to endure in. some cooler clime the buffetings, the temptations, the outrage and horror of freedom! This disposes of complaints from the slave. If his master, a rebel in arms, looks north to say, "your accursed proclamation has de prived me of $10,000, and thus, and so far, reduced my ability to continue this war against you," I reply, " my only regret is that we can not also take your forfeited life by a proclamation." If the proclamation withdraw one slave from toiling for the Rebellion, then it will do a good thing ; if it can not produce, as some say, the least effect, if it is merely air, paper, noth ing, then it is a small thing to make a great rumpus about. But it may be said, all infractions of the constitution are dangerous, and should be re- . sisted. Well, which do you think endangers the existence of the constitu- / tion most, a proclamation which you say ca,n do neither good nor bad, or V five hundred thousand rebels with fixed bayonets rushing on the capital? I After exercising all the charity God has given me, I do not believe these \extreme technical scruples arise from a love of the constitution. What is the meaning of this craven crying for peace, while traitors are levying war? A strange thing to come from the democratic party. Of course we all desire peace if it can be had with honor and the Union. But it is well known that no peace can be had except on the basis of dissolu tion. The south must be recognized or subdued. Therefore to declare for peace, is to declare for disunion. And are you ready to say peace at such a price? Shall the democratic party at last accomplish the dissolution of the Union it has spent its whole efforts in preserving? If there is one article of its creed more essential than another, it is the f reservation of the Union at the expense of all life and property, inside or outside of the Union. And they who now cry for peace dishonorable peace by separating the states and rending the flag, will go down to political graves with Hartford convention federalism, and every other party and ism, that, when tried by the single standard, " love of country right or wrong? has been found wanting:. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 227 Our great trouble is, that we have no acknowledged leader of national reputation ; no one great exponent of democratic faith, hope, and duty. If the great statesman could rise again from his grave on the margin of the murmuring Michigan sea, and say once more to the discordant, angry ele ments, " peace, be still," then we should see again the marching battalions and exultant thousands of democrats whom his voice first called to the war. But alas! the dust of death has choked that utterance of wisdom and patriotism, and we must grope our way without a leader, without a light. And yet the great democratic party, although at present in a false posi tion, blind with rage, and led by blind guides madder still, is the last and only hope of our country. In all the past of its history the democratic party has been found true to the great duty of sustaining the government. From its organization, by far the greater part of the time democrats have admin istered its affairs ; they have protected and shielded the ark of the constitu tion against assaults of foreign foes, and amid the dangers of internal strife. It and they are inseparably connected ; the history and glory of one is the history and glory of the other. If democrats now falter in that support, it must fail ; if they turn against it by act or word, it will despair and die. But there are signs of better things ; some hope that Seymour intends to put the democratic party once more in connection with its own principles ; relieve it from longer being what has proved more than once fatal to its opponents a peace party in time of war. If Seymour will, he can do this; can save the country and be its next President. The party once more erect, its face to the foe, no right-minded man could fail to choose correctly between the republican party, born of sectional hate, reigning only with civil war, and the old hereditary party of the constitution, its brow adorned with trophies of peace, and covered all over with martial glory. Then again the government will be safe ; then again we will march to the flag and keep step to the music of the Union; then these little irritating diffi culties about arrests and proclamations will be drowned by the shouts and exultations of a united people battling for the best government ever known among men. Governor Seymour can not fail to see the grand opportunity fortune has opened to him, not merely to make himself President (that is vulgar), but to infold again these half-dissevered states, fix the power of the general government where no traitors would ever again dare to assail it, and record his own name only below that of Washington. All this he may do, all this I believe he means to do. M. H. CARPENTER. This is the letter from which the La Crosse Republican made garbled quotations during the senatorial contest of 1868 (steadily refusing Carpenter's repeated requests to publish the whole of it) for the purpose of proving that he was yet a democrat. As a whole, it was an admirable pro- 228 LIFE OF CARPENTER. duction for a loyal man of any party at a time of civil war, but some of its separate parts were food for his political enemies. It was remarkable for two things, to wit: Its unfavorable reference to President Lincoln and its illogical treatment of the democratic party. After showing that all those who were attempting in the south to destroy the Union, and those in the north who were weakening the government by sym pathizing with secession, were democrats, he yet declared that the " great democratic party was the last and only hope of the country." Both of these features, however, can be explained. He entertained very clear and pronounced views upon the best means of carrying on the war successfully, and had at about this time become displeased with what he .regarded as a lack of well-defined purpose and vigorous determination on the part of the administration; hence his application of the term " honest incapacity " to Mr. Lincoln. His illogical treatment of the democratic party can be illus trated by the address of the immortal Scottish bard, Robert Burns, " To Mary in Heaven." The poet was loyal and true in every form to the wife of his bosom, yet, when he felt the returning throb of his earlier love for the dead Mary Campbell, he could but cry: "Oh, Mary! Dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? See'st thou thy lover lowly laid ? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? u That sacred hour can I forget; Can I forget the hallowed grove, Where by the winding Ayr we met To live one day of parting love? Eternity will not efface Those records dear of transports past Thy image at our last embrace Ah! little thought we 'twas our last! " Still o'er those scenes my mem'ry wakes, And fondly broods with miser care; Time but th f impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 229 And thus it was with Carpenter. While his every move, speech and act had been in the strictest conformity to the war-policy of the republican party; while he had been ear nestly loyal to the Union and the constitution, and while in this very letter he had pointed out the deflections and errors of the democratic party and the treasonable tendencies of the peace-crying wing of that organization, he could not re frain from paying a tribute to his earlier love, the dead and departed democracy of Jefferson and Jackson. 230 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXII. THE JANESVILLE CONVENTION. The proceedings of what is known as the Janesville mass- convention constitute the most important chapter in the his tory of the Wisconsin democracy. A democratic state convention assembled at Madison on the 5th day of August, 1863. It nominated a ticket for state officers, and adopted a platform embracing the " Ryan Ad dress " and a series of resolutions which, if anything, ex ceeded the address in hostility to the active war powers of the federal government. At no period during the war had the Union been in greater peril, or the fabric of republican institutions so threatened and shaken to the very centre. The address was perhaps the most unpatriotic utterance of the war period, and it may be supposed, if not with safety affirmed, that although it was deliberately adopted by the convention, no one except its author was thoroughly imbued with its furious disloyalty. When the convention adopted it and supplemented it by an avalanche of factious complaints, a large number of patriotic citizens who had always adhered to the democracy laid aside their party prejudices. Carpen ter, Judge Arthur MacArthur, of Milwaukee, and Charles D. Robinson, of Green Bay, issued a circular inviting leading democrats in every portion of the state who sympathized with their efforts to support the government, to a conference at the Newhall House, in Milwaukee, on the 2Oth day of August, 1863, to consider what course should be pursued. At this meeting a mass-convention was unanimously agreed upon. A call was prepared and signed by all who attended the conference. Among the distinguished public men pres ent Carpenter was the leading spirit, and gave the movement the inspiration of his abilities and earnestness. The call declared: LIFE OF CARPENTER. 23! At a time when the government of the United States is struggling for its very existence amidst blood and carnage, we observe this convention pro mulgating a voluminous and inflammatory creed, which contains no re sponse to the unspeakable interests which this immense Rebellion threatens with instant ruin. We therefore call upon all who are in favor of the reso lute prosecution of the war to crush out this wicked conspiracy against our common liberties, who are in favor of unconditionally supporting the government in its efforts and credit, in upholding its laws and replenishing its armies until the supremacy of the constitution shall be re established over every state, and upon every spot of our domain, to meet in a mass- convention to be held at the city of Janes ville at twelve M., on the lyth day of September, 1863, for the purpose of mutual consultation, and to decide upon such steps as shall appear conducive to the welfare of the country.! A large gathering responded. A. Hyatt Smith called the convention to order and Jonathan E. Arnold was its presi dent. A series of resolutions were read by Carpenter, and an address to the people of the state was reported, protesting against the Madison platform and pledging the heart and soul of the state to the support of the government in its prosecution of the war. By his counsel and presence Car penter was one of the chief elements of success. In the 1 It is not intended that this volume shall be a history of everybody's political career, but the author has such a high regard for those who abandoned their party to serve their country (the soldier, unlike the politi. cian, could take his politics with him), that he is determined to give some perpetuity to their honor by recording the names of those loyal democrats who signed this call : Rock county M. C. Smith, B. F. Pixley, A. Hyatt Smith, L. F. Patten, H. Richardson, John Mitchell, O. P Robinson, J. H. Reigart, George Benton. E. H. Burdick, S. H. Marquisee. Milwaukee county Matt. H. Carpenter, Levi Blossom, Levi Hubbell, J. E. Arnold, Arthur MacArthur, O. Alexander, H. Potter, Jr., Byron Kilbourn, Lyndsey Ward, Geo. H. Walker, J. J. Talmadge, N. B. Caswell, A. C. Bentley, Jno. A. Savage, Jr., Erastus Foote, Alanson Sweet, E. H. Brodhead, Lester Sexton, Joseph Gary. . ' * . . Dodge county S. W. Herrick, James Thorn Brown county Chas. D. Robinson. La Crosse county A. P. Blakeslee. Ozaukee county Eugene S. Turner. Jefferson county W. W. Hatcher. Waukesha county Henry Totten. Fond du Lac county Edward S. Bragg. Wai worth county William C. Allen, H. S. Winsor, E. G. Wheeler. 232 LIFE OF CARPENTER. evening he made one of those unpremeditated, off-hand speeches for which he had become celebrated, which thrilled the audience and raised the enthusiasm to the highest pitch of patriotic excitement. When the work of the convention was done, he and other democrats, perhaps already divorced from the democracy a mensa et ttwro, now became fully divorced a vinculo malri- monii separated from it never to return. This was the complete, or perhaps formal, turning-point in his political career, and his subsequent life is proof that the man who adheres to his country from a high sense of duty will be appreciated and honored. The following description is extracted from a sketch of the leading war-democrats in attendance at the convention, written by Jonas M. Bundy: On a step below Walker, and upheld by the kindly extended ramparts of locomotive machinery, is the bold, daring and yet clear-seeing young Bay ard of our loyal democracy. That stoutly-built, but compact and finely- knit frame, is full of muscular endurance; the veins are full of fresh young blood, and the heart full ot enthusiasm. He sits restless, and strokes his beard with a quick, nervous movement. He is full-brimming with nervous and brain power; is an engine thrilling with pent-up forces. When the throttle is opened, there will be a blast which will be worth a thousand men. He is a young man, but already one of note ; one who is so eloquent at the bar or on the platform. The man impresses you favorably ; he wears so haut a crest, as with shield cast aside and lance in rest, he rides down the Ryan rabble. With words as smooth as oil, and a smile as sweet as a girl's, he impales Sat. Clark,! sitting near, and gives him to infamy here, and damnation hereafter. That is Matt. Carpenter. ANOTHER CALL. Carpenter had become so strong and popular with the masses that during the summer of 1864 there was a decided manifestation in favor of his nomination as a candidate for congress in the Milwaukee district by the Union party, as the 1 Sat. Clark was one of the leading democrats who did not join with Car penter in supporting the government during that gloomy period. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 233 republican party and its allies of war-democrats were then temporarily called. This brought forth the following letter: MILWAUKEE, Sept. 5, 1864. For some time my name has been mentioned in connection with a nom ination for congress by the convention to meet at Racine on the 7th inst. It is due to myself and to the gentlemen who will constitute that con vention, to say that I could not accept a nomination from them, because it might be construed into an indorsement of principles I do not entertain. From my earliest acquaintance with public affairs to the firing upon Fort Sumter, I was a democrat of the strictest sect in full communion, in theory and in practice. When the war came without any excuse or justification on the part of the south, it was a clear duty, as I thought, to support the administration of the government, although elected against my choice and vote, in putting down this Rebellion as summarily as possible. In this I was separated from the organization of the democratic party, without, however, having changed my views in regard to general politics. If this war should continue, my votes and eftbrts in congress would, I suppose, exactly rep resent the republicans of Wisconsin, because I should support every proper measure to strengthen the government and weaken the Rebellion; I would not consent to treat with rebels except upon the basis of unconditional sub mission to the authority of the constitution and laws; nor would I consent to an armistice without even knowing that rebels wish to return to obedi ence, which, in the present state of affairs, could have no effect but to aid and relieve the rebels and weaken the government. Rebels must submit; the government can not yield. But should peace be accomplished within the next year, the authority of the constitution be fully restored over all the original territory of the Union, the Rebellion hide its head, and public affairs assume their wonted course, my line of national policy republicans might think very unsound, and I might be subjected to the imputation of having betrayed my constituency while acting conscientiously in my belief for the public good. MATT. H. CARPENTER: This letter, whose perfect honor and frankness might naturally be expected to exert an influence favorable to its author, subsequently, when Carpenter became a candidate for United States senator, was made a weapon of consider able power and effect against him. Here was an opportu nity to leap into office unquestioned and unchallenged, without being compelled to disclose articles of political faith ; so that any partisan action subsequently taken could not have been 234 LIFE OF CARPENTER. a betrayal of anything or anybody. Yet he refused to ac cept it, and subsequently was compelled to suffer for pursuing the honorable course. When the convention referred to assembled at Racine, two days after the publication of the letter, Peter Yates, of Milwaukee, presented Carpenter's name in a very strong speech. He always maintained that had Carpenter signified his willingness to accept, he could have been nominated and elected. As it was, he received a large complimentary vote in the convention. He supported the republican ticket and spoke throughout the state every night, and frequently two or three times a day until election. At a great mass-meeting in Milwaukee, he alluded to the calling of the national democratic conven tion at Chicago on the 4th of July and its subsequent postponement, saying: The rascals did not dare to meet on that day. When they finally met, what was the result? McClellan and Pendleton the former for war, t; per haps," the latter for peace by all means and on any terms ; and that was the feast to which the democracy were invited. McClellan was kept cooped up for fourteen days, not knowing what to do, or whether to do anything. Meanwhile Sherman was thundering at the gates of Atlanta, and Atlanta fell. Then was the spectacle witnessed that every success of fS the war for the restoration of the government was a gigantic blow against .? the democracy. After fourteen days of fasting McClellan's letter was written, a letter which presented the strange anomaly of being interpreted to mean both war and peace. McClellan was pledged to this platform just such a platform as Jeff. Davis would have written. ^ Lincoln has honestly been endeavoring to put down the Rebellion and s^fi should receive the hearty support of all men. If we believe the rebels ^ right, then is the war wrong. If the government was right in going into ^ war, then is it right now. The people are pledged to the support of this government, not to the 4th of March next, but for ten generations for I.,- *' a M time. The north has been enjoying peace, plenty and prosperity, yet * V) "we hear grumbling at the high taxes, the sacrifices ; go south and note the , y sacrifices there made for an unholy cause ; there you will see no carpets, they o * , have been torn up to cover the soldiers in the field. Diamonds and rubies A have been given to the cause bells no longer swing in their places, calling the people to the sanctuary, but, transformed into cannon, are thundering against the friends of the government. The whole population has been LIFE OF CARPENTER. 235 swept into the army ; so patriotic are the ladies that they will not even marry a man unless he has been in the army. If another draft should come, I appeal to the ladies not selfishly to fold their sons, their husbands' their brothers and lovers to their breasts, but freely give them up to their country. This, the first meeting of the campaign, was an unprece dented success, sending enthusiasm and hope down through every subsequent gathering to the day of election. A news paper of the following morning thus describes the occasion: Such a mass of human heads, such a sea of upturned faces, from gal lery, dress-circle, parquette and stage, never before greeted orator or exhibi tion in that building and all with very little preliminary effort. No gun was fired, no drum beat, no instrument, brazen or otherwise, gave out its noise to attract a crowd. The simple newspaper and hand-bill announce ment that " Hon. Matt H. Carpenter would speak," was all there was of it And we are not sure but as many went away, utterly unable to get sitting or standing room, as remained. LETTER TO JOHN A. BRIGHAM, ESQ. During the latter part of September, 1864, a large num ber of the leading citizens of Green county signed a paper inviting Carpenter to " deliver an address to the Union men of Green county upon the leading issues of the day and the duty of the hour." He replied: MILWAUKEE, Oct. 4, 1864. JOHN A. BRIGHAM, ESQ., and others : Gentlemen Yours of the ist instant, inviting me to address the Union men ot your county at Monroe, on the i7th, is received. Three or four courts claim my attendance this month. I have no partner, and my clerk is in an eastern state rendering the last rites of affection and respect at the grave of a brother slain by treason ; and thus I am literally alone. Besides, Green county, and Rock and Walworth, are all right They need no rallying to the duty of patriotism; "the whole need not a physi cian." What little I can do, if anything, towards rousing the people, I ought to do nearer home. In this congressional district General Halbert E. Paine, one of the noblest and bravest of men, is running against John W. Cary, Esq., one of the yet impenitent makers of the Ryan address; who would, if elected, do all in his power to paralyze the efforts of the government in prosecuting the war; who would vote for immediate cessa tion of hostilities, knowing that thereby only rebels would prosper, and disunion and national disgrace would be the sure consequence of such folly. 236 LIFE OF CARPENTER. There is but one issue, and that rises transcendent above all party ties or duties. The government must be preserved by overthrowing this Rebell ion, or it is immaterial whether democrats or republicans prevail ; for we shall ail be overwhelmed in common ruin. The rebels propose no argu ment, offer no reason. They have appealed from courts, from congresses, from all peaceful arbitrament to the dire trial by battle ; and in the field we must meet them or cower and flee before them. There is but one remedy the sword, ivell laid on. I hoped last fall that the democratic party temporarily all wrong would rise from its defeat a better and a wiser party. But the event has not ful filled the hope. The Chicago platform is even worse, because briefer and plainer, than the Ryan address. The democratic party has submitted to circumcision but has experienced no regeneration. It must take one more bitter draught. Democrats who cherish its historic glory, and firmly be lieve the truth of its ancient and essential doctrines, must stand aloof from its chastisement and weep four years longer. During that penitential season, its leaders will have time again to con sider whether they will longer follow the example and share the fate of the Hartford convention of federalists, or return to early teachings, and emu late the patriotic devotion of their political fathers. Give my greeting to the Union men of Old Green, and I will wait for them to respond at the polls. MATT. H. CARPENTER. This letter takes all the stings out of the Reed letter of the year before, regarding both as political enunciations, which they were not. When the Reed letter was written there was no political struggle pending, and Carpenter, unable to smother all his love for those principles which made demo crats honorable before the days of Buchanan and secession, and hoping, no doubt, to win them from the dangerous paths they were treading, paid a provisional tribute to his early polit ical tenets; but when the letter to John A. Brigham was written, there was pending a presidential campaign between two parties, standing upon opposing platforms, and he must choose between them. The proviso demanded of the demo crats as necessary to earn public confidence had been violated or neglected, and he demonstrated his consistency by acting with that partisan organization whose platform and principles came nearest to conforming with his ideas of patriotism and a successful war policy, namely, the republican or Union party. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 237 LETTER TO A. HYATT SMITH, ESQ. The war-democrats of Rock county signed a letter praying Carpenter to deliver an address at a meeting to be held in Janesville, November 7, 1864. He replied: MILWAUKEE, Oct. 24, 1864. A. HYATT SMITH, Esq., and others : Gentlemen Yours of the 22d instant is received, and I most cheerfully accept your kind invitation. Amid the perils and persecutions that assailed the early church, a faithful few remained obedient to the Christian faith ; and in loneliness and sorrow, in separation and exile, deserted by leaders, and in perils " by false breth ren," followed the precepts of the great teacher, and, strengthened by per secutions, rallied and advanced to evangelize the world. Democracy, the hand-maid of religion, whose golden rule equality of rights, and the greatest good to the greatest number second only, in sublimity and beneficence, to the golden rule of our holy religion, is now suffering its trial season; and our faith in truth, in justice, and in the intel ligence and patriotism of the great masses of the people, is our only guid ing star amid the gloom that surrounds us. They who ought to have been our leaders, whose counsels should have pointed the democracy to the war path, are crying peace, disgraceful, disastrous peace ; beckoning the democ racy away from the field of duty, danger, and glory, and leading us with unerring certainty to the graves where federalism and whiggery are rotting in their shrouds. In their platform, in their speeches, from their press, no word of cheer, no hopefulness, no exultation; no word of encouragement to our brave army; no pledge of assistance to our tormented government; no condemnation of rebellion and treason. The faction that controlled the Chicago convention belied the history of our party, and disgraced its name. It has no claim to the support of democrats. Where is the young ardor of patriotism, the hopeful endeavor, the " public defiance " of danger, that made the glory of democracy, and challenged the admiration of the world? Gone all gone. And instead, we have in the platform an indict ment of our government as bitter as Jeff. Davis could draft; we are told that circumcised brokers are the only proper guardians of the labor and muscle of the country; that Grant, Sherman and Sheridan must stand aside, and negotiators, red, not with blood, but tape, must lead our armies; that the white flag is our proper ensign ; and that these rebels, who have betrayed and ruined our party, and threaten to overthrow the government, must be soothed and entreated ; and if they must be enveloped in smoke, it must proceed not from the fire of battle, but the pipe of peace. Democracy has at all times held other language to its own and the nation's enemies. 238 LIFE OF CARPENTER. To all this craven crying for peace let me quote from the eloquent, patri otic and soul-moving speech of Hon. Jonathan E. Arnold in the Janesville convention a year ago. Speaking of the idea that we must hold out the olive branch of peace to these rebels, Mr. Arnold said : " Now, gentlemen, how utterly futile is any such idea? Hov) disloyal any such proposition. Will the south listen to offers of peace? Who has intimated it? What public paper has proclaimed it, or what leading statesman of the south has sug gested it? Not one. On the contrary, they have said no terms of peace would ever be listened to except based upon the recognition of their inde pendence. Why, then, should ive hold out the olive branch of peace ? In addi tion to what they have said, there is the undeniable fact that they have an immense army in the field which must be put down if this Rebellion be ever crushed." Arid again, " What we want, then, is to whip the enemy; that is to be done by soldiers in the field. Hence I say it is -wrong- to talk of ending this Rebellion by propositions of peace. I trust in God the time will come when we may hold out the olive branch, but that must be after Charleston and Mobile have been taken and the army of Virginia luis been -whipped? It is understood Mr. Arnold has left us, seeing his duty at present in sup port of McClellan and defense of the Chicago platform; but, thank God, he has not taken this noble speech -with him. That remains to us, an imperishable lesson of patriotic duty, which it should be our highest ambition to cherish and execute. I will be with you on the 7th of November. Then we will consult together of our duty in these perilous times, renew our pledge to the only faith, and drink again at the ancient springs. MATT. H. CARPENTER. He was present as promised and made a rousing speech. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 239 CHAPTER XXIII. RECONSTRUCTION NEGRO SUFFRAGE. Carpenter was able to take but little part in the campaign of 1865. He was engaged in the Hasbrouck suit and in de fending ex-Governor Edward Salomon in the action brought, as we have seen, by John Druecker, of Ozaukee county, for alleged false imprisonment. While not thus engaged, he was in Washington attending to his railway litigation. However, he attracted the attention of the statesmen and jurists of the republic by a series of interrogations upon Negro suffrage and the reconstruction of the south. Brigadier-General William T. Sherman, upon invitation, was present at the Wisconsin state fair held at Janesville. On the evening of September 2pth, at the close of the fair, a ban quet was given in his honor. About a hundred distinguished men were present. Governor James T. Lewis presided, with General Sherman on his right and Carpenter on his left. Numerous toasts met with patriotic responses, Carpenter being called upon to reply to. " The loyal American people, always faithful to the Union." He had a noble audience generals, governors, ex-governors, United States senators, philosophers, judges, politicians and patriots and his utter ances secured profound attention. Indeed they were so re markable that a petition numerously signed was dispatched praying for a copy of them for publication. After declaring that he spoke for the people, being neither a partisan nor a politician, he said: One of the war-democrats of Wisconsin, I enlisted as a private in the great Union organization formed to sustain the government in the vigorous prosecution of the war, and the war being over, I am entitled to an honor able discharge, and to be mustered out of the service of that organization. I have not yet applied for re-admission into the democratic party, from which I was expelled with indignant emphasis, on suspicion of the un speakable and unpardonable crime of patriotism. 240 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Then, paying a splendid tribute to the people who, in agony and bloody-sweat, had carried the nation safely through all its trials, he took up the great subjects of recon struction and Negro suffrage, addressing himself pointedly to Senators Howe and Doolittle, who were present. He held that the southern states, by their treason and rebellion, had gone out of the Union destroyed their former governments and become public enemies, which, upon being conquered, were liable to be reconstructed and governed in any manner deemed advisable by the conquering power. This being his first discussion of those stupendous questions which sub- fsequently made him famous his theories becoming the reconstruction policy of the federal government a portion, at least, of his original reasoning should be preserved: It is said and admitted that the constitution declares that the general gov ernment, and its relation to the states, and their relation to it, and to each other, as fixed by the constitution, shall remain forever, and that it is a crime to change those relations. But is it true that a crime against the constitution can not be committed? The constitution forbade, but did it prevent the Rebellion? Is it true that a state of things established by com petent authority must remain until changed by the same authority? It is said the last order General Banks gave on the Red River was to form the line of battle; is that battle line still existing, and will it require an act of congress or an order from General Banks to remove it? The state com mands us to do no murder; does it follow that no murder can be committed, or that the state can not regard and punish it? It is true that treason of an individual is contemplated and punished by law; it is true that rebellion by a state is not contemplated ; but does it follow that rebellion by a state can not be regarded, and all its consequences must be disregarded because its precise punishment is not fixed by law? Suppose the state of Mississippi alone had rebelled, and persisted in war until the state was completely des olated, depopulated ; would the barren and unoccupied square miles geo graphically called Mississippi remain the state of Mississippi within the meaning of the word state as used in the constitution ; and would those square miles have remained in precisely the same relations with the gen eral government as the state of New York? There is another subject, which, from its exceeding importance, ought to be mentioned in this connection ; and, although a candidate would as soon see the devil as hear any allusion to it, the people are anxious to hear their senators discuss the question of Negro suffrage. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 2 4 I Are the freedmen to be admitted en masse as voters upon all subjects, and made eligible to the highest offices of responsibility and trust? Such Are not the precedents of history. The old Roman who manumitted his slave, struck off his gyves, clothed him in white and placed the cap of lib erty upon his brow. He was then a freeman, but not a citizen of Rome, though he might thereafter become a citizen. But suppose we of Wiscon sin are all in favor of Negro suffrage, all vote for it here; how are we to regulate the subject in Mississippi? Can the general government declare who shall be voters or eligible to office in the state? Must not that subject be regulated by the state itself, if we intend hereafter to have any states? It is idle to contend for mere general principles or abstract and barren declarations of right; we want some practical views leading to practical ends. This subject must be met by our statesmen, and must be treated in a manly and statesmanlike way. It is useless to appeal to our prejudices; we can hot be intimidated by denunciation, nor silenced by an adjective. The war has induced a new state of things; those who were slaves are now freemen. Many of them will accumulate property; all must be subject to some government having civil and criminal jurisdiction over them. To say that his property should be taxed to support the government, and his person drafted into the army to defend it, and yet he shall have no voice in making the laws, nor vote upon the question of peace or war, nor have protection for his person and property, is to say that he shall remain a slave in fact, no matter by what name called. But suppose you could give the freedmen the right to vote; is not the right to sue (to say nothing of the privilege of being sued), the right to testify as a witness in courts of justice, and many other things, as indis pensable to the Negro as the right to vote? Can the general government . compel the states to perform these necessary things? Suppose these un- ^ welcome provisions were forced into the constitutions of all the southern states, who is to expound and administer them? Would you not thus secure to the freedman a barren and useless declaration of his rights, and leave the states to regard them as thej' pleased? To carry these provisions into practice, would it not be necessary to abolish the machinery of state govern ments, and for the general government to take to itself all local as well as general administration; and would not this concentrate power to such an extent as greatly to endanger popular liberty ? By the basis of representation as fixed by the constitution, five slaves were equal to three freemen; so that the south will gain two-fifths in representation by the abolition of slavery. Ought the southern states to .represent millions of freemen who have no voice in the government? / I Would a state in which the number of black freemen exceeded the number of whites, and which was represented only by the whites, be such a repub lican government as the constitution makes it the duty of the Union to 16 342 LIFE OF CARPENTER. guaranty to each state? Could not the houses of congress exclude senators and representatives thus elected by a minority of freemen? The people are strongly attached to the doctrine that every state has the right to regulate its own affairs and determine who shall and shall not con stitute a part of the state community, and vote or be eligible to office. But when a state has settled this question for itself, it must abide the result of that determination in all its federal relations. If South Carolina decides that the blacks of that state are not citizens, though born upon her soil, then she should not be permitted to represent them in congress. This is a matter that concerns the Union at large, and the Union may therefore settle it. Would not the Negro, if thus rejected by the states, become the -ward of the government^ and, like the Indian, be entitled to claim its protection? Could not congress legislate for him in all his relation*, secure to him the wages of labor, and fix the conditions upon which he may become a citizen of the United States? This would involve the necessity of establishing national courts for administering justice between black and white men. What else is the Freedmen's Bureau? The constitution provides for no such thing, but it has been forced upon the government by the necessity of the case. Justice must be administered between black and white men upon terms of absolute equality; contracts must be construed and judgments enforced re gardless of the complexion of the parties ; and both or neither must be per mitted to testify in such causes. The objection most likely to be argued to this view of the subject is, that it is not provided for by the constitution. But does not this objection apply equally to every remedy that has been suggested? Revolutions go- forward; public men and public policy must look to the future and not to the past. The constitution was framed with great wisdom for the then existing condition of things. It regulated public and private rights grow ing out of the institution of slavery. But we are all agreed that there shall be no more slavery; and the constitution must be amended to suit this altered state of affairs. Our whole system rests upon the theory that the states are j to be trusted with local administration over their own citizens. This can ( not be disregarded without demolishing the whole fabric of our nationality. This principle is the corner-stone upon which everything rests. But may it not be preserved, and the constitution be so amended as to give the gen eral government control over the Negro as it now has over the Indian? Provision might be made that whenever any Negro should be admitted to- citizenship in the state in which he resided, he should be thus tran>ferred to state jurisdiction. Our own state constitution provides that whenever an Indian shall separate from his tribe and adopt the habits of civilized life, he shall be entitled to vote. Would not this arrangement strongly in duce the southern states to admit Negroes to citizenship, as rapidly as con sistent with domestic interests, and at the same time accomplish more fully LIFE OF CARPENTER. 243 than any other method the great duty we owe, and can not disregard with out national disgrace, of protecting these freedmen who have shed their blood in defense of the nation's existence, against the malice and oppression of their angry and baffled masters? THE VOTARIES OF "MY POLICY." In 1866, the country was excited over the conflict between President Andrew Johnson and the Union (republican) party in congress as to reconstructing the states lately in rebellion. James R. Doolittle, elected by the republicans to represent Wisconsin in the United States senate, had " Johnsonized." Ex-Governor Alex. W. Randall had also "Johnsonized," and both were receiving the people's anathemas of indignation. Both attempted to defend themselves, and in a public speech Randall declared the friends of congress dare not meet the friends of Johnson in public debate. Thereupon, James B. Cassoday, A. M. Thomson, Ithamer C. Sloan and other leading citizens petitioned Carpenter to meet Doolittle for joint discussion. He answered: MILWAUKEE, Sept. 10, 1866. A. M. THOMSON, Esq., and others : Gentlemen Yours of the 8th, in regard to a public discussion between myself and Senator Doolittle, is received; and, in reply, I would say that on any day after the 25th inst, and before the election, it will give me pleasure to comply with your request. I am principally induced to accept your invitation because I regard it as a matter of justice to Senator Doolittle. The loyal Union men of Wiscon sin, who elected Mr. Doolittle to the senate, believe he has betrayed them; while he claims, I believe, that he has not changed, but the people have deserted him. A public discussion before an audience composed of all shades of political sentiment is the best and fairest occasion for determining whether the senator or the people have taken the side-track in politics; who is true and who is false to the principles we all advocated during the war. Therefore, should Senator Doolittle desire such discussion as I have no doubt he will I should feel bound to accommodate him, under the peculiar circumstances. Again, I regard discussions, where different speakers are brought face to face, as the fairest method of conducting any canvass. It is necessary for the people to hear and consider both sides before they can form an intelli gent judgment. The issues presented during the war were not more important, or even vital, to our national existence and to civil liberty itself, 244 LIFE OF CARPENTER. than those which constitute the problems of peace. The people must settle these questions; they hold the destinies of the constitution and the Union. It is for them to say whether unrepentant, unoardoned rebels and traitors are the safest repositories of the power ot the government, or whether they should be invited nay, compelled " to take back seats " in the recon struction of civil governments. It is for the people to say whether the congress shall remain the law-making department of the government, and the President the executive of their will, as expressed in the laws passed by them, or whether congress shall hereafter be regarded as a voluntary con vention of individuals "on the verge of the government," whose acts only are valid when they echo the will and perform the bidding of the President. It has ever been the American theory that power is more safely lodged in the many than the few in the congress than with the President. But all this is now questioned; and the President in his late tour in which he has seen fit to turn the sad solemnities of a funeral into the violence of a political raid, thus giving the people fresh cause for regretting the death of Douglas, which has furnished such an unfortunate occasion the Presi dent is cautioning the people against the danger of tyranny and despotism from the representatives of their own selection, asserting that nothing but his virtue has prevented his becoming dictator long since, and assuring the people that he is their friend^and the only safe repository of public confi dence and political powejv^ So Augustus consummated the usurpations /that his kindness had commenced, with the sword, and overthrew the liber ties of Rome under the forms of law. So Cromwell first declared the par liament an illegal body "on the verge of the government" and then dispersed j them with bayonets. So Napoleon, as first consul, gradually acquired all Njxxwer and subverted the liberties of France. It is for the people to con sider whether the President, in his protestation that the people are enslaved, and he is their friend, laboring for their emancipation, is acting sincerely and wisely, or playing the role that all usurpers have played since Czesar crossed the Rubicon. These are mighty considerations, pregnant with good or evil for us and for all generations. By all means give the senator a chance to satisfy us thnt what we believe to be truth is really falsehood; that what we deem security is really danger; that congress can not be trusted and that the President can be; that loyalty is unconstitutional and traito -s entitled to seats in congress and the cabinet. It is due to him, due to ourselves, due to justice and civil liberty, to hear all that can be said. The senator is the President's special representative; he will speak by authority. It will therefore be in his power to allay a painful public apprehension of future danger if the fact be otherwise; and if, after a full hearing and fair chance, he fails to do this, his failure will be of public service by tending to arouse the people to guard against or meet and overcome future troubles. Very respectfully, MATT. H. CARPENTER. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 245 Mr. Doolittle also received a petition begging him to meet Carpenter. He declined, but issued a circular just as he left the state, which called out this reply: MILWAUKEE, Sept xx, 1866. MESSRS. B. B. NORTHROP and others, Racine: Gentlemen I have received what purports to be a printed circular pub lished by Hon. J. R. Doolittle, in which he addresses you as follows : " GENTLEMEN : Your note is received asking me to join in a political dis cussion with Matt. H. Carpenter, Esq., of Milwaukee, upon the policy of reconstruction maintained by the administration and the National Union party. " My engagements to speak in the states of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylva nia will render it impossible for me to make any such arrangement. " I am not a little surprised that Mr. Carpenter's name should be used, for not long ago, in Washington, he indorsed, in the most unequivocal terms, the President's policy, and urged me to stand firmly by him." I can well conceive that the senator would be surprised to hear that any man had changed his political views. I well remember my own surprise when, the senator turned his back upon all his former opinions and profes sions and went over to the republicans; and my still greater surprise when he abandoned the Union organization that had elected him to the senate and went over to the camp of his "captured" copperheads. But in this in stance the senator's surprise is manufactured for a purpose. v The senator's chronic habit of publishing private conversations involve^ nothing but a breach of good breeding, but it is something worse when, as in this instance, the conversation has to be first invented. I never ex changed a word with Senator Doolittle in regard to the President's policy approving or disapproving; I never urged him to stand firmly by the President; I never requested him to desert and betray the President, as he surely will when treachery becomes more profitable than fealty, and the state ment of his circular in that behalf is utterly untrue. Considering, however, the result that has followed the senator's mission- . *. ( ary labors in Maine, I think it would be unwise to throw any obstacle in ; the way of his stumping Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and such other states as it may be convenient for him to visit Respectfully yours, MATT. H. CARPENTER. SPEECH AT ACADEMY OF MUSIC. As all efforts to induce any of Johnson's supporters to meet Carpenter failed, a paper containing the signatures of hun dreds of influential citizens was sent to him, asking " the pleas- 246 LIFE OF CARPENTER. ure of hearing his views." He replied favorably, and appeared at the Academy of Music in Milwaukee on the evening of Oc tober 4, 1866. There was present a brilliant audience the wealth, beauty, patriotism and brains of the community. In that speech he outlined the arguments subsequently made in the McCardle case, and laid down the principles on which all the reconstruction acts of congress were based. In the light of succeeding events it was a remarkable address. He delineated the policy of Johnson and that of the Union members of congress so clearly that a child ten years of age could understand either. Johnson's plan was to admit the senators and representatives of the de facto governments of the lately rebellious states, ask no questions about the past, require no guaranties for the future. The plan of con gress did not recognize the President as having authority in the premises, but formulated an amendment l to the United States constitution, which the rebellious states must ratify before re-entering the Union. Carpenter argued at length that " the constitution in no instance clothes the executive with power over or a right to interfere with the states. That whenever that power is granted, it is vested in the govern ment of the United States, and not in the President." Further: When Lee and Johnston surrendered, the usurping state governments were overthrown and the people in those localities were left without any state corporations. This was one of the "extraordinary" occasions mentioned in the constitution, in which the President would have been just fied in calling an extra session of congress. * * Congress would have made such laws as the occasion demanded, and it would have been the President's duty to execute them. * * Instead of this, he assumed to control this matter according to his individual views, and proceeded without sanction of law to dictate to the southern states the terms of re-admission. * * Congress met and thought other terms should be imposed ; and he, instead of yield ing gracefully to the people as expressed by congress, * * attempted to defy their laws by vetoes; and denouncing their leaders as traitors, appealed to the people to sustain his usurpations. 