Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-10-12

capture of New Orleans, of which city he was
appointed mayor by Gen. Butler. In S68 be
resigned the Office of mayor on account of III
health, and, returning home, retired from the
army.
He was Immediately nominated by the repub.
licans and elected to the thirty-eighth congress,
where he served on the committee on mihtars
affairs, and was chairman of the committee on
war expenditures. Reelected to the next con-
greSs he served on the same committees and
was on the death of Lincoln one of the congress
men appointed TO attend the funeral; and he
performed like Office at the funeral of General
Scott. he was on intimate terms with Lincoln,
and he was one of the earliest friends of General
Grant in congress-and it was he who was in
strumental in securing him the rank of general.
de was subsequently his biographer, aud wrote
life, which was published in 1868. Mr.. DEM
ings study of Grants career gave him pro-
found impression of the power of the man, and
II is only week ago that he was recalling 10
the writer of this sketch the vividness of that
impression when Grant took command of the
armies OF the Union.
Mr.. Demng was an occasional political speak
er after he left congress; he was delegate to
the loyalist convention at Philadelphia in 1866
after Grants election he was made collector OF
this revenue district, which office he held at the
time OF his death.
Mr.. Deming leaves three children, two sons
who graduated at Yale last summer and boy
of twelve years. The mother of his children
was a daughter of Laurent Clere, a lovely and
estimable woman, who died few years ago.
His second wife, to whom he had been united
something more than year, is left TO mourn his
loss.
Col Deming was man of fine and com
handing presence, and of rare accomplishments
in many ways. He was a student, delghting
greatly in the company of his books and the re-
tirement of his library, but he was also fond OF
social intercourse, and was fitted TO shine in it
by brilliant conversational powers. He liked OF
all things TO sit in his library with congenial
people and talk. He was always courteous and
kindly in manner, and endeared himself to all
those who came within the influence of his
genial, hospitable home.
Mr.. Deming was an exceedingly well read
man, especially in the classics and the lighter
literature, poetry and history. His memory
served him well and made his conversation
always charming whether he drew from his
favorite books or his wide experience of men
He told story capitaly, and he always talked
with the finish and elegance of a practiced
writer.
Mr.. Deming's reputation rests, however, upon
his oratory, He was in his style ornate and
hoWery, builder of long and gorgeous SEN
fences, but he knew how to relieve them with a
stroke OF wit and Of bomely New England sense.
Ii his polished orations seemed sometimes artl-
fetal in construction, they were vet natural to
him, for he was born with the real oratorical git
"a git tnat mas become almost tfadlllonal IN
these days His orations were usually packed
with the results OF studious research, but
they were always brilliant. Connecticut has
had many oratCtss rSen who were capable of
producing a terse Grafton, but we think Mr.
Deming was the peer of any of them Others
might be more solidly aTgumentative or severe,
but he had a sort Of urbaneness of language,
and picturesqueness Of color, and an eabor-
ateness of finish that mark the productions of
many who take high tank as English orators.
Mr.. Deming liked to celebrate the historical
gories of Hartford, and he was always jealous
of the reputation OF his state. His historical
discourses are many. He took up the cudgels
for Gen. Putnam against the Bunker Hill CLAIMS
of Boston with energy. His historical studies
were not, however, confined to his own country; ;
he was familiar with wide field, and this was
one reason that made his conversation so fasci-
mating Hartford Courant