SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY 1864-1865 105 



throughout the State, but they have long since been for- 

 gotten with one exception : this was a quiet reporter who 

 sat just in front of the clerk's chair, day after day, week 

 after week, throughout the entire session ; a man of very 

 few words, and with whom I had but the smallest ac- 

 quaintance. Greatly surprised was I in after years when 

 he rose to be editor of the leading Democratic organ 

 in the State, and finally, under President Cleveland, a 

 valuable Secretary of the Treasury of the United States : 

 Daniel Manning. 



In the distribution of committees there fell to me the 

 chairmanship of the committee on education, or, as it 

 was then called, the committee on literature. I was also 

 made a member of the committee on cities and villages, 

 afterward known as the committee on municipal affairs, 

 and of the committee on the library. For the first of 

 these positions I was somewhat fitted by my knowledge 

 of the colleges and universities of the State, but in other 

 respects was poorly fitted. For the second of these po- 

 sitions, that of the committee on cities and villages, I am 

 free to confess that no one could be more wretchedly 

 equipped ; for the third, the committee on the library, my 

 qualifications were those of a man who loved both to col- 

 lect books and to read them. 



But from the beginning I labored hard to fit myself, 

 even at that late hour, for the duties pressing upon me, 

 and gradually my practical knowledge was increased. 

 Still there were sad gaps in it, and more than once I sat 

 in the committee-room, looking exceedingly wise, no 

 doubt, but with an entirely inadequate appreciation of 

 the argument made before me. 



During this first session my maiden speech was upon 

 the governor's message, and I did my best to show what 

 I thought His Excellency's shortcomings. Governor Sey- 

 mour was a patriotic man, after his fashion, but the one 

 agency which he regarded as divinely inspired was the 

 Democratic party; his hatred of the Lincoln Adminis- 

 tration was evidently deep, and it was also clear that he 



or 