1 The fourteenth amendment, subsequently adopted, but ^suggested bj Carpenter more than a year before. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 247 He then, after quoting the decisions of the ablest judges in America to sustain his theory that the President had no power over the states, proceeded to examine the conditions congress proposed to impose upon the south preparatory to re-admission to the Union. He claimed that congress, under the constitution, had this power beyond a doubt, the only question being as to the wisdom of the conditions. He argued: In 1862 and 1863 there was in North Carolina a de facto state govern ment and but one; making laws, administering justice, exercising all the powers of a sovereign community, and actually levying war upon the United States. Now -was that state government of North Carolina during those years, and while so levying war, entitled to be represented in congress? It was certainly not the same state government that became a member of the Union by ratifying the constitution, and remained in the Union until sometime in 1860 or 1861. On the contrary it had supplanted the old state government in every respect. Its officers were sworn not to support, but to overthrow the constitution of the United States. It had no relations, and under its constitution could have none, with the United States. Every officer of that state government would have been guilty of treason to it, had he performed any of the duties towards the United States that the con stitution of the old state government enjoined upon its officers. The new state had never been admitted into the Union; and of course could not be, for its constitution was in deadly antagonism with the constitution of the Union. The new state government was formed upon the ruins of the old, and instead of claiming fellowship with the Union, had applied for and re ceived admission into another de facto confederacy of states which was at war with the United States. To overlook the fact that eleven such states existed, exercising sovereign authority over eight millions of people, with a well-defined territory held in hostility to the United States, and were actually waging against our government, the most gigantic war of modern times, merely because it was unconstitutional for them to do so, would have been the blindest devotion to an idea the world has ever seen ; a devotion better becoming a monk in his retirement, or a lunatic in his cell, than a statesman charged with the prac tical administration of political affairs. When the southern states declared their purpose to go out of the Union, we raised an army and poured out treasure and blood to prevent their doing what they threatened to do. If those states had determined to pull the sun down from the heavens on a day named, and leave the Yankee land in darkness, we should not have raised an army to prevent it We should have reposed upon the knowledge that the thing was impossible. But when they threatened to divide the dominions of our government, and 248 LIFE OF CARPENTER. take one-half, nearly, into another independent nation, we raised an army to prevent it; because this act, though wrongful and unconstitutional, was, nevertheless, possible. We fought to prevent this wrong, and succeeded. The dominion of the United States to the Gulf is vindicated, established for all time. But the terrible result of the struggle, the desolated fields, burned towns, ruined commerce and three hundred thousand graves of loyal soldiers, though unconstitutional, are existing facts. And the mere theory that the constitution forbade all these things, can no more resusci tate the dead state governments, which were destroyed by the madness of their people, than it can recall to life our " noble army of martyrs " now sleeping in southern graves. .,- No government, no constitution can prevent the fact of murder, rebellion 1 or treason. But a government may, and the United States has, vindicated its authority, and may visit penal consequences upon the criminal of fenders. It would be a strange plea in bar to an indictment for murder or treason, that the constitution and laws have forbidden such an offense; therefore, in legal contemplation, it could not be, and of course has not been, committed. Illustration of our subject may be found in the uniform practice of the government in admitting territories as new states. When a territory has the requisite population, it becomes the duty of congress to admit her as a state. But suppose congress omit or refuse to perform this duty ; can the people without an enabling act form a republican state government, and then, can the President so recognize it as a state as to entitle it to rep resentation in congress without the consent of congress? Again, we have seen that the United States must guaranty^- that is, take care that every state has a republican form of government. Suppose, now, that a constitutional convention should be regularly convened in New York to change its constitution, and that this convention should declare Charles O'Conor king (the wisdom of that selection would redeem the folly of the act) with power to name his successor, and with power to ap point and remove at pleasure the members of the legislature and the judges of the courts, and should in every respect change the government of that state into the form of a monarchy, without, however, interfering with the United States, or nullifying any act of cengress; without impeding the post- office or hindering the collection of the revenue; and after ratification by the people, King Charles I, of New York, should be crowned. In such a case the duty of the general government to interfere would be plain. But what could the President do until congress should pass some law upon the subject for him to execute? The condition of the states lately in rebellion it the same. Having established, as he thought, the power and expedi ency of imposing conditions upon the south by congress, LIFE OF CARPENTER. 249 Carpenter approved the conditions as described in the reso lution for the fourteenth amendment, then pending. He de clared with great emphasis in favor of unrestricted suffrage V for the Negro, saying: Disguise it as you will, the late war was fought between freedom and ^ slavery, and, as was to be expected, freedom triumphed. As a consequence,. ' four million slaves, more or less, have become freemen. * * To admit , them, degraded by life-long slavery, to the right of suffrage, without edu cation or discipline of any kind, is a severe trial of our American principle.. But there is no alternative. They must be admitted or the principle upon which all our institutions rest must be abandoned. * * We now have a practical test. If we say the principle is unsound when absolutely ex pressed; that certain limitations must be imposed; certain persons excluded, then come the questions, Who shall be excluded? What shall be the standard of admission to the right of suffrage? If you go back on the gen eral principle, no man can say where disqualifications will end. Different rules will be established in different states, and in the same state at differ ent times, as one faction or another gains ascendency, and the American principle, the corner-stone of our political philosophy, will be gone forever. * * But of all possible tests, the most absurd would be that of com plexion. * * The property of the black is equally subject to taxation and his person subject to draft in time of war as that of the white man. Why should not one as well as the other have a voice in selecting the offi cers by whom his property is to be taxed, or in determining the question of peace or war? * * For one I believe in the democratic dogma upon* which our institutions rest; for one I am willing to follow where demo cratic principles lead. If a principle be sound in itself, sound as a principle, and a Negro comes within it, I say good for the Negro! * * All gen eral truths, all democratic maxims, must be of universal application, as the sun shines upon the just and the unjust. * * I am satisfied liberty is a bless ing, and that all free men ought to have a voice in their government. I am ready to stand by the experiment of extending these principles to all races and all nations. I look upon the future with confidence, and hope to live long enough to see universal truths universally applied; to see free black men exercising equal civil rights with white men; to see Irishmen governing their own land as Englishmen govern theirs. * * Let all who> j love liberty, all who believe all men should be free and every nation inde pendent, labor together. Let us applaud this amendment to our own con- stitution which congress has proposed in the interest of universal liberty, and whenever and wherever we can speak a word or give a vote for truth and justice, liberty and equality, let us do so, trusting that in God'g good > j time these principles will bear fruit in every clime and ransom every people* \/ 250 LIFE OF CARPENTER. The broad and noble doctrines of this speech were widely published, though the newspaper synopsis of them was no more like the real effort than a skinned and disfigured saw- log is like the symmetry and majesty of the lordly pine. They were read and approved in every community, and contributed as much as any other influence to insure the rati fication by the states of the fourteenth amendment. Carpenter was now the most popular man in the state, and every night until the day of election addressed, in all the leading cities, audiences greater than his voice could com pass. He was followed everywhere by a perfect ovation, the entire loyal or Union population turning out to hear him urge the election of the Union candidates. When he came before the public clearly and boldly in -espousal of the policy of congress and the republican party, violent commotion was observable in the ranks of the John son democracy. He not only became the target for a lively fusilade from democratic orators, but received raking broad sides from their newspapers. They had not sirrrply lost a vote or an eloquent voice, but something far more important. Hundreds and thousands of democrats who had been estranged by the Rebellion were supposed, after its close, to still entertain such kindly feelings for the old party as, if left uninfluenced, would lead them back into its ranks. These were following Carpenter like sheep. Towering above the multitude, as the glittering snow that crowns the highest mountain-peak rivets the eye and guides the footsteps of the benighted traveler, his clear logic illumined the way and led the patriotic but wavering democracy over to repub licanism. Those who understand the methods of partisan journalism will not, therefore, wonder at the quality or the volume of the attack on him by the opposition newspapers. He was for some time referred to by them as the " Belial of Radicalism." But he was right. There is not in the sermon LIFE OF CARPENTER. 251 on the mount more eloquent truth than may be found in Carpenter's Academy of Music speech of October 4, 1866, and no human record contains a more logical and powerful appeal for equal suffrage. In 1867, he was chosen a delegate to the Union republican state convention, which met at Madison September 4th and nominated Lucius Fairchild for governor. He represented the fourth senatorial district in this convention. On the 26th of September, during the progress of the state fair in Madi son, he addressed a very large audience in the assembly chamber of the capitol, urging that those who supported the war must, to continue their patriotism to full fruition, support the republican party. He said: So you see the issue remains to-day precisely what it was during the vrar. You see the same men are arrayed on the same side of the question. The contest is only changed from the field of battle into the arena of politics. The contestants are the same the contest is the same, the individuals on the right hand and on the left hand remain in precisely the same relative posi tions and are making the same relative efforts that they were making in '61, '62, '63 and '64. It is the duty of the republican party, and all who sup ported the war, to not only give the Negroes rights, but to secure to them those rig/its. If they hesitate and falter, if they change their plan and pur pose to wipe out all the consequences of slavery in these southern states to protect every black man, the humblest and feeblest in all the south, in his full equality and rights before the law then they have thrown away all this treasure, they have wasted all this blood for nothing ; and they are to stand charged with all the consequences that must result from that cow ardice and treachery to their own principles and their own professions. -ct, 25 2 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXIV. FIRST SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN. Probably but few persons ever knew precisely how Car penter came to make his distinguished vault from private citizenship to a seat in the senate of the United States. Sub sequently, when questioned in relation to it, he replied that it was an astonishing circumstance that he had never been able to fully explain of which, in fact, he himself never had a clear understanding. " It seemed," he said, in looking back, " like a half-remembered, but pleasant dream." His argument before the supreme court of the United States in the McCardle case, in the spring of 1868, the cir cumstances } with which we are now familiar, made a pro found impression. Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, said to Carpenter before his return to Milwaukee: "We need you in congress, where we are in trouble with ques tions similar to this and with others equally important in regard to the south. I hope our friends in Wisconsin will find it to their pleasure, as it certainly will be to their inter est, to make you Mr. Doolittle's successor in the United States senate." This was then regarded as little more than a pleasant compliment on the part of the grateful secretary. A few weeks later, however, Carpenter was surprised to learn from Judge Levi Hubbell, of Milwaukee, that Stanton had writ ten several letters to Wisconsin suggesting that a campaign to make him Doolittle's successor be at once inaugurated. The expediency and propriety of such a move appeared to him doubtful. At first any discussion of the subject was embarrassing to such an extent as to be noticeable to those in the secret, and he avoided all allusion to it. His actions showed as plainly as possible that he felt some unworthiness or lack of distinguished standing as a candidate for a posi- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 253 tion at once so high and honorable. Gradually, however, he became less shy in presence of the idea, and after can vassing the advantages and drawbacks of office-holding, finally decided that he was willing the campaign should begin. STARTING THE BALL. Having decided to enter the contest, a complete change now came over him. He became possessed of that ardent desire to win which accompanies all honorable ambition. He passed around among his friends of high standing and influ ence, and having thus personally learned who would support, who oppose and who remain neutral, on June i8th took the train for Janesville for the purpose of laying the matter before Alexander M. Thomson, editor of the Janesville Gazette. Thomson was an original and staunch republican, who had been speaker of the previous assembly, and would probably be re-elected at the on-coming election. Carpenter was particularly desirous that his candidacy should be first brought before the public by such a man, and in old Rock county, his first Wisconsin home. Those who have always maintained that he was no politi cian must acknowledge that the shrewdness of this move exceeded that of any of the plans proposed by his most adroit and experienced friends. To have his name elevated before the people by the Gazette would be an unassailable indorsement of the soundness of his republicanism from the highest source; and particularly would it contribute mate rially to the advantage and success of his campaign to have Thomson committed to his candidacy. That gentlemen, be ing an aspirant for speaker, would of course do his utmost to make certain his own election as well as that of such assem blymen as, being friendly to him, would naturally be more or less under his influence. He spent an entire day with Thomson, who, though per sonally favorable to the project, thought it could not be ac complished at that time. He pointed out that Carpenter had 254 LIFE OF CARPENTER. never been very pronounced in any formal adherency to the republican party, and the people, disgusted with the recent deflection of Senator Doolittle and his espousal of Andrew Johnson's " my policy," would regard with suspicion the sin cerity and stability of any comparatively new convert whose first important demonstration in the party was that of a can didate for the highest office in the gift of the state. Carpenter declared this view did him great injustice; that he was not a new convert; that his "first important demon stration in the party " was not that of an office-seeker, as he had supported all the war measures, fought for the election of Lincoln and all the republican congressmen ; made numer ous speeches against Johnson's policy and in support of the power of congress over the states lately in rebellion, and that, finally, he was not a common office-seeker, the idea of becoming a candidate for the senatorship having never entered his head until the time it was suggested by Secretary Stanton. The secret candidate then returned home without having secured a decision, fully resolved to let the matter quietly drop, its existence unknown to any save a few intimate friends, if he could not go before the people guarantied by the sanction and great seal of Old Rock, his first home in the west and the very Gibraltar of republicanism in Wisconsin. Not more than two or three days after the interview,. Ithamer C. Sloan called on Thomson in Carpenter's behalf, but he found little to urge. Thomson had fully decided to bring out the brilliant attorney and war orator for the senatorship. On June 2Oth, therefore, he published as his en cyclical letter to the republicans of the state, a long review of Carpenter's career, showing his distinguished service to- freedom, the Union, republicanism, reconstruction and Negro suffrage; paying a just tribute to his unrivaled abilities as a jurist and statesman, and closing thus: Next to faithfulness in a public servant, the country needs the benefit of the ablest men, the best-trained thinkers those statesmen whose methods of thought and action accord with the progressive ideas which characterize LIFE OF CARPENTER. 255 the age. We need men to represent us there who possess, in a high degree-, those traits of character and of intellect which distinguished Clay, Benton, Silas Wright, Douglas and Preston King from some of those who now occupy their seats. If we can find a man in our ranks whose adhesion to principle, brilliant oratory, and great legal ability has attracted the attention and admiration of the leading men of both political parties throughout the Union, he is the man who ought to be elected to represent a great and rapidly-growing state like Wisconsin in the senate of the United States. Such a man is Matt. H. Carpenter, and we nominate him as the successor of James R. Doolittle. This article aroused a tumult in political circles. Already had public attention been fastened upon Cad walladerC. Wash- burn, Horace Rublee, Edward Salomon and O. H. Waldo. They had been formally put forward as candidates, and, it was generally supposed, comprised the entire list of aspi rants. It was largely expected, also, that Mr. Rublee, being a well-known and leading member of the profession of jour nalism, would have the support of a large share of the repub lican press, though Washburn had been counting on the support of Thomson and the Janesville Gazette. The lines of the campaign having been thus early marked, it is easy to understand the commotion that followed the formal presenta tion of Carpenter. lie and his friends remained inactive for a few days, quietly watching the effects of the numerous petty storms and whirlwinds that were tormenting the politi cal horizon of the state and vexing the minds of other sena torial candidates. When these had become less violent, it was observed that the Evening .Wisconsin, of Milwaukee, was the only newspaper in the state that had aligned itself with the Janesville Gazette in favor of Carpenter. But the campaign had been decided upon, and must be carried for ward. BOYISH EMBARRASSMENT. Carpenter's reply to the question of how he became a candidate for the senatorship has been recorded, together with a statement of the origin of the idea. In reply to the question often asked and always answered in the same man- LIFE OF CARPENTER. ner, as to how he was actually elected, he said: " I really don't know; ask Carter." He referred to Walter S. Carter, of the law firm of Chamberlain, Carter & Hornblower, of New York, who, turning back the leaves of his memory, observes : Matt, and I settled in Milwaukee during the same year, 1858. We had offices within an apple's throw of each other, we lived in the same ward, we knew each other very well. One day I was not less surprised than pleased to find a strong editorial in the Janesville Gazette formally bringing him out as a candidate for the United States senate. I did not wait to read the article through, but ran across and asked him whether it was true. With that boyish embarrassment which I often noticed in him on such occasions, he answered that it was true. I asked him if I could be of any service to him. He replied eagerly that I could, as there was yet nobody to do anything and nothing had been done. Accordingly I met him by appointment, at his house, that very evening, and there the plan of the campaign, as far as he knew anything about it, was mai ked out and agreed upon. Our plan was to ignore the politicians entirely plav it over their heads and deal directly with and be rictorious or defeated by the people. Matt, was strong with the people and strong with the politicians, but on the wrong side with the latter, for he was no politician. We talked until late, agreeing firmly to keep aloof from old party hacks. We fixed upon a list of dates and places for making public addresses, covering all the larger communities in the republican portions of the state. Matt, insisted no time should be wasted in talking to democrats, so his appointments embraced only republican districts. Finally, when I left him that night, I had promised to do as much of the detail work as I could in helping to organize a popular campaign, which I did from that hour until 8: 20 P. M. of Tuesday, January iQth, when our efforts were crowned by a glorious triumph in his nomination by the republican caucus. During the evening in which Carpenter and Carter met to lay out a programme of work, Mrs. Carpenter heard for the first time of her husband's political prospects. After the departure of their guest, she mentioned the matter with natural pleasure and surprise and asked for further informa tion. Blushing like a maiden at the first discovery of her ^betrothal, he finally made a clean breast of the matter. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 257 SUPPORTING GRANT. Ulysses S. Grant, ot Illinois, had been nominated by the republicans at the Chicago convention for President, with Schuyler Colfax for Vice- President. Grant was one of the two or three who had urged that Carpenter be engaged in the McCardle case. On the other hand, Carpenter was a great admirer of Grant's quiet tenacity, his cool and unfail ing bravery and his general good sense, and therefore deter mined, as soon as the republican presidential ticket was placed in the field, to do all that was possible to insure its election. On the 25th of May a great ratification mass-meet ing was held in Milwaukee. The regular orators were Gen erals Daniel E. Sickles and Alfred Pleasanton, who came direct from the Chicago convention. Carpenter was present, a conspicuous figure. At the close of the regular addresses the calls for him were so imperative that he responded with a speech that was published and re-published throughout the Union. After paying his respects to President Johnson, pro nouncing him guilty as charged in the articles of impeach ment, he said: The revolution of the south against the most indulgent government on earth was one of those upheaving events which changed men's thoughts, broke up old associations, threw the mind back on first principles, and com pelled men to reason for themselves in a new condition of things. Previous political organizations had been based upon different schemes of adminis tration. But the war raised an issue back of that and touched the right ot the government to exist It was impossible to predict, when the war com menced, what course any man would pursue, merely from a knowledge of his former political associations. To know that a man had advocated a high tariff or free trade, a paper or a metallic currency, had favored or op posed internal improvements, gave no clue to his conduct upon the new, the all-absorbing issue created by the war. It is true that old party ties and watch-words did not entirely lose their influence, and many whose patriot ism was cool were influenced, against their better judgment, by party dis cipline of the great and heretofore triumphant democratic organization, to cling to their party when the choice had come to be between party and country. But however long any man may have hesitated in his choice, or 17 258 LIFE OF CARPENTER. however severe may have been the struggle between his conscience as a citizen and his fealty as a politician, the choice once made, the new path lay- straight before him ; and if he determined to support the war from honest conviction of duty, and not for a commission or contract, then he is sup porting Grant and Colfax to-day, in obedience to the law of consistency and from absolute logical necessity. Grant and Colfax are entitled to our support, not only from personal considerations, but because they represent principles and are pledged to a certain line of conduct and administration represented in the platform adopted by the Chicago convention. And there is not a plank in that platform that has not become absolutely necessary in consequence of the war. Take, for instance, the pledge in favor of universal suffrage. It stands in the platform as a mere logical consequence of antecedent events. It may illustrate my meaning to unfold the successive steps of the great argument by which it is established. The government had a right to exist; consequently it had a right to suppress a rebellion which menaced its existence. But in the progress of the war it became evident that it was absolutely necessary as a means of crippling the south to emancipate their slaves. This being done, when the war ended, four millions of human beings, who in legal contemplation were chattels when the war commenced, had become and were freemen. It is one of the first principles of our system indeed, is the very foundation of the whole structure of Ameri canism that every freeman bound by the laws should have a voice in making the laws. The black men of the south are freemen; they are bound by the laws, therefore they are entitled to a voice in making the laws ; that is, suffrage. And no man who admits the first proposition that the government has a right to exist can deny the conclusion, universal suf frage. Every man who pledged himself to the prosecution of the war, if he be an honest man, will feel bound to recognize and approve all the nec essary and logical consequences of the war. So we may vindicate every plank of that platform which embodies a principle of future administra tion. Consequently we find all the democrats who entered upon the prose cution of the war from convictions, not for contracts, battling to-day for the principles enunciated in that platform. Grant himself, and Stanton, Holt, Butler, Logan, Sickles, and a "milky way" of lesser lights, all illustrate this truth. The war has given us Grant for a candidate ; and universal suffrage, an honest discharge of our national obligations, the re construction of the demolished states of the south upon the congressional basis, for our platform. And every man who sustained Grant as a captain in the camp will support him now as a leader in the campaign of politics>, which will " trammel up the consequences " of the war, rebuild the south ern governments destroyed by the madness of treason, and restore our government to its first principles liberty, law and order. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 259 This quick and decisive support of Grant was a material help to Carpenter in his own canvass. Not many weeks elapsed after the appearance of the announcement of his candidacy before the popular tide began to set in his favor. But it was by no means an unobstructed tide. Obstacles were numerous and often formidable. C. C. Washburn controlled the La Crosse Republican; the Wisconsin State Journal, the official state paper, was edited (jointly with David Atwood) by Horace Rublee, and other papers in the state, already committed to the support of other candidates, cried that " Carpenter did not yet know how to act in his new political clothing." The democratic organs, exasper ated because he did not return to their fold at the end of the war, vehemently denounced him as a " turn-coat," a " mod ern Belial," an " Esau who was selling his birthright for a mess of pottage." These innuendoes, clothed in the startling verbiage malevolent genius can always command, had for a time an adverse effect upon his canvass. The shibboleth of " longer probation " had many sincere followers, because Doolittle, whom Carpenter hoped to succeed, had just aban doned his party in order to follow Andrew Johnson. After the campaign had arrived at an advanced and heated stage, the head and front of the so-called "Madison Re gency," E. W. Keyes, appeared in Carpenter's office in Milwaukee, in company with the late Ben. F. Hopkins. After the interchange of the usual courtesies of greeting, Hopkins inquired: " How is it, Mr. Carpenter, that your candidacy is meet ing with such astonishing success and favor without the apparent aid or effort of anybody?" " Spontaneous uprising of the people, for the purpose of ' rebuking politicians," was the laconic reply. " That's all bosh," answered Hopkins, nevertheless appre- ' ciating the hit. " Now tell us all about it." 26O LIFE OF CARPENTER. Carpenter then, in a few sentences, explained whence first arose the idea of his candidacy, and that the extent of the campaign work up to that time had been what newspaper discussion had naturally followed the formal announcement in the Janesville Gazette. "If that is true," exclaimed Keyes, one of the most expe rienced political managers in the northwest, "you can be elected." Thenceforward, Keyes and his friends were effective work ers for Carpenter. The labors of a remarkable senatorial campaign now began in earnest. Alexander C. Botkin, editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel, prepared a list of sixty-six republican and independ ent newspapers in the state, only two of which, the Janes ville Gazette and Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin, favored Carpenter's election. The gentleman who took this list soon knew whether their editors were committed to any of the other candidates, and if so, why; whether they had any pet schemes or whims; whether their support and influence would be damaging or beneficial; in fact, in a short time had a written record of everything about them that it was desirable to know. When this had been accomplished, the work of enlisting the support of such as it was deemed advisable to have on Carpenter's side began. One after another they wheeled into line, until forty-six out of the orig inal list of sixty-six were enthusiastic in their support of the popular lawyer and orator. As he passed up and down the state addressing public gatherings, Carpenter lost no opportunity of becoming per sonally acquainted with as many leading republicans as pos sible, and with the members of their families. The warmth with which he was everywhere received was indeed pleasant, if not remarkable, and he frequently confessed that the senatorship was a small prize compared with the many rare friendships he had formed during the campaign. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 261 LETTER FROM CARTER, Some interesting campaign features are disclosed in the following letter: NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 1883. DEAR SIR : When Matt's first senatorial campaign opened I had been chairman of the United States Christian Commission in the war of the Re bellion, had made two trips along the army lines and personally knew the soldiers from Wisconsin. I had been for three years secretary of the Wis consin State Sunday School Association and knew all the Sunday school men in the state; and besides, and better than all, I was a member of the great Methodist denomination. I well recollect the half-amused, half- frightened look that took possession of Matt.'s face on the night of our first meeting to devise apian of campaign, when I explained to him that among the list of speaking appointments the dates of those for Boscobel and Ra cine corresponded with the dates for holding the Methodist conferences in those cities. Although incredulous as to the expediency of such forced in trusions, as he called them, he finally consented to the programme. He was still more astonished when the conferences at both places adjourned for our meetings, and, mirable dictu, at Boscobel the good parsons actuallyfywv gave us their church for the evening and were enthusiastic listeners to Mr. Carpenter's captivating oratory. In fact, if my recollection serves me right, I believe one of the leading elders opened the meeting, which was as large as the house could possibly accommodate, with a semi-political prayer, ask ing God's blessing upon Mr. Carpenter's efforts. WALTER S. CARTER. When the day of election came the republicans were everywhere successful. Wisconsin gave nearly twenty-five thousand majority for Grant, and elected eighty-seven out of the one hundred and thirty-three members of the legislature. A. M. Thomson was re-elected by a round majority, and when the legislature convened, January 13, 1869, was again chosen speaker. This was Carpenter's first triumph. The election .of senator was not to take place until the fol lowing week, yet hundreds of lobbyists were already on the ground. Carpenter was present, with headquarters in the Vilas House. The great value of his fall stumping-tour now appeared. He was personally acquainted with two-thirds of the republican members, and had been a guest of many of them. A strong and growing personal feeling in his favor, 262 LIFE OF CARPENTER. therefore, prevailed among a majority of the members, though many were bound by previous arrangements and complications to vote for other candidates. He therefore said to his friends that if the nomination of Washburn, who was then his leading rival, could be prevented for two days after the first meeting of the caucus, he himself would be chosen. PARTY ISSUES. As the canvass progressed Thomson hit upon a decidedly novel plan of adding spice and variety to the proceedings. He drafted a call petitioning " Otis H. Waldo, Cadwallader C. Washburn, Edward Salomon, Horace Rublee and Mat thew H. Carpenter to appear before a mass-meeting of the members of the legislature and all others who might desire to attend, and give their views upon the issues of the day." This scheme met the decided opposition of all but Carpenter. Washburn, who made no pretense to oratory, was particu larly displeased with the call, but as a majority of the mem bers of the legislature had signed it, none of the rivals dared to decline. Monday evening, January i8th, was fixed as the time for the "prize rhetorical exercises," and "spelling-school exhi bition," as the wags had it. O. H. Waldo denominated the affair " a humbug," suggesting that " there would be as much sense in choosing a senator by the length of his nose or the size of his foot as by the ridiculous scheme of measuring tongues!" Carpenter opened his address: For twenty years I have been accustomed to public speaking, and jet I feel to-night all the embarrassment of a man attempting to make his first speech. I have defended men charged with all sorts of crimes, from drunkenness up to murder. This is the first time I ever stood up to defend myself. He then stated at considerable length his political pedigree, and closed thus: Now let us for a few moments consider the issues bequeathed to us by the war. The first great topic relates to the reconstruction of state govern. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 263 merits in the late rebel states. But as I have discussed this subject so fully in the argument in the McCardle case, in the supreme court of the United States, and in a speech upon the same subject made at Chicago during the late campaign, both of which have been extensively circulated as campaign documents, I shall pass that subject without comment. The subject of finance will necessarily engross most of the attention of the country and of congress for many years. There area few leading ideas that must always be borne in mind. Strict economy; n0 more subsidies; such appropriations only as are strictly within the provisions, the letter and spirit of the constitution ; necessary improvement of our harbors and rivers; an equal and honest adjustment of the burthens of national taxation; a firm resolution to keep the public faith inviolable; and all will be well. . Now, gentlemen, if, all things considered, you can conscientiously cast j your votes for me, I shall be delighted. If not, if you concur with a por- ( tion of the press of the state in the opinion that I am not fit to be a repub- \ >., lican candidate, but am fit to hold a candle for other candidates, so be it; f bring on your candidates, and I will stump the state for them every year as i long as I live. Washburn, who was in an unpleasant frame of mind, fol lowed, and began by making some sharp allusions to his com petitor. This at once drove the sympathy of the audience beyond his control, compelling him to stem the current in stead of riding upon it, as Carpenter had done. Quick to observe his loss, and perhaps a little frustrated by the effects of it, he attempted to turn the tide by a sally upon Carpen ter: " My friend Carpenter has said that if you defeat him and drive him out, he shall never dare again appear before the people, and shall content himself with giving a silent vote." What conclusion he proposed to draw from this utterance can never be known, as it was followed by vociferous cries of " He did not say that," " You speak an untruth," and similar expressions of disapproval. The commotion became so marked, that, although Washburn had uttered but a few sentences, he retired after declaring he had no intention of misquoting anybody. This episode gave the sympathy of the audience still further to Carpenter, and rendered it exceedingly difficult for Waldo, Rublee and Salomon to do justice to the occa- 264 LIFE OF CARPENTER. sion or their abilities. Even Carpenter's opponents ac knowledged that the oratorical contest had resulted in a signal triumph for him, and his friends went into the caucus on the following night not only hopeful but enthusiastic. CARPENTER NOMINATED. It is the custom in Wisconsin, as it is in most other states, for the members of either party in the legislature to hold a secret meeting called a " caucus," in which candidates for speaker of the assembly, president -pro tempore of the senate or United States senator are chosen by a majority vote of those present. The candidate so chosen is regarded as the regular nominee of the party, and receives in the formal meeting of the legislature the full party vote. The caucus of the republican members to agree upon a candidate for United States senator was held in the basement of the capitol building at 7 130 P. M., Tuesday, January ipth. All other persons except a few messenger boys, to whom the proceedings were supposed to be wholly unintelligible, were excluded, the sergeants-at-arms of both branches barricad ing, with the majesty of their positions, the entrance against all but the elect. Senator Anthony Van Wyck was elected chairman, and Senator Ira W. Fisher and Assemblyman Thaddeus C. Pound were chosen secretaries. After Luther Buxton's motion to proceed to an informal ballot for a candidate for United States senator, Charles G. Williams, a state senator, in a very brilliant and elab orate speech, presented " Matt. H. Carpenter as the special candidate of the overwhelmingly and ever reliable republican county of Rock, whose people had known him from his youth up." The closing sentences of his speech will be quoted: One thing, sir, we do remember, and we never wish to forget it, and that is, when the clouds lowered over all this land, when treason held high carnival, when the strongest hearts quailed, and all was doubt and uncer tainty above the clamor of party, above the din of war, rang out the LIFE OF CARPENTER. clarion voice of Matt. II. Carpenter, and the sentiments he promulgated received the Godspeed of every patriot and every genuine republican from Maine to California. Remembering these things, against all opposition and every objection, Rock county takes the responsibility, and backs him with her thirty-four hun dred republican majority. Sir, overwrought I may be, inexperienced I know I am, zealous I can but be. It seems to me the hour of destiny approaches; that one of those grand opportunities offered to a state but once in a century is upon us. Shall we seize the opportunity? We bring our candidate, upon whom even the most earnest of his op ponents will not deny that nature has showered her richest gifts ; that in breadth of brain, profundity of statesmanship, and grace and power of speech, is every way qualified to adorn the senate and honor the state. Will we act upon nature's hint? I said Massachusetts had named her Webster, Kentucky her Clay, Mis- souri her Benton and her Schurz, Illinois her Douglas, her Lincoln, and her Grant. Shall Wisconsin name her Carpenter? S. C. West, of Milwaukee, seconded the nomination in a plain, substantial manner, in behalf of the metropolis of the state and of the first congressional district. At the conclusion of the nominations, an informal ballot was taken, resulting in twenty-nine votes for Carpenter, thirty for Washburn, fourteen for Waldo, ten for Rublee, and four for Salomon. The result of the initial exhibit of numer ical strength was surprising, particularly to the friends of Washburn and Waldo, who never had conceded more than nineteen or twenty votes to Carpenter, and had counted on a much larger following for themselves. The interest, there fore, at once became intense, and tally-sheets were prepared, in order to know the result at the earliest possible moment. Five formal ballots were taken in rapid succession amidst intense interest: i 2 3 4 5 M. H. Carpenter ?2 ?4 40 AA C C. Washburn 71 J2 2 ^6 2-2 ir O. H. Waldo 12 II O *$ Horace Rublee 8 6 5 5 3 4 2 i 266 LIFE OF CARPENTER. The chairman announced that Carpenter had been duly nominated, and Senator Barlow moved that the nomination be made unanimous, which was carried with hurrahs. The news spread quickly through the capital and the city. Car penter remained at his headquarters while the other candi dates were in the assembly chamber, where, immediately after adjournment, the members of the legislature and a crowd of spectators gathered. George C. Hazelton called the throng to order, and a committee was appointed to notify Carpenter of his nomination and to invite him over to make a speech. To this he demurred, saying it would be more proper to make a speech of thanks after the two houses had ratified his nomination, if they should so far honor him. But " no " was not the answer wanted, and he was partly dragged and partly carried to the assembly chamber, where his appear ance was the signal for hurrahs, shouts, and every conceiv able manifestation of delight. When this had subsided he mounted the speaker's platform and said: GENTLEMEN: I should be wanting in all the tender emotions of our common humanity if I were in a mood to make a speech to-night. I am so delighted to be thus happily delivered from the uneasy blanket upon which I have been tossed for so many days, that I hardly know how to ex press to you my thanks for this fortunate delivery. But there is one thing to be borne in mind at the close of this contest among political associates and friends no scars are to remain. We are members of one faith, associ ated together in one organization, for high political and governmental ends. There must be rivalry, because one man only can fill one particular place; and our party has many members amply qualified to occupy the highest positions, and the friends of each will strive to promote their claims; and though the successful candidate must remember his friends, he should not cherish resentments or harbor malice towards those who have adhered to and supported rival candidates. If I shall be elected, gentlemen, by the legislature, for the position to which I have been nominated, it will be my careful endeavor and constant aim, in all places, to represent no city, no county and no locality, but the state of Wisconsin. It will be my aim, also, so far as I shall have any influence in the dispo sition of the patronage of the general government, in distributing the ap pointments and offices, to consult no clique, no "ring," but give the people of each locality the opportunity to select for themselves and be responsible for the propriety of such choice. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 267 Gentlemen, accept my sincere thanks for this nomination; and I should but half answer the sense of duty which wells up in my heart, if, in this place and upon this occasion, I should forget to make my sincere acknowledg ments to my friends of the "lobby," who have voluntarily rallied to the rescue from all parts of Wisconsin; from Rock, from Racine, from Mil waukee, from Wai worth, from Hudson, from Sheboygan, from almost every point ardent, devoted and firm friends. I am proud to say the best men in Wisconsin have come here to assist me on this occasion. I can not express my thanks to them, for I have no language that would be adequate. I have no profuse pledges to make. I shall simply say that, if I am elected, I will endeavor to do my duty; no man can do more. The friends he thus mentioned were present in the fullness of their admiration for Carpenter, desirous of showing their regard for him in a material way. The hotels and boarding- houses were all crowded; many went to Black Earth and McFarland, adjoining villages, to find beds, and scores act ually slept on the stone floors of the halls and rotunda of the capitol. This lobby was certainly cosmopolitan. Several religious denominations were represented, one well-known divine who saw Carpenter at Boscobel being present, urging his election. Lawyers and judges gathered in great num ber, flanked by farmers, journalists, manufacturers and pro fessional men of every class. Nothing like it had ever before been seen in Wisconsin. AN OVATION IN MILWAUKEE. At noon of the following day Carpenter boarded the cars for home, where he arrived shortly before dusk. At every station on the road the people crowded to the car to greet and congratulate him. On arriving at Milwaukee he was as tonished to find the depot and platform surrounded with people who had determined to tender an informal recep tion. Bach's celebrated military band was present, and as the train drew up to the platform played " Hail to the Chief." Good feeling and enthusiasm were overflowing, and as he descended from the car he was literally submerged with greetings and congratulations. Stemming this pleasant tide as 268 LIFE OF CARPENTER. best he could, he proceeded to a carriage in waiting to con vey him home. The citizens fell into line under Geo. B. Goodwin, and, preceded by the band, escorted Carpenter to his residence, about two miles distant. The escorting crowd gathered strength as it proceeded, and the wayside greet ings and huzzahs were continuous. On arriving at his residence the pride and good feeling of his friends and neighbors broke forth again in prolonged and vociferous cheering, while hats and handkerchiefs filled the air. When the storm of congratulations had subsided, Mr. Goodwin, in a few eloquent words, welcomed the victor home. Carpenter responded briefly, thanking those assem bled for the demonstration of their friendship, expressing his determination to represent the principles of the great radical party of Wisconsin in the United States senate to the best of his ability. Three cheers were then given, the band played a patriotic air and the crowd dispersed, leaving Carpenter at liberty to enter his house and receive the greetings of his family. His daughter Lilian, then ten years of age, had heard the news of her father's elevation, and asked her mother how he would look and whether she would know him on his return. To her childish delight, no less than astonishment, she recognized her father there actually had been no change; he was the same jovial, pleasant papa who had always shared her pleasures, joined in her amusements and soothed her lit tle sorrows. CONFIRMED. On January 27th the two houses met in joint session, and on the first ballot, without a dissenting vote among the repub lican members, ratified the work of the caucus, and at noon of that day Wyman Spooner, lieutenant-governor and presi dent of the senate, declared " Matthew Hale Carpenter elected to the United States senate for the term of six years ending March 3, 1875." Never had an election of this kind given such apparent LIFE OF CARPENTER. 