LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIf-ORNIA 
 
 SANTA CRUZ 
 
 SANTA CRUZ 
 
 Gift of 
 MARION R. WALKER 
 
 in memory of his grandfather 
 THE HON. MARION CANNON 
 M.C. 1892-94 * 
 
 SANTA CRUZ 
 
' 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 FRANCIS B. SPINOLA, 
 
 A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK, 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 
 
 FIFTY-SECOND CONORESS. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 1893 
 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That there 
 be printed of the eulogies delivered in Congress upon the Hon. Francis 
 B. Spinola, late a Representative from the State of New York, 8,000 
 copies, "which shall include 50 copies to be bound in full morocco, to be 
 delivered to the family of the deceased, "and of those remaining, 2,600 
 copies shall be for the use of the Senate and 5,350 copies for the use of the 
 House of Representatives ; and the Secretary of the Treasury is directed 
 to have engraved and printed a portrait of the said Francis B. Spinola to 
 accompany said eulogies. 
 
 Agreed to in the House of Representatives July 29, 1892. 
 
 Agreed to in the Senate December 15, 1892. 
 2 
 
 
E 
 
 66V 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH. 
 
 JANUARY 27, 1892. 
 
 Mr. COCKRAN, of New York. Mr. Speaker, it is with sincere 
 sorrow that I announce the death of Hon. FRANCIS B. SPI- 
 NOLA, a Eepresentative from New York in the Fiftieth and 
 Fifty-first Congresses and also a Representative-elect from that 
 State, and my immediate predecessor. Later in the session I 
 shall ask the House to take appropriate action in regard to his 
 death. 
 
 I ask the adoption of the resolutions which I send to the 
 desk. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the House has heard with deep regret and profound sorrow 
 of the death of Hon. FRANCIS B. SPINOLA, late a Representative from the 
 State of New York. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk be directed to communicate a copy of these 
 resolutions to the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the House do now adjourn. 
 
 The question being taken, the resolutions submitted by Mr. 
 Cockran were unanimously adopted; and in accordance there- 
 with (at 4 o'clock and 25 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned. 
 
 3 
 
Address of Mr, Cockran, of New York, on the 
 
 EULOGIES 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. COCKRAN, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 MARCH 26, 1892. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER : 1 rise to move the adoption of a resolution 
 expressing the feeling of profound sorrow with which this 
 House has learned of the death of FRANCIS B. SPINOLA, late 
 a member from New York. 
 
 The span of Gen. SPINOLA'S life, lasting as it did, some 
 seventy years, covered a period of the deepest interest in the 
 history of the world. Born during that period of torpor into 
 which the world seemed to have sank at the conclusion of the 
 Napoleonic wars, he reached man's estate about the time 
 when the great inventions of the railway and telegraph began 
 to multiply the activities of the human race and to broaden 
 the boundaries of civilization. 
 
 He was always deeply interested in the development of our 
 national institutions. At an early period of his career he 
 took an active part in the political contests of his State. He 
 was several times chosen by the people of his neighborhood 
 an alderman of the city of Brooklyn, and subsequently he 
 became a member of the senate of the State of New York. 
 
 When the country became plunged in the throes of civil 
 war and the life of the nation was staked on an issue of arms 
 he drew his sword in defense of the Federal Union. 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 5 
 
 When peace was restored he again became active in the 
 public life of his State. He was several times elected to the 
 State legislature from the city of New York, where he had 
 fixed his residence after his retirement from the. army, and in 
 1886 he was chosen a Representative in Congress and con- 
 tinued to serve as a member of the House to the end of his life. 
 
 During his long career he was always a vigorous fighter, 
 but neither friend nor foe ever questioned his loyalty. He had 
 many political opponents ; he had no personal enemies. 
 
 With the doctrine of secession he would tolerate neither dis- 
 cussion nor compromise, but he regarded the civil war as 
 ended when the last Confederate soldier had surrendered his 
 arms. As his political opponents were his personal friends in 
 private life, so the men whom he faced on the field of battle 
 he regarded as his fellow-citizens and brothers after the resto- 
 ration of peace. 
 
 Firm in his friendships, generous to his opponents, loyal to 
 his party, faithful to the Union, diligent in the discharge of 
 his public duties, his long career in the service of his country 
 is fittingly crowned by the unanimity with which his memory 
 is honored this afternoon by the Representatives of the Nation. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. CURTIS, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: In rising to support the resolutions of my 
 friend from the Tenth district of New York [Mr. Cockran], in 
 which he pays a deserved tribute to his predecessor in this 
 House, Gen. SPINOLA, I shall confine myself to a general state- 
 ment of his public services, making particular mention of two 
 or three notable incidents in his career while in the civil service 
 of his State and as an officer in the army battling for the pres- 
 ervation of the Federal Union. To others I leave the conge- 
 
6 Address of Mr. Curtis, of New York, on the 
 
 nial duty of commenting on the qualities he displayed and the 
 services he performed while a member of this House. 
 
 FRANCIS B. SPINOLA was born in the county of Suffolk, 
 State of New York, on the 19th day of March, 1821. His 
 ancestry was of different races. His father was an Italian, 
 and I have been told that he could have rightfully been a 
 member of the societies of St. Patrick, St. Andrew, St. George, 
 and St. Nicholas. Whether or not this be true, his mother 
 was the daughter of an officer who served through the revo- 
 lutionary war, and she gave to her son the wit, the sturdiness, 
 the persistency, the loyalty, and the versatility of tempera- 
 ment characteristic of all these races. He received an academic 
 education and entered upon business pursuits before attaining 
 his majority. At 22 years of age he was elected an alderman 
 and served five years in the common council of the city of 
 Brooklyn; later he was elected to the board of supervisors of 
 King's County, serving three years. 
 
 In 1853 he was elected to the New York assembly, continu- 
 ing four terms, serving on important committees. In 1857 he 
 was elected to the State senate; was reflected and served four 
 years. He was a member of the Democratic national conven- 
 tion which met in Charleston, S. C., and later in Baltimore, 
 Md., in 1860. He was an earnest supporter of Douglas and 
 contributed much by his persistent efforts and skillful man- 
 agement in securing his nomination to the Presidency. Gen. 
 SPINOLA was the last survivor of the New York delegation to 
 that convention. He joined, with many other members of his 
 party in New York, irrespective of differences which had 
 existed among them in the convention, in urging a union ticket 
 to consist of representatives of each of the three candidates 
 opposed to Lincoln. 
 
 The success of the Eepublican candidate was grievously 
 disappointing to him, and he indicated in his positive and 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 7 
 
 uncompromising way liis thorough dissatisfaction. He neg- 
 lected no opportunity to declare his hostility to the incoming 
 administration and his unyielding opposition to any and all 
 political measures it might propose. 
 
 When the flag was struck at Suinter and the President 
 issued his proclamation of April 15, 1861, calling for 75,000 
 men to uphold the Constitution, maintain the laws, and 
 preserve the Federal Union, the legislature of New York was 
 about completing its labors for final adjournment. Governor 
 Morgan sent a message to the legislature advising the imme- 
 diate enactment of measures to enable the State of New 
 York to. fill her quota under this call. 
 
 The bill for enrolling volunteers was introduced into the 
 assembly, briefly discussed, and passed by an overwhelming 
 majority the same afternoon. Great interest was felt in the 
 action of the senate, which met in evening session, to consider 
 the military bill. Soon after the bill had been reported from 
 the committee having it in charge Senator FRANCIS B. SPINOLA 
 took the floor; expectation ran high. It was not only what 
 should be the response of New York to the President's requi- 
 sition for more than one-sixth of the men called for, but the 
 character of that response as indicated by this first act of the 
 legislature, which would express the sentiment of the people 
 of the Empire State respecting a vigorous prosecution of the 
 war for the Union. 
 
 Senator SPINOLA was a strong man, a leader and organizer 
 in his party, known to be stubbornly opposed to the Federal 
 Administration. His refusal to support this measure would 
 indicate opposition to a vigorous prosecution of the war or a 
 divided sentiment among the masses of the great cities, whose 
 voices at that time had not been heard. He could speak for 
 them perhaps better than any man who occupied a seat on that 
 floor. He commenced by denouncing the Eepublicau party for 
 
8 Address of Mr. Curtis, of New York, on the 
 
 its errors, and to praise his own for its prudence, wisdom, and 
 devotion to the welfare of the country, and said : 
 
 War in any shape is a calamity, but more so when it assumes the shape of 
 arraying brother against brother; but this is not the time for bandying 
 words. War is upon us. The American flag for the first time has been torn 
 down, and it remains for us to say whether it shall be allowed to trail or 
 again wave in triumph. The Republicans by failing to agree upon a fair 
 compromise, have brought this war upon us ; but now that it is here, the 
 Democrats are ready to fight the battles and fight as long as necessary. I 
 believe that unless the request that has come from Washington is promptly 
 responded to the President and his Cabinet will not occupy their positions 
 in Washington on the Fourth of July. From this time onward you will not 
 hear me say anything about party, but hereafter it will be my country. 
 
 And taking the Stars and Stripes from his desk, waved it in 
 the senate chamber, declaring: 
 
 This is my flag, which I will follow and defend. 
 
 The merchants, the bankers, the professional men in the great 
 cities, and the masses of the people throughout the State had 
 come forward and declared their determination to support the 
 administration in its efforts to preserve the Federal Union. 
 These words of Senator SPINOLA, more than the utterances of 
 any other man in the senate, gave assurance that the masses 
 in the great cities were devoted to the Union and ready to 
 enlist for its defense. With a wisdom and foresight possessed 
 by few he urged the raising of large levies and the making 
 of prompt, vigorous preparations for active hostilities. The 
 legislature adjourned the following day, and he returned to 
 Brooklyn and gave his influence and exertions to the raising 
 of troops for the Union Army. 
 
 Later he was appointed a brigadier- general of volunteers by 
 the President " for meritorious conduct in recruiting and organ- 
 izing a brigade of four regiments and accompanying them to 
 the field," an appointment unlike any other made during the 
 war. In 1861 it was not uncommon for men to be appointed 
 to high positions in the Army because of political consid- 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 9 
 
 eration or sectional interests. The effect of many of these 
 appointments on the success of military operations was scarcely 
 less disastrous tha the effort would be futile of teaching 
 mathematics by introducing geometry as the first text-book 
 instead of numbers and the four ground rules of arithmetic. 
 
