before the close
of the war. Able, courageous, and thoroughly skilled in parliamentary
tactics, he had achieved a national reputation as the leader of the
minority in the forty-third Congress. During the protracted and
exciting struggle near its close, over the Force Bill--the House
remaining in continuous session for fifty-six hours--Mr. Randall
had displayed wonderful endurance and marvellous capacity for
successful leadership. He was more than once presented by his
State in Democratic national conventions for nomination to the
Presidency. He was an excellent presiding officer, prompt,
often aggressive, and was rarely vanquished in his many brilliant passages
with the leaders of the minority. One incident is recalled, however,
when the tables were turned against the Speaker, no one joining
more heartily than himself in the laugh that followed. Mr. Conger,
of Michigan, with great earnestness and persistency, was urging
the consideration of a resolution which the Speaker had repeatedly
declared out of order. By no means disconcerted by the decision, Mr.
Conger, walking down the aisle, was vehement in his demand for the
immediate consideration of his resolution. At which the Speaker
with much indignation said, "Well, I think the Chair has a right
to exercise a little common sense in this matter." To which Mr.
Conger instantly responded, "Oh, if the Chair has the slightest
intention of _doing anything of that kind,_ I will immediately take
my seat!"

The Hon. David Dudley Field, elected to fill a vacancy, was a
Representative from the city of New York during the closing session
of the forty-fourth Congress. He was an eminent lawyer, and, at
the time, stood at the head of the American bar. His name is
inseparably associated with many important reforms in legal procedure
during the last half century. He had been instrumental in securing
the appointment of a committee of distinguished jurists, chosen
from the leading nations, to prepare the outlines of an international
code. His report accompanying the plan, to the preparation of
which he had given much thought and time, received the earnest
commendation of leading publicists and jurists in Europe, as well as
in his own country. His untiring efforts, looking to the substitution
of international courts of arbitration for war, have given his name
honored place among the world's benefactors.

Mr. Field was the eldest of four brothers, whose names are known
whe