Macoupin County, Illinois - Chapter 17: Autobiography of John M. Palmer. Lawyer Soldier Statesman - Gave, 1911

In the following personal sketch prepared for the history of the Bench and Bar of Illinois, my original intention was to offer to the readers of that work only such facts as relate to my professional and judicial history, but I have found it impossible to make my life story connected without brief allusions to circumstances growing out of my political, military and executive employments. With these brief prefatory observations, I begin the sketch of my life.

I was born in Scott county, Kentucky, on the I3th day of September, 1817, and was removed by my parents to Christian county, in the same state, in 1818. My earliest recollections go back to a new and then sparsely settled portion of southern Kentucky. My father, Louis D. Palmer, was born in Northumberland county, Virginia, on the 3d day of June, 1781, and was the third son of Isaac and Ann (McAuley) Palmer, who were both born in that county, the former on the ist day of November, and the latter in April, in the year 1747; they died in Christian county, Kentucky, within a few months of each other, the oldest persons in that part of the state.

My mother, Ann Hansford Tutt, was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, where her father. Louis Tutt, and her mother, Isabella Yancey, were born about the year 1750. Their ancestors were early settlers in Virginia, the Tutts from England and the Yanceys from Wales.

My grandfather Palmer, in his quiet, stubborn way, took part in the Revor lutionary contest. He appears upon the roll of Revolutionary soldiers as a "minute-man," and received a pension for his services.

The settlers of southern Kentucky established schools that met the demands for instruction in the essential branches of education as they were then understood, reading, writing and arithmetic as far as the "rule of three ;" later, English grammar, according to Lindley Murray, was introduced, but grammar was for many years treated as one of the optional studies, being considered rather ornamental than useful. My teachers, Isaiah Boone, a relative or a descendant of the famous Daniel Boone, and Hezekiah Woodward, a professional teacher, were competent instructors, and used the rod, of good sound hazel or hickory,

The time of our residence in Christian county, from 1818 to 1831, was filled with important political and social discussions and changes. I have a very distinct recollection of the great contest between what were known as the "old and the new court" parties, which commenced by certain rulings of the court of appeals, supreme court of the state. The lands in Kentucky were generally held under titles derived from the state of Virginia, of which Kentucky had been a part, and the negligence of the land officers and the careless manner in which surveys had been made, led to a confusion of boundaries in Kentucky. The courts of the state were crowded with suits which involved conflicting surveys or imperfect transfers and other questions of like character, to the ruin of hundreds who had bought lands in good faith and had made improvements on them. In order to relieve the unfortunate settlers the legislature of the state passed laws for the protection of occupying claimants, which, had they been enforced by the courts, would have made the recovery of lands against occupants practically impossible ; at the same time the people were poor and in debt. '

The legislature, in its efforts to relieve them, had created banks and attempted to make the paper issues of these institutions a practical tender in the payment of debts. The method of relief was by what were known as replevin laws. These gave to the debtor, after a tender of payment in bank paper, the right to a stay of execution upon judgments, on a tender of bond and security. The exact details of the methods provided by the statutes, by which the stay of execution was intended to be secured, are not important, for, whatever they were, the court of appeals (which consisted of John Boyle, chief justice, and William Owsley and Benjamin Mills, associate justices) held them to be unconstitutional, and upon that ground refused to enforce them. In 1824 an attempt was made by the legislature to remove the chief justice and his associates by an address to the governor, but in order to remove them the concurrence of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature was necessary.

The requisite "two-thirds" could not be obtained to the address, so the expedient was adopted of repealing the law creating the court, and in that way getting rid of the judges. The repealing bill also provided for the appointment of other judges of the court ; the governor approved the repealing act, and appointed other judges, who, it was expected, would support the validity of the "relief laws." Chief Justice Boyle and his associates, Owsley and Mills, refused to recognize the validity of the repealing act or to surrender their records to the "new" court. The state had for a time two courts of appeals, and the people were divided into two parties, which, with great heat, supported the rival tribunals.

My father was a "new" court man, but Mr. Clay, who was then strong in the confidence of the people of Kentucky, and most of the other conservative men of the state supported the "old" court, and after a contest, characterized by great excitement, the "new-court" party was defeated. A majority of the legislature was elected favorable to the old court; this legislature repealed the law under which the new court was created. I have no doubt but that the new- court party was wrong, but the names of Boyle, Owsley and Mills, sometimes sarcastically called the "three kings," were for a long time odious to me.