269 general satisfaction in the state, or so universally touched the popular chord. Telegrams, letters and newspapers con taining congratulatory expressions came pouring in from all portions of Wisconsin and the northwest, as well as from Washington, Vermont, New York, Chicago and other cities and states. It was a proud day for Wisconsin, a triumphant day for Carpenter. 27O LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXV. GREELEY AND SECESSION. His elevation to the senate did not free Carpenter from missionary labors in politics. Not a campaign passed in which he was not in demand on the stump. In 1869 he ad dressed numerous mass-meetings, advocating the re-election of Lucius Fairchild, the republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin, and in 1870 canvassed the state in behalf of the republican nominees for congress, particularly urging, but without success, the election of Halbert E. Paine over^Alex- ander Mitchell. In 1871 Ex-Senator James R. Doolittle was the democratic and C. C. Washburn the republican candidate for governor. Carpenter entered upon the canvass early and , opposed Doolittle with earnest vigor, making more certain ' his defeat. In 1872 he spoke in the various congressional districts, con- -' tributing materially to the election of six out of the eight I republican nominees, and delivered also several political ad dresses in Illinois and adjoining states, picturing the anoma- N \ lous position of Horace Greeley, the democratic candidate for I the presidency. Everywhere he was greeted by large audi ences. At Warren, 111., on September 28th, he was welcomed with music and cannons, and eight thousand people gathered through a drenching rain to hear him. / L The presidential campaign of that year was one of vital importance. ( Greeley was on the stump in his own behalf, jus tifying secession, j All the people lately in rebellion were back in the Union exercising their own right of suffrage and pre- ^ venting, as much as possible, its exercise by the Negroes. Charles Sumner and N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts; Gen. Farnsworth, of Illinois; Carl Schurz, of Missouri, and scores of other influential republicans who had personal grievances against Grant, were supporting Greeley, and there was, for the LIFE OF CARPENTER. 27 1 first time since the war, a free rally, north and south, of the democracy for the purpose of undoing the results of the Re- y bellion. Against the methods and aims of such a campaign, Carpenter was perhaps the most conspicuous political knight in the field. His matchless defense of Grant on the floor of the senate against the malignant assaults of Sumner and Schurz was circulating in every community, one hundred thousand copies of it for campaign use having been printed on the first order of the national republican committee. His name was almost as familiar as that of Grant, and his voice roused whole cities and communities wherever he went. An imper fect excerpt from one of his speeches in Illinois will show his position : But another reason why Mr. Greeley should not be elected is that Mr. Greeley is a secessionist. If this charge can be substantiated, no honest Union man democrat or republican can vote for him. I shall substan tiate it from his own pen and his own lips. In the first place, what do we mean by a secessionist? Simply this: A man who maintains that the people of a state have a right to withdraw from the Union for any cause which they may determine justifies their doing so. No southern man, not even Mr. Calhoun or Jeff. Davis, ever claimed that a few conspirators in a state had the right to take a state out of the Union against the will of its people. But the doctrine of secession is, that whenever the people of a state desire to leave the Union they have a moral right to do so. Now, I charge that Mr. Greeley was an original secession ist, and I charge that he is a secessionist to-day; and I will prove this from his own writings and speaking. In 1860 and 1861, this question, the right of secession, was the great question which engrossed the thoughts of our people. Eleven states were threatening to maintain this right by an appeal to the sword ; and it became almost the only topic of conversation and discussion from one end of the Union to the other. It soon became evident that the Union must be dis solved or maintained at the expense of war. Whether the government could successfully wage a war depended upon the question whether the popular sentiment would sustain the government or not. The excitement of mere political and partisan discussion, the angry style of the stump, the hurrah of caucuses, had given place to that calmer and deeper reflection of a great people who feel that they qre considering a ques tion which, decided one way, must lead to bloodshed and war. While the question was merely political or partisan, men flippantly disposed of the arguments urged by party opponents. But when the political campaign closed with Lincoln's election, and the question still remained to be settled, not by speeches, but 272 LIFE OF CARPENTER. by a struggle which must shake the continent; settled not at the ballot box, but on the battle-field ; determined not by devotion to party, but by patriotism which could endure the smell of blood and survive the shock of armies, then the noisy politicians moderated their frenzy, and the better portion of our people, those who are silent amid the d n of mere politics the sober, solid men of the country came to the front to consider whether secession should be permitted or war waged to prevent it While this solemn and painful reflection of a great people held judgment in suspense, where was Mr. Greeley? He was at the head of the most influential journal in the United States. The whole people were his daily audience. It was of prime importance that his bugle should give no un certain sound. And it must be confessed, though to his shame, that it did not; it rang out loud and clear in favor of the right of secession; and had his advice been followed, the Union would have been dissolved without the firing of a gun to preserve it. Mr. Greeley, in those days, maintained the right of secession in plain words, supported by what he called reasons and arguments. He said: " If it (the Declaration of Independence) justifies the secession from the British empire of the three million of colonists in 1776, we do not see why it would not justify the secession of five million southerners from the Federal Union in 1861." But the people rejected the teachings of Mr. Greeley, and resolved that the Union should be preserved, and that war should be waged to put down rebellion and bury the heresy of secession. On that appeal in the highest forum, that appeal to God to uphold the right, we succeeded, and the peo ple adopted the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the con stitution. We had a right to hope that the war had solved the question, and that the amendments to the constitution had gathered up and secured the fruits of our victory. But in all this we were mistaken. The present cam paign opens the question again. Mr. Greeley made a speech at Pittsburg on the ipth of this month. I shall refer to the report of that speech in Mr. Greeley's own organ, and shall read from its text and type. I read from the New York Tribune of the 2oth of the present month what Mr. Greeley said at Pittsburg on the I9th, the day before. Speaking of his position in 1860 and 1861, he says: " I denied that the great majority of the southern people were against the Union. I demanded that there should be open, free discussion ; that southern people might have an honest, unterrified, unconstrained vote, and, if they approved, if the people of the south said they wanted disunion, I would consent to it. And now, to-day, if the nation were to be imperiled, and there were just two modes of saving it, to trust the chances of civil war or the chances of a free vote of the southern people, I would very greatly prefer to take the latter chance rather than the former." Thus Greeley was avowedly for secession in 1860 and 1861, and indorses to-day his old secession utterances. It is folly for any one to deny this or attempt to explain it away. It is equal folly to say that secession is dead LIFE OF CARPENTER. 27 3 when we find a presidential candidate defending it upon the stump. It may be said, Mr. Greeley says, that the southern people will never try secession, because it is not for their interest to do so. But it never was for their in terest, and yet they did try it, and made war on a vast scale for four years to accomplish it. It may be said that the amendments to the constitution have swept slavery away, and therefore there is no longer any motive for secession. It is true the amendments, while they continue, prevent slavery and establish equality of privileges and immunities among all citizens. But can any man say that if the republican party were to be overthrown, the amendments would survive? Judge Black, one of the ablest lawyers in the United States, formerly attorney-general, and secretary of state under Buchanan, supports Mr. Greeley for President, and in his published letter to Mr. Welch of the Baltimore Gazette, August 6, 1872, he assigns his reasons for doing so, as follows: "The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were frauds upon the spirit and letter ot the instrument, inasmuch as they effected the worst outrage which it was made to prevent. They were carried ag trying this question. Cuba holds up her hands to us, states her case, rep- repents her condition; Spain denies the truth of these statements and Cuba= offirs to prove them. Shall we deny her this opportunity? * * * Lib erty in Cuba is in the helplessness of infancy ; its life is feeble, its pulse Clow. * * * As it is, whether the United States does its duty or vio- plates its duty, Cuba is without remedy; but there is a bar, the bar of impar- /tial history, before which all governments must stand; there is a God, and / a great book in which the deeds of nations are written, and there is retribu- 1 tion for every nation which, knowing its duty, does it not After closing the speech, which was listened to with un usual attention, except that the senator from Massachusetts assumed a comtemptuous indifference, Carpenter stated that he thought early action was necessary, as he understood eighteen of the gun-boats would leave New York harbor in two days. At this Sumner sprung to his feet, and flaunting the paper upon which it was written before the senate, read LIFE OF CARPENTER. 35 1 a telegram sent from New York the night before, saying the vessels had been delivered to the agents of the Spanish government, that they were flying the Spanish flag, were fully manned, and would put to sea the following morning. 11 The following morning is this morning," exultantly cried Sumner, who then proceeded to briefly oppose the resolution upon the ground that Carpenter had misapprehended the statutes, that Cuba was not in a state of war, and that con gress had no knowledge of the real condition of affairs in Cuba upon which to predicate debate and action. Carpen ter then asked if the present was not a most favorable time to libel the boats and secure proof on the facts the senator from Massachusetts had desired. Sumner replied that he thought not; that the better way was to await information from the state department, 1 and " send to the authorized agents in Cuba and direct them to report." Thus it became apparent to Carpenter that, for some rea son unknown to him, Sumner was seeking delay, and he was not a little astonished that the great antagonist of slav ery and oppression in other days should be possessed of such minute information, not within the reach of the other senators, in regard to the secret movements of the Spanish gun-boats fitted out in American ports in the interest of slav ery, and that he should manifest such ill-concealed relish in reading it to the senate to show that the war-ships had sailed and that the purpose of the resolution had thus been baf fled. When questioned as to the responsibility and identity of the sender of the dispatch, Sumner vouchsafed no infor mation ; but it soon became known that he was present the night before at a dinner given by Secretary Fish, and re ceived a copy of the telegram from Sidney Webster (attor ney or agent of the Spanish government at a large salary) to whom it was sent officially. The gun-boats had been detained by the administration, but l A resolution asking for information relative to the revolt in Cuba had previously been adopted. 352 LIFE OF CARPENTER. suddenly, when it became known that Carpenter had pre pared a resolution asking to have them libeled, they were released, and taking officers, provisions and crews from the Spanish ship Pizarro, sailed away in the shortest possible order. The liberty-lovers of the senate had been outwitted. The Spaniards sent word that if action on Carpenter's reso lution could be delayed, the gun-boats would be entirely be yond the reach of its terms. That delay was secured before Carpenter discovered why it was wanted. / When Sumner's position and action in the senate became s known and Carpenter's speech had been read by the people, / there arose a violent clamor against the former and unbounded } praise for the latter. The newspapers voiced public senti- / ment. The New York Times cried " America's shame ;" / the New York Sun declared that " Massachusetts had been forever disgraced," and hurled bolt after bolt at Sumner, styling him, in bitter irony, " The Great Pro-Slavery Senator from Massachusetts;" and the New "V 'ork Herald said: The secretary has been influenced, probably, by Spanish agents, and among these by his own son-in-law, who, it is reported, receives a fee, or bribe, or whatever it may be called, of forty thousand dollars a year from Spain. He has been influenced, too, no doubt, by Senator Sumner, the chairman of the committee on foreign affairs in the senate, who is the enemy of Cuba, because, forsooth, he imagines that any kindness shown to the Cubans or the recognition of their belligerent rights might destroy the ef fect of his grand sophomorical speech on the Alabama claims. CARPENTER INDORSED. On the other hand, the leading journals of the country, ir respective of party, were unstinted in their commendation of Carpenter's eloquence and patriotism, while the foremost judges and jurists indorsed his interpretation of, and conclu sions upon, the neutrality laws and the conditions necessary to constitute a state of belligerence. His name and praise appeared in almost every publication, and were heard in every gathering throughout the country. He thus became, at a single bound, the most prominent and popular member LIFE OF CARPENTER. 353 of the senate. The various state legislatures then in session] adopted resolutions indorsing his speech and condemning the ( action of the government in libeling the Hornet, a vessel fit- ) i ted out by the Cuban patriots in American waters to cruise j /" against Spain, while releasing, in such a manner as to arouse public suspicion, the thirty~gun-boats fitted out in the same \ \-j waters by the Spaniards to levy war against the Cuban j ~- patriots. ^ Carpenter based his argument that it was the clear duty , 0- of the federal power to libel the thirty gun-boats fitted out in the United States to cruise against Cuba, upon the section of <" the neutrality laws of 1818 which declares that any ship in any manner fitted out, provisioned or armed within the limits of the United States, to be used to commit hostilities against the " subjects, citizens or property of any foreign prince or state, or_any colony, district or people with whom the United >c States are at peace," shall be, with all her tackle, stores, am munition, etc., seized, and the persons engaged in such fitting out fined and imprisoned. But Sumner, in the clear interest < ^- of Spain, said this law did not apply to Cuba and Spain in the case under discussion, and that Carpenter was laboring under a mistaken reading of the statutes. Three days later,^v ^ however, Judge Alfred Conkling, of New York, who had j * been employed to gather and digest the neutrality laws dur- 1 - ing the " Patriot War " in Canada, wrote for Hamilton Fish, \ - secretary of state, an elaborate opinion overthrowing the peculiar assumptions of Sumner and affirming the unblem ished soundness of Carpenter's reasoning and conclusions. A great mass-meeting was held in New York city, which was addressed by Horace Greeley, Cassius M. Clay, and other leading men, to indorse Carpenter and condemn Sum ner, and a resolution was adopted by the New York legisla ture praising the former's speech, and declaring his resolution should have been adopted. On the 3d day of February, when the bill introduced by Senator T. O. Howe [of Wisconsin] " to preserve the neu- 23 354 LIFE OF CARPENTER, trality of the United States," which had reference to Spain and Cuba, came up, Carpenter made a still more elaborate and powerful speech in support of the position he had as sumed in favoring the adoption of his own resolution, and took occasion to handle Sumner and his so-styled " pro-slav ery" remarks with great freedom and severity. Sumner, observing how pitilessly he was being torn to shreds, arose and denied that he intended in his remarks to convey the meaning that had been put upon them. Carpenter replied that no other construction was possible, and that Sumner should thank him for giving such an excellent opportunity to explain some very unfortunate remarks, adding: I understand him now to admit all that I claim, that this neutrality act is as applicable to the condition of things between Spain and Cuba Mr. Sumner No; I do not admit any such thing. Mr. Carpenter I understand the senator now to admit that this statute of neutrality is just as applicable to a state of things between Spain and Cuba as it was between Spain and the South American provinces, provided the facts of the case bring it within the position that those parties occupied at that time. Mr. Sumner Precisely; that is my position. Mr. Carpenter That is all I wished to establish. I shall congratulate myself on having succeeded. I know I am right now, because I am not only sustained by the authorities which I have read, but I am backed up to the handle by the senator from Massachusetts. In this spirited controversy both men won. Carpenter failed to prevent the sailing of the Spanish gun-boats, but he won the highest place in popular regard. Sumner lost his 1 1 hold upon the American public, but rendered full service to /' Spain. Carpenter's reputation as a brilliant orator, powerful de bater and clear expounder of constitutional and international law was fully established by the Cuban question, was freely acknowledged everywhere, the New York Times pronounc ing him the "best speaker in the senate and the Daniel Webster of the west." Indeed, it has never been denied that his second speech upon that subject was one of the most remarkable, in the wide range of its historical references, ex- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 355 tended research into authorities and decisions, uncontro- vertible application of law to fact, unanswerable form of statements and arguments, and withal, in eloquence and sarcasm, that has ever been heard in the senate. No man could make any adequate reply to it without weeks of preparation; and although Sumner gave notice of a reply? he refrained from keeping the promise. AN "INHABITANT" OR A "RESIDENT." In March, 1870, occurred a somewhat notable debate on the eligibility of Adelbert Ames as senator from Mississippi. He was a general in the army, and had been sent as such to unreconstructed Mississippi. While stationed there he agreed that if he could be elected United States senator he would make Mississippi his future home. On this promise he was elected and presented himself for admission to the chamber. The committee on judiciary, after a careful investigation,' decided Mr. Ames to be ineligible, whereupon the republican leaders made very active warfare upon the report and its signers, for partisan reasons, Mr. Ames being a republican, as were also a majority of the committee and of the senate. The constitution of the United States declares that a man to be eligible to the United States senate must be, among other things, " an inhabitant of the state for which he shall be chosen." Mr. Ames went temporarily to Mississippi upon military duty, in obedience to orders, and not volun tarily as a citizen intending to found a home or a business. The question, therefore, turned upon whether he was an " inhabitant " of that state, and Carpenter, with great clear ness and perspicuity, maintained that he was not, as Mr. Ames had stated to the committee that he would not have remained in Mississippi as a resident, nor resigned from the army, if he had not been chosen United States senator. In this debate those who proposed to seat Mr. Ames whether or not he was entitled to recognition were branded by Car penter as " the advance guard of the constitution raiders." r LIFE OF CARPENTER. He paid a very high compliment to Mr. Ames for his hon esty and fairness, saying: He made no attempt to conceal or color facts; he stated the truth with the frankness of a soldier. * * * I have the highest respect and admira tion for General Ames, and if after this full performance of my duty and after my vote, which must be cast against him, a majority of the senate shall accord to him a seat in this body, though I shall regard the precedent as bad and a dangerous one, and though I shall believe that he has been ad mitted to his seat through the bleeding sides and broken ribs of the con stitution, nevertheless I shall most cordially welcome him personally. Mr. Ames was admitted April i, 1870, by a vote of forty to twelve.. -Among those who voted nay with Carpenter were Roscoe Conkling, Lyman Trumbull, Geo. F. Ed- S munds, T. F. Bayard and Carl Schurz, and when the mat- j ter was subsequently brought unofficially to the notice of 1 several members of the United States supreme court, they decided without hesitancy that Carpenter's definition of ineli- gibility was correct. ENFORCING THE AMENDMENTS. ! During the long and somewhat partisan debates on Bing- ham's bill to enforce the fifteenth amendment, the democrats were greatly harassed by Carpenter's interpretation of the various amendments which they offered. While Thurman was advocating a provision which proposed to punish of fenses against the laws governing the election of members of congress, Carpenter interposed: Inasmuch as the election takes place at the same time and place for offi cers under the general government, to wit, members of congress and officers of the state government, if the penalties attached to our law are sufficient sanctions to compel obedience to it, the New York repeaters, as they go to the polls, will be in this predicament: they will be compelled to vote hon estly for federal officers, but will be left to their old practices on state officers ; and this will produce such an almighty perplexity on their part that I am afraid they will not vote at all. Carpenter offered this amendment to the Bingham bill, which was adopted and became a portion of the law: That any person who shall be deprived, or fail to be elected to any office, except that of member of congress or member of a state legislature, by LIFE OF CARPENTER. 357 reason of the denial to any citizen of the right to vote, who offered his vote at the election, on account of his race, color or previous condition of servitude, shall be entitled to hold such office and perform the duties and receive the emoluments thereof, and may recover the possession of such office by quo -warranto or other appropriate proceeding in the circuit or district court of the United States for the proper district, or in any state court having jurisdiction of such proceedings. s LARGE OFFICES, SMALL PAY. During the discussion of the appropriation bills of the ses sion, Carpenter made an eloquent but unavailing plea for the adoption of an amendment increasing the pay of the judi ciary raising the salaries of the justices of the supreme court to $10,000, and of other judges proportionately. He de clared the time had come when the salaries for civil service must be increased or the government would go practically into the hands of an aristocracy of wealth. His argument is interesting: An act of congress which provided that no judge should sit on the su preme bench unless he had a certain income would raise an insurrection in this country, and yet what is the practical difference between such an act and one which fixes the salary so low that a man can not take the place un less he has a private income? Look at England. They are consistent with themselves. Their theory of civil government is that it should be in the hands of an aristocracy of wealth and nobility of blood. How do they manage to secure that end? They will not pay a member of parliament a shilling. What is the result? / The house of commons to-day is the richest body of men in England. We I have heard a great deal of discussion in that country that has come to us \ over the water about reform, enlarging the ballot What does it amount / to? Has the poor man in England any rights whatever with the ballot enlarged? What odds does it make whether the nabob sitting in parlia ment is voted for by twenty-five hundred or twenty-five thousand poor men? The poor men have no interest in parliament; they can not take seats there, because they can not support themselves after they get there, ^j See how it works in our own midst When General Grant's administra tion came in, he offered the office of secretary of state to a statesman of the west, ot Iowa, a man whom all of us would have been proud to see in that place. How did he look at it? To come to Washington and live as a sec- retary of state should live would cost him $15,000 a year, and his salary was $8,000; $7,000 out of pocket each year. If he were to stay with his LIFE OF CARPENTER. family in Iowa, he could support them on $5,000 and make $15,000. There was $17,000 difference in his bank account. He could not afford to pay that amount to be secretary of state. Then General Grant goes right to the eastern states and offers the office to a man to whom the $17,000 made no earthly difference ; and in that case your $8,000 paid to the present sec retary of state is thrown away, because he would have taken the office just as quick without the salary as with it. Let me give another instance, to which my friend from Nevada [Mr. Nye] calls my attention. During the war Mr. Stanton was working in the war office on an average sixteen hours a day, doing an amount ot toil, meeting an amount of responsibility, which no man on earth ever did for such a length of time; toil and trouble that broke down his giant constitution and sent him untimely to the grave, where the representatives of this nation with heavy hearts and with heads bowed down have so recently laid him. During those same years railroad companies all over the country were pay ing $10,000 a year to their attorneys PROTECTING CITIZENS ABROAD. Davis Hatch, of Connecticut, doing business in San Do mingo, was seized upon the order of the president of the Dominican government and sentenced to death for no violation of law or order whatever, the pretense of President Baez being that he would make such revelations in regard to the condition of the island that a treaty then pending would not be ratified by the United States. O. E. Babcock was in San Domingo in charge of the treaty negotiations, and the peti tion of Hatch related that he had been continued in prison at Babcock's solicitation. When Senator Ferry, in reading the petkion, came to this feature of it, Sumner exclaimed, refer ring to Babcock: " He ought to be cashiered at once." This wakened Carpenter who objected to referring the documents for investigation to the committee on foreign relations, whose chairman, Sumner, was having a quarrel with President Grant, and who was therefore assumed to entertain a strong prejudice against General Babcock. Carpenter pronounced a speech on the subject, closing as follows: / / The British government stands peerless before the world and challenges //the world's admiration for the protection it affords to its subjects in the re- (/ motest corner of the globe. No matter how far away nor in what clime. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 359 nor how humble the sufferer may be, that government is ready to exert its utmost power for his relief and the redress of his wrongs. An injury to an Englishman is an insult to England. I admire the English monarchy as much for this as I detest it for the wrongs it often inflicts upon the subjects and citizens of other countries. In this respect, in my judgment, this great republic has been sadly at fault; and it is high time that our practice, in this particular, should be reformed. Let it be considered as the settled policy of this republic to redress the wrongs of its citizens, not only in San Domingo, but everywhere; and I invoke a part of the indignation and wrath which the chairman of our committee on foreign relations has poured upon General Babcock in behalf of a redress of the yet unpunished wrongs which have been committed upon American citizens in Cuba. They have been murdered, j>penly as- ^ sassinated in the streets of Havana, and one of our citizens, representing / this nation as an acting consuITTias been driven from that island, escaping for his life under protection of the flag of England. Let us investigate this case thoroughly, but let it be done by a committee whose chairman has not already reported against one of the conspicuous actors whose conduct is to be investigated. THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. One of the speeches of this session, which the opposition newspapers subsequently made use of in attempts to injure Carpenter politically, was that against Representative Farns worth's bill to abolish the franking privilege; but it was, upon a subject apparently so dry and barren, one of the most ingenious, logical and entertaining addresses of the session. A large number of petitions from all parts of the country had been presented, praying for the abolition of the franking privilege, and Carpenter startled the senate by exposing the manner in which those petitions were obtained. He showed \ that the postmaster-general had sent printed circulars to / about twenty-eight thousand postmasters throughout the \ Union, directing them to obtain as many signatures as they / could to papers requesting the abolishment of the franking ( privilege, and return them to the senators and representa tives of their respective states. He presented to the senate the proof that this large amount of matter " was sent out 360 LIFE OF CARPENTER. under the frank of the postoffice department as official busi ness" He also stated that he had been unable to find a single genuine petition one that had not been forcibly ob tained in the manner mentioned. He then made an argu ment of some length upon the merits of the question. He showed by facts and figures that the franking privilege, in stead of being a benefit and valuable perquisite to congress men, was a source of great annoyance and expense, as he had, for the current session alone, expended over $300 for speeches called for by his Wisconsin friends, to say nothing of the labor and trouble of franking. To use his own- words: The benefits of the franking privilege may be distributed thus : To the member, the privilege ot buying speeches, paying for them out of his own pocket, working night and day to frank them, besides paying a clerk to- direct them; and to the people, the privilege of obtaining them without money and without price. He then referred to the fact that when a senator could send his own speeches to his constituents, they would show that he was right or wrong, and the people could thus learn whether they were being misrepresented; and that, as the contracts for carrying the mails had already been let for four years, the passage of the pending bill would benefit no one, not even the government. In referring to the Rebellion and the benefits arising from cheap and rapid communication between the government and the people, he said: /- , 1 was not in congress during those years ; but I was with the people fre quently on the stump, and I can testify to the benefits of the franking priv ilege during those dark and perilous times. It is my honest belief that the Union party could not have been kept in power, nor the people held up to the support of the government through the war, but for the flood of intelli gence and patriotic appeals which was poured over the country as free mail matter. After referring to the fact that the government maintains courts, an army and a navy for the benefit of the public, and that a merchant vessel is protected from pirates in the far thest sea without cost, and that upon application the army LIFE OF CARPENTER. 361 quells, for any community, and free of expense, Indian out breaks, insurrections and petty invasions, he put forth this doctrine : If it be not a government duty imposed by the constitution to carry the mails, then the government has no right to carry them; and if it has such right and owes such duty, then the expense of performing that duty should be defrayed from the general treasury. Speaking from a partisan standpoint he said: You have inaugurated and nearly consummated a reconstruction of civil government in the lately rebel states. Is it not important that you should retain every facility for flooding those states with intelligence? Do you think it would be well for our party, well for our country and well for free institutions to discourage and tax the transmission of our political views to the south? In a mere party sense it would be madness. * * * I believe if, instead of depriving our people of intelligence, as a means of saving $500,000, we should annually appropriate $10,000,000 to transmit all letters // and papers to Europe, in ten years we would revolutionize those countries. // The measure did not pass. THE TEXAS PACIFIC RAILWAY BILL. When the bill to aid in building the Texas Pacific Railway from Marshall, Texas, to San Diego, California, was under discussion, an amendment embodying what that famous lob byist, Sam Ward, would have called a " snug little job," was- offered and seemed likely to pass. It purported to grant the* Chattanooga & Alabama Railway Company, by consolida tion with the Vicksburg & Meridian Railway Company and the North Louisiana & Texas Railway Company, author ity to form a junction at Marshall with the Texas Pacific line, but it really gave largely increased land-grants to roads already built, and whose charters and franchises came irom their respective states, not from congress. The language of N the amendment was so cunningly devised that only the in- f terested senators understood what would be accomplished; but Carpenter exposed the whole scheme and defeated i An amendment offered by him prevailed, and thus one of the neatest jobs ever attempted to be smuggled through con gress was beheaded 362 LIFE OF CARPENTER. TARIFF AND TAXES. In discussing the tariff bill Carpenter opposed imposts on books as " a direct tax on knowledge." The income-tax he opposed for, among others, the following reason: I vote against the income-tax because, while I admit that theoretically it is a perfect way of getting revenue, vet in its practical operation it lays a tax upon conscience. Go through the agricultural districts of Wisconsin, and you will find in all instances that the conscientious men, the clergy men, the men who are on salaries, whose income is known and can be as certained, have to pay their tax ; but the men whose income is in fact five times as large, and you have no means to reach it, go scot free. In other words, the tax upon incomes, in its practical operation, is a tax upon con science ; and conscience has fared badly in this country a great many times. CITIZENSHIP OF THE CHINESE. One of the speeches that was particularly clear in show ing the liberal, enlightened and progressive policy Carpenter always entertained and advocated, was that upon Represent ative Davis' bill " to amend the naturalization laws and to punish crimes against the same." Charles Sumner offered an amendment, striking the word " white " from the natural ization laws, so as to enable colored persons born in the West Indies, Africa and elsewhere to become voters with the f reed- men. This excited the Pacific Slope senators, one of whom [Mr. Williams, of Oregon] added a proviso that the act under consideration should " not be construed to authorize the naturalization of persons born in the Chinese empire." Carpenter fought this vigorously with Sumner, and succeeded in defeating it, leaving the law with no reference to China men. He closed his speech on the subject in these words: Whenever a new question arises in the details of administration, when ever a new subject is presented for legislative regula ion, and doubts exist in regard to the course to be pursued, it is safer to be guided by principle than by prejudice or passion. What, then, is the American principle that should guide us here? There are, of course, many theories as to where the tight of suffrage should be vested. Those writers on the science of gov ernment who believe that the few were designated to govern the manjr LIFE OF CARPENTER. 363 'have long since predicted the ruin of our nation, because the right of suf frage is so widely extended. Some contend for a standard of intelligence; ome would seek the standard in wealth; some in blood; some in one thing, .and some in another. But we Americans have met all the discussions and arguments upon this subject with a broad American principle, which is that every man who is bound by the law oaght to have a voice in making the law. By the opposition of the senator from Oregon I am reminded of one of Lamb's essays, the one upon roast pig. He describes himself as being a generous man; says he would divide with his friend most of the good things of life, beef, mutton, oysters, clams, etc.; but that every man's generosity must have some limit, and he says he stops on roast pig; that he would not divide a morsel of it with the best friend he had on earth. The senator from Oregon is a liberal statesman, and a good man a man of great brain and of warm heart He would welcome the Frenchman, the Englishman, the German, the Norwegian, and the Swede; yes, the slave just freed from his bonds and the Negro from the interior ot Africa; but the senator's generosity must have some limit, and so he stops on the Chinaman; the Chinaman is his roast pig. Sir, this American maxim, that all freemen bound by the law, ought to have a voice in making the law, is either a truth or a falsehood. If it be a truth, the Chinaman 1 is entitled to vote; if it be a falsehood, then you must call witnesses to prove that you yourself are entitled to vote. Often during the war the darkness was so dense that the path before us as a nation could not be seen. But with the people, when sight failed, faith inspired them, and hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, and with faces imploringly uplifted to Heaven, they walked hopefully and safely through the gloom that enveloped them. So let us do here. To admit the Chinaman to full participation in the rights of citizenship may well create some apprehension ; but I would sooner apply our principles to him than confess them to be erroneous, and thus destroy the only foundation upon which free government can rest. PENSIONS CORPORATIONS. Carpenter, by voice and vote, supported the bill to grant the widow of Abraham Lincoln a pension of $3,000 per year. His speech was eloquent, and in it he predicted that probably the United States would never have another oppor tunity to pension the widow of an assassinated President; 1 If Carpenter had lived to run for the presidency, as many thought he would, he could not have carried California. 364 LIFE OF CARPENTER. but just eleven years from that month President James A. Garfield, being shot, made his prophecy, unfortunately, untrue. An amendment to the appropriation bill allowing the sec retary of the interior to pay settlers for property destroyed by Indian depredations was opposed on the ground that it was illegal, and that to recognize such claims would be to- open the door to a perpetual list of constantly-increasing demands of the same sort, founded largely upon fraud or circumstances for which the settlers were primarily blamable. In advocating the passage of Senator Sumner's bill to reg ulate by act of congress the telegraph and cable lines and regulate telegraphic communication between the United States and foreign countries, Carpenter struck a popular chord that echoed and re-echoed throughout the country,, when he declared: This is an exceedingly important subject, and without attempting a dis cussion of it at this time, I desire to say that if our liberties are in danger to-day from any source it is from the fearful growth of monopolies in the country. The states are powerless in the premises. * * * But fortu nately there is no such restraint upon the power of congress. There is no such thing as a vested right, in the technical sense, in any corporation created by congress, which is beyond the control of congress. Any corporation which congress has ever created might be to-day dissolved. WISCONSIN MEASURES. Carpenter procured the passage by congress of a measure- to exempt forever from taxation the property of the Taylor orphan asylum at Racine, Wisconsin, a noble institution founded by money bequeathed by Isaac Taylor, a philan thropic Englishman who landed in New York in 1828 and settled in Racine in 1842. Carpenter always had a deep and heart-felt interest in that institution, and said the passage of this bill gave him more pleasure than anything else he had done in congress. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 365 So far as Wisconsin is concerned, the most important measure advocated by him 1 in congress was that dividing the state into two judicial districts, the eastern and the west ern, for the federal courts. The law left the records, the judge and other officers with the former district at Mil waukee, and provided for the appointment of a judge, marshal, attorney and clerk for the new district. He recom mended the appointment of James C. Hopkins of Madison as United States district judge; L^ajles M. Webb of Grand Rapids as United States district attorney, and Frank W. Oakley as United States marshal. Against the passage of this bill, Milwaukee, his home, made determined opposition. But, although to divide the state was contrary to the pro fessional interests of himself, his partner and his brother at torneys, he rose above all local and personal considerations in obedience to the sentiment of the entire commonwealth, and insisted upon the passage of the measure. 1 Carried through with the material aid of Congressman David Atwood, of Madison. 366 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXX. FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION. The third session of the forty-first congress, which con vened December 5, 1870, was less spirited and important than its predecessor, and fewer matters were considered that brought Carpenter into prominence. Senator McCreery, of Kentucky, at an early day, offered a resolution asking for a joint committee of five to investigate the claim of Mrs. Robert E. Lee to compensation for or the restoration of Arlington Heights, taken by the government for non-payment of taxes during the war, and subsequently used as a cemetery for Union soldiers. The resolution pro posed that the dead soldiers should be removed, the property restored to Mrs. Lee, together with full remuneration for all trees felled and property destroyed, all wastage and loss from dispossession, and rental for the time the government held the estate. Carpenter characterized the measure as " an insult to the senate of the United States," and voted against it. In the furious and acrimonious debate on Morton's resolu tion asking for the appointment of a committee to proceed to San Domingo for the purpose of discovering whether it was advisable to annex that island to the United States, Carpenter took little part. He defended President Grant from those assaults of Sumner which Chandler of Michigan character ized (December 21, 1870), on the floor of the chamber, as the " most brutal " he had heard during his fourteen years of service in the senate. He voted for the resolution. THE J. M. BEST CLAIM. When Senator Davis, of Kentucky, presented a bill for the payment of a liberal sum to J. M. Best, of that state, whose house was destroyed by the federal troops while in action, Carpenter renewed his opposition to the recognition of any LIFE OF CARPENTER. 367 so-called southern claims. This was called a " peculiar " case, inasmuch as Best claimed to have been loyal in spirit to the Union, and his house was destroyed by the Union soldiers during the second day of the battle at Paducah, to prevent its further use by the confederate sharp-shooters. Therefore,, the champions of the bill declared that was " taking property for public use," and under the constitution Best must be paid. Carpenter's speech on the question was one of the very- clearest expositions of the doctrines of peace and war, and the liability of the United States to even those whose loyalty to- the Union was manifest, but who chose to remain in the south and pay taxes to carry on the Rebellion, that was ever uttered in this country. He contended: Every man, woman or child in the districts over which the rebellious- but de facto southern governments exercised control was a public enemy of the United States. There was no recorded instance, so far as I knew, of resistance by the people of the south to the fiats of the de facto govern ments, and if the south had succeeded in the field, the independence of those states would have dated from the dates of their respective ordi nances of secession, an J their territory and inhabitants would have been to us a foreign soil and people, and every man residing within their limits, without regard to his sentiments or conduct during the war, would have been an alien to the United States. * * * Every person, in fact, subject to the authority of one of the contending governments is a public enemy of every person subject to the authority of the other. The champions of Best held that a loyal citizen residing in the confederacy and having his property destroyed in war, was as much entitled to compensation as one who, re siding in the north, had his substance taken for army sup plies. Carpenter declared this to be an absurd principle, as a resident of South Carolina who, though pretending to be loyal, should, nevertheless, be drafted into the confederate army and lose an arm by a Union bullet, could not plead loyalty to establish the liability of the government and thus go upon the pension list. The man who thus lost his arm, he alleged, would occupy the same category with the one 368 LIFE OF CARPENTER. whose property was destroyed in battle. He further con tended: War means destruction. Armies are marched through hostile territory to kill, burn, ravage and lay waste. The commanding general has no juris diction to determine who in the enemy's country is guilty and who is in nocent He has but one duty to perform, and that is to prostrate and reduce the enemy's country. And if, while the war is raging, no person within the enemy's lines can plead loyalty and exempt his property, it is equally clear that he can not, after the war has been concluded, found a legal claim against the government on what it was proper for the military forces to do. In concluding he said many of these cases appealed strongly to the sympathy, and that congress might, in its bounty, grant some remuneration, as a traitor may be par doned; but that no citizen of the rebellious district had any right to demand either pardon or remuneration. He did not think it was even time to be generous; that no appeals from recent public enemies should be heeded until all the legal ob ligations of the government had been paid. No one pre tended to answer Carpenter's argument, nor to act in opposition to him upon legal and constitutional grounds; but the bill passed the senate simply because the republicans of that body had sufficient numerical strength, regardless of precedent, decisions and law. CO-EDUCATION OF WHITES AND BLACKS. In discussing the measure establishing a system of educa tion in the District of Columbia, Carpenter opposed making any distinction on account of color; that is, opposed opening separate schools for white and black children. He spoke with considerable eloquence for the colored race, closing thus: We have said that these men, in common with all men, shall vote. We have said they shall sit in the jury-box and upon the bench ; that they may hold office; and we have assumed to destroy all distinctions. If we insist upon destroying this distinction as to suffrage and holding office, how ab surd it is to set up that distinction at the very fountain of life, to abolish LIFE OF CARPENTER. 