Dayton City (part 12 of 50)

In the year 1856, a national democratic convention nominated Mr. Buchanan for the presidency. The political conflict was one of the most severe in which our country has ever engaged. All the friends of slavery were on one side; all the advocates of its restriction I and final abolition on the other. Mr. Fremont, the candidate of the enemies of slavery, received 114 electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received 174, and was elected. The popular vote stood 1,341,264 for Fremont, 1,838,160 for Buchanan. On March 4, 1857, Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated. Mr. Buchanan was ; far advanced in life. Only four years were wanting to fill up his three score years and ten. His own friends - those with whom he . had been allied in political principles and 1 action for years - were seeking the destruction of the government, that they might rear upon the ruins of our free institutions a nation whose corner stone should be human slavery. In this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hopelessly bewildered. He could not, with his long avowed principles, consistently oppose the state-rights party in their assumptions. As president of the United States, bound by his oath faithfully to administer the laws, he could not, without perjury of the grossest kind, unite with those endeavoring to overthrow the republic. He therefore did nothing. Mr. Buchanan's sympathy with the pro-slavery party was such, that he had been willing to offer them far more than they had ventured to claim. All the south had professed to ask of the north was non-interference with the subject of slavery. Mr. Buchanan had been ready to offer them the active co-operation of the government to defend and extend the institution. As the storm increased in violence, the slave holders claiming the right to secede, and Mr. Buchanan avowing that congress had no power to prevent it, one of the most pitiable exhibitions of governmental imbecility was exhibited the world has ever seen. He declared that congress had no power to enforce its laws in any state which had withdrawn, or which was attempting to withdraw from the Union. This was not the doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with his hand upon his sword hilt, he exclaimed: "The Union must and

South Carolina seceded in December, i860, nearly three months before the inauguration of Pres. Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in listless despair. The rebel flag was raised in Charleston; Fort Sumter was besieged; our forts, navy yards and arsenals were seized; our depots of military stores were plundered; and our custom houses and post offices were appropriated by the rebels. The energy of the rebels, and the imbecility of our executive, were alike marvelous. The nation looked on in agony, waiting for the slow weeks to glidf away and close the administration, so terrible in its weakness. At length the long looked

The administration of President Buchanan was certainly the most calamitous our country has experienced. His best friends cannot recall it with pleasure. And still more deplorable it is for his fame, that in that dreadful conflict which rolled its billows of flame and blood over our whole land, no word came from his lips to indicate his wish that our country's banner should triumph over the flag of the rebellion. He died at his Wheatland retreat, June i, 1868.

HBRAHAM LINCOLN, the sixteeeth president of the United States, was born in Hardin county, Ky. , February 12, 1809. About the year 1780, a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln left Virginia with his family and moved into the then wilds of Kentucky. Only two years after this emigration, still a young man, while working one day in a field, he was stealthily approached by an Indian and shot dead. His widow was left in extreme poverty with five little children, three boys and two girls, Thomas, the youngest of the boys, was four years of age at his father's death. This Thomas was the father of Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States, whose name must henceforth forever be enrolled with the most prominent in the annals of our world.

When twenty-eight years of age Thomas Lincoln built a log cabin of his own, and married Nancy Hanks, the daughter of another family of poor Kentucky emigrants, who had also come from Virginia. Their second child was Abraham Lincoln. The mother of Abraham was a noble woman, gentle, loving, pensive; created to adorn a palace, doomed to toil and pine, and die in a hovel. "All that I

When Abraham was eight years of age, his father sold his cabin and farm, and moved to Harrison county, Ind, where two years later his mother died. Abraham soon became the scribe of the uneducated community around him. He could not have had a better school than this to teach him to put thoughts into words. He also became an eager reader. The books he could obtain were few; but these he read and re-read until they were almost committed to memory. As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly family was the usual lot of humanity. There were joys and griefs, weddings and funerals. Abraham's sister, Sarah, to whom he was tenderly attached, was married when a child of but fourteen years of age, and soon died. The family was gradually scattered. Thomas Lincoln sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, and emigrated to Macon county, 111. Abraham Lincoln was then twenty-one years of age. With vigorous hands he aided his father in rearing another log cabin. Abraham worked diligently at this until he saw the family comfortably settled, and their small lot of inclosed prairie planted with corn, when he announced to his father his intention to leave home, and to go out into the world and seek his fortune. Little did he or his friends imagine how brilliant that fortune was to be. He saw the value of education and was intensely earnest to improve his' mind to the utmost of his power. He saw the ruin which ardent spirits were causing, and became strictly temperate; refusing to allow a drop of intoxicating liquor to pass his lips. And he had read in God's word, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;" and a profane expression he was never heard to utter. Religion he revered. His morals were pure, and he was uncontaminated by a single vice.

Abraham Lincoln

Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired laborer among the farmers. Then he went to Springfield, where he was employed in building a large flat-boat. In this he took a herd of swine, floated them down the Sangamon to the Illinois, and thence by the Mississippi to New Orleans. In this adventure his employers were so well pleased, that upon his return they placed a store and mill under his care. In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk war, he enlisted and was chosen captain of a company. He returned to Sangamon county, and although only twenty-three years of age, was a candidate for the legislature, but was defeated. He soon afterward received from Andrew Jackson the appointment of postmaster of New Salem. His only postoffice was his hat. All the letters he received he carried there ready to deliver to those he chanced to meet. He studied surveying and soon made this his business. In 1834 he again became a candidate for the legislature, and was elected. Mr. Stuart, of Springfield, advised him to study law. He walked from New Salem to Springfield, borrowed of Mr. Stuart a load of books, carried them back and began his legal studies. When the legislature assembled he trudged on foot with his pack on his back 100 miles to Vandalia, then the capital. In 1836 he was re-elected to the legislature. Here it was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 he removed to Springfield and began the practice of law. His success with the jury was so great that he was soon engaged in almost every noted case in the circuit.

In 1854 the great discussion began between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, on the slavery question. In the organization of the republican party in Illinois, in 1856, he took an active part, and at once became one of the leaders in that party. Mr. Lincoln's speeches in opposition to Senator Douglas in the contest in 1858 for a seat in the senate, form a most notable part of his history. The issue was on the slavery question, and he took the broad ground of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal. Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this contest, but won a far higher prize - the presidency.

The great republican convention met at Chicago on the 16th of June, i860. The delegates and strangers who crowded the city amounted to 25,000. An immense building, called "The Wigwam," was reared to accommodate the convention. There were eleven candidates for whom votes were cast. William H. Seward, a man whose fame as a statesman had long filled the land, was the most prominent. It was generally supposed he would be the nominee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received the nomination on the third ballot. Little did he then dream of the weary years of toil and care, and the bloody death, to which that nomination doomed him; and as little did he dream that he was to render services to his country which would fix upon him the eyes of the whole civilized world, and which would give him a place in the affections of his countrymen, second only, if second, to that of Washington.

Election day came and Mr. Lincoln received 180 electoral votes out of 203 cast, and was, therefore, constitutionally elected president of the United States. The tirade of abuse that was poured upon this good and merciful man, especially by the slaveholders, was greater than upon any other man ever elected to this high position. In February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln started for Washington, stopping in all the large cities on his way, making speeches. The whole journey was fraught with much danger. Many of the southern states had already seceded, and several attempts at assassination were afterward brought to light. A gang in Baltimore had arranged, upon his arrival, to " get up a row," and in the confusion to make sure of his death with revolvers and hand grenades. A detective unraveled the plot. A secret and special train was provided to take him from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected hour of the night. The train started at halfpast ten; and to prevent any possible communication on the part of the secessionists with their confederate gang in Baltimore, as soon as the train had started the telegraph wires were cut. Mr. Lincoln reached Washington in safety and was inaugurated, although great anxiety was felt by all loyal people.

In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave to Mr. Seward the department of state, and to other prominent opponents before the convention he gave important positions. .

