^ ■ >s '^C-5 ' -"*" =?. ■? n ^ ' ' 6 cv: isf ^1?^-1 >: S ^ .^ J < j3 o ^5 o%^" c- re '■N ^ — Kl v> '■"f •J .?=, .-.■ a^g^;»sc£gi£»ssgogaQ?-^' I LIBRARY OF CONGRE Chap. SheJf(^.. 9f "(i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, if f^V2^i££^*a:5i£fi.^if!iZfi^*^ ^>i9^i (.IihIIjjvh. .S. iOrilli MEMORIAL ADDRESSES LIFE AND CIiARACTP:R GoDLOvE S. Orth (A UEPItESENTATIVE FROM INDIANA ), DKI.lVERKIl IN THF. IKIIISR OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, FORTV-SEVENTIT CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION. PUBLISHED HY ORDEI! OF CONGRESS. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1883. 0173 *-* JOINT RESOLUTION for thn printing of eei-taiu eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late Godlovi. S. Ortli. Semlred liii the Senate and Hciise «/ Iti-presenlulires of the United States of Jmerica in Congress assemblert, Tliat tlicro l)e i)iiiited of tlie eulogies deliv- ered in Congress upon the late GoDt.DVK S. Okth, a member of the Forty- seventh Congress from the State of Indiana, twelve thousand copies, of which three thousand shall he for the use of the Senate, and nine thousand for the use of the House of Representatives, and the Secretary of the Treas- ury he, and he is hereliy, directed to have printed a portrait of the said God- love S. Orth to accompany said eulogies; and for the purpose of engraving or printing said portrait the sum of five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury uot otherwise appropriated. Approved Feb. 24, 188:J. 2 ADDRESSES ON THE Death of Godlove S. Orth. PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. I\ THE House of Representatives, December 18, 1882. 'Mr. Browne. It is my painful duty to annoiiiipe to tlio Hoiist- tlic decease of GoDi.ovE S. Oirrii, late a Hcpi-esentativc from In- diana, wlio died at ins iiomo in tlie city of La Fayette at lli min- utes past 10 o'eloek on the evening of tlie IGtli instant. Mr. Oirni l)ad been seven times elected a Keju'esentative to this body, an:irt of the House to unite ^vith a similar com- mittee ou the part of the Senate to constitute the funeral escort at the burial of the late Mr. Orth, of Indiana : Mr. Calkins of Indiana, Mr. Peirce of Indiana, Mr. Steele of Indiana, Mr. Matson of Indiana, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Urner of IMarvland, and Mr. Reese of Georgia. In the HotTSE of Representative.s, January 31, 1883. Mr. Browne. Mr. Sj)eaker, a few days ago I announced the death of my late colleague, Mr. (Jrth, and gave notice that at an early day the House woidd lie asked to suspend its business that the friends and associates of the deceased might pay appro|)riate tril)utc to his virtues as a Representative and a citizen. The time for these ceremonies has arrived, and I otter for consideration the resolutions I now send to the Clerk's desk. The Clerk read as follows: Eesolvnl, That tlic lnisiiir.ss of this House lie suspemleil that siiitalili- lioiiors may Ik* paid the iiifiiiiiry of Hon. Godlove 8. OiiTii, late a Representative from Indiana. Kesolml. Tliat in the death of Mr. Orth the conntry has snstaiued the h)ss of a safe counselor, a patriotic citizen, and an able and faithful public servant. Hesolved, That as a further mark of respect for his memory the House at the couclusion of these ceremonies shall adjourn. Resolved, That the Clerk commuuicate these resolutions to the Senate. The resolutions were unanimously adopted. Address of Mr. Browne, of Indiana. Mr. Speaker: Deat^, says Horaw, makes no nice distinctions, bnt approaches all with wjnal step and knocks alike at tiie door of the hovel and the portals of the palace. Dnring this Congress it has entered this Hall, and its shadow has fallen upon O'Conncn- and Allen, Hawk and I.owc, Updegraff, Shackelford, and Orth, and hlciided their lives here with that l)righter life on the other shore. Death preaches an impressive sermon to tlie human soul. Tn tlie memoral)le words of F>urke, "It feelingly teaches us what shadows we are and what shadows we pursue." However short a man's life may be there gathers about it always something of love and sympathy, and when it is gone some fond hope and lirigiit ambi- tion perishes. No man has lived without making some impres- sion, for good or ill, u{)on his generation, and no one is wholly dead whose memory or whose example inspires the humblest to higher ptn-jioses or more noble resolves. The dead leave their work be- liind them as an example and a warning, to be judged by what has been accomplished, by the spirit that inspired it, and the temptations and dangers that environed it. The career of one who saw long and honorable service in this House is now completed. It was a life fidl of generous deeds. Let us, like tlie angel of the Koran, as we stand over the dead man, speak of the good deeds he sent before him. GoDLOVE S. Orth was born near Lebanon, in the State of Penn- sylvania, April 22, 1817. He was a descendant from a Moravian familv which emigrated from one of the palatinates of the old Ger- man Empire to the colony of Pennsylvania about the year 1725, under the auspices of Count Zinzendorff, the celebrated missionary. His grandfather, Balthazcl Orth, was an ardent patriot in the Revolution, acted as provost-marshal for his district, and drafted members of his own flimily for service in the colonial army. The Hessian prisoners captured at Trenton were by the orders of Wash- 6 LIFE ASD CHARACTER OF CODLOVE S. OUTH. iiigtuii put into liis custody, and lie imprisoned them in tlie old stone church of the Moravians still standing at Lebanon. His ancestry lie in the adjacent church-yard, now awaiting some Old Mortality with his chisel to reproduce the epitaphs on their moss- covered tombstones. Mr. Okth, after securing such an education as could be obtained in the common schools of his native StatCj^ook an irregular course of instruction at the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburgh. He lociited there, read law in the office of Hi^n. James Cooper, and was admitted to the bar in ]\Iarch, 1839. The great West w:us develop- ing verv rapidly at this time, and to an enterprising and ambitious young man it was an inviting field. He was attracted by the activi- ties and o[)portunities of that growing section, and soon after his admission to the bar crossed the AUeghanies and found a home by the beautiful Wabitsh, at La Fayette, where he continued to reside until "the wheels of his weary life stood still." Here he at once entered upon the practice of law, and, young as he was, by liis learning and integrity soon won a lucrative business and a place in the front rank of the profession. He took an active part in the famous and exciting campaign of 1840, and secured at a bound a position of prominence in Indiana politics. In 1843 the Whigs of Tippecanoe County nominated him as their candidate for the State senate, and although the county was Demo- cratic he was triumphantly elected. Though one of the youngest, he was one of the ablest of the senate, and so well ditl he perform his part that before the close of the term he was chosen president of that body by a most complimentary vote. He thus ijecame actintr lieutenant-trovernor. He remained in the senate from 1843 to 1850, and was, during a portion of this period, chairman of the committee on the judiciary, a j)ositiou tendered him by a Demo- cratic presiding officer as an evidence of the high estimate placed upon his integrity and learning by his political opponents. In 1848 lie was a ctmdidate for Presidential elector on the Taylor and Fillmore ticket, and took an active i)art in the memorable cam- paign of that year. For ten vears subseipient to the close of his service in the State senate he devoted himself almost exclusively to his profession. He ADDRESS OF MR. liROJTNE, OF INDIANA. 7 (lid not aiiain a]>|)r:ir in public life until the slave power revolted ufraiiitft iiatiuiiid authority aud prcxtlaiuied its purpose to fori'il)ly destroy the Union. After several of the discontented States had mustered for battle, when eitiior a coiuproniise or peaceful separa- tion or war seemed inevitable, the jicneral lussenibly of Virtjinia invited all the States to a peace conference to meet at Washington on the 4th of February, 1801. The object of this meeting, as an- nounced by Virginia, was to adjust, if [wssible, tiie pending struggle by an amendment of the Constitution giving further security to tlie rights of the people of the slave-holding States. Indiana promptly responded to this kindly invitation, aud Mr. Orth was appointed by Governor Morton one of its five commissioners to this peace con- press. His associates were Caleb B. Smith, Pleasant A. Hackle- man, E. W. H. Ellis, and Thoma.s C. Slaught^-r — -names now canon- ized in the hearts of our people. Not one of these men is now living, all of them having died before Mr. OiiTH. One who re- views to-day the proceedings of that notable conference will be surprised at the shortness of the roll of its survivors. Tyler aud Fessenden, Morrell aud Reverdy Johnson, Chase and Wadsworth, and almost all the distinguished men who met iu that extraordinary assembly have passed away. Mr. Orth was more a listener than a talker or an actor in that congress. He soon became convinced that an honorable adjustment was hopeless ; that the malcontents who inaugurated the rebellion would accept but separation or terms that would bind for all time the free States to the juggernaut of the slave-masters. To such conditions he knew his people would never sulmiit. He believed, moreover, that the Consiitntion as it was, cori'cetly interpreted and honestly enforced, gave ample protection to the institutions of the South. Although anti-slavery in his sympathies and sternly op- posed to what he l^elieved to be the encroachments of slavery, he stood for the enforcement of law, and was one of those who, if the law dcmaniled it, "would liave given Shylock a verdict for the pound of flesh although he had to take it from his own bosom." "When the peace congress adjourned Mr. Orth was convinced that \\ar could not long be averted, aud upon his return home he 8 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. acklmsscd liis jienple uii tlie situatiuii, to recast iug with remarkable accuracy tlic futiire of tlie country. He jiointed out to tliem the ininiiuciice of the danger confronting them and exhorted them to meet it with a courage that neitlier sacrifice nor .suffering could subdue or dishearten. The war opened, and from its beginning he championed the cause of the nation with all the zeal and enthusiasm of his nature. In every phase of that fearful conflict — in victory, in defeat — he gave the Union his active support, and from tlie first gun at Charleston Harbor until the surrender at Appomattox he insisted that a vigor- ous and aggre-sivc war policy was the price of peace and union. Mr.ORTJi had butabriefexperieuceinthemilitaryservice. When in the summer of 1862 Indiana was threatened with an invasion on its southern borders lie responded to the call of the governor, and putting himself at the head of a company of his fellow-citizens re- ported for duty. He was sent to the Ohio River and put in com- mand of the ram Hornet. He continued on duty until the emer- gency that called him into the service was over when he returned to his civil jiursuits. He was elected a Representative in Congress in October, 1S62, and first took his seat here on the 4th of March followina:. He o was returned by his district to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty- first, by the State at large to the Forty-third, and again by his dis- trict to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses, having at the time of his death seen fourteen years of service as the trusted representative of a most intelligent constituency. No man could command the confidence of such a constitucncv and hold it lono- and unwaveringly without possessing real merit. His services here began in the most eventful epoch in our his- tory. The Republic was in the agonies of a most cruel civil war. Its expenses were enormous, and the generosity of its expenditure of money was only paralleled by the profligacy with which a heroic soldiery poured out their blood. Taxation seemed to have reached its uttermost limit, and yet our revenues fell far below the demands of the times. The Treasury was empty, our fiuauces in disorder, but the war ADVBESS Of MR.BllOWNE, OF INDI.iyj. 9 went nil, iiK'i'fasiiig in inaiiiiituilr and intcnsifviiiji