The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-08-29
THE PR SS.
THURSDAY MORNING, AUG. 90, 1872.
Lyman TrumbulI.


After the late 'Liberap' Convention in II
linois had been swallowed by the Democratic
Convention, Mr.. Trumbull. addressing the
crowd, according to the report, thus uttered
himself: Nothing is left of the Republican
party except the organization, which has fall
len into the hands of men who seek to pros
tltute the party to their own selfish ends"
These words are like Mr.. Trumbull: they are
words OF selt-righteousness, and imputation
upon others. For months he has repeated
countless times, 81 am holier than thou"
Through his many varying phases this idea
constantly runs. He is a chronic impugner
of the motives of living men in the party he
has deserted. Surely, therefore, he is a prop
er subject for consideration. Whenever a
man tenders himself as witness against 9TH
ers, his own character, credibility AID mo-
tlves are put in issue. If he be himself guilty
OF the sins he lays at the doors of others, if he
be malevolent in his motives, if he have per-
sonal ends and interests lin view, his testi-
mony deserves little consideration. Mr..
Trumbull deals in group of accusations.
and these he levels at the President, his fel-
low-Senators, and at all who bear up the Re-
publican banner. He charges disregard of
law; he fstigmatizes appointments of rela-
tiyes to office; he denounces as a crime per-
mittinc personal or party considerations TO
influence official patronage; he rails at sell
fishness in public men he thus holds him
self out as guiltless in all these things, and he
seeks to injure others by his accusations.
We propose to examine the claims of Mr..
Trumbull to this right of censorship. A few
facts in his career will reveal the value of his
testimony.
He has been a constant office-holder and
.office-seeker for nearly thirty years. He is an
ofice-holder now, and yet he gives much time
n in Cor
the purpose) to managing and intriguing in
politics, all the while loudly denouncing Of
fice-holders for mingling in politics. He
climbed into the United States Senate over
the Constitution of his State. The Constitu-
tion of Illinois declares, "The Judges of the
Supreme and Circuit Courts shall not be elig-
ible to any other Office or public trust of prof
it in this State, or the United States, during
the term for which they were elected, nor for
one year thereafter. All votes for either of
them, for any elective Office, except that of
Judge of the Supreme or Circuit Courts, Civ
en- by the General Assembly, shall be void"
Nr. Trumbull was elected Judge June Z,
1852 and entered upon the office, and his term
continued till June u, 1861 yet ineligible as
he was, by efforts of his own and of
his friends he procured a majority
of votes in the Legislature 10 be cast for
him during this judicial term, and then he
overrode the Constitution of his State by
gaining adminission to the Senate. Money
was used in his behalf to carry the election Of
legislators whose votes elected him to the
Senate, particularly in one well-established
instance, and, unless belied by those who
know him best, scruples about means TO par
ty ends are not among his weaknesses. His
brother-in-law, William Jayne, was elected or
counted into the Legislature of Illinois in
1851, not without the use of money, raised in
part by appeals on behalf Of Mr.. Trumbull, in
other States; and Mr.. Jayne's vote gave the
Republicans a majority of one in the Illinois
Senate. Mr.. Jayne's vote gave the election
to Mr.. Trumbull.
Soon after Mr.. Jayne cast his vote for Mr..
Trumbull, and when Mr.. Jayne's legislative
term was only begun, Mr.. Trumbull applied
to President Lincoln to appoint Mr.. Jayne
Governor of a Territory. Mr.. Lincoln re-
monstrated, saying that TO take Mr.. Jayne
from his place in the Legislature of Illinois
would leave the body to which he belonged
without a Republican majority, which, in
view of measures essential TO carrying ON the
war, might lead to public injury. Mr.. Trum-
bull was imperyious to Mr.. Lincoln's objec-
tions, and succeeded in carrying his point,
and his brother-in-law was appointed Govern
or of Dak0tah.