 Yet, in the case of Gen. SPINOLA, he entered upon the duties 
 of a position, to the proper and efficient discharge of which 
 preliminary training and experience had been regarded as 
 absolutely necessary to success, with such natural aptitude 
 for acquiring the science and skill of military art, that he was 
 able to draw from his associates and superiors such high com- 
 mendation as the following extracts from the official reports 
 of the operations of the Third Army Corps on the 23d of July, 
 1863, will show. Gen. Henry Prince, commanding the Second 
 Division of the Third Army Corps, reports : 
 
 At this juncture I received permission from corps headquarters to employ 
 my division where I saw best. I then directed Brig. Gen. SPINOLA to 
 march his brigade (The Excelsior) by the flank along the hollow, then in 
 our view, winding to the front and center of the high ridge on which we 
 stood, keeping on the lowest ground within it, and, on debouching from 
 it by the left flank, to advance in line by his proper front up the hill he 
 would find himself at the base of, and take it. This hill was the key of 
 the ground occupied by the enemy's skirmishers. 
 
 The line of the Second Brigade (The Excelsior) made its appearance at 
 the base of the hill between 5 and 6 p. m., and began to ascend before its 
 right was clear of the hollow or ravine, which did not give it so fair a 
 start as might otherwise have been ; but nothing can transcend the gal- 
 lantry with which it rose to the crest and drove the enemy from it. In the 
 moment of this success a second crest of the same hill, 200 yards beyond 
 the first and confounded with it until this time, came into view, behind 
 which the enemy rose from his prone posture as thick as men can stand, 
 opening a furious fire of musketry. At the same time a six-gun battery, 
 still further beyond, opened with shell. 
 
 The severest part of the charge of the Excelsior Brigade was before it 
 after taking the first crest, but without hesitation, with the determination 
 of the Union soldier, and the fury of the hurricane, it took the second 
 crest and exposed the enemy (scampering away from it) to fire while 
 descending the one side of a deep, cleared hollow and climbing up the 
 other. 
 
 The simple narrative of this infantry exploit, unaided by any other arm 
 
10 Address of Mr. Curtis, of New York, on the 
 
 of the service, is the most just commendation that can be made of those 
 who performed it. It is impossible to mention their names. Brig. Gen. 
 F. B. SPINOLA, United States Volunteers, while leading his brigade 
 towards the second of the crests taken by it, fell, wounded in two places, 
 severely, but not seriously. 
 
 Gen. J. H. Hobart Ward, commanding First Division, Third 
 Army Corps, reports: 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division, formed his 
 troops in a ravine in front of the enemy's position, and charging them in 
 magnificent style, drove them from the field in confusion, the major-general, 
 commanding the corps, witnessing the whole operation. In this charge 
 Gen. SPINOLA was twice wounded. 
 
 Maj. Gen. William H. French, commanding the Third Army 
 Corps, reports: 
 
 The Excelsior Brigade was selected to carry out my orders, and moved 
 rapidly to execute them. Descending the precipitous slopes of Wapping 
 Heights, they were directed upon the valley which separated the series of 
 knolls in our front, behind the principal of which the enemy, perceiving 
 the object of the movement, concentrated. The brigade was at once 
 deployed at the base of the knoll, and advanced upon the enemy. Halt- 
 ing for a moment upon the crest of the hill, the line rushed upon the enemy 
 with the bayonet, giving cheer after cheer and driving him back in con- 
 fusion out of the gap. Nothing could be more brilliant than the conduct 
 of the officers and men in this affair, evincing fighting qualities of the 
 highest order. Brig. Gen. SPINOLA, who led and commanded the brigade, 
 was twice wounded. 
 
 This man of civil pursuits, without military education or 
 experience in the field, at 42 years of age, entered upon 
 the duties pertaining to high military rank, and so acquitted 
 himself in active hostilities as to win the commendation of 
 educated and experienced soldiers, thereby furnishing strong 
 evidence that he had that genius for command which is not 
 the province of schools to create, nor experience to establish, 
 when the natural elements are wholly wanting. Gen. SPINOLA 
 through life was in touch with all the elements of our demo- 
 cratic society. At all times a partisan in discussing questions 
 of public concern, he, in the hour of supreme national peril, 
 rose to the highest plane of patriotism and performed the 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 11 
 
 duties allotted to him with unselfish devotion. When the 
 calm succeeded the storm he again took his place at the head 
 of his partisan column and contended for the adoption of his 
 political principles in the conduct of public affairs. 
 
 Self-educated, self-established in business pursuits, he entered 
 the profession of the law, not with a view of practicing at the 
 bar, but as the means of attaining greater efficiency in the 
 performance of duties pertaining to public life. He filled the 
 positions of alderman, supervisor, assemblyman, State senator, 
 harbor-master, brigadier-general of volunteers, twice again in 
 the New York assembly, and three times elected to Congress, 
 covering most of the time from his majority to the day of his 
 death. All but two of these brigadier- general of volunteers 
 and harbor-master he attained by the suffrages of his neigh- 
 bors, a proof of his popularity and ability. He had a striking 
 individuality, which could be neither imitated nor disguised. 
 He never lagged in the support of friends or principles, nor 
 wearied in his contests with those from whom he differed. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. CUMMINGS, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: The old warrior was just threescore and ten. 
 After living the time allotted to man he gave up the ghost. 
 His stubborn spirit at last yielded to the inevitable. He died 
 as he had lived, front to the foe. He faced death at the final 
 hour as he had faced it on the field of battle undaunted and 
 without fear. His career had been long and conspicuous. He 
 was familiar with the highways and boulevards of life. Its 
 byways were not unknown to him, and he had trodden its most 
 sinuous paths. Yet he had carried high his crest. His facul- 
 ties were alert and resolute. 
 
 Asking no favors, he was always in battle array. Ambus- 
 
12 Address of Mr. Cummings, of New York, on the 
 
 cades could not unnerve him. Indeed, surprise was almost 
 unknown to him. The inevitable alone could overpower him. 
 He was ever on the attack. His defense was aggression. He 
 invariably met an assault with an assault. 
 
 There was very little of the cavalier about him. He was a 
 Roundhead Moss-trooper, ever on the foray. A rough rider, 
 he was unyielding in discussion and merciless in retort. Ada- 
 mantine in spirit, he was soldered into his opinions. It required 
 more than logic to loosen him. He could be melted only by 
 working the blowpipe of human sympathy. For, although posi- 
 tive in character and action, he was not misanthropic. There 
 was a quaint phosphoric light in his intellectuality. It had 
 the play if not the scope of an aurora. It enlivened his social 
 relations and endeared him to his friends. 
 
 New acquaintances were warmed by the glow of his genial- 
 ity. There was fire in his eyes, life in his gestures, and 
 earnestness in his speech. His face indexed his character. 
 Determination had done its work upon his features. It was 
 the face of a warrior; yet the expression was tempered with 
 good humor. The floor of the House seemed native to him. 
 Long experience elsewhere had made him familiar with the 
 paths of legislation. No trapper ever paced a mountain trail 
 more confidently. Never did he falter for a word. A quick 
 thinker when on his feet, his tongue kept pace with his brain. 
 
 Woe to those who interrupted him, for he handled the 
 rapier and the claymore with equal facility. Once, and only 
 once, standing in the shadow of the mace of the sergeant-at- 
 arms, did he yield to the overbearing disposition of the 
 Speaker. It was in the last hours of the Fifty-first Congress. 
 Furious at his headlong assault, the Speaker mounted the 
 steps, brushed aside the temporary occupant of the chair, 
 brought down the gavel, and peremptorily ordered his ruth- 
 less assailant to take his seat. Sullenly and with a look of 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 13 
 
 defiance lie obeyed. The assault had been made because the 
 old warrior had been refused recognition to call up a bill pro- 
 viding for the erection of a monument over the bones of the 
 martyrs of the British prison ships. There was Eevolutiouary 
 blood in the old man's veins. In early life he had seen the 
 wrecked timbers of one of these floating hells, and had heard 
 details of the cruelties from the lips of the soldiers of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Patriotic to the core, Gen. SPINOLA was a true Democrat. He 
 stood upon the Constitution, and upheld the rights of the 
 States. An ardent advocate of home rule, he was the impla- 
 cable foe of centralization. He was devoted to the interests of 
 the many rather than to the interest of the few, but he never 
 allowed the interests of the many to trespass upon the rights 
 of the few. He championed the rights of labor, and resisted 
 the encroachments of monopolies. Never robbing others of 
 their rights, he was jealous of his own privileges and preroga- 
 tives. He was of the people and for the people. He asked 
 no more for his constituents than he was willing to give to 
 others. He was as broad as his country. While deprecating 
 extravagance in public expenditures, he advocated liberal 
 appropriations for the development of its resources and for 
 internal improvements. He did not believe in tying the 
 arteries of trade with a protective tariff. He believed that 
 commerce was the life of all nations, and that it took charge 
 of the interests, the movements, and the intercourse of all 
 mankind. Its restriction drained the lifeblood of the great 
 city which he in part represented. It impoverished the 
 people and enriched the trusts. 
 
 Sir, no more thorough political partisan than my late 
 colleague ever breathed. He loved his party as he loved his 
 country, and he loved his country as he loved his life. In his 
 party he believed he saw the only party of the people. He 
 
14 Address of Mr. dimming s, of New York, on the 
 
 loved its leaders as he loved his tried friends. Its enemies 
 were his enemies. Entire devotion to the party organization 
 was his rule of political life. The Mugwump he regarded as 
 an unclean bird a harpy that reveled in the feast uninvited, 
 and defiled every dish that it touched. 
 
 To act in public affairs seemed to be a passion with him. 
 For more "than a quarter of a century he represented either 
 New York or Brooklyn in legislative assemblies. 
 