During no other administration have the duties devolving upon the president been so manifold, and the responsibilities so great, as those which fell to the lot of President Lincoln. Knowing this, and feeling his own weakness and inability to meet, and in his own strength to cope with the difficulties, he early learned to seek Divine wisdom and guidance in determining his plans, and Divine comfort in all his trials, both personal and national. Contrary to his own estimate of himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the most courageous of men. He went directly into the rebel capital just as the retreating foe was leaving, with no guard but a few sailors. From the time he had left Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had been , made for his assassination, and he at last fell , a victim to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, ' with General Grant, was urgently invited to attend Ford's theater. It was announced that they would be present. Gen. Grant, however, left the city. Pres. Lincoln, feeling, with his characteristic kindliness of heart, that it would be a disappointment if he should fail them, very reluctantly consented to go. While listening to the play an actor by the name of

John Wilkes Booth entered the box where the president and family were seated, and fired a bullet into his brains. He died the next morning at seven o'clock, and now, if never before, the nation was plunged into the deepest mourning, and truly mourned the "country's loss. "

HNDREW JOHNSON, the seventeenth president of the United States, was born December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, N. C. When Andrew was five years of age, his father accidentally lost his life while heroically endeavoring to save a friend from drowning. Until ten years of age, Andrew was a ragged boy about the streets, supported by the labor of his mother, who obtained her living with her own hands. He then, having never attended a school one day, and being unable either to read or write, was apprenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gentleman was in the habit of going to the tailor's shop occasionally and reading to the boys at work there. He often read from the speeches of distinguished British statesmen. Andrew, who was endowed with a mind of more than ordinary native ability, became much interested in these speeches; his ambition was roused, and he was inspired with a strong desire to learn to read. He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, and, with the assistance of some of his fellow-workmen, learned his letters. He then called upon the gentleman to borrow the book of speeches. The owner, pleased with his zeal, not only gave him the book, but assisted him in learning to combine the letters into words. Under such difficulties he pressed onward laboriously, spending usually ten or twelve hours at work in the shop, and then robbing himself of rest and recreation to devote such time as he could to reading.

Andrew Johnson

He went to Tennessee in 1826 and located at Greenville, where he married a young lady who possessed some education. Under her instructions he learned to write and cipher. He became prominent in the village debating society, and a favorite with the students of Greenville college. In 1828 he organized a workingman's party, which elected him aiderman, and in 1830 elected him mayor, which position he held three years. He now began to take a lively interest in political affairs, identifying himself with the working classes to which he belonged. In 1835 he was elected a member of the house of representatives of Tennessee. He was then just twenty-seven years of age. He became a very active member of the legislature, gave his adhesion to the democratic party, and in 1840 "stumped the state," advocating Martin Van Buren's claims to the presidency in opposition to those of Gen. Harrison. In this campaign he acquired-much readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased his reputation.

In 1841 he was elected state senator; in 1843 he was elected a member of congress, and' by successive elections held that important post for ten years. In 1853 he was elected governor of Tennessee, and was re-elected in 1855. In all these responsible positions he discharged his duties with distinguished ability and proved himself the friend of the working classes. In 1857 Mr. Johnson was elected a United States senator.

Years before, in 1845, he had warmly advocated the annexation of Texas, stating however, as his reason, that he thought this annexation would probably prove "to be the gateway out of which the sable sons of Africa are to pass from bondage to freedom, and become merged in a population congenial to themselves." In 1850 he also supported the compromise measures, the two essential features of which were, that the white people of the territories should be permitted to decide for themselves whether they would enslave the colored people br not, and that the free states of the north should return to the south persons who attempted to escape from slavery.

Mr. Johnson was never ashamed of his lowly origin; on the contrary he often took pride in avowing that he owed his distinction to his own exertions. "Sir," said he on the floor of the senate, "I do not forget that I am a mechanic; neither do I forget that Adam was a tailor and sewed fig leaves, and that our Savior was the son of a carpenter."

In the Charleston-Baltimore convention, of i860, he was the choice of the Tennessee democrats for the presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of the southern democracy became apparent, he took a decided stand in favor of the Union, and held "slavery must be held subordinate to the Union at whatever cost." He returned to Tennessee, and repeatedly imperiled his own life to protect the Unionists of Tennessee. Tennessee having seceded from the Union, President Lincoln, on March 4, 1862, appointed him military governor of the state, and he established the most stringent military rule. His numerous proclamations attracted wide attention. In 1864 he was elected vice president of the United States, and upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 1865, became president. In' a speech two days later he said: "The American people must be taught, if they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and must be punished; that the government will not always bear with its enemies; that it is strong not only to protect, but to punish. * * The people must understand that it (treason) is the blackest of crimes and will surely be punished." Yet his whole administration, the history of which is so well

In his loose policy of reconstruction and general amnesty he was opposed by congress; and he characterized congress as a new rebellion, and lawlessly defied it in everything possible to the utmost. In the beginning of 1868, on account of "high crimes and misdemeanors," the principal of which was the removal of Secretary Stanton, in violation of the Tenure of Office act, articles of impeachment were preferred against him, and the trial began March 23.

It was very tedious, continuing for nearly three months. A test article of the impeachment was at length submitted to the court for its action. It was certain that as the court voted upon that article, so would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices pronounced the president guilty. As a two-thirds vote was necessary to his condemnation, he was pronounced acquitted, notwithstanding the great majority against him. The change of one vote from the not guilty side would have sustained the impeachment.

The president for the remainder of his term was but little regarded. He continued, though impotently, his conflict with congress. His own party did not think it expedient to renominate him for the presidency. The bullet of the assassin introduced him to the president's chair. Notwithstanding this, never was there presented to a man a better opportunity to immortalize his name and win the gratitude of a nation. He failed utterly. He retired to his home in Greenville, Tenn., taking no very active part in politics until 1875. On January 26, after an exciting struggle, he was chosed by the legislature of Tennessee United States senator in the forty-fourth congress; and took his seat in that body at the special session convened by President Grant on the 5th of March. On the 27th of July, 1875, the ex-president made a visit to his daughter's home, near Carter Station, Tenn. When he started on his journey he was apparently in his usual vigorous health, but on reaching the residence of his child the following day was stricken with paralysis, rendering him unconscious. He rallied occasionally, but finally passed away at 2 A. M., July 31, aged sixty-seven years. He was buried at Greenville, on the 3d of August, 1875.

aLYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth president of the United States, was born on the 29th of April, 1822, of Christian parents, in a humble home, at Point Pleasant, Va.,on the banks of the Ohio. Shortly after his father moved to Georgetown, Brown county, Ohio. In this remote frontier hamlet, Ulysses received a common school education. At the age of seventeen, in the year 1839, he entered the Military academy at West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid, sensible young man of fair abilities, and of sturdy, honest character. He took respectable rank as a scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated, about the middle in his class, and was sent as lieutenant of infantry to one of the distant military posts in the Missouri territory. Two years he passed in these dreary solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasperating Indians.

The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His first battle was at Palo Alto. There was no chance here for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at Resaca de la Palma, his second battle. At the battle of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that he performed a signal service of daring and skillful horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its ammunition. A messenger must be sent for more, along a route exposed to the bullets of the foe. Lieut. Grant, adopting an expedient learned of the Indians, grasped the mane of his horse, and hanging upon one side of the animal, ran the gauntlet in entire safety. From Monterey he was sent, with the Fourth infantry, to aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of Vera Cruz. In preparation for the march to the city of Mexico, he was appointed quartermaster of his regiment. At the battle of Molino del Rey, he was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at Chapultepec.

At the close of the Mexican war, Capt. Grant returned with his regiment to New -York, and was again sent to one of the military posts on the frontier. The discovery of gold in California causing an immense tide of emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. Grant was sent, with a battalion, to Fort Dallas, in Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the emigrants. Life was wearisome in those wilds. Capt. Grant resigned his commission and returned to the states; and having married, entered upon the cultivation of a small farm near St. Louis, Mo. He had but little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil not remunerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into the leather business, with a younger brother at Galena, 111. This was in the year i860. As the tidings of the rebels firing on Fort Sumter reached the ears of Capt. Grant in his counting room, he said - "Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; though I have served him through one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready to discharge my obligations. I shall therefore buckle on my sword and see Uncle Sam through this war, too."

