HON. JAMES F. BRIGGS.
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��tions he acquitted himself so as to win friends and admirers, and in 1877 he was nominated for congress without substantial opposition, and elected by a large majority. At the expiration of his first term he was unanimously re- nominated, and after an exciting cam- paign was reelected by a majority of eight hundred and forty-nine over the combined greenback and democratic vote. Two years afterward it became a question whether he should be re- turned. The traditions and prejudices of the district were strongly against a third term. Four other able, ambi- tious and popular men were anxious to succeed him, and he declined to push for the nomination ; but he accepted a call to take the stump in Maine, leav- ing it for the party to determine whether it was wise to place his name upon the ticket. To one of his friends who wrote him that he ought to return and attend to the canvass, he replied, " I am assured that I can be of con- siderable service here, and as it is of vastly mure importance that die cause shall triumph in this state next Monday than that I shall be renominated. I must remain and trust to you and others to decide whether it is best to send me back to Washington. What- ever that decision may be, I shall be satisfied."
The convention met just after the disastrous defeat of the party in Maine, and when it appeared that there was only a desperate chance for its nominee to be elected. It decided that if any man could succeed he could, an I a few days after he tuok the stump. Manchester, which was counted a doubtful city, when the con- vention assembled, gave him more than eight hundred majority, and the rest of the district swelled this to fourteen hundred and eighty. In 1882, Mr. Briggs was strongly urged by many ot the leading men ot the dis- trict to accept a renomination, but he judged that the party would be stronger with a new candidate, and declined to allow his name to be used. He how- ever accepted a nomination to the
��state legislature from his ward in Manchester, and will be a member of the House that assembles in June.
In congress Mr. Briggs has from the first been a faithful, hard-working mem- ber, and during the last four years has wielded a great influence. He is always ready to do his share of the committee work, always present to vote and sure to vote right : is tireless in serving his constituents, especially the veteran soldiers, and conscientiously and zealously devoted to the discharge of all his duties. In the forty-fifth congress he was a member of the com- mittee on patents ; in the forty-sixth, of that on nival affairs, and in the present, the forty-seventh, is chairman of the committee on expenditures in the war department, and a member of the judiciary, civil service reform, and several special committees. He suc- ceeds in Washington as he did at home, byquiet, patient, persistent work, which brings about substantial results rather than momentary sensations. No member of the House commands more perfectly the confidence of his associates, and few if any have more influence upon legislation.
Committee reports bearing his name have generally been accepted as de- termining the questions involved, and his few speeches have been extensive- ly republished as complete justifica- tions of the parties whose views he has defended. This was notably true of his speeches on the Southern Election Frauds, the National Bank- ing System, and the Knit Goods bill. His tribute to the memory of his col- league in the House and tent-mate in the army, the late Major Farr, attracted wide attention as a model of graceful eulogy. During the present session, he has been prominent as a leader of those who have insisted upon the abo- lition or material reduction of the tax
��on sugar.
��Mr. Briggs is a man of splendid physique, tall, broad-shouldered and well-proportioned. In his boyhood he was too poor and too busy to in- dulge in any of the dissipations which
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