104 POLITICAL LIFE-IV 



tical knowledge of the commercial interests of the State r 

 and especially of the traffic upon its lakes and inland 

 waterways; on all questions relating to these his advice 

 was of the greatest value; he was in every respect a 

 good public servant. 



On the Democratic side the foremost man by far was 

 Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn, evidently of Irish ances- 

 try, though his immediate forefathers had been long in 

 the United States. He was a graduate of Columbia Col- 

 lege, devoted to history and literature, had produced sun- 

 dry interesting books on the early annals of the State, 

 had served with distinction in the diplomatic service as 

 minister to The Hague, was eminent as a lawyer, and 

 had already considerable legislative experience. 



From New York City came a long series of Democratic 

 members, of whom the foremost was Thomas C. Fields. 

 He had considerable experience as a lawyer in the city 

 courts, had served in the lower house of the legislature, 

 and was preternaturally acute in detecting the interests 

 of Tammany which he served. He was a man of much 

 humor, with occasional flashes of wit, his own worst 

 enemy, evidently, and his career was fitly ended when 

 upon the fall of Tweed he left his country for his coun- 

 try's good and died in exile. 



There were others on both sides whom I could mention 

 as good men and true, but those I have named took a 

 leading part as heads of committees and in carrying on 

 public business. 



The lieutenant-governor of the State who presided over 

 the Senate was Mr. Floyd-Jones, a devoted Democrat of 

 the old school who exemplified its best qualities; a gen- 

 tleman, honest, courteous, not intruding his own views, 

 ready always to give the fullest weight to those of others 

 without regard to party. 



Among the men who, from their constant attendance, 

 might almost be considered as officers of the Senate were 

 sundry representatives of leading newspapers. Several 

 of them were men of marked ability, and well known 



