Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. University of Illinois Library L161— O0-1096 ISAAC NEWTON ARNOLD TPEHONAS ILO YN. WeEeVORTATL: ADDRESSES COMMEMORATIVE OF THE LIVES AND CHARACTERS OF HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD LATE PRESIDENT OF THE CITICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ETC, AND HON. THOMAS GRO INGE LATE VICE-PRESIDENT: OF THE CHIGAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ELC, DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 21, 1884. BY Hon. E. B. WASHBURNE, Hon. THOMAS DRUMMOND, Anpb Hon. VAN H. HIGGINS, IN RESPECT OF MR. ARNOLD; AND Hon. JOHN WENTWORTH, IN RESPECT OF Mr. HOYNE. GI Coy. ACTON FERGUS PRINTING COMPANY. 1884. re nGO FISTORICAL SOCIETY. The Hon. IsAac N. ARNOLD, president of the Chicago Historical Society, died at his residence in Chicago, on the 24th day of April, 1884. At the first meeting of the Society after his death, May 20, 1884, the following resolution, offered by Judge Skinner, was adopted: Resolved, That the Hon. E. B. Washburne be requested to prepare and deliver before this Society, at his convenience, a Memorial Address, commemorative of the life and charac- ter of the Hon. Isaac N. Arnold. Before the adjournment, Mr. Washburne, the acting- president of the Society, said: “T am certain that all the members of the Chicago ‘Historical Society, and all others present, will have heard with emotion the resolution in respect to our late President, first presented by Judge Mark Skinner. “The Society has met with a great and almost irre- parable loss in the death of Mr. Arnold. Long identified with it, giving to it his attention and his services, he has done much to elevate its character and increase its useful- ness. We can never forget with what courtesy and dignity he presided at our meetings. Dying, as it were, in the harness, he has left us the recollection of an honest man, a cultivated gentleman, a good citizen, and an honored public servant. At some time in the future, the Society will pay appropriate honors to his memory.” A regular monthly meeting of the Society was held at the Society Rooms, on Dearborn Avenue, Tuesday evening, October 21, 1884. After the disposal of the preliminary business, Mr. Washburne delivered the accompanying Ad- dress. BURTON HIST. COLLECTION eg DETROIT EXCHANGE DUPLICATE Jn Memoriam. Pacoeminn es INGE RUN OTT). PURE Ss OR HON} hob WASHBURNE. GENTLEMEN OF THE CuIcaGco HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: Tue Chicago Historical Society has been called upon to mourn the death of our esteemed and distin- guished associate, Hon. Isaac Newton Arnold, its late president. On the evening of 20th of May, 1884, the Society passed the following resolution, introduced by our hon- ored friend and fellow-member, Judge Skinner, the cotemporary and almost life-long friend of Mr. Arnold: Resolved, That in the removal by death of Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, the Chicago Historical Society mourns the loss of one of its original founders, of one of its most active, efficient, and reliable members, and its honored and greatly- respected president. During all the active years of a long and well-spent life, Mr. Arnold had been a citizen of Chi- cago, contributing by his indefatigable industry, his unim- peachable integrity, his patriotism, his public spirit, his rare abilities, his great acquirements, his spotless moral character, his high social qualifications, and his instincts as a thorough gentleman to give lustre to the city of his residence and to the generation to which he belonged; a successful lawyer that stood in the front rank of his profession; a cautious, far- 6 seeing, and wise legislator, distinguishing himself in the halls of legislation, National as well as State; a successful public speaker and a writer of great power and wide-spread popu- larity, he has left to the generations that succeed him the legacy of a noble example and a good name. At the same meeting, another resolution was passed requesting me to deliver before the Society a ‘“Memorial Address commemorative of the Life and Character of Hon. Isaac N. Arnold.” It would have been well if that task could have been confided to some older resident of Chicago, and one better able to do justice to the memory of Mr. Arnold. I overcome my hesitation, however, when I consider the opportu- nity it gives me of appreciating the character of a man to whom I was allied by so many ties of friend- ship and whom I held in the highest esteem for his private and public virtues, for his ability, his states- manship, and _ his patriotism. At the threshhold of my remarks, I may perhaps be pardoned for recalling an incident which took place a few months prior to Mr. Arnold’s death. About Christmas time, 1883, he sent me an elegantly-bound copy of the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Royal Historical Society,” which contained his admirable paper on Mr. Lincoln, and which, on the invitation of the Society, he went to London to read. In a letter written on the 20th of December last, I acknowledged the receipt of the address, and said: “T have re-read your paper with renewed interest, one of the most complete and most polished produc- 7 tions that I now recall to mind. ‘The simple and elo- quent story of Mr. Lincoln’s life awakens in me some of the most pleasant as well as some of the saddest memories of that remarkable man. You know what answer Queen Katherine made to Griffith after his eulogy on Cardinal Wolsey. — | would say with her, substituting Arnold for Griffith: “After my death, I wish no other herald, No speaker of my living actions, To keep mine honor from corruption, But such an honest chronicler as Griffith.” In answering my note on the 20th of December, Mr. Arnold says: “How strange, as I write, Lincoln’s Shakespeare, given me by Mrs. Lincoln and Robert, with his autograph, lies before me, the book which so familiarized him with the great poet. You, his friend and co-laborer, quote from it. I can only promise in reference to him that I shall try to be like Griffith, ‘an honest chronicler’. But I have this great advantage: Wolsey’s character was made up of good and evil, and although he was ‘A scholar, and a ripe and good one,’ yet he had his faults; but of Lincoln, ‘All the ends he aimed at were his Country’s, God’s, and Truth’s.’ | And so the ‘honest chronicler’ has but the simple truth to tell. 8 You are younger than I, and in the course of nature will survive me. Whoever goes first, the survivor will speak some kind words.” Mr. Arnold has preceded me to that undis- covered country from whence no traveler. returns. On the 24th day of April, 1884, in peace with himself and all the world, at his residence in this city, sur- rounded by his sorrowing family, he died, fearing God. Surviving him, and witha heart filled with sad- ness, it now comes to me in this presence ‘‘to speak some kind words” of my friend and our late president. Hon. Isaac N. Arnold was born in the town of Hartwick, Otsego Co., N.Y. His father was a coun- try physician, who while conscientiously attending to the demands of his profession added something to his limited income by cultivating a small farm in a town where all the people were devoted to agriculture. In that beautiful county of Otsego, with its picturesque scenery, its clear and limpid lakes, and its extensive forests, amid a population made up of the best type of the American character, Mr. Arnold first saw the light of day. It was in that comparative solitude that he drew his earliest inspirations and laid the foundations, deep and broad, of that future life, distinguished for so much honor and illustrated by so many virtues. Thrown upon his own resources at an early age, he became the architect of his own fortune, and has fur- nished an example to the young men of the present day, who can see in his career that the pathway to greatness and usefulness is opened to all who enter 9 upon it in a spirit of loyal devotion to the great objects of life. Having prepared himself for the study of law, he first commenced his studies under Richard Cooper, Esq., of Cooperstown, N.Y., and afterward continued them in the office of Judge E. B. Morehouse of the same place until he was admitted to the Bar in 1835, at the age of twenty-one years. Taking up his residence in Chicago in 1836, his career from that time was one of honorable success; and at the time of his death no citizen of Chicago was more widely known and more highly respected and esteemed than was Mr. Arnold. The story of his professional life must be told by some one of his associates at the Bar who had personal knowledge of his ability as a lawyer and of the distinction he acquired in the practice of his chosen profession. Interested always in questions of great public interest, he often stepped outside the limits of his pro- fession to make himself heard and his influence felt. When the question of the repudiation of the State debt arose, as was natural for a man of his stamp, Mr. Arnold revolted against the proposition, and gave the influence of his high character and great ability to sustain the public faith. He made himself known to the people by voice and pen in his efforts to sustain the honor of the State and to have the people stamp out the dishonorable but insidious proposition to repu- diate the public debt. In the session of the Legislature of 1842-3, Mr. IO Arnold rendered a great and inestimable service to the State in carrying through that Canal Bill which laid the foundation of our State credit and which con- tributed so much to make Illinois what it is today, the pride of all its loyal sons and the admiration of our country and the world. On all questions of good faith and public morality, Mr. Arnold was always on the right side; and for the conspicuous service he ren- dered the State and the cause of honesty, both in public and private life, in a most critical period of our history, his memory deserves to be always honored by every citizen of Illinois. As we all knew him, Mr. Arnold was a man of great independence of character, thought, and action. Making up his mind as to what was regh/, he always acted up to his convictions. He never pandered to low tastes or popular prejudices. There was not the slightest tinge of the demagogue in all his composi- tion. The quotation from Horace, made by Morris Birkbeck for the encouragement of Gov. Coles during the great slavery struggle in 1823-4, when that great and good man was so fiercely assailed by all the worst elements in the State for his efforts to prevent slavery from defiling the soil of Illinois, might be applied to Mr. Arnold with great force: “Justum et tenacem propositi virum, Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni, Mente quatit solida.” * * “Neither the ardor of citizens ordering base things, nor the face of the threatening tyrant, shakes a man just and tenacious of principle from his firm intentions. ” | | I now approach that portion of Mr. Arnold’s life and career with which [| was most familiar and in which I have always had the greatest interest. At the same election that Mr. Lincoln was elected presi- dent, in 1860, Mr. Arnold was elected a representative in ‘the thirty-seventh congress from the Chicago dis- trict. | had known him before as a gentleman and a lawyer, meeting him frequently at the sessions of the supreme court at Springfield and Ottawa. That con- gress met in extra session on the 4th of July, 1861. Its meeting was one of the most ‘momentous events ever recorded in the history of our country. Presi- dent Lincoln, great, magnanimous, peaceful, patriotic, just, had made every effort consistent with his duty and his oath to support the constitution and enforce the laws, to bring the rebellious States back to their allegiance. The rebels, lawless, defiant, aggressive, had spurned every proposition that might lead to an understanding between the sections. Therefore, it was that at the opening of this congress, Mr. Lincoln's administration was confronted by an open rebellion. Blood had been shed and the flames of a civil war had been lighted in the country. It was under such circumstances Mr. Lincoln had convened Congress in extra session. ~The members of the Senate and House of Representatives met under this call for an extra session under a weight of responsibility which has rarely rested upon public men. At such a crisis men became naturally allied to each other. Intelligent, patriotic, courageous, firm of ‘by purpose, and of undying loyalty, Mr. Arnold took his seat in that celebrated Congress and then commenced an intimacy and friendship between us, existing un- broken to the day of his death. The President and Mr. Arnold had known each other long and well. They had been associated as lawyers in the triak of causes and had been opposite counsel in important litigation. This long association at the Bar had made them to know one another well, and had engendered mutual respect and mutual regard. Mr. Lincoln hailed the election to Congress of Mr. Arnold with pleasure, for in him he saw the faithful friend, the wise counsellor, and the loyal and patriotic citizen. And hence it was, during all his administration, that he gave to him his fullest confidence and extended to him so many evidences of the high regard in which he held him. Though a new member, the consideration in which Mr. Arnold was held by his colleagues was shown by the unanimous request made to him that he should pronounce the eulogy in the House on behalf of Illinois on the occasion of the death of Mr. Douglas. His address was a glowing and merited tribute to the memory of that distinguished man. Trained in the arts of legislation by his service in the Illinois Legislature, conscious of his own ability and capacity, Mr. Arnold participated at once in the business of the House. On the 29th day of July, he entered into the discussion of the Internal Revenue Bill, and in a short and apt speech which convinced 4 bs the House of his ability as a debator, and what was to be his usefulness as a legislator. The regular session of the Thirty-seventh Con- gress met on Monday, the second day of December, 1861. The country had then been plunged into all the horrors