Showing posts with label Democratic Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democratic Party. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Isaac Edward Holmes* to Senator Robert M. T. Hunter, June 8, 1855

CHARLESTON, [S. C.], 8th June, 1855.

MY DEAR HUNTER: Some weeks since I rec[eive]d y[ou]r letter and thank you for y[ou]r efforts in behalf of my brother. I seldom ask anything and rather opine, that my last request is made. I sincerely congratulate you on the success of the Virginia Election. I feared the result, and believe the victory truly auspicious. If the Know Nothings had succeeded, if the Frontier State of the Southern Confederacy had "given-way" our institutions would have been placed in great hazard; as it is, "They are by no means safe." Fanaticism never goes-back and for the first time in our history, abolitionism has the ascendant in Congress.

I see that Senator Wilson has declared, That henceforth no Slave owner, or pro-slavery man shall be President. As the Democratic party are a minority in the North, and as the entire South will most probably act as one man in the next Election, it is essential that we have a Southern man for our Candidate. The sooner we make up the Issue, the better. If we are to be in a hopeless minority, and the Slave States to remain "in statu quo," We must share the fate of the British West Indies. Not only will slavery be abolish[e]d in the District, but in the Territories. Not only additional Slave States be excluded, but free ones made Ad Libitum until the constitution is altered and the entire labour of the South be destroyed. This cant be termed speculation. The effect is as sure as the result of any cause can be. It is my sincere desire that the Union may be saved, but its salvation depends upon the next Presidential Canvass. Virginia must lead off. There should commence an active correspondence between the politicians of the Old Dominion and the Leaders of the Northern Democracy. Before we go into a Caucus we should have a distinct understanding upon all the leading points. Otherwise we should have only a Southern Caucus, irrespective of parties, and proceed to an ulterior organization. I hope Wise may pursue the true course, and "entrenous," I hope that his ambition may not be so stimulated by his late Triumph as to aspire to the purple. Virginia ought to give the President. Her position at this time is potential, and amongst her own people there should be entire unanimity before going into Caucus. Remember that the nominating Caucus will meet during the next Session of Congress, not a Twelve month hence. I am not a politician, but I deem the times so pregnant, that, if alive next Winter, my efforts shall be given to prepare the Southern mind for the Presidential Election. South Carolina, whilst she keeps in the rear of Virginia, must nevertheless be represented in the Caucus. She must no longer be isolated. Thank God, the Cuba question seems settled for awhile. It promised much distraction, and I employed my pen, for the first time these many years, in the endeavor to show the Southern States that the acquisition of Cuba was not to their benefit. One of my pieces or letters was transferred to the National Intelligence[r]. I am writing you from the sick Chamber of Mrs. Holmes who has for a long period been confin[e]d to her room. Alas with little prospect of a recovery. I hope that y[ou]r own family are well.
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* A Representative in Congress from South Carolina, 1839-1851.

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 164-5

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Daniel Stewart to Senator Daniel S. Dickinson, October 27, 1851

BALTIMORE, Md., October 27, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR—I feel extremely anxious to obtain some authentic account as to the probable result of your State election in November. I believed it is destined to have an important influence upon the nomination of our candidate and the success of our national election. I feel assured that, if you can present a New York candidate for the Presidency, there will be a preference for him over any one now named; and if you were to be the man, I believe and say so, without any flattery, that you would be the first choice of Maryland. In all the discussions upon the subject which I hear, it is most gratifying to my feelings to realize the high position of confidence to which you have ascended in the affections of the Democratic party. I could pledge to you the electoral vote of our State, for, Whig as that has ever been, you would have strength enough to concentrate a triumphant vote in your support.

*          *          *          *          *

I remain, with the highest respect,

Your faithful friend,

DANIEL STEWART.

SOURCE: John R. Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, p. 467-8

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Senator Robert M. T. Hunter to Herschel V. Johnson, December 2, 1852

LLOYDS, ESSEX Co. [VA.], December 2nd, 1852.

MY DEAR SIR: I received your letter after it had performed its circumnavigation through various post offices of Virginia and write to thank you for it. I only wish that I could give you more than my speculations upon the interesting subjects to which your letter alludes. I know nothing with certainty as to the future course of the President elect. I guess that his feelings are all on the side of State rights, perhaps not so much so as that of state remedies. I also believe that his natural inclinations are towards economy and simplicity, but whether his grasp will be comprehensive enough for the party and the people whom he is called to lead I know not. I most earnestly wish that he may prove equal to the place. Much will depend upon his cabinet. In regard to which I will say at once that I do not look to a place in it. I have no reason to suppose that one would be offered me and if it were I would much prefer my place in the Senate. I say this in confidence because it is a subject on which I could not speak except to a friend. I should think that he would hardly commit such an impudence (to say the least of it) as to take up Cobb, in preference to such a man as yourself for example or those State rights men who really fought this battle for him. I have no right to suppose that he will consult me but should he do so I would give him my opinion pretty frankly as to the claims of the States rights men of the South. They constitute I presume a large majority of the Democratic party South and should Pierce begin by throwing them off it would be a sorry commencement of his administration. I should not be surprised if he threw his patronage to some extent amongst those Union men for the purpose of harmonizing his supporters but he would hardly venture to take up Cobb to the disparagement of the real and efficient leaders of the Democratic party South.

What he will do I know not. But surely he will consult the wishes of the Democratic party in the South of which the major element is undoubtedly composed of State Rights men. When I get to Washington I shall be able to form a better estimate of the probable course of events and will endeavor to keep you advised should you desire it. I must say however that I think there are breakers ahead

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 153-4

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Senator Daniel S. Dickinson to Democratic Members of the New York Legislature, January 20, 1851

WASHINGTON, January 20, 1851.

GENTLEMEN—I thank you most sincerely for your esteemed favor of the 5th ultimo, which I had the pleasure to receive a few days since. Next to the pleasing consciousness of having sought with earnestness and fidelity to discharge a public trust, involving the dearest rights and interests of the country, and of an honored constituency, is the approval of those in whose friendship we confide, and whose opinions we respect.

You are pleased to speak of my public course in terms of gratifying commendation. The period of nearly seven years' service which has been allotted me in the United States Senate, is, in the importance of its events, without its parallel in the history of the government. Questions of the highest magnitude, and such as must affect for good or evil, through future generations, the destiny of our country and the institutions we hope to perpetuate, have pressed upon each other for consideration and action. In all this, I have endeavored to do nothing that should prejudice, disturb or mar our political or social structure, but to contribute, regardless of personal consequences, the best energies of my life, to preserve it erect and entire, in all the beauty of its proportions. Time and truth will show with what fidelity and what success. For the present, I can only say, that a careful review of my own share in the disposition of all the great questions which have engaged the public mind during my senatorial term, approves to my own judgment the conclusions I have adopted and the course I have pursued; and in all such cases, I would not, were the occasion to be repeated, cancel a single act or reverse a single position. But I am proud to declare that I would give to the same policy which has governed my public conduct such additional force as a more enlarged experience and a better acquaintance with public affairs would enable me to command.