369 which we have been amending the constitution and legislating for tea jears I Later experience has shown that in many localities, at least, the attempted co-education of white and black children resulted in perpetual clashing and trouble. SALARIES OF JUDGES. When the bill making appropriation for the judicial ex penses for the year ending June 30, 1870, was pending, Car penter was again active in his efforts to secure an increase in the salaries of the various judges, especially those of the United States circuit judges, whose expenses for travel and hotel fare were heavy. He called attention to the fact that Judge Curtis left the supreme bench because the salary of $6,000 was but a small portion of what he could earn at the bar; that the children of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (who labored on the bench almost thirty years) were almost beg gars, and that England, by paying liberal salaries, secured the best talent within her borders for the bench. Senator Conkling objected to the proposed increase, upon the ground that all the judges of a given class should not be paid equally. Carpenter demonstrated quickly how invidious that would be, applying the principle to members of the senate so as to make a senator from New York receive $5,000, and one from Wisconsin $50 per year. He declared: An act of congress providing that no man should be a judge unless he had a certain income would raise a mutiny in this country ; and yet what is the practical difference between such a law and one fixing the salary so low that a man can not t. ke the office unless he has that income? You produce the same result. * * * The feeble voice of the constitution is heard declaring that the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power; and yet we are paying the general commanding our armies $16,000, and to the chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, the head of the judicial department of the government, $6,000! The annual appro priations for the army and navy are about $40,000,000. This does not dis turb our serenity, but we stand appalled at the idea of appropriating a fifth part of it for the administration of justice. * * * The proposition to increase the salary ot our chief justice to only two- thirds of the salary of the commanding general of the army makes senators turn pale I 37O LIFE OF CARPENTER. The bill passed and increased the salary of the chief jus tice to $8,500, and of the associate justices to $8,000, and made advances in other judicial emoluments. In this as well as numerous other matters undertaken in behalf of the judi ciary, he received hundreds of letters of thanks from all por tions of the country. SOUTHERN CLAIMS. Carpenter opposed the passage of a bill to prohibit any clerk of any department from appearing as agent or attor ney for the prosecution of any claim against the government within three years after leaving the civil service. Many just claims are defeated because the claimants can not secure the evidence possessed by the departments, and the bill was presented for the purpose of preventing clerks from communi cating such information. Carpenter regarded such legisla tion as dishonest, maintaining that no facility for doing exact justice should be denied to any one by the government or its clerks. When the claim of Susan A. Shelby, of Mississippi, was before the senate, Carpenter expressed his astonishment and indignation at the apparent reckless tendency of congress to pay every demand made by the south. Mrs. Shelby's cot ton had been seized by the confederates and appropriated to their use, but subsequently it was captured from them by the Union forces and turned over to the treasury depart ment. He held that every person who could lay a claim be fore congress would be found, upon -prima facie evidence, to have been loyal, and the only thing to do was to defeat them all, at least for the time being. He exclaimed: If this claim is to be passed I am in favor of a general amnesty, a gen eral bill to indemnify everybody south of Mason and Dixon's line for everything they suffered between 1861 and 1865, and that will end the whole business, reach the same result, and sare all the debate and time- spent in congress. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 37 1 FOUR GEORGIA SENATORS. One of Carpenter's speeches which attracted marked at tention among the members of the bench and bar was that on admitting the senators from Georgia. On June 25, 1868, congress passed an act prescribing the terms upon which the southern states might re-enter the Union. Georgia com plied with the terms, with other states, on July 22, 1868. General Meade, in command of Georgia, issued a proclama tion declaring that state had complied with all the provisions, the legislature had ratified the act of June 25th, Governor Bul lock had been inaugurated, and that the state was entitled to representation in congress. The legislature thereupon elected Joshua Hill and Homer V. M. Miller as United States senators. A few months later the colored members of the legis lature were driven out and their democratic opponents, the minority candidates, were admitted to seats. Congress, in December, 1869, passed an act commanding the governor to convene the legislature as it met in July, 1868, admitting the elected colored members who had been forcibly excluded and excluding their minority white opponents, and then to reorganize the body. This was done in January, 1870, and the reorganized body then elected Farrow and Whitely to represent the state in the United States senate. Hill, Miller, Farrow and Whitely presented their credentials and prayed for admission. The judiciary committee decided that Hill and Miller were entitled to seats. When the report was under consideration, a motion was made to substitute the names of Farrow and Whitely for those of Hill and Miller, and on this question Carpenter made his argument. The friends of the former contestants contended that the legislature, as organized in 1868, was illegal; that therefore its acts were void, and that the only persons elected as senators entitled to seats were those chosen after the reorganization in 1870. Carpenter made a clear and powerful legal argument to show that every 372 LIFE OF CARPENTER. act of the legislature of 1868 was legal, and then proceeded to rend in tatters the claims of Farrow and Whitely. , All the state officers and judges appointed by the legisla ture as organized in 1868 had acted and were still acting as legal officials, and all laws passed had stood unchallenged by the courts; therefore, the senators then chosen must be the legal senators. He punctured all of Farrow's and Whitely's claims, when he showed that the former was appointed at torney-general of Georgia at the same time Hill and Miller were chosen senators, and by the same legislature, and that he for two years thereafter exercised the duties of the office, although now he claimed the right to a seat in the senate, instead of Hill, because the legislature was illegal. Carpen ter said Farrow evidently thought the old legislature was legal enough to make him attorney-general of Georgia, but not legal enough to elect, at the same time, Joshua Hill as United States senator. Hill was admitted; also, soon after, Miller. THE IRON-CLAD OATH. A still aoler constitutional argument was made by Car penter in February, when Miller presented himself to be sworn in. It was proposed to compel him to take the iron clad oath, prescribed by congress July 2, 1862, in which the affiant declares he has " never voluntarily borne arms against the United States, or given aid, countenance, counsel or en couragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto." Miller objected to this oath, as he had, as a physician and surgeon, attended the sick and wounded in the confederate army, and therefore had thus given aid to the enemies of the United States. Carpenter sustained this objection. He argued that to compel Miller to take this oath would either make him a perjurer, or exclude him from the sen ate, and that that was inflicting punishment without indictment, trial and conviction first had, which was uncon stitutional. Morton interjected that the constitution saved a man from trial without an indictment, but did not save him from punishment. This logic Carpenter ridiculed in a very LIFE OF CARPENTER. 373 sharp manner, and, after answering all the points of the opposition upon strictly legal grounds, he quoted the procla mation of general amnesty issued by President Johnson December 25, I868, 1 which granted to all engaged in the Rebellion, except those under indictment and trial, a full and free pardon for the offense of treason against the United V States. This, of course, applied to Miller, and rendered it t impossible to compel him to suffer by reason of refusing to * take the iron-clad oath. It was then, as the only thing left to do, contended that this proclamation was unconstitutional, but Carpenter quoted the similar proclamations of general amnesty by Presidents Washington and Adams, and of all the kings and sovereigns of Europe, and demonstrated that the pardoning power resided safely and without limit, except as to impeachment, in the President, by virtue of the consti tution, and that Miller had, therefore, been fully and freely pardoned. All of this was incontrovertible, and Miller was allowed, by a vote of twenty-eight to twenty, to take his seat upon subscribing to the oath ordinarily administered to members of congress. The argument made by Carpenter in support of his position was one of conceded ability, and its soundness was unqualifiedly alleged by members of the various federal courts. AMENDING THE BANKRUPT LAWS. Carpenter presented several bills to amend the bankrupt laws in the interest of creditors and to prevent fraud. The last one was reported without amendment from the judiciary committee, March 3, 1871, one day before adjournment and during a temporary illness of its author, and so was allowed, to die. It was during this illness that the resolution requiring a report on the authority of congress to regulate railway transportation between the states, which was particularly in his charge, was smothered, or disposed of without action. IThe proclamation that Carpenter generally referred to as "Johnson** Christmas carols," because it was issued on the 25th of December. 374 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXXI. FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. During the first session of the forty-second congress, which convened March 4, 1871, Carpenter took but little part in the debates. He opposed the bill proposing to organize a com mission with clerks, stenographers and attorneys, to examine and report upon the constantly-increasing number of southern claims. His reasons were that such a course would be urged in future congresses as a partial recognition of those claims, and all that remained was to pay them. He cited the judg ment of the supreme court in a similar case, to the effect that a commission organized by the proper authority to make such an investigation and report was semi-judicial, and its awards binding. He said in closing his argument against the bill: Here is a drag-net thrown over this whole subject; here is a bag opened, into which this whole ocean of claims is to be plunged, and they are to be dragged in here and put upon the basis of judgments rendered against the United States by a tribunal of its own creation. I never will vote for the bill with such a clause in it. While the bill " to protect life and property in the south " was pending, it received strong opposition from the democrats under Thurman's leadership, upon the ground that congress could not, under the constitution, legislate affirmatively to protect the individual in his rights of person and of property. In his argument under the fourteenth amendment Carpenter maintained that congress could so legislate, saying: I think therein is one of the fundamental, one of the great, the tremen dous revolutions effected in our government by the amended constitution. It gives congress affirmative power to protect the rights of the citizen, whereas before no such right was given, * * * and the only remedj was a judicial one when the case arose. This measure, one of the most important ever crystallized into a statute for the protection of the colored people against the atrocious scourges and butcheries by ku klux klans and LIFE OF CARPENTER. 375 similar organizations, was in many ways perfected and strengthened by Carpenter. His services in that respect will never cease to be felt by the freedmen. SPECIAL SESSION A STORMY PERIOD. On the loth day of May, 1871, President Grant convened the senate in special session for the purpose of confirming the Treaty of Washington, made by the commissioners of the United States and Great Britain. Carpenter was the prominent figure of this well-remembered session, and in following unswervingly what he believed to be his line of duty, laid the foundation for one of the most vicious and wanton attacks ever directed by an unbridled and angry press upon any man of equal prominence in America. In considering treaties (except those made with the Indian tribes) the deliberations and debates of the senate of the United States are to be in secret, and the treaties are to re main secret until after they have been confirmed. On the morning of the convocation of the senate, the treaty under consideration was published in full in the New York Tribune. Either a senator, or an employe of the senate, or some at tache of the state department, had violated his trust, else the Tribune could not have obtained a copy of the treaty. There fore, in order to discover who had been derelict, a committee, consisting of Carpenter, Charles Sumner, Roscoe Conkling, Garrett Davis and Lyman Trumbull, was appointed to enter upon an investigation of the matter. The two Washington correspondents of the Tribune were summoned before the committee. They said they had full knowledge of who was guilty of divulging the treaty, but refused to give any other or further testimony. This fact the committee reported to the senate, and through Carpenter recommended that the contumacious witnesses be committed to jail for contempt. On this the senate quivered and split. The newspapers had begun to abuse and ridicule its leaders* and many of its members had received letters saying the LIFE OF CARPENTER. press was a unit on the pending matter, and that whoever should persist in the attempt to compel the correspondents to divulge their professional secrets, would earn the eternal ill-will of the newspapers. Carpenter received numerous let ters of this class, some of which gave warning that he must at once drop the investigation or the press " would never rest until it had ruined him." Those letters, which seemed to have had the desired effect upon nearly all save Carpenter, were referred to and exhibited by him on the floor of the senate to show by indubitable proof the disreputable methods of the press. He declared that he did not believe a man could be ruined for doing right and his duty, and boldly exposed all the threats and infamies of his newspaper assailants. He alleged, on the floor of the senate, that he had concluded the publication of the treaty was made through a senator, and that if the com mittee could be left unhampered, that fact would be fully established. But the senate, quailing under the lash of the correspondents, and without the moral courage to sustain Carpenter in what they themselves had ordered him to do, voted to nominally confine the recusant witnesses in a com mittee-room, instead of the common jail, and feed them at public expense until they should purge themselves of con tempt. He showed how futile such a course would be, alleging that the men would never answer under such circumstances, and the senate would only be driven down into still deeper contempt. Every word of this proved true, for after " nom inally " keeping the men in the best committee-room in the capitol several days, during which their continued newspaper assaults on the senators became fuller of malignity and false hood, they were discharged, and the questions were never answered. " Two reporters," Carpenter then stated, " had blockaded, maligned, bulldozed, brought into public con tempt, and finally put to rout, the senate of the United States." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 377 While the resolution to discharge the correspondents was pending, and which he opposed as an evidence of cowardice and defeat, Carpenter made some remarks that confirmed the determination of the press " never to rest until it had ruined him." Among other things, he said that while he had never been able to secure a committee-room for his public business, and in which to meet his constituents, " These con tumacious correspondents had luxuriated in the finest apart ments in the structure, with attendants to usher in the sympathizing statesmen who desired audience with them.'* Also: Why, sir, the other day a senator was in the restaurant below taking his lunch, when the doors were suddenly thrown open and the servants entered 1 with imposing ceremony, whirling the largest table into the center of the room, and covering it with a cloth, in imitation of the fine linen with which Dives was furnished when enjoying his " good things in this world." The senator, astonished at such elaborate preparation, inquired what it all meant. He was informed that the hour had arrived when the Washington corre spondents of the New York Tribune, with their families, were to dine. The senator rose from his unfinished lunch on a naked table and slunk away with the humility that should ever characterize a senator in the august pres ence of the press. Then, turning his attention to the man who was upholding and urging on the correspondents, he said: The New York Tribune is an alias for Horace Greeley, a gentleman for whom I cherish the highest respect. He has shown me many acts of kind ness (for in this cruel world justice is sometimes kindness), which I shall never forget. But I desire to say that, during the period of this investiga tion, while this newspaper has been filled with articles about equally com pounded of folly and falsehood, all inspired by malice, the New York Tribune has been away from home, delivering addresses of conciliation in the south, in obedience to the impulses of his own good heart Still the paper goes on, living and moving under the impetus given it by his intel lect, his wisdom and his great standing with the press and American people; and this, notwithstanding it has been left to the management of Whitelaw Reid, a fop and frivolous pretender, of whom a contemporary journal re cently had the following paragraph : ' Whitelaw Reid was seen on the streets again yesterday with men'* clothes on. Where's the police? w 378 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Thus the wrath of Whitelaw Reid was added to the malice of the underlings. For several months, and in fact for years thereafter, whenever Carpenter moved from one city to another, made a public address, conducted a suit, or in any way appeared so plainly before the public as to be sighted by the sleuths who had sworn to " ruin him," the flood-gates were lifted anew and their vile accumulations were poured forth, poisoning the public atmosphere and scat tering a pestilence of falsehood among the people. This / was continued until Carpenter would have no intercourse, neither professional or otherwise, with the newspaper fra ternity, except with a few whose honor he had tried. He / entertained no ill-feeling toward them, he often said, but could not trust them. It is impossible to conceive how any person could be made to suffer more unjustly than Carpenter suffered by and through this investigation. He was becoming not only an influential and powerful leader in the senate, but a popular figure before the public. The old senatorial leaders or some of them, jealous of his increasing power and popu larity, which had already begun to out-reach and out-shine them, contrived the scheme knowing his fearlessness and thoroughness in all undertakings of putting him at the head of an investigating committee which they knew would exasperate and call down the venom of the press. When this had been accomplished, some of them are said to have gone to the extent of actively aiding the correspondents in the work of maligning Carpenter, even going so far as to violate their senatorial oaths by disclosing to the reporters what he had said in executive (secret) session. A mild par agraph from an indignant speech by Senator Nye will illus trate how the scheme was carried out: Why did you send my friend from New York [Mr. Conkling] and my friend from Wisconsin [Mr. Carpenter] out to gather anything but sheep's wool? Why did you send them to feed on the vapor of nothingness, while you yourself were feasting upon the milder and more nutritious nutriment LIFE OF CARPENTER. 379 of the support of the public press? Why do you start others out on this forlorn hope and keep your column back? Sir, if the honorable senator from Massachusetts thought this investigation ought not to have been had, why did he not say so when it was proposed? Here he is, with twenty years of ripe experience in this body; when he looks around he can see no man who came here with him. Why did he not rise and tell me, one, in the classic language of the Tribune^ whose senatorial pin-feathers are just cutting why did he not tell me that this rule was a farce and a humbug, and all wrong? He did not He voted to have this examination held, and I, child-like, followed him. Now, when the danger of paper bullets comes, he says it was all a hum bug from the start. The senator has got us, as my friend his colleague says, into a scrape. The investigation occupied almost the entire attention of the senate during the special session, and was the principal theme of newspaper and personal discussion throughout the country. The illegitimate results of Carpenter's fearless course in the matter were not in years fully purged from the public mind. But his name will be familiar to the readers of American history as long as the English language shall last, while those who rode into temporary notoriety by their revengeful accusations against him have already sunk into that oblivion which their infamy so richly deserved. 380 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXXII. FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS SECOND SESSION. The second session of the forty-second congress, which met December 4, 1871, was one of considerable length and im portance, and Carpenter was an active and influential partici pant in its proceedings. When the question of procuring a site for the' new custom house at Chicago was pending, he maintained that it was not judicious for the government to condemn property for public buildings through the instrumentality of state legisla tion, as, in his opinion, congress had the power to exercise the right of eminent domain in all such cases. The committee on foreign relations reported a bill allowing the Japanese government to send six students to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and providing that the rules and regulations of the institution might be sus pended from operating upon them. Carpenter declared it would not do to establish " a foreign aristocracy inside the school," whose chief charm and benefit arose from the fact that in it the rich and the poor met on a common level. Through his efforts the bill was so amended that the Jap anese could only enter upon the same footing (except as to scholarship) as Americans. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. He was thoroughly opposed to the various schemes and experiments called " civil service reform " which occupied a great deal of attention. He declared from the first that " these gilt-edge vagaries will prove a humbug," and intro duced this resolution: WHEREAS, The constitution of the United States requires the President to nominate, and, by and with the consent of the senate, to appoint all offi cers of the United States whose appointments are not in said constitution LIFE OF CARPENTER. 381 otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law, subject to the power of congress by law to vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they may think proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments: Therefore, Resolved, That any law or regulation which is designed to relieve the President, and, in the cases pertaining to them, the courts of law or heads of departments, of the full responsibility of such nominations or appoint ments, is in violation of the constitution. President Grant had appointed a commission which re ported a set of rules for appointing to federal positions, without regard to politics, only such persons as could pass a prescribed examination. Carpenter opposed this with great force. He ridiculed the idea that if the proposed " commis sion " should advertise for applicants to be collector of the port of New York, such men as A. T. Stewart, Marshall O. Roberts, Henry G. Stebbins, etc., would go to Washing ton and submit to a ridiculous examination in non-essentials. Such men, he said, would make splendid collectors, but only " adventurers and men of no condition or importance " would go to the examinations. He also submitted that any scheme to divide the legitimate fruits of victory with the enemy " would defeat any party that should adopt it," and that as a general amnesty bill was about to be passed, giving the late rebels the privilege of voting and holding office, it would be party suicide to pass a civil service reform bill which would allow the enemies of the colored people, of recon struction, of civil rights, of the election laws and of the policy of the administration, to be put in office to execute the laws they had hated and defied. He said: If a person who opposes the policy of the government is to be appointed instead of one who supports it, provided he can pass a better examination upon irrelevant and non-essential subjects, is any man sanguine enough to believe that the acts of congress will be faithfully executed and that the rights of four or five millions of colored people in the southern states will be protected against overwhelming numbers determined to trample them under foot? He also opposed the scheme because it would shut out from an equal chance at the federal patronage all maimed 382 LIFE OF CARPENTER. soldiers who might be capable of performing numerous duties, "yet could not satisfactorily pass an absurd ordeal concocted by visionary reformers." As the report of the " commission " declared the method of making appointments then in vogue was corrupt, Carpenter asked who could ex pect a commission of six or seven could be more honest than the President, the heads of departments and the three hun dred members of congress, who had the appointing power in their hands. He voted against the measure and against the appropriation for the civil service commission, and later in the session introduced an amendment to the appropriation bill repealing the civil service law, but it was defeated by a vote of twenty-nine to twenty-one. The "commission," however, was ineffective and short-lived. THE CHICAGO FIRE A bill was presented by the senators from Illinois to relieve the sufferers by the great fire of 1871 in Chicago. Carpen ter offered an amendment providing for similar relief to Peshtigo, Marinette, Minnekaunee, Rosier e, and other places in Wisconsin destroyed by fires at about the same time. He was thereupon classed as " an enemy to Chicago," and was vigorously attacked as such by the Chicago papers. In sup porting his amendment, which was defeated, he said: The fire at Chicago fell upon property a loss that capital can repair, while it is estimated by those best informed that in seven counties of Wis consin over twelve hundred persons lost their lives, so that families were left, in many instances, without father or husband, left destitute upon farms without houses, fences or utensils, and in many instances the soil has been destroyed by the fire to two or three inches below the surface. These are sufferings which capital can not immediately repair. I protest against be ing classed as an enemy of Chicago or an enemy of this bill because I suggest to the senate that I will move to extend the relief intended by this bill to embrace my own constituents, who suffered at the same time and from the same causes. The bill proposed to remit the duties on all goods imported for the purpose of, and used in, rebuilding Chicago. He LIFE OF CARPENTER. 383 voted against this as contravening the constitution, which declares that " all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." He also showed how the bill was not a measure of relief for the real sufferers, for merchants who lost their all could not, under it, renew their stocks free of duty, nor would those who, being poor and unable to rebuild their burned shanties, be relieved in the remotest degree. "But," he said, "William B. Astor may go to-morrow to Chicago and buy up all the lots of the poor at such prices as they may be forced to take, and build up palaces where the sufferers were unable to erect shanties; and thus would the bill be of vast pecuniary benefit to this nabob, but afford no relief to the poor. It is unjust." SUMMER'S CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. At the opening of the session Charles Sumner presented an amnesty and civil rights bill. It proposed amnesty to the participants in the Rebellion and protection of the colored men in their legal rights. Carpenter opposed the clause which proposed to regulate by federal law the qualification of jurors in state courts and the one declaring Negroes should be excluded from no church or cemetery, as unconsti tutional. He also opposed an unconditional and unlimited amnesty to rebels, saying it was " a bill to re-enforce the dem- : ocratic party," and that "within twelve months after its passage Jefferson Davis would be returned to a seat in the senate chamber." He privately requested Sumner to re- / I move these objections from the bill, but was met with a/ / refusal. He therefore opposed the measure with consider able force, and once more kindled the anger of Sumner, who again arraigned him for having called the declaration of in dependence " a revolutionary pronunciamento," and all the old animosities of that occasion were revived. Carpenter thought congress had no power to legislate to control church and religious organizations, but declared that " every colored man should have equal rights in the public schools, and from 384 LIFE OF CARPENTER. that point he hoped the republican party would never back one inch." He further contended: Let it also be remembered that as soon as it be conceded that the political power may intervene to promote the interests of true religion the ground work of religious freedom is surrendered. No government ever interfered, except in the interest of what it assumed to be the interest of true religion. It is upon this assumption alone that different sects have persecuted each other. Fagots have always been lighted round the martyr to shed the light of truth upon heresy and error. I fully concur with the senator that any church which denies its rights, ceremonies a^nd sacraments to any true believer on the ground of color dishonors the Master in whose name it pro fesses to act. But the precise question is, whether the senator and myself, being in congress, have any constitutional power to enforce our theories upon those who may conscientiously differ with us. He then proposed this amendment: Whoever, being a corporation or natural person and owner, or in charge of any public inn or of any place of public amusement or entertainment for which a license from any legal authority is required, or of any line of stage coaches, railroad, or other means of public carriage of passengers or freight, or of any cemetery or other benevolent institution, or any public school supported at public expense or by endowment for public use, shall make any distinction as to admission or accommodation therein of any citizen ot the United States because of race, color, nationality or previous condition of servitude, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than $500 or more than $5,000 for each offense, to be recovered by information filed by the district attorney in any court having jurisdiction, upon the com plaint of any person injured, one-half to the use of the United States, and one-half to the use ot the complainant. A few New England senators, who felt bound to follow Sumner, voted with him and the democrats against this amendment and defeated it. Carpenter continued his efforts, however, until by a vote of thirty-four to twenty-nine the words " churches " and " church organizations " were stricken from the bill. He then proposed and secured the adoption by the senate of an amendment providing " that every discrim ination against any person on account of color by the use of the word ' white,' in any law, statute, ordinance or regulation, is hereby repealed and annulled." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 385 LESSER MATTERS. At this session Carpenter secured the passage of a bill allowing that giant corporation, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, to build a railway bridge across the Mississippi river at La Crosse, Wisconsin. Alert, as he always was, to strengthen and improve the ju diciary and facilitate the administration of justice, he presented and urged through the senate a bill allowing the President to accept the resignation of any judge, thus retiring him upon the usual pay, who should be disabled before arriving at the age of seventy years. Otherwise a judge unable to perform his duties at fifty, might, being poor, hold his seat until seventy, thus preventing the appointment of a successor and blockading justice in his court. The measure failed in the house. When, in discussing the legislative appropriation bill, he arrived at the clause providing for the establishment of a bureau of education, Carpenter opposed it as unconstitutional. He declared that under the constitution congress had no more j power to establish the bureau of agriculture or a bureau of 1 education than a bureau of boots and shoes, and voted against^ the measure. SALARIES OF DISTRICT JUDGES. It was a matter of common fame that for years Carpenter ^ and Andrew G. Miller, judge of the United States district court for the eastern district of Wisconsin, were so little w love with each other as not to be on speaking terms. In fact ~~>\ Carpenter never had such a long-standing disagreement with any person as with Judge Miller. Therefore, when Senator Trumbull offered to amend the appropriation bill so as to in crease the pay of United States district judges to $5,000 per year, Carpenter was given a more conspicuous opportunity than he had ever before met of demonstrating his lofty views of public action his utter contempt for personal influence in proceeding with the duties of senator. Usually the public 25 386 LIFE OF CARPENTER. has no means of knowing the motive or the power that con trols the acts and votes of a public official ; but when a senator is seen to vote to enlarge the salary, to increase the strength and nourishment of his long-time and well-known enemy, whereas, by making with dozens of his fellows the plea of economy, he could so easily have avoided it, all must under stand that he is a statesman far above warping or guiding his career by personal likes and dislikes. In advocacy of Trumbull's amendment he said : Some senators have alluded to and lauded the judge of the district in which they reside ; from which it might be supposed that they were actu ated in voting this increase of salary by motives of friendship to or admira tion for the present incumbent. I am not at all influenced in that way. The judge of the district in which I reside is not a friend of mine, and I am not a friend of his. He thinks I am unfit to be a senator, and I think he is unfit to be a judge. In court I pay him the deference due to the office of judge, and he shows me the respect due to a member of the bar; but out of court neither recognizes the other. But, sir, I know the amount of labor performed by him, the number of cases he decides, the time spent by him in holding court, and I know that $5,000 per annum is even less than a just compensation for his services, and I should hold myself entirely unfit for a seat in this body if I were capable of doing injustice to him because he is not my friend, or because he is my unrelenting and bitter enemy. By re fusing to vote a suitable salary to him I should be guilty of doing toward him what I think he has often done toward me injustice. We ought to vote a salary for the office, without regard to the merits of the accidental present incumbent. Five thousand dollars a year is not more than proper compensation for the services of any man fit to be a district judge. And without providing an adequate salary you can not at all times secure the services of a competent man, except from the wealthy men of the country, who might be willing to accept the office without any salary whatever. This would be closing the door of preferment to the poor, and surrendering the bench to the rich; which I am opposed to, not only because being a poor man I sympathize with that class, but because such a policy would be anti-republican, and a practical surrender of the bench to the rich. VOID VOTES DEFINED. Undoubtedly the most profound legal argument made by Carpenter during this session was upon whether Joseph C. Abbott was entitled to admission as a senator from the state LIFE OF CARPENTER. 387 of South Carolina. A majority of the legislature of that stale voted to elect Vance as United States senator, knowing him to be ineligible, but supposing, as they alleged, that his disabilities would be removed by congress in time to allow him to take his seat. The balance, a minority of the legis lature, voted for Abbott, who was eligible, and he appeared and claimed a seat The majority of the committee on priv ileges and elections submitted a report against, while Car penter submitted a report in favor of giving him a seat. In support of this report he made two speeches of great com pactness and strength, filling over fifty columns of the Con- gressional Record, and containing a very large number of authorities and decisions, European and American, sustaining his position. He assumed the ground that those who voted for a person known to them to be ineligible, while others were voting for one known to all to be eligible, threw away their votes; and that thereby the eligible person, though not receiving an actual majority of the material votes cast, legally received all of them, and was elected. He presented, in support of this theory, a long array of decisions, none of which the opposing senators pretended to controvert or answer. A quotation from Lord Denman's decision, in the English Reports, in the case of Gosling vs. Veley, as follows, will illustrate the tenor of all of them: Whenever an elector, before voting, receives due notice that a particular candidate is disqualified, and yet will do nothing but tender his vote for him, he must be taken voluntarily to abstain from exercising his franchise; and therefore, however strongly he may in fact dissent, he must be taken in law to assent to the opposing and qualified candidate. The principal argument offered against this was that the senate was a law unto itself not bound by any decisions made by courts and other " outside " bodies. Carpenter was disgusted at this style of argument, and in closing said : I felt that I had a duty to perform in relation to this question,- and in my feeble way I have performed it. * * * I am as thoroughly convinced as I ever was in regard to any legal proposition that Abbott is entitled to his seat, and shall vote accordingly, even if compelled to vote alone. His proposition received ten votes and was defeated. 388 LIFE OF CARPENTER. THE TARIFF. There had been, as there always is on this question, some extraordinary debates on the tariff bill, and when, with a clause providing for free tea and coffee, it was put to a vote, Carpenter exposed the absurdities of the various arguments by asking unanimous consent to put a question to the chair. This being granted, he asked: I have been so much confused by the debate on points of order, and so much more by the information that has recently been volunteered to me, that I want to put a question to the chair, an answer to which will enlighten me. If you were here in my place, and wanted to vote for free tea and coffee, how would you vote ? He voted to place tea and coffee on the free list. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. Several senators presented bills to " further the adminis tration of justice, but Carpenter's was decided to be much more clear and comprehensive than the others, and was passed. It is chapter CCLV, Vol. 17, Laws of the United States, and is a very important statute. It provides for tak ing appeals to the United States supreme court; that con victs imprisoned by the United States courts for non-payment of fines may escape by taking the "poor man's oath; " that when several persons are indicted together the jury may convict one or more of them and acquit or disagree as to the balance; and section five conforms the "practice, pleadings, etc.," of federal courts " in pther than equity and admiralty causes" to the "practice, etc., of the courts of record of the state in which such United States circuit or district courts may be held, any rule of court to the contrary notwithstand ing." No act of congress was ever a greater boon to young attorneys. It cleared the ancient cobwebs, intricacies and arbitrary modes of procedure from the federal courts, which in many instances had been so complicated and unpleasant as to greatly embarrass younger practitioners. The act con tains sixteen sections, every one of which is important. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 389 In discussing a bill amendatory of the act chartering the Texas Pacific Railway, Carpenter declared he had not the slightest doubt that congress had power to construct a rail road from Washington to San Francisco, or between any other two points, and that under the fifth amendment to the constitution the right of eminent domain might be exer cised in condemning private property for its right-of-way. Although this doctrine, which had for years been entertained by him, was then strongly combated, it is now generally ad mitted. THE KU KLUX ACT. The " ku klux act," so-called, passed by congress April 20, 1871, ended with a proviso declaring its provisions should " not be in force after the end of the next regular session of congress." Therefore, in May, 1872, the question cf whether this law should be extended arose. Carpenter contended, against the democrats, that the law was constitu tional and that it should be re-enacted. He admitted that its passage would raise a clamor and uproar from Maine to California in the presidential campaign then approaching, because it gave the President power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, a provision the democrats solemnly declared would " take from the people their liberties and plunge the country into hopeless slavery." He said this cry about en croaching upon the liberties of the people, false in fact though its authors knew it to be, would arouse the preju dices and passions of the masses even to the extent, perhaps, of defeating General Grant. He argued: But, Mr. President, we are here, accidentally as politicians, officially as statesmen. We are here as senators. We are here charged with a solemn duty of governmental administration, and we have no right to imperil the peace of a single county of this Union for the purpose of carrying a presi dential election. The passage of this law last year, beyond all question suspended, suppressed the outrages that were disgracing the south and dis gracing our land. The mere enunciation of the will of congress did it. It was not necessary to employ force. In most cases the mere announce ment of congressional purpose on this subject, and the fact that General LIFE OF CARPENTER. Grant knew how to enforce the law by means of the army and navy, pro duced peace throughout the land. If this act is renewed peace will con tinue. There will be no occasion, I trust and believe, for putting the act in operation anywhere. Then no harm will come. But I also believe and I believe it, not because I think it is for the interests of the republican party to believe it, but even against my judgment of political policy if this act were to be withdrawn these outrages in certain localities would be repeated; I believe that helpless innocence, the poor, the lowly and the humble, in certain localities, would be given over again to this brute violence, this crim inality, this midnight riot of violence and wickedness, the details of which sicken any man to consider. Sir v I believe I understand myself when I say that if I knew the passage of this act would save the lives of innocent peo- pje in one county, would preserve the peace in one state, and yet result in the defeat of General Grant in this campaign, it would be my duty as a senator to regard our constituents, to preserve that public peace, to spread over our people, so long as we are in power, the protection which is em bodied by the waving of our national flag. This was a bill of far greater importance than the people of any generation subsequent to the days of ku-kluxism can possibly appreciate. Carpenter mnst have so regarded it, or, loving and respecting General Grant as he did, and deeply solicitous for his re-election to the presidency as he was, he would not have voted or spoken for a measure that seemed likely to jeopardize that re-election. It was simply one of the more important of the many occasions in which Carpenter completely laid aside his friends, personal desires and party weal for the benefit of justice and humanity. LABOR AND CAPITAL. Toward the close of the session it was proposed by Senator Sawyer to appoint a commission of three, with clerks, stenog raphers, etc., to " investigate the hours and wages of labor, and of the division of the joint profits of labor and capital." Although there was hardly a public man of his time who felt so deeply and spoke so earnestly for the common people, for the laboring classes, as Carpenter, yet he opposed this scheme as " a humbug of towering dimensions." He asked what con gress could do provided it should be discovered that laborers LIFE OF CARPENTER. 