of a bloody civil war, and the loyal people looked forward to the opening of this regular session of Congress with the most intense interest. Mr. Arnold appeared and took his seat. He had felt his way somewhat cautiously in the extra session, but now he believed himself equal to taking a more prominent part in the legislation of the House. He participated in the discussion of nearly all the import- ant questions which came up for action, and he soon took rank as one of the ablest members of the body. I was in the House of Representatives for six- teen years, and during the most important epoch of our country’s history and at a time when so many of the ablest men of the nation were members of the House of Representatives, and was in a position to estimate and judge of men; and I can conscientiously say that I consider that Mr. Arnold was one of the ablest, the most useful, and most conscientious mem- bers with whom I was associated. Always at his post in the House and in the committee-room, he shunned no labor nor left any duty unperformed. He studied all questions and weighed all the arguments, Avo and con, on every subject on ‘which he was called upon to act. And then in deportment and bearing he was what a public man should. be, amiable, courteous, 2. 14 affable, polite, and always a gentleman, making him- self esteemed and respected by all who had the good fortune to know him. I have sometimes thought that Chicago never did full justice to its congressman in those two celebrated Congresses during the war. In the excitement of the time and the whirl of events, men were often lost sight of. Mr. Arnold never daz- zled by brilliant speeches, got up for effect and to gain popular applause and cheap glory, but he devoted himself rather to the serious subjects of legislation with assiduity and intelligence. The Cozxgresszonal Globe, during his term of service, is an enduring monument to his great and useful labors, and that will remain as long as the Republic shall endure. In all matters of local importance before Con- gress, as well as in all matters in which his constituents. were interested, either in the Departments or in Con- gress, Mr. Arnold was especially active and efficient. He gave the Ship-Canal Bill a warm support, and _his. speech on the subject was one of the ablest which was. made. : | Coming from good old Revolutionary and Rhode Island stock, born and bred among the: freedom-lov- ing people of Northern New York, it could. hardly have been otherwise than that Mr. Arnold should have imbibed the strongest feelings of hostility to: human slavery. Through all his political associations, neither his opinions nor actions on that subject ever changed. He always acted with the anti-slavery men wherever he found them, and when slavery raised the. — [5 standard of rebellion against the government, he took the most radical ground on the subject. He voted for the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum- bia, and as early as March, 1862, he introduced a bill, sweeping in its provisions, to prohibit slavery in every place subject to national jurisdiction. This bill was stoutly resisted, but Mr. Arnold pressed it with ability and persistence, and after some amendments, it became a law, June 19, 1862. He madea speech in the House on this bill, on the 19th day of May, 1862, ‘and from a man of his naturally calm and conservative temperament, it was not only very able, but very radi- cal and aggressive. He denounced slavery as a mon- ster attempting to destroy a government which it had so long controlled. He said no man who loved his country and the Constitution could hold any other position toward it than one of hostility, and that every effort should be made to weaken and destroy it. “Whenever we can give it a Constitutional blow,” he exclaimed, ‘“‘le¢ ws do zt.’ And it may be said to his honor, few men in Congress, or out of Congress, dealt harder blows at the institution than he did. The ablest and most notable speech that Mr. Arnold made while a member of Congress was -that on the bill to confiscate rebel property, made May 2, 1862. After passing in review the wickedness of the Rebellion, and the inhuman manner in which the rebels had conducted the war, and the necessity of prompt and vigorous action, he addressed himself to the legal questions involved, in an argument of great 16 ability and research, and which challenged the atten- tion of the lawyers of the House. He was an able lawyer, and all legal questions to which he gave his attention he treated with conspicuous ability and with a felicity of language quite rare in the discussion of points of law. From the high standing of Mr. Arnold in the House, and the advanced position he occupied on the slavery question, it was fitting and proper that he should take the initiative in a great measure of legisla- tion with which his name will ever be honorably associated, and which was the foundation of an enact- ment of more transcendant importance than any which ever adorned the statute-book of any nation. On the 15th day of February, 1864, Mr. Arnold introduced into the House of Representatives a reso- lution, which was passed, declaring that the Constitu- tion should be so amended as to ABOLISH SLAVERY IN THE UniTEeD States. This was the first step ever taken by Congress in favor of the abolition and pre- vention of slavery in the country. The ball was set in motion—the popular branch of Congress had made a solemn declaration which sent a throb of joy and hope to the heart of every lover of human freedom. The Senate was then so constituted that the two- thirds’ majority, necessary to submit a Constitutional amendment, was easily obtainable. The House hav- ing led the way by passing the declaratory resolution of Mr. Arnold in favor of a Constitutional amendment, the Senate passed the resolution on the 8th day of Ld 17 April, 1864. But it failed to pass the House at that session of Congress, and it was not until the next ses- sion, on the 1st day of February, 1865, that the two- thirds’ majority was obtained in the House, and in the homely language of Mr. Lincoln, ‘‘¢he 706 finished.” In the debate in the House, Mr. Arnold made a passionate appeal for the passage of the joint-resolu- tion. Warming up in his remarks, and in a tone of true eloquence, he exclaimed: ‘In view of the long catalogue of wrongs that slavery has inflicted upon the country, I demand today of the Congress of the United States, the death of slavery. We can have no permanent peace while slavery lives. It now reels and staggers in its last death-struggle. Let us strike the monster this last decisive blow.” ‘Pass this joint- resolution,” he continued, ‘‘and the thirty-eighth Con- gress will live in history as that which consummated the great work of freeing a continent from the curse of human bondage. The great spectacle of this vote which knocks off the fetters of a whole race, will make )’ . this scene immortal And further on he continued: “T mean to fight this cause of the war—this cause of all the expenditure of blood and treasure from which my country is now suffering; this institution which