SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY 1864-1865 117 



above all, in nearly every public library, university, col- 

 lege, and normal school in the Union. 



I allude to this as showing to any young student who 

 may happen to read these recollections, the value of a care- 

 ful study of any really worthy subject, even though, at 

 first sight, it may seem to have little relation to present 

 affairs. 



In the spring of 1864, at the close of my first year in 

 the State Senate, came the national convention at Balti- 

 more for the nomination of President and Vice-President, 

 and to that convention I went as a substitute delegate. Al- 

 though I have attended several similar assemblages since, 

 no other has ever seemed to me so interesting. It met in 

 an old theater, on one of the noisiest corners in the city, 

 and, as it was June, and the weather already very warm, 

 it was necessary, in order to have as much air as possible, 

 to remove curtains and scenery from the stage and throw 

 the back of the theater open to the street. The result 

 was, indeed, a circulation of air, but, with this, a noise 

 from without which confused everything within. 



In selecting a president for the convention a new de- 

 parture was made, for the man chosen was a clergyman; 

 one of the most eminent divines in the Union, the Rev. 

 Dr. Eobert Breckinridge of Kentucky, who, on the re- 

 ligious side, had been distinguished as moderator of the 

 Presbyterian General Assembly, and on the political side 

 was revered for the reason that while very nearly all his 

 family, and especially his sons and nephews, including- 

 the recent Vice-President, had plunged into the Confed- 

 erate service, he still remained a staunch and sturdy ad- 

 herent of the Union and took his stand with the Repub- 

 lican party. He was a grand old man, but hardly suited 

 to the presidency of a political assemblage. 



The proceedings were opened with a prayer by a dele- 

 gate, who had been a colonel in the Union army, and was 

 now a Methodist clergyman. The heads of all were 

 bowed, and the clergyman- soldier began with the words of 

 the Lord's Prayer; but when he had recited about one half 