in liittcrncss, nntil till' codk'st and wisest dared not predict its duration, its results to (lur eivilization cir our deinocratie system of <>'overnmpnt. Tiie friends of the Union were divided in their eonneils, and some began to lose hope of success. Gloom overshadowed every housi'liold. There was sadness and sorrow about every heartli-stone. " Every shore had its tale of blood and its record of snttering." The dead lav on every hillside and in every valley, by the waters of the Ohio and under the shade of the magnolia and the cedar of the South. The roar of hostile guns mingled with the moans of the dving and the agonizing sobs of bereaved sisters and mothers. It was under such sad surroundings Mr. Orth assumed the duties of • Representative. That he conscientiously and fearlessly did the work assiffued him is a part of the record of tliose troublous times. After the war lie liad to grapple the new and perplexing ques- tions of reconstruction, and here, too, he pi-oved himself ecpial to esich occasion, ne\'er forgetting the cause of freedom and ever hav- ing an eye to the glory of his country. He served on several of the most important committees of the House, and among tliem the Committee on Freedmen, the Commit- tee on Private Land Claims, the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He brought to the discharge of his commit- tee work an intelligent industry which won for him the respect and oonfidenceof his iissociates and a position of influentr in the House. Wliile on the Frecdmen's Committee he matureil and reported sev- eral measures for the protection of tliat large and friendless nudti- tude wliieh the war was daily transforming from ciiattels into men. As a member of tlie Committee oii Foreign Affairs he was, wiien that question was before the country, op])osed to according belliger- ent rights to Cuba, and on behalf of a minority of the committee presented a report embodying his views, whidi was sustained t)y the House and indorsed by the country. During the discussion which folhjwed he said : I yield to uo gentleman on the floor of this House in expressions of sympa- thy for auy jieople who, suffering from^ojjpression, are lightiug for independ- ence. It is an American sentiment that all men should be free. These geuer- 10 LIFE AND CHABACIEB OF GODLOVF S. ORTH. (Ills iriipiilses ;iie part of oiir nature ; tliey are among tlie earliest iiiii)re»sion8 of oiir cliiliUiooiI ; we receive tbem in lineal descent from our Revolutionary ancestors; they arc the proud heritage of every American. But jiersonal sympathy must not Ite permitted to influence official action in derogation of the just rights of others. If my sympathy could give the Cuhans independ- ence and separate nationality they sliould have it before the going down of the sun. But, sir, when I am asked to entangle the Government in a contro- versy in which we have everything to lose and nothing to gain, I cannot do it, I dai'e not do it, .and I have the fullest coutidence that this House will not do it. Mr. ( )i!TH advocatt'd every advance moveiueiit of liis party. Fie was in the fullest synipatliy with tlie etnaneipatioii policy of Lincoln and recorded his votef ir the aniendnient alxilishino- slavery. He also zealously supporte*.! the Fourteenth Ainendnient and followed these measures to their logical conclusion by aiding to put the bal- lot into the hands of the newly made freeman. On the subject of human rights his views were radical. He hated oppression and was intolerant of what he regarded caste legislation. He combated the anti-f 'hinese legislation of this Congress because he thought it an attack on liberty. Among his last speeches in this House was an earnest and elo- (pient protest against this measure. He said: The proiiosed legislation is l>ased on race and color, is in derogation of jus- tice and right, sulivirts the time-honored traditions of the fathers, tramples alike upon treaties and statutes, strikes at the fundamental principles of re- jiulplicanism, anil seeks to rob our nation of the brightest jewels in its coronet of glory. From the lamling at Plymouth Rock, from the settlement at .Jamestown, down through all our varied history, our jieople have placed themselves on Goil's word and announced their belief that He had " made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." This is the foundation- stone ujiou wliieb our people have erected the grandest structure of human government known to man's history. The tirst piditical document )>romulgated by the feel>le Colonies in vindi- cation of their action formulated this faith into the declaration that "all men are createublican party its candidate for governor of Indiana. He resigned liis mission in compliance with the retjuest of his friends to make the race for tkit office. During the canvass he withdrew from the ticket because of local opposition to his candidacy whicli he was induced to believe would imperil the suwe.ss of his party. His long term of service, his party |iroiiii- nenee, his aggressive character, his nncompR>inising devotion to principle, and his firm adherence to his convictions made him a conspicuous mark for his enemies. Eminence in any walk in life, and especially in politics, invites criticism and censure. He lives to little purjiose who is without foes. It is nnfjrtnnate that in our political warfare we are a]it to justify the assassination of private cliaracter if it pnnnotes partisan success. If party ends riMpiire it we too often remorselesslv murder a good man's name. But the fame iif him of whom I speak is safe from di'tiiiiiation now. He is beyond the reach of reproach. Aftera thinlut a century of pub- lic life, after ample opportunities for amassing wealth, Mr. ( )rth died comparatively poor. If he had faults, venality w;is not one of them. His frugal, temperate, and unostentatious habits, his dis- regard of wealth, vindicate his character from such an iin]intatioii and rcliuke those who calumniated it. It was mv irood fortune to know Mr. ()i:th somcwiiat intimatelv for a score of years. He was of a sunny nature, and had a cheer- ful woril, a genial smile, and a hearty greeting for all. Xo man ever had friends more devoted and self-sacriticing than he. 1 le liatl a jiersoiial magnetism whicli attracted men and held tiiem. Tiiey stood l)y him in every vicissitude of his tbrtune. Xo assault upon 12 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. his record or his iioiuir weakened their tiiitli or caused tliein to fal- ter in their friendship. It was thought tiiat at times lie was unduly sensitive and too quick to suspect offense; hut if this was a weak- ness it arose from " tiiat chastity of honor that felt a stain as a wound." No life is wholly fiiultless ; liis iiad its frailties; but when the account of its deeds here is made up there will be found a large l)alance on the heavenward side. He was self-reliant, and prosei'uted his work with an energy that deserved .success if it lic tlie 4th of ^Farch next, he would have served fourteen years in tiiis Ibiiise. He also served in the peace congress of l.SGl and in tiie volunteer military service uf the late war; and for sev- eral years he represented his Government as minister to Yieinui. I submit, Mr. Speaker, that no man could have lieen so often honored. and retained for so many years in higii positions, winv did not possess noble qualities of head and heart. His associates and acquaintances on this floor will, T am sure, gladly unite with me in testifyino- to his ability and to his warm-hearted, genial, and gen- erous nature. I liave said that he was a man of ability. His long-contiinietl public service in various positions, tiie duties of which he discharged with liniiorto himself and benefit to liis country, marked him as a man of abilitv. His career at the l)ar, even in his youth, was a brilMant and asntvessfnl one. I need not remind mendiers around me of the high rank he took liere with us ; of the various eiiair- ADDRESS OF MR. WILSON, OF ITEST riRGINIA. 15 mansliips of important committees that he filled from time to time ; the various important eomraittee reports which lie prepared and presented ; of the various able speeches he made during his mem- bership here. In addition to all this, Mr. Speaker, be it suid tliat GoDLOVK S. Orth lived and died an honest man. But once dur- ing his eventful career, extending as it did over a period of nearly Ibrtv vears, arc we told by tliose who knew him longest and best, was his character ever assailed or his integrity impeached. Tn the vears 187(5 Indiana was regarded as politically a doubt- ful State. It was regarded as an important factor, if not the de- ciding factor, in the Presidential election of that year. Each of the great political ])urtics was organizing for the campaign. Each aimed to put forward its strongest and most available man as a candidate for governor. The Democratic party nominated as its candidate the lamented James D. Vrilliams, once a |)roniineut and ])opular member of this House; and tiie Ivcjiubiican party, passing by its scores of distinguished men, nominated ( iiiiu.oxK S. Orth, and recalled him from his foreign mission. Scarcely iiad he returned to his home, having resigned liis position abroad, when rinnor, oftentimes a lying jade, cast suspicion upon him, and a.s- .sertcd that he had fallen from duty's path and violated tiie rules of propriety bv accepting a fee to prosecute certain claims — at a time, too, when he was a mendter of Congress and when those claims were undergoing investigation by Congress. A due regard for his niemorv promi)ts me now and here to say, in view of all the lights upon that subject, that this rumor was without foundation. It took the wings of the wind and Hew to all parts of the coiiutry ; and notwithstanding the fact that no witness, tlicn or since, has ever been found to verify it and no record ever pniduced to sustain it, the only course left for Mr. Orth to pursue in the political frenzy of the hour was to retire from the contest, to wait and watch and bide his time for vindication. He returned to his home and retired to private life; he returned to tlie ])eople by whom he had often been honored, to the people who had passed in review the deeds of his life — the people who had watched him from l)oyhood to the time when the white flakes of age settled upon his brow — he re- 16 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. OKTB. turned to the people in wliose breast thei-e was a deep-seated convic- tion tliat GoDLovE S. Orth was an honest man. They believed he had been wantonly pursued and persecuted. T1k'\- remembered the fidelity with which he so long and so ably served them and served his country in various ])rominent positions. They remem- bered the dark hours of 1861, when the country was filled and startled witli rumors of war, and how he exerted himself throuoh the medium of the peace congress of that year to avert the hor- rors of war. Failing in that effort he returned to his home, headed a military company in the volunteer service, and went forth to figlit for his country, her liberty, and her laws. Their admiration for the man and confidence in his integrity and his innocence inspired them with a determination to set him right before the world. This thevdiil bv electing him to the Forty-sixth Congress and re-electing him by a largely increased majority to the Forty-seventh Congress. Thus, Mr. Speaker, was his brow during his life wreathed with vindica- tion and victory. Of the accusation against iiim and the manner in whicli his constituents repudiated and crushed it out, it may be well said — Truth crii.shed to earth shall rise agaiu ; The eternal years of God are hers; But Error, wouiuled, writhes with pain, And dies among bis worshipers. His life on earth is ended. His friends and country are left to mourn his loss. But though death has deprived them of his serv- ices, it has not taken away tiie result of his labor. Life leaves the body, and the body is borne to the ground frem which it sj)rang. Fruits fall to the earth and decay, but never a fruit that did not leave its seed, and never a life that did not leave its example. The sun of man's life goes down, but the star of his example remains fixed in the firmament. Mr. Orth's career is ended, and his friends point witli ])ride to his record, the record of a scholar, a statesman, and a jiatriot. Oh God ! It is a fearful thing To see the hnnian soul take wing, In any shape, in any mood. ADDRESS OF MR. CALKINS, OF INDIANA. 