has filled our whole land with sorrow, desolation, and anguish. I mean to fight it until neither on the statute-book nor in the Constitution shall there be left a single sentence or word which can be construed to emecain the stipendous wrong... ™ 9" * Let us 18 now, in the name of liberty, of justice, and of God, consummate this grand revolution. Let us now make our country ¢he hone of the free.” No member of the House of Representatives who was present when this resolution passed can ever forget that extraordinary scene. Mr. Arnold was full of rejoicing. In a graphic, racy, and inter- esting paper, entitled ‘‘ Reminiscences of Lincoln and of Congress during the Rebellion,” read by him in July, 1882, before the New-York Geneological and Biographical Society, he gave an account, among other things, of the passage by Congress of the ‘Goint resolution to submit to the States the amend- ment to the Constitution abolishing slavery.” After seeing the great work, so near to his heart, accom- plished, he tells of the steps he took to obtain certain souvenirs connected with the legislation. When the resolution had been engrossed he procured an exact duplicate of the original, which was to go on file in the State department, and to that obtained the signa- tures of all the members of both Houses who had voted for it, to be treasured up as a memento of the occasion; and with sadness he tells the story of the Chicago Fire, which consumed that and so many other treasures. Profiting from his inspiration in this regard, I followed his example and procured precisely the same thing for myself; and looking at the names of all the members of both Houses, in their own proper handwriting, who voted for the resolution, there’ will be seen the name of Isaac N. Arnold, written in 19 his own bold, clear hand. Now that he has passed away, I never look upon it without emotion. It is impossible in the limits of this paper to do full justice to Mr. Arnold’s congressional record. The Congressional Globe shows with what zeal and ability he entered into the business of the House, and what light he shed on all subjects to which he gave his attention. He went to Congress to serve the country in its hour of peril and not for the objects of an un- worthy ambition. His colleague and his friend, | know how conscientiously and laboriously, how hon- estly and how ably he discharged his every duty. To those who knew him it goes without saying, that he was thoroughly incorruptible. There was never a lobbyist or corruptionist bold enough to approach him with even the slightest suggestion as to any action on his part favoring any object for private gain, and not for the public good. Such was his high character, his incorruptible integrity, and his elevated code of morals, that no man ever dared to approach him with an im- proper suggestion in respect of his official action. Mr. Arnold’s congressional career ended with the Thirty-eighth Congress, March 3d, 1865. During his whole term of service, not only from a sense of duty, but from his high personal regard. for the president, he had given the administration of Mr. Lincoln a loyal, able, and an efficient support. It was a matter of great regret and disappointment to that distin- guished man, as well as to all of his colleagues, that he did not return to Congress. He had served his 20 country and his constituents so faithfully and with such marked ability that he had challenged the respect and confidence of all familiar with his public career. On his return to his home in Chicago, at the adjourn- ment of the long session of Congress in July, 1864, he was tendered a magnificent reception, and a vote was passed, giving to him the thanks of the meeting for the able and valuable services he had rendered his country and his constituents in Congress. While not a candidate for re-election in 1864, he entered into the canvass for the re-election of Mr. Lincoln with great spirit, and his voice was heard in many States urging the people to sustain him in the great work of sup- pressing the rebellion. After the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Arnold being then already engaged in writing a “History of Abraham Lincoln and the Overthrow of Slavery in the United States,” he accepted the appointment from President Johnson of auditor of the treasury for the post-office department, as a residence in Washington afforded him a more ready access to documents necessary for him to have in preparing his work. Subsequently, differing with President Johnson in respect of the policy he had adopted, he resigned the office which he had received bates hands. Returning to his home in Chicago in. 1867, he completed his ‘History of Abraham Lincoln and the Overthrow of Slavery.” He brought to the preparation of that work the qualities of an able and conscientious historian, who wrote very largely from aA -_ personal knowledge and personal observation. His long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln had given him a thorough knowledge of his character and his mode of thought and action. As a member of that Congress for four years during the war, and which had accomplished such prodigies for the coun- try, he was from his own participation in it enabled to speak with authority. I have recently read again this work and am more impressed than ever with it as a work of sur- passing interest and of exceptional historic value. No where else can be found a more just appreciation of Mr. Lincoln and a more graphic and truthful recital of events then transpiring in Congress and on the theatre of military and political action throughout the country. Important and interesting facts are to be obtained therein which are not to be found elsewhere. Resuming his law practice in Chicago in 1872, Mr. Arnold continued actively in his profession for two or three years, when failing health compelled him to abandon it. From that time till his death, he lived the life of a retired gentleman in his pleasant home on the North-Side, among his books and papers, where, surrounded by his interesting and amiable family and congenial friends, he dispensed an elegant and graci- ous hospitality. It was then he found leisure to devote himself to favorite literary pursuits. With an inclination for historic research, with that power of analysis which a long practice at the Bar had given him, and with a rare felicity of composition, he devoted himself to historic themes. 