Morning journal and courier., 1890-03-03
.aLIsH.
.srday Afterneon ~s, Illnsss With Pneu. ..AS---s~AA .-A WypuryS u v

Gx-0OV0EuOI J1Luo9 kAibh uAosA y0DeOA- day afternoon at about 2:16 o'clock. He was yesterday forenoon and fully aware of the very critical nature of his ill., ness. For about two hours before his death | he was in e semi-unoonscious state. The dissass, pneumonia, finally attacked both lungs. During Saturday his physician, Dr. R. s. Ives, called in consultation Dr. Alfred Loomis of New York. Dr. Loomis agreed perfectly with the line of treatment which had been adopted. He returned to New York in the evening. Dr. Ives remained with his distinguished patient most of satur- day night and much of tho time, yesterday forenoon. All that medical skill and nurs- ing could do were, however, unavailing.
 Nr. English was born in New Haven March IS, 1s12, from an old substantial Puritan family. His ancestor. Benjamin English, removed from Salem, Mass, to New Haven early in the last century and the family have ever since resided here. They have always held respectable position in society, and enjoyed the general respect and esteem of their contem poraries. This was especially true of James English, his father. He acquired @ competent estate and reared a family of six sons and three daughters. He was man held in great respect by the com- munity and held 6 number of public offices, and his mother, Nancy Griswold, was . father was for several years in command of vessels engaged in the West India trade. His great grandfather was killed when the British invaded New Haven during the Revelation. Nr. English in his early boy- hood days developed that self reliance which always characterized him in his course of life from the early struggles till after the U. s. senate chamber had been reached. He left home at about the age of Il to hire out to c farmer in Bethlehem, where he remained two ysars and half, during which time he at- tended school in that village for eight months. His father, realizing better edu- cation for the son, brought him home and placed him in private school of considerable repute. In his six tsenth year he became apprenticed to the late AtwAter Treat to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner and his first work was to help on the old Lancasterian school house on the spot now occupied by the Hillhouse high school. His apprenticeship ended on his tWenty-6rst birthday and during these years he was regarded by his associates and the community as model young man and one who gave promise of success in business but nothing more. In those days the joiner Kou0LUlly W0o OUukoO sO oNaW aAo OWA plobep aided by what limited knowledge he might have on the subject. With . natural taste for drawing Mr. English at eighteen began to make 1t . regular study. As it applied to his' business and also practioed on the preparation of contracts and by the time his apprenticeship was ended he was probably better informed with the technicali- ties of architecture than any master builder in New Haven. He became e contractor i'm aI Ifskn nIx avA daeionad and hnf1L navorav houses more elaborate than was common in New Haven. He worked at his trade for two years and found himself LOGO richer than when he began and, thinking he could make more of himself than a joiner, he quit the trade and became engaged in the lumber businsss. His progress was at first slow be- cause of the crash of 1887 and tho suppression of specie payment, when all the business of the country was at Q standstill.
 The slow recovery of the country wss par. ticularly favorable to his habits of mind. Habitually looking beyond Q present emer- gency and with a head not affected by the contagion of speculation, he once wrote that 'not dollar of his fortune had come from speculation"
 After twenty years in the lumber business, he turned his attentions to the Jerome Clock company, then bankrupt, and with the late ex. Mayor Harmanus M. Weloh and Hiram Camp bought it and made great success of that concern.
 Mr. English also became largely interested In . number of manufacturing and commer- cisl industries in this and other states. He invested also considerably in real estate about New Haven.
 It was by his keen foresight in detecting the possibilities of an investment and ener- getically making the most of them that his fortune grew to the large proportions that 1t did.
 The public trusts to which MT. English has been called, beginning in 1886 and terminate ing in 1877, are as follows: Selsstman, 1036-48; common councilman, 1848 40; mem. ber of the state legislature, 1855-56; state senator, 1S5e.60 and 707l; member of con. gress. 1S61-65; governor, 1S87-7l; United States senator, 1875-77. A few years ago, at the national democratic council board, he was prominently mentioned as an available candidate for the presidency.
 Although MT. English ever remained faithful to his interpretation of the prin- ciples of Jeffersonian democracy, yet his sey- vices In both branches of the legislature were generally marked by attention to the business rather than the political aspects of | leRislation in which he was called to act. When subsequently, he became governor of | the state the practical cast of his mind was conspicuously manifested in the emphasis which he gave in his message to the cause of
 
 vocacy of which he was ultimately success- ful. But that which specially and honor ably marks MT. English's public career Is the course he pursued while representative In congress. His term of service extending
 from 1861 to 1865 covers that period In our history during
 which slavery ceased to disgrace the nation ing involuntary servitude became the su- preme law of the land. Mr. English went to Washington pronounced war democrat, be- lisving that the great national exigency de-
 nanded every sacrifice to prevent the repub-
 lic from being divided into perpetually con-
 tending and contemptible fragments. While
 e democrat he fully recognized the consti. tutional right of the southern states to the possession of their slaves, he felt also that
 slavery was monstrous injustice and there- fore had no regret when, as e war measure,
 he found himself at liberty to record alike hil abhorsence of slavery and his sense of justice toward the owner of slaves in the District oi Columbia by voting for the bill which united the emancipation of the slave with compen.
 tion to the master.
 Long before the close of the war it be.
 came evident to all thoughtful observers that | the question of general emancipation must be met sooner or later and MT. English made up his mind to take the hazard and incur the odium of voting with his political opponents whenever, in his view, 1t became . politica
 necessity. More than year before the fna passage of the bill providing for the neces
 ssry constitutional amendment, the positior | of lr. English was we'll understood in Wash.
 ipgton. When the bill was first introduced in the house by Mir. Ashley of Ohio he wal
 assured of Nr. English's support in case tha
 1t was needed. But when 1t was found tha the administration party were not united or | the measure Mir. Ashley advised Mr. English
 not to vote in It's favor, as 1t was sure not tt
 pass. With . very practical conviction O
 the folly of striking when there was cer'
 tainty that nothing would be hit, he acted on this advice, but with the emphatic assur
 ance to Mir. Ashley that whenever 1t wal
 necessary he might rely on his vote. Wher
 informed year later that the bill would b,
 put to vote the next day, Mr. English was il
 New Haven in attendance upon his sicl
 wife. Travelling ell night, he reached Wash
 inRton in time to listen to part of the ex
 citing debate and to hear his name called
 among the first of the ten war democrats
 who 1t was hoped would vote for the bill ant
 whose votes were necessary for its passage
 When his ringing ''yes" was heard in tn
 crowded gathering there was general ap
 plause. To New Haven friend who was il
 Washington day or two later he remarked
 "I suppose am practically ruined. but ths
 day was happiest the day of my life."
 Nr. English's position at this time was
 very exceptional one. The number of wa | I.- iv, co0ovoau VI all and rn0ak f,