17 Address of Mr. Calkins, of Indiana. Mr. Speaker: In the few remarks I am about to submit upon the life and character of my dead colleague I shall omit any ex- tended reference to his public career, which has been so fitly epito- mized by my colleague [Mr. Browne]. At the time of his death there were few men better known in the State of Indiana than Mr. Orth. He began his public career quite young, and passed with amazing rapidity through many grades of political life. He never attained the full measure of his ambition ; but his aspirations were not higher than his merit deserved. That he did not entirely succeed is not a fault, for he was always willing to make personal sacrifices that the principles for which he struggled might obtain. He was personally popular, and held his friendships with a firm grasp. His public speeches were earnest and sincere and his manner unos- tentatious and attractive. His language was fluent and well chosen, and his zeal was fervid and impressive. He was bold in expression, plausible in argument, and pathetic in appeal. He never apologized for public action, nor took refuge in silence from public assault. He never placated an enemy at the expense of a friend, nor did he resort to doubtful expediencies at the sacrifice of principle. The basis of his political action was that of absolute justice, and his motto was "that it were better to fail in the right than to suc- ceed in the wrong." Politically he was a thorough disciplinarian, and his remarkable success in that field was largely attributable to the solid phalanxes- of his personal following. He had enemies in his own political party, as all men of decided views and large individuality must have, but he possessed the skill of maintaining them in line without driving them from the party of their choice. He maintained his party leadership in his own Congressional district for a quarter of a century, and when he died was serving his seventh term in this House. He did not escape harsh criticism; but he lived to place his tri- umphant vindication in the permanent records of his country which he served so long and faithfully. 0173 2 18 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. As a citizen he had the respect of those who knew him best, without regard to party affiliations. As a neighbor he was oblig- ing, and as a friend he was firm and true. His rank as a lawyer when he left the bar to enter politics was fully up to the standard of the best lawyers of the State. He was generous and charitable, and gave for the love of giving and not for the love of praise. He was gentle in disposition, and anxious to add to the " sum of human joy." He did good deetls from choice and not for personal advantage. He had a kind word for all, and was best pleased when making others happy. He had strong religious convictions, but they were not hampered by nar- row constructions or uncharitable dogmatisms. The best trait of his character was found in his domestic relations ; he was a loving husband and a kind, indulgent father. HLs public career was remarkable, and fitly illustrates many of the rare qualities which he possessed. While in health he never was defeated for a popular office at the hands of the people. When first a State senator he was one of its youngest members and was chosen presiding officer. In this field he first won his reputation as a skillful parliamentarian, and often on the floor provetl himself a quick and ready debater. He was appointed one of the peace commission in 1861. He performed the delicate and arduous duties of that place with sig- nal ability. His heroic devotion to the doctrine of an inseparable union of these United States, without further compromises, did much to secure the line of jwlicy which the Administration after- ward adopted. He was in thorough sympathy with Governor Morton in tiie arming and equipping of troops, and supported the vigorous prosecution of the war for the suppression of the rebell- ion. He never doubted the righteousness of the Union cause, nor despaired of final victory for our arras. He was not disheartened at reverses, nor did he flag in his zeal for the Union in the darkest hour of the rebellion. He gave to his country his services as a volunteer and risked his life for its preservation. His services in this House during the war were one continued line of devotion to his country, and all & ADDRESS OF MB. CALKINS, OF INDIANA. \ 9 his public acts bespoke liis sympathy and love for the volunteer solflier. His long service in this House bears testimony to his ability as a statesman. He d'ul not often speak in debate, but when lie did he commanded attention from his fellow members. He distin- suished himself while at the head of the Committee on Foreim Affairs ; he familiarized himself with our foreign policy, and was the author of a bill to perfect our consular and diplomatic system. He mastered the details of this department and was rec- ognized authority on all questions aflPecting it. He was thoroughly American in sentiment, and was imbued with the idea of the equality of all civilized people before the law. He despised caste and took no pleasure in the shallow pretenses of foreign courts ; and when he represented our country at the court of Vienna he was ambitious to represent the model Republic in the simplicity of pure democracy, without being oifensive. All who knew him in that position will bear testimony to his signal triumph. While at the head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs he be- came possessed of manj^ of the secrets of the unwritten history of this country which happened during that time. His version of the acquisition of the Territory of Alaska by this country was new and interesting. I am not able to recite it with sufficient accuracy to venture to aive it here. I have no doubt that when the history of the lives of Mr. Seward and Mr. Sumner are rewritten in all their details the purchase of Alaska by this country will not be an uninteresting chapter, especially if the true reason is given as un- derstood by ]\Ir. Orth. I regret that the occasion did not arise while Mr. Orth was living which would have given him tiie op- portunity to state his version of this matter. Mr. Orth was my friend. I have known him from my child- hood. From his lips I have received many words of encourage- ment. He was in full sympathy with the men who labor and toil. He began life himself in poverty, and kne^y \\hat it was to suc- ceed in spite of it. He appreciated the burdens which honest toil demands, and rejoiced at the success which triumphed over it. He was a lover of liberty, a friend of the oppressed, and an advocate of universal freedom. 20 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. His last sickness was painful ; but he bore the tedious approach of death with patience and resignation. He looked death in the face without a shudder and calmly awaited its triumph. When the cold waters were gathering about him and the power of speech was fading away he clasped the hands of those dear to him and whispered, " Happy." Thus peacefully he passed away ; and he is as far from us to-day as the patriarclis and those who " perished before the flood." As one of the members of the committee of this House I at- tended his funeral at his home in La Fayette, Indiana. The day was inclement, but this did not deter a multitude of people from his own neighborhood as well as from all the principal points in his old Congressional district, and delegations from different parts of the State, from paying their last tribute of respect to his mem- ory. All that is mortal of our dead colleague lies in the beauti- ful cemetery adjoining the city where he lived so long and whose people he loved so well. The verdure of spring will decorate his grave. Loving hands will strew flowers there. These will fade and wither, but the monuments he has erected by his public acts will survive forever. Address of Mr. ROBINSON, of New York. Mr. Speaker : Again the dusky wing of death darkens the doors of this House. Another distinguished soldier ha.s fallen in life's battle. To-day a nation pauses to pay respect to the funeral procession. As it passes I bow my head in reverence and join the weeping throng in tlie mournful miserere for the dead. I have not risen to deliver a eulogy on the deceased statesman, nor shall I attempt to sketch the honorable steps by which he as- cended to fame. That has been and will be done more appropri- ately and thoroughly by his colleagues and friends in this House and in the Senate. I have risen simply to say a word or two that may appropriately come from me in the general sorrow for his untimely death. Mr. Orth aud I first met in the Fortieth Congress, which a&- ADDRESS OF MR. ROBINSOX, OF NEW YORK. 21 sembled here in its first session on the 4th of March, 1867. He had long filled a distinguished position in his adopted State, as he afterward filled places of trust and honor in national affairs, both at home and aijroail. He had been a member of the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses, and at the commencement of his Congressional career, just twenty years ago, he was appointed a member of the Commit- tee on Foreign Affairs, a position which he still occupied at the time of his death. He and I served together on that committee in the Fortieth Congress, and on the great questions so thoroughly dis(!ussed and so satisfactorily settled in and by that Congress his views and mine were entirely harmonious. Those who desire to see the rights of American citizens traveling abroad warmly and vigorouslv vindicated in an enlarged and Amei'ican view have only to refer to his speeches during that Congress. How few of the members of tiiis House in that Fortieth Congress do we now find on this floor ! Only eleven. A dozen have been transferred to the Senate ; one became President, another Vice-President ; several have become governors of their several States ; others in the Cabinet and in foreign service ; and oh, how many have passed to the shadowy shore whose mists form an impenetrable veil to the human eye ! At the last session of this Congress he was one of those who de- livered eulogies on the deceased Senator Carpenter of Wisconsin, and I remember the solemn tones of his voice as he repeated the graphic sentence of Edmund Burke on a similar occasion, and so soon to be applied to himsejf : What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue ! It so happened that in the discussion of questions coming before this House during the last session Mr. Outh and I had sonie dif- ferences approaching personalities, and had it not been tor his for- giving nature, superior in that respect to mine, they might have permanently estranged us from each other. Had it even been so that we had separated at the close of the last session in anger, I think I should still have claimed the privilege which I now im- j)lore of uniting with iiis friends and admirers in paying this o 22 t^tFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. justly deserved tribute to liis memory. But that generous nature which governed all his actions did not allow me to separate from him with iiostile feelings. At a public meeting held in this city, composed of those who deeply sympathized witii rae in my course in this House and who thought that he and I did not differ so widely in sentiment upon the subject which we discussed with such apparent warmth, he preceded me in some remarks in whicii, though we had not* for some days spokeu to each otiier, he referred to me so kindly, and, on concluding his speech, so cordially tendered me his haud that we forgot our differences and were afterward warmer friends than ever. We parted for our several homes, hoping to meet again in the present session to indidge in our renewed intercourse of friend- ship. I hoped again to grasp his generous hand, the parting pressure of which I still feel, warm with the pulsations of his noble heart. Alas ! that hand is cold in the icy grasp of death and the pulses of tliat kindly heart have ceased to throli forever. I see in his saddened iiouse a mournful family group — a bereaved wife and weeping children — and I mingle my tears of sympatiiy and sorrow with theirs in the darkened circle of their distant home. Address of Mr. HoLMAN, of Indiana. Mr. Speaker : It has been the custom of the two Houses of Congress from the foundation of the Government whenever death has closed the career of one of its number, to suspend for the time the course of legislation, consider his public record, and pay a trib- ute to his memory — a custom not only beautifnl in the expression of humane and kindly sympathy, but an instinctive admonition to the living. The public career of Godlove S. Orth, who so recently moved in our midst eager in the affairs of government, was one of more than ordinary duration and embraced the most important epoch of the great State in which most of his life was passed. Nearly forty ADDRESS OF MR. HOLMAN, OF INDIAXJ. 23 years ago Mr. Orth entered the legislature of Indiana as a sena- tor at an age when he was barely eligible to the trust. Indiana was then almost a frontier State. The restless tide of emigration, it is true, had invaded with intrepid steps the pathless forests and prai- ries stretching fiir westward from the Wabash, but the early settle- ments of Indiana (except the old post of Vincennes) were on her southern and southeastern borders and moved slowly and painfully northward and northwestwardly through interminable and unbroken forests. When ]\tr. Orth, buoyant with youth and iiope, fixed his home on the Wabash, the population of Indiana, from the Ohio to the lake, was but little more than half a million. The last of the In- dian tribes which for centuries had roamed the unshorn fields from the Miami to the Wabash had but recently cast their last glance on the graves of the fathers and sadly turned their faces to the West. The wealth of the State was a self-reliant people, fertile lands, the fruits of the earth, and flocks and herds; the pioneer's cabin, whose master was more independent and more iiospitable than a king, was still the landmark of ever)- landscape; the scat- tered settlers on the lands, and even in towns and villages, each the independent owner of a freehold, gloried in their equal condition, even in material wealtii. Such were the people who, pleased with his sturdy and manly bearing, chose young Orth to represent them in their senate. In those days there was little accumulated wealth in Indiana; the whole people were employed in agricultural pursuits. Yet with the eagerness of young and vigorous communities for rapid development the State had already incurred a debt, the burden of which very greatly exceeded her available resources or the tax-pay- ing ability of her people, to advance a system of internal improve- ments, resulting in inevitable failure. This premature enterprise terminated in a great debt with no compensating result. It wa-s prematue, for argriculture, the natural employment of a free people and of all pursuits the most ennobling, diffuses and equalizes wealth, promising slow but solid advancement, while the artificial agencies which centralize wealth develop resources with accelerated force. These agencies were as yet undeveloped in Indiana. 24 LIFE AND CBARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. The people were eager to maintain the public credit, but the treasury was exhausted, and temporary expedients only resulted in the hopeless disorder of the finances of the State and the discontent and despondency of the ijcople. At this time Mr. Oeth entered the senate of Indiana. He co-operated earnestly and effectually with older members of the house and senate, with Penningt(.)n and his associates, gentlemen of long experience (for it had been the policy of the people to keep their most trusted public servants long in their employment). Gradually the State arose from her de- spondency, and before Mr. Orth left the senate the public debt had been honorably adjusted, its payment assured without oppression to the people, measures provided which were destined to place In- diana in the front rank of States in the endowment and excellency of her system of common schools — the true university of the state — and the forces inaugurated which have placed Indiana in her now commanding station in the Union. Mr. Orth was identified with all the great measures of that important period and bore an honor- able part in their success. ISIr. Orth was a Whig ; he was essentially and constitutionally a Whig, an admirer of Hamilton, a disciple of Henry Clay. He was a Whig in the sense in which that term and that of Democracy most clearly express the two theories of Government, which have struggled in all the past and will" in the future for mastery in this Republic. In the later years of the Whig party Indiana furnished many of its ablest and most devoted leaders. While ]\Ir. Orth was not at any time the recognized leader of the Whig party of the State, he stood firmly in its front rank. He was the co-worker, associate, and friend of the great Whigs of Indiana from the time he entered the senate until that party was merged for the time on the great incidental issue of slavery in the Republican party. The Whig party of Indiana, in its representative men, was never so great as in the years of its decline. During this period Nicholas McCarty, Oliver H. Smith, Albert S. White, Joseph G. Marshall, George H. Dunn, Pleasant A. Hacklemau, James Rariden, John A. Matson, Henry S. Lane, George G. Dunn, Samuel W. Parker, David Wallace, John 1). Defrees, and Sauuiel Bigger, the last of the Whig governors of the State, were the Whig leaders of In- ADDRESS OF ME. EOLMAN, OF INDIANA. 25 diana. All these were tlie associates and co-workers of Godlove S. Orth ; most of them men of national reputations; two of them, the foremost of them all, never in public employment, and one of them almost the peer of Henry Clay in the brilliancy of his elo- quence. I mentiini only the great Whig leaders of Indiana, asso- ciates and friends of IMr. Ohth, who are now no more. A few equally eminent still survive. All of them became members of the Republican party. No period of the State and no party in the State has produced men more eminent for their virtues than the Whig leaders I have named. Mr. Orth was a staunch partisan and true to his political friends. While iu no sense an anti-slavery leader, he did not hesi- tate to co-operate with the body of his political associates in the movements which ultimately formed the Republican party, and he became one of its founders; was one of its truest and most trusted leaders from its organization to the time of his death, and repre- sented his district as a Republican in this Chamber for seven terms, the longest period, with two exceptions, in the history of the State. He entered Congress during the war, and, fully impressed with the belief that the abolition of slavery w as indispensable to the public safety, he supported earnestly the amendments to the Constitution and all the measures looking to the elevation of the frcedman. As a member of this House, Mr. Orth, while not active in the current business, was attentive, careful, and prudent, generally, and on party questions always, co-operating with the body of his polit- ical friends. While not at any time the leader of his party in the House, he was at all times one of its representative men and influ- ential in its counsels. In debate his commanding and dignified presence, deep and pleasant voice, and earnestness of manner ar- rested attention. His style, if not brilliant or impassioned, was persuasive, earnest, and forcible. He was not the master of supe- rior analytical power, but was clear and lucid in the statement and generalization of the matter of debate. His speeches were care- fully prepared, logical in arrangement, and elevated in sentiment. I think Mr. Orth was not a severe student. His was not the patient and self-denying industry that questions the ages for the 26 LIFE AND CBARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. secrets of the origin and institutions of government. He lived in the generation of which he was a part ; he loved the society of men, studied the living age, and kept abreast with its current his- tory, and was well informed on all questions of our domestic and foreign policy. But the social qualities of Mr. Orth charmed me more than his talents and intellectual culture. Who that knew him and enjoyed his friendship will ever forget his clear, kindly eye, the cheerful and honest smile that lit up his strong German face, and his warm and manly greeting ? In social intercourse Mr. Orth was amiable, confiding, and cordial. He felt no distrust and was incapable of deception. His temper was joyful, generous, and hopeful. In the society of his friends his spirits were buoyant, even at times overflowing with good humor and pleasantry, but never coarse or inconsiderate of the feelings of others, and his language as chaste as that of a refined woman. He was a man of kind and generous sympathies, gentle and considerate ; while easily aroused by a sense of injustice, and aggressive in defense, he was incapable of harboring a spirit of resentment or revenge. The very amia- bility of his disposition at times seemed to detract from the strength of his character and made him vacillate under the importunities of his friends. Political differences and partisan feuds did not impair his social relations, and through all his service here he numbered his friends alike on both sides of this Chamber. During the last summer, while the party contest was pending in which liis political friends were struggling to secure a quorum of the House, he came to my seat with the request that I should jiair with him on the pending measure and vote if necessary to make a quo- rum. A growing tumor, he said, required absence and medical at- tention. Of course I promptly yielded to his request. I thought then that I saw in his face and voice an expression of sadness. Perhajjs even then the voice of the shoreless ocean he was so soon to sail had fallen upon his ear. GoDLOVE S. Orth, after a service in public life, State and national, prolonged beyond the usual experience of our country, is ADDRESS OF MR. DEUSTER, OF WISCONSIN. 27 dead ; a voice that has so often filled this Chamber is forever silent; a hetu-t that has throbbed with higli ambition and generous emotions for so many years is forever still ; a hand so warm and true in its grasp of friendship is dust and ashes. But he still lives ; all of our friend that commanded our love or inspired our admiration lives in memory, survives in the realm of the infinite and immortal. I had known him more than thirty years and had served with him many years in this Chamber, and with the record of his public services before me, differing as we had always on the leading measures of Government, I am rejoiced that I can say, in the severity of truth, "that record is one of faithful public service, unmarred by a stain of dishonor, beneficial to his country, of high honor to himself" Address of Mr. Deuster, of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker : In the ceaseless war of the fell destroyer, Death, upon humanity, another useful life has run its course long before, in our expectations, its bright period of earthly existence should have been completed. The fine qualities of our late distinguished colleague, Godlove S. Orth, have been fitly extolled by the eloquent gentlemen who have preceded me. I can essay to add but little to the well- chosen words of their eulogistic remarks, and nothing that the merits of our deceased fellow-member did not surpass far beyond the value of a mere tribute of praise. Long prominent in public life as he had been, more than usual interest naturally attached itself to his personal acquaintance, and I therefore carefully studied, the man long before our mere acquaintance, formed during the Forty-sixth Congress, ripened into the intimacy of our friendship during the present Congress. What I had seen of him before had impressed me so favorably that, upon our being brought more closely together by our serv- ice upon the Committee on Foreign Affairs, we became muc^h at- tached to each othcr,'and I had many opportunities for admiring his practical sense, his ready conception of a subject in all its bearings, and the faithful attention he gave to the matters placed 28 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOFE S. ORTH. in liis experienced care. He especially placed me nnder personal obligations by the warm interest lie took in a measure I had in- troduced, and which is now pending before this Congress, in regard to our treaty-relations with Germany. He readily accepted a place upon the sub-committee which took the measure in charge, and met me frequently at home or in the committee-room to dis- cuss this subject with all the warmth and zeal of the patriot, the cool calculation of the diplomatist, and the