to one dollar and fifteen cents per bushel. There were bread riots in New York City during the months of February and March, 1837. On May 15, President Van Buren, by proclamation, called an extra session of Congress to meet September 4, to consider measures of relief. All through the summer of 1837 the panic continued its course, wrecking banks and ruining business men.1

Congress assembled according to Van Buren's proclamation, on Monday, September 4, 1837, and at noon of that day Vice-President Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky called the Senate to order, and Walter S. Franklin, clerk of the 24th Congress, called the House to order. The Democrats had a majority in the Senate, but in the House, although most of the Calhoun Democracy were supporting the administration, the Whigs were strong enough to demand consideration in all measures that might come before the House. Before going into this chapter proper, I desire to say that I am simply writing the history of Richard H. Menefee, and not a history of the Congress proper. The main bibliography used for this chapter is the Congressional Globe, which was founded in 1830 by Francis Blair, of Kentucky, in time to catch the eloquence of Menefee. Richard H. Menefee was the youngest member of the 25th Congress. Sargent S. Prentiss of Mississippi was born September 30, 1808, but his seat was contested and the House refused to permit him to take it. He was elected at a new election, however, and took his seat May 30, 1838. Robert M. T. Hunter was born on

1

Wilson's Division and Reunion (1829-1889).

1

April 21, 1809. Menefee was the "baby" of the House in years only; in many ways he was the giant of the House. A general description of the personnel of the 25th Congress is found in Mr. C. H. Peck's history of the times.1

The personnel of the 25th Congress was reasonably strong and brilliant. The prolonged political contests had directed the ambitions of many able men toward public life, and neither the Senate nor the House has ever contained a greater number of men already distinguished and to obtain distinction than met on the first Monday of September, 1837, to deal with the unprecedented condition of the country and the national finances, that would doubtless have been better had there been less political animosity, ambition and insistence; for such conditions are extremely adverse to the national solution of financial problems. The chief benefit of the political struggles about to be renewed in Congress were the lessons that they were to teach in the future.

A more specific account is found in Joseph D. Shields' biography of S. S. Prentiss.

The old Hall of Representatives was a grand-looking chamber, with its lofty dome, its Speaker's chair beneath the eagle draped in the folds of our flag, its oval shape and its tapered pillars supporting the lofty gallery. Before the young aspirant (Prentiss) sat an array of talent of our country which has rarely, if ever, been equalled. Near him sat the wit, diplomatist, statesman, sage, who reversed the maxim "Jack of all trades," for he seemed to be an "admirable Crichton" and good at all, Ex-President John Quincy Adams. There sat against him the short but heavy-bodied accomplished orator and scholar, Hugh Swinton Legaré "The "Jacksonian Epoch," by C. H. Peck, pp. 356-357.

of South Carolina. On his side was Thomas Corwin, one of the greatest orators of his age. There was the brilliant Menefee of Kentucky, hovering near him was the Harry Percy of the House, Henry A. Wise of Virginia, and his own phlegmatic colleague, R. M. T. Hunter. There sat Cilley of Maine, who also was so soon to fall, another victim to the "code of honor." There was the eloquent Dawson of Georgia, whose prediction about Prentiss I have before given (Dawson predicted great things for Prentiss). There sat Howard of Maryland, the head and front of the opposition to him, and near him sat Bronson of New York, who was almost persuaded to be in his favor. There was Millard Fillmore, clarem et venerabile nomen; Evans of Maine; Levi Lincoln and Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts; Sergeant of Pennsylvania and Bell of Tennessee, who, as we have seen, was in this case the "bellwether of the flock." The colleagues of Prentiss, Goldson, and Word were also able men.

Shields then adds a statement that is as true of Menefee as it is of Prentiss :

He had before addressed people by the thousand; he had spoken before justices of the peace, judges of the Circuit and Supreme Courts and juries; he had harangued the masses from the hustings; he had spoken to the legislature of his State; but this was the first time that he was to stand before the American people. Through the ear of Congress the nation was his auditor.

The old hall of the House of Representatives was an imposing building, but it was an acoustic failure. Ordinarily the voice of the Representatives reverberated to the dome. Late in the fifties, the new hall was completed and the question as to the final disposition of

the old hall was agitated. Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, the father of the State Colleges, on July 2, 1864, had a bill passed setting aside the old building as the National Statuary Hall. Morrill's act said that each State should have the right to place two statues of her distinguished sons in the Statuary Hall. About twenty States have sent statues. Kentucky has not decided upon her representatives. Henry Clay has been sufficiently honored by Kentucky; Lincoln and Davis have been honored by their adopted States. Why not place statues of Richard H. Menefee, the orator, and Ephraim McDowell, the surgeon, representatives of two great fields of human activity, in the National Statuary Hall, as Kentucky's representatives in the American Valhalla?

The first duty of the House was to elect a Speaker, and it proceeded to do so. The whole number of votes cast was 224; 113 was necessary for a choice. James K. Polk, a Democrat, of Tennessee, received 116 votes, and John Bell, of the same State, received 103; scattering 5. Polk was therefore declared elected and in an appropriate speech returned thanks to the House for the honor conferred upon him. Polk is the only Speaker of the National House that was ever elected President. After the Speaker was elected, the members were qualified by taking the oath prescribed by the Constitution. Mr. Walter S. Franklin of Pennsylvania, clerk of the 24th Congress, was then reelected clerk of the 25th Congress. The doorkeepers and sergeant-at-arms were then appointed and the House of Representatives of

the 25th Congress was ready to exercise its legislative power.

In his message, Van Buren recommended that the Government should not directly interfere with the awful panic, but permit it to right itself. He recommended the "Sub-Treasury or Independent Treasury plan." The measure was regarded by the Whigs as an endeavor to break down the banks of the country, and while it passed the Senate, it was tabled in the House. The first mention of Menefee is made on September 11, when the standing committees were announced. Menefee, with Robert B. Cranston of Rhode Island, George H. Dunn of Indiana, Joseph Ridgeway of Ohio, and Samuel T. Sawyer of North Carolina, formed the committee "On Expenditures of the Public Buildings." On this committee Menefee served through the entire Congress, and at the first regular session he was appointed to also serve on the Committee on Patents with Bennett Bicknell of New York, Isaac Fletcher of Vermont, Mathias Morris of Pennsylvania, and Lancelot Phelps of Connecticut.

On September 19 Menefee wrote the following letter to Dr. H. S. Guerrant, of Sharpsburg, Kentucky.

Dear Doctor:

Washington City, Sept. 19, 1837.

Yours of the 11th was received yesterday and I am greatly obliged to you for the spirit of personal kindness towards me which it manifests. Suffer me to hope that when your more important engagements will allow of it, you will write to me during the session of Congress. It was rather of some surprise to me that you had not received the President's message at the