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Michael Graham Bright

     MICHAEL GRAHAM BRIGHT, lawyer and financier, was born at Plattsburg, N. Y., January 16, 1803. He was a son of David J. Bright, who came with his family to Indiana in 1820, and settled at Madison, where he conducted a hat manufactory for many years. Mr. David J. Bright was a man of commanding presence and great force of character. He lived to see his sons Michael and Jesse leading and influential men, and died suddenly, at Madison, many years ago. His son Michael studied law with the late Judge Sullivan, and became one of the first lawyers of the State. He was the last of the legal coterie which, thirty-five years ago, made the Madison bar so famous. Marshall and Sullivan and Stevens passed away years ago. William McKee Dunn and Abram W. Hendricks were then young men, and can hardly be considered as cotemporaneous with the legal giants we have named, but they followed close after, and did much to maintain the high character of the Madison bar. As a lawyer Mr. Bright was astute and full of expedients. He had not the logical mind of Marshall, nor was he as elegant and polished as Sullivan, nor as painstaking as Stevens, but in resources he was as fertile as any of them. His watchful eye took in the situation at a glance, and his ingenuity enabled him to make the most of it.
     The county of Jefferson was, in the days of Mr. Bright's activity, Whig, as it is now Republican. Notwithstanding this fact, Mr. Bright, a Democrat, was chosen to represent it in the State Legislature. He was in no sense an office seeker. The offices he held came to him unsought. They were the free-will offerings of his neighbors and friends.
     For a time he edited a newspaper at Madison, but then, as for many years afterward, his main business was the law. In 1832 he was elected to the State Legislature, and served with distinction, but he was satisfied with one term, and did not seek a re-election. In 1844 he was elected Agent of State, and discharged the duties of the office with very great ability. When he entered upon his official duties he found the office in great confusion, but he soon restored it to order. At that time the State had a large suspended debt, but Mr. Bright collected a large part of it, and paid the money to the State's creditors. Indeed, his administration of the office was such as to receive the commendation of the public, and was in striking contrast with that of his predecessor. When his term expired he went back to the bar, but he was indifferent about obtaining business, and did not give his profession that care and attention he had previously done.
     In 1850 Mr. Bright was elected a member of the constitutional convention from the county of Jefferson, defeating Moody Park, a Whig, for the office. He was chosen chairman of the Committee on the Legislative Department, was second on the Committee of Revision, Arrangement and Phraseology, and was also a member of the Committee on Salaries, Compensation and Tenure of Office. He was not a speaking member, but he sometimes addressed the convention, and when he did he was listened to with the greatest interest. He took much concern in the provision authorizing the taking of private property for public use, and addressed the convention several times upon it. He opposed that part of section 21 of the bill of rights which forbids the taking of private property for public use without first tendering the money for the damages assessed. In discussing the question, he said:  "Every member of the community holds his property, whether real or personal, subject to the rights and requirements of the State. It is a duty which the State owes to itself and to all the members who compose it to maintain its sovereignty and its authority inviolate. It is a right inherent in sovereignty to take property for public use without compensation being first made. The State is amenable to no one, save to a sense of right."
     During the debate on this question, Mr. Walpole, a delegate from the county of Hancock, charged Mr. Bright with being the representative of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad upon the floor of the convention. Mr. Bright replied to the accusation in the following dignified words:

     "MR. PRESIDENT--I have no interests to represent upon this floor which will conflict with the rights and interests of the State at large. I do not consider myself as holding a seat in this convention for the purpose of exclusively representing Jefferson county. I am here to represent and support the interests of the whole people of Indiana--not the interests of a section as opposed to the general welfare. I am not the representative of a local or personal interest; I came up here to aid in the formation of a constitution which shall be, as I trust, the beneficent organic law for this generation of the people of the State, and for the generation to come, as well as for myself and my children. I am a constituent part of the people--an unit in the great aggregate--and I can not, if I would, separate my interests or the interests of my immediate constituents from the interests of the people of the State. We are all interested together and alike in the formation of a good constitution; we shall all be benefited by its wise provisions or injured by its bad ones."

