e man of influence
and ability and wealth, frequently a large employer of labor,
who had been in the habit of depending on Mr. Dawes for the
security of his most important interests, so far as they could
be affected by legislation. They knew him and they knew that
he knew them, and their power when they chose to exert it
could not be resisted.

Persons who saw Mr. Dawes in his later years only, when he
sat quietly in his seat in the Senate, taking little part save
in a few special subjects, could not realize what a power he
had been when he was the leading and strongest champion in
that great body which contained Blaine and Bingham and Butler
and Schenck and Farnsworth and Allison and Eugene Hale and
Garfield.

When Mr. Dawes left the Senate in 1893, his associates gave
a banquet in his honor, at which I made the following remarks.
They were, I believe, approved by the entire company. I record
them here as my deliberate judgment:

"If there be any admirer of other forms of government who
think unfavorably of our republican fashion of selecting
our rulers, I would invite him to examine the list of men
whom Massachusetts for a hundred years has chosen as her
Senators of the first class. I do not claim for her any
superiority over other Commonwealths in this respect--but
certainly she has given you of her best. She has sent men who
were worthy to be peers of the men who have represented her
sister States, and if that be true, they surely have been
worthy to be peers in any Senate that was ever gathered upon
earth. The line begins with Tristram Dalton, save Washington
the stateliest gentleman of his time, rich in every mental
accomplishment, whose presence graced and ennobled every assembly
that he entered. Next to him comes George Cabot, the wise
statesman and accomplished merchant, beloved friend of Hamilton,
trusted counsellor of Washington, whose name and lineage are
represented at this table to-night, who shared with this successor,
Benjamin Goodhue, the honor of being the first authority in
finance in their generation, save Hamilton alone.

"Then comes John Quincy Adams, who left the Senate, after
years of illustrious public service, in 1808, but to begin
another public service of forty years, still more illustrious.
He served his country in every department of public occupation.
He was Minister in five great Powers in succession. He was
present as Secretary when the treaty of peace was signed in
1783