22 It was in 1880 that Mr. Arnold breught out his “Life of Benedict Arnold—his Patriotism and _ his Treason,’ a most comely volume of more than_ four hundred pages. The book has been extensively read in the most intelligent circles. While it provoked a certain measure of criticism in some quarters, yet it was generally commended for the ability, fairness, and independence shown by the author. It was perhaps a bold undertaking to write the life of a man whose name and memory were so loaded down with infamy as were those of Benedict Arnold. But the author frankly tells us in his introduction what led him to undertake to tell the story of Benedict Arnold's life truthfully and impartially. He was conscious of the deep and universal prejudice existing against him, and was aware that the American people would listen with - impatience to his narrative. He had no desire to change the indignation and resentment felt against him, nor could he either excuse or extenuate his guilt. He wished “to make known his patriotic ser- vices, his sufferings, heroism, and the wrongs which drove him to a desperate action and induced one of the most heroic men of an heroic age to perpetrate an unpardonable crime.” Influenced by such considera- tions, and responsible only to himself for his opinions and judgments, Mr. Arnold did not hesitate to write the. ‘‘ Life of Benedict Arnold.” Itis the province on history to record facts, to pursue investigations, and narrate circumstances without regard to the characters of individuals. To sum up, Mr. Arnold has given to 92 B08, the world a book of exceptional historic value, and for which all the lovers of biography and students of our Revolutionary history must be grateful. It is not the first time that there has been written the life of a man who has been set up in the “ pillory of history.” Dr. Robinet never lost anything in the estimation of the French people by writing the memoirs of Danton, nor Ernest Hamel for his history of Robespierre, nor Alfred Bougeart by his life of the monster Marat. Everywhere, Mr. Arnold has added to his reputation among literary, thoughtful, and reading men, by his ‘‘ Life of Benedict Arnold.” In the somewhat heated controversy which arose over the question of Gen. Arnold’s military services, the historian fully vindicated the positions he had taken, for no man was more successful in marshalling facts or in presenting deductions from established premises. But the great work of Mr. Arnold’s life, and upon which his reputation as a biographer and _histo- figneiust rest. is his. Lite-of Abraham’ Lincoln,” now in course of publication. His history of Mr. Lincoln and the overthrow of slavery, through an able, valuable, and interesting work; as I have de- scribed, was never. entirely satisfactory to the author, so far as it treated of Mr. Lincoln. He determined, therefore, two years since, to write anew the ‘ Life of Abraham Lincoln,” in the light of all the new material he had gathered. Stimulated by his admiration and friendship for that illustrious man, he devoted himself to the preparation of a life of one of the greatest men 24 img who ever ‘‘lived in the tide of time’”—a man whose name is on all our lips and whose memory is in all our hearts—ABRAHAM LincoLn. He entered upon the work coz amore, and devoted to it all his efforts and all his thoughts. The preparation of the work occupied all his time and absorbed all his attention. So closely did he pursue his labors, and so intently were his thoughts occupied thereon, that his health, at no time rugged, within the last few years, began percepti- bly to give way. Still he persevered, and still he labored on, till the last chapter was finished, and the last finishing touches given. Never shall I forget the last interview | had with him only a few days before he died, as he lay pallid and emactated on his bed of death. Knowing all the interest I had felt in his book, he began to speak: of: it in° feebleyand) even plaintive tones, and closed by saying: ‘It was only when I had completed the last chapter that I col- lapsed.” And so it was, strengthened and buoyed up in his purpose to complete the great work of his life, when the task was finished, he laid down to die. The hour of his earthly existence had come finally to strike. Neither the prayers of wife and children, who did so much to sooth the pangs of his parting life, nor all their love, care, and devotion; neither the hopes of friends, nor the skill of physicians could stay the hand of death. His work was done, and peacefully and calmly and in Christian resignation he yielded up his soul to the God who gave it. Mr. Arnold’s ‘‘ Life of. Abraham Lincoln,” en- _ 2) riched by a captivating style, carefully studied and drawn from the most reliable sources of information, will become the standard life of a man whose name, linked in glory to that of Washington, will go down to the end of all the ages. Of an active mind, taking an interest in all pass- ing events, Mr. Arnold always found some subject to occupy his attention and to engage his pen, — Inde- pendent of the books he had written and published, he was the author of a great number of sketches, papers, biographies, and reviews, many of which have been published, and all of them are interesting and valuable in a personal and historical point of view. Associated for half-a-century with Illinois, and having been long and honorably identified with the State, he was always interested in all that appertained to our history and our public men. As a member of the legal profession, and as a man in public life, he was closely allied to many of the lawyers and judges, and to many men in official stations in the State, and he was never happier than when recounting the reminis- cences of his earlier professional and_ political life. To everything he undertook, Mr. Arnold brought the qualities of a ripe intelligence, great vigor, and a sound judgment. When at an age when most men rest, he was pursuing to its legitimate honors and rewards the career of a man of letters and of an_his- torian. Of the productions of Mr. Arnold’s busy and gifted pen which have been published in pamphlet form, | may mention: 26 1. His Address before the Chicago Historical Society of Nov. 9th, 1868, giving a history of the DOGIELY, -elG. 2, “Sketch of MGGiIa oli bh Kinzie sere before the Chicago Historical Society, July 11, 1877. 3. ‘Recollections of the Early Chicago and Hli- nois Bar”: a lecture before the Chicago Bar Asso- ciation, June 10, 1880. 7 4. ‘Reminiscences (of them Himoigm bam conus Years Ago”: read before the Bar Association of the State of Illinois, at Springfield, Jan. 7, 1881. | 5. A Paper on Abraham Lincoln: read “before the Royal Historical Society in London, June 16, 1881. 6. A Paper on William B. Ogden: read before the Chicago Historical Society, Dec. 20, 1881, on the presentation of a portrait of Mr. Ogden, by Healy, to the Historical Society. 7. ‘Reminiscences of Lincoln and of Congress during the Rebellion”: being the anniversary address, delivered before the New-York Geneological and Bio- graphical Society, April 15, 1882. 8. ‘Benedict Arnold at Saratoga’; reprinted from the “United’ Service.” “Reply to John emer Stevens, and new evidence of Mr. Bancroft’s error.” 9g. A Paper on James Fennimore Cooper: read in 1883 before the Chicago Literary Society. 