the pages of mythology. When Prometheus was bound to the rock it was not the eagle who buried his beak in the tortured vitals of the victim, but the vulture!"

Having delivered himself of this bold invective, which fell with dramatic effect upon the ears of the Senate, Lamar quietly resumed his seat. Several moments elapsed before the spell was lifted, and during this interval Lamar sat pale and meditative while the eyes of the whole body were riveted upon him. At last the proceedings of the Senate were resumed and one by one the Senators ambled over to where Lamar sat and congratulated him upon what they declared to be the severest rebuke ever administered in the upper branch of Congress. Opponents as well as colleagues shared in the ovation which he received on this occasion; and while Senator Hoar is said to have disclaimed any feeling of bitterness or resentment toward Lamar on account of this episode, he was careful not to nettle him again. Even in Massachusetts the passage was discussed with complimentary allusions to the admired Southerner who had the courage to rebuke Hoar as well as the magnanimity to praise Sumner.

CHAPTER XX.

A

Lamar's Tilt With Conkling.

NOTHER famous tilt in which Lamar figured

during his senatorial career took place on June 18, 1879, with Roscoe Conkling, of New York. Roscoe Conkling was one of the most brilliant men in the Republican party. Quick at repartee and ready in debate, he seldom met his match on the floor of the Senate, and he spoke with great force and effect on nearly every important question of the day. But, like most men of such fluent and showy gifts, he was somewhat vain of his accomplishments and rather disposed to be domineering and dictatorial. The fact that he represented the great Empire State of the Union gave him an immense advantage, and also put him among the presidential possibilities. He lost no opportunity to plead his cause in this respect, and the silken tassels of all his starched orations nodded coquettishly toward the White House.

But he failed to reach his goal, and Lamar had probably as much to do with puncturing his aspirations as any one else. The issue arose in this wise:

Early in the day, when the time for acting upon some important measure had arrived, Mr. Lamar asked that the special order be deferred for twenty minutes until ac

tion could be taken upon the Mississippi river bill, which was then pending. Conkling was disposed to object, but finally for diplomatic reasons decided to withdraw his dissent, saying that he relied upon the courtesy of the Democrats not to project the session beyond the usual limits fixed for adjournment. Several Democratic Senators nodded acquiescence; and, universal consent being granted, the Mississippi river bill was taken up. Then followed the special order, and when the time to adjourn came it was found that the majority of the Senators voting were in favor of taking final action upon the measure before adjournment. Consequently it was necessary to prolong the session into the night. Mr. Lamar was not at all to blame for this complication, but Conkling was determined to make him pay the penalty and straightway proceeded to empty the vials of his wrath upon his devoted head. Without mincing matters he charged him with having acted in bad faith.

Now, Lamar was not the man to sit quietly under such an imputation. He was getting on in years; but there was red-hot fire in the old volcano though frost was on the crater. He was not in the habit of receiving blows without returning them, and he was too fixed and settled in his ways of life to adopt any other principle of action. He could mate gentleness with gentleness, but he could also repel scorn with scorn.

Rising from his seat with the tiger-like spring of impetuous rejoinder, he faced the accuser. Said he:

"With reference to the charge of bad faith which the Senator from New York has intimated toward those of

us who have been engaged in opposing these motions to adjourn, I have only to say that if I am not superior to such attacks from such sources I have lived in vain. It is not my habit to indulge in personalities; but I desire to say here to the Senator that in intimating anything inconsistent, as he has done, with perfect good faith, I pronounce his statement as a falsehood, which I repel with all the unmitigated contempt which I feel for the author." Great excitement followed this peal of intellectual thunder. Finally Conkling arose. Said he:

"I understand the Senator from Mississippi to state in unparliamentary language that the statement of mine to which he referred was a falsehood, if I caught his word aright. Since this is not the place to measure with any man the capacity to violate decency or to commit any of the improprieties of life, I have only to say that if the Senator-the member from Mississippi-imputed or intended to impute to me a falsehood, nothing except the fact that this is the Senate would prevent my denouncing him as a blackguard and a coward."

Applause from the Republican side of the chamber greeted this rejoinder, but quiet was instantly restored when it was seen that Lamar had arisen to reply. Addressing the chair, in deliberate accents which rang through the chamber, he said:

"Mr. President, I have only to say that the Senator from New York understood me correctly. I did mean to say precisely what he understood me to say, and what I did say. I beg the pardon of the Senate for the unparliamentary language. It was very harsh; it was very se

vere; it was such as no good man would deserve and no brave man would wear."

For once in his life Conkling was utterly unable to find his tongue and he sat in his seat speechless and abashed. Blaine witnessed the tilt, and being an envious rival of Conkling for political honors he enjoyed the discomfiture of the New York Senator. Leaving the hall arm in arm with one of his confidential friends, Blaine said with a chuckle, "Wasn't it rich ?"

The newspapers made great capital out of this encounter and the whole country was treated to graphic accounts of the affair, served up in the best style of printer's ink. Some looked for an adjourned meeting on the field of honor; but the challenge was never issued. Conkling doubtless reasoned that a mutilated Senator stood just about as slim a chance of getting the electoral vote as a dead brigadier, and on the eve of such promising prospects he thought it prudent to take good care of his anatomy.