 Indeed he maybe said to have belonged to public life for 
 a much longer period, for he was an active worker in political 
 organizations which had an essential influence upon public 
 affairs since his boyhood. He had neared his manhood when 
 Gen. Jackson went out of office. When the Albany Eegency 
 was at its zenith his was a prominent figure in the primary 
 elections. The regency was a voluntary association of dis- 
 tinguished Democrats whose determination in party affairs 
 was generally accepted without question. It embraced such 
 names as William L. Marcy, Martin Van Bureii, Azariah C. 
 Flagg, and Edwin Crosswell. It was considered by far the 
 most influential political body in the United States. It never 
 assumed to dictate, nor did it claim the slightest political 
 authority. Its strength lay in the sagacity of its suggestions. 
 
 Young SPINOLA, although at first a Whig, was undoubtedly 
 conversant with its power and influence. It left its impress 
 upon his political career. In after days his contests were 
 waged in strict accordance with its desires. When it waned 
 and Tammany came to the front, he joined that organization. 
 He was conspicuous in its mass meetings and at its councils. 
 His heart was enwrapped in Tammany. Never from the day 
 he entered it to the day of his death, did he swerve from his 
 fealty. It is easy from this to work out the sum of his political 
 faith and action. It is comprised in the words Democracy and 
 discipline. No other crown did he ask; no other exaltation 
 did he desire. 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 15 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I knew FRANCIS B. SPINOLA for thirty years. 
 He once told me that he was of Italian lineage. Italy is a land 
 that has been tempest-tossed by war and passion even as its 
 great -founder is said to have been tossed by land and sea. Since 
 the fifth century its history has been divided into eight periods. 
 Each has been one of tumult. It is the land of the pomegran- 
 ate and the vine, of beautiful skies, of love, of poetry, of 
 painting and of sculpture. It was there that the lights of 
 ancient literature went out, and there that .the renaissance 
 began before the last rays had faded from the horizon. It was 
 an Italian who gave the Old World a new world 5 It was an 
 Italian who brought countless worlds within our view. 
 
 I know not from what particular family our friend sprang, 
 but there were traces of Kienzi, Masaniello, Savonarola, and 
 of the Montagues and Capulets in his composition. Even 
 Machiavelli had left his mark. One characteristic, however, 
 was preeminent. The Italian loves Italy as the land of his 
 birth. SPINOLA loved America with an Italian devotion. Her 
 flag was as precious to him as the fleur de Us to a Bourbon or 
 the cloak of the prophet to a Mohammedan. He drank from a 
 perennial spring of patriotism. It was the spirit of his fathers 
 in the Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, thrice since the dawn of the new year have 
 I addressed the House on occasions of this kind. Circum- 
 stances have required it. It is by no means a duty to be 
 coveted. Yet no one should shrink from it. It does seem to 
 me that when a member is dropped from the roll of the living, 
 something definite should be said to show what manner of man 
 he was. With this object in view, I have paid this tribute to 
 my dead friend. 
 
 As a companion he was sociable and entertaining. As a 
 soldier he was vigilant, intrepid, and amenable to discipline. 
 As a legislator he was watchful, industrious, and energetic. 
 
16 Address of Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama, on the 
 
 As a man he was far above the average. His friendships were 
 warm, and his enmities bitter. His domestic relations were 
 extremely pleasant. He not only gloried in being a Democrat, 
 but in being a Tammany Democrat. At all times and under 
 all circumstances he was its champion, armed to defend it. 
 He believed the organization necessary to the success of his 
 party, and the success of his party essential to the public 
 welfare. 
 
 What others and what I have said, in my opinion make up 
 the man as he lived, and it is by no means a moderate distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. WHEELER, OF ALABAMA. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER : Our revered and honored brother who has 
 passed away was one of the members of this body whose lives 
 extended back toward the beginning of the history of our 
 country as one of the nations of the earth. Though not an old 
 man, he was one of the few who touched elbows with the 
 heroes of the Bevolution; and his associations during his long 
 and eventful life were with the men who made New York the 
 great metropolis of the world. In everything pertaining to 
 that city Gen. SPINOLA took a most commendable pride. AVe 
 all remember his eloquent speech in this House when he 
 recounted the boyish awe and admiration with which he 
 regarded the brave men who fought from Lexington and 
 Concord, in 1775, to the final victory at Yorktown in 1781 
 men to whose patriotism and courage we owe the Government 
 under which we live. 
 
 Although very young at the time, he was one of the proces- 
 sion that marched with uncovered heads, bearing upon their 
 shoulders the remains of the victims of the British prison ships 
 from their temporary resting-place to their final entombment 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 17 
 
 at Fort Greene, in Brooklyn. These ceremonies most vividly 
 revived the historical associations connected with the occasion 
 when the representatives of the thirteen States met in New 
 York and conveyed these remains from the graves on the coast 
 where they had been hastily buried by the British. 
 
 As the gentleman who has just taken his seat spoke of the 
 interest that Gen. SPINOLA took in these patriots, it would not 
 be improper for me to recall some of the facts concerning these 
 martyred prisoners of Wallabout Bay. I read, Mr. Speaker, 
 from a work published by the Tammany Society in 1808. This 
 is a precious volume, only 115 copies having been published. 
 In describing the prison ships, it says : 
 
 Suffice it to state merely that during the Revolution the British had 
 stationed at the Wallabout, Long Island, nearly opposite the city of New 
 York, a number of prison ships, on board of which it was the fate of those 
 Americans who had become prisoners of war to be placed. The principal 
 . of these was the Jersey, the remains of whose hulk are still to be seen on 
 the Long Island shore 
 
 And that was the ship the gentleman from New York men- 
 tioned had been seen by Gen. SPINOLA 
 
 the John, the Scorpion, the Strombolo, and the Hunter. From these float- 
 ing dungeons, the hearts of whose keepers must indeed have delighted in 
 the " luxury of woe," the bodies of our countrymen, having gone through 
 the preparatory stages of suffering and death, were taken on shore at the 
 Wallabout and thrown scarcely beneath the surface. 
 
 It is impossible to learn with accuracy from any records the 
 number of men whose lives were destroyed by the brutal and 
 inhuman treatment which was inflicted upon the prisoners in 
 these vessels. The report which I have before me says : 
 
 It is ascertained, however, with as much precision as the nature of the 
 case will admit, that upwards of eleven thousand died on board the Jersey 
 alone. 
 
 With the 70,000,000 people we have in the United States 
 to-day, with the stupendous war of 1861-'65 fresh in our minds, 
 during which the Federal Government placed 2,859,132 men 
 under arms within the short period of four years, we are apt 
 
 H. Mis. 102 \\ 
 
18 Address of Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama, on the 
 
 not to appreciate the full meaning of the death, on one ship 
 alone, of 11,000 prisoners, taken from the small army which 
 was contending for our liberties. The report of the Secretary 
 of War, May 10, 1790, shows that the number of troops, 
 including Continental soldiers and the militia, enlisted during 
 the war of the Revolution averaged but 43,000 at some 
 periods a few more and at other periods less. 
 
 From other sources I find that the number actually killed in 
 battle during the Eevolution was but 2,200. We therefore see 
 that the number of men, many of whom were actually mur- . 
 dered on the Jersey, was one-fourth the strength of the army, 
 and exceeded by fivefold the number killed in action in all the 
 battles of the war. The heroic spirit of our departed friend 
 was not the first to appreciate the nobility of these martyrs, 
 but that honor belongs to the ancient and honorable society of 
 which he was a prominent member. Nearly ninety years ago . 
 the Tammany Society prepared a memorial to Congress, which 
 was presented to that body on February 10, 1803, by the very 
 distinguished Samuel L. Mitchell, then a Eepresentative and 
 afterwards a Senator from the State of New York. 
 
 After stating that John Jackson, esq., had tendered an eli- 
 gible piece of land as a place of solemn depository for these 
 victims, the memorial says : 
 
 If the ancient Grecian republics if Athens, the noblest of them all 
 raised columns, temples, and. pyramids to commemorate those who fell in 
 the fields of Marathon and Platere in defense of their country, can America 
 be backward, aucl yet just, in paying her tribute of respect to the mem- 
 ories of citizens who, equally patriotic and meritorious, perish less 
 splendidly in the presence of unheeded want and cruel pestilence. 
 
 The memorial to Congress, which is too long for me to read 
 in its entirety, then proceeds : 
 
 Without trespassing further on the time of your honorable House, we 
 would briefly sxiggest that after preparing a decent tomb, where the prec- 
 ious relics of these victims for the nation may rest undisturbed and sacred 
 until the Great Spirit has decreed the resuscitation of the dead aud the 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 19 
 
 final consummation of all things, we would wish to see erected some monu- 
 ment that may endure the rage of time ; neither lofty, nor sumptuous, nor 
 magnificent, but which may, nevertheless, inform future ages, " Here lies 
 the remains of an immense multitude of men who, preferring death to the 
 sacrifice of their honor and the fidelity they owed to their country, perished 
 in the prison ships at New York." 
 
 It appears that Congress did v not make an appropriation, 
 and as far as I can learn there was no bill introduced, and no 
 action at that time taken further than the presentation of the 
 memorial, an extract from which I have read. In the mean 
 time, however, John Jackson executed a deed conveying the 
 land to the Tammany Society; and in 1808 Mr. Jackson, as 
 chairman, and Benjamin Eomaine, the grand sachem of the 
 Tammany Society, perfected arrangements for removing the 
 bodies from the shore to the place selected, which, as the 
 account says, Mr. Jackson had adorned by "planting trees of 
 of an appropriate description." 
 
 When the preparations were completed there was witnessed 
 one of the greatest exhibitions of patriotic feeling ever exhib- 
 ited in this country. On page 81, in giving an account of the 
 proceedings on that occasion, we find these words : 
 
 The detachment of artillery filed off and took post on a hill adjacent to 
 the place of interment. The colors being planted and the company of 
 marines having taken their station, Benjamin Romaine, grand sachem of 
 the Tammany Society, accompanied by the Master Builders and the Tam- 
 many committee, performed the ceremonies of laying the corner stone of 
 the vault. The eye of every spectator was anxiously turned upon the 
 scene. The most profound silence prevailed. It was a moment; big with 
 patriotic and exalted and enthusiastic feeling. It seemed that the recol- 
 lections and sensibilities of America were concentrated, and that the debt 
 of gratitude to the memory of 11,000 of our brave but unfortunate 
 defenders, which it belonged to the nation to discharge, was about to be 
 canceled. 
 
 The following is the inscription upon the stone : 
 
 In the name of the spirits of the Departed Free. Sacred to the memory 
 of that portion of American seamen, soldiers, and citizens who perished on 
 board the Prison Ships of the British at the Wallabout during the Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
20 Address of Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama, on the 
 There was also engraved on the corner stone these words : 
 
 This is the corner stone of the vault erected by the Tammany Society or 
 Columbian Order, which contains their remains. The ground for which 
 was bestowed by John Jackson, Nassau Island, season of blossoms. Year 
 of the discovery the 316th, of the institution the 19th, and of American 
 independence the 32d, April 6, 1808. 
 
 Mr. Joseph D. Fay, a member of the Tammany Society, and 
 a distinguished lawyer of the city of New York, was appointed 
 the orator of the day. 
 
 In describing the suffering of these men, he says: 
 
 But the sufferings of those unfortunate Americans whom the dreadful 
 chances of war had destined for the prison ships were far greater than any 
 which have been told. In that deadly season of the year when the dog 
 star rages with relentless fury, when a pure air is specially essential to 
 life, and even the bosom of indolent ease pants to catch it from the " tur- 
 ret and the hill," the British locked their prisoners, after long marches, 
 in the dungeons of a ship infected with contagion and reeking with 
 the tilth of crowded captives, dead and dying. In vain did the terrified 
 prisoner remonstrated and beg for pity ; he was hurled alive without mercy 
 into this nauseous grave, and no reasoning, no praying could obtain from 
 his stern tyrants the smallest alleviation of his fate. Yet there was one 
 condition upon which he might be spared the tortures of this slow but 
 certain death, and that was enlistment in the service of the enemy. 
 
 It was this hallowed resting-place of our martyrs which 
 was visited by our friend in his boyish days. It was here he 
 imbibed those patriotic inspirations which became part of his 
 life and so remained until his death. 
 
 And I read these, Mr. Speaker, because I remember the 
 night when Gen. SPINOLA made a speech in this Hall asking 
 that an appropriation should be made to commemorate these 
 martyrs by a suitable monument. He described the cruelty 
 of the British officer Fraser, in South Carolina, to his pris- 
 oners, and read a description of their sufferings with a fervor 
 which could only have come from that great-hearted and chiv- 
 alrous man. 
 
 He read the insulting oflfer of the British officer, inviting 
 his prisoners to join with the enemies of their country and 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 21 
 
 their noble response, and then quoted the language of the 
 officer, who said : 
 
 " Go then," said this officer to these martyrs of the prison ships, "go to 
 your dungeons iii the prison ships, -where you shall perish and rot. But 
 rirst let rne tell you that the rations which have been hitherto allowed to 
 your wives and children shall from this moment cease forever, aud you 
 shall die assured that they are starving in the public streets and that you 
 are the authors of their fate." 
 
 A sentence so terribly awful appalled the firm soul of every listening 
 hero. A solemn silence followed the declaration. They cast their wonder- 
 ing eyes one upon the other, and valor for a moment was suspended 
 between love of family and love of country. Love of country at length 
 rose superior to every other consideration and, moved by one impulse, 
 this glorious band of patriots thundered in the astonished ears of their 
 persecutors : "The prison ships and death or Washington and our country." 
 
 In closing his oration the Tammany orator said : 
 
 On this day we lay the corner stone of their tomb. Their ashes hitherto 
 have been blown about like "summer's dust in the whirlwind," but the mar- 
 ble column shall rest on this spot and tell to future ages the story that they 
 had to choose death or slavery, and that they nobly elected the former. Per- 
 haps their spirits are this moment on the wings of the wind, hovering over 
 our heads and smiling on the pious tributes we now humbly pay to their 
 memories. In this sepuicher shall their white bones be gathered. It shall 
 overlook the scene of their probation, and be at once a monument to Ameri- 
 can gratitude and of English barbarity. The curious mariner shall point 
 at it in silent admiration as he passes at a distance, and posterity shall 
 call it the tomb of the patriots. 
 
 The devotion of Gen. SPINOLA to the memory of these 
 patriots justifies, I think, my recalling these scenes and cere- 
 monies. 
 
 Could it have been possible for any one to have read of these 
 patriotic proceedings or to have heard them recounted by any 
 one who witnessed them, without having the fires of patriotism 
 kindled in his heart ? They found a ready response in the heart 
 of young SPINOLA, and the inspiration which then took posses- 
 sion of him remained warm and bright until the day of his 
 death. 
 
 It was very natural that these impressions, made upon his mind 
 in early youth, should have crowded upon him with renewed 
 
22 Address of Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama, on the 
 
 strength in his later years and stimulated him in his efforts to 
 induce Congress to honor these patriots by erecting a monu- 
 ment to commemorate their heroic endurance and to mark their 
 graves. The highest type of manhood, nobility, and chivalrous 
 generosity himself, he could not but admire such qualities in 
 these heroes of the past. 
 
 As I first learned to know and esteem Gen. SPINOLA when 
 he entered this Hall, I shall leave to others who knew him 
 throughout his long and noble life to tell of his great services 
 to the Empire State, to whose honor and interests that entire 
 life was devoted. Whether as a statesman or a soldier his 
 services were in the highest degree honorable and eminent. 
 As a State senator of New York, and as one of the ablest Rep- 
 resentatives of that State in this Hall, he was ever ready with 
 his great ability and. irresistible fervor to defend the traditions, 
 the honor, and the interests of the imperial Commonwealth 
 he loved so well. Every member of this House was impressed 
 with Gen. SPINOLA'S positive characteristics. He possessed 
 the courage of his convictions to a degree seldom found among 
 men. His strong and well-balanced mind fathomed every 
 question, and after divining what his judgment approved as 
 the right course no power on earth could swerve or shake his 
 determination. 
 
 As a general on the field of battle no officer of the Army of 
 the Potomac achieved greater distinction than Gen. SPINOLA 
 for bravery and determined courage. In battle after battle, 
 though often wounded, yet always undaunted, he led his troops 
 with an intrepidity which won for him the applause of his 
 army and his country. From the beginning of the war until 
 its close his fortune, his services, and his life were all freely 
 pffered to the cause he had espoused ; they were all, without a 
 reservation, laid upon the altar of his country. 
 
 Inspired by the unparalleled devotion of the patriots of the 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 23 
 
 Revolution, his whole soul yearned to emulate the example set 
 by them for the imitation of the true men of future generations, 
 and to keep alive that spirit of devotion to country which made 
 it possible for our forefathers to achieve our independence. 
 Would that these patriots could look from their sacred graves 
 and behold the spirit which animated them so beautifully and 
 forcibly exemplified in the character and career of the one whose 
 virtues we have assembled here to commemorate. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. GEISSENHAINER, OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER : Again the undiscovered country calls us to its 
 frontiers, bids us offer an affectionate farewell, and to draw the 
 pall upon the bier of another brother who has gone to become 
 a participant in its hidden mysteries ; mysteries in which the 
 promised glories are to be revealed, the cherished hopes to be 
 fulfilled, and the weary traveler to find an eternal rest; myste- 
 ries which bring reward to life well spent and place the faithful 
 nearer to his God ; mysteries which fulfill the evidence of things 
 unseen and realize the substance of things hoped for. 
 
 This undiscovered country can not be entered without the 
 summons of that grim messenger whose duty it is to recruit 
 the army of the shadow world. His summons is one of peace 
 to those prepared to receive and enter the happy life beyond, 
 where no places can be desolated and no firesides made vacant. 
 His summons, often rather a kindly invitation, is made to 
 young and old alike; to the new-born infant and to the one 
 whose mete of years is full. To all he comes; his imperative 
 command exempts no strength or degree of life. National 
 halls oppose no barrier to his approach. To the last Congress 
 he appeared fifteen times, reserving our late brother to close 
 the list. 
 
24 Address of Mr. Gcissenhaincr, of New Jersey, on the 
 
 Throughout this capital city are noted many places where- 
 from our public servants liave been bidden. Within the sound 
 of this very Chamber is marked the spot whence one who had 
 occupied the most exalted station in the people's gift was sud- 
 denly called away. 
 
 Again this House is assembled to offer the homage of rever- 
 ent memory to one who gathered with us here. His bier is now 
 before us and we have come to lay upon it with gentle hands, 
 as the last tribute permitted us to offer, flowers of tender regard 
 and jewels of affectionate friendship. We too would come to 
 deposit our humble testimonial, not hoping that it will increase 
 but simply mingle with the sweet odors already breathing there. 
 
 During the several years we were sheltered beneath the same 
 roof it was permitted us to enjoy more than a casual acquaint- 
 ance with the venerable brother and thus to know him as he 
 was and understand his nature. 
 
 He had long served the people of his State in legislative 
 halls, and comprehended them and their requirements. This 
 knowledge enabled him to serve them here in his latter years, 
 where no desire of theirs remained unsatisfied. Beneath a 
 brusqueness was hidden the earnestness and devotion which 
 characterized his labors. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA had served his country and exposed himself 
 to the dangers of the battlefield. He bore with much discom- 
 fort the wounds received at Wappiug Heights, where he suc- 
 cessfully made a brilliant charge against an outnumbering 
 force that was protected by a stone wall and supported by 
 artillery. It was, probably, owing to the wounds received in 
 this gallant affray that Gen. SPINOLA'S life was shortened. 
 From his military experience he seems to have acquired that 
 untiring persistency with which he ever advocated the cause 
 of the veteran. 
 
 The great ambition of his Congressional life was to secure 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 25 
 
 the erection of a monument to the heroes of the hulk- ships 
 martyrs, whose bones after bleaching long upon the sands 
 were placed by private hands within a vault near Wallabout 
 Bay; a generous but unfitting tomb for remains of men as 
 brave and true as they had been. 
 
 In this connection many will remember Gen. SPINOLA'S 
 untiring exertions. At all times, in season and out of season, 
 he left no means untried to accomplish what patriotism had 
 thus far failed to perform. 
 
 No martyr monument was to be a laurel for the General, but 
 his efforts to secure its erection will be ever borne in mind. 
 The last words he uttered in this Chamber were in its behalf. 
 And yet a monument stands to his memory, in the erection of 
 which a pension was obtained for a once prominent political 
 opponent and an unjustly sullied reputation vindicated. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA had served two terms in this House and was 
 entering upon a third. Here, being gifted with a keen sense 
 of humor, he often by his apt sayings and quick repartees 
 restored the sunshine and drove away the lowering clouds. 
 With unswerving allegiance to his party household he warmly 
 resented unkind allusions and manifested the value of a friend- 
 ship that stands unshaken amid the raging storms. Yet no 
 one took offense, and his peculiarities in speech, manner, and 
 in attire served only the more to endear him to his colleagues 
 of both sides. Of genial, kindly, social disposition, he made 
 and had no personal enemies. To the coterie that gathered 
 about him during the evenings everyone was welcome. To 
 rekindle the camp fires and fight anew the battles was a 
 favorite subject whenever the distinguished war governor of 
 Pennsylvania came in their midst. They recalled the end of 
 others and looked upon fleeting time with no fearing eyes. 
 There came a time when the tales were almost told. 
 
 Gradually the veteran drew near the age around which the 
 
26 Address of Mr. Campbell, of New York, on the 
 
 river winds. His days began to wane and were as flowers that 
 close at set of sun. Upon the river bank he lingered waiting 
 to cross to the beauteous groves beyond, and at length there 
 came to him in a ripe old age the realization of the last words 
 of Gen. Stonewall Jackson: "Let us cross over the river and 
 rest under the shade of the trees." 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. CAMPBELL, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: I rise to participate in these sad services, 
 realizing the great responsibility and aware of the lack of 
 ability on ray part to do justice to the memory, virtues, 
 and statesmanship of our deceased friend and brother, Gen. 
 FRANCIS SPINOLA. However, I ask you to bear with me and 
 make allowance for my imperfections, and to accept the assur- 
 ance that but for the love I have for his memory, I would not 
 venture upon such a task. He is dead, and all that is left of 
 him is the small particle of clay which lies cold and silent in 
 the tomb. It is hard to think we will never hear his ringing 
 voice again in this Hall. He is not dead his spirit lives it 
 is abroad. A man dies, but his memory lives. His life, char- 
 acter, and virtues will always be cherished by and live in the 
 hearts of his friends until they become no more. 
 
 Men of his character and fame never die. How few there 
 are who loved him in life that do not mourn him in death, 
 realizing all that was great and kind in his character a citizen 
 and a soldier of the purest manhood, his every under taking- 
 was a triumph. In faith, in feeling, in practice, in all the 
 ardent aspirations of his soul, FRANCIS B. SPINOLA was a 
 Deincrat of the purest Jeffersonian type. It was impossible 
 indeed from the very nature of his moral and intellectual 
 organization that it should be otherwise. 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 27 
 
 Sprung from the people, with the most delicate apprecia- 
 tion of their inherent rights, with the liveliest solicitude for 
 their individual happiness and social prosperity, with an 
 abounding confidence in their capacity to control their own 
 affairs, and detesting from the innermost depths of his being 
 everything savoring of unfairness, inequality, or oppression, 
 his highest ideal of political organization was a government of 
 the people, by the people, and for the people a government 
 instituted for the benefit of the governed, and not for the 
 aggrandizement of the governing class, a government so ad- 
 ministered as to secure equal and exact justice to all with 
 exclusive privileges to none. Of his religious views he rarely 
 spoke, and then only with his most intimate friends. He 
 preferred to exhibit the principles of his creed in his practice 
 instead of proclaiming his sentiments from the house top. 
 They were too sacred for the coarse ribaldry of the vulgar 
 scoffer. 
 
 But those who lived nearest to his heart and were per- 
 mitted to look in upon the secret chamber of his inner life 
 found there not only the pleasing longing after immortality 
 which filled the soul of the ancient philosopher, but the most 
 serious and childlike faith in the full realization of that 
 Heaven-sent hope through the priceless promises of the gospel. 
 
 FRANCIS B. SPINOLA was born at Stony Brook, Long Island, 
 March 19, 1821; was educated at the Quaker Hill Academy in 
 Dutchess County, New York ; was five times elected an alder- 
 man, three times elected supervisor of the county of Kings, 
 served six years as member of the assembly of the State of New 
 York, and four years as a senator ; was appointed brigadier- 
 general October, 1862, for meritorious conduct in recruiting and 
 organizing a brigade of four regiments and accompanying them 
 to the field ; was honorably discharged from the service, August, 
 1805, after haying been twice wounded; was a delegate to the 
 
28 Address of Mr. Campbell, of New York, on the 
 
 Democratic national convention which met m the city of 
 Charleston in the spring of I860. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA'S death leaves Mr. Hugh McLaughlin, his col- 
 league, the last survivor of the great body of distinguished Dem- 
 ocrats that represented the Empire State in that convention. 
 Gen. SPINOLA was elected a member of the Fiftieth and Fifty- 
 first Congresses, and also reflected to the Fifty-second. Mar- 
 ried in early life, he was blessed with a companion who went 
 with him in all his trials and rejoiced in all his triumphs. She 
 was in full sympathy with all his intellectual exertions. A 
 sympathetic nation joins in her sorrow for her illustrious dead. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA loved. hi$ country with the fervor which 
 should characterize a patriot whose ancestors had fought in 
 the Eevolution; his grandfather had drawn the sword of a cap- 
 tain in that glorious struggle. What his father fought for and 
 established he maintained. His voice and pen were both dedi- 
 cated to the institutions of his country. The perpetuation of 
 constitutional government was the aspiration of his youth, the 
 aim of his most vigorous manhood, and the solicitude of his 
 declining years. The mad passions of sectional hate never 
 burned in his bosom, the unmanly utterance of sectional preju- 
 dice never polluted his tongue. 
 
 Our flag was emblematic to him of one country and one peo- 
 ple. The brightness of each star and the whiteness of each 
 stripe told him of a great Government where every State had 
 a right to administer its domestic concerns in its own way, yet 
 where all the States were cemented together in the bond of 
 constitutional union for the general welfare and the common 
 good. He ever contended for the observance of the Constitu- 
 tion. He was always found in the ranks, or rather in the 
 lead of those who struggled to maintain the rights of men. 
 He took high rank in whatever field of intellectual labor he 
 entered. Whether we view him as a student or statesman 
 
Life arid Character of Francis B. Spinola. 29 
 
 he was the same strong in intellect, eloquent in speech, 
 warm in his friendship. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, when another century shall have passed 
 away, when the State of his birth shall have attained 10,000,000 
 population and the city of his adoption shall have become 
 the metropolis of the world, as it is now the metropolis of the 
 continent, when the glorious Eepublic shall have a quarter 
 of a billion of people and the student of history looks back 
 to the first century of national existence, whenever his mind 
 lingers to revel in the delights of literature or of deeds of men, 
 FRANCIS B. SPINOLA will be recognized as among those who 
 loved his country and his race. 
 
 And, Mr. Speaker, I hope and pray that his soul is at peace 
 with God, and while his body lies in its own beloved Green- 
 wood, his friends will keep him green in their hearts. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. BELDEN, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: It is with feelings of sadness in common 
 with my colleagues that I join in their tributes to our deceased 
 friend, FRANCIS B. SPINOLA. We cherish his many virtues 
 and qualities, which time only can efface from the minds of 
 those who knew him so well in this life. Nothing but the 
 love I have for his memory would induce me to speak now. 
 My acquaintance with FRANCIS B. SPINOLA began more than 
 thirty years ago, and from the time I first met him until his 
 death we were friends. I remember him at the close of the 
 session of the senate of New York when he spoke so earnestly 
 on the bill to appropriate $10,000,000 for the defense of the 
 Union. Those who witnessed that closing session will never 
 forget the enthusiasm of both branches of the legislature, of 
 both parties, at the firing of the first gun on Fort Sumter. 
 
30 Address of Mr. Belden, of New York, on the 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA loved his country with intense enthusiasm. 
 He was ready to maintain and risk his life for the Union which 
 his ancestors had fought for in the Revolution. 
 
 His grandfather was a captain in Washington's army, and 
 remained such during the entire war. 
 
 FRANCIS B. SPINOLA was born at Stony Brook, Long Island, 
 in March, 1821. He remained there until he was 10 years of 
 age, and was then sent to the Quaker Hill Academy at Pough- 
 keepsie, where he remained for five years; he then came to 
 New York, as many farmer's sons have done, to enter on a 
 new career. His life, from the time he came to the great city, 
 was a busy one. He was elected five times as an alderman, 
 three times to the assembly, and three times as a senator to 
 the legislature of the State of New York. 
 
 In the war of the rebellion he commanded a brigade of vol- 
 unteers, and at Suffolk, Va., in 1863, when he was wounded ; 
 and the wounds there received were really the cause of his 
 death. 
 
 At the close of the war he returned to the city he loved and 
 engaged in mercantile pursuits. Afterward, entering again 
 into political life, he was honored by his party with an election 
 in the Fiftieth, Fifty-first, and Fifty-second Congresses. 
 
 He was a delegate to the Charleston Democratic convention 
 of 1860, and one of the few survivors at the time of his decease 
 of that memorable assemblage, which ended in the disruption 
 of the Democratic party and which resulted in the election of 
 Abraham Lincoln and the downfall of slavery. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA was a friend and associate of Stephen A. 
 Douglas, Governor Seymour, Chief- Justice Sanford E. Church, 
 Dean Richmond, and other eminent men who have passed over 
 to the silent majority. 
 
 It is a consolation to his friends to know that in his illness 
 and last hours he was surrounded by his loving family, soothed 
 and sustained, while his soul was passing to his Maker. 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 31 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. HOOKER OF MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER : I had the pleasure first to meet our deceased 
 brother, in honor of whom these obsequies are held in the House 
 to-day, in the Fiftieth Congress, to which he was elected a 
 member, as I was myself. With great propriety the then dis- 
 tinguished Speaker of the House [Mr. Carlisle], in assigning 
 Gen. SPINOLA to a suitable sphere of duties on the committees 
 of the House, placed him on the Military Committee. I had 
 the honor to serve on that same committee, and thus it chanced 
 that we were thrown intimately together during the period of 
 that Congress. 
 
