The Life of Lyman Trumbull

The second Grant Administration was more lamentable than the first in respect of military rule, turbulence, and bloodshed in the South and corruption in the civil service in the North. These evils became so glaring and intolerable that the Republican party suffered a disastrous defeat in the congressional elections of 1874, and failed to secure a majority of the popular vote in the presidential election of 1876. The opposing candidates in this contest were Hayes (Republican) and Tilden (Democrat). One hundred and eighty-five electoral votes were necessary to a choice. The undisputed returns gave Tilden 184 and Hayes 166. Those of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were in dispute. It was necessary that Hayes should have all of them in order to be the next President. All of these states were under military control, and the returning boards who had the power of canvassing the votes, and the governors who had the power of certifying the result to Congress, were Republicans.

The excitement in the country when this condition became known was extreme. No confidence was placed in the character of the Southern returning boards. That of Louisiana consisted of three knaves and one fool,132 and the governor of the state was W. P. Kellogg, who had acquired the office by the acts of usurpation described in the preceding chapter. It was seen at once that unless some respectable tribunal could be devised to decide between the conflicting claims the country might drift into a new civil war. The first thing to be done was to endeavor to secure a fair count of the ballots cast in the disputed states. To this end a certain number of "visiting statesmen" were chosen by the heads of their respective political parties to go to the scene of the contest and watch all the steps taken by the canvassers of the votes. President Grant appointed those of the Republican party and Abram S. Hewitt, chairman of the National Democratic Committee, appointed the others. Trumbull had voted for Tilden in the election, and he was chosen by Hewitt as one of ten visiting statesmen for Louisiana. Senator Sherman, of Ohio, was one of the Republican visitors. Congress passed a law on the 29th of January, 1877, to create an Electoral Commission, consisting of five Senators, five Representatives, and five judges of the Supreme Court, to take all the evidence in regard to the disputed elections and to render a decision thereon by a majority vote of the fifteen members. Four of the five judges of the Supreme Court were named in the act of Congress. They were Miller and Swayne, Republicans, and Clifford and Field, Democrats, and the act provided that these four should choose the fifth. It was the general expectation that they would choose David Davis as the fifth member, as he was commonly classed as an Independent, since he had been a candidate in the Cincinnati Convention, which nominated Greeley. But, on the very day when the Electoral Commission Bill passed, Davis was elected by the legislature of Illinois as Senator of the United States, to succeed Logan whose term was expiring. Davis accepted the senatorship and declined to serve as the fifth judge. Thereupon Bradley was chosen in his stead.

Trumbull was chosen as one of the counsel on the Tilden side to argue the Louisiana case. On the 14th of February he appeared before the Commission and offered to show that the votes certified by the commissioners of election in the voting precincts of Louisiana to the supervisors of registration, who were the officers legally appointed to receive the same, showed a majority varying from six to nine thousand for the Tilden electors; that the returning board did not receive from any poll, voting place, or parish, and did not have before them, any statement, as required by law, of any riot, tumult, act of violence, intimidation, armed disturbance, bribery, or corrupt influence tending to prevent a free, fair, peaceable vote; that the supervisors of registration, without any such statements of violence or intimidation, omitted to include in the returns of election, or to make any mention of the same, votes amounting to a majority of 2267 against W. P. Kellogg, one of the Hayes electors; that the votes cast on the 7th of November, 1876, had never been compiled or canvassed; that the votes had never been opened by the governor in the presence of the other state officers required by law to be present, nor in the presence of any of them; that the law of Louisiana required that both political parties should be represented on the returning board, but that all the members, four in number, were Republicans, and that although there was one vacancy on the board they refused to fill it by choosing anybody; that the returning board employed as clerks and assistants four persons, whose names were given, all of whom were then under indictment for crime, to whom was committed the task of compiling and canvassing the returns, and that none but Republicans were to be present; and that all the decisions of the returning board were made in secret session.