He went into the streets, raised a company of volunteers, and led them, as their captain, to Springfield, the capital of the state, where their services were offered to Gov. Yates. The governor, impressed by the zeal and straightforward executive ability of Capt. Grant, gave him a desk in his office, to assist in the volunteer organization that was being formed in the state in behalf of the government. On the 15th of June, 1861, Capt. Grant received a commission as colonel of the Twenty-first regiment of Illinois volunteers. His merits as a West Point graduate, who had served for fifteen years in the regular army, were such that he was soon promoted to the rank of brigadier general and was placed in command at Cairo. The rebels raised their flag at Paducah, near the mouth of the Tennessee river. Scarcely had its folds appeared ere Gen. Grant was there. The rebels fled. Their banner fell, and the stars and stripes were unfurled in its stead.

At Belmont, a few days later, he surprised and routed the rebels, then at Fort Henry won another victory. Then came the brilliant fight at Fort Donelson. The nation was electrified by the victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was immediately made a major general, and the military district of Tennessee was assigned to him.

Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well how to secure the results of a victory. He immediately pushed on to the enemy's lines. Then came the terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. Pemberton made an unconditional surrender of the city with over 30,000 men and 172 cannon. The fall of Vicksburg was by far the most severe blow which the rebels had thus far encountered, and opened up the Mississippi from Cario to the gulf.

Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and proceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown from his horse and received severe injuries, from which he was laid up for months. He then rushed to the aid of Gens. Rosecrans and Thpmas at Chattanooga, and by a wonderful series of strategtic and technical measures put the Union army in fighting condition. Then followed the bloody battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels were routed with great loss. This won for him unbounded praise in the north. On the 4th of February, 1864, congress revived the grade of lieutenant general^ and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. He repaired to Washington to receive his credentials and enter upon the duties of his new office.

Gen., Grant decided as soon as he took charge of the army to concentrate the widely dispersed national troops for an attack on Richmond, the nominal capital of the rebellion, and endeavor there to destroy the rebel armies which would be promptly assembled from all quarters for its defense. The whole continent seemed to tremble under the tramp of these majestic armies, rushing to the decisive battle-field. Steamers were crowded with troops; railway trains were burdened with closely packed thousands. His plans were comprehensive and involved a series of campaigns, which were executed with remarkable energy and ability, and were consummated at the surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865.

The war was ended. The Union was saved. The almost unanimous voice of the nation declared Gen. Grant to be the most prominent instrument in its salvation. The eminent services he had thus rendered the country brought him conspicuously forward as the republican candidate for the presidential chair. At the republican convention held at Chicago, May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the presidency, and at the autumn election received a majority of the popular vote, and 214 out of 294 electoral votes. The national convention of the republican party which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of June,

1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a second term by a unanimous vote. The selection was emphatically endorsed by the people five months later, 292 electoral votes being cast for him.

Soon after the close of his second tern), Gen. Grant started upon his famous trip around the world. He visited almost every country of the civilized world, and was everywhere received with such ovations and demonstrations of respect and honor, private, as well as public and official, as were never before bestowed upon any citizen of the United States.

He was the most prominent candidate before the republican national convention in 1 880 for a renomination for president. But he went to New York and embarked in the brokerage business under the firm name of Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villain, wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was sent to the penitentiary. The general was attacked with cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic-like manner, never complaining. He was re-instated general of the army and retired by congress. The cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, the nation went in mourning over the death of the illustrious general.

UTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nineteenth president of the United States, was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1852, almost three months after the death of his father, Rutherford Hayes. His ancestry, an both the paternal and maternal sides, was of the most honorable character. It can be traced, it is said, as far back as 1280, when Hayes and Rutherford were two Scottish chieftains, fighting side by side with Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. Both families belonged to the nobility, owned extensive estates, and had a large following.

Ruth Erford B. Hayes

Misfortune overtaking the family, George Hayes left Scotland in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son George was born in Windsor, and remained there during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, married Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of his marriage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufacturer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel and grandfather of President Hayes, was born in New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a farmer, blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He emigrated to Vermont at an unknown date, settling in Brattleboro, where he established a hotel. Here his son, Rutherford Hayes, the father of President Hayes, was born. He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors emigrated thither from Connecticut, they having been among the wealthiest and best families of Norwich. Her ancestry on the male side are traced back to 1635, to John Birchard, one of the principal founders of' Norwich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war.

The father of President Hayes was an industrious, frugal and open-hearted man. He was of a mechanical turn, and could mend a plow, knit a stocking, or do almost anything else that he chose to undertake. He was a member of the church, active in all the benevolent enterprises of the town, and conducted his business on Christian principles. After the close of the war of 1812, for reasons inexplicable to his neighbors, he resolved to emigrate to Ohio.

The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day, when there were no canals, steamers, nor railways, was a very serious affair. A tour of inspection was first made, occupying four months. Mr. Hayes determined to move to Delaware, where the family arrived in 1817.

He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial fever, less than three months before the birth of the son, of whom we now write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore bereavement, found the support she so much needed in her brother Sardis, who had been a member of the household from the day of its departure from Vermont, and in an orphan girl whom she had adopted some time before as an act of charity.

Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, and the subject of this sketch was so feeble at birth that he was not expected to live beyond a month or two at most. As the months went by he grew weaker and weaker, so that the neighbors were in the habit of inquiring from time to time "if Mrs. Hayes' baby died last night." On one occasion a neighbor, who was on familiar terms with the family, after alluding to the boy's big head, and the mother's assiduous care of him, said in a bantering way, "That's right! Stick to him. You have got him along so far, and I shouldn't wonder if he would really come to something yet. " "You need not laugh," said Mrs. Hayes. "You wait and see. You can't tell but I shall make him president of the United States yet." The boy lived in spite of the universal predictions of his speedy death; and when, in 1825, his older brother was drowned, he became, if possible, still dearer to his mother. , The boy was seven years old before he went to school. His education, however, was not neglected. He probably learned as much from his mother and sister as he would have done at school. His sports were almost wholly within doors, his playmates being his sister and her associates. His uncle Sardis Birchard took the deepest interest in his education; and as the boy's health had improved, and he was making good progress in his studies, he proposed to send him to college. His preparation commenced with a tutor at home; but he was afterward sent for one year to a professor in the Wesleyan university, in Middletown, Conn. He entered Kenyon college in 1838, at the age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head of his class in 1842.

Immediately after his graduation he began the study of iaw in the office of Thomas Sparrow, Esq., in Columbus. Finding his opportunities for study in Columbus somewhat limited, he determined to enter the law school at Cambridge, Mass., where he remained two years. In 1845, after graduating at the law school, he was admitted to the bar at Marietta, Ohio, and shortly afterward went into practice as an attorney-at-law with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fremont. Here he remained three years, acquiring but a limited practice, and apparently unambitious of distinction in his profession.

In 1849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his ambition found a new stimulus. Two events, occurring at this period, had a powerful influence upon his subsequent life. One of these was his marriage with Miss Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of Chillicothe; the other was his introduction to the Cincinnati Literary club, a body embracing among its members such men as Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many others hardly less distinguished in after life. The marriage was a fortunate one in every respect, as everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of our presidents was more universally admired, reverenced and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and no one did more than she to reflect honor upon American womanhood. The Literary club brought Mr. Hayes into constant association with young men of high character and noble aims, and lured him to display the qualities so long hidden by his bashfulness and extreme modesty.

declined to accept the nomination. Two years later, the office of city solicitor becoming vacant, the city council elected him for the unexpired term.

In 1861, when the rebellion broke out, he was at the zenith of his professional life. His rank at the bar was among the first. But the news of the attack on Fort Sumter found him eager to take up arms for the defense of his beloved country.

His military record was bright and illustrious. In October, 1861, he was made lieutenant-colonel, and August, 1862, promoted colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio regiment, but he refused to leave his old comrades and go among strangers. Subsequently, however, he was made colonel of his old regiment. At the battle of South Mountain he received a wound, and while faint and bleeding displayed courage and fortitude that won admiration from all.

Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, after his recovery, to act as brigadier-general, and placed in command of the celebrated Kanawha division, and for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he was promoted brigadier-general. He was also brevetted majorgeneral "for gallant and distinguished services during the campaigns of 1864 in West Virginia." In the course of his arduous services four horses were shot from under him, and he was wounded four times.

In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to congress, from the Second Ohio district, which had long been democratic. He was not present during the campaign, and after his election was importuned to resign his commission in the army; but he finally declared: " I shall of Ohio over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popular democrat. In 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton. He was elected governor for the third term in 1875.

In 1876 he was the standard-bearer of the republican party in the presidential contest, and, after a hard, long contest, was chosen president, and was inaugurated Monday, March 5. 1875-

AMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth president of the United States, was born November 19, 1831, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. His parents were Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Garfield, both of New England ancestry, and from families well known in the early history of that section of our country, but had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settlement.

The house in which James A. was born was about 20x30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces between the logs filled with clay. His father was a hard-working farmer, and he soon had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. The household comprised the father and mother and their four children - Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In May, 1823, the father, from a cold contracted in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At this time James was about eighteen months old, and Thomas about ten years old. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live in Solon, Ohio, near their birth-place.

The early educational advantages young Garfield enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of them. He labored at farm work for others, did carpenter work, chopped wood, or did anything that would bring in a few dollars. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of his origin, and he never forgot the friends of his struggling childhood, youth and manhood, neither did they ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor, the humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as ever.

The highest ambition of young Garfield until he was about sixteen years old was to be a captain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard a vessel, which his mother strongly opposed. She finally consented to his going to Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that he should try to obtain some other kind of employment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. After making many applications for work, and trying to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meeting with success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania canal. He remained at this work but a short time when he went home, and attended the seminary at Chester for about three years, when he entered Hiram and the Eclectic institute, teaching a few terms of school in the meantime, and doing other work. This school was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of which church he was then a member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way. He then became both teacher and pupil. In the fall of 1854, he entered Williams college, from which he graduated in 1856, taking one of the highest honors of his class. He afterward returned to Hiram college as its president. Dr. Noah Porter, president of Yale college, says o* him in reference to his religion:

"President Garfield was more than a man of strong moral and religious convictions. His whole history, from boyhood to the last, shows that duty to man and to God, and devotion to Christ and life and faith and spiritual

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss Lucretia Rudolph, November 1 i , 1858, who proved herself worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved and mourned. To them were born seven children, five of whom are still living, four boys and one girl.

Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 1856, in Hiram and the neighboring villages, and three years later he began to speak at county mass meetings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he was. During this year he was elected to the Ohio senate. He also began to study law at Cleveland, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar. The great rebellion broke out in the early part of this year, and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to defend the old flag. He received his commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-second regiment of Ohio volunteer infantry, August 14, 1861. He was immediately put into active service, and before he had ever seen a gun fired in action, was placed in command of four regiments of infantry and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the work of driving out of his native state the officer (Humphrey Marshall) reputed to be the ablest of those, not educated to war, whom Kentucky had given to the rebellion. This work was bravely and speedily accomplished, although against great odds. President Lincoln, on his success, commissioned him brigadier general, January 10, 1862; and as "he had been the youngest man in the Ohio senate two years before, so now he was the youngest general in the army." He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, in its operations around Corinth and its march through Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of the general court-martial for the trial of Fitz-John Porter. He was then ordered to report to Gen. Rosecrans, and was assigned to the chief of staff. The military history of Gen. Garfield closed with his brilliant services at Chickamauga, where he won the stars of the major-general.

Without an effort on his part Gen. Garfield was elected to congress in the fall of 1862 from the Nineteenth district of Ohio. This section of Ohio had been represented in congress for sixty years mainly by two men - Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua R. Giddings. It was not without a struggle that he resigned his place in the army. At the time he entered congress he was the youngest member in that body. Here he remained by successive reelections until he was elected president in 1880. Of his labors in congress Senator Hoar says: "Since the year 1864 you cannot think cf a question which has been debated in congress, or discussed before a tribunal of the American people, in regard to which you will not find, if you wish instruction, the argument on one side stated, in almost every instance, better than by anybodj' else, in some speech made in the house of representatives or on the hustings by Mr. Garfield."

Upon January 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elected to the United States senate, and on the 8th of June, of the same year, was nominated as the candidate of his party for president at the great Chicago convention. He was elected in the following November, and on March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no administration ever opened its existence under brighter auspices than that of President Garfield, and every day it grew in favor with the people, and by the first of July he had completed all the initiatory and preliminary work of his administration and was. preparing to leave the city to meet his friends at Williams college. While on his way and at the depot, in company with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back. The president tottered and fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no further injury. For eighty days all during the hot months of July and August, he lingered and suffered. He, however, remained master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent bearing was teaching the country and the world the noblest of human lessons - how to live grandly in the very clutch of death. He passed serenely away September 19, 1881, at Elberon, N. J., on the seashore, where he had been taken shortly previous. The murderer was tried, found guilty and executed, in one year after he committed the foul deed.

a HESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first president of the United States, was born in Franklin county, Vermont, on the fifth of October, 1830, and is the eldest of a family of two sons and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr, William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who emigrated to this country from the county Antrim, Ireland, in his eighteenth year, and died in 1875, in Newtonville, near Albany, N. Y. , after a long and successful ministry.

Young Arthur was educated at Union college, Schenectady, N. Y. , where he excelled in all his studies. After his graduation, he taught school in Vermont for two years, and at the expiration of that time went to New York, with $500 in his pocket, and entered the office of ex-Judge E. D. Culver, as student. After being admited to the bar he formed a partnership with his intimate friend and roommate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicing in the west, and for three months they roamed about in the western states in search of an eligible site, but in the end returned to New York, where they entered upon a successful career almost from the start.

navy, who was lost at sea. Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in recognition of the bravery he displayed on that occasion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's nomination to the vice presidency, leaving two children.

Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celebrity in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had been declared free by Judge Paine, of the superior court of New York city. It was in 1852 that Jonathan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when they were discovered and freed. The judge decided that they could not be held by the owner under the Fugitive Slave law. A howl of rage went up from the south, and the Virginia legislature authorized the attorney general of that state to assist in an appeal. William M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed to represent the people, and they won their case, which then went to the supreme court of the United States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause of the slaveholders, but he too, was beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward the emanicipation of the black race.

Another great service was rendered by Gen. Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jennings, a respectable colored woman, was put oft a Fourth avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. Gen. Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a verdict of $500. damages. The next day the company issued an order to admit colored persons to ride on their cars, and the other car companies quickly followed their example. Before that the Sixth avenue company ran a few special cars for colored persons and the other lines refused to let them ride at all.

Gen. Arthur was a delegate to the convention at Saratoga that founded the republican party. Previous to the war he was judge-advocate of the Second brigade of the state of New York, and Governor Morgan, of that state, appointed him engineer-in-chief of his staff. In 1 86 1, he was made inspector general, and soon afterward became quartermaster general. In each of these offices he rendered great service to the government during the war. At the end of Gov. Morgan's term he resumed the practice of the law, forming a partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, the district attorney of New York, was added to the firm. The legal practice of this well known firm was very large and lucrative ; each of the gentlemen composing it was an able lawyer, and possessed a splendid local reputation, if not indeed one of national extent.

Arthur was appointed collector of the port of New York by President Grant, November 21, 1872, to succeed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. Mr. Arthur was nominated on the presidential ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the famous national republican convention held at Chicago in June, 1880. This was perhaps the greatest political convention that ever assembled on the continent. It was composed of the leading politicians of the republican party, all able men, and all stood firm and fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for their respective candidates that were before the convention for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield received the nomination for president and Gen. Arthur for vice president. The campaign which followed was one of the most animated known in the history of our country. Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of the democratic party, was a popular man, and his party made a valiant fight for his election.

Finally the election came and the country's choice was Garfield and Arthur. They were 1 inaugurated March 4, 1881, as president and vice-president. A few months only had passed ere the newly chosen president was the victim of the assassin's bullet. The remarkable patience that Garfield manifested during those hours and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible suffering man has often been called upon to endure, was seemingly more than human. It was certainly God-like. During all this period of deepest anxiety Mr. Arthur's every move was watched, and be it said to his credit, that his every action displayed only an earnest desire that the suffering Garfield might recover, to serve the remainder of the term he had so auspiciously begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested in deed or look of this man, even though the most honored position in the world was at any moment likely to fall to him.

