They met us in a like spirit.
I believe the Committee on Elections during that Congress
reported on every case with absolute impartiality, and the
House followed their lead. I formed a very pleasant friendship
on that Committee with Judge William M. Merrick, a Maryland
Democrat, who had made himself very much disliked by the Republican
authorities during the War because of his supposed sympathy
with Rebellion. I do not think he sympathized with the Rebellion.
But he construed the Constitution very strictly and was opposed
to many measures of the Administration. He was nominated
by President Cleveland to be Judge of the Supreme Court of
the District of Columbia. The Judiciary Committee of the
Senate reported against him, putting their objection on the
ground of the conduct imputed to him during the War, and also
of his age. He was then sixty-seven years old. I dissented
from the Committee, of which I was a member, and I exerted
myself with all my might to secure his confirmation, and was
successful. He made a most admirable Judge, and my action
was abundantly vindicated by the result.
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