John Tyler to Robert Tyler, January 19, 1860

SHERWOOD FOREST, January 19, 1860.

MY DEAR ROBERT: To-day the General Assembly give a complimentary dinner to Gov. Wise, and I have been invited to it, but decline attending. My letter is full of professions of friendship for the Governor, which I sincerely feel, but I say nothing political. If you ask me whether I approve of the Governor's political views in toto, my answer would be in the negative. I have regretted his opposition in the main to Mr. Buchanan. I think, on the contrary, that the President has acquitted himself well in his high office, and if re-nominated I should go to the polls and vote for him with alacrity; but my friendship for Wise is almost indestructible. It had its beginning in times of great trouble, and he was faithful. His election to the presidency is equivalent to an endorsement of my administration by the country, and therefore as well as for my confidence in him, his election would be gratifying to I think he will carry the electoral vote of Virginia in the convention; but even if he and Douglas should be inclined to break up the convention, of which I should entirely disapprove, my belief is that neither will be permitted to do it, even by their supporters. The condition of the country is altogether too critical for this. Some man will be nominated without a platform, which at most is a useless thing. We had in 1839-'40 far greater dissentions at Harrisburg, and a platform would have scattered us to the winds. Mr. Grey, the gentleman to whom I wrote a letter in reply to one from him requesting my opinion relative to the Staten Island resolutions, has asked for permission to publish my letter, and I have granted it. He says that he had shown the letter to the leading men of New York, who urged its publication. You will therefore see it by the time this reaches you. It is brief but pointed. You refer to my expenditures. They have been large for me, and by reason of the failure of the wheat crop for two years have been embarrassing. Julia desired an investment of some money I had of hers in a lot near Hampton; and this carried with it expenditures for new buildings, furniture, etc., all of which, of course, will form a unit, and come out of her fund. I had used some of her fund, and have had to replace it. Thus the expenditure has been large. I hope to work through it in a year or two. At all times my expenses are larger than I could wish them, but they cannot be otherwise. It is a shame to the country that an ex-President, who is obliged to keep an open house, should not receive a pension, when every man who has but shouldered a musket in war is pensioned. He is commander-in-chief (of the Army and Navy).

[The rest of this letter is lost.]

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 557

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

John Tyler to Robert Tyler, July 22, 1860

VILLA MARGARET,¹ July 22, 1860.

MY DEAR ROBERT: . . . We begin to have more numerous calls by visitors to this region, and I become daily better informed of the status of public opinion. The effort is making in Virginia to concentrate the Democratic vote by running the same ticket for Breckenridge and Douglas, the electors to cast their vote according to the sense of the majority. Breckenridge would lead the ticket by a large majority, and the Democratic ascendency would be secure. Without some such arrangement, the divisions in the Democratic ranks may, and most probably will, lead to conferring on the Bell ticket the plurality vote. I find with many a positive aversion to Douglas,—so great that they denounce all fraternity with him, while similar feelings are ascribed to very many Douglas men. I have much doubt whether any harmony of action can be brought about. There were for the Southrons at Charleston but two courses to pursue, and they adopted neither. The first was to press the nomination of some one whose name would have constituted a platform in itself, or universally to have seceded and proceeded at once to the declaration of their platform and the nomination of candidates. My own feelings ran strongly in favor of Lane, and Bayard of Delaware; the first as the pioneer of the West, the last as coterminous in more than mere residence with New Jersey and Pennsylvania. By splitting up at Charleston they lost the prestige of victory; in other words, they played the game badly by throwing away their trump card.

The consequences of Lincoln's election I cannot foretell. Neither Virginia, nor North Carolina, nor Maryland (to which you may add Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri) will secede for that. My apprehension, however, is that South Carolina and others of the cotton States will do so, and any attempt to coerce such seceding States will most probably be resisted by all the South. When such an issue comes, then comes also the end of the Confederacy. I know the value of the Roman maxim "never to despair of the Republic,” but confess to the gloom which overspreads and enshrouds the country. I can now do nothing more than fold my arms and pray for deliverance of the country from the evils which beset it. Does not every day render the difficulties which assail a confederacy of States in the selection of their chief magistrate more and more conspicuous?