discernment of the statesman. Even the last work of this snb-committee bears the imjtrint of his genial mind, the draft of the substitute finally agreed upon being in his handwriting — a document which I shall ever treasure for its hallowed reminiscences. GoDLOVE S. Orth was not a man easily ovei-looked or readily forgotten. The loss of no man in this House or its predecessor has been more deeply felt or so generally regretted. He had dis- tinguished himself in the field, in the civil service, in the arena of forensic skill. His death has called forth expressions of sym- pathy and regret, not only in his own ytate but in the press of the whole country. To no one would it liehoove us more to pay that sacred tribute — homage to the dead — than to our late associate, who closed in our midst a career of usefulness such as few can at- tain to during the same period of life, closed, too, while still in the prime and vigor of manhood, in the midst of life and useful- ness, ri[)e in honors, but not in years. His place may be filled, but will it be filled so well as he has done ? His voice is silent ; but the mind that caused its utter- ances has left its stamp uj^on the history of the day. He is no longer with us ; but Godlove S. Orth will be remembered until they who so remember him must needs ask remembrance of the future for themselves. There is a deep, sad lesson conveyed by this solenui hour to us, the living, who see in the coui-se of a few years so many manly bearers of illustrious names disappear from the sphere of activity in which they have filled important places. It teaches us that with the master-minds who grasped great subjects and helped to build the greatness of a nation must perish also, by the unrelent- ADDRESS OF Mli. BELTZHOOVER, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 29 ing hand of grim Death, all that vast experience, the gems of thought, the priceless knowledge, the illimital)le reasoning ])o\ver wliich carried their possessors, above a multitude that stood will- ingly aside, into the foremost ranks of the men of the day. Is such loss not deeply deplorable when we remember how all these (pialities might have asserted themselves, as they should, during a far longer period of usefulness than that vouchsatkl to many of our best men ? When the bright luster of an active mind has been dimmed by old age, we feel that nature claims its rights after the zenith of ca- pacity has been reached ; but we stand with awe in the presence of death when its icy touch silences lips that have pleaded so re- cently with the impassioned eloquence of strong manhood, or when its withering breath fells to the bier a man who but yester- day seemed busied in ceaseless activity. (lODLOVF, S. OrtTH, too, has been called from the scene of his earthly labors long before his friends, his constituents, and his country could reap the fullest advantages of his patriotism, his sa- gacitv, his devotion. He has been removed from our midst in the maturity of his powers and abilities, with unmeasured oppor- tunities still before him. But he has left behind him the traces of a strong mind imprinted upon important acts of legislation, upon national history itself Mere words of acknowledgment will not do him justice. He has justly earned a warm place in the hearts of his friends, the gratitude of his State, and the respect of the countrv. May his memory ever be cherished ! Address of Mr. Beltzhoover, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker: — To our graves we walk In the tbick footstejis of departed men. Seven times during the brief period of its existence this great legislative body has been halted in its deliberations by the inexora- ble messenger of Death. The brilliant and eloquent O'Connor fell first on tlie very threshold of the present term. Then Mr. Allen, 30 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF OODLOVE S. ORTH. the distinguished business Representative from the metropolis of the Mississippi Valley, was stricken down. Then the gallant sol- dier, Mr. Hawk, who carried ever with iiini the silent testimonial of his service and sacrifice for his country, was summoned suddenly away. Then Colonel Lowe, after a long struggle and brief fruition of the honors of his place here, heard "the inaudible and noiseless footstep" at his door. Then Mr. Updegraff died just as he had taken with great toil and endeavor a new lease upon that " habitation giddy and unsure which is built upon the public mind." Then the venerable statesman Mr. Orth, whose memory we are convened to honor on this occasion, departed full of years and hon- ors. And last the young and kind and genial Mr. Shackelford, in the very prime of a promising manhood, was rudely taken from his country's service and the sweet compaTiionship of his family and his friends. No preyious Congress in all the long years of our na- tional history has had such a death-roll. With admonishing fre- quency the supreme and solemn problem which all the ages have striven in vain to solve has been thrust upon us. In all times and in all lands it has been the most earnest and imperishable desire of the human mind to peer beyond the sable curtain of the tomb, which never outward swings. In one unbroken caravan the myriads of mankind from creation's dawn have gone out into the mysterious night of death. No single traveler has ever yet returned; nay, more, from ijone of the countless millions has ever yet come back a sign or token. There is no mystery like death. There is no theme so sublime and grand as immortality. It has been the fondest dream of humanity in every age and clime, and among all classes and con- ditions of men, from the philosopher in the pristine days of the academy to the rudest bushman in the wilds of the jungle. AVhen Sarpedon, the son of Jove, was slain before the walls of Troy, the greatest poet of all time, in his matchless epic, says : Apollo, with divine ambrosia all his limbs AnointiD)^, clothed him in immortal robes. « To two swift bearers'gave him then in charge. Sleep and Death-, twin brothers. The learning and philosophy and revelation of three thousand years have given to the yearning world no more light than that ADDRESS OF MR. BELTZHOOVER, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 31 which greeted the doubly darkened vision of the " blind old bard of Scio's rocky isle." Is it sleep or death? As we stand on the echoless shore and watch the bark of life go out and sink below the vision line of that silent, tideless sea, we cannot say whether it is death or sleep whose silken hands have seized our parting friend. We cannot know whether it is an ending forever or a resting be- tween the feverish toil of life and the dawning of the work-day of eternity. But with all its marvelous drapery in the thought and poetry and sono- of all the ages of the past there never was a time when there was so much indifference to death as now. Is it because after cen- turies of fruitless struggles with the inscrutable theme men have dropped it in despair and stand mute and resigned before the un- known and unknowable? Is it because the superstitious fear of death has faded before the brightening dawn of reason ? Is it be- cause of faith in a religion which points its promises beyond the tomb? We do not know. From whichever cause, it is clear that with the release from the ancient terror of death, either through philosophy or stoicism or faith, mankind have been infinitely the gainers. The great English philosopher says : " Men fear death as children hate to go into the dark." This is the whole reason of the subject. It is a childish, ignorant fear, unworthy of manhood and knowledge. The more we know tiie less we fear, whether our knowledge be based on the cold confidence of reason or the silent submission to the inevitable or the triumphant trust of the enthusiast in fiiith. The basest tyrant that ever enslaved mankind is the superstitious fear of death. It has been the stock in trade on which the priest- hood have lived and prospered in all times. It has been the founda- tion-stone on which all the countless cruelties and crimes and follies of all religions have been built. With relief from this unmanly and unreasonable dread of death humanity has turned its face to- ward Jife and its duties. The curse of all generations has been the neglect of the present for the future, the disregard of the demands of the hour and the frittering away of the narrow span of time here for the shadowy speculations on eternity. 32 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. Because men liave eome to a practical belief on this subject the world has sprung from the slavish toils of the past, with its priest- craft and prejudices, into the grand development of human life and thought. The ideal of this age is the enjoyment of the blessings of life and the acquisition of the means to secure them. The ob- ject of life is to live, and not to die. The Pauline precept that " no man liveth to himself " contains the grand fundamental declaration of the only unselfish purpose of existence, and embodies the sub- stance of all tlie faith which is believed to-day, the faith which builds up and creates and increases human enjoyment — the religion of humanity. The Platonic school, centuries before Paul was born, proclaimed the same great basic fact of all the faith which intelligent men will ever honestly accept. This is the spirit and belief in which the statesman whom we honor to-day worked out the problem of life. To enforce and illustrate the efforts and results of his life's struggles we have referred to the marvelous changes which have followed in the wake of the world's revolutions in thought and morals and society and government. GoDLOVE Stoner Orth was born on the 22d day of April, 1817, near Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He entereil Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburgh, in 1834, and remained until 1837. He was the orator of his society in 1836 and its disputant in 1837. He read law and was admitted to the bar at Gettysburgh in 1839. He subsequently removed to La Fayette, Indiana, where he practiced his profession and made his life's home. He was a member of the State senate of Indiana from 1843 to 1849, serving a part of the time as speaker and e.v officio as lieutenant-governor of the State. He was a mem- ber of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty- third, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses. He M-as a mem- ber of the peace conference of 1861, and one of the most trusted advisers of Mr. Lincoln through the war of the rebellion. He was minister to the court of Vienna in 1875— '76. He was captain of Company G, Seventy-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteers. He re- ceived the degree of LL. D. from his alma muter in 1874. He died on the 16th day of December, 1882, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. ADDRESS OF MR. BELTZBOOVER, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 3'^ His life was one niu'oasing striigirle with adverse fate, but was orowiH'd wit!) oorrespondiiig victories, and friendly hands eau frame no more eloquent euloirv tlian to record tlie lessons which liis ca- reer teaches. He was born among a quiet, industrious, frugal, farmer people. His ancestors had few opportunities for intellectual culture, and he himself had but little means and less encouragement to procure an education. He spent his early years in an atmosphere from which he could draw no inspiration or incentive to the higher and nobler aims of life. By the force of his own inherent genius and character he came )ip from the depths and fought his way unaided and alone to success and fame. No one can adequately understand and appreciate the obstacles which surround and bar the jirogress of a young man born of unlettered ancestors in an unjirogressive rural district. The sordid battle for subsistence which is waged for generations among such a people constrains their lives to the narrowest views of the ends of being. The struggle is to live, and, this achieved, the consummation of human endeavor is reached. The great sat- irist, Juvenal, says: "They do not easily rise whose abilities are re- pressed by poverty £tt home." From such unpropitious beginnings Mr. Orth rose slowly and steadily, single-handed in his contest with untoward fate, until he conquered an honorable place among men. The law of com])ensation, which never fails in any of the arrangements of nature, contributed to help as unfavorable