10. Letter of Isaac N. Arnold to Bishop Clark- som: ‘Was Dr. De Koven legally elected Bishop of Illinois ?” —<—— * 27 11. A Paper read before the Chicago Philo- sophical Society, Dec. 10, 1883, entitled, “‘ The Lay- man’s Faith.” Mr. Arnold had been one of the founders of the _Chicago Historical Society, and served many years as one of its vice-presidents. On the roth day of De- cember, 1876, he was elected president, and held the position uninterruptedly until the day of his death——a period of about seven and one-half years. So long identified with the Society, and giving to it his atten- tion and services, he did much to elevate its character and add to its usefulness. We-can never forget the regularity of his attendance upon all the meetings of _ the Society, his watchful care over all its interests, nor the dignity and courtesy which he presided over our K fe i deliberations. With an intellectual and finely-chiseled face, of an erect and well-formed person, of quiet and gentleman- ly manners, and courteous carriage and bearing, Mr. Arnold was a man who always attracted attention. He was the soul of probity and honor. Neither the purity of his private life, nor the integrity of his public conduct was ever challenged; but in every position of life he stood before the world as an honest man, a cultivated gentleman, a good citizen, and a public ser- vant without reproach. ‘Those of us who have known him so well in this Society and in the daily walk of his life and conversation, will always guard for him a profound souvenir of respect and affection. 28 Husband, father, friend, neighbor, citizen — his ashes repose on the shores of that lake where he had passed a long and an honored life, and its waves shall forever sing his requiem. TRIBUTE OF HON. THOMAS DRUMMOND. Mr. PRESIDENT :—I propose only to make a few general remarks, leaving details to others. When Mr. Arnold came to Chicago in 1836, if some one had asked what were the qualities which would make him one of the principal men who would form and influ- ence the elements of the growth of a great city, he would have said that, as a professional man, he must be able and true to his clients; as a public man, conscientious and faithful in the discharge of all trusts committed to his hands, and as a citizen, honorable in all the relations which attach to that name. Mr. Arnold, in his life, from that time, when tried in these various positions, proved that he possessed all these qualities, and he was thus one of the leading men of the city, whose influence was always exerted for good. By his talents, industry, and fidelity, and conscious that success was with him a necessity—for it is not those who have, but those who gain a competence who achieve great distinction at the bar—he became one of the most eminent lawyers of the city and of the State. No man ever had his heart more in his cause, or more fully bent every faculty of his mind to succeed. As a public man, the sphere of his usefulness was greatly enlarged. He, as a member of the legislature and as a citizen, made the most strenuous efforts and exhibited great ability in his arguments and speeches to maintain the honor of the State in its dealings with its creditors. 2 re) 39 As a member of Congress, he gave the whole energy of his mind and heart to sustain the administration of Lin- coln; to uphold the rights of man; to destroy slavery, and to preserve and consolidate the union of these States. We who were acquainted with him in those trying days know with how much devotion he sought to accomplish these great objects. A warm personal friend of Lincoln, he was one of his most trusted counsellors and advisers. It would be difficult to overrate the value of the ser- vices which he rendered to his State and the Nation while in public life. As aman and a citizen, his influence and efforts were always exerted in favor of sound morals and good govern- ment. When we look back to the condition of affairs that existed here nearly fifty years ago, we can appreciate the effect produced on professional, social, and political life by the character, habits, and conduct of Mr. Arnold, and can say, as the influence of a man so conspicuous is all- pervading, that the world is better for the life of such a man. It is fitting, therefore, that there should be placed on record, and especially in this Society, in which he took so deep an interest, and of which he was so long the pre- siding officer, an enduring memorial of the estimate which has been formed of his life and public services by his con- temporaries, in order that those who come after us here may know that he, of whom we now speak, was, in our judgment, thus of record, an eminent lawyer, a true patriot, and an honorable citizen. TRIBUTE OF HON. VAN H. HIGGINS. Mr. PRESIDENT:—I feel great distrust and diffidence in my ability to say what I think ought to be said of the honored deceased, whom I had known since his early man- hood, now more than forty years, and with whom I had been on terms of great intimacy and friendship for more than thirty years. Iam proud of that-intimacy and friend- ship. [am proud of his record as a man and as an hon- ored citizen of Chicago, and I am grateful for the example of his life and character. We owe a tribute of respect to the late Isaac N. Arnold, who devoted the best energies of his whole life to objects of benevolence and to the advancement of the cause of human freedom. His patri- otism and devotion to the cause of the Union and its pre- servation were untiring and ceaseless. In Congress and out of Congress, he was ever active and zealous, watchful and constant. In the beginning of the great struggle for the preservation of our national existence, Isaac N. Arnold was foremost in all that could be done to preserve and perpetuate this Union. Chicago had no truer patriot, no better friend of the enslaved negro, no more sympathizing friend of the wretched and suffering everywhere and at all times than Isaac N. Arnold. Although I had known him in all the relations of life, socially, politically, and profes- sionally, Iam here to speak only of his professional life, aa O- and of Isaac N. Arnold asa lawyer. Other friends more eloquent will speak, I am sure, of the usefulness of the life of the deceased, and of the beauty and loveliness of his general character, which, during a long lifetime, so gained and held our love and affection. They will speak of him in the domestic relations of his life, as a trusty friend, a faithful husband, a kind father; as a distinguished and honored citizen; as a true gentleman, pure and spotless in all things, and in all the relations of life. They will tell of his philanthropy. Isaac N. Arnold was from his youth a philanthropist. He was the friend of enslaved and wretched bondsmen. He consecrated his best energies during his whole life to the emancipation of the poor slave, one of the noblest objects within the range of human be- nevolence. It was in the cause and interest of the poor slave that his heart swelled with more tenderness and _ his purse was opened more freely than in any other. They will speak of his great and untiring efforts in his early manhood in originating and organizing the Free-soil party of the United States. ‘They will speak of patriotic, un- selfish, and untiring devotion to the Union cause during our late struggle, and of his active, constant, zealous, watch- ful care of the public interests and the public trusts con- fided to him; of his eminent and useful services throughout a long life, and of him as a citizen of whom Chicago has always been proud. I will not attempt to speak of the honored deceased, save of him in his professional character as an advocate 3% and as a lawyer. Mr. Arnold, in his early life, was not favored by fortune. He had not the advantages of a col- legiate education. He had only such opportunities as were afforded by the country-schools and village academy. These he improved to such an extent as to fully prepare him for the prominent positions which he afterward occu- pied during his life, and which he filled so creditably to himself and so satisfactorily to his friends. At the early age of fifteen years, young Arnold found himself thrown upon his own resources, and from’ that time began the struggles of life for success and for future usefulness. He was emphatically “the artist of his own fortune.’ From seventeen to twenty, he occupied his time in teaching half the year, to enable him to pursue his studies the other half. He divided his time during this period between academic study, teaching, and reading law. During this period he entered the law-office of Richard Cooper of Cooperstown, N.Y. He subsequently became a student in the office of Judge E. B. Morehouse. In 1835, when he had scarcely attained his majority, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of New York. He immediately there- after formed a partnership with Judge Morehouse, which continued until his removal to Ghreagauss livetos7, he formed a partnership with Mahlon D. Ogden of this city, which continued for several years, building up a large and lucrative business. While a member of that firm in 1841, Mr. Arnold, being then only twenty-seven years of age, commenced and carried through to a successful termina- 34 tion, unaided and alone, the celebrated case of Bronson vs. Kinzie, which was finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the winter of 1842. I men- tion this case because of its being a leading case in this country, among its celebrated cases, and because of its in- volving grave constitutional questions which Mr. Arnold was able to grapple with at that youthful period of his life, arguing this case at twenty-seven years of age in the highest court in the world, and contending against the ablest lawyers in the Nation. It demonstrates the learn- ing and capacity, the courage and fixedness of purpose of the young lawyer more satisfactorily than any words of eulogy. Mr. Arnold was more than a powerful and successful advocate and trial lawyer. He was a learned lawyer—a jurist, in the just sense of that term. For more than thirty years Mr. Arnold stood at the head of the Chicago bar. As a nist prius or trial lawyer there was scarcely his equal in the State; probably it can truthfully be said that he was one of the most successful, ingenious, and powerful jury lawyers in the Western country. The records of the various courts, State and Federal, show Mr. Arnold to have had an extensive and varied practice. Few lawyers in this or any other city have had a greater number of cases before the courts than Mr. Arnold, and these cases were generally of great importance, and in- volved the most varied learning, and called for the appli- cation of the most intricate and abstruse questions of law. Cn 5 re) For atime, Mr. Arnold made a specialty of criminal prac- tice, and such was his success for many years that no man defended by him was ever convicted. His first important criminal case was the trial of a negro named Davit, who was accused of murdering his brother. Mr. Arnold being satisfied of his innocence, volunteered to defend him, and procured his acquittal. Among other noted criminal cases in which he appeared as counsel, that of Taylor Driscoll, charged with the murder of John Campbell, the leader of a band of “regulators” in Ogle County, IIL, is perhaps the most noted. He defended many other persons charged with murder in this and other counties, and, except in the case of Green, in this city, in 1854, who committed suicide before the final trial, it is believed he was successful in every instance. There is no one of the older members of the Chicago bar but will accord to Mr. Arnold the credit of having been one of the best trial lawyers that ever belonged to the Chicago bar. Mr. Arnold attained in life and in his profession all that an honorable and well-ordered ambition could hope for. He attained great eminence and distinc- tion in his profession and as a citizen. He acquired a competency, and his later years found him enjoying the comforts which wealth brings. He was a marked and conspicuous figure in the growth and development of our city, and his name will long be remembered as one of the originators and members and as the president of this Society, and as being connected with nearly every enter- 30 prise of benevolence, culture, refinement, and growth de- veloped in our city since he has been amongst us. I may say of him as a lawyer and as a citizen, in the language of Edmund Burke: ‘In all the qualities in which personal merit has a place, in culture, in erudition, in genius, in honor, in generosity, in humanity, in every sentiment and every liberal accomplishment, he was the peer of any man.” Jn Memoriam. for LOMAS HOY NE. eee viel Or LO NS OTN WENTWORTH: IN response to a resolution of the CHICAGO HISTORI- CAL SOCIETY, adopted September 18, 1883, requesting Hon. John Wentworth to prepare and deliver, upon some future occasion, a tribute to the memory of Hon. THOMAS HOYNE, at the regular meeting, held October 21st, 1884, Mr. Went- worth presented the following: Whereas, During the vacation of this Society, upon the night of the 27th of July, 1883, by an accident upon the Rome,-Watertown,-and-Ogdensburg Railroad, near Carlyon,* in the State of New York, Chicago lost one of its oldest and most valuable citizens, the cause of Chicago’s early history one of its most ardent devotees, and this Society one of its most active members, it is responsive to the sen- timents of his colleagues in this body that the following expression should be placed upon its record: THOMAS HOYNE was born in New-York City, Feb. 11, 1817. At the age of thirteen he was an orphan without means. He arrived at Chicago, September 1, 1837. In the autumn of 1838, he was a school-teacher near the northwest corner of West-Lake and North-Canal Streets, and the three * Tt was reported at Carlton Station, Orleans County, N.Y. 38 district committee-men who employed him, Asahel Pierce, Francis H. Taylor, and Alson S. Sherman, still live, as well as the school-inspector, John Wentworth, who first met him there. Justice-of-the-peace and alderman, Calvin De Wolf, was his predecessor in the school. Previous to him was C. S. Bailey, who taught school from December, 1837, to May, 1838, and then went to the Rock-River region in Wisconsin, where he had purchased a farm. Mr. H. early distinguished himself as an organizer of lyceums and asa participant in the debates therein. In 1840, he was elected city-clerk. During this year (Sept. 17), he married, when he was at the age of 23, Leonora M., daughter of John T. Temple, one of our oldest and most respected citizens. In 1847, he was judge of probate, United-States