391 received only one-half the compensation they deserved or de sired; under what clause of the constitution power was derived to investigate the profits of business and labor, any more than the condition of marital felicity throughout the Union, the amount of profanity indulged in, or why men did not pay their debts. He contended against the bill at some length and voted against it. 392 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXXIII. SALES OF ARMS TO FRENCH AGENTS. That which rendered this session of the forty-second con gress particularly memorable was the debate on the sales of arms to alleged French agents during the Franco-Prussian war. Carpenter was the conspicuous and popular actor in this able yet angry controversy, and won in it such honors as must, without any other achievement, have rendered his sen- I atorial career imperishable. Charles Sumner, being engaged , in a quarrel with President Grant, presented a preamble and /^resolution reciting that the United States had violated the neutrality laws by selling arms to Remington & Sons, agents of the French government; that there had been fraud in re porting and accounting for the proceeds of those sales, and that the United States had been dishonored by being cogni zant thereof and a participant therein, and calling for a com mittee of seven to investigate and report upon the matter. Carpenter voted for the investigation, but before doing so characterized it as a scheme conceived as and intended to be a stab at and assault upon the administration, brought at the opening of the presidential canvass for the purpose of injur- / ing General Grant. He proclaimed that " those senators who / moved and promoted this assault upon the administration " either knew there was no foundation for the charges, and that the government " would emerge from the investigation with out the smell of fire upon its garments, or they knew our neutral duties had been violated and were taking up the clubs for a foreign nation and brandishing them over their own native land." The resolution was adopted by a vote of fifty-two to five. But as the preamble was so much in the nature of a direct charge of guilt, and as Carpenter had so thoroughly exposed the animus which brought it forth, Sumner sought to with- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 393 draw it, and finally succeeded in having it laid on the table. However, it was debated for two weeks before thus disposed of, Sumner in particular making free assault upon the admin istration. Then Carpenter turned upon the senator from Massachusetts with spirit: v Mr. President, the senator's purpose is now revealed. We know what his j motive was; we know it was not to investigate facts, but it was an attempt / ^. to blacken this administration without regard to truth or justice, else the \ whole resolution would have been adopted two weeks ago without debate. ) Schurz, being a native of Germany, had no love for France, and his love for his adopted country, the United States, did not seem to be strong enough to prevent him from attacking its government for selling, under authority of law, arms to an enemy of the land in which he was born / / but from which he felt compelled to fleg_as__a revolutionist.^^ So Sumner, in prosecuting his quarrel with President Grant, made good use of what appeared to be Schurz's greater love for Germany than for the United States, of which he was then a senator. These points Carpenter turned against the two senators with deadly effect, interjecting short double- edged sentences and epigrams of a dozen words each into their remarks with such dexterity and power as to not only ' neutralize the force of his opponents, but turn their weap- , j ons back upon themselves with destructive results. He indicted the two senators for bringing forward a charge against their own country in the interests of a foreign country as being, to say the least, unpatriotic; and the people might, he feared, judge Mr. Schurz even more harshly than that. When the committee of investigation was named Sumner refused to serve as a member of it. It was, therefore, con stituted as follows: Hannibal Hamlin, Matt. H. Carpenter, John Sherman, F. A. Sawyer, John A. Logan, James Har- lan and John W. Stevenson. Sumner refused to go before the committee to testify, and Schurz was present and cross-examined or coached all the 394 LIFE OF CARPENTER. witnesses. Carpenter drew the report, which found that the \J government, under the acts of congress of 1825, had ample authority to sell the arms ; that there was nothing fraudulent or wrong in the sales so far as the United States government was concerned, and that no international comity or neutral duties had been violated, because the government had not sold mu nitions of war to France and refused to sell upon equal terms to Germany. When this report was presented, May n, 1872, Sumner arose and protested against receiving it, declared the committee was formed contrary to parliamentary rules, be cause Jefferson's Manual says, " When any member who is against the bill hears himself named on its committee he ought to ask to be excused," and by innuendo charged that members of the committee had, as Mr. Logan put it, " per verted the testimony or deviated from the path of their duty or done injustice to their country by forfeiting their own judgment and yielding to that which was an improper one." f Carpenter struck a telling blow by showing that every member of the committee voted for the investigation, and that the report against which Sumner protested had never been read by him (Sumner) or any member of the senate not on the committee; and, therefore, its contents must be unknown. r^ Twenty days later, under a motion to postpone the civil appropriation bill, Sumner renewed his attack on the Presi dent, while pretending to debate the report on the sale of arms, although his entire reference to that subject did not occupy three dozen lines of the old narrow columns of The Globe. The speech was simply the most relentless and acrimonious castigation of his President ever uttered in the senate by a senator of the same political party. In it Sumner charged Grant with nepotism, with establishing a " military ring " in the White House, with insulting the African race, with assaulting the safeguards of the treasury, with numer ous violations of the constitution, with contriving against San Domingo, with undue personal pretensions, with being influ- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 39$ enced by gift-taking, and described him as " the great presi dential quarreler of our history." He closed by haranguing the pending presidential convention not to re-nominate Grant, and pretended to quote the dying words to himself of Edwin M. Stanton, thus: I know general Grant better than any other person in the country can know him. It was my duty to study him, and I did so night and day, when I saw him and when I did not see him, and now I tell you what I know, he can not govern this country. Sumner alleged that he thereupon asked Stanton why he spoke for Grant during the presidential campaign of 1868, and the great secretary of war replied: "I spoke, but I never introduced the name of Grant. I spoke only for the republican party and the republican cause." Thus he con tinued, summoning dead and living witness, in the onslaught upon Grant. CARPENTER'S DEFENSE OF GRANT. To this extraordinary speech Carpenter replied four days later. Usually he did not like to have Mrs. Carpenter pres ent during his speeches, because, he said, he could never acquit himself so creditably when he knew she was watch ing him. On this occasion, however, he invited her to the chamber, and seemed to be in an exceedingly cheerful and confident mood. The galleries were packed, hundreds of prominent persons having come on from New York and N Philadelphia to hear Carpenter's reply. He began by show ing that every act of the government in selling arms to the Remingtons, the contractors, not the " agents," as Sumner characterized them, of the French government, was in ac cordance with domestic and international laws, and introduced a letter from Prince Bismarck in which the great German chancellor distinctly said the sale of arms to France by cit izens of the United States was no violation of neutrality laws \f or of any treaty stipulations. 396 LIFE OF CARPENTER. / This demolished both Sumner and Schurz, who had pre- S tended that the sale of arms to France was unjust to Ger- l^many. His argument upon the rights of neutral nations was pronounced by diplomatists and judges to be the most clear, learned and exhaustive ever delivered upon the floor of con gress. It was unanswerable. Upon its conclusion Carpenter turned his attention to Sumner's " twenty columns of cal umny, personal abuse and falsehood," uttered with the " in tention of thwarting the manifest intention of the people to nominate and re-elect General Grant." It was* a veritable tornado. Carpenter appeared to be inspired and " fretting for the conflict." He was in earnest. His face was flushed, his eyes sparkled and burned, his voice was loud and clear, and his mood, while not that of anger, plainly indicated a determination to redress an outrage, right a wrong, defend his friend, the President, from false charges, expose the motives of those who had made the assault, and punish them for their wickedness toward the administration. His designs were carried out with resistless force and over whelming effect. He showed how Sumner first became angry with Grant because he failed to induce the President / /to remove Mr. Tuckerman from the Greek mission and ap point to that position a man from Boston, whose recommen- / dation was that he had been " a life-long friend " of Sumner. When, in his vivisection, he finally reached the marrow, his auditors listened in absolute pain and apprehension. They saw the destroying blasts increasing in fury, the indignation of the usually genial and mirth-provoking senator rising higher and higher, and the arraignment growing more terri ble and destructive, but they could not tell when or how the end would come. Sumner, pale and trembling, sat, for a while, under Car penter's lacerating and swift-descending lash, but, unable to bear up longer under the increasing scourge, rushed, or as Carpenter put it, " pranced " from the chamber. In denominating General Grant "the great presidential LIFE OF CARPENTER. 397 quarreler of our history," Sumner had said " the eleventh commandment " is that " a President of the United States shall never quarrel." In treating this Carpenter said: He has risen in this paragraph above the universe; he has seated him self by the side of the Almighty and undertaken the revision, correction and enlargement of his works "A President of the United States shall never quarrel." This is the addition which the senator from Massachusetts engrafts upon the decalogue, that body of laws given by God to man amid the thunders of Sinai. I hold in my hand the sacred volume which con tains the revelations of man's latest existence on earth and penetrates the vail and discloses the mysteries beyond. John, on the island of Patmos, being " in the spirit on the Lord's day," saw many things, clean and un clean; he saw the great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns; he saw the whore of Babylon in scarlet attire, and he saw the senator from Massa chusetts. And apparently, to prevent the blasphemy which we have wit nessed in this chamber, there are written at the conclusion of this sacred volume, which contains the light of our lives in this life and our guide to a better abode above, words of awful admonition which I recommend to the careful stvidy of the senator from Massachusetts: "For I testify unto you, every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall ADD UNTO THESE THINGS, God shall add unto him the flagues that are written in this book" Why, sir, if the presumption of the senator from Massachusetts should only reach a little higher, you might find in the book-stalls within a year a volume entitled "The Sermon on the Mount, Revised, Corrected, and Greatly Enlarged and Improved, by Charles Sumner." He has, as it is reported, long been not only an admirer, but an imitator of Burke ; and it is clear that in the elaborate and malignant philippic upon the President which he read in the senate on Friday, which was composed at great expense of midnight oil, printed in pamphlet form and partially distributed before its delivery in the senate, the senator had in mind Burke's terrible arraignment of Warren Hastings, which was so vindictive as to provoke the following epigram : " Oft have we wondered that on Irish ground No poisonous reptile has ere yet been found; Revealed the secret stands of Nature's work, She saved her venom to create a Burke." Imitators are always more successful in copying the vices than the virtues of the old masters; and the senator's philippic as far excels its model in malice and meanness as it falls short of it in grandeur and elo quence. And there are many reasons for fearing that the senator will meet the fate of Burke, who late in life turned away from his early principles and died in the embrace of his early enemies, detested by h 398 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Having gone seriatim through what he termed, in a clear, ringing voice, the " monstrous exaggerations, wilful misrepre sentations and deliberate falsehoods " of Sumner's speech, he turned to the last of them, the alleged dying charge of Edwin M. Stanton against Grant, saying: There is one thing, which, for its enormity, deserves special attention ; and if I thought it would take the last breath of my life I would spend it on this. The senator asserts that this interview occurred a few days before Mr. Stan ton's death; and that Mr. Stanton was expressing not a sudden con clusion, formed upon newly-discovered testimony, but the result of his study of Grant's character for many years. He makes Mr. Stanton say : " I know General Grant better than any other person in the country can know him. It was my duty to study him when I saw him and when I did not see him," etc. And he makes him say " that he was not consulted about the nomination " of General Grant for the presidency, and that in the speeches which he (Stanton) made during the campaign he never introduced the name of General Grant. The senator from Massachusetts has been very unfortunate in all this business. He waded into this investigation chin-deep upon the strength of letters of very eminent individuals, whose names he refused to disclose, and whose testimony, therefore, we could not obtain. But upon this occasion he evidently intended to support his charge against General Grant by witnesses who could not be called to impeach him. So he violated all the delicacies of friendship and invaded the sanctuary of the grave and called Edwin M. Stanton back to bear testimony against the President of the I /United States. Sir, it is a little difficult to keep strictly -within parliamentary I j decorum and say -what ought to be said on such an occasion. I shall attempt to f do it, and I hope I shall succeed. In the first place, I am speaking to men who will know whether I am right or wrong in what I say; and I assert that if Mr. Stanton made that declaration to the senator from Massachusetts under the circumstances de tailed by him, if there is a word of substantial truth in that whole paragraph, if it be not an infamous fabrication from first to last, then Mr. Stanton was the most double-faced and dishonest man that ever lived ; and I call upon senators around me to bear testimony upon this point. There were accidents brought me to know Mr. Stanton very well. I came here to attend to an important lawsuit, occupied a room in the war depart, ment, and for several months saw Mr. Stanton daily. I went to the supreme court in the morning at eleven o'clock to watch the progress of its business, and I was at leisure for the rest of the day. I was much of the time at the department, and therefore frequently with him. He was at that time, as you all know, imprisoned in the department in consequence of troubles with LIFE OF CARPENTER. 399 the President, and he used to come into my room to smoke and often in vited me to walk with him. In the course of our conversations I heard him /, refer to General Grant a hundred times, and never but with the highest// respect and the kindest feeling. . / I came here a senator at the session at which Mr. Stanton died, and was frequently at his house during his last illness. I saw him just before he died, under circumstances which gave me an opportunity to know more than I should otherwise have known of his feeling toward General Grant. I had charge, for the first time in my life, of a bill in the senate, the bill which we passed for the reconstruction of the legislature of Georgia, after the colored members had been expelled. We sat late at night to pass it. At about half-past eleven, while in my seat, it occurred to me something might be done to insure the appointment of Mr. Stanton as judge of the supreme court. It had been talked about for some weeks. It had been ex pected by many of us, and yet his nomination did not come. I then and there drew up a letter to the President, recommending Mr. Stanton to be appointed judge of that court. I took it around this chamber, and in less""} than twenty minutes obtained thirty-seven signatures of republican sena- V tors. That was Friday night, and before leaving the senate chamber I / agreed with the senator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] to meet me at the j White House the following morning, Saturday, at ten o'clock, to present ) the letter to the President. The next morning at ten o'clock I rode to Mr. Stanton's and showed him the letter, and as he glanced over it the tears started down his cheeks. He V said not a word. He did not even say thank you. Witnessing the / depth of his emotion, I bowed myself out, telling him that I was going to [ present it to the President. I carried it to the President and found the senator from Michigan with the President, awaiting me. Said the President: . v " I am delighted to have that letter ; I have desired for weeks to appoint / Mr. Stanton to that place, and yet, in consequence of his having been sec- / retary of war and so prominent in the recent political strife, I have doubted whether it would answer to make him a judge; that indorsement is all I \/ want ; you go to Mr. Stanton's house and tell him his name will be sent to the / \ senate on Monday morning." This was on Saturday. I then drove back to Mr. Stanton's house and told him what the President had said. Mr. Stanton's first reply was: "The kindness of General Grant it is perfectly characteristic of him will do more to cure me than all the skill of the doctors." And, sir, I know that in the serious illness which terminated so disastrously, he frequently had occasion to refer to the course of the administration, to matters that were pending in congress, and I do know, and I can testify, and I hold it to be my solemn duty to testify, that in all those interviews, from first to last, from the time 4 bo represented as well as the other states are represented. They intend that their senators shall have as much influence in the national council as the senators of any state ; and they are willing to pay the neces sary expense to secure this end. That was a splendid tribute to the assumed liberality and advancement of the people of his state, which, when he re turned home, was met with a storm of abuse and denuncia tion. No argument, sense or reason was used; the merits of the question were not discussed; but general maltreat ment was visited upon those who voted for " back pay " more viciously than it had ever been upon the blackest violator of virtue or most brutal shedder of human blood. 4IO , LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXXV. MONEY IN POLITICS. At the special session of the senate, convened March 4, 1873, the charges against Alex. Caldwell, of Kansas, of secur ing his election to the United States senate through bribery, came up. Carpenter held that abundant malice but no brib ery was proved; and that even if four legislators, as charged, had been bribed to cast their votes for Caldwell, they did not render his election void nor change the result, as he was chosen by a majority of twenty-six. During this debate Senator Morton expressed his indignation at the use of money in politics. To this Carpenter replied with rare humor but telling effect. He ended: " Why, sir, in Wisconsin we actu ally spend money to pay clergymen and promulgate the gospel! " Caldwell cut all proceedings short by resigning. FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS " BACK PAY." The first regular session of the forty-third congress began December i, 1873. Almost the first thing accomplished was the repeal of the law of the previous session increasing the pay of various federal officials, which, so far as senators and representatives were concerned, gave rise to the "salary- grab " clamor. Carpenter opposed and aided in defeating the amendment reducing the President's salary to $25,000, but voted for the provisions restoring the pay of congressmen to the old figure, $5,000, giving his reasons therefor. He said he charged his clients what he thought they ought to pay for his services, but if they objected, he received what they were willing to give him. To quote verbatim: I propose to deal with my constituents as I deal with my clients. If we disagree about my compensation, I shall settle with them upon their own terms. When the salary bill came before the senate at the last session, I believed, as I have ever since I had any opinion upon any matter whatever, LIFE OF CARPENTER. 41 1 that the only way to obtain a sound article is to pay a sound price, and that the only way to obtain faithful public service is to pay a fair compensation. * * * I have voted to increase the salaries of judges, cabinet officers, bureau officers, clerks in the departments and all other public servants. I have done this from a sense of duty. I never acted more conscientiously in my life than when I voted for the salary bill at the last session. I have seen nothing to lead me to change my opinion. I have read columns of abuse without one sentence of argument, and I can see but one reason why this law should be repealed, that is, the people demand it * * Could the question be submitted to the people of Wisconsin to-day, the salary law of the last session would be repealed five to one. * * Regarding myself as one of the agents of the people of Wisconsin and knowing their wishes, 1 it is my pleasure as it is my duty to vote as I know they would if this ques tion could be submitted to them Not one member of either house of congress spoke so frankly in regard to this measure; none offered sounder reasons for voting to increase the salaries of congressmen, and none bowed with greater pleasure to the judgment of the people that his steps must be retraced. ENEMY'S PROPERTY DEFINED. When it was proposed to transfer all the cases pending before the southern claims commission to the court of claims and enlarge the jurisdiction of that court, Carpenter renewed his old protest against opening the door of the treasury to every person who would swear he lost property by the Re bellion and was " loyal in spirit " to the Union. He again contended all property in the enemy's country was, in the eye of the law, enemy's property, liable and compelled to furnish sustenance to the invaders, although the owner might not be disloyal in heart or act, and was liable to destruction as possessions of the foe without creating a claim against the loyal government. The supreme court had repeatedly decided that the Rebellion was a "territorial war;" that the south was the enemy of the north as fully as though an ocean had rolled between them and they had never been under iThe republican state convention of 1873, at Madison, adopted a resolu tion condemning the "salary-grab" law. 412 LIFE OF CARPENTER. one government. He thus illustrated his objection to pay ing the claims coming up from the south: If we were at war with England, for instance, and sent our army to invade Canada, the moment we crossed the Canadian line we should be in enemy's country. Any person domiciled there, doing business there, is, for the purposes of war, enemy's person and enemy's property ; and we could no more distinguish between the property of an American citizen residing there and the property of a British subject residing there than we could draw any other distinction that has no existence. And the destruction of the property of that American citizen would not create a legal claim against the American government. Carpenter voted against the bill reducing the army, be cause it was a portion of the appropriation bill, which must pass ; but not until he had roundly denounced the " vicious custom of engrafting general legislation on appropriation bills." Other members denounced the custom but voted for the bill. A SENATOR'S LUXURIES. The franking privilege having been repealed, it was pro posed to discontinue printing large quantities of the various public documents. This Carpenter opposed, saying the people had a right to know what their servants were doing. He discloses some interesting facts: I hope the senate will continue to print documents, and that members will distribute them. Congress voted to abolish what was styled the frank ing privilege, and on the motion of the senator from Vermont [Mr. Mor- rill] declared that no allowance for postage should thereafter be made to members. It was universally recognized as one of the duties of members of congress to distribute the documents published for that purpose. By the law as it then stood, these documents were transmitted as free matter, under the frank or signature of a member of congress. When congress abolished this provision of law, and provided that no allowance should be made to members for postage, I suppose it was intended that members should pay the postage upon all mail matter which had previously been transmitted under the frank. I understood this to be imposing upon everv senator about $1,000 per annum in postage. I thought this was unjust, and therefore voted against the bill. But the bill passed. The superintendent of documents has furnished me a statement that the postage on documents alone, based upon the amount published in the last congress, will be $921.87 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 4*3 per annum. The other postage paid by members upon matter of public business will be at least $200 per annum; that is $1,121.87 * n a ^ P er annum. This change in the law, together with the abolition of mileage, which averaged about $400 to each member, and the abolition of allowance for stationery, $125 per annum, were reasons, among others, which induced me to vote for the increase of salary to the amount of $7,500. The idea of divorcing the government from the people, as we must do if we stop distributing the documents which are published by congress, strikes me as being a fatal blow at the theory of our government and its perfect administration. The people should know what we are doing, and should know it accurately and truly, and while congress is too virtuous to frank a document and let it go at the expense of the nation, let us pay our postage; and if we have not anything left, we do not come here to make money ; we do not come here to get our expenses even. We come here, as we are informed by the people, and I now fully believe it, for the glory of the thing. Now, let us take the glory and let us spend the few dollars we have left over our board bills in paying the postage on these documents; and as long as that method of administration is agreeable to the majority of con gress no member has a right to complain ; and when it gets to be disagree able congress can provide that these documents, being certified to by the printing office, or by a clerk in the senate, or by some other officer to be appointed, shall go from Washington to the people free of postage. As we have seen, the franking privilege, for the benefit of the people, not of congressmen, was soon after restored. FOREIGN PROVINCES IN AMERICA. Senator Windom, at this session, presented a bill to allow an agent of the Mennonites, in South Russia, to locate and hold for two years, "in a compact body," five hundred thousand acres of the public domain, and at any time during those two years to settle on such lands. Carpenter opposed the measure. He said that while heretofore all nationalities had been treated alike and given the same privileges upon the public domain, it " was now proposed to establish a for eign colony in this country." It was, he affirmed, establishing a dangerous precedent; for if a colony of Russian nihilists or French communists should next ask for the exclusive use of a separate county, their request could not consistently be denied. He also 414 LIFE OF CARPENTER. pointed out that as the Mennonites were not to become citi zens, we should have a large colony of people founding homes and wealth out of and upon our domain, but remain ing, in all probability, subject to the military laws of Russia; that at least the question of whether we could hold them to mil itary service would be an international and difficult one, and that in the remote contingency of a war with Russia a large colony in our midst might be compelled to fight against the country affording them homes and protection. The bill did not pass. EARL OF ST. GERMANS' PAPERS. Carpenter was chosen to present to congress the unpub lished documents containing a record of the doings of Earl St. Germans during the Carlist war in the Basque provinces. The exceedingly clear and clever manner in which, in doing it, ne covered the salient points in that famous insurrection, is not only interesting but valuable: These are the official papers of Lord Elliot's (since Earl St. Germans) mission to Spain in the spring of 1835, at tne beginning of the Carlist war in the Basque provinces, where, history repeating itself now, more than an average generation afterwards, another Carlist war is raging. The facts are briefly these: Before the death of King Ferdinand II, of Spain, he had married, in his old age, a sister of the King of Naples, nick named King Bomba, from his bombarding his own capital, who was finally expelled by Garibaldi. This was Queen Christina, the mother of Queen Isabella. The law of succession in Spain was the salic law, by which fe males were excluded from the throne. Queen Christina caused the king to convene the cortes; and through the inducement of giving to Spain a con stitutional government, obtained the formal abrogation of that law; also the declaration that her daughter, on the king's demise, should succeed to the throne under the title of Isabella II, and that she, during her daughter's minority, should be regent. King Ferdinand had a brother, Don Carlos, the grandfather of the Don Carlos now contending for his claims and in his right. The claim was that the abrogation of the salic law could have no retroactive effect, whatever it might do in the future, and hence could not affect his right to the throne. He made a formal protest, and retired to Portugal. Ferdinand died soon after. Isabella was proclaimed queen, and Queen Christina regent. About the middle of 1834 the inhabitants of the Basque provinces rose under the LIFE OF CARPENTER. 415 famous Zumal-acarregui, and Don Carlos joined them, assuming the title of Charles V. In the war that ensued no quarter was given on either side, each party treating the other as rebels, until Lord Elliot went out on his mis sion of mercy, and succeeded in inducing both parties to sign a convention, by which all captives taken in arms wero in future to be treated as prisoners of war. This was in April, 1835, the war having then lasted about nine months, the prisoners shot in cold blood numbering at least two thousand. The war terminated on the 3ist of August, 1839, or four and a half years afterward. After the Elliot convention no prisoners of war were shot, and we may assume that from ten to twelve thousand lives were saved by this humane intervention, from the fact that the war lasted six times as long after the convention as it had existed before it. And considering that the war spread over a much larger extent of country and greater numbers were engaged, it is probable that from thirty to fifty thousand lives were thus saved. Few diplomatists can console themselves in the decline of life on such humanitarian success having crowned their efforts, and it is only justice to add that, though then a young man, the skill and discretion with which he executed his seemingly hopeless mission entitle him to the gratitude of the civilized world. The British government was then under treaty obligations never to rec ognize Don Carlos, nor permit the intervention of other powers in his favor, and to do all they could to prevent any military or material aid from reaching him. By a change in the cabinet, the Duke of Wellington having succeeded Lord Palmerston, the former commissioned Lord Elliot to mediate between the contending parties, to urge on them the necessity of making some arrangement which should put an end to the mode of warfare which had excited " the most painful sensations through Europe." Lord Elliot was at the same time instructed frankly to inform Don Carlos and his generals that the British cabinet was bound by the treaty before mentioned, and that they must entertain no hope of a change in the policy of the govern ment. The papers relating to this negotiation have never been published, but were sent by Earl St. Germans to General C. F. Henningsen, of Washing ton, whom he had known as an officer in the Carlist army, on the condition that they should not be published, because some of them, though the least important, he considered to be the property of the British government, but with permission to place one copy in the library of General Albert Pike, and one copy to be presented to the senate of the United States for its library by any senator whom Messrs. Pike and Henningsen might request to do so. At their request, I make this presentation. / 416 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CUBAN FREEDOM. On April 16, 1874, Carpenter introduced a paper whose preamble declared that " it is the clear and undoubted right of any American colony to sever its connection with the mother country, and establish itself as an independent nation, whenever the good of its people demands it," and resolving that it " had become the duty of the United States to recog nize Cuba as one of the independent nations of the earth," and that the contending parties should be accorded belliger ent rights and equal privileges and advantages in all the ports of the United States. This was not adopted, and a terrible guerrilla warfare continued until 1878 on the island, which still belongs to Spain. CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. On May 22, 1874, Carpenter voted against the substitute for Charles Sumner's civil rights bill, providing that colored people should have equal rights and privileges with the whites in juries, churches, schools, theaters, etc., most par ticularly because section 4 prescribed the qualifications of urors in state courts, which he held to be unconstitutional. e he Vrf ju ^He thought no state could be interfered with in prescribing /the qualifications of jurors for its own courts. IMPOSTS, COMMERCE AND SUFFRAGE. It was attempted during this session to hustle through a number of bills allowing certain persons respectively to im port free of duty paintings, statuary and animals for a zo ological garden. One of them slipped through the senate on a day when Carpenter was ill, but subsequently he left the chair and attacked all of them as unconstitutional. He held that the impost duties on art goods and menageries were intended for all persons the same as the duties on iron, liq uors, or silks. Congress granted no further privileges to violate the constitution during the session. LIFE OF CARPENTER.; 417 Senator Windom reported a resolution asking for an ap propriation to make surveys for the improvement, by the government, of the Mississippi river; making a continous water-route from the Mississippi to New York via the Great Lakes, the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, in Wisconsin, and the Hudson river, in New York; opening a water-route from the Mississippi to the ocean via the Ohio and Kenawha riv- ers and a canal, and another route from the Mississippi via the Ohio and Tennessee rivers and a canal or freight railway to the ocean. Carpenter favored the appropriation because he thought it would commit the government to the broad system of internal improvements recommended by Senator Windom, " and," said he, " I shall go the whole programme, Mr. President." The scheme failed to carry. Carpenter favored, and made a strong argument in supi port of, a bill providing that foreign corporations might be sued through the agent located in any state in which the suit arose, as otherwise, in many cases, it would be impossible for poor people to obtain justice. ->4 While a bill to create the new territory of Pembina was ( pending, an amendment, providing that in that territory the "7 right of suffrage should not be abridged on account of sex, was offered by Senator Sargent. Carpenter not only voted for the amendment, but made an eloquent speech in favor of universal suffrage, as a cure for many evils that could, by no other means, he said, ever be eradicated from our pol itics. FIRST TERM ENDED. The second session of the forty-third congress, which began December 7, 1874, was tame. It was the last session in Car penter's term, and extended over the period of the campaign for his re-election, in which he was finally defeated by a few bolters, as we already know, after having been regularly nominated by a caucus of his party. However, he was ab- 27 418 LIFE OF CARPENTER. sent from his seat but a few days, during the most exciting and decisive hours at Madison, where the legislature of Wis consin was in session. B. F. BUTLER'S CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. B. F. Butler, of Massachusetts, reported in the house a civil rights bill similar to that drafted by Charles Sumner and; defeated in the senate. Carpenter made a speech against those portions which he regarded as unconstitutional, em phatically the clause providing qualifications for jurors in state courts. He quoted various decisions in support of his ob jection to engrafting such a provision upon the statutes of the country; one by the supreme court of the United States, in 16 of Wallace, being particularly apt and conclusive. He contended that the right to serve on a jury in any state court was a right of state citizenship only, 1 not a right of United States citizenship, making use of this illustration : If the right to serve as juror in the state of Massachusetts, for instance, were a right which pertained to a citizen of the United States as such, then it would follow that a citizen of the United States, residing in New York or California, would have as much right to serve as a juror in the courts of Massachusetts as a citizen of the United States residing in that state. After combating the unconstitutionally of the measure generally, he closed: The supreme court of the United States, in two well considered decisions, have settled principles upon which the validity of this bill must be denied, and every circuit court in which a suit may be commenced under its provis ions will be compelled, in proper judicial subordination, to rule against a recovery; its only effect, therefore, will be to involve the colored man in liti gation in which he is certain to be defeated, " keeping the promise to his ear and breaking it to his hope." From the consideration which I have briefly stated, I am compelled to vote against the bill. I can understand how an orator like the senator from Indiana [Morton] could inflame the passions of a popular assembly and l The United States supreme court has affirmed this doctrine clearly and emphatically. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 419 rally it to support the provisions of this bill, but I confess my astonishment and my sorrow that he can carry along with him the highest court of the land, the senate of the United States, and pass this bill through all the forms of enactment. I am consoled, however, by the confidence that, if it shall become a law, the judicial courts will intervene to vindicate the constitution. On October 15, 1883, this civil rights bill, before the United Stales supreme court on appeal, was held invalid and void, unconstitutional and inoperative, except in the territories and the District of Columbia. Thus is another prediction fulfilled to the letter. The opinion of the court, by Justice Bradley, contained v several of the objections urged by Carpenter against the bill in the speech from which the foregoing ex tracts are made. It is customary for visitors at Washington to purchase lib erally the photographs of favorite senators, generally requir ing an autograph upon each picture. Just before noon of March 4, 1875, a page ran to Carpenter with a package of photographs, and asked an autograph upon each. Taking them in hand, he leaned back and waited patiently for the senate clock to point the hour of twelve o'clock noon. At that instant he seized a pen and wrote upon the several cards: " Matt. H. Carpenter, attorney at la-w" He was no longer ^ . a senator. His first term expired at twelve o'clock and he N was then simply an " attorney at law." N 4-2O LIFE OF CARPENTER- CHAPTER XXXVI. RE-APPEARANCE IN THE SENATE. Having been elected to succeed T. O. Howe, Carpenter was sworn in as a senator of the forty-sixth congress on Tuesday, March 16, 1879, on which day a special session was convened by President Hayes for the purpose of mak ing the necessary federal appropriations, which had been refused by the previous democratic congress. He drew seat number forty-five, between John A. Logan, of Illinois, and Henry W. Blair, of New Hampshire. He was so cordially greeted on all sides, that although not in robust health, and having a heavy law practice on his hands that could not be relinquished, thus adding to his labors, he greatly enjoyed the return to congress. One of his principal constitutional speeches during this session was upon the case of C. H. Bell, appointed by the governor of New Hampshire, under peculiar circumstances, as a senator from that state. The legislature adjourned its last regular session before the date of the expiration of Wad- leigh's term, March 3, 1879, without electing his successor. A new constitution had just been adopted, under which a new legislature would convene in June, 1879. ^ n tne m ean- time the governor appointed Bell to be a senator until the new legislature should organize and elect his successor. Carpenter contended that Bell had no right to a seat ; that the governor possessed no power to appoint a senator at the (.- end of a regularly expired term, and that the old legislature was notfunctus officio until the day fixed for the meeting of the new legislature, although the members of the new body might have been elected six or twelve months before. He demonstrated with more than ordinary conclusiveness that Bell could not be constitutionally seated, for the reason that the old legislature was in existence at the end of Wadleigh's LIFE OF CARPENTER. 421 term and should have chosen his successor, and because governors have power only to temporarily fill such vacancies in the United States senate as "happen " during a recess of the legislature^ 4 by death, resignation or otherwise " meaning vacancies unexpectedly occurring between the beginning and end of some regular term that had been, by the legislature, regularly filled. Mr. Bell, however, received his seat, but during the next session of congress Carpenter presented a bill intended to forever debar from the future controversies of this kind. CONTEST TO UNSEAT WM. P. KELLOGG. The democratic party, it must be stated here, had a ma jority in both houses of congress. The leaders were dis satisfied because the previous senate, after a lengthy and exhaustive investigation of the contest between Wm. P. Kel logg and H. M. SpofFord, chosen by rival legislatures to represent Louisiana in the United States senate, decided that the former had been duly elected and was entitled to a seat. They therefore, having the sheer power of a partisan majority, determined to re-open the contest that had by an other senate been regularly and conclusively settled, drive out Kellogg and admit Spofford. On this extraordinary proposition to Mexicanize the senate Carpenter delivered two arguments that will be referred to forever as settling the doctrine of res adjudicata in that body. In opening, he de posed that he laughed on first hearing that the majority pro posed to assail the seat of the senator from Louisiana, for " bad as the democrats had shown themselves to be," he " could not believe they would undertake anything so utterly revolutionary and so entirely unparalleled in partisan atroc ity." He contended that Kellogg, having been admitted after a full and fair investigation, had a stronger title to his seat than any other member of the senate, the usual custom being to swear in senators on -prima facie cases without in vestigations. 422 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Kellogg's case, therefore, was res adjudicate settled for ever, beyond any power to re-open or reverse it. Other- ) wise, he said, every republican senator in the chamber could be expelled whenever the democrats might have a majority. He held that the senate, in determining who should consti tute its members, acted in a judicial capacity and under the constitution, and its judgment, as in the case of impeach ment, or like that of the United States supreme court, not being reviewable, was final and irreversible. " Otherwise," -to use his exact words, "this absurd result follows: The / senate, which under the constitution has the right to settle this question, never could settle it; * * and there is not a I seat in this body that could not be taken away upon such a principle." Senator Hill, of Georgia, was the chief advocate of the scheme to re-investigate Kellogg's title to office, and with him Carpenter held his principal controversy. He drove Hill irresistibly before him, showing by the history of all nations how untenable and unnatural were his propositions. Hill finally intrenched himself behind the seductive and glit tering sophism that " nothing could be settled until it was settled right," and renewed the attempt to unseat Kellogg at the next session. In arguing against this proposition, as ad vocated by Senators Hill, Eaton, Thurman and Vest, Car penter eclipsed many former efforts. He showed, by the decisions of three hundred years, that even the errors of a court of last resort do not affect the validity of its decisions nor give the prerogative of a reversal. The judgments of a court of finality must always, right or wrong, stand, else there could be no end of strife. His illustration was this: Judges have been impeached for judicial corruption; but there is not an instance in the judicial history of the world of a judgment ever reversed on that ground; and why? I go before a judge on the bench to-day, and say, "Your predecessor last year was corrupt, and rendered a judgment influ enced by bribery; I want you to reverse it;" he is satisfied this is true, and reverses it. The other party comes back to his successor and says : " I got a judgment before an honest judge, but my opponent came next year to LIFE OF CARPENTER. 423 a dishonest judge, and bribed him to reverse the honest judgment; I ask you to set it back again." He would be justified in setting it back. So a question could never be settled. He further illustrated the fallacy of Hill's proposition by showing that if a man should, after having been admitted to a seat in the senate, be turned out the next year, because it was supposed evidence showing he was not a citizen of the United States had been discovered, he must be re-instated, if, in the third year, it should be discovered the evidence of the second year was false, and he really had been a citizen all the time ; and so on ad infinitum. In closing, he made an appeal to the democrats, which must have had effect, for they followed Carpenter's and not the advice of their own leader, Ben. Hill, and left Kellogg undisturbed: Now I beg that the senate shall not, in this temporary eclipse Oi re publicanism, suff.r a degradation never charged upon it before. Let us have one place where law can be heard and be respected. Let us have one place where justice, without compulsion, without being strained, as they say mercy is not, is administered, and where political majorities have noth ing to do with such questions. Not a foct has transpired since Kellogg was seated except that the political majority has changed. Let us decide this case so as to give to the whole country the assurance that the mere chang ing of political sentiments of members in this chamber does not change the principles of action which govern the senate when it acts in a judicial capacity. SHIELDS AND WEBSTER. After the death of brave old General James Shields, a bill was presented authorizing his pension of $100 per month to be continued to his widow and children, and it was proposed to amend it by providing also a pension for the widow of Colonel Webster. He made a short but resounding speech in favor of separate bills, declaring he wanted, when he did a handsome thing, to do it in a handsome way, and objected to having any law on the books that would look as though it was passed by means of log-rolling or a combination; "but let it appear that each man's name carried the pension to his own posterity." Thus the bills passed. 