Not to detain you [said Trumbull] as to this Government in Louisiana, I will only say that it is not a republican government, for it is a matter that I think this Commission should take official knowledge of, that the pretended officers in the state of Louisiana are upheld by military power alone. They could not maintain themselves an hour but for military support. Is that government republican which rests upon military power for support? A republican government is a government of the people, for the people, and by the people: but the Government in Louisiana has been nothing but a military despotism for the last four years, and it could not stand a day if the people were not overborne by military power.

His speech was about two hours long, and he was followed by Carpenter and Campbell on the same side. The leading argument on the Hayes side was made by Mr. E. W. Stoughton, of New York, who contended that neither the Commission nor Congress itself could go behind the official returns certified by the governor of the state of Louisiana, and that the recognition of Kellogg as governor by the President of the United States was conclusive evidence of the fact that he was the person empowered to act in that capacity.

By a vote of eight to seven the Commission decided in favor of Stoughton's contention, and the same rule was applied to all the other disputed returns, and by this ruling the presidential office was awarded to Rutherford B. Hayes.

Under the circumstances then existing, and with the characters then holding office in Louisiana, it is obvious that the latter had power to throw out an unlimited number of Tilden votes if necessary to make a majority for Hayes. It is not obvious that the supporters of Tilden had power to intimidate an unlimited number of negroes; the number of the latter was slightly less than the number of whites in the State, and it was known that some of the negroes had joined the conservative party. Moreover, the Kellogg government was shamefully illegal, even as measured by the standards then enforced upon the South. It is fair to presume, therefore, that Tilden was justly entitled to the electoral votes of Louisiana. That is my belief although I voted for Hayes.

It does not follow, however, that the decision of the Electoral Commission was wrong. That body was bound to consider the remote as well as the immediate consequences of its acts. It was engaged in making a precedent to be followed in similar disputes thereafter, if such should arise. If Congress, or any commission acting by its authority, should assume the functions of a returning board for all the states in future presidential elections, what limit could be set to their investigations, or to the passions agitating the country while the same were in progress? In short, the Electoral Commission was sitting not to do justice between man and man, but to save the Republic. Even if it made a mistake in the exercise of its discretion, the mistake was pardonable.

On the 3d of November, 1877, the subject of this memoir was married to Miss Mary Ingraham, of Saybrook Point, Connecticut. The lady's mother was his first cousin. Two daughters were born of this union, both of whom died in infancy.

In 1880, when the next presidential campaign, that of Garfield and Hancock, opened, the Democrats of Illinois nominated Trumbull for governor of the State, without his own solicitation or desire. He was now sixty-seven years of age, with powers of body and mind unimpaired. In accepting the nomination he gave a brief account of his political life extending over a period of nearly forty years. He acknowledged that he had made mistakes, but said he had never given a vote or performed an act in his official capacity which he did not at the time believe was for his country's good. He made a vigorous campaign, but the traces left of it in the newspapers contain nothing that need be recalled now. The Republican majority in the state was between thirty and forty thousand. The Republicans nominated Shelby M. Cullom for Governor and he was elected.

The World's Columbian Exposition took place at Chicago in the year 1893. During one of my visits to it I had the pleasure of dining with Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull at their home on Lake Avenue. The only other guest was William J. Bryan, whom I had not met before. The leading issue in politics then was the free coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one. Mr. Bryan was an enthusiastic free-silver man and a firm believer in the early triumph of that doctrine. Trumbull was inclined to the same belief, although less confident of its success. We had an animated but friendly discussion of that question. President Cleveland had just called a special session of Congress to repeal the Silver Purchasing Act then in force, which was not a free-coinage law. I ventured to predict to my table companions that the purchasing law would be repealed and that no free-coinage law would be enacted in place of it, either then or later. None of us imagined that three years from that time Mr. Bryan himself would be the nominee of the Democratic party for President of the United States, on that issue. Trumbull's geniality and cordiality at this meeting were a joy to his guests. Our conversation, ranging over a period of nearly forty years, filled two delightful hours. He was then eighty years of age, but in vigor of mind and body I did not notice any change in him. We parted, not knowing that we should not meet again.