By this act, as Mr.. Lincoln foresaw, the
Republicans lost control of the Legislature OF
Illinois. And here, though out of the order
of events, another fact may be stated, con-
nected with this same brother-in-law. The
pension agency, at Springfield, ILL.,, was given
by President Grant s~ @ - ni------S~ils
Union soldier, who earned his promotion and
lost a limb in the war. Presently Mr., Trum-
DUN coveted the place for his brother-in-law,
Jayne, and applied to the President for it.
President Grant told him of Bloomfields SER
vices and sufferings as soldier He remind
ed him that Bloomfield was an unexceptiona-
BILE officer, that he was an ardent Republican
withal, at the same time saying that il any
trust was appropriate to wounded soldier, it
was the business of paying to other wound
ed soldiers their pensions; and he appealed
to Mr.. Trumbull not to ask him to turn out
such man, merely because the position was
asked for another. Mr.. Trumbull met these
suggestions with importunate solicitations
that the place should be given to his brother
in-law, and in the end the President yielded,
and Bloomfield was turned out, and Jayne
put in. Turning out and putting in men
from favor is new aversion of Mr.. Trum-
bull; preferring relatives is only lately a sir
in his eyes.
After many requests had been complied
with, by "taking care of his friends" Mr..
point his son Collector of Internal Revenue
for the Territory of Montana. The charac-
ter and career of the young man were such
as to render the appointment unfit and un.
safe. The President, in several interviews,
excused himself to Mr. Trumbull from max
ing the appointment, and at length, when the
request was again repeated, positively de-
clned. Here occurred one of the only two
instances in which President Grant has been
subjected to menace by those seeking patron.
age. Senator Trumbull betOok himself to vi
olent language and gestures, declaring to the
President that shed see, before he had done,
whether his son could be appointed or not. -
Mr.. TrumbulPs propensity for family pol
itics is not without other illustrations. Fol
wears past, son, and in his absence another
near relative, has been at all times kept in
the clerkship of the Judiciary Committee
Mr.. Trumbull being Chairman and controll
ing the appointment. Mr.. Brown, a very
intimate friend and ally of Mr.. Trumbull
was brought by him from Illinois, and made
| Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate. Mr.. Trum
bull, by efforts often noticeable for their in
| tensity and excess, maintained in place thi.
sshenchman," as Mr.. Grimes once STYLED
| him in the Senate. The relationships be
| tween Mr.. Trumbull and Mr.. Brown, takeI
| in connection with various transactions tt
which both were privy, present case fa
outrunning all ordinary instances of getting
friend an office, or of being served by
friend in Office.
Those who know the history of house
building by the late Sergeant-at-Arms, AM
| who have heard reckoning of the collection
| of books found, on his removal, stored ava,
in the caverns of the Capitol, and who hav,
also heard how these vast plies of document
were suddenly protected by Senator's label
will appreciate in part these "reminiscences.
An interest in obtaining places is not tn
only interest Mr.. Trumbull has evinced il
the welfare OF relatives. The award of con
tracts at Department, where relative wa
bidder, has not always Oeen left to go with
out the supervision of the Senator. Fey
men have been more frequent or urgent il
demands upon the appointing power. Apar
from personal applications and requests, MI
Trumbull stands recorded upward of on
hundred times, after Gen. Grant came il
requesting or suggesting appointments
Sometimes he appears by letter, saying, g
very much desire that-shOuld be appoint
ed Governor of Wyoming, and if not {
Wyoming, of some other Territory" Or, b
concludes an application by saying, ether
are also two or three persons whose al
pointment as Consuls would be very gra
living to me-" These requests were largel
granted, and Mr.. Trumbull was never foun
assailing ofice-getting, or office-siving, {
'snepotism,'' until his own demands gre'
too great to be complied with.
When the President refused to appoint h
son, gratitude changed from a sense of tn
MANY favors done to a lively sense of benefit
to come from new alliances. The very ac
of the President now most bitterly denOunct