Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-03-12
YERMONT'S STATESMEN.
OUR STATE ALWAYS EONORABlY
REPRESENTED IN CONGRESS.
A List of Distinguished Mon From Brad
Icy to Morrili and Proctor In the Unit
ed States Notwithstanding Re
mininscenses of Early Congresses
"A Gratifying Record.

The Washington correspondent of the
Louisville Courier-Journal writes to his
paper as follows concerning the disting-
ushed men whom Vermont has sent TO
the United States Senate:
1.-THE most distinguished statesman at
the National Capital, not excepting John
Sherman or Thomas 3. Reed, Is Justin s.
Morrill,, the venerable Senator from YER
mont Chairman of the Finance Com
mttee, the oldest senator in years-eighty-
six-the oldest in continuous service and
the leader of the sound money republicans.
For forty-one years Mr.. Morrill, has been
a conspicuous figure at the National Cap
itol, and for twenty-nine years he has
been Senator from the tight little State
of Vermont, serving as the Ambassador"
from that sovereign State, as Morgan puts
1t, longer than any other individual in Its
history.
Vermont has never been in the habit of
sending ounces to represent her in either
house or congress. She has always been
ably represented in the National Counsils
When she came into the Union, along with
Kentucky, over century ago, Vermont
was In accord with jefferson and against
Hamilton. Stephen Bradley, a democrat
and a very able man, and Moses Robinson
also a democrat, who as Chief Justice
of Vermont had Joined in wedlock Ethan
Allen and his wife. were the Senator'S
Bradley was sixteen years President pro
that capacity longer than any other indi-
vidual. But since 1929 Vermont has had
no use for Jeffersonism and from that time
10 this her voice has been opposed to the
Democratic party.
/ The ablest man she ever produced was
S. S. Phelps father of Il. j. Phelps min
ister to England during Mr.. Cleveland's
first term as president. At the bar he
was considered the equal of Webster,
Mason, Evans, Shaw or any of the other
great lawyers New England has produced
lie was a whig senator in Congress and
in the first rank of that body. He was an
Elijah Hse of man, blunt emphatic,
direct. He could cuss like parrot and
was known to deal in expletives from the
} bench a Ia Lord Thurlow.
! Since 1851, a period of 45 years, Vermont
has chosen but eight senators. namely,
Solomon Foot, Samuel S. Phelps, Law
renee Brainord, Jacob S. Collamer. George
! +. Edmunds Luke p. Poland, Justin S.
: Morrill, and Rodfleld Proctor, whose COM
bined service amounts to 80 years show
ing that no other State approaches, es-
. pecially when we recall that the combined
: service of Foot, Collamer, Edmunds and
Morrill, covers a period of 81 years. one
Vermont senator-W. A. Palmer--was an
anti Mason and in 1928 Vermont cast her
vote for William Writ, the anti-Masonic
. candidate for president, though Writ him
) self had been passed y the Fellowcraft
degree OF tne OTuer anu MA n0tulHE W
urge against the society. The anti Ma
sonic party of three score and 10 years
ago was the A. +. A.isr y that day.
Solomon Foot was senator from 1S5l to
1866. and a part of the time president
. pro tempore of the body. AS a presiding
. officer he was superb almost the equal
of Aaron Burr. or Henry Clay. or John
c. Breckenridge. Had he been presiding
few weeks ago when the holy terror re-
ferred to the senator from Ohio as John
Sherman, the South Carolina Jack Cade
would have been called down In short or
der He followed the rule laid down by
John c. Calhoun and would not permit
what is now become the rule of senators
referring 10 one another as My friend
from Maine, or New York. or Kentucky"
as the case may be. He required them to
say tho senator from Kentucky" or other
States If he happened to be from another
= State
$ George F.. Edmunds in the Senate was a
, gentleman of the old school like his col
Q league, Foot. He was n dignihed states
man and profound jurist in the front
rank with such senators as Douglas,
, Chase, Seward, Toombs, Mason and jeff
Davis Among the senatorial anecdotes
that used to be told about the Capitol is
tho following:
, One day Collamer was up making a
6 speech on some grave question of consti-
tutional law without suspicion of pol
-, tics attaching to #. Henry S. Foote OF
Mississippi the stormy petrol of the Sen
ate, was in his seat sound asleep. When
Collamer closed, Hale of New Hampshire
. awakened Foote and asked him excitediy
: If he were not going to answer Collamer' $
, attack on him and his State That was
!, enough for Foote, who sprang to his feet
= and poured forth volley of invective di-
rected at Collamer. New England. the
5 North and the abolition party, to the utter
astonishment of the whole Senate, Haze
: excepted, who perpetrated the Joke.
. Edmunds entered the Senate in 1866 and
7 voluntarily retired in 1892. Like Fessen-
;. den Conking and Carpenter, he was pat
; ronzed at first by Charles Sumner and
= like them, snubbed that extraordinary
:. man in after years. There is a story, too
= good to be true, II is feared, to the effect
: that Edmunds retired because of disgust
i at the admission of the Western rotten
boroughs as States. 1t is related that one
day Edmunds and Evarts We're sitting on
: sofa In the Senate chamber discussing
a grave question of law, when Mcconnell
a cowboy senatcr. having ascertained that
= the judiciary coi-n~ttee, of which Ed
: munds was Chairman, had in process OF
incubation a bill that would affect inju-
riously his interests in Wyoming, came
along and lifted Evarts out of his seat
h and took his place with the apology that
= he wanted to have confab with his pard
u re lIleTNleWeu fQnuHuS, ana not lOnE
l after Edmunds left the Senate and was
S succeeded by Proctor.
) Luke +. Poland was senator two
: years, and afterward he was a member
t of the House. He was chairman of the
I committee that investigated the Credit
s Mobiier business, in which grand rascal
: ity so many great men were involved
r He was a fine old man and wore a swal-
low-tail, blue cloth, god-button coat, yell
low vest and white neck gear, such as
Daniel Webster wore to the last.
i Morrill, defeated him for the Senate in
: 1867 to the astonishment OF everybody
especially Poland himself. Morrill, is a
Q fine-looking old man, the image. of Chas
: Sumner. He is not snowy man in the
v intellectual department, but he has solid
9 endowments and attainments and is a
i practical man in every Particular He
.. .. has come in personal contact with about
every voter in Vermont the past 40 years
When he has a scheme on foot he has q
wonderful facility In impressing on a
. single auditor that 1t Is the very thing to
~ do, and without saying so in express
J, terms he is certain to leave him under the
!, conviction that he. Justin S. Morrill,, Is
!, the very man to do 1t, and the only man
= to do 1t. That is what has kept him In the
! Senate 20 years.
: When the Thirty-Seventh Congress was
: convened In extraordinary session, July T.
! 1861, Morrill, was a member of the House
D Neither party held caucus and about a
D dozen men were voted for for speaker
j. including Galusha A. Grow who was
: elected; Frank Blair John s. Phelps, G.
! l.. Vallandlgham, Erastus Corning, s. s.
!. Cox, w. A. Richardson. who was also
Y Dou0lao, rtght hower. George II pan