I need not bring to your attention by historical detail the incidents and events and the legislation of the period to which I allude. They are familiar to you, and the country cannot be unmindful of them. They embrace, among others, the annexation of Texas, the settlement of the Oregon question, the war with Mexico, the acquisition of vast and valuable territory, and, finally, the great measures of adjustment, which happily, in my judgment, brought a long and angry controversy to a wise and patriotic conclusion, at the last session of Congress. The struggles by which they were decided, and the perseverance with which sectional animosities were fostered, will stand out hereafter upon the history of the country as a most signal proof of the inveteracy of partisan hatred, and the disregard of the welfare of the country, the integrity of the constitution, and the promptings of the democratic faith, with which personal aims or political resentments can be pursued. That the policy and measures so loudly decried have triumphed, and are daily gaining strength and approval in every section of the confederacy, is owing to the inherent patriotism and national attachments of the American people, and to the firmness and devotion of their representatives. If in some of the States such representatives have been visited with obloquy and denunciation by partisan vindictiveness, and been rewarded for their exertions by desertion and sacrifice through malign influences, sinister efforts, and questionable combinations, it should be remembered that it is not the first and probably will not be the last instance where such has been the fortune of those who have labored for the public good; but it should cause no regret to such as are conscious of having discharged with fearless alacrity the responsibilities of their station, for they know that time will rectify the error and impartial history vindicate the truth.

In our own State the progress of events has certainly been marked with features replete with instruction. The results of the late election, which placed the democratic party in the minority, to which you refer, were the legitimate fruits of an effort to harmonize by conventional arrangement hostile and conflicting elements, and should have been unexpected by no one. It is notorious that the arrangement, termed a union, between those who had steadfastly adhered to the principles and candidates, State and national, of the democratic party, and those who for years had separated from and assailed both, was carried out, as I had no doubt it would be, in most of the assembly districts where true democrats, supposed to coincide in my own avowed views upon the leading questions of the day, were in nomination, by deliberately defeating their election by open and declared opposition in some instances, disguised but not less active hostility in others, and by predetermination and concert in all. I regard all this as a flattering compliment to the integrity of my public course, for having early and uniformly advocated principles now admitted to be just by almost common consent and upheld by the patriotic of all parties, and for having resisted at all times and upon all occasions a dangerous element of agitation, with which the harmony and integrity of our country have been so seriously threatened; an agitation which, without having served a single worthy, just, or humane purpose, has prostrated the democratic party in our State and in the nation, has filled our land with contention and bitterness, and shaken the very foundation of the Union itself. The history of the late election furnishes an earnest of what is in reserve and may be expected from this harmonious political element by all who stand by the constitution and the Union, and refuse to subscribe to the modern dogma, and as illustrative of the beauties and benefits of attempting to mingle in harmonious concert the friends of constitutional democracy and the adherents of a spurious abolitionism.

I have never sought, or expected, or desired the support of those whose vocation is sectional agitation, and who live and move and have their being in assailing the rights and interests of any of the sovereign States of this confederacy. I have poured no libations to the Moloch of political abolitionism. I have offered no sacrifices upon its polluted altar. I neither enjoy nor covet the confidence of its votaries, either lineal or collateral, and feel more honored by their denunciations than I should by their encomiums. I have not united with them in planting, and am entitled to no share of their fruits. I am proud to enjoy, with other democrats avowing like opinions with myself, the hostility of all recusants who, finding themselves abandoned in their unprofitable experiment of secession and disunion, were anxious to avail themselves of the forms of union to seat themselves again with the democracy of the State, that they might control results for the benefit of their partisans where they could, and defeat democratic nominees where they could not.

The democratic party is essentially national in its organization, in the State as in the Union. The history of its triumphs bears no record of its treaties with those hostile to its own catholic creed, under any pretence however specious, or under any name however euphonious; nor has it consented to lay aside or conceal its own cherished principles, or adopt shades of such as it was wont to repudiate, that it might swell its train of followers and secure the spoils of office. In all its functions, attributes, and characteristics, it is co-extensive with the Union, and it should not be less in its action and in the views and aims of those who are admitted to its membership. It cannot be otherwise, without derogating from its true attitude, or departing from all the great principles by which, since the organization of the government, it has been guided. If it shall be made by those who temporarily govern its action in the State to minister by any act, or by any prudential omissions to discharge its whole duty to the constitution and to the cause it has upheld for half a century, that it may pander for votes to the morbid spirit of abolitionism and retain those in its organization who are hostile to all it holds most sacred, it will be degraded from its former elevation, and can no more secure the confidence of the honest masses than it will deserve it. For one, I will neither by word nor decd, or even by silence, contribute to any such course. If the democratic party is to be abolitionized in whole or in part, either in its doctrines or its associations; if it is to be so far demoralized that it may not declare its own principles, or must adopt sectional heresies; if acts passed in a benign and patriotic spirit to quiet agitation, the offspring of demagogues and fanatics, and to protect the Union itself from threatened invasion, must be repealed; if a law enacted not only in accordance with the spirit of the constitution, but to carry out one of its plainest provisions, is to be nullified so far as State legislation can nullify it, let who will favor or acquiesce in it, I will not; and it will be regarded by all true democrats as at war with every dictate of good government, the obligations of law, and the supremacy of the constitution.

I am deeply sensible of my obligations to the true democracy of the State. I acknowledge with pride the cordial support which they, companions in many campaigns, have afforded me, and you, my kind friends, in particular. To all such, in the State and beyond it, I tender my warmest thanks, and unite with them in sincere wishes for the welfare of our common Union. A few days will close my public service. Had it been my fortune to leave the Senate before the great questions which have so long and so deeply agitated the country had been fully, and, as I think, rightly passed upon, it would have occasioned me serious regret; but since I was permitted to bear a part in their adjustment, so far as it could be accomplished by legislation, and they now stand for decision before the tribunal of public opinion, I shall return to my private pursuits with far more gratification than I left them. As the Legislature is composed, there is no prospect whatever of the election of myself or any other democrat, and having no desire under such circumstances to be a candidate, I trust my friends will do me the favor not to present my name.

With kind consideration and regard for each of you, I am

Your sincere friend and fellow-citizen,
D. S. DICKINSON.

To the Hon. Messrs. MICHAEL DOUGHERTY, ALBERT A. THOMPSON, HENRY J. ALLEN, ELI PERRY, JAIRUS FRENCH, CHARLES ROBINSON, EGBERT T. SMITH, JACOB SICKLES, Wм. F. RUSSELL, MILTON BARNES, A. L. LAWYER, HENRY KINSLEY, WILLIAM BOWNE, WORTHINGRON Wright.

