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 OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 DESIGNED AS A REPLY TO INQUIRIES OFTEN MADE RESPECTING THE LEADING 
 EVENTS OF HIS LIFE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 Evening Post Steam Presses, 208 Broadway. 
 
 1876. 
 
SOME FACTS ABOUT 
 
 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 BENJAMIN HELM BRISTOW, 
 
 OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 • 
 
 DESIGNED AS A REPLY TO INQUIRIES OFTEN MADE RESPECTING THE LEADING 
 EVENTS OF HIS LIFE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 Evening Post Steam Presses, 208 Broadway. 
 
 1S76. 
 
|*7< 
 
 95- /9iZ'/9 
 
SOME FACTS ABOUT 
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 BENJAMIN HELM BRISTOW, 
 
 OF KENTUCKY, 
 
 Dosigned as a reply to inquiries often made respecting the leading events of his career. 
 
 . Benjamin Helm Bristow was born at Elkton, Todd Co., Ken- 
 tucky, June 20, 1832. His father was Hon. Francis M. Bristow, 
 a man of unspotted character, a distinguished lawyer and a 
 member of the Constitutional Convention of Kentucky in 1850, 
 and a representative in Congress in 1860-1. His grandfather 
 was a baptist clergyman, a native of Virginia, and had served 
 as a private soldier in the war of 1812. A great- uncle, from 
 whom he derives his christian name, served in the army of the 
 Revolution, and lost his life in the battle of Brandywine. The 
 mother of Col. Bristow was a daughter of Richard Helm, of 
 Hardin county, Kentucky, who belonged to one of the most 
 prominent and honorable families of the State. Thus it ap- 
 pears that on both sides he comes of good stock. He has 
 inherited superior qualities of mind and character. That lie 
 has done honor to a noble ancestry the sequel abundantly 
 proves. 
 
 ANTI- SLAVERY TRAINING. 
 
 It has been alleged that Col. Bristow is not to be trusted to 
 carry out the principles of the Republican party because he 
 was born in a slave-holding State. The suspicion thus cast 
 upon him comes from those who risked nothing in becoming 
 
anti-slavery men, having merely drifted with the tide that 
 swelled around them in the North after the passage of the 
 Kansas-Nebraska Bill. So far as mere birthplace goes, CoL 
 Bristow was born in the same neighborhood where Abraham 
 Lincoln first saw the light, and both of them trace their ances- 
 try backward through Virginia to good old English stock. Mr. 
 Lincoln passed his younger years in Hardin count} 7 , Ken- 
 tucky, and, as it happened, was a favorite and, in some sense, 
 a protege of Richard Helm, the grandfather of Col. Bristow on 
 his mother's side. While the war was in-progress Col. Bristow 
 had occasion to visit Washington City, . and while there was 
 presented to Mr. Lincoln. " Your name," said Mr. Lincoln, 
 "is Benjamin Helm Bristow, is it not?" " It is, sir," replied 
 Col. Bristow. " Let me give you a good shake of the hand 
 then," added Mr. Lincoln ; " Your grandfather, Richard Helm, 
 was very kind to me when I was a barefooted boy in Hardin 
 county." 
 
 Col. Bristow's father and grandfather were both anti- 
 slavery men in a slave-holding community. His father gave 
 liberty to the slaves he had inherited from the relatives of his 
 wife, and was noted for his efforts to ameliorate the condition 
 of the colored people in his neighborhood. It is on record 
 that, as a member of the Constitutional Convention of Ken- 
 tucky, he voted against the clause in that instrument declaring 
 the right of property in slaves to be as sacred as that of any 
 other property. The Hon. James Speed, of Louisville, Mr» 
 Lincoln's attorney-general, himself an anti-slavery man as far 
 back as 1849, wrote to a friend under date May, 9, 1876, as 
 follows concerning the secretary. 
 
 "I have known Mr. Bristow since his early manhood. His 
 father and grandfather were emancipationist, so that by inheri- 
 tance he was an anti-slavery man ; the principles so born in 
 him have been carried out in his life. * * 
 All of his feelings, sympathies and convictions have been up 
 and abreast with the enlightened sentiments of the times. The 
 great principles of human freedom and equality before the law, 
 which were born to the country in the four years' travail of 
 Mr. Lincoln's administration, lay as close to the heart of Bris- 
 tow as of any man, and in his place and according to his 
 opportunities, he did all he could to establish and perpetuate 
 them." 
 
FIKST POLITICAL ACTION. 
 
 Both father and son were anti-slavery Whigs and followers of 
 Henry Clay prior to the formation of the Republican party ; but 
 Col. Bristow did not become a voter till 1853. In the following 
 year the repeal of the Missouri Compromise took place, and he 
 in common with the great body of the whig party opposed that 
 fatal measure. But the spirit of slave propagandism was too 
 strong in Kentucky to be successfully resisted. A few years 
 later the Lecompton Bill came up in Congress, the object and 
 intent of which was to force a pro-slavery constitution on the 
 people of Kansas without their consent. The whig candidate 
 for Governor of Kentucky, Hon. Joshua F. Bell, favored that 
 measure, and the Bristows, father and son, refused to vote for 
 him. They bolted the party ticket because they would not 
 sanction a wicked measure intended to extend slavery and 
 trample under foot the principle of self-government. Those 
 who are able to recall the ternper of the South on all measures 
 affecting the " peculiar institution" between the years 1850 and 
 1860, need not to be told that it required uncommon steadfast- 
 ness of principle to oppose, in a slaveholding community, any 
 act which aimed to uphold and strengthen that institution. 
 The Lecompton Bill, bad as -it was, received the votes of eight 
 Northern Senators and twenty-seven Northern Representatives 
 No special merit is claimed for Col. Bristow that he placed 
 himself in opposition to this measure, but it Serves to show that 
 his antagonism to slavery is no new-born zeal, that his political 
 action was in harmony with that of the Republican party be- 
 fore the party had a well denned national existence, and that it 
 was manifested in an atmosphere charged with the malaria 
 which the actual presence of slavery breeds. Let any man who 
 thinks that Col. Bristow is not to be trusted to carry out repub- 
 lican principles, ask himself what would probably have been his 
 own political status twenty years ago, if he had been born and 
 reared in a slave-holding State. He could not have sided with 
 the republican sentiment of the country much earlier than Col. 
 Bristow did. It will be shown hereafter that all of Col. Bris- 
 tow's public acts have been consistent with his early opposition 
 to the Lecompton infamy. 
 
EDUCATION — PROFESSION — ENTRANCE TO THE ARMY. 
 
 In 1847 Mr. Bristow entered Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, 
 from which he graduated in 1851, leaving behind him a reputa- 
 tion for solidity rather than brilliancy of scholarship. He was 
 noted as a logical debater as well as for independence of charac- 
 ter and sturdy, self reliant manhood. Ee turning to Elkton, 
 he entered the law office of his father, where he studied two 
 years. In 1853, he commenced the practice of law with suc- 
 cess, remaining at Elkton till 1858, when he removed^ to Hop- 
 kinsville, Kentucky, and engaged in the practice of. his profes- 
 sion there, in partnership with Judge K. J. Petree^ancl sub- 
 sequently with the Hon. John Feiand. Three years later the 
 war of the rebellion commenced and Mr. Bristow promptly 
 espousing the cause of the Union, announced his intention to 
 enter the army. Kentucky was in a ferment, her wealth and 
 aristocracy strongly in sympathy with the rebellion, and her 
 old whig traditions still attaching her to the Union. 
 
 ARMY RECORD. 
 
 Col. Bristow was enrolled in the volunteer forces of the United 
 States, September 20, 1861, and mustered in as lieutenant-colo- 
 nel of the 25th Kentucky Infantry, at Calhoun, Ky., for the 
 period of three years. Col. J. M. Shackleford was the com- 
 manding officer of the regiment, which was soon ordered to 
 the front, and assigned to the army operating under Gen. Grant, 
 on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. The regiment took 
 part in the battle of Fort Donelson, where it displayed great 
 gallantry, and lost heavily in officers and men. After the cap- 
 ture of the fort and the dispersion of the enemy the command 
 was removed to Pittsburg Landing, where it was hotly engaged 
 in the two days battle at that place. About an hour after the 
 beginning of the engagement Col. Bristow was struck down by 
 a shell which exploded near his head and rendered him insensi- 
 ble for the rest of the day. He was carried off the field, and 
 for some time it was supposed that he would not revive. Major 
 Wall, who then took command of the regiment, thus speaks of 
 this incident in the report of the battle : 
 
 " About one hour after we had marched to the field occupied 
 by us at the commencement of the engagement, the explosion 
 
of a shell near and over Col. Bristow's head rendered him in- 
 sensible the remainder of the day. His hearing is seriously, 
 and I fear permanently injured, and the spinal column is injured. 
 I had him removed from the field and took command of the 
 regiment." 
 
 When Col. Bristow recovered he made a report of that part of 
 the operation preceding the time when he was struck down, 
 and he thus refers to what happened to himself : 
 
 " After we had been on the ground about an hour an un- 
 fortunate accident occurred to me, which rendered me incapa- 
 ble of retaining command, and } 7 ou are respectfully referred to 
 the report of Major "Wall, who took command of this battalion 
 during the rest of the day." 
 
 The 25th regiment was so reduced in numbers by this and 
 previous engagements, that it was soon afterwards consolidated 
 with the 17th Kentucky, taking the name of the latter regiment. 
 By reason of the consolidation Col. Shackleford and Lieut.-Col. 
 Bristow returned home without delay and raised the 8th Ken- 
 tucky Cavalry, which was mustered in for one year's service, at 
 Bussellville, Ky., September 8, 1862. This regiment was one 
 of the finest in the West. The following facts are collated 
 from the report of the adjutant-general of Kentucky. 
 
 " The first battalion of this regiment was organized at Hen- 
 derson, Ky., by Major Jas. H. Hollo way. The second battalion 
 was organized by Col. Bristow at Bussellville, Ky. The 
 third battalion was recruited at Lebanon, Ky., by Major J. 
 W. Weatherford. The whole regiment, numbering 1,248 men, 
 was recruited and organized within the space of three 
 weeks from the time authority was issued for the same, and 
 was composed of the very best material in the State. The 
 line officers were competent and gallant soldiers, and, from 
 the day of organization, their respective commands were well 
 disciplined and under perfect control. The first battalion, 
 under Major Holloway, commanded by Col. Shackelford, 
 remained at Henderson, Ky., during the months of Sep- 
 tember and October, 1862, and were constantly skimishing 
 with the rebel forces under Adam Johnson. This battalion 
 together with one or two companies of Indiana cavalry, fought 
 a large force under Adam Johnsou, at Geiger's Lake, and 
 
8 
 
 scattered them in every direction. In this engagement Col 
 Shackelford received a severe and painful wound while leading 
 a charge." 
 
 The second and third battalions, in the meanwhile, were 
 engaged in a number of skirmishes with the rebel Col. 
 Woodward, and, finally, by a night march under Major Kennedy, 
 they came upon his forces at Camp Coleman, in Todd county, 
 Ky., dispersing the whole force." 
 
 " Upon the invasion of Kentucky by Bragg, Gen. Buell 
 ordered the second and third battalions to join his command 
 at Bowling Green, Ky. In conjunction with a part of the 4th 
 Kentucky Cavalry they were assigned to the responsible duty 
 of guarding Gen. Buell's immense wagon train across Green 
 river. Upon returning to -Bowling Green two companies of 
 the 8th Cavalry were sent upon a scout into Tennessee, where 
 they surprised and captured a party of over one hundred rebel 
 soldiers who were engaged in collecting supplies for Bragg's 
 army." 
 
