with General Palmer when he was taken home ill. He had brought a
colored servant with him, who accompanied him to his home in
Carlinville. It created considerable excitement, and General Palmer
was indicted for bringing the colored man into the State. There
was not much disposition to try him, but he insisted on being placed
on trial, conducted his own defence, and was acquitted.

He made an honest, conscientious Governor, but did not work in
harmony with the Legislature. He vetoed more bills than any Governor
before or since. His vetoes became too common to bear any influence,
and a great many of the bills were passed over his veto.

I was very much opposed to his renomination. I supported Governor
Oglesby, and I prepared a letter, to be signed by members of the
Legislature, asking Governor Oglesby to be a candidate. Furthermore,
an agent was employed to go to Decatur to remain there until the
obtained a favorable reply from Oglesby, and then go to Chicago
and have the letter and reply published in the Chicago papers.

The scheme worked successfully. Governor Oglesby was nominated
and elected.

Oglesby, Palmer, Logan, and Yates were all ambitious to go to the
Senate, and were rivals for the place at one time or another, and
they all succeeded in their ambition, Palmer being the last. When
Governor Yates was a candidate, in 1865, Senator Palmer thought
that he should have been elected. I liked Governor Yates and
believed that his record as Governor entitled him to a seat in the
Senate. Governor Palmer complained of me for taking any active
part in the contest, and thought that as I was a member of Congress
I should remain neutral. In those days Governor Palmer and I were
not on very friendly terms, although after he came to the Senate
we became quite intimate. He had a struggle in securing his election
as Senator. It was a long contest, but he was finally successful.

General Palmer was very popular with his colleagues in the Senate.
He was one of the best _raconteurs_ in the Senate, and he delighted
to sit in the smoking-room, or in his committee room, entertaining
those about him with droll stories. During his term he made some
very able speeches, and was always sound on the money question.
He was consistently in harmony with President Cleveland, and
consequently he controlled the patronage in the State. He was a
man of great good heart, full of generosity and good humor; and
altogether it would