The President, in his late speech, has acquitted himself well. You did right to preserve silence. He has been uniformly polite to you, and for that I thank him; but he is altogether your debtor. No one has been so true to him or rendered him greater service. Heretofore he could not have spared you from your position in Pennsylvania; but now his political days are numbered, and his sand nearly run. He might now reciprocate by rendering you service. Will he volunteer to do it? or, having squeezed the orange, will he throw the rind away? Nous verrons. I may do him injustice in regarding him as a mere politician without heart. I hope I am mistaken.

On Thursday next I propose going to Sherwood Forest, where I may remain for some weeks. Give my devoted affection to all your family.

Your father,

JOHN TYLER.

_______________

¹ Mr. Tyler's summer residence at Hampton, Virginia.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 559-60

John Tyler to Robert Tyler, August 14, 1860

VILLA MARGARET, August 14, 1860.

DEAR ROBERT: The country is undoubtedly in an alarming condition. While I think you are too bitter on Douglas, yet I consider his course, and that of his friends, unfortunate. In truth, I see nothing to approve on either side. The eight Southern States, had they remained in the Charleston convention, might easily have defeated him, and, making a proper selection, might have waived a platform altogether. Bell becomes stronger every day, as is proven in the Missouri election; but still I persuade myself that Breckenridge will carry majorities in most of the Southern States and the plurality in Virginia; but of course everything is in doubt by the division in the Democratic ranks. Let things result as they may, I fear that the great Republic has seen its last days.

But I did not mean to do more than to say to you that you had better make us a visit here for a short time. We have a delightful place, and a change of air would benefit you in all probability. Your friend, C. H. Mallory, expresses a great desire to see you.

Love to all.

Your father,

J. TYLER.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 560

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 3, 1864

Slight rain in the morning.

There is an ugly rumor on the streets to-day—disaster to Gen. Hood, and the fall of Atlanta. I cannot trace it to an authentic source; and, if true, the telegraph operatives must have divulged it.

A dispatch from Petersburg states that there is much cheering in Grant's army for McClellan, the nominee of the Chicago Convention for the Presidency.

I think the resolutions of the convention amount to a defiance of President Lincoln, and that their ratification meetings will inaugurate civil war.

The President has called upon the Governor of Alabama for the entire militia of the State, to be mustered into the service for the defense of the States. It is dated September 1st, and will include all exempted by the Conscription Bureau as farmers. Every farm has its exempted or detailed man under bonds to supply meat, etc.

I incline to the belief that Hood has met with disaster at Atlanta. If so, every able-bodied man in that State will be hunted up for its defense, unless, indeed, the Union party should be revived there.

There will be a new clamor against the President, for removing Johnston, and for not putting Beauregard in his place.

But we may get aid from the North, from their civil dissensions. If Lincoln could precipitate 500,000 additional men upon us now, we should be compelled to give back at all points. But this he cannot do. And the convention at Chicago did not adjourn sine die, and may be called again at any time to exercise other functions than the mere nomination of candidates, etc.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 276-7