SOURCE: John R. Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, p. 459-64

Saturday, October 14, 2023

James A. Seddon to Senator Robert M. T. Hunter, February 7, 1852

RICHMOND, [Va.], February 7, 1852.

MY DEAR SIR: For some days past, I have been suffering serious inconvenience and confinement from my vexatious complaints (of which I have a score) and consequently have been prevented from either acknowledging your friendly letter to myself or communicating my views upon the interesting points suggested in your confidential letter to our friend Goode who in pursuance of the leave allowed him submitted it to me. My opinions are worth very little indeed, especially now that my thoughts and feelings are so little given to political subjects but such as they are, will ever be most sincerely and frankly at the services of a friend so highly valued as yourself. I agree with you readily as to the position and duty of the Southern Rights (or as I prefer the States Rights) party of the South in the coming presidential struggle. Personally I should have preferred a separate organization and action on their part and 18 months ago, when I still hoped their spirit and their strength might prove equal to their zeal and the justice of their cause, I should have advised that course. Now however it is apparent, their cause as a political one is lost and thus separate action would be more than preposterous-would be suicidal. The cursed Bonds of party paralized our strength and energy when they might have been successfully exerted, and now as some partial compensation must sustain and uphold us from dispersion and prostration. In reviewing the past I am inclined to think the great error we committed in the South was the uniting at all in council or action with the Whigs. Their timidity betrayed more than treason. We should have acted in and through the Democratic party alone. Certainly that is all that remains to us now to do. We have and can maintain (within certain limits of considerable latitude) ascendency in the Democratic party of the South and probably controlling influence on the general policy and action of the whole party in the Union. The Union party, par excellence, we can proscribe and crush. What miserable gulls the Union Democrats of the South find them, and I am inclined to think the Union Whigs will not fair much better. "Woodcocks caught in their own springs." Of both for the most part, it may be safely said, they were venal or timid-knaves or fools and most richly will they deserve disappointment and popular contempt. The Southern Rights men by remaining in full communion with the Democratic party will be at least prepared for two important objects-to inflict just retribution on deserters and traitors to sustain, it may be, reward friends and true men. I go for the States Rights men making themselves the Simon pures of Southern Democracy—the standard bearers and champions in the coming presidential fight.

Now as for the candidate. We must exclude Cass and every other such cats paw of Clay and the Union Whigs. We must have a candidate too who will carry the Middle States or rather on whom the Democracy of the Middle States will rally. Too many factions prevail in those states to allow any prominent man among them to unite all the Democracy. Besides they are peculiarly wanting in fit available men. It is rather farcical to be sure to those who know to insist on Douglas as most fit. The best man for the Presidency and yet I have for more than than [sic] a year thought it was coming to that absurdity. On many accounts I concur with you in believing he is our best chance and that we had better go in for him at once and decidedly, making our adhesion if we can [be] conclusive of the nomination. You know I have long thought better of his capacity than most of our friends, especially the Judge and he is at least as honest and more firm than any of his competitors. I should be disposed therefore to urge him.

As to the vice presidency, I am strongly inclined to urge the continued use of your name, unless your personal repugnance is insuperable. I can readily understand your present position to be more acceptable to your personal feelings. I think it the most agreeable position under the Government, but ought not other considerations to weigh seriously. There is the chance of the Presidency by vacancy, not much perhaps but still to be weighed. There is a certain niche in History to all time which to a man not destitute of ambition is an object. There is to your family the highest dignity and respect attached to the Vice Presidency in popular estimation. In this last point of view, is not something due too to your State. Southern States can hardly longer aspire to give Presidents. Whatever belated honors are to be cast on them must be through sub or direct stations and of these the Vice Presidency is the first.

These considerations I think should prevail and I suspect would, if some personal feelings reflected from the general estimate of your friends in regard to Douglas and a just estimate as I know and feel it of your own subornity did not make you revolt at a secondary position on his ticket. You may too fear that the influence and estimation of your character among the true men of the South might be impaired by this sort of a doubtful alliance with Northern politicians and schemers even of the most unobjectionable stamp. All these considerations are not without weight with me. I feel them to the full as much on your account as you can well do yourself, and yet I think they ought not to control. We must be practical as politicians and statesmen to be useful—a high position—good—a position of acknowledged influence and confessed participation in the administration ought not to be lost to the States Rights men from over refined scruples and feelings. As Vice President, I believe you could and would have great influence in the administration and that influence might prove of immense value to our cause in the South.

If however your objections personally are insuperable, I am too truly your friend to insist on their reliquishment. We must then look out for and obtain the next best of our school, who is available. I should not advise as you suggest J[ohn] Y. M[ason]. He is not strictly of us—is too flexible—too needy and too diplomatic to be fully relied upon. I fear we should have to go out of our State, unless Douglas could be content with Meade or with Goode himself. Bayly might have done but for his desertion, which has lost all old friends and gained none new. Jefferson Davis would be the best if he would accept. If not, what would be said to Gov[ernor] Chapman of Al[abam]a. He is I think a true man. Excuse an abrupt close. I have exhausted my only paper.

[P. S.] My best regards to the Judge and Mr. Mason. Write whenever you have a spare hour to bestow on a friend.

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 136-9

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, February 7, 1866

The Democratic Party, as it calls itself, held yesterday its convention in Connecticut, and the nomination of Governor as well as the resolutions adopted exhibit more sense and patriotism than has been shown for years. Mr. English, the candidate for Governor, was a useful Member of Congress of enlarged and liberal views, who was not in his votes controlled strictly by party, herein differing widely from a class of narrow and pig-headed party leaders who have been a discredit to the State. In no State has mere partyism shown itself during the War to greater disadvantage than in Connecticut. Party and party organizations rose above country, or duty. In fact, party was a substitute for country. Adversity has taught them wisdom, yet the leaders are most of them short-sighted and narrow-minded, incapable of comprehending the true principles of government or of foreseeing results. Instead of considering how questions will affect the country, free institutions, or the cause of human rights and justice, the whole aim, study, and purpose have been to get a party ascendancy, power, and the patronage of office. With them party is the end, not the means.

