Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/90

60 posed and supported by his party. He was reelected to the forty-second Congress in 1870 and in that congress was made a member of the committee on Railroads and Canals that matured the act for opening to commerce the mouth of the Mississippi by a system of jetties as proposed by James B. Eads. He also served on the committee on Elections. By his judicious handling of the cases before that committee he was acknowledged by both parties as an eminently impartial judge of the real merits of the contestants as disclosed by the election returns. He was reelected to the forty-third Congress in 1874 and to the forty-fourth Congress in 1876, in both of which congresses he led the movements for the betterment of educational advantages, for the right of labor, and for internal improvements. In the forty-third Congress he was made, by Speaker Kerr, a Democrat, a member of the committee on the Judiciary. He was a manager of the impeachment measures taken against William W. Belknap, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Grant, for receiving a bribe for the appointment of a post- trader; and the resolutions of impeachment passed the house; but Mr. Belknap had resigned as secretary of war and his resignation had been accepted by the president, and the resolutions were defeated in the senate on the ground that the proceedings were commenced after the person had left office. The majority of the senate voted "not guilty," upon that ground; but every Democrat and twelve Republican senators voted for conviction. However, Mr. Hoar's honest and earnest advocacy of political reform within the party in power awoke the conscience of the people and started a popular movement against official corruption in high places that has not yet spent its force. He also distinguished himself before the forty-third Congress by his important work as chairman of the special committee to investigate the claims of the rival state governments of Louisiana. The report as made by him was signed by Mr. Wheeler afterward vice-president, and Mr. Frye (q. v.) afterward president pro tempore of the United States senate. He was made a member of the electoral commission appointed by act of congress January 29, 1877, to determine the result of the elections in Florida, Louisiana, Oregon and South Carolina during the presidential election of 1876. Speaker Blaine placed him third on the committee to investigate the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier, and he prepared the report of the committee. He subsequently served on the committee on the Judiciary in investigating