In 1831 my father and family left Kentucky for Illinois, leaving me, with my venerable grandparents, to -follow them in October. My father settled on Paddock's prairie, about ten miles from Alton, and an equal distance from Edwardsville, where he built a log house, which he occupied in the spring of 1832.

I cannot forbear quoting from my own memoirs, "The Recollections of an Earnest Life," an account of my own journey from our residence in Kentucky to Illinois :

"After passing Hopkinsville, the seat of justice of Christian county, Kentucky, we took the route from that place by way of Princeton, in CaWwell county, Kentucky, to Ford's ferry, on the Ohio river, and thence, after crossing the river, proceeded by Equality, Mount Vernon and Carlyle to Edwardsville. This road, which was then, as far as Carlyle, the great route from southern Kentucky, middle Tennessee and North Carolina to central Illinois and Missouri, was crowded with 'movers,' who were making their way, by all the then known methods of travel, from the handsome family carriage to the humblest ox cart. Many families traveled on foot, with a pack horse to carry their heavier movables, or to provide for the transportation of the smaller children. Such modes of travel are never noticed now to any extent; the railroads of modern life make scenes such as are here described impossible.

"After passing along the road which still runs some three miles west of Mc- Leansboro, in Hamilton county, for a few miles, we came to Moore's prairie, the first we had ever seen, and as we advanced toward Edwardsville the prairies grew more extensive. The prairies then were scarcely marked by improvements, except very near the timber borders, for the early settlers dared not go out on the far-stretching plains. Many persons told us that the prairies would never be settled, and for years I believed that prairie land more than two or three miles from the timber was practically valueless.

"But the prairie in its natural state, was indeed 'a thing of beauty ;' sometimes we would travel miles without seeing a habitation, or if houses could be discerned they would be situated at points of timber and at a greater or less distance from the roads ; deer would be seen in herds, as if they had not learned to be startled by human presence. Nothing was more animating than the scenes to be witnessed as we journeyed over these long stretches.

"Perhaps the imagination had much to do in finding objects of interest on the prairies, but to me they were enchanting, and after years of familiarity with the magnificent, undulating acres of the great prairies of Illinois and other western and northwestern states, now that they are all inhabited, dotted with cities, towns, villages and highly cultivated farms, they linger in my memory like a grand, restful dream."

The period to which I refer was one of great prosperity in Illinois; lands were entered, purchased from the United States at $1.25 per acre; population poured into the state and employment was abundant on every hand. I remember that one winter, with a younger brother, we cut sawlogs on government land, and by that means earned forty-eight dollars. My father added the balance needed, two dollars, and the amount of expenses at the land office, and I entered forty acres of land in my own name, which, after attaining my majority, I conveyed to my father. The next spring and early summer I drove a prairie team, four yoke of oxen attached to a twenty- four-inch plow; I worked at home when needed, and finally, in the summer of 1834, my father "gave me my time." This expression may have an amusing sound to the boys of this day, who will hardly consent to give their fathers their time.

One evening, while my father and self and younger brothers were discussing the subject of education and matters of that kind, my father said to me, in -reply to some expression of a wish to obtain a good education : "Very well, sir, you owe me four years of service yet ; I will give you that ; go and get an education." I looked at him with an expression of surprise, no doubt, and asked in an excited, trembling voice, "When may I go, sir?" He seemed amused, and said, "Tomorrow morning, if you like." I remember that I left the room to conceal my feelings. After recovering my composure I returned to the room where my father was seated, and sat for some time in silence, when he said, with sighs of emotion, "I have no money to expend for your education, but a healthy boy as you are needs no help ; you may go tomorrow morning. I give you your time. Do not disgrace me. May God bless you."

This scene still lingers in my memory. I had looked forward to the independence of manhood with the eagerness of hope ; I had reveled in dreams of results to be accomplished ; I had imagined myself a successful farmer, or lawyer or a soldier - successful in every employment ; I meant when I got to be a man to be "rich, learned and happy." My brothers were to be happy and successful ; and even then there would come into the picture a girlish face that was to figure in the successes which I imagined were to attend my entry upon the sphere of manhood.