 " In November, 1862, the first and second battalions were or- 
 dered to Russellville, Ky., and the third battalion ordered to 
 Clarksville, Tenn., where it remained during the remainder of 
 its term of enlistment, doing good service in repelling invasions 
 and keeping open the Cumberland river, thus securing supplies 
 to Gen. Rosecrans' army. During the winter and spring the 
 first and second battalions were engaged in many skirmishes, 
 and were assigned the duty of protecting the country west of 
 the Nashville Railroad." 
 
 " In January, 1863, Col. Shackelford was promoted Brigadier- 
 General, and Lieut. Col. B. H. Bristow was commissioned 
 Colonel." 
 
 " This regiment and a battalion of the 3d Kentucky Cavalry, 
 under command of Col. Bristow, were in pursuit of Morgan in 
 his raid through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, and did good 
 service in that long and fatiguing march, and were present at 
 the taking of the notorious raider." 
 
 " The regiment Avas mustered out of service at Russellville, 
 Ky., September 23d, 1863." 
 
 Gen. Schackelford commanding the brigade in which the 8th 
 Kentucky Cavalry served, in his report of the capture of Mor- 
 gan, thus speaks of the conduct of Col. vBristow : 
 
9 
 
 "It is difficult for me to speak of individual officers or men 
 without doing injury to others. I unhesitatingly bear testimony 
 to the uniform good conduct and gallant bearing of the whole 
 command. Yet I cannot forbear to mention the names of some 
 of the officers * * Col. Bristow, Lieut. Col. Holloway 
 and Maj. Staging of the 8th Kentucky * * * deserve the 
 gratitude of the whole country for their energy and gallantry." 
 
 IN THE STATE SENATE. 
 
 On New Year's day, 1863, President Lincoln issued his Pro- 
 clamation of Emancipation. This document produced intense 
 excitement in Kentuck}-, and a movement was set on foot 
 by some of the so-called Unionists of the State, under the lead- 
 ership of Gov. Wickliffe, to resist iflP In the following August, 
 while serving in the field, Col. Bristow was elected to the State 
 Senate from Todd and Christian counties, in opposition to the 
 Wickliffe movement. The peril to the State from the sudden 
 defection of a large number of those who had hitherto espoused 
 the Union cause was imminent, for if Kentucky should, at this 
 critical hour, join the rebellion, the consequences both to her- 
 self and to the nation, would be likely to prove most dis- 
 astrous. The neighbors and friends of Col. Bristow called him 
 back from the field to meet this new danger. It has been alleg- 
 ed that he resigned from the army because he was not willing 
 to serve with colored troops. The truth is that he did not 
 e.isign at all. He was mustered out with his regiment at the 
 expiration of their term of service. Colored troops had not 
 then been called into the service, but when they were, Col. 
 Bristow heartily approved of the step, declaring that he would 
 use every instrument that Providence had placed in our hands 
 to quench the fires of secession, and to maintain the unity of 
 the nation. 
 
 In the winter of 1863, Col. Bristow attended a meeting of 
 the anti-slavery men of Kentucky, to devise means to bring the 
 State into harmony with the principles of the Emancipation 
 Proclamation by repealing the laws which required free negroes 
 to leave the State, and which made every person who assisted 
 a slave to obtain his freedom, liable to criminal prosecution. 
 At this meeting Col. Bristow took the most advanced ground, 
 
10 
 
 and by his clear-siglited and undaunted course elicited the high 
 encomiums of the venerable and loyal Robert J. Breckinridge, 
 who has borne, for a quarter of a century, one of the most 
 honored names in the Presbyterian church of the United States. 
 
 MEASURES EOR SUPPRESSING THE REBELLION. 
 
 If any better proof can be required of Col. Bristow's fidelity 
 to the Union and to the anti- slavery principles in which he was 
 nurtured than his willingness to shed his blood in their defense, 
 his record as a member of the Kentucky Legislature furnishes 
 it in ample measure. The period of his service in that body 
 embraces not only the ordinary steps taken to suppress the 
 rebellion, but the more important one of acting upon the 
 thirteenth amendment to the Constitution. His term of service 
 commenced on the 7th DecHuiber, 1863, when he was less than 
 thirty-two years of age. In a very short while, however, he 
 was recognized as the leader of the Union men in that branch 
 of the Legislature, and the ablest debater in either party. His 
 previous services in the field as an officer in the Union army, 
 gave him a thorough knowledge, not only of the wants of the 
 soldiers, but of the strength of the rebellion. 
 
 We propose now to trace his record in the Legislature of a 
 State which was regarded with universal suspicion by the friends 
 of the Government during the war for the suppression of the 
 rebellion. 
 
 Early in thS session of the Kentucky Senate, a resolution 
 was offered directing the sergeant-at-arms " to procure and 
 cause to be raised in front of the State Capitol a suitable 
 banner, with stars and stripes," during the sitting of the General 
 Assembly. Bristow voted for that resolution. {Ky. Sen., 
 Journal, 1863-4, pp. 32-3.) 
 
 On the 14th January, 1864, the Kentucky Senate took up for 
 consideration a bill authorizing the Governer of the State to 
 raise a force not exceeding 5,000, men, to " be used for State 
 defense against guerrillas and guerrilla raids, and for such 
 other military services against the rebel armies and troops as 
 may be necessary," and also "to co-operate with the Federal 
 forces within Kentucky." The bill proposed that the troops 
 be raised " by volunteering or by draft." The " draft " feature 
 
11 
 
 was not agreeable to the Southern members of the 
 Kentucky Senate, and one of them moved to strike out 
 the words " or by draft." Bristow voted against the motion to 
 strike out, and, after it was rejected, voted for the bill. (Ky. 
 Sen. Journal, 1863-4 pp. 139, 140.) 
 
 About the same time an interesting incident occurred in the 
 Kentucky Legislature with reference to the 4th and 6th 
 Kentucky Cavalry Regiments, whose original terms of service 
 had expired in January, 1864. They re-enlisted as veterans, 
 and were at Louisville, Kentucky, without having been paid 
 for the previous two months. 
 
 To meet the emergency, a resolution was offered in the 
 Kentucky Legislature, acknowledging their gallant achieve- 
 ments and exalted patriotism, and directing the auditor to draw 
 his warrant upon the treasurer for $20,000, " to pay off these 
 gallant men," specifying that the sum was advanced for 
 the use of the Government and to be disbursed by the U. S. 
 Paymaster under the regulations of the War Department. 
 
 Among those who voted for that resolution was B. H. Bristow. 
 (Ky. Sen. Journal, 1863-4 pp. 188-9-90.) 
 
 During the first session of Col. Bristow's term as a 
 member of the Kentucky Senate, there was a widely extended 
 combination hi the State to excite the people to acts df open 
 hostility against the Government of the United States. For 
 the purpose of defeating this combination a bill was reported 
 to the Kentucky Senate, the provisions of which were intend- 
 ed to punish treasonable and disloyal practices. 
 
 The bill provided that any person aiding, encouraging or 
 inducing any officer, soldier or guerrilla of the so-called Con- 
 federate States, to destroy or injure property in Kentucky,, or 
 to injure, arrest, kidnap or otherwise maltreat any citizen or 
 resident of Kentucky, or any person who should aid, harbor or 
 conceal such guerrillas, or confederate soldiers, should be 
 guilty of a high misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, be subject 
 to fine and imprisonment. It further provided that speaking or 
 writing against the Government of the United States, or in 
 favor of the Confederate States, or any wilful endeavor to excite 
 insurrection or rebellion, or to terrify or prevent the people of 
 Kentucky from supporting and maintaining the Federal 
 
12 
 
 Government, should be punishable by fine and imprisonment 
 Similar penalties were prescribed against failure to give 
 information of raids or approach of guerrillas. Also special 
 provisions were made in this bill that any attorneyat law who 
 violated the oath prescribed by the State Constitution should 
 be forever debarred from practicing law in the State of 
 Kentucky. 
 
 The record shows B. H. Bristow as voting for this bill in 
 all its stages. (Ky. Senate Journal, 1863-4, pp. 333-4). 
 
 As a corollary to the foregoing bill, Col. Bristow gave his 
 vote and voice to the support of a bill entitling any person 
 injured by guerrillas or armed bands not acting under the 
 authority of the United States or the State of Kentucky, to 
 recover such damages for personal injuries as a jury should 
 find, and for property injured or destroyed, to recover double 
 the value thereof. A provision of peculiar stringency, de- 
 manded by the necessities of the time and locality was made, 
 imposing a liability in damages for all illegal acts done by such 
 guerrillas or predatory bands in any county of Kentucky upon 
 any disloyal person having knowledge of the presence of such 
 band, within the county of his residence, who failed to give im- 
 mediate information thereof to the civil or military authorities 
 in such county. 
 
 The second section of said bill provided that evidence of the 
 loyalty or disloyalty of the defendant should be admissible, as 
 well as the previous character for loyalty or disloyalty of those 
 committing said acts of depredation, who were not sued. (Ibid, 
 pp. 413-414). A Democrat moved to amend the bill by adding 
 a proviso making the test of loyalty of a defendant to be the 
 adherence to and support of the Constitution of the United 
 States and of the State Kentucky, and compliance with laws 
 enacted in pursuance thereof. This proviso was so manifest 
 an endeavor to impair the efficacy of the act, that Col. 
 Bristow, with other Republicans, earnestly resisted its em- 
 bodiment in the bill. It was approved, however, by a majority, 
 and became law. (Ky. Senate Journal, 1863-4, p. 415). 
 
 Significant proof of Colonel Bristow's fidelity to the mainten- 
 ance of the Union is furnished by his vote upon a measure to 
 make disposition of the stock in the Southern Bank of Ken- 
 
13 
 
 tucky owned by the State. On the 15th February, 1804, a bill 
 came up for consideration in the Kentucky Senate, which, 
 as reported, empowered the Commissioners of the Sinking 
 Fund to sell the coin, realized from tin* sale of the stock, for 
 United States currency, to pay the bunks of the State any 
 portion of the military loan due said banks by the State, and 
 to invest the balance in Kentucky State bonds, the bonds of 
 the United States known as 5-20 bonds, or other government 
 securities. 
 
 A Southern rights democrat, true to his instincts and desires, 
 moved to strike out the words " the bonds of the United States 
 known as 5-20 bonds or other government securities." Colonel 
 Bristow opposed this amendment by his vote, and supported 
 the bill as reported. (Jly. Senate Journal, 1863-4, pp. 379-80). 
 
 The resolutions offered by Gen. W. C. Whitaker, on the 20th 
 February, 1861, in the Kentucky Senate, acknowledging the 
 gallantry, bravery and efficiency of the soldiers and officers 
 from that State, and tendering to them and to the officers and 
 soldiers of sister States the merited tribute of thanks for their 
 fortitude and endurance of the hardships of war, was opposed 
 by the democrats, but secured the earnest advocacy of Colonel 
 Bristow. 
 
 THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. 
 
 An attempt has been made in certain quarters to misrepre- 
 sent the position of Colonel Bristow in reference to the 13th 
 amendment to the Constitution. But his record is entirely 
 clear upon that subject. On the 7th February, 1865, the 
 governor of Kentucky communicated to the State Senate an 
 attested copy of the joint resolution of Congress, propos- 
 ing the 13th amendment to the Constitution, abolishing and 
 prohibiting slavery in the United States. On the 22d of Feb- 
 ruary, 1805, the Kentucky Senate proceeded to consider the 
 resolutions reported by the majority of the committee tq„whoni 
 the proposed 13th amendment had been referred, proposing 
 the rejection of said amendment. (Ky. Senate Journal, 1805, pp. 
 387-8). On the same day Senator Fisk offered a substitute, 
 wherein, after reciting the requisite action on said amendment 
 by Congress, and its submission to the States for ratifica- 
 tion, it provided as follows : 
 
14 
 
 " 1. Resolved by the General Assembly of the commonwealth 
 of Kentucky, That the proposed amendment of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, above recited, be, and it is hereby, 
 ratified by this Legislature. 
 
