ized to employ a suitable clerk, at a salary not exceeding $1,500 per annum, to be audited and paid as the salary of the said Commissioner."

I have been at Washington often enough to know that only a man of first class industry and intelligence would be fitted for this post,

and I have no doubt the best discretion of the Government will be exercised in the choice

of such a one. The office will be no sinecure, but will be one needing the greatest energy, industry and integrity; for it will be possible, even in this position to speculate upon the soldiers. And the duties of the clerk will not be less arduous. I think an appropriation of $10,000 will perhaps cover the expenses of

both Commissioner and clerk.

Mr. IRWIN. I desire to ask my colleague whether, in presenting his report, he should not state to the Convention that the committee fixed the salary of the Commissioner at $3,000 to enable him to employ a clerk if it should become necessary.

Mr. FOSTER. The committee had under advisement the appointment of a clerk- the Commissioner's salary to be $2,000, and that of the clerk $1,200 or $1,500; but, as a matter of economy, we thought it best to fix the Commissioner's salary at $3,000, leaving him to employ a clerk only a part of the time. If it had been the intention of the committee to appoint a clerk, the salary of the Commissioner would have been reduced, as I think it should be, by at least $500.

Mr. HITCHCOCK. I suppose there will be no difference of opinion as to the importance, and more than propriety, of making some provision by which the claims of officers and soldiers shall be prosecuted at Washington. There is, undoubtedly, a great deal of truth in what has been said as to the danger that many of these claims of our deserving soldiers may possibly come into the hands of unscrupulous and designing persons, eager to profit alike by their necessities and their ignorance of the necessary forms..

The very fact that the ordinance provides for these most deserving men, whose gallantry and courage we all appreciate, and to whom we are indebted for our own safety, suggests to me the necessity of a very careful consideration of all the features of the ordinance,

I am not sure that the ordinance is perfect. It appears now to be a matter of some doubt whether it will not be advisable to appoint a

Great energy and unquestioned integrity sioner, should one be appointed; and the commust be united in the person of the commispensation should be such as to induce a proper

man to undertake the work. There must be

no unwillingness to pay for the services of such a man as ought to be employed. I have often thought that in this, and other States, a wretchedly false economy in this respect has cost far more in the end than the apparent saving. I am therefore inclined to think it may be better to have this ordinance printed. It occurs to me, also, that it is evidently necessary to enforce, by suitable penalty, the provision against the commissioner receiving any thing from those whose claims were to be prosecuted. Of course, if a suitable man be appointed, this penalty will never be enforced, but wise legislation takes no such risks.

Mr. FOSTER. The ordinance declares he

shall not receive any compensation.

Mr. HITCHCOCK. True; but it prescribes no penalty if he should; and a law without a sanction is no law, but merely good advice. There has been no set action, thus far, throughout the State, with regard to supplying our citizen soldiers; but the inhabitants of St. Louis have done their part, as loyal citizens, towards relieving the necessities of our soldiers; and in many parts of the State loyal and noble spirited men and women have, in self-sacrificing efforts, generously contributed their means, time and efforts for the comfort of our soldiers; and I am sure my friend from Clinton county did not intend to overlook them, and it is because his remarks might be construed to imply a neglect of our soldiers that I proposed to supply the deficiency. I know from the newspapers and from current reports, that this is true all over the State; and I, as a member of the delegation from St. Louis, must bear testimony to the noble labors of the Sanitary Commission, and the Union Aid Societies, whose members have given their time and means without any reward but that which the discharge of a patriotic duty brings with it. But not only has St. Louis thus assisted in those most noble and most important labors; supplies have been gathered, and the

people shall arise in their majesty and enforce the laws of the country, we shall never have any peace. Thieves and robbers are the order of the day. It is a misfortune that attends and follows upon the heels of war and revolution. The worst passions of human nature are stirred up; and men, seeing that the civil law cannot be enforced, destroy property, commit depredations of all sorts, and ruin men who are peaceably disposed. It is a state of things that should be avoided, if possible, in the future; and I trust that every lover of his country will do what may be needed to restore peace to our distracted land.

Mr. ORR. I move the adoption of the resolution of the gentleman from Harrison, (Mr. Allen.)

Mr. ALLEN having been informed that the Committee on Emancipation was about ready to report, asked leave to withdraw his motion, which was granted.

Mr. ORR offered the following resolutions: WHEREAS this Convention and the community have been deprived of the services of Judge Littleberry Hendricks, who died at his residence, in Springfield, on the 10th of January, 1863;

Resolved, That in the death of Judge Hendricks this Convention has lost a valued and able member, whose intellectual and unyielding devotion to the Constitution and laws of the country rendered him an able and efficient member of this body; that by his death the nation has lost a devoted patriot in this dark hour of her history, the society in which he moved an ornament, and his family an affectionate husband and father.

Resolved, That in testimony of our appreciation of the deceased, and from due regard to his memory, this Convention will now adjourn until to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock, and that the members wear the usual badge of mourning during the present session.