circum- stances hindered him. He inherited in his humbleness of birth some things which were wonderful auxiliaries in his conflict with the world. He got from his sturdy ancestors a strong and enduring frame, a clear, healthy brain, a persistent and unconquerable in- du.stry, and th:it rare and invalualVle possession, great good common sense. He had a comprehensive and analytical intellect and a sound judgment. He was a vigorous and incisive speaker and formidable debater. He was a progressive and practical statesman and a capable and conservative legislator. A^ery few public men were as powerful before the {Xiojsle on the stump or in the forum. Very few of his compeers were more fnlly imbued with the utili- tarian spirit' of the times or applied themselves with more energy and intelligence to fairly- meet the demands of the country on the 0173 3 34 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. great questions in wliieh the people are most vitally interested. He was a cool, courageous, manly man. He knew his rights and fearlessly maintained them, as the records of the last session clearly show. In the very zenith of his career he learned the melancholy lesson that " virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes." He was the object of one of those malicious assaults which disgrace the politics of all countries, and particularly of this. This' malevolent slander thwarted the pursuit of his promising career just at the critical mo- ment when the future was fullest of hope. He utterly silenced his maligners when an opportunity came, but the poisoned shaft had done its wicked work. It served to lose the golden chance which, like the current, when it once goes by never returns. It left the dead statesman unscathed and clear, but it was an unhappy proof of the power of calumny in party politics in a free government. "Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent." But if there is one crime more dark and infamous than another it is the stabbing of fair and spotless reputation. On the tomb of myr- iads of worthy men, thus maimed and ruined in the midst of their fondest dreams of fame, could be appropriately written : A falcoTi towering in his pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawked at- and killed. But it is better to have deserved success and failed than to have won the victor's crown by fraud and crime. It is the sublimest arti- cle in" the faith of humanity that as the world grows wiser the shams and frauds of its hero worship will perish with the superstitions of its dying mythology, and men will then be accorded credit for what they do and not for what they were ignorantly supposed to have done. In those better days, which are already breaking on the horizon of the years to come, there will be an impartial and unerring forum in which the judgments of passion and prejudice and malevolence will be reversed forever. With the growth of the world's wisdom there will be a new measure of success which will give to duty done credit for the weight of calumny and contumely and malice tlirough which a man fearlessly fought the uneven battle of life. To that ADDRESS OF MR. PEIRCE, OF INDIANA. 35 sereue and certain ilay the dead statesman whose life and services we commemorate can sjifely trust his fame. In the beautiful lines of Catullus — Qui uiiuo it per iter tenebricosum nine uiule negant redire queniquam. He is now traveling the darksome path to that land from which they say no one ever returns. Whether the dark and silent jour- ney will eud in cold obstruction and oblivions death, or whether he will wake from his dreamless sleep in the glorious morning of another world, we do not know. We can only fondly hope and trust that the inexorable fote which cuts the thread of mortal life mav hold — The golden key Wliich opes the palace of eternity. Address of Mr. Peirce, of Indiana. Mr. Speaker : It is the common lot of all to die. We know that from this fate there is no escape. It is absolutely inevitable. We liiay look for it and see its near approach and yet are never ready to receive the grim messenger, no matter at what hour or in what guise he may appear. Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath, And stars to set; but all, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O death! Death lays his icy hands on our children, young, loving, and promising, and our hearts are wrung with grief. We cannot un- derstand the mystery of their death. We see the full-grown man, in all the pride of his strength and usefulness, called from life to death, and such a dispensation seems inscrutable and marvelous. Three-score years pass by and with them have come usefulness and honors and troops of friends, but the grim messenger calls his victim home, and in our weakness we cry out against the divine economy that makes it possible, and say that more years should be 36 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. acldi'd for the enjoyment of all these achievements. Inevitable as death is, our natures always revolt at its arbitrary power. Death loves a shining mark, and we this day mourn the loss of a friend, a lawyer, a statesman, and a patriot. Living in a stirring age, it was his fortune to serve his country at a time that called for the exercise of statesmanship and patriot- ism of the highest order. Few men have seen more public service, and few men have been more honored. I need not now and here trace his steps at length from early life through all the struggles of boyhood and manhood until he achieved his final success. That has already been done by my colleague [-Mr. Browne]. But it is a matter of absorbing interest that he had the iron will and nerve in 1839 to leave his home in Pennsylvania and seek a then far-off State, with slender means and among stran- gers, to win for himself a home and fame. The will and the cour- age that prompted him to this were sure signs of ultimate success. With all our present railroad facilities it is now hard to realize the undertaking of a journey to a new State requiring weeks in its ac- complishment. He selected La Fayette for his home and lived there until his death, a period of forty-three years, and for that city he always had the greatest pride and affection. Engaging in the practice of the law at a bar composed of men notably and con- spicuously able in their profession, he soon won his way to the front ranksand kept it until he entered the broader field of politics. In the practice of the law and in politics his life was full of strug- gles and antagonisms, and yet he won and held in the highest de- gree the confidence and respect of all with wdiom he came in con- tact. It has always seemed to me that one of the most striking ele- ments of his character was to be found in the courage of his con- victions. His judgment was formed after mature and deliberate reflection, and once formed he stood by it firmly and immovably. He was never a time-server, and his record is full of instances il- lustrating this element of his character. I will give but one. When the issue was made upon the currency question very many of the leading men of his party were inclined to go with what seemed to be the ruling passion of the hour, and in their anxiety to catch the ADDRESS OF MB. PEIRCE, OF INDIANA. 37 popular breeze sailed far away from the record of the party. The effect of these leaders so actiug was deiiioraliziug in the extreme. ]\Ir. Orth had voted for the resiim])tiou act aud for all the lead- ing features of the financial policy of his party. That policy was on trial. Many thought it a mistake, and evil effects from it were prophesied freely on every hand ; but well do I remember his hero- ism at that hour. In my city, where he was always a favorite, he was greeted with an audience that any man might be proud to face; and when he came to discuss that jiolicy of his party how well do I remember him ! With that serious, deliberate, aud determined manner that always attracted and convinced, he said: " I voted for the resumption act. I believe I did right, aud I should do so again." When he had finished his argument the doubting aud hesitating were won completely over to him, and from that time on there was no doubt in their minds of the propriety and value of that legislation. Subsequent events have shown the wisdom of his action aud the value of his services in breasting the storm of opposition and remaining steadfast to correct doctrines. Such spirits are the salvation of all parties. Mr. Orth possessed a kind and sympathetic heart. His hand and heart were open to every appeal and no one was ever turned away. He was especially kind and tender in looking after the in- terests of the needy, and when his great heart ceased to beat, and distingnished men and high officials of the State and nation were gathering to pay their last sad tribute of respect, there came also very many humble men to drop their tears. While the public were being admitted to look for the last time upon that kindly face many old friends and neighbors wept bitterl}'. Among those who came was an old German i-oMier, in whose claim for pension Mr. Orth had especially interested himself ("rippled with wounds received in honorable service under the old flag, decrepit from age, almost too feeble to walk unassisted, and liraving the dangers of verv bad weather, the old man had dragged himself into the house. In his hand he carried a small sprig of evergreen. Entering the room containing the remains, his eyes fell upon that face he knew and loved so wtll. Taking those cold hands in his and kissing them over and over again, he gave way to his grief and wept bitterly. 38 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. OBTH. Looking up through his tears he exclaimed : " He was kinder than a father to me! Oh, what shall I do now that he is gone!" Lay- ing the evergreen inside the casket, he said : " I am so poor, this is the onlv offering I can bring to him who was so good to me." He beggid that the evergreen might be buried with his friend, and turned again and again to look upon that silent face until led away by the attendants. What higher and better tribute could be paid to his goodness and greatness than this. He had been over and over elected to the highest legislative body on earth ; he had been high in the counsels of the men who controlled the destinies of his people in the hours of their deepest gloom ; he enjoyed the con- fidence of Presidents and Cabinet officers, of judges and Senators, and members of the House to which he belonged ; he had repre- sented our country at the court of one of the richest and most pow- erful countries of Europe, and yet he never lost the affection of the humblest of his friends at home. They were among the very first to give evidence of their appreciation of his virtues and to mourn his loss. The life of a public man is in some respects most undesirable. He may have lived beyond reproach, but too often his entrance into politics makes him the mark for all the shafts of envy and malice. It seems impossible for any public man to receive perfectly fair treatment ; and it would be difficult to find any one in public life who had not at some time been treated in such a way as to have the iron enter his soul. Mr. Orth was in public life when public excitement ran high and at a time when partisan feeling was in- tense, and in the contests through which he pa.«sed he knew some of the bitterness and rancor of party strife. And yet he so pur- sued the even tenor of an upright way that he retained the respect and esteem of those who were most active in the opposing ranks. More than once did he allude with feelings of evident delight and satisfaction to the fiict of the entire delegation from his State in Congress uniting in recommending and in urging his appointment to a foreign mission. And no one was more prompt and ready to do justice to others than he. He could not and would not consent to see any one unjustly assailed, and he would not stand Iw and 'hear a false accusation made for any mere temporary partisan pur- ADDEESS OF MB. PEIRCE, OF INDIANA. 39 pose. At one time an estrangement came between himself and another very prominent gentleman of the opposite party, and for several years their social relations were interrupted. In a party of gentlemen one day he heard the integrity of this gentleman as- sailed. With flashing eye and indignant mien he came to his res- cue and said: " I have known him for years. He is my political enemy and I am not on terms of personal intimacy with him ; but I know him to be an honest and incorruptible man, and I will not silently allow his good name to be impeached." The incident came to the ears of the gentleman, and brought him to Mr. Oeth at once for a reconciliation, which followed, and always afterward they enjoyed each other's friendship and confidence. No reference to the character of Mr. Oeth would do him jus- tice that did not greatly emphasize his habit of industry. He be- lieved that now was the time for the discharge of every duty, and faithfully he followed that belief. Upon receipt of a letter, no mat- ter from whom it might come, he seemed impatient until its answer should be speeding on its way. He believed that anything worth doing at all wa.s worth doing well, and he gave his whole attention to every matter engaging his mind. Every detail received full consideration, and the amount of work be accomplished seemed al- most marvelous. As a legislator he labored not alone for general results, but it was his ambition to make every law perfect in all its details. Mr. Orth was passionately fond of his family circle, and here the best qualities of the heart were most apj)arent. He believed in the sanctity of home, and that tiie man who was true in his family relations could not be untrue to the Ixmor of liie nation. While he fullv appreciated the honors of pulilic Hie and «a.-(letj)ly sensible of all he had won, yet he believed they were only valua- ble as they come home to heighten the cnjnynient of tliat little cir- cle that gathered about his hearthstone. All hopes, all honors, all aspirations, led him back to the charmed circle. Devoted, tender, and true, his loss has iallen upon that little circle with crusliing force. Mr. Orth's nature contained a deep religious vein. ^A itlic.ut obtruding it upon others' attention he always maintained the high- 40 LIFE AND CAHRACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. est respect for religion and religious institutions. The opinion of good people always afforded him the liveliest satisfaction, and he constantly had in view the desire to so conduct himself as to bring no reproach upon himself and to merit high opinion of good men. In one of my familiar conversations with him, which were always appreciated by me, he said to me : "A member of Congress cannot be too circumspect in his conduct here. He should remember that every night pious people are kneeling down and praying for him." Our friend is gone, and those who enjoyed his confidence and friendship, who loved him for his estimable qualities and so profited by his wisdom and experience, sincerely mourn his loss. But he is not lost to us. He is still with us in a bright and enduring ex- ample. He has left to the country the legacy of a well-spent life. To the youth of the country he leaves an example of industry, of perseverance, of honesty, of patriotism, and of success, to inspire them with lofty and ambitious purposes. Address of Mr. Davis, of Illinois. Mr. Speaker : In the midst of an active service, where personal cares and requirements press upon us, where our duties and re- sponsibilities are so great that we become aggressive and head- strong in their performance and observance ; in a life upon this floor, where seemingly the hours are altogether too short and the day itself but a brief hour ; where strong men grapple in debate at times almost as fiercely as warriors do in battle; where the skill and adroitness of tlie one is only counteracted by the logic, the eloquence, and the activity of the other; wliere time appears to be the great desideratum and men are taught that an hour lost or di- verted is almost a calamity ; while thus thoroughly engaged and absorbed in these activities, oblivious apparently to matters of graver concern, we have been brought to a halt by the command of the immortal Speaker of Mankind, and reminded and admonished in the most forcible and iinj)ressive manner that we are but mortal. How suddenly and how frequently this terrible command lias been given this House is a sad remembrance to us ail. ADDRESS OF MR. DAVIS, OF ILLINOIS. 41 It is our custom, ami as I believe an eminently proper one, that we of our own motion sjiould stop in the activities of this Cham- ber, and laying aside all thought of pressiug duty devote an hour to the memory and honor of those of our members who have been called hence to a higher life, to a higher sphere of action, and to the lesson which it teaches. This hour we devote to-day to the memory of our departed friend and member, Godlove S. Orth, of Indiana; and I would not that this hour should pass without rising in my place and sav- ing a word in testimony and to the memory and to the honor of this grand old man. Old not in years, old not in appearance or in' physical and mental power, but old and grand in the service of his country ; a diplomat, a soldier, and a statesman, for a period of upward of forty years almost continuously he served his State and his country well. His colleagues upon this floor, with exact data of his public service, having intimate relations and full knowledge of his public life and perstmal character, ha\'e spoken elotpiently and in excel- lent taste of his great worth. I speak of him, and only briefly, as .we knew him here in recent years, and as a warm friend and as a true man. jVIr. Orth was prominent in this body as one of its leaders, both in counsel and in debate. His great experience, his thorough fa- miliarity with the histoi-y of his country and the necessities of its people; his tpiick perception; his cultured mind, where were stored the treasures of a long and active public life; his steadfast adherence to the principles of his ]>olitical faith, rendered him in- valuable in this legislative assembly, in the preparation and in the enactment of wise and lieneficial'laws in the interest of the people and the country. He was specially adapted to this service in which he took great pride and labored industriously. As a debater Mr. Okth took high rank. Never was challenge in debate sent him which he did not instantly accept, and from a mind of remarkable resources and of great activity he supported his position wiih such an array of facts and illustrations, so tersely put, with argument so logical and eloquent, with an earnestness of 42 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. OBTH. manner, aggressive yet courteous and convincing, which carried conviction to the minds of all that he was honest in his belief and that he had the courage of his own convictions. He was a statesman in the broader sense ; he gave his energy, his ffreat talents, and the best efforts of his mind to matters of national concern and in the interest of the general public. He was too broad for selfishness, too great to become useless through envy or jealousy, and the undermining or tearing down of an- other's position by secret metliods for his own advancement was beneath him. He would extend the same candor to an opponent which he would expect for himself, and would take an advanced and manly jjosition, not obtruding, yet courageous in the consciousness of his own ability to sustain himself and the cause which he ad- vocated by merit alone. Mr. Orth was strong and aggressive in his own belief, yet sen- sitive as a child, and warm, exceedingly warm, in his friendships. I shall not forget liow this grand ohl man, with his forty years of experience in public life resting so gracefully upon him aud lio-hting up as with a halo his charming countenance, greetent the remainder of his davs in quiet usetiilness in the beautiful little city which had been his home for almost half a century. Less than two years ago he went to his rest, honored and lieloved bV all. The second of the trio to enter the valley and shadow was Gou- LOVE S. Orth, in honor of whom tiiis august body has set apart this hour. He was the youngest of the brilliant comjiany of 1840. Less gifted by nature, perhaps, than some of his companions, he made recompense therefor by unremitting study and honest, conscientious devotion to the letter as well as the spirit of the work he had in 46 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. hand. Elected to the senate of his State when but twenty-five years of age, he immediately became so necessary to that body and took such high rank as a legislator and parliamentarian that after two years' service he was elected president of the senate. From that time until the day of his death he was a trusted party leader. Skilled in the rare faculty of estimating his fellow-men correctly, he was an efficient organizer. Mild mannered yet plain spoken, always sincere and able to impress his associates with that sincerity, he was a peacemaker and a promoter of harmony. Deliberate, cautious, and yielding when preparing for the struggles of public life, he was quick, obstinate, and aggressive when those struggles were ujjon him. In my judgment but few men of his disposition and habits of mind could assume his proportions in an emergency. For forty years, with here and there an exceptional year, the peo- ple who knew him best have kept him in positions of responsibility and honor, in all of which he so demeaned himself as to command their love and confidence. I doubt not I will be pardoned for turning for one moment from the honored dead to the honored living. Hail to thee, Dick Thomp- son, last of the brilliant company of 1840 ; peer of thy coadjutors in all things and superior to them in many ! May the time be far distant when thy voice, to which the people of thy State have for forty years so eagerly turned for counsel, encouragement, and in- spiration, shall be stilled in death. The labors of Godlove S. Orth are ended. " The record of a noble life is that life's best eulogy ; the history of the deeds of worthy men their most lasting epitaph." What Mr. Oeth has accomplished for his country and his fellow- men is (lur inheritance. I can make no better wish for my State nor for the nation than that their destiny for the future may be controlled by men so able, so patriotic, so wise, so good as he. ADDRESS OF MB. FORD, OF MISSOURI. 47 Address of Mr. FoRD, of Missouri. Mr. Speaker: It was my good fortune to be somewhat infi- raately associated with Mr. Orth in the Forty-sixth and first ses- sion of the Forty-seventh Congress. Sitting at his side, I had rare Opportunity of knowing and learning to esteem a tlioroughly repre- sentative American statesman. Mr. Orth was kind and consid- erate, and although a man of varied experience, a citizen who had represented his Government abroad with great ability and was not less conspicuous as a legislator in the councils of his country, he was yet unpretending, indulgent, and generous. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Orth was proud of his country and devoted to the republican form of government. He had seen the degradation of the millions affected by the pernicious system inseparalile from monarchy, and realized the full force of that great truth, " the people can best gov- ern themselves." He was a sincere, ardent believer in the dignity of American citizenship, and would proclaim it with as much fervor in the pres- ence of kings as when addressing an audience in the State of In- diana. Naturalized citizens appreciate his fidelity and revere his memory ; and I shall take leave to add the preamble and resolu- tion adopted at a meeting of Irish-American citizens as a tribute to the worth of an estimable, distinguished American citizen : Clan-na-Gael Hall, Washington, D. C, January 10, 1883. At the regular meeting of the Clau-ua-Gacl Association held ou this date, the following preamble and resolution were passed unanimously : Whereas we have learned of the death of the late Hon. G. S. Orth, ex-min- ister to Vienna, and chairman of the sub-committee of Foreign Affairs charged with thedutj'of inquiriug into the cases of the American citizens im- prisoned by the British in Ireland; and Whereas Hon. Mr. Orth, as Representative and citizen, manifested a sin- cere sympathy for the Irish people and those who served and suffered for them, and faithfully and efficiently performed his duty as chairman of the sub-committee above referred to: Therefore, Be it resoh'td. That we, as American citizens of Irish birth or origin, ex- 48 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GODLOVE S. ORTff. press our deep au'l heartfelt regret at his (i<*ath anfl the consequent loss to his family of a devoted aud atfectionate busliaud and father, to the Republic of one of its purest, noMest. aud ablest Representatives and citizens, and to the Irish people of a faithful, earnest, and practical friend. It was ordered that a copy of the above be tiled with the records of the association, and that copies be forwarded to Mrs. Orth aud to the Speaker of the Hou.se of Representatives. On behalf of the Clan-na Gael. ED. MEAGHER CONDON, JAMES DILLON, JAMES BELLEW, Committee on Resolutions Address of Mr. DoxEY, of Indiana. Mr. Speaker: By tlio^e who were fellow-members, colaborers, and the political associate.s of my lamented predeee.