 " 2. Resolved, That, recognizing the fact that the rebellion and 
 the measures of the government necessary for its suppression 
 have practically destroyed property in slaves, we deem it 
 proper that loyal men, who have not participated in that rebel- 
 lion, nor given it aid or comfort, should be compensated for 
 their losses thus sustained, and we request our senators and 
 representatives in Congress to urge that such compensation be 
 made ; but, relying with full confidence upon the justice of our 
 government, and making no reservations in the performance 
 of what we believe the true interest and safety of our country 
 demand at our hands, we declare this, our solemn act of rat- 
 ification, to be absolute and without conditions." (Kentucky 
 Senate Journal, 1865, p. 388). 
 
 Twelve senators voted for the substitute, and among the 
 members was Benjamin H. Bristow. 
 
 Senator Robinson then moved, as a substitute, a bill providing 
 that upon the payment by the government of the United States 
 to the State of Kentucky, for the use of its citizens, the owners 
 of slaves therein, thirty-six millions five hundred and thirty 
 thousand four hundred and ninety-six dollars (the assessed 
 value of slaves for taxation in 1864), as compensation for slaves 
 enlisted or drafted into the Federal army and for damage 
 sustained by such slave-owners by violation of their claims to 
 the labor and service of their slaves and for all claims on 
 account of their emancipation, then and thenceforth slavery 
 should be prohibited in Kentucky, and all laws concerning 
 slaves be repealed, marriages of slaves be legal, &c, and 
 upon such payment being made, " then and thenceforth the 
 General Assembly doth ratify said 13th amendment to the 
 Constitution of the United States ; and the governor is directed 
 to make proclamation of such ratification upon such payment 
 being made." 
 
 All slaves emancipated by the proposed act, however, were 
 required to remove from the State within ten years of their 
 emancipation, and if the conditions of the proposed act (as to 
 payment, <fcc.,) were not accepted and complied with on the 
 
part of the government of the United States on or before 1st 
 January, 1866, then and. in that event Kentucky absolutely re- 
 jected and refused to ratify said amendments. 
 
 (Kentucky Senate Journal, 1865, pp. 389-90.) 
 
 Senator Landrum moved to add to the second section of 
 Senator Robinson's amendment these words : " except the 
 second section of said article, which is hereby rejected." Sen- 
 ator Bristow voted against Landrum' s motion, but the motion 
 prevailed. Senator Bristow then voted against Robinson's sub- 
 stitute as amended, and finally voted against the report of the 
 committee. On the 24th of February he voted against the 
 preamble and resolutions passed by the Kentucky House of 
 Representatives, rejecting the amendment, which had been sent 
 to the Senate for concurrence. 
 
 We thus find Col. Bristow, eleven years ago, while the war 
 I was still in progress, voting in a slave-holding State for the 
 unconditional ratification of the 13th amendment, going farther, 
 in fact, than Mr. Lincoln had gone, since the latter proposed 
 and favored compensation to the loyal owners of slaves for the 
 loss Of their property. 
 
 A sample of democratic statesmanship will be seen in the bill 
 concerning slaves and runaways, offered in the Kentucky Sen- 
 ate on the 25th of February, 1865, viz. : 
 
 "Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the 
 Commonwealth of Kentucky, That all laws now in force in this 
 Commonwealth requiring the owner of a slave to pay a reward 
 for the arrest or apprehension of such slave as a runaway, be 
 and the same are hereby repealed. 
 
 " Sec. 2. That any person who hereafter shall, without the 
 cod sent of the owner, hire or permit to remain in his or her 
 service the negro slave of any other person, that the person so 
 hiring or permitting to remain in his or her service such slare, 
 shall be liable to the owner thereof for the sum of five dollars 
 for every twenty-four hours such slave may be in such service, 
 to be recovered and collected as other debts for similar amounts 
 under existing laws. Any judgment under this section may be 
 enforced by executien of ca. sa. 
 
 "Sec. 3. That the owner of a slave may, by his written per- 
 mission and authority, license and permit his slave to act as 
 the agent of the owner, and hire himself or herself out for the 
 
16 
 
 benefit of the master, or that of the slave, if so expressed. The 
 terms owner and master in this act mean the person entitled 
 to the possession and control of the slave. 
 
 " Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of 
 all sheriffs, marshals, policemen, and other ministerial peace 
 officers, and it shall be the right of all other persons, to arrest 
 all negro slaves fit for, and who will be received into, the mili- 
 tary service of the United States, whom they may find going at 
 large, without the written permit of the master of such slave, 
 and not engaged in the business of the master ; and such slave 
 so arrested shall be, by the person arresting him, taken and 
 put into the military service of the United States, to be cred- 
 ited to the county of his owner's residence. 
 
 " Sec. 5. For each negro so arrested and put into the service 
 of the United States the person arresting and delivering him 
 shall receive the sum of twenty dollars, to be paid out of the 
 State Treasury upon his production to the auditor of the cer- 
 tificate of the proper officer of the United States showing the 
 delivery and reception thereof ; 
 
 •' Provided, however, that when any negro arrested under this # 
 act shall be willing and request to return to his master or 
 owner, then the arrester shall take and deliver such slave to 
 the master or owner, who shall pay to the arrester the sum of 
 twenty dollars and the reasonable costs and expenses incurred 
 after the arrest and in so returning snch slave. 
 
 " Provided, That no such enlistment shall be made into the 
 army, under this act, without the consent of the master of such 
 slave." (Senate Journal, 1865, 429 to 431). 
 
 Against this bill, in all its stages, Bristow, with the little 
 band of republican senators, voted. 
 
 At the same session of the Kentucky Senate there was 
 another vote, which indicated the state of feeling in Kentucky. 
 At that time there existed at Berea, in Madison county, Ken- 
 tucky, a church and school under the control of certain 
 Abolitionists, who recognized no distinctions, political or 
 otherwise, based on color. In the church and in the school, 
 whites and blacks mingled, much to the disgust of Ken- 
 tuckians who had been reared under the influence of sla- 
 very, and the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798. The 
 brethren at Berea desired an act of incorporation for their little 
 church, and to that end a bill was presented to the Kentucky 
 Senate proposing to incorporate " Rev. John G. Fee, Teman 
 Thomson and Morgan Burdett" and their successors, a body 
 
17 
 
 politic and corporate, " for the church of Christ at Berea, Mad- 
 ison county, Kentucky." The proposed charter contained 
 nothing of a political or sectarian nature, and granted nothing 
 but the usual powers incident to all such corporations, lint 
 the Kentucky Senate could not tolerate the Fee sect, and de- 
 nied to the Berea abolitionists a simple act of incorporation 
 for church purposes. Among those who voted for the resolu- 
 tion was Benjamin H. Bristow. 
 
 During the year 1864 Col. Bristow was engaged in the prac- 
 tice of law at Louisville and Hopkinsville, and in the inter- 
 vals of professional and senatorial labor he took an earnest part 
 in the presidential canvass, making speeches and using his great 
 personal influence to secure the election of Mr. Lincoln. He 
 supported the president in all his measures for the re-estab- 
 lishment of the Union, and whether in the senate or on the 
 stump, he earnestly advocated the adoption of all the amend- 
 ments to the Constitution. 
 
 UNITED STATES DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR KENTUCKY. 
 
 The war having ended and many of the great questious hav- 
 ing been settled, Col. Bristow resigned his seat in the Senate of 
 Keutuck}' in 18G5, and removed to Louisville, where he entered 
 upon the practice of his profession. In the following year he 
 was appointed U. S. district attorney for Kentucky. The duties 
 of this position were extremely arduous. The rebel element had 
 returned from the war and the pro-slavery faction of the State, 
 including those who had taken refuge temporarily in Canada 
 and elsewhere, had organized numerous Ku Klux bands to 
 harass and murder the freedmen and white Unionists. A 
 reign of terror was inaugurated which could be extinguished 
 only by the civil power of the Government, acting through the 
 courts of law. Col. Bristow threw himself into this work with all 
 the energy of his nature, and so zealously did he pursue the 
 lawless bands that were patrolling the State, that during his 
 term of ofnee he procured twenty-nine convictions before Ken- 
 tucky juries for various crimes under the Enforcement Act, 
 from common assault to willful murder, and was only stopped 
 at last by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States declaring that the court below had no jurisdiction of 
 2 
 
18 
 
 that class of offenses. This decision was made in the case of 
 the United States vs. Blyew, the legal aspects of which will be 
 more particularly referred to hereafter. John Blyew and 
 George Kennard had been indicted and tried by Col. Bristow for 
 the murder of a whole family of colored persons. The case 
 caused great excitement in Kentucky, and when the jury 
 brought in a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree the 
 Ku Klux fraternity were stricken with terror, nofc merely in Ken- 
 tucky but throughout the whole South. Sentence of death 
 was pronounced upon the prisoners, but they took an appeal to 
 the Supreme Court with the result already stated. 
 
 Among the convictions obtained by Col. Bristow was that of a 
 wealthy Kentuckian who, shortly after the ratification of the 
 13th Amendment, gave a brutal whipping to a negro woman 
 named Rose Ann Mcllroy, whom he claimed as a slave. Col. Bris- 
 tow caused him to be indicted in the Federal Court. This was 
 something entirely novel in the annals of Kentucky, and when 
 it was found that the indictment was serious and that the 
 case would surely be tried, great efforts were made by the 
 friends of the culprit to get the case dismissed. Among 
 others who visited Louisville for this purpose was a distin- 
 guished member of Congress. This gentleman called upon Col. 
 Bristow and said that one of his neighbors, a very respectable 
 man, had got into trouble and been indicted. " For what 
 offense ?" asked Col. Bristow. " O, he only flogged a negro 
 woman," was"the answer. " Flogged a woman !" exclaimed Col. 
 Bristow, " then, without knowing the particulars, I should say he 
 ought to be hanged." This was the only satisfaction given to the 
 member of Congress for his respectable constituent. But the 
 efforts of the indicted party and his friends did not end here. 
 Delegations of respectable people came forward and long peti- 
 tions were prepared and signed, setting forth the good character 
 of the accused. Col. Bristow stood firm and declared his inten- 
 tion to make an example of a woman-whipper, and to prosecute 
 every case of this kind brought to his notice to the last extrem- 
 ity. The offender was committed. Col. Bristow then insti- 
 tuted a civil action for damages and secured a judgment for the 
 sum of one thousand dollars in behalf of tho colored woman 
 who had been so outrageously maltreated. The money was 
 
19 
 
 collected and paid over to her. It is believed that a more 
 vigorous and successful effort was made in Kentucky to carry 
 out tii" Enforcement Act than in any other State in the Union, 
 and this was entirely due to Col. Bristow's personal and pro- 
 fessional efforts to protect the colored people. 
 
 During the same period of time the practice of illicit dis- 
 tillation was rife in Kentucky, though not to so great an ex- 
 tent as it has been in some of the North s. This 
 was due to the fact that the whiskey of that region being of 
 a finer quality, mainly nsedfor drinking purposes, required to 
 be stored for a year before being read}- for the market, and thus 
 afforded a better opportunity to the government officers for 
 the detection of fraud connected with it. Col. Bristow attacked 
 the whiskey rings there with the same vigor he has displayed as 
 Secretary of the Treasury, and during his term of office as 
 District Attorney secured one hundred and one forfeitures of 
 separate lots of distilled spirits, ranging from two barrels up to 
 two hundred each, besides machinery and implements for pro- 
 ducing it. 
 
 BRISTOW AND RECONSTRUCTION. 
 