At last God in his mercy relieved President Garfield from further suffering. Then it became the duty of the vice president to assume the responsibilities of the high office, and he took the oath in New York, September 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassing one to him, made doubly so from the facts that all eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would do, what policy he would pursue, and whom he would select as advisers. The duties of the office had been greatly neglected during the president's long illness, and many important measures were to be immediately decided by him; and still farther to embarrass him he did not fail to realize under what circumstances he became president, and knew the feelings of many on this point. Under these trying circumstances President Arthur took the reins of the government in his own hands; and as embarrassing as was the condition of affairs, he happily surprised the nation, actign so wisely that but few criticised his administration. He served until the close of his administration, March 4, 1885, and was a popular candidate before his party for a second term. His name was ably presented before the convention at Chicago, and was received with great favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularity of one of the opposing candidates, he would have been selected as the standard-bearer of his party for another campaign. He retired to private life carrying with him the best wishes of the American people, whom he had served in a manner satisfactory to them and with credit to himself. Although not a man of the transcendent ability possessed by the lamented Garfield, Mr. Arthur was able for the emergency he was so unexpectedly called to fill, and was a worthy successor to his chief.

Tephen Grover Cleveland

TEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND, the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president of the United States, was born in 1837, in the town of Caldwell, Essex county, N. j. , and in a little twoand-a-half story white house which is still standing, characteristically to mark the humble birth-place of one of America's great men in striking contrast with the old world, where all men high in office must be high in origin, and born in the cradle of wealth. When three years of age, his father, who was a Presbyterian minister with a large family, and a small salary, moved by the way of the Hudson river and Erie canal to Fayetteville in search of an increased income and a larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most straggling of country villages, about five miles from Pompey Hill, where Gov. Seymour was born. At the last mentioned place young Grover commenced going to school in the "good old-fashioned way," and presumably distinguished himself after the manner of all village boys in doing the things he ought not to do. Such is the distinguishing trait of all village geniuses and independent thinkers. When he arrived at the age of fourteen years he had outgrown the capacity of the village school and expressed a most emphatic desire to be sent to an academy. To this his father decidedly objected. Academies in those days cost money; besides, his father wanted him to become self-supporting by the quickest possible means, and this at that time in Fayetteville seemed to be a position in a country store, where his father, with the large family on his hands, had considerable influence. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services the first year, and if he proved trustworthy he was to receive $100 the second year. Here the lad commenced his career as a salesman, and in two years he had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness that his employers desired to retain him longer.

But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayetteville, he went with the family in their removal to Clinton, where he had an opportunity of attending a high school. Here he industriously pursued his studies until the family removed with him to a point on Black river known as the Holland Patent, a village of 500 or 600 people, fifteen miles north of Utica, N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, and Grover set out for New York city to accept, at a small salary, the position of "under-teacher" in an asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two years, and although he obtained a good reputation in this capacity, he concluded that teaching was not his calling for life, and, reversing the traditional order, he left the city to seek his fortune, instead of going to a city. He first thought of going to Cleveland, Ohio, as there was some charm in that name for him; but before proceeding to that place he went to

Buffalo to ask advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted stock breeder of that place. After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a place temporarily as assistant herdkeeper at $50 a year, while he could "look around." One day afterward he boldly walked into the office of Rogers, Bowers & Rogers, of Buffalo, and told them what he wanted. A number of young men were already engaged in the office, but Grover's persistency won, and he was finally permitted to come as an office boy and have the use of the law library for the nominal sum of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for his board and washing. The walk to and from his uncle's was a long and rugged one; and, although the first winter was a memorably severe one, yet he was nevertheless prompt and regular. On the first day of his service there, his senior employer threw down a copy of Blackstone before him with a bang that made the dust fly, saying, "That's where they all begin." A titter ran around the little circle of clerks arid students,' as they thought that was enough to scare young Grover out of his plans; but in due time he mastered that cumbersome volume. Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland exhibited a talent for executiveness rather than for chasing principles through all their metaphysical possibilities. "Let us quit talking and go and do it," was practically his motto.

The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland was elected was that of sheriff of Erie county, N. Y. , in which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it fell to his duty to inflict capital punishment upon two criminals. In 'i 88 1 he was elected mayor of the city of Buffalo on the democratic ticket, with especial reference to the bringing about certain reforms in the administration of the municipal affairs of that city. In this office, as well as that of sheriff, his performance of duty has generally been considered fair, with possibly a few exceptions, which were ferreted out and magnified during his last presidential campaign. The editorial manager or the New York Sun afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleveland's administration as mayor of Buffalo, and thereupon recommended him for governor of the Empire state. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, and his administration of the affairs of state was generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if any, were made very public throughout the nation after he was nominated for president of the United States. For this high office he was nominated July 11, 1884, by the national democratic convention at Chicago, when other competitors were Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc. ; and he was elected by the people by a majority of about a thousand over the brilliant and long-tried James G. Blaine. President Cleveland resigned his office as governer of New York in January, 1885, in order to prepare for his duties as the chief executive of the United States, in which capacity his term commenced at noon on the 4th of March, 1885.

In November, 1892, Mr. Cleveland was reelected to the presidency by the democratic party, the candidate of the republican party being their ex-chief, Benjamin Harrison, a sketch of "whom follows this. The popular vote on this occasion stood: Cleveland, 5,556- 562; Harrison, 5,162,874; the electoral v6te was 277 for Cleveland, and 145 for Harrison. During the early part of his first administration, Mr. Cleveland Was married to Miss Frances Folsom, of Buffalo, N. Y. , and in October, 1891, a daughter, Ruth, came to bless the union, and a second daughter, Esther, was born in July, 1893. The first act of Mr. Cleveland, on taking his seat for his second term, was to convene congress in extra session for the purpose of repealing the Sherman silver bill, and accordingly that body met Sep- tember 4, 1893, and both houses being democratic, the bill, in accordance with the recommendation ot the president, was uncondition- ; ally repealed. The special feature, however, ot the second administration of Grover Cleveland was the repeal of the McKinley tariff bill by congress and the substitution of the bill reported by William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, as chairman of the ways and means committee of the house of representatives, which bill, being concurred in, with sundry amendments, by the senate, was finally passed and went into effect in the latter part of 1894, materially reducing the duties on imports.

ENJAMIN HARRISON, the twentythird president, is the descendant of one of the historical families of this country. The head of the family was a Major General Harrison, one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted followers and fighters. In the zenith of Cromwell's power it became the duty of this Harrison to participate in the trial of Charles I, and afterward to sign the | death warrant of the king. He subsequently , paid for this with his life, being hung October 13, 1660. His descendants came to America, , and the next of the family that appears in history is Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great- , grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and after whom he was named. Benjamin Harrison was a member of the continental congress during the years 1774-5-6, and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was three times elected governor of Virginia.

Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a successsul career as a soldier during the war of 1812, and with a clean record as governor of the Northwestern territory, was elected president of the United States in 1840.

President Benjamin Harrison was born at North Bend, Hamilton county, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His life up to the time of his graduation by the Miami university, at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful one of a country lad of a family of small means. His father was able to give him a good education, and nothing more. He became engaged while at college to the daughter of Dr. Scott, principal of a female school at Oxford. After graduating, he determined to enter upon the study of the law. He went to Cincinnati and there read law for two years. At the expiration of that time young Harrison received the only inheritance of his life; his aunt, dying, left him a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy a.s a fortune, and decided to get married at once, take this money and go to some eastern town and begin the practice of law. He sold his lot, and with the money in his pocket, he started out with his young wife to fight for a place in the world. He decided to go to Indianapolis, which was even at that time a town of promise. He met with slight encouragement at first, making scarcely anything the first year. He worked diligently, applying himself closely to his calling, built up an extensive practice and took a leading rank in the legal profession. He is the father of two children.

