296 



CONKLING, EOSCOE. 



CONNECTICUT. 



In 1858 he was elected Mayor of Utica. The 

 campaign which followed Mr. Conkling's elec- 

 tion as Mayor resulted in a tie vote between 

 J. 0. Hoyt and Charles S. Wilson, a circum- 

 stance which necessitated Mr. Conkling's hold- 

 ing over for the full year, neither gentleman 

 being qualified to succeed him. 



In November, 1858, he was elected a Repre- 

 sentative to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and took 

 his seat in that body at the beginning of its 

 first session, in December, 1859 a session noted 

 for its long and bitter contest over the Speak- 

 ership. He was a member of the Committee 

 on the District of Columbia. He was reflected 

 in 1860. His brother, Frederick A. Conkling, 

 was elected at the same time from a New York 

 City district. The two brothers entered the 

 Thirty-seventh Congress at the opening of the 

 special session convened by President Lincoln, 

 July 4, 1861. In this Congress, Roscoe Conk- 

 ling was Chairman of the Committee on the 

 District of Columbia, and also of a special 

 committee to frame a bankrupt law. 



A candidate for reelection to the Thirty- 

 eighth Congress, he was defeated by his old 

 law partner Francis Kernan. At the election 

 in 1864, the same parties being nominated, Mr. 

 Conkling gained the victory, and resumed his 

 seat in the Thirty-ninth Congress, where he 

 served on the Committees on Ways and Means 

 and on Reconstruction. The fame of Mr. 

 Conkling as an orator had preceded him, as 

 had his reputation as a party manager. He 

 startled the nation by a vigorous assault upon 

 the tactics of General McClellan, and gave the 

 keynote for earnestness in all future war legis- 

 lation at a time when hesitancy and vacillation 

 prevailed. In February, 1862, he opposed Mr. 

 Spaulding's legal-tender act by speech and 

 vote, sustaining, contrary to the prevailing 

 party policy, Mr. Horton's amendment provid- 

 ing for the issue of an interest-bearing note, 

 and against the final passage of the bill as 

 amended by Thaddeus Stevens. In the same 

 session he voted for the payment of interest on 

 the debt in coin. Mr. Conkling was a firm 

 supporter of all legislation tending to uphold 

 the hands of the Administration in prosecuting 

 the war for the suppression of the rebellion. 



In the fall of 1866 Mr. Conkling was elected 

 to the Fortieth Congress, but before that Con- 

 gress met he was chosen to succeed Judge Ira 

 Harris as United States Senator from the State 

 of New York. He took his seat in the Senate 

 March 4, 1867 ; was reelected, his second term 

 beginning March 4, 1873 ; was again elected, 

 and began his third term as Senator March 4, 

 1879. He was a zealous supporter of General 

 Grant's Administration. The general policy 

 of that Administration toward the South was 

 largely directed by Senator Conkling, who ad- 

 vocated it with all the powers of his eloquence 

 and all the potency of his personal and politi- 

 cal influence. He was also largely instrumental 

 in the inception and passage of the civil rights 

 bill. Upon the vital question of hard money 



Mr. Conkling was, in harmony with the senti- 

 ment of his party, strictly in favor of the re- 

 sumption of specie payments. 



One of the most important acts of Senator 

 Conkling's political career was the prominent 

 part he took in framing the act for an Electo- 

 ral Commission in 1876. Many of the foremost 

 men of his own and of the other party were 

 the prey of extreme partisan views, which, if 

 insisted on, might have plunged the country 

 into civil strife. It was largely owing to his 

 indefatigable labors, his thorough knowledge of 

 the history of the question and of all the prece- 

 dents, and the powerful effect of the speech he 

 delivered in the Senate, that the success of the 

 Electoral Commission bill was due. In regard 

 to the powers conferred upon the Commission 

 by this bill, he said : " Mr. President, I had 

 supposed that the Constitution had raised not 

 only a hedge and a fence, but a wall of limit, 

 to the powers it confers. I supposed that, 

 when five of the most largely instructed and 

 trusted members of the Senate, and five of the 

 most largely instructed and trusted members 

 of the House, were authorized to meet five 

 Judges of the highest and most largely in- 

 structed judicial tribunal of the land, we might 

 trust to them to settle what a Court of Oyer 

 and Terminer settles whenever it is called upon 

 to determine whether it has jurisdiction to try 

 an indictment for homicide or not. I had sup- 

 posed that, giving it the instrument by which 

 its jurisdiction is to be measured, we could 

 trust this provisional tribunal of selected men 

 to run a boundary and fix the line marking 

 their jurisdiction." 



CONNECTICUT. The Legislature of this 

 State assembled at Hartford on January 8th, 

 and for the first time opened their regular ses- 

 sion in the new State House, where they had 

 closed the session of 1878. In the Lower 

 House, Dexter R. Wright of New Haven was 

 elected Speaker. Gilbert W. Phillips of the 

 Fourteenth District was appointed President 

 pro tempore of the Senate. 



Upon taking the chair as President, Senator 

 Phillips addressed the Senate as follows : 



SENATORS : I thank you very heartily for the kind- 

 ness which permits me to be your temporary presiding 

 officer, and I can assure you that it will be my aim to 

 serve you in such a manner as shall meet your ap- 

 proval. We meet in obedience to the public voice, 

 and 1 trust it will be our pleasure, as well as our duty, 

 to so conduct the business intrusted to us as to meet 

 the approbation of our constituents. 



Betore addressing ourselves to the duties before us, 

 allow me to say a word concerning this proud edifice 

 in which we meet for the first time. It is a cause of 

 sincere congratulation that it has been carried on to 

 completion under management so satisfactory. The 

 commission in charge, it seems to me, for its wisdom, 

 deserves the thanks of the State. In all ages of the 

 world, nations have displayed their characters by the 

 beauty and magnificence of their public buildings. 

 The Greek temple, the Gothic cathedral, the Parlia- 

 ment House at London, our own proud Capitol at 

 Washington, and the hut of the Indian in the Amer- 

 ican wilderness, each represents, or did represent, 

 somewhat the thought and character of the people 