 It will be remembered that when Andrew Johnson first 
 showed signs of a reactionary policy, many of the leading Re- 
 publican statesmen, including Mr. Morton of Indiana, and Mr. 
 Fessenden of Maine, sustained him for a considerable time, con- 
 ceiving that the best interests of the Republican party required 
 that they should not come to a rupture with him till his pur- 
 poses were more fully disclosed. While matters were in this 
 shape Mr. Johnson made an attempt to capture the federal 
 officeholders in all parts of the country and commit them to 
 his intended policy. Col. Bristow was then District Attorney 
 of .Kentucky, and a persistent attempt was made to entrap him 
 with the other Kentucky officers. At a soldiers' convention, 
 where he was present, Governor Bramlette took occasion to in- 
 troduce a resolution endorsing the policy of Andrew Johnson. 
 Col. Bristow immediately arose and offered to amend by adding 
 the words — " Understanding it to be the fixed and cherished 
 policy of his lamented predecessor Abraham Lincoln." In 
 support of his amendment he said : 
 
20 
 
 " No man in tins country had more of my love, respect and 
 veneration than Mr. Lincoln. If we must have Mr. Johnson's 
 name in the resolution let us have Mr. Lincoln's too. If, as I 
 understand Mr. Johnson, he is carrying out the policy of Mr. 
 Lincoln, I am for Mr. Johnson. With this express understand- 
 ing I indorse Mr. Johnson, but I will not indorse him in the 
 language of every rebel meeting in Kentucky, nor in the way of 
 those who, while they endorse him, reassert the fundamental 
 and originating principles of the rebellion, the abominable and 
 infamous resolutions of '98." 
 
 SOLICITOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Col. Bristow resigned the office of District Attorney Jan. 1, 
 1870, and formed a law partnership with Gen. John M. Harlan 
 of Louisville. Shortly afterwards Congress passed a statute 
 changing the old Attorney-General's office into the Department 
 of Justice, and creating a second high law officer to assist the 
 Attorney-General in its administration, called the Solicitor- 
 General. To this office Colonel Bristow was appointed in 
 October, 1870, and he held it until after General Grant's re- 
 election in 1872. During the absences of the Attorney-General 
 from Washington he acted as head of the department, and at 
 other times was principally employed in writing opinions on 
 questions of law submitted to the Department of Justice by the 
 other departments of government, and in the argument of causes 
 in the Supreme Court. His discharge of the onerous duties 
 that devolved upon him was marked by the conscientious, pains- 
 taking industry, the courtesy, the firmness, the independence 
 and the hatred of fraud and chicanery which have distinguished 
 his entire public life, but besides this he gained a brilliant repu- 
 tation by the ability he displayed in arguments in court. The 
 judges of the court at once recognized him as one of the ablest 
 men who appeared before them and have ever spoken of his 
 great services to them in the assistance which his arguments 
 gave them. Besides the ordinary revenue and claims cases, 
 many cases of great constitutional importance were then before 
 the court, in arguing which Mr. Bristow took the leading part. 
 Among these were cases involving the constitutionality of the 
 Confiscation and Enforcement Acts, the effect of a pardon on 
 the status of persons guilty of rebellion, and the jurisdiction of 
 
21 
 
 the Circuit Court to try crimes against persons of the colored 
 race. The latter question arose in the case previously mention- 
 ed, of The United States us. Blyew, reported in volume I?, of 
 
 Wallace's lleports. Some Ku Klux ruffians murdered a colored 
 family under circumstances of such unprovoked and wanton 
 cruelty that they were in great danger of being lynched. As 
 the law of Kentucky then wis they could not bo tried in the 
 State courts, because all the witnesses were colored people, 
 and a colored man could not be a witness against a white. Col. 
 Bristow who was then District Attorney for Kentucky, had 
 them indicted, tried and convicted under the Enforcement Act 
 in the United States Circuit Court. The case being brought 
 by writ of error to the Supreme Court at Washington, he argued 
 the case as Solicitor-General against Judge Black and Mr. Isaac 
 Caldwell, a distinguished lawyer of Kentucky, and urged with 
 great force and eloquence the legality of the proceedings in the 
 court below. A majority of the court felt compelled, although 
 they came to this conclusion with great reluctance, to decide 
 that the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction, and therefore to re- 
 verse judgment. As the State of Kentucky assumed the prose- 
 cution of the writ of error, Col. Bristow was thus placed in a 
 position of antagonism to his native State which caused some 
 bitter remarks to be made against him by fellow-Kentuckians, 
 but indignation at the crime and at the cruel injustice of the 
 Kentucky statute, that allowed it to go unpunished, more than 
 overcame any reluctance he might otherwise have had to resist 
 the claim of the State to -exclusive jurisdiction of all such 
 offenses committed within her border. 
 
 One marked characteristic of Mr. Bristow's arguments was 
 an absence of all attempt at display. He always thoroughly 
 prepared himself, going over every case in which he did not 
 make the brief, with as much cue as it' nothing had been done in 
 its preparation, and making voluminous notes and memoranda. 
 But when he came to speak he would never make any further 
 use of these than the posture of the case demanded ; and if he 
 thought the case had been sufficiently argued by his associate, 
 would add but a few remarks on one or two of the most vital 
 points. The great judgment he thus showed in arguing 
 the important questions and leaving the others alone, and 
 
22 
 
 never unnecessarily taking up the time of the overworked 
 judges, was one reason why he was so great a favorite with 
 them, and was always listened to with respectful attention. 
 In this connection it is proper to state that several members of 
 the Supreme Court have been heard to say that they regarded 
 him as one of the soundest lawyers in the country. His mind 
 and tendencies are eminently judicial, and it is well known 
 that his name was amongst those considered both by the Court 
 and the President for the vacancy in the supreme bench caused 
 by the death of Chief Justice Chase and by the retirement o 
 Justice Nelson. With his associates in the department he 
 was extremely popular, being always frank and cordial in 
 his intercourse with them, and generously avoiding taking the 
 credit of work to himself that he thought belonged to them. 
 
 HIS VIEWS ON NEGRO TESTIMONY. 
 
 The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Blyew 
 prompted Col. Bristow to renewed efforts v to remove the dis- 
 qualifications of colored men as witnesses in the courts of 
 Kentucky. In a speech, in Louisville, in July, 1871, he pre- 
 sented his views on negro testimony, in the following lan- 
 guage : 
 
 " Turning from the Constitution to the statute book, we find 
 there provisions which no thoughtful man will defend, but which 
 the Democratic Legislature has persistently refused to modify. 
 Since slavery was abolished by the operation of the thir- 
 teenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
 the Legislature of Kentucky has been in the hands of the 
 Democratic party. If any intelligent foreigner, who was ignor- 
 ant of the events that have transpired in this country within 
 the past ten years, should be called upon to look over the 
 present Constitution and statute laws of Kentucky, he could 
 come to no other conclusion than that African slavery still exists 
 in this State. Turn to the statute regulating homestead ex- 
 emption and testimony, and the laws relating to the subject of 
 education, and no sane man can fail to perceive that, if slavery 
 be . actually dead, the spirit of the ' departed ' still lingers in 
 Kentucky, and controls her law-makers. The statute of 
 Kentucky, which denies to 225,000 colored people of the 
 
23 
 
 State the right to testify in any case, civil or criminal, af- 
 fecting a white person, has its origin in the supposed neces- 
 sities of slavery, and is indefensible in a land of freedom. 
 This denial is a monstrous and grievous wrong to both races. 
 It is a practical denial of freedom to the colore 1 race ; yea, it 
 is even worse than that ; it is a license, if not an invitation, to 
 base miscreants and cowardly Ku Klux to gratify their brutal 
 passions and satiate their murderous propensities on this unof- 
 fending and defenceless race. For the credit of nry own State 
 I do not choose to dwell on the horrors that have disgraced 
 many parts of this Commonwealth since the abolishment of 
 slavery, nearly all of which are traceable directly to the crim- 
 inal refusal of the Legislature to treat the negro as a human 
 being, entitled to the protection of law. Civilization has now 
 progressed too far to require argument to prove the monstros- 
 ity of the denial of this right, which is absolutely essential to 
 the freedom and personal security of every man. No intelli- 
 gent man will attempt to justify the action, or, rather, I should 
 say, the non-action of the Legislature in this regard ; and yet 
 the platform of the Democratic party commits this subject to 
 the ' tomb of the Capulets,' and refuses to pledge itself to 
 correct this fearful evil. I said no intelligent man would now 
 justify this course ; perhaps this statement should be qualified. 
 There are men in Kentucky — and the species is peculiar to 
 Kentucky— who seem to be sane, and may be called intelligent 
 on every subject except the negro, but when he is introduced 
 they become as ' mad as March hares.' They tell us it is right 
 to et the negro testify in all cases ; that the highest interest of 
 society demands it ; but, say they, Congress transcended its 
 constitutional power in passing its ' civil-rights bill,' and 
 therefore we will not modify the Kentucky statute. lleducmg 
 this so-called argument to a plain syllogistic statement, it 
 amounts to this : Congress did wrong, and therefore we ought 
 not to do right. A twelve-war old lad, who would deduce such 
 a conclusion from such premises, would be in danger of the 
 rod in any log school-house outside Kentucky." 
 
 " But it cannot be admitted that Congress did wrong in pass- 
 ing the civil rights bill. Without stopping here 1 to defend this 
 act, I only say, that if Congress, after having taken part in the 
 
24 
 
 emancipation of the negro, had not passed some such act to 
 secure his freedom, and give him the means of vindicating his 
 rights^in States where all such means were withheld, it would 
 have been unfaithful to duty, and justly censurable in the esti- 
 mation of the civilized world." 
 
 RESIGNS POSITION OF SOLICITOR-GENERAL. 
 
 In the autumn of 1872, it having become known that Colonel 
 Bristow^intended to resign the office of Solicitor-General, which 
 he had held under both Mr. Ackerman and Mr. Geo. H. Wil- 
 liams, Col. Thomas A. Scott offered him the position of at- 
 torney for the Texas & Pacific Railway Company, which he 
 accepted. Before he had entered upon his new duties he was 
 asked also to accept the position of president of the California 
 & Texas Construction Company. 
 
 As soon as his resignation was accepted by the Preside'nt, 
 Col. Bristow entered upon the duties of his new position, 
 understanding that they were to be mainly professional and 
 administrative. After several months' service, he realized that 
 in this respect he was mistaken, and that his duties were com- 
 ing to be largely non-professional. He therefore tendered his 
 resignation, and after some delay it was accepted, and he re- 
 sumed the practice of law at Louisville. During his connec- 
 tion with this enterprise, the financial management, including the 
 sale of its securities, was solely under the control of Col. Scott. 
 Col. Bristow never undertook to place any of them, nor was it 
 his duty to do so. No man ever invested a dollar in the bonds 
 or stock of the Texas & Pacific Railway, or of any corporation 
 connected with it, by his advice or procurement ; but even if 
 he had sold all of these securities, conscientiously believing 
 them to be sound and safe, no blame could have attached to 
 him. He had nothing whatever to do with the procurement 
 of the charters and land grants of the undertaking, and has 
 never taken any part in advancing its interest since he severed 
 his official connection with it. It is true that when he first ac- 
 cepted employment by the Texas & Pacific Railway.Conrpany, 
 he bought a small interest in its securities, paying par in cash ; 
 but immediately after his nomination as Attorney-General, and 
 
25 
 
 before the action of the Senate was known in reference to the 
 nomination of Geo. H. Williams, as Chief Justice, upon w 
 his own confirmation necessarily ded, feeling thai as a 
 
 public officer he could not afford to hold an interest in any 
 undertaking which might become an applicant for Government 
 aid, lie directed a friend in New York to jBell his securities for 
 whatever they would bring, and this was done at less than !i!t< i n 
 per cent, of their original cost. This is the end and extent of 
 his connection with the Texas & Pacific Railway. 
 
