ominated
by the President for the office of Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States, he was rejected by the
Senate. A few Senators avowed as a pretext for their action
that there was no Judge on that Bench from the South, and
that the new appointee ought to reside in the Southern Circuit.
But these gentlemen all voted for the confirmation of Mr.
Justice Bradley, a most admirable appointment, to whom the
same objection applied. Judge Hoar never doubted that the
service of a clean, able, upright Circuit Court, appointed
without political influence, and entirely acceptable to the
public, was well worth the sacrifice. Indeed the expression
of public regard which came to him abundantly in his lifetime,
and which was manifested in the proceedings of the Bar of
Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Historical Society, and
in the press of the country after his death, was more valued
by those to whom his memory is dear, than a thousand offices.

When I entered Congress in 1869 the corridors of the Capitol
and the Committee rooms were crowded with lobbyists. The
custom of the two Houses permitted their members to introduce
strangers on the floor. It would not be profitable to revive
all the scandals of that time. In general the men elected
to the Senate and the House were honest and incorruptible.
There were some exceptions. Adroit and self-seeking men were
often able in the multitude of claims which must necessarily
be disposed of by a rapid examination, to impose on Committees
of the two Houses.

As one of the managers of the Belknap trial, I alluded to
some of the more prominent and undisputed examples of corruption,
in the following words:

"I said a little while ago that the Constitution had no safeguards
to throw away. You will judge whether the public events of
to-day admonish us to look well to all our securities to prevent
or power to punish the great guilt of corruption in office.
We must not confound idle clamor with public opinion, or accept
the accusations of scandal and malice instead of proof. But
we shall make a worse mistake if, because of the multitude
of false and groundless charges against men in high office,
we fail to redress substantial grievances or to deal with
cases of actual guilt. The worst evil resulting from the
indiscriminate attack of an unscrupulous press upon men in
public station is not that innocence suffers, but that crime
escapes. Let scandal and malice b