 I say that he was appropriately placed upon that commit- 
 tee, because during the war he led the life- of a military man. 
 He had exhibited great devotion to the side upon which he 
 enlisted. His whole heart and soul and mind and life were 
 devoted to the cause. And yet he was one of those liberal 
 men who wore the blue during that contest between the States 
 who understood that when that war terminated it terminated 
 by a capitulation between the contending forces : and he not 
 only bore no ill-will to the men against whom he fought and 
 who fought against him, but he recognized that the surrender 
 of Lee to Grant was upon given, express terms, and that the 
 surrender of Johnston in North Carolina to Sherman was the 
 same, except that it was upon terms more favorably expressed. 
 
 Those terms were that the men who wore the gray in that 
 conflict should lay down their arms, retire to their homes, and 
 yield obedience to the laws of the Government ; and in return 
 the distinguished leaders of the Union Army stipulated that 
 they should receive the protection of the laws of the Govern- 
 ment. Gen. SPINOLA well understood that those were the 
 
32 Address of Mr. Hooker, of Mississippi, on the 
 
 terms of the capitulation, aud therefore, when the war was 
 over, he gave the right hand of fellowship to the men who 
 had been in conflict against him. 
 
 It was my fortune to be one of those contending on the 
 other side, whom he did the honor to call his friends ; and, 
 Mr. Speaker, although I only returned to the city on yester- 
 day, after an absence of some days, I do not feel that it would 
 be proper for me to permit this occasion to pass without 
 paying my humble tribute, in addition to that which his 
 distinguished colleagues have appropriately paid in more 
 elaborate addresses. I deem it my duty, therefore, to say 
 something in reference to what I knew of our departed 
 brother, and to bear my testimony, in common with those who 
 have expressed it in more formulated style, to the manner in 
 which he demeaned himself as a legislator in these halls. 
 
 His advent here" was marked by a recognition of the distin- 
 guished services which he had rendered in former legislative 
 bodies of which he was a member. As has been well said by 
 his colleagues, he had been distinguished for his services, and, 
 as was fittingly said by the gentleman from New York who last 
 spoke [Mr. Belden], he had been long known and distinguished 
 in both houses of the legislature of the great Empire State 
 for the same character of ability which he manifested here. 
 Gen. SPINOLA was an earnest man : he was an honest man; he 
 was a zealous man; he was an outspoken man; he was a man 
 who came to the front whenever the party to which he was 
 attached was imperiled, and yet a man who, when his country 
 was imperiled, could forget his party and rise to the dignity 
 of the higher duty which devolved upon him as a patriot. 
 His career has been spoken of by a friend of his, who gave me 
 a simple memorandum containing a statement of its chief 
 features, and I may be permitted therefore to read from that 
 memorandum a brief epitome of the life of Gen. SPINOLA. 
 
Life and Character of Francis B, Spinola. 33 
 
 He was born at Stony Brook, Long Island, on March 19, 
 ]S21; was educated at Quaker Hill Academy in Dutchess 
 County, New York; was five times elected an alderman, three 
 times a supervisor; served six years as a member of the 
 assembly of the State of Few York, and four years as a senator; 
 was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers, October 25, 
 1862, for meritorious conduct in recruiting and organizing a 
 brigade of four regiments and accompanying them to the field. 
 He was honorably discharged from the service in August, 1865, 
 after having been twice wounded during his military service. 
 He was a delegate to the Democratic convention which met at 
 Charleston in the spring of 1860; was elected to the Fiftieth 
 Congress; was reflected to the Fifty-first Congress, and was 
 also reflected to this, the Fifty-second Congress. 
 
 This is a brief statement of the public positions which he 
 held; and when he came here he took rank in this high arena 
 of debate with the oldest and the most experienced members. 
 He brought to bear that element of character in a legislator and 
 a debater which I consider more important than the power of 
 oratory. The old orator of Latin days said that oratory con- 
 sisted of "action," "action," "action." If I might be so bold 
 as to venture upon a correction of the definition of the word 
 from so high a source, I should say that true oratory consists 
 in earnestness, earnestness, earnestness. And it was this ele- 
 ment which emphatically tinged every feature of the character 
 of Gen. SPINOLA. He was an efficient member of the com- 
 mittee to which he belonged, a faithful representative of the 
 constituency which he had the honor so ably to represent 
 here. Though oftentimes feeble in health, he was always found 
 at his post of duty when in the city, constantly in his seat as 
 a Eepresentative here, constantly in attendance upon the 
 meetings of his committee; and no man fulfilled the duties of 
 
 H. Mis. 102 3 
 
34 Address of Mr. Hooker, of Mississippi, on the 
 
 a ^Representative with a truer sense of the responsibility to 
 his constituency than did Gen. SPINOLA. 
 
 It has been referred to by my eloquent friend from. Alabama 
 [Mr. Wheeler] who spoke in commemoration of my friend. 
 Gen. SPINOLA, that there was one subject to which he seemed 
 particularly devoted, one topic upon which he never tired of 
 speaking, one cause that to him was dearer than all others. 
 It was the cause of the dead. Most men who speak, speak 
 for the applause of the living. Most men who speak are 
 doing so because they have a constituency who are to respond 
 to their addresses. He spoke for those who had been buried 
 for a century, who had died in the prison ships of the British 
 Government off the island upon which he lived. He spoke in 
 able and earnest terms. He gave a history of the manner in 
 which those men had lost their lives. 
 
 He stated in his speech and in the report of which he was 
 the author, a report made from the Military Committee, to which 
 he belonged, that the loss of life on the British prison ships 
 in the war of the Eevolution was absolutely greater than the 
 loss in all the battles both by sea and land in that seven years 
 war. It was a memorable thing, and he felt that the country 
 owed a debt of gratitude to those who had suffered and died 
 in this cause. He pointed in the speech which he made to 
 the fact that we were making suitable provision for those who 
 had survived the war between the States, by granting them 
 pensions; that we give pensions to the widows and children 
 of those who perished in that war. Then he said, here are 
 11,000 men whose bones lie bleaching on the shores of Long 
 Island, near the bay where the prison ships of the British 
 were anchored during the war of the Eevolution. Some gen- 
 erous-hearted people in Brooklyn had gathered those bones 
 together and given then decent interment. 
 
 He gave a history of the case, and appealed to the Congress 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 35 
 
 of the United States, while they were paying pensions to the 
 living, to the survivors of the Eevolution and the war of 1812 
 and of the war between the States, that a common sentiment 
 of justice, of humanity, of love for those who had perished in 
 those prison ships in the war which gave birth to the Eepub- 
 lic ought to animate the Congress of the United States to 
 make a simple donation of $50,000, which was all he asked. 
 
 I remember, as he arose from his seat just in front of the 
 Speaker, that he addressed the House with so much earnest- 
 ness upon this subject that his appeal was so powerful that 
 every man in the Hall listened to him. And I believe that had 
 he survived and been a member of this Congress the stern 
 energy, the devoted patriotism which characterized him, would 
 have eventually crowned his efforts with success. I can not 
 pay his memory a higher tribute than by reading from the 
 Eecord of the Fiftieth Congress what he had to say when that 
 bill was under consideration. I hope, therefore, that the mem- 
 bers of the House will bear with me while I turn to the Record 
 to recall the words in which he expressed himself. I read from 
 pages 6559-60 of the Congressional Eecord of July 10, 1888: 
 
 Mr. SPINOLA. Mr. Speaker, history establishes the fact that there were 
 more lives sacrificed in the prison ships in which the British confined the 
 prisoners of the American Revolution than were lost in all the battles of 
 that war. Eleven thousand and five hundred were sacrificed, men who 
 had their liberty at command on any day when they would consent to 
 abandon the cause of the colonies and enter the British Army. There was 
 no one day during their long confinement and suffering but the provost 
 guard approached them and offered them their freedom if they would 
 embrace the British cause ; and, to the credit of twenty thousand American 
 patriots who suffered on board those prison ships, there never was but a 
 single one who betrayed his country and left his associates and joined the 
 British service. [Applause.] Now, sir, I will ask attention for a minute 
 or two while I read from the history of the Wallabout prison ships and the 
 martyrs who died there. 
 
 I will cite one case where the British had captured a company of 
 American soldiers in South Carolina, and the* Hessian captain who com- 
 manded the enemy offered those men their freedom if they would go into- 
 the British service. Said he, after they had refused his offer : 
 
36 Address of Mr. Hooker, of Mississippi, on the 
 
 " Go, then, to your dungeons in the prison ships where you shall perish 
 and rot. But first let rue tell you that rations which have been hitherto 
 allowed to your wives and children shall from this moment cease forever, 
 and you shall die assured that they are starving in the public streets, and 
 that you are the authors of their fate." 
 
 That was the declaration of that British officer to the company of Ameri- 
 can patriots that had been captured in South Carolina. A sentence so 
 terribly awful appalled the firm soul of every listening hero. 
 
 " A solemn silence followed the declaration. They cast their wondering 
 eyes one upon the other, and valor for a moment hung suspended between 
 love of family and love of country. Love of country at length rose supe- 
 rior to every other consideration, and, moved by one impulse, this glorious 
 band of patriots thundered in the astonished ears of their persecutors : 
 ' The prison ships and death, or Washington and our country ! ' " 
 
 [Applause and cries of " Vote ! " " Vote ! "] 
 
 ******* 
 
 The bones of the patriotic soldiers who died in the prison ships were put 
 in the temporary tomb, which was erected by Benjamin Romaine, the 
 grand sachem, who had been instrumental in gathering them together and 
 who owned the ground on which the tomb was erected. In 1842 the city 
 of Brooklyn asked to have the bones turned over to it for appropriate 
 sepulture. In reply to that application Mr. Romaiue wrote : 
 
 "I have guarded these sacred remains, with a reverence which perhaps 
 at this day all may not appreciate or feel, for more than thirty years. 
 They are now in their right place, near the Wallabout and adjoining the 
 navy yard. They are my property. I have expended more than $900 in 
 and about their protection and preservation. I commend them to the 
 protection of the General Government. I bequeath them to my country." 
 