Senator James H. Hammond to Francis Lieber, April 19, 1860

WASHINGTON, April 19, 1860

. . . I don't remember what I said in my postscript, which seems to have affected you so much, but in all your comments I entirely concur. The Lovejoy explosion, and all its sequences which were so threatening last week, has been for the present providentially cast in the shade by the intensified and utterly absorbing interest in the Charleston Convention. That phase has blown over for the moment. But I assure you, and you may philosophize upon it, that unless the slavery question can be wholly eliminated from politics, this government is not worth two years', perhaps not two months', purchase. So far as I know, and as I believe, every man in both houses is armed with a revolver — some with two — and a bowie-knife. It is, I fear, in the power of any Red or Black Republican to precipitate at any moment a collision in which the slaughter would be such as to shock the world and dissolve this government. I have done, ever since I have been here, all I could to avert such a catastrophe. But, I tell you, knowing all about it here, that unless the aggression on the slaveholder is arrested, no power, short of God's, can prevent a bloody fight here, and a disruption of the Union. You know what I have said about all this, and that I do not advocate such a finale. But seeing the oldest and most conservative senators on our side, — we have no intercourse that is not official, as it were, with the other, — seeing them get revolvers, I most reluctantly got one myself, loaded it, and put it in my drawer in the senate. I can't carry it. Twice in my life I have carried pistols until I became a coward, or very nearly, and threw them aside. But I keep a pistol now in my drawer in the senate as a matter of duty to my section. I concur with you about the Brooks type, that vengeance belongs to the Almighty, and all that. I will do, as I have done, all I can in that line; and while regarding this Union as cramping the South, I will nevertheless sustain it as long as I can. Yet I will stand by to the end. I firmly believe that the slaveholding South is now the controlling power of the world — that no other power would face us in hostility. This will be demonstrated if we come to the ultimate. I have no wish to bring it about, yet am perfectly ready if others do. There might be with us commotion for a time, but cotton, rice, tobacco, and naval stores command the world; and we have sense enough to know it, and are sufficiently Teutonic to carry it out successfully. The North, without us, would be a motherless calf, bleating about, and die of mange and starvation.

But I am going off. Your speech satisfies me about Doctor Hayes's expedition, and I will give it my help.

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 310-1

David F. Boyd to William T. Sherman, August 30, 1860

LOUISIANA STATE SEMINARY OF LEARNING AND MILITARY ACADEMY,

Alexandria, Aug. 30, 1860.

SIR: . . . Altho' nothing new has transpired here, still I had better drop you a line to say that everything is going on well. Floyd has nearly finished the tables, and I think there is no doubt of his making, in proper time, all the shelves or presses, and also fixing the stairway. He has worked faithfully since you left. I will see, too, that Mills fixes the partitions. He is now busily at work at the professors' houses, and though he seems a little behindhand with them, he can still complete them in time. You know that carpenters have had a poor chance to get lumber this summer, as the drought and scarcity of water have stopped what St. Ange calls the sewing machines.

I have kept the negro boys constantly getting wood, within your Seminary enclosure. A good deal has been cut and hauled, but the timber is so heavy that you can scarcely miss it. I have perhaps had cut down more of the pine trees than you wished, and I believe it would be well to cut them all down at once. In the winter we occasionally have some terrific blows, and when once a pine forest has been thinned out, it is so easy for those left standing to come down. Ledoux and Poussin offer to hire a boy apiece. What say you? I think they might be profitably employed.

Cooper has not yet put up the chimneys, as you directed, but he makes such a fair promise that they will be fixed soon, that I am inclined to wait with him a little longer. Have no fears about them, for either he shall fix them or they shall be run up with sheet iron.

I have bargained with a carpenter to put up my bookcase, and it shall be ready. By the way, we have commenced begging for books, maps, etc., for a library. Can't you do something in Ohio? How do you think it would do to have a circular letter printed and sent over the state, calling on the public to send us all books and specimens of minerals and fossils that they can spare? If you write a short letter to that effect in your capacity as superintendent, I think I could get it printed in Alexandria free of charge, and it might meet with much success. Politics is beginning to wax pretty warm.

Bell's prospects are brightening fast, and there is no doubt of his carrying this state. My own impression is (and I am sorry to say it), that Breckenridge will carry but one Southern State, and that is South Carolina. Nor would he carry that state if the vote were submitted to the people. Bell's party is very strong all over the South, and even Douglas has many more supporters than the blind advocates of Breckenridge can see.

Whilst I deprecate the unfortunate split at Charleston and Baltimore, and think the territorial question entirely illtimed, still as the issue has been thrust upon us, and I believe Breckenridge's views to be correct although they may never meet with a practical application, I shall vote for him. If we who approve his views fail to support him, then the people of the North would say that the South disapproves those views, when really a large majority of us think it hard that there should be any law which either expressly or impliedly denies us equal rights with our northern brethren to the common property of the whole union. We don't wish to appear on the statute books as inferiors.

