s of David
would have moved him.

I suppose he was not much of a civil service reformer. He
expected to rule Michigan, and while he would have never bought
or bribed an antagonist by giving him an office, he would
have expected to fill the public offices, so far as he had
his way, by men who were of his way of thinking. He was much
shocked and disgusted when Judge Hoar wanted to inquire further
concerning a man whom he had recommended for the office of
Judge of the Circuit Court. The Judge said something about
asking Reuben Rice, a friend he highly respected who had lived
long in Michigan. Chandler spoke of it afterward and said:
"When Jake Howard and I recommended a man, the Attorney-
General wanted to ask a little railroad fellow what he thought
of him."

He joined with Conkling and Carpenter and Edmunds in their
opposition to the confirmation of Judge Hoar. He came to
know the Judge better afterward and declared that he himself
had made a mistake.

He was a strong pillar of public faith, public liberty, and
of the Union. He had great faults. But without the aid
of the men whom he could influence and who honored him, and
to whom his great faults were as great virtues, the Union
never would have been saved, or slavery abolished, or the
faith kept. I hold it one of the chief proofs of the kindness
of divine Providence to the American people in a time of very
great peril that their leaders were so different in character.
They are all dead now--Sumner and Fessenden and Seward and
Wilson and Chase and Stanton and Grant and Sherman and Sheridan
and Chandler,--a circle in which Lincoln shines as a diamond
in its setting. Not one of them could have been spared.

It is proper that I should add that I have known very well
a good many of the most eminent citizens of Michigan. This
list includes Governor and Senator Henry P. Baldwin, and Judge
Christiancy, who displaced Chandler in the Senate. I have
frequently heard them speak of Mr. Chandler. Without an exception
I believe they held him in profound esteem and honor. They
were proud of him as the most eminent citizen of their State
which has been prolific of strong men, speaking of him as
we do of Sumner or Webster.

Mr. Chandler was a remarkable example of what I have often
noticed, how thoroughly the people come to know the true character
of a public man, even when the press of the whole country
unite to decry him. I suppose there was not a paper in Ne