 Thus it will be seen he gave them to the United States ; he gave them 
 to his country. 
 
 "This concern is sacred to me. It lies near my heart. I suffered with 
 those whose bones I venerate. I fought beside them. I bled with them." 
 
 This man belonged to the army himself; he went through the whole 
 seven years' service under Washington. He has given the remains of 
 these men to the American Republic. If they had not died the martyr's 
 death that they did we would have had, in my humble judgment, no 
 American Republic to-night. Those men died to create the Union. We 
 respect and venerate those who in later years have died to protect and 
 preserve the Union; why should we not remember those by means of 
 whose sufferings the Republic itself was established? 
 
 This monument, where it is proposed to erect it, will overlook the very 
 spot on which these men died. It will overlook the battlefield of Long 
 Island; it will overlook the place where the gallant Maryland regiment 
 suffered death when the Brisish drove them into the water. It will over- 
 look New York Bay, the East River, and the Sound. There is no more 
 fitting place on earth for such a monument to be erected than that pro- 
 posed by the bill under consideration. I appeal to the generosity and 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 37 
 
 patriotism of the American people. 1 ask gentlemen here to-night, in the 
 name of justice and right, to join in perpetuating the memory of these 
 men who died as martyrs for their country. 
 
 There is nothing so indelibly fixed on my mind as that which was painted 
 there the first time I saw the tomb of these men. It was over sixty 
 years ago, when I was a small boy. For fifty years the society which 
 gathered these bones raised the flag over them on the 4th of July. That 
 ceremony ceased to be observed because the city of Brooklyn took pos- 
 session of these remains, and they are in its charge now. I believe that 
 the American people, if this question were submitted to them, would vote 
 almost unanimously for any sum which might be named for this purpose. 
 We are paying to-day $160,000 a year for the maintenance of the ceme- 
 teries in which sleep our Union dead. That is right. We are paying 
 $40,000 or $50,000 to provide monuments or grave stones for those who 
 have died in the service of the country. We are spending $60,000 or 
 $80,000 a year for the construction and maintenance of roads by which 
 these cemeteries can be approached. 
 
 All this is right. Sir, on the passage of this bill, if the thing were pos- 
 sible, I would have the name of George Washington called. He would 
 A^ote "ay." So would his compatriot, Lafayette. [Applause.] Every- 
 body will vote for this measure except that British officer in the corner 
 yonder [pointing to the picture on one side of the Hall] and the Hessians 
 who stand behind him. They will not vote with us. I do not believe 
 there is a Hessian on the floor of this House ; therefore I expect a unani- 
 mous vote in favor of the passage of this bill. [Applause.] 
 
 I hope, sir, that these patriot martyrs shall not, now that 
 Gen. SPINOLA is dead, want an advocate for this common act 
 of justice on the part of the American people. His mantle in 
 this Congress, to which he was elected, has, by the choice of 
 the people of the Tenth Congressional district of New York, 
 fallen upon one of the most distinguished lawyers of that 
 city, renowned not only for his power at the bar, but as an 
 orator. While he thus steps into the shoes and falls heir to 
 the mantle of Gen. SPINOLA, I hope he will be inspired with 
 a desire to carry out the effort of that gentleman during his 
 lifetime to secure this simple act of justice to the martyrs 
 who died in the British prison ships, and that the news may 
 be carried to him in that other world, where he has gone to 
 receive his reward, that if he did not succeed himself, his 
 people have chosen a successor here who will still urge upon 
 
38 Address of Mr. Cooper, of Indiana, on the 
 
 the American Congress to do that act of duty in the endeavor 
 to procure which Gen. SPINOLA spent the closing years of 
 his life. 
 
 It was my pleasure frequently to enjoy his most cordial 
 welcome and enlarged hospitality in this city. It was also 
 
 
 
 my pleasure on one occasion to accompany him from this city, 
 and to accept the hospitality of that political society to which 
 he was proud to belong. There, in his company, I shared the 
 hospitality of Tammany Hall j and whether here, in his commo- 
 dious quarters, presided over with so much grace and elegance 
 by his accomplished and devoted wife, or whether in that hall 
 where he had so often sat with his comrades who agreed with 
 him on political questions, he dispensed hospitality with that 
 rare grace and earnestness of manner which belonged to few 
 men. Those qualities of earnestness, Mr. Speaker, and those 
 qualities of genial hospitality attached men to him with 
 "hooks of steel 5" and when once they became known to Gen. 
 SPINOLA, they never failed to love him. 
 
 Now, he has passed away ; but we, who knew him in these Halls, 
 follow him with our love. He has gone to that " undiscovered 
 country, from whose bourne no traveler returns." He has gone ; 
 and in our verdict, we pronounce that he possessed the character 
 of an earnest, honest, and patriotic man. We now commit him 
 humbly to the judgment of Him whose all-seeing eye watches 
 the sparrow as it falls and counts the unnumbered sands upon 
 the seashore and weigheth the hills as in a-scale and the moun- 
 tains in balances and measureth the waters of the earth in the 
 hollow of His hand. 
 
Life and Character of Francis J3. Spinola. 39 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. COOPER, OF INDIANA. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER : What we do and say here to-day is for the liv- 
 ing, not for the dead. FRANCIS B. SPINOLA has passed away 
 from earth. His account is balanced, and the books are closed. 
 No word of ours can help or harm him now. If from a sense of 
 bereavement or sorrow, or if by way of atonement for past 
 indifference to merit, we make some demonstration over the 
 graves of our friends this fact may reflect credit upon us ; it 
 may satisfy our consciences and allay our grief, but it can not 
 affect the departed 
 
 If the bitterness engendered in a life of toil and struggle 
 should still be manifest; if the voice of opposition and the 
 spirit of envy which assail and follow the living should find 
 utterance against the dead, it would expose the weakness of 
 our nature and the wickedness of the human heart; it would 
 reflect upon the living but it could not harm the dead. In life 
 a man's character belongs to him ; in a certain sense it is his 
 property; he is its builder; he must protect and defend it. 
 When the work is finished and the workman is called away, 
 that which is left belongs to the world ; it is the property of 
 the race. 
 
 It is for this reason that it seems to me not only proper but 
 profitable to devote some time to the consideration of the lives 
 of such of our colleagues as have fallen around us here, to put 
 upon record our estimate of their character and to furnish to 
 the world an inventory of its new acquisition. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, my acquaintance with Gen. SPINOLA began 
 with the Fifty-first Congress, and my opportunities for study 
 ing his character were limited to our two years of service here. 
 During that time there were few men on this floor who were 
 accorded more marked attention or respectful consideration. 
 He was in many respects a remarkable man. 
 
40 Address of Mr. Cooper, of Indiana, on the 
 
 In the first place, he was a strong individuality j he was 
 not a machine-made man. By some chance or other he had 
 escaped the inexorable processes of our latter-day training 
 which prunes every faculty and reduces every aspiration 
 to a formula. He had some lines of character which neither 
 fashion nor friction nor the so-called culture of modern society 
 could polish away. He was unique and therefore interesting. 
 Though representing a metropolitan district he had all the 
 appearance and demeanor of a pioneer, and had he lived in 
 one of our Western communities we should have called him 
 "uncle" and made him governor of the State. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate for our country and the times 
 in which we live that the tendency is to dwarf the individual. 
 At the doorway of our schools the children stand in line; 
 having entered they are graded and classified, and the 
 necessity for discipline and methods in dealing with numbers 
 leaves little room for the orderly exercise or development of 
 individual traits. Instead of dealing with the child as a 
 plant which should be suffered to develop on all sides in 
 obedience to the law of its nature and from the forces supplied 
 from within, it is set in a row and trimmed so that the lines 
 may be even and the general effect symmetrical. 
 
 This synthetic process has also obtained in other departments 
 of life. Men must stand in line at the shop, at the ticket office 
 at the theater, at the railway station, and even at the doors 
 of our popular churches. The village blacksmith now stands 
 among a wilderness of wheels, where he is known by number 
 and not by name, and merely superintends a machine which is 
 in itself almost automatic. Our Priscilla is taken from her 
 spindle and her distaff, and she stands in line to watch the 
 play of steam-driven fingers. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, just what should be done to arrest this process 
 by which, like pebbles in the bed of a brook, we are all to be 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 41 
 
 rounded and evened up, just how in the midst of a multitude 
 each one shall still be suffered to pursue his individual path, 
 this is neither the time nor place to discuss. I have called 
 attention to this condition in order to give emphasis to the 
 character of him whose loss we mourn here to-day. 
 
 The lesson of his life is that, notwithstanding the evident 
 tendency of the times is to group and label, to grade and 
 classify mankind, it is possible for a man to realize the value 
 of his own individuality, and that to develop and preserve the 
 forces which are peculiar to each is to respond to the call of God 
 within us and to execute his infinite purpose concerning us. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA was a man of great courage. It was perhaps 
 owing to the predominance of this characteristic trait that he 
 was able to survive all the enervating influences of our modern 
 so-called culture, and that he could not be brought either by 
 compromise or compulsion to worship at its altar. I repeat 
 he was a man of marked individuality 5 he bore no stamper 
 factory brand. He could create; he could not imitate. He 
 could lead, but he did not know how to follow. 
 
 There was a little passage at arms here on this floor during 
 the first session of the Fifty-first Congress between him and one 
 of his colleagues from New York [Mr. Lansing], in which the 
 latter paid to him, perhaps unwittingly, the greatest and most 
 fitting compliment which, to my mind, could be framed into 
 language. In discussing the question of prison labor Gen. 
 SPINOLA had called attention to the evil consequences of bring- 
 ing convict labor into competition with free and honest artisans, 
 and in the course of these remarks he had referred to the posi- 
 tion arid demands of some labor organizations in his State. 
 Responding, Mr. Lansing said: 
 
 It was said of my friend and colleague from New York that when he was 
 a soldier, if lie saw a whole corps of rebels he did not think they were more 
 than a corporal's guard, but now he seems to see in every labor organiza- 
 tion of ten a whole election district. 
 
