the foremost figures
in the House of Representatives in 1862, recognized as one of the
ablest that ever assembled in Maine. He acquired a high reputation
as an advocate and was thrice elected Attorney-General of the State.
At the close of his service in that important office he was chosen
to represent his district in Congress. His rank as a debater was soon
established, and he exhibited a degree of care and industry in
committee work not often found among representatives who so readily
command the attention of the House.

--Charles Foster came from the north-western section of Ohio in which
his father had been one of the pioneers and the founder of the town of
Fostoria. He attracted more than the ordinary attention given to new
members, from the fact that he had been able to carry a Democratic
district, and, for a young man, to exert a large influence upon public
opinion. He was distinguished by strong common sense, by a popular
manner, by personal generosity, and by a quick instinct as to the
expediency of political measures and the strength of political parties.
These qualities at once gave him a position of consequence in the
House superior to that held by many of the older members of established
reputation. His subsequent career vindicated his early promise, and
enabled him to lead the Republican party of Ohio to victory in more
than one canvass which at the outset was surrounded with doubt and danger.

--Two of the most conspicuous and successful business men from the
North-West appeared in this House. Charles B. Farwell, one of the
leading merchants of Chicago, entered as a Republican; and Alexander
Mitchell, prominent in railway and banking circles, came as a
Democrat from Milwaukee. Mr. Farwell was a native of New York, and
went to the West when a boy, with a fortune which consisted of a good
education and habits of industry. When elected to Congress, he had
long been regarded as one of the ablest and most successful merchants
of Chicago. He was chosen over John Wentworth by a majority of more
than five thousand.--Alexander Mitchell was a Scotchman by birth, with
all the qualities of his race,--acute, industrious, wary and upright.
He had taken a leading position in the financial affairs of the
North-West, and maintained it with ability, being rated for years as
a man of great wealth honestly acquired.

--Jeremiah H. Wilson of Indiana entered the House with the reputation
of being a strong lawyer--a