In i860 Mr. Harrison was nominated for the position of supreme court reporter, and then began his experience as a stump speaker. He canvassed the state thoroughly, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the Seventeenth Indiana infantry, and was chosen its colonel. His regiment was composed of the rawest of material, but Col. Harrison employed all his time at first mastering military tactics and drilling his men; when he therefore came to move toward the east with Sherman his regiment was one of the best drilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and for his bravery at Peachtree Creek he was made a brigadier general, Gen. Hooker speaking of him in the most complimentary terms.

During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field the supreme court declared the office of the supreme court reporter vacant, and another person was elected to the position. From the time of leaving Indiana with his regiment until the fall of 1864 he had taken no leave of absence, but having been nominated that year for the same office, he got a thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time made a brilliant canvass of the state, and was elected for another term. He then started to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a most trying siege made his way to the front in time to participate in the closing incidents of the war.

In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-election as reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 1 876 he was a candidate for governor. Although defeated, the brilliant campaign he made won for him a national reputation, and he was much sought, especially in the east, to make speeches. In 1880, as usual, he took an active part in the campaign, and was elected to the United States senate. Here he served six years, and was known as one of the ablest men, best lawyers and strongest debaters in that body. With the expiration of his senatorial term he returned to the practice of his profession, becoming the head of one of the strongest firms in the state of Indiana.

The political campaign of 1888 was one of the most memorable in the history of our country. The convention, which assembled in Chicago in June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief standard bearer of the republican party, was great in every particular, and on this account, and the attitude it assumed upon the vital questions of the day, chief among which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest in the campaign throughout the nation. Shortly after the nomination delegations began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This movement became popular, and from all sections of the country societies, clubs and delegations journeyed thither to pay their respects to the distinguished statesman. The popularity of these was greatly increased on account of the remarkable speeches made by Mr. Harrison. He spoke daily all through the summer and autumn to these visiting delegations, and so varied, masterly and eloquent were his speeches that they at once placed him in the foremost rank of American orators and statesmen. On account of his eloquence as a speaker and his power as a debater, he was called upon at an uncommonly early age to take part in the discussion of the great questions that then began to agitate the country. He was an uncompromising anti-slavery man, and was matched against some of the most eminent democratic speakers of his state. No man who felt the touch of his blade desired to be pitted with him again. With all his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for oratorical effect, but his words always went like bullets to the mark. He is purely American in his ideas and is a splendid type of the American statesman. Gifted with quick perception, a logical mind and a ready tongue, he is one of the most distinguished impromptu speakers in the nation. Original in thought, precise in logic, terse in statement, yet withal faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the sound statesman and brilliant orator of the day. His term of office as president of the United States expired on March 4, 1893, when he surrendered the high position to Stephen Grover Cleveland, allusion to which fact is made on a preceding page.

ILLIAM McKINLEY, the twentyfourth president, and twice governor of Ohio, is one of the most distinguished politicians of his state and nation. His ancestry lived in western Pennsylvania, his father, William McKinley, who died recently at the age of eighty-five years, having been born on a farm in Pine township, Mercer county, that state - a farm which was recently and may be to-day in the possession of the Rose family, which is related to Mr. Mc- Kinley, and of which ex-Mayor W. G. Rose, of Cleveland, Ohio, is a member. William Mc- Kinley, Sr., was in the iron business all his ! life, as was also his father before him.

William McKinley, Jr., was born at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, January 29, 1843. He ! was educated in the common schools, in the 1 academy at Poland, Ohio, and in the fall of i860 he entered Allegheny college at Meadj ville, Pa. , with the view of taking a full college j course; but owing to sickness he was obliged to return home before the winter came on.

: During the winter of 1860-61 he taught a dis- ! trict school, and intended to return to Allej gheny college, but in April, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon by the rebels, and the spirit of patriotism in young McKinley's heart was so strong that he enlisted in company E, Twenty-third Ohio volunteer infantry, with 1 which he marched and fought in the ranks for j fourteen months. His regiment was with ! Rosecrans and McClellan in Virginia and West Virginia. His first battle was that of j Carnifax Ferry. After this he joined the army of the Potomac and fought with McClellan. Subsequently Private McKinley was promoted,

first to second lieutenant, September, 24, 1862; then to first lieutenant, February 7, 1863, and then to captain, July 25, 1864. Then he served on the staff of Gen. R. B. Hayes and was afterward detailed to act as assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. George

Crook. He was with Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley, in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Creek, Fisher's Hill, Opequan, Kernstown, Cloyd Mountain and Berryville. For meritorious conduct he was brevetted major by President Lincoln, and after Gen. Crook's capture, in Maryland, he served on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Hancock, and later on that of Gen. S. S. Carroll, commander of the veteran reserve corps at Washington, D. C. He was present at the surrender of Gen. Lee, April 9, 1865, was with his regiment all through its campaigns and battles, and was mustered out of service July 26, 1865, having been in the army four years and one month.

Returning to Ohio, Maj. McKinley studied law with Hon. Charles S. Glidden and David Wilson, of Mahoning county, and then attended the law school at Albany, N. Y. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar, and in May of that year located in Canton, Ohio, where he formed a law partnership with Judge Belden, practicing in that relationship for two years. In 1869 he was elected on the republican ticket prosecuting attorney of Stark county, notwithstanding that county was democratic usually by a reliable majority, but in 1871 he was defeated for re-election by an adverse majority of forty-five. In 1876 he ran for congress, and, to the surprise of the older politicians, was elected and was then continuously in congress from his district (notwithstanding several gerrymanders made for the sake of defeating him) for fourteen consecutive years, with the exception of a part of his fourth term, when he was unseated by a democratic majority in congress and his place given to his competitor. He was a candidate for re-election to congress in 1890, but on account of fictitious alarm awakened by his political enemies as to the result, or the probable result, of the " McKinley tariff bill," which went into effect about October 1, 1890, a little more than one month before the election, he was defeated, the majority against him and in favor of his competitor, Lieut. -Gov. Warwick, being 303 votes. The year before the counties composing this district, which had been most outrageously gerrymandered for the sake of accomplishing his defeat, gave a majority to James E. Campbell for governor of 2,900. But while this defeat retired him from congress it at the same time made him governor in 1891, when he was elected over his opponent by a plurality of 21,511. In 1893 he was again elected governor by the phenomenal plurality of 80,995, his opponent this time being the Hon. Lawrence T. Neal.

While in congress Maj. McKinley was a member of the committee on revision of laws, the judiciary committee, the committee on expenditures in the post office department, and the committee on rules. Upon the nomination of Gen. Garfield for the presidency, Mr. McKinley took his place on the committee on ways and means, with which he served for the rest of his time in congress. It was while he was chairman of this committee that he framed the "McKinley Bill" which still bears its name, and provided for a high rate of duty on an immense number of articles imported from foreign countries, but made sugar free. Its purpose was to reduce the national revenue and to increase protection.

The work involved in the preparation of this bill is almost inconceivable. It contained thousands of items and covered nearly every interest in the country. For four weeks, while the house was in session, Mr. McKinley was almost constantly upon his feet answering numberless questions, meeting objections and giving information. With the exception of two minor amendments the bill passed exactly as it came from the hands of the committee, and its passage was the signal for a conflict which few statesmen in the history of free government could have withstood. It was assaulted as no other law has ever been assaulted in this generation and for a time even republican leaders had misgivings.

The indomitable courage and unbounded faith of Mr. McKinley during this trying period alone seemed to hold the republican party together. He never wavered for an instant. With a fervor born of conviction, he had thrown his ambitions, his hopes, almost his very life, into the cause he represented. Its defeat was his defeat; its triumph his triumph. From the apparent defeat of his cause in 1890, and again in 1892, he arose courageous, steadfast, hopeful. Others might change, others might doubt, others might modify their views, but he stood firm for a protective tariff - for the American producer against the foreign producer. He accepted with true American spirit the popular verdict and challenged the interpretation put upon it by political opponents. He took an appeal to the people and in two years from the crushing defeat of 1892 he led the republican hosts to the greatest victory and the most stupendous change in the popular vote of a country ever recorded. The tide turned; the result of the free trade policy was apparent, the object lesson was received, noted and the decision reversed.