Trumbull's next appearance on the public stage was in the case of Eugene V. Debs, who is still with us as a perpetual candidate of the Socialistic party for President. In 1894 he was president of an organization of railway employees known as the American Railway Union. In the month of May a dispute arose between the Pullman Palace Car Company and its employees in reference to the rate of wages, which resulted in a strike. Debs and his fellow officers of the Railway Union, for the purpose of compelling the Pullman Company to yield to the demands of their employees, issued an order to the railway companies that they should cease hauling Pullman cars, and, if they should not so cease, that the trainmen, switchmen, and others working on the railways aforesaid should strike also. As a consequence of this order twenty-two railroads were "tied up." All passengers trains composed in part of Pullman cars were brought to a standstill. Riots broke out in the streets of Chicago. An injunction was issued against Debs by Judge Woods, of the United States Circuit Court. Governor Altgelt, of Illinois, was called upon to restore order in the city, but before he did so President Cleveland, having been officially informed that the movement of the mails was obstructed by violence in the streets of Chicago, ordered a small body of troops to that city to break the blockade. This they accomplished without delay and without bloodshed. In the mean time Debs and his associates were put under arrest for violating the injunction of the court. Debs employed Mr. Clarence Darrow as his attorney, and Darrow applied for a writ of habeas corpus, which was refused. Darrow appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States and engaged Lyman Trumbull and S. S. Gregory as associate counsel. The appeal was argued by Trumbull at the October Term in Washington City. Trumbull had volunteered his service and refused a fee, accepting only his traveling expenses. The court rejected the petition for a writ of habeas corpus and affirmed the jurisdiction of the circuit court.

Both President Cleveland and the court were sustained by public opinion in this disposition of Debs. On the 6th of October, a large meeting was held at Central Music Hall in Chicago to consider the recent exciting events. It was addressed by Trumbull and Henry D. Lloyd. Trumbull's speech was published in the newspapers and in pamphlet form as a Populist campaign document. It was extremely effective from the Populist point of view, and was not, on the whole, more radical than the so-called Progressive platform of the present day. While expressing decided opinions on the subject of "judicial usurpation" (referring to the Debs case without mentioning it), he exhorted his hearers to seek a remedy by the action of Congress. "It is to be hoped," he said, "that Congress when it meets will put some check upon federal judges in assuming control of railroads and issuing blanket injunctions and punishing people for contempt of their assumed authority. If Congress does not do it, I trust the people will see to it that representatives are chosen hereafter who will." The recall of judges, as a remedy for unpopular decisions, had not yet been discovered.

The testimony of persons who were present at this meeting is that Trumbull showed no abatement of his powers as a speaker, and that the audience "went wild with enthusiasm."

In the month of December following, the leaders of the People's party in Chicago, ten in number, requested Trumbull to prepare a declaration of principles to be presented by them for consideration at a national conference of their party to meet at St. Louis on the 28th. This paper was drawn up and delivered to them in his own handwriting a few days before the meeting and was published in the Chicago Times of December 27, in the following words:

1. Resolved, That human brotherhood and equality of rights are cardinal principles of true democracy.

2. Resolved, That, forgetting all past political differences, we unite in the common purpose to rescue the Government from the control of monopolists and concentrated wealth, to limit their powers of perpetuation by curtailing their privileges, and to secure the rights of free speech, a free press, free labor, and trial by jury—all rules, regulations, and judicial dicta in derogation of either of which are arbitrary, unconstitutional, and not to be tolerated by a free people.

3. We endorse the resolution adopted by the National Republican Convention of 1860, which was incorporated by President Lincoln in his inaugural address, as follows: "That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the states, and especially of the right of each state to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the endurance of our political fabric depends, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any state or territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes."

4. Resolved, That the power given Congress by the Constitution to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections, to repel invasions, does not warrant the Government in making use of a standing army in aiding monopolies in the oppression of their employees. When freemen unsheathe the sword it should be to strike for liberty, not for despotism, or to uphold privileged monopolies in the oppression of the poor.

