chased his time of his employer, and begun business for himself at James

town.

In 1833 he was married to Miss Caroline E. Gregory, of Elliottville, N. Y., who came with him three years later to Chicago. The small eastern town in which he had established his business did not afford abundant opportunity for an active and prosperous career, and it was this fact which led him to seek a new location.

He arrived in Chicago in the fall of 1836, and first opened a merchant tailoring establishment on Lake street. As this business did not appear to yield satisfactory returns, in a town in which the male portion of the population were not particular about wearing the latest style of garments, Mr. Couch abandoned it, and in 1837 turned his attention to the business in which he afterward achieved both fame and fortune.

In that year he rented the Tremont House, which, under his management, soon became one of the best known and most popular hotels in the State. The building was destroyed by fire in 1839, and the pioneer landlord suffered the loss of everything he had in the way of hotel furnishings, upon which there was no insurance whatever. The loss was a serious one, and came at a time when the little city was suffering from a business depression, which made even those who had the greatest confidence in its future growth and prosperity, hesitate about undertaking new enterprises.

Mr. Couch was not the kind of man, however, to yield to discouragements, and he at once began making preparations to erect a new hotel on the site of the burned building. Leasing the ground which had been occupied by the old structure, he began the erection of a new building in the fall of 1839, which was completed and opened under the same name as its predecessor in the spring of 1840. This building was also a three-story frame, but it was substantially built, well arranged, and in every respect a great improvement over what was known among the pioneers as the first Tremont House.

It was in this building that Mr. Couch laid the foundation of his fame as a western landlord. Chicago had by this time become a place of some consequence and was attracting thousands of settlers and visitors every year. Its leading hotel as a natural consequence became known far and wide, and the man who gave his personal supervision to its conduct and management became equally famous.

At the end of ten years of wonderfully prosperous business, the second Tremont House was destroyed by fire and its owner was again called upon to rebuild. Having purchased the ground on which the building had been located, as well as some additional frontage on both Dearborn and Lake streets, Mr. Couch formulated his plans for a new structure and commenced work.

The building which he designed and pushed to completion, was a five and a half story brick, with a frontage of 140 feet on Lake street and 181 feet on Dearborn street. It was looked upon at that time by less farseeing business men of Chicago than the enterprising and public spirited landlord, as a mammoth structure, which could only be filled with guests on rare occasions if at all, which was likely to prove a bad investment for its owner, and which was certainly far in advance of the necessities of the city. Some of the more conservative of his early friends and associ ates, characterized the enterprise as "Couch's folly" but a very few years convinced them of their error and demonstrated that he had builded wisely and well.

In 1853 having completed and thoroughly equipped one of the largest and finest hotels in the west, Mr. Couch leased the building to George W. and David A. Gage of Boston, and retired from its conduct and management. For some years prior to this time, in connection with his hotel business, he had engaged in other enterprises and had become the owner of a large amount of valuable real estate. On some of this realty he had made extensive improvements, and his accumulations amounted to a handsome fortune.

After retiring from the management of the hotel, he did not again

engage actively in business, but in company with his wife and only child, devoted a large portion of the remainder of his life to travel. The winter of 1855-56 he spent with his family in Havana. Delighted with the climate of that tropical region, he determined to make it his winter home, and with that object in view, he returned to Cuba in the winter of 1856-57. On the 28th of January, 1857, a sudden illness which came upon him while visiting the interior of the island, terminated fatally, and one of the most noted of the men who became citizens of Chicago prior to 1840, passed away. His wife and daughter were with him at the time of his death, and their bereavement fell upon them with more crushing force by reason of the fact that they were among strangers, whose language they could not understand, and with whose customs they were unfamiliar. With some difficulty they succeeded in having the remains sent to Chicago, where they were deposited in a massive vault which serves as tomb and monument.

As a result of twenty years of active life in Chicago, Mr. Couch left a large estate, of which the present Tremont house constitutes a part. The massive and architecturally handsome building now known as the "Tremont," is the successor of three hotels of the same name, each of which was destroyed by fire. The fire

of 1871 swept away the last building erected by Mr. Couch. The present hotel was built by the trustees of his

estate, and serves as a fitting monument to his enterprise and public spirit.

SEVENTH

SOUTH CAROLINA was the first State to pass an ordinance of secession, on December 20th, 1860, and what occurred there at the passage has been briefly stated in chapter thirteen.