In 1884 Maj. McKinley was a delegate at large to the republican national convention which nominated Hon. James G. Blaine. In 1888 he was again a delegate at large to the republican national convention, and this time was in favor of the Hon. John Sherman for the party's candidate, but the complications then were numerous and difficult of solution, because of Mr. Blaine's refusal to be again the nominee. Many thought the nomination of Maj. McKinley would solve all problems and harmonize all factions, but in spite of all arguments and all persuasions he remained true to his state and to himself by steadfastly refusing to permit his name to be used as a presidential candidate. Again, in 1892, Maj. McKinley was a delegate at large to the Minneapolis convention which renominated President Harrison, and in this convention, in spite of all remonstrances that he could make, he received within a fraction of as many votes as were given to the idol of the republican party, James G. Blaine, the latter receiving 1825-6 votes, while McKinley received 182 1-6 votes. Presdent Harrison was, however, renominated, only to be defeated by Grover Cleveland.

In his political campaigns he has manifested brilliant qualities as an orator. It is probably true that more people have heard him discuss political questions than have ever listened to any other campaign speaker in the United States. Thousands of people assemble to hear him ; he always commands the rapt attention of his hearers, and he frequently elicits at least hearty applause.

His great tour in the fall of 1894 is probably without a parallel in the history of the United States. Everywhere thousands greeted him. For more than eight weeks he averaged seven speeches a day, and it is estimated that during that time 2,000,000 people listened to him. It is altogether likely that the secret of his power over an audience lies in his sincerity, as he employs no adventitious methods and is not amusing, his simple and single aim being apparently to convince by argument fairly and squarely.

The preliminary canvass or campaign of 1896, which resulted in the nomination of Mr. McKinley for the presidency, was remarkable in many ways, but in no respect more so than in the unanimity of public sentiment which made it possible to predict with almost absolute certainty weeks before the convention the selection of the champion of protection and a sound financial policy as the candidate. His choice as the representative of the party best fitted to be entrusted with the administration of national affairs was a natural sequence - the result of sentiment that had been engendered during the four years previous, and yet it had every characteristic of spontaneity. The increasing favor with which he was regarded by the voters of the country was, until a few months before the convention, a steady, rapid, but withal a natural growth, and the almost universal endorsement of his candidacy, which came a short time before the St. Louis convention, must be attributed in a great measure to the desire of the American people to return to an idea and a policy which a majority of the citizens of the United States came to regard as absolutely indispensable to individual and national prosperity of which the distinguished Ohioan stood as the recognized exponent. The national republican convention convened in the city of St. Louis, Mo., June 16, 1896, and upon the first ballot Mr. McKinley was nominated with the greatest enthusiasm, receiving 661^ of the 700 ballots cast.

In many respects the campaign of 1896 was one of the most remarkable presidential contests in the history of the nation, but the outcome, as foreshadowed for weeks before the election, resulted in the triumph of Mr. Mc- Kinley over the brilliant and popular young Nebraskian, William J. Bryan, a man of distinguished ability, whose uncompromising advocacy of the free and unlimited coinage of silver and hostility to the American idea of protection made him a formidable opponent. Mr. McKinley entered upon the discharge of his high official functions on the 4th day of March, 1897, with the unbounded confidence of his political party and the American people, and thus far he has steadily and courageously followed the lines mapped out by the platform upon which he was nominated. And his administration in ability and wisdom gives every promise of comparing favorably with those of

Governors Of Ohio

HRTHUR ST. CLAIR, one of the most noted characters of our early colonial days, was a native of Scotland, being born at Edinburg in 1735. Becoming a surgeon in the British army, he subsequently crossed the Atlantic with his regiment and thenceforward was identified with the history of this country until the day of his death. Serving as a lieutenant with Wolfe in the memorable campaign against Quebec, St. Clair won sufficient reputation to obtain appointment as commander of Fort Ligonier, Pa. , where a large tract of land was granted to him. During the Revolutionary war he espoused the colonial cause, and before its close had risen to the rank of major-general. In 1875 he was elected a delegate to the Continental congress and afterward became its president. After the passage of the ordinance of 1787, St. Clair was appointed first military governor of the Northwest territory, which then embraced the territory now comprised within the boundaries of the present state of Ohio, with headquarters at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. In 1791 he undertook an expedition against the northwestern Indians, which resulted in the great disaster known in western history as "St Clair's defeat. '* On November 4 the Indians surprised and routed his whole force of about 1,400 regulars and militia, in what is now

Darke county, Ohio, killing over 900 men and capturing his artillery and camp equipage. Gen. St. Clair held the office of territorial governor until 1802, when he was removed by President Jefferson. He returned to Ligonier, Pa., poor, aged and infirm. The state granted him an annuity which enabled him to pass the last years of his life in comfort. He died near Greensburgh, Pa., August 31, 1818, leaving a family of one son and three daughters.

aHARLES WILLING BYRD, who was secretary of the Northwest territory, and who succeeded Gov. St. Clair as governor, on the removal of the latter from office, was born in Virginia, received a liberal education and settled in Ohio. While it is not practicable to find fully authentic material for a full biography of Gov. Byrd, it may be of interest to recite briefly the reasons for the removal of Gov. St. Clair, which are of course the reasons for Mr. Byrd becoming governor of the territory. St. Clair's government was very unpopular, and when the people became desirous of forming a state government in 1801, and found themselves unable to secure a majority of the legislature, they sent Thomas Worthington to congress to obtain if possible a law under which a conven- tion could be called to consider the expediency of forming a state, and framing a constitution therefor. This convention met in Chillicothe in November, 1802, voted to form a state government and adopted a constitution, all this notwithstanding the fact that the territory did not then contain the 60,000 inhabitants required at that time.

But this was a small difficulty compared with the prohibition in the ordinance of 1787 against slavery in the territory of the northwest. This clause tended to prevent immigration to Ohio from Virginia and other southern states; and the attempt was made to so frame a constitution for the new state that slavery in a somewhat modified form could be established. When this clause was proposed it was discovered by the opponents of slavery that on the morrow there would be a majority of one in its favor, and thus, if it were adopted, the curse of slavery would be fixed upon the state. Judge Ephraim Cutler, of Washington county, a delegate to the convention, and a son of one of the principal framers of the ordinance of 1787, was lying sick in bed, when this situation was revealed, and Gen. Putnam, hastening to his bedside, urged him to reach the convention hall at the earliest practicable moment the next morning. Judge Cutler having next day reached the hall, made an impassioned appeal to the delegates in opposition to the proposed action of the convention, and won over the one delegate necessary to save the state from the blighting curse of slavery.

Gov. St. Clair and his friends looked upon the convention as little short of revolutionary, the governor taking strong grounds against the formation of a state government, before the convention began the labors of the day. Their utter disregard of this advice filled him with irritation, and in the bitterness of his heart he declared, in the hearing of unfriendly listeners, that he no longer had confidence in republican institutions, and that in his opinion, without some stronger form of government, anarchy seemed inevitable. These remarks were quickly reported to President Thomas Jefferson, who immediately removed St. Clair from his office, and the secretary of the territory, Charles W. Byrd, became acting governor, serving until the state government was formed under the constitution, which, as framed by the convention, was declared by that convention, without having been submitted to the people for their ratification, to be the fundamental law of the land. After the expiration of his brief term as governor of the Northwest territory, Gov. Byrd was appointed by President Jefferson United States judge for the district of Ohio.

DWARD TIFFIN, first governor of Ohio upon the organization of the state, in 1803, was a native of England, born in the city of Carlisle on the 19th day of June, 1766. After coming to the United States he studied medicine, located at Charlestown, W. Va., in 1784, and in 1789 received his degree from the university of Pennsylvania. In the year last named he was united in marriage with Mary Worthington, sister of Gov. Thomas Worthington, and in 1790 united with the Methodist church, of which he soon afterward became a local preacher. In 1796 Mr. Tiffin settled at Chillicothe, Ohio, where he preached and practiced medicine, and was instrumental in organizing a number of local congregations in that part of the state. The same year he was elected to the legislature of the Northwest territory, became speaker of that body, and in 1 802 was chosen president of the convention that formed the state constitution. He proved to be a potential factor in political affairs, and in 1803 was elected first governor of the state under the constitution. He was re-elected in 1805, and proved a most capable chief executive, but resigned in 1807 to become United States senator, having been elected to the latter body as successor to his brother-in-law, Hon. Thomas Worthington. Gov. Tiffin's senatorial career was cut short on account of the death of his wife, by reason of which he resigned in March, 1809, and for a time lived a retired life. Subsequently he married again, and afterward was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, in which he served two terms as speaker.

