The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-10-29
JOURNAL COURIER TUESDAY

half a bed, made no reply, but smoked
cigar"
The fun account Of the trial and OF
Lyons Imprisonment would be most in
teresting, but there is no room for it in
my present paper, In 1910 congress
made an appropriation to repay the
amount of the fine to Lyons heirs,
The other combatant in this contest
was Roger Griswold, OF Connecticut, an
Intense and influential Federalist, a
man with an honorable family, and
with an honorable record in Connecti-
cut history,
He was the son of Gov. Matthew
Griswold, of Connecticut, whose wife
was Ursula Wolcott, sister of Oliver
Wolcott, signer of the Declaration OF
Independence Probably no family cir
Gle In Connecticut ever contained SO
many distinguished men as the family
circle OF Ursula Wolcott Griswold
mother Of Roger Griswold, comprising
as 1t has sixteen governors, including
Governor NOW President Grover Cleve-
land, and forty three judges, among
whom was the late Chief Justice Waite.
Roger Griswold's wife was Fanny
Rogers, who was the thirty-fourth in
descent from Egbert, the West Saxon
king. In the matter of blood and bear
ing there could scarcely be greater diff
ference than between the actors in the
contest to be described
Roger Griswold was elected represen-
tative to congress in 1894 being then
thirty-tWo years of age, He was con-
spicuous in the debates, ranking in
New England perhaps second only tc
Fisher Ames in the defense of the meas
ures of the Federalists. He was thus
about thfrtysiX years of age at the
time when the controversy between him
and Lyon occurred. He held the posi-
| ton of representative in congress ten
years. In 1901 he was appointed Secre-
tary of War by President Adams, but
| declined the honor. He was made q
judge of the superior court of Connect
icut in 1907, which office he held two
years, when he was elected by the leg
islature acknowledgements, holding
the office two years, and then was elect
| ed governor of the state, which office he
held at the time of his death, October
25th, 1872.
AS governor he declined to obey the
requisition of Major General Dearborn
authorized by the Secretary of War for
placing the Connecticut militia under
| the orders of the United States officers
| upon the ground that the constitution
| did not warrant the requisition. His
action in this respect was advised by
the council which then constituted the
upper branch of the state legislature
| The leading men of New England OF
that period were credited with the pos
sible intention of withdrawing the New
England states from the Union, and il
| is alleged that in case of such an event
the name of Roger Griswold had been
| canvassed as that of a proper person tic
| assume the presidency of the states
which should secede / must be per-
| mitted, however, to say that my read
| ing of history leads me to conclude that
there never was any real intention on
the part of New England to secedei
that the secession talk" Of that period
was a matter of theory only, and that
even the men who participated in the
carry their theory into practice.
Such then were the combatants in the
| first quarrel in congress characterized
by actual violence, which ! will now
briefly describe.
On the 30th day of January, 1898, the
house of representatives had ballotted
| for managers of the impeachment OF
William Blount, and the tellers were
engaged in counting the ballots. The
| Federalist speaker, Jonathan Dayton OF
New Jersey, had left his chair,as was
| usual ON occasions, and was sitting in a
members seat near the bar of the
house, with several members near him
among whom was Griswold Lyon was
standing outside of the bar and was
| talking with the speaker. Dana, also
a Connecticut. member, and Lyon be-
came engaged in a conversation, which
was disputatious and somewhat warm
| The speaker said to them pleasantly
| Gentlemen, keep yourselves cool; il
| you proceed much furthr you will want
seconds. Upon this Lyon turned to the
| speaker and said that he thought Mr.
| dor to Cayenne And thereupon the
| speaker, with the idea as he said in his
testimony, of giving a pleasant turn to
| the conversation, said that perhaps he,
| Lyon, would like mission to KAN
schatka among the fured tribes. Evil
IDENTIFY, however, this was in the nature
| of pun on Lyons name. Lyon was
somewhat heated ana began reflections
| upon the conduct of the Connecticut
| members, said that they were acting in
| opposition to the wishes of nine-tenths
of their people; that they were acting
in their own interest; that they were
seeking offices for themselves; that If
they could not obtain the most lucra-
tive, they would not refuse those which
were less so; that he had good right
| to know the people of Connecticut, for
Ctz.. l. No. y