USA > New Mexico > Men of our day; or, biographical sketches of patriots, orators, statemen, generals, reformers, financiers and merchants, now on the stage of action > Part 25
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home with a pride and satisfaction never excelled in after years, though he went the round with profits tenfold greater. Lum- bering became in a few years his principal business ; and to such a man, success and competence were but a matter of time. He soon enjoyed the reputation of being the most successful lum- berman on the Alleghany and Ohio rivers; but this came only because he wrought it by untiring perseverance and indefati- gable energy.
In 1843, Mr. Fenton was chosen supervisor of his native town, and held the position for eight successive years. Three of these eight he was chairman of the board, though the board was two to one Whig, while he was a well-known Democrat. But he was courteous and affable, manly and upright, genial and sensible, and his opponents, by common consent, selected him to preside over their deliberations.
In 1849, his friends nominated him for the assembly, and he came within twenty-one votes of being elected, though the suc- cessful candidate was one of the oldest and most popular men in the assembly district, which was strongly Whig.
In 1852, he was put in nomination by the Democrats for Congress, and elected by fifty-two majority, though the district, from the manner in which it was accustomed to vote, should have given at least 3,000 majority against him. He took his seat, on the first Monday in December, 1853, in a House which was Democratic by about two to one. Mr. Douglas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, in the course of the session, was beguiled into embodying in a bill which provided for the organization as territories of Kansas and Nebraska, a re- peal of that portion of the Missouri compromise of 1820, which forbade the legalization of slavery in any territory of the United States, lying north of north latitude, thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes. Mr. Fenton. with N. P. Banks, and quite
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a number of the younger Democrats, with Colonel Thomas H. Benton and other seniors, steadfastly opposed this proposition, and opposed the bill because of it. The bill was nevertheless forced through the House by a vote of 113 to 100, and became a law. In the division that thereupon ensued, Mr. Fenton took Republican ground with Preston King, Ward Hunt, George Opdyke, and other conspicuous Democrats, and he has never since been other than a Republican.
In 1854, the American or Know Nothing party carried his district by a considerable majority (Mr. Fenton consenting to be a candidate on the Saturday previous to election), as they did a good many others in the State; but, in 1856, he ran on the FREMONT ticket, and was elected, and thence re-elected by large and generally increasing majorities down to 1864, when he withdrew, having been nominated for Governor. He thus served five terms in Congress, each as the representative of the strongly Whig district composed of Chautauqua and Cattarau- gus counties, which contains many able and worthy men who were in full accord with its by-gone politics, and to the almost unanimous acceptance of his constituents.
Immediately on entering Congress, Mr. Fenton espoused the cause of the soldiers of 1812, and shortly after introduced a bill providing for the payment of the property accounts between the United States and the State of New York, for military stores furnished in the war of 1812. This measure he con- tinued to urge upon the attention of Congress, and finally, on the 30th May, 1860, had the satisfaction to witness its passage in the House by a vote of 98 to 80. He had a leading place on important committees, and performed the duties appertaining to these positions in a manner satisfactory to all. It is but simple truth to say that he was one of the quietly industrious and faithful members of the House. Nor was he a silent representa-
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tive. He could talk when there seemed a necessity for speak. ing. During his Congressional career, he delivered able and effective speeches against the repeal of the Missouri Comprom- ise act; in advocacy of a cheap postal system; the bill to ex- tend invalid pensions; for the improvement of rivers and har- bors ; to regulate emigration to this country ; against the policy of the Democratic party with regard to Kansas; for the final settlement of the claims of the soldiers of the Revolution; in vindication of the principles and policy of the Republican party ; on the Deficiency bill ; the bill to facilitate the payment of boun- ties ; on the repeal of the Fugitive Slave law; on providing for payment of losses by the rebellion, etc.
Mr. Fenton served in Congress nearly to the end of the war for the Union, of which he was one of the firmest and most efficient supporters. Believing the Union to be right and the rebellion wrong throughout, he gave his best energies to the national cause, voting steadily for taxes, loans, levies, drafts, and for the emancipation policy whereby they were rendered effectual. Men of greater pretensions were abundant in Con- gress, but there was none more devoted, or more ready to invoke and to make sacrifices for the triumph of the Union.
In the fall of 1862, Mr. Fenton's name was favorably men- tioned in connection with the office of governor, but finding General Wadsworth was to be pressed for a nomination, Mr. Fenton promptly withdrew from the canvass, and yielded to the patriot soldier his warmest support. In 1864, Mr. Fenton was designated as the standard-bearer of the Republican party, and chosen governor by a majority considerably larger than Mr. Lincoln's ; and two years later, he was unanimously re-nomina- ted, and chosen by an increased majority.
The administration of Governor Fenton commenced at the culminating period of the war, and required the exercise of
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industry, method, decision, and the power of discriminating, originating, and executing. He brought to the discharge of his new position all these forces of body and mind, and proved patient amid perplexities, quick in his perceptions, safe in his judgments, mastering toilsome details, and successfully meeting difficult emergencies. His practical training, his wide experi- ence, his luminous intellect and well-disciplined judgment, saved him from the failure that a man of less power might have encountered. His official relations with our soldiers did not weaken the attachments that had given him the honored title of the " soldier's friend." He was prompt to reward merit, and skilful to harmonize differences that often threatened demoralization and serious injury to many of the military organizations then in the field. Upon the return home of the soldiers, Governor Fenton addressed a letter to the war commit- tees of the various districts in the State, in which he suggested the propriety of a hearty and spontaneous welcome to the heroic defenders of the country, on the part of the people of the State-an ovation to demonstrate the gratitude of those whose battles they had so bravely fought.
Governor Fenton's judicious course fully commanded the public confidence and approval, and at the close of the first year of his term, many of the most prominent and influential citizens of New York city addressed him a letter of thanks, promising him their hearty co-operation and support in his efforts to improve the condition and health of the metropolis. A few months later, when he visited New York city, thousands of the best men of New York waited upon him, in person to assure him of their respect and approval of his course.
He found it necessary to veto several bills of the first Legisla- ture which sat after his election, in consequence of their de- priving the city of New York of valuable franchises, without
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conferring compensating advantages. For these acts, he was thanked publicly, by a resolution of the Board of Supervisors of New York county. Governor Fenton's views upon the political issues which were involved in Mr. Johnson's attempted "policy" were ably expressed, in a letter addressed to the committee of a meeting held to ratify the action of the State Union Convention, in October, 1866, and soon after in a speech delivered at a large political gathering in Jamestown. During the canvass that followed, his opponents were unable to assail any portion of his official record, and his friends proudly pointed to it, as what a patriotic governor's should be.
When, in August, 1866, Mr. Johnson, in the course of his political tour, generally known as " swinging round the circle," visited Albany, a proper regard for the high office he held, required that the governor of the State should proffer its hospitalities to him. Governor Fenton did so in the following brief but dignified address :-
" MR. PRESIDENT :-
" With high consideration for the Chief Magistrate of the Republic, I address you words of welcome in behalf of our citizens and the people of the State whose capital you visit. We extend to you and to your suite hospitality and greeting, and desire your safe conduct as you go hence to pay honor to the memory of the lamented Douglas,-to the State also distinguished as the home and final resting place of the patriot and martyr, Lincoln.
"I have no power to give due expression to the feelings of this assemblage of citizens, nor to express in fitting terms the respect and magnanimity of the whole people upon an occasion so marked as the coming to our capital and to our homes of the President of the United States. In their name I give assurance to your excellency of their fidelity, patriotism and jealous interest in all that relates to the good order, progress, and freedom of all the States, and of their earnest hope that
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peace will soon open up to the people of the whole land new fields of greater liberty, prosperity and power."