At the expiration of his legislative experience, Gov. Tiffin resumed the practice of medicine at Chillicothe, and in 1812 was appointed by President Madison commissioner of the general land office, having been the first person to fill that position. On assuming his official functions he removed to the national capital and organized the system that has obtained in the land office until the present time; in 1814 he was instrumental in having the papers of his office removed to Virginia, thus saving them from destruction when the public buildings in Washington were burned by the British. Becoming dissatisfied with residing in Washington and wishing to return west, Gov. Tiffin succeeded in exchanging his position for that of surveyor of public lands northwest of the Ohio river, held by Josiah Meigs, the change being sanctioned by the president and senate, and he discharged the duties of the latter position until July, 1829, receiving while on his deathbed an order from President Jackson to deliver the office to a successor. During his long period of public service, Gov. Tiffin maintained most scrupulously his ministerial relations, and preached the gospel whenever occasion would admit. He was on familiar terms with Gen. Washington, who always spoke of him in terms of praise, and he will always be remembered as one of the leading spirits in the formative period of Ohio's history. His death occurred at Chillicothe on the 9th day of August, 1829.

HOMAS KIRKER, who succeeded Edward Tiffin as governor of Ohio, is one of the few governors of the state of whom but little can be learned. In 1807 there was a remarkable contest for the governorship of the state. The two opposing candidates were Return Jonathan Meigs and Nathaniel Massie. The former received a majority of the votes, and therefore, so far as the people were concerned, was elected governor of the state. The general assembly, however, declared him to be ineligible to the office, on the ground that he was not a resident of the state, and as Mr. Massie had not received a sufficient number of votes, he had not been elected governor, and the election was therefore entirely void. Hon. Thomas Kirker bing then speaker of the state senate, became acting governor by virtue of his office as speaker, when Gov. Edward Tiffin resigned his office in order to take his seat in the United States senate. Gov. Kirker remained in the office of governor until after the election, in 1808, of Samuel Huntington, who had been elected by the people. At the time of serving as governor he was a resident of Adams county, and he served in the general assembly of the state for twenty-five years.

AMUEL HUNTINGTON, the second governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born at Norwich, Conn., in 1765, and graduated at Yale college in 1785. He adopted the profession of law, in 1795 married a lady of his own name, and attended strictly to the duties of his profession in the town of his birth until the year 1800, when he resolved to visit that western country which was then attracting to it so many residents of the New England states. First stopping at Youngstown, Ohio, he from there went to Marietta, where he spent the summer, and in the fall of that year returned to Norwich. The following spring, taking his wife and children in an Ohio wagon (then so called), they arrived, after weeks of toilsome travel, at Cleveland, then a settlement of doubtful name as a healthy abode, as they found that many who had preceded them had vacated the cabins they had first built and had removed to the higher ground back of the town to escape the sickness so prevalent near the lake. He erected a strongly-built house, as attacks by drunken and riotous Indians were not uncommon. Mr. Huntington soon entered upon public life. Gen. Saint Clair appointed him second in command of a regiment of Trumbull county militia, and he was shortly afterward elevated to the position of presiding judge in the first court in that part of the territory. In 1802 he was a member of the constitutional convention, and by that body appointed state senator from Trumbull county, the name then borne by the territory now known as the northeastern portion of the state and which at present is divided into six counties. For some time he was speaker or president of the state senate, and by the legislature elected to a seat on the supreme bench. When Michigan was organized as a territory Judge Huntington was offered the position of judge of the district court of that territory, but this he declined, as well as other important offices which were pressed upon him. The prevailing unhealthiness of Cleveland finally induced him to remove his residence to Newburg, where he erected a grist-milll, then a very important construction and advantageous to the settlers. In 1809 he purchased a 'mill, located on the eastern shore of Grand river, between Painesville and the lake, and erected a mansion - commodious, and, for those days, rather imposing in its style of architecture. This house remains to attest by its position the good taste of him who built it. A conflict of authority arose between the legislative and judicial departments of the state while Judge Huntington was on the supreme bench. The legislature passed a law conferring certain rights upon justices of the peace which the judges of the supreme court declared to be unconstitutional. Thereupon the whole house filed articles of impeachment against the judges, but in the midst of this confusion the people of Ohio had elected Judge Huntington governor of the state. He, having resigned, was therefore not brought to trial, and it being impossible to obtain twothirds of the legislative vote against the other two judges, they consequently escaped conviction. Nothing of particular moment occurred the term he held office, but his prominence prevented his retiring to private life. In 1812 he was, during the second war with Great Britain, a member of the Ohio legislature. The destruction of life and property by the Indians during that year was such that Gov. Huntington, having with Gen. Cass visited Washington to represent to the authorities there the condition of affairs in Ohio, was appointed district paymaster, with the rank of colonel, and returned to the camp of Gen. Harrison with a supply of funds in the shape of government drafts. He remained for many months in the army and until peace was declared, when he returned to his home, where he subsequently lived peacefully until 1817, during which year he died a comparatively young man, being but fifty-two years old. His character for strict integrity, great executive ability and accomplished scholarship was second to that of no other governor.

ETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, who succeeded Samuel Huntington in the gubernatorial chair, was born in Middletown, Conn., in March, 1765, the son of Return J. Meigs, a distinguished Ameri- can soldier, whose name is inseparably connected with the war of American independence. Gov. Meigs was graduated from Yale college in 1785, after which he studied law and began the practice of the same at Marietta, Ohio, at which place his father had previously settled. He entered the army at the breaking out of the Indian war, and was sent on a commission to the British commander at Detroit, by Gen. St. Clair, in 1790, and later took part in a number of battles with the savages. He rose rapidly in his profession and in 1803-4 was chief justice of the Ohio supreme court; later he had charge of the Saint Charles circuit in Louisiana until 1806, with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel in the United States army, being also judge of the supreme court of said district during the years of 1805 and 1806. Mr. Meigs was further honored, in 1807, by being appointed judge of the United States district court of Michigan, in which capacity he continued until 1808, when he was elected to the United States senate from Ohio. The honorable distinction acquired by Mr. Meigs as a jurist was not dimmed by his senatorial experience, and his record in the national legislature is replete with duty ably and conscientiously performed. He served in the senate from January, 1809, till May, 1810.

In October, 1807, Mr. Meigs was the democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, and after the election, which went in his favor by a decided majority, his competitor, Nathaniel Massie, contested the same on the ground that Meigs had not been a resident of the state for the four years next preceding the election, as provided by the constitution. The general assembly, in joint convention, decided that Meigs was not entitled to the office, but it does not appear that his competitor was allowed to assume the same; Thomas Kirker, acting governor, continued to discharge the duties of the office until December, 1808, when Samuel

In 1810 Mr. Meigs was again a candidate for governor, and at the ensuing election was victorious, defeating his competitor by a large majority. He was triumphantly reelected in 1812 and filled the office with distinguished ability during the trying years of the last war with England, his services in behalf of the national government throughout that struggle being far greater than those of any other governor, and of such a patriotic character as to elicit the warmest praise from the president and others high in authority. He assisted in the organization of the state militia, garrisoned the forts on the border, thus securing safety to the exposed settlements, and did much toward strengthening the army under Gen. Harrison. Near the expiration of his gubernatorial term, in 1814, Gov. Meigs resigned to accept the appointment of postmaster-general in the cabinet of President Madison, to fill the place made vacant by the death of Gideon Granger; he continued in office under President Monroe until 1823, in December of which year he retired from active life and spent the remainder of his days at his home in Marietta, dying March 29, 1825.