SHELBY MOORE CULLOM.

BY JUDGE JOHN MOSES.

There is no description of literature more instructive or more interesting than the biographies of the great men of a nation. And when such biography comprises the recital of early struggles and ultimate triumphs, its interest is heightened and its influence broadened. Young men find their courage to encounter the obstacles which beset life's pathway, strengthened by reading of the resolute purpose and manly endurance, which have triumphed over every difficulty, and have enabled their possessor to rise from early obscurity and poverty, to ultimate eminence and power.

Illinois has been fortunate in the number of her sons who have written their names upon the Nation's roll of honor. Thereon is inscribed, in letters of living light, whose brilliancy Time cannot dim, the name of Abraham Lincoln-statesman, hero, patriot, martyr. Nor in the halls of Legislation has the State ever failed to be represented by men whose mental power and moral worth reflected honor, not only upon the Commonwealth, whose interest they had guarded so well, but even upon the entire country. From 1818, the year of the State's admission into the Union, when the eloquent voice of Daniel P. Cook was heard in Congress, and his potent influ ence was felt in shaping the Governmental policy, which so stimulated the growth, and enhanced the prosperity of the Nation, down to the present time, Illinois has never lacked men of brains, influence and reputation. The names of Hardin, Baker, Wentworth, Bissell and

Washburne, of the House, and of Breese, Douglas, Trumbull, Browning, Yates, Logan and Cullom, of the Senate, constitute a galaxy not easily matched by any other State.

All these entered public life through the portals of the legal profession. Nor is this fact a cause for surprise, when it is remembered that with the exception of a comparative few, whom military renown or accidental circumstances have brought into prominence, the ranks of public men in the United States have been chiefly recruited from the members of that same profession. Nearly all those men, who have been influential in framing the legislation and shaping the executive policy of the Republic, have enjoyed that mental training, that sharpening of the wits, which no other vocation can bestow, and which imparts a power of logical analysis, a grasp of the intricacies of any given question, a fluency of rhetoric, and a charm of oratory peculiarly characteristic of members of the Bar.

Shelby Moore Cullom, son of Richard Northcroft and Elizabeth Coffey Cullom, was born in Monticello, Wayne county, Kentucky, November 22, 1829. His father removed to Tazewell county, Illinois, the following year, so that young Shelby narrowly missed being a native of his adopted State. Hon. R. N. Cullom was a prominent and influential Whig in his time, and frequently represented his district in both Houses of the General Assembly. He was a farmer, and the embryo Senator was early accustomed to the homely fare and rough work, incident to farm life in a comparatively new country. His hands soon learned to swing the axe and guide the plow, and it was in such pursuits as these that he acquired that magnificent physical strength, which, in the long years devoted to public service, has made labor easy and toil a pleasure.

During his boyhood days, educational advantages in

the West were limited, the curriculum of the country school being usually considered sufficient to equip a young man for the practical battle of life. Shelby M. Cullom, however, was not content with this. He decided not to follow the business of his father, but to devote himself to the law, and felt the need of a broader and deeper culture. Fortunately, he was enabled to spend two years in study at the Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morris; though, in order to maintain himself, he found it necessary, as did Blaine, Garfield, and others, to devote some time to teaching.

In 1853, he entered the office of Stuart & Edwards, at Springfield and began the study of law. His health becoming impaired, his progress was slow; but persevering, after a rest on his father's farm, he was admitted to the Bar and began the practice of his chosen profession in 1855. Soon after this he was elected city attorney of Springfield, and was initiated into active practice. He recommended himself to his brother lawyers by his studious and abstemious habits, and his faithful attention to the interests of his clients. The Bar of Springfield, at this time, was the ablest in the State. That Nestor of the Illinois Bar, Stephen T. Logan, headed the list, followed closely by John T. Stuart, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin S. Edwards, James C. Conkling, Milton Hay, John A. McClernand, Charles S. Zane, and others. Springfield being the Capital of the State, was also the rallying point of all its leading lawyers. Williams, Browning, Linder, Arnold, Butterfield, Walker, Gillespie, and many others were frequently there, in attendance upon the courts.

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From trying petty municipal cases, and after ing through that ordeal of Justices Courts, which seems to be the inevitable experience of many great lawyers, young Cullom entered upon a broader field of practice. In the Circuit Court, he found a higher plane for the

exercise of his talents, and here he was pitted against some of the foremost practitioners of those days. In these forensic contests, his habits of close application afforded him pronounced advantage over those whom success is prone to render careless. As an advocate, while not endowed with the inspiration of an orator, his presentation of a case before a jury, was always concise and logical. His aim was to explain rather than confuse; to convince rather than dazzle.

The immediate effect of the outbreak of the Civil War upon the business of the legal profession was disastrous in the extreme. It is true that enlistments depleted the ranks of lawyers, but unfortunately for those attorneys who remained at home, the number of clients was reduced in a still higher ratio, while the absence of witnesses "at the front" delayed, if it did not positively prevent, trial. However, "there is no state of life without its compensations," and the litigation growing out of new internal revenue legislation and other questions incident to the changed condition of affairs, soon proved immensely lucrative. In consequence, the income of Mr. Cullom, during the last year of the war exceeded $20 000, and had he, like Sir Joseph Porter, K. C. B. "Stuck close to his desk and never gone to sea." as did his partner, Hay, he might, like him, have been reckoned to-day among the men of wealth, rather than numbered among the larger class, whose yearly income is dependent upon their yearly labor. But it might be borne in mind that until the era of railroad building, the practice of law in Illinois was not particularly remunerative. True, Lincoln obtained a professional fee of $5,000 from the Illinois Central Railroad Company in 1855, but the charge was alleged to be exorbitant, and the aid of the courts had to be invoked to enforce its payA fee of $500 was regarded as very high," and few were the attorneys who could obtain, and rare the

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cases which would justify, such a charge. The hardworking attorney, who "rode the circuit" and devoted his entire time to the pursuit of his profession, considered himself fortunate, if at the end of the year he could figure up his income at $2,000. What wonder, then, that some of the brightest and most profound lawyers in the State found it difficult to resist the temptation to better their worldly fortunes, and perhaps achieve distinction by entering the arena of politics?

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Following the example of Judge Logan, Lincoln and Stuart, in 1856, Cullom made his debut into political life by entering the race for membership in the Lower House of the General Assembly. Influenced by his early Whig training, Mr. Cullom admired Millard Filland was one of six men elected to the Legislature that year who supported Fillmore for President, and was supported by his Fillmore friends in the Legislature for Speaker of the House. His legislative canvass was successful, and he took his seat in the Lower House at the succeeding session. He was now fairly launched in his political career, a mere allusion to the salient points of which is all that the limits of the present article will permit. The Legislature of 1857 was Democratic, and intensely partisan. There was consequently not much opportunity for a new member, especially one belonging to the minority, to show what he could accomplish in the way of guiding legislation.

The voters of Sangamon county were chiefly from the slave-holding States, and although a majority of them had always been Whigs, so strong was their prejudice against anything that savored of abolitionism, that upon the organization of the Republican party the county placed itself squarely in the Democratic column, where, with only semi-occasional interruptions, it has ever since remained.

Cullom had always been in sympathy with the prin