if his dear old friend, now feeble in body and purse, desired to be his successor, he would be happy to time his resignation agreeably to that end.

No suggestion was ever more gratefully received. Broken health, lack of ready money, failure of the impeachment, vehement attacks upon reconstruction by some of his former friends, eleven votes in the Senate and twenty-five in the House against even the cheap reward of thanks for his great services, all combined to produce extreme mental anguish. Hence the possibility of becoming a part of the highest court in the world was a source of keen satisfaction.

An appropriate interjection here is that of the fact that when Chief-Justice Taney died in the autumn of 1864, Bishop Simpson, Governor O. P. Morton, General J. K. Moorhead, Governor John A. Andrew, and others besought Lincoln to appoint Stanton to the vacant position. "If Mr. Stanton can find a man he himself will trust as secretary of war, I'll do it," said Lincoln to Bishop Simpson. Stanton knew of no such man; and S. P. Chase, who was favored by Stanton, was appointed.

President Grant indicated that, should nothing unexpected intervene, Stanton would be appointed to succeed Justice Grier. However, some days passed without any announcement, for reasons best given by the late Senator M. H. Carpenter of Wisconsin, in a speech in the Senate on June 4, 1872, in part as follows:

I had charge of a bill which we passed for the reconstruction of the legislature of Georgia, after the colored members had been expelled. We sat late at night to pass it. At about half-past eleven, while in my seat, it occurred to me that something might be done to insure the appointment of Mr. Stanton as judge of the Supreme Court. It had been expected by many of us, and yet his nomination did not come. I then and there drew up a letter for the President, recommending Mr. Stanton to be appointed judge of that court. I took it around the chamber and in less than twenty minutes obtained thirty-seven signatures of Republican senators.* That was Friday night, and before leaving the Senate Chamber I agreed with the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] to meet at the White House the following morning, Saturday, at 10 o'clock to present the letter to the President.

The next morning I rode to Mr. Stanton's and showed him the letter, and as he glanced over it the tears started down his cheeks. He said not a word. He did not even say "thank you." Witnessing the depth of his emotion I bowed myself out, telling him that I was going to present it to the President.

*Headed by Vice-President Colfax.

I carried it to the President and found the Senator from Michigan with the President, awaiting me. Said the President: "I am delighted to have that letter; I have desired to appoint Mr. Stanton to that place, and yet, in consequence of his having been secretary of war and so prominent in the recent political strife, I have doubted whether it would answer to make him Judge; that indorsement is all I want; you go to Mr. Stanton's house and tell him his name will be sent to the Senate Monday morning."

This was Saturday. I then drove back to Mr. Stanton's house and told him what the President had said. Mr. Stanton's first reply was: "The kindness of General Grant-it is perfectly characteristic of him-will do more to cure me than the skill of all the doctors."

In the House one hundred and eighteen Republicans signed a similar petition, and next day, on Sunday, President Grant, accompanied by Vice-President Colfax, called to say to Mr. Stanton in person that the appointment would be made on the following day. It was sent to the Senate on Monday, December 20, and confirmed an hour later, after words of kind and tender endorsement, by a vote of forty-six to eleven.

Notice of confirmation was immediately returned to the White House, and the commission would have been transmitted to Stanton the same day if President Grant had been satisfied that he possessed authority to habilitate a justice in the absence of a vacancy-Mr. Justice Grier's resignation having been drawn to take effect on the first of February following.*

During the afternoon of the 20th-a cold, damp, and windy day-Stanton arose from his bed, and, in spite of the protests of his physician and the members of his family, drove to the White House to return the President's call and to thank him personally for the appointment.

Thoroughly muffled in heavy wraps, looking more dead than alive, he tottered to the President's room, supported by AdjutantGeneral Townsend. Much surprised, Grant stepped forward rapidly to greet his visitor, who grasped him with both hands, but could utter scarcely a word. Trembling lips and suffused eyes, however,

*"The circumstances of the appointment of Mr. Stanton were very remarkable. Mr. Justice Grier had sent in his resignation to retire on February 1. Mr. Stanton was nominated, confirmed, commissioned, and ready to take his seat; then sickened, died, and was buried, all before the first day of February. On that day good old Justice Grier returned, took his seat on the bench and helped to decide causes after his successor had been appointed, commissioned, and was dead and buried."-Speech of Senator M. H. Carpenter,

more eloquently than words, told the dying man's story of appreciation and gratitude. He had made the following acknowledgment in writing, but instead of sending it, visited Grant in person, as stated:

Dear Sir:

I beg you to accept my thanks for your nomination of me as one of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. It is the only public office I ever desired and I accept it with great pleasure.

The appointment affords me the more pleasure coming from you, with whom for several years I have had personal and official relations such as seldom exist among men.

It will be my aim so long as life and health permit to perform the solemn duties of the office to which you have appointed me with diligence, impartiality, and integrity.

I have the honor to be truly your friend, The President.

Edwin M. Stanton.

On the 22d the President became convinced that there were no inhibiting circumstances and signed the commission; but, as if to complete a tragedy, Stanton never saw it. The relapse brought on by his visit to the White House had already reached both heart and brain, obscuring all earthly facts and faculties with the haze of approaching death.

After the burial, Grant sent the commission to Mrs. Stanton, accompanied by a warm tribute to her husband's "ability, integrity, patriotism, and services."

CHAPTER LXVIII.

DEATH.

The attending physician did not apprehend immediately fatal results from the relapse brought on by the visit to Grant on the 20th. To Mrs. Stanton's anxious inquiries he replied that her husband would "certainly rally, as his mind was clear and active and his interest in public affairs unabated."

On the evening of December 23, 1869, after Dr. Barnes had departed, the family retired as usual, leaving Stanton in care of his nurse, David Jones. An hour later Jones was startled by extreme paroxysmal respiration in his patient and aroused the household. Dr. Barnes was brought back at once, and, discovering impending dissolution, sent for the Reverend Thomas A. Starkey, rector of Epiphany Church. Between the ensuing convulsions Stanton expressed the belief that he would recover. Dr. Barnes, however, was convinced to the contrary, and the rector chanted the solemn service for the dying at 2 o'clock in the morning. At 4 o'clock, surrounded by his entire household (which included the servants, Nurse Jones, Miss Bowie, Dr. Barnes, and the Reverend Mr. Starkey), having been in a semi-comatose condition for a time, the weary Titan breathed his last in painless peace.

The following day was the 25th of December. Thus, while the great War Minister lay wrapped in the gloomy trappings of death, all about him glowed the illuminations, festivities, and joys of Christmastide!

On the 26th General E. D. Townsend and General Thomas M. Vincent sat the night out by the side of the dead, so that those who never failed him in life had the honor of keeping the last vigil in death.

In accordance with his wish that no display whatever be permitted at his funeral, the plan of the United States Senate and the request of the House of Representatives for a State funeral were. denied. No formal guard of honor was about the bier, no soldiers