I am beginning to think that Lincoln will not be elected. If he should be, there is no telling what trouble we may have. I do not believe any state will formally secede, but disunion might be brought about in many ways. In many places in the South, whoever accepts or hold office under Lincoln will be lynched. He (Lincoln) will of course attempt to enforce the laws; that attempt will be resisted, and once the strife is begun God only knows where it will stop. What is the use of that Republican Party? As you say, slavery will always go where it pays, in spite of Sewardism, and it will never go where it does not pay, in spite of Yanceyism. Let the law of nature say you shall not take your slave here or there, but let not a clause of the Constitution, or an enactment of Congress, say it. It then becomes a threat hurled by one section at the other, and threats ill-become the people of a union. But whatever be the result of the election, let us hope there will be no disunion. Rather, like Governor Wise, radical as he is, let us settle our troubles in the union and not out of it.

The burning of the towns in Texas has produced much excitement here, and a negro was arrested near Nacogdoches, Tex., who said that among other towns to be burnt soon was Alexandria, La.; consequently a guard is stationed to watch for the coming incendiary, and no doubt Bootjack (Biossat) and Co.¹ will be much disappointed if he doesn't make his appearance.

I have received several letters making applications for admission of cadets, and others asking for information. General Graham's unfortunate publication last fall – that only five could be admitted from each senatorial district - is still injuring us; and we have no money with which to advertise, I begged Boyce to publish in his paper next Monday an article enlightening the public on that point, muskets, etc., with the request that all the city and parish papers publish it, and he promised to do his part.

[P.S.] The crops here are almost a total failure. Very little corn and sugar, and only about one-third the usual crops of cotton will be raised. Suppose there is disunion, will they keep all the corn north of Mason's and Dixon's fence?

Don't think of the river being in boating order in October. I will see to the wagons.

_______________

¹ Editors of local newspapers. – ED.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 270-3

William T. Sherman to John Sherman, June 1860

. . . Though Lincoln's opinions on slavery are as radical as those of Seward, yet southern men, if they see a chance of his success, will say they will wait and see. The worst feature of things now is the familiarity with which the subject of a dissolution is talked about. But I cannot believe any one, even Yancey or Davis, would be rash enough to take the first step.

If at Baltimore to-day the convention nominate Douglas with unanimity, I suppose if he gets the vote of the united South he will be elected. But, as I apprehend will be the case, if the seceders again secede to Richmond, and there make a southern nomination, their nomination will weaken Douglas's vote so much that Lincoln may run in. The real race seems to be between Lincoln and Douglas.

Now that Mr. Ewing also is out for Lincoln, and it is strange how closely these things are watched, it is probable I will be even more "suspect” than last year. All the reasoning and truth in the world would not convince a southern man that the Republicans are not abolitionists. It is not safe to stop to discuss the question: they believe it, and there is the end of the controversy.

Of course, I know that reason has very little influence in this world: prejudice governs. You and all who derive power from the people do not look for pure, unalloyed truth, but to that kind of truth which jumps with the prejudice of the day. So southern politicians do the same. If Lincoln be elected, I don't apprehend resistance; and if he be, as Mr. Ewing says, a reasonable, moderate man, things may move on, and the South become gradually reconciled. But you may rest assured that the tone of feeling is such that Civil War and anarchy are very possible. . .

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 232-3

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

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

The N. Y. World on the Peace Plotters.

The Copperhead press out west bloviated in favor of peace, and, and endorsed the Peace Commissioners and the peace programme of the loafing diplomats at Niagara, and denounced the President without stint. But the New York World—which has more sense if not more patriotism than these Copperhead thumb-wipers of Jeff. Davis’s myrmidons—was not to be caught in such a transparent net.  It saw through the rebel scheme of Sanders & Co. to strengthen the peace wing of the party at Chicago, and denounces and ridicules it in unsparing terms.  The World says:

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.

And the World is anxious to repudiate the entire transaction, and to place the odium of the negotiation upon other parties, and thus closes its editorial on the transaction which constitutes the chief stock in trade of the dunderhead, copperbottomed politicians hereabouts.  The editor of the World says:

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 Daily Gate City, Keokuk, Iowa, Tuesday, July 26, 1864, p. 1

Judge Martin F. Conway to George L. Stearns, June 17, 1860

[Baltimore, June 17, 1860.]

