ate the ambitions and loftier
aspirations of other lawyers, especially the younger ones. In
striving to pay the tributes--imitation, etc.,--that can be accorded
to greatness, they become great themselves; and perhaps here may
be found the real or chief cause of the very large numbers of
conspicuously eminent men congregated at the capital of Illinois
in those days.

Judge Lyman Trumbull I always regarded as one of the exceptional
lawyers of the country. I came to know him well while I was a
member of the House and he a United States Senator. During those
days I saw very much of him. When Trumbull came to the Senate
there was some prejudice against him, growing out of circumstances
(related elsewhere in these pages) which prevented the election of
Mr. Lincoln, and which seemed to be plainly within Mr. Trumbull's
control. But the feeling soon vanished, and Trumbull's course in
the Senate was so true to the principles of the party which Mr.
Lincoln had championed, that the manner in which he had secured
the election was soon forgotten, or at least condoned, and the
judge remained there for a long period of service--three terms.

While he was there I came to the House of Representatives, and came
to be, as our association grew more and more intimate, very fond
of Senator Trumbull. I also admired his ability. He was one of
the few in that body who could hold his own with Judge Douglas in
debate, and when he came into the Senate he at once took issue with
Douglas, they being in controversy with each other very frequently
on slavery and other political questions, until Douglas's career
ended, about the beginning of the Civil War.

I was, perhaps, as intimate personally with Judge Trumbull during
my stay in the House as any other member. Barton C. Cook and Norman
B. Judd also were as intimate with the judge, as any other members
of the Illinois delegation. Nothing ever happened to change these
conditions, until the vote which Trumbull cast against the impeachment
of Andrew Johnson. Mr. Cook and Mr. Judd, especially the latter,
seemed to be almost bitterly angry against Judge Trumbull.

As a result of that vote opposition to him began to grow in the
party. However, almost immediately after the impeachment he was
re-elected, although at the time not a candidate. He was subsequently
nominated by the Democratic party for Governor of Illinois. I ran
against him as the candidate of the Republican party, and was
ele