UC-NRLF ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER AMUEL J. RANDALL JUNE 14, 1890. LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIFT OK 1 JUL 28 1893 Received , /op Shelf No. TJHI7BESIT7 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES LIFE AND CHARACTER SAMUEL J.RANDALL, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM PENNSYLVANIA, DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, U. S . FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. PUBLISHED KV ORDER OF CONGRESS. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1891. OP THE [UBI7SRSITY] <L4. jb JOINT RESOLUTION TO PRINT THE EULOGIES UPON SAMUEL J. RANDALL. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be printed of the eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late SAMUEL J. RANDALL, a Rep resentative in the Fifty-first Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, twenty-five thousand copies, of which six thousand copies shall be for the use of the Senate and nineteen thousand copies shall be for the u-e of the House of Representatives ; and the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to have printed a portrait of the said SAMUEL J. RANDALL, to accompany said eulogies, and for the purpose of engraving and printing said portrait the sum of one thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. That of the quota to the House of Representa tives the Public Printer shall set apart fifty copies, which he shall have bound in full morocco, with gilt edges, the same to be delivered when com pleted to the family of the deceased. Approved, September 19, 1890. ^ ((UNI7ERSIT7)) PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH. APRIL 14, 1890. Mr. O NEILL, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to announce the death of my colleague, Hon. SAMUEL J. RAN DALL, who died yesterday (Sunday) morning, in this city, in his own house, at 5 o clock. This announcement to me is extremely painful. He and I, through all the years of his life, were intimate, familiar friends. Although he was seven years younger than myself, yet he started in life at twenty-one years of age a fully equipped man in every re spect, intellectually, politically, and as one who had even in that early day the elements of supreme leadership, which in his later years was completed in the estimation of his State and of the country. But three months ago it came to my lot to announce the death of another colleague of many years service Judge Kelley; and it is a shock to my feelings which I can scarcely repress when to-day I am announcing the death of this dear colleague. Upon the first Monday of December, 1863, we stood before the Speaker s desk and were sworn into office as members of the Thirty-eighth Congress. Politically we have differed, but personally there has been between us in all these years a depth of friendship which it seems to me I can not to-day express to this House. 3 4 Announcement of Death. We have lost a distinguished man. To-day the city of Philadelphia grieves over his death as it has seldom been called to grieve over the death of a public man. The whole State of Pennsylvania mourns his decease; and I may say that the country is saddened at this moment while we are here announcing the mournful event. He was a great man, a statesman, a pure man in his daily life, with strong attachments personally. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, I do not know when in Congress any member has died to whom there were so many, many personal attach ments. I noticed yesterday and to-day in the streets of this city that every flag upon every building was at half-mast; and I notice in the newspapers from Philadelphia to-day that there at his own home the same spectacle is presented indeed, every mark of sadness being manifested. I can not say more to-day, for you all know that a few weeks from this we shall have opportunity to pronounce our eulogies upon his life. Mr. Speaker, I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk. The Clerk read as follows: Resolved, That the House has heard with deep regret and profound sor row of the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, late a Representative from the State of Pennsylvania. Resolved, That a committee of nine members of the House, with such members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to attend the funeral of the deceased. Resolved, That the House do now adjourn. The resolutions were unanimously adopted. The SPEAKER announced the appointment of Mr. O Neill of Pennsylvania, Mr. Carlisle, Mr. Harmer, Mr. Holman, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Forney, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Springer, and Mr. Reilly as the committee on the part of the House under the second resolution. The House then (at 12 o clock and 15 minutes p. m.) ad journed. Eulogies. EULOGIES. MAY 2, 1890. Mr. O NEILL, of Pennsylvania. The gentleman from Texas yields to me to offer a resolution fixing the day for eulogies upon my late colleague, Mr. RANDALL. The resolution was read, as follows: Resolved, That Saturday, June 14, beginning at 1 o clock, afternoon, be set aparj for paying tribute to the memory of Hon. SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL, late a member of the House of Representatives from the Third district of the State of Pennsylvania. The resolution was adopted. JUNE 14, 1890. The SPEAKER. The hour of 1 o clock having arrived, the Clerk will report the special order of the day. The Clerk read as follows: Resolved, That Saturday. June 14, beginning at 1 o clock p. in., be set apart for paying tribute to the memory of the Hon. SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL, late a member of the House of Representatives from the Third district of the State of Pennsvlvania. C Address of Mr, O Neil I, of Pennsylvania, on the ADDRESS OF MR, O NEILL, OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. SPEAKER: At 6 o clock Sunday morning. April 13. 1 was awakened by a messenger at my rooms in this city, inform ing me that my colleague, SAMUEL JACKSOX RANDALL, had died but an hour before at his residence. No. 120 C street, southeast, but a few minutes distant from the Capitol. For days and hours I had expected this announcement, but when it came there was a suddenness in it that shocked me, losing in his death a companion almost from his earliest youth and an associate in the House of Representatives for more than a quarter of a century. It seemed to me that in those dying days of his there was no rest to my mind except by frequent going or sending to his house to learn, at times almost hourly, the condition of my attached personal friend, I still having a hope that his life might be prolonged to his family and his country. But death came, and in peaceful resignation, and without pain or suffering, his lingering illness, borne so patiently for many months, ended. In the presence of his wife and family, who had carefully nursed him and watched over him in his sick ness, whose fatality could not be overcome, he breathed his last. He was born in Philadelphia, October 10, 1828, where had been born his father and mother, and where his grandparents had passed their lives, highly esteemed by its citizens. I knew his father and mother and his mother s father, Mr. Joseph Worrell, personally and well. I do not recollect ever having seen his grandfather, Mr. Matthew Randall, who was a prominent citizen. He inherited from both sides of his parentage the tempera- Life and Character of Samuel J, Randall. i ment which brought him to so conspicuous a position in public life. His mother s father was a man long to be re membered for his service in the councils of the city and his devotion to duty in many positions of honor. So firm of purpose, so persistent in the right, so adhering to his own judgment that he was often thought to be self-willed and obstinate. But the people believed in him. So, also, was the reputation of his father s father, many a time called to duty by his fellow-citizens. These men were men of vigor ous minds and their influence in their day was felt long after their deaths. Their names may be found in the annals of Philadelphia in the forefront of the list of distinguished persons true to themselves and to their city. Josiah Randall, father of my colleague, stood abreast with the leaders of the bar of Philadelphia, and met in his pro fessional life before judges and juries his contemporaries, Chauncey, Binney, Rawle, Sergeant. Brown, Dallas, the Ingersolls, Meredith, and others, who with him sustained the reputation of "the Philadelphia lawyer/ that reputa tion having existed from the earliest days of the bar. To day it is illustrated by legal learning on the bench and in practice by the successors of those just named, who, older and younger, are keeping up the traditions of the past. Young RANDALL did not choose the profession.of the law, and was not among those young men who in large numbers sought as students the office of his father. He had received a liberal education at the academy in that city conducted under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania. His taste was for mercantile pursuits, and when not engaged in public service, and at intervals for some years after his arrival at manhood, he still remained a merchant. Josiah Randall, the father, indomitable in courts, fearless before judges or juries, never knowing failure in a cause until 8 Address of Mr. O* Neill, of Pennsylvania, on the the final decision of the highest tribunal, taught his sons how great an element in life was persistence in the right. He was a man of courage, determination, and strong family affection, and literally lived with his children as their com panion. He drew them to him in their youth, and as long as he lived they were held by him in just such associations and confidence as produce in children manliness and self- reliance, and stamp upon their lives the attributes of a devoted parent. My colleague in all these characteristics was like his dis tinguished father, and with the same make-up of father and grandfathers, as was known to all Philadelphia, could it be possible that SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL could be other wise then as they were and not possess just such points in character and action as you, my fellow-members, have wit nessed in him ? Under an apparent sternness, O how ten der in feeling and sympathy he was ! What a delight to be with him when surrounded by his family ! His wife, loved and cherished all the days of their married life, lovers to the last ; his children adoring him, glad to be near him, never pushed back when affection brought them to his side, never too busy to greet them ! I do not know of a more admirable domestic life. O how he appreciated his children s love, and ever taught them to approach him with their cares and anxieties, their sorrows and their joys ! This, in my estima tion, is to be a true father. Before he became a voter he felt interested in political affairs, and longed for the day when he could vote. We lived in the same neighborhood in adjoining wards, and in what was called the " city proper," before its consolidation with the entire county of Philadelphia. To be a council man from a ward of the old city was a great distinction, and was conferred generally upon men of mature age. At Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 9 twenty-three years of age, though, he was elected as a Whig to the common council, and was elected for another term after consolidation. His father was a prominent leader in the Whig party. He and this son remained Whigs until a year or two before the election of President Buchanan, for whom they both voted. Always active in politics, my colleague had been a mem ber of the conventions of the Whig party from the year he became of age, and in three of those conventions I was nominated for the legislature. He was in the convention of the same party in September, 1852, which nominated me for the State senate. That convention nominated him for the common council, and he and I in October of that year were elected by the Whigs to these respective positions. His teachings, like mine, were in the school of protection to American industry. We had learned our early lessons in the tariff from the teachings of Henry Clay and the pro tectionists of that day. Is it amazing that nay colleague should have become a protectionist leader as a Democrat? He had not forgotten the principles taught him in that grand old Whig party. If he ever wavered in his views, his assignment by Mr. Speaker Keifer in the Forty-seventh Congress to the Committee on Ways and Means brought him face to face with the practical questions of free trade and protection, and to the latter, from a Democratic protec tionist s standpoint, he stood by protection to American in dustry. In the years 1858 and 1859 he served as a Democrat in the State senate, and in that dignified body of men, consisting of only thirty-three senators, he commenced early to show his aptitude for legislative work. He filled out the two years of the unexpired term for which he had been elected, impressing himself upon the people as an honorable senator. 10 Address of Afr. Cf Ncill, of Pennsylvania, on the In October, 1862, lie was elected to the United States House of Representatives; he and I, with others, having been sworn in as members of the Thirty-eighth Congress upon the first Monday of December, 1863. He continued a member of the House from that time until his death, having been elected fourteen consecutive terms, the last two elec tions he having had no Republican opponent, thus practi cally having received both times the unanimous vote of the citizens of his district. To have sought his defeat would have been a marked failure, and had he survived his present term, again he would have had a unanimous election. Such a Congressional record is rare and could occur only by the knowledge his constituents had of his integrity and unselfish, intelligent attention to duty. In all the walks of life, private as well as public, honesty commends to the people in the greatest degree the man who never allows himself to be led astray by improper influences. In what body of men is honorable conduct more witnessed than in the Congress of the United States ? Men of honor take their places here. Our associations here are with gen tlemen high in tone, upright and incorruptible. The pride of our membership is that we have served and been intimate with Representatives whose lives in the estimation of their constituents and the country have exemplified honesty, in tegrity, and unqualified adherence to principle. Dishonest action could not be tolerated in Congressional service. The country knew my colleague to be honest, and his devotion to economy in public expenditures saved many millions to the Treasury. Though burdened with public duties, never ceasing in svork, yet he always considered the individual constituent. Busy as he ever was, the call of a constituent was never denied. A letter from the humblest man received from him Life and Character of Samuel /. Randall. 1 1 a due reply and ever a willingness to have his wishes, if in the right, carried out if possible. Eminent as he was in statesmanship, he found time to be accessible to his fellow- citizens and to receive them without heeding their circum stances in life, rich or poor, powerful or weak, educated or uneducated. He was a statesman with a heart and knew that statesmanship failed sooner or later when courtesy, tenderness, and freedom of approach were denied the people. He was a man of few words, and at once his discerning mind gave him immediate insight into the wants of whoever approached him. A seeming abruptness of manner was merely the necessity of husbanding time, so ever occupied was he in public duties. But he could not be misunderstood, for a frankness of answer, whether acquiescing or refusing, meant just what he said, and he never deceived. No one was more sensitive than he. He had the power of concealing his hurts and disappointments. Ingratitude stung him to the very quick, but he was too great to make complaints; too honest in his own actions to look for deceit in others. I repeat, literally he was a statesman with a heart. Pro motion could not spoil him, and the higher he rose in the public estimation the more he appreciated the honors be stowed upon him and the more he felt that he should bend himself to listen to the necessary requirements of the people, never ending with those in representative life. Had he been transferred to the Senate, called to the Cabinet, elevated to the Presidency, SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL would never have changed in manner, but the greater his advancement the easier of access would he have been to his countrymen. In the days of the rebellion he twice answered the call of his country, ready to fight to preserve the Union, dropping 12 Address of Mr. O* Neill, of Pennsylvania, on the his uncompromising party feeling as long as the flag was to be upheld. He never spoke in the House unless it was necessary. He always commanded attention, for he never wasted a word. In expression he was more forcible than eloquent, always using the fittest words. He grew to be a successful debater, but while he knew he had accomplished power of utterance and clearness in presenting his ideas he did not become a talker for talk s sake. He was sure to give information; hence always gladly heard. The intelligent debater never tires the House. He never wandered from the point at issue. He was really great in debate, unsurpassed in repartee. In knowledge of parliamentary law and procedure, his con stant study in the earlier as well as the later years of his serv ice, he was, in my opinion, never excelled. He had learned not only the principles upon which the rules were established, but practically on the floor and as Speaker he knew how they should be applied. In leadership my colleague was preeminent. In every important crisis during his Congressional service he was found in the foreground. The pages of the Congressional Globe and the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD bear witness to his prominence upon great occasions. He had the breadth of mind to face opposition. In the struggle over the force bill he was all-powerful. In the electoral-count excitement he foresaw dreaded results, but by his calmness and determi nation as he sat beside Acting Vice-President Ferry, equally calm and determined for the right, the count was completed. Again, without fear of criticism, he led Democratic pro tectionists for the preservation of protection to American industry. He persistently, as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, insisted, year after year, in reducing the estimates, and because, in preparing appropriation bills he Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 13 was not influenced by localities, he was sustained as a con sistent economist. His name will live in history, and he will be remembered for following in action the courage of his convictions. These were the great triumphs of his legisla tive career. You recollect, my fellow-members, the eloquent tributes to him of the Chaplain of the House and of his pastor while we surrounded his remains in the church here from whence we followed his body to the funeral train. These men of God pronounced lus conversion to Christ as his greatest triumph. Yes, this was the triumph of his life. He so considered it, and did not hesitate to say so to friends who visited him dur ing the precious times they were privileged to see him after he had connected himself with the Metropolitan Presbyte rian Church. To me on several occasions he said that it was his constant comfort, and when in pain and suffering his priceless consolation. O, how he wished and hoped his friends, in the midst of the cares of public duties, would feel it their greatest duty to confess Christ and become fol lowers of the Lord! In his strong personal interest in me loving words would be uttered by him from his sick bed, and in his prayers, as told me by his devoted wife, he would ask that by the grace of God I should hasten to seek the same comfort and conso lation as had in mercy been vouchsafed to him. To me he spoke on several occasions of the frequent visits of a dis tinguished Philadelphia!!, high in Government position here, whose Christian influence under God had brought him to realize that he was a sinner and needed forgiveness. This friend s prayers and words of holiness gave him peace of mind and removed the terrors of death. The ending of our personal intimacy, which had continued so many years, to me is sad indeed. The death of this col- 14 Address of Mr. O" 1 Neill, of Pennsylvania, on the league of mine, younger in years than I am, and the death of our senior colleague, Judge Kelley, and our long-time as sociate, Samuel S. Cox, have made a void which can not easily be filled. Cox, Kelley, RANDALL, three Representatives serving at the same time, twenty-five years and over, to gether, dead within a period of less than seven months ! What a blow to their surviving fellow-members ! What a loss to their country ! Certainly they have never been ex celled in intelligence, influence, and ability in any Congress from the organization of the Government. Our hearts were crushed as we passed our resolutions in the House upon the announcement of Mr. RANDALL S death. While his colleagues from Pennsylvania at their meeting were expressing their more direct personal grief over the departure of one of their own, the executive committee of the Labor League of the District of Columbia bemoaned in touching resolves the loss of him ; as one of the greatest benefactors of the workingmen who had ever occupied a seat in Congress." The citizens of Pennsylvania who were pres ent in this city met in large numbers and deplored in words of affection and heartfelt feeling that a great man of their Commonwealth had died. Those of us whose melancholy duty it was to follow him to his place of burial will never forget the faces of sadness we saw upon the thousands of Philadelphia people whose affection for him took them to his grave. The poor, the rich, the young, the old, were there to shed tears over the remains of their deceased friend and fellow-citizen. Men, women, and children in countless throngs looked upon his countenance, placid in death, for the last time. Eminent men of all political parties paid homage to him who in life, though a partisan, had won their friendship and esteem. His simplicity of manner, his kindly greetings, his devotion Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 15 to the individual, his courage to do what he believed was right, his fearlessness in asserting his opinions, endeared him to all men. They mourned his death not only as a loss to their city, their State, and their country, but wept over him personally as those who would not be comforted." His wish that his funeral should be devoid of pomp and ceremony was fully carried out in Washington. In Phila delphia there was no ostentation, but the hearts of the peo ple could not be restrained. Their desire of bearing testi mony by their presence to his virtues, his unsullied life as a Representative and as a man, brought multitudes from all parts of the city in unformed procession, but in the quiet ness of profound grief , to see their deceased friend laid at rest in Laurel Hill Cemetery. He was honored in death as in life as few men have been honored. SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL died a professing Christian. The solemnity of his death, the loving scenes at his inter ment, will linger long in our memories, and while we are pronouncing our tributes upon him let our prayer be to the Lord that the dread messenger in His mercy may not again visit the Fifty-first Congress. ADDRESS OF MR. BUCKALEW, OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. SPEAKER: I served with Mr. RANDALL in the Senate of Pennsylvania more than thirty years ago, at two annual sessions of that body, and the friendly relations then estab lished between us remained unbroken to the end of his life. In common with all who knew him I had great respect for his qualities of mind and heart and great confidence in his principles of conduct in public and private life. To be ranked above all other characteristics which he exhibited 16 Address of Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, on the as a public man was fixed integrity and tireless industry, which, being united with sound judgment, won for him the confidence of associates and long-continued support from the people. He had also a kindness of heart which fitted him for friendship and for all its genial and generous works. 1 join cordially and with full conviction of their truth in the eulogiums upon Mr. RANDALL S character and career which have been pronounced by others, but shall not under take to express in. language of my own the sentiments and opinions which I hold concerning him. Repetition of what has been well said would be idle and useless, and I shall therefore confine my remarks to two of the important sub jects with which Mr. RANDALL was concerned in recent years and his position upon which will always deeply affect his reputation as a public man. THE TARIFF. Undoubtedly the greatest trial of Mr. RANDALL S courage, fortitude, and power of will was in the Fiftieth Congress, when he was called upon by imperative necessity to read just his position upon the tariff question, or to adapt it to new conditions, political and financial; and what he then said and did under circumstances of great difficulty is liable to misinterpretation. It was a question upon which he was conservative opposed to violent changes and certainly as much opposed to such changes increasing duties as in reduc ing them. Although at that time to stand still was impos sible under the pressure of a surplus, he shrank from that disturbance of existing interests which was implied in radi cal reduction; and the same conservative spirit would have caused him to oppose any general increase of duties designed to reduce revenue. He, therefore, s r oted against the Mills Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 17 bill of 1888, and would have voted against the more recent McKinley bill if it had been proposed. This sufficiently ap pears from his tariff bill and speech of 1888, and from his other speeches, Congressional and popular, made prior to that time. He made no pretension to profound knowledge of political economy or the laws of production and trade, but he commenced public life thirty years ago with a predi lection for the Whig doctrine of protection, as defined and limited by its authors sixty years ago, and this predilection appeared in sundry efforts made by him in later years, not only in Congress, but in certain State and National conven tions of his party; but I do not understand that he ever adopted or gave countenance to the comparatively modern doctrine of prohibitory duties, or duties to exclude the im portation of foreign goods. In fact, his declarations against a policy to that end were somewhat numerous, and were no doubt perfectly sincere, His re-election to the present Congress was a most gener ous and significant indorsement of his public career, given by men most of whom did not agree with him in opinion upon the most conspicuous measure of the preceding session. They felt pride in his reputation; they knew that his service had been greatly useful to his country, and that his ability and his character as their representative did them infinite honor. To judge the action of a public man upon any signal occa sion we must take into account his personal relations and the circumstances of the time. Upon the question of import duties, Mr. RANDALL had been subjected to the antagonism of rivals for party and public favor, the recollection of which in 1888 lingered in men s minds. Morrison bills in the House and platform making in political conventions had assigned to him a position peculiar and conspicuous, H. Mis. 265 2 18 Address of Mr. Buckalezu, of Pennsylvania, on the which he did not feel free to disregard; and besides, ar a leader of his party, devoted to its welfare and success, he feared and deprecated the political effect o f the comprehen sive and important revenue changes proposed. These are explanations which enable us better to understand his posi tion and judge his motives when he cast a remarkable vote in this House in July, 1888. It was a time of transition and change in x>ublic opinion a change, in the opinion of many, still in progress with what result the future will determine. Whether Mr. RANDALL, if he had lived, would have advanced with the so-called reform movement or would have continued to stand upon the compromise ground indi cated by his bill of 1888 must be a matter of opinion or con jecture; but with those who knew his devotion to his party, and his deep-seated conviction that the success of that party was essential to the public welfare, the former opinion will prevail. HOUSE RULES. I will conclude by referring to Mr. RANDALL S deliberate and settled opinion upon a subject which has been somewhat debated since he was disabled for attendance upon the House, and which will doubtless receive renewed consideration here after. He was of opinion that the rules of this House and the joint rules of the two Houses should be made to check or prevent hasty, improvident, passionate, and unconsidered legislation, and to curb the selfishness and injustice of party majorities. And he had his full share of responsibility for the stringent rules which were in force during all the later years of his public service. For having been twice Speaker of the House, and one of the oldest members in service, his opinions upon the rules carried weight and were deferred to by newer men. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 19 That those rules were in one or two particulars unduly stringent, because liable to gross abuse, was a concession freely made in recent debate, and their correction in those particulars would have occasioned little if any objection. But. in the main, in all essential particulars Mr. RANDALL was right, and in justice to his memory, and because the question, is important, I submit these observations. He held with Mr. Madison that of all the branches of government in a free country the legislative is most liable to an abuse of its powers, and requires the strongest limita tions. Possessing the power to make laws and to change laws, it is stronger than the executive or the judiciary, charged with the subordinate or secondary duty of expound ing, applying, and enforcing those laws; its members stand ing free from constitutional impeachment, and the two Houses, from their very constitution, being peculiarly liable to hasty, passionate, impulsive influences, and little fitted to resist them, it follows that there should be strong curbs upon .their action besides the executive check of the veto provided for by the Constitution. These were matured views announced by Mr. Madison in his later writings. It is not my business at present to argue this proposition or to defend it, but to state it as the ground of Mr. Randall s position upon so-called "obstructive rules, which he assisted to form and uphold, and in the utility and necessity of which he firmly believed: It is probable that the soundness of his view will be illustrated at the present session of Congress, both as to the immaturity and faults of measures passed without due con sideration and also as to the duration of the session, which bids fair to be as long under the new rules as under the old ones. But I turn to a more decisive illustration afforded by the action of most of the States in modern times. Nearly 20 Address of Mr, Buckaleiu, of Pennsylvania, on the everywhere in the old States and in the new constitu tions have been adopted which impose severe limitations upon the State legislatures, not only as to the subjects of their jurisdiction, but also as to their modes of proced ure in the enactment of laws. Among these are the re quirements that a bill must be read at length on three different days in each House; bills and amendments must be printed before acted upon; the purpose of a bill can not be changed by amendment, and that purpose must be clearly expressed in the title; the yeas and nays must be taken upon the final passage of any bill; must be recorded on the Journal, and in order to the passage of the bill a majority of all the members elected to each House must be recorded as voting in its favor; appropriations to charitable objects must have a two-thirds vote on their passage. These and many other procedure limitations appear in all the new State constitutions, and they are in addition to codes of leg islative rules, which, to a great extent, are limitations also. But if the necessity of limitations upon legislative proceed ings has been felt in all the States, how much more are such limitations in the Congress of the United States, and in the absence of constitutional amendment to cover the necessity is it not imperative upon the two Houses to adopt standing rules and orders which shall, as far as possible, supply the place of such amendment? Rules which can not be set aside at pleasure by a majority may be made to accomplish, to a great extent, like objects to those had in view by the people of the States in their procedure amendments. If a State with limited territory and population with a revenue of only a few millions and an expenditure of like amount can not have wise, pure, and satisfactory government without strong procedure curbs upon its legislature, can any one deny the greater necessity for such curbs in and upon Con- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 21 gress, a legislature with hundreds of millions of revenue and expenditure and with larger jurisdiction over the whole country and all its people? ADDRESS OF MR. MUTCHLER, OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. SPEAKER: When one feels a loss as of that of a com rade, and as a matter of personal experience can recall the genial kindness and courteous consideration for others which marked SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL S intercourse with his fellow-men, it is difficult to speak calmly of his completed life and untimely death. There is something chilling and repressing in premedi tated eulogy; yet to give vent to the feelings and to put into words the sorrow which all who knew him feel because we shall look upon his face no more would not befit this occasion. Memory brings back to us all very vividly the dignified pres ence, the earnest voice, the impressive manner of the man who but a few short weeks ago was a leader in this House, a living power among living men, molding public opinion and shaping national policy. It is hard to realize that we shall hear the earnest tones of his voice no more, and that here, where yet the echoes still linger, in accordance with the custom of this body, kind words are spoken of him to-day as flowers are sometimes dropped into new-made graves. He was a man whose strength of character, whose sterling integrity, and tenacity of purpose the masses of his country men fully comprehended. His was not the dazzling bril liancy of genius which is directed as by inspiration arid compels public attention, but he was one of the workers who- tirelessly take up the duties of every day and patiently and 22 Address of Mr. Mutchler, of Pennsylvania, on the laboriously build that