Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-05-07

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temporary expediency.' Nevertheless, Messrs.
Foster, Grimes, Howe, Morgan and Poland
were the only Senators who voted with Messrs.
Edmunds and Sumner and the bill was re-
considered and passed by the Senate, the
Democrats joining these Senators in opposing
it.
In the following December the Republicans
in Congress came together to begin the great
fight with Andrew johnson which consumed
the two following years, and to Mr.. Edmunds
was entrusted the charge of the tenure of Of
fee act, which he reported to the Senate and
advocated till it was passed. Mr.. Edmunds
was now a member of the judiciary commit
tee, of which he has always since continued
to be member and for several years was
the chairman before the Democrats obtained
the majority. As n member Of this commit
tee he has had a leading part in shaping all
the more important legislation of Congress
for the past l3 years. With the reconstruc-
ton legislation no man had more to do. The
records of Congress show his careful atten-
tion to and earnest discussion of every detail
Of the great measures Of the Republican par
ty which were designed to garner up and pre-
serve "the fruits of the war" In the great
contest with johnson he was a vigorous par
ticipant but being "a young Senator he
could not then take so prominent a part as
some others. 1t was never his way to force
himself into any position of prominence, and
rs he has risen purely by his talent he has
avoided entirely those jealousies which often
mar the careers of public men. He was
painstaking critic Of every law that was pass
cd and no man has addressed the Senate
Oftener In lSGS he stood squarey by the
side of Sumner and Wade in sustaining Stan
ton. All that he could do to put johnson
out of the White House was done. When
that enterprise failed it was Mr.. Edmunds
who moved vote OF thanks to Stanton,
which was carried. But the temper Of his
action was always III accord with the speeches
of SGG, quoted above He worked for his
party because lac believed that his party was
the friend and supporter Of human rights. In
1863 Grant came into power and the Senate
chamber became the theatre of novel political
scenes. Sumner, SchurZ and Trumbull quar-
relied with the administration and finally left
the party. The San Domingo scheme was
the rock on which the party in the Senate
split. and on this question Mr.. Edmunds has
u most praisworthy record. He agreed entire
ly with Mr.. Sumner in regard to the unwis-
dom Of Grants course in this affair But,
unlike Mr. Sumner. he did not quarrel with
Grant. On the contrary, he maintained very
friendly relations with him, but he earnestly
urged the preside that his San Domingo
policy was uuwise and against our public pol
icy, and did all in his power both privately
and in the Senate chamber, to prevent the
annexation of that worthless island. He was
fortunate in having the tact, which Sumner
lacked. to get on with Grant and the latter
ha, always praised the Vermont Senator for
his plain and practical good sense. For Mr..
Edmunds the cx-president has the kindest
feelings and if it becomes necessary for him
to withdraw from the presidential contest
there is no man whom it will give him more
pleasure to see nominated than Mr.. EdmuudS.
1t is unnecessary to go over in detail the
senatorial career of Mr. Edmunds, There are
a few prominent points in his course since
1870 which it will suffice to recall to the pub
lie mind. In the long contest over the State
government in Louisiana Mr. Edmunds WAS
always an earnest advocate of his party's
claims and a supporter of the administration,
but he never went as fur rs Morton and other
extremists and when Morton undertook to
seat the vulgar pretender Pinchback it was
SIr Edmunds who put his foot down and
blocked that Hudacious scheme. In this affair
also he avoided any quarrel with Grant, but
he would never have made all the brutal errors
in dealing with the South that were made by
Grant. On the financial question no man
now in Congress has a more admirable record
than Mr. Edmuuds. From the beginning of
his term of service he was u vigorous advocate
of measures for the return to specie payment.
he btlltNtu Alil llll0 ObltNN Npulh 4bA bt Ob-
tanned without the adoption of defuite pol
icy for years before it was adopted When
the reaction from the imitation movement oc-
cured, after the panic of 1873 and the veto
by Grant of the -four hundred million bill
it was Edmunds aud Conkling who forced the
Republican Senators in caucus to agree upon
the resumption act This was passed in jan
uary, 1876, and no man has a better claim to
its authorship than George F. Edmunds.
I \ A. |. 4
mating the electoral commission act, through
which Mr. Tilden was shelved and Mr. Hayes
was peacefully seated in the White House,
has won for him no little party prestige, and
| il is a curious testimony TO his courage and
| ability that while no other man had SO much
to do with the great settlement of 1876, no
| other man on the Republican side, who had
any share IN it at ALL has been so little abused
| by his political opponents. l have heard
| from prominent Democrats i'll the Senate the
arguments by which some of them at least
| were induced to consent to the scheme of the
| commission. In the winter of lS1G-11,
when the country was so much excited by the
presidential dispute, Mr. Edmunds carried the
| coolest head in Congress. He told his demo-
cratic friends that if some form of arbitration
was not devised there could be but one result
| of the dispute. He said that the two houses
| of Congress would meet to count the electoral
| votes in their accustomed manner. The
count would proceed all the returns would
| be read and Mt the end the vice president pro-
TEN would declare that Mr. 1iden had lS5
| votes and Mr.. Hayes lSi votes. With this the
| two houses would separate, and nothing more
could be done. When the 4th of March ar
| rived President Grant would recognize Mr.
| Hayes rs the man who had the best title TO
| the presidential office and would turn the eX-
| ecutiye departments and the army over to
| him. aud any attempt to interfere with his ac-
| ton would be treated as reasonable. But Mr..
Edmunds forcsaw that this would be most
unfortunate way Ct installing president, and
that it might involve a terrible wrench in the
| form of our government. So he invented the
idea of the electoral commission, and gave
| Mr.. Hayes title which has, for practical pur-
poses, proved to be MS good one as any pres
| ident has ever had. One of the greatest pub
| lie services ever rendered by Mr. EdWunds
was the Pacific railroad funding act, orgina-
! ted and carried through the Senate by himself
and Mr. Thurman against the opposition of
all the iobbers in the Senate. BY this act
millions of dollars have been saved to the
| government and the relations of the Pacific
railroads to the government definitely estab-
lished. 1t was one of the best things he ever
did, and the people owe a debt of lasting
| gratitude to him and Mr.. Thurman for the
| passage of this measure. As a Senator Mr.,
! Edmunds is noted for his strict adherence to
| all the rules of the Senate. He is a great
stickler for privacy in the proceedings of
committees, and to correspondent who once
had the temerity to ask him for some infor-
nation about what was going on in the judic-
iary committee he replied "You must under
stand, sir, that there is one committee of the
Senate which observes all the proprieties.
|
| MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHING is estima-