     Mr. Bright was the author of several sections in our State constitution, and had much to do in moulding into shape many others. The day the convention adjourned it thanked the Committee on Revision, of which he was a leading member, for the able manner in which it had discharged its duties.
     Mr. Bright never held public office after the constitutional convention adjourned. He had large farming interests, and devoted much time to railroad matters. He projected several railroads, some of which were built and others not. He did not do much at the law, nor did he care to, his office being in his yard, away from the business quarter. He had accumulated a handsome estate, and did not wish to be bothered with cases in court. He seldom accepted employment as an attorney, and never did unless it was to oblige a friend.
     Among his last cases in court was that of Stephen Lanciscus, indicted for the killing of Ebenezer Hollis. Lanciscus being the son of an old personal and political friend, Mr. Bright entered upon his defense with great earnestness and conducted it with all his old-time ability and energy. Lanciscus, however, was convicted and sentenced to the State prison for life, but through the influence of Mr. Bright and others he was afterward pardoned.
     Mr. Bright owned a railroad running from Columbus to Knightstown, and it being unprofitable he put it on the market for sale. It was purchased by the Jeffersonville Company, and thereby Mr. Bright became a large stockholder in that corporation. Previous to this sale John Brough, then president of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad Company, and afterward Governor of Ohio, asked the Legislature to pass a certain law in the interest of his road, but Mr. Bright antagonized the measure and it was defeated. Mr. Brough publicly charged that Mr. Bright offered to champion the measure if the Madison Company would buy his road, and that his opposition to the legislation sought was caused by the company's refusal to do so. Mr. Bright denied the charge and asked Mr. Brough to retract it, and upon his refusal to do so challenged him to fight a duel. Mr. Brough published the cartel and his answer in a newspaper, and, Mr. Bright declining to fight on such a field, the matter was ended. Early in February, 1865, Mr. Bright was stricken with paralysis at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, and never afterward was able to walk. He left Madison in 1868 and removed to Indianapolis, where he remained until he died.
     On the 24th of April, 1878, Mr. Bright celebrated his golden wedding, and it was as beautiful as it was touching to see him on that eventful day. As he sat in his chair with a bouquet pinned to the lapel of his coat, the wife of fifty years by his side, and all his children and grandchildren around him, he seemed like the patriarch of old, ready to say:  "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."
     On the 19th of January, 1881, when seventy-eight years and three days old, Mr. Bright departed this life. His remains were taken to Crown Hill Cemetery and there interred.
     Mr. Bright was a member of the Episcopal Church, and in his younger days was an active Freemason. His affliction in his latter years debarred him from the privilege of the lodge room, but he often attended church after he became an invalid.
     Mr. Bright was an able and ingenious lawyer. He was well read in the books, and in practice was as good as the best. He was ever on the alert, and if an opponent had a weak place in his lines he pierced it. In speaking he sometimes hesitated or stammered, and frequently repeated his words; but if he was not an eloquent man he was a sensible and a plausible one. He ranked high at the bar as a business lawyer, standing at the very head of his profession in the State. He made a study of finance, and once prepared a lecture upon it, which, however, he never delivered. He loved social games, and was an adept in playing them. He was public-spirited, and liberal with his means in assisting such enterprises as were for the public good.
     Mr. Bright was an ardent Democrat, and the best party manipulator in his section of the State. He was not ambitious for office, and was never a candidate from choice. He lived in a Whig county, but, when a candidate, he was always elected. His party opponents knew his ability, and his power to serve them, and, therefore, many of them voted for him.
     Mr. Bright was a born diplomatist. No one knows how much his brother Jesse was indebted to him for his successful political career. He was his brother's mentor and counselor. All his movements on the political chess-board were to check the king of his brother's antagonist. The following letters, written by him to a friend, and hitherto not published, will show his interest in his brother's fortune:

     It will be seen by these letters that the interests of his brother Jesse were ever uppermost in his thoughts. He says nothing about his own affairs; it is of those of his brother that he speaks. These two distinguished men were the most affectionate of brothers. When you struck one you hit the other. In many respects they were unlike. Michael was insinuating, diplomatic, and conciliatory; Jesse, magnetic, frank, and outspoken. They were both proud of their family, and both loved their father's children.
     John Pettit and Graham N. Fitch were candidates for United States Senator before the Legislature of 1853. As will be seen from Mr. Bright's letter printed above, he favored the election of Dr. Fitch. He came to Indianapolis at the beginning of the session, and worked hard for his favorite. Mr. Pettit, however, was elected, and this result greatly chagrined Mr. Bright, for he felt it was a blow at his brother Jesse. The evening after the election he and Mr. Pettit met at the Palmer House, and warm words passed between them. Pettit told him that, having been elected to the Senate, he would have influence with the appointing power, and that he intended that he (Mr. Bright) should be sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Guano Islands. After this, Mr. Bright and Judge Pettit became friends and remained such while they lived. It will be remembered that Judge Pettit was nominated for Supreme Judge in 1870 by the Democratic State Convention. The evening after the convention adjourned he called upon Mr. Bright at his home. They had a long conversation on old times, and when Judge Pettit arose to leave, Mr. Bright ordered his carriage for the purpose of having the Judge taken to his hotel. Judge Pettit declined the offer, saying he was too heavy and clumsy to get in and out of the carriage. He then walked up to Mr. Bright, and taking his hand, said:  "Michael, God bless you. I am glad to see you looking so well, and I hope you will be dancing with the girls before spring.  Good-by."
     On the 24th of April, 1828, Mr. Bright married Betsy Brooke Steele, who survives him. Twelve children were born to them, six of whom are living. Among the dead is the lamented Michael Steele Bright, who lost his life by trying to save the lives of others in the memorable conflagration of the steamers United States and America, which burned on the Ohio river in December, 1868. The children living are, Richard J. Bright. Sergeant-at-Arms of the United States Senate; Mrs. Rachel Haldeman, Mrs. Martha Griffin, Mrs. Hannah Nichol, Mrs. Mary Korbly and William L. Bright.
     Mr. Bright's eldest daughter married Dr. J. R. Haldeman, who, during the war, was a Confederate surgeon. Mrs. Haldeman was taken sick while her husband was in the army, and was kindly nursed and cared for by the Sisters of Charity in Vicksburg. When she convalesced she passed the lines and came to her father's home. After the war had ended Mr. Bright made a trip to New Orleans, and finding the steamer upon which he traveled would stop awhile at Vicksburg resolved to personally thank the Sisters for their attention to his daughter. When the boat landed at the Vicksburg wharf he was taken ashore in his chair and conducted to the Sisters' hospital. Reaching the hospital he called for the Superior, and on her appearance said:  "My name is Bright. I am the father of Mrs. Haldeman, whom you so kindly treated during her sickness, and I could not pass your city without calling in person and thanking you for your goodness to my child." He was then taken to the steamer and proceeded on his way.
     In person Mr. Bright was large and portly. He was quick in speech and in action. When animated his face and eyes were peculiarly expressive. His hair was a dark brown, his eyes hazel, his features good, and his whole appearance that of a well-bred gentleman. He was a good lawyer, an adept in finance, and a diplomatist of very decided ability.