Your kind favor of the 15th is at hand. I have no business requiring my presence in Boston at this time; so that if I visit it, I must do so at your account . This, I shall, of course, be glad to do, as much for the pleasure it will afford me personally, as for the accommodation it may be to you.

Should Douglas be nominated by the convention now in session in this city the South will bolt, and Lincoln be elected President; in which case I do not think a movement to prevent his inauguration at all improbable. What would become of Kansas in the confusion which would follow such a proceeding, God only knows. Should Douglas not be nominated, but if the convention unites in some other candidate, Guthrie for example, then Lincoln would not probably be elected, but the Democratic candidate instead. The result of this would be that the present application for Kansas' admission would be discarded, and new proceedings instituted for another state organization founded on Democratic principles.

SOURCE: Preston Stearns, The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 228-9

James E. Harvey to Abraham Lincoln, June 5, 1860

Private

Washington City,

June 5. 1860.

My dear Sir,

Your note of the 31st May, reached me a day or two since. I think your reserve in regard to private correspondence, eminently proper under present circumstances, and no personal or political friend ought to except to it.

My information from the interior of Pennsylvania is encouraging, and in Philadelphia we have silenced the Fillmore organ of '56, through the influence of which we were then betrayed. Consequently, the third ticket has now but one paper there, – the Evening Journal – of limited influence & character, & not of American antecedents, which is really the important point in our local politics. You are aware of Course, that the political organization of Pennsylvania supporting You, is not strictly Republican. To bring in the Americans, disaffected Democrats, & general elements of Opposition, we called it the People's Party, & in that name all our victories have been achieved & the State redeemed. The largest infusion is Republican in character, & that spring from our old Whig party. Of late, there has been an attempt in Philadelphia, to get a distinctive Republican organization, in anticipation of future results. Certain patriots suppose that prominence in this way now, may be serviceable hereafter. The only effect of that movement is to embarrass us with those, who hold the balance of power, & to a great extent the result in their hands. You will at once see the hazard of such an experiment, as introducing an element of discord among men, who have hitherto acted in concert & harmoniously. Our friends have however judiciously yielded, all that good policy might concede to these parties, and it now looks, as if we would work smoothly together.

There is a pause in Pennsylvania & New Jersey, which will continue until after the Baltimore nominations. Douglass has a strong hold on his party in both. But I am persuaded not only from observation, but from close contact with all the factions at Charleston, that nothing can now happen at Baltimore, which will seriously damage us. In the first place, I cannot see how Douglass is to obtain two thirds. That will depend upon the admission of bogus delegates from the South, which the New York vote will decide, & New York put the knife to his throat at Charleston. If nominated, the Cotton States will certainly run a separate ticket, which of itself would demoralize the party. If not nominated & an obnoxious platform be adopted, such as is now proposed & intended with the aid of New York, his friends assured me at Charleston – I mean the men authorized to speak – that they would quietly retire from the Convention. In either Contingency therefore, our prospect is not impaired.

Pennsylvania after all is to be the battle ground of this Contest. New Jersey breathes the same atmosphere & sympathizes with us. In order to reach the Commercial Classes, the North American has been obliged to address their reason & intelligence gradually, commending & illustrating Your Conservative Whig character & antecedents. This will serve to explain why we have not shouted as loudly as some others. Had we done so, our influence for good, would have been much neutralized. The state of the Tariff here is likely to aid us materially. Hunter & the controlling spirits of the Senate are disinclined to touch the House bill, & intend to adjourn if possible, after passing the appropriations – say about the 25. If they do, we will raise a storm about their ears, which will echo across your prairies. Our man Cameron, has not done all that we desired, but he will be constrained to do the rest. Let me say just here, there is a rivalry springing up between him & Curtin, our Candidate for Governor, which you would do well to ignore entirely. It will be bad enough by & by when we win. Let us know neither now. Seward is much cut down & has good sense enough to avoid Chase's bad taste & folly. The real & upright men who sustained him, are in grave earnest – I mean such as Spaulding who represents Buffalo. Greely writes me, that his quarrel is about ended, which ought never to have been begun, & that henceforth Webb & Co, will be allowed to splurge in peace. Laus Deo.