424 LIFE OF CARPENTER. t THE JURY SYSTEM. Early in this special session Carpenter renewed his efforts to strengthen the judicial system and simplify and facilitate the administration of justice. His great knowledge of the prac tice in all the courts rendered his efforts effective, and he had the sympathy of judges everywhere. He was particu larly anxious to secure the co-operation of the senate on a measure to reconstruct a jury system for the federal courts. Referring to this very important matter, which is still a judi cial scandal, on June 16, 1879, ^ e sa ^ : There is no such thing as a trial by jury in any federal court that I know of. In our country it is a trial by the marshal and the clerk, who can con vict or acquit any man they please by packing a jury. Our whole system of criminal jurisprudence in the federal courts is a disgrace to the nation. The theory adopted for compensating United States district attorneys is simply a scandal ; it is offering a bribe to them to produce convictions. We pay them, I believe, about $250 per year salary, and then give them so much for every fellow they can convict, and a smaller sum for an acquittal. In other words, they are bribed to convict a man if they possibly can. During his previous term in the senate he had tried in vain to secure a writ of error in criminal matters from federal courts to the United States supreme court, and in the speech from which the preceding extract is made he thus referred to that subject: We have in the federal courts no perfect system for administering criminal justice. A man may be sentenced in Oregon by a district (federal) judge for murder on a judgment notoriously erroneous ; and yet, strange to say, there is no way whatever by which to reverse that decision. A man may come to the supreme court of the United States to try the title to his farm, if it be 01 the value of $5,000; but if nothing but his life is at stake, no / -writ of error shall be allowed, no appellate court shall hear an exception, no | writ of error shall be issued under any circumstances. All that is simply X (disgraceful. He closed by begging the lawyers of the senate to join with him in working out a remedy for these judicial idiosyn crasies, but each having his own ax to grind, they could not then be induced to comply with his request. Had he lived, LIFE OF CARPENTER. 425 however, there can be no doubt that he would have suc ceeded in this undertaking. CARPENTER AND THE NAVY. In making appropriations for the army, and especially in formulating regulations for the United States Military Academy, Carpenter's knowledge and advice were particu larly valuable. He offered the clause to the army bill which repealed all laws preventing promotions in the regular army, and carefully watched the military school at West Point. He made no pretenses, however, in regard to the navy, and when, during the discussion, Senator Withers questioned him on this subject, he threw the senate into a roar by the reply, " I know nothing about the navy. I never sailed. I am sea-sick when-//_ ever I pass the navy department." FREE RIOTS ON ELECTION DAY. By far the strongest speech of this session was that by Carpenter against the fifth clause of the army appropriation bill, which declared that " no money should be paid for the subsistence, equipment, transportation or compensation of any portion of the army of the United States to be used as a police force to keep the peace at the polls at any election held in the United States." The apparent viciousness of this clause, from the standpoint of one who loved his country more than his party, and sin cerely desired honest elections, brought all of Carpenter's splendid powers into full play, heightened and intensified by the indignation he could not conceal. To him the bill was an unmasked attempt to render the government powerless to protect the ballot-box from those barbarous outrages which had rendered southern politics a reproach to free i \ institutions and southern elections the very essence of traves- ' ' ties and tragedies. He held that under such a law the Pres ident could not, as the constitutiot provides, send the army 426 LIFE OF CARPENTER. to quell any disturbance or riot at the polls, even when called upon by a state in the usual way.' Although the measure was craftily worded, he said, in order to inveigle the President into signing what might to him have the outward appearance of innocence, it was in reality the most dangerous assault upon the purity of the ballot-box that had ever been attempted in a free country, and the courts, if called upon, would so construe its intent, " for (using his exact language) at the close of the last session it was openly declared in this chamber that the power of the President to employ the army to keep the peace at the polls must be given up or no appropriations would be made to / carry on the government. This compelled the extra ses sion." As he progressed, gathering strength as he entered deeper into the iniquity of the subject, the opposition could not keep silent under the tremendous destruction of his fire and his bolts. Senator Hill interrupted with a suggestion as to what constituted real loyalty, and informed him of the ways in which the government could be broken up. This was an unfortunate moment for the southern senator. Carpenter turned upon him with spirit, saying he always listened with reverence and attention to that teacher who was most famil iar with the subject in hand. He therefore admitted the great qualification of Mr. Hill to instruct as to what would break up the government, for he had voted for secession, voted for the ordinance which took Georgia out of the Union, was one of Jeff. Davis' chief advisers, and for four years had his hands on all the springs and did all in his power to destroy the government of the United States. This terrible blow, whose force is but slightly indicated here, struck and disabled so many of the advocates of free riot on election days that for a time it dazed and entirely silenced the opposition. Each interruption had brought from Carpenter a more effective and disastrous sally, until LIFE OF CARPENTER. 427 the free rioters became glad to hold their peace and give unobstructed sway to his arraignment. Before closing he made an argument to show the total unccnstitutionality of the bill under section 2 of article 2, and then said: What look has this bill on its face? The President of the United States may use the money appropriated to clothe, equip, transport and compensate troops to keep the peace everywhere in the nation on three hundred and sixty-four days of the year, but one day in the year riot shall have full sway; one day in the year the administrative police force of this nation shall be manacled. It is said every dog shall have its day, and the demo cratic senators have made up their minds that riot shall have its day, and that that day shall be the election day. All the unruly elements of society, all desperadoes and scoundrels have notice that election day is to be their carnival ; and the national power shall not be permitted to oppose or resist them. Why will our democratic friends insist here that, on that one day of the year, no military force shall be called out or used to put down riot and rebellion, and the confusion and violence that may exist at the polls for the purpose of breaking up or controlling an election? Why, with all the charity that a Christian can have for a Christian, there is not a child . ten years old that would not answer, because they do not wish to have \/ peaceable elections. There can be no other answer. " /\ , . LIFE OF CARPENTER. / CHAPTER XXXVII. FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION. The second session of the forty-sixth congress began on Monday, December I, 1879, and continued until June 16, 1880. It was long and very tedious to Carpenter, whose health had, in spite of his brave effort to conceal everything, begun to show the marks of decline. He was usually pres ent, however, and watched all proceedings with his old-time scrutiny. On the fourth day of the session he presented this reso lution: WHEREAS, The resumption of specie payments, the circulation of gold, silver and greenbacks as lawful money of the United States under existing laws, and the reasonable expectation that the present condition of the finances of the country will not be disturbed by precipitate legislation, have been followed by restoration of business confidence, revival of the industries of the country, and the inauguration of general prosperity; and, WHEREAS, Stability of financial policy is essential to the successful con duct of business affairs ; therefore, Resolved, That in the opinion of the senate any legislation during the present session of congress materially changing the existing system of finance would be inexpedient Although the resolution was not formally adopted, it was printed, favorably commented upon by the press of the country, and exerted a wholesome influence throughout the session. THE CONSTITUTION. There was hardly a day passed in which Carpenter did not hold up before the senate the constitution, and call the attention of the members to the fact that, notwithstanding its broken and tattered condition, it was still an instrument to be respected and followed in the business of framing laws. When Senator Windom, of Minnesota, moved a resolution LIFE OF CARPENTER. 429 looking to the establishment of a department of agriculture and commerce, Carpenter asked if there was any lawyer in the senate who could point out what clause of the constitu tion afforded power to establish any such department. He received, of course, no answer. When it was proposed to organize a national board of ed ucation, he inquired what clause of the constitution commit ted the educational interests of the country to the keeping of congress; and later, desired Senator Kernan to inform him where the authority to provide for an international exhibi tion in New York, resided. Kernan replied that he did not wish to argue the case, whereupon Carpenter said: We are going on here day after day under a written constitution, violating its provisions, until we get so accustomed to it that no man wants to take the trouble of explaining the necessity or propriety of it This is a very small matter, but still it is in violation of the constitution, it is debauching the public mind, debauching the conscience of the senate, and ought not to be done. Senator Hoar asked if other things had not been done without the permission of the constitution. Carpenter re plied: It is a very easy thing to justify any action that congress wants to take if it is a sufficient justification 'to say that congress has done such a thing. I do not know where would be the limit of our power, if we can first do a ,y thing, and then next day justify the action because we did it the day before. r INDIAN WARS. One of the peculiar and ingenious, as well as just, meas ures reported by Carpenter 1 was that imposing unusually heavy fines on white persons who should steal or embezzle from Indians. The senators from those states bordering on or containing Indian tribes offered every conceivable objec tion to its passage, for the reason, Carpenter intimated, that it would cripple, if not entirely destroy, one of their principal industries. The bill, he said, was " for the purpose of cutting 1 Drawn originally by Senator Saunders. 430 LIFE OF CARPENTER. off the supply of Indian wars." Nearly all Indian outbreaks,. he maintained, were provoked by white men. The Indiana had laws for punishing their own criminals, but they could not reach the principal rascals, who were white men. A very interesting debate sprung from this measure, for the reason that Ingalls and other senators raised the objection 1 that all Indians born in the United States were, under the fourteenth amendment, citizens thereof. The fallacy of this reasoning was quickly illustrated by Carpenter. The United States can not make treaties with its own citizens, but it can enter into treaty agreements with " other nations and with the Indian tribes" the latter being qtiasi- nations; there- I fore, Indians holding and living under tribal relations are not citizens of the United States. When a bill was pending authorizing the purchase of nine / ^hundred acres of land in Texas for Fort Stockton at $18,000, Carpenter was the first senator to point out that the price was outrageously unjust, as but a short time before the land was sold by the government for $1.25 per acre, and that the ^ *< scheme to purchase it back at $20 per acre was evidently a job. When the resolution to destroy the legal-tender power of greenbacks came up, he did not support it. It is scarcely necessary to record that the measure was defeated. FITZ JOHN PORTER. The great speech of this session was delivered March 6th by Carpenter against the bill for the relief of Fitz John Por ter. Under a military order signed November 27, 1862, Gen- eral Porter was tried for insubordination and disobedience by a court-martial consisting of Major- General David Hunter, Major-General E. A. Hitchcock, Brigadier -Generals Rufus King, B. M. Prentiss, James B. Ricketts, Silas Casey, James A. Garfield and U: B. Buford, and Brevet Brigadier-General W. W. Morris, with Colonel J. Holt as advocate-general. By that court he was sentenced " to be cashiered from the LIFE OF CARPENTER. 43! army, and forever disqualified from holding any office of / * trust or profit under the government of the United States."A S The sentence was approved by President Lincoln January 19, 1863. The measure, against the passage of which Carpenter put his strength, provided that the President might set aside and amend these findings and " restore Porter to all the rights, rank, title and privileges which he would have had if there had been no court-martial." It is well known that all soldiers, especially the graduates of the United States Military Academy, are bound together for life by those hardy bonds which are not less strong and hardly less tender than family ties. They are, under common circumstances, brothers everywhere, and defenders always of each other. The fact, therefore, that Carpenter and Porter were students together at West Point renders doubly inter esting the conspicuous opposition of the former to the abso lution and restoration of the latter, and shows that when a great principle was at stake Carpenter could not be swerved by comrade-courtesy or the ties of friendship from doing fear lessly and energetically what he believed to be right. Against the passage of this bill he contended with sturdy power and intense earnestness. He showed so clearly and conclusively that congress was utterly powerless to interfere with, set aside or amend the sentences of regularly organized courts, that no one attempted to answer or controvert his propositions. There was no earthly authority, he said, save that invested in the President to grant pardons, that could reach in a regular and legal way the case of Porter. Con gress could no more set aside the verdict of the court that cashiered Porter than it could declare that verdict insufficient, and condemn him to be shot. No one could claim, he showed by abundant authority, that congress had power to say Porter was insufficiently punished, and thereupon sentence him to be shot; and, conversely, congress was absolutely without power to say the sentence was unjust or too heavy, and thereupon relieve him from its operation. 432 LIFE OF CARPENTER. He entered upon an exhaustive exhibit to show that courts- martial are legal and regular, and as completely beyond the baleful interference of congress as any other courts in the land, and that no senator could vote for the pending bill with out violating the constitution and violating his oath of office. It was in truth a mighty speech, the force of mere extracts from which is weakened and destroyed by being separated from their surrounding supports and bulwarks. As a legal argument it was not simply incontrovertible, it was absolutely unassailable. As an assault upon the enemy it was irresisti ble, victorious. It whelmed the advocates of the bill like a flood, swept them down like an avalanche, yet he indulged in no eloquence until the close: Mr. President, I have no feeling against Fitz John Porter of any kind. I was with him a year at the academy at West Point. I had always es teemed him until this affair occurred. In all his former history in the army, no man ever questioned his courage, no man ever questioned his devotion to the flag. He stood high; he performed his duty well, and was entitled to praise and credit, and had it too from all sources ; he was brevetted for gal- lant conduct, but as the senator from Illinois well said yesterday, those things become aggravations or his offense under the circumstances of this case. The testimony here, which I have examined pretty fully, convinces me, not that Porter was disloyal to the Union, not that Porter meant that the south should succeed in breaking up the government, but he was devoted to McClellan ; McClellan was the idol of his heart and the star of his hope. He wanted to see McClellan succeed first. He wanted to see our cause prosper, but he wanted McClellan to lead us to victory. He was the man to whom he was attached, the man on whom all the affections of his heart seemed to be centered ; and it was bitter as death to him when McClellan was supplanted in command and succeeded by a man for whom he seems to have had great contempt. That was the fault and caused the fall of Fitz John Porter, who, like Lucifer, fell, never to rise again. Why, look at the offense of which he has been convicted and I think the testimony sustains the finding of the court. There a battle was raging, upon which the fate of this nation might be depending. Orders were is sued to him again and again, which he disregarded ; which he flatly dis obeyed; and when, finally, in obedience to the positive order to come and report on the battle-field to Pope in person, he did come up, he came up, as it is said, without one of his brigades, and so tardily as to show that he had no wish for Pope's success, and no desire to obey the order. Why, LIFE OF CARPENTER. 433 Mr. President, life depended on his obedience the life of an army, per haps the life of a nation. If General Porter should go down the avenue to-day and kill a man he would be indicted, tried, sentenced and hanged life for life. Upon this admeasurement of justice, what shall be done with a man who, by his criminal conduct, sacrificed the lives of twenty thousand soldiers? The battles rendered necessary in consequence of his neglect of duty, but for which we would have had a victory on the first day, as the senator from Illinois stated yesterday, resulted in the loss of about twenty thousand men. Upon this principle of admeasurement, if Fitz John Por ter had twenty thousand lives, they were all forfeited to the state. The people of my own state, I know, felt it keenly. The loss fell heavily upon us. What was called the " Iron Brigade " in the Army of the Po tomac was made up of three Wisconsin regiments and one from Indiana, I think the Nineteenth Indiana, as brave a body of men as ever trod a bat tle-field ; a body of men who, for heroism, for endurance in the privations of war, and for soldierly bearing and conduct everywhere, would not suffer by comparison with the Old Guard of Napoleon. In one of the battles of that campaign, this brigade lost, in killed and wounded, one-third of its numbers. This was before Porter's disobedience of orders ; but as the cam paign was turned from a success to a defeat by Porter's disobedience, all their lives were sacrificed in vain, which otherwise would have been a part of the price paid for the success of the campaign. Every train of cars that penetrated the interior states for months afterward came freighted with the sacred remains of our slaughtered soldiers. They were piled up at railway stations like merchandise. They sleep now in the graves that dot every high hill and every green valley in Wisconsin. Our people will not soon for get Fitz John Porter. They will never forgive him. They would not soon forget me, and never forgive me, if I should stand here as their representa tive and vote to put Porter back where he would have been if he had not committed this unspeakable crime, and pay him all that he would have had if he had remained in the service and served his country faithfully. Queer things are being done these days. This thing may be done by the senate. It will not be done by my vote. Were I to vote for this bill I should fancy that the tears of widows and orphans were moistening the dust at my feet; I should imagine that the disembodied spirits, the frown ing shades of twenty thousand soldiers, slaughtered in vain, were muster ing in this chamber to scourge me from my seat. Nevertheless, Mr. President, God's will be done. It may be that even this last travesty upou justice is necessary. They tell us that whom the gods mean to destroy they first make mad. It may be, although it seems impossible, that the dem ocrats are not mad enough yet to insure their total destruction. This last -act may be needed to convince the American people that, to insure a proper discrimination between virtue and vice, to fix the proper ban on disloyalty 28 434. LIFE OF CARPENTER. and hold rebellion in check, we need in the White House once more the steady hand, the cool head and the patriotic heart of U. S. Grant* The closing of his speech was followed by such an ova tion of applause as had rarely been heard in the senate chamber. The principles laid down in it have since been regarded as conclusive against the right of congress to inter fere with the regular judgments of legally constituted courts. Carpenter had sat two days out in listening to the argu ments on the case and expected to speak after Logan ; but too ill to proceed, he asked the senate to adjourn. That night he could not sleep, and early on the following morning sent for Dr. Baxter. When the physician arrived Car penter inquired: " How am I?" Baxter shook his head. Carpenter then said he was about to speak at length in the senate, and asked for a strong anodyne. The physician re fused to prescribe it, but told Carpenter he must not speak. " If you do," he said, " I shall not be responsible for your life." The reply was that Porter's insubordination and disobe dience was at the cost of hundreds of lives as dear and val uable as his own, and he should go ahead, deeming the cause sacred and worthy of any sacrifice. With Baxter's gloomy warning ringing in his ears he sent for a prescribed nervine, swallowed thirty drops of it and started for the senate cham ber. He begged the escort of his law partner, who, waiting in the cloak-room until the hour for the speech arrived, again poured thirty drops of the assuaging draught. Carpenter drank it and began his memorable address. If this is not the bravery of martyrdom, let those who know tell us what it is. A TILT WITH ELAINE. It was during this session that Carpenter had his famous tilt with James G. Blaine. A controversy had arisen between 1 Just three years from this time General Grant completely changed his- position on the merits of Fitz John Porter's case, and wrote an article in the- North American Review advocating the annulment of his sentence. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 435 the temporary presiding officer, Mr. Rollins, and Elaine. It had progressed for some minutes when Carpenter jocosely remarked that he was unwilling to have such a grave ques tion pass into history without his name being connected with it. He then, from his experience as a presiding officer, very clearly explained the question at issue, his conclusion being on the side of the chair. Apparently nettled, Elaine at once turned his attention from the real controversy, and made a spirited assault upon Carpenter. He announced, with some bravado, that he had been very fortunate in not entering the senate while Carpen ter was presiding " with such absolute and reckless disregard of the common and ordinary rules of politeness." Carpenter did not notice the apparent anger of Elaine, but replied with his usual mellow jocularity, setting the senate off into laugh ter. He then went over the ground again, to convince Elaine, if possible, that the ruling of the temporary presiding officer was in strict accordance with good usage and settled principles, and that the discomfiture of the senator from Maine was wholly unwarranted. He closed, however, with a seasoning of sarcasm, referring in pretty plain terms to the insolence of his assailant. Elaine's argument, as appears in the Record, was principally one of sharp words, while Car penter quoted general principles, numerous decisions, and high references. By these means, it may be said that, if he did not silence Elaine, he compelled him to desist. But, unlike Carpenter, Elaine remembered the rancor of the day, and two weeks later, during the heated discussion on the distribution of the Geneva award on the Alabama claims, carried it again into the public proceedings of the senate. Again the Record shows, though the harshest feat ures of the wordy melee were eliminated before publication, that Elaine was not wholly without fault. He read what Carpenter regarded as a mysterious doc trine concerning the case, in support of his position. Car penter inquired: "What does the senator read from?" The 436 LIFE OF CARPENTER. reply was that it was " from a document." Carpenter put forth the query: "A document from the departments?" and Blaine replied that he was not compelled to tell what he read from. This skirmish brought a renewal of the battle with increased fury. Carpenter charged Blaine with having pur posely brought it on originally without cause, exclaiming. "My experience has taught me never to encourage and never to decline a row never to make a personal assault upon any one. I have learned **bftk> when one is made upon me to repel it as well as I can. When a man treats me in solently, I reply in the same vein as near as I can." The affair then fell into a rapid whirl of savage cut and thrust, in which finally Carpenter compared Grant's high praise of the labors of the American members of the Geneva arbitrators with the leer of Blaine, who had declared that they "hustled up through the bushes into the mountains, went into a cave, chalked on a barn door, split the difference, and awarded fifteen and one-half millions." Blaine then began to parry with some abstract praise of Grant, whereupon Carpenter begged him to desist, else he would surely ruin the great general. Just how the matter would have ended no one can predict, if Thurman, with an exceedingly happy turn, had not interposed at this point " that, as the two sen ators had set themselves right on the third-term question, the regular order should proceed." Thus, the intense interest of the senate in the contest between these two giant debaters was turned instantaneously into laughter. It may now be properly stated that at that moment Blaine was a candidate for the presidency and Carpenter a strong advocate of a third term for Grant. These things being well known, and the ability of the two men being a matter of common fame, it can excite no wonder to record that the senate chamber filled to its utmost capacity with distin guished people anxious to witness the skirmish. In close con nection with this relation, it must be stated that there was no break in the friendly relations that had always existed be- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 437 tween Carpenter and Elaine in their social intercourse, and a few days later the two joined hands in a tremendous battle against the attempt of the democrats to unseat W. P. Kel logg as a senator from Louisiana in a manner already re corded. That man must indeed be great who is above petty hatreds and revenge. THE GENEVA AWARD. The most weighty though not the most popular speech de livered by Carpenter at this session was that on the distribu tion of the Geneva award. He held that as the award at Geneva had been made upon the array of individual claims (set forth in detail under oath) laid before the commission, the aggregate of those that were considered valid being equal to the amount decided upon as due from Great Britain to the United States, there was no just and honorable mode of distribution except to those individuals upon whose losses the judgment had been founded. Senator Elaine and others held that the insurance compa nies whose claims were allowed, and to liquidate which a sum of money was set aside by the Geneva arbitrators, should not receive any of the award in the distribution being made by the United States government. Carpenter contended to the con trary, fortified by all the terms of the so-called Alabama treaty under which the award was made, by all the minutes and proceedings of the arbitrators, and by all the official circulars sent out by our own government in making up a case against Great Britain. His opponents merely contended that the award was a national one, made simply in the abstract for injury to the federal government, and that the cash thus ob tained could be divided by congress in any way it might elect. This theory Carpenter combated by something more than mere argument and sound logic. He showed that the claims presented in the name of the United States as a na tion amounted to $3,400,887, while those of individuals ag gregated $19,021,428.61. Great Britain objected to the 438 LIFE OF CARPENTER. so-called " indirect claims " of the general government and they were all abandoned, so that the award was finally made " solely on the claims for individual losses as made to the ar bitrators at their own request." Not only this, but one of the arbitrators informed Carpenter and Mr. Pierce, of Massa chusetts, that the award was made on the claims of the underwriters, and Carpenter declared that with all just men the irresistible conclusion must be, that as the award was made upon a certain list of claims (including those of the in surance companies) the distribution could only be equitable when it liquidated the losses enumerated therein. RED TAPE. Toward the close of the session Carpenter made a brief speech against the obnoxious system of red-tapeism in vogue in the departments, that might stand as an axiom, for it is as true to-day as it had been for years before his utterance. He protested against it on the ground of public policy, saying the great maxim of " honesty is the best policy " applied to nations as well as individuals: I have for many years wondered that any man out of a lunatic asylum would make a contract with the United States upon any subject whatever. He certainly subjects himself, his fortunes, all he has, and all he hopes to get in this world, to the will and pleasure of congress, or to the arbitrary will and pleasure or the hatred and malice of an executive officer in one of these departments. He then related that whenever A. T. Stewart " sold any article for the White House, when he sold to the United States of America," he invariably added twenty per cent, to the usual price to cover the expense, trouble and delay of passing his bill through the interminable red tape of the de partments. PURE ELECTIONS. Shortly before adjournment he offered an iron-clad bill of some length, intended to preserve the purity of the bal lot-box. It provided that any person convicted of intimida- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 439 tion, bribery or bull-dozing; of offering, depositing, procuring or counting an unlawful ballot; of creating or participating in any election riot or disturbance ; of unlawful registration or any other offense mentioned in the act, including political mur der, should receive a more severe punishment than had ever before been provided. He fought for this measure section // by section and clause by clause, but the democratic majority/' made it impossible for him to pass it. Among the special matters upon which Carpenter set his heart was that of obtaining an increase of pension for Com modore Wm. B. Whiting, of Milwaukee. Whiting had been for many years unable to leave his bed except by the strength of others, and Carpenter devoted a large amount of labor to overcoming the obstacles in the way of obtaining an increase. He was determined to make the old naval of ficer, who had been disabled a quarter of a century, comfor table, and, after several years of effort, was successful. 440 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XXXVIII. FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS THIRD SESSION. The third session of the forty-sixth congress began Decem ber 6, 1880, but Carpenter was, for the first time, not in his seat. The public had been informed that he was in poor health, but, although he did not appear in the senate until December i3th, he was so buoyant and hopeful that it was not supposed he could be in a precarious condition. And if any such idea had previously been entertained, it was for the time entirely dispelled, when, on the day he took his seat, he renewed his opposition to the bill proposing to restore to the v //army Fitz John Porter. He was pale and thin, but his 7 manner was vivacious, his eyes bright and luminous and his mind clearer than ever. On January yth, when the consular and diplomatic appro priation bill was under discussion, he objected to setting aside $9,500 for the care of prisoners and $1,500 for rent of jails in which to confine American prisoners in China, and offered an amendment striking out those sums. His speech on the subject was a revelation and a marvel to most of the lawyers of the senate. It was as clear and con vincing as any ever heard in the chamber, and contained the last of his long series of appeals to maintain the constitution inviolate. In it he exposed some extraordinary facts relative to the irregular administration of justice by American con sular and diplomatic agents, not generally known, and cer tainly not generally appreciated. As it was Carpenter's dying speech, that is, the last he delivered upon earth, the essential parts of it, which are exceedingly interesting, will be herein preserved: I wish some senator familiar with the constitution and who has leisure, would inform this body what right we have to try a man in China without judge, without a jury, without any constitutional jurisdiction whatever. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 44! Men are being tried for crimes frequently in China, Turkey and elsewhere; come have been tried for murder and are awaiting execution, as I am told, and I would like to know, just for the peace of my own conscience as a senator, what authority we have to vote money to keep them in jail until somebody can hang them by judicial murder. The constitution says that no man shall be tried for crime except upon the presentment of a grand jury. They are in prison now in every one of these countries, Japan, t* China, and Turkey, and I assert here that they are in prison there in viola tion of the constitution of the United States. Between China, for instance, and the United States a treaty removes all cause of national offense. China, if it chooses to let us do it, can make no complaint. It we hang our own people and half of hers, it might be a blessing to her as far she is concerned ; but when you come to our power to do what China is willing we should do, you must point to some provision in the constitution which gives us the right. I have looked thoroughly for it, and I can not find it. I am opposed to this whole proceeding. It has resulted already in China and in Japan in such proceedings on the part of our diplomatic representa tives there as are simply a disgrace to this nation in the eyes of all nations. j A diplomatic representative of the United States on one occasion embez zled from the United States a large sum of money; he invested it in bonds and mortgages in his own name. He sat as sole judge in his own court and foreclosed the mortgage in his own name. He ordered the property to be sold by the marshal, or whatever officer carried his decrees into effect. The sale took place ; the officer appeared at the sale and bought in the property himself. He then went back on the bench and confirmed the sale to him self. Such a thing would have made such a noise in Great Britain that the / atmosphere could not have held it ; but we have become so indifferent toV constitutional provisions, so careless of the fundamental and essential rights and principles of freedom, that these things go on and we sit here and vote ( * appropriations to carry them on, in flat, plain violation of the constitution, of every principle of Magna Charta, of the rights of all men ; and it ceases to excite the least surprise or attention. I concede that if an American citizen commits larceny in China, for which he would be beheaded, it is a favor to that citizen to rescue him from the ax and send him to jail for a few months. But it is said that this power is conferred upon the United States by the treaty with the foreign nation. Learned senators will see, if they will reflect one moment, that the United States can receive no power whatever from a foreign nation. To test this for a moment, suppose we should make a treaty with Great Britain by which we should provide that we would confer titles of nobility upon certain persons in the United States. I ask, and that brings the mat ter to a proper test, does that treaty we have made with England, promising to confer a title of nobility upon some person, give congress the power to do 442 LIFE OF CARPENTER. what the constitution says shall not be done? In other words, does the treaty- making power, which is a creature of the constitution, override the constitution itself, and enable congress, in pursuance of a treaty, to do what is expressly forbidden by other clauses and provisions of the constitution itself? Therefore, when you come to the right of hanging a man in China for murder, or when you come down to sending him to prison two weeks for murder, when the emperor of China might hang him or behead him, al though you do the fellow a favor, under what authority do you do it? The senator from Massachusetts says under authority derived from the emperor of China. I deny that the government of the United States can exercise any authority derived from anybody or anything except the constitution of the United States. I deny that the monarchy of Great Britain can clothe us with powers denied to us by the constitution ; I deny that the emperor of China can do any such thing; and although it be to exercise power upon our citizens, I deny that our government, as > government, can do it. If any senator will read the statutes conferring judicial powers upon con sulate officers, I am certain he will be very much astonished. It is a dele gation, not only of all the powers of this government, but of the powers of all governments. This consul or minister, who is thus clothed with judi cial power, is authorized to administer the constitution of the United States, the statutes of the United States, and exercise all jurisdiction at law and in equity, and admiralty and maritime jurisprudence; and when the law falls short, then the common law of England and all of its provisions, and when that fails, the statute declares in express words that he may pass ordinances, which shall have the force of law; and they apply not only to resident Americans who go to China to reside and carry on trade or business, but they apply to every American who may, by chance, or accident, or the wild winds of heaven, be driven upon that shore by shipwreck. If the sen ator from Georgia, traveling in the east, should be sailing by one of these countries, and, by adverse winds, be blown into the jurisdiction of one of these American consuls, he may find himself confronted with an ordinance made by that consul declaring some conduct of his a crime, which in the United States would be entirely innocent, be arrested and tried by the man who made the ordinance, without a jury, and be sentenced to be executed the next day at four o'clock in the morning. And the senator is about to vote an appropriation of money which, at some future day, may be used to aid in his own arbitrary execution, if adverse winds and waves should waft him into that jurisdiction. I trust no such misfortune will ever overtake the senator from Georgia. But if it should, I fear there are persons malicious enough to smile and ex claim that it was a visitation of poetic justice upon a senator who had made it possible that such calamity could befall any citizen. In other words, he who had digged a pit for his neighbor had fallen into it himself. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 443 That such a statute could ever have passed congress, and especially that .j it could have passed when Daniel Webster was in the senate, as I believe it 1 did, is matter of astonishment I must apologize to senators who have charged me with having been on the judiciary committee for several years without having brought for ward a bill for the repeal of these statutes. I must say, and I say truth fully, that until within two years I had no more idea that such a provision could be found in any statutes passed by congress than I had that I should be hanged myself by the judgment of a lamp-lighter. I offered the amendment more for the purpose of calling the attention of the senate to this subject than for any other purpose; for I should like to know how many senators think there is a plausible excuse for continuing an unconstitutional thing. It is said here by some senators that we have done this and that, even conceding it to be all wrong; yet, inasmuch as we have been doing it for some years now, it would be inconsistent to say we will not do it next year; that that would not look well as a part of the policy of a great nation. Well, I am rather inclined to the opinion that when we become fairly sat isfied that we have been doing wrong for five years, it is manly and proper to say we will not do it next year, nor ever thereafter. If human right is thought to be of any consequence in this congress, we can certainly pass a bill within the next forty days. So I will stand bj my amendment, and see who is in favor of it and who is against it CLOSING LABORS. So Carpenter adhered to his motion to strike out the ap propriation for the maintenance of illegal courts and jails in China, closing his adjuration for an inviolate constitution and human rights, from sheer exhaustion, in his seat. His motion to strike out was voted down, nearly two to one, and then, weak and suffering, he at once set about framing a law for the establishment, in all foreign countries in which the necessary permission could be secured, of a system of regular and constitutional courts. But, as though the Fates had set the seal of perpetuity on the disgraceful judicial system of the United States in foreign countries, Carpenter passed from the earth's great senate a few days later, with the books, decisions and documents he had gathered for correct infor mation as to his proposed law, piled around his dying couch. In fact, after he was forced to his bed for the last time, he 444 LIFE OF CARPENTER. caused these papers and volumes to be put within reach upon the coverlets, and, bolstered up with pillows, proceeded, with feeble hand but with undiminished mental* strength and enthusiasm, to correct the evils pointed out in the foregoing extracts from his last speech. But death, which recognizes neither constitutions nor the outrages of consular courts, found the task incomplete ; and thus, unfortunately, it remains to this day. On the 1 3th of January Carpenter appeared for a short period in his seat, and in a few brief sentences called atten tion to discrepancies in a petty appropriation bill. Likewise, on the following day, he was present a few moments, and spoke for probably two minutes on the unconstitutionality of a bill to appropriate money for an " International Sanitary Conference." He voted with ten others against its passage, and then voted, on Friday, January I4th, for an adjourn ment until the following Monday. That was the last time the fascinating music of the voice of Matt. H. Carpenter was ever heard in the chamber of the United States senate. Thus, it may be said, he died with the name of the constitution, which had been his earthly deity, upon his lips. X^Clay, after long and honorable service, was permitted to retire from the senate with calm farewells, mingling wisdom with tenderness and advice with forgiveness ; but Carpenter, like an advancing meteor whose growing brightness had not yet reached its full burst of splendor, suddenly darkled and fell into the abysmal chambers of eternity, leaving missions unended and adieus unspoken. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 445 CHAPTER XXXIX. PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE. The laurels Carpenter won as an orator, debater and con stitutional lawyer on the floor of the senate were hardly more creditable than those won as president -pro tempore of that body. He was accorded the almost unprecedented honor of being chosen during his first term l to preside, and at once became not only the most popular but one of the most just occupants of that high and difficult position. Schuyler Colfax has said Carpenter was the best presid ing officer he ever saw. That, as far as opinions have been expressed, was the general verdict of his republican asso ciates and the cordial judgment of his political opponents. The democrats loved to have him in the chair. He made no partisan decisions either against them or in favor of the re publicans. He was a learned lawyer, a quick and sound reasoner, not a bitter partisan, a lover of fair play, a possessor of infinite good humor, an expert in parliamentary laws and usages, and a person of attractive and commanding appearance. Such qualities, united with less tact and clearness than Car penter possessed, would have made him a popular presiding officer. But all these, united with never-ending bonhomie, I graceful courtesy and a healing manner of determining dis- ' putes, made him in all respects the model president of the highest deliberative body in the Western Hemisphere. COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE SERVICE. If the secret and arduous labors of the committee-room, which the people never see except in compact and digested results, could be written, then would appear the 'real states- i December u, 1873, on motion of Senator Anthony, by a vote of two to one in his favor. 446 LIFE OF CARPENTER. manship, the full learning, the varied aoilities and the true service of Carpenter in the senate. During the four ses sions of the forty-first congress he was a member of the committees on judiciary, patents and revision of the laws of the United States, and gave an enormous amount of labor to each of them. In addition to serving on these committees > he was, during the forty-second congress, chairman of the committee on enrolled bills and a member of the important committee on privileges and elections. In the forty-third congress there was no change in his positions, except that he was made chairman of the committee to audit and control the contingent expenses of the senate. The forty-sixth con gress was controlled by the democrats ; therefore Carpenter had no chairmanships, and, at his own request, served upon but two committees those on judiciary and foreign rela tions. Many, in fact more than a majority, of the reports on im portant subjects presented by these committees during his terms were drafted by Carpenter; and, in addition, by com mon consent, the duty of making reports for most of the various special committees on which he served also devolved upon him. Some of these constitute most interesting and val uable contributions to state literature and information; but, unfortunately, they do not find their way out to any appre ciable extent for the enlightenment of the public. Fre quently there is a clash between the house of representatives and the senate, and committees are appointed to settle the differences. Many of Carpenter's reports and " views " in such matters, especially as in the case of bills for changing the tariff, where each house clings to certain constructions of the constitution, were, and will always remain, of great value. Some of his reports have been drawn from in their natural order, others may properly be referred to here. The proper / relations of the Pacific railways to the government is one of / / moment and not yet fully settled. In 1871 he was on a com mittee " to inquire and report whether the railway companies LIFE OF CARPENTER. 