district-attorney in 1853, United- States marshal in 1859, and aad-tntertm and de-facto mayor, elected: by an almost unanimous vote during the time of our city’s greatest emergency in 1876. During a residence of over forty-five years, he was an active, useful, and exemplary citizen, always fearlessly outspoken in the cause of economy, honesty, liberty, and progress. He was always a warm opponent of repudiation, and depreciated money in any of devil-given forms, denouncing our stump-tail and wild-cat currency, and all dealers in it, as well as all forms of dis- honest banking, from the days of the old Illinois-State Bank, down to the days of the rotten but unburied Marine Bank. Honest money, equivalent to its face in gold, never had a more devoted champion than Thomas Hoyne. His word was as good as his note, and he never sought or used a char- 2) ter to cloak his individual dishonor. He ever rejected the doctrine that a man should not be held responsible in this world or in the next for his acts inside of a corporation, always regarding his corporate honor as sacred as his per- sonal. He could never understand how one and the same person could be a saint in his individual capacity and a demon in his corporate capacity. He was an active member of the Union-Defence Com- mittee during the war, and of the Municipal Reform-Club after it closed. He was one of the earliest protestants against the encroachments of the slave power upon our free territories. As an early and ardent advocate of our park system, there may be those who may contest priority with him. But to him belongs the undisputed credit of originating the idea of a continuous line of boulevards around our city. His object was to provide a boulevard for every man travel- ing from the lake or the river in any direction. He intended that the law should be so drawn that there should be no favoritism to any one locality. And he thought it was a fixed fact that all the boulevards were to be completed before any money could be expended upon the parks, and he ever believed that such a construction could be enforced by our courts. He was proverbially the greatest walker in our city, and he generally sought for his walks the lines of the boulevards, and especially the uncompleted portions, denouncing to people he might meet their delay as unjust and showing a partiality that was not exceeded in the 40 different administrations of England and Ireland; compar- ing the improvements around Drexel Boulevard to England and those around Garfield and the Western-Avenue Boule- vard to Ireland, and the Stock-Yards to the British govern- ment as dictating such a cruel and discriminative policy, not forgetting to mention that the balance of power in the board and with the judges who appointed them were either Irishmen or men of Irish descent. The towns of Lake and Bridgeport had never had a park-commissioner, and yet the judges could not have been elected without their vote. His name was often mentioned for park-commissioner, and no man could have defeated him had the commissioners been elected by popular vote. But his liberal views respecting the early completion of all the boulevards rendered him obnoxious to the Stock-Yards, which, lest there should be complaints under our sanitary laws, claim the balance of power in the park-board, in order, by delaying the completion of legal boulevards already paid for, to obstruct settlements to the west and southwest of them. But a few days before his death, he walked all around the South-Side boulevards, crossing over the canal-bridge at the Western-Avenue Boulevard and thence proceeding to Douglas Park, all the while stopping to converse with all persons whom he might meet upon the great injustice of delaying so long the Southwestern boulevard. At Douglas Park, he addressed quite a crowd of laboring classes who had gathered upon a picnic occasion, telling them that they AI had been taxed for boulevards for other people and now was the time to insist upon some for themselves. When the boulevards shall perform their uninterrupted circuit around our city, which selfish corporations may delay but can not prevent, let a grateful posterity erect a worthy monument upon them to the undaunted perseverance and far-sighted philanthropy of Thomas Hoyne. The elm-trees now denied to fathers will yet irae children who will remember Mr. Hoyne in gratitude, and have the power to strike back at those corporations who have insisted upon such merciless injustice. 7 On October 12, 1849, he purchased his last residence upon Michigan Avenue, where many of his children were born and where all were raised. He selected it for the beautiful view and the healthy breezes of the lake; and to his untiring efforts is due the inability of the great railroad corporations to wrest from our people the incalculable advan- tages of our unobstructed lake-front. No menaces could terrify, nor bribes seduce him. Mr. Hoyne was the owner of land in Sec. 23, Town 38, Range 13, in the town of Lake, which had been assessed and now was being taxed for park-and-boulevard purposes, well calculated in due time for suburban residences. He would often ask the question in view of the encroachments of great corporations, “ Where was he to go?” The railroads would divest him of the unobstructed view and pure air of Lake Michigan, for which he had so long since paid full value, whilst the stock-yards were denying him improvements to 42 render a suburban home comfortable upon the Western- Avenue Boulevard, for which he had liberally paid and was still annually taxed. As a preventer of corporate encroachments upon indi- vidual rights, Chicago has not had an abler man than Thomas Hoyne. He was always a man for an emergency, abounding in moral courage and having public confidence at his back. The people could ever trust Thomas Hoyne, and he never abused this trust. He was a leading member of the Chicago bar, and no man was more highly respected by the judiciary or his professional brethren. His personal activity and strength of mind increased with age, and he has left to his seven children (of every one of whom any parent could be proud) a rich legacy in his doc- trine illustrated by his example that personal, professional, corporate, religious, financial, and political honor is identical and inseparable. As an impromptu orator to miscellaneous crowds suddenly met in public places, Chicago has had no equal to Thomas Hoyne, and no man has ever lived to ques- tion the sincerity of his motives in his unstudied efforts to arouse the masses to a sense of the injustice inflicted upon them. This Society, recognizing the value of the services and example of such an early and long-tried citizen’as Thomas Hoyne, does hereby, as a token of deserved and heartfelt respect, Resolve, Vhat a copy of this preamble and testimonial be entered upon its records and a copy thereof be forwarded ae sini: pat HAL) pe ; ved ‘amily -; and, ee that a portrait, of him be rea les ted. of them to be hung upon the walls of ‘this inst e br rrightest ornaments of Chicago's itution, to remain as a memorial to posterity of one early history.