The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-04

llO0 10 De QeCluGQ Is SUCH a llcli4CuNOAS OhN
as which party shall seat its candidate Ior
President"
Some Of the most readable chapters in
these volumes are devoted TO Mr.. HOar
opinions upon his celebrated colleagues. or
our Indiana statesmen Mr.. Hoar speaks
kindly of three, Schuyler Colfax, Daniel
". Voorhees, and Oliver L. Morton. Or
Voorhees, he says:
In the House had a very angry con-
hict with him. 1t did not interrupt our
friendly relations. He was a man OF a good
deal Of elOQuence, very popular In his own
State and said TO be a very successful and
able lawyer. His political speeches In the
Senate were carefully prepared, very able
statements of his side, and very severe de-
nunciatiOn of his antagonists. tie was a
very kind-hearted man. If he could not be
relied on TO protect the treasury against
claims of doubtful validity, when urged by
persons in need or who excited his SYM
pathy, it ought to be said in defense of him
that he would have been quite as willing 10
relieve them TO the extent of his power from
his private resources"
OF Oliver L. Morton he says:
Governor Morton, in spite of the great
physical infirInities which came upon him
| before the war ended. held Indiana in its
I place in the Union with an iron hand. When
he came TO the Senate he found there no
more powerful, brave or unyielding defender
of liberty. He had little regard for constitu-
tlonal scruples. L 90 not think 1t should be
said that he would willingly violate his oath
TO support the Constitution. But he believed
that the Constitution should be interpreted
In the light or the Declaration or lndepend-
ence. To this principle of Interpretation all
strict or narrow criticism founded on it's
literal meaning must yield. He was
for going straight TO his object. When the
Hayes and Tflden contest was up he was
for having the President of the United
States put Hayes and Wheeler in power by
using all the national forces, military and
other. that might be needful. He was a
member of the committee that framed the
bill for the electoral commission, but re-
fused TO give ii his support. . He was
a great party leader. He had in this respect
no superior in his time save Lincoln alone.
1t Is worth noticing that in Mr.. Hoars
notlces or prominent contemporaries he
makes no mention whatever by way OF
estimate Of such powerful men as Allen q.
Thurman or George T. Edmunds. OF eX-
President Harrison Mr.. HOar is constantly
giving "reminiscences. His judgment upon
him, upon the whole. is very favorable, al
though he relates many unpleasant Incl
dents of the abruptness and brusqueness OF
Harrison's manners. He says: Harrison
would grant a request In a way which
seemed as If he were denying II. An emf
nent Western senator said TO me- once
what, of course, was a great exaggeration,
that II Harrison were TO address an audi
ence of ten thousand men he would capture
them all, but If each one Of them were pre-
sented TO him in private he would make
him his enemy. However, in spite OF all
this, the country was safe with him. While
his hand was on the helm she would keep
the course of safety, of honor, of glory, of
prosperity, Of republican liberty. There
would be no fear for the future of the coun-
try IL we were TO have in the great office
of President q succession of Benjamin Har-
riSOns."
Senator Hoar is a man of fine literary
ability. Here is an Illustration:
Among the most impressive recollections
of my life is the funeral of Tennyson, in
Westminster Abbey. L got a seat at the re-
quest of the American minister by the IA
vor of Archdeacon Farrar, who had charge
pressfVe scene. / had a seat near the
grave, which was in the poets corner, OF
which the pavement had been opened. The
wonderful music, the stately procession
/ which followed the coffin through the his
toric west entrance in the most venerable
building in the world TO lay the poet TO his
last sleep with England's illustriOus dead Of
more than a thousand years,
In those precincts where the mighty rest,
With rows OF statesmen and with walks of
kings,
To which 'Ne'er since their foundation came
a nobler guest
was unspeabably touching and impress
sive. The solemn burial service was
conducted by the aged dean, doomed,
to his own final rest place near by. The
choir sang two anthems, both by ~Tennyson-
CloSsAhs me oar ahd olent Nolces Inc
music or the latter by Lady Tennyson. The
grave lay next TO Robert B%rowning's, hard
by the monument OF Chaucer. L looked
into it and saw the oaken coffin with the
cOrOnet on the lid. After depOsiting the
body the bearers passed the seat where l
sat, one by one, pressing through between
two rows of seats, so that their garments
touched mine as they went by. The day
was cloudy and m~ournful, blending an un-
usual gloom with the dim religious light of
the abbey. But just as the body was let
down into the earth the sun came out for
a moment from the clouds, cheering and
lighting up the nave and aiSles and tran
septs of the mighty building. As the light
struck the faces of the statues and the
busts 1t seemed for q moment that the
c-ountenances changed and stirred with a
momentary life, as If to give a welcome to
the guest who had come to break upon their
long repose. OF course 1t was but an idle
imagination, begot, perhaps, of the pro-
/ fnT1nn aXR1TAmanT hl GTIRh a cor 70 fhn
like of which | was so utterly unaccustomed
made upon me. But as L think of il now
l can hardly resist the belief that it was
real"
About a year ago a p-osthumous volume
appeared, entitled in substance "Reminis-
cences of John James ingalls,, Senator
from Kansas" Mr.. Hoar and Mr.. Ingalls,
were both members of the United States
Senate during the stormy days of the cleo
toral commission and President Hayes's
administration. Over and over again in
Mr.. Hoar's volume he speaks of Hayes as
a simple-minded, sagacious, upright man.
and, in addition, speaks of the electoral
commission and of its Judgment seating
Mr.. Hayes as an impartial tribunal and a
conscientious and wise adjudication. His
~languag is not given because it would
take too much space. but this is the sub
stance of II. Here is the way that both
these facts impressed Senator Ingalls,:
Hayes was hOpelessly prosaic and COM
mOn-place. He had been a respectable
soldier and was by profession a lawyer.
He had no vices and had the customary
sort OF ureSOme undressing virtues. His
enemies accused him of sanctimony and
hypocrisy and of sometimes forgetting
his promises, but then all good men have
been slandered by their contemporaries. -
And here is the way that Ingalls, pays his
compliments TO the electoral commission:
The was not only TO devise an
unconstitutional measure that should be
strictly within constitutional limitations.
which was not difficult, for that instrument
IS elastic and hosDitable: but 10 invent a
tribunal OF partiSanS which should be nom
partisan in operation, prOpitiate the i'm
placaDlenesS, preserve the prerOgatiVeS of
the Senate and maintain the conflicting
pTetensiOns OF the House, secure the CO.
operation OF those who cOntended that there
was no power TO so behind the returns, and
OF those who asserted that the only cues
ton TO be decided was which certificate
was actually given by the authorities of
the State. and most important of all OBJ
tain the cordial support OF both parties by
holding out to each the hope of cheating
the other"
y more celebrated man than either. Henry
Ward Beecher, even spoke of Hayes and
his administrator as "pOultices." He did
not specify their composition, but a more
apt and truthful criticism was never
made.
I should be glad 10 extend these quota
lions, but newspaper space fOrbids. Senator
HOar is a very vain man and these vol
umes, as in the case of Charles Sumner 5
works, are badly dishgured by laudatory
letters and complimentary notices of the
senator's character ana speeches, which a
more modest man would have omitted. The
senator seems incapable of making the
necessary discounts upon conventional pO-
likeness. Al the same these two books are