Here was an offer made by my father to anticipate the day of my emancipation, to "give me my time." I accepted his offer, and as he had said it, I knew lie would not mention it again. That evening I talked to Roy and Frank, my brothers, who seemed to be as much elated with the prospect before me as I was. Next morning, after an early breakfast, I left home on foot, without money or additional clothes. Both seemed to me unnecessary, for was I not going out into the world a free man, where clothes and money were abundant and to be had by any one who would earn them?

The boys started with me, and they called the dogs, three of them, our constant companions ; they were to go with me to the top of the hill, a mile probably from the house. We had crossed the creek when the dogs started a rabbit ; we waited for the dogs and then moved on.

My father was not at the house when I left, but he, too, had followed to a bluff we had passed, and from that point watched us. I did not then know why he stood watching, but I know now. When I reached the top of the hill, there we stood, reluctant to separate. After a while Roy said he knew where he could start a rabbit on his way home. He called the dogs and, without saying a word to me, ran off at his utmost speed, followed by Frank, and I was left alone with my newly acquired fortune, "my time," with all of its hopes and possibilities.

The boys ran until out of sight. I very well understood the reason why they ran, and would have been glad to follow and overtake them, but my destination was Upper Alton, where there was a school recently established. It was understood to be a "manual labor school," and it was my purpose to enter that institution and pay my expenses by labor. I reached Upper Alton about one o'clock in the afternoon and had made up my mind before arriving there that it would be necessary at once to find work. I had no doubt but that I oould do so without difficulty.. I needed no dinner; my dreams were more than food, but as I passed along the principal street, soon after entering the town, I saw a man named Haney plastering a new frame house for Dr. George Haskell and turned off to where he was superintending or making a bed of mortar. I asked him if he wished to hire some one to make and carry mortar. He said he did. I had never made mortar for a plasterer. He put a shovel into my hand and; told me how to manage the sand, the lime and other ingredients, watched me work a while, offered me seventy-five cents a day,' told me where I could get board at $1.25 a week, went with me to the boarding house and agreed to be responsible for me. I worked that afternoon and continued to work until the job was done. I do not remember the exact number of days this required, but I do remember that when I was paid and had settled my board, bought a shirt and a pair of socks, I had all of five dollars left, which was, I thought, clothes and money enough for anybody.

I then entered the college, and for a while paid my board by my earnings on Saturdays. I also, with my elder brother, Elihu, took a contract to remove the trees from a street leading from Upper Alton to Middletown. The trees were large white oaks ; we grubbed them up and were well paid for doing so.

I remained at school in a desultory way until the spring of 1835, when the country was filled with rumors of the "Texas revolution," as it was called. My failure to carry out my intention to unite with the volunteers, organized at St. Louis to join the "Revolutionists," was caused by an incident that seems now very ludicrous, but was at the time a crushing blow. I had volunteered, and my arrangements were made to join a few friends at Alton, take the steamboat, which it was expected would take us to St. Louis, where another boat was wait-- ing to start for New Orleans on our arrival.

I spent the night before the morning fixed for my departure at my uncles, two miles east of Upper Alton. I took -leave of my relatives and left the house filled with anticipations of the battlefields in Texas, and started on foot, with a small pack of clothing, to reach the boat and then off for the field of glory.

I had gone a mile, perhaps, after leaving Upper Alton when I was overtaken by John Maxcy, whom I knew to be a constable of Upper Alton. He spoke to me kindly, inquired where I was going. I told him to Lower Alton to take a boat for St. Louis, and from thence to Texas, to take part in the revolution. He handed me a paper, and said, "Here is something you have forgotten." To my astonishment the paper read :

"The people of the State of Illinois, to any constable of said county, greeting: We command you to take the body of John M. Palmer, if he be found: in your county, and bring him forthwith before me, to answer the complaint of, etc." I had never seen such a paper before ; it commanded the constable to arrest me, and to take me before the justice of the peace. The constable told me I could discharge myself by paying to him $4.50 and about $1.25 costs. I assured him that I had not forgotten the debt, but had arranged with my cousin, Isaac Palmer, to pay it for me. He said that might be all right but he must have the money or I must go back. Unfortunately, my whole stock of money did not exceed two dollars, so I went back, humiliated beyond measure.