which endures. Slowly, carefully, and methodically he examined every public question, and however difficult the problems involved might be he would patiently and thoughtfully consider them until he was pre pared to debate and vote intelligently and understandingly. The one great end and aim of his Congressional life was to do his duty, and He walked attended By a strong-aiding champion conscience bringing to the labors of every day the strong common sense and vigorous interest of an earnest, faithful, honest man. There were times, though not often, when I thought his views were wrong. But there never was a time that I did not know, whatever his position, that he believed he was right. I know of no man who served with him in public life (and I know many) who, however he may have differed with him, would not to-day gladly stand beside me to testify to his fidelity to the right as it was given to him to see it. His life was a protest against the ignoble love of ease and pleasure, and the prevalent and degrading worship of wealth which poisons our national life had no abiding place in his generous nature. He never ate the bread of idleness, and in the sturdy independence of his character he valued men for what they did rather than for what they had, for the noble qualities of their minds and not for the bulk of their material wealth. Although not always in accord with the majority of his party on questions of public policy, yet Mr. RANDALL was essentially a Democrat, believing with all his heart in the simple customs of the early days of our national existence, and heartily despising the tinsel and glitter, the pomp and Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 23 vanity, extravagance and luxury of these latter days. He talked well, and always to the purpose, when there was oc casion, and was among the most potent of all the able advocates who have graced the halls of the American Con gress, because his speeches were strong with a power of a strong man s conviction. He was a thinker and a worker whose self-denying faithfulness in the discharge of arduous duties gave him such large experience and intimate knowl edge of public affairs that 110 man without such special training can hope to fill his place. Such men sent here -to represent the people do honor to the people s cause. The dangerous brilliancy of genius is more attractive and the melody of eloquent orators will charm for awhile against the voice of reason itself, but it is the unswerving honesty of purpose, the sturdy common sense, and steadfast adherence to duty of such men as he that preserve to us all that is best and worth preserving in our national life. It is not necessary that I should dwell further upon this melancholy subject, nor that I should tell this House, nor the millions whom we here represent, who SAMUEL J. RAN DALL was. His fame as an honest, wise, and faithful rep resentative of the people is as wide as the Union itself. In his death the great State of Pennsylvania mourns the loss of a citizen whom she delighted to honor, and this great country that of one of her wisest and most patriotic states men. His pitiable condition for many months prior to his death can not be contemplated without feeling of the most profound sorrow. Suffering with a painful and incurable malady, he battled long and manfully for life, and never ceased to hope until the grim messenger of death closed his eyes in peaceful and, as to all earthly scenes, eternal slum ber. There is a rustle among the leaves and a sound like a 24 Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois, on the sob as the ripe fruit falls upon the sod beneath the trees ; and that is all. The sun shines, and the shadows fall, and the wind whispers among the leaves as before. The time of bud and blossom comes again and again, and the snow s white mantle falls upon the graves of departed friends. The awful indifference of nature to the darkness and pain and sorrow of death seems harsh and pitiless as we turn from the grave to the teeming life of a summer s day. " If a man die shall he live again?" Generation after gen eration the sons and daughters of men have come and gone since that heart-stirring inquiry was first recorded. Science has been appealed to in vain to answer, and all the passion ate longings of love get no reply. Our friends and loved ones pass from life and the rest is silence. Only faith can make a hopeful response, and never is faith so hopeful as when, regarding duty well performed, it listens in the dark ness of the tomb and hears the still small voice: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." ADDRESS OF MR, CANNON, .OF ILLINOIS. Mr. SPEAKER: I made the acquaintance of the late SAMUEL J. RANDALL in the Forty-third Congress. During that Con gress we both had service on the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads. I did not become intimately acquainted with him, however, until after he was elected Speaker of the House. From that time until his death our relations were not only cordial but intimate. No tribute that I can pay in words to his memory would be adequate to his merit as a man, his worth as a citizen, or to the record that he made as a legislator. That is the best evidence of his work when Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 25 living, and the most splendid monument to his memory, dead. Others have spoken of his character in private life, his virtues as a husband, brother, and father. I attended his funeral as one of the committee of the House. If it is given to the departed spirit to witness what passes after death on earth, the spirit of SAMUEL J. RANDALL could not but have been gratified at the exhibition of respect to his memory as a public man and one beloved for his virtues as a private citizen that was rendered by the multiplied thousands of worthy people when his body was committed to the dust. Such men, living, are a blessing to the race, and after death serve as useful examples and mainsprings of sentiment arid action to others in public life, especially to the young, whose faces are turned toward the east, watching the rising sun, with the expectation of enter ing into public life themselves. As a Representative and as chairman- of the Committee on Appropriations, over whose deliberations Mr. RANDALL so long and so ably presided, I beg permission to spread upon the record of the House the minutes touching his death offered in that committee by the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Breckinridge] and entered upon its journal: Upon the organization of the House of Representatives of the Forty- fourth Congress, SAMUEL J. RANDALL was assigned to the chairmanship of this committee, and won in a single session of his service as such chair man the highest reputation. Under his personal influence and leadership the annual expenditures of the Government were reduced nearly thirty millions of dollars, not only without impairing the efficiency of any Bureau or Department, hut actually to the betterment of the public service. This single statement demonstrates the very great qualities which he must have possessed to have accomplished such results. He brought to the discharge of his duties the experience of twelve years of service in the House, an unfailing resolution, an intrepid will, great and unflagging industry, and an aggressive and spotless integrity. 26 Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois, on the He made himself the master of every department of Government, and became absolutely familiar with all the necessities of the public service. It was perhaps impossible for any one in political sympathy with the Executive Department to have accomplished this reduction; but that it was wisely done has been proven by the fact that the leaders of the House, of both parties, have rigorously adhered to the general principles he laid down and substantially to the appropriations to which he gave his sanc tion. It is perhaps not saying too much that the action t of Mr. RANDALL, as the chairman of this committee, in the first session of the Forty -fourth Congress gave vigor and hope of victory to the Democratic party and exposed to the Republican party the dangers which confronted it. His service as Speaker in the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-sixth Con gresses exhibited the same intrepid courage, the same mastery of details, and personal integrity. As chairman of this committee in the Forty- eighth, Forty-ninth, and Fiftieth Congresses, he preserved in the House its control of the public purse, its supervisory power over the expendi tures of the Government, and its proper influence in our Government of checks and balances. In his private intercourse with his colleagues on the committee he was always pleasant, courteous, careful of the feelings of those with whom he associated, generous in his praise of their efforts, anxious to promote them and to give to each an opportunity for public reputation. To these qualities were added a familiarity with the rules of parlia mentary procedure and a capacity for leadership on the floor of the House which rendered it easy for him to succeed in carrying through the House the bills which under his supervision were prepared in the com mittee. It is extremely rare that these qualities are combined in a single individual: that he who was master of parliamentary procedure, and a great parliamentary leader on the floor of the House, should also have that careful and painstaking industry, that willful and aggressive integ rity and complete knowledge of all departmental affairs which made him easily the chief of the colleagues who sat with him around the commit tee table. During all the years in which he served as Representative and as mem ber of this committee, never for one moment was there the slightest sus- pifnon that he was in any way connected with any job. Absolutely pure ir. his personal and pecuniary relations, he could afford to do many things t ,nd to subject himself to much opposition which otherwise would have oeen impossible. He and all the world knew that he was invulnerable to any personal attack. Intensely partisan as he was in his nature, his convictions, and his hopes, he never permitted any difference of political opinions to invade the personal relations which he bore to his colleagues on this committee, nor to color his sense of justice to those with whom he served. Indeed, his sense of duty to the country and the Government always controlled Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 27 him as chairman of this committee. He believed that it was to the interest of the common people without regard to party that the expendi tures should be kept within the necessities of the Government, and that all reform was based upon a strict economy. It is therefore but the severest justice that we who were his colleagues, and who are called to perform the duties which were assigned to him, should put on record our admiration for the qualities which he exhibited in this position, for the conspicuous and increased power which he gave to this committee, and our personal affection for him. To some who have been associated with him around this table for years his death is a grievous sorrow: to all it is a personal loss. And yet there is in this grief only pride that in a long, laborious, and illustrious public service there is no weakness, not one day for which any one need apologize, nor one act which requires explanation. Such a public life is full of inspiration to those who are called to dis charge public duties, and is an exemplar after which young men may model themselves. It is therefore resolved that this minute be entered upon the records of the committee; that the chairman be requested to transmit a copy of it to the wife of our friend, to whom he will express our sympathy in that sorrow which no human affection can assuage. ADDRESS OF MR, FORNEY, OF ALABAMA. Mr. SPEAKER: My acquaintance with Mr. RANDALL began with my entrance into the Forty-fourth Congress. From that time until his death our relations were both pleasant and friendly. I was associated witli him for seven years upon the same committee. To-day I desire, with others, to unite in paying my humble tribute of respect to his memory. In expressing my sorrow at his death I know I am speak ing the sentiments of the people of my State, for Alabama held him in high esteem, admired him for his many virtues and sterling qualities, and loved him for the services he had rendered her people. During the great struggle in the House of Representatives, denominated by some as " the battle of liberty against des- 28 Address of Mr. Forney, of Alabama^ on the potism," the parliamentary tactics, indomitable pluck, and heroic endurance of Mr. RANDALL shone with unparalleled resplendence. To these great characteristics of the lamented statesman the whole country is indebted for the defeat and overthrow of a policy which would have wrought incalcu lable injury to the best interests of the entire country; for these grand efforts in behalf of just and humane legislation the South owes him a lasting debt of gratitude, and so long as a love of justice shall animate the Southern heart the memory of Mr. RANDALL will be cherished by her gallant and noble people. . Hon. Mr. O Neill, of Pennsylvania, his colleague, as well as others, have truly and fittingly spoken of Mr. RANDALL S services to his State, his loyal devotion as a husband, his loving kindness as a father, and the sweet domestic happi ness which ever reigned in the home circle. I come to speak of him as I knew him in this Hall and in the committee room. During the fall campaign of 1874 a political cyclone swept over our country which gave to the Democracy a majority in the House of Representatives. The key-notes of that campaign were the extravagances of the Republican party, retrenchment and reform ! " Mr. Kerr was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, and he made Mr. RANDALL chairman of the Appropriations Committee the money com mittee of the House. A great work was before him; a herculean task had to be performed. Expenditures must be reduced. Mr. RANDALL S long service in Congress made him familiar with the details of the Government. No one was more familiar with the previous legislation of our country, its history, its resources, and the needs of the people. He was well equipped for the discharge of the duties assigned him. He had able and ex- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 29 perieuced associates upon the committee. The work of " re trenchment and reform" commenced. He soon became master of the situation. When the work was finished the re sult of the labors of his committee, as well as I now remem ber, showed a reduction of $30,000,000 in the expenditures of the Government. The policies in respect of retrenchment and reform inaugurated by his committee have been the con trolling policies of his party since 1876, and which were so wise and eminently proper that the opposition, in the main, have followed them. By the work of Mr. RANDALL and his associates the people of the United States have been saved the expenditure of many millions of dollars. Upon the death of Mr. Kerr, Mr. RANDALL was elected Speaker of the House, and was re-elected in the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses. As Speaker of the House he was a model presiding officer, equal to every emergency, quick and ready, firm and resolute, yet always courteous. He was the peer of any of the great men who had preceded him; and the record made by him as Speaker of the House of Representatives will compare favorably with the records of the most illustrious men who have filled that exalted position since the organization of the Government. As a legislator he had few equals and no superiors. The impress of his great mind is stamped upon the statutes enacted during his Congressional life. He was a man of sterling integrity and above reproach. He lived through the days of jobbery and corruption: he came out with gar ments pure and spotless. He was the enemy to all corrup schemes, and was opposed to all raids upon the Treasury. The lobbyists disliked and dreaded him. They knew he stood for his country and his country s good. Mr. RANDALL has been called a born leader of men; and why ? He possessed all those great qualities which go to 30 Address of Mr. Forney, of Alabama, on the make up a leader. He had an iron will. He had nerve and courage. He hated intrigue, despised all shams. He was open, frank, honest, and manly to his opponents. He wore no mask. His panoply was the justness of his cause. He had convictions, and he was always loyal to his convictions. One of the highest evidences of his loyalty to his convic tions was that he never yielded one jot or tittle from his convictions upon the great tariff question, when he knew with reasonable certainty that by his yielding and falling into line with his party upon that question he could have reached the highest position in the gift of the American people Upon all questions save that of the tariff, in which he differed with a majority of his party, he was the acknowl edged leader of the Democratic side of the House up to his death. During parliamentary battles all eyes turned to him to lead the Democratic forces. When the battle raged the highest, in the hottest of the fight, he was cool and deliberate and never for a moment lost his balance. In the midst of confusion one blast from his bugle would rally his forces, and the "two wings napped together/ As a debater there were men who had a more ready flow of language, who were more gifted as orators, but none sur passed him in making his points clear. If eloquence con sists in carrying one s point, in convincing one s hearers, Mr. RANDALL was an eloquent man. He never indulged in flowery language or rhetoric, but he came down with sledge hammer blows which his adversary could neither resist nor ward off. Mr. Speaker, SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL, one of the greatest statesmen and purest patriots of his age, has passed over the river. Death has taken him from amongst us. He will be missed, not alone by the city of Philadelphia, his Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 31 home and birthplace ; not alone by the great State of Penn sylvania, which he for twenty-seven years so ably and faithfully represented ; but he will be missed here, in this Hall, by his party and by the people of our entire country. It is a pleasing reflection, Mr. Speaker, in our sorrow for his loss, to know that our friend and colleague has gone to a purer, brighter, and better world. His minister, Rev. Dr. Chester, told us in his eloquent sermon at the funeral of Mr. RANDALL that he " had administered to him the sacrament of the Lord s Supper." He told us that Mr. RANDALL " had passed through weeks of great pain, but bore his sufferings with a beautiful Christian patience." He told us that " when the summons at last came, on the Sabbath, just as the morning broke, just as the bells in a neighboring church were calling its worshipers, it found Mr. RANDALL prepared, for his soul was washed in that blood which cleanseth from all sin, which can fit a child of earth for an abundant en trance into heaven/ May we all be prepared to join our colleague when, like him, we are called to pass over the river. ADDRESS OF MR. BUTTERWORTH, OF OHIO. Mr. SPEAKER: Of the youth and early manhood of SAMUEL J. RANDALL I know nothing, except as they were reflected in the character, and bearing of the matured man. When I first saw him he was occupying the Speaker s chair, presid ing over the deliberations of the National House of Repre sentatives. His appearance was striking, and you at once pointed to him as a man of mark. SAMUEL J. RANDALL was a man of mark. The qualities that made him conspicuous among his fellows were not ac quired, they were innate; they were God-given. 32 Address of Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio, on the As I reflect upon his, as it seems to me, untimely death, and the loss his people have sustained, there comes to my mind the words of David, when he learned of the death of Abner : Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? " SAMUEL J. RANDALL was a prince among his people. He held his title not by word or touch of royalty he was a " prince by virtue of an earlier creation and the imposition of a mightier hand." It is seldom given to a man to leave upon the times in which he lives the palpable impress of his genius. There are many who, pursuing the noiseless tenor of their way, do yet perform a mighty work in the interest of the State, and more especially of the neighborhood in which they reside. But Mr. RANDALL S field was larger than the neighborhood where he abode ; it was broader than the State that claimed him for her son; it was as wide as the nation. His entrance upon the stage of public life was not such as to attract attention, but was quiet and without display. There was nothing meteoric about his movements. His election to Congress was not the result of great brilliancy of intellect, nor yet of dash in any forum, neither in the battle field where he strove, nor yet in the council where he was wise and persuasive, but it resulted from a recognition by his fellow-men of the sterling qualities which gave him promi nence here upon this floor. He was of the stuff of which martyrs are made. He was a Puritan I speak of a character, a type, rather than one of the class of persons who bore that name. He had the characteristics that have marked the Puritan everywhere upon the earth. Ho possessed an indomitable will and inflexible purpose, Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 33 and when once he had decided what duty required of him, he moved forward to the discharge of its requirements, and there was no change or shadow of turning until his work was done. Duty was to him a word of imperial command. He would have been useful to Cromwell. He would have sat with seren ity as a member of the court that sent Charles to the block, and I believe he would, with the same intrepidity that marked the Roman Regulus, have returned to Carthage to be tortured rather than advise the Romans to a cessation of hostilities or to make peace with the Carthagenians. He was a leader, not by the accident of choice, but by virtue of a commission that men might disregard but could not revoke. Leaders are rarely needed. They are for great occasions and times of public peril, not for the dull current of common events. Thirsites was never silent in the councils of the Greeks. Ulysses seldom spoke. In politics RANDALL was a Democrat ; largely, I have al ways thought, on account of the value of the political trade mark under which they did business the name democrat. Apart from its partisan aspect there is a charm in its sug- gestiveness. The name " democracy " is worth to the party that bears it a million of votes in this country without re gard to what is advocated or what is opposed by the party. It is known that while RANDALL stood one of the foremost and most influential in the ranks of Democrats, he neverthe less advocated many of the cardinal principles of Republic anism. He was an earnest protectionist. By that I mean he be lieved that the best interests of his country and his country men required that they should have at least, and possibly something more than, an equal opportunity with the citizens of other nations in every field of industrial endeavor. H. Mis. 265 3 34 Address of Mr. Buttenvorth, of Ohio, on the He did not believe in a system of what has been termed "reciprocal brigandage," born of an abuse which would supplant inequalities in opportunities between citizens of the United States and those of other nations by similar though more hurtful inequalities between our own people. The former Mr. RANDALL deemed a disadvantage, the latter a national calamity. He had confidence in the future of this Republic, an abiding faith in the saving common sense of the American people. He believed, first, that they desired to be right, that they desired to be just, and that if left to themselves, in the presence of conditions which afforded opportunities for an intelligent understanding of public questions, they would work out the salvation of the Republic without civil strife, without revolution. It is quite possible that he did not give sufficient considera tion to the dynamitic element which has been introduced from all nations of the earth, and the baneful influence that element has exerted upon the American character. But is it to be wondered at, since ordinarily there is more concern felt to achieve present political success than there is to pre serve our institutions free from influences potent, though obscure, which tend to civil discord and revolution? Who can guide the ship and yet stand on the shore ? Mr. RANDALL S life-work is done. It is difficult to rightly estimate the influence of such a character. He was not an orator, he was not a man of high scholastic attainments, yet he was none the less a profound practical philosopher. Few grasped as he did the logic of events. It may be justly said of him that in a human sense he saw the end from the beginning. His strong points were a wealth of saving common sense, an incorruptible honesty, Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 35 steadfastness in honorable purpose, and untiring industry, all supplemented by the highest order of moral and physical courage. He was thoroughly devoted to his family. No man felt a livelier interest in the purity and well-being of the home circle. He was not, I believe, until a few months prior to his death, an open professor of any religious faith although he kept the commandments, which is evidence of a perfect faith. Less, I think, to bring peace to his own mind than to set a worthy example, he connected himself with the church, realizing and testifying by his example and by the testimony he bore that it was well for us to associate ourselves together as Christians and to meet together for the purposes of wor ship. To my mind, at least, the fact that SAMUEL J. RANDALL openly, earnestly embraced the Christian faith ought to go far to confirm the wavering and remove the doubts of those who are hesitating, for he was a strong man, and no fear of death moved him, no terror that the grave could present operated upon his mind, but his profession was the result of a clear and full conviction that there is a life beyond the grave, and that that life might be in some measure, greater or less, fashioned by the thoughts and acts of mortals while on this side. We miss him. the country will miss him, and it will be long before his State will find his fellow. She may have sons more brilliant, whose bearing will attract the public notice more quickly, but she has no son who loved her with a devotion less selfish, or who will serve her with more cour age and constancy. 36 Address of Mr. Vaux, of Pennsylvania, on the ADDRESS OF MR, VAUX OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. SPEAKER: Elected for the unexpired term of SAMUEL, J. RANDALL in the Fifty-first Congress, occasioned by his death last April, it is fitting that I should pay my personal tribute to his character and memory. His distinguished colleagues who have served with him so long in Congress can the better discuss his official life and his eminent public services. We have already heard from them the most inter esting delineation of his career. I knew Mr. RANDALL after he reached manhood, and we were associates, more or less, for many years. In his early manhood he seemed to be destined to commercial pursuits. He did not, however, evince any partiality for that voca tion. He was restive under the restraint of the conventional rules which then regulated business enterprises. There were allurements in the energies that surrounded political organizations. These attracted him. If he studied law, he never, I think, undertook the discharge of the duties of the profession or entered a professional career. He was at tracted to political life by its harmony with his temperament. It is a remarkable fact that legislation was most congenial to his tastes. He was circumscribed in his public service to the legislative branches of government. His first introduction into politics was as a member of the municipal government of the city of Philadelphia, in which we both were born. He served four years in that body. It was a labor most especially of detail which he was thus forced to undertake. This he learned in his earliest experi ence. Then he was elected to the State senate of Pennsyl vania and served two sessions in that body. This was an Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 37 enlarged sphere for his experience acquired in the municipal government. A short time after this he was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and to this body he was consecu tively reflected until the Fifty-first, a quarter of a century of continuous service. It is not now to be considered whether exclusive devotion for a long time to legislation is the best school to eliminate the highest qualities of a states man. MR. RANDALL never served in any administrative or ju dicial station. He was not a great student nor a profound thinker. His practical common sense was his guide on and in all public questions. His marked characteristic was the mastery of details. He investigated and analyzed the prac tical elements in all public questions. He was a leader by the force of his personal power for high purpose. In him the sense of public duty was the basis of his public actions. His reputation stands on the pedestal of earnest convictions of right, which he followed. In the performance of his part in Congress this power was most conspicuous. Rarely did he discuss great principles. He always exhausted the facts and figures in all economic legislative measures. He was a great master of this most important branch of Congressional work. He became preeminent as an authority on all fiscal measures. He impressed his colleagues by his familiarity with the practical details of the questions proposed. He was by Con gress elected its Speaker. He led the House by his clear statements on taxation and appropriation bills, and fully expressed and explained the purpose and effect of such measures. In the chair he gained his highest honors. The people of the United States were as familiar with RANDALL. as the Speaker as they were with him as a member of the House. The character of his mind as I have sketched it will be developed and illustrated in his speech delivered on 38 Address of Mr, Vaux, of Pennsylvania, on the the 27th of March, 1876, "On the substitution of silver coin for fractional currency." I cite this only to substantiate the views I have expressed. It is a speech which shows Mr. RANDALL S line of thought, his command of detail, and his intellectual power. Mr. RANDALL S high rank and great fame were due to his zeal, energy, will power, courage, and determination. If he had taken up the profession of arms and entered military life he would have been a great commander. His capabilities would have been there manifested. He had the power to dominate and lead men, and his will was wonderful. His personal and political integrity were beyond the reach of suspicion. Schemes, jobs, covert efforts to secure public plunder by legislation, were neither countenanced nor en couraged. He was the enemy of the lobbyist. It is some what significant that these characteristics were so rare as to be the glory of his life, but so it was. The people honored these virtues and honored him. His integrity was one of the powers that gave him his influence. He never faltered, never hesitated in the course he had marked out. Those of his party who could not agree with him, and there were a large majority, bowed before his universally admitted stain less honesty. That was the brilliant jewel in the coronet of his fame. The cornerstone begins the foundation; so the capstone marks the completion of the material edifice. The consen sus of virtuous minds is formulated in the axiom that is the concretion of the lesson of human lives. When the days of the years of Mr. RANDALL S life were coming to a close, sur rounded by his family, whose devotion soothed as it had ever sustained him, he united himself with the Christian church. This consensus of virtuous minds in this axiom to which I have referred is found in the wordsfinis coronat opus. Con- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 39 f essing God the Almighty and Eternal Father, and his only Son our Holy and Blessed Redeemer, it came to pass that the life-work of Mr. RANDALL was crowned as he entered into eternity. Finis coronat opus. ADDRESS OF MR. CASWELL, OF WISCONSIN. Mr. SPEAKER : It requires no exaggeration to pay a high tribute to the life and character of SAMUEL J. RANDALL. The truth, simply and plainly spoken, will best serve my purpose in the part which I shall take on this occasion. It was to my advantage to be with him many years upon the floor of this House. Here I learned to know him and appreciate his great services to the country. It is a pleasure for me to add a few words to what has already been said concerning his public life, and to that alone shall I direct my attention. Mr. RANDALL was a plain, unassuming man, but his work was most effectual. He dealt in facts, and was always armed with reasons to justify his acts. He was not in any sense demonstrative. He accomplished most by a steady progress in his work, taking no steps backward. For many years he was a member of this House while his party was in the minority. But he stood firmly, wrestling against odds, yielding nothing. Over and over he submitted to defeat, only to rally and try again. He not only led his party at this time, but he commanded the entire respect of the opposition. Whether he was right at all times, or whether he was wrong 011 some occasions, no man could question his sincerity or the honesty of his purpose. He seemed moved solely by a sense of duty. In 1875, when his 40 Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin, on the party came into power in the House of Representatives, lie took high rank at once as a leader upon the floor. This he did not only in carrying out his policy, but also in the work of providing means for defraying the expenses of the Gov ernment. The Administration in all the Departments was still op posed to him, but as chairman of the Committee on Appro priations he held his hand firmly upon the door of the Treas ury, and to a great extent he dictated the entire expenses of the Government. JSTo man in the United States at that time, unless it were the President himself, held a stronger posi tion than did Mr. RANDALL. He could absolutely fix the amount of all the appropriation bills, on which the whole machinery of the Government depended. He could say, "This you can have, and no more." In the first year of his services as chairman of this committee he made large reduc tions in the expenses. He revised the entire civil force, ap plying the pruning-knife conscientiously, if not wisely, with a view of reforming the service, reducing expenses, and consequently the burdens of the people. Still later on, in 1877, when Speaker of the House, he ren dered the country a service which alone was sufficient to place him high on the plane of statesmanship. That occa sion will never be forgotten by his contemporaries upon this floor, nor will it be forgotten by the American people, who love their country better than their party. In the history of our Government