HOAR, George Frisbie, American states man: b. Concord, Mass., 19 Aug. .1825; d. Worcester, Mass., 30 Sept. 1904. Senator Hoar's paternal and maternal inheritance was very re markable. His grandfather was an officer in the Revolutionary army and his father, Samuel Hoar, was one of the ablest lawyers and states men of his time, a member of Congress from Massachusetts and a man of great learning and force of character. Senator Hoar's mother was a daughter of Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was gradu ated from Harvard in 1846, studied law there and began his law practice in Worcester, Mass. The young man was early attracted to politics and identified himself with the Free Soil party. and his purpose in 1895 — so characteristic of his whole career—is thus stated by himself : 'All of us Free Soilers were drawn into politics by a great issue. It was to prevent slavery being extended into the new territory between the Mississippi and the Pacific. We were all ardent advocates of freedom. The party and the movement were new and we were stirred by high ideals. Among the young men who went into the new movement at that tine were my brother, Ebenezer Hoar, Erastus Hopkins, Anson Burlingame, Whittier, Lowell, Longfel low and many others that became well known. There were no offices to gain. There was sim ply a cause to work for. In the campaign of 1850 the Free Soilers did not carry a single State, only a few Congressional districts.* He was a member of the Republican party from the first and in 1852 was elected to the Massachu setts house of representatives; in 1857 to the State senate. In the intervals of service he practised law. In 1860 he was city solicitor. He presided over the Republican conventions in Massachusetts in 1871, 1877, 1882 and 1885; was a delegate to his party's national conventions in 1876, 1880 (the chairman in that year), 1884. 1888, 1892 and 1896. He served in the national House of Representatives for four successive Congresses, 1869-77, elected as a representa tive of the Worcester district; in 1877 he was elected to the Senate and was re-elected in 1883, 1889, 1895 and 1901, serving his country con tinuously as a national legislator since 1869, hav ing represented Massachusetts for a longer pe riod in the national Congress than any other representative from that State. In 1876, he was
one of the managers on behalf of the House in the Belknap impeachment trial, and was also a member of the Electoral Commission (q.v.), 'which decided the Hayes-Tilden contest for the Presidency, the other Republican members of that famous body being Senators George T. Edmunds, 0. P. Morton and Frederick T. Fre linghuysen, and Representative James A. Gar field. In the Senate he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and a member of other important committees. He was known as the old man eloquent of the Senate, having served in that body for 37 years and taken part in all the great questions that have been before the country during that time. He was a determined opponent of the retention of the Philippines and independent enough to state his views fearlessly in the support of his own theory that the United States should leave the islands to the control of the Filipinos and prevent interference from foreign nations, but his honesty and sincerity were unquestioned and he always retained the confidence of his party and the respect of alL He was a thorough American and believed in the future of his country and placed its wel fare above all personal considerations. 'The lesson which I have learned in life, which has been impressed upon me daily and more deeply as I grow old,' he said in his autobiog raphy, 'is the lesson of Good Will and Good Hope. I believe that to-day is better than yesterday, and that to-morrow will be better than to-day. I believe that, in spite of many errors and wrongs, and even crimes, my coun trymen of all classes desire what is good, and not what is evil.° Senator Hoar was an idealist, and was not to be turned aside, even by his loyal love of party, from following his sincere convictions. He demanded justice for the negroes and the Indians, openly declared his sympathy for Cu ban and Filipino, and as firmly opposed re ligious intolerance in Massachusetts because his actions were controlled by reasons which he considered were founded in righteousness and truth, and therefore not subject to change.