The organization of the Democratic Party of Connecticut has been, perhaps, the most efficient and effectual of any party in any State. Whatever of good or evil it may have had, I, probably beyond any other person, am responsible for. When in 1826 I took charge of the Times and advocated Jackson's election, there was no systematic party organization nor much interest manifested in political principles on national subjects, nor much concerted political action in the State. Few, comparatively, attended the polls. There were, it is true, the more intelligent and at the same time the old contending partisans in the State. Disagreeing and contending among themselves, they nevertheless each hated Jackson. Embittered local controversies affecting the State had for several years absorbed general questions.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 427-8

Diary of Gideon Welles: February 8, 1866

Neither of the feeble organizations discussed or professed much regard for any of those fundamental principles which had created and previously influenced parties, or which were then again just looming up above the horizon. The Federalists had been beaten in 1818 and felt that they deserved it, but they had always until then been in the ascendant and wielded the power of the State, and still desired most earnestly to do so. The Republicans of those days were held in subjection and had great deference for the Federal dignitaries. Scarcely one of the leaders possessed independence and strength of character sufficient to firmly resist the well-organized dominant party and form and avow individual opinion. The mass or body of the people were patriotic, but, under ecclesiastical as much as political ruling, had little zeal or devotion for parties or leaders. This was the condition of things when I came upon the stage of action, full of enthusiasm and earnest work, and commenced the labor of bringing together the minds which sympathized and agreed with me. Very few of the prominent men came into the fold, and such as did were most of them disappointed and disaffected men. Some aspiring individuals whispered encouragement, but kept out of sight. By letters, by private correspondence and personal interviews with the people, by ascertaining names of men in different towns and localities, urging and inviting them to come forward, I laid the foundation of what was and is known as the Democratic Party of Connecticut. John M. Niles aided, and as he was the elder man by some years, he was more openly recognized as the leader. But Niles had not perseverance and was often and easily discouraged. Circumstances favored, and though abused, hated, insulted, and at first despised, the organization thus commenced, after many trials and reverses, obtained an ascendancy in the State.

When this became established, the vicious, the corrupt, the time-serving, and the unprincipled flocked to us. The Seymours, the Ingersolls, the Phelpses, etc., became Democrats. The organization was thorough, and the discipline rigid and severe. Trimmers and mere office-hunters became jealous and dissatisfied, made secret and sometimes open war upon me, were whipped and returned. The drill and discipline of twenty years made the organization compact, and when the Democratic Party of the country in 1848 became unfaithful in a measure to their principles, the discipline of party carried many into a false position. I declined to follow the nullifiers, compromisers, and secessionists, but the organization which I had instituted held to party and became perverted. New men who "knew not Joseph" controlled the organization. For a time they retained the ascendancy, but ultimately they broke down, and for ten or twelve years they have been in a minority. Through the War the leaders have been almost all of them hostile to the Administration and malignant against the cause of the Union. Some, like English, have risen above the trammels of party.

The ticket, with the exception of English, has not much strength, and some bad men are on it. I am apprehensive that the Republicans will not be as judicious in their movement, will not nominate a better man for Governor nor give as hearty an indorsement to the President and his policy.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 428-9

Monday, September 11, 2023

Senator Henry Clay to Daniel Ullman, June 14, 1851

ASHLAND, June 14, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—I duly received your favor of the 29th ultimo, stating that some of my friends in New York have it under discussion, to make a movement to bring forward my name for the Presidency; and inquiring, in entire confidence, what my own views and wishes are, upon the subject. I have delayed transmitting an answer to your letter, from a desire to give to its important contents the fullest and most deliberate consideration. That I have now done, and I will communicate the result to you.

You will recollect that the last time but one that I was in the city of New York, I had the pleasure of dining with you and a number of other friends at the house of our friend M————; that we then had a frank, full, and confidential conversation on the connection of my name with the next Presidency; and that I then declared that I did not wish ever again to be brought forward as a candidate. From that declaration, I have never since deviated in thought, word, or deed. I have said or done nothing inconsistent with it; nothing which implied any desire on my part to have my name presented as a Presidential candidate. On a review and reconsideration of the whole matter, I adhere to that declaration.

Considering my age, the delicate state of my health, the frequency and the unsuccessful presentation of my name on former occasions, I feel an unconquerable repugnance to such a use of it again. I can not, therefore, consent to it. I have been sometimes tempted publicly to announce that, under no circumstances, would I yield my consent to be brought forward as a candidate. But I have been restrained from taking that step by two considerations. The first was, that I did not see any such general allusion to me, as a suitable person for the office, as to make it proper that I should break silence and speak out; and the second was that I have always thought that no citizen has a right to ostracise himself, and to refuse public service under all possible contingencies.

I might here stop, but I will add some observations on the general subject of the next election. I think it quite clear that a Democrat will be elected, unless that result shall be prevented by divisions in the Democratic party. On these divisions the Whigs might advantageously count, if it were not for those which exist in their own party. It is, perhaps, safest to conclude that the divisions existing in the two parties will counterbalance each other.

Party ties have no doubt been greatly weakened generally, and, in particular localities, have been almost entirely destroyed. But it would be unwise to suppose that, when the two parties shall have brought out their respective candidates, each will not rally around its own standard. There may be exceptions; but those, on the one side, will probably be counterpoised by those on the other. I believe that no one in the Whig party could obtain a greater amount of support from the Democratic party than I could; but in this I may be deceived by the illusions of egotism. At all events it would be unsafe and unwise for a candidate of one party to calculate upon any suffrages of the other. While I do not think that the hopes of success on the part of the Whigs at the next Presidential election are very flattering or encouraging, I would not discourage their putting forth their most energetic exertions. There are always the chances of the war. The other party may commit great blunders, as they did recently in your State, in the course of their Senators, who opposed the enlargement of the Erie Canal; and as they are disposed to do in respect to the lake, river, and harbor improvements.

No candidate, I hope and believe, can be elected who is not in favor of the Union, and in favor of the Compromise of the last Congress (including the Fugitive Slave bill), as necessary means to sustain it. Of the candidates spoken of on the Democratic side, I confess that I should prefer General Cass. He is, I think, more to be relied on than any of his competitors. During the trials of the long session of the last Congress, he bore himself firmly, consistently, and patriotically. He has quite as much ability, quite as much firmness, and, I think, much more honesty and sincerity than Mr. Buchanan.

If I were to offer any advice to my friends, it would be not to commit themselves prematurely to either of the two Whig candidates who have been prominently put forward. Strong objections, although of a very different kind, exist against them both. They had better wait. It will be time enough next winter to decide; and I am inclined to believe that both of those gentlemen will find, in the sequel, that they have taken, or their friends have put them in, the field, too early.

Besides pre-existing questions, a new one will probably arise at the next session of Congress, involving the right of any one of the States of the Union, upon its own separate will and pleasure, to secede from the residue, and become a distinct and independent power. The decision of that momentous question can not but exert some influence, more or less, upon the next Presidential election. For my own part, I utterly deny the existence of any such right, and I think an attempt to exercise it ought to be resisted to the last extremity; for it is, in part, a question of union or no union.

You inquire if I will visit Newport this summer, with the view of ascertaining whether it might not be convenient there, or at some other Eastern place, to present me a gold medal which I understand my good friends are preparing for me. I have been absent from home fifteen out of the last nineteen months, and I feel great reluctance to leaving it, during the present summer. If I were to go to the Eastward, I should have to return early in the autumn, and soon after to go back to Washington, unless I resign my seat in the Senate of the United States. Under these circumstances, my present inclination is to remain at home and to attend to my private affairs, which need my care,

Should my friends persevere in their purpose of presenting me the proposed medal, some suitable time and place can be hereafter designated for that purpose. Surely no man was ever blessed with more ardent and devoted friends than I am, and, among them, none are more or perhaps so enthusiastic as those in the city of New York. God bless them. I wish it was in my power to testify my gratitude to them in full accordance with the fervent impulses of my heart.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 617-20

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February 25, 1868

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,        
ST. LOUIS, MO., Feb. 25, 1868
Dear Brother:

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

I am in possession of all the news up to date, the passage of the impeachment, resolution, etc., but I yet don't know if the nomination of T. Ewing, Senior, was a real thing or meant to compromise a difficulty.

The publication of my short note of January 18th, is nothing to me. I have the original draft which I sent through Grant's hands, with his endorsement back to At the time this note must have been given to the reporter, the President had an elaborate letter from me, in which I discussed the whole case, and advised against the very course he has pursued, but I don't want that letter or any other to be drawn out to complicate a case already bad enough.

You may always safely represent me by saying that I will not make up a final opinion till called on to act, and I want nothing to do with these controversies until the time comes for the actual fight, which I hope to God may be avoided. If the Democratic party intend to fight on this impeachment, which I believe they do not, you may count 200,000 men against you in the South. The negroes are no match for them. On this question, the whites there will be more united than on the old issue of Union and Secession. I do not think the President should be suspended during trial, and if possible, the Republican party should not vote on all side questions as a unit. They should act as judges, and not as partisans. The vote in the House, being a strictly party vote, looks bad, for it augurs a prejudiced jury. Those who adhere closest to the law in this crisis are the best patriots. Whilst the floating politicians here share the excitement at Washington, the people generally manifest little interest in the game going on at Washington. . . .

Affectionately yours,
W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 312-3

Thursday, May 25, 2023

Gideon Welles to Senator Daniel S. Dickinson, January 28, 1850

HARTFORD, 28th January, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR—Your valuable favor of the 17th was duly received, and I am under obligations, not only for the kind manner in which my communication was received, but for the confidences and suggestions therein manifested.

The debate which took place on the 17th I read attentively, and particularly your able and well-timed remarks, when Mr. Clemens undertook to expel the whole of the democracy from the political church. It is about twenty years since Mr. Calhoun commenced his efforts to build up a sectional party, first on the tariff, and recently on another issue. There was an interval during the administration of Mr. Van Buren and the early part of John Tyler's, when he undoubtedly had expectation of rising by reinstating himself with the Democratic party, that then these sectional animosities were at rest. But the elevation of Mr. Polk extinguished his hopes, and has made him a sour and discontented man. He has no aspirations connected with the integrity of the Democratic party, and can have none. It is to be regretted that the South should embark so fully in his schemes, or lend themselves to his intrigues.

The indications are that you will have a somewhat stormy and boisterous session; but I have no doubt that the ultimate result will be for the permanent welfare of the whole country. There may be some changes of parties and men, for a time at least, but with right and principle the Constitution and the Union will triumph. You, with others who have, to a great extent, the custody of public measures, will so shape matters that the country will receive no detriment from the intrigues of the aspiring and restless, or the overheated zeal of the unreflecting and impulsive.

But I must not intrude on your time. We regret extreemly to hear of the illness of your son. Until the receipt of your letter I was not aware that he had returned. Mrs. Niles continues about the same. I presented your compliments to the Judge, who sensibly felt them, and spoke of your kind feelings, friendly relations, and your attention and devotion to your public duties.

I am in hopes to visit Washington some time during the session. Until then it will be a gratification if you can occasionally let me hear from you. With kind regards, in which Mrs. Welles unites, to yourself, and to your family when you write or see them, I am, dear sir,

Very truly yours,
GIDEON WELLES.

SOURCE: John R. Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, p. 421-2

Monday, May 22, 2023

D. Keyes and Others to Senator Henry Clay, March 8, 1850

CLINTON, MICH., March 8, 1850.

DEAR SIR,—We are humble individuals firmly attached to the Democratic faith and the Democratic party, consequently can not indorse many things in your political creed.

But, sir, with us the preservation and harmony of our beloved Union are far above all party considerations, and we rejoice at your present position in the United States Senate, feeling that your eminent abilities and patriotic devotion to the Union are not only the property of Kentucky, but of the whole Union.

Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your conciliatory resolutions, and for the masterly manner in which you have supported and maintained them.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 602

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

John Tyler to Colonel John S. Cunningham, May 30, 1860

SHERWOOD FOREST, May 30, 1860.

MY DEAR SIR: I owe you many thanks for your kind recollection of me at all times, and more especially of late for your regular remittance of the daily proceedings of the convention at Charleston. The times are so much out of joint as to have excited even with me, secluded as I am from the political world, an extraordinary degree of interest. I have regarded the Democratic party for many years as the only true Conservative party, eschewing sectionalism, and spreading, not only in name, but in policy, over the whole country. The severance which took place at Charleston filled me with apprehension and regret. I hope it may be able to unite at Baltimore, and, standing upon a sound platform, be able to challenge the support of the wise and good and patriotic of the land.

I have been for ten days at our Villa near Old Point, pressing forward preparations for the reception of my family. I return to-morrow for the same reason. My own health has been bad during the winter, and Mrs. Tyler is full of complainings. The refreshing sea breezes will, I doubt not, have a restorative influence.

With best wishes for your health and happiness,

I am truly and sincerely yours,
JOHN TYLER.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 558

James Buchanan to Robert Tyler, June 13, 1860

WASHINGTON, 13th June, 1860.

MY DEAR SIR: Do you wish me to place the letter of Captain Maddox to yourself on file? Also that of Mr. Iverson to him?

I am sure that you will think I ought occasionally to make an appointment according to my own wishes and judgment. I know the officers of the marine corps tolerably well, and I intend to exercise this privilege upon the present occasion. Although S—— has not yet been removed, nor is it yet ascertained that he will be a defaulter, yet the applications are already numerous for his place. Your friend M—— will never be behind in this race.

I return Mr. Campbell's letter according to your request. Immediately upon its receipt I spoke to the Secretary of War upon the subject, and he informed me that the rule as to the length of time a surgeon should remain at West Point had been changed, and that Dr. Campbell was the first whom this change had affected. He gave me strong reasons for the change, which I have not time to repeat. His successor, Dr. Hammond, has seen much hard service in New Mexico and our remote frontiers. So says Gov. Floyd, who informs me it is too late to recall Dr. Hammond's appointment. I am sorry I did not know the facts in time. I believe the service of a surgeon at West Point has been reduced to two years.

I have hardly time now to say my prayers. Should they succeed at Baltimore in rejecting the regular delegates from the seceding States and admitting those who are "bogus," then Douglas will or may be nominated. In that event the unity and strength of the Democratic party is annihilated and Lincoln elected. This is not the worst. The Democratic party will be divided and sectionalized, and that too on the slavery issue. Everything looks bad, not only for the party, but for the country. The information from New York is not very encouraging.

