The times., 1899-06-18
MEN Who WELDED
THE SPEAKERS GAVEL
Statesmen Who Presided Over
the House.
Henry Clay Occupied the Office
Longer Than Any Other.
The Notable Contest That Ended in
the Election of Nathaniel
Il. Banks.

With the retirement of Thomas Bracket
Reed and the speculation as TO his sue
cessor to WELD the gavel over the unruly
! lower House of Congress, comes the
thought: And what of the other men who
have sat in the coveted Place of that au-
tocrat of latter days, whose strong indiv.d-
uality and picturesque figure will be great
! ly missed from its old familiar place.
| Mr.. Reed was elected to the position of
Speaker of Congress at the beginning of
the Fifty-first Congress. and it was in
deed a term of turmoil and confusion.
! When he retired at the close of the ses-
| sion the customary vote of thanks was
extended to him only by a strict parry
vote, Mr., Reed relinquishes his POSI- ioA
as Congressman to become a member of a
New York law firm, with guaranteed sal
airy of $500 a year His friends say he
| has not given up hope of some day be-
coming President of the United States, and
it is thought that a residence in New York
may strengthen his possibilities in that di
rectiun.
of the House was Mr. Carlisle, whom Mr.
Reed has recently declared TO be with
out a peer and but one superior" During
the Fifty-first Congress Mr. Carlisle was
chosen Senator to fill the seat made va
! cant by the death of James Beck and re-
mained in the Senate till former Presi-
| dent Cleveland called him to the arduous
duties OF Secretary of the Treasury, which
! position he held during the troublous times
of Cleveland's second term, when the
country passed through that most disas-
| trous financial panic and business depres-
sion, and commercial stagnation preTailcl.
| The late Charles Frederick Crisp. of
| Georgia, presided over the Fifty-second
AMI Fifty-third Congresses when the du-
/ ties again deYolved up Mr.. Reed. and the
I ldjouramen; OF the War Congress founl
! him still in the Speakers chalk. having
hello sway altogether for three terms. The
rest OF Mr.. Crisps career was brief. He
was reelected to the Fifty-fourth Con-
Gress and was preparing 10 enter the race
/ for Senator when his aspirations and plans
were cut short by the grim messenger OF
death. His uneXpired term was filled out
/ by his son, Charles F. Crisp, ir.
/ The first speaker OF Congress under the
| Constitution was Frederick A Muhlen-
burg, of Pennsylvania He was also
! Speaker of the Third Congress. During
! his second term it fell to his lot to decide
/ Tor or against the Jay treaty, the Hodse
/ being equally divided. He east the decid
/ ing vote in favor of the treaty.
Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut, was
| Speaker of the Second Congress. Later he
I became Senator and resigned to become
/ governor of his State, which shows in
what little esteem the Ics!taOn of Unite
( States Senator was held at that tim2. \
/ New York Senator once resigned to be-
ccme mayor Of New York city.
The Fourth and Fifth Congresses had for
! Speaker Jonathan DAYTON, Of New Jersey,
| who afterwards served in the Unite1
States Senate and in the State Senate of
New Jersey. He was arrested on suspi-
/ cion of being connected with the BUR-
! conspiracy. but as Burr was acquitted the
matter was dropped.
| Massachusetts furnished the Speaker of
| the Sixth Congress in the person Of Theo-
dore Sedgwick. He afterward became
| judge of the supreme court of his State.
The Seventh. Eighth, and Ninth Congress
es was presided over by Nathaniel Macon,
of North Carolina, the original Father OF
the House" In 1916 he entered the Senate
where he remained for twelve years and
! then retired from public life. except for
presiding over the North Carolina Consti-
tutional Convention in 1885. Joseph B.
Varnum of Massachusetts, occupied the
Speakers chair in the Tenth and Eleventh
| Congresses. Afterward he was sent TO
the Senate for term, and then served
on the legislature of his own State.
Henry Clay was made Speaker of the
Twelfth Congress, which was his first term
in the House. but he had previously been
in the Senate. lie was Speaker oftener
tkan any other man. While holding that
position in the Thirteenth Congress he re-
signed to serve on the Peace Commission
/ in Client, and Langdon Cheeves succeeded
| him for the rest of the term He after
| ward became Speaker OF the Fourteenth
: Fifteenth. and Sixteenth Congresses, re-
signing at the second session of the latter
John ". Taylor, of New York. succeeded
1 him.
| Mr.. Clay was again made Speaker of the
! Eighteenth Congress. 1t was the House Of
| this Congress that decided the Presidency
in favor of John Quincy Adams. the Eiec-
] toral College failing to make an election.
| Clay had himself been a candidate, but
as there were three others ahead of him
! he could not be voted for so he threw his
strength to Adams which elected him. and
! he in turn made Clay his S cTetary Of state.
! While filling this position Mr.. Clay be-
came involved in quarrel with John Ran
| dolph OF Roanoke. which led to a duel,
! but neither OF them was hurt. After his
| retirement from the Cabinet the illustrious
! Clay again entered the Senate. He was the
recognized leader of the Whig party. and
as their candidate ran for President in
i 1874. but was defeated.
Langdon Cheeves, another Speaker left
! Congress at the close of the war of 1872
and became judge of the supreme court OF
/ North Carolina. John w Taylor, Speaker
of the Nineteenth Congress, returned TO
| the practice of law in Now York State and
/ served in the State senate. Philip p. Bar
/ bour of Virginia, Speaker of the Seven
teenth Congress, afterwards became an AS
| sociate Justice of the Supreme Court OF
/ the United States. where he remained till
/ the time Of his death in 1871.
! The Twentieth to the Twenty-thrd Con-
crosses were ruled over by Andrew Ste
| yenson. of Virginia, who resigned during
! the Twenty third and was succeeded by
John Bell of Tennessee, who presided over
/ the second session of that Congress. Ste
venson was Minister to England from 1886
| to lS41. John Bell resigned as Congress-
man to be Secretary OF War to President
Harrison. When Tyler separated himself
| from the Whig Party, Bell resigned as
| Secretary of War The Tennessee Legis-
I lature wished TO make him Senator but he
| declined and practiced law till 1871 when
he again entered politics and was elected
| to the State and then to the United States
/ Senate. In 1860 he headed the Constitu-
! tional Union Party. At the beginning of
the civil war. he, and seven others issued
a proclamation favoring armed neutrality
/ By Tennessee, and few days after he made
a speech in Nashville in which he advo-
Gated siding with the South.
James X. Polk, Speaker of the Twenty
! fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses left
| Congress to become the Governor of Ten
nessee. He was defeated twice for re-elec-
tion. In 1874. he was elected resident by
the Democrats. He died soor after the
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