This speech he
would frank home to Missouri. He seemed to think his duty
as a Democratic politician was done, and he would betake himself
to statesmanship the rest of the year. I think he has of
late discontinued that practice. I do not want what I have
said to be taken too seriously. There is scarcely a member
of either side in either House who would be more missed from
the public service, if anything were to happen to him, than
Mr. Cockrell, nor for whom all men have a kindlier and more
affectionate regard. Like Mr. Allison, he knows the mechanism
of administration and legislation through and through. He
would be entirely competent to fill a chair of public administration
in any college, if, as I hope may be done, such chairs shall
be established.
When Justin Morrill died, not only a great figure left the
Senate Chamber--the image of the ancient virtue of New England--
but an era in our national history came to an end. He knew
in his youth the veterans of the Revolution and the generation
who declared independence and framed the Constitution, as
the young men who are coming to manhood to-day know the veterans
who won our victories and the statesmen who conducted our
policy in the Civil War.
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