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CHAPTER IV.

FROM 1845 TO 1862.

REAT as were the successes of Thomas A. Hendricks

as a lawyer, it was not in this capacity alone that he was destined to be known to fame. If he had devoted himself exclusively to his profession he might long ago have shown the world an example of an upright judge, or have added another name to the list of distinguished American jurists. But his country needed his services, and when the voices of his friends and comrades called him to public duty, he was much too patriotic not to obey. He had only been a little more than two years engaged in the legal profession when he was elected a member of the State Legislature of Indiana. He was but twenty-six years of age when he began his public career, and he brought to his tasks the ardor and enthusiasm of the true patriot. He served one year in the Legislature of Indiana, and declined renomination, but he had served long enough and well enough to create the impression that "Young Mr. Hendricks of Shelbyville was a man of great capacity and promise;" and he soon became one of the rising hopes of the Democracy of Indiana.

His course was watched with growing interest, and when the State Constitutional Convention of 1850, was called to review and amend the Constitution of the State of Indiana, Thomas A. Hendricks was elected a member of that convention without opposition. This it must be understood was no empty honor. Indiana wanted at her councils then the best, the ablest, and the purest men in the State; men who would be sure to sink all else in the one supreme desire to frame and formulate such laws as

would be for the best interests of the present and future of Indiana. The skill Mr. Hendricks had manifested and the reputation he had gained as a conscientious and painstaking lawyer, together with the statesmanlike qualities that he had already evinced, marked him out as a man most suitable to take a prominent share in such an important conclave. There was not only no opposition to his election to this convention, but the universal sentiment of Indiana, the judgment of men of all parties was, that Mr. Hendricks could not be spared from that convention. Among his fellow workers in that important piece of public duty, were such men as Judge Holman, Judge Hovey, and the popular Schuyler Colfax.

In the year 1851 Mr. Hendricks was elected member of Congress for the district of Indianapolis. This position he held with honor to himself and with entire satisfaction to his constituents till the year 1856, when, after an unsuccessful campaign, he determined to return to the practice of his profession.

Mr. Hendricks was not destined to enjoy the luxury of a private life. He had hardly settled down to the practice. of the law when President Pierce, without any solicitation on the part of Mr. Hendricks or his friends, appointed him Commissioner of the General Land Office. This token of confidence was wholly unexpected, but the new incumbent entered on his work with that whole-hearted zeal that characterized his whole career. The duties of this office were no child's play. Commissioner Hendricks had charge of all sales and grants of land, and just at this time the desire for the acquirement of land was at feverheight. Never had there been so many entries and grants of land in the history of Indiana. For four years Mr. Hendricks administered the affairs of this office; and although the greatest tact and delicacy were required in the management of affairs, Mr. Hendricks won a wide and justly earned reputation for the most impartial and honor

able discharge of his duties. During these years he was becoming more and more popular; even his political opponents held him in high esteem, and could only find one serious fault in him, and that was that he was a Democrat and not a Republican.

In the year 1858 the Democrats of Indiana had a signal victory. They succeeded in electing a Democratic Secretary of State by a majority of 2,581. This victory elated the Democratic party, and led them into the error of underestimating the spirit and resources of their political opponents. The late Lord Beaconsfield often spoke in bitter and satirical terms of " the caprices of constituencies." It may be safely said that there is nothing under the sun more unaccountable than the caprices of constituencies. They are worse than the old-fashioned vanes that, perched upon the summit of barn or homestead, indicated the direction of the wind. They turned with marvelous suddenness whenever the wind changed, but when the wind was still they were content to be still also. But mortal constituencies change and twist and turn without a cause, as if smitten suddenly with a madness wholly devoid of method. The Democrats who had won their election in 1858 by a majority of thousands had to learn that a pronounced victory is sometimes the herald of an equally marked defeat.

In 1860 Col. Henry S. Lane ran for Governor of Indiana in the Republican interests. The Democrats looked around, and regarding Thomas A. Hendricks as their strongest man, he was unanimously nominated by the State Convention to run for Governor. And it is safe to say there was not a stronger man in the Democratic party in Indiana than Mr. Hendricks. But the fates were against him and his party. It was a memorable year. A thorough revolutionary wave swept all over the Northern States. The Republican party, under the lead of Abraham Lincoln, was carried into sudden power; this general upheaval helped

the cause of Colonel Lane in Indiana, and the result was that Hendricks was defeated, and Lane became Governor by a large majority.

Two years later the genius of caprice waved her wand once more over the fields of Indiana. Col. Henry S. Lane had been elected United States Senator, and was succeeded in the governorship by the late Hon. Oliver P. Morton. When the election of 1862 came on, the Republican party felt perfectly safe of a victory. Had they not gained a majority of 9,757 votes in 1862? But victory chose to sit upon the banners of their foes, and to the amazement of the whole State, Indiana elected a Democratic Legislature. It was, moreover, that year when a United States Senator was to be chosen, and it gave the Democratic majority in the Legislature the right to elect its chosen standardbearer in the Senate of the Nation. The choice of the Democratic party fell upon Thomas A. Hendricks. He had filled every post to which he had been appointed with integrity and skill; so thoroughly had he won the confidence of the men of Indiana, that it seemed to be not only the proper thing, but the only proper thing that Mr. Hendricks should be sent to the Senate. He was chosen for the term, ending in March, 1869. His election as Senator of the United States opens another chapter in his history.

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CHAPTER V.

HON. THOMAS A. HENDRICKS IN THE SENATE.

N Mr. Hendricks the Senate received an accession of statesmanship and practical sagacity at a very important period of American history. America was about to experience that terrible baptism of blood which cost her millions of dollars, and that more dreadful price that no money can redeem, the lives of thousands upon thousands of her noblest sons. No nation of ancient or modern times ever passed through a more trying ordeal. The enemies of America-and America has always had her enemies, whose enmity was born chiefly of envy-as they watched her in the throes of civil conflict said with a sneer, that the Republican Bubble was about to burst. In this case the wish was father to the thought. No Republic on the face of the earth was ever so severely tested. The war time was a time that tried men's souls to the very uttermost. Mr. Hendricks' services in the Senate covered the whole of this terrible war period, and although on the minority side in the Senate chamber, he voted for the earnest prosecution of the war, differing with the administration only on the question of conscription; rather favoring enlistment and a fair bounty than the methods employed; this, however, was only a matter of detail.

It may here be observed in passing that in 1860 Mr. Hendricks removed to Indianapolis, and in 1862 he formed a law partnership with Mr. Oscar B. Hord, which in 1866 was extended to a cousin, Col. A. W. Hendricks, the firm being known as Hendricks, Hord and Hendricks.

As United States Senator, the career of Mr. Hendricks was as honorable and praiseworthy as his former history