it necessary or desirable for him to know, and brought continually into business contact with shrewd, active minds, his business education was most complete and effectual.

In the fall of 1838, Mr. King went to Washington to look for a newspaper opening, and, not finding one to his mind, he, in March, 1839, accepted a clerkship at $1000 per annum in the Post-Office Department, tendered him by the then Postmaster-General, Amos Kendall. Thus, at the foot of the ladder, he commenced that connection which proved alike beneficial to the country and honorable to himself, and whence he climbed, every step marked by his ability and energy, to the chief position. For a series of years he was corresponding clerk for New England in the Contract Office, a position of considerable responsibility and requiring for the proper discharge of its duties the closest application and a large amount of labor.

Towards the close of 1850 commenced his connection with the foreign mail service, he being at that time transferred to a corresponding desk having that matter in charge. In this connection his services were of the most beneficial character, and have fully entitled him to the lasting gratitude of his countrymen, from the success which, under his management, attended the effort to extend and improve our postal arrangements with foreign nations. In these days, when lines of steamships map the ocean as lines of railroads do the land, when almost every important commercial city of Europe, the islands, and South America have their corresponding connection with some city of our Union, whoever really and essentially has improved this branch of the service has conferred a benefit upon nations which not only the present but future generations will fully appreciate.

Up to 1851 no postal conventions had been entered into with any European governments except Great Britain and Bremen; and thus, as has been well said by another, "an entirely new field was left to be explored, and one which, in view of the various lines of Atlantic steamers, just then

projected and becoming more and more objects of interest and attention, opened not only an untried field, but one of vast complications and perplexities. It was to this wide and interesting field of endeavor that he was invited, and the results which have followed were eminently his work. To his comprehensive genius and that characteristic energy which he possesses in an eminent degree, the nation is primarily indebted for those splendid results which have extended our postal arrangements to every part of the commercial world, and gone hand in hand with the rapidly advancing strides which steam and lightning have taken in every direction. Here Mr. King found scope for every latent energy of his mind. He was obliged to familiarize himself with statistics and with a vast range of inquiries. not heretofore made in this country. He found the postal arrangements already made with Great Britain and Bremen imperfect and unsatisfactory. They were revised and improved. With regard to Bremen, he and Hon. Rudolph Schleiden, the Bremen Minister, prepared articles of agreement, approved by their respective governments, by which the half-ounce letter-rate was reduced from twenty cents. (then, 1853, the lowest rate to Europe) to ten cents, which was the beginning of low postage across the Atlantic. Besides this, postal arrangements were soon in rapid succession effected with the West Indies, with several of the South American states, and with Prussia, France, Hamburg, and Belgium.

The giving of credit for these things to the subject of this sketch does not at all detract from nor depreciate the merits or services of his official superiors. They are justly entitled to the general credit of these important arrangements, in the same degree that the President enjoys the credit of a successful administration of the affairs of the government. In both cases the laborious details are planned, arranged, and perfected by assistants and advisers; yet as the responsibility mainly attaches to the

head, so the general credit should follow. But this detracts no whit from the merits or the just appreciation of the laborious and intelligent subordinate, who ascertains facts, systematizes and arranges details, and in reality gets up the entire matter, which the superior has only to examine and sanction. In this respect Mr. King, in the work of these postal arrangements, is entitled to the very highest credit, as no one could have performed the duties of his position with more correctness and ability.

In the spring of 1854, on the death of Major Hobbie, Mr. King, without solicitation on his part, was appointed by President Pierce to the office of First Assistant Postmaster-General. To his subordinates he was considerate, kind, and obliging; requiring of them, as he should, to have all the business entrusted to them speedily and properly done and their work kept up, but never acting captiously nor finding fault needlessly. One secret of his official success was his exactitude in keeping all his business in hand, his desk at the close of each day being always clear of papers, and his positive requirement of his clerks that everything sent to their desks should be promptly attended to. It may be mentioned here, also, that he never allowed his office door to be locked, never cared for cards, but was always ready to receive official callers whose business he was there to perform without any hinderance or embarrassment of personal introduction.

His success in dealing with so many men of all parties and all positions in life without making enemies is remarkable. It may, perhaps, be accounted for in two ways: that he had no personal interest to subserve in what was done, and manifestly cared only to know and to do what was right; and that when obliged to refuse a request, he remembered and put in practice the old saying, that "to refuse kindly what is asked of you is itself a boon."

As a public officer Mr. King was indefatigable, and devoted his whole time and all the energies of his mind and

body to the duties of his position. His constant endeavor was to have the work of the people, so far as he was concerned, well and faithfully executed. His efforts to protect the Department against fraud and loss of revenue were persistent. He especially labored to defeat all attempts to use the mails without paying for the privilege in contravention of the law and to the detriment of an already overburdened Department. As one of the many evidences of his zeal in this matter, I recall the fact of his sitting up all night and laboring in the House of Representatives to secure the passage of the law requiring prepayment of postage on letters, which was actually passed at five o'clock on a Sunday morning. The law exacting prepayment by stamps on transient printed matter was also drafted by him; and no one having any acquaintance with our postal affairs will need to be told that this law effects a large saving to the Department, both in respect to the weight of the mails and the extra amount of postage received.

Few men ever had the hardihood to approach Mr. King with a dishonorable proposition of any kind. The reputation for stern integrity, and the possession of it, in a place like that filled by him, are of the very highest importance; and in both respects he was entirely suited to the place. His memory, too, of what occurred in the Department during his connection with it was remarkable, and showed that, unlike many officials, he was not satisfied with the simple performance of the routine duties of his office, but had an intelligent eye to the whole operations of each Bureau, and a vivid and long-enduring recollection of whatever took place under his own particular supervision.

Nor, while constantly immersed in business since the early age of nineteen, had, Mr. King neglected the pursuits of literature or of science, but was proficient in both. Every leisure hour has always been sedulously devoted to the acquirement of knowledge.

As a writer, his style is terse, simple, vigorous, and

manly. His points are clear, his arguments pertinent and forcible, and his language choice and chaste.

As a politician Mr. King has been always a firm, consistent, unflinching Democrat, though not ultra. He has lent a willing and hearty support to every Democratic administration since he has been old enough to exercise the privileges of a citizen.

He held the position of First Assistant Postmaster-General until the 1st of January, 1861, when he became Acting Postmaster-General, and on the 1st of February he was nominated by President Buchanan and on the 12th confirmed by the Senate as Postmaster-General, serving in that capacity until the inauguration of President Lincoln and the appointment of his successor, March 7, 1861. He filled all these important places with fidelity and distinguished ability. He was Postmaster-General when treason stalked with a bold front through the streets of the national capital.

As a life-long Democrat, Mr. King was loyal to the core, and remained so during the entire struggle. Though exempted by the law from the performance of military duty, he furnished a representative recruit, who was duly mustered in and served in the Union Army. This exhibition of patriotism and public spirit received official acknowledgment from the Government.

After retiring from the Post-Office Department, he was appointed, in April, 1862, one of a Board of Commissioners to carry out the provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation in the District of Columbia. This position was tendered him by President Lincoln unsolicited, and doubtless on account of his conspicuous services near the close of the previous administration.

His associate commissioners were Daniel R. Goodloe and Dr. John M. Brodhead, with Wm. R. Woodward as clerk and B. M. Campbell as expert. Of this important work, Mr. Goodloe wrote: