{"id":6440,"date":"2026-02-06T16:29:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/?page_id=6440"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:55:10","slug":"tributes-to-freeman-e-franklin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/tributes-to-freeman-e-franklin\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes to Freeman E. Franklin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speeches by James H. Piles<\/a> and William Henderson Foote<\/a> in memory of Col. Freeman E. Franklin, a veteran from Ohio who served as Speaker of the House before he died in September 1870. From the 1871 Mississippi House Journal.<\/p>\n

Mr. Piles,\u00a0of Panola, said:<\/p>\n

MR. SPEAKER – The members of this House are, indeed, saddened by the departure, during the last vacation, of their Speaker, F. E. Franklin, from the theater of his activity.<\/p>\n

He who presided so wisely, so impartially and so debonair<\/em>, decided so promptly, so parliamentarily and amiably, lies cold in death.<\/p>\n

The silver cord is indeed broken. No more will his voice be heard in recognition of the Representative from the hills and valleys. No more will his gavel hush the voice of ambition and anxiety, for he has taken up his abode in the narrow house appointed for all the living.<\/p>\n

We cannot refrain from adding a leaflet to the civic crown which this House this day weaves towards “the keeping green the memory” of the deceased.<\/p>\n

There may be those present who, from the greater length and closer intimacy of their acquaintance with the deceased, have a better<\/em> right to speak on this occasion than I; but certainly none more willing<\/em> to offer – poor though my offering may be – tribute of his sincere praise, and to join in an expression of that unfeigned grief for his untimely loss, which is felt in common by us all.<\/p>\n

I most heartily concur in every sentiment so tastefully and sensibly expressed by the resolutions which have been read by Judge Stone; the authorship of which is so honorable to his head and heart. I no less sincerely endorse every thought and sentiment so eloquently, so feelingly, and with such marked propriety expressed.<\/p>\n

Mortuary addresses are often very worthless things. When they are a tribute merely to the exalted position the man may have occupied, and the tribute is paid to the officer, not to the man; when the orator, by reason of the position he<\/em> occupies, is constrained<\/em> to speak; when to speak is a task to be performed, instead of a privilege of which the orator willingly, though mournfully, avails himself; when the heart is not in the work, but the intellect alone is concerned, and is tortured to find and to weave into ornate sentences, hyperbolical terms of eulogy, not at all descriptive of the man on whom they are bestowed, and which portray not his<\/em> character, but that of some imaginary being – the production is worse than worthless.<\/p>\n

It is not praise – it is censure; for it carries with it the implication that there was nothing in the real<\/em> character of the man, worthy of praise, nor in his death anything to produce sorrow – that the truth plainly told, would be condemnation.<\/p>\n

But where heartfelt sorrow impels the orator, and real affection supplies, and truth and good sense moderate his utterances, the address is praise, however awkward and homely it may be. Its value<\/em> is in its sincerity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We are to-day going through no hollow formality. Our hearts are in that which we say and do; and in the sorrow which we feel and are attempting to express, the whole community around us truly and deeply sympathize and participate.<\/p>\n

Speaker Franklin was my friend, “faithful and just to me,” and I sincerely and deeply deplore his loss; and, in attempting to speak of him here and now, my only embarrassment arises from the conviction that I am not equal to the undertaking of setting forth appositely and worthily the merits of one whom all here knew so well, admired so much, respected so sincerely, honored so highly, and loved so truly.<\/p>\n

On the first day of the assembling of this Legislature, I became acquainted with him. Thenceforward a friendship existed between us which knew no change, which prejudice could not interrupt nor envy mar.<\/p>\n

I knew him as Speaker, as host, as friend, as gentleman. In each of these positions and relations, I knew him thoroughly; and I knew him only to admire him, to honor him, and to love him.<\/p>\n

Let me speak of him in these relations. As Speaker, he was entirely and eminently agreeable. Though he thought boldly he always listened attentively and respectfully. Though firm in his own convictions, he was not dogmatical nor opinionated. In a word, he had none of that little mean spirit of assumption and pretense, which renders its possessor incapable of correction.<\/p>\n

No ordinary talent can guide and control a legislative assembly, especially if it be numerous or if it be excited by party differences. A good presiding officer is like Alexander mounting Bucephalus; the assembly knows its master as a horse knows its rider. This was pre-eminently the case of Mr. Franklin. Here he showed a special adaptation and power, indeed his manners, as presiding officer, were most admirable. When a member was addressing him he paid the strictest attention, looking him courteously and respectfully in the face. Like the god Thor, he beat with his gavel<\/em> in unison with his voice, until the reverberations rolled like thunder in the mountains.<\/p>\n

To conclude this hasty and imperfect sketch of his character as Speaker, I think I may say, warranted by the unanimous opinion of this House, and without offense either, to any other gentleman, who casually, in his time, occupied the position, that F. E. Franklin was, taken all in all, the best Speaker that ever graced the chair, and that his was a parliamentary mind.<\/p>\n

I have said that I knew the deceased as host, friend and gentleman, and what member ever visited his rooms, during last session, that did not know him in the former capacity.<\/p>\n

Friendly, companionable and confiding, it was his delight to meet and welcome us. But I will not indulge in these remembrances. You all knew Speaker Franklin’s worth, as a friend and companion –<\/p>\n

“And none who knew him need be told,
\nA warmer heart death ne’er made cold.”<\/p>\n

Such, gentlemen, is, thus far, my rude and hasty portraiture of our lost member and leader. Is it overdrawn? No! I have not uttered one word of encomium, which you do not all most freely and heartily endorse. But is it complete? Is there nothing wanting? Yes. More might be said befitting the occasion, and I am loath to quit the theme; but I must conclude.<\/p>\n

We offer in our resolution our condolence to the family and relatives of the deceased; and I wish it were in my power, before I resume my seat, to speak, if it were possible, even one word of consolation to their riven and grieviously afflicted hearts. But I shall not attempt it. Their sorrow is too sacred to be intruded upon by me. The ceremonies we perform here, and the merited honors we now award to the memory of him for whom they mourn, will not, I trust, be distasteful to them; but oh, how unavailing is anything we can say or do to abate, in the least, the irrepressible grief of those.<\/p>\n

“Whom to teach
\nForgetfulness were mercy; for their sake
\nThe Archangel’s trump, not glory’s, must awake
\nHim whom they weep for. Though the sound of fame
\nMay, for a moment soothe, it cannot slake
\nThe fever of vain longing, and the name,
\nSo honored, but assumes a stronger, bitterer claim.”<\/p>\n

No, it is not in our power, by aught that we can say or do, to afford them any comfort; but<\/p>\n

“There is a voice which sorrow hears
\nWhen heaviest weighs life’s galling chain;
\n‘Tis Heaven that whispers, ‘Dry thy tears –
\nThe pure in heart shall meet again.'”<\/p>\n

\n

[Foote’s speech below also pays tribute to A. S. Wood, a native of Vermont who represented Yazoo in 1870, was committed to the state asylum in the fall of that year, and died by suicide there on December 18, 1870.]<\/p>\n

Mr. Foote, of Yazoo, said:<\/p>\n

MR. SPEAKER – In assembling once more in the capitol of our State, as legislators, it becomes my painful duty, as it is a melancholy pleasure, to say a few words in tribute to the memory of two of our most worthy brothers; that, as colleagues of mine, were more than endeared to my heart, as they were, I am assured, endeared to the hearts of all. I speak of our well-beloved and ever to be remembered Speaker, the Hon. Mr. Franklin, and our no less treasured brother, the Hon. Mr. Wood. Shall we not, as becomes true brothers in assembling once more in the halls that they, alas – through that dread summons that calls to another, and, let us trust, a better world – shall tread no more; pause for a moment to reflect upon the many virtues that endeared them to our hearts, and shed, at least, a passing tear over their untimely graves. It is but a few short weeks, at most, since we, after the labors of a protracted session, shook hands with these, our brothers, in what we fondly imagined was but a brief farewell. That last farewell! Ah, who of us all, as with that last clasp we spoke the words so lightly, allowed himself to imagine even, that we should meet no more this side that dread eternity whither we all are swiftly treading, and on the mystic portals of which perchance even now the spirits of these, our departed brothers, stand in waiting the answer to the summons, that, already issued from that Higher Tribunal that brooks of no delay, calls for you or I.<\/p>\n

But yesterday, and the seat of honor in this august body was filled with the manly form and genial, kindly face of him whom to-day we know only in remembrance of his many virtues, and as a dweller in that spirit land upon which we gaze in imagination with feelings of awe and dread. As a presiding officer, I am sure that even his most bitter partisan opponent will award him the praise that, in his even-handed justice and impartiality, he knew neither friends nor foes, but, as becoming an honorable man and an able officer, awarded alike to all. As Speaker of this House, we can but all lament his loss. He was all that we could wish for in that trying and responsible position. As a man and a brother, I am sure that I speak within bounds when I say that he commanded the respect and affection of all.<\/p>\n

To the bereaved widow, in her desolation, let us offer our heart-felt sympathies and kindest regards. May the Great Giver of all good, who thus, in His all-wise providence, has seen best to call unto Himself her main stay and support, afford her such consolation and comfort as He alone can offer.<\/p>\n

Another, too, we to-day are called upon to mourn in the person of my colleague, the Hon. Mr. Wood, of Yazoo. Whatever may have been his differences with members of this body, in matters political, I am sure that I risk little in saying that, as a man and brother, he commanded the respect and affection of all. Let us, in this solemn hour, at least, ignore all of the partisan, and, as becomes true brothers laboring in the common cause, pay just tribute to his memory as one of our body.<\/p>\n

To him the dread summons came not in the form allotted to his more favored brother.<\/p>\n

In his sad fate, surely we can all read a lesson on the uncertainties of life. But a short time since, and we shook him by the hand, and in bidding him, what was intended as a brief farewell, saw him as one of the most sprightly, vivacious, and mirth-loving members in our midst. But a little while, and we were stunned with the news that our brother, so loved and respected by all, had been stricken with that most dreadful of all visitations – that with him, the God-given reason, that likens us to the image of our Maker, would no more fill the measure of his brain.<\/p>\n

It would seem as though this were enough to fill to overflowing the cup of bitterness and sorrow that his stricken family were called upon to quaff.<\/p>\n

Alas, it was but the forerunner of the tragic fate of the suicide, that, bereft of reason, in a fit of madness, thrust himself (we cannot say unbidden, since we know naught of the agencies of God), into the presence of his Maker. No more shall we see him in our midst as of yore. He too, has gone to that “dread bourne from whence no traveler e’er returns,” there to render up an account of the deeds done in the flesh.<\/p>\n

Let us, as in the case of brother Franklin, tender our heart-felt sympathies to his widow, in this, her hour of sorrow and desolation. May the great God, “who doeth all things well,” so “temper the wind to the shorn lamb,” that she may receive such consolation, in her bereavement, as is in His province alone to offer.<\/p>\n

Finally, Mr. Speaker, in closing, may we all, in viewing the fate of our late brothers, associate with their memories naught but what is as “a loved recollection that we cannot, if we would, forget;” may the thoughts thus engendered in view of their untimely end, make us resolve, in the future, to cast aside, as far as may be, all of partisan dissentions, and work as becomes true brothers in a common cause, in the labors of which we, too, perchance, may be stricken down, and be called upon, like them, to render an account to the great God of us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speeches by James H. Piles and William Henderson Foote in memory of Col. Freeman E. Franklin, a veteran from Ohio who served as Speaker of the House before he died in September 1870. From the 1871 Mississippi House Journal. Mr. Piles,\u00a0of Panola, said: MR. SPEAKER – The members of this House are, indeed, saddened by … <\/p>\n

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