CHAPTER XXXII.

STATE GOVERNMENT-1875.

Governor-John L. Beveridge.

President of Senate and acting Lieut.-Gov.-A. A. Glenn. Secretary of State-George H. Harlow.

Auditor of Public Accounts-C. E. Lippincott.

Treasurer-Thomas S. Ridgway.

Superintendent of Public Instruction-S. M. Etter.
Attorney-General-James K. Edsall.

TWENTY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The Twenty-ninth General Assembly convened January 6, and was composed of the following members:

SENATE.

REPRESENTATIVES.

I. L. Christie, Monmouth.
C. W. Boydston, Cameron.
A. W. King, Macomb.
David Rankin, Biggsville.
W. Jenney, Burnside.
Paul D. Salter, Biggsville.
James DeWitt, Littleton.
S. P. Cummings, Astoria.
S. Y. Thornton, Canton.
Wm. Rowcliff, Robin's Nest.
Julius S. Starr, Peoria.
Patrick W. Dunn, Peoria.
Richard Holmes, Delevan.
R. A. Talbott, Burton View.
Thomas Windle, Lincoln.

R. H. Downing, Keokuk J.
James Callans, Winchester.
John Moses, Winchester.
J. S. Harvey, Belleview.
A. J. Thompson, Bethel.
Samuel Woods, Pisgah.
John Gordon, Lynnville.
S. P. Gilbert, Carlinville.
O. P. Powell, Jerseyville.
H. F. Martin, Brighton.
F. S. Pike, St. Jacob.
Geo. A. Smith, Alton.
Geo. H. Weigler, Alton.
J. K. McMasters, Nashville.
A. G. Henry, Greenville.

T. P. Rogers, Bloomington. Wm. H. Moore, Nashville.
J. F. Winter, Bloomington. Wm. R. Hubbard, Kinmundy.
A. E. Stewart, Bloomington. Thos. E. Merritt, Salem.
Shaw Pease, Niantic.
John H. Tyler, Dewitt.
Samuel S. Jack, Decatur.
Wm. H. Phillips, Rantoul.
Geo. H. Benson, Rantonl.
W. C. Hubbart, Monticello.
Wm. S. O'Hair, Paris.
John Sidell, Fairmount.
Andrew Gundy, Bismark.

John B. Johnson, Alma.
Samuel R. Hall, Albion.
Byron J. Rotan, Louisville.
John Landrigan, Albion.
E. Callahan, Robinson.
John H. Halley, Newton.
J. W. Briscoe, Darwin.
H. W. Hall, Knight's Pr.
A. B. Barrett, Mt. Vernon.

J. A. Connolly, Charleston. Boon Kershaw, Grayville.
E. M. Vance, Mattoon.

J. N. Wasson, Shawneetown.

Samuel McKee, Blair,

R. A. Wilson, Williamsburg. A. C. Neilson, Marion.
Wm. Gillmore, Edgewood. Isaac Smith, Ridgway.
W. Middlesworth, Shelbyville. J. W. Rickert, Waterloo.
William Chew, Shelbyville.
Levi Scott, Pana.
John C. Hagler, Pana.
W. F. Mulkey, Nokomis.
Jos. L. Wilcox, Loami.
Fred Gehring, Springfield.
S. M. Cullom, Springfield.
N. W. Branson, Petersburg.
A. G. Nance, Petersburg.
John W. Pugh, Mason City.
T. J. Bates, Camp Point.
Ira M. Moore, Quincy.

J. Chesnutwood, Evansville.
Wm. G. Kase, E. St. Louis.
John Thomas, Belleville.
James Rankin, Lebanon.
F. E. Albright, Murphysboro.
M. J. Inscore, Anna.
Claiborn Winston, Cairo.
Benj. O. Jones, Metropolis.
James R. Stegall, Oak.
L. F. Plater, Elizabethtown.

In this General Assembly the Republicans lost their majority, and by a fusion with the Independents the

Democrats succeeded in obtaining control of both houses. On the sixteenth ballot A. A. Glenn was elected President pro tempore of the Senate, over John Early, by a vote of 26 to 23, when he became acting Lieutenant-Governor, and R. T. Townes, Secretary, over D. A. Ray, by a vote of 26 to 24.

In the House, E. M. Haines was elected Speaker, over Shelby M. Cullom, by a vote of 81 to 68, and Jeremiah J. Crowley, Clerk, over Daniel Shepard, by a similar vote.

Governor Beveridge presented his message to the two houses on the 8th of January. It was a brief, business State paper, and confined exclusively to matters of State; he congratulated the Legislature on the happy and prosperous condition of the people, and commended to their careful and considerate attention the passage of such laws as would subserve the best interests of the State and foster and preserve the State institutions intact.

This was a stormy session, and the leaders on either side sought every opportunity to take advantage of each other, and by reason of this it was an unprofitable session, in many ways.

The laws enacted were comprised in a volume of 118 pages, the most important of which were: the appropriation acts; to provide for the re-organization of cities; to enable corporations in other States and counties to lend money in Illinois; to change the fiscal year; to give railroad companies the right to purchase or lease roads in adjoining States; to authorize the formation of union depots and stations for railroads; to authorize the refunding of funds collected for 1873, under an act passed in 1869, providing for the payment of railroad debts of counties, townships, cities and towns, and to regulate the charitable institutions and State Reform School, and to improve their organization and increase their efficiency.

CHAPTER XXXIII,

A VISION OF WAR.

Extract from a Speech Delivered by Robert G. Ingersoll, at the "Soldiers' Reunion," at Indianapolis, Ind., September 21, 1876.

"The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great struggle for National life. We hear the sounds of preparation-the music of boisterous drumsthe silver notes of heroic bugles. We see thousands of assemblages, and hear the appeals of orators; we see the pale cheeks of women, and the flushed faces of men; and in those assemblages we see all the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers. We lose sight of them no more. We are with them when they enlist in the great army of freedom. We see them part with those they love. Some are walking for the last time in quiet woody places, with the maidens they adore. We hear the whisperings and the sweet vows of eternal love as they lingeringly part forever. Others are bending over cradles, kissing babes that are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. Some are parting with mothers, who hold them, and press them to their hearts again and again, and say nothing. Kisses and tears, tears and kissesdivine mingling of agony and love. And some are talking with wives, and endeavoring with brave words, spoken in the old tones, to drive from their hearts the awful fear. We see them part. We see the wife standing in the door with the babe in her arms-standing in the sunlight sobbing at the turn of the road a hand waves-she answers by holding high in her loving arms the child. He is gone, and forever.

"We see them all as they march proudly away under the flaunting flags, keeping time to the grand, wild music