-^sor have his virtues been praised and his talents appropriately applauded. With tongues whose brilliancy has awakened these chambers in the pres- ence of him of whom we would this day sjieak, and whose eloquence and wi.sdom have attracted his attention and his admiration, has his life been reviewed. All tliis has licen said so beautifully and bv words laden with such pure love that I feel all has been .said that need be .said. A monument typical of the personal and political character of this distinguished statesman and patriot has been built here by friends this day ; but I, as his successor to a seat in this Hou.se, and for many years his constituent and admirer, cannot permit this last opportunity to pa.ss to ca.st upon the mound beneath which slum- bers his memory a rosebud, a leaf, some simple emblem to mark the appreciation in which I held him while living and the sorrow I feel at his loss. He has gone from among its, and the chair he occupied will never be filled by any one nn)re pure in nature, more lofty and courageous in his actions, more kind and gentle in his every word. He won the hearts of those he chanced to meet wherever lie went. He was frank, he was honest, he was plain. None loved him bet- ter than those who knew him best. In his own home city, where ADDBESS OF ilR. DOXEY, OF INDIANA. ■ 49 his daily walivs were most conspicuous, was he held in highest esteem. There wa.s no secrecy in his private life. He was the soul of truth. History am reveal nothing which will detract from the purity of his life and character. His politeness was one of his most prominent characteristics. It was of the genuine type, that which springs from the true goodness of heart, that politeness which ever seeks to contribute to the hap- piness of others and which avoids all that could give pain. He studiously avoided personal bitterness. He could discuss a political question with an opponent who differed most widely from him, without for a moment losing his temper. But GoDLOVE S. Orth is dead. That tongue which once by its wisdom and eloquence stirreil the souls of those about me here to-dav now lies cold and speechless beneath the sod. But in his- torv it will speak forever. The seat he so well filled on this floor has been taken by another. The various positions he held in the organization of this Congress are occupied by other men. The daily routine moves forward as when he was among you. Ap- parently there is no gap left here by his demise ; but there is a vacancy, not only in the ability of this Congress, but in the heart of every one who knew him. He has crossed the dark river. To the summons has he re- sponded, and gone to join the innumerable caravan that moves to the mysterious realms. His death was as peaceful as his life. He went not like a slave at night, but sustained and soothed by an un- faltering trust, wrapped the drapery of his couch about him, and has lain down to peaceful dreams. The resolutions were then adopted ; and accordingly the House adjourned. 0173 4 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. In the Senate, December 18, 1882. A message from the House of Kepresentatives, by Mr. McPlier- son, its Clerk, commuuicated to the Senate the intelligence of the death of Godlove S. Orth, late a member of the House from the Slate of Indiana, and transmitted the resolutions of the House thereon. Mr. Harrison. I request the Chair to lay before the Senate the message just received from the House of Representatives. The Presiding Officer. The Chair now lays before the Sen- ate resolutions from the House of Representatives, which will be read. The Acting Secretary read the House resolutions, as follows : Besohed, That the House has heard with sorrow of the death of Hon. God- love S. Orth, a Representative from the State of ludiaua. Seaolved, That the Clerk coimnunicate these proceedings to the Senate. Resolved, That as a token of respect to the memory of the deceased the House do now adjourn. Mr. Harrison. Mr. President, in view of this announcement from the House of Representatives of tlie death of Hon. Godlove S. Orth, an event which will bring sorrow to a very wide circle of friends both in public and in private life, and out of respect to the memory of one who had a very long and a very honorable public service, I move that the Senate do now adjourn. The President pro tempore. The Chair announces as the com- mittee on the part of the Senate to join the House committee to attend the funeral ceremonies of Mr. Orth, the Senator from Indiana [Mr. Harrison], the Senator from New York [Mr. Lap- ham], and the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Sawyer]. The Sena- tor from Indiana moves that the Senate adjourn. The motion was agreed to ; and the Senate adjourned. 50 proceedings of tee senate. 51 In the Senate, January 31, 1883. A message from the House of Kepresentatives, by Mr. MePher- son, its Clerk, transmitted to the Senate the resolutions adopted by that body in relation to the death of Godlove S. Orth, late a mem- ber of the House from the State of Indiana. Mr. Harbison. I ask the Chair to lay the resolutions of the House before the Senate. The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Indiana asks that the resolutions just received from the House of Representatives be laid before the Senate. If there be no objection such will be the order, and the resolutions will be read. The Principal Legislative Clerk read the resolutions, as follows : Resolved, That the business of the House be suspended that suitable honors may be paid the memory of Godlove S. Okth, late a Representative from In- diana. Renohed, That in the death of Mr. Orth the country has sustained the loss of a safe couuselor, a patriotic citizen, and ,au able and faithful public servant. Resolved, That as a further mark of respect for liis memory the House at the couclusiou of these ceremonies shall adjourn. Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. Mr. Harrison. I submit resolutions for action. The Presiding Officer. The resolutions will be read. The resolutions were read, as follows : h'esolved, That the Senate has received with profound sorrow the announce- ment of the death of Hon. Godlove S. Orth, late a member of the Hou.se of Representatives from the State of Indiana, and tenders to the family aud kindred of the deceased the assurance of sympathy iu their sad bereavement. Ilesolved, That the business of (he Senate be now suspended that opportunity may be given for fitting tribute to the memory of the deceased and to hisemi- nent public and private virtues, and that as a further mark of respect the Senate at the conclusion of such remarks shall adjourn. 52 LIFE AND CBARACTEB OF GODLOVE S. ORTH. Address of Mr. Harrison, of Indiana. Mr. President : Godlove S. Orth, of Indiana, a member of this Conoress from tlie ninth district of that State, departed this life at his home in La Fayette, Indiana, on the 16th day of Decem- ber 1882. Mr. Orth was born near Lebanon, Pennsylvania, on the 22d day of April, 1817, and was at the time of his death in his sixty-sixth year. His parents were of German stock, and he always spoke with pride of those homely but sturdy qualities of his ancestors whicii made them so conspicuously useful and influ- ential as citizens of his native State. He was educated at Pennsyl- vania College, Gettysburgh, Pennsylvania, and during his course there was a fellow-student of Ex-Governor Conrad Baker, of In- diana. The college friendship formed between these two conspicu- ous Indianians was maintained unbroken through life. After finishing his literary course Mr. Orth devoted himself to the study of the law, spending some time in the law office of Hon. Thaddens Stevens, for whom he always retained an afiFectionate admiration. The influence of Mr. Stevens upon the character of his young pupil can be plainly traced in that sympathy with the weak and oppressed which marked Mr. Orth's life and speeches. Having finished his legal studies, he was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, and at once removed to La Fayette, Indiana, where the remainder of his life was spent. He arrived at La Fayette in 1839, and began at once the practice of his profession, to which he brought good acquirements, industry, energy, and rather conspicuous powers as an advocate. He very soon entered into political life, and the practice of his profession was necessarily mucii interrupted by the public duties to which he was repeatedly called by his neighbors. In 1843, only four years after his removal to La Fayette, he was elected to the State senate as a Whig. That he served his constit- uency with fidelity is evidenced by the fact that he was twice after- ward returned by them. ADDRESS OF MR. HARRISON, OF INDIANA. 53 In 1845, when only 28 years of age, he was, after a very spirited and protracted contest, chosen president of tlie senate. In the year 1848 Mr. Orth was a Presidential elector on the Taylor and Fillmore ticket, and took an active and eifective part in that exciting campaign. He was a member of the peace congress which assembled at Washington in 1861, being one of the five dele- gates from the State of Indiana. In 18(32 he entered the military service of his country and was placed in command of the United States ram Hornet, assigned to duty on the Ohio River, where he rendered valuable if not conspicu- ous service. In the year 1862 Mr. Oeth was first elected to the Congress of the United States. That campaign in Indiana will always be a memorable one. The first great impulse of patriotic enthusiasm had somewhat abated before a succession of disasters to the national armies, and a great deal of discontent had begun to manifest itselt against the administration of Mr. Lincoln. Of the eleven Congress- men to which the State of Indiana was then entitled only four were chosen who were in sympathy with the Administration, and of these Mr. Orth was one. He was at once brought into contact with the most exciting and momentous issues which have ever engaged the attention of the national Congress, and was not slow to lift his voice in emphatic and courageous utterances in favor of what he believed to be tor the honor and perpetuity of the Government. He had faith to believe that this seeming ebb in the patriotic reso- lution of our people to maintain the Government would be followed by a flow which would lift the tide of patriotism and coui-age higher than before. His first speech in the House was u\) genial and kind that his warm personal friendships embraced men of all parties. I might dwell upon the associates with whom he entered life in Indiana, wliose influence he experienced, and nearly all of whom have |)receded him to tiie grave ; but the time and the occasion do not permit. He sleeps at the beantifid city of La Fayette, with a strong i)and of comrades who iiave srone before him. Some dav the pen of the historian and tlie tongue of tlie orator will embalm the names of the pioneer thinkers and workers of the Wabash Valley, and among them will be found that of Godlove S. Orth. He was one of a brilliant and intellectual fraternity, a fraternity at tiie bar and in politics which has left an enduring influence on tlie history of the State of his adoption. I saw Mr. Orth not long before ids death. He was aware of his failing powers, but spoke of the future, whatever it had in store, with cheerfulness and courage. Those who stood beside him at the last moment have infoi'med me that his veiy last expression was one of happiness. Peace to his memory ! In the grave all divisions are buried, and over his grave his friends and those who loved him will mourn, while the days and the weeks and the years go by. Sir, in recognition of tiie sad event which we this day commemo- rate, I move the adoption of the resolutions. The Presiding Officer. The que,stion is on the resolutions. The resolutions were agreed to unanimously ; and the Senate. adjourned. ^- v^i^Vv■^SW\\^^^vfl»f>^^^^-; «\\\»\''