The Republican party, in 1866, saw the necessity of selecting wise men for its nominees. The more discerning politicians felt that there was reason to fear an unfavorable result of the canvass. Herculean efforts were being made to defeat the party at the polls. A division had been created among those who had heretofore professed its principles. A number of influential gentlemen openly repudiated its ideas in regard to reconstruction. The Philadelphia Convention had produced a schism, which it was feared might prove formidable, if not disastrous. Those who were the most pronounced in favor of the policy of President Johnson, were the most earnest in their opposition to Governor Fenton. The question naturally arose whether this marked hostility might not prove fatal to success, by stimulating the Conservatives to greater effort, and enabling them to exert more powerful influence over the moderate and doubtful portion of the party; and whether a man less likely to be thus assailed might not be stronger. On the other hand, there was to be considered the effect which the leading measures of his administration had produced on the popular mind. His national policy had contributed in a marked degree to the success of the war. He had entered upon his term of office as successor to one who disapproved of many of the principal features of the war policy of the Government, and who had been elected because of his decided views in relation thereto. He had stimulated volunteering, and secured for the State a more just recognition of its rights; had worked elear from the complications in which the public interest had been involved by the blundering and incompetency of the pro- vost marshal general; and had relieved New York from a large portion of the dreaded burden of the draft. He had done
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much, with the co-operation of the head of the State finance department, to originate a financial system which rendered the credit of the State stable and secure, and furnished the means to supply the demands of war, without being felt as oppressive. By his keen appreciation of the wants of the soldiers, his tender solicitude for their welfare, and his earnest efforts in their behalf, he had firmly attached them to himself. In his State policy, he had sought to foster all the material interests of the commonwealth; and had reluctantly interposed to the defeat of needed enterprises when their aid would render the burden of taxation onerous, and awaited a more favorable opportunity to join in giving them that aid. He was vigilant in his at- tention to the commercial wants of the State, both in the great metropolis and through its extensive lines of transit. This un- wavering devotion to the essential prosperity of the State, elicited confidence and commendation. All the discriminating judgment and forecast of the statesman had been displayed in a marked degree. These views were impressed on the minds of the representative men of his party, and when the Convention assembled, so strongly did they prevail, and so heavily did they outweigh adverse considerations, that no other name was suggested, and he was unanimously nominated by acclamation. The Democrats entered upon the canvass full of hope. Prominent places were given by them, on the State ticket, to Republicans who dissented from the principles enun- ciated by the Republican party, and nominations of a like character were made for many local offices in various portions of the State. The result showed that Governor Fenton's strength had not been miscalculated. He was re-elected by a majority five thousand larger than that given him in his first canvass.
The year 1867 furnished the occasion for a continuation of a
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policy which had proved so acceptable, and it is not necessary that we should dwell upon its features.
The absence of all malevolence in the heart of Governor Fen- ton, and the broad charity of his nature, were displayed during the past year. The remains of the rebel dead had been left unburied at Antietam. A letter from Governor Fenton, breath- ing the spirit of loyalty and humanity, decided the committee at once to an act both Christian and proper, and in accordance with the spirit of the law of Maryland, which authorized the pur- chase of a cemetery, and created a corporation to carry out the declared object of burying in it, all who fell on either side during the invasion of Lee at the battle of Antietam. In that letter he took the high ground that it " was a war less of sec- tions than of systems," and that the nation could confer decent burial on the southern dead while condemning and sternly opposing the heresies for which they had sacrificed themselves ; and that attachment to the Union and devotion to the most thorough measures for its preservation and restoration were not inconsistent with the broadest charity, and the observance of sacred obligations to the dead. This letter accomplished the intended purpose; and the bones of the rebel soldiers who fell on that memorable field, will be interred as befitting not only a legal obligation, but the highest demands of civilization and our common humanity.
In his message to the Legislature of 1868, Governor Fenton forcibly expressed himself in favor of materially reducing the number of items in the tax lists, and of a re-adjustment of the assessment laws-now so glaringly unequal-in order that every source of wealth might bear its just proportion of burden. He also took strong ground in defence of the inviolate maintenance of the national faith. In his usual terse and vigorous style, he argued against the legality of the Governments instituted by
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President Johnson, after the cessation of active hostilities, and held that the reconstruction acts of Congress were necessary, because the Southern States had rejected, with scorn, the peace- offering of the Constitutional Amendment. He eloquently expressed himself in behalf of the rights of the freedman, in consideration of his manhood and loyalty, to protection through law, and to the elective franchise.
Governor Fenton realizes that the people of New York have made him their Chief Magistrate, and that they look to him, and to no other person, for the faithful discharge of the duties of the responsible position. He is controlled by no clique-he is the agent of no cabal. He patiently listens to all who desire to consult him, and then follows the dictates of his own good judgment. He has no prejudice so strong, nor partiality so great, as to lead him to do an unjust act. He is a careful thinker and a hard worker. No man ever labored more hours in the executive chamber than he does. What- ever work engages his attention, he attends to it personally, even to the minutest details.
IIe is a decided radical, and yet he cannot be called an extreme man. There is just enough conservatism in his com- position to save him from doing an unwise or rash act. His mind is thoroughly practical. He is a man of decided convic- tions, and fearless in their expression, and vet his manner of address and style of composition are so gentle and courteous as to almost disarm opposition.
A more upright man does not exist. Make it clear to him that a thing ought to be done, and he will do it, no matter who may advise differently. He has trod on great schemes and powerful lobbies in his State. He has defended public interest against the rapacity of organized theft. He has escaped the charge of connivance with any of these organized rings.
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He has won the grateful regard of the Republicans of the State.
The Republican State Convention, of New York, held at Syracuse, February 5, 1868, composed of three hundred and eighty-four delegates, unanimously adopted the following reso- lution :
" Resolved, That REUBEN E. FENTON is the first choice of the Union Republican party in this State for the office of Vice- President. His early and consistent identification with the cause of human freedom, his patriotic services in Congress, the fidelity and sagacity he has displayed in the office of Chief Magistrate of the State, his earnest and uniform devotion to the wants and interests of soldiers, his popularity, as attested by being twice elected Governor over strong antagonists, as well as his great prudence and firmness, give assurance that his nomination would inspire universal confidence and enthusiasm, and be followed by the triumphant success of the whole ticket."
More brilliant men may have occupied the executive chair in the State of New York, than Governor Fenton, but it has been filled by no more sagacious statesman, and by no more consci . entious man, and such will be the verdict of those who shall impartially write a history of the times wherein we live.
HON. OLIVER PERRY MORTON.
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LIVER PERRY MORTON was born in Wayne county, Indiana, on the 4th of August, 1823, and, becoming an orphan while yet very young, was placed under the care of his grandmother and two aunts, living in Hamilton county, Ohio. In early youth he served for awhile with a brother in the hatter's trade, but, in 1839, was placed at school in his native county, under the tuition of Professor S. K. Hos- hour, then principal of the Wayne county seminary, and now a professor in the Northwestern Conference university, at Indi- anapolis. His honored instructor says of him, at this period of his life, " If some knowing genius had then suggested to me that the future governor, par excellence, of Indiana, was then in the group around me, I would probably have sought him in a more bustling form, with brighter eyes and a more marked head than Oliver's. But time has shown that in him was the mens sana in corpore sano, which the college, the acquisition of jurisprudence, legal gymnastics at the bar, the political crisis of the past, and the present exigencies of the nation, have fully developed, and now present him the man for the most responsi- ble position in the gift of a free people." After leaving the seminary, young Morton entered Miami university, at Oxford, Ohio, where he appears under a more favorable guise, as the star member of the Beta Theta Pi society, and the best debater in the college. Leaving the university without graduating, he
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went to Centreville, Indiana, and began the study of law with the Hon. John S. Newman, bending all his energies to the tho- rough acquisition of his profession. In 1845, he married Miss Lucinda M. Burbank, of Centreville, a lady of rare intelligence and refinement, whose untiring and benevolent efforts, during the recent war of the civil rebellion, for the relief of the Indiana volunteers, have honored both herself and her husband.
Admitted to the bar in 1846, Mr. Morton soon took a front rank as a jurist and advocate, commanding, by his natural and acquired abilities, a large and lucrative practice. In the spring of 1852, he was elected circuit judge, acquiring among his fel- low-members of the bar, as well as in the public estimation, a high reputation for thoroughness and fairness. When, in the spring of 1854, the Democratic party, of which he had always been a member, repealed the Missouri compromise and passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill, he promptly seceded from the party, and thenceforth co-operated with the Republican party in its efforts to stay the spread of slavery and slave territory. Yet. on the subject of free trade, internal improvements, etc., he re mained essentially in harmony with this old party, nor did he repudiate these principles in his departure from the Democracy, or in his acceptance of the nomination for the governorship of Indiana, which was tendered to him, in 1856, by acclamation. Having consented to head the Republican State ticket, he accom- panied his Democratic competitor-Ashbel P. Willard-in a vigorous and thorough canvass of the entire State, doing noble work, wherever he went, for the cause of Republicanism. Yet, although he was defeated, the large vote which he received, con- sidering the many difficulties under which he labored, and the youth of his party in the State, was justly to be considered a victory. From this time forward, Morton's character seemed to develop into new strength and harmony, and the superiority of
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his mental organization became more generally acknowledged. From the end of this campaign, however, to the commencement of that of 1860, he asked no honors of his party, but was con- tent to labor, energetically and constantly, for the promotion of its success. His sound judgment and eminently practical mind gave him new influence in political councils, where he was acknowledged as the best of engineers and an authority as a framer of policy. The Republican party in Indiana, from its inception to 1860, owes its advancement largely to his untiring zeal, wise counsels, and personal influence.
When that important campaign opened, Mr. Morton's name again appeared on the Republican ticket as nominee for lieu. tenant-governor, "for reasons which were, at that time, supposed to have some weight, but which have since faded so completely that it seems almost incredible that he was ever thought of for so inferior a position." Again he plunged into the canvass of the State with that vigor of intellect and body which few men possess, in an equal degree, showing a scope of view and a con- cise, but logical, method of statement and argument which rendered him unanswerable by his Democratic opponents, and which entitled him to the front rank of expounders of the Re- publican doctrines. The Republican ticket in Indiana, as in all the Northern States, was successful, and, on the 14th day of Jan- uary, 1861, he was duly qualified as lieutenant-governor, and took his seat as president of the Senate. He occupied this posi- tion but two days, when, in consequence of the election, by the Legislature, of the governor elect-Hon. Henry S. Lane-to the Senate for a six-years' term, he became Governor of Indiana, and took the oath of office. Upon assuming the executive chair, Governor Morton found the public interests in a critical condition. Under previous loose, corrupt administrations, the public treasury had been depleted by wanton extravagance and
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official peculation, the sinking fund had been miserably misman- aged, and a regular system of frauds had been carried on by State and county officers in the disposition of the swamp lands, until the credit of the State abroad was so much impaired that she had become a borrower to pay her debts, and was, literally, "a by-word among her own citizens." The new governor set himself earnestly to work to bring order out of confusion, to renovate the different departments of government, to replenish a depleted treasury and.to redeem the credit of the State. He inaugurated a new era of honesty, economy, and good financial management, which saved the State many millions of dollars, and rescued her name from infamy and distrust.
But a new and still more threatening danger was to be averted from his beloved "Hoosier State." The gathering cloud of disunion and civil war hung over the country, and it became evident that Indiana was afflicted with so large a share of disloyalty, that the advocates of secession even confidently counted upon material aid from her, in the shape of men and arms, in their proposed treasonable designs. Governor Morton was determined, however, that this scarce concealed treason should be nipped "in the bud," and to commit his State fully and unequivocally on the side of freedom and loyalty. Early in the spring of 1861, he visited the President at Washington, and assured him, that if he pursued a vigorous policy, he could pledge him at least six thousand Hoosiers for the defence of the Union. When, at length, in April, the attack upon Sumter had both startled and fired the northern heart, and the Presi- dent issued his call for seventy-five thousand troops-Indiana's quota being fixed at six regiments, of seven hundred and fifty men each-Governor Morton issued a proclamation, which, in eight days, rallied over twelve thousand men to the defence of the national flag. The first six regiments marched promptly 21
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