In haste, always sincerely your friend,
JAMES BUCHANAN.

P. S. — I hope you will be to see us ere long and stop at my house if you like the entertainment.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 558-9

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Senator John Sherman to Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman, after November 1, 1867

If you can keep free from committals to Johnson, you will surely as you live be called upon to act as President. The danger now is that the mistakes of the Republicans may drift the Democratic party into power. If so, the rebellion is triumphant, and no man active in suppressing it will be trusted or honored. Grant is not injured by his correspondence with Johnson, but no doubt feels annoyed. . . .

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 299

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Senator John Sherman to Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman, August 9, 1867

MANSFIELD, OHIO, Aug. 9, 1867.

Dear Brother: . . . It is now becoming extremely important to know precisely what Grant wants in connection with the Presidency. If he has really made up his mind that he would like to hold that office, he can have it. Popular opinion is all in his favor. His position is the rare one of having that office within his easy reach, and yet it is clear that his interest is against his acceptance. The moment he is nominated, he at once becomes the victim of abuse; and even his great services will not shield him. Our politics for years will be a maelstrom, destroying and building up reputations with rapidity. My conviction is clear that Grant ought not to change his present position to that of President; and if he declines, then by all odds Chase is the safest man for the country. He is wise, politic, and safe. Our finances, the public credit, and the general interests of all parts of the country will be safe with him. His opinions are advanced on the suffrage question, but this waived, he would be a most conservative President. He is not a partisan, scarcely enough so for his own interests; still, if Grant wishes to be President, all other candidates will have to stand aside. I see nothing in his way unless he is foolish enough to connect his future with the Democratic party. This party cannot dictate the next President. They would deaden any man they praise. Even Grant could not overcome any fellowship with them. If they should take a wise course on future political questions, their course during the war will bar their way. You may not think so, but I know it. The strength is with the Republicans. Not of the Butler stripe, but with just that kind of men who would be satisfied with the position of Grant. The suffrage and reconstruction questions will be settled before the election, and in such a way as to secure the Republican party an even chance in every Southern State except Kentucky. . . .

I agree with you that Indian wars will not cease until all the Indian tribes are absorbed in our population, and can be controlled by constables instead of soldiers.

I mean to remain as quiet as possible this fall. I am not now in high favor with the Radicals, and can afford to wait awhile. The election in Ohio will go as usual. The suffrage amendment will be adopted by a close vote, and that will settle forever the negro question in Ohio. A reaction and struggle may occur in the South, but no change will occur in the loyal States until they decide on financial questions. This is inevitable after the next election..

Affectionately yours,
JOHN SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 292-4

Saturday, July 30, 2022

William T. Sherman to David F. Boyd, September 16, 1860

LANCASTER, Ohio, Sept. 16, 1860.

MY DEAR FRIEND: I came up from Cincinnati last evening, whither I had gone to prove the sheets of our regulations of which I will have one thousand copies fifty of which with a blank leaf at the end of each article, so that amendments may be made and noted as they arise. I will not have them bound but covered with stiff paper. I doubt if I can send any till about the 1st of October when or soon after I will have all boxed and shipped from Cincinnati to New Orleans, where about October 15 I will meet them and our other stores.

By the way on my arrival last night I found your letter of September 3, which put me in possession of a correct knowledge of the status of things on that day, enabling me to prepare: the bedding, 80 mattresses, cases, etc., 500 volumes of books, 1000 of text-books, arms, accoutrements, etc., about 8 boxes of 150 lbs. each, etc., will have to be transported up before November 1. The clothing can follow. If Red River be dead low as you say and on my arrival at New Orleans my information confirm it, I will write you to hire from four to five wagons under one leader if possible, to meet me at the mouth (of Red River) on a certain day say about the 20th, with my horse all saddled, when I can load the wagons and conduct them to the Seminary. See Coats and agree on a price per hundred pounds, but don't close a bargain till the last moment. Baden who has the crapshop in Pineville has a fine team and wagon, the very thing for a load of mattresses.

We have hit on an unfavorable year—low river, undefined powers, unfortunate political crisis, unlimited expectations on the part of the community, but all these must only stimulate us to more strenuous exertions. I know this year will decide our fate, another the fate of the institution confided to us, and I will give it all my best energies and experiences, but I confess the combination of ill influences are calculated to damp my ardor.

I cannot take my family from their present comfortable and bounteously supplied home, for those desolate pine woods, but I will try and cause the coming session to pass off as smoothly and harmoniously as the past, which can only be done by making the studies and duties flow in an uninterrupted current, from the first to the last day of the session.

J. has not the requisite energy and I fear he will be so cramped with debt as to impair what little efficiency he does possess. His department is all important, but as I regard it, he is independent of me. He is steward by lawful appointment. I am only as superintendent or kind of supervisor. "Supervision” is the word, and if any failure occur in his department, I shall claim to be absolved from all responsibility. By a personal introduction to my personal friend in New Orleans, I gave him credit, which I fear he has abused, and it shall not occur again. I cannot incur personal liability in that manner again.

I think the three boys can get out enough wood for the winter and if the fallen timber encumber the ground too much we can make heaps or burn it up, so as to be ready next spring for embellishment. I will try to have one or two white boys for drummer and fifer who can clean the section rooms, tend the lamps, and do some writing. I have not got them yet but will try at Cincinnati and New Orleans on my way down. I could get them here, but I feel a delicacy in taking white men from here lest they should excite undue suspicion.

I admit I am uneasy about political causes or rather local prejudices. Reason can be combated, but suspicion cannot. Here I must resist the opinion that the South is aggressive, that they have made compacts of compromise of 1821 and 1850 which are broken and slavery made national instead of local – in the South that the North are aggressive endangering southern safety and prosperity, both factions argue their sides with warmth and an array of facts, that is hard to answer and I must content myself with awaiting the result.

I send you a speech made by my brother John in Philadelphia a few days ago. I heard him here and had much talk with him, and he told me he should prepare his speech for Philadelphia with care and stand by it. Therefore this speech is the Republican view of this section of the Confederacy.

An unexampled prosperity now prevails here and it is a pity that so much division pervades the Democratic Party, as it enables the Republicans to succeed. Even Bennett's Herald admits the probability of Lincoln's success. But I would prefer Bell to succeed because it would give us four years truce, but I fear it is not to be. But I am equally convinced that Lincoln's success would be attended with no violence. He is a man of nerve, and is connected by marriage and friendship with the Prestons of Kentucky and Virginia, and I have no doubt he will administer the government with moderation. No practical question can arise, whereby men of the South would be declared on the statute book as unequal to their northern brethren. There is now abundant slave territory and we have no other land fit for it, but Texas, and that is all slave territory by treaty.

