He was destined to hold a still more important relation to the present body, but that was not yet foreseen.

His admirers looked to him as a political sage, who if not less partisan than his associates was more prudent and politic in his counsels.

No other leader commanded so large a share of the confidence and devotion of his party.

No other equaled him in the art of giving a velvety touch to its coarsest and most dangerous blows, or of presenting the work of its adversaries in the most questionable guise.

It was his habit to thread the mazes of economic and fiscal discussion, and he was never so eloquent or apparently so contented as when he was painting a vivid picture of the burdens under which he imagined the country to be suffering, or giving a fanciful sketch of what might have been if Democratic rule had continued.