e the office of Governor, to turn over the administration of State
affairs to Lieutenant-Governor Powers and to proceed to Washington so as
to be present at the opening session of Congress on the first Monday in
December when he would assume his duties as a United States Senator.

The Legislature was to meet the first Monday in the following
January,--1872. As soon as the fact was made known that the Republicans
would control the organization of the House, the Speakership of that
body began to be agitated. If Speaker Warren had been reelected he would
have received the Republican caucus nomination without opposition, but
his defeat made it necessary for a new man to be brought forward for
that position. A movement was immediately put on foot to make me the
Speaker of the House.

Upon a careful examination of the returns it was found that of the one
hundred fifteen members of which the House was composed there were
seventy-seven whites and thirty-eight colored. Of the seventy-seven
whites, forty-nine had been elected as Democrats and twenty-eight as
Republicans. The thirty-eight colored men were all Republicans. It will
thus be seen that, while in the composition of the Republican caucus
there were ten more colored than white members, yet of the total
membership of the House there were thirty-nine more white than colored
members. But in the organization of the House, the contest was not
between white and colored, but between Democrats and Republicans. No one
had been elected,--at least on the Republican side,--because he was a
white man or because he was a colored man, but because he was a
Republican. After a preliminary canvass the fact was developed that the
writer was not only the choice of the colored members for Speaker of the
House, but of a large majority of the white Republican members as well.
They believed,--and voted in accordance with that belief both in the
party caucus and in the House,--that the writer was the best-equipped
man for that responsible position. This fact had been demonstrated to
their satisfaction during the two sessions of the preceding Legislature.

The nomination of the writer by the House Republican caucus for Speaker
was a foregone conclusion several weeks before the convening of the
Legislature. With a full membership in attendance fifty-eight votes
would be necessary to perfect the organization. When the Republican
caucus convened sixty members were present and took part in the
delib