5. Resolved, That to check the rapid absorption of the wealth of the country and its perpetuation in a few hands we demand the enactment of laws limiting the amount of property to be acquired by devise or inheritance.

6. Resolved, That we denounce the issue of interest-bearing bonds by the Government in times of peace, to be paid for, in part at least, by gold drawn from the Treasury, which results in the Government's paying interest on its own money.

7. Resolved, That we demand that Congress perform the constitutional duty to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin by the enactment of laws for the free coinage of silver with that of gold at the ratio of 16 to 1.

8. Resolved, That monopolies affecting the public interest should be owned and operated by the Government in the interest of the people; all employees of the same to be governed by civil service rules, and no one to be employed or displaced on account of politics.

9. Resolved, That we inscribe on our banner, "Down with monopolies and millionaire control! Up with the rights of man and the masses!" And under this banner we march to the polls and to victory.

These resolutions were conveyed to the St. Louis meeting by Henry D. Lloyd and F. J. Schulte and were adopted by the conference without alteration.

CHAPTER XXVIII

CONCLUSION

On the 22d of March, 1896, Trumbull made an argument before the Supreme Court at Washington City. On the 11th of April, although ailing from an unknown malady, he went to Belleville to attend the funeral of his old and faithful friend, Gustave Koerner, and to make a brief address over the remains. This journey was made against the advice of his physician. At the conclusion of his remarks he became ill at his hotel in Belleville. There was a consultation of physicians, who reached the conclusion that he would be able to go home if he should go at once. He decided not to delay, and he reached home on the morning of April 13. Here another consultation of physicians took place at which a surgical operation was decided upon. This led to the discovery of an internal tumor which, in their judgment, could not be removed without causing immediate death. He lingered till the 5th of June. Before his death he made a calm and careful adjustment of his business affairs and gave to his children and grandchildren keepsakes that he had for years preserved for them. He passed away at the age of eighty-two years, seven months, and twelve days. His funeral, which was largely attended, took place from his house, No. 4008 Lake Avenue, and his remains were interred in Oakwoods Cemetery.

There was a meeting of the Bar Association of Chicago to prepare a memorial on his life and services. On this occasion Hon. Thomas A. Moran, former judge of the appellate court, said:

At the end of his career in the United States Senate, Judge Trumbull became a member of the Chicago Bar. He was thereafter continuously, and up to the time of his death, engaged in the active and laborious practice of his profession. The great place that he had held in the councils of the nation, the influence that he had exerted upon national legislation, and the esteem in which he was held by the lawyers and the statesmen of the country, entitled him to a lofty mien; but as is well known to us all who had the privilege of his acquaintance at the bar, while his demeanor was grave it was also modest, and his manner was marked by a gentleness that was most grateful to everybody with whom he came in contact. His sincerity and honesty in the presentation of his case, his respectful demeanor to any court in which he was engaged in a legal contest, constituted him a model that the lawyers of our bar might well imitate. He was in practice at the bar forty-four years after he ceased to be a judge of the supreme court of this state.... He was preëminently the grand old man of this country. In his intercourse with his fellow citizens he was a quiet, sincere, frank, honest American gentleman. Lyman Trumbull was one of the very great men of the nation.

Eulogistic remarks were made also by Senator John M. Palmer, ex-Senator James R. Doolittle, and Judge Henry W. Blodgett. Mr. Doolittle said that of the sixty-six members of the United States Senate who were there when Secession began, only four were then living. They were Harlan, of Iowa, Rice, of Minnesota, Clingman, of North Carolina, and himself (Doolittle).