447 which have received aid in bonds of the United States are lawfully bound to re-imburse the United States for interest paid on such bonds before the maturity of the principal thereof, and, if so, what legislation, if any, is necessary to compel such re-imbursement; and by resolution of February 16, 1871, were instructed to inquire and report as to the right of the treasury department to retain all the compensation for services rendered for the United States by the Union Pacific railroad and its branches, to apply on the interest of the bonds issued by the United States to aid in the construction of roads." After an exhaustive argument he brought in a report: 1. That the companies are not lawfully bound to re-imburse the govern ment any interest paid by the government on these bonds until the maturity of the principal of said bonds, except that one-half of the com pensation for services for the government may be retained by the govern ment, and five per cent, of the net proceeds of the roads must also be annually applied to the payment of said bonds and interest thereon ; and 2. That the secretary of the treasury has no right to withhold from the company more than one-half of the compensation due the company for services performed for the government. There was a time, after the adoption of the fourteenth amendment, that certain states, in order to increase their population and representation in congress and national con ventions, desired their Indian tribes to be merged into the general mass of citizens, " subject to the jurisdiction of the United States." On this subject, in 1870, Carpenter made a report which still stands as settling the relations between the federal government and the Indian tribes. His argument, though compact, is of greater length than is permissible here, but his conclusion was: That the Indian tribes within the limits of the United States and the individuals, members of such tribes, while they adhere to and form a part of the tribes to which they belong, are not, within the meaning of the fourteenth, amendment, " subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States; and, therefore, that such Indians have not become citizens of the United States by virtue of that amendment; and if your committee are correct in this conclusion, it follows that the treaties heretofore made between the United States and the Indian tribes are not annulled by that amendment 448 LIFE OF CARPENTER. On " a bill to further protect the polls in the election of President, Yice-President, and members of congress, author izing and directing the secretary of the interior to contract with the patentee of the safety ballot-box for the use of polls throughout the United States in the election of President, Vice-President, and members of congress, provided that said power to use and cost thereof shall not exceed the sum of $15 a box," in June, 1874, Carpenter submitted this report: The box seems to be ingenious in design, simple and cheap in construe- tion, and durable in material. It is made of cast iron and glass, and it is claimed that with it ballot-box stuffing is impossible except with the conniv ance of the officers of election and the candidates on both sides. All are aware of the deplorable effects of frauds at the polls, as seen especially in the elections in cities and densely-populated neighborhoods, and of the dangers that menace our political future from the same source. Repeating, false counts and ballot-box stuffing are the usual forms of such frauds, and it is superfluous to dwell upon the importance of any device which can prevent their perpetration. This invention promises to put an end to ballot-box stuffing. The elections of electors for President and Vice-President are, however, held under the control of state officers, in obedience to state laws, and con gress has no jurisdiction over them. The elections of members of congress are held at the same time as those of state and other subordinate officials, the elections of all of whom are wholly under the jurisdiction of the states. The committee, therefore, deem it inexpedient to go further than to express their approbation of the purpose of this invention, and to recommend to the states the adoption of this or some similar device for the protection of the ballot-box OFFICIAL LUXURIES. Perhaps the richest report ever made by him was when, as chairman of the committee to audit and control the con tingent expenses of the senate, he disclosed the ancient secrets and practices of that body. He went mousing back through the records and vouchers to the first dissipations or luxuries of congress, namely, those of 1777, and, tracing them down to 1874, discovered that modern wastages or extrava gances were far below those of earlier years. He found the period of greatest profligacy embraced the twenty years_pf democratic reign previous to the Rebellion. Until the repub licans limited each member to $125 for stationery, postage LIFE OF CARPENTER. 449 stamps, etc., were drawn ad /$., and frequently sold for cash or huckstered for other goods. As those who read pay the taxes, three paragraphs from Carpenter's report may be extracted to show in what directions, in other years, portions of those taxes disappeared: The attention of the senate was invited, on the I4th of June, 1857, to the unequal amounts of stationery furnished to senators, and the secretary of the senate was directed to prepare a statement of what was supplied during the thirty-fourth congress. This statement, with other information on the subject, was laid before the senate on the 9th of December, 1858, and showed a great inequality in the amounts of stationery drawn by senators during the preceding congress. The five senators who drew the largest amounts were: Hon. C. F. James, $368.68; Hon. Lewis Cass, $366.18; Hon. Jesse D. Bright, $302.66; Hon. W. H. Seward, $284.78, and Hon. George W. Jones, $254.94. And the five senators who drew the smallest amounts were: Hon. Jacob Col lamer, $62.99; Hon. John B. Thompson, $63.85; Hon. John M. Clayton, $64.07; Hon. Henry Wilson, $7359, and Hon. D. S. Reid, $83.45. The average amount of stationery furnished to each sen ator during the thirty-fourth congress was $123.82; but the senate refused to adopt that or any other sum as a commutation value, and the conse quence was an enlarged gross expenditure. The fancy articles sold at stationers' shops were purchased by senators for their use or the use of members of their families, and the accounts of those days are both exor bitant and extravagant when compared with those of the present time. Large sums were also expended for the funeral expenses of deceased senators, and in this there has been a decided reform. In June, 1850, the funeral expenses of a deceased senator amounted to $2,760, while those a senator who died in July, 1870, were $940. The expenditures for stationery during the year 1860 (the last year of democratic sway in the senate) were nearly if not quite three times the amount of what is now disbursed for that purpose, although there were but sixty-six senators. There was no commutation for stationery, but each senator drew what he thought proper, and among the items charged we find " two gold pens and holders," " twenty-four scarf-boxes," " one set in struments," " six dozen pearl and silver carved pen-holders," " eight dozen fancy-cut paper-weights," "one telescope," "eight dozen small agate seals," " six dozen cut-glass inkstands," " six dozen small size fancy-ciit ink stands," u three dozen hexagon cut inkstands," " four dozen bronze paper weights," "fourteen dozen Crooks' four-blade knives, silver-tipped," "eight dozen embossed paper-boxes," " eight dozen four-blade buck-knives," " two dozen spring-top inkstands," " three dozen Draper's inkstands," " one dozen screw-top inkstands," " twelve large glass inkstands," " two hun- 29 he "Y 450 LIFE OF CARPENTER. dred and forty-one reams of cap-paper," "one hundred and sixtj-four reams of letter-paper," "two hundred and thirty-five reams of note-paper," and 11 two million one hundred and forty-four thousand five hundred envelopes." The mass of Carpenter's committee work is so great that it can not be examined in detail for the purposes of this vol ume; hence a halt may as well be called here. All his col leagues have expressed in writing or public speech the great services he rendered to them, the senate and the country. A dozen words from Thomas F. Bayard in this regard will fairly cover them all: " His facile dispatch of business and his prompt and correct apprehension of all questions neces sarily made him a valuable colleague." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 451 CHAPTER XL. LOUISIANA TUMULT AND BLOODSHED. In its salient features, perhaps in all respects, the so-called Louisiana case was of co-equal import with the reconstruc tion of the states that rebelled and left the Union. In both, the new and unsettled principles to be determined sprung from the very life of the republic, and were a part of the power and right of self-perpetuation and self-government. That Carpenter was right in the reconstruction principles enunciated was declared by the highest authority in the/ land; that he was likewise right as to Louisiana is now gen erally conceded, though his party did not vote or side solidly with him. Owing, therefore, to its importance, the subject is treated in a separate chapter outside of the story of his doings in congress, though it might naturally belong in that connection. At the election of November, 1872, the democratic ticket, as the proper officials reported, received sixty-six thousand and the republican ticket fifty-nine thousand votes. Two canvassing-boards were at once organized, in this manner: H. C. Warmoth was governor and by law the head of the can- vassing-board, which consisted, in activity, of the lieutenant- governor, secretary of state, and two persons named Lynch and Anderson. Warmoth discovered, at the outset, that the board could not be fully controlled by him; so, by an order which was wholly unconstitutional, removed Herron, the secretary of state, and appointed in his place one Wharton. P. B. S. Pinchback (the lieutenant-governor) and Anderson, having been candidates at the election, were declared to be disqualified to act as members of the board, and Du Ponte and Hatch were chosen to fill the vacancies made by such disqualifications. Lynch would not act with this board, but acting with 452 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Herron, who had been illegally displaced, elected Longstreet and Hawkins to fill the vacancies made by the disqualifica tion of Pinchback and Anderson, and then proceeded to canvass the returns, or such duplicate and scattering ballots as they could secure, for the Warmoth board possessed all the regular returns. By the votes which these two boards proposed to canvass, one Dibble had been defeated for judge by one Elmore by something like nine thousand majority. Dibble was then on the bench, and the Warmoth board began suit before him against the Lynch board, and secured an injunction restraining a canvass of the votes by its mem bers. One day later, the Lynch board secured from the same judge an injunction restraining the Warmoth board from acting. Four days afterward Judge Dibble decided the suits in favor of the Lynch board. On the following day, we must be astonished to know, Warmoth took from his safe a blank election law, passed at the last session of the legislature, 1 and approved it as governor. This law abolished all former re- turning-boards, and under the constitution of Louisiana gave him power to appoint a new one. This he did without delay, creating the De Feriet board. Warmoth laid the returns before this board, by whom a canvass was made, and Mc- Enery, the democratic candidate for governor, and certain persons named by them as the legislature, were declared elected. In the meantime Wm. P. Kellogg, republican, had been declared elected governor by the Lynch board, and various persons named by them as a legislature were also declared elected. Kellogg filed a bill in equity with Judge Durell, of the United States circuit court, and there obtained an injunction 1 The constitution of Louisiana was so construed that the governor could approve any measure passed by the legislature during a recess of that body, or veto it on the first day of the succeeding session. Thus a governor con trolling the legislature could secure the passage of laws, to be used in case of an emergency, of almost any conceivable nature, and approve them when ever that emergency arose. Warmoth's election law was of this nature. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 453 restraining the Warmoth board and enjoining McEnery from acting as governor. Notwithstanding this order, Warmoth posted a bull declaring McEnery elected, and commanding obedience to him and his associates as the state government. Thereupon Durell issued an order to the United States mar shal of the eastern district of Louisiana to seize and hold the state-house, known as Mechanics' Institute, and prevent " all unlawful assemblages" therein of persons declared to be elected by the De Feriet or Warmoth board. Upon this / order a company of federal soldiers seized and held the state-/ house, President Grant having ordered the troops to respond' to the call of the marshal. Kellogg resigned his seat in the United States senate to as sume the gubernatorial chair. The two pretending legisla tures met during the second week in December the one in response to a proclamation by Kellogg, and the other in ac cordance with a proclamation by McEnery. The former elected Mr. Ray and the latter Mr. McMillen to fill the va cancy in the senate of the United States caused by Kellogg's resignation. And thus the case of the two contending gov ernments in Louisiana came before the United States senate. The Kellogg government, having been set up by the federal courts and recognized by President Grant, was then sup ported by federal soldiers. TWO GOVERNMENTS. Louisiana, with these two contending governments, one supported by the army of the United States, was in a state of unqualified chaos. Business was demoralized, the people of the entire commonwealth were in rebellion, and civil war was threatened. Carpenter gallantly defended President Grant from the attacks of the democrats, declaring the Pres ident had no discretion, when telegraphed that the order of the federal court was being disobeyed, but to command the troops to uphold that tribunal, notwithstanding the fact that 454 LIFE OF CARPENTER. its judge (Durell) in setting up the Kellogg government had far over-stepped his jurisdiction. The Morton faction, comprising a majority of the republican members of the senate, insisted that the Kellogg government should be sustained and Mr. Ray admitted to the seat in the senate vacated by Kellogg. The democrats insisted that, the returns having shown that McEnery received a majority of the votes cast, he should be recognized as governor, and McMillen be admitted to Kel- logg's vacant seat. Carpenter, assuming a different position, stepped into an unoccupied field between the two political parties, and demanded a new election for Louisiana, and presented a bill providing for and governing that election, which was pronounced as near perfect in its safeguards against fraud and corruption as any that human ingenuity could invent. His reasons were that Kellogg held his office by virtue of votes never cast and that McEnery went in through fraud and corruption; meaning, that although the returns showed a majority for the latter, it was secured by fraud, manipulation of the polling-places, and various forms of corruption, and that a fair and free election would undoubt edly have resulted in favor of Kellogg. He held that if either government were to be recognized it must be that headed by McEnery, for it received a major ity of the votes actually cast. These votes were canvassed by a board of undoubted legal power that of De Feriet, appointed by Warmoth under the act approved by him No vember 20, 1872, which abolished both the other boards, and his election had been duly proclaimed by the legal governor. He also held that the Kellogg government could not, in equity, be recognized, as it did not receive % majority of the votes cast; the returns were never in the hands of the Lynch board, which declared him elected, and, finally, there was no legal Lynch board, it having been abolished by the approval of the new election law before mentioned. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 455 THE REMEDY. Having, upon the representations of the court, recognized the Kellogg government, President Grant declared he should, in the absence of any act of congress, continue to uphold it to the end of the term with federal force, if neces sary. Under this unprecedented condition of affairs, Car penter urged, with all his power of logic and earnestness, a new election, as the only fair means of settling such a mael strom of contention, fraud, usurpation, corruption and rebell ion. In closing his argument, which embraced every fact, decision, act, usurpation, enactment and proceeding in the case, he said: I am satisfied from the testimony that the McEnery government, al though in fact elected, was nevertheless elected by such gross and all-per vading fraud as ought to vitiate the election. It is in evidence that the managers of the election threw every possible difficulty in the way of regis tration, and purposely established the voting places at inaccessible points in the republican districts, so that, in some cases, voters had to travel over twenty miles to reach the polls, and that this was systematically done throughout the state, for the purpose of preventing, and that it did prevent, a fair expression of public sentiment at the election polls. For these rea sons, your committee have not felt themselves justified in recommending recognition of the McEnery government, but have recommended that both the Kellogg and McEnery governments should be discarded. The Mc Enery government is the creature of fraud, and the Kellogg government is the creature of fraud and usurpation. Therefore, to recommend a new election by the people, it seems to me, is the most harmless course we can pursue the course least offensive to state pride, and least injurious to state rights. Mr. President, I have performed my duty to this business, and will have no more to say about it. I sat with the committee, surrounded by an as semblage resembling a town-meeting, for four weeks. I labored night and day. I have investigated this matter with an eye single to find out the truth and to put on record a lawyer-like result I have done the best I could, and I wash my hands of the whole business. If you choose, upon any technicality, to stand back and leave that community in its present condition, if you please to leave it to be torn up by these contending gov ernments, and to realize all the horror and bloodshed that may follow from your silence, the responsibility is upon you. There is in that state a large colored population enfranchised by your 456 LIFE OF CARPENTER. act, made citizens by jour laws, declared bj your constitution and statutes to be entitled to have a voice in electing a governor. Here is the notorious fact that they have not had that right ; that iheir will has been overridden, and that the McEnery government, which appears to be elected by the returns, is a government in utter defiance of the public sentiment Here are the further facts, too notorious and too apparent, that if you withdraw your protection, stand back and leave the matter to settle itself, one of two things must follow: bloodshed in that slate, in which the colored popula tion are to be slaughtered like sheep on the streets; or your President must do as he says in his message he must stand by the government which he has recognized, because the federal courts set it up, and by our party. It is, perhaps, not entirely senatorial to distinguish between the government and the party; but, Mr. President, the fact is that the republican party is an swerable to the people of this country for the conduct of this business, and we are answerable to our constituents, to our consciences, and to our God, for our part in it. A few lawyers of the senate interposed that congress had no power to order and conduct a new election, as Carpenter proposed. He replied that because such a thing never had been done was no reason why it could not be accomplished, and held that any measure or proceeding to restore Louisi ana to peace, tranquillity and a republican form of government, as the constitution requires, was within the clear power, as it was the clear duty, of congress. He believed congress was compelled to step in and give Louisiana a republican form of government, because there was no state government to order a new election no power left within the state to right things for herself. A VISIT TO LOUISIANA. He was in earnest in this all-important matter. He believed the great political wound in Louisiana could not be seared over by partisan caustic, but must be treated and cured by the eternal principles of right and justice. Therefore, in May, eight weeks after this discussion, he proceeded to that state for the purpose of learning, by personal observation and contact with the people, all there was to be known concern ing the rule of anarchy within 'its borders, and whether he was pursuing a satisfactory and correct course in his official LIFE OF CARPENTER. 457 attempts to restore peace and order. While there, he ad dressed, somewhat informally, the colored citizens, submitting to a long cross-examination by the leading freedmen of the state. The interview was, so far as he was concerned, full of spice and spirit, and subsequently, when published, attracted a great deal of attention, by reason of the radical if not start ling theories advanced by him. The colored people were dissatisfied with his efforts to secure a new election. They trembled with terror at the slightest whisper of the word election. During the six years previous over fivejhou^and of their people had been shot like dogs, and thousands more hadl)een scourged with lash and fire, chased by bloodhounds into the swamps, or cut off from earning a livelihood by the ku klux klans, white leaguers, regulators and other demo cratic political organizations, because they voted the republi can ticket. With these scenes of suffering, horror and blood still fresh before their eyes, the colored men pleaded with Carpenter in the name of heaven to send them no more elec tions, but to send an abundance of federal troops to uphold the Kellogg government, which Judge Durell had pretended to establish, and which for that reason President Grant had recognized as the lawful government of Louisiana. These appeals sorely tried Carpenter. They precipitated a struggle between his great heart and his well-settled judg ment. The unspeakable suffering of the freedmen had fully captured his sympathies his heart had gone over to the colored men, but his judgment as a lawyer, statesman and senator remained wedded to the theory that the difficulty could only be justly settled for all time by a new election or dered and conducted by the federal government. The colored men, however, could not be brought to his way of reasoning. They declared that under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments and the enforcement act, the freed men must be protected in their rights, and that troops suffi cient for that purpose should be sent to Louisiana. He 458 LIFE OF CARPENTER. explained that these additions to the constitution and the en actments in pursuance thereof simply gave the black man all the rights and privileges possessed by the white man, and provided civil remedies and penalties for any deprivation of them. Those laws, he said, did not make the black man the particular ward of the government, did not place him in a favored position, where he was entitled to first consideration, did not give him more rights, claims or privileges than the white man, but simply made whites and blacks equal before all the laws and all the courts, equal to defend themselves against the assaults of each other. He declared the black men must come out from under the /destroying reign of terror that was holding them down, throw off the whelming awe of the white man that rested like an incubus on all their efforts and desires to advance, and, under the great law of self-defense, that is above all consti tutions and decrees, meet the white man sword for sword and blood for blood. CARPENTER AND INGRAHAM. This may fall as a startling doctrine upon those who never saw the black man's humble home in ashes, his mule shot or maimed and his little crop laid waste, or never passed through the southern glades at election time to find here and there, riddled with bullets, the corpses of freedmen who would not vote as the white man had ordered. In this connection noth ing less can be done than to append a portion of the cross- examination of Carpenter heretofore mentioned, according to the report of a stenographer present, as follows: Mr. Ingraham There have been over five thousand men murdered in this state since 1865, for no other cause on God's green earth but their attachment to the republican party. They have been hunted through field and flood and shot down for no other reason. Mr. Carpenter That is a thing which no government can entirely pre vent. A government can pass laws and declare it shall not be done, and punish the men who do it when they are convicted, but self- protection is an individual right. If a man took after me because I was a republican I should carry a revolver, and the first man that took after me should get LIFE OF CARPENTER. 459 the first bullet. The government could not protect me. I should draw a revolver upon him. Why should not you? Mr. Tucker If we did it would be called "a war of races." Mr. Carpenter I am inciting no war of races. Whether the man who came after ml^was a white man or a colored man I should shoot him, and I advise you to do the same. In the course of further discussion, Mr. Carpenter again urging a new election as the best thing for the republican party and for the state at large, Mr. Ingraham replied that a new election would bring into play the new arm of the south. Since the surrender at Appomattox a new arm had sprung up.\ The sons of the men who had died in the confederate cause were to-day leagued together all through the south, and especially in Louisiana, to ac complish at the ballot-boxes what their fathers and representatives failed to accomplish in the battle-field, and that was to overawe and crush the Negroes throughout the southern states. Mr. Carpenter Suppose the colored men in these states should band together to put down the white men? Mr. Ingraham We are not going to do that. Mr. Carpenter Suppose you should? Suppose twenty thousand col ored men in this state should meet in convention and pass a resolution that no white man should hold an office or vote. What would the white men do? What you have to do is to knock your people out of this awe of the white man. Mr. Ingraham How ? Mr. Carpenter Stand right up to him, and, if he insults you, knock him down. Mr. Ingraham But knocks of that kind would prejudice the whole people against us. Mr. Carpenter Don't you think the whole power of the government is enough to sustain you? We can not protect your individual firesides. If a black man came to murder your babes you would kill him, would you not? If a white man comes for the same purpose, kill him. Mr. Ingraham We admit the truth of all this, and it ought to be done, but in our present relations, when we have the law and the courts for pro tection, we do not rely upon ourselves. Mr. Carpenter That is just the idea I am trying to get at If you in sult a white man, he kills you. If a white man insults you, you run to the courts; don't you do that, just go for him. ADDRESS IN EXPOSITION HALL. A few days after the talk with the colored people, in which he signally failed to destroy their fear of the bloody consequences of another election, Carpenter was invited by LIFE OF CARPENTER. a large number of the leading white citizens of New Or leans, irrespective of party, to deliver an address in Exposi tion Hall on the unfortunate condition of Louisiana affairs. He made a prompt favorable reply, and although the night chosen for it, May 20, 1873, was stormy, he was greeted by over three thousand of the foremost citizens of the Crescent City. He spoke from eight o'clock until after eleven in the evening and had the closest attention. He talked with great license, literally handling everything and everybody in Loui siana without gloves. The opening, however, was rich and beautiful, like the gorgeous section in which he was a vis itor the very incense of oratory and won his audience so completely as to block any effectual rebellion against the sledge-hammer blows he subsequently dealt. The address contained the main points brought out in his speech in the senate, with popular illustrations and con clusions. He was more brief in setting forth the rightful power of the government to act in the premises, its duty to take cognizance of the failure of any state to maintain a re publican form of government as required by the constitution, and the conclusion that federal interference could be no vio lation or infringement of state rights. He reiterated that although McEnery was technically elected, it was by means of the grossest frauds, and that Kellogg secured his seat by frauds of another kind and usurpation. The foundation question to be reached and determined, he said, was the true reason for this condition of things. He believed it was because slavery was not dead, saying he found, to his sorrow, that the assertion and supremacy of the white race over the black, which constituted slavery, had not disappeared; that the latter plainly succumbed to that "servility of temper and dread of the white man's wrath which slavery had imposed," and that they " did not seem to j understand they are the white man's equal in anything, and I yet, to-day, they have all the rights and all the protection / which I have in Wisconsin, and all they ever can have under LIFE OF CARPENTER. 461 free institutions." He then expounded the doctrine of self- defense, reiterating and amplifying what he had said to the colored men under this head in effect, that when the freed- men were attacked they should shoot and kill in self-defense, if nothing less would suffice: There is no war of races, of which I hear so much, in this suggestion. It is the innocent man defending himself against a wrong-doer. * * * And let me saj to you, frankly, this evening, gentlemen, that the quicker this great fact is taken into consideration, fully understood and universally acted upon, the sooner will you relieve yourselves of the condition of things now existing in this city. Talk to me about a war of races in the south by the aggressions of the colored man ! You might have convinced me in Wisconsin of that, but you never can after what I have seen of the colored men themselves in Louisiana. I will believe that such a danger is"^ to be apprehended when, and not until, you have satisfied me that the \ lambs on the farms in Wisconsin have banded together to devour the wolves in the forest. The fearless manner in which Carpenter enunciated this produced a decided sensation, which he did not permit to sub side before arraigning, in merciless terms, the whites for the death, in Grant parish, of " that mountain of colored men, slaughtered while they were escaping from a burning court house." He indicted them for ostracizing northern men who removed to the south for the purpose of engaging in business; for refusing to sell any portion of the great plantations that were going to waste to the colored men; for refusing their former slaves opportunities of earning a livelihood, thus compelling them to starve or steal; for training their young men to " drink whisky and talk politics / / by day and butcher Negroes as a pastime by night ; " for inciting tumult and revolution on the slightest pretext, and for their general bad treatment of the black men since the advent of the privileges and rights of citizenship. He counseled submission to the Kellogg government until some action settling the imbroglio could be taken; for, being a de facto government, its acts were valid. He promised, when the case should be presented at the next session of 462 LIFE OF CARPENTER. congress, to do what he could to secure a new election, unless it should be shown that Kellogg, in spite of all frauds, was really elected. In closing his speech Carpenter offered a generous tribute to New Orleans and pictured her future in glorious colors. He assumed the garb of a prophet, and predicted the day was coming when Cuba and the West India islands and Mexico would belong to the United States, and that then New Orleans would be the gate-way commanding the com merce across the gulf to those countries. His prophecy was closed in these words: Mexico and Cuba, San Domingo and other islands of the sea are held by men who are only occupying until we come. Yet we can not go until you put your house in order and give us the word that you are ready for an advance. The last hope of man in the experiment of self-government is with us; we are even to-day, with all the difficulties we have to contend against, holding the lamp of liberty a little higher and shedding its light a little clearer on the face of the world than any other nation. Yet we are in our infancy, not only in years, but in opportunities and capacities. BACK IN THE SENATE. Returning from New Orleans to the floor of the senate, we find Carpenter, on January 30, 1874, redeeming the promise made in Exposition Hall to do what he could for Louisiana by opposing Morton's resolution to seat P. B. S. Pinchback as a senator from that state. Pinchback had been elected by the so-called Kellogg legislature, and Car penter objected to seating him, on the ground that at the time of his election there was no legal legislature in that state. He grouped in their strongest positions and illuminated with the light of his perfect knowledge of the Louisiana case and of the law, all the orders, decisions, rulings, proclamations, enactments and proceedings had in and in connection with the elections in that unfortunate state, and then drew the conclusions of an impartial and upright judge who had laid aside all partisan feeling and all desire except to see exact justice prevail The list of authorities and decisions he pre- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 463 sented was so overwhelmingly in favor of the position that there was no legal state government in Louisiana, that no one pretended to contend against them. In this long speech, fairly ponderous with the weight of well-settled principles and eminent decisions, Carpenter was unusually warm and earnest. It was noticeable to all that he believed he was engaged upon a question of vital im portance to the republic, and that his words came from the heart and his conclusions from the precious mine of honest conviction. On the following day he prepared and intro duced another bill providing for a new election in Louisiana. Before speaking to that, however, he addressed the senate twice on the resolution to admit Pinchback, and arrived at his great speech in support of the bill on March 4th. The event had been well advertised, and the senate chamber was filled to its utmost capacity with a brilliant and distinguished audience. No better superficial description of the effort can be given than this, by a noted author, journalist and pub licist, of New York: For three hours, through one of the best legal arguments heard in the senate for a long time past, the crowded galleries listened to him eagerly, and leaned forward with deep interest to catch every word that he uttered. He was the center of attraction and all eyes were steadily turned upon him. Most of the senators were in their seats, and the custom of reading news papers was dispensed with, while they were intently absorbed in the well- arranged points and effective treatment of them which characterized Senator Carpenter's forensic effort throughout. At times, when he indulged in some highly impassioned bursts of oratory delivered impromptu beyond the outline of his notes, he presented in his naturally graceful manner a fine embodi ment of the bold and fearless American lawyer. Then, again, there were moments when the silence inspired by a greediness to catch his every word, was painfully impressive, and the insinuating electricity of his voice was almost oppressive. One of the finest lawyers and finest minds in the senate said that Senator Carpenter's argument was unanswerable. The awe in spired by his final appeal for action, and his protrayal of what might occur in the future if congress did not interfere, gave to his peroration the master touches of art which invisibly pervade the higher productions of the lim ner's skill. The full responsibility of the senate was felt when, near his close, with ominous significance, he asked, bursting into terrible earnestness, 464 LIFE OF CARPENTER. " Is it wisdom to adjourn this question into the presidential campaign of 1876? " adding his hope that the government would stand up and do its full duty. The full measure of the situation was then reached, and Senator Car penter's effort was crowned with the twofold bays of a statesman and a lawyer. It should be stated that although President Grant had recognized the Kellogg government and was upholding it by federal bayonets, his own wishes were represented by Car penter's plan for a new election. A majority of his cabinet, however, were against him. Carpenter's speech was a powerful exposition of the deep and damnable iniquities of Louisiana politics one long and solid array of facts and authorities, butchery and blood. Dur ing its delivery he was badgered and cross-examined by all his opponents, including Frelinghuysen, West, Logan and Conkling, and answered all of them with such clearness, promptitude and completeness as to show his perfect mastery of every detail of the complicated subject, and to turn all the interruptions and would-be annoyances to the advantage of his side of the case. A few days later Carpenter twice addressed the senate in favor of his bill, in a more earnest and prophetic manner, if possible, than before. He referred to the promise he made in New Orleans, that, if the people would cease all tumult and violence, and submit to the Kellogg government until the next session of congress, he would do what he could to secure a new election, declaring the Louisianians had kept their part of the contract perfectly, and he should keep his, though the republican senate, for mere partisan purposes, might vote to perpetuate a fraud and usurpation. He closed this second conjuration thus: THE HAYES-TILDEN DEAD-LOCK PREDICTED. For two years yet, unless congress shall interfere, that usurping govern ment will hold that state. This question will be mingled with the difficult questions which may be involved in the next canvass of votes for President and Vice-President. I will not take more time, and do not care to say another word upon the merits of the subject; but it does seem to me that it LIFE OF CARPENTER. 465 is little short of madness on the part of congress to postpone this question and mix it up with the difficulties which may arise on the count of the votes for President. We can settle it now to the satisfaction of all man kind, settle it honestly ; have an election there that every man will know and feel is an honest election, and then the matter will be removed from the next presidential contest. I do not speak of the political contest, but I speak of the canvass of the votes in the hall of representatives. The vote of Louisiana at the last election was thrown out because this very election from which Mr. Kellogg claims to have derived his rights was void. The casting away of that vote did not change the result, and therefore no one cared about it ; but, if the result had depended upon counting or not count ing the vote of Louisiana, we should have had trouble such as no man can estimate. And it is now proposed to let things drift, and to adjourn the question which we might settle now, when we are under no temptation to do anything wrong; to adjourn it all, and see what will turn up in the next count of votes for President. Carpenter's bill was not passed, though at the previous session it was defeated by only one vote. It was then killed / by the democrats, who disrelished the recitation of outrages/y and horrors in the preamble. The prophecy contained in the passage here quoted came to pass literally and with dangerous effect at the succeeding presidential election, and when he entered the supreme court room as counsel for Tilden, before the great electoral com mission, made necessary by the very trouble in Louisiana he predicted and which his bill proposed to correct, the martyr, James A. Garfield, brought forth from his memo-C randum book the extract just quoted, remarking, with a \ tincture of remorse, that no prediction was ever more com pletely fulfilled, or human prescience ever more conspicu ously demonstrated. Carpenter's committee report on Louisiana affairs is one of the remarkable documents of the age. It does not in any respect fall below Burke's impassioned portrayal of the East Indian government's excesses and debauchery under the extraordinary vice-royalty of Warren Hastings, and time has fully confirmed the wisdom of his every act and doctrine. 30 4.66 LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XLL SPEECH AT JANESVILLE " BACK PAY." Probably no act of Carpenter's public life was performed with a clearer conscience than that of supporting the so-called "back-pay" bill of March 3, 1873, yet it at once enveloped him in a blinding storm of denunciation and obloquy. Always theretofore, when the masses had called upon him, Carpenter had given a valid, if not a satisfactory, reason for his acts; therefore, before entering final judgment, they desired to hear what he had to say. He was invited to speak upon the " back pay steal," as it was delicately termed, at several places, but the strongest request coming from Rock county, he decided to appear at Janesville on June 26, 1873. Portions of his address must be incorporated in order to show an account of certain of his public doings in his own words : Before coming to the precise point I intend to discuss, let me refer to the abnormal condition of things existing in Washington and throughout the country last winter, which, in my belief, has caused the uproar which fol lowed what is so courteously styled " the back-pay steal." I refer to the Credit Mobilier investigation. If any one had gone, in 1861, to meet our troops as they were flying in rout and confusion from Bull Run, and had told them that they were simply in a panic; that the rebels were really whipped; that no enemy was pursu ing them; that all they had to do was to stop running themselves to death and sit down on the grass and cook their supper, it is likely that he would have been run over and trodden under foot by our retreating soldiery. Yet every one now knows that such was the case, and that our army was fleeing in hot haste from adversaries which existed only in their own excited imagina tions. A very sagacious friend of mine, an editor, has told me that the same fate will overtake me if I attempt, just now, to stem the current. He says the newspapers have taken their position, and if I should succeed in showing that they are wrong, they would be a hundred times more angry than they now are, and that any attempt to justify what the press has so unanimously condemned will only have the effect to call forth increased denuncia tion. This may all be so, but I do not believe it. There is a time for all things; a time to rant and a time to reason. Of ranting we have had more than enough; some one must incur the danger of attempting to reason, and I may as well suffer as another. LIFE OF CARPENTER. 467 Panic results from the infirmities of human nature. It is the sudden re bellion of fear against the authority of reason. In a panic men will slay their best friends, destroy themselves, and from the best of motives commit the most shocking crimes. In a panic Athens condemned Socrates to death / by hemlock, and Jerusalem led the Savior of the world to the agonies of crucifixion. Panics are not confined to military operations; civil commu nities often have their Bull Runs. One notable illustration was the panic which seized the people of Lon don, and of all England, in regard to the supposed Popish plot. Taking advantage of the excitement, an infamous wretch by the name of Titus Gates, thinking he could see meat and drink, coats and pantaloons in it, of which he was very short, emerged from obscurity and pretended to make revelations against innocent men, upon which they were indicted, tried, convicted, drawn and quartered. Gates was lionized, received public ova tions, and was regarded as a great benefactor and patriot. But after the excitement began to cool, and men began to reason, the plot was found out to be a wicked invention ; Gates was ascertained to be an impostor, and was convicted of perjury and whipped at the cart's tail through the streets of London by a judgment of the same court which, upon his perjured testi mony, had condemned scores of innocent men to the gallows and the grave. The panic of last winter was less tragic, but not less remarkable. The devil is styled the Prince of the Air; he has been a long while observing things; has seen generations come and go, empires rise and fall, and must understand human nature pretty well. If there be any truth in the conceit of Coleridge, that the devil sometimes comes down, "To visit his snug little farm, the earth, And see how his stock goes on," I know of nothing more likely to excite his mirth than the Credit Mobilier investigation. And the gravity of even his Satanic Majesty must have been overcome completely when the drama had become so cast, and the charac ters so completely jumbled and transposed, that Fernando Wood affect ing a virtue if he had it not stood forth as the impeacher of Schuyler Colfax, a man the latchet of whose shoes, upon any general average of public virtues, Fernando Wood is not worthy, stooping down, to unloose. s, He then showed that the government had not been and could not be defrauded by the Credit Mobilier, as it was simply the corporation which contracted to build the Pacific road for the Pacific Railroad Company, and thus illustrated the matter: Suppose you contract with a builder to build or cause to be built a cer tain house on a certain lot, according to stipulated specifications, within 468 LIFE OF CARPENTER six months, for which y*ou agree to give him forty acres of land and loan him $10,000 on his note for ten years. Then suppose your contractor sub lets the contract, and the sub-contractor builds the house to your entire satisfaction ; you accept it, deed the forty acres, and loan to your contractor the $10,000 on his note for ten years. Then suppose it should come to your knowledge that your contractor had been cheated by his sub -con tractor. Would you consider that that was any business of yours? Would any lawyer tell you that you could bring a suit to redress the wrong which your contractor had suffered at the hands of his contractor, but which had in no way affected you? Carpenter now came to the back-pay question: I stand here to-night advocating the rights of the poor against the ambi tion of the rich; I am here to-night to maintain that the son of a poor farmer or mechanic, if he have the necessary qualifications, has as much right to sit in the senate of the United States as the son or grandson of John Jacob Astor. This right is secured to the sons of the poor by the compensation clause of the constitution. And I am here to-night in the interest of the poor, and in my own interest as a poor man, to denounce any attempt to overthrow, or any cowardice which undermines, the repub lican dogma of our government that every public servant shall receive the compensation for his services which is fixed by the law of the land. In America the theory is that the rich and the poor should be on a level in making as well as administering the laws, and in every respect and par ticular, so far as the government is concerned. And the fathers, in framing the constitution, took good care to secure this end by providing as follows: "The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services,|to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States." Mark the significant and emphatic language of the constitution. It is not provided that the congress shall have power to fix the rate of compensation, nor that congress may by law determine what compensation the senators and members shall be entitled to receive, but the language is : " The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States." Suppose a conspiracy be entered into to-morrow among the millionaires of the senate William Sprague, of Rhode Island; Zach. Chandler and Thos. W. Ferry, of Michigan; Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; Wm. T. Hamilton, of Maryland; John P. Jones, of Ne vada, and others not to receive any compensation for their services and not to associate with or recognize as gentlemen those who should receive any such compensation. Can there be a doubt that such an aristocratic combination to change the character of the senate, and force poor men out of its seats, would be a direct and open violation of the constitution, which expressly provides that senators " shall receive " the compensation which is LIFE OF CARPENTER. 