Mr. ORR then delivered the following eulogy on Judge Hendricks:

It is proper that I should, in announcing to this body the death of our esteemed fellow member, Judge LITTLEBERRY HENDRICKS, (he having been one of my colleagues,) bear some testimony to his character and worth.

I am not prepared to give a history of the deceased during his youth and early manhood, I have only known him since 1852. I learn from the journals of this Convention, that he was born in the State of Virginia, about the commencement of the present century; so that his earthly career, in my opinion, was at a time, and in a land, affording greater hope to the lovers of civil and religious liberty than any in the history of the world.

I learned from the deceased, that in the spring-time of life he was an humble mechanic, a brick mason, gaining his bread by the sweat of his face. After being somewhat advanced in life he studied the profession of the law, under the tutorship of Judge Abiel Leonard, for whom he ever after entertained the highest regard.

I knew him intimately as a lawyer during the last ten years of his life. He was not an orator; he was naturally timid and unassuming, but from his strong intellect, quick perception and retentive memory, his client felt assured when he placed his cause in the care of Littleberry Hendricks he would have the benefit of all the law. I hazard nothing in saying he was the first lawyer in our section of the State, and the best practitioner with whom I was ever acquainted. He had, for many years an extensive practice, sufficient to have made nearly any other man rich. He was an indifferent financier; never sued a man in his life, and seldom ever asked for that which was his actual due.

As a temperance man, I knew Judge Hendricks well. He was never a drinker. He was a member of the old Washingtonian, Society for many years previous to the formation of the society known as the Sons of Temperance. When I first became acquainted with him, the town of Springfield was overrun with dram shops. The youth of the country were by them being allured from the paths of rectitude, and educated in every species of vice and crime, until the gray-haired father and broken

darling boy that had once been the hope of their declining years, and to look upon their little bright eyed girls as doomed to become

the wives of drunkards. At this gloomy period Judge Hendricks became a member of the Sons of Temperance as well as the Good Templars. He took a bold stand in the temperance reformation; lectured and wrote, and I am happy to know that the weight of his influence, with that of other gentlemen and ladies, had worked such a reformation in that locality, that when the present unhappy rebellion was inaugurated there was not a dram shop in our county, and ten thousand dollars would not have procured one. But, alas, how changed the state of morals in that county now! The general crash that has ruined the hard earned fortunes of men of wealth in the once happy and prosperous land-that has caused suffering, sorrow and death-is light when compared with the wreck of morals and of mind that have followed in its train.

When the fanatics north and south hurled us into this maelstrom of destruction contrary to the known wishes of the masses of the people, Littleberry Hendricks, though not a politician, became a candidate for a seat in this Convention. I canvassed the district with him. He, Judge Jamison, and myself, had all opposed the election of Mr. Lincoln; he had voted for Mr. Douglas and we for Mr. Bell, but when Mr. Lincoln was declared elected according to he forms of law, he, as well as we, used his influence to satisfy the voters of our district that it was the duty of every good man to stand by Mr. Lincoln as long as he would stand by the Constitution and laws. I have told you that he was not an orator, but I shall never forget the appeals made by Judge Hendricks during that canvass, in favor of the Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement of the laws. If a prophet had made his appearance on earth he could not more clearly have foretold the state of affairs that would follow an attempt to break up this, the best Government in the known world. He admitted that the people of the slave States had been badly treated by individuals in the north, but denied

that any man had ever been wronged by the Government-that for every wrong there was a remedy in the Union and under the Constitution and laws, and proposed to quit the canvass if our opponents would point out one solitary evil without its legal remedy. He made a speech at Galena, in Stone connty, a few days before the election, one hour long, which for clear demonstration, sound reasoning and forcible argument, in my judgment, surpassed any effort I ever heard by any man; and as an evidence of its appreciation by others, I believe we got the votes of every voter in the county then present except one. He was elected by an almost unanimous vote. How he discharged the arduous duties devolving on him after the Convention met, you are apprised. I have the pleasure of knowing that he and I uniformly voted and acted together, When some of the friends of the Administration commenced urging radical measures, he then as earnestly contended that we be gov erned by the Constitution and laws, as he did when canvassing the district. He said Jeff. Davis and his followers had set out to break up the Government by breaking down the Constitution and laws; that we had set out to prevent it; and unless we closely adhered to it we could not expect Union men of the South or misguided Secessionists to come back.

At the time of his death he was Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, having been appointed by Governor Gamble, and was giving universal satisfaction.

He is buried amid the ruins of the home of

his adoption, murdered, not by pistol and sword, but by the rack of mind caused by an over anxious desire for the perpetuity and welfare of, and dark foreboding fears for, the destiny of his beloved country.

I believe he was truly the noblest work of God, an honest man.

The resolutions having been adopted, the Convention adjourned to Saturday, 9 o'clock

A. M.