Very Truly

James E. Harvey

SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Mark W. Delahay to Abraham Lincoln, May 13, 1860

Tremont House,

Gage, Bro. & Drake, Proprietors

Chicago, 10 P M May 13^th 1860

Hon A Lincoln

My Dear Sir

Since your Springfield friends have been fairly located matters have been looking up. I have taken to their quarters a number of the Iowa Delegates, some of the Minnesota and all the Kansas. I have taken “Cottenwood” into my Room, he is sound. Ross & Proctor of Kansas I think can be managed their prefference is Chase. But even with the Seward Delegates you are their 2nd Choice – Greely is here as a Proxie for Origon, and is telling a Crowd now around him that NY can be carried for Bates I think he is Calculated rather to injure Seward – Some of the N. J. men talk very well as I just learned from Col Ross – and so do some of the Mass men – they say they are for a success – I have induced the Penna Delegates to stop talking about their man as an ultum attim. They have mooted one thing, that would Kill them off and I have admonished them to abandon it, which was to call Ills Ind Penna & N. J. Delegates together to harmonize between you & Cameron, such a move would appear like a “Slate” and Seward is too potent here to attempt such a meeting, his friends would probably Slate us, if it were done – I have been up late & Early and am perfectly cool & hopeful –

Delahay

SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.

William Barton Rogers to Henry Darwin Rogers, May 29, 1860

Boston, May 29, 1860.

. . . We go to Lunenburg on Friday. As soon as there I shall write out my observations on binocular vision, etc., in a form suited for presentation.

Our “Reservation Committees” are to continue their action until the next meeting of the Legislature, feeling strong hopes of obtaining the grant of land on the Back Bay through further efforts. They have urged me to accept the chairmanship, and I have conditionally agreed. Among our present purposes is that of framing a plan for a Technological department, with which some of our leading men, as Erastus Bigelow, Ignatius Sargent, etc., think they can secure a subscription of $100,000 from the manufacturers and merchants, and that being assured, we can come before the Legislature with an irresistible claim.

Now can you not, while in London, gather up all documents relating to the Kensington Museum, that in Jermyn Street, etc., which might be of assistance in digesting such a plan? You will do us a great service by sending me such as you collect....

The anti-Darwin review in the last “Edinburgh” is, I suppose, by Owen. It does not seem to me to be altogether fair or philosophic. I see a notice of his “Palaeontology “ in the small type of the "Westminster," which I ascribe to Huxley, and which certainly shows up the deficiencies and errors of that treatise very positively.

This morning's paper brought the sad announcement of the death of Theodore Parker. The news lately received from Florence led us to look for such a result. But now that it is certain, how deep will be the grief of the large circle of friends upon whom it will fall as one of the heaviest of bereavements. No one will be more sincerely mourned, or leave a more lasting memory in the affections and gratitude of liberal hearts everywhere, than our noble, self-sacrificing, gently loving and heroic friend. I feel that his name will be a power, and that the free and wise words that he has written, and the disciples he has reared, will continue the labours of humanity and freedom which he showed such unfaltering boldness in carrying on. You and I have lost a good friend, who knew how, better than almost any other, to appreciate the free thought that was in us. I shall never forget his kind words of you and to me, as with a tearful eye I last parted from him.

You have no doubt seen the action of the Chicago Convention. How decorous and manly and consistent their course, compared with the Democratic and the old-fogy conventions that preceded! There is good reason to expect the success of the Republican ticket; Lincoln and Hamlin are both men of superior endowments, are honest and patriotic, and sufficiently versed in affairs.

The Union-saving party is looked upon as a “dead thing” Some one lately said to one of these gentlemen, who had just been telling him that they had nominated “Bell and Everett,” “Why did you not choose?” “Why, he has been dead this twelvemonth!” was the reply. “Not so dead as either of your nominees,” was the rejoinder.

SOURCE: Emma Savage Rogers & William T. Sedgwick, Life and Letters of William Barton Rogers, Volume 2, p. 34

Benjamin F. Butler to Sarah Hildreth Butler, Sunday April 22, 1860

CHARLESTON, S. C., Steamer S.R. SPAULDING, Sunday, April 22, 1860

DEAR SARAH: We came here after a very pleasant passage of from Wednesday at night (6 o'clock) till Friday at 10 P.M. We lay on the quarantine ground till morning, when about 8 o’clock we came up to the city and skirted along its whole length with flags flying, guns firing, and drums beating all in the finest style. Fisher and Clemence were very seasick but are all right now. George was also very sick. For myself, I ate five times a day, slept soundly, smoked incessantly, and drank sparingly. Charleston is much the same apparently that it has been for a half century. Do you remember that the first time I ever spent any considerable hours with you was at the American House, Boston, just previous to your voyage to Charleston? It has occurred to my thoughts more than once. I felt sad at parting from you, but I thought then I should see you again, although you thought not so. You will see by the enclosed prospectus (which I pray you preserve) that I have visited the school at Georgetown. I am more in favor than ever of sending Blanche¹ there; you will agree with me when you visit for yourself, as we will do next Winter.

How are all at home? I long to be with you at home again with an inexpressible longing. We shall start probably a week from today and be home in four days. Love to all.

Yours,

BENJ.

_______________

* “I have not read the life of Butler, although I am awaiting it with some curiosity. I read, however, in one of the reviews, of his tribute to his wife. ‘My wife,’ he says, ‘with a devotion quite unparalleled, gave me her support by accompanying me, at my earnest wish, through the War of the Rebellion, and made for me a home wherever I was stationed in command. Returning home with me after I retired to civil and political life, Mrs. Butler remained the same good adviser, educating and guiding her children during their young lives with such skill and success that neither of them ever did an act which caused me serious sorrow or gave the least anxiety on their behalf. . . .

“I had the great honor and pleasure of knowing Mrs. Butler, and this allusion of her husband brings her to mind. I have often thought if I were in the book-writing business that I should sketch a few lives which have come within the range of my own; lives based upon a perfect marriage. That of General Butler should have the first place. His marriage was one of singular felicity. Mrs. Butler was a woman of extraordinary ability, in intellectual force the equal of the General, and that means a great deal; for in mental force Butler is one of the first men of the age. She had more self-command than the General, had a singular grace and dignity, a consciousness of power and genius which attracted you with a sentiment of respect and admiration. She was an exquisite reader, and only surpassed in my knowledge by Fanny Kemble. Shakespeare she knew by heart, and, Mr. Donelly will be pleased to learn, had anticipated him in the acceptance of the Baconian theory. She even believed that the music and the imagination of Shakespeare could be found in Bacon, and I remember her reading, one summer evening at her Washington home, many parallel passages in support of this theory.

“It is not, however, the intellectual side of Mrs. Butler that comes back to me now, thinking of her as I read her husband's tribute to her memory, but her high, serene womanliness. Her power over the General was unbounded. ‘I have never,’ he once said to The Spectator, ‘done anything of any import without taking counsel of my wife, and I have never made a mistake except when I failed to follow her advice. This is high praise. I am proud to write it, as due to a noble and gracious memory. Her influence was always for gentleness, peace, mercy; and how much this must have meant at the side of that proud, turbulent nature. . . .

JoHN RUSSELL YoUNG (The Spectator)

 [From the Philadelphia Evening Star, July 18, 1891]

¹ His daughter, aged 13, who was at the Georgetown Convent, D.C.

SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 1-2;

Horace Greeley to James S. Pike, March 8, 1860

New York, March 8, 1860.

Friend Pike: I have bet you $20 on Douglas against the field. So far good. Now you say Seward will be our man. Well, I offer you $20 on that. I name my man for Charleston and back him against the field. You name your man for Chicago, and don't back him against the field, as I proposed. Very good. It seems that I have more confidence in my jud[g]ment than you have in yours; so we will stand there on the original $20 on Douglas, which I trust you will win; only, if Douglas has no chance, you and Harvey should “poor pussy” him, not abuse him.

F. is one of the poorest and most debauched of the drunken sailors that floated ashore from the wreck of Know-Nothingism. He is, of course, the very man for a printer to Congress. No honest man could get it, for none of that stamp could lie enough. Hence Follett's failure in '56, and Defrees's now. Both these are honest men.

But Gurley's bill to establish a Government Printing-Office is worse even than Ford or Bowman or Wendell — worse than all three together. It is to establish a national hospital for broken-down editors and printers, the jackals of the Camerons, and Bankses and Brights and Gwinns of all time. It will be more expensive and more nauseous than any thing we have yet known. Every drunken printer and ex-editor who won't work, and can't earn a living if he would, will be billeted on the public Treasury, and jobs will be invented to keep up a semblance of work for them — and very little work will do them. Just see.

I hope F. will cheat the crowd out of every dollar. If he will do this with the impudence of a highwayman, I'll go in for giving him another as good thing somewhere. Genius should be encouraged.

Yours,

H. G.

J. S. P.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 502

William H. Seward, April 25, 1860

Washington, April 25, 1860.

Our telegraphic advices from Charleston favor Douglas to-day. One can hardly realize that the once great Democratic party could be so alarmed as it is now. .

SOURCE: Frederick W. Seward, Seward at Washington: 1846-1861, p. 447

Charles Eliot Norton to George William Curtis, April 29, 1861

Shady Hill, 29 April, 1861.

I wish we could have a long talk together. Your last note found its answer in my heart. Everything is going on well here. The feeling that stirs the people is no outburst of transient passion, but is as deep as it is strong. I believe it will last till the work is done. Of course we must look for some reaction, — but I have no fear that it will bear any proportion to the force of the present current.

It seems to me to be pretty much settled by this unanimity of action at the North that we are not to have a divided Union. I almost regret this result, for I wish that the Southern States could have the opportunity of making a practical experiment of their system as a separate organization, and I fear lest when the time of settlement comes the weakness of the North may begin to show itself again in unmanly compliances.

But our chief danger at the present moment is lest the prevailing excitement of the people should overbear the wiser, slower, and more far-sighted counsels of Mr. Seward, — for it is he who more than any one else has the calmness and the prudence which are most requisite in this emergency. I am afraid that he is not well supported in the Cabinet, and I more than ever wish that he could have been our President. I am not satisfied that Mr. Lincoln is the right man for the place at this time.

Sumner dined with our Club on Saturday.¹ He did not make a good impression on me by his talk. He is very bitter against Seward; he expressed a great want of confidence in Scott, thinking him feeble and too much of a politician to be a good general; he doubts the honour and the good service of Major Anderson. There is but one man in the country in whom he has entire confidence, and in him his confidence is overweening.

After Sumner had gone Mr. Adams² came in and talked in a very different and far more statesmanlike way. His opinions are worthy of confidence. I think he is not thoroughly pleased with the President or the Cabinet, — but in him Mr. Seward has a strong ally.

You see that Caleb Cushing has offered his services to Governor Andrew. I understand that two notes passed on each side, — one a formal tender from Cushing of his services, which the Governor replied to with equal formality, stating that there is no position in the Massachusetts army which he can fill. Cushing's first letter was accompanied by another private one in which he offered himself to fill any position and expressed some of his sentiments on the occasion. To this Andrew answers that in his opinion Mr. Cushing does not possess the confidence of the community in such measure as to authorize him — the Governor — to place him in any position of responsibility, and that, even if this were not the case, Mr. Cushing does not possess his personal confidence to a degree which would warrant him in accepting his services. This is excellent. It is no more than Cushing deserves. Neither the people nor the Governor have forgotten, and they will never forgive, his speeches last November or December, or his previous course. . . .³

_______________

¹ The Saturday Club of Boston.

² Charles Francis Adams was appointed minister to England, March 20, 1861.

³ Cushing had presided at the Democratic National Convention which nominated Breckinridge to run against Lincoln.

SOURCE: Sara Norton and  M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 231-3