Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-07-15

been permitted to do so, some such amend
ment as Governor Chase's or Mr.. English
would have been carried" The substance
however, of the notifications proposed by Mr.
English finally prevailed, but in an indirec
way, the same thing substantially having beer
introduced ON the 7th of February by Mr.
Douglas in the Senate as an amendment to tht
Senate bill, and thus amended the Senate bill
was sent to the House and adopted by thai
body as an amendment to its own bill, the
House striking out all Of its own bill from
the enacting clause for that purpose
The agitation of the slavery question con
tinued and eliminated in Congress upon the
proposition to admit Kansas into the Union
under what was known as the Lecomptor
constitution, which did not prohibit the insti
tuition of slavery, and it was at this period o.
Mr.. Englsh's congressional history that he
acquired his widest reputation as statesman
He was 6rmly opposed to the admission Of
Kansas, under the Lecompton constitution
until that instrument had been ratified by the
people, and SO true was he to his convictions
that he opposed the policy of the administra
tion of his own party upon the measure: Ii
was the turning point in the history of the
country.
The Senate saw proper to pass bill admit
ting Kansas, under the Lecompton constitu
tion, without limit or condition, but this bill
although it commanded the favor of the Pres
ident and his cabinet, failed to receive the
sanction of the House Of Representatives.
The House, on the other hand, passed bill
as a substitute for that of the Senate, but this
the Senate woald not accept, or the Executive
approve. -,
In this stage of the proceedings, when the
whole country had about abandoned the hope
of settlement of the disagreement between
the Houses, and the angry contest was likely
to be adjourned for further and protracted ag-
itation, before people already inAamed with
sectional ani1nosities, Mr.. English took the re-
sponsibility Of moving to concur in the prop
osition of the Senate, asking for committee
of free conference. Upon adopting this mo-
tion the vote was 108 to 108, but the Speaker
voted in the affirmative and the motion car
ried. From this committee Mr. English re-.
ported what IS known as the "English bill, !"
which becani the law after a struggle Of un-
paralleled b ;terness. Under this law the
question of omission under the Lecompton
constitution as in effect referred back to the
people of Kansas and they voted against it,,
just as Mr.. English and almost every one else
expected they would do. On the final vote,
which admitted Kansas as State, he was still
a member and voted for her admission.
After the passage of the English bill, a
very determined effort was made to prevent
Mr.. English's reelection to Congress, but he
was returned by larger maj jority than ever
his majority gradually increasing at each elec.
tion from 400 in 1852 to 1000 in 1858, and
this at time when Democratic Congressman
were almost swept out of existence in the
Northern States At the close of the Thirty
sixth Congress, and when in the full meridian
of success. he retired from Congress and act
i've political life as an office holder. As chair
man of the committee on resolutions at the
Convention of 1864, which nominated his
friend, Michael C. Kerr, for Congress from
his old district, Mr.. English prepared and re.
ported resolution, which was adopted, de-
cIaring:
That we are now as we ever have been,
unqualifedly in favor of the Union of the
STATES under the Constitution, and stand
ready, as we have ever stood heretofore, to
do everything that loyal and true citizens
should do to maintain that Union under the
Constitution, and to hand it down to our
children unimpaired as we received it from
our fathers
To these sentiments ofloyalty to the Union
Mr.. English firmly and consistently adhered
throughout the struggle. His fidelity never
wavered, nor did his doubts ever gain an as
tendency over his convictions that the Union
would be preserved.
At the close of his useful and honorable
congressional services, Mr.. English was con.
fronted with the fact that a new departure
in his business life was inevitable. He had
grown rusty in the law, but his native energy
forbade that he should remain quiet. At
this juncture he concluded to embark in the
business of banking, and in connection with
j. F. D. Lanier, of New York, and George
w. Riggs, of Washington City, he establish
ed, in the spring of 1863, the First Nation
al Bank of Indianapolis. This bank was
among the first organized in the United
States under the national system, and the
very first to get out its circulation. Mr..
English's connection with this bank brought
him into great prominence as a 6nancier, and
in this position, as in other places of great
responsibility, he displayed consummate abil-
ity. During the period of his connection
with the First National Bank, the question
of national finances excited the profoundest
solicitation and engaged the attention of the
best thinkers in the country. During the
entire period of that discussion Mr.. Engishs
views were we'll understood. No mans opin-
ions were less equivocal. His knowledge Of
business, of finances and of the needs OF the
country was comprehensive. He was op.
posed to imitation, and as certainly opposed to
extreme and hasty legislation looking to
forced resumption. With regard to gold
and silver as the standards of value, and to
the absolute necessity of ultimate resumption,
no man in the country was more pronounced
in his declarations. The heresy of an ire
deemable paper currency found in Mr.. English
an uncompromising opponent, and as result
his financial record is without blemish. Mr..
English presided over this bank over four
teen years, to the entire satisfaction Of the
stockholders, and then, in 1877, in the full
meridian of financial success, he resigned the
presidency and retired from active business,
as he had years before retired from active
politics as an Office holder when in the full
tide Of political success. Faithful to every
trust, he retained the good opinion of his as.
sociates then, as he had of his constituents
when he retired from Congress.
Mr.. English is a man of action rather than
of words. His efforts as debater are more
remarkable for practical common sense than
for BRILL: ncy of oratory or the flowers Of