The ordinance of secession in all the States which joined in the movement, in language was substantially the same, and was based upon the Calhoun theory that a State could dissolve her connection with the general government by simply repealing the act and acts by which it had become a member of the Union, and that made it a free and independent State.

On the invitation of South Carolina, a convention of the people of the slave States was called, to meet at Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, on the 4th of February, 1861. The following States-South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Texas-at that time had passed ordinances of

secession; and the population of these States then amounted to 4,968,994, of which 2,560,948 were free and 2,312,046 were slaves. The Montgomery convention framed the Confederate Constitution, by which the States which joined it claimed to be a free and independent government. The ordinance of secession passed by the State of Alabama was presented in the House by Mr. W. R. W. Cobb, an able member from that State; and it differs from the ordinances of other States. This ordinance was presented by Mr. Cobb in a letter addressed to the speaker, as follows: "WASHINGTON,

"January 30th, 1861. "DEAR SIR:-Having just received the following: 'An ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of Alabama and other States, united under the compact styled "the Constitution of the United States of. America;"'

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'Whereas, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of. President and Vice-President of the United States of America, by a sectional party, avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and peace and security of the people of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the Constitution of the United States, by many of the States and people of the northern section, is a political wrong of so insulting and menacing a character as to justify the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security; therefore,

"Be it declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in convention assembled, that the State of Alabama now withdraws, and is hereby withdrawn, from the Union known as the United States of America, and henceforth ceases to be one of said United States, and is and of right ought to be, a sovereign and independent State.

"Be it further declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in convention assembled, that all the powers over the territory of said State, and over the people thereof, heretofore delegated to the government of the United States of America be, and they are hereby withdrawn from said government, and are hereby resumed and vested

in the people of the State of Alabama.

"And as it is the desire and purpose of the people of Alabama to meet the slave-holding States of the South who may approve such purpose, in order to frame a provisional as well as a permanent government, upon the principles of the Constitution of the United States, be it

"Resolved, by the people of Alabama, in convention assembled, that the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri be, and are hereby invited to meet the people of the State of Alabama, by their delegates, in convention, on the 4th day of February, A.D. 1861, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for the purpose of consulting with each other as to the most effectual mode of concerted and harmonious action, in whatever manner may be deemed most advisable, for our common peace and security. And be it further

"Resolved, that the president of the convention be, and is hereby instructed to transmit forthwith a copy of foregoing preamble, ordinance and resolutions to the governors of the several States named in said resolutions.

"Done by the people of the State of Alabama, in convention assembled,

at Montgomery, on the 11th day of January, A.D. 1861.

"WILLIAM M. BROOKS,

"President of the Convention. "I feel it my duty to decline any further participation in the business of the United States House of Representatives, and, in doing this, I need not express my deep regret that causes exist that render it necessary. God save the country!

"I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

"WILLIAM R. W. COBB. "HON. WILLIAM PENNINGTON, "Speaker of the House of Representatives."

Mr. Cobb, in his letter presenting the ordinance of his State, above copied, made a short speech, the careful perusal of which will show that he still hoped for such concession from the North as would prevent disunion and war; and probably, if the policy indicated in Mr. Davis's resotion (heretofore quoted) had been approved and carried out by the North, it would have prevented war. Mr. Cobb's speech is given in full:

"Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I feel it my duty to my country and my constituents, to this House and myself, before taking my departure, to give some reasons which have dictated the act which I now take. I have declined taking it before, resolved upon first receiving in form. the ordinance of secession from the State of Alabama. My colleagues

left some days ago. I did not go with them, believing it to be my duty to wait for the copy of the ordinance of secession of Alabama, which I have embraced in the communication just read from the Clerk's table. Yet, since the withdrawal of my colleagues, I have absented myself from the deliberations and business of this body; and from that time I have not drawn one cent of pay. Under the action of my State, under that ordinance which I received yesterday, I am, in my judgment, compelled to return to the land which gave me birth, to share its fate through weal and woe, through good and evil fortuue. Profound, sir, is my feeling in leaving this House of Representatives of the United States, where I have served for the last fourteen years. Those with whom I have served and with whom I have been associated will bear witness with what fidelity I have ever endeavored to discharge my duties as one of the representatives of the people. It has ever been my desire to do justice by all, and never to be forgetful of that courtesy which ought to characterize the intercourse of the members of the House. I depart from this presence reluctantly, because I had hoped from the beginning that something would have been done to preserve the integrity of the Union. Day after day, week after week, I have waited for something to be done by the Senate and this House, in the way of compromise, predicated upon the Constitu