we have never been without a President for any period, however short. If the electoral count had not been completed that year, so as to determine who was chosen President before the close of the session on March 4. no method could have been devised by which the result could be determined, and for a time at least we would have been without a President of the United Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 41 States, and the succession would have been involved in the greatest of doubt. The last hours of the session were rapidly approaching. The count was incomplete. Dilatory proceedings could easily have consumed the re maining time to the close, leaving the result of the election of 1876 undetermined. A completion of the count was cer tain defeat for Mr. RANDALL S party. Revolutionary means alone could install in office the man he believed to be elected. But Mr. RANDALL preferred the defeat of his party to the jeopardy in which the country would be involved. If Con gress had adjourned without declaring the result, no one could have predicted the consequences. Rising above party, above the rules and parliamentary law which had always governed the House, he planted him self upon the constitutional mandate that the electoral vote should be counted, and he held the House should not ad journ or transact other business until this high duty should be performed. And it was performed. In this bold but justifiable act on his part, as Speaker of the House, history will write his name along with the fathers and defenders of the Republic. His far-seeing eye ran over the future, and he believed in the ultimate triumph of truth and justice. If wrong should intervene in counting the vote, he knew the people at the first opportunity would make the correc tion. He thought it far better that he and his associates should meet with defeat than that this Government of the people should be suspended, or that we should be arrayed in hostile attitude toward each other over the Executive Depart ment of the Government. He was willing to sacrifice his personal preferences for the good of the whole country. During the last years of our lamented friend he was shorn 42 Address of Mr. Caszvell, of Wisconsin, on the to some extent of his leadership in the party to which he belonged. Many will say and believe he was greater than his party. Certainly his transition from the place he had held as leader so long was not due to a want of ability, or integrity, or in generalship, so much needed at the head of a great party embracing 30,000,000 of people, but simply and solely for the reason that his associates differed with him in the protection policy, which he so sincerely believed to be necessary for the good of the country. In the stand he took for the protection of American in dustries no one can doubt his sincerity. He was reared in the school of protection, and he was executing the will of a most patriotic constituency. He faltered not, but remained faithful to his trust to the close, and a grateful people will revere and respect his memory for his patriotism and fidel ity. Strange as it may seem, the succeeding triumph of the party to which he did not belong was his own vindication and restoration to leadership. While Speaker of the House he was a great believer in the constitutional rights of each individual member, and no one, however strong, was permitted to usurp or trample upon the rights of any other member. He believed in the equality of representation, and that the constituency of each member had a right to be heard in the House of Representa tives. This was a distinguishing feature of his administration as Speaker. Few, if any, of his predecessors excelled him in fairness. His official service was marked with a personal kindness that brought sincere regret, shared in by all, when the hour of separation came at the close of the sessions. But the useful career of this great man has passed into history. He has gone from us to return no more. We shall no longer hear that voice, so familiar to us here in the Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 43 House. The messenger of death has stifled it forever. But he has spoken volumes for us and left a record here full of examples and instructions to guide us in our deliberations. He has passed from this arena, where he earned his great name and fame in the cause of his country, to that better shore where truth and goodness reign supreme. ADDRESS OF MR. BLOUNT, OF GEORGIA. Mr. SPEAKER : This occasion awakens the memories of the past seventeen years in connection with the most important and stirring events of that period. The figure, the action, and utterances of SAMUEL J. RANDALL assume that distinct ness and nobility which proclaim him a leader of men in the public affairs of his time. It is not my purpose to review his life from its commence ment, but rather from the period when I first knew him on the floor of this House until his end came. Indeed, this task is more than I can consummate, for it would exact not only the history of all the stirring scenes which by reason of the incidental excitements commanded public attention, but of a large part of national legislation, requiring patient and laborious study of the very highest importance to the coun try, and yet repelling the ordinary mind by the long-sus tained effort to comprehend fully its scope and results to his countrymen. Coming myself to the Forty-third Congress, he first at tracted my attention by the intense interest which he mani fested in debate on all questions which involved public ex penditures. At the head of the Committee on Appropriations was Hon. James A. Garfield, afterwards President of the United States. His comprehensive analytical mind was dorn- 44 Address of Mr. Blount, of Georgia, on the mating its work. Eyeing all of it with shrewdness, sagacity, and unswerving toil and courage stood as the leading oppo nent of the majority SAMUEL J. RANDALL. The election of a Democratic House brought him to the head of the Com mittee on Appropriations. I was placed on that committee with him. To this I refer only because it gave me a rare point of observation of his qualities. He saw and seized the opportunity of a most marvelous reduction of public expend itures. The Senate of the United States was Republican and opposed to his purpose. The President of the United States was not only a Repub lican, but sustained by the devotion which sprang from the fact that he was peerless amongst the great soldiers who led the armies of the Union in the recent civil war. Under his counsel and guidance the appropriations contained in the various bills made a reduction of $40,000,000. Immediately the fires of the opposition in the House, Senate, Administra tion circles, and the press were kindled. All the resources of political warfare were turned upon him and his measures. Taking advantage of the financial crisis then upon the coun try he pursued them in debate in the House with a courage, zeal, patriotism, and richness of information which rallied his friends about him with a confidence and enthusiasm never excelled by any man, living or dead. The Senate rejected his reforms and disparaged them with the most labored and vehement criticism ; the con ferees met, hotly debated differences, and returned to their Houses reporting disagreements in language born of intense and bitter strife. Most of the session of 1875- 76, which ended 011 the loth of August, 1876, is filled up with a struggle for reduction of expenditures. The Senate finally yielded a reduction of $30,000,000. On this struggle rested the Democratic campaign of 1876. Mr. RANDALL had con- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 45 ceived and consummated the magnificent record on which his party claimed the confidence of the American people. The occasion forbids that I should enter fully into a discus sion of the scenes in the two Houses of Congress, the Elec toral Commission proceedings, the general alarm in all sec tions and all parties for fear of an interregnum in the Presi dential office, and the possible dangers from irregular and unconstitutional measures which might be invited. The elections of 1874 returned an overwhelming majority for the Democratic party in the House of Representatives for the Forty-fourth Congress. The second session of the Forty-third Congress assembled in the following December with the House of Representatives nearly two-thirds Repub lican. The civil rights and force bills were brought up for action. It was believed by Southern members that they were designed to create disorder and race troubles in the South. Despondency and irritation each afflicted her people. With a great Government hostile to their peace, their civil ization, thier hopes, as was manifested in the proposed legis lation, there seemed to be utter darkness all about them. And yet there was found a way of escape. A leader of the minority, skilled in parliamentary tactics, grounded in constitutional principles, brave in every emer gency, burst upon the scene. From the rules of the House he extracted a system of dilatory motions, which for three nights and two and one-half days, without intermission, staid all action. During the time he had never slept, and ate at his desk. His manly frame yielded not to fatigue; his clear-sightedness never for an instant mistook the situation; his firm resolve and flashing eye animated with faith and en thusiasm his followers. At the end of this struggle it was seen that the session was too near to an end for the force bill to pass; it was believed the Democrats in the Senate 46 Address of Mr. Blount, of Georgia, on the could consume time and prevent the passage of the civil rights bill and that further tax of physical strength Was not needed in the House. The force bill never became a law, the civil rights was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the sky brightened in the Southern land, and hence forward the name of SAMUEL J. RANDALL was revered and loved at her every hearthstone. This struggle, and that for reduction of public expendi tures, to which I have referred, placed him in the group of great Americans. The death of Mr. Kerr, Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Forty-fourth Congress, during the summer of 1876, vacated this high place. To fill the vacancy was an easy task. It was assigned, naturally, justly, enthusiastically, to Mr. RANDALL. He was after wards twice elected to the same office. His administration was marked by economy in expenditures and aggressive purity on all questions. My memory is full of interesting incidents in his career in this office, but I must not pause to litter them here. I shall be permitted to speak freely of one. It will be remembered that in the Presidential election of 1876, on the face of the returns, Mr. Hayes received 185 votes and Mr. Tilden 184 votes. It was alleged that the returns in Louisiana were false and fraudulent; that the certificate to the Florida vote should have been given to the Tilden electors; that in South Carolina, by the use of troops and deputy marshals, the people were overawed and a fair elec tion was defeated. Exceptions were taken to the certificates from Oregon, and it was alleged that the electoral vote of that State should have been given to Mr. Tilden. Time will not permit nor is it deemed necessary to state with more elaboration the objections against counting the votes of these States for Mr. Hayes and the reasons for giving them to the Tilden electors. They were attended Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 47 with circumstances so significant as to create a profound fear of civil war. This led to the passage of the Electoral Commission act. To the commission was submitted all the questions in dispute. Provision was made against dilatory proceedings in the two Houses of Congress in joint or sepa rate sessions. Thus it seemed a peaceful solution was as sured. The case of Florida was decided in favor of Mr. Hayes. The same conclusion was reached as to Oregon. A like result was reached in the case of South Carolina. At this stage. March 1, 1877, a majority of the Democrats of the House, under the belief that the decisions of the commission were erroneous and founded on partisan feeling, and that bad faith obtained, desired to stay the proceedings. If this were consummated the 4th of March would come and no provision have been made for President. An inter regnum in the office would have occurred. Expedients based on necessity and unsupported by law might have been resorted to by both parties. Law and order were threatened throughout the land. Dilatory motions were made in the House and supported by the great body of Democratic Rep resentatives. If successful, anarchy was threatened. All depended on the lofty patriotism and heroism of the Speaker, Son. SAMUEL J. RANDALL. Obeying the law, he refused to entertain the motions. He left his party friends because duty dictated it. It were better to sayHhat they were driven by passion from law, while he, lifting himself above the storm, saw in that great arbitration the safety of our institutions and the harmony of his countrymen. A study of the details of this Presidential election, of the varied and violent agitations of the popular heart, the vast dangers apprehended by the best men of all parties, and its peaceful solution, form a grand setting for him who rose as high as this great emergency. 48 Address of Mr. Blount, of Georgia, on tlic Mr. Speaker, for fourteen years of his public career I had such relations with Mr. RANDALL as to enable me to say I knew him well. His time was devoted to his public work. He was a severe and constant student. This, long contin ued, enriched him in knowledge. I would not call him learned. The greatest judges, soldiers, and statesmen have rarely been preeminent here. I would not call him the most artistic debater. Not that he might not have excelled in this. His earnest heart and quick, sagacious mind seized truth and scorned the slower methods of the logician, which stood between it and action. I would not call him an orator. His modest, simple nature turned him away from all the ornaments of language and the art of arousing and directing the hearts of men. He was courageous. No man excelled him in his physical or moral courage. He was an honest man. The giver of bribes shrank from his presence; the flatterer bound him not with silken cords; the paths of friendship only paralleled his duty to his country. Armed with knowledge, earnest, clear, direct enunciation of thought, commanding physique, lofty traits of character, he was easily the leader of associates who followed with a faith and enthusiasm such as I have never known any man to enjoy in all my experience. The law of change is written in the early forms of vegeta ble and animal life, whose characters science busily deciphers. The drifts and sands of time give up to human endeavor the arts, manners, forms of government .and religion of dynasties once hid from human remembrance. The historic period emerges. Over this wide field myriads of busy men have acted their noble or ignoble parts. The muses have charmed ; philosophers have instructed; the warrior has conquered : the statesman has debated and diplomatized : the masses have trod the humble ways of human life, and over all an unseen Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 49 power, never changing, is ever changing all things. It is not palpable to sight or touch, and yet it is about me. It has taken from me my friend, from my country a patriot states man, from a noble wife the unsullied affection, sympathy, and counsel of a model husband. SAMUEL J. RANDALL has passed from life, and history will preserve his character and career as a treasure for her students. When last I saw him he was emaciated, blood less, pulseless, dead. The awful mystery seized upon my imagination and consciousness. The warrior s form was there, but where was his animating soul? The dim lights of man s highest philosophy disclose its immortality. The teachings of nature point to the same truth. The divine revelation proclaims that if a man die he shall live again. A higher charmed life rises out of our scenes of sorrow and soars to nobler labor and joy. We stand on the shore of time eagerly struggling for some glimpse of our friend in the unknown land. Tis vain. We can only say in our sadness, Farewell! ADDRESS OF MR. MCCOMAS, OF MARYLAND. Mr. SPEAKER: This House to-day mourns its greatest par liamentary leader, SAMUEL J. RANDALL, during half of his lifetime a member, the titular * Father of the House," and thrice the Speaker of the House. A century of Congress shows that a mere rhetorician may flash and fade here. A golden tongue may put a passing spell on members and galleries, but even tumultuous ap plause dies away. The rare gift of eloquence, when its voice is stilled, lingers here only as a half-extinct tradition. It is not so with our great Congressional leaders. Long H. Mis. 2G5 4 50 Address of Mr. McL oi/ias, of Maryland, on the experience and the training given on this floor are the bases whereon they build a more lasting fame. SAMUEL J. RANDALL will rank among the foremost of these. Modern civilization affords no occupation for great law givers. Every Congress can not rewrite the statutes. The wisest and truest Representatives do not aspire to leave a law as a legacy to the people. Ephemeral statutes are soon made and soon obsolete. Enduring laws are the work of many hands and slowly evolved. The office of great leaders like RANDALL is to steadily sway and constantly lead the minds of their fellows within this Hall, and public opinion outside. It is hard to cata logue their achievements, hard to trace in outline their impress on legislation. If, as was RANDALL S fortune, a long career here be passed as a member of the minority, his function is to resist, and not initiate. The four years of President Cleveland s administration, unhappily, did not wholly extricate him from his attitude as a minority member on industrial questions. By nature he was a conservative; forceful, masterful, ag gressive, yet nevertheless a conservative. In that school of adversity, the minority, steadily through long service SAM UEL J. RANDALL acquired his marvelous equipment for at tack and defense and gained undoubted leadership on this floor. Tall, athletic, robust, he seemed a man born to command. Some faces fade from the memory as a fleck of cloud from a morning sky. We who knew him never can forget RAN DALL S handsome leonine face, his keen, black eyes, his wavy, iron-gray hair, his iron jaw, his smile, or his frown, as he in the van of controversy cheered or checked his side of the House. We hear again his voice penetrating the re- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 51 cesses of this Hall, witness again his pluck in pressing the fight, or his sudden and gracious tact in yielding non-essen tials when stoutly contested in order to carry through the House in triumph a great appropriation bill. His keen analysis, his short sentences, his brief speeches, often impassioned, always effective; his compact statements, always clear; his intuitive knowledge of the temper of this House, wayward and sudden and fitful as it always is, made him the leading and controlling spirit in Committee of the Whole and the master of debate under the five-minute rule, the only real debate in this House. He was an intense American. This thorough American ism kept him in touch with this House, a composite of every variety of American thought. He thus instinctively felt every change of its mood. After he had concluded his last memorable tariff speech, as he crossed this Hall he exclaimed to* me, "I am an American, and therefore I am a protec tionist." It was his Americanism, his love of the Union, that car ried him as a volunteer soldier to the front. What a worthy glimpse of American life, to see Private RANDALL in his tent, with- a cracker box for a table, writing to the Assistant Secretary of War that George H. Thomas ought to be made a general. He was serving his sixth term in Congress when he elec trified his party, seized its leadership, and, by the skill he had acquired, defeated the so-called force bill." His most memorable service to the country as Speaker was when he courageously checked and routed the filibus ters by a ruling which led the House to abide by the result of the Presidential Electoral Commission and saved the country from a disputed succession to the Presidency. Upon the subject of appropriations, whether as a member f)2 Address of Mr. McComas, of Maryland, on tJic on the floor or as chairman of that great committee, he struggled unceasingly for retrenchment in public expendi ture. More than any of our public men, it was SAMUEL J. RAN DALL who taught the country and many administrations that the power of appropriation is in Congress, that it is not in the Departments, that Congress must closely scrutinize estimates of public expenditure approximating $400,000,000 annually. For this duty of retrenchment and power of Con gress he waged battle against the Departments, the Bureaus of the Army and Navy alike. For this cause he as firmly resisted the Democratic administration as he had always fiercely assaulted the Republican administrations. After six years service with SAMUEL J. RANDALL on the Committee 011 Appropriations I am convinced that he, dur ing his fourteen terms of service, saved very many millions of dollars for the people and ingrafted reforms upon every branch of administration. He did not stint appropriations to the defenders of the Union, their widows and orphans. He was never a blatant, yet always a sincere friend of labor. In the secrecy of the committee I often noted his sincere sympathy with the great modern movement for shorter hours and the amelioration of the condition of the multitude of toiling men and women who constitute ours, the greatest Republic. He was. in the best sense, democratic. His tastes were simple. His daily life was ceaseless toil, lighted up by the glow of a happy home fireside. Throughout his long and distinguished career his reputa tion was unsullied, his integrity stern, unbending, and stain less. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, the great leader of his party, one of the foremost commoners of his age, was above all an honest man. With a warm and generous heart, attaching friendships beyond party lines, living more than a quarter Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 53 of a century in the Capital of the nation, he who saved a hundred millions to his country was indifferent to wealth, as though he had taken a vow of poverty, and died a poor man, having worn out his noble life in his country s service. ADDRESS OF MR. DUNNELL, OF MINNESOTA. Mr. SPEAKER: My words on this occasion will be few. To-day we make a halt in the work of legislation that we may in proper form and words do honor to the life and character of the late SAMUEL J. RANDALL. He was born in the city of Philadelphia, October 10, 1828, and died in the city of Washington, April 13, 1890. He entered Congress March 4, 1803, and remained in continuous service till his death. A eulogy will be at fault which does not assert that Mr. RANDALL was a man of the severest integrity. Serving here during a period when great temptations were offered for a departure from the path of public and official uprightness, he has left a name which no whisper of wrongdoing has ever tainted. The allurements to gain touched him not. He was true to himself, his oath, his country, and his God. He courted poverty rather than wealth. Mr. RANDALL was a man of conviction. His convictions controlled him. They gave him purposes and rules of con duct which formed his character. That character was early discovered by political friends and adversaries. In its pos session he was strong and unshaken amid the temptations which beset a man of his prominence. The ruggedness of his convictions was seen and always felt, for it was sustained by the boldness and courage for which he was so preemi- 54 Address of Mr. Dunnell, of Minnesota, on the nently distinguished. Such a man becomes a leader and in Congress leaves his impress upon the legislation of the country. When Mr. RANDALL had taken a position he could be driven from it by nothing less than a sure conviction that he was wrong. This firmness on many occasions made him grandly useful to the nation. In 187G he gave his adhesion to the settlement of the Presidential count by an Electoral Com mission. During all the dark hours and days which fol lowed the creation of that commission and the final announce ment, Mr. RANDALL was heroically patriotic. Had he wavered, a civil war, then so threateningly imminent, might have befallen the country. The following sentences, taken from a leading daily, so clearly and truthfully delineate the character of our lamented friend that I use them here: His was a patriotic breadth of character that sectional lines could not circumscribe; his influence was far-reaching and his usefulness was national. He was a lover of his country and its institutions, and his departure from the activities of life leaves a vacancy that will be sin cerely regretted and profoundly felt by the whole people. He was a force that never faltered in the presence of blandishments or intimidations a man whose sympathies were always upon the side of the commonalty to which he glorified in belonging. He had no use for intrigue or conspiracy, and fraud upon the Government in any form was to him the synonym of baseness akin to treason. Of such a man it is our wont to say that he can ill be spared: but he had gathered abundant sheaves and God called him, in His own good time, to rest. He was thoroughly a man of the people. He knew their wants and had their ways; and it was upon the floor of the House, as a tribune of the people, that he most distinguished himself by his readiness in debate, his alertness of action and fruitfulness of resource, his wonderful self- command, and the masterly skill with which he led his forces in and out of the attack. Wherefore did the whole country mourn at the death of Mr. RANDALL? It was because a great leader of conspicu- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 55 ous public and private virtues had gone; because a man of stern integrity had ceased to hold his place in the councils of the nation. Such a man is loved, for he can be trusted; for such a man the sweetest praise is sung; at the grave of such a man the purest tears are shed. My acquaintance with Mr. RANDALL began with the open ing of the Forty-second Congress. In the Forty-seventh, I had the honor to be with him a member of the Committee of Ways and Means. It was during our service on this com mittee that I discovered his habits of mind, his industry, his thoroughness, and his methods of investigation. He de clared his purpose to make an exhaustive study of all the questions coining to that committee. He began and con tinued his studies with remarkable zeal. Though he had then been a member of the House for eight een years and Speaker more than four, yet he brought with him a primer giving the language and technical terms of words found in revenue enactments, announcing his purpose to make himself familiar with the very elements. It was during that Congress that I learned to honor him. Some of us will remember the manly strength and beauty that were his. It did not seem possible that he would in so few years be found grappling with a disease which should bring him to the end of life. Death plans his own campaigns. He holds council with none of his victims. They are wholly at his mercy. To the many he gives no warning, while to some he allows his approach to be seen. To these it is often a favor, though not meant to be so. To our friend, whom we mourn to-day, death was in sight for many months. He had no fear, for, indeed, he hoped for returning health and other years in the service of the country. He had no fear, for he had given a cheerful submission to Heaven s way of escape in death. 56 Address of Air. Mills, of Texas, on the from the sufferings of a mortal state to the felicities of a heavenly. At the funeral service his pastor said of him : He passed through weeks of the severest bodily pain, he fought nobly, courageously, hopefully, the battle with disease, yet he bore his suffer ings with a beautiful Christian patience. On a Sabbath, just as the morn ing brok", just as the bells in a neighboring church were .calling its worshipers, the summons came to him to worship in the heavenly temple, to enter the Sabbath of eternal rest. The simplicity of the funeral services in the church which he had so long attended were touchingly beautiful. It was the wish of our friend that no display be made when he should be taken to his final resting-place. His wish was carefully observed. The common people came to the church and sought a last view of their lost friend. Many hundreds came. His simple life and his friendly greetings in the years past had won their admiration and love. No better tribute could I render to the illustrious dead than record this fact. An account of the funeral at Philadelphia closes as follows: The absence of any public demonstration, and the immense gathering of people of all walks of life, marks Mr. RANDALL S funeral as one of the notable ones in Philadelphia s history. The flags on all public and many private buildings were placed at half-mast, but this was the only out ward sign of sorrow, it appearing as though everybody was content to express their grief in silence. Thus quietly and eloquently the great statesman was laid at rest. ADDRESS OF MR, MILLS, OF TEXAS. Mr. SPEAKER: Before I proceed I will send to the Clerk s desk and have read an extract from a letter written to me by ex-Governor Crittenden, of Missouri, who was a warm per sonal and political friend of Mr. RANDALL; a letter written as a testimonial of affection for his friend. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall, 57 The Clerk read as follows : RANDALL is dead. Truly a great man has fallen. In brain power there were and still are many men in Congress stronger than he, but when all their qualities are considered, I much doubt if his equal has been on that floor for many years. You and I were with him in the Forty-third Con gress, when his bold leadership did more to defeat the force bill, with the small minority at his back, than the work of all others combined. He never retired from the Hall, seldom from his chair, during that prolonged session, and then only to partake of the simple lunch served from his own home. After the famous political contest was over, led on by General Butler on the one side and resisted by RANDALL on the other, I heard President Grant say could RANDALL have led military forces as he did political ones his legions would have been invincible. He was a man of few words, but of many deeds. He had the respect of all men and the confi dence of friend and foe. He never betrayed a man under any circum stances. He differed from the great leaders of his party on the tariff question, yet he differed with them as a man of honest convictions, as truly and boldly representing his views and locality as any Representa tive in Congress. I doubt if he ever intentionally wounded the feelings of any honest man, however much he differed from him on any subject. He was an ardent friend of the South on three grounds: First, its consti tutional right after peace had been declared; second, his friendship for a brave people; third, his desire for a rehabilitation of impoverished States and people, in justice to themselves and as a means of strengthening the whole. Whilst not an impetuous and belligerent man, RANDALL condemned wrong to a man or a section so strongly that, in the words of Daniel O Connell, he could say, " I am against oppression everywhere and at all times, and wherever the oppressor shows his head there I launch my bolts." Although not by any means an orator in the common acceptation of that word, yet he was a speaker of much magnetism to thinking men by reason of his strong ideas, compactly presented, commanding the atten tion of his opponents as fixedly as any debater of superior forensic power. He never spoke without having something to say, and saying something when he did speak. The whole country sustains a great loss by his death, his party a safe leader and wise adviser. No man did more to command the respect of the younger members in age as well as service than SAM RANDALL. He was ever ready to help them over the troublous ways of parliamentary law in such a modest way as to accomplish the desired effect without embarrassing the recipient of his favor. Permit me to give you another instance of his kindness of heart. When four of us were retiring from Congressional life at the close of the 58 Address of Mr. Mills, of Texas, on the Forty -fifth Congress two from the South, one from Indiana, and myself from Missouri he invited us to take a farewell home dinner with his family at his modest home on Capitol Hill. It was an occasion of the most genuine, unassumed hospitality, free absolutely free of all re straint, making each guest feel at once that he was at home with his own kith and kin; also making each one think and feel, without the least tinge of obligation to the distinguished host, then the Speaker of one of the greatest legislative bodies of the world, that the farewell dinner was a special, personal honor, and a sweet souvenir of a closed political life. It has so impressed me from that time to this, and I would rather erase from my memory all other recollections of Washington than that even ing with SAM RANDALL. As I read of the quiet close of his great life with the sweet word " Mother" dwelling in love upon his lifeless lips the first conceived and the last uttered I with millions of others think it was in full harmony with his nature, so simple, so pure, so true to every instinct of elevated manhood, closing, as it had begun, " With the beauty of the moonlight, With the beauty of the starlight." The death, of SAMUEL J. RANDALL marks an epoch in our history. For more than a quarter of a century he had been a member of this House, and for the greater part of that time a conspicuous figure in American politics. He came from the camp, where he had performed the duties of a sol dier, and entered the legislative halls of the nation to perform the duties of a statesman. He entered public life at the most critical and trying period through which the country had ever passed. The apple of discord had been thrown and the purple testament of bleeding war was unrolled, and in every part of the land the people were reading the lessons which its crimsoned letters revealed. During the continuance of the strife all eyes were fixed upon the battalions that were gathering at the bivouac or fighting and falling on the ensanguined fields. The labori ous duties of the statesman, however necessary to the popular safety, attracted but little notice from the public eye. The light that was soon to be seen high above the horizon and Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 59 burning with resplendent brightness was not then observed through the thick battle-clouds that darkened earth and skies. The terrible conflict ended during his second term as a member of the House. The insurgent armies were dis banded ; war had "smoothed his wrinkled front." Victors and vanquished had returned to their homes, and the tardy and difficult work of restoration began. The attention of the country was now turned to the national Capitol and fixed upon the actors who were engaged on that great stage. The fierce passions which war had fanned into flame were still sweeping like forest fires over the land. The country was divided on questions of policy affecting the treatment of the conquered people. Some of the ablest of the Repub lican leaders demanded that their lands should be con fiscated and granted to the victorious soldiers of the Union ; that the Confederate leaders should be executed ; that the States which it had been asserted could not withdraw from the Union were in fact out of it and could only be brought back on such terms as Congress should prescribe ; that the white people should be disfranchised and their emancipated slaves enfranchised. A wild, reckless, and ungovernable revolutionary spirit seized and dominated the Senate and House of Representa tives. Laws were passed which annihilated State govern ments and organized military districts on their ruins. Civil government was abrogated, courts were closed, military commissions were appointed, trial by jury was abolished, and the writ of habeas corpus was incarcerated in the same military dungeon with the vanquished. The "indestructi ble States " were obliterated and States were reconstructed on the foundations where they once stood, with their powers derived from the consent of emancipated slaves, and the 60 Address of Mr. Mills, of Texas, on the corrupt adventurers who had been sent among them to lead them were chosen to fill all Government positions. Corruption reigned supreme in all the departments of the newly instituted and reconstructed States. A vast monu ment of public indebtedness was raised upon the shoulders of a people already prostrated to exhaustion by war. The contagion was not confined to the reconstructed States. Every branch of the National Government was inoculated with the poison. In the midst of this stormy and starless night, SAM RANDALL, as he was known familiarly and called by the people, began to rise before their admiring gaze. He was seen to wear " the white flower of a blameless life." At such a time a man of his ability could have acquired an am ple fortune, but he chose to live and die poor, and yet was al ways too rich to be bought. By his labor he could support his family in comfort, and with that he and they were con tent. Wealth had no spell which it could throw over him, no power that could draw his feet the ninth part of a hair from the path of integrity. From crown to toe he was an honest man. He was hon est in his thoughts, honest in his words, honest in his feel ings, and honest in his desires. No man, from the begin ning of the Government to the present hour, ever entered this Hall or departed from it with a purer conscience than SAMUEL J. RANDALL. When he surrendered back to his constituents the trust they had so long confided to him, and when he surrendered back to his Maker the spirit that made him a living soul, he could stand at either tribunal and say like old Samuel when, after a long tenure, he was surren dering up the government of Israel, " Here I am. Witness against me. Whom have I defrauded ? Whom have I op pressed ? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?" Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 61 It was not alone his spotless integrity that made him con spicuous at a time when corruption was widespread in all departments of government, but it was the lioiilike courage and the splendid ability with which he espoused and defended the cause of the right. Like Moses, he was a born leader of men. Like Moses, he loved his own race and kindred and he loved the laws and institutions of his people. Like Moses, he came to the rescue of his oppressed kinsmen with heart nerved and his soul consecrated from the fire of the divine presence. Like Moses, he was not fluent in speech; he was a man of deeds rather than words. Ke used but few words, which he aimed directly at the subject. There was something about him that attracted men to him and riveted their confidence in him. That something was what made him a leader among men. He had strong character. Every one felt its force when he was brought into contact with him. He was calm and deliberate in counsel. He was firm even to stubbornness in adherence to his opinions. No one of his lieutenants nor all of them together could make him swerve from his purpose. There was something in his blood, his brain, his nerves, and his moral structure that attracted like gravitation. Without seeming to affect it or even to desire it, he held his party to his person, and with one exception, and only one, they followed wherever he led, and followed without a question of his ability or the wisdom of the measure he sup ported. On economic questions he was not in accord with his party, and the divergence gave more cause of regret to them than it did to him. I have often remonstrated with him and entreated him to concede something and keep in har mony with his party, who were ready to bestow upon him the highest honors within their gift. Again and again I have assured him of the stronghold he had on the affections 62 Address of Mr. Mills, of Texas, on the of our people, and how painful it was to us to see him persist in his opposition to all the traditions and teachings of his party, and how anxious we were to put him first, above all others, as the one bright and illustrious name, the leader of the party of Jefferson and Jackson; but entreaties and re monstrances alike were vain. Nothing could move him from his conviction. He was like that hero of whom Hor ace sang: Should nature s frame in ruins fall And chaos o er the sinking ball Resume primeval sway, His courage chance and fate defies, Nor feels the wreck of earth and skies Obstruct its destined way. In the memorable struggle over the revolutionary meas ures of the Forty-third Congress he displayed the great qualities of leadership that made his name a household word throughout the land. It was then he showed to the world that he was master of parliamentary law. He was at the head of a minority, but little more than a third of the House, yet by his consummate skill and address he foiled every attempt of the majority to pass their bill. The ma jority side of the House had a large number of the ablest men in the Union, but among them all there was no match for RANDALL. When he stood among them he was like Saul among the chieftains of Israel, from his shoulders and upward he was higher than the tallest on the field. I can never forget, nor will the people among whom I live ever forget, that struggle, or forget the man who for seventy hours stood at the post of duty to avert the blow that was aimed at their hearts. The name of the force bill and the name of SAM RAN DALL, the one the oppressor and the other the deliverer, are remembered and often spoken around the firesides of our Life and Character of Samuel j. Randall. 63 Southern homes. Our people remember how they shrank with fear and trembling at the mention of the one, and how their hope sprang forward at that of the other. We will soon have before us another wanton, reckless, and revolutionary measure, more widespreading and pernicious in its effects than the one of the Forty-third Congress. That measure is now being proposed and it is to be enacted to override the State governments of the South, supplant the State officers, and take charge of the ballot box and the reg istration, counting, and certification of the votes of State electors. We shall miss Mr. RANDALL when this legislative monster enters this Hall. On his dying bed, when he knew not that the hand of death was on him, he often expressed a hope to be fully restored to health when these measures were taken up in the House. While he could not accomplish anything where parlia mentary rules were abrogated and the procedure was reg ulated by a sort of military order that prevents motions and amendments, and permits the majority to register their de crees without debate, yet he could make his indignant de nunciations heard throughout the land, and awake a slum bering public opinion to speak out in behalf of the imper iled rights of the people. But he is gone, and we must meet the enemy and fight the battle without his aid. As a Southern man, and speaking for Southern people, I say that our differences of opinion are buried in the grave with our dead friend, that we cherish in our memories and will keep perpetually green the tender recollections of his faithful friendship for us when a powerful enemy was seek ing our destruction. 64 Address of Mr. Osbornc, of Pennsylvania, on the ADDRESS OF MR. OSBORNE, OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. SPEAKER: SAMUEL J. RANDALL was born in the city of Philadelphia, October 10. 1828. His education was aca demic, and it was his early intention to become a merchant. Politics lured him from the ambition of his youth, and he became a member of the senate of Pennsylvania. While a senator the war broke out, and at the first call for troops by the National Government, in April, 1801, he enlisted, and on the 13th of May, 1801. he was mustered into the United States service as a private soldier of the Philadelphia City Troop to serve for ninety days. The troop was attached to the Second Regiment United States Cavalry, commanded by Col. George H. Thomas. His service, though brief, was active and interesting. He was with his troop and participated in the battle of Falling Waters, and proved himself to be a "brave soldier in battle. For his conspicuous gallantry on that occasion he was pro moted to orderly of the troop. In October, 1802, he was elected a Representative in Con gress from Pennsylvania. From that time until the day of his death he remained in Congress, having been successively reflected to every Congress from the Thirty-eighth to and including the Fifty-first. I have been told by gentlemen who were in Congress when he came here that he was a very quiet member, and took time in becoming accustomed to his new surroundings. He, however, early made himself effi cient in committee work. In the Forty-second Congress he became a member of the Committee on Rules. In the Forty-third Congress he led the opposition against the force bill, and its defeat was due Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 65 mainly to liis efforts. He made an aggressive fight. By common consent, RANDALL became the hero of the occasion. In the Forty-fifth Congress his friends were confident that he would be made Speaker, but they were obliged to wait, and RAXDALL became chairman of the Committee on Ap propriations. Before the close of that Congress the Speaker died and RANDALL was chosen to fill the vacancy. His occupation of the chair was a guaranty of an honest administration of duty, regardless of personal consideration and in the broad spirit of a statesman. History will record him second to none as the presiding officer of this House, whether the standard be ability, in tegrity, firmness, breadth of character, or learning in par liamentary law. When I contemplate how he stood up in the Forty-ninth and in the Fiftieth Congresses in defense of protection to American industry, I confess an admiration for his nobility of character and declare that he was a patriotic statesman of the broadest vision. Nothing could stand between him and duty. His life was one of honor and honesty, amid great temp tations. There were times in his life when his friends trem bled lest he should stumble. But, thanks be to Him who sits among the stars, he has passed into the great hereafter with out a stain upon his personal integrity. After twenty-eight years of public service, during the most exciting time of our country s history, he died honored and beloved by all who knew him. H. Mis. 265 5 66 Address of Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky, on the ADDRESS OF MR. MCCREARY, OF KENTUCKY, Mr. SPEAKER : In all ages and in all countries men have honored their dead and turned aside for awhile from the cares and conflicts, the duties and demands, of life to recall their virtues and triumphs, and in kind and loving language rendered to their memory tributes of respect and love. "Death, advancing with equal and impartial step," has stricken down nine of our brothers in this House of Repre sentatives. All had served faithfully and capably, and three of them, Samuel S. Cox, William D. Kelley, and SAMUEL J. RANDALL, because of their long membership in Congress, their great abilities, and their valuable services, ranked among the foremost men of our country. The death- roll in the Fifty-first Congress is very lengthy, and memoriaj. proceedings have almost continually reminded us that "in the midst of life we are in death." To-day we pay tribute to the memory of SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL. This desk at which I now stand was his for nearly twenty years. It recalls his devotion to duty, his fealty to principle, his brave and able efforts as a tribune of the people. Here he displayed that courage that never blanched before an. adver sary, that leadership which made him one of the most re markable men of his time, that honesty which was so well known and so highly respected, and that ability which en abled him to grasp facts and achieve victories in behalf of wise and patriotic legislation. It recalls also his genial nature, his pleasant faculty of endearing himself to all who sat around him, his unforget- ful courtesy and friendship which were so often manifested to his friends and which, if I may be pardoned for a personal allusion, he showed to me so kindly when, among his last Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. G7 written requests, lie invited ine to occupy his seat at this desk. His committee room was his workshop, and the House of Representatives was his grand forum, where he helped to form the policy of his country and helped to check en croachments on the rights of his countrymen, and I know of no other man who for twenty-eight successive years was so completely identified with the Hou se of Representatives or who gave himself to national legislation so unceasingly and untiringly without a single abstracting pursuit. Mr. RANDALL seemed to be destined to act his part in very important epochs. He was born in the midst of the great campaign which resulted in the election of Andrew Jackson as President of the United States, and in courage, energy, and devotion to duty he was a fit exemplar of the hero of the Hermitage. He was elected to Congress soon after the commencement of the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and took his seat when a terrible civil war was raging. His experience as a soldier before he entered Congress and his participation in the legislation of Congress during the war made him the true friend of Federal soldiers and the cham pion, when the war was over, of peace, friendship, and fra ternity on honorable terms between those who had engaged in civil strife. Nearly twenty-eight years have passed since he entered Congress, but he belonged to such a remarkable and dis tinguished group of men who impressed themselves so thoroughly on the legislation of those times and developed so rapidly under the excitement of the war period that the history of all of them is conspicuously interwoven. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, Samuel S. Cox, George H. Pendle- ton, William S. Holman were then 011 the Democratic side of the House of Representatives, and James A. Garfield, James G. Elaine, William D. Kelley, and William Allison 68 Address of Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky, on the were on the Republican side. What a splendid galaxy of gallant and gifted gentlemen. All were young and promi nent in the Thirty-eighth Congress. One has since been elected President of the United States, one was nominated for the Presidency, but defeated, two have been formidable candidates for the nomination for President, one was Speaker of the House of Representatives for five sessions, and five of them were Senators or foreign ministers. To-day all of the Republicans named are dead except two and all of the Democrats are dead save one, Mr. RANDALL being the last to receive the dreaded summons which sooner or later must come to us all. It may be said with emphasis that no man in that conspicuous array of able men excelled him in stainless character, honest purposes, pure and exalted manhood, and courageous devotion to convictions. He was fourteen times elected by the voters of his district to represent them in the Congress of the United States and he- was three times elected Speaker by his brother Repre sentatives. He was an accomplished parliamentarian and discharged the duties of Speaker ably and promptly and fairly. On the floor of the House of Representatives, as a debater or as a working member of committees or as leader of his party, he was conscientious and courageous, and won from his friends and political opponents the proud title of a just and honest man. When corruption was rampant in the country and lust for power threatened to be stronger than love of country the tongue of slander never tarnished his reputation, and he died poor in purse, but rich in honor and public respect. As the unrelenting foe of extravagance and jobbery he stood between the Treasury and the men who were trying to obtain appropriations of money, and as chairman of the Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 69 Committee on Appropriations he saved many millions of dollars for the Government. In defending the rights of the States against Federal en croachments Mr. RANDALL was at his best, and his memora ble physical and intellectual battle royal in opposition to the force bill" not only gave him a great and deserved reputation throughout the country at the time, but it will always be remembered as a great achievement in a life full of brilliant achievements. Trained in the protection school of Pennsylvania politics, he was always in full sympathy with the Democratic party on every question except on the tariff, and 110 one ever doubted his sincerity 011 this subject or dared to assail the integrity of his motives. But it is not necessary that I should say more about the public life of SAMUEL J. RANDALL. His utterances are found in nearly every Congressional Record issued in the last quarter of a century, and the history of his life is a splendid compendium of national legislation during that period. His private life was peaceful, pleasant, and happy. All that I know of it was interesting, instructive, and tender. With the weapons of worldly warfare laid aside, his home life was full of sweet cadence, and around his own hearth stone he appeared as the devoted husband, the loving father, the generous friend. It was here that he illustrated how happy and contented he could be, as he tried to do his full duty to his God, his family, his country, and his fellow-men. Thus loving and loved our friend and brother Representa tive passed away. The political storm in which he was born, the trying and thrilling war scenes amid which he commenced his Congressional career, have long ago been succeeded by "ways of pleasantness and paths of peace." He lived to see, and with a master mind he helped, his coun- 70 Address of Mr. Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, on the try return to peace, progress, prosperity, and fraternity, and he died with the music of church bells filling his ears and the sweet word "mother" on his lips. We miss him and mourn for him here. His countrymen deeply deplore his death. It ameliorates the nation s loss to feel that he "fought a good fight," and died full of years and full of honors, and that history will forever record and preserve his public services. Bowing with resignation to the decree that called him away from us, I express the sincere hope that Divine blessings will comfort and sustain his loved and bereaved wife and children. ADDRESS OF MR. DALZELL, OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. SPEAKER : It is very fitting that those who for many years had participated with Mr. RANDALL in the conduct of public affairs should bear witness to those manly qualities, that lofty conception of duty, and devotion thereto, which entitle him to a place among the great men of his time; but it is also fitting that some who stood at greater distance from him and can dispassionately measure results should be permitted to bring their contribution to the chaplet to be woven in his praise. . Of such, Mr. Speaker, I am one. Coming to the Fiftieth Congress a new member, I met with a friendly reception that I had no right to expect from a veteran statesman like Mr. RANDALL. I had from him words of counsel and encouragement, and I found that he was not unwilling on occasion to take suggestion and counsel even from a newcomer. One scene by reason of his connection with it is inefface- ably impressed upon my memory. I recall with great dis tinctness the day when, in this House, Massachusetts with Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall . 71 commendable pride made gift to the nation of the portraits in oil of those of her distinguished sons who had occupied the Speaker s chair. In words fitly spoken and with chaste and classic eloquence the presentation was made. The Speaker s chair, as it happened, was temporarily filled by an honored son of New York and of the nation, now, too, numbered among the great cloud of witnesses who testify only to the things that have been. He whose memory we now honor, speaking, as he said, in words inspired by the occasion, moved the resolution by which the gift was accepted. It occurred to me then that there was a peculiar appro priateness in the fact that an ex-Speaker, whose official record would compare with that of any Speaker living or dead, should voice the nation s acceptance, and it occurred to me also that the time was probably not far distant when Pennsylvania might claim the proud right to place in the Pantheon of the nation s worthies the counterfeit pre sentment of SAMUEL J. RANDALL side by side with pictures of the chosen sons of Massachusetts. Mr. RANDALL S speech on that occasion was characteristic of the man, and furnishes the key to his life and character. Referring to the Speakership, he said: Soon after I entered this House, now more than a quarter of a century ago, I came to consider that that office which you, sir, now temporarily hold was the highest office within the reach of an American citizen; that it was a grand official station, great in the honors which it conferred and still greater in the ability it gave to impress upon our history and leg islation the stamp of truth, fairness, justice, and right. These, then, were the objects of his ambition truth, fair ness, justice, and right to be enacted into law; this his estimate of the value of public place, that it furnished the opportunities for such enactment. 72 Address of Mr. Dalsell, of Pennsylvania, on the Will any man say that Pennsylvania s great Speaker ever swerved from his lofty conception of duty or hesitated in the task of its performance ? And does not history bear witness that, regardless of person or party, keeping -close to the line of conscience, he faced with a dominant courage every emergency that fortune cast into his pathway ? The historic period within which his public career is bounded is the most picturesque in our national life. It includes a civil war unparalleled in kind and character in all the annals of time. In that war Mr. RANDALL was a soldier on the side of his country; but of this he made no parade, content that the consciousness of duty done should be his ample reward, and his fame will ultimately rest upon his achievements in this House. Here legislative questions presented themselves, more novel and trying even than those attendant upon the early days of an experimental republic questions involving new relations between individuals and between States; questions of finance, of taxation, and relating to new and untried con ditions. The wise adjustment of these questions called for ingenuity, for courage, for the exercise of a discreet and deliberate judgment. This is not the time for their review, nor have they any place here, save as illustrating Mr. RAN DALL S loyalty to his conviction of duty, his untiring industry, and his contribution to their wise determina tion. Mr. RANDALL was eminently a tribune of the people. To most men distinguished in public life the House of Repre sentatives is but a halting place on their pathway to the Sen ate or beyond. To this rule Pennsylvania has contributed a triumvirate of conspicuous exceptions. With pride she points to Thaddeus Stevens, William D. Kelley, and SAM UEL J. RANDALL as members of the world s select company Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. . 73 of great commoners whose pulses beat in unison with the pulses of the people. Mr. RANDALL S was a long, faithful, earnest, honest, fruit ful public career. It is ended. The chapter of his life is closed. The judgment must now be pronounced from which there is no appeal. It is with us who knew him a judgment of commendation. I hazard the opinion that posterity will not reverse it, that his character will assume larger and grander proportions with the passage of time. Many men make their mark on their own time; not many leave their mark on succeeding times. Many men write their names so that their own generation may see and know them; but few carve their names, as SAMUEL J. RANDALL did, 011 the en during tablets of history. And so we leave him his career well-rounded, his life work done, the strife of this arena forgotten, all cares rolled away, all pains soothed Secure from worldly chances and mishaps. Here lurks no treason; here no envy swells; Here grow no damned grudges; here are no storms, No noise, but silence and eternal sleep. ADDRESS OF MR. OTERRALL, OF VIRGINIA. Mr. SPEAKER: Pennsylvania weeps over the grave of RANDALL, her illustrious son, but she weeps not alone. Every State mingles her tears with those of the State that gave him birth, rocked him in her cradle, nursed him in her lap, reared him to manhood, honored him through life, and looked with unspeakable pride upon his greatness 74 . Address of Mr. O* Ferrall, of Virginia, on the and fame, and now wreathes garlands about his imperish able name. Pennsylvania stands with bowed head, clad in mourning as his mother, but she stands not alone in her grief, for this whole land is stricken. She is here to-day through her Representatives to speak her words of sorrow at his death, but she speaks not alone, for the Representatives of forty- one other States by sigh or voice or moistened eye speak the sorrow of a nation. I have risen in my place as a Representative of the Old Commonwealth to testify as best I can with my feeble tongue to the love she bore for this great and grand man, and to the anguish of her soul now that he has joined the mighty host beyon.d the shores of Time. I need not say Virginia never simulates love; she never feigns sorrow. She loved RANDALL with a devotion that knew no bounds, and her sorrow at his death is as genuine as her love was true. She may not quickly forgive an enemy, but she never for gets a friend. Her heart may be as hard as adamant and her temper as violent as a cyclone when confronted by a foe, but a kind hand, a kind word, or a kind look softens that heart and calms that temper, and a friendly deed opens up the wellsprings of her nature and they come forth gushing in torrents of gratitude. She may write wrongs deep upon the tablet of her memory, but she chisels deeper acts of justice. In RANDALL she ever found a friend whose hand and heart and soul were enlisted in her defense against wrongs and in the vindication of her rights. With her Southern sisters she stood weak and poor, bleed ing from a hundred wounds, helpless to avert the dangers that threatened, powerless to ward the blows which were Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 75 being aimed at her dearest interests, her material welfare, her most sacred rights, her civilization, her homes, her lares and penates. Almost in despair, almost ready to accept what seemed to be the inevitable and to bear with heroic patience the yoke which had been made for her neck, as sudden as a flash, as quick as a sunbeam, despair gave way to hope, hope sprang into confidence ; a deliverer in full armor, strong, able, and courageous, appeared in the arena SAMUEL J. RANDALL, the man with a nerve of iron, the courage of a lion, and the wisdom of a sage. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, the born leader of men, the born enemy of tyranny, the born lover of con stitutional freedom, had espoused the cause of a weak, feeble, bleeding, and defenseless people. From that eventful moment the South took courage ; her patriarchs raised their drooping heads, her young sons stepped quicker and their blood flowed freer, while the bosoms of her daughters heaved with emotions, and with uplifted eyes their lips moved in prayer and their tongues sang pseans and praises. History records that memorable conflict on this floor when for seventy-two consecutive hours, with eyes that never slumbered and a body that never rested, this man stood like a mighty giant parrying and thrusting, contending and battling for the eternal principle of local State government until the light of victory broke and the wires heralded the glad tidings from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and the mountains and plains, hills and dells of the South were swept by the sounds of a rejoicing people. Mr. Speaker, it is always easy for a public man to spring into the current of popular sentiment and be carried along by the clamors of the majority, but true manhood rises in the majesty of its strength when in the maintenance of 76 Address of Mr. O* Ferrell, of Virginia, on the some great principle it becomes necessary to stem the swift- gliding current of popular sentiment and face the clamors of the multitude. True heroism shines in defense of the weak and never in the crusade of the strong. True patri otism dazzles with its effulgency in the vindication of trampled rights and never in the maintenance of public wrongs. Measured by this standard the illustrious son of Pennsyl vania will ever stand in the twilight of history as the very personification of manhood, heroism, and patriotism. Our annals are replete with examples of the highest types of the man, hero, and patriot; our pages of history are bright with the deeds of those " whose names were not born to die." The youth of this land need not turn his eyes to foreign climes for the most perfect models of public virtue. He need not delve among the musty traditions of Greece and Rome or study the records of modern Europe for pat terns of the statesman and patriot. Here, here under these skies, under the sun that, unob- scured by partisan clouds, sheds its genial rays alike upon the plains of Texas and the hills of Maine; here, under the segis of our Constitution, have been born, have lived and died the grandest types and most perfect models of men; and here in this galaxy is SAMUEL J. RANDALL, from whom the boy of Virginia or Massachusetts can draw the inspira tions of truth, honor, courage, fidelity, and patriotism, and learn the duty that man owes to his country. But, Mr. Speaker, I must not trespass longer upon the time set apart for these memorial addresses. My tribute, though poor and unadorned, has at least the merit of sincerity. My heart feels more than I can express. I am glad that I knew SAMUEL J. RANDALL personally, and proud that I could call him my friend. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 77 He is gone And let our future poets learn to sing How here in his place he stood erect, And battled always for his country s cause Her shrines, her Constitution, and her laws. Virginia brings her laurel wreath to bedeck his name; upon his grave she plants her evergreens of memory, and upon the walls of her homes she will hang his image, hop ing, believing that the God in whom he trusted, who "from seeming evil still educes good,* has dealt the blow for wise purposes of His own. ADDRESS OF MR. BUCHANAN, OF NEW JERSEY. Mr. SPEAKER: I rise, sir, not to direct your memory back to struggles in this Hall, when the fires of sectional hate were kindled and party spirit ran high, but. in a few words, to pay tribute to what I believe to have been the predomi nant trait in the character of our departed friend and asso ciate. SAMUEL J. RANDALL was an honest man. Amid all the temptations of place and the allurements of power he kept his name and fame pure and unsullied. No doubtful scheme received his support, and his vote followed only upon care ful and conscientious investigation. Devoting the best years of his manhood to his country s service, he thought pnly of the public good, and never of self. Holding at times the reins of extensive power, he lived the simple life of an humble citizen, and died poor in this world s goods, but rich in the affection of his colleagues and en dowed with the esteem of all the people. Words grow tame as we stand in the presence of such a character and with all the freshness of such a memory yet upon us. 78 Address of Mr, Mansur, of Missouri, on the May his example animate us, and inspire to such a per formance of our duties here that when, over the cold and inanimate form of each one, the words of tender friendship are spoken, it may be truly said: "He, too, was a faithful representative of the people." With his simplicity of life, his devotion to duty, his love of country, SAMUEL J. RANDALL would have at our hands no other monument. ADDRESS OF MR. MANSUR, OF MISSOURI. Mr. SPEAKER: Some years since an aged friend was stricken to die within the hour. Being near neighbors, my wife and myself were hurriedly summoned. On arriving, I found my friend lying upon his right side with his face toward an east window, his devoted wife and some of the younger children at the foot of the bed sobbing wildly, at the side his eldest son, convulsed with grief, kneeling with an arm over the form of his father. Passing around the foot of the bed, entering a narrow space between it and the window, I took the hand of my friend within my own, then, looking into his fast-fading and dim eyes, I said, Uncle Andy, do you know me ? " At once, brightly, yet almost divinely, through the eyes of the soul he answered my appeal. I have said brightly, I should have said fiercely, scintillating like diamonds "of purest ray serene," the eyes burned with electric fervor. Never in all my life had I gazed upon and into such glorious eyes; entranced, I saw naught but his life, his in telligence, his spirit, his soul, answering to my gaze. Thus a moment passed. Then the flashing scintillations became quiet, the eye burned brightly, but quietly, the orb seemed Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 79 to contract, the bright light grew smaller, weaker in force, fading, dying, is gone, a scarce-heard sigh was gently breathed, and the spirit of Uncle Andy wafted its way to that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns. " The body of my late friend lay before me. The earthly tabernacle was there, but the spirit, the intelligence that dominated that body, was gone; gone never to return to earth, or to again inhabit its late abiding place. Strange thought, strange idea, yet for years I have felt that I saw that imprisoned soul depart and heard its zephyr whisper of farewell. What is death? Who can answer? That it separates the spirit from flesh all admit. That the flesh after death perishes, decays, all know ; yet what of the spirit ? For one I affirm an undying conviction that it survives. I know not how nor where, but I do know that I have never thought upon death without a blind, fierce, intolerant conviction grew upon me that my soul could not enter into oblivion. It must survive. It must somewhere exist and adapt itself to its new condi tion and surroundings. It may be in happiness. It may be in misery; but, glorious thought, triumphant conviction, it survives, it lives, it exists. Reason as I will, as I have, I can not escape, nor would I, the everlasting belief in the eternity of the soul. That it were* possible For one short hour to see The souls we loved, that they might tell us What and where they be. A great man of a great country has died. Died like a hero, in that he died at the post of duty. A man of imperial mold, SAMUEL J. RANDALL scorned dishonor, hated cant, de spised hypocrisy, and loved integrity. To those he loved, 80 Address of Mr, Mansur, of Missouri, on tJic gentle as a woman ; to those he scorned or despised, fierce and unrelenting as a tiger. A spirit bold and unterrified as ever animated a man, he knew not fear or surrender. Given to him the conviction that he was morally right, he never yielded nor quailed. When I remember, much as he loved the Democracy, to which his whole life was dedicated, in whose service he died, that he would not abate a jot of his devotion to the cause of protection, when badgered, hounded by every organ and every orator of tariff reform, he pursued the even tenor of his way, fighting for his idol of protection, disdaining to strike back at party friends who so frequently read him out of a party he idolized, but out of which he never went, and, it may be, in humble imitation of "the man of sorrows," never taunted or reviled his traducers, I think and believe he was the strongest yet most patient man in his convictions of political duty I have ever known. I did not know Mr. RANDALL prior to the Fiftieth Congress. I shall therefore leave the questions of his lifetime service to his party, to his country, to others to speak upon, who knew him longer and more intimately than myself. To me he was always kind-hearted and obliging. Upon his learning that I was born in the limits of his district, he ever afterward seemed to feel an especial interest in my wel fare, and I recall many manifestations of the same upon divers occasions. A couple must here suffice: When ascend ing the Delaware River upon th occasion of the launching of the two United States steamers at Cramp s navy-yard at Philadelphia, in the summer of 1888, he sought me out upon the boat, stood by my side, warned me to look quickly, as the boat shot by the foot of Chestnut street, lest I should not see the corner nearest the spot of my birth, which he was playfully anxious I should see, which he carefully de scribed beforehand, and then pointed out to me. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 81 Again, in July, 1888, during the tariff debate, under the "five-minute rule, I was, with whatever power and energy I possess, assailing the doctrine of protection. When my time expired Mr. RANDALL sought and obtained recognition, and kindly, nay, graciously, gave his friend from Missouri his time, and permitted me to go on and assail, to my heart s content, his favorite political dogma. This recognition by the Chair and transfer of time was his last appearance in health upon the floor of Congress, save once, a day or two later, when, on July 9, he spoke a very few words, only a dozen or two, in regard to the proper rate of taxation for molasses under the then pending tariff bill. Stern, austere it may be, at times to others, to me he was uniformly kind and gracious. Grand old man heroic soul making his peace with his God, surrounded by a loving family and mourning friends, he departed this life Sunday morning, April 13, 1890; poor in the goods of this world, but unpurchasably rich in an un dying fame, an unsullied reputation, and a glorious memory to which his country and his friends can ever point with unceasing pride, and bid the youth of the future to emulate his career and take him for one of their great exemplars. Let us believe, purified by long suffering, disenthralled from an infirm body, which on earth hampered his mighty soul, he is to-day in the realms of eternal space, a leader among disembodied spirits^even as he was on earth a leader among men. God s finger touched him and he slept. H. Mis. 265 6 82 Address of Mr. Williams, of Ohio, on the- ADDRESS OF MR. WILLIAMS, OF OHIO. Mr. SPEAKER : Death is a mystery unsolved by human intellect. The grave is a sealed book, and beyond the portals of the tomb lies the shadowy land of the unknown. Philosophy builds out of the aspirations of this life the theory of the immortality of the soul. Religion calls to her aid the handmaid of faith, and teaches the doctrine of a life beyond the grave, but in the presence of this profound problem of human destiny we have only the speculations of the philosopher and the faith of the Christian, for no messenger has ever returned from the shoreless sea of eternity and the grave has never revealed its secret. There fore, in the presence of death the proudest intellect bows in reverential awe, and the humblest child of earth stands with quivering lips and aching heart. Mr. Speaker, my personal acquaintance with our honored colleague whose death we mourn and whose virtues we to-day commemorate began in the Fiftieth Congress, but for over twenty years I have been familiar with his public history. Although I was not in sympathy with the party to which he belonged, I have watched his political career with intense interest, for there is something inspiring in watching the career of a brave, honest man fighting not only his political foes, but fiercely contending with his party friends for the establishment of a policy and principle he believes to be for the interest of his people and nation. SAMUEL J. RANDALL was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and reflected to every succeeding Congress to the present time, and died a member of this body. I am informed that during his first and second terms in Congress Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 83 he seldom participated in the debates on the floor of the House, but was a hard worker in his committee room. In the Forty-third Congress he obtained a national reputation for the strong, persistent, and successful fight he made against a powerful majority in opposition to the famous "force bill." In the Forty-fourth Congress he was chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, and added new laurels to his growing fame in his successful efforts in retrenchment of Government appropriations. In the second session of the Forty-fourth Congress he was elected Speaker, and was also elected Speaker of the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth. His rulings as Speaker have been criticised severely and of ttimes harshly, but no decision made by him was ever overruled by the House. He received 100 votes as the nominee for Presi dent in the Democratic convention of 1880, and in the con vention of 1884, where he was not a candidate, but a strong supporter of Grover Cleveland, he received on the first bal lot 170 votes. Had he been nominated in 1880, when the friends of the silent Man of Destiny were sulking in their tents and the friends of the Plumed Knight of Maine were brooding over defeat, he would have commanded the confidence and sup port of the friends of protection in his State and nation in sufficient numbers to have insured his triumphant election. Mr. Speaker, this is not the time and place to criticise and speculate upon the mistakes of a great party, but I believe that had SAMUEL J. RANDALL received the nomination of his party for President in 1880 one of the saddest chapters in the history of this nation would have been unwritten and the tragedy which resulted in Garfield s death avoided. Mr. Speaker. SAMUEL J. RANDALL died a poor man. This statement standing alone is ordinary and commonplace; but 84 Address of Mr. Williams, of Ohio, on the it is not so when we remember that during his long Con gressional career he occupied positions where he had only to be silent and silence would bring riches, he had only to be passive and inaction would bring wealth, and that through his long career of public life, five times appointed chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, three times elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, no stain rested upon his personal integrity, no shadow of suspicion fell upon the pure white robe of his reputation for honesty. Mr. Speaker, in this period of our nation s history, when the wisdom of statesmanship is subordinated to the greed for riches, when the God-given genius of bright intellect pales before the glint of gold and the sparkle of diamonds, when the toga of a Senator and the robe of the tribune of the people are won and worn as the price and adornment of wealth, the rugged, honest character of SAMUEL J. RAN DALL stands out as a priceless heritage, not only to his family, but to the common people of this nation. Sir, since the beginning of this session of Congress two of its oldest and most honored members have passed away. Pennsylvania and Philadelphia have been unfortunate. Wil liam D. Kelley, " the father of the House," full of honor and of years, rich in experience and the wealth of a well-culti vated intellect, after devoting his life to establishing the principles of the equality of all men before the law and pro tection to American industries " sleeps the sleep that knows no waking," and before the flowers that adorned his grave faded in the sunshine and storm we were called to pay the last tribute of respect to his honored colleague, who died in the prime and vigor of a ripe manhood, the victim, as I be lieve, of constant and unremitting toil for the cause of the people he loved so well. Mr. Speaker, the memory of SAMUEL J. RANDALL will Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 85 live in the hearts of the people. The simplicity of his life, the impress he has made upon the statute books of the na tion, the fearless spirit and the rugged honesty of the man will be an incentive and inspiration to the young men of our country to cherish the liberties of the people and the simple manners of the fathers of the Republic. ADDRESS OF MR. COVERT, OF NEW YORK. Mr. SPEAKER : Next, perhaps, to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, my own State of New York loved SAMUEL J. RANDALL best while living and now mourns him with deep est sorrow dead. The sublime courage of the great states man, his deep earnestness, his ever-present faithfulness, and his unswerving honesty were qualities which commended him long ago to the whole people of my State. To-day New York joins with Pennsylvania in an expression of sincere sorrow at the loss of one who was something more than an able and respected Representative in Congress. A statesman has left us whose home was not alone in the locality which sent him here, but in the hearts of the people of the whole land. He represented more than a local con stituency and stood for more than local interests. While his home district was near and dear to him always his alle giance was not confined to its narrow limits, and his labors were not alone for its peeple. He had for his constituency patriotic and liberty-loving men everywhere, arid he had for his district the whole confederation of States. I shall not attempt sir, at this late hour, to add anything in the direction of personal history to what has been so fully and feelingly said by my esteemed friend from Pennsylvania [Mr. O Neill], who was so long and so intimately associated 86 Address of Mr. Covert, of Neiv York, on the with Mr. RANDALL in his Congressional labors. The life- work of our late fellow-member has been outlined by his colleagues who have already spoken. They have borne full and truthful evidence of the warm affection in which their distinguished associate was held in the State of his nativity, and which for so long a time honored itself by honoring him. I seek, in the few remarks I am making, only to voice if I can the sentiment of deep regret shared by my colleagues and by the great State we represent, at the loss New York feels she has sustained in the death of him who was rightly called "The Great Commoner," and these remarks are in tended to be as sincere and as direct as was the character of him of whom I speak. His was in very truth a character cast in heroic mold. However modest he was by nature, the direct and positive qualities of the man could not but assert themselves. Thus it was that this man grew. By natural methods, without seeking advancement, pro motion came to him; leadership was conferred upon him, and the Speakership of this House was accorded to him as if it was his by natural right. I had the honor to serve as one of the junior members of this body during four years of Mr. RANDALL S service as Speaker. No judge upon the bench ever excelled him in the absolute fairness and impartiality of his rulings. To be right was his first aim, and that he succeeded in this desire was attested by the respect always accorded to his decisions. As a leader, whether of the majority or minority in this House, he was able, courageous, faithful, and honest. He never sought to attract admiration for the skill and ability by which he accomplished results. Like a master artist, he was content that his work when completed should speak for itself and for the methods which produced it. Life and Character of Samuel J, Randall. 87 It has been stated more than once to-day that Mr. RAN DALL was a man of deeds rather than of words. While it is true that he did not indulge in figures of speech and did not practice even if he possessed the graces of oratory, yet I never heard him speak without thinking him eloquent. He was direct and manly and forceful in marshaling the material of which his speeches were constructed. His phrases had absolutely no veneering about them. The grain of the hardened oak could be observed in them al ways, and this was more attractive than any artificial coloring. He was absolutely sincere in his political beliefs. Democ racy with him was something more than a mere name, some thing other than an empty title. With him it involved that abstract idea of manhood, equality, which, when applied within the walls of this Chamber, meant the equality of all members as Representatives in Congress. While he was Speaker of this House every young member of it, no mat ter on which side of the Chamber he was seated, realized that his rights were sacred in the keeping of the occupant of the chair, and was his warm and devoted personal friend. Mr. Speaker, the life of SAMUEL J. RANDALL has yet to be written. His colleagues, however desirous they have been to give to this House and to the country an apprecia tive review of his public services, have yet, from lack of time, presented only an outline of his work extending over a period of nearly thirty years. For over a quarter of a century these services have formed a part, and a very im portant part, of his country s history. An extended biog raphy of this courageous and earnest worker should be placed in circulation, not only as a measure of justice to him and to the work he accjmplished, but for the benefit 88 Address of Mr. Covert, of New York, on the and encouragement of those who are to follow in govern mental affairs. Some cynic early said, "Republics are ungrateful." The universal sorrow over the death of SAMUEL J. RANDALL proves the untruth of this statement. The whole people ap preciate to-day that the grand figure whose presence we miss from this Hall gave all he could his best years and his best ability to his country. They know and appreciate that no soldier ever on any battlefield gave better or truer service. They mourn with deepest sincerity this gallant soldier who fought and won so many civic battles for them, and they want his memory to be handed down to all time the com mon heritage of the Republic. Reference has been made to the fact that this able, active worker, after a life s devotion to the public interests, died poor. This may be true in a material sense, but from every other standpoint the man who lived and labored and died as he did never knew poverty, and left behind him more than a princely fortune. SAMUEL J. RANDALL died rich, rich in the warm regard of all who knew him and in the respect and admiration of the people whose interests he protected. He has left behind him not a colossal fortune obtained by un scrupulous means, but he has bequeathed to the family he loved and by whom he was idolized, to the people of this land whom he unselfishly served and who gratefully appre ciate his labors, the record of a life as bright and as flawless as the June sunshine which to-day gilds the dome of the Nation s Capitol. Life and Character ofSaimielJ. Randall. 89 ADDRESS OF MR, BRECKINRIDGE, OF KENTUCKY. Mr. SPEAKER: The life of SAMUEL J. RANDALL and his services, particularly those which made him conspicuous, render an eulogium upon him in a House composed of polit ical friends and enemies a task of extreme delicacy and much difficulty. To draw Mr. RANDALL as he actually was, to do justice to his life and what he said and did, to make his character truthful, articulate, and lifelike, requires much sympathy with his opinions, such intense, earnest belief in those convictions which were rooted in his very soul, that he who does it upon an occasion like this either falls short of what he believes is just, or runs the risk of overstepping the line which marks the proprieties of such a scene. Mr. RANDALL was essentially a partisan. He believed with all his heart that his political principles were true. He accepted the conclusions which severe logic required of those principles, and he followed the practical conclusion to the end. He felt that his country s interests were involved in his party s triumph. He risked himself, his fortunes, and his all upon his party s success. Not because the nar row horizon of party bounded his vision, but because he interblended his love for his country and his hopes of her glory and prosperity with the consummation of the victory of principles which he believed to be essential to that pros perity, and which alone could give to the country its glory and to free institutions their permanency and life. No man has ever appeared in American politics, except Andrew Jackson, who was so intense a partisan; and therefore when I was asked to participate in these ceremonies my inclina tion was at once to decline, because I feared that to do him justice might seem to be a criticism upon others. 90 Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, on the And yet, Mr. Speaker, it is only in the frank contest of opposing opinions, only in the severe and rigorous battle of truthful and noble natures who disagree, that right is found and truth made victorious. When men uncover their hearts, when they remove the veil from their brains, so that all men may see the honest processes of their thought, and behold all the emotions of the inner man, then to contest is given nobility and from party struggles taken both hypocrisy and suspicion. If we could understand each other in these strifes, if we could see in each other s hearts that love for country is the basis of our efforts, and that all we desire is to build upon that foundation what is best for that beloved country and for man, we would forgive the asperities of debate, we should be patient with disagreements on the floor, we should have toleration even for those things which we could not ap prove, that sprang out of a motive so good. And when I view the life of Mr. RANDALL, consistent, vigorous, earnest, sometimes fierce, always aggressive, I do not know how to read it aright except upon the simple and truthful explana tion that he was exactly what he professed to be, a Democrat in his convictions; believing the success of his party was es sential to .the glory of his country. When he came to apply those principles in practical politics in his place 011 this floor they bore under his leader ship such fruit as he believed would follow. The nearest representative of the people is the House of Representatives, into whose keeping the Constitution has primarily deposited the right of the purse. Its supervision shall be over execu tive expenditures, its warrant shall be the condition prece dent to executive action. This principle Mr. RANDALL enforced with a knowledge of detail, with an energy of will, with an aggressiveness of purpose that did not save thirty millions a year merely, for that is the very smallest item of Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 91 it, but which elevated the House of Representatives to its true position in our political government, which made the House dominate the executive department, which restored to the representatives of the people the power of the purse, and for the first time in years taught all other persons in power that the House of Representatives was in fact the people of the United States and its voice was the voice that came from the ballot-box. This was the notable triumph of Mr. RANDALL S life. It was a triumph which marked him as an extraordinarily great parliamentarian. That he should have acquired a knowl edge of every bureau under this complex Government; that he should have measured its necessities and have correctly ascertained the needs of its expenditures, so that on the one hand all might be well done, and on the other none should be extravagant; that he should force upon a party in power the measure of such reduction, and should require the Senate to agree so nearly to what he thought was wise, demonstrates a rare combination of qualities. And this strikes me as the act of Mr. RANDALL S life. No life ever produces one single act. It may be that there is one extraordinary transaction, one single day, which under the radiance of a peculiar light stands conspicuous, but it is consistent with all that went before and all that comes afterwards. Mr. RANDALL had been preparing for this very emergency through many years. He had been a member of various committees. He for many sessions sat upon this floor taking part in its delibera tions; he had been acquainting himself with these details; he had become familiar with this body, the most remarkable and peculiar body probably in the world; he had learned its moods, he had made himself the master of its rules, and he stood prepared, when the emergency came, for all its exigen cies. 92 Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, on the One other memorable act Mr. RANDALL performed, which was also in the interest of the honor and the dignity of the House. He was then the leader of its minority. A great war had ended. States were under military domination. Grave, abstruse, and troublesome questions pressed upon Congress. Taking advantage of its rules, rules framed for just such a purpose, rules meant to be in the way of unjust and hasty legislation, rules meant to give dignity to the House, rules meant for the purpose of adding power to its deliberations, Mr. RANDALL, as the leader of the minority, demonstrated the value of delay, the power of obstacle, the usefulness of the sober second thought. It was another ele vation of the power of the representatives of the people. It was not simply RANDALL standing here in his individual capacity. It was the people behind him, clothing him with their power, speaking with his utterance that voice of the minority which sometimes can make itself heard to compel pause before injustice might be done. It was the uplifted hand of a helpless people upon the floor of the greatest rep resentative body of freemen asking for further time to be heard. And it was through a fit person. He who had been a soldier, risking his life; he who had sprung from the loins of an educated lawyer, skilled in all the learning of liberty; he who had been a man of business, and knew how troublous 1 times hurt business and injured the interests of the people; he who amid times of temptation and of brazen wealth had kept poor; before whose honesty nobody dare offer a bribe and to whose integrity no man was bold enough to suggest temptation; he, standing in his place, not great probably in the learning of the schools, without the gift of persuasive eloquence, but with the sturdy courage of a freeman and the trained power of a parliamentarian, elevated the minority power of this House and gave to the people another evi- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 93 dence that under a true system of parliamentary rules lib erty was safe, even in the hands of a small minority ably and bravely led. Now, Mr. Speaker, to-day the thought that presses upon me is that a new era of statesmen must come to the front. The men who participated in the war are passing away. You may call them Kelley, Cox, and RANDALL, as typical of their day and generation; but the generation is passing away. The men who fought that war. the men who were trained before it came, the men in whose minds olden opin ions and ancient traditions still have lodgment and bear fruit in utterance and in act they are giving way to the younger men who are around us. As we give up the scepter of command to these younger men, standing by the grave of this the most stalwart and aggressive of the parliamentarians of his party, what is the lesson that we (night to impart as we speak in this Hall this afternoon? Is it not that the liberties of the people can be preserved only by the representatives of the people in the House where their representatives stand, elected at the bal lot box, freely chosen without interference, saying to the new generation of statesmen, "Your ancestors have pre served American institutions in the House of Representa tives. See to it that you do not sacrifice that House thereby lose those institutions. " [Applause.] ADDRESS OF MR. KERR, OF PENNSYLVANIA Mr. SPEAKER: I do not believe I can add anything to tne eulogies that have been so eloquently and impressively pro nounced to-day in the hearing of this House, but as a mem ber of the delegation from Pennsylvania I nevertheless 94 Address of Mr, Kerr, of Pennsylvania, on the desire to add a closing word, to drop a single tribute to the memory of SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL. This session of Congress will ever be memorable for the number of deaths among its distinguished members. Truly, " Death loves a shining mark." Pennsylvania has lost an other faithful son, and the people of the land mourn the loss of one of their ablest representatives. Mr. RANDALL S life, public and private, has been eloquently traced by those who preceded me, some of whom have been his intimate associates on the floor of this House for over a quarter of a century. Mr. RANDALL was a man of strong convictions and had very little consideration for those who were otherwise. He was an earnest, faithful, and devoted champion and defender of the people s rights, possessing a fund of common sense and sound judgment which stood him in good stead in dealing with the diversified questions which continually challenged his attention. His decisions as Speaker, his reports, official papers, and arguments on the floor of the House all bear witness of great diligence, earnest thought, profound and exhaustive knowledge of the subject he had in hand. With great intellectual qualities he had a sincerity of purpose and positive conviction which was restricted by no narrow, selfish, or partisan feelings qualities which commanded for him the respect and confidence of all. As a representative he consulted the people s interests as he would have consulted his own. He was brave, he was cautious, he was vigilant, he was honest. His courage and sincerity of devotion were the charms of his triumph. As a representative of the people he never sought to mislead, inflame, or deceive them, and he never trifled with their liberties, their rights, or their honor. Seldom surprised and never deluded, he was so thoroughly equipped by labor, Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 95 experience, and study that lie was always ready and equal to every occasion a practical, useful, and efficient man. The occasion on which I remember last to have seen him alive I shall never forget. It was during the debate just previous to the. adoption of the present rules; a departure from well-trodden paths, a reversal of the legislative engine, as it were, which created a great interest and excitement among the members of the Fifty-first Congress. It was dur ing this time that I visited Mr. RANDALL. I found him, although quite weak, very much interested in the proba ble action of the House. Then and there I was given an in sight into the wonderful power of this remarkable man such as I had never appreciated before. Removed from the pas sion and prejudice which seemed to control this body at that time, he nevertheless was interested, and anxious that the House should not depart from old and well established precedent. His conversation was like that of a person inspired, and I returned to the scene of debate deeply impressed with his magnetism and irresistible power which made him such a formidable antagonist when on the floor of this House. He was an earnest partisan, but never so at the expense of his patriotism. He believed in the Democratic party as em bodying the true principle of republican government. Al though during the last few years of his life he wavered be tween the lines of the two great parties on one single issue, he was always a Democrat. During the exciting times of the civil war and sectional strife he was as firm as a rock. During the stormy days of reconstruction he was one of the ever-present leaders of a small minority in this body and did a faithful work in helping to restore a helpless, broken, and discouraged people to peace and self-control under the Constitution. 96 Address of Mr. Kerr, of Pennsylvania, on the During the season of reckless extravagance and corrup tion which seemed to take hold of the people with the close of the war the character of SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL as a public man and private citizen was stainless. In an age of corruption, sensation, and abuse, no breath of scan dal, however faint, shadowed his good name, and the rec ords of Congress bear permanent and abundant testimony to his many battles against wanton and reckless expendi ture of the people s money. A man of the people and for the people, he was always an advocate for equal rights and exact justice to all, with special privileges to none. In a word, the full symmetry of his illustrious career, the beauty and grandeur of his character, can be found in searching the legislative annals of his country, where the impressive lessons of his great and glorious life are stamped in enduring words of truth and soberness. What more can be said or done? No better tablet to his memory can we erect : Typical American ! Wise and re vered statesman ! Honored friend ! " On thy tomb we lay the warmest tribute of our hearts. Monuments of stone and marble to commemorate thy life will be erected in the city you loved, but thy name and fame will live enshrined in the hearts of the people, in the hearts of your countrymen, long after these have crumbled into dust. As a fitting finale to the words that have been spoken, I can do no better than to take from his own language, used by him in his eulogy 011 Thomas A. Hendricks. At that time true of the distinguished gentleman of Indiana, they are peculiarly true of and strikingly a reflection of the character of the distinguished gentleman of Pennsylvania whom we mourn here to-day. He said of Mr. Hendricks: He was the embodiment of that old Latin saying, " Mild in manner, resolute in conviction." His ways were gentle and kind, but in a matter of right or wrong he was fixed and immovable. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 97 No seduction could allure, no terrors frighten him. To duty he was fidelity itself. He was easy of approach. He dwelt in the greatest in timacy with his neighbors. He knew the heart-beats of the people. He could not be deceived as to their wishes. His gentleness of manner won them to his presence and then his bearing, firmness, honesty, fidelity, and logic bound them to him. As he was greater than others individ ually by whom he was surrounded, so, too, he was always stronger than any political organization to which he was attached. He was a devoted student of the principles of our republican form of govern ment. He anchored his hope in their preservation in their pristine integrity. He bel.eved that our liberties were secure only when al. 1 ten dency to parental government and toward centralization was resisted and destroyed. Loyalty to his country was the key to his whole character, for he was loyal and true in every relation in life. Against the integrity of Mr. RANDALL no tongue has uttered a word. His fame as an honest man is unsullied by even a suspicion. He was ever true to himself, to his honor. No temptation beguiled to venality, and no dishonest dollar touched the palm of his hand. In these times, when vice apparently yields more revenue than virtue, when fortunes are readily obtained without honest labor, and money, not merit, wins position and power, a man who lives an honest and upright life is worthy the admiration of men. It is these virtues far more than genius that make our late colleague worthy of the highest praise this day bestowed. He has indeed left a life-count well closed, without one blot or stain to mar its fair page, in every relation of life proving himself in the highest and best sense a man. Firm and sincere in his convictions, true to his friends, liberal toward his opponents, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, a patriot and a Christian, he surely deserved, and doubtless has received, the final decree of the Judge of all living, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant." H.. Mis. 265 7 98 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey , on the ADDRESS OF MR. McAooo, OF NEW JERSEY. Mr. SPEAKER : We stand in the shadow of a great name. We pay a tribute of honor and respect to an immortal mem ory. SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL, the intense and devoted American, the loyal and loving Pennsylvanian, the tribune of the people, the faithful friend, the invincible leader, the unstained, unscathed, long-tried public servant, the proud, self-respecting man, the humble, trusting Christian, has passed from the highest courts of earthly honor to the au gust temples of heavenly glory, from the circles of domestic happiness and affection to the unbounded realms of infinite love and eternal felicity. It was my good fortune to share the confidence and friend ship of Mr. RANDALL from my first appearance here, and thus to get some slight insight as to his convictions and character. Like all men cast in bold, rugged, and heroic mold, and destined to play chief parts in great events, he was essen tially natural, simple, and childlike in his intercourse with his friends. That splendid face, chiseled in strong, classic lines, would melt into tenderness and unaffected interest at the prattle of a child or the warm clasp of a friendly hand; and those soulful eyes, which could flash the fire of scorn and determination on an enemy, would dim in deep sympa thy at the tale of sorrow or misfortune. Mr. RANDALL had all the qualities of a leader of men. Placed anywhere, he would naturally and without effort be looked up to as counselor and leader. An attractive per sonality, indomitable courage, great prudence, eminently practical, and with intense and immovable convictions, Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 99 other men came to him as streams seek the sea. I have in many cases known men to come here with violent antipathies to his ideas on public questions, and yet in the course of a few weeks without in any way yielding up their own opin ions become his warmest admirers and friends. I have alluded to his qualities of leadership, and I may here repeat what I often said to himself and what I yet believe, that with his foresight, invincible determination, tremendous staying powers, careful consideration of his fol lowers, faithful attention to details, and instinctive knowl edge of the weak points in an enemy, had he been edu cated to or followed the profession of arms he would in case of war have been one of the world s great soldiers. The bent of his mind was concentrative and direct rather than speculative. One demonstrated fact was of more value to him than all the speculations of philosophhy. While possessed of a great fund of knowledge and ripe in his ex perience with men, he was more a man of action than a man of the library. He valued means by their results. On what he considered the proven and apparent facts he stood as on a rock beset by the tempestuous waves of conflicting opin ions. From the central and main question he made few excursions into the by-paths of collateral issues. This did not arise from either timidity, lack of mental grasp, or narrowness of vision, but from an eminent conservatism and an intense desire for action that would, show results. The world to him was a real world, calling for action, vigi lance, devotion to duty. To know anything was, with him, to know it thoroughly to the smallest details. Patiently, laboriously, faithfully, perseveringly he mastered the whole vast enginery of this Government in its general scope and in its minutest particulars. His generalship, his tact, his patience, his inexhaustible knowledge, displayed in the 100 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey , on the passage of a great appropriation bill, were most remark able. No man knew so well as Mr. RANDALL when to speak and when to be silent, when to reply to criticism and when, without word from him, to let the House judge for itself as to its merits and fairness. Although he was at heart a very proud and sensitive man, he could sit as calmly as a sculp tured Ajax, and defy by his very silence the bitterest and most personal attacks. The strong, determined, well-chis eled face, with its fine expressive eyes, would look sternly, but calmly, into the excited countenance of the impassioned critic. But, if he did reply, his opponent would long have occasion to remember the occurrence. The speech was short, the sentences few, but each word struck home like the blow of a sledge hammer. For the time being, a veritable Thor was swinging his huge iron maul, crashing its way with thunderous noise through opposing obstacles. The man who swings this monster mallet can not play with it all day to divert himself, as gentlemen of the light sword are wont; in deep impressive silence must he store up the prodigious force to send this great irresistible body whirling through mid-air; patient, too, he must be, deaf to taunts and chal lenges from hosts of ambitious champions, who, in the world s warrings, play their part, no doubt, well, but with whom he can have no quarrel, his place and mission being so different from theirs. Many men may man the bellows and stir the coals and prepare the iron, butwhen it is heated only Thor himself can rain down these crashing thunder-strokes. As the term is commonly used Mr. RANDALL, was not an orator, but if intense earnestness of manner, terse, vigorous, expressive phrases, rugged, direct, positive statement of convictions constitute eloquence, then he never failed to be eloquent and impressive. I judge that to those who always Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 101 associate graceful and pleasing oratory with Congressional leadership he was at first view disappointing, but even to them he soon revealed his great and unusual powers and they soon felt the all-pervading influence of that strong and forceful personality. A deep, sincere, forceful, aggressively honest nature, voicing in tones naturally attractive and pleasant the intensity of its convictions, needed little of the arts of rhetoric. He seemed to care little for his manner, which was simple, natural, and elementary, and to be con cerned wholly for the matter. He seemed at times to be limited in his vocabulary, and would use two or three times in a short address the phrases which he found most expres sive. I do not think this really arose from any lack of flow of words, but that he was much averse to using many, and seized readily on those that most quickly and fully expressed the thought that was in him. He would seize a single word that conveyed his meaning and hurl it like a javelin true to his aim. He was at times very happy in his replies, as is well known. Mr. RANDALL S whole course in public and private life was based on great fundamental principles which to him represented the substance of truth, and to these lines he rigidly and sternly adhered. He was not oblivious to criti-- cism, but he lived without and above it, and so long as he had the approval of his reason and his conscience it never entered his mind to regard it in the slightest. He was always fair and manly to his opponents and fought them in the open field, asking no favors. He was withal a master of that strategy which wins in war and politics. He fre quently followed the tactics of allowing the enemy to ex haust himself and then swiftly and overwhelmingly crush him. Nothing could divert him from the main purpose he had in view. He wasted no energies on minor matters, but 102 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey, on the made all roads lead to the desired end. It does not follow from this that he rode a hobby or narrowed his sphere of action here. On the contrary, he participated in the general business of the House with rare zeal and fidelity, and when in health was a most faithful attendant in its sessions, sitting calmly erect, vigilant, and self-possessed in his ac customed seat. He was the best friend of the new member, especially the young man coming here for the first time. He was a rare good judge of men, and his friendship never slept, so that unknown to his friends he was constantly aiding them and studying their interest. He was as solicitous about the suc cess of his friends, as all who in Congress were honored with his friendship can testify, as a mother about her children. To them he would write when away from here the kindest letters, in which his deep and hearty interest in them was most felicitously expressed, and which always conveyed pointed and practical advice. He was never too busy or en grossed to serve his friends, and he would not hesitate at any time to step into the breach for them. His deep, earnest friendship and intense sense of gratitude were among his strongest traits. His friendship would sacrifice everything but his integrity and convictions. It is a tame phrase to say that he was honest. He was more than that: he was not only conventionally honest, but he had enlisted for life in a deadly war against dishonesty in all forms. His best friend could come to him and ask anything, if only his hands were clean and his heart pure and his purpose honest, but he was justice personified to friend and foe when a shadow of impure motives rested on them. " You must not speak to me about that bill," he said sternly to a friend who ventured to ask his aid for a pend ing measure. " It is a bad bill, and I shall do everything I Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 103 can to defeat it." He had little patience with self-seekers who approached him with fulsome flattery, and generally, with due regard to politeness, brought such interviews to a speedy and final termination. He was always willing to give a fair hearing to all who approached him, having no regard to person, but hated wordy circumlocution and always in sisted on getting at the very heart of the matter as soon as . possible. He was, on the other hand, infinitely patient with the honest and inexperienced in distress and needing his aid. He always rose to the occasion. Who can ever forget the passage of the bill for the benefit of General Grant, then on his dying bed ? The clock ticked the seconds to the dis solution of the Forty-eighth Congress. Without, great hosts of jubilant citizens awaited the climax in a peaceful revolution in government. Within, clamor and bustle and confusion on every hand. Then the master hand of SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL seized the discordant elements and molded them to his will, stilled the angry sea of acrimonious debate, and directed the waters as he wished. By his skill and sheer force of character he had seized this vast enginery rushing wildly in the confusion of the closing hours of a Congress preceding the inauguration of a Chief Executive, and when political passions and prejudices were fiercest, di rected it, when every second was precious and big with fate, into executing an act pregnant with sentiment and of national and universal importance. Mr. RANDALL was a true friend to the South and its peo ple.. He took a deep and abiding interest in the growth and development of that section, and nothing so rejoiced him as the phenomenal progress made in utilizing its great mineral wealth. I had the honor to accompany him in 1885 on a tour through portions of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, 104 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey, on the and it was gratifying to see the esteem and affection enter tained for him by the citizens of those States. Those who differed with him on the economic questions of the day were as enthusiastic and friendly as those who agreed with him, for all remembered with deep gratitude his noble and successful fight for the people of the South when sectional passions were still hot and partisan prejudices intense. His manly bearing and noble simplicity of manners charmed all who met him, and, in return, the continuous ovations of a warm hearted people lingered with him as a sweet memory to his latest moment. "I want to see these States in the great mineral region of the South outstrip, if possible, even my own State of Pennsylvania," was a constant remark of his on that tour. He was always enthusiastic and sanguine as to the future of the people of the Southern States and as to their ability and patriotism to solve the great questions com mitted to them, and, in return, some of the evidences of their regard for him were touching in the affection they ex pressed. I well remember how, in the early dawn of the morning, at a little station in the mountains of Alabama, a horseman rode up to the train, having ridden many miles in the night, to present to him a great wreath of flowers, made up by the ladies of the locality, and having attached to it a card expressing the esteem and gratitude of the women of the South. Only Omniscience can tell how many moments and weary hours of pain were soothed by the consciousness of the affection in which he was held by his countrymen, nor how much the sting of death was removed by the memo ries of a useful and honorable life. Of Mr. RANDALL S home life it is sufficient to say that it was worthy of the man. Love, honor, truth, all the domes tic virtues, gathered around the family board, and his pri vate life in its simplicity and unaffectedness recalled the Life and Character of Samuel J, Randall. 105 lives of the great fathers of the Republic. To his faithful companion, the true and noble woman who had shared his sorrows and his joys for so many years, the loving and un selfish wife, he was always simple and obedient as a child, and he struggled with his latest breath to call by the dear est of terms " mother." To this noble and stricken woman the deep gratitude and sympathy of the Republic goes forth in no mean measure. The laurel wreaths laid on the grave of her husband will outlive many such won in the field of war, and his services to his country were much greater than those of many heroes whose deeds were done under the in toxicating excitement of physical conflict in the pursuit of military glory. A truer man never sat in the Congress of the United States. Pennsylvania never reared a more loyal and de voted son. Proud of her history, faithful to her interests, he rested secure in the love and respect of her people, and withal, in the broadest and best sense, a grand type of Ameri an citizen, knowing no confines or geographical limi tations to his patriotism. In his power and influence the oak towering on the mountain-top above its fellows, in his integrity the unimpressionable rock washed by the turbu lent waters of the ocean, his character and example remain to his countrymen as stimulative to honorable lives, noble deeds, fraternal good feeling, devotion to duty and to coun try. For some time before he withdrew from active duty in the House, and while as yet his physical weakness was not generally known, he intimated to his nearest friends that he was engaged in conflict with a disease. He entered this last dread conflict for life cheerfully, determined, and even sanguine, as was characteristic of him in all contests. He was, in truth, although not demonstrative of it, deep down in his heart, at all times a deeply reverential and, in 106 Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana, on the the best sense, a religious man, and his last open confession of his faith was, I believe, made in the hope that it might influence his fellow-men. Patiently, without a murmur, anxious only for the good he might do, he waited cheerfully the summons to pass into "the better country." Oh, big, brave man, thy day s work so well done, the approaching night found thee without fear, cheerfully going to thy home in the " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." ADDRESS OF MR. HOLMAN, OF INDIANA. Mr. SPEAKER: After many years of close association with SAMUEL J. RANDALL in the House of Representatives, in entire sympathy with him on most of the questions of pub lic policy which have agitated our country during the last twenty-five years, and highly appreciating his integrity as a man and his ability as a statesman, I wish to add some words of affectionate remembrance to the record which Con gress will order to be made in commemoration of his public services. Mr. RANDALL entered the House of Representatives in the midst of the late war a Democrat with unfaltering devotion to the cause of the Union. His political associates were in the minority and did not in any material degree influence the course of legislation. In a time of war legislative ma jorities adopt the methods of the camp; it is a period for ac tion and not for debate. I had been a member for several years before Mr. RANDALL entered the House, and while in the earlier period of his service he took but little part in the business of the House, yet he displayed from the beginning the vigilant attention to current legislation, the solicitude Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall . 107 for the public welfare, the sincere patriotism, so indispensa ble to an honorable career in a Government like ours. Mr. RANDALL soon became familiar with the rules of leg islative procedure, but it was some time before he dis played the thorough knowledge of public affairs and capac ity for leadership which in later years were to place him in the foremost ranks of our public men. It was not until the last session of the Forty-third Congress that an occasion arose in the House demanding united action and skillful leadership on the part of the minority, when the measure of that period known as the "force bill" was being pressed to its passage by the powerful majority. Mr. RANDALL had already acquired such standing in the House as an accom plished master of parliamentary law, as a gentleman pru dent in method and unfaltering in purpose, that his political associates without hesitation recognized his leadership. This parliamentary contest involved the gravest interests and was one of the most prolonged and exciting that has ever occurred in our history. The measure was defeated. This event secured to Mr. RANDALL the confidence and kindly feeling of all of his political associates, and especially of Representatives of the States of the South. That he was not elected Speaker of the House at the opening of the Forty-fourth Congress was attributed to the fact that Mr. Kerr, his strongest competitor, a gentleman of high attain ments and great ability, had, as a legislator, rendered the country and the States of the South services of especial value during the period of reconstruction. It soon appeared that this result was best for the country and best for Mr. RANDALL S permanent reputation. As soon as the Forty-fourth Congress was organized Mr. RANDALL became the chairman of the Committee on Appro priations. By courtesy the chairman of the Committee on 108 Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana, on the Ways and Means, the older committee, has been nominally the leader of the House, but ever since the Committee on Appropriations was established its chairman has been the real leader of the House; this was never more manifest than in the Forty-fourth Congress. It was during the Forty-fourth Congress that Mr. RAN DALL, as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, won his great reputation and changed the administration of the Government. The late war and the inevitable inflation of the currency had led to an alarming extra vaganc > in every department of Government. It seemed almost im possible to reduce the profligate expenditures of a period of war to their proper and natural condition in a time of peace. The party in power, whatever might have been the views of its leading men of the necessity of retrenchment, was absolutely powerless. The great army of superfluous em ploye s found shelter under the Senators and Representa tives from their respective States and districts ; years had elapsed since the close of the war, yet the appropriations demanded by the great Departments of Government were substantially unchanged. Mr. RANDALL and his committee determined to reduce the appropriations to the sums actually required by the Departments for the efficient performance of the duties im posed on them by law. With the House Democratic, Senate and Executive Repub lican, there was a fierce conflict from the beginning. That first session of the Forty-fourth Congress, a long session for that period, was almost entirely employed on the appropria tion bills. Months were occupied on the leading appropriation bills by the conferees of the two Houses, especially on the bill involving the number and compensation of the em ployes of the great Departments. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 109 Such a struggle to reduce the public expenditures to the actual necessities of the public service has never occurred in our history. There was no thought of embarrassing any of the Departments of the Government, but a determination that the expenditures should be reduced to the reasonable requirements of the public service. After months of contro versy between the two Houses over the great appropriation bills, the appropriations of the first session of the Forty- fourth Congress were reduced $29,131,362.51 below those made by the corresponding session of the preceding Con gress. The result was exceedingly gratifying to Mr. RAN DALL S political associates, and arrested the attention and received the approval of the country in a very marked de gree. Before the meeting of the second session of the Forty- fourth Congress, the lamented death of Michael C. Kerr, Speaker of the House, occurred, and on the first Monday of December, 187G, SAMUEL J. RANDALL was elected Speaker. As the member present who had served in the House for the longest period, I administered to him the oath of office. I shall never forget the unconscious expression of absolute confidence of SAMUEL J. RANDALL, then in the vigor of per fect manhood, when he took up the gavel and entered upon the duties of that great office, which he filled with ever-in creasing honor until the close of the Forty-sixth Congress, when the Republican party obtained the control of the House. The expression of public confidence in the Democratic party in the great political contest of 1876 was in a large measure due to the statesmanship displayed by Mr. RAN DALL during that memorable session. I succeeded Mr. RAN DALL as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, and on the line of policy which he had marked out the appropri- 110 Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana, on the ations made by the second session of that Congress were $34,574,059.67 less than those of the corresponding session of the preceding Congress, making the appropriations of the Forty-fourth Congress $63,705,423.18 less than those made by the next preceding Congress, a sum exceeding the entire expenditure of the Government during any year preceding the late war. It was noticed by all men who carefully observe the course of our public affairs that this radical retrenchment of ex penditures increased the efficiency of the administration of the Government because it purified and elevated the morals and spirit of the public service in every one of its depart ments. Public spirit took the place of mercenary designs. I have dwelt on this portion of the public record of SAM UEL J. RANDALL because his successful efforts in reducing the expenditures of the Government secured to him the con fidence of the country and was the foundation of his great reputation, and for another reason; when, at a later period, the question of revenue reform arose Mr. RANDALL was not . in accord with his political associates; he, in common with most of the statesmen Pennsylvania has produced, was an earnest friend of a tariff for protection, while his political associates generally favored a tariff for revenue; but as the champion of pure and honest government he was the great leader of his party to the last, and here rests his great and well-earned reputation as a statesman. He believed that however the wealth of the country might increase, if the Government remained frugal, the Republic was secure; that frugal government could alone secure honest government; that without frugality in the administration of government, corruption of its great departments was inevitable, and he struggled to the last for frugal and honest government. Mr. RANDALL as Speaker of the House was courteous and Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. Ill firm and always impartial; if ever arbitrary it was in sup port of his leading idea of American statesmanship, the main tenance of purity and honesty in the administration of the Government. His rugged and inborn integrity kept him always in line of public duty. He was an intense partisan, but from this line of public duty the interests of his party could not swerve him a tithe of a hair. Whatever may be said of the temptations to which public men are exposed it is absolutely safe to assert that no man ever approached Mr. RANDALL with a suggestion in public affairs not honorable to his country and to himself. The iron firmness he displayed in carrying out the act of Congress in the contested Presidential election of 1876 was a true index to his character. In the tumults of that period, fiercely assailed by his political friends, he did not falter a moment in the enforcement of the law. No statesman of our country has ever displayed greater fortitude in the ful fillment of a public duty. Until the question of the tariff, which for years has been suspended by pressing demands for revenue incident to the late war, came to the front, as was inevitable sooner or later, Mr. RANDALL was not only the leader of the House, but, beyond that, largely influenced the course of public events. On the question of tariff as a protection to American labor Mr. RANDALL was immovable; he stood firmly by his con stituents arid his State. His differing with the body of his political associates on that one issue stood in the way of his reaching the first office in the gift of the Republic. It was an obstacle that could not be surmounted, although he was urged for that great office by a large body of political friends. On that issue he ceased to be Speaker of the House, yet retained by universal 112 Address of Mr. Holnian, of Indiana, on the consent the high position of chairman of its greatest com mittee while his party remained in power. While it is easy to delineate the character of SAMUEL J. RANDALL, yet it is impossible to express in words the magic power by which he influenced the opinions and conduct of great bodies of men. It can only be said SAMUEL J. RAN DALL was a born leader. Men gathered around him and felt perfectly safe in following his leadership. An absolute cer tainty of the integrity of his purpose and soundness of his judgment perhaps explain all this. His speeches, always brief, delivered in a clear and distinct voice, were marked by positiveness and force rather than polish of expression. He made no effort at elegance of style, no embellishment and no ambiguity, but a clear, strong, and forcible statement of the matter in hand, and always addressed to the point at issue. Almost always he carried the House with him. In domestic and social life he was all gentleness and affec tion. His face, perfect in its classic outline, although strong and massive, expressed kindness and benevolence; his man ners were engaging; he was the very soul of magnanimity, as was often seen in his controversies in the House. Inci dents that occurred in the Forty-eighth Congress illustrated his character as displayed outside of severe public duty. On the 3d day of April, 1884, General Grant for the last time entered this Hall and took a seat in the space outside of the seats on the east side of the Chamber, the Democratic side of the House. Some years had elapsed since General Grant had honored the House with his presence. Mr. RANDALL and other members gathered around him. It was more than a year before his death, yet in the face and deportment of General Grant there was an expression of weariness and despondency. Mr. RANDALL promptly moved that the House take a recess to enable the members to take by the Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 1 13 hand" the illustrious visitor, and Mr. RANDALL and Mr. Carlisle, the Speaker of the House, escorted him to the open space in front of the Speaker s seat, and then all the mem bers shook hands with the illustrious citizen. How pleasant it was to see the careworn and despondent expression of his face disappear before the cordial greeting of the representatives of the people of his country! And I must recall the event later on, when on the 3d day of March, 1885, in the midst of one of the fiercest tumults I have ever witnessed in this Hall, hundreds of members at the same time fiercely demanding recognition for special measures (as at 12 o clock the next day Congress expired), Mr. RANDALL, with a force absolutely irresistible, carried through the bill restoring General Grant to the head of the Army with hon orable retirement, and who of all the members of the House and of all our people, when General Grant died a few months later, did not rejoice that that was done? Who shall say how this last expression of a nation s gratitude and affection consoled the last hours of the great chieftain? And who shall say how these and countless other generous and kindly acts of SAMUEL J. RANDALL during his well-employed life consoled his spirit as in his last hours the shadows gathered around him? Mr. RANDALL was devoted to his home. He loved his wife and children and friends, and found his chief enjoyment in the sacred circle of his fireside. The last time I saw Mr. RANDALL I was impressed more than ever with this trait of his character. He was pale and emaciated, and I felt was conscious that he would never again appear on the great theater where he had won the admiration and confidence of his countrymen; yet he displayed an anxious solicitude for his country, and my heart was touched by the interest he felt and expressed in the welfare of his friends. SAMUEL J. H. Mis. 265 8 114 Address of Mr, Holman, of Indiana. RANDALL is dead. A great and good man is fallen. But how consoling the divine assurance that what we call death only opens to the freed spirit of the just and the good the highway to a life immortal. Mr. O NEILL, of Pennsylvania. In further respect to our deceased fellow-member, I move that the House do now adjourn. The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Pennsylvania move& that, as a further mark of respect to the memory of SAMUEL J. RANDALL, the House do now adjourn. The motion was unanimously agreed to. Accordingly (at 4 o clock and 45 minutes p. m. ) the House adjourned until Monday, June 16, at 12 o clock m. PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH. APRIL 14, 1890. A message from the House of Representatives by Mr. Mc- Pherson, its Clerk, conveyed to the Senate the intelligence of the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, late a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Pennsylvania, and transmitted the resolutions of the House thereon. Mr. CAMERON. I ask that the resolution just received from the House of Representatives be read. The VICE PRESIDENT laid before the Senate the resolutions of the House of Representatives, and they were read, as fol lows: IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, April 14, 1890. Resolved, That the House has heard with deep regret and profound sor row of the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, late a Representative from the State of Pennsylvania. Resolved, That a committee of nine members of the House, with such members of the Sena f e as may be joined, be appointed to attend the funeral of the deceased. Resolved. That the House do now adjourn. In accordance with the above the Speaker announced the appointment of the following as members of the said committee: Mr. O Neill, of Pennsylvania: Mr. Carlisle, of Kentucky; Mr. Harmer, of Pennsylvania: Mr. Holman, of Indiana: Mr. Cannon, of Illinois; Mr. Forney, of Alabama: Mr. McKinley, of Ohio; Mr. Springer, of Illinois; Mr. Reilly, of Pennsylvania. "5 116 Announcement of Death. Mr. CAMERON. Mr. President, I feel sure that the an nouncement which has just been made of the death of my late distinguished colleague, Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, will produce sincere sorrow in the heart of every member of the Senate, irrespective of party. I offer the following resolu tions : Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep regret and profound sorrow the announcement of the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, late a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Penn sylvania. Resolved, That the Senate concur in the resolution of the House of Representatives providing for the appointment of a committee to attend the funeral of the deceased, and that the committee on the part of the Senate, to consist of five Senators, be appointed by the Vice President. The VICE PRESIDENT. The question is on the adoption of the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Pennsylvania. liie resolutions were agreed to unanimously. The VICE PRESIDENT. The Chair appoints as members of the committee on the part of the Senate to attend the funeral of the late Mr. RANDALL, the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Quay], the Senator from Iowa [Mr. Allison], the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Dawes], the Senator from Indiana [Mr. Voorhees] , and the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Eustis] . Mr. CAMERON. I offer the following resolution : Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the Senate do now adjourn. The resolution was agreed to unanimously; and the Senate adjourned. Eulogies. 117 EULOGIES. SEPTEMBER 13, 1890. Mr. QUAY. Mr. President, I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the resolutions of the House of Rep resentatives in relation to the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RAN DALL. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania moves that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the resolutions of the House of Representatives touching the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL. The question is 011 agreeing to the motion. The motion was agreed to. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The resolutions of the House of Representatives will be read. The Chief Clerk read as follows : IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, April 14, 1890. Resolved. That the House has heard with deep regret and profound sorrow of the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, late a Representative from the State of Pennsylvania. Resolved, That the House do now adjourn. Mr. QUAY. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The resolutions submitted by the Senator from Pennsylvania will be read. The resolutions were read, as follows : Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, late a member of the House of Representa tives from the State of Pennsylvania. Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended in order that fitting tribute may be paid to his memory. Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect the Senate shall, at the conclusion of these ceremonies, adjourn. 