 NOMINATED ATTOliNEY-GENERAL. 
 
 For a week or ten days previous to December 1st, 1873, Col. 
 Bristow had been mentioned frequently as one whom the Presi- 
 dent was thinking of inviting to his cabinet. Col. Bristow was 
 then quietly practicing law in Louisville, and neither he nor his 
 friends were seeking any appointment for him. The frequent 
 newspaper announcements annoyed him, and on December 1, 
 1873, the very day that his nomination as Attorney-General 
 was determined upon in Washington he wrote to a friend as 
 follows : 
 
 " Would you do me the favor to ask your and my friends in 
 Newspaper Row to quit sending dispatches to the effect that I 
 am likely to be appointed to office ? 
 
 "I am quietly pursuing my profession here — am not a candi- 
 date for any office, and it is not at all likely that any one will 
 be offered me. It is not pleasant to be understood as a st .•Hid- 
 ing candidate for any vacant office, and besides it docs not help 
 a lawyer to have it often announced that he will probably 
 withdraw from practice. I am grateful to my friends for 
 thinking of me in connection with high office, but as it is not 
 probable that one who is not seeking office will get it, I hope 
 they will spare me the mortification of frequent defeats and 
 disappointments." 
 
 The appointment of Attorney-General Williams as Chief 
 Justice of the Supremo Court not having been confirmed by 
 the Senate, the expected vacancy in the former office did not 
 occur, and Colonel Bristow's nomination was accordingly with- 
 drawn. 
 
26 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 
 
 On the retirement of Mr. Richardson from the Treasury- 
 Department, the President appointed Col. Bristow to the 
 highest administrative position in his gift, that of Secretary of 
 the Treasury, June 3, 1874, and here he has won his greatest 
 distinction. Advanced to a position of larger powers and 
 more commanding influence, he soon attracted the atten- 
 tion and won the plaudits of the public by the reforms he intro- 
 duced in the general administration of the office, as well as the 
 vigor he displayed in enforcement of the laws for the collection 
 of the revenue. * 
 
 One of the first acts of Col. Bristow after his accession to 
 the Treasury Department was to suppress the wasteful func- 
 tionary holding the office of supervising architect. This 
 individual had grown from small beginnings to be a perfect 
 cormorant in his appetite for appropriations ; his demands 
 upon the public purse for architectural and decorative exploits 
 reaching some ten millions per annum. The outrages upon 
 good taste and ordinary business principles perpetrated by 
 the supervising architect had become so notorious and ex- 
 asperating, and withal so chronic, that he seemed to constitute a 
 " ring " within himself, almost as powerful as the whiskey ring. 
 He and his friends, the contractors for erecting and furnish- 
 ing public buildings, were almost as much astounded, when 
 they found he was out of office, as though the earth had been 
 struck by a comet. Simultaneously with the suppression of 
 Mullett, Secretary Bristow suspended all work on buildings not 
 required by the public interests, and issued orders to discon- 
 tinue the style of oriental magnificence in furniture and deco- 
 ration which had been inaugurated by the former regime. 
 
 The Secretary next turned his attention to the corrupt and 
 scoundrelly gang of so-called detectives in the Treasury 
 Department, of whom Whitley, the Washington safe burglar, 
 was chief. He dismissed this gang and called to the service Mr. 
 Elmer Washburn, the admirable ex-superintendent of police 
 in Chicago, whose efforts in the way of reform in that city 
 had so roused the ire of local politicians (who have since 
 pleaded guilty to indictments for whiskej' frauds), that he was 
 
27 
 
 driven from his position there. Mr. Washburn has vindicated 
 the wisdom of Secretary Bristow's choice not only by most 
 important services in the crooked whiskey war, but by such 
 vigorous and successful assaults on counterfeiters that the 
 price of counterfeit money has risen from twenty cents on the 
 dollar — the figure at which it was formerly furnished by the 
 manufacturers — to eighty cents, the present quotation. The 
 cost and risk of counterfeiting have been increased four-fold 
 since Secretary Bristow came into office. 
 
 The Secretary found that the office of the second Comptroller 
 of the Treasury was so loosely managed that it had ceased to 
 be any real check upon dishonest and fraudulent claims, and 
 that the Comptroller himself, in the capacity of member of the 
 Board of Audit for the District of Columbia, had allowed 
 claims upon the Treasury for more than five million dollars in 
 excess of the amount contemplated and authorized by law. 
 When this state of facts was discovered the Secretary sent the 
 Comptroller and his principal subordinates to travel the same 
 road with Mullett and Whitley. 
 
 By the consolidation of collection districts, both in the cus- 
 toms and internal revenue service, aud the discharge of surplus 
 officials and machinery, Secretary Bristow has saved to Govern- 
 ment between three and four million dollars per annum, besides 
 rendering the service itself more efficient. For, with the con- 
 solidation of districts, the collectors and their subordinates 
 have ceased to stand in fear of their immediate representatives 
 in Congress. Their field has been enlarged, and their political 
 independence increased. Many instances might be cited of 
 the improved efficiency of the services, traceable to this small 
 dose of civil service reform. 
 
 The smugglers in and around the New York Custom House 
 were next attacked vigorously aud successfully, and an end put 
 to the erroneous an systematic frauds in the importation of 
 silks. A thorough overhauling of the New Orleans Custom 
 House followed, and savings were effected there to the amount 
 of over eighty thousand dollars per annum. 
 
 Since Secretary Bristow's accession to office the sum of 
 $178,5-48,300 of the six per cent, bonds of the United States 
 have been refunded into five per cent, bonds at par, at the un- 
 
28 
 
 precedentedly low cost of one-half of one per cent, commissions; 
 the parties subscribing for the bonds paying all cost of trans- 
 mitting the five per cents to London and the six per cents to 
 Washington, making the real cost of the negotiation to the 
 Government equal to a commission of about one-quarter of one 
 per cent. Under this arrangement all the five per cents au- 
 thorized by law have been disposed of, and a saving of five 
 millions per annum in gold interest effected. The Secretary 
 believes that a four and a half per cent, bond, having thirty 
 years to run, can now or soon be negotiated at par, at no 
 higher cost to the Government than that paid for negotiating 
 the last installment of fives. 
 
 THE WHISKY RING 
 
 Soon received his attention, and the battle he fought with 
 this powerful combination, which claimed, with some show of 
 reason, to be stronger than the Government, has constituted the 
 principal part and the best part of the history of the country 
 during the past year. All the evils of a vicious and corrupting 
 system of civil service had reached a climax in the whiskey 
 ring. Their method of robbing the public was so convenient 
 and simple, and the profits so enormous, that there had grown 
 up within a few years an organized band of politicians and 
 distillers in various parts of the country, whose business it was to 
 systematically defraud the Government, and with a portion of 
 the proceeds to manipulate conventions, control nominations 
 and keep their allies in office. Against this formidable and 
 destructive combination Colonel Bristow, backed by the Presi- 
 dent and inspired by the order " let no guilty person escape," 
 prepared a plan of campaign, not hastily or loosely, but 
 with wise forethought and circumspection. That the mem- 
 bers of the whiskey ring possessed great political influence 
 he was well aware. That they had plenty of money he knew, 
 because he knew the source from which tbey obtained it. That 
 they would resort to perjury to defend themselves and to assail 
 him he was fully assured, because it was only through whole- 
 sale perjury that they could evade the revenue laws. How far 
 the blow he proposed to strike would reach he did not know, but 
 since none but rogues could be harmed, it was immaterial 
 
29 
 
 whether it struck persons iu high position or not. The com- 
 motion which ensued upon the first seizure of the crooked 
 distilleries and their books and papers, the exasperation of the 
 scoundrels who had been so long plundering the treasury, the 
 storm of obloquy and threats that assailed the Secretary, the 
 "pressure " brought to bear upon the President to drive Col- 
 onel Bristow out of the Cabinet or compel him to desist from 
 his work, the alarm expressed by venal newspapers lest he 
 should damage the party — all this is too fresh in the public 
 memory to need recapitulation. The various wicked and un- 
 founded stories which the baffled conspirators trumped up to 
 blacken his character* and which he met and put down with 
 the vigor and frankness of a maul} 7 nature, even if they were 
 worthy of it, are likewise too well remembered to require any 
 restatement. Suffice it to say that he has paralyzed, for the 
 time being, the most desperate band of desperadoes that this 
 era has brought forth. They are now working with redoubled 
 energy to prevent his nomination for the Presidency, expecting 
 as the result to recover their lost opportunities for plunder. 
 
 The following are some of the results of the first year's pro- 
 secution of the whiskej- ring, the raid having begun the first 
 week in May, 1875. The last returns of money for property 
 seized and in process of condemnation are necessarily slow. 
 The final collection of at least a million more than is now be- 
 ing proceeded against is assured : 
 
 Value of property seized $1,500,000 
 
 Value of assessments 1,400,000 
 
 Suits on official bonds 250,000 
 
 Total $3,150,000 
 
 From the above sources the cash turned into the Treasury to 
 May 1, 1876, amounts to $000,000. 
 
 Criminal indictments were as follows : Distillers and recti- 
 fiers, 95 ; supervisors, 2 ; revenue agents, 5 ; collectors, 2 ; 
 deputy collectors, 8 ; gaugers, 30 ; storekeepers, 15 ; other 
 persons, 19 ; total, 176 ; convictions and pleas of guilty, 110 ; 
 absconded to foreign countries, 12 ; tried and acquitted, 17. 
 
30 
 
 The total expense to the Treasury Department in detecting 
 frauds and preparing cases for the court has not exceeded 
 $25,000. 
 
 Colonel Bristow's war against the whiskey ring has been of 
 immense advantage to the public, not only in saving money to 
 the Treasury, but in exposing the night side of politics, and 
 enabling the people to see clearly the danger that threatens the 
 republic. It is no wonder that the honest and right-thinking 
 masses demand that he shall lead them into a better future and 
 a purer political life. If he is now rejected at the behest of 
 ring politicians, what answer sliall be rendered to the people 
 for so sinister an act ? Will they not say that he was thrown 
 overboard because he had made an honest effort to put a stop 
 to a gigantic fraud ? Can the .Republican party afford to ex- 
 pose itself to so grave a charge ? Two years ago it lost the 
 elections upon smaller provocation, and although there has 
 since been a partial recovery, it is safe to say that this is no 
 time for trifling with public sentiment. 
 
 RESTORATION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS. 
 
 On the subject of restoring specie payments, Col. Bristow 
 has left nobody in doubt as to his views. He has given them 
 without ambiguity in two successive reports as Secretary of 
 the Treasury. The following extracts from the Report of 1874 
 not only define his position, but constitute so clear and con- 
 vincing an argument in favor of specie resumption that it may 
 well be doubted whether anything more forcible has been writ- 
 ten by anybody, in either public or private station, during the 
 whole course of the controversy : 
 
 " So much has been spoken and written within the last 
 decade, and especially at the last session of Congress, on the 
 financial questions relating to and growing out of our currency 
 system, that further extended discussion of the subject at this' 
 time would scarcely seem to be necessary. The opinions enter- 
 tained and expressed by public men and communities of people, 
 as well as the sense of Congress, as heretofore indicated by the 
 votes of the two houses, must be accepted as one of the factors 
 of the financial problem. Nevertheless, the great and para- 
 mount importance of arriving at an ultimate solution of the 
 matter, and of restoring to the Government and the people a 
 
31 
 
 sound and stable currency, induces the Seer* tary to bring the 
 subject again to the attention of Congress, and to ask that 
 decisive steps be now taken by the Law-making power for a 
 return to a specie basis. 
 