42 Address of Mr. Cooper, of Indiana, on the 
 
 And this may be taken as a key to Iris character. He was 
 brave when his duty was clear, but he was afraid to do wrong. 
 He could fight and lead in the front of battle ; the loud-mouthed 
 cannon and the saber's flash, the onset and shock of battle had 
 no terrors for him, but as a conscientious and faithful servant 
 of the people, when called to act where there was doubt or 
 danger, he became fearful lest he might not clearly understand 
 and fully record their wishes. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the deceased was a kind and friendly man. As 
 a humble Representative from a distant State I came here a 
 stranger to this place, and from the first he gave me the most 
 cordial and generous treatment. Now that he is gone, I gladly 
 bear testimony to my impressions concerning him, and can 
 truthfully say that to me he seemed strong, and brave, and 
 true. His career on earth is ended, but the impression he leaves 
 behind is clear and distinct, and it will become brighter as it 
 is studied, and more precious in that day when the world learns 
 that her richest treasures are the names of her brave and manly 
 men. 
 
 Mr. CUMMINGS. I ask for the reading of the resolutions 
 sent to the desk at the beginning of the special order. 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that oppor- 
 tunity may be given for tributes to the memory of the Hon. FRANCIS B. 
 SPINOLA, late a Representative from the State of New York. 
 
 Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
 deceased and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a distinguished 
 public servant the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceedings, 
 shall stand adjourned. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk be instructed to send a copy of these resolu- 
 tions to the family of the deceased. 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 43 
 
 Mr. GUMMING^. Mr. Speaker, I move the adoption of the 
 resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
 The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Wilson of Missouri in the 
 chair). In accordance with the second resolution just passed, 
 the House stands adjourned until Monday, March 28, at 12 
 o'clock m. 
 
 Accordingly (at 3 o'clock and 46 minutes p. m.) the House 
 adjourned. 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 
 
 EULOGIES. 
 
 FEBRUARY 25, 1893. 
 
 Mr. HILL. I now ask that the resolutions from the House 
 of Eepresentatives relative to the death of the late FRANCIS 
 B. SPINOLA may be laid before the Senate. 
 
 The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Chair lays before the Senate 
 resolutions froni the House of Bepresentativ.es; which will be 
 read. 
 
 The Chief Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that op- 
 portunity may be given for tributes to the memory of the Hon. FRANCIS 
 B. SPINOLA, late a Representative from the State of New York. 
 
 Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
 deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a distinguished 
 public servant, the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceed- 
 ings, shall stand adjourned. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk be instructed to send a copy of these resolu- 
 tions to the family of the deceased. 
 
 Mr. HILL. I offer the resolutions, which I send to the desk. 
 The VICE-PRESIDENT. The resolutions will be read. 
 The Chief Glerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announce- 
 ment of the death of Hon. FRANCIS B. SPINOLA, late a Representative from 
 
 the State of New York. 
 
 45 
 
46 Address of Mr. Hill, of New York, on the 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the Senate he now suspended in order 
 that fitting tribute he paid to his memory. 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Gen. SPINOLA, the country has lost a 
 gallant soldier, an able and faithful Representative in Congress, and an 
 esteemed and patriotic citizen. . 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. HILL, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT : The resolutions passed by the other House 
 during the last session of the present Congress duly informed 
 us of the death of FRANCIS B. SPINOLA, of New York, an hon- 
 ored Bepresentative of that body. The delay in taking action 
 thereon in the Senate has been occasioned solely by a misap- 
 prehension as to whose province it was to call up the resolu- 
 tions and institute further action. The death of Gen. SPINOLA 
 occurred before I took my seat in this Chamber, and he having 
 been of my own political faith my colleague kindly and court- 
 eously waited for me to take the initiative in the proceedings 
 to appropriately pay tribute to the memory of the deceased. 
 
 The elaborate eulogies upon the character and public services 
 of this distinguished citizen in the other House, which have 
 already been placed upon the records of Congress, render my 
 task a brief one. His immediate associates, with whom he had 
 served in Congress so long and acceptably, have in their able 
 and interesting addresses described the incidents of his early 
 life, the details of his successful business career, his political 
 achievements, the laurels which he won as a soldier, his abili- 
 ties as a debater, and his many excellent qualities of mind and 
 heart. Not caring to repeat what they have so fully delineated, 
 I content myself with a bare reference to the positions which 
 he filled and honored, the triumphs which he secured, and the 
 general characteristics of the man. 
 
 Permit me to remark that few men in Congress have been 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 47 
 
 more frequently or highly honored. He enjoyed a long, varied, 
 and brilliant public career, evidencing the full confidence of 
 his fellow-citizens, and the general satisfaction with which he 
 discharged every public trust. He was alderman, supervisor, 
 several times an assemblyman in New York, State senator, 
 brigadier-general of volunteers, and three times elected to 
 Congress. His rise was not sudden. He did not jump from 
 obscurity into exalted position, unprepared for the discharge 
 of great duties. No freak of fortune or of politics brought him 
 to the front 5 but he was a plodder, a worker, a faithful, indus- 
 trious, and energetic citizen, and largely the architect of his 
 own deserved success. 
 
 He was a partisan in the best sense of the term. He believed 
 in his side. He regarded party organization as essential to 
 permanent political success, and he never despised the ladder 
 which had repeatedly elevated him to power. He was also a 
 patriot and a soldier. He was a fighter by nature and taste; 
 he loved strife. He was quick to resent a wrong, and always 
 ready to forgive. He was impulsive, clear-headed, brave, and 
 generous. 
 
 He was not only true to his country he was true to his 
 party and to his friends. He believed in personal friendships 
 in public life, and he hated his ''enemies, persecutors, and 
 slanderers." 
 
 Competent military men and critics believe that had the 
 right opportunity occurred, he would have shown himself to 
 be one of the great soldiers of the times. The records of his 
 gallantry are found in the archives of the nation, and in the 
 general orders and reports of his superior officers. 
 
 He was audacious, courageous, and firm, and was apparently 
 "born to command." He loved his soldiers, and they in turn 
 loved him. 
 
 His record in Congress was most creditable. He was a 
 
48 Address of Mr. Hiscock, of New York, on the 
 
 ready debater, quick at repartee, full of sarcasm, and liad 
 a keen appreciation of the humorous. It is safe to say that 
 in Congress he was able, alert, patriotic, and zealous in the 
 performance of his high and responsible duties. His friends 
 believed in him loved, honored and respected him. 
 
 I knew him as a leading citizen of New York, as a prom 
 inent and trusted business man. I knew him an eminent mem- 
 ber of the legislature. I knew him to be a true friend. 
 
 Columns of eulogy are not needed to show our appreciation 
 of his public and private services, or to evidence the loss we 
 have sustained in his departure. He has fought the good 
 fight and gone to his reward. A good man has fallen, and 
 the people mourn. More brilliant, more able, more renowned 
 men have adorned seats in the Congress of the nation ; but 
 none more patriotic, none more sincere, none more trustworthy 
 than FRANCIS B. SPINOLA. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. HISCOCK, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT : Gen. SPINOLA was a marked character in 
 the State of New York where he was born and lived all his life, 
 the State he represented in the other branch of Congress at 
 the time of his death. Entering public life at the age of 22 
 years he was continuously, until the time of his death, about 
 fifty years later, before the people of his State, representing a 
 constituency, either in the city of his residence, at the State 
 capital in Albany, or in the Congress of the United States. 
 
 It is rarely that a member of a political party maintains 
 the hold he did upon his party organization and the people of 
 the community amongst whom he lived for so long a period of 
 time. That is especially true of public men in the State of 
 New York. He never aspired to be the absolute leader of his 
 
Life and Character of Francis B. Spinola. 49 
 
 party. Those ineu fell or were displaced by others ; but Gen. 
 SPINOLA in all the changes which took place, held a promi- 
 nent position and possessed the confidence of his friends and 
 constituents. 
 
 Sir, while this was true of him, he was a man of strong con- 
 victions, and positive opinions, and expressed them in lan- 
 guage that was neither uncertain nor equivocal. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA maintained his mental vigor to the last, and 
 doubtless the hold which he retained upon his party was due 
 largely to that fact. Never since I had the honor to know him 
 has there been a time when he was not a trusted counselor 
 in the political organizations of his party. His life was mainly 
 devoted to politics and to political matters, yet he was not a 
 careful builder of political fortunes, and the position which 
 he held so long was not due especially to his adroitness or 
 manipulations, but his success was rather the result of his bold ? 
 audacious championship, and the absolute confidence in his 
 integrity entertained by his friends and concurred in by his 
 opponents. 
 
 He was the survivor of a generation of leaders of the Demo- 
 cratic party in New York great men who held a marked 
 place in national and State councils; and I sometimes think 
 that with their death and with the death of men like Gen. 
 SPINOLA, the last survivor whom I now recall of that class of 
 men in the State of New York, the country has lost largely, 
 because there has been a loss of their methods and that high 
 integrity in political management which they dictated. 
 
 Gen. SPINOLA scarcely attained a great national reputation; 
 and that is true of very many able and influential citizens of 
 New York in public life then, who content themselves with the 
 honors and positions which are bestowed by their friends and 
 their party in their own State rather than seek national repu- 
 tation or position. He, however, was possessed of such ability 
 
 H. Mis. 102 4 
 
50 Address of Mr. Hiscock, of New York. 
 
 that had he, earlier in life, sought a position in the national 
 Congress or in connection with the National Government, he 
 could have sustained himself as ably there as he did in the 
 legislature of his own State or in the other positions with 
 which he was honored at home. 
 
 Mr. President, I move the adoption of the resolutions sub- 
 mitted by my colleague. 
 
 The VICE-PRESIDENT. The question is on the adoption of 
 the resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 
 
 Mr. HISCOCK. I offer, Mr. President, the resolution which I 
 send to the desk. 
 
 The VICE-PRESIDENT. The resolution will be read. 
 
 The resolution was read, as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the 
 deceased, the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The VICE-PRESIDENT. The question is on the adoption of 
 the resolution. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to ; and thereupon (at 5 o'clock and 
 23 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until Monday, February 
 27, 1893, at 11 o'clock a. m. 
 
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ 
 
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