his fearful
tragedy. In announcing the death of Mr. Cilley to the Senate, Mr.
Williams of Maine said: "In accepting the call, he did nothing
more than he believed indispensable to avoid disgrace to himself, his
family, and his constituents."

While the presiding officer of the Senate, a gentleman of small
stature and advanced age called upon me and introduced himself
as George W. Jones, former Senator from Iowa. I have rarely met
a more interesting man. He was then ninety-two years of age,
apparently in perfect health, and as active as if, for his exclusive
benefit, the hands had been turned back three decades upon the
dial. He had been a delegate from the Territory embracing the
present States of Iowa and Wisconsin, in the twenty-fifth Congress,
when the sessions of the House were held in the Old Hall. Upon the
admission of Iowa as a State, he was chosen a Senator, a position he
held by successive elections for many years. As delegate, he
had been the associate of John Quincy Adams, and as a Senator
the contemporary of Benton, Wright, Douglas, Cass, Seward, Preston,
Clay, Calhoun, and Webster. He had personally known some of the
men whose public life reached back to the establishment of the
Government. He had taken part in the discussion of great questions
that have left a deep impress upon history. As I listened to his
description of the men I have named, and of the momentous events
with which their names are associated, he seemed indeed the sole
connecting link between the present and the long past.

But what interested me most deeply in the almost forgotten old man
before me, was the fact that he was the second of the unfortunate Cilley
upon the ill-fated day at Bladensburg. The conversation at length
turned to that event, and strangely enough, he manifested no
suggestion of embarrassment at its mention. He spoke in the highest
terms of Mr. Cilley, as a gentleman of lofty character, of unfaltering
courage, of rare gifts, and of splendid promise. It was evident
that the passing years had not dimmed his memory of the tragic
event, nor lessened his regret at the sad ending of an affair with
which his own name is inseparably associated.

The first duel between men of prominence in this country, was that
of Gwinett and McIntosh. The fact that one of the parties, Button
Gwinett, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence gives
it historic interest. He was one of the three delegates from
Georgia in