If we go to Civil War for a mere theory, we deserve a monarch and that would be the final result, for you know perfectly well the South is no more a unit on that question than the North – Kentucky and Carolina have no sympathy. I heard Leslie Combs speak at Circleville a few days ago, and his language would have been Republicanism in Carolina. He has been elected clerk by twenty-three thousand majority in Kentucky.

In Ohio here we have all sorts of political parties and clubs, but it is admitted that it will vote the Republican ticket. My brother has no opposition at all in his district, and is therefore helping others in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He resides at Mansfield, seventy-five miles north of this. I will go up to visit him and my sister in about ten days; but as to modifying his opinions further I cannot expect it.

I wanted him to repudiate openly the “irrepressible conflict” doctrine—but he has not done so, though he made a left handed wipe at Seward and Giddings as extremists. These men represent the radicals of that party but John laughs at me when I tell him in the nature of things that class of men will get control of his party. He contends that they – the Republicans – are the old Whig Party, revived solely by the unwise repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Of course you and I are outside observers of political events, and can influence the result but little, but this is no reason why we should not feel a deep and lively interest in the development of a result that for better or worse must interest us all.

At Cincinnati I attended the U.S. Agricultural Fair. Joe Lane was there and I esteem him a humbug, from his Mexican War reputation; other notorieties were there, among which fat hogs, calves, pumpkins, apples, etc., competed for prizes, and I think on a fair unbiased opinion the pumpkins were entitled to the first premium over vain conceited men.

I wish however we had Cincinnati near us at the Seminary. We should not then be troubled to get provisions, books, or furniture. If Red River were navigable, and I would find a boat for Alexandria or Shreveport direct, which often occurs in season, I would buy a full outfit of everything for my house at a blow. As it is I now must wait, as transportation by wagon must be out of all reason.

SOURCES: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 277-82

Monday, February 28, 2022

William T. Sherman to Thomas Ewing Jr., May 11, 1860

LOUISIANA STATE SEMINARY of Learning and Military Academy,        
Alexandria, May 11, 1860.

DEAR TOM: I have received one or two Leavenworth papers reminding me of the place, which I have read with interest, and I see that you and McCook1 are still at work. I hope business goes prosperously; I suppose the Democratic Party does not love Kansas or its memory, and that some pretext will be sought out and found to keep her out of the Union till after the presidential election. The adjournment of the Convention in Charleston without a platform or nomination looks like a break up of the Democratic Party, and I have my fears of the consequences.

I know that our general government has not the moral or physical power to subdue a rebellion, and should one be attempted by Alabama, South Carolina or other extreme states I fear the consequences. Of course I would advocate the policy of force, for if a state may at its pleasure withdraw, leaving a gap in the seacoast or frontier, the government would not be worth preserving.

People here are somewhat troubled, they regard the Republican Party as hostile to their paramount interests, and their politicians might stir them up to resistance in the case of the election of an extreme Republican. I hope that party will [not] nominate Seward, but take up some man as McLean or Bates, who though Republicans are moderate men. I suppose your political success being based on the Republican success you will go in heart and hand to sustain the Chicago nominee, be he whom he may. John is of course committed beyond hope. That the physical and political power remains with the North is now manifest, but I hope that moderate counsels will prevail until that fact be more fixed and conceded.

I am getting along here very well, we have sixty-two cadets. Vacation is fixed for August 20 to November 1. I think I shall go for Ellen in September and return in October. I have just contracted for a good house to be built by October 15. Our institution is acting up to the expectations of the most sanguine, and the belief is that next year we will have one hundred fifty a number about as great as we can accommodate.

Thus far with the exception of a couple of weeks in April our weather is cool and pleasant. I still wear woolen clothes and sleep under a pair of blankets, but this is unusual and the crops, sugar, cotton, and corn are very backward. . .

_______________

1 Ewing and McCook were former law partners of Sherman. – ED.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 212-3

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

William T. Sherman to Thomas Ewing Jr., February 17, 1860

BATON ROUGE, Feb. 17, 1860.

DEAR TOM: . . . I am down here at the legislature log rolling for a bill to the interest of our institution. I have no doubt of success. I cannot but laugh in my sleeve at the seeming influence I possess, dining with the governor, hobnobbing with the leading men of Louisiana, whilst John is universally blackguarded as an awful abolitionist. No person has said one word against me, and all have refrained from using his name in vain.

As to your prospects, I see as chief justice you ran ahead of your ticket. I doubt not you can be elected as senator. For the chances it is best, though for a firm solid foundation the judgeship is preferable. Still I think I know enough of you to say your mind is made up and like the fellow engaged to some girl goes round and asks advice leaves room for but one side to the question. I advise you then to go to the senate, be moderate and take the chances.

If they find me advising with you and John, two desperate Blacks, they will suspect me of treason and hang me. No, this is not so, we discuss all public questions here with fairness. Louisiana is not ultra. She has property valued at four hundred millions of dollars which is all based on slave labor. It is no new open question to them; they must be prejudiced in favor of their interests, and I know and often assert that such persons as you and John are not inclined to molest this property. I state your position thus: in Kansas the party known as Democratic did endeavor to impose slavery on Kansas and resorted to extraneous force and fraud. This led to force and violence on the other side, and then, as in all similar contests for colonizing, the North beat, because she has one hundred who can emigrate where the South has one. I understand the moderate Republicans to be opposed to slavery in the abstract, to its extension, but not committed to its molestation where it now exists. I hope the party will not attempt the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and that courts and legislatures will not take ultra ground, individuals and newspapers may, but judges and legislatures cannot without committing whole communities.

The relation between master and slave cannot be changed without utter ruin to immense numbers, and it is not sure the negro would be benefitted. If John had not signed that Helper book he could have been elected and would have had a fine chance of showing fairness and manliness at a time of crisis. As it is now he can only growl over expenses and waste; that the Devil himself cannot stop.

Louisiana will not join in any South Carolina measure, but her people and representatives are nervous on the nigger question, and I have to be on my guard all the while as Ohio is looked on as a regular Bogey. Bragg and others here know me to be national, and they back me up too strong, so that I am coaxed and begged not to leave them. I know this sentiment to be sincere and the professors begged me by all the considerations possible to stand by the Institution, as they think that I can make it successful and famous. If too by being here, with such relatives as you and John, I could also do something to allay fears and apprehensions which I believe unfounded I could do patriotic service. Yet the itching for change and adventure makes me strongly inclined to go to London. My life here would settle down into a plain, easy berth.

The Democratic Party will try to keep Kansas out by manoeuvre, but I take it if a fair square vote can be had Kansas must be admitted as she is. I shall be glad to see your name as senator. I dined yesterday with Governor Moore, to-day with the attorney-general, so you see I am in the land of clover as well as molasses.

