It was this fight that demonstrated his fitness for the position he subsequently occupied as one of the distinguished leaders on the Republican side of the Senate.

He was a natural born orator, having a wonderful command of the English language; and, while he was somewhat superficial and not always logical, he never failed to be interesting, though he was seldom instructive.

For severe satire and irony he had few equals and no superiors.

It was on this account that no Senator was anxious to get into a controversy with him.

But for two unfortunate events in the career of John J.Ingalls he would have filled a much more important position in the history of his country than it is now possible for the impartial historian to give him.
Kansas, unfortunately, proved to be a fertile field for the growth and development of that ephemeral organization known as the Populist party,--a party that had secured a majority in the Legislature that was to elect the successor to Mr.Ingalls.The Senator evidently had great confidence in his own oratorical ability.