Trumbull's forte was that of a political debater well grounded in the law. Here he stood in the very front rank, both as a Senator addressing his equals and as an orator on the hustings. He was always ready to discuss the questions which he was required to face. He had a logical mind, and the ability to think quickly and to choose the right words to express his ideas. He never wasted words in ornament or display. He never lost his balance when addressing the Senate, or a public audience. He had perfect self-possession. He never stood in awe of any other debater or hesitated to reply promptly to question or challenge. Nor did he ever lose his dignity in debate. Once he came near to calling Sumner a falsifier, when the latter had described him as recreant to the principles of human liberty; but he restrained himself in time to avoid an infraction of the rules of the Senate. And he afterwards came to the defense of Sumner when the latter was deposed, by his more subservient colleagues, from the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations. On this occasion Sumner came forward holding out both hands, and with tears in his eyes thanked him for his generosity.

His rare forensic gifts would have been unavailing without confidence in the justice of his cause, and a clear conscience which shone in his face and pervaded him through and through. Although not endowed with oratorical graces he grasped the attention of his audience at once, and he never failed to convince his hearers that he had an eye single to the public good. It was hard for him to separate himself from the Republican party in 1871-72, but he considered it a duty that he owed to the country to expose the rottenness then pervading the national administration. He did not have General Grant in mind when he moved the investigation of custom-house frauds in New York. He did not aim at him directly or indirectly, but at the system which had grown up before his election. Grant's mental make-up was such that he considered any fault-finding with federal office-holders a reproach to himself, as the head of the Government, and accordingly braced himself against it; and this habit grew on him through the whole eight years of his presidency. Yet Trumbull uttered no reproach against him during the campaign of 1872, or later.

It was commonly said that Trumbull's nature was cold and unsympathetic. This was a mannerism merely. He did not carry his heart upon his sleeve for daws to peck at, but he was an affectionate husband and father and grandfather, most generous to his parents, brothers, and sisters, and one of the most unselfish men I ever knew. His poor constituents, who were often stranded in Washington, needing help to get home, seldom applied to him for assistance in vain, and this kind of drain was pretty severe during his whole senatorial service. He was fond of little children. He was often seen playing croquet with his own and others in Washington City. Mr. Morris St. P. Thomas, a member of the Chicago Bar who shared Trumbull's office during his later years, says that he never knew a warmer-hearted man than Trumbull. He was kindness and consideration itself to the people in his office. He was never cross or short, and every young man there always felt that he could go into the judge's room whenever he liked, and sit down and tell him his troubles. Once it devolved upon Mr. Thomas to engage a stenographer for the office. Of the several applicants the best was an unprepossessing, hump-backed girl. "I told the judge about her—that she was the ablest applicant, but very unprepossessing in appearance." "Why," said he, at once, "that's the very reason to take her, poor girl!" And they kept her for years.133

In short, he was a high-minded, kind-hearted, courteous gentleman, without ostentation and without guile. In business affairs he was punctual, accurate, and spotless. He never borrowed money, never bought anything that he could not pay cash for, never gave a promissory note in his life, not even in the purchase of real estate where deferred payments are customary. The best blood of New England coursed in his veins and he never dishonored it, in either private or public life.

It is perhaps too early to assign to Trumbull his proper place in the roll of statesmen of the Civil War period. Those who come after us and can look back one hundred years, instead of fifty, will doubtless have a better perspective and a clearer vision than those who lived with the actors of that momentous struggle. Some things, however, we may be sure of. One is that the man who drew the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States and all places under the jurisdiction thereof, will never be forgotten as long as the love of liberty survives in this land. Not that the Thirteenth Amendment would not have been passed and incorporated in our system even if Lyman Trumbull had not been a Senator, or if he had never been born. It was a consequence of the taking-up of arms against the Union in 1861 that slavery should come to an end somehow. All that Lincoln did, all that Trumbull did, all that Congress did, was to seize the occasion to give direction to certain irresistible forces then called into existence for blessing or cursing mankind. There were different ways of bringing slavery to an end. That of constitutional amendment was the best of all because it removed the subject-matter from the field of dispute at once and forever. Lincoln paved the way for it. He prepared the public mind for it by his two proclamations of emancipation. Trumbull and Congress and the state legislatures did the rest.