 '' To attempt an enumeration of the complicated mischiefs 
 which flow from an unstable or inconvertible currency would 
 carry this report to an inexcusable length, and, after all, would 
 be but a repetition of what has often be< No nation 
 
 can long neglect the wholesome maxims, founded on universal 
 experience, that uphold public credit, without suffering financial 
 disturbances and bringing serious consequences upon its people. 
 It will' not be denied that the existing issue of legal-tender 
 notes, as a circulating medium, would never have been made 
 except in the great emergency of a war involving no less an 
 issue than the preservation of the nation. Whether the argu- 
 ment in support of the validity of the legal-tender acts be 
 rested on the war powers conferred on the Government by the 
 Constitution or on other provisions of that instrument, it is 
 clear that Congress could not have been* induced to pass such 
 acts under any other circumstances than in a time of the most 
 urgent and pressing need, such as a state of war only pro- 
 duces. The most earnest defenders of the power to issue 
 Government obligations, and make them by law legal-tender 
 for all debts, public and private, would scarcely be found to ad- 
 vocate the exercise of the power except under circumstances of 
 extreme necessity, and then only for the time of the emergency. 
 And there is abundant evidence in the debates and proceedings 
 of Congress, and in the statutes themselves, that it was not 
 intended to make the legal-tender notes the permanent cur- 
 rency of the country. The acts authorizing the issue of such 
 notes provided for their conversion into bonds of the United 
 States, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per 
 annum. 
 
 " The act of March 18, 1869, in terms declares that 'the faith 
 of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in 
 coin or its equivalent of all obligations of the United States 
 not bearing interest, known as United States notes.' The same 
 act further affirms that ' The United States solemnly pledges 
 its faith to make provision, at the earliest practicable period, 
 for the redemption of the United States notes in coin.' 
 
 " The purpose of the act is well expressed in its title, which 
 declares it to be 'An Act to strengthen the public credit,' and 
 that such was the effect of the act cannot be doubted, for it is 
 an unconditional assurance on the part of the Government, 
 not only that its notes shall be paid in coin, but that this shall 
 be done at the earliest practicable period. The faith of the 
 Government could not be more clearly or absolutely pledged 
 
32 
 
 than is done by this apt of Congress, to say nothing of previous 
 
 legislation. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " A dollar legal-tender note, such as is now in circulation, is 
 neither more nor less than a promise of the Government to 
 
 Eay a dollar to the bearer, while no express provision is made 
 y law for paying the dollar at anytime whatever; nor is there 
 any existing provision for converting it into anything that 
 stands in a tangible ratio to a coin dollar. As far as existing 
 laws go, there is no reason why the legal-tender note of the 
 denomination of a dollar should pass for one cent of gold, ex- 
 cept so far as the Government compels creditors to accept it in 
 discharge of obligations to pay money, and obliges the wealth 
 and commerce of the country to adopt it as a medium of ex- 
 change. To this may be added, as an element of the value of 
 a legal-tender dollar, the hope that the Government will some- 
 time or other redeem its paper promises according to their 
 import. The universal use of, and reliance upon, such a cur- 
 rency tends to blunt the moral sense and impair the natural 
 self-dependence of the people, and trains them to the belief 
 that the Government' must directly assist their individual 
 fortunes and business, help them in their personal affairs, and 
 enable them to discharge their debts by partial payment. This 
 inconvertible paper currency begets the delusion that the 
 remedy for private pecuniary distress is in legislative measures, 
 and makes the people unmindful of the fact that the true 
 remedy is in greater production and less spending, and that 
 real prosperity comes only from individual effort and thrift. 
 When exchanges are again made in coin, or in a currency con- 
 vertible into it at the will of the holder, this truth will be 
 understood and' acted upon." 
 
 In his report for the year 1875, Secretary Bristow resumed 
 the consideration of the same subject in similar terms. He 
 said : 
 
 " The circumstances attending the issue of the United States 
 notes now in circulation impose upon the Government a pecu- 
 liar obligation to provide for their speedy and certain redemp- 
 tion in coin. They were issued in the exercise of a power 
 which can be called into use only in a time of supreme neces- 
 sity, and were paid out for the support of an army composed 
 of brave and patriotic citizens who had responded to the call 
 of their country in the hour of its extreme peril. To suffer a 
 promise made at such a time, and under such circumstances, 
 to be dishonored by subsequent indifference or n on -perforin- 
 
3: 
 
 ance, would be little better than open repudiation, and would 
 affect injuriously our national nanu: and credit. 
 
 It is worthy of note thai for the most part those who now 
 oppose the redemption of Legal-tender notes and who ask for 
 
 a further issue, and continued an indefinite reissue of the 
 
 notes now in circulation, Mere most strenuous in their opposi- 
 tion to such issues during the civil war. The acts authorizing 
 such issues were denounced as in violation of sound principles 
 of finance, and not warranted by the Constitution. Their 
 constitutional validity was resisted at every point and sub- 
 jected to the test of judicial decision in almost every court in 
 the country, both state and national. The supreme judicial 
 tribunal of the nation upheld the acts as measures of neces- 
 sity in a time of great exigency ; but it has neither decided nor 
 intimated that such power may be exercised by Congress in 
 time of public tranquility. Indeed, it is fairly inferable, from 
 all the court has said in the various cases in which the question 
 has been before it, that the issue of sucli notes in time of 
 peace is not within the constitutional power of Congress. 
 The language and argument of the court leave no reason to 
 believe that it would sustain the claim of power to increase the 
 volume of such issues, or to reissue such as have been re- 
 deemed in obedience to law, when the public exigency no 
 longer exists. Those who opposed such issues at a time of 
 supreme necessity and insist upon further issues when the 
 emergency has passed away, put themselves in the attitude of 
 opposing war measures in the midst of war, and advocating 
 them in a time of profound peace." 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 From the days of Daniel Boone to the present time, Ken- 
 tucky has been noted for producing stalwart, fearless men, and 
 the sense of personal honor has ever been high among them. 
 This is a tribute which her sister States, irrespective of political 
 bias, are bound to pay her. Among men of this high and 
 unsullied type Col. Bristow ranks with the highest. Nobody 
 can point to aught in his career which does not have the stamp 
 of candor, courage and truth. A scorn of the petty arts of 
 self-advancement marks his career at every step. Low cun- 
 ning, intrigue, and the various devices by which political and 
 personal ends are too often achieved, are weapons which he 
 does not understand the use of. So far from seeking political 
 advancement, he has sedulously avoided those who have 
 3 
 
34 
 
 sought to tbrust it upon him, aud has refused to give the 
 slightest assistance in the preparation of any biographical 
 sketch of himself designed to make the American people bet- 
 ter acquainted with his public services. To persons making 
 inquiries with a view to advancing him in popular regard he 
 has replied invariably : "lam not a candidate for any office. 
 If you wish to learn my history you must go to those who 
 have known me all my life." 
 
 It is both strange and humiliating that a contest for the 
 Presidency should begin with a general demand to know 
 whether the respective candidates have ever been guilty of 
 defrauding the people. It is a fact, nevertheless, that this is 
 one of the first questions put, and that uothing is taken for 
 granted. The people have grown suspicious of their public 
 servants, and they now require every scrap of evidence that 
 can be adduced to show that the men they- are asked to vote 
 for are not fitter for trial by a petit jury than for the suffrages 
 of their fellow-citizens. If any candidate shows a backward- 
 ness in submitting to investigation of his conduct or record, 
 it is assumed that he desires to conceal something, and that 
 he is no better than he should be. No man can be expected 
 to prove a negative, but it may be safely assumed that no 
 person holding the office which Secretary Bristow holds would 
 have made the kind of war which he has made on rascals of 
 high and low degree, if there had been any weak points in his 
 armor. The whiskey ring have been ransacking his record, 
 both public and private, for a twelvemonth, and they have pro- 
 duced nothing which shows a stain upon his character, but on the 
 contrary have brought his noble qualities into clearer light and 
 more general recognition. They have proved most of all that 
 he possesses the quality of moral courage, than which nothing 
 is more conspicuously wanting or more sorely needed in the 
 public life of America to-day. They have shown that Col. 
 Bristow, in the path of duty, is impervious .alike to cajolery 
 and threats, that he is not to be turned aside by " influ- 
 ence," nor shaken from his purpose by the clamor of " danger 
 to the party." All his steps have been those of a massive and 
 well balanced mind, seeing clearly the object to be attained, 
 and trampling down the obstacles in his pathway without fear 
 
and without remorse. By pursuing this impartial and unvary- 
 ing campaign against corruption he has strengthened the party 
 where it was growing weak, and brought back to allegiance 
 thousand of voters who had been driven by despair of any im- 
 provement in their own party, into the ranks of the enemy. 
 Many of the latter are now waiting to see whether the reforms 
 introduced by Secretary Bristow are to be ratified by the Re- 
 publican party in convention assembled, andcontinued hereafter 
 in the administration, not only of the treasury, but of all other 
 departments of the government. If Col. Bristow is nominated 
 they wdl ask no other assurance. He is the platform for 1876, 
 and the people require no other. The Southern States, with 
 but one or two exceptions, have been lost to the Republican 
 party, and any attempt to carry them by intimidation or coer- 
 cion will drive away more voters than it will gain. Indiana, 
 Ohio, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, California and Wis- 
 consin are doubtful States, to lose which is to lose the election. 
 The nomination of Col. Bristow will secure them all, because 
 he is identified in the minds of the people with the reform of 
 public abuses. It is an open secret that he favors retrench- 
 ment and ecouomy in all branches of the public business, re- 
 form in the general administration of the government, and the 
 establishment of the civil service on a basis which will lift it 
 out of the disrepute into which it has fallen, and make it a 
 matter of national pride instead of national reproach. 
 
 PERSONAL. 
 
 In person Col. Bristow is six feet in height, well proportioned, 
 and weighs 225 pounds. He has an open, frank expression of 
 countenance and a modest but courteous and prepossessing 
 manner. The impression he makes upon strangers is that of 
 a man with a clear eve, a stout heart and a tranquil con- 
 science. He is the picture of good health, and would attract 
 notice in a crowd as one having an enormous reserve of phys- 
 ical and mental strength. Finally he is happily married to a 
 most accomplished and amiable wife, by whom he has had two 
 children, a daughter and son, both living and both giving every 
 promise of future worth and usefulness. Col. Bristow 
 
36 
 
 Las been equal and more than equal to every station be has- 
 been called to fill, in peace and war. If elected President of the 
 United States, he will fill the measure of the public demands of 
 the centennial year by bringing us up to a higher plane of 
 official morality, and thus restoring our prestige among the 
 nations of the world. Having been faithful over a few things., 
 "let him be made master over many." 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 While no one, as has been shown, has been more active than? 
 Col. Bristow in repressing violence in the South by the employ- 
 ment of force, no one has labored more effectively to persuade 
 the people of that section to accept the results of the war in 
 good faith and to bring their laws into harmony with the recent 
 amendments to the Constitution. The following selections from 
 his public speeches, made at a time when the State of Ken- 
 tucky was still sullen and unsatisfied, show how fully his heart 
 was in the great work which he had inherited from his ances- 
 tors, and for which he had fought at Donaldson and Shiloh : 
 
 [Extract from Col. Bristow's speech at Louisville, July, 1871.], 
 
 KENTUCKY BOURBONISM. 
 