118 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the ADDRESS OF MR. QUAY, OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. PRESIDENT : My relations, social, political, and official, to the statesman whom the Senate honors to-day were not so intimate as those of other gentlemen on either side of this Chamber, who are better fitted to bear tribute to his worth. Always he was my political opponent, and I come here to cast the myrtle on his grave, not as a close associate and friend, but as a representative of the great State he served so long and loved so well, bearing to his memory what is its due. Those of us in Pennsylvania who met him in political hostility recognized him as the heart and core of the opposition to us. In the process of attrition, which the Democratic party of Pennsylvania has suffered, we found him always as the rock of our offense. Yet, so true, so honest, so courageous, so absolutely chivalrous was he that there is not one of us who, standing beside his coffin, did not realize the thought of the witch-bound champion of Scott s legend: I d give the lands of Deloraine, Dark Musgrave were alive again. There is not one of us who does not believe that if it is given to our immortal natures to revisit the scenes we love on earth, his shade walks regal and distinguished among all the viewless hosts of the great that troop these halls and corridors to-day. He was the soul of his party in Pennsylvania, and his passing was like the passing of his party in that State. All his days he was the leader of a forlorn hope. Yet it was de creed that after his life had put on its funeral shade he was Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 119 first to encounter the experience which is not uncommon to public men of independent thought. In the collision of principle within the lines of his own party, he differed with its prevailing sentiment and was abandoned unto himself. He saw those whom he created turn, like the creature of Frankenstein, to be his torture, and the friends of a lifetime fell away from, him as leaves fall from the dying oak. Yet he swerved not from his path and faltered not in his devo tion to his faith. His life was a life of struggle, toil, and battle. It was de voted to his country according to the light which God had shown him. This seems the dispensation of nature, or na ture s God, that to one whose mission is to serve his fellow- men it is not given to wander in pleasant meadows and to lie down at the end where roses bloom. The record of Mr. RANDALL S life is a record of industry. Industry and firmness were his most prominent character istics. They stand out in relief in every line of the plain story of his career. His earlier years gave little indication of his later achievements. He first addressed himself to business pursuits. Thence he was diverted into the calling of a soldier, and it was while still bearing arms for his coun try that he was called to Congress, thus entering at last, after many vicissitudes, upon the public career to which destiny led him, and in which his industry, his firmness, his political sagacity, and his shining integrity won him such distinction. His ancestry was distinctively Pennsylvania!!. His grand father, Matthew Randall, was, nearly a century ago, pro- thoiiotary of the court of common pleas in Philadelphia. His father, Josiah Randall, was a distinguished member of the Philadelphia bar at a time when its roll included such men as Binney, Sergeant, Chauncey, and the Ingersolls. 120 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the Although Josiah Randall never held office, with the excep tion of a term in the legislature, he was extremely active in politics and in such public affairs as the public meeting which passed resolutions commending the French Revolu tion and the expulsion of the Bourbons ; another meeting where the leaders of public opinion pledged themselves to the cause of the United States in the Mexican war ; in. the movement for the consolidation of the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding districts, and as president at the ban quet tendered to James Buchanan in 1856 on his return from the court of St. James. SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL was born in the shadow of Independence Hall, October 10, 1828. He was educated at the University Academy on Fourth street. There are tra ditions respecting his schoolboy days of universal interest. It is said of him that he was even at this early period of his life distinguished among his fellows for that self-reliance and firmness which were his prominent characteristics as a man. He had only this academic education. After leaving this school he went into the countingroom of a silk merchant, on Market street, where he remained several years. With the heads of many of the old firms on the street he became a general favorite because of his strict attention to business, and it seemed to be settled that he was to be known only as a business man. Impatient of working for others, he left the silk business and established the firm of Randall & Meredith, coal dealers. At that time the young coal merchant began to take part in local politics. He lived in a part of the city then known as the " Locust ward," and in 1852 he became a candidate for common coun cil, and was elected as a Whig. When the Whig party perished, the Randall family, father and sons, went over to the Democracy. Joshua Randall had Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 121 long been an admirer of Buchanan, presiding, as has been said, at a banquet in his honor in 1850, and in 1856 he and his sons, Samuel and Robert, went to the Cincinnati con vention to aid in securing Buchanan s nomination. In 1858, Mr. RANDALL was elected to the Pennsylvania senate. In 1860, both Randall brothers were presented for the legislature, Samuel to the senate and Robert for the house. Their father advised against their candidacy. " There is too much Randall on this ticket," he is reported to have said, and his prediction was correct, for both were defeated. For a time he was diverted from politics. At the out break of the war the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cav alry, an organization dating from the Revolution, offered its services to the Government. Mr. RANDALL was sergeant of the troop, which was mustered into service May 13, 1861, for three months, by special order of the War Department. They were first sent to Carlisle, where they were attached to the command of Col. George H. Thomas. The troop aided in the repulse of the enemy at Falling Waters, and on July 3 entered Martinsburgh, and afterwards advanced to Harper s Ferry. Thence they were ordered back to Phil adelphia and mustered out of service. Mr. RANDALL took no further part in the war until Lee s invasion of Pennsylvania. There was now little left of the original City Troop, but the ranks were filled by recruits and placed under the command of Captain RANDALL. The troop was ordered to Gettysburg!! on skirmish duty, and were driven back across the Susquehanna to Columbia, bringing the first accurate news of the force and aims of the invasion. At this time Captain RANDALL was appointed provost marshal of Columbia, and in the confusion reign ing there in anticipation of the arrival of the enemy his 122 Address of Mr, Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the strict military rule was effective in the preservation of order. While in the military service of the Government Mr. KAN- DALL wrote to the War Department suggesting the promo tion of Colonel Thomas, and his advice had much to do with the advancement of that great soldier. Long afterward his influence in this promotion came to light, and when the monument to General Thomas was unveiled in Washington, in 1879, Mr. RANDALL took a conspicuous part in the cere monies. While Captain RANDALL was serving his country in the field he was called to serve it in the forum. After the re treat of Lee across the Potomac RANDALL returned to Phil adelphia to accept his first election to Congress from the First district of Pennsylvania. It has been generally for gotten that he won the nomination in the district against Hon. Richard Vaux, who is now his successor. The bound aries of the old First district and of the present Third were nearly the same, and the wards composing it have always been strongly Democratic. From the time of his first elec tion, in 1862, until his last election, iii 1888, Mr. RANDALL had little difficulty in being returned continuously to Con gress. He early became known as a hard-working and conscien tious member. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he was upon the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds; in the Thirty-ninth, upon the Committees on Banking and Cur rency, and Retrenchment, and Expenditures in the State Department; in the Fortieth, upon the Committees on Bank ing and Currency, Retrenchment, and the Assassination of President Lincoln; in the Forty-first, upon the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and Expenditures in the Treas ury Department, and upon the Joint Committee on Expend itures. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 123 This record indicates that during the early years of his service in Congress his advancement was not rapid, but con stant, and based upon his devotion to business rather than to debate. His speeches were brief and pointed, and he made no long arguments upon minor questions. With him, when he tirst came to Washington, were a number of others just entering upon the stage of national affairs and destined to become prominent in public life. Among those were James G. Elaine, the late President Garfield, John A. Kasson, John A. J. Ores well, William R. Morrison, and William B. Allison. In his b ^ok, Twenty Years of Congress, Mr. Elaine gives the following estimate of Mr. RANDALL: He is a strong partisan, with many elements of leadership. He is fair- minded toward his political opponents, generous to his friends, makes no compromise with his enemies, never forgets his public duties, and never forgets the interests of the Democratic party. Although Mr. RANDALL was a strong partisan, he was broad-minded enough to depart sometimes from strict party lines, as drawn in the House. For example, in 1803 a bill was pending authorizing the President to appoint a lieutenant-general for all the United States military forces. The bill obviously pointed to General Grant. It was opposed by nearly all the Democrats, but Mr. RANDALL gave it hearty and successful support. It was at the same session that the resolution of Mr. Henderson amending the Constitution by abolishing slavery, which had passed the Senate, reached the House. Mr. RANDALL opposed the resolution, saying : " I do not object to it from partisan or sectional grounds, but because I regard it as a beginning of changes in the Constitu tion and the forerunner of usurpation. Such policy is unit ing the South and dividing the North. v In the Forty-first Congress Mr. RANDALL expressed him- 124 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the self upon the subject of the repudiation of the national debt: "In the time allowed me it is hardly possible that I should follow the gentleman from Ohio in all his sayings or what I might mildly term his political heresies; but for myself and I think I speak for my constituents I am uttterly op posed to repudiation. But the moment allowed me gives me the opportunity to remonstrate against the enunciation of any scheme of legislation which I believe would place my country in a dishonest attitude before the world. Not only do I believe that we should pay the debt, but I believe, what is of vastly greater importance, that the country has the ability, the disposition, and the resources to pay it." It was not until the Forty- second and Forty-third Con gresses that Mr. RANDALL achieved extended national repu tation. The Republicans were largely in the majority, but Mr. RANDALL served on the Committees on Banking and Currency, Post-Offices and Post-Roads, and Rules. The ma jority, in order to carry out their programme of legislation, had adopted rules intended to prevent obstruction, had en forced strict caucus control of votes, and had determined to push to enactment the measure then known as the force bill. Mr. Blaine was the Speaker of the House, and notwith standing the ability of the presiding officer and the changes in the rules Mr. RANDALL led the minority with such par liamentary skill as to effectually block the way of the Repub lican majority. In a session of the House lasting forty-six hours and twenty-five minutes the roll was called seventy-five times, and finally an adjournment was reached, nineteen Re publicans voting with the Democrats. Many members were prostrated by the prolonged struggle, but at its close Mr. RANDALL was apparently as fresh as when the House had been called to order. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 125 During the contest that ensued over the civil rights bill Mr. RANDALL led the minority with dash and dignity. During the debates on this measure and the efforts to sus pend the rules to secure its passage, which were finally suc cessful by a vote of 181 to 90, the language used in the de bate was often violent, but Mr. RANDALL S conduct was marred by no intemperate outburst. The battle upon the force bill followed, and under Mr. RANDALL S leadership the Democratic minority succeeded in so delaying the pass age of the bill that it reached the Senate too late for action before adjournment. During this struggle Mr. RANDALL remained upon the floor for seventy-two hours, alternately demanding a call of the House on the question of no quorum and on motions to excuse members from voting. Although the bill passed, thirty-three Republicans voted with the Democrats in spite of the caucus action certainly a striking tribute to Mr. RAN DALL S efficiency as a parliamentary obstructionist and to his ability as a leader in carrying disorganization into the ranks of the majority. The House which met in 1875 contained a Democratic ma jority. Mr. RANDALL was one of the four candidates for the Speakership, but Michael C. Kerr was elected. Mr. RANDALL S leadership in the previous Congress was recog nized by his appointment as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. His work in this committee resulted in his high reputation as an opponent of extravagance. At the second session of the same Congress he was chosen Speaker to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Kerr. He came to the chair at a trying time, but proved himself equal to the emergency. His election was the first of many battles which divided the Democratic party on the question of protection. 126 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the When Mr. RANDALL came to the chair the Presidency was in dispute between Hayes and Tilden. There were possibilities of anarchy in the future, and threats were made that marching armies would shake the Alleghany Moun tains. The words uttered by Mr. RANDALL when he took the chair showed the standard of conduct which he had set for himself and do not inaccurately describe the patriotic statesmanship which guided his action. Mr. RANDALL said: We stand in the presence of events which strain and test to the last de gree our form of government. Our liberties, consecrated by so many sacrifices in the past and preserved amid the rejoicings of an exultant people at our centennial anniversary as one among the nations of the earth, must be maintained at all hazard. The people look confidently to your moderation, to your wisdom, in this time fraught with so much peril. Let us not, I beseech you, disappoint their just expectations and their keen sense of right; but, by unceasing vigilance, let us prevent even the slightest departure from the Constitution and the laws, forgetting in a moment of difficulty that we are the adherents of party and only remembering that we are American citizens witli a country to save. During this struggle Mr RANDALL was a warm friend to Mr. Tilden arid was in close consultation with him. In the chair, however, he never swerved from the calmest judicial attitude, and he opposed the turbulent spirits of his own party and succeeded in inducing both parties to accept the compromise of the Electoral Commission and to abide its decision. At the close of the session, Mr. RANDALL said, affirming the Democratic claim to the Presidency and at the same time explaining its acceptance of the result The Democratic party yielded temporary possession of the administra tion rather than entail upon the people civil war, with all its attendant horrors. Mr. RANDALL was again elected Speaker in the Forty-fifth Congress, and at the extra session in 1 879 he was chosen Speaker of the Forty-sixth Congress. In the Forty-seventh Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 127 Congress, when the Republican majority elected a Speaker , the Hon. J. Warren Keifer, of Ohio, Mr. RANDALL became a member of the Committee on Appropriations, and again made an energetic record in limiting the expenditure of public moneys. In 1883, when the Democratic party was again divided between free trade and protection, Mr. RANDALL, repre senting the protection wing of the party, was again a candi date for Speaker and was opposed by Hon. John G. Carlisle, now a distinguished member of this body, representing the opponents of protection. Mr. RANDALL was defeated. His last great work as a member of the House was the preparation of a tariff bill as a substitute for the measure reported by Hon. Roger Q. Mills, as chairman of the Com mittee on Ways and Means, and the delivery of a speech in its support. Th^eafter the disease which sapped his strength prevented his active participation in the proceed ings of the House. During the beginning of the present session, while he lay upon his sick bed, his counsel was repeatedly sought by the leaders of the minority, and his last public deliverance was a letter which he sent to the Democratic caucus urging them to maintain what they claimed were their rights. Mr. RANDALL, in 1868, only four years after his election to Congress, was an unsuccessful candidate for delegate at large to the national Democratic convention at New York. In 1872 he was elected a delegate to the national Democratic convention at Baltimore which nominated Horace Greeley. In 1876 he was again a delegate to the Democratic national convention, but his duties compelled him to remain in Wash ington. In 1880 he received in the Democratic national convention 128 votes for the Presidency. When General Hancock was nominated, Mr. RANDALL, who was a dele- 128 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on tJie gate to the convention, seconded the motion to make the nomination unanimous. In the Democratic national conven tion of 1884 he received the solid vote of the Pennsylvania delegation for the Presidential nomintioii. During his illness Mr. RANDALL gave much thought to religious questions, and as a result of his meditations he be came a member, about two months before his death, of the Metropolitan Presbyterian Church. He had for many years been a constant attendant at this and other Presbyterian churches. His was in no sense a death-bed conversion. It was a genuine confession of faith in the Christian religion based upon an intellectual examination of its fundamental doctrines. There is no doubt that Mr. RANDALL believed to within a short time of his death that he would eventually recover from the insidious disease, which at last reached a fatal termination at daybreak on Sunday, April 30, 1890, at his home in this city, where he was surrounded by the members of his family. Such were the private life and public career of one who wrought better for the country than for himself, and better, perhaps, than others whose names will more luminously illustrate the pages of its history. The life of toil and struggle and patriotism terminated in suffering. When before his final day his doom was read to him he turned his face to the shining beacon on the farther side of the dark river, and, with faith unfaltering as his courage, he went down into its deep waters. When the committee of this body which followed his re mains to the grave met those who had gathered around its opening to look their last upon his face, they must have rec ognized the fact that the thousands there assembled were the working people of his city, and that this was indeed a great commoner. There was a want of display and of votive Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 129 offerings, but in their stead were the bowed heads and soft ened hearts of a multitude of the common people. These were his associates, his friends, his supporters, and the beneficiaries of the sacrifices of his life of duty. Others may appear in his stead to assume the robes which have fallen from him and may fittingly fulfill their office, but none, I think, will ever arise to exactly fill, for political position, positive courage, unselfishness, patriotism, and devotion to duty the great chasm left in Pennsylvania by this man s death. ADDRESS OF MR. BARBOUR, OF VIRGINIA. Mr. PRESIDENT: If not otherwise prompted, my warm per sonal friendship and high appreciation of the public services of SAMUEL J. RANDALL would furnish me with sufficient justification to say something on this occasion of praise and commendation to the memory of the great Pennsylvania!!. Besides, Mr. RANDALL was well known to the people of Virginia, and enjoyed without qualification their highest admiration, confidence, and esteem. The value and extent of his great legislative services in the House of Representatives were generally known and ap preciated by our people, and no difference of opinion upon any economic question, if any existed, was ever allowed to come between them and his nobility. His integrity was spotless, his firmness as solid as the rock basis of the Penn sylvania mountains, and his abilities and patriotism were always equal to the exigencies of the most important occa sions. He was a tribune emphatically of the people, and a great one, too, of our latter-day American politics, in my judgment. H. Mis. 265 9 130 Address of Mr. Harbour, of Virgiaia, on the Educated in the school of Thomas Jefferson, the great apostle of liberty, he believed that government derived its just powers from the consent of the governed, and that all political powers should be exercised in favor of the equal rights and privileges of the masses of the people. Mr. RAN DALL was not much inclined to abstract and sentimental statesmanship, but more disposed to regard political meas ures from a practical standpoint, and perhaps for this reason at times got out of touch with a majority of the leaders of his party, especially on one of the most important questions of the day. His great power lay more in action than in the presenta tion of glittering generalities, so called, and his ambition was exerted more to produce results of importance and ben efit to the people than to indulge in the inferior fields of rhetorical display. It is probable that his early experience in mercantile life and commercial intercourse with his fel low-men, and the effect of legislative measures upon the business of the country, taught Mr. RANDALL the value of practical or applied politics, as distinguished from the theories of the schools and abstractions of political economy as laid down in the books. Conditions were more potent in confronting him than theories. It may be that this difference of political thought and action contributed to put him sufficiently out of line with some of his party associates as to have prevented him from receiving at their hands the nomination for the highest office within the gift of the people of the United States, a position to which he was so well entitled by his long and eminent public services. Personal considerations could not swerve Mr. RANDALL a hair s breadth from his course. If any defect in Mr. RAN DALL S make-up as a public man and statesman existed, it Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 131 grew out of his indisposition to conciliate opposition or to yield aught in the way of compromise in passing upon measures affecting the public interest. There was nothing precocious about the growth of the reputation and ability of Mr. RANDALL. He presented a clear example of political evolution. His earlier years in Congress, as I understand, were not marked by any special political significance, but as the vital measures of constitu tional amendment and of public policy which followed the close of the civil war came up for Congressional considera tion the genius of SAMUEL J. RANDALL rose with the occa sion. He became the acknowledged leader of his party in the House of Representatives. His subsequent career is so recent and well known as to make further allusion to it or comment unnecessary. His great ability, courage, patriotism, and fidelity were universally conceded and known of all men, and when the summons came for his final departure from earth it was re ceived with manifestations of profound national regret and associated with all the symbols of public grief and mourn ing. And as I accompanied the remains of the departed states man to their last resting place in the beautiful cemetery near Philadelphia and saw the great cortege of friends, neighbors, and constituents assembled to do honor to his memory, I felt that the useful career of this simple, unostentatious, and true-hearted public man was fully appreciated where he was best known, and was permanently enshrined in the minds and hearts of his countrymen. 132 Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia, on the ADDRESS OF MR. DANIEL, OF VIRGINIA. Mr. PRESIDENT: To rule a people to the end that they may be united, free, peaceful, and happy is the whole science of government the statesman s study, the patriot s desire, the citizen s benefaction. Throughout his career the late SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL, a Representative from Pennsylvania, exerted his noble fac ulties to this consummation. He was for union for union based on mutual trust, in terest, and affection the only union blessed of Heaven. He was for freedom, for the freedom of grace, comity, conscience, concession, and kindness, in which men are prompted to do by inclination that which they might be compelled to do by force the only freedom that is not a fantasy. He was for peace, for peace guarded by the angels of Hope, Faith, and Love; the only peace that does not wear a canker in its heart and does not carry a dagger in its bosom. And in their pursuit of happiness the people of our country had no helper more constant, more intrepid, more filled with the good cheer of patriotism than was he, to whom we say: "Farewell! well done!" to-day. Of a vigorous nature, mental and physical ; of integrity never questioned ; full of force and application ; alert, trained to business and business-like in every method ; hating intrigue ; of strong attachments ; grateful for kind ness ; loving his friends, and glad to serve them ; void of vengef uliiess, but intense and faithful in conviction ; sensi ble of responsibility, but ready to assume it ; flinching from no encounter; jealous of every encroachment on public Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 133 rights and interests, he was the model of a public servant, and he added honor and glory to the name of representative of the people. There was the flash of genius in his large dark eye. There was a somber Roman beauty of civic courage and inflexible will in his strong countenance, and that too subtle for stone or canvas, the spirit dominant and dauntless. Tis well for him whose will is strong ; He suffers, but he will not suffer long ; He suffers, but he will not suffer wrong. His fame amongst publicists will rest upon the skill and ability he displayed as a parliamentary leader. Amongst his compeers there were those of more varied accomplish ments, but none who better digested or used their knowl edge. There were those more eloquent, but none who spoke more to the purpose or better knew when to be brief or silent. There were those who thought more profoundly on many questions ; there were few indeed who could act more wisely on a particular one. There were those more brilliant ; there were none of sounder sense. He was reliable, conserv ative, concentrative, and decisive. He ignored trifles ; he mastered details. Principle was his guide ; result his goal. Always partisan, he was always fair, brave, generous, and just. He would have made a great President, His career was singular. A Northern man, a Union man, a soldier for a time in the Union Army, of old Whig ex traction, wedded to the economic ideas of that party, and to the extension of them as evolved by the Republicans, living in a Republican State, he yet became a Democrat and stood foremost in the councils of the Democratic party, its recog nized chief on the floor of the House and. then its Speaker in the chair. Always in the "imminent deadly breach" of political warfare, giving stout blows and receiving them, a 1 34 Address of Mr, Daniel, of Virginia, on the shining mark for hostile shafts, he yet retained the univer sal respect and good- will of friend and foe; exerted no last ing resentments, provoked no slander. There is in this a revelation; and a message from the dead seems to open the seal of the great book which contains it. I believe that this was because he was truly and plainly a national man in the broad, catholic spirit of common citi zenship and humanity; and that he dared and did what seemed to him right for the whole people, one and insepara ble. I believe it was because he illustrated as he taught the lesson that friendship, good-will, patriotism, are greater than any economic theory or any mere administrative principle. Fraternity is greater than liberty or equality, because it is their creator, not their creature. A restful peace makes all good things possible. His patriotism was not a phrase. It was genuine. It did not end in epithets, upon emblems. The deed was its inter pretation. It overstepped technical party lines. It leaped the barriers of sections. It embraced every State. It pro claimed the right of every citizen. It made a bridge of gold over bloody chasms. It was American. Patriotism is half hid from view when we call it "love of country." The old Latin word from which it springs would remind us that it is a tiling of flesh and blood and spirit the filial love of fatherhood, the brotherly love of all our countrymen, the children of the fatherhood. He had faith in his countrymen, in their wholeness, in their faithfulness, in their trustworthiness. He had hope for his countrymen, that their Constitution would shine before them over the wrecks of hatred; that their institutions would enshrine and transmit the blessings of civil liberty; that the chords of memory would be "touched by the angels of our better nature." Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 13-3 In his modest, hospitable home on the Capitol Hill, in the bosom of his family, aside from the pomp and vanities of the gay metropolis, he spent his days in the toil of love and duty. But neither the splendor of palaces, nor the titles of- rank, nor the joys of triumphs, nor the retinues of riches, could bestow such dignity as was his the unaffected friend, the worthy citizen. In sound of the voices yet contending in the great Hall which had known his presence and echoed his accents for over a quarter of a century, in bow-shot of the Capitol, whose steps he would ascend no more forever, he felt the mortal pang, and in open view slow death advanced upon him. The stricken warrior heard the battle roll, and watched its shifting tides, helpless to raise a hand. But many missed him in their need, and sighed Oh ! for an hour of our lost Dundee. He met death with the composure of an equal spirit. At peace with man, with trust in God, he died. Farewell, brave spirit ! The apostle s words pronounced their benediction: Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail: whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 136 Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas, on the ADDRESS OF MR. PLUMB, OF KANSAS. Mr. PRESIDENT: Painfully frequent as has been the re currence of these memorial observances of late, and emi nent as have been the subjects of them, it can not be doubted that he in whose honor these tributes are being ren dered was worthy to rank among the most illustrious. The career of Mr. RANDALL was truly a remarkable one. Such were the qualities of his mind and the elements of his nature that he seemed destined from the very dawn of manhood to contend successfully against whatever obstacles might beset his pathway and to make himself a leader among leaders. He was no favorite of fortune, nor were his surroundings and circumstances such as often lift mediocrity into unde served prominence. Without the ad vantage of wealth or extensive scholarship, he entered upon active life in a community rich in historical associations, richer still in its heritage of illustrious names, and in which social and commercial influences were at least as powerful as in any other section of the country. That he succeeded so unmistakably, that his career for the better part of a generation was one of steady progress in influences and in demonstrated capacity for usefulness and for leader ship, attests beyond cavil or question his self-reliant and in domitable nature. His public life compassed the most momentous period in our history. The opportunities which it offered for the noblest efforts of genius and of patriotism were as numerous as they were exacting. To these deman Is of the times Mr. RANDALL responded loyally and resolutely, and few of his contemporaries have left a more enduring impress upon them. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 137 As partisans we may sometimes question the wisdom of his policies, and his views of political and industrial economy may challenge the dissent of many; but as respects the sin cerity of his convictions and the zeal and ability with which they were championed the unanimity of opinion is absolute. Perhaps the predominant feature of our dead friend s character, as manifested in his life and service among us, was inflexibility of purpose, that tenacity of belief which, being the result of judgment and reflection, yielded neither to the fervor of opposition nor to the arts of persuasion. This conspicuous element in his intellectual and moral equip ment was as far removed from unreasoning stubbornness as it was from that variableness which too often hampers and blights careers not wanting in engaging and brilliant fea tures. Mr. RANDALL S popularity was as extensive as it was un doubted. That he courted public favor at the sacrifice of a single one of his matured convictions his whole history dis proves. Indeed, he could not have been blind to the prob ability that failure to harmonize with the great majority of his political associates on a subject of deep national concern would rther diminish than increase the personal considera tion in which he was held. Still there was no wavering, and he went to his grave firm in the faith which it had been the chief labor of his riper years to propagate and exemplify. The sturdiest of partisans, he was above all a patriot. He sought political advantage by open and honorable processes, but refused to pursue it at the hazard of the public safety. Interposing the weight of his personal character and the authority of his official position at a time of intense excite ment and threatened dangers he powerfully aided in secur ing a peaceful adjustment, under the sanction of law, of a controversy which foreboded peril to the Republic. 138 Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas, on the If his resolution was firm and liis convictions positive, none knew better than he that conciliation and compromise are the inevitable resource of a successful popular .govern ment. So he erected no arbitrary standard of achievement at such a height as to make the full measure of success doubtful if not impossible, refusing to be content with less, but wisely secured what was practicable for the time and turned his face toward fresh successes in the future. In the popular acceptation of the term, Mr. RANDALL could hardly be called an eloquent man. He despised the tricks of oratory, and appealed to reason rather than to fancy or to passion. The gravity of his discourse was neither re lieved by metaphor nor embellished by poetry, nor did he court the flattery of the unthinking by tawdry ornamenta tion. But if the purpose of eloquence be to instruct and to convince., then was he one of the most eloquent men of his time. Seldom elaborate, never diffuse, not often even in dulging in careful analysis or conforming to the rules of logic as laid down by the schools, his compact and luminous statements carried all the force and effect of demonstration. The processes of his thought and speech converged system atically upon the precise object sought to be accomplished, and he left to others the lighter labor of inciting admiration and stimulating applause. Rigid and unbending as he was in his views of duty, he was above all just. Ever ready to hear and weigh either appeal or protest, his final decision satisfied his conscience and his judgment. Mr. RANDALL S strictly personal characteristics were such as to strengthen his hold upon popular appreciation. Plain, unpretentious, kindly in bearing, and conspicuously domes tic in taste and inclination, he was richly qualified in every respect to be, as he was, the tribune of the people. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 139 To these endowments was added rectitude of purpose and conduct which was never questioned in the fiercest heat of political antagonism, and which was exemplified in a private life singularly modest and unostentatious, contributing to and sharing in those sweet and kindly ministrations which make the happy home a miniature of heaven. ADDRESS OF MR. BLACKBURN, OF KENTUCKY. Mr. PRESIDENT : I shall ask but a few moments in which to pay in unprepared and homely phrase my tribute to the character and services of Pennsylvania s dead statesman. I would not intrude even what I have to say upon the Senate if it were not for the long and close association that has existed between us. For fifteen years I was in continuous service with him in Congress. Ten of those years we passed in the other House together, serving upon the same com mittee, belonging to the same political party. We often divided, and divided widely, but it is only just to him to add that no divisions that ever came between us either in their effect upon our personal ambitions or upon party poli cies ever in the slightest degree abated my estimate of his abilities or my admiration for his character. His was in many respects, sir, a singular career. Without fortune or fame to precede him, he came into the Congress of the United States in 1863, at the very darkest hour of the war period of his country s history. He came here as a Representative upon the minority side. But promptly upon his appearance in this arena he asserted those natural powers and capacities for leadership that marked him to his grave. Although his entrance into public life was in the gloomiest period of our history, his patriotism blazed too brightly ever 140 Address of Mr. Blackburn, of Kentucky, on the to be questioned. Although the years of the war through which he served in public here and those immediately fol lowing were marked in the very nature of things with the most reckless methods that had ever been known, and though they could not possibly be other than corrupt when compared with an era of peace, he served through all that period, and at its close his untarnished honor shone as brightly as the shield in the sun. The maelstrom that swallowed up the previously good reputations of so many public men left no stain upon his escutcheon. He entered life poor; and at the end of more than a quarter of a cen tury of public service he went out of it only to go into his grave still poorer. If he left the public service with hands that were empty, the world knew that he left it with hands that were clean. The most conspicuous example of his properties of leader ship that was ever given occurred in the Forty-third Con gress, to which the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Quay] has so happily alluded in his beautiful tribute to his dead colleague. It was then, sir, that he stood there the recog nized leader of the helpless, and it well-nigh appeared hope less, minority, battling for the maintenance of his honestly cherished convictions through all those weary days that stretched out into still more weary weeks and months, beat ing back the serried hosts of a majority that threatened to overwhelm as the waves of the sea. For stubbornness of maintenance, for skill of management, for the lofty courage with which it was prosecuted, that contest stands without a parallel in the Congressional history of this country. He ac complished the purpose for which he struggled, and for his service there every son and daughter of the South owes a tribute to his memory, a flower to his grave. We are told, sir, that no man is truly great. This may Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 141 be; but in the person of this man of whom we speak were found exceptionally developed many of the properties of true greatness. The two corner-stones upon which it rests were marvelously developed in him, an honesty that was unques tionable and a courage that was unfaltering. These were the distinguishing characteristics of this man. He towered up in that House during his twenty-seven years of service always in the front rank of its leaders, and ofttimes, when the crucial and the supreme moment of trial came, he loomed above his fellows as the one undaunted soul upon whom all would rely. He followed in the steps of another great parliamentary leader that his State had previously given to the other wing of this Capitol ; and I do believe that if the judgment of the future shall be fair it will declare that Thaddeus Stevens and SAMUEL J. RANDALL, of Pennsylvania, were the two most marked, the two most efficientthe two greatest parliament ary leaders that the House has known in the half century that lies behind us. I do not know that he could be compared fairly in point of oiKitorical ability or finish to many of the men who sur rounded him and served with him ; but, Mr. President, the more enlarged my observation of life becomes the more thoroughly am I persuaded that that which marks the power of man over man is not so much his intellectual superiority as it is the earnestness of his convictions and the aggressive courage with which he prosecutes them. In this respect we have too rarely seen this man s equal. That he was perfectly trustworthy is evinced by the long career that he led. The majority of his party differed with him in that shibboleth of political faith which of late years has become the chief issue involved in political struggles, but never from the dawn of his career in that House until 142 Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois, on the the grave closed over him was there to be found on either side of the House or country a man who ever questioned the integrity of his purpose. Truly these are properties and distinguishing properties that go to make up the true meas ure of mortal greatness. The Lord never made a man more honest nor a man more courageous. He never knew the name of fear. " Though a broken orb should fall, fearless he would stand amid its ruins." When we come to contemplate these strong points and properties that stood out so prominently in his character, we can but conclude that it would be well for those who come after us to ponder upon his life and to follow his example. Peace to his ashes, honor to his memory, and rest to his manly soul. ADDRESS OF MR. CULLOM, OF ILLINOIS. Mr. PRESIDENT: We are again engaged in the solemn duty of paying honor to the dead. It is fit and proper that we should turn aside from our legislative duties and, as beet we can, commemorate the virtues of him to whom honoris due. SAMUEL JACKSON RANDALL, who for long years was engaged in the public service of his country, has gone from among us to his final home beyond the grave. I will not detail to the Senate on this solemn occasion an account of the many acts which make up the career of that great statesman. That has been done by the honorable Sen ator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Quay], who is more familiar with the personal history of the deceased than are Senators from other States. The public life of Mr. RANDALL is fa miliar to the people of the whole country. Few men were better known than was he. Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 143 Mr. President, it was my privilege to serve with him in the House of Representatives for six years, beginning witli the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, in 18G5. From personal observation of and association with him I formed my opinion of him as a friend, as a legislator, as a statesman, and as a man. As a friend he was true as steel, always loyal through good and evil report. As a legislator he was strong, constantly struggling to secure the passage of measures that he believed to be in the interest of the country and to kill those measures which he deemed to be wrong. He was simple in his own habits of life and lived economically, and as chairman of the Committee on Appro priations he was a stubborn advocate of an economic admin istration of the affairs of the Government. As Speaker of the House he was able and fair, but, like all strong men, administered the duties of that high office with a strong hand. As a statesman I need not say, Mr. President, he was patriotic and looked to the general wel fare of our Republic in the consideration of all great meas ures. He was in the broadest sense a man, full of courage, honest with himself and honest with the world. Physically and mentally he was a giant, of indomitable will-power and of unconquerable spirit. The greater the struggle or the more exciting the contest in which he became involved the greater courage, confidence, and power he seemed to possess and the more confidently his friends would rally to his sup port. He was a leader, and those who agreed with him fol lowed him regardless of results as to success or failure. Great men are moved by their convictions of duty. They are governed either as private citizens or as servants of the people by their convictions. The principle of right and wrong is never absent from their minds. Mr. RANDALL was controlled in his public life by his convictions; when he 144 Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois, on the believed lie had a righteous cause he was immovable, and no threats of injury or defeat could turn him to the right or to the left from his purpose. When he reached the conclusion that a certain policy was right in the interest of the general welfare, he pursued it with that relentless energy which only a man of his great power could do. Mr. President, few men in our nation s history have left a stronger impress upon the country than SAMUEL J. RAN DALL. As a statesman he stood for economy all through his public career. He stood for patriotism also, and never swerved from a constant devotion to the Union. He was an uncompromising Democrat, but differed with his party on the great economic question which engages the attention of the country and of Congress so intensely, from time to time, as the nation goes forward in its career of unbroken pros perity. In debate he was always strong, addressing himself to the point at issue, and always brief. The Congressional Record for more than a quarter of a century will attest the prominence and power of Mr. RANDALL as a controlling in fluence in shaping legislation and giving direction to the affairs of our Government in the eventful period of his public service. Mr. President, I sometimes wonder that our nation is apparently undisturbed by the almost constant falling by the way of our greatest statesmen. Sir, it would astonish you and us all if the names of those on whom we have relied as leaders in thought and in the nation s affairs for the last thirty years should be here given. What a roll of honor it would be. Many of our great statesmen and scholars have passed away within a few brief years, but, thank God, our Republic moves on in its career of unprecedented glory, daily demonstrating the important fact that as its patriotic citizens and statesmen retire from the theater of action they Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 145 pass the torch of liberty to those who come after them, bright and burning as they received it. So, Mr. President, while we mourn the loss of great men, especially those whom we knew as friends, we are consoled in a measure by the fact that the life of the Government and of our free insti tutions is not in the hands alone of the few, but is in the safe-keeping of the great body of the people. ADDRESS OF MR. MORGAN, OF ALABAMA. Mr. PRESIDENT: Under our peculiar system of govern ment and in view of the institutions by which we are sur rounded, a very great and significant value attaches to a good reputation earned in Congress. This is the tribunal where thought is exchanged, where measures are ripened and enacted upon which the destinies of the country hang; and he who has devoted himself through a series of years as the representative of his State or his people in the devel opment and maturing of the measures which control the great affairs with which we are concerned here, and has won the approbation of the country through years of faithful and laborious service, may be said to have contributed to its renown, to the wealth of its history, in a higher degree than he could do in almost any other theater to which he might be called. The value of a great and good reputation earned in Con gress has been testified to by the country, through the grief of the people, in a number of instances during the present Fifty-first Congress. We have lost a number of our most useful men. Conspicuous amongst these objects of sorrow to the people of the United States have been Mr. Cox, Mr. Kelley, Mr. RANDALL and Mr. Beck men who have each H. Mis. 265 10 146 Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama, on the earned a reputation that will go down in honor along the current of the history of this country to the last period, through their earnest, honest, constant, devoted, and pa triotic labors. Mr. Cox was a man of brilliant genius. He ornamented the literature and oratory of the country in most beautiful and enticing productions from his vivid mind. Mr. Kelley was also a man of much literary accomplish ment, beauty of thought and imagination, a ripe scholar, and at the same time he was a man who was sturdy and strong and earnest as a laborer. They were all very able and laborious men, but Mr. RANDALL and Mr. Beck may be said to have represented the most laborious of the classes of American statesmen who have engaged in the service of this country for many years past. They were all great, and no country has within the same period of time been called upon to express its grief and mourning over the loss of four truer or better or more useful men than these. Mr. RANDALL amongst this body of statesmen had dis tinguishing peculiarities. It was not my privilege to know him intimately, but I had the same observation of him that I think the people at large had. Uninfluenced by any pe culiar personal attachments, I think that I have the view of him which is entertained by the whole body of the people of the United States, and it is that few abler or better men have ever been found in the public councils of any country. His personal characteristics were all exemplified in his political life, and his political life was all there was of his public life. So far as I have understood, the whole of his history has been written by his own hand in the records of Congress. Not a line is blurred. It has been graven with a clever and steady hand, and it is the fruitful and true memorial of a self-denying, honest, and dutiful public service. He has Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 147 said nothing in vain; he has done nothing that was not jus tified by good conscience. He always impressed me as being a man who had the sus taining power of an honest, deep, well-settled conviction that he was right, and was acting justly, wisely, and hon estly in everything he did. He had great force of will, great power to impress his thoughts and conclusions upon the minds of other men, not through persuasion, but through conviction. If he had been in the Army during the period of the civil war, with any ambition for military preferment, he would have become a distinguished general. He would have been a great commander of great bodies of armed men in the conflict of war. He had all the highest qualities of a true soldier, except that he had no desire for fame that must be earned in warfare, if earned at all, through the sufferings of humanity. I have thought of him often as representing in civil life those peculiar characteristics that we in the South, and I think all the country, attribute to Stonewall Jackson a man of the deepest and most profound convictions; a man of heroic fortitude whenever he felt that he was right; a man of unflinching courage in all times of danger; a man of cool, wise, deliberate cast of mind; a man of absolute faith, who would stake his life and all else that belonged to him upon a conviction on any topic that he thought was material to the honor and welfare of his country. The Pantheon of America is in the hearts of the people. I do not desire to see the time when we shall build a vast temple here and congregate in it the marble images of our great men who have preceded us. It is not at all necessary, because the gratitude of the American heart keeps pace with the realization of the benefits we are deriving daily and hourly from the work of the great statesmen and lead- 148 Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama, on the ers of the country. The people drape the noble memories of the men they honor in the habiliments of light and glory, softened by gratitude and love, and they keep in their Pan theon the undying memorials of those who have been true and honest in their dealings with their welfare. What body, or whose image, in marble or bronze, has ever found a nobler shrine than this ? So it is not needed in a free and great country like this and with a people who govern themselves, and therefore are prepared rightly to value their servants who assist them in this great work, that they should have temples dedicated to the dead, and that they should erect therein the images of those who have died in their service. The honorable roll of great statesmen and scholars, re ferred to by the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Cullom], wh< have passed off in. the last thirty years is recorded in th< hearts of the American people. They have treasured in their hearts the remembrance of every one of these. That roll is an honor to the age in which we live, that will grow brighter as the years increase in number. The record is made in our Pantheon. I can speak, Mr. President, for the people of the South in regard to this love that the people have for Mr. RANDALL S memory. Without referring to the circumstances which have created the sensibility which causes them to appreciate very thoroughly and very profoundly what they conceive to be his great services rendered to them, I can say that, in the Southern heart, there is not one pulsation that does not beat with gratitude to the memory of SAMUEL J. RANDALL. That is a great thing to say of any man, that he is crowned with the love, after his grave is closed, of fifteen or twenty millions of people. He won that affection in the halls of Congress in his assistance in the administration of Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 149 the Constitution and laws of the United States as he con ceived that they were, and as he conceived that they ought to be, and it was here that he reaped a harvest of renown which will continue to brighten as we recede from the period of his labors and the hour of his death. He owed the people of the South no special duty or affec tion growing out of kinship, favors shown him, or personal association. In war he was their enemy, but in peace he was such a friend as only such a man can be. Mr. RANDALL during his life, as I am informed, was not a member of any church. When about a month before the period of his dissolution he turned his thoughts in a new direction and contemplated a new life in the great beyond, he acted upon convictions that moved his soul to its very foundation. Perhaps he had no prejudice to yield, perhaps he had no new line of thought to take up when he gave him self to the Church of God as one of its willing servants; but there was a heroism in that act which we may call the hero ism of virtue. Knowing his fate, and believing from the early instruction which he had received that there was but one course that would lead him to safety in the future, he laid aside without hesitancy his connection with all the past and marched confidently forth to take his Saviour by the hand. It requires more moral courage to perform that act in the face of a censorious world, even when death is very near, than it does to fight the severest battle an American soldier ever engaged in. SAMUEL J. RANDALL was equal to that occasion as he was to every other that made any demand upon him that his conduct should conform faithfully to his con victions. Who to-day may not crave the glory in which that man died ? Who may not pray for the reputation which he won, polished and made bright as it was in the estimation of all mankind by this last act of sublime faith? It was just 150 Address of Afr. Gibson, of Louisiana, on the like him. It was the honest and nianly and true response to the deepest, most important, and most sincere convictions of his soul. Such men, Mr. President, are not born, to die out of the memory of the people. They were born to live in our affections, and the day will not occur in the history of this great country when the mention of the name of SAMUEL J RANDALL will not recall to the American heart an honest sense of pride that such a man lived, that such a man served his country, and that such a man died in the Christian faith. ADDRESS OF MR. GIBSON, OF LOUISIANA. Mr. PRESIDENT : Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL was already a veteran in the House and a recognized leader of the Demo cratic party when I became a Representative in the Forty- fourth Congress. From that day until the moment of his death our relations were cordial, friendly, and confidential. It is a mournful satisfaction to lay my simple tribute upon the passing bier of the deceased statesman. I will not attempt any extended analysis of his character or of his intellectual endowments, or to sketch his illustrious career. That has already been done. He was, like all other truly eminent men. a man of simplicity of character and greatest in supreme crises. One of the most extraordinary events in all parliamentary history, illustrative of his skill, his constancy, and endurance, was the successful conflict he waged against the force bill in the Forty-third Congress, which secured for him and for his name the lasting grati tude of the people south of the Potomac ; and not less un selfish, patriotic, and brave was his conduct in executing the provisions of the Electoral Commission bill, by which civil Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 151 strife was probably averted, and for which he deserves the gratitude of every true American. He was thrice elected Speaker of the House. He was am bitious and loved power, but not for itself, not to make a vain display of its exercise ; but the power possessed by him was consecrated to the highest aims ; he allied it to right, truth, and justice. He dedicated himself as unselfishly as any man who ever lived to the best interests of his country ; to peace, concord, to the enforcement of the laws, and to such legislation as he believed would promote the prosperity and happiness of all the people. There is inscribed on the monument of Pitt, at Guildhall, London, " He disposed for twenty years of the favors of the Crown, lived without ostentation, and died poor/ It may be said of SAMUEL J. RANDALL that he held in his hands the keys of the Treasury of the United States for twenty years as Speaker of the House and chairman of the Committee on Appropriations; that during that time he lived without ostentation; that he saved countless millions to the people of this country, and he died poor. I have heard Mr. Tilden say, repeatedly, when discussing public affairs, that SAMUEL J. RANDALL was better fitted for magistracy over a free people than any living man; that he possessed the very qualities that were demanded in sea sons of disquiet and peril, and that if at any time it had been left to his choice he would have named SAMUEL J. RANDALL to be President of thg United States. Mr. RANDALL was fond of philosophy and literature, but the restrictions placed upon him by his devotion to public work prevented him from indulging his taste for general reading. He knew the House of Representatives, its rules, business, and work, probably better than any man who was ever the Speaker of that body. He knew the details of every 152 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Louisiana, on the Department of the Government quite as well, if not better, than any chief or head, and nothing delighted him more than to analyze Department reports. He was a rigid econ omist of the public money. Public money meant for him money taken from some poor man or some poor woman. He had no tolerance for the no tion which prevails with many, that lavish appropriations out of the earnings and savings of the people could in any manner benefit the people as much as if the money had been left with them to be expended for their own purposes. No man ever made greater exertions to impress economy upon the administration of the Government. He was indeed a man of inflexible purpose and dauntless courage. He was not petulant or boisterous ; he was devoid of bravado ; nor did he seek controversy, but no threats or persuasions could drive him from the right-laid line of truth and duty. He was ardent, trustful, and devoted in his friendships, but he was discriminating. They were not founded upon interest or expediency, but upon the endur ing qualities of honor, patriotism, and truth. While the aspect he presented to the public and to strangers was austere, in his personal relations he was gentle, kind, and affable. He had the characteristics which Macaulay assigns to the Hollands : " A strong will and a sweet temper." He was conciliatory without ever making unmanly concessions, and he was firm without indulging in unmanly abuse or resentments. He has passed away forever. The people whom he served will recall him as a faithful public man, possessed of great courage and unbending in his devotion to the public wel fare ; but those who enjoyed his friendship will remember his open and benignant countenance, his cordial greeting, his loving disposition, and that temper which years of sick- Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 1 53 ness and pain seemed only to make sweeter and sweeter, until he at last fell asleep on the bosom of his Saviour, a faithful servant of his God. ADDRESS OF MR, HISCOCK, OF NEW YORK. Mr. PRESIDENT: Before entering the Chamber I was not aware the Senate was considering resolutions in memoriam of Mr. RANDALL; but I will not go to other duties, pressing as they are, without placing in the RECORD a few words ex pressive of my estimation of his abilities and public virtues. I served with Mr. RANDALL ten years in the House of Representatives, and early in the period an acquaintance began which soon ripened into friendship and great personal regard, at least on my part towards him; and I am quite sure that he frequently extended to me more than the ordi nary official and parliamentary consideration. He possessed abilities of a very high order; and to say that he was an honest, unselfish statesman is as unnecessary, if not offensive, as to defend the loyalty and patriotism of either Lincoln, Grant, Sheridan, or Sherman. Mr. RANDALL had attained a position above that atmos phere in which private hates and personal jealousies and poisouojis slanders may render personal defense and expla nations necessary. Monumental in respect to his abilities and virtues, whoever criticises the design is compelled to admit the perfection in the class to which he belonged. Mr. RANDALL was both an honest and earnest partisan. He recognized that our Government is administered by parties, and without regard to his personal fortunes, was convinced the Democratic party would in power more largely promote the general prosperity of the country, and 154 Address of Mr. Hiscock, of New York, on the more certainly than the Republican party perpetuate those democratic and republican principles upon which our form of government rests. He was never doubtful or hesitating in his judgments or opinions; and, believing as he did, he rejoiced over Democratic victories and mourned over her de feats, for to him her triumphs were his country s. Strong as were his convictions in this respect, however, he never sought to degrade the party he so earnestly opposed. What I mean is, that he never contributed to her mistakes, if she made any. Petty politicians, small statesmen in the oppo sition if they should be dignified by the appellation upon the theory that the party in power is responsible, will con tribute to her mistakes; if there are bad men in the majority, unite with them to promote venal and improper legislation. Mr. RANDALL never descended to that method; his country was involved, and his patriotism was of too high an order to permit him to yield to any temptation to sacrifice her interests and honor for even the time being. In the legislative body of which he was so long the lead ing member, if in the minority, his influence to the fullest extent was everted to obtain in legislation the best possible results, however strengthening and distinguishing they might prove to his party opponents. I have more than once seen a party leader rescued by him from defeat or a vicious amendment to his bill, promoted by those of his own side or a combination extending to both sides. Mr. RANDALL was not a popular or magnetic speaker and did not possess the wonderful power, by eloquent appeals and denunciations and logic clothed in the laces and dia monds of rhetoric, to sway or influence those who heard him or read his speeches ; but he was a leader of men and a captain of leaders. Those who knew him intimately may Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 155 not agree upon the qualities that enabled him to exercise so long his commanding influence, but they will agree he pos sessed and held the scepter apparently without effort, whether in or out the Speaker s chair. His intellectual equals gravitated to him and followed; thoughtless inferiors surrendered themselves to his guardianship; and it was not on account of an argument or appeal made at an imminent moment. When out of sympathy with the majority of his party associates in the House of Representatives upon one great question, and when, to the looker-on upon the other side, personal hatred of him had been engendered, upon other than the great disturbing issue Mr. RANDALL still dominated and, I believe, was regarded as the party leader by both sides of the House. I would say his great influence over those with whom he was associated was not attributable to one particular quality, but the natural result of their com bined force. The roots reaching deep into the earth, the gigantic trunk, and the widespreading branches with their crown of foliage, all make the oak possessed of strength that resists the shock of tornadoes and the fierce blasts of the storms of a century. Mr. RANDALL was possessed of an intellectual force and power that enabled him to perfectly master all the questions presented to him in his long legislative service. He was always equal to the subject and prepared for the occasion; never uncertain in respect to his course or unmeaning or doubtful in his advice to others. He was not timorous nor was he inconsiderate; and never seemed to be afflicted with those troubled experiences of uncertainty that many leaders pass through before advising or acting. At the proper moment, with quiet manner, without oratory that inflamed or any of the arts or methods that excite sympathy or pas- 156 Address of Mr. Hiscock, of New York, on the sion, with few words he resolved all doubts for his asso ciates. Mr. RANDALL, was a just judge of men. It was unneces sary for him to learn by conversation with or personal inquiry of the members of the House how they would vote upon the important questions affecting public or private interests but still nonpartisan in their character. I believe, sir, he could, as a rule, from his knowledge of the members character and mental organization, check a division of the House. In his administration as Speaker and leadership upon the floor, Mr. RANDALL never descended to tricks, combinations, or promises for support, but contested the questions fairly and upon their merits. I do not believe he ever sought to secure aid or support through the tremendous influence and power he possessed as Speaker or as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. In the one position he did not bargain away favors; in the other he did not promise for support appropriations in which gentlemen or their constituents were interested; he did not regard legisla tion as the proper subject for barter and trade. Mr. President, I will speak a moment of his organization of the committees of the House when he occupied the Speaker s chair. They seemed to grow. Openly they were formed, the members taking their places as if controlled by the natural law of selection on account of their peculiar fitness to the interests they severally represented and their public repute or representative character. Mr. President, I have not spoken of Mr. RANDALL as dead. He became a great personality that can not by that great natural change be extinguished or destroyed. He will be a historic figure. He was so identified with legislation at the time of such vital consequence to the country and with an influence reaching so far into the future that the Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 157 future statesmen and historians will closely study his char acter. It can hardly be said that the death of any one is an irreparable loss to the country; it may be said of his that it created a vacancy not yet filled. Independent of .party rela tions, he was himself a national political issue; and could his vigorous mind have been sustained by the requisite physical strength it may be fairly said of him that, like the radiation of light from its source, his patriotic and states manlike influence would have been broadened and extended. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the adop tion of the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Penn sylvania [Mr. Quay]. Mr. PLUMB. Before the Senator from Pennsylvania makes the final motion. I suggest by unanimous consent that when the Senate adjourns to-day it be to meet at 12 o clock on Monday, only for that occasion. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas asks unanimous consent to move that when the Senate adjourns to-day it be until Monday next at 12 o clock. The motion was agreed to. Mr. QUAY. I now move the adoption of the resolutions which I submitted. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the adop tion of the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Penn sylvania [Mr. Quay]. The resolutions were agreed to unanimously ; and the Senate adjourned until Monday, September 15, 1890, at 12 o clock m. LIBRARY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. THIS BOOK IS DUE BEFORE CLOSING TIME ON LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW J/l*. ,: .- " ^ % RECt-.v JIN 3 170 -2 PM LOAN DEPT. T T > A sn^, v fir: General Library ^F5756s"i 5 0)"4 7 12 6 A 5 Universuy^California Cong. ,1st fess.. .R3U5 1589-90. ., .Samuel J. Randall, - 1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY