oyal States. The effect on prices produced by n inflated specie currency in the Pacific States s the same as that produced by the expansion of paper circulation in the Atlantic States. When ve have too much money, of whatever kind, rices will advance. It is not the kind of circuation, but the quantity, of whatever kind, which produces the effect which it is our duty to remdy. I have in my possession a list of prices, howing the cost of almost every article which enters into the consumption of every family in the markets of San Francisco, and which illustrates he effect of an expansion of the specie currency better than I could do by any argument which I could present to the committee. The statement 9 as follows:

"I will give you a list of the prices of the leading articles In our family markets at the present time, to enable your readers to form an idea of the cost of living in San Franleco: Porter-house steaks, 20 cents; sirloin steaks, 15 ents; pork, 15 cents; flour, per barrel, $12; potatoes, 5 ents per pound; California butter, choice fresh, $1 per pound; in rolls, 75, 60, and 50 cents per pound, for Nos. 1 and 2; Oregon butter, 40 to 45 cents, as in quality; Isthmus butter, 40 to 50 cents for choice Orange county, New York, and 37 to 45 cents for cooking butter. Lard, 25 cents per pound for city rendered, and 20 cents for old Eastern. Cheese, 30 cents per pound for all grades ordinary, and 35 cents for choice dairies. Sage, 50 cents per pound. Eggs, E0 cents per dozen for good. Honey, 40 cents per pound for old, and 50 cents for new comb and strained. Cranberries, 35 cents for Eastern, and 30 cents per quart for new erop Oregon. Oysters, 50 cents per can, or $5 per dozen for McMurray's. Hams, 20 cents; bacon, 20 cents; and dried beef, 20 cents per pound. Chickens, so poor that they could not be given away in Chicago, 75 cents to $1 each. Brent geese, (wild.) 374 cents each. Swans, $1 each. Cannda geese, (Wild,) 75 cents each. Ducks, (wild,) 25 to 37} eents each. Quail, $2 25 to $2.50 per dozen. Turkeys, 25 to 30 cents per pound, live weight. Tame ducks, $1 25 each. Apples, $150 to $2 30 per box of 50 pounds; No. 1,5 to 8 cents per pound; pears, cooking, $150 to $250 per box; pears, table, 4 to 10 cents per pound; dried plums, 10 to 25 cents per pound; dried peaches, 10 to 15 cents per pound; quinces, 6 to 9 cents per pound; California grapes 4 to 10 cents per pound; foreign do, 15 to 374 cents per pound; figs, 6 to 15 cents per pound; strawberries, 40 to 75 cents per pound; codfish, 6 cents per pound; rockfish, 6 cents per pound; smelts, 6 cents per pound; tomcods, 18 cents per pound; sturgeon, 3 cents per pound; sea bass, 5 cents per pound; flounders, 15 cents per pound; shrimps, 10 cents per pound; salmon, 10 cents per pound; halibut, 25 cents per pound; herrings, 5 cents per pound; perch, & cents per pound; whole sea bass, weighing 25 to 30 pounds each, $1 each.

These prices, it must be borne in mind, are for coin, not paper money, and the price of the fish is only one half what it usually is, owing to a strike of the Italian fishermen, who have risen en masse recently against the regular markets, and have established one of their own, in which they sell as above, in order to drive their opponents out of business. Wood is $11 to $12 per cord, and coal in proportion."

Now, I find that those prices correspond with the prices we have in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and other eastern cities, showing that the same effect is produced in California by the expansion of gold that is produced in the eastern States by the use of paper. The only remedy we can have is a reduction of the volume of the currency in order that it may be brought down to the standard required by the legitimate demand of the business of the country. This remedy we ought to apply without delay, and in the most effective way. Every interest demands this at our hands.

(Here the hammer fell.]

Mr. DONNELLY. I offer the following amendment to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. HooPER:]

Provided, That banks incorporated under State authority, with a less capital than $50,000, whose circulating notes are secured wholly by deposit of bonds of the United States, at their par value, to the amount of ten per cent. beyond the amount of their circulating notes, shall be taxed upon their circulation and deposits in the same manner, and at the same rates, as are or may be prescribed for the taxation of national banks.

lish a bank under the requirements of our national banking law. Our State banking system, however, requires a deposit of United States stocks or State stocks, with a margin of ten per cent. beyond the amount of circulation. Most of our banks are established upon United States stocks, and their capital does not usually exceed, for each bank, $25,000.

It is impossible in the condition of our country-and this remark applies equally to Wisconsin, Iowa, and other western States-to obtain in the smaller towns capital enough to comply with the national banking law. Therefore the failure of these banks to become national banks does not spring from any resistance to the national banking law, but from the circumstances of the case. It seems to me that if these banks are founded, as nearly all of them are in my State, upon United States stocks, they afford to that extent a market for these bonds, and they should not be discriminated against in our tax laws. In other words, their not entering under the national banking law is due to the difficulties which surround the circumstances of the case, and which pertain to all new communities, sparsely settled and with little capital; and I take it that if they comply as fully as they can by the purchase of United States stocks with the spirit of the national banking law, they should not be discriminated against in the matter of taxation. They do not strictly come within the intention of the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts, which is to force out of existence banks founded upon State stocks, and to compel them to purchase the stocks of the United States and establish national banks.

Mr. WILSON. I rise to oppose the amendment. I think that might be a proper amendment, if offered to the national banking law, but not to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Now, sir, as I remarked when my time expired, I think it our duty to reduce, so far as we can, the volume of the currency now in the country, which has led to the enormous inflation of prices of all commodities. While we are imposing burdens upon our people by taxation, and sorely afflicting many of the industrial interests of the country, I think we should accompany such legislation with some provision which will tend to increase the value of the money we are using for the purpose of carrying on the affairs of the Government and the trade and commerce of the country in every department. I know of no other way than to prohibit the issue of notes for circulation by the local banks of the States. National banking associations are increasing every day, and in this way millions are being added to the circulation. This will go on until notes representing the entire $300,000,000 of national banking capital shall be put in circulation. We must, then, look to a destruction of the issues of the State banks as the only remedy we can apply at the present time.

Certainly there can be no question about our power to do this under the power conferred upon Congress to regulate commerce, and to do whatever is necessary and proper to carry into effect the powers delegated to the legislative department of the Government. From that power we derived the authority to establish a system of national banking; and having assumed jurisdiction with reference to the currency of the country, we have a right to prohibit the States from authorizing the issuance of bank notes, as a means necessary to preserve the value of the circulating medium authorized by Congress. I think the sooner we apply the remedy the better it will be for all concerned; and instead of postponing, as the gentleman from Massachusetts proposes, the operation of the tax until the 1st of January next, increase the rate, shorten the time,and prohibit new issues, as my substitute contemplates. The Government and the people need relief now, not next year.

In order to make the remedy more perfect than that proposed by the gentleman from Massachu

and added thereto the provision that after the 1st of April, 1865, those State banks shall issue no notes of their own or the notes of other State banks. That will drive home all the issues of State banks and relieve us to the extent of the amount of currency now in circulation and issued by the State banks. If this amendment should be adopted now, the provision of the section es

tablishing the tax upon circulation would have but little to operate on, for the reason that all local and national banks being prohibited from pay. ing out the currency of State banks, it will be driven home for redemption, and in a few months all this class of notes will have disappeared from circulation.

Mr. CLAY. I would ask the gentleman if his mode of relieving the currency is to kill one State bank in my town and start three national banks in its place?

Mr. WILSON. The question which the gentleman propounds only opens up a broader field, exhibiting the difficulties under which the nation is now laboring more fully than I have yet presented. Of course there may be banks created in the town in which the gentleman resides under the national banking system whether we prohibit the issue of notes for circulation by local banks or The only question is, whether, having determined to establish national banks, we will not do something to curtail the volume of the currency, instead of increasing the number of banks and thereby increasing the volume of the currency, without any check on the local State institutions.

not.

I will suggest also that the bank to which the gentleman from Kentucky refers may change its organization and carry on its operations under the national banking law. This amendment of fers them a choice between operating under the charter granted by the State and organizing under the national banking system. If they continue under the State charter, under the provisions of this amendment, they will be prohibited, after the 1st of April next, from issuing notes under and by virtue of the powers they derive from the State. My sole purpose is to reduce the volume of the currency of the country, thereby adding to the value of that which is left; not to make war upon any bank or any banking system, but simply to apply a remedy which shall reduce the volume which is now disastrously affecting every interest in the whole country. While I am voting taxes on the people I want to make the money worth something more than it is, so as to prevent as far as practicable an unnecessary accumulation of the national debt.

[Here the hammer fell.]

Mr HOOPER. I rise to oppose the amendment of the gentleman from Iowa, [Mr. WILSON.] I concur entirely in the views of the gentleman, but I think his measure is too sharp upon the banks; that more time should be given to them to draw in their circulation before this law takes effect upon them. If the gentleman would change the dates in his amendment, so as to make them the same as those in mine, I should be better satisfied with it, although I think that both the times and the rates in the original amendment are quite sufficient to answer the purpose that he has in view as well as myself.

Mr. STEVENS. Is an amendment to the text still in order?

The CHAIRMAN. substitute is still in order.

An amendment to the

There

Mr. STEVENS. Not to the text? The CHAIRMAN. Not to the text. is an amendment to the amendment already pending.

Mr. STEVENS. I supposed that an amendment to the text would be in order, as the pending amendment is to strike out the whole text.

The CHAIRMAN. Not at the present stage. Mr. STEVENS. Well, as it is nearly half past four o'clock, I move that the committee do now rise.

The motion was agreed to.

So the committee rose; and the Speaker having resumed the chair, Mr. POMEROY reported that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union had, according to order, had under consideration the state of the Union generally, and particularly the tax bill, and had come to no resolution thereon.

Mr. STEVENS. I intend to offer at the end of this bill some additional sections to regulate the course of the planets. [Laughter.] I ask that my amendments may be printed. It was so ordered.

EVENING BESSION DISPENSED WITH.

Mr. MALLORY moved that the evening session be dispensed with for to-day,

Mr. ASHLEY demanded tellers.

Tellers were ordered; and Messrs. GARFIELD and MALLORY were appointed.

The House divided; and the tellers reportedayes 66, noes 40.

Mr. MORRILL demanded the yeas and nays. The yens and nays were ordered.

Mr. COX. Can we conclude the call of the roll before the time for taking the recess arrives?

The SPEAKER. The usage always is that if a roll-call is commenced it has to be completed. If the vote results in dispensing with the evening session, then the House will be ready to adjourn forth with; if it should not be dispensed with, the House would immediately, on the completion of the call, take a recess until seven o'clock.

Mr. KASSON. Will it be in order to state to the House that to-morrow our session will ne

cessarily be interrupted? [Cries of "I object!" "Order!"

The SPEAKER. Debate is not in order. The question was taken, and it was decided in the affirmative-yeas 70, nays 56, not voting 56; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Ancona, Anderson, Baily, Augustus C. Baldwin, Brooks, James S. Brown, William G. Brown, Chanter, Freeman Clarke, Clay, Cobb, Cox, Dawson, Denison, Eckley, Edgerton, Eldridge, Farnsworth, Finck, Frank, Ganson, Grider, Griswold, Hale, Hall, Harding, Charles M. Harris, Herrick, Holman, Ingersoll, Plulip Johnson, Kalbfleisch, Law, Lazear, Le Blond, Loan, Long, Mallory, McKinney, Middleton, William H. Miller, Daniel Morris, James R. Morris, Leonard Myers, Nelson, Odell, John O'Neill, Orth, Pendleton, Pruyn, Radford, William H. Randall, James S. Rollins, Ross, Schenck, Smithers, Spalding, John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Stiles, Strouse, Sweat, Townsend, Tracy, Wadsworth, Ward, Webster, Whaley, Williams, and Winfield-70.

NAYS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Ashley, John D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Blow, Boutwell, Broomall, Cole, Dawes, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Eliot, Garfield, Gooch, Higby, Hooper, Asahel W. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Hulburd, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Orlando Kellogg, Knox, Littlejohn, Longyear, Marvin, McBride, McClurg, Samuel F. Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Amos Myers, Charles O'Neill, Patterson, Perham, Pike, Pomeroy, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Edward H. Rollius, Shannon, Stevens, Thayer, Upson, Van Valkenburgh, William B. Washburn, Wilder, Wilson, Windom, and Worthington-56.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. James C. Allen, William J. Allen, Arnold, Blaine, Blair, Bliss, Boyd, Brandegee, Ambrose W. Clark, Coffroth, Cravens, Creswell, Henry Winter Davis, Thomas T. Davis, Dumont, Eden, English, Grinnell, Harrington, Benjamin G. Harris, Hotchkiss, Hutchins, Jenckes, William Johnson, Francis W. Kellogg, Kernan, King, Knapp, Marcy, McAllister, McDowell, MeIndoe, Morrison, Noble, Norton, Perry, Price, Samuel J. Randall, Robinson, Rogers, Scofield, Scott, Sloan, Smith, Starr, Stuart, Thomas. Voorhees, Elihu B. Washburne, Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Benjamin Wood, Fernando Wood, Woodbridge, and Yeaman-56. So the evening session was dispensed with.

CORRECTION OF ERROR.

Mr. BEAMAN, by unanimous consent, offered a resolution directing the Clerk to request the Senate to return to this House the joint resolution (S. No. 42) in order to correct an error in the engrossment of an amendment thereto; which was read, considered, and agreed to.

TERRITORY OF WYOMING.

Mr. ASHLEY, by unanimous consent, reported from the Committee on Territories a bill to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Wyoming; which was ordered to be printed and recommitted.

BRIDGE OVER THE OHIO.

Mr. HOLMAN. I rise to a privileged question. I call up the motion to reconsider the vote by which Senate bill No. 413, to establish a bridge across the Ohio river at Cincinnati, Ohio, a post road, was referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

The question was taken, and the vote was reconsidered.

The question recurring on referring the bill to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, Mr. HOLMAN said: I hope the bill will not be referred, but that the House will pass it now. The motion to refer was not agreed to. The bill was then read the third time. Mr. ALLEY. I desire to say that the subject has been under consideration in the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and that the passage of the bill is recommended.

Mr. HOLMAN moved the previous question on the passage of the bill.

The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered, and under its operation the bill was passed.

Mr. HOLMAN moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed, and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table. The latter motion was agreed to.

HOUR OF MEETING TO-MORROW.

Mr. MORRILL. As the House will be able to sit but a short time to-morrow, in consequence of an obituary announcement, I ask, at the request of several gentlemen, that, by unanimous consent, we meet to-morrow morning at eleven o'clock.

Mr. COX. I object.

TRANSFER OF DISABLED SURGEONS.

Mr. INGERSOLL, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill to provide for the transfer of regimental surgeons, who have been disabled while in the line of their duty, to duty as post and hospital surgeons; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATION BILL.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the legislative appropriation bill, which has been returned from the Senate with amendments, be taken from the Speaker's table, and referred to the Committee of Ways and Means.

The motion was agreed to.

WAR-VESSELS ON THE LAKES.

followed on the Friday before his death by a sud. den attack of paralysis, so severe that its fatal result was at once seen to be inevitable and near at hand. It rendered him speechless, but did not so affect his mind but that he recognized the friends around him, and by whom, to the last, he was carefully and affectionately attended, until within a few hours of his decease. Governor Hicks (a title by which he is best known and will be ever gratefully remembered, not only by Maryland But by the nation) was born in Dorchester county, Maryland, on the 2d of September, 1798. His parents were highly respectable, but with a large family and limited means they were unable to give their son a collegiate education. What he was taught was merely rudimental, and this was acquired in one of the common schools of the county.

Resolved, That the Committee on Naval Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to purchase or construct one or more vessels-of-war on the northern and northwestern lakes.

Objection being made, the resolution was not received.

BUREAU OF LIFE INSURANCE.

Mr. ALLEY. I move that the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be discharged from the further consideration of the petition of C. B. Smith and others, for the establishment of a Bureau of Life Insurance, and that said petition be referred to the Committee of Ways and Means. The motion was agreed to.

Mr. HOOPER. I move that the petition be printed.

The motion was agreed to.

BRIDGE AT LOUISVILLE.

Mr. MALLORY. I ask that, by unanimous consent, the House take from the Speaker's table and consider Senate bill No. 392, an act supplementary to an act approved July 14, 1862, entitled "An act to establish certain post roads."

There being no objection, the bill was read a first and second time. It authorizes the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, and the Jeffersonville Railroad Company, stockholders in the Louisville Bridge Company, to construct a bridge over the Ohio river at the head falls of the Ohio, and specifies the conditions and restrictions under which the work shall be executed. It also provides that the bridge when erected shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known as a post route.

The bill was ordered to a third reading; and was accordingly read the third time, and passed.

Mr. MALLORY moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. The latter motion was agreed to.

And then, on motion of Mr. ELDRIDGE, the House (at a quarter before five o'clock, p. m.) adjourned.

IN SENATE. WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1865. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. THOMAS BowMAN, D. D.

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved.

DEATH OF SENATOR HICKS.

Mr.JOHNSON. Mr. President, it is my painful duty to announce to the Senate the death of my late colleague and friend, THOMAS HOLLIDAY Hicks. The sad event occurred at his lodgings in this city on Monday morning, the 13th instant, at seven o'clock. A few days of indisposition, so apparently slight as to give his friends no uncasiness, was, without any seeming premonition, ||

His father being a farmer, Governor HICKS assisted him in that occupation until his minority terminated, when he commenced a career of his own. With manners and disposition that were native to him, and well calculated to win esteem and confidence, he was at an early age made a constable of his county, an office humble but trustworthy, and discharged its duties so satisfactorily that in 1824, at the early age of twentysix, he was elected its sheriff, an office of high grade and of much importance and responsibility. This office also he conducted with an intelligence and integrity that commanded general approval, and gave him even a stronger hold on the popular cantile business in Vienna, a village in his county, and in this position his diligence and integrity were again exhibited. In 1836 he was elected a member of the electoral college which at that period appointed the Senators of the State, and in the proceedings which ensued, and which for a time filled our citizens with solicitude, and attracted the attention of the whole country, he conducted himself with his accustomed discretion and firmness, and evinced his inherent love of law and order. He was at one time one of the Governor's Council, a station of the greatest trust and honor, and for several years was elected by the people of Dorchester a member of the House of Delegates of the State; and on each occasion so discharged his duties as to retain their confidence. In 1838 he was appointed by the Governor register of wills of the county, and when the office was made elective by the people he was twice elected to it, and would have been a third time if he had not declined it. In this official and important trust he again displayed business capacity and perfect integrity. In 1849 and 1850, by the choice of his uniformly confiding constituents, he was elected to the constitutional convention of the State, and discharged its duties faithfully and with ability. He was afterward chosen by popular vote Governor of the State, and held that station when the present rebellion commenced and until 1862.

It is his official conduct in that office that has made his name so well and favorably known to every loyal man in the Union.

During this period his responsibility was such as to task his firmness and his judgment, and to test his patriotism. They proved equal to the emergency. With a people whose feelings, from their locality and sameness of habits and institutions, were so well calculated to cause them to sympathize with our southern brethren, and who were sensitively alive to any interference with that particular institution they had known and possessed from the colonization of the States, and in which their pecuniary means were largely invested, with business and social relations closely binding them to the South, it was not surprising that they should for a time forget the paramount duty which they owed to the General Government, or be blind to the consequences that were sure to follow an attempt to dissolve the Union which that Government created, and was wisely designed, and endowed with powers amply adequate, if properly exerted, to preserve forever.

In this interval of temporary forgetfulness an excitement amounting to madness threatened the State with a fraternal war, and with driving her into the rebellion, that would have made her soil the battle-ground of the strife which has deluged every seceding State in blood, and would cer tainly have involved her in ruin. Against every effort that ignorance or ambition could essay to effect the insane and wicked purpose, Governor

I

HICKS interposed the whole power of his office, and succeeded in defeating it. Nor was this accomplished without personal peril. In April, 1861, when the blood of the loyal soldiers of Mas'sachusetts was treasonably shed in the streets of our chief city, and its power for some days was wielded by men who, for the most part, were resolved on rushing the State into rebellion, it was obvious to those who witnessed the scenes of the day, and moved among the parties who engaged in them, that Governor HICKS was an object of such intense animosity that his safety was not assured. This is not the occasion to dwell on I these events. It is consoling to her loyal sons, to whom the good name of the State and city is so dear, that they terminated without effecting their design; and gladly would they have them forever forgotten. In these trying moments the Governor was true to his duty. Throughout his term of office he devoted himself with untiring industry and an ever-watchful patriotism, by every legal means, to crush out the spirit of secession and to retain the State in her allegiance to the Union; and he succeeded. When he ceased to be her Governor she was loyal in all the departments of her government, and the people, by a voice approaching unanimity, proclaimed their fixed resolve to stand by the Union, not only as a matter of almost holy duty, but as indispensable to their safety and prosperity; and so she and they have been ever since. It is not going too far to declare that this result is in a great measure to be referred to the conduct of Governor HICKS. Had he listened to those who counseled a different policy; had he lent the power of his office to accomplish their object; had he even failed to evote it entirely to their frustration, Maryland Pight this day have been a desert, and her name dishonored in the estimation of all good and wise men. To lose such a citizen at any time would be cause of general sorrow; to lose him now, before the rebellion is terminated, is to be the more lamented, even on his own account. Who can fail to regret that a public servant so faithful, so patriotic, and so efficient in his efforts to maintain the authority of the Union in his own State, had not been permitted to survive until that authority had been securely extended over every other State?

Such was his own prayer. In an address to the people of the State, of the 7th of January, 1861, he said:

"In the course of nature I cannot have long to live, and I fervently trust to be allowed to end my days a citizen of this glorious Union. But should I be compelled to witness the downfall of that Government inherited from our fathers, established as it were by the special favor of God, I will at least have the consolation at my dying hour that I neither by word or deed assisted in hastening its disruption."

His prayer was not granted; but his last days of intelligence on earth were cheered by the sanguine hope that the time was fast approaching when we should all be again citizens of that glorious Union; and if he apprehended that that hope might be defeated and the Union destroyed, he certainly had the consolation, so faithfully secured to himself, that no word or deed of his could have assisted or hastened the catastrophe. To this body it is unnecessary to say anything of his official conduct as one of its members. Ever courteous, kind, and attentive, he possessed the esteem and confidence of us all. Endowed with a sound judgment and animated by a fervent patriotism, he supported every measure that promised, in his opinion, to benefit the country in its existing emergency. In private life, too, he was always highly appreciated; and by those who knew him intimately, loved as a brother. By the society of his county his loss especially will be long and keenly felt, and to his immediate family be irreparable. Their consolation will be in knowing

that he leaves behind him an unstained name that will ever live and be honored, and that his last thoughts were devoted to that religious faith on which he relied with humble but Christian confidence for future happiness.

I move the adoption of the following resolutions:

Resolved unanimously, That the members of the Senate, from a sincere desire of showing every mark of respect to the memory of Hon. THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS, deceased, a Senator from the State or Maryland, will go into mourning for the residue of the present session by the usual mode of wearing crape on the left arm.

Resolved unanimously, That the members of the Senate will attend the funeral of the deceased from the Senate

Chamber at two o'clock p. m. to-day, and that the com mittee of arrangements superintend the same.

Ordered, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to the House of Representatives, with the request that that House unite in the ceremonies of this occasion.

Mr. HALE. Mr. President, one of the effects of that civil strife which now afflicts and rends our unhappy country is found in the indifference to human suffering, and to death itself, consequent upon the frequency and rapidity with which our daily narrative of blood presents to our view scenes of carnage and slaughter such as the history of the world has not hitherto disclosed.

As the panorama moves on, we are only relieved from the contemplation of the mangled limbs and mutilated bodies of the dead and the dying by the appalling spectacle of our more unfortunate brethren languishing and dying in the hopeless and helpless condition of prisoners of war, where manhood is worn out, hope crushed, and life destroyed by the cruel and heartless privation of the necessary provision of that scanty supply of food and clothing by which human life can be sustained.

It is a most melancholy and humiliating fact that pictures such as these, sketched from no creation of the imagination, but drawn in the crimson hues of the best blood of our bravest and best, and proclaimed to us on every breeze from the South in the agonizing cry of our languishing brethren, reechoed by the wail of the widow and the orphan in our midst, have failed to move our hearts as but a little while since they would have been, even had they been representations of what was occurring among strangers of another country, and we look upon them almost as the natural and necessary consequences of the war we are waging for our national life.

To-day we are called upon to witness another phase of human experience by which it would seem that divine Providence would try upon us the experiment of a more quiet, and, if it may be so expressed, a more unobtrusive exhibition of the frailty of life and the certainty of death than in the havoc and destruction of battle. Death has now come, not clothed in the pomp and circumstance of war, numbering his victims by hundreds and thousands; but in the peace, the quiet and serenity of a sick chamber, an old man, full of years and of honors, has gone to his reward.

But, although his years were not few, still they were not so many that friendship might not have reasonably hoped that they might have been extended yet longer, and he been permitted to have witnessed in the future history of his country which he had loved and served so well the fruits of his labors and sacrifices.

States that are now, and for nearly four years have been, in open rebellion against the Government of the country; but by the bold and decisive action of bad men, forgetting the claims of country, the obligations of loyalty, and the duty of patriotism, they were driven in an evil hour into the vortex of treason, the crime of rebellion, and the horrors of civil war.

From such a state of things it was the good fortune of the people of Maryland to be saved in no small degree by the peculiar sagacity and devoted patriotism of her most excellent Governor whose death we are now called upon to deplore. It was most providential and fortunate, both for the State and the Union, that Maryland at that time had a Governor fully equal to the emergencies of the hour. He saw and comprehended the danger from a distance, and although we may not all of us approve the wisdom of every step which he took and every measure which he recommended, yet no one, it is believed, will now doubt the unsullied integrity of his conduct, the purity of his motives, or the entire devotion of his patriotism.

Like the prophet standing on Mount Carmel, he saw the cloud yet a great way off, while it was no bigger than a man's hand, and did not wait till its portentous blackness had shrouded the whole heavens in its gloom. Of him, and in reference to his conduct in that hour, it may with emphasis be said that

"Peace hath her victories

No less renowned than war."

Such in brief was the course of our friend in that interesting and momentous period of our country. His must be an overweening ambition that will not be satisfied with such a record.

Of the early history of Governor Hicks, of the discipline and experience which formed the character so admirably and exactly fitted for the extraordinary part which Providence assigned him to perform in the great drama of his country, I have no knowledge. My personal acquaintance with him commenced about the time of the beginning of those troubles which have culminated in the present civil war; and I hope I may be permitted, without the imputation of unwarrantable egotism, to add that that acquaintance originated in a request communicated to me by his direction on the occasion of a visit on his part to this city, that I would call and consult and confer with him on the engrossing questions of the day. That acquaintance thus commenced continued without interruption to the day of his death.

When he was elected to this body, by the action of the Senate he was assigned to a place on the Committee on Naval Affairs, of which I was then chairman.

Our intercourse from that circumstance became more intimate and familiar, and I will add that, in the course of a life now numbering many years, I have never met a more kind, genial, and court

When the history of our great struggle shall be written, when the story of the toils, the sufferings, the sacrifices, and the efforts by which our political salvation was attained shall be told, and impartial posterity shall inscribe on immortal tab-eous gentleman. lets the illustrious names of those by whose clear sagacity, unshaken firmness, and patriotic devotion to duty in a great crisis of our country's history, her integrity was preserved and her ultimate triumph secured, second to none on that proud roll of fame shall stand the name of THOMAS HICKS, late Governor of Maryland.

The political and especially the geographical position of his State was such as to give preeminent consequence at that very critical period of our history to the course which she might take. The intense interest which was excited all over Maryland cannot have escaped the recollection the country in regard to the position of affairs in of those who hear me. The extremely doubtful character of her Legislature, to say the least, and the position to which her people might be driven by popular appeals of disloyal men to her prejudices and her supposed interests, filled the hearts of patriots, throughout the land with the most painful solicitude. Whatever may be thought now, it is not too much to say that at that time it was felt and feared that upon the decision which she might make between loyalty and treason, in no small degree depended the safety and salva- | tion of the Republic. In saying this, I entirely disclaim any impeachment of the loyalty and integrity of the great masses of the people of Maryland. I have no doubt they are true and loyal now, and that they were so then; neither have I the slightest doubt that that was equally true then of the great body of the people in numbers of those

No man more sincerely sympathized with that awakened philanthropy which seeks in overthrowing the rebellion also to destroy its cause, than he. But he entertained such a deep faith in the humanity and Christianity of his own people that he preferred to have the work done by them, unawed and uninfluenced by any outside interference. Still, I speak from perfect knowledge derived from frequent interviews and conversations with him, when I say that the abolition of African slavery had no more sincere supporter.

Such was our friend. As death approached, no retrospect of misspent time, of neglected opportunities for good, cast fearful shadows on the future, but with a consciousness that he had been permitted in the good providence of God to do something, yea much, for a great and good cause, to have his name written among the benefactors of his country, and by his influence to add strength to the cause of the weak, the oppressed, and the humble, at peace with the world, and, as we humbly and trustfully hope, with his God, he has gone to his rest.

Mr. WILLEY. Mr. President, I had no personal acquaintance with Governor HICKS until he took his seat as a member of this body. But I had learned to honor and respect him before I knew him. During the session of the Virginia convention which passed the unfortunate ordinance which assumed to renounce the allegiance due from that State to the national Government,

the noble position maintained by Governor HICKS as the Chief Magistrate of Maryland won the confidence and admiration of the loyal people of Virginia. Especially did we of West Virginia feel grateful to him; for, if Maryland had seceded, it would, we well knew, have greatly increased our perils and embarrassed our efforts to preserve our integrity.

I shall not, Mr. President, attempt to review the connection of Governor Hicks with the events of that dark day in our country's history. The distinguished colleague of the deceased has appropriately and eloquently done so. Suffice it for me to say that the page on which those events shall be recorded will be illustrious in the history of Maryland, and will entitle the name of Governor HICKS to be honored and revered as long as that State or the nation endures.

Chamber, Rev. Dr. McMurdy, Chaplain of the Order of Knights Templar, read the ritual for the dead of that Order, the responses being made by the Knights, who were in full regalia. Prayer was then offered up by Rev. THOMAS BOWMAN, D. D., Chaplain of the Senate. Rev. B. H. Nadal delivered a discourse from the text, 2 Samuel, third chapter, thirty-eighth verse: "And the king said unto his servants, know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" Rev. THOMAS BOWMAN, D. D., closed the ceremonies by an impressive prayer, and after a dirge from the band of the Knights Templar the funeral procession left the Senate Chamber to convey the body to the place of interment in the following order:

The Chaplains of Congress for the occasion. The Physicians who attended the deceased. Committee of Arrangements.

Mr. Foor,
Mr. ANTHONY,

Mr. WILLEY,

Mr. BUCKALEW,

Mr. MORGAN,

Mr. WADE.

Escort of Knights Templar. Pall-Bearers.

Mr. COLLAMER,

Mr. DAVIS,

Corpse.

Mr. LANE of Ind., Mr. FOSTER,

It has been my privilege to occupy a seat by the side of Governor Hicks ever since he entered this Hall. I had, therefore, an opportunity not only to witness his course in relation to public affairs, but also to observe more closely the spirit and principles, the heart and motive (so to speak) which seemed to prompt and control his conduct. And I declare to you, sir, that I never knew a man whose simplicity and singleness of purpose -whose evident sincerity, purity, and unselfishness of aim to promote the honor and welfare of his country, commanded more of my confidence and respect. I know not if he ever aspired to win the personal distinction and renown which men of great intellectual parts sometimes seem to seek with an ardor hardly secondary to the pro-and Court of Appeals of that State; the Mayor motion of the national welfare; but to me he ever appeared to forget himself in the higher and holier purpose of securing the public good.

When he resumed his seat here in the earlier part of this session, the ravages of disease upon him were painfully apparent; and in conversation with him on different occasions, he more than intimated to me his presentiment that death was at his door. And, sir, you will allow me to express my gratification that in his zeal for his country he did not forget his obligations to his Creator. And here, I think, we shall find the explanation of his singular conscientiousness in the discharge of his duty. He feared God; and therefore he was true to his country. Therefore it was that the hand so affectingly raised by him in the dying hour, in token of the favor and friendship of Heaven, refused, while strong with vigor of health and manhood, to strike at the life of the nation when surrounded by both friends and foes, vehemently urging him to perpetrate the deed.

Mr. President, I am a believer in the assertion that pure and practical Christianity is a political necessity under our form of Government. I believe that it is essential to the perpetuity of our free institutions. Christian morality is the only sure basis of our civil liberties; and I trust I may be pardoned for saying that the Christian statesman is the only safe guardian of the people's rights. Had the spirit and power of the gospel controlled the conduct of the eminent and highly accomplished men who occupied the seats immediately surrounding me in 1861, 1 feel assured that the horrors of the present civil war would never have cursed the land.

I therefore think it is the highest tribute which could be paid to the memory of the deceased to say, here in this high place of the nation, that he was a conscientious, Christian statesman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE,

Mr. HALE.

The family and friends of the deceased. The Senators and Representatives from the State of Maryland, the Governor and aids, Lieutenant Governor, Senate and House of Delegates

and City Councils of the city of Baltimore, as

mourners.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate of the United States.

The members of the Senate, preceded by the President pro tempore and the Secretary of the Senate.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives.

The members of the House of Representatives,
preceded by its Speaker and Clerk.
The President of the United States.
The Heads of Departments.
The Diplomatic Corps.
Judges of the United States.
Officers of the Executive Departments.
Officers of the Army and Navy.

The Mayor of Washington.
Citizens and Strangers.

After the funeral, the Senate returned to their Chamber, and, on motion of Mr. FARWELL, adjourned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1865.

The House met at twelve o'clock, m. Prayer by Rev. Dr. E. H. GRAY.

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved.

RECORDING VOTES.

Messrs. PRUYN, STROUSE, and TOWNSEND, having asked and obtained leave to record their votes on the motion of Mr. THAYER, on Monday last, to lay on the table the resolution of Mr. DAWSON relative to the restoration of the Union, voted in the negative.

MINOR CHILDREN OF DECEASED SOLDIERS.

Mr. HUBBARD, of Iowa, by unanimous consent, offered the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on Invalid Pensions be instructed to inquire what further legislation, if any, is necessary to secure pensions to the minor children of deceased soldiers, in case of the death or marriage of the widow; with leave to report by bill or otherwise.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AT OPORTO. The SPEAKER laid before the House the fol

The resolutions were unanimously adopted. At two o'clock the corpse, attended by the committee of arrangements, pall-bearers, mourners, and escort of Knights Templar, was removed from the late residence of the deceased, the Metropolitan Hotel, and placed in the area in the center of the Senate Chamber, where seats were provided for the remaining Senator and Representatives from Maryland. The judges and offi-lowing message from the President of the United cers of the Supreme Court of the United States, the President of the United States, and heads of the various Departments, the members of the House of Representatives, preceded by their Speaker and officers, the Governor and aids, Lieutenant Governor, Senate and House of Delegates and Court of Appeals of Maryland, and the Mayor and City Councils of the city of Baltimore, entered the Senate Chamber at intervals, and were conducted to the seats assigned to them.

On the entrance of the corpse into the Senate

States:

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a note of the 2d instant, addressed to the Secretary of State, by the commander J. C. de Figaniere & Moraô, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his most faithful Majesty the King of Portugal, calling attention to a proposed international exhibition at the city of Oporto, to be opened in August next, and inviting contributions thereto of the products of American manufactures and industry. The expediency of any legislation on the subject is submitted for your consideration. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WASHINGTON, February 13, 1865.

The message, with the accompanying documents, was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and ordered to be printed.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION IN NORWAY.

The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message from the President of the United States:

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a dispatch of the 12th ultimo, addressed to the Secretary of State by the minister resident of the United States at Stockholm, relating to an international exhibition to be held at Bergen, in Norway, during the coming summer. The expediency of any legislation upon the subject is submitted for your consideration. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WASHINGTON, February 13, 1865.

The message, with the accompanying documents, was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and ordered to be printed.

PORTRAIT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT.

Mr. INGERSOLL, by unanimous consent, introduced a joint resolution authorizing the purchase of a portrait of Lieutenant General U. S. Grant; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Joint Committee on the Library.

LAND-GRANT RAILROADS IN MICHIGAN.

The SPEAKER. The regular order is the bill (H. R. No. 710) to extend the time for the completion of certain railroads, to which land grants have been made, in the States of Michigan and Wisconsin. Yesterday, when the Clerk was about to read the engrossed bill, the morning hour expired. The bill will be read.

The Clerk then read the engrossed bill. Mr. ALLISON demanded the previous question on the passage of the bill.

Mr. HOLMAN. I hope that the previous question will not be called upon a bill which appropriates over two million acres of the public land.

Mr. STEVENS. I hope that at least opportunity will be afforded to us to move an amendment. I am willing to grant the extension of time for the completion of the roads, but I want to strike out that part of the bill which makes a grant of additional lands. We ought to do that or repeal the homestead law.

The SPEAKER. The bill has passed beyond the point when it can be amended.

Mr. HOLMAN. It can be recommitted to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. ALLISON. I insist on the demand for the previous question.

The House divided; and there were-ayes 45, noes 44; no quorum voting.

The SPEAKER ordered tellers; and appointed Messrs. ALLISON and DAWSON.

The House again divided; and the tellers reported-ayes 49, noes 49.

The SPEAKER voted in the affirmative. So the previous question was seconded. Mr. HOLMAN moved that the bill be laid on the table.

