I was afterward placed on the Judiciary Committee, a position
of great honor, which I liked very much.
With the exception of the last none of these appointments
had any attraction for me. They were all out of the line
of my previous experience in life and the service they required
of me was disagreeable. I was placed on the Committee on
the Judiciary by Mr. Speaker Kerr, a Democrat. Mr. Blaine
at this time very earnestly pressed Mr. Martin I. Townsend
of New York for the place. I do not conceive that I had any
right to complain of Mr. Blaine in this matter. I never made
any request of him for any appointment within his gift and
he was beset behind and before by the demands of men he was
unable to gratify, to many of whom he conceived himself under
great obligation. It should be stated too that in Mr. Blaine's
time the Members from Massachusetts older in the service than
myself had very important places indeed. So it was hardly
just to increase the number of important Committee appointments
from our State.
But it happened to me by great good fortune that I had an
opportunity, of which I was very glad, to accomplish something
by reason of my place on each Committee on which I served,
which I could not have accomplished without it.
Pages:
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475