During our first term many defects in the original act of the Legislature, were demonstrated, and, by the advice of the Board of Supervisors, I went down to Baton Rouge during the session of the legislature to advocate and urge the passage of a new bill, putting the institution on a better footing. Thomas O. Moore was then Governor, Bragg was a member of the Board of Public Works, and Richard Taylor was a senator. I got well acquainted with all of these, and with some of the leading men of the state, and was always treated with the greatest courtesy and kindness.

In conjunction with the proper committee of the legislature, we prepared a new bill, which was passed and approved on the 7th of March, 1860, by which we were to have a beneficiary cadet for each parish, in all fifty-six, and fifteen thousand dollars annually for their maintenance; also twenty thousand dollars for the general use of the college. During that session we got an appropriation of fifteen thousand dollars for building two professors' houses, for the purchase of philosophical and chemical apparatus, and for the beginning of a college library. The Seminary was made a State Arsenal, under the title of State Central Arsenal, and I was allowed five hundred dollars a year as its superintendent.

These matters took me several times to Baton Rouge that winter, and I recall an event of some interest, which must have happened in February. At that time my brother, John Sherman, was a candidate, in the national House of Representatives, for speaker, against Bocock, of Virginia. In the South he was regarded as an "abolitionist,” the most horrible of all monsters; and many people of Louisiana looked at me with suspicion, as the brother of the abolitionist, John Sherman, and doubted the propriety of having me at the head of an important state institution. By this time I was pretty well acquainted with many of their prominent men, was generally esteemed by all in authority, and by the people of Rapides Parish especially, who saw that I was devoted to my particular business, and that I gave no heed to the political excitement of the day. But the members of the state Senate and House did not know me so well, and it was natural that they should be suspicious of a northern man, and the brother of him who was the "abolition" candidate for speaker of the House.

One evening, at a large dinner-party at Governor Moore's at which were present several members of the Louisiana legislature, Taylor, Bragg, and the Attorney-general Hyams, after the ladies had left the table, I noticed at Governor Moore's end quite a lively discussion going on, in which my name was frequently used; at length the governor called to me, saying: "Colonel Sherman, you can readily understand that, with your brother the abolitionist candidate for speaker, some of our people wonder that you should be here at the head of an important state institution. Now, you are at my table, and I assure you of my confidence. Won't you speak your mind freely on this question of slavery, that so agitates the land? You are under my roof, and, whatever you say, you have my protection.

I answered: "Governor Moore, you mistake in calling my brother John Sherman, an abolitionist. We have been separated since childhood - I, in the army, and he pursuing his profession of law in northern Ohio; and it is possible we may differ in general sentiment, but I deny that he is considered at home an abolitionist; and, although he prefers the free institutions under which he lives to those of slavery which prevail here, he would not of himself take from you by law or force any property whatever, even slaves.”

Then said Moore: “Give us your own views of slavery as you see it here and throughout the South.”

I answered in effect that "the people of Louisiana were hardly responsible for slavery, as they had inherited it; that I found two distinct conditions of slavery, domestic and field hands. The domestic slaves, employed by the families, were probably better treated than any slaves on earth; but the condition of the field-hands was different, depending more on the temper and disposition of their masters and overseers than were those employed about the house;" and I went on to say that, were I a citizen of Louisiana, and a member of the legislature, I would deem it wise to bring the legal condition of the slave more near the status of human beings under all Christian and civilized governments. In the first place, I argued that, in sales of slaves made by the state, I would forbid the separation of families, letting the father, mother, and children, be sold together to one person, instead of each to the highest bidder. And, again, I would advise the repeal of the statute which enacted a severe penalty for even the owner to teach his slave to read and write, because that actually qualified property and took away a part of its value; illustrating the assertion by the case of Henry Sampson, who had been the slave of Colonel Chambers, of Rapides Parish, who had gone to California as the servant of an officer of the army, and who was afterward employed by me in the bank at San Francisco. At first he could not write or read, and I could only afford to pay him one hundred dollars a month; but he was taught to read and write by Reilley, our bank-teller, when his services became worth two hundred and fifty dollars a month, which enabled him to buy his own freedom and that of his brother and his family.

What I said was listened to by all with the most profound attention; and when I was through, some one (I think it was Mr. Hyams struck the table with his fist, making the glasses jingle, and said, “By God, he is right!” and at once he took up the debate, which went on, for an hour or more, on both sides with ability and fairness. Of course, I was glad to be thus relieved, because at the time all men in Louisiana were dreadfully excited on questions affecting their slaves, who constituted the bulk of their wealth, and without whom they honestly believed that sugar, cotton, and rice, could not possibly be cultivated. . . .

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 173-9

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, September 17, 1864

CAMP NEAR SUMMIT Point, VIRGINIA, September 17, 1864.

DEAREST: - Did Carrington leave a revolver (pistol) with you when he left [the] little sorrel? I have forgotten about it.

General McClellan has written a pretty good Union and war letter, which I see is bringing the Democratic party over to our side on the war question. If he should be elected, — an event not now seeming probable, - I have no doubt that the war will go right on. The chief difference between us is on slavery, and I have no doubt that when the burden and responsibility of the war is on the Democracy, they will rapidly "get religion," as Sam Cary would say, "on that subject."

General Grant is now here in consultation with General Sheridan. The recruits and convalescents will soon fill up his ranks and I look for an active fall campaign.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 507

Saturday, May 16, 2020

What Is Said Of The Peace Negotiations

The New York World, in commenting on the Niagra correspondence, closes an article as follows:

We are convinced that there is no sincerity in any of the parties to this singular transaction.  The rebels naturally feel a deep interest in our presidential election, and their emissaries are in Canada with a view to influence its result.  The unflinching purpose of their leaders is separation, and to this end they are plotting to divide the Democratic party at Chicago, as they divided it at Charleston in 1860.

P. S. Since writing the above we have received the papers that passed in this odd negotiation; and, if the subject were not to serious for laughter, we should go into convulsions.  That dancing wind-bag of popinjay conceit, William Cornell Jewett, has achieved the immortality he covets; he has reversed the adage about the mountain in labor bringing forth a ridiculous mouse—the mouse has brought forth this ridiculous mountain of diplomacy.  This is Jewett’s doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes!  He got Greeley and the President’s private secretary to the Falls on a fool’s errand, and made even the President an actor in this comedy; he has bade each of them play the part so well suited to himself, of

—“A tool
That knaves do work with, called a fool.”

Sublime impudence of George Sanders!  Enchanting simplicity of Colorado Jewett!  “But—ah!—him”—how, oh benevolent Horace, shall we struggle with the emotions (of the ridiculous) that choke the utterance of THY name?  Greeley and Jewett—Jewett and Greeley; which is Don Quixote and which is Sancho Panza?


SOURCE: The Mount Vernon Republican, Mount Vernon, Ohio, Tuesday, August 9, 1864, p. 2