469 fixed by law? Custom is as strong as law, and social influence may defy the law. The tendency, of late, has been to fill the senate with men of wealth. And, when their numbers shall be increased, a combination be tween them, like that supposed, might produce a practical revolution of the government, and establish a condition of official life which would make it so uncomfortable for poor men to hold seats in the senate that they would decline to do so, and give the senate over to the millionaires of the country. In my opinion there is but one question in all this business, and that is whether $7,500 be more than a just compensation for the services of a sen ator or representative in congress. I shall, therefore, first consider this question. It is said that $7,500 is a large sum of money, and that there are a great many laboring men who do not see one- half that sum in the whole course of a year. All this is true, but is not quite conclusive of the sub ject before us. When you are sick and desire a physician ; when you are involved in litigation which touches your fortune or your liberty, you do not advertise for the physician or lawyer who will serve you at the lowest compensation. You select the pliysician or the lawyer whose services -you prefer, and expect to pay him what his services are worth. So, in selecting a senator or member of congress, you fix upon the man you desire to fill that place, and you expect to pay him a reasonable compensation for his services. If you desire to pay only such compensation as will secure the services of a man without regard to his qualifications for the place, $5,000, even $2,000, is thrown away on a congressman. Three months' advertising along the line of a railroad will secure men enough to occupy the seats of both houses of congress at three dollars per day. Such an offer made to the laborers on a railroad would induce them to "cut dirt" for Washington faster than they ever cut dirt out of a railroad bank. When you employ a lawyer or a doctor, a bank cashier, the president of an insurance com pany, or any other person for a particular purpose, you do not inquire what is the smallest sum for which you can employ a man, but what is a reason able compensation for the services of such a man as you want in the partic ular place. And this is to be determined by ascertaining what the same man could earn if employed by others in the same branch of business. In 1789 congress fixed the salary of the President at $25,000 per annum. Probably there was no man in the United States, at that time, who had an income exceeding that sum. Things have greatly changed since then, and men can now be found in almost every county whose income exceeds that sum. The most able and sagacious of our business men the men who conduct the commerce of the country and its largest business operations would regard it as a very poor year which did not yield more than $25,000 profit. The expenses of living, too, have more than doubled since that time. I am aware that it is always replied to this statement, that members of congress ought to live very economically, that they ought to imitate the puritan simplicity of our fathers, and live as cheaply as they did. But how 470 LIFE OF CARPENTER. many of you practice this wisdom? How many of you live as your fathers lived? Before I was fourteen years of age, I never saw a carpet, a sofa, or a piano. Now, how few of the well-to-do farmers' houses in this county lack these luxuries? This generation spends more for children's toys than our fathers spent in educating us. And a man who should go to Washington and live as some editors demand, would simply be the laughing-stock of the nation. If you desire your representatives to equal the representatives of other states in influence and power at Washington, then they must live with respect to the habits and customs which are practiced and observed by the representatives of other states; and not to pay a compensation which will enable your representative to live like a gentleman, is, if he be a gen tleman, to exclude him from public service, provided he be also a poor man. A rich man, as I have said before, may be willing to serve without any compensation ; but this would give the government into the hands of the rich.l And it is for the people to determine whether, in these days of consolidated corporations and combining capital, they desire to surrender all voice in making and executing the laws ; if so, rich men undoubtedly can be found who will serve in congress without regard to compensation. Then we shall realize the old theory of the rich taking care of the poor such care as the wolf takes of the lamb. Twelve or fifteen years ago, Judge T. O. Howe and Colonel James H. Howe were both practicing law in Green Bay. They were both able and upright men possessing the respect and confidence of the community in which they resided. Judge Howe went into the service of the government as a senator at $3,000 per year; Colonel Howe went into the service of a railroad company at $4,000 per year. Judge Howe's salary has been in creased from time to time, until he now receives $7,500. Colonel Howe's salary has been increased from time to time, until he now receives $12,000. I would certainly not say anything against Colonel Howe. He is my friend^ and a gentleman whom I greatly respect, and whose services to the corporation which employs him are undoubtedly worth all it pays him ; but it is no wrong to Colonel Howe to say that Judge Howe is his equal in every respect and particular; that he is as able and as honest, and possesses in as great a degree the confidence of all who know him. Ten thousand dollars a year is not an unusual sum to be paid to the president or cashier of our largest banks and railroad companies ; and yet a senator is called upon to perform three times the labor, and determine matters involving fifty times the importance, at a compensation of $7,500. I have also heard it said that there were members of congress who could not earn the same amount of money in any other employment. Conceding this, whose fault is it? If the people of a state choose to send a man tocon- i The United States senate is now practically in the hands of the rich. However, this is objectionable only as it establishes a state of affairs which makes it impossible for a poor man to become a senator. c / LIFE OF CARPENTER. 471 gress whose best services are worthless to himself and everybody else, thafr is their fault. The question is, what is a fair compensation for the services of a man who is fit to be a member of congress? Does anybody doubt that Alexander Mitchell, O. H. Waldo, William P. Lynde, Governor C. C. Washburn or any other man in our state who would be likely to be elected to congress, by application to business could make $7,500 in a year? Or that their best services in regard to matters which involve millions of dol lars would be fairly worth that sum per year? There is an impression that members of congress are making large sums of money. As this is a strictly confidential occasion, and I am here in the capacity of a servant to answer to my masters, let me show you how fast I am getting rich by a seat in the senate. Several years ago I rented the house I now live in for $1,000 a year. It is an unpretending but comfort able home. My office rent in Milwaukee is $250 a year. I am compelled to keep my house and office in Milwaukee or the newspapers would at once say that I had moved out of the state and gone to Washington to reside. All I have in this world is invested in books. I have five thousand volumes of law books and about six thousand volumes of political and literary works. On these books I pay an annual insurance premium of about $1,000, and as I never expect to have anything to leave for my family, I keep my life insured for their benefit to the amount of $50,000, on which I pay an annual premium of $1,400. I can not rent a decent house furnished in Washington short of $2,000, and I am compelled to keep an office there, where my constituents can find me, and where I can transact business with them away from the sessions of the senate. For this office, two small rooms, I pay a rental of $900. These items give $6,550 of indispensable expense. There is not a meal ot victuals in that sum, no clothing for my family, not a shirt for myself, no school-books for my babies, no carriage hire, no doctor's bills, no contribution for the preaching of the gospel, no charities to the poor, no contribution to pay the expense of Wisconsin office- seekers who have failed in their application and have to be sent home at the expense of the delegation. A year ago last winter I went to Washington, about the I5th of Novem ber, and remained there for over seven months, laboring incessantly night and day, Sundays and Mondays. The same amount of labor, care and re sponsibility bestowed upon professional business in my office at Milwaukee would pay $20,000; I received $7,500 for it. But you may ask how it is, if I am poor and my necessary expenses exceed my salary, I am able to stay in congress at all; and I propose to tell you, because I am making a full confession. A public servant is not permitted to have any privacy ; his meats and drinks, his clothing, the shape of his shirt-collar, the style of his coat, all are paraded before the public in correspondence and ridiculed in cartoons. In just three causes in the supreme court of the United States last year, which I prepared for argument during the summer, at home, I re 472 LIFE OF CARPENTER. ceived $10,500, in cash. My clients were satisfied with my services and my charges. They neither called me a thief nor abused me in the press. This enabled me to square my bank account for the year, face bakers and butch ers, doctors and dentists, school- masters and music teachers, priests and printers, tailors and shoe- makers. He next discussed the retroactive or back-pay feature of the bill increasing salaries, and showed that it was common to nearly all of the several similar bills congress had en acted. Also that many of the great men who voted for and accepted back pay in 1856 and in 1866, either voted against the law of 1873, or > having received the increase, turned and fled before the howl of the press and covered it into the federal treasury. He then closed: Why is it that men who voted for and received back pay in 1856 and in 1866 now refuse to do the same thing? I answer that the Credit Mobilier investigation of last winter so diseased the public mind, and produced such a morbid public morality, that things which are perfectly right are regarded as wrong ; and these men lack the nerve to face a storm even in defense of a principle indorsed by Henry Wilson and General Farnsworth and others who voted for back pay in former years, and received it from the treasury, and who are now claiming popular approbation for not doing precisely what they had done before. If it is a larceny, or a lesser wrong, to receive back pay for services in the forty-second congress, which these men admit by refusing it, then it was larceny or a lesser wrong for the same men to receive back pay in 1866. Washington left the impress of his character upon his own and succeed ing generations. Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and others gave an impulse to public thought, and fixed a standard of public virtue under which we have grown to be a great and happy people. But it was left for Oakes Ames to lift the standard of public virtue clear out of mortal reach and out of human sight. Things which, viewed in the light of our Savior's teachings, and estimated by the standard of Christian morality, are as harmless as the cooings of a dove, are larcenies, mortal sins, in the light of 1873 and estimated by the standard of alarm and fright created by Oakes Ames and the Credit Mobilier investigation. Earthquakes some times come and storms sometimes rage; but the earth will not always rock, nor the rains always fall, and we may hope that the present sore, fidgety, sickly morality will sometime give place to the manly and healthy virtue taught by the Master of Nazareth. The day on which this speech was delivered was ex tremely sultry and enervating; nevertheless the hall in which LIFE OF CARPENTER. 473 he spoke was crowded to its utmost capacity. He made his appearance dressed in spotless white coat and pantaloons, low shoes and white stockings and white cravat, but without a waistcoat clad in perfect accordance with the demands of comfort. He did not seem to be more clean, cool and fresh, or more strong and confident, than he was picturesque and attractive. Every statement, proposition, argument and conclusion was closely followed and thoroughly digested by the large audience, and when he had done there was hardly a person present who did not agree with him as to prin ciples and facts, and few who did not rejoice that he at least had received the benefit of the increase in salary. This effort went far to correct the distorted ideas inst into the public mind by the newspapers, and fully estab lished Carpenter's honesty of purpose in supporting the measure and his moral bravery in defending it, while others were increasing the apparent magnitude of their self-con fessed wickedness and self-conscious guilt by fleeing before the storm of public indignation. LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XLIL THE WHISKY RING. For a year or two prior to 1876 the public atmosphere was contaminated by the scandals and corruptions of what was generally known as the " whisky-ring." The popular mind seemed to be debauched by its gigantic excesses and the leading men of the nation to be suffering from the poison ous malaria it distilled. Unfortunately, Carpenter's second senatorial campaign came on during this epoch. Although defeated, the odor of that colossal organization was so nauseous to the community that his enemies could do no better than charge that he had some connection with or profit by it. The announcement was, therefore, made that the money of the " whisky-crooks " was used in his behalf during the campaign, and that, in return, he promised immunity to such as already had been arrested and were awaiting trial. The facts are, in brief, these : The tax on whisky was two dollars, the cost of production about twenty-five cents per gallon. The temptation to evade the tax was too much for strong lovers of money to withstand. This evasion was possible only through the connivance of corrupt revenue officials such as gaugers, store-keepers, inspectors, etc. These men would not permit the distillers to " run crooked," and thereby reap enormous harvests, without some tangible recompense for themselves. The distillers, therefore, paid such as came in direct contact with them sums varying from $100 to $250 per month per distillery. In a moral point of view, the corruption was not so much in the distiller as in those revenue agents who, sworn to protect the govern ment, were, amidst a flood of perjury and malfeasance, the abettors of a vast system of frauds upon it. Of these facts the departments at Washington had no LIFE OF CARPENTER. 475 knowledge, nor, for some time, had the general public. So far as Wisconsin is concerned, the chairman of the republican state central committee, E. W. Keyes, discovered during the campaign of 1873 that the " whisky-ring," under the name and style of the Personal Liberty League, was contributing liberal sums of money for the election of Taylor, the demo cratic candidate for governor. On following up the matter he became convinced that crooked distilling to an unlimited extent must be going on, and wrote the treasury department to that effect. In the winter of 1873-4 ^ e personally com municated his belief in this respect to officials at Washington, and on May 29, 1874, m ^ s capacity as chairman, filed spe cific charges with Commissioner Douglass, inculpating cer tain revenue officials and distilling firms. These officials, upon Carpenter's recommendation, were removed, and subse quently the illicit distillers were arrested. These apparently extraneous facts are mentioned for the purpose of showing that, instead of being in league with the "whisky-ring," Carpenter's friends and political managers were directing the attention of the federal authorities to its corruptions and frauds. While Carpenter's campaign was progressing, in the win ter of 1874-5, a certain friendly revenue official collected a small sum of money for hotel and other necessary expenses at Madison. Neither Carpenter nor his friends knew whence the money came, but afterward the charge was made that it was contributed by "whisky-crooks." A few weeks later the entire nest of crooked distillers and dishonest officials was arrested. The house of representatives was then controlled by the democrats. Hoping to destroy certain leading republicans and smirch the party generally, an investigation was ordered. On June 3, 1876, George W. Cate, democratic congressman from Wisconsin, moved that the special committee, sitting in recess to investigate the whisky frauds at St. Louis, " be di rected to investigate the question of frauds on the revenue 476 LIFE OF CARPENTER. at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and whether any officers of the United States were concerned therein, to include the transac tions and contributions of the ' whisky-ring,' in the year 1873, in influencing elections." The investigation proceeded, the dishonest officials and crooked distillers being called to Washington for the purpose of implicating Carpenter, E. W. Keyes (postmaster at Mad ison) and Henry C. Payne (postmaster at Milwaukee). On the second day of the investigation Mr. Caswell asked Leo pold Wirth, a crooked distiller, whether the " whisky-ring " contributed heavily, in tJie year / took to me, as all the children do ; so I told her to lie down in my arms and go to sleep, which she did with seeming gratefulness. We rode in that way some twenty miles. When they were ready to go to bed, they aroused the little girl, and told her to thank me and bid me good night, whereupon I gave her my card. They all then went to their section, but presently returned, having read my card, and asked if I was "Senator Car penter." I admitted it. Did I know Mr. Walter S. Carter? I admitted that also. Then they told me it was your little girl I had been holding. Yours, MATT. In several cases like this, as he afterwards learned, he fell in with some of the most distinguished families in the land, beginning friendships through a child which lasted to the end of life; but generally his kindness was toward some humble woman, traveling unattended with her burdens and her chil dren, thus making his attentions thrice grateful, though she could never learn who had befriended her. On the streets and moving about the city Carpenter was the same. If he overtook a child, he would reach down and clasp it by the hand, leading it as far as their journeys were common, and always gaining its confidence and friendship. He frequently in fact times without number led ragged little urchins to a neighboring store and purchased a hat to replace the tattered affair the youngster was wearing, or a new handkerchief, or new shoes and stockings, or any article that seemed to be most needed. Thus has he sent home hundreds of poor lads rejoicing and wondering who the big man was that had been so kind to them. In such manner nearly all the youngsters in Milwaukee came to know Car penter, and they agreed among themselves that when they should become men they would vote for him for President or whatever he desired to be. A gentleman who once went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with Carpenter, to try a case before the courts, relates an in- cident. They lodged at a hotel in which all were strangers to them. At about midnight a babe began to cry as though in 518 LIFE OF CARPENTER. great suffering. Carpenter arose from his bed instantly, and after listening a few moments to the cry of distress, and no ticing that it did not diminish, dressed himself and proceeded into the hall. Near by he found an open door and a tired nurse attempting to quiet a still more tired child, which was waiting for its mother to return from a social gathering. He took the babe in his arms, sent the maid below for food, and began walking back and forth in the hall, singing his old song. When the mother returned, which was within half an hour, he had fed the babe, which was hungry as well as weary, and soothed it to sleep. She thanked him very gra ciously for the novel kindness, and spent a large portion of the following day in discovering who he was. As to his own children (Lilian and Paul) he not only loved them with passionate tenderness, but was proud of them, and had great pleasure in their mental and physical ad vancement. During his numerous and lengthened absences from home, in the senate or before the courts, he never failed to write frequently to them, from their earliest childhood. The babes could not read, to be sure, but their mother could, and the letters were their own " to keep." At first Lilian and Paul transmitted to him some extraordinary epistles, consisting of very bewildering, harum-scarum dashes and scrawls which were supposed to mean, " Dear papa : I love you. Please come home." Next they could " print " a few words intelligibly, and finally were able to maintain cor respondence in due form. Carpenter gleefully answered all their missives, whether or not he could read them, and both children have sacredly stowed away hundreds of precious letters from their father, extending back to their babyhood days. One of them shall be inserted here for the purpose of showing a fac-simile of his every-day chirography. The " Doctor " referred to in the letter was a cat presented by and named after Dr. J. K. Bartlett, of Milwaukee. V /* /Jus cr A*7 4U LIFE OF CARPENTER. 521 MORAL COURAGE. One particular element of Carpenter's make-up was his bold frankness. He never skulked or retreated; never denied responsibility for anything rightfully belonging to him, no matter how odious it appeared to the people; never shirked an unpleasant duty; never hesitated to brave popular clamor if he thought his cause just. In America nothing arouses the enthusiasm of the realm more than an unflinch ing exhibition of moral courage; hence Carpenter's friends were always proud of him, his enemies always admired and feared him, though they might not indorse his sayings and doings. He fought openly; joining enemies when they were in the right and admonishing friends when he thought they were in the wrong. He was not a student or disciple of policy, but moved forward according to his knowledge and his understanding. This often led him into counter-currents / and out of his party lines, but it gave him a solid reputation // for independence of thought and honesty of conviction that ' could not be attacked. When an infectious malaria per vaded the public air, striking down whomsoever high and honorable it touched, Carpenter defied the scourge and ex- / \ plained to the world that the Credit Mobilier was nothing to // be feared, and was an imaginary monster that had in no man ner whatever been an injury or loss to the government. He fearlessly stepped out of his party ranks and insisted that both the contending governments in Louisiana in 1873 were tainted with fraud and a new election should be or dered by congress as the only fair means of settling the most vexed and dangerous state complication that had ever arisen in the Union. Although, in response to the general demand, he voted to repeal the back-pay law, he was the only man in the United States who had the moral courage to appear before an angry and impatient public in defense of his vote to increase the pay of congressmen and to 522 LIFE OF CARPENTER. establish the rectitude of his purpose and the justness of his premises. There are many not men of small calibre either who believed these acts were impolitic, absolute mistakes; but nobody denied him the rewards of unmixed moral courage. As to the speech in defense of his vote for increased pay, some thought and still think it was an unfortunate substitute for silence. Perhaps it was, for himself; but it put upon record many important truths and historical facts that the public never would have known had his fearlessness of per sonal consequences been as puny as that of his fellow-con gressmen. Nevertheless, Carpenter did make mistakes. His vote against the confirmation of General Longstreet, when nominated by Grant for a public office, made him ap pear sectional, and was, perhaps, unwise; but whether his defense of Belknap and his argument for Tilden were im politic is a matter with which the public has no concern. They were, like other errors charged against him by his party, mere professional matters, to be wholly controlled as he saw fit. OFFICIAL INTEGRITY. Whatever else Carpenter's enemies had the hardihood to charge against him, they never could point to any act blem ishing his public integrity. He passed through the eventful period succeeding the war, when enormous claims were trooping about Washington in seductive search of those who would exchange votes for pelf, without taint. The Stygian stream of corruption often crept noisome and noxious past his door, but found no secret entrance. A single in stance, related by a former law partner, will illustrate the entire subject: While sitting with him in his private office in Washington one morning before the senate convened, a gentleman walked in, and, handing his card to Carpenter, stated that he wished to retain him in a case then pending in the supreme court, and laying down a $5,ooo-check, payable to Carpenter's order, remarked that on the following Wednesday he would call and pay LIFE OF CARPENTER. 523 him another $5,00x3. He casually observed that two other eminent law yers, whom he named, would argue the case, and that Carpenter would not need to participate in the argument The last remark attracted Carpen ter's attention, and he requested the gentleman to take his $5,ooo-check with him ; and if he concluded to accept a retainer, the whole could be paid at the next call. The next week the gentleman returned with a check for $10,000. But in the meantime it had been ascertained that the prof fered client had a claim for $398,000 against the government then pending before the senate and referred to the judiciary committee of that body, and then referred to a sub-committee, of which Carpenter was chairman. The result was that the retainer was declined, with a sharp lecture upon the subject of retaining lawyers and paying them large fees for doing nothing. Subsequently the claim of this gentleman was investigated in committee, and Carpenter made a report against the bill, which was defeated in the senate. A POWERFUL MEMORY. Nature gave originally to Carpenter a memory of peculiar grasp and tenacity. This rare gift he cultivated as much as any other that distinguished him, and thus made it a prominent characteristic. He rarely committed his popular or other speeches to writing, but revolved the subjects upon which he proposed to speak in his mind, arranging them in an orderly manner according to force and importance. Thus prepared, he never stumbled, repeated or forgot, or reversed the order of the subjects. In reading he trained his memory in a simi lar manner. He made use of no scrap or note books, but, after perusing a theme, halted to digest the important points of it and ruminate upon facts and expressions. Sometimes, in fact, entire passages, pages or poems were committed to memory verbatim before going further, and thus he not only strengthened his mind but crowded its store-house with the rarest gems of literature and the most important facts and events of history. His mind in this respect resembled the ocean, toward which all streams, great and small, are ever flowing. The marvelous power of his memory to grasp, like an octopus, whatever it would, was amply illustrated, when, in 1866, the notable speech upon reconstruction and Negro ^ 24 LIFE OF CARPENTER. /suffrage made at the Janesville banquet to General Wm. T. C Sherman, not being written, was, upon request, recalled three ! days later for publication, perfect in sentiment, fact, argument ) and form. But it was more astonishingly illustrated at New Orleans in 1873, when a speech of great eloquence and power upon the Louisiana election imbroglio, which occupied over two hours in delivery, was, after his ardor had cooled and the in spiriting circumstances of the occasion had entirely passed away, recalled ] for a phonographic reporter without the loss of a premise, conclusion or illustration. The power to memorize reached back to Carpenter's early childhood. He could commit weekly entire chapters of the Bible to be repeated in Sunday school, and learn declamations without apparent effort. His greatest exploit in this direc tion referred to fully in the account of his childhood was committing to memory in two weeks Webster's reply to Hayne, keeping up the regular studies of his classes at the same time. In debates Carpenter could recall all the points he desired to controvert, and during his entire congressional career never misquoted his opponents, no matter how many days had elapsed between their utterances and his replies. In the law his memory served him with equal fullness and accuracy. He could at any time, without reference to books, l\Vm. P. Kellogg has thus decribed the circumstances :"The leading news- ^ papers had arranged to lay before their readers a verbatim report of the ora tion, and the audience, as well as hundreds who had been unable to obtain admission, looked eageily for a report of the address. It did not appear. From a partisan stand-point it was not what was expected or desired. The wish of the people to read what he had said was communicated to Carpenter, and a stenographer was placed at his disposal. He consented to attempt to reproduce the address. Rapidly pacing the floor of his room, pausing every now and then to collect his thoughts and recall the surrounding incidents of the occasion, he dictated the speech, interruptions included, and it was published. Afterward the short-hand notes of his address as actually de livered were procured, and it was found that the two speeches, uttered three days apart, without the aid of note or memorandum, varied scarcely the turn of a sentence or the substitution of a word." LIFE OF CARPENTER. 525 make a resume of the great decisions of Justices Marshall, Shaw and Parsons and of the late noted members of the United States supreme court. Many lawyers have a habit of quoting from memory that is, without referring to the actual text and reading from it the decisions of eminent judges in such a manner that they will sustain whichever side of the case they may be ad vocating, let the perversion and contortion necessary to do so be never so violent. This could not be done in any cause upon which Carpenter was engaged, as he would at once detect the falsehood, and turning to the opinion pretended to be quoted, read it as it was, thus convicting his opponent of the grossest of those numerous dishonorable tricks resorted to by mere case-lawyers. The value of this faculty was manifest at a very early pe riod of his professional career. In 1849, during his partial blindness, he was, with the aid of E. P. King, trying a case at Beloit, in which John M. Keep, subsequently circuit judge, was the opposing counsel. As the trial progressed Keep read to the court an authority which both astounded Car penter and destroyed his case. Utterly dumbfounded at such a doctrine, and knowing he had never seen it in the books, he asked the justice for the usual adjournment, which was granted. Going with King direct to the office, he began a search for the revolutionary doctrines given to the court by Keep, and in course of time discovered they had been read, not from that opinion of the court which carried judgment, but from the dissenting opinion of an eccentric judge. The controlling opinion sustained Carpenter's views. Therefore, when he went into court to complete the trial, the deception Keep had attempted to practice on him, his client and the justice, was exposed, and Keep himself received a wordy castigation from the blind but triumphant attorney, as well as the emphatic sibilations of the spectators. Carpenter won the case. 2 26 LIFE OF CARPENTER. Thus his power of memory served him in law, in equity, in debate, in public speaking, at the banquet, and in all so cial gatherings succored justice and enriched pleasures. A WONDERFUL VOICE. The English language furnishes no words with which to describe a beautiful sound. No pen, therefore, can fully set forth the charms of Carpenter's marvelous voice. Its range seemed to be even greater than that of his genius, and how ever he used it whether in exhortation, sledge-hammer argument, pleading, paying a tender tribute to the dead, or soothing a sorrowing child there was no decrement of its singular dramatic power and sure effect. He possessed a soul of perpetual bondtssement and good humor, and his voice was like it always cheery, musical and winning. It was a welcome sound in every ear, and made life-long friends of some who never spoke to him until near the close of his career, and first then to confess they had been attracted by the music of his voice. It was said that Bishop Whitefield could compel his hear ers to weep or laugh by the opposing intonations of his voice in uttering the word " Mesopotamia." Carpenter never at tempted to confine his influence over an audience to the , capabilities of his voice in uttering a single word; but his power over all, from the crying babe in its cradle to the aged listener to his strongest oratory, was not less remark able than that of Bishop Whitefield. When he first entered the senate his face and form were not familiar to the galleries. On a certain occasion, the chamber had been packed by the announcement that a dis tinguished senator would speak. When he had done, Car penter rose. The great crowd did not know him, and commenced to pour out through the various entrances. He raised his voice, and swept the retreating throng with one or two of those beautiful gems with which he could always open a speech. The human stream halted, a moment was LIFE OF CARPENTER. 527 given to listening, and a minute later all had returned to their seats, and the galleries became still and attentive. It was then that Schuyler Colfax, the Vice-President, said: " No mortal ever heard that wonderful voice and did not , stop to listen." 3 The charm which Carpenter's intonations possessed for ) children was, as we have seen, remarkable. He was never trained to sing, and probably never learned the words of a song; nevertheless, when a child could not be soothed by mother, nurse, or other person, he could take it, and, .walk ing back and forth, sing a low song of his own composition, and never fail to bring rest and quiet. In public speaking his voice was peculiarly attractive and musical in its natural, unrestrained flow. The late John W. Forney said it was " a sweet combination of the notes of the flute and the nightingale," and Morton McMichael wrote: "His voice was one of singular grandeur; gentle as the strain of an ^Eolian harp in pathetic pleading, ringing clear as a fire-bell in persuasive argument, or rolling in thunder tones in well-rounded periods of rhetoric when addressing the masses or in the arena of hot-tempered debate." Carpenter's laugh was more completely beyond descrip tion than his voice in speaking. It was like the sunlight and the showers that freshen and gladden everything in nature without effort. It was clear, ringing, merry, magnetic and contagious. One of his partners, A. A. L. Smith, declared there was "nothing in the world like it doors and walls could not confine it nor deprive it of the power to compel others to laugh with him." In 1859 a vivacious writer made a pen-picture of noted Milwaukee characters. It contains a description of Carpenter's laugh that is worth preserving: Stop, there comes some one up the path a large man, with two books under his arm ; his hat jauntily on the side of his head ; his coat buttoned across his broad chest; his step elastic, with just the least bit of a swagger, in it; his face decidedly good-looking, if not handsome; long, brown hair, inclined to be literary in its direction, but a little neglige in its man agement Do I know him? Don't you? There, the "fourth edition" 5 28 LIFE OF CARPENTER. has fallen asleep and rolled off the steps into the mud, and our legal friend, as he sees it, bursts into a laugh of the most peculiar and unmistakable character. It is the quintessence of cachinnation. I know not whether it sounds most like a baby's prattle or the pouring of champagne into a deep wine-glass, but I never heard another laugh like it Now you know who it is Matt. H. Carpenter, of course. This good cheer of the voice was lost only in death, Carpenter's last words to his wife, shortly before passing to his final account, being uttered in the same cheery tones that through all his life had been the very stimulant of love and the soul. PECULIARITIES OF ORATORY. It is little enough to say that Carpenter was one of the most popular orators of his time. He was not so ponderous as Webster, not so classic as Everett, not so volatile and flowery as Sargeant Smith Prentiss, not so fiery as Henry Clay or E. D. Baker, yet he possessed such a degree of all these attributes, together with charms of voice and grace of manner purely his own, as to make friends of every audi ence and carry his hearers whither he would. He did not render his utterances soggy by quotations from foreign tongues or by labored injection of words of remote, specific and uncommon meaning. Simplicity of language and lucidity of statement brought himself and his hearers into close and easy communion, and carried them through to the end delighted and refreshed. When a young and ambi tious lawyer of Fond du Lac wrote him, asking how to become an orator, the reply was, " study only to be clear." Jeremiah S. Black, one of the kings of the forum, described Carpenter's oratory: He was gifted with an eloquence sui generis. It consisted of free and fearless thought wreaked upon expression powerful and perfect. He often warmed with feeling, but no bursts of passion deformed the symmetry of his argument. The flow of his speech was steady and strong as the cur rent of a great river. Every sentence was perfect; every word was fitly spoken ; each apple of gold was set in its picture of silver. This singular faculty of saying everything just as it ought to be said was not displayed LIFE OF CARPENTER. 529 only in the senate and in the courts; everywhere, in public and private, on his legs, in his chair, and even lying on his bed, he always " talked like a book." Carpenter himself has left a description of oratory: There are two classes, into one or other of which all great speeches fall. There is the analytical method, by which the whole is first resolved into its parts or elements, and the fragments are separately shown to the audience, and then put back into the construction of the whole, or the speaker's theory of the whole, one by one, as a mason lays brick upon brick in a wall. This is an appeal to pure reason and approaches a mathe- matical demonstration. It challenges examination of every element of a theory it hands each brick over to be examined by the audience. When each has been weighed, tested, measured, fully known, then the construc tion of the theory- wall commences ; and having thus examined the mate rial and witnessed the construction, the result stands forth, not a matter of belief, but of knowledge. No man can satisfy you that the brick wall, which you have thus followed in ity construction from materials and ele ments to the final result, is anything else than just what you have seen it and know it to be, unless he can first satisfy you that you are either crazy or a fool. The other, the rhetorical method, is exactly the reverse. The details ot a subject, the elements and processes of a theory, are all concealed, and the speaker seeks to fascinate and mesmerize a congregation, lull their reason, arouse their feelings and emotions, and rush them pell-mell to the desired conclusion. Such a trip is sometimes very agreeable to the hearer. He listens, or thinks he does rises and falls in cadence with the orator, is borne along in a gaudy chariot, carried by the power of impassioned elo quence over all doubts, laughs at all difficulties, and when he is set down at a definite point, wonders first how he got there, and second, whether he is standing on clouds or the firm fixed earth. Both these methods have the same end in view ; both aim to win assent to some proposition or theory. One satisfies, proves and convinces; the other amuses, cajoles and persuades. The former method was Carpenter's, and he describes it in the performances of his dear friend, Father Richmond: The first ten minutes of a sermon were occupied with short sentences ; the foundations of his arguments were slowly and carefully laid, and the structure of his theory arose upon it as regularly, and stood as firmly and was as plainly seen, as a marble palace upon its foundations. The beauties of his sermons were beauties of proportion, symmetry, adaptation, not artificial ornaments and figures of speech. So that by the time he began 34 LIFE OF CARPENTER. to grow excited, when his eye began to blaze and his cheek to grow pale, when he began to roll the thunders and dart the lightnings of his genius, you had been prepared for it ; he had raised you up, had made you ashamed of the littleness of this world, and, for the hour at least, had stilled it& ambition, its jealousy, its animosities ; he had magnetized and inspired you ;. and speaker and hearers seemed to rise together into a clearer air and a higher life. Thomas F. Bayard says the " easy flow, the careless grace and persuasiveness of Carpenter's methods and manner of reasoning, his felicity of diction and pleasant elocution, all combined to win assent, and render disagreement from his propositions a difficult task." With a popular audience, how ever, his earnestness for he believed what he said, or said what he believed had an effect not less than that of any other attribute of his oratory. His general appearance, too, contributed materially to his success on the rostrum. Instead of assuming a frigid dignity and a lofty bearing which some have mistaken for greatness, he came among the people like sunshine after a shower smiling, pleasant, frank and friendly diffusing good nature wherever he went. In sultry weather on the stump, he frequently dis carded his coat, entering upon the task as a farmer begins the harvest or fallow, free from cumbrous restraints. And there was a charm in his very manner of doing these things. He could, it has been aptly said, " take off his coat like a king." There never was a Wisconsin man who could stir en thusiasm, call out audiences and leave behind such lasting ; effects as Carpenter. In congress he was called the most P. perfect orator of the senate, and before the United States , L I I supreme court was noted for the mellifluous beauty of his trv j I delivery. As a debater he was equal to every emergency, ready for any attack and able to parry almost any thrust. Nothing seemed to excite his anger and he never resented the anger of others. In fact, as attack grew more vehement, furious % ^ an d spiteful, he became more good-humored and smiling. r::'\ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 53! Thus, with but the slightest forensic effort, he frequently came off victorious from the placid evenness of his temper alone. Anger he knew to be a dangerous and self-destruc tive weapon in oratorical combats. In this respect Moore's scintillating tribute to Richard Brinsley Sheridan maybe ap plied to Carpenter: " Whose humor as gay as the fire-fly's light, Played round ev'ry subject, and shone as it played; Whose wit, in the combat, as gentle as bright, Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade." He ever could utter, upon occasion, many beautiful and touching sentiments. They gathered as much from his voice and pathos as from any form of construction ; so their loveliness and tenderness can not be reproduced in mere words. No one who has not sat beneath the influence of " *\ his eagle spirit and flute-like voice can appreciate his orator- j l ^ ical powers. " Nature planted in his soul the genius of elo quence," says Andrew J. Aikens, " and each listener is charmed with the music of his words as with a bubbling /V fountain amid the verdant hills of his native state." Carpenter's eloquence could be impassioned as well as beautiful, as all know who passed through the trying and turbulent hours of the Rebellion. As the muezzin's thrilling // cry called the faithful to prayer, so the clarion notes of his patriotism, like a voice from Sinai, rallied the people to for freedom and an undishonored Union. How, fired by his pleas, the fields, the shops, the factories and the schools poured out their hosts to crowd and strengthen the broken ranks of freedom ! How the patriot citizens gathered at the polls to sustain a bleeding but glorious government ! But he could be soft, soft as the touch of childhood, tender as the voice of love. * And when he spoke Sweet words like dropping honey he did shed ; And 'twixt the pearls and rubies softly broke A silvery sound that heavenly music Seems to make." LIFE OF CARPENTER. CHAPTER XLVL PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. Few men possessed a more graceful figure than Carpenter, or one so certain to arrest the attention and command the ad miration of every observer. As a child he was distinguished for extraordinary beauty. His skin was as fair as that of a girl, his hair soft and wavy, his cheeks and lips a rosy red, and his eyes, of a deep, clear, liquid blue, were large and ex pressive. It was common to hear people exclaim that Merritt Carpenter was the most beautiful boy they had ever seen. When he arrived at Beloit, at the age of twenty-four, there was no more winning or attractive young man in the state of Wisconsin. His figure was tall, straight, well-proportioned and supple, surmounted by a large, shapely head that seemed invested with a nobleness not easy to describe yet always certain to be noticed and admired. Above all was a magnifi cent crown oi thick, slightly wavy brown hair, which, though quite unmanageable on account of a large *' cow-lick," was nevertheless a decidedly marked and attractive feature of his tout-ensemble. He always wore his hair rather long, which became, as he grew older, a more perfect adornment of his massive head and heavy stature, and gave to him that half-noble, half-dis tinguished and withal picturesque appearance so pleasing to those who saw him in public debate or on the rostrum. As it began to grow gray its effect was still more striking, lending that leonine aspect which moved Geo. W. Peck, the humor ous editor, to denominate him the " Young Lion of the West." Charles G. Williams, in his memorial address, said : " He did indeed, sir, walk with the port and majesty of a king." On the same occasion Geo. C. Hazelton said: He was a most attractive man in his physical development. Nature rarely fashions into manhood a form so perfect and a presence so command- LIFE OF CARPENTER. 533 ing. It was my good fortune in boyhood days to look upon Mr. Webster and hear him address a popular audience in New England. His great utter ances still echo in my ears, and his Godlike mien, in all its varied powers, still remains a bright picture on the walls of my memory. No man ever saw and heard Carpenter under like circumstances that did not retain the impression of his great presence for a life-time. I bear him in remem brance as he appeared in the majesty and beauty of his manhood's strength, when his shoulders seemed broad and strong enough to bear the weight of nations, and " his look drew audience still as night or summer's noontide air." I bear him in remembrance as he came in the days of war from the forum of justice to the tribunes of the people " To speak the word Which wins the freedom of a land, And lift for human rights the sword That dropped from Hampden's dying hand." When Reverdy Johnson first saw Carpenter enter the chamber of the United States supreme court at Washington, with that peculiar stride, slightly tinged with military sharp ness, yet overflowing with independence and self-conscious strength, he exclaimed: "There comes one of Nature's noblemen a very lord ; you can feel the power of his pres ence in the air." In the senate of the United States, his physical appearance attracted the attention of the galleries as soon as that of any other senator, Roscoe Conkling and Charles Sumner not ex- cepted, and his prominent figure brought to the lips of every stranger the involuntary inquiry, "Who is that gentleman?" He brought from West Point a semi-military air which a military man would not fail to recognize at once, but which he assumed naturally and unconsciously. It consisted in the measured regularity of his step and the half-dashing, non chalant manner in which he wore his hat and coat, the latter always fastened tightly across his broad chest, whenever he appeared in public or upon the streets. His face, so rosy and fair in youth, grew broader and heavier, and stronger in its betrayal of mental characteristics, as manhood advanced. In complete repose it was not par ticularly striking, except for its evidences of latent power; but 534 LIFE OF CARPENTER. when lighted up by the play of all those passions and forces which constituted his prowess as an orator, it became a face whose unusual beauty, nobleness and clear reflections of gen ius can neither be delineated nor forgotten. It was adorned with no beard except' a moustache, which had a graceful droop, like that of an artist, save when trained, as it fre quently was in later years, to stand out conspicuously mili- tairement. There was a certain neglige about his dress and make-up that indicated greatness, pictured a man above the technical- d**-^ ities and frivolities of a fop. This, together with his lordly comportement, his large head, his robust physique, and the military air of his coat, gave him a distinguished appearance, in every sense of the word, that was matched by hardly one f his contemporaries at the bar, in the senate, or on the rostrum. Sometimes, in his most playful moods, when there seemed actually to be no limit to his mirth and wit, when he turned popular audiences into tempests of laughter, warmed the august solemnity of the supreme court into the smiles of comfortable good humor, or in the senate played like a very necromancien upon the foibles, deflections and inconsistencies of his opponents, carrying destruction and disaster in the brilliant stream of his rancorless vivacity, he would stand mo tionless upon the floor, with both hands easily thrust into his pantaloons pockets. There was no other man in the United States senate who could assume that attitude without ap- ^ ~~- pearing provincial. With Carpenter, however, it seemed to add a rich flavor of fun and waggery to his humor,