FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

773

be." F. P. Blair of Missouri was nominated for vice-president. All other questions in this celebrated campaign were made subordinate to that of the maintenance or overthrow of the congressional policy of reconstruction, including what was popularly known as impartial suffrage, and the payment of the public debt "not only according to the letter but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted" as demanded by the republicans and opposed by the democrats; the latter insisting upon the adoption of the Johnsonian policy of reconstruction and the payment of the public debt in “lawful money," by which was meant the depreciated legal tenders.

The issue being thus made up, the popular verdict was again rendered in favor of the republicans. Grant carried 26 states and received 214 electoral votes; Seymour 8 states, including New York, with 80 electoral votes; three states not voting. Grant's majority of the popular vote was 305,458; his majority in Illinois was 51,150; while Palmer's was 50,099. The republicans succeeded also in securing an increased legislative majority.

The receipts into the treasury for the two years ending Nov. 30, 1868, were $2,276,763, and the payments for special purposes $1,050,882, and for ordinary expenses, including state institutions, $1,075,726—leaving a balance, including amount brought forward, in the treasury of $216,751.

The state-debt was reduced during Gov. Oglesby's administration as follows:

Gov. Oglesby was abundantly justified in saying at the close of his term, in his last message, that "looking back over the four years that have passed, since by the generous confidence of the people I was honored with the administration of the executive department of the State government, one unbroken chain of general and reasonable prosperity marks the whole period of our history and progressive march up to the commencement of the present year."

CHAPTER XLI.

Governor Palmer's Administration (1869-1873)-Twentysixth General Assembly-Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment-Special Legislation-Laws and Vetoes.

TH

HE name of John McAuley Palmer, the sixteenth governor of the State, at the time of his nomination and election had become distinguished as that of one of the leaders of the republican party. Like his predecessor-as well as many others in this country who have won fame and honor-his early educational advantages were limited to such as were afforded by the common schools to be found in the country settlements of his native state, Kentucky, where he was born September 13, 1817. Removing to Illinois in 1831, after spending two years on his father's farm, he enjoyed for a brief time the benefit of attending Shurtliff College, at Upper Alton. Leaving the academic shades, however, at an early age, he donned the garb and grasped the ferule of the pedagogue. While thus employed, as his limited means afforded him opportunity, being encouraged thereto by Judge Douglas-who took an interest in his welfare, he pursued the study of the law and was admitted to the bar in 1839. His natural inclination soon led him to enter the arena of politics, where he made a favorable impression. His first office was that of probate judge of Macoupin County, his residence being at Carlinville, the county-seat. From this time forward his advancement was rapid. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1847; was elected to the state senate in 1852, to fill a vacancy, and was reëlected in 1854. Having been, under all circumstances, and without regard to political affiliations, a consistent opponent of slavery, as was his father before him, he separated from the democratic party, to which he had hitherto belonged, in consequence of its attitude on the questions arising under the Kansas-Nebraska legislation of congress and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. His action as a member of the nineteenth general assembly in supporting Judge Trumbull, and afterward in assisting to organize

JOHN M. PALMER.

775 the republican party, has already been adverted to. In 1859, he was an unsuccessful candidate for congress against General Mc Clernand; in 1860, he was a republican presidential elector; and in 1861, was one of the commissioners from Illinois to the peace-congress at Washington. When the war broke out, he tendered his services to the government and was commissioned colonel of the 14th Regiment. Discovering an unexpected aptitude for military affairs, he rose rapidly to the positions of brigadier- and major-general, successively. His record as a division-commander, especially at Stone's River and Chickamauga, was exceptionally brilliant. Having asked to be relieved from the command of the 14th army corps before Atlanta, because of the assignment over him by Gen. Sherman of Gen. Howard, a junior officer, to command the Army of the Tennessee, President Lincoln, who well knew Palmer's superior qualifications for such a position, appointed him to the command of the military district of Kentucky. His discharge of the responsible, complicated, and delicate duties thereto attaching, was such as to command the approval and endorsement of the administration and of loyal citizens generally.

Gen. Palmer is a devoted follower of his profession, the law, in which he has been successful to a high degree. No ath lete enters into a contest of physical strength and dexterity with greater ardor or keener enjoyment than does the general into a legal contest before a court and jury. Here the full powers of his mind have free scope, and no intricacy of facts or ingenuity of opposing counsel can dampen his enthusiasm or lessen his devotion to the interests of his client. As a speaker, he is interesting and forcible rather than eloquent. Yet when he becomes fully aroused and the magnitude of the question is such as to bring into full play his strong reasoning faculties, his keen wit, and biting sarcasm, there are few speakers, however fluent or eloquent, who covet the opportunity of facing him on the other side. Of robust frame, sanguine temperament, genial disposition, and a superior mental organization, his seventy odd years, the greater portion of which have been spent in active public life, rest upon him as lightly as do two score years and ten upon the majority of men whose vital powers have not been submitted to so severe a strain. On his elevation to