I arranged the matter during the day but to get the money I had to promise to go to work ; the steamboat lost a passenger and the cause of Texas an enthusiastic supporter. I then went to work again, did not at once return to school but paid the money I had borrowed, and then, in the May following, occurred one of those incidents which so much resemble fiction that I cannot forbear relating it.

Many persons now living remember Enoch Moore, whose remarkable form so often attracted attention. In 1836 he kept a tailor's shop in Upper Alton. One day I stepped into his shop and saw hanging up a suit of clothes. The coat and pants were of some cotton goods, which I cannot describe, and the vest was figured like calico.

Mr. Moore saw that I needed clothes and that I looked at the suit with interest. He told me that he had made it for a person who failed to take it and offered it to me for $12. I had no money and told him so. He asked my name and when I told him, said he knew my father and added that he thought I could earn the money and pay for the clothes. I finally, with great hesitation, agreed to take them, and for the first time contracted a debt deliberately.

I have told the story of my arrest, which, I supposed was applicable to all debts. During May and early June I paid most of the amount and on the evening of July 3d I went to my father's with more than enough to pay the balance due Mr. Moore. My father, who saw the amount I had, and which the "boys" were counting with great satisfaction, said: "Go tomorrow and pay Mr. Moore and then you will be a free man ; now you are a servant."

On the next day I went, accompanied by my brother Roy, to Upper Alton on foot, paid Mr. Moore, and had money left; went on to Lower Alton, spent freely (twenty-five cents) for cake and beer of the old kind and reached my father's about sundown, a proud and happy boy.

In 1869, after I was inaugurated governor, I reminded Mr. Moore of the fact that he had sold me the clothes on credit and reappointed him secretary of ^ the governor, ex-officio fund commissioner, to which a salary of $1,500 was attached.

In August, 1836, I was living in the south part of Macoupin county and attended house-raisings and other amusements of like character, and witnessed, and had opportunity for familiarizing myself with, the habits of the people, which were to me always interesting and amusing. The elections were then held on the first Monday in August, and although not a voter, I attended an election held at the house of a Mr. Wood, south of where Wooclburn now is.

There were three judges and two clerks of the election, and the method of voting was viva voce. One of the qualifications required of a voter was residence in the state for six months previous to an election. I remember that a man named Hoskins, whom I had not seen before, offered to vote, and when asked how long he had lived in the state said he came here in the month of April previous; the senior judge, after telling him he had not been in the state long enough, hesitated a moment, then asked him if he had "had the chills?" He answered, "Yes, I had one yesterday, and feel one coming on me now." The judge said, "Put him down and let him go home ; the chills are as good as a six months' residence." His vote was recorded. It may be well enough to say by way of apology for the judges, that there was a large bottle of whiskey on the table, of which they had partaken liberally.

Accepting the rule adopted by the judges, I supposed, for several years afterwards, that having the "chills" was equivalent to six months' residence in the state. In September I returned to Upper Alton, where I spent most of the winter in school, working, in payment of my board, in the family of Rev. Ebenezer Rodgers, a Baptist minister, who had lately come into the state from Missouri. Mr. Rodgers was an Englishman by birth and the father of my friend, Colonel Andrew Fuller Rodgers, formerly of the Eightieth Illinois Infantry.

In December, 1838, I took a school for three months, east of Canton, Fulton county, and while engaged in that school I determined to study law. I read Blackstone's Commentaries and McNally on Evidence.

My school ending about the middle of March, I decided to visit my father, who lived in Madison county, and my eldest brother, who lived at Carlinville, Macoupin county. I took passage on a steamboat from Utica to St. Louis, crossed the river on a ferry, and walked to Carlinville, which I reached on the 26th of March, 1839.

I then entered the office of John S. Greathouse as a student. Mr. Greathouse was one of the leading lawyers of the town and I had Coke on Littleton, with Hargrave and Butler's Notes placed in my hands for a beginning. I had read Blackstone's Commentaries much as every law student reads that excellent and learned work for the first time.