 " Looking into the constitution of our State, it [the Repub- 
 lican party] finds there whole sections that should have no- 
 place in a fundamental law designed for the guidance and 
 government of a great commonwealth of this day. Accepting 
 the fact that 'war legislates,' and acquiescing in the changes 
 that have occurred by the approval of some, and in spite of the 
 opposition of others, the Republican party of Kentucky now 
 unite in demanding that the constitution and laws of our State 
 be adapted to the living requirements of the people, in whose 
 interest all laws should be made. Having neither desire nor 
 ability to carry on perpetual strife with our neighboring sister 
 States, or with the aggregate power of the people of all the 
 States represented in our general government, we insist upon 
 bringing our laws into harmonious relations with theirs. The 
 present constitution of Kentucky was formed and adopted more 
 than twenty years ago, at a time w r hen the summum bonum of 
 all political sagacit} 7 and so-called statesmanship was the per- 
 
37 
 
 i 
 petuation of human bondage. Under the influence of this idea 
 every possible safeguard was thrown around the institution of 
 slavery, and the people were; practically deprived of the power 
 to modify their own constitution. * Intelligent men of this day 
 must be startled to rind in the third section of the- miscalled 
 bill of rights — a part of our present constitution — that absurd 
 political dogma which announces that ' the right of property 
 is before and higher than any constitutional sanction ; and the 
 right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its increase is 
 the same, and as inviolable as the right of 'the owner of any 
 property whatever.' 
 
 " Always unsound as a political axiom, no argument is neces- 
 sary to prove the monstrous absurdity of such a declaration at 
 this day, when slavery has no foothold on this continent, and 
 when even the most obdurate of the two classes of Democrats 
 concede that it can never again exist here. But this is not all. 
 Article ten of the present constitution of this State contains 
 three sections, all of which relate solely to the subject of slaves, 
 and that part of the once servile race known as free negroes. 
 
 " The second section of the article is as follows : 
 
 " ' The general assembly shall pass laws providing that any 
 free negro or mulatto hereafter immigrating to, and any slave 
 hereafter emancipated in, and refusing to leave this State, or 
 having left, shall return and settle within this State, shall be 
 deemed guilty of felony and punished by confinement in the 
 penitentiary thereof.' 
 
 " The moral sense of many of the people of Kentucky was 
 shocked by the refinement of cruelty that suggested this sec- 
 tion, but the behests of slavery required its adoption, and op- 
 position to it was worse than vain. Every member of the 
 Legislature of Kentucky is required to take an oath to support 
 the constitution, of which this section is a part ; and under its 
 provision it becomes the sworn duty of each member to see 
 that laws are passed for punishing as felons every free negro 
 or mulatto immigrating to this State. The section is impera- 
 tive and mandatory. It leaves nothing to the discretion of the 
 Legislature. To say that this section has become obsolete by 
 reason of the amendments to the National Constitution, or that 
 the enlightened judgment of mankind forbids its enforcement 
 now, is no answer to the objection to its remaining in our 
 printed constitution. 
 
 "We have a right to demand, and do demand, that all ob- 
 solete and defunct provisions be stricken from our constitution, 
 and that that instrument be made up of living words and sec- 
 tions, adapted to the practical wants of an active, moving and 
 progressive people. 
 
 " Nor is this all. Section 8 of article 2 of our present consti- 
 
38 
 
 tution prescribes the qualification of voters, and limits the ex- 
 ercise of the franchise to ' free white male citizens.' By the 
 ratification of the Fifteenth Article of Amendment to the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, this section of our State consti- 
 tution is abrogated, and it, too, should be swept from the book. 
 Tn a word, every provision of that instrument inserted in the 
 interest of slavery — and there are many such — should be ex- 
 punged, and a new constitution formed in the interest of 
 freedom." 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 " The subject of education is one of vital importance to the 
 people of this State. The Democratic party has shown itself 
 incapable of bringing our State up to the standard of our neigh- 
 boring States. That party which feeds upon the prejudices of 
 the past, and lives by the petty hates of the present, has not 
 only spurned and neglected the colored race entirely, but it has 
 fallen far short of duty to the white race. 
 
 " Our system of common schools, outside the city of Louis- 
 ville, and possibly one or two others of «our smaller cities, is 
 positively discreditable to the State. Indeed, he is guilty of 
 using a misnomer who calls it a system. From the mouth of 
 the Sandy to the Mississippi river it is a blunder and a failure. 
 There are hundreds, yea, thousands, of white children in thi& 
 Commonwealth who have practically no opportunity to receive 
 a common-school education. Time will not permit me now to 
 stop and point out the many defects and fatal errors in this so- 
 called system. It is sufficient to look over the State and see 
 results. The moral and physical greatness of a State do not 
 depend solely, or even chiefly, upon soil or climate, or even 
 numbers of population. First of all in importance is the de- 
 velopment and expansion of intellectual and moral wealth. To 
 this end education of its youth is indispensable. Education 
 adds to the wealth-producing power of the population ; it in- 
 creases wages twenty-five per cent, in ordinary cases, and under 
 favorable circumstances often much more. The value of the 
 citizen to the community at large and his power as a producer 
 to add to the common stock of wealth are very materially en- 
 hanced by education. The increase of value and power arises 
 from causes so obvious and well known that they need not be 
 enumerated. Ignorance and vice too often go hand in hand. 
 An educated population is far less liable than an uneducated 
 and ignornnt one to become an expense to the State through 
 poverty and crime. 
 
 " If we turn to the statistics for 1860, the latest we have on 
 this subject, it will be found that Kentucky had at that time 
 419,169 free adults, of whom 73,522, or 17.5-1 per cent., were- 
 
39 
 
 illiterate — that is, unable to read or write. Thus we sec that 
 more than one-sixth, almost one-fifth, of the entire free adult 
 population was unable to read or write i:i 1860. This does not 
 include white children or the colored population, then slaves. 
 If we add to this number the then adult slave population, 91 ,330, 
 we have a total adult population, white and black, of 510,490, of 
 which 32 per cent., or nearly one-third of our entire adult pop- 
 ulation, was illiterate in i860. Turning to the great State 
 north of us we find of their adult population, white and black, 
 the per cent, of illiterate as follows : Ohio, 6.12; Indiana, 11; 
 Illinois, 8 ; Iowa, 7 ; Kansas, 6. 
 
 "All these are newer States than Kentucky, and the youngest 
 man before me remembers well when some of them emerged 
 from the chrysalis condition of Territories and put on the habil- 
 iments of States. Xo thoughtful man who loves his State, and 
 Who fondly cherishes the dream of her future greatness, can 
 refrain from asking the question, Why is all this so ? To the 
 mind not seared by prejudice, or blinded by hate, the answer 
 is easy, and suggests itself. It is because in Kentucky we have 
 many politician and but few statesmen. It is because, with 
 our people, politics is a mere sentiment and not the science of 
 government, which looks to the aggregate good of the masses 
 and the augmentation of the strength of the State. 
 
 " The voice of civilization cries aloud against this state of 
 things. The welfare of our State and the highest interests of 
 society require that facilities for acquiring a common English 
 education be placed within the reach of every child of the 
 Commonwealth, white and black. The idle clamor against 
 mixed schools docs not relieve us of the duty that rests upon 
 us. The necessities of the situation demand school-houses and 
 school-teachers for all, but not mixed schools. If it be the de- 
 sire of one or both races to have separate schools, be it so ; 
 but in the name of our high and sacred duty to see that the 
 Commonwealth suffers no injury, and that the best interests of 
 society are cared for, let us make free schools/or all. If I am 
 asked how it is proposed to raise the money to defray the ex- 
 penses of such schools, I answer, by (axing the property of the 
 State. I would tax the rich man's property to educate his poor 
 neighbor's child. I would tax the white man's property to educate 
 lh<- /Jack mail's child, and vice versa. In a word, 1 would tax all 
 the property of the State to educate all the children of the State" 
 
 MISSION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 " The mission of the Republican party is not yet ended. The 
 loyal people of this country who preserved the government in 
 war and have maintained its honor in peace are not yet ready 
 
40 
 
 to band it over to the party that conspired to destroy it, and 
 has resisted every effort to make it indestructible. 
 
 "At no time in our history has the cause of civil and relig- 
 ious liberty made such progress as in the decade under the 
 fostering care of the Republican party. In giving freedom with 
 civil and political rights to one race, it has not been unmindful 
 of the rights and liberties of the other. The same constitu- 
 tional provision that gave freedom to the black man makes it 
 forever impossible to enslave any portion of the white race. 
 
 " The citizenship secured by the fourteenth article of amend- 
 ment to all persons born or naturalized in the United States 
 applies alike to all persons, rich and poor, white and black. 
 The inhibition upon the States to make or enforce any law 
 which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of 
 the United States, or to deprive any person of life, liberty or 
 property without due process of law, or to deny to any person 
 within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, is a 
 bulwark of safety to every citizen and a protection against the 
 oppressions that might otherwise arise from sectional jealousy 
 and local hate. The constitutional guarantee of the elective 
 franchise is applicable to all races of people, and henceforth 
 neither the United States nor any State can deny or abridge 
 this inestimable right on account of race, color or previous con- 
 dition. All these constitutional provisions were passed in the 
 interest of personal liberty and individual security. ' The love 
 of liberty is inherent in human nature. It nmy be stifled, but 
 not without much difficulty. Easy to be wrought upon as well 
 as powerful and active, whenever it is not gratified there is dan- 
 ger to the State. Gratify it, and you secure the safety of 
 society.' 
 
 " Neither these constitutional provisions nor any statute 
 passed in pursuance of them oppresses or harms any human 
 being. The penalties of the civil rights and Ku Klux acts are 
 aimed solely at the lawless and violent. No peaceful citizen 
 or law abiding community has apprehension of injury or op- 
 pression from them. A government which -cannot protect its 
 humblest citizen from outrage and injury is unworthy the name, 
 and ought not to command the support of a free people. But 
 ' the wicked flee when no man pursueth,' and when you hear 
 these statutes denounced by Democratic speakers, you may be 
 sure that either they or their friends have committed or are 
 likely to commit the crimes for which the punishment is pro- 
 vided. 
 
 " These are the works of the great Republican party of the 
 nation, which saved the country in war. and is able to preserve 
 it in peace. This is the party that must control the destinies 
 of this free country for years to come. May we not confidently 
 
41 
 
 appeal to the young men of Kentucky who propose to live in 
 the stirring present and to be actors in the coming future, to 
 cut loose from the hurtful prejudices of the past and take part 
 in the great work of wheeling our State into the line of pro- 
 gress and advancing it in the race for prosperity and material 
 wealth. 
 
 " Sooner or later the cloud that now hangs over Kentucky 
 and obstructs the moral vision of her people must vanish like 
 a morning's mist before the rising sun of a brighter and 
 better civilization." 
 
 ORATION AT CAVE HILL CEMETERY. 
 
 Five years later Col. Bristow was called to deliver the ora- 
 tion at Cave Hill Cemetery, near Louisville, over the graves 
 of his companions in arms, on Decoration Day, May 29, 1875. 
 This oration is imbued with such lofty patriotism and solemn 
 truth, and is so wisely adapted to the condition of the South 
 and of the whole Union at the present time, that the com- 
 pilers of -this biographical notice deem it the most fitting con- 
 clusion of their task. 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 • 
 
 " Perhaps nothing more distinctly marks the degree of civil- 
 ization attained by a country or community than tender regard 
 for the memory of its dead. The monuments erected, the 
 flowers planted by loving hands in the resting places of the 
 dead, testify to the virtues of the living. The' splendid cem- 
 eteries of great cities, and the modest graveyards of villages 
 and neighborhoods, betoken the existence of a sentiment alike 
 creditable to each. Our own beautiful Cave Hill, wherein we 
 meet to-day, with its green sward, its trees and flowers, its 
 marble monuments, bearing names familiar to us all, tells how 
 the people of Louisville cherish the memory of departed friends. 
 But our solemn and tender feeling for the dead is here exalted 
 by the generous spirit of patriotism, inspired by recollections 
 which the ceremonies of this day must revive. We are as- 
 sembled to celebrate the valor and virtue of men who died to 
 preserve the blessings of personal liberty and free government 
 to us and our posterity. The memory of their heroic endur- 
 ance and daring courage should live in the hearts of succeeding 
 generations, so long as the principles for which they fought and 
 died shall survive, and be valued among men. 
 