Mr. STEVENS demanded the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken; and it was decided in the negative-yeas 54, nays 60, not voting 68; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Alley, Ancona, John D. Baldwin, Boutwell, Brooks, Broomall, James S. Brown, William G. Brown, Cobb, Dawson, Deming, Denison, Dixon, Dumont, Eckley, Edgerton, Eliot, Finck, Ganson, Grider, Hale, Harrington, Herrick, Holman, John H. Hubbard, Hutchins, Philip Johnson, Kalbfleisch, Kernan, Lazear, Marcy, Middleton, William H. Miller, Morrill, Daniel Morris, Morrison, Odell, Charles O'Neill, John O'Neill, Orth, Pike, Ross, Schenck, Scofield, John B. Steele, Stevens, Stiles, Strouse, Thomas, Townsend, Tracy, Elihu B. Washburne, Webster, and Winfield-54.

NAYS-Messrs. Allison, Arnold, Ashley, Baily, Augustus C. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Blaine, Blair, Bliss, Blow, Cole, Cox, Donnelly, Eldridge, Farnsworth, Frank, Higby, Asabel W. Hubbard, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Julian, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Knox, Le Blond, Littlejohn, Loan, Long, Longyear, Mallory, Marvin, McAllister, McBride, McClurg, McKinney, Samuel F. Miller, Moorhead, James R. Morris, Amos Myers, Leonard Myers, Nelson, Perham, William H. Randall, Alexander H. Rice, Edward H. Rollins, Scott, Shannon, Smithers, William G. Steele, Thayer, Upson, Wadsworth, William B. Washburn, Whaley, Wilder, Wilson, Windom, Woodbridge, Worthington, and Yeaman-60.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. James C. Allen, William J. Allen, Ames, Anderson, Boyd, Brandegee, Chanler, Ambrose W. Clark, Freeman Clarke, Clay, Coffroth, Cravens, Creswell, Henry Winter Davis, Thomas T. Davis, Dawes, Driggs, Eden, English, Garfield, Gooch, Grinnell, Griswold, Hall, Harding, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Harris, Hooper,

Hotchkiss, Jenckes, William Johnson, Kasson, Orlando Kellogg, King, Knapp, Law, McDowell, McIndoe, Noble, Norton, Patterson, Pendleton, Perry, Pomeroy, Price, Pruyn, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, John H. Rice, Robinson, Rogers, James S. Rollins, Sloan, Smith, Spalding, Starr, Stuart, Sweat, Van Valkenburghi, Voorlees, Ward, Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Williams, Benjamin Wood, and Fernando Wood-68.

So the bill was not laid on the table.

During the vote,

Mr. COBB stated that his colleague, Mr.SLOAN, was absent from the city on account of illness in his family; and that his colleague, Mr. McINDOE, was absent on account of indisposition.

The vote was then announced as above recorded.

The main question was then ordered. Mr. HOLMAN demanded the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken; and it was decided in the negative-yeas 56, nays 58, not voting 68; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Allison, Arnold, Ashley, Baily, Augustus C. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Bliss, Blow, Cole, Cox, Donnelly, Dumont, Eldridge, Farnsworth, Frank, Higby, Hooper, Bulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Franeis W. Kellogg, Knox, Le Blond, Littlejohn, Loan, Longyear, Marvin, McAllister, McBride, McClurg, McKinney, Samuel F. Miller, Daniel Morris, James R. Morris, Amos. Myers, Nelson, Perham, Pomeroy, William H. Randall, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Scott, Shannon, Smithers, Thayer, Upson, Wadsworth, Williain B. Washburn, Whaley, Wilder, Windom, Worthington, and Yeaman-56.

NAYS-Messrs. Alley, Ames, Ancona, John D. Baldwin, Blair, Boutwell, Brooks, Broomall, James S. Brown, William G. Brown, Cobb, Dawes, Dawson, Deming, Denison, Dixon, Eckley, Edgerton, Eliot, Finck, Ganson, Grider, Hale, Harrington, Herrick, Holman, John II. Hubbard, Hutchins, Philip Johnson, Kalbfleisch, Kernan, Lazear, Long, Marey, Middleton, William H. Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morrison, Leonard Myers, Odell, Charles O'Neill, John O'Neill, Patterson, Ross, Schenck, Scofield, John B. Steele, Stevens, Stiles, Strouse, Thomas, Townsend, Tracy, Van Valkenburgh, Elihu B. Washburne, Wilson, and Winfield—58.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. James C. Allen, William J. Allen, Anderson, Blaine, Boyd, Brandegee, Chauler, Ambrose W. Clark, Freeman Clarke, Clay, Coffroth, Cravens, Creswell, Henry Winter Davis, Thomas T. Davis, Driggs, Eden, English, Garfield, Gooch, Grinnell, Griswold, Hall, Harding, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Harris, Hotchkiss, Asaliel W. Hubbard, William Johnson, Kasson, Orlando Kellogg, King, Knapp, Law, Mallory, McDowell, McIndoe, Noble, Norton, Orth, Pendleton, Perry, Pike, Price, Pruyn, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, Robinson, Rogers, Edward H. Rollins, James S. Rollins, Sloan, Smith, Spalding, Starr, William G. Steele, Stuart, Sweat, Voorhees, Ward, Webster, Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Williams, Benjamin Wood, Fernando Wood, and Woodbridge-68.

So the bill was rejected.

DEATH OF SENATOR HICKS.

A message was received from the Senate, by Mr. HICKEY, their Chief Clerk, in reference to the death of THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS, a Senator from the State of Maryland.

The message was read, as follows:

Resolved unanimously, That the members of the Senate, from a sincere desire of showing every mark of respect to the memory of Hon. THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS. deceased, a Senator from the State of Maryland, will go to mourning for the residue of the present session, by the usual mode of wearing crape on the left arm.

Resolved unanimously, That the members of the Senate will attend the funeral of the deceased from the Senate Chamber at two o'clock p. m. to-day, and that the committee of arrangements superintend the same.

Ordered, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to the House of Representatives, with the request that that House unite in the ceremonies of this occasion.

Mr. WEBSTER. I desire to say, preceding my remarks on this sad occasion, that my colleague [Mr. DAVIS] is detained from the House by indisposition; otherwise he would take part in these proceedings.

Mr. Speaker, it becomes my painful duty to announce to the House of Representatives the death of Hon. THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS, a Senator in Congress from the State of Maryland. He died at the Metropolitan Hotel, in this city, on Monday last, February 13, 1865.

In the winter of 1864 Mr. HICKS received a severe injury to his left ankle, which, a few weeks later, compelled the amputation of his foot above the ankle joint. From the effects of this loss he never entirely recovered, and though he continued to attend to the laborious duties of his position, yet his friends perceived that much of his former physical vigor was gone, and that he was greatly overtaxing his strength. About two weeks before his death he ceased to occupy his seat in the Senate Chamber, and a skillful physician was

But

called to see him. His friends still believed that rest and quiet would restore to a considerable degree his strength, and fondly hoped that his life might be spared for many years to come. on Friday morning last he was entirely prostrated by an attack of paralysis, and though he maintained his consciousness until within a few hours of his death, yet all hope of his recovery was then abandoned. From this time he sank gradually until the hour of his dissolution, when calmly, without a struggle or a groan, his spirit passed from earth.

It will be consoling to his afflicted children who were unable to reach this city before his death, as well as his numberless friends, to know that loving hearts and skillful hands assiduously ministered to all his wants, and strove, as far as human agency could, to alleviate all his sufferings. Nor were the consolations of our holy religion wanting. An eminent divine and his personal friend (Rev. Dr. Nadal) piously attended at his bedside and pointed his thoughts to "the world that is to come. "" To him my dying and lamented friend, even after the power of speech was gone, by hand upraised to heaven, and face glowing with celestial light, unmistakably declared his faith in a crucified Redeemer, and his implicit trust in His promises and atonement.

Governor HICKS was born in Dorchester county, Maryland, September 2, 1798. His father was a respectable farmer, with limited means and a large family, able to give his son little advantages of education. As a boy, he attended the common country schools of the neighborhood, then even more indifferent than now. As a youth, he assisted his father in the cultivation of the farm; and when manhood came, he went forth from the paternal roof to struggle unaided against the rude buffetings of the world, and by the fierce contests he thus waged with the pride and prejudices and position of those around him, to fit himself for that fiercer contest which he was long after to wage with the passions and prejudices of the enemies of his country. Shortly after arriving at his majority he was appointed a constable, and so diligently, so faithfully, and with such uprightness did he discharge the duties of this humble office, that in 1824, then in the twenty-sixth year of his age, he was elected sheriff of his native county, a position of importance and respectability, which he filled much to his own credit and to the entire satisfaction of the community.

After this he was several times elected to the Legislature of his State, and in 1836 was chosen a member of the senatorial electoral college of Maryland. He took a prominent part in the efforts to organize that body, which attracted so much attention throughout the country. Shortly afterward he was selected as one of the members of Governor Vezey's Council, and in 1838 was appointed by that gentleman the register of wills for Dorchester county. This office, under the testamentary system of Maryland one of great importance, he occupied for nearly twenty years, being reappointed by Governor Pratt in 1844, and elected by the people in 1850. Never did a faithful officer more ably discharge the responsible duties of this position. The widow and the orphan always found in him a friend, who spared no labor to protect their interests and defend them from injustice and wrong. He soon became perfectly familiar with the testamentary laws of the State, and so completely did the people of his county rely upon the wisdom of his official decisions, and the purity and fairness of his friendly counsels, that it was rare indeed that litigation grew out of his settlement of the estates of deceased persons. In 1850 he took part in the constitutional convention of Maryland, which framed the constitution of that date, and was known as

elected to fill the balance of the unexpired term ending March 4, 1867.

This, in brief, is the history of my late lamented colleague. There is one portion of his life, however, that deserves, ay demands, at my hands more extended notice. It was during his term as Governor of Maryland that the present wicked rebellion was inaugurated; and well was it for Maryland and her people, well was it for the capital of the nation, and the national honor, if not life, that THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS was then the Governor of Maryland. Sir, as I sat in grief by his dying bedside, and saw "the strong man bowed," palsied with disease and helpless as an infant, in my inmost soul I thanked God that that divine visitation had not come while his hand yet held the helm of my native and beloved State. What scenes of anarchy, of confusion, of bloodshed, and desolation to her fair fields would have followed my heart sickens to contemplate. But his natural vigor was not then abated. The lessons of self-reliance which he had learned in his early and maturer manhood, that decision of character and firmness of purpose which had become a part of his nature, and above all his instinctive and unquenchable love of country-that country under whose benign institutions he had risen, and all others might rise, from the humblest walks of life had fitted and prepared him to resist all efforts, coming from what quarter soever, which looked to a disruption of the Union and placing Maryland by the side of her rebellious sisters. Any one who will recall the history of the four months which immediately preceded Mr. Lincoln's inauguration in 1861 will remember how repeated and persistent these efforts were.

The plan of the original conspirators, as has since become apparent, was to unite, if possible, all the slaveholding States in one common movement, seize the capital and the public archives before the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, overthrow the Government, establish a southern confederacy, and then admit such of the non-slaveholding States as might be willing to introduce the institutions of the South among them.

It was essentially necessary to secure the coöperation of Maryland to succeed in these infamous purposes. The capital stood upon the ancient soil of that State, and according to the peculiar views of these conspirators, Maryland had the right not only to sever her connection with the Union, but also to reclaim her grant of the District of Columbia. This would have given them color of authority in holding on to the capital, establishing here the seat of their government, and demanding recognition from foreign Powers. It was also of the first importance to these conspirators that their friends in Maryland should be organized and armed, ready for the emergency, that when the time for action came they might swoop down upon the capital before assistance could be obtained from the northern States. All this could only be done through the Legislature of that State. Fortunately the sessions of the Legislature were biennial. It had been in session the winter before, and would not again assemble until January, 1862.

The great majority of this Legislature was known to be in sympathy with the southern leaders. At its session in 1860 it had pas ed the most obnoxious law on the subject of slavery ever placed on the statute-books of Maryland. Contrary to the wishes of a great majority of the people, contrary to their practices from time immemorial, and contrary to their conscientious convictions of right, they enacted that thereafter no slaves should ever be emancipated by their owners in that State. More than this. Taking advantage of the excitement produced by John Brown's invasion of Virginia, they had appro

vided for their distribution throughout the State. I repeat, a great majority of this Legislature was known to be in favor of Maryland taking her position with the other slaveholding States.

In Maryland the Governor has no power of veto, so that when assembled the Legislature is entirely beyond his control; but he alone had the authority to assemble it in special session. It was then of the highest importance to the conspirators that he should exercise this authority. Soon after Mr. Lincoln's election in 1860, the public efforts to induce him to take this step began to be made. Some of the most prominent men in that part of the