22d-Robert A. King. 23d-James W. English. 24th-William R. Archer, John Abbott. 25th-William L. Vandeventer. 26th-0. H. Wright. 27th-Henry J. Atkins. 28th-Orville H. Browning, Onias C. Skinner. 29th-W. H. Neece. 30th-Jesse C. Fox. 31st-David Ellis. 32d-James S. Poage. 4 33d-A. G. Kirkpatrick, Henry Tubbs.5 34th-Alfred M. Craig. 35th-Lewis W. Ross, Samuel P. Cummings. 38th-Reuben M. Benjamin, Clifton H. Moore. 6 40th-Charles Emmerson, Abel Harwood. 41st-William H. Patterson, John P. Gamble.8 42d-Addison Goodell. 43d-William C. Goodhue, W. P. Peirce. 44th-George S. Eldridge, Joseph Hart, Nathaniel J. Pillsbury. 45th-L. D. Whiting, James G. Bayne, Peleg S. Perley. 46th-George E. Wait. 47th-Calvin Truesdale. 48th-James McCoy. 49th-John Dement. 50th-Joseph Parker. 51st-Westel W. Sedgwick, Jesse S. Hildrup. 52d-Charles Wheaton, Henry Sherrill. 53d-Elijah M. Haines. 54th-Lawrence S. Church. 55th-Robert J. Cross. 56th-Thomas J. Turner. 57th-William Cary, David C. Wagner. 58th-Hiram H. Cody. 59th-Joseph Medill, John C. Haines, S. Snowden Hayes. 60th-William F. Coolbaugh, Charles Hitchcock. 61st-Elliott Anthony, Daniel Cameron. 'Died March 15. Vice A. G. Kirkpatrick. "Died April 16. 'Died January 16. Vice W. H. Patterson. John Dement was elected President pro tempore; Charles Hitchcock, President, and John Q. Harmon, Secretary. Among the able and active minds of this Convention were: William J. Allen, Bowman, Anderson, Wall, Bryan, Hanna, James C. Allen, McDowell, Snyder, Underwood, Billings, Scholfield, Rice, May, Parks, English, Archer, Vandeventer, Browning, Skinner, Craig, Ross, Wells, Benjamin, Eldridge, Pillsbury, Whiting, Wheaton, Hayner, Church, Turner, Cody, Medill, Dement, Coolbaugh, E. M. Haines and Hitchcock. The Constitution framed by this Convention has been in force full fourteen years, and has been accepted as one of the wisest and best organic laws ever framed. CHAPTER XXVI. STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1870. The year 1870 was rather a spiritless State campaign; neither of the great parties were in a hurry to go into the contest; the Republicans did not hold their State Convention until September 1. Erastus N. Bates was nominated for Treasurer; Newton Bateman, for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Both of these gentlemen were the incumbents of the offices to which they sought a re-election. Under the Constitution of 1848 the Treasurer was not restricted to a single term as now. The Democrats held their Convention September 7 and nominated Charles Ridgely for Treasurer, and Charles Feinse for Superintendent of Public Instruction. The aggregate vote for State officers and members of Congress is as follows: Canal Scrip Fraud-Letter of Ex-Gov. Matteson to the Committee of Investigation-Mortgage of His Property to Secure the Payment of $250,000— Macallister & Stebbins Bonds Fraud-Gov. Bissell's Emphatic Denial of any Knowledge of the Fraud. It is a matter of congratulation and pride to know that Illinois has never lost anything by her State officers. The Treasurers of other States have not unfrequently defaulted in large sums of money, but those of Illinois have always been faithful to their trusts. The nearest the State ever came to losing money of any considerable amount, was during the administration of Gov. Joel A. Matteson, but the matter was not discovered until the early part of 1859, two years after he had gone out of office. The General Assembly being in session, the Senate appointed a committee of investigation, consisting of S. W. Fuller, B. C. Cook, A. J. Kuykendall, Z. Applington and S. A. Buckmaster. On February 9, 1859, Mr. Matteson addressed the following letter to the committee: SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Feb. 9, 1859. Senate Finance Committee: To the Chairman of the SIR-At the date of my former communication to the chairman of the Senate committee, I supposed the validity of the bonds issued to me for canal scrip, of the issues of May and August, 1839, was supposed to depend upon the genuineness of the scrip. Since, to my great surprise, the fact is established that these scrip, or checks, though genuine, have been redeemed by the officers and agents of the State many years since, and have been, by some person or persons unknown to me, abstracted from the places where they were deposited, and again put in circulation. With perfect innocence on my part, and without the remotest suspicion that the scrip had ever been redeemed, these checks were purchased by me of different persons, for their cash value at the time, upon actual payment of money therefor. I have thus unconsciously and innocently been made the instrument through whom a gross fraud upon the State has been attempted. My past relations to the people of this State, and my earnest desire for the preservation of my own reputation pure and spotless, render me unwilling to retain these bonds, although purchased by and issued to me bona fide, and for a valuable consideration. I am willing, rather than possess one cent that the State of Illinois ought not to pay, even though the courts might decide that by the strict rules of law my rights to these bonds could not be impeached, to sustain myself the whole loss, and to return |