It will be interesting to students of the present clay, when law books are so multiplied that general treatises on any subject are to be found in the bookstores, as special works on all important subdivisions of the law and reports are found in law libraries by the thousands, to know that the Reports of the Supreme Court of Illinois at that time were contained in one volume - Breese.

My preceptor, Mr. Greathouse, who was a well read lawyer, had in his office a few volumes of English Reports, Coke, Raymond and Buller's Nisi Prius, Starkie and McNally on Evidence, and Chitty's Pleadings, then a comparatively new work. I have a few of these old books left still, but some of the most ancient and rare have fallen into the hands of the "filchers" of rare books who have always looted the careless collectors.

It may be useful to students to state for their benefit my methods of study. I read carefully, with a glossary of law terms, and made full notes ; I did not, in my notes, as a rule, merely quote the language of the authors, but my effort was to grasp the subject and state it in my own language. My conceptions of the meaning of what I read were often inaccurate, but I think, on the whole, the method was preferable to any other. It promoted brevity and terseness and aided in systematizing the knowledge acquired, and I think my experience justifies me in saying that knowledge of the law, acquired by the method I refer to, is much longer retained and more easily and intelligently applied to practical use than it can be when the student merely masters the words of his author, or instructor. I may add here - for I will not return to the subject - that it is essential to a successful study of the law that a student should master the history of the people with whom laws originate. Laws are but expressions of the feelings, habits and necessities of mankind and can only be understood by a thorough familiarity with their history and with their applications and uses.

I was aided in my studies by the great promoter of diligence, - poverty; I was compelled to earn something and as there were some sales of land and the volumes of the record were few, I examined titles and prepared deeds, and soon found some employment before justices of the peace. It was not long before I found myself able to meet my expenses, which, with board at $i or $1.25 per week, did not exceed $100 a year. The only interruption to my studies was that my friends insisted that I should become candidate for county clerk, and I know that the leaders of my party, when they insisted upon my candidacy, had no expectation that I would succeed. After the election I pursued my studies with great industry and made great progress in the acquisition of the mysteries of the law, so that in December, 1839, I borrowed five dollars from a friend to pay my expenses, and, as Mr. Greathouse was going to Springfield in his own carriage, he invited me to ride with him, which I did.

I met Stephen A. Douglas soon after reaching the city and told him my business was to obtain a license to practice law. He, with that cheerful kindness which always characterized him and made him so popular - particularly with young men - made my application for admission, had himself and the late J. Young Scammon appointed a committee to examine me touching my qualifications to practice law. He Invited me to his room for examination, where I met Mr. Scammon. The committee treated me with great kindness, and made a favorable report. Mr. Douglas drew the license, made the motion for my admission, and the license was signed by two justices of the supreme court, Lockwood and Browne. I took the prescribed oath and signed the roll, and was then a lawyer, lacking nothing but learning, experience and clients. I had money .enough to pay my hotel bills before leaving Springfield, and I "took no thought for the morrow."

After about two weeks I tried a case before a justice of the peace in Carlinville and got two dollars and half, and, as I had no wants, I paid two dollars of this to my poor landlord, Allison. During the first week in January I traveled about twelve miles to the head of Cahokia and tried a suit, for which I received five dollars, and after paying Allison four dollars of this, and fifty cents for my horse, saddle and bridle for the trip, I recovered my courage and in February started on foot to Edwardsville to attend the circuit court of Madison county, which was then in session, Judge Sidney Breese, afterward so distinguished in the judicial and political history of the state, presiding. I had known Judge Breese when I was a boy, and the first law speech I ever heard was made by him. He met, and remembered me kindly, and soon after assigned me to the defense of a poor fellow who was indicted for larceny. I have often repeated the incidents of this trial and the conduct of Judge Breese toward me, to illustrate the wisdom of judges who treat young members of the bar with kindness. Any lawyer may easily guess the character of the defense 1 made for this, my first client. I had never before appeared in the circuit court; my client was unquestionably guilty, and the jury so found after very brief hesitation. After the jury had found him guilty, -I remembered that according to "the books," after a verdict against a client it was the duty of a lawyer to make a motion for a new trial, and if that motion failed, to then move in arrest of judgment. Accordingly, I made a motion for a new trial for the usual formal reasons ; I know I attempted to argue the motion, and although at the time I was so embarrassed by the surroundings that I then scarcely understood what I said, I was satisfied soon afterward when I heard the judge remark that I had made a most learned and forcible argument. When I concluded my speech, whatever it was, I was confused enough but when Attorney General Kitchell finished his caustic and almost contemptuous reply, I was overwhelmed with confusion. The judge, however, rescued me; he noticed in succession the reasons I had assigned in writing for a new trial, and said that "the learned counsel had supported these reasons with great force of argument." He stated what he said were the arguments I had used, confessed he was impressed with their force, and then proceeded to answer them with great deliberation, and concluded by saying that "the defendant had been ably defended by learned counsel and tried by an intelligent and impartial jury, and that he therefore felt constrained to overrule the motion for a new trial and render a judgment on the verdict."

I did not make a motion in arrest of judgment but I will confess that for a while after the judge concluded, I believed I had really used the arguments that he attributed to me and then repeated and answered, and though I afterward realized that both the arguments and the answers to them were the work of the judge, he made an impression upon me that still remains, and secured for himself my best personal services as long as he had occasion for them ; and he left upon my mind an impression which I still retain.

At the May term of the Macoupin circuit court, after my admission to the bar, I was assigned to the defense of Aaron and William Todd, in conjunction with others. William Todd was acquitted and Aaron Todd was convicted of the murder of Larkin Scott, their cousin, and was hanged at Carlinville. By this time my business had so increased that it afforded me a comfortable support, according to the simple habits of the times, and I think I may say that, from that time to the present I have never seen a day when I was without employment. I do not mean to say that I have worked every day but if idle, it was not because I had not something to do.

I pass over the election of 1840, in which I took an interest and supported Mr. Van Buren. After the election of 1840 I continued the practice of my profession with great industry, and during this time won a fair share of legal business that reached the court.

On the first Monday in August, 1843, I was elected to the office of probate justice of the peace. That officer had jurisdiction of the probate business and also that of an ordinary justice of the peace. I held that office until 1847, when I was elected to be a member of the constitutional convention which assembled in Springfield on the 7th day of June, 1847. I was placed, at my own request, on the committee of education, and made a report from that committee which provided that "It shall be the duty of the general assembly to provide for a system of common schools which shall be as nearly uniform as may be throughout the state, and such common schools shall be equally free to all the children in the state, and no sectarian instruction shall be permitted in any of them." It was too early for the adoption of free schools, and the convention paid no further attention to the subject.

On the first Monday in August. 1847, I was defeated for reelection to the office of probate justice of the peace. In May, 1848, I was again elected to that office, my successor having resigned, and at the election in the November following I was elected county judge of Macoupin county.

In 1852, at a special election held to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. Franklin Witt, I was elected state senator from a district composed of the counties of Greene, Jersey and Macoupin without opposition, and was reelected a member of the state senate in 1854 from the same district as an anti-Nebraska democrat.

In 1856 I resigned my seat in the state senate, and afterwards was president of the first republican convention which assembled in Illinois. After that time I continued the practice of my profession, and supposed I had abandoned politics forever. In 1859, much against my will, I became a candidate for the seat in the lower house of congress and was defeated by General John A. McClernand. In 1860 I was one of the electors at large, pledged to vote for Mr. Lincoln.

In 1861 I was a member of the peace conference which assembled in Washington on the 4th of February of that year, and took part in its deliberations, and on the 9th of May of the same year I was elected colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment of Illinois Infantry at Jacksonville by the unanimous vote of the men composing the regiment. On the 25th of May, 1861, I was mustered, with my regiment into the service of the United States for three years, or during the war.

When I left home, in May, 1861, I told my clients that the war would soon be over and that I would return at the September term of court and would attend to their business; but I was mistaken, for my resignation as major general of volunteers was accepted on the ist day of September, 1866.

In February, 1865, I was assigned to the command of the department of Kentucky by Mr. Lincoln himself, where many legal questions of a most embarrassing character arose which the department commander was compelled to decide promptly. Kentucky was excepted from the Proclamation of Emancipation, and it was never known whether it furnished more troops to the Confederacy or the Union.

My first report was made to the adjutant general on the 24th of February, 1865. On the 22d of February, 1865, Colonel Robert J. Breckenridge, of the rebel army, was arrested inside of our lines as a spy.

The secretary of war happily relieved me of any responsibility for him by ordering him to be taken to Columbus, Ohio, as a prisoner of war. On the 3d of March, 1865, congress passed a joint resolution which declared the families of soldiers to be free, and then my troubles commenced. It is perhaps known that the marriages of slaves were not recognized by any of the laws of the states in which slavery existed; this made the enforcement of the joint resolution declaring the families of soldiers to be free, particularly difficult in Kentucky and in other states and parts of states not embraced in the Emancipation Proclamation.

Another fact tended to still further complicate the question : When I took command of the department of Kentucky a draft was impending; I do not remember what the quota of the city of Louisville was, but the masters of able bodied slaves were selling them to the government for enlistment as soldiers, and in case the slave exhibited any reluctance to enlistment he was confined in either the jail or the slave pens that were conveniently situated for that purpose, so that I was compelled to appoint an officer to inquire 'into the case of all colored persons held in confinement by the civil or military authorities, with directions to report to me the causes for their detention. I ordered the discharge of all persons confined in slave pens by private authority, and in like manner from the jails, unless held for some criminal charge. It will be remembered that Kentucky was under martial law at that time.

There was at that time, and subsequently, a statute of the state which prohibited slaves to go at large and hire themselves out as free persons, and as the fact of the freedom of almost all colored persons was disputed it was sought to enforce the laws prohibiting vagrancy and the statute before adverted to.

Perhaps I can condense the whole matter by giving extracts from my communication to the mayor and a committee of the common council of the city of Louisville, dated May u, 1865: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of yesterday's date in reference to the presence and condition of the large number of colored people in the city of Louisville, in which you express apprehension of pestilence from their crowded state and ask my cooperation in ridding the city of the evil. . . . Before replying to the general facts and views you express, allow me to correct the error found in your statement, that 'no arrangement was or has been made by the military authorities for the protection and support of colored persons coming into the city ;' on the contrary, the wives and children of colored soldiers coming- here, and those residing in the city, have been fed by the government, and all who could be induced to do so have been transported to Camp Nelson and there provided for, at the national expense, and the military authorities are still willing to provide in the same way for all of that class. But there are difficulties in the problem you present that cannot be solved by the enforcement of the laws against vagrancy, or by restricting the rights of the owners of slaves to allow them the small measure of freedom implied in permitting them to hire their own time and go at large as free persons.

"These people and their ancestors, for generations, are and have been natives of the state of Kentucky, and have all as strong local attachments as other natives of the state. Recent events, which need not be particularized, have disturbed, if not changed, their former relations toward those- once their masters. What is now required is that their relations to the state be defined with reference to existing and not past facts. When that is done confidence between the races will be restored, each will again become useful to the other, and order and pros-

"As preliminary to this, and as a preventive to vagrancy, these people must be allowed to migrate at their pleasure and seek employment where it is to be found. Now, under the operation of laws obsolete for all useful purposes, and alive only for evil, colored men and women in Kentucky who might and would find employment elsewhere are forbidden to cross the Ohio river, except on almost impossible conditions.

"Capitalists who own and operate the boats that navigate the river (which has already led some minds to inquire whether the ownership of large property is not a disqualification rather than a proper qualification for the manly exercise of the rights of citizenship), terrified by these grim shadows of the past, throw unjust and oppressive difficulties in the way of the transit of even free persons, while those whose right to freedom is questioned by any one, upon grounds however slight, are denied the right of escaping from idleness and enforced vagrancy to where industry is possible and employment within reach. This difficulty, however, can be partially obviated by military authority.

"Deeply impressed by the dangers to public health, which you so truthfully and forcibly depict, and anxious that the laboring poor of the city shall be saved the terrible consequences of the 'disastrous pestilence' of which you assure me great fears are entertained, I have caused to be issued the General Order No. 32, from the headquarters of this department, a copy of which is herewith laid before you, and will, I hope, meet your approval."

The General Order No. 32 required all carriers of passengers, whether by the river or by the railroads, to transport colored persons, on the tender of a reasonable fare, to their destinations.