42 
 
 " Occasions like this must ever be full of interest to those 
 who love their country and desire the perpetuation of its free 
 institutions. With mingled feelings of sadness and joy we come 
 to decorate with fresh flowers, emblematic of our affection, the 
 graves of the soldiers who gave their lives in defense of that 
 Union which was preserved by the valor of themselves and 
 their comrades ; nor are we alone in the performance of this 
 sacred and patriotic duty. In all parts of the country this day 
 is devoted to the commemoration of the patriotism and courage 
 of those who fell in a struggle which the world can never forget. 
 Although ten years have passed since the conflict, it is even 
 now too soon to know and appreciate to their fullest extent its 
 beneficial results, or its influence upon the destiny of a great 
 people. For the purposes and duty of this day, it is enough to 
 know that they who sleep beneath this sod battled and died 
 for a country which still survives to shed its blessings upon them. 
 By the united efforts of themselves and their surviving com- 
 rades, the Government for which they went forth to battle has 
 not only been saved from overthrow, but its foundations made 
 deeper and broader. The fundamental idea upon which the 
 great founders builded has been carried to its logical result. 
 
 " The political axiom of our fathers, ' that all men are created 
 equal ; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain 
 inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the 
 pursuit of happiness,' has found fuller illustration and broader 
 application. 
 
 " This immortal declaration is no longer limited by ideal 
 boundaries, but reaches forth to every man, of whatever race 
 or color, who breathes the air or treads the soil of the Union. 
 The universalit} f of its application is now plainly declared in 
 our written Constitution, and our national emblem floats over 
 none who are'not entitled to its equal protection. Looking 
 back to the beginning of the struggle, and calling to mind the 
 declared purposes with which the Government entered upon it, 
 the results achieved may well excite the special wonder of the 
 civilized world. At first, engaging in a war of self-defense, the 
 Government undertook to repossess its own property, and to 
 assert its rightful authority in disputed places. It was regarded 
 by most persons as little more than a trial of the strength of 
 free government. For a time the battle was uncertain ; to 
 many the issue seemed doubtful. Despondency lowered over 
 the land, and gloomy forebodings filled the hearts of patriots. 
 Political intrigue, and the clashing of personal ambitions, well 
 nigh destroyed at least one of our greatest armies. But amid 
 the reverses in arms and the wrangling of politicians, the valor 
 of the soldiery never faltered, and in His own good time God 
 raised up for us great military leaders, who were equal to the 
 
43 
 
 emergency, and who, having no political ends to subserve, and 
 no selfish ambition to gratify, 1< -cl our gallant armies to final 
 victory. Meanwhile the delays and postponements, resulting 
 from the causes referred to, had furnished time and opportunity 
 for thoughtful consideration of the questions underlying the con- 
 flict. The man who then stood at the helm of Stale, by the 
 choice of the people, and wno, by the Constitution, was com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army and navy, had declared m L858, 
 with scarcely less than prophetic\vision, that this Government 
 could not endure permanently half slave and half free. As 
 the struggle progressed, the truth of this announcement forced 
 itself upon the people. The men of the South, who were in 
 arms against the authority of the 'Government, had avowed 
 their purpose to build up a separate government, with slavery 
 for its corner-stone. The irrepressible conflict between freedom 
 and slavery had now begun in earnest, and the people of the 
 adhering States, at first reluctantly and slowly, but at last 
 firmly, resolved that slavery and the rebellion should perish 
 together, and to-day they sleep in a common grave. 
 
 "He who fails to see in all this the hand of an all-wise 
 Providence is but a dull reader of events. And who, in all 
 this broad land, will now avow a desire for a different result? 
 Speaking upon the soil of one of the late slave States, I but 
 declare a truth, which will not be controverted or questioned 
 by any considerable number of intelligent persons, when I 
 assert that a great blight has been removed from the South by 
 the abolition of slavery. It requires no prophet to foretell 
 that sooner or later the South must enter upon a career of 
 unexampled prosperity under the influence of free institutions. 
 Her resources are, practically, boundless. Her fertile soil, her 
 rich mineral deposits, her propitious climate, all point to future 
 wealth and power. Free labor must, and will, develop these, 
 as it has already done in the less favored region of the North. 
 The causes which have operated since the close of the civil 
 war to retard the onward movement and check the prosperity 
 of the South might be easily traced, but this is not a suitable 
 occasion to discuss them. 
 
 " If I am asked when will this predicted prosperity be real- 
 ized, in}* answer is, when the passions and prejudices engend- 
 ered by the strife shall have entirely subsided; whon the 
 inalienable right of every man to equal freedom with every 
 other man is rally recognized by society; when the laborer is 
 not only fully protected in life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
 piness, but ample provision is made for the education of his 
 children ; and when it becomes known and accepted that wealth 
 and intellectual improvement come only from individual 
 industry and effort, and not from the pursuit of what we call 
 
politics. Then, and not till theD, will the South have entered 
 upon the full realization of the benefits which must eventually 
 flow from the change. No political economist will deny that 
 educated labor brings greater rewards both to the employer 
 and the employed ; hence, considerations of self-interest, to 
 say nothing of the duty required of us by the golden rule, 
 demand the education of all the people. In view, then, of 
 what has been already achieved, and of what remains to be 
 surely realized hereafter as the results of the w r ar, which 
 peopled the graves that lie before us, have we not great occa- 
 sion to pour out the gratitude of our hearts with the flowers 
 now strewn on this consecrated spot? 
 
 " The ceremonies of to-day tend to keep alive the sentiments 
 of patriotism in the hearts of the survivors of those whose 
 virtues we commemorate. The very performance of this duty 
 of affection towards the dead has had its reflex influence upon 
 the living. Here we are reminded that the strength of the 
 Government under which we live is in the loyalty and virtue of 
 its people ; that the citizens are the country, and the country 
 is what the people make it. This is the key that opens the 
 secret of the strength of republican government, which leans 
 upon the people, and not the people upon it. The whole story 
 of the patriotism and sacrifices of the men who died in defense 
 of the Union was told by Mr. Lincoln when he declared on the 
 field of Gettysburg that they gave their lives that ' government 
 of the people, by the people, and for the people, should not 
 perish from the earth.' A nobler sentiment, in fitter words, 
 was never uttered. 
 
 " These ceremonies are conducted in no spirit of boastful 
 exultation over the men who fell on the other side, or their 
 surviving comrades. The graves throughout the South, in 
 which sleep thousands who arrayed themselves against the 
 Government, testify to their courage and soldierly bearing. 
 Their braverj* and endurance were illustrated on many well-con- 
 tested fields. It is impossible to doubt that the masses among 
 them fought for what they believed to be right, and however 
 they may have been misled by false theories of government, or 
 deluded by the artful teachings of cunning and ambitious 
 leaders, we cannot fail to recognize their valor, or the tenacity 
 and fidelity with which they adhered to the cause in which 
 they had enlisted, so long as the conflict continued. If our 
 own great President could declare in the midst of the strife 
 that it was prosecuted on our part ' with malice toward none, 
 but with charity for all,' how much more ready should we be 
 to bury the animosities that belong to the past, and concede to 
 the men who fought against us the qualities illustrated by their 
 courage and devotion to the cause espoused by them ? Who 
 
45 
 
 thai bears in his bosom the heart ot an American citizen can 
 
 fail to recall with proud satisfaction the many arts of kindness 
 and liberality of our military leaders towards a fallen foe? No 
 incident of the war will bear a more conspicuous place in his- 
 tory than that which occurred at the crowning rictory at 
 Appomattox, where our greatest military chieftain accorded to 
 the conquered army of the rebellion terms of surrender which 
 were both just and generous. For his superb magnanimity, 
 for his steadfast and unselfish patriotism, no less than for his 
 splendid achievements in the field, the people have twice 
 Called him to preside over a reunited country, and in spite of 
 political enmity and personal malice, harmless against such as 
 he, history will accord him the highest rank as a leader. 
 
 "The two grand results of the war, which more than compen- 
 sate the country for all its sad bereavements and vast expendi- 
 ture and waste of money and property, are the extinction of 
 slavery and the recognized indissolubility of our National 
 Union ; and the time is not far distant when these will be ac- 
 cepted and admitted as blessings by the people of every sec- 
 tion. Men of the South will, sooner or later, admit that suc- 
 cess in what they undertook would have been a grievous 
 misfortune, even to themselves. What they may think of their 
 action in the past is of little moment, so far as it can affect the 
 present and future interests of the country. What we have a 
 right to expect and insist upon is practical loyalty in the future 
 to the country, and cheerful obedience to its Constitution and 
 laws. Mere historical and sentimental loyalty is of far less 
 consequence. We ask no sacrifice of conviction, no humilia- 
 tion of soldierly pride, while insisting on and enforcing every 
 principle resulting from the victory. We may look with indul- 
 gence, if not with indifference, on the apologies and defenses 
 that will certainly, through all time, be put forth by the de- 
 scendants of the men who fought on the side of the rebellion, 
 and agree to differ with them on what is rapidly becoming a 
 mere chronicle of record and of theory. The history of the 
 world furnishes examples from wdiich we may learn lessons of 
 wisdom in this respect. The past struggles in our mother 
 country illustrate what I m<3an. The great leaders on each 
 side of the civil war of the seventeenth century, Hampden, 
 Pym and Cromwell, Falkland, Hyde and Ormond, have full 
 justice done them by all competent historians, and their vir- 
 tues and talents are the common heritage of the English peo- 
 ple ; and the historians of those times are equally loyal to the 
 British constitution of to-day, whether they take the side of the 
 Cavaliers or espouse the cause of the Roundheads. Nay, more, in 
 the next generation after the termination of that bitter and bloody 
 struggle, the immediate descendants of the men whom I have 
 
46 
 
 mentioned, and who probably could not have discussed the ques- 
 tion of the arrest of the five members of the Grand Remon- 
 strance without crossing swords, united in driving James the 
 Second from the throne and establishing that combination of 
 freedom and order which has given England her greatest pros- 
 perity. The Scottish rebellion in favor of the House of 
 Stuart, in the last century, is a still more striking illustration 
 of how men may hold totally different and irreconcilable views 
 on historical issues, and yet be practically and earnestly loyal 
 to the present and future of a common country. As a writer of 
 history and historical romance, Sir Walter Scott was an intense 
 Jacobite and a bitter opponent to the House of Hanover, and 
 yet, in spite of historical theories, he was an enthusiastic 
 loyalist towards George the Third and George the Fourth. No 
 part of the British Isle was more loyal than Scotland, and yet 
 I undertake to say, that to-day in no part of the civilized 
 world could there be aroused more bitter discussions and con- 
 troversies over the struggles in which that people have been 
 engaged. 
 
 " May we not, then, look forward with assured confidence to 
 the time, in the near future, when all intelligent men, North 
 and South, will not only accept the results of the late, conflict, 
 but will recognize the blessings that flow from it, and admit 
 that any other issue would have been an irreparable calamity 
 to both sections of the country. While we must differ from 
 those who sought to dissolve the Union and look from a differ- 
 ent standpoint upon the history of the struggle that ensued, we 
 may safely concede to them the right to hold such opinions as 
 they like in respect of the past, and claim from them only a 
 cheerful and hearty loyalty to the present and future. And 
 why should this not be so ? Are we not bound together by 
 ties of consanguinity and community of material interests ? 
 Whatever promotes discord, or weakens our common govern- 
 ment, threatens danger and disaster to all alike, and whatever 
 gives strength and perpetuity to our free institutions promises 
 blessings to the people in every part of the country, and to 
 their posterity. 
 
 " God speed the time when the men of the North and of the 
 South shall vie with each other in efforts to rebuild the waste 
 places, to promote the general welfare and to advance by all 
 proper means the greatness and prosperity of our common 
 country !"