On the first Monday in August, 1865, Judge George W. Johnston was elected judge of the circuit court, and at the September term of the circuit court he charged the grand jury that my order, No. 32, was contrary to the statutes of Kentucky. The grand jury found many indictments against me, alleging the illegality of that order, under which, as was charged, many slaves had escaped from Kentucky.

Bench warrants were issued for my apprehension and placed in the hands of the sheriff. He waited upon me politely with the writs, and I told him that I would certainly appear at the next term of court and answer the indictments. I told him at the same time that I would submit to an arrest, if he desired it. but also informed him that I could not command an army through the grates of a jail, and that I had already issued orders to General Watkins, second in command at Louisville, if I was arrested and confined to capture the jail and imprison all who were concerned in finding the indictments, including the sheriff. He did not arrest me ! .At the November term of court I appeared, and the judge accepted my promise to appear and answer the indictments.

At the December term of the court, after Alabama, which completed the requisite number of states, had adopted the constitutional amendment, with the Hon. Milton Hay, now deceased, while I was engaged in a trial of a suit in the circuit court of the United States, I received a peremptory order to come to Washington and from thence proceed to Raleigh, North Carolina, and pre- side over a court martial to be convened at that place for the trial of certain officers connected with the Freedmen's Bureau.. I proceeded to Washington, received my orders from the secretary of war, spent part of the Fourth of July, 1866, in Richmond, Virginia, and arriving at Raleigh on the 5th, remained there until the i2th of August and then returned to Washington, where I met General Grant.

The General kindly offered to recommend me for the appointment of brigadier general in the regular army, which I declined, and in return offered him ten thousand dollars for his first year's salary as president of the United States, which he declined.

On my return to Illinois I resumed the practice of the law with Mr. Hay, and in April, 1867, removed my family to Springfield, where I have resided ever since. In November, 1868, I was elected governor of Illinois, which dissolved the partnership with Mr. Hay. My partnership with him was a most agreeable and profitable one. He was a great lawyer and an honest man ; his logical power was unsurpassed by any one with whom I have ever been associated ; we tried many causes of great importance.

I was inaugurated as governor on the I2th day of January, 1869, but on the 3Oth day of the same month I was compelled to veto an "act to incorporate the La Salle Ice and Transportation Company," upon the ground that it disregarded the registry laws ; and on the first day of February, 1869, I vetoed an act entitled "an act to repeal an act entitled an act to establish a court of common pleas in the city of Cairo," upon the ground that it allowed extra compensation for services already rendered by the marshal and ex-marshal of the city of Cairo. On the 6th day of February, 1869, I vetoed a bill which organized a district for taxation, including the town of Greenville, in Bond county, in which I said, "Indeed, it seems to me that we are rapidly reaching a point where other taxation will be impossible ; the people are now taxed by counties, cities, towns, townships and school districts, and it is by this bill proposed to lay off special districts, strips and sections, so that excuses may be found for levying new taxes for new objects, and thus eat up the substance of the people."

I was compelled to veto a bill which required the city of Bloomington to issue bonds and levy a tax for the purpose of paying for the grounds recently purchased in said city by the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company for their machine shops. I also vetoed a bill for an "act to fund and provide for paying the railroad debts of counties, townships, cities and towns" upon the ground that it required the taxes of one municipal corporation to be devoted to another.

I vetoed many other bills, upon the grounds that they were unjust or in violation of the constitution. In all I vetoed one hundred and twelve bills passed by the legislature. In many of the vetoes I was sustained by the supreme court.

In 1888 I was nominated as a candidate for governor by the democratic state convention, which met in Springfield. In 1890 I was .nominated as a candidate for United States senator for a term of six years, beginning on the 4th of March, 1891, and was elected on the one hundred and fifty-fourth ballot, March n, 1891. September 3, 1896, I was nominated by the national democratic party as a candidate for the presidency. On the 3d of March, 1897, my term as senator expired, and since that time I have devoted myself to the practice of the law, as a member of the firm of Palmer, Shutt, Hamill & Lester."

General Palmer was the candidate for the gold standard democratic party in 1896, in opposition to William Jennings Bryan, who had been nominated at the Chicago convention of that year by the "free silver" wing of the party. His death occurred September 25, 1900, Mrs. Palmer having preceded him to the grave, May 9, 1885. Both are interred in Carlinville's beautiful "city of the dead."