Abraham Lincoln to Hannibal Hamlin, December 24, 1860

Springfield, Illinois, December 24, 1860.

My dear Sir: I need a man of Democratic antecedents from New England. I cannot get a fair share of that element in without. This stands in the way of Mr. Adams. I think of Governor Banks, Mr. Welles, and Mr. Tuck. Which of them do the New England delegation prefer? Or shall I decide for myself?

Yours as ever,

A. LINCOLN.

SOURCES: Charles R. Corning, Amos Tuck, p. 90; Roy P. Basler, Editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 4, p. 161

Diary of Gideon Welles: December 3, 1865

Told the President I disliked the proceedings of the Congressional caucus on Saturday evening. The resolution for a joint committee of fifteen to whom the whole subject of admission of Representatives from States which had been in rebellion [should be referred] without debate was in conflict with the spirit and letter of the Constitution, which gives to each house the decision of election of its own members, etc. Then in appointing Stevens, an opponent of State rights, to present it there was something bad. The whole was, in fact, revolutionary, a blow at our governmental system, and there had been evident preconcert to bring it about. The President agreed with me, but said they would be knocked in the head at the start. There would be a Representative from Tennessee who had been a loyal Member of the House since the War commenced, or during the War, who could present himself, and so state the case that he could not be controverted. I expressed my gratification if this could be accomplished, knowing he alluded to Maynard, but suggested a doubt whether the intrigue which was manifest by the resolution, the designation of Stevens, and Colfax's speech had not gone too far.

Congress organized about the time this conversation took place. Maynard was put aside, I think by concert between himself and the Radical leaders. The resolution introduced by Stevens passed by a strict party vote. In the Senate, Sumner introduced an avalanche of radical and some of them absurd-resolutions. These appeared to have absorbed the entire attention of that body, which adjourned without the customary committee to wait upon the President and inform him that Congress was organized. This was not unintentional. There was design in it.

Fogg of New Hampshire, our late Minister to Switzerland, came to see me this evening with Chandler, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

The recall of Fogg was an unwise, unjust, and I think an unpolitic act on the part of Seward, and I shall not be surprised if he has cause to rue it. Fogg was associated with me on the National Executive Committee in the Presidential campaign of 1860, and was brought in particularly intimate relations with Mr. Lincoln at that time. No one, perhaps, knows better than F. the whole workings in relation to the formation of the Cabinet of 1861. These he detailed very minutely this evening. Much of it I had known before. He has a remarkable memory, and all the details of 1860 and 1861 were impressed upon his mind. He was the first to bring me assurance that I was selected for the Cabinet from New England. I thought at the time his, F.'s, original preferences were in another direction, although the selection of myself was, he then and now assured me, acceptable to him. At that time F., listening to Seward's friends, believed he would not accept an appointment in the Cabinet. Such were the givings-out of his friends and of Seward himself. I told F. at the time, as he still recollects, he was deceiving himself, and that Mr. Lincoln was in a strange delusion if he believed it.

Weed tried to induce Mr. Lincoln to visit Mr. Seward at Auburn. Said General Harrison went to Lexington in 1841 to see Mr. Clay, who advised in the formation of that Cabinet. Mr. Lincoln declined to imitate Harrison. The next effort was to try to have a meeting at Chicago, but this Mr. L. also declined. But he did invite Hamlin to meet him there. On his way Hamlin was intercepted by Weed, who said the offer of the State Department was due to Mr. Seward, but S. would decline it. The courtesy, however, was, he claimed, due to Mr. S. and to New York. H. was persuaded, and Mr. L. intrusted him with a letter tendering the appointment to Seward.

Shortly after the commencement of the session of Congress in December, 1860, Fogg says Hamlin, when coming down from the Capitol one afternoon after the adjournment of the Senate, fell in company with Seward, or was overtaken by him. They walked down the avenue together, Seward knowing H. had been to Chicago. On reaching Hamlin's hotel, he invited S. to go in, and a full conversation took place, S. declaring he was tired of public life and that he intended to resign his seat or decline a reëlection and retire, that there was no place in the gift of the President which he would be willing to take. Several times he repeated that he would not go into the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln. Having heard these refusals in various forms, Hamlin then told him he had a letter from Mr. Lincoln, which he produced. Seward, H. says to Fogg, trembled and was nervous as he took it. He read the letter, put it in his pocket, and said, while his whole feelings were repugnant to a longer continuance in public employment, he yet was willing to labor for his country. He would, therefore, consult his friends before giving a final answer. The next, or succeeding, day he left for New York, but before going he mailed a letter to the President elect accepting the appointment. Hamlin repeated all the facts to Fogg last week, so far as he was concerned.

Great efforts were made to secure the Treasury for Cameron. This was a part of the programme of Weed and Seward. I have always understood that Mr. Lincoln became committed to this scheme in a measure, though it was unlike him. Fogg explains it in this way: In the summer and fall a bargain was struck between Weed and Cameron. The latter went to Albany and then to Saratoga, where he spent several days with the intriguers. Cameron subsequently tried to get an invitation that fall to Springfield, but Lincoln would not give it. This annoyed the clique. After the election, Swett, who figured then as a confidential friend and intimate of Lincoln, not without some reason, was sent, or came, East to feel the public pulse. At a later day he went to California and had a finger in the Alameda quicksilver mine. Swett was seized by Weed and Company, open rooms and liquors were furnished by the New York junto, and his intimacy with Lincoln was magnified. Cameron took him to his estate at Lochiel and feasted him. Here the desire of Cameron to go to Springfield was made known to Swett, who took upon himself to extend an invitation in Mr. Lincoln's name. With this he took a large body-guard and went to Springfield. Although surprised, Mr. Lincoln could not disavow what Swett had done. Cameron was treated civilly; his friends talked, etc. After his return, Mr. Lincoln wrote him that in framing his Cabinet he proposed giving him a place, either in the Treasury or the War Department. Cameron immediately wrote, expressing his thanks and accepting the Treasury. Mr. Lincoln at once wrote that there seemed some misapprehension and he therefore withdrew his tender or any conclusive arrangement until he came to Washington. I have heard some of these things from Mr. L[incoln]. Fogg, who now tells them to me, says he knows them all.

Mrs. Lincoln has the credit of excluding Judd of Chicago from the Cabinet. The President was under great personal obligations to Judd, and always felt and acknowledged it. When excluded from the Cabinet, he selected the mission to Berlin.

Caleb Smith was brought in at a late hour and after Judd's exclusion. Weed and Seward had intended to bring in Emerson Etheridge and Graham of North Carolina, and After the President came to Washington, a decided onset was made by the anti-Seward men of New York and others against Chase. An earlier movement had been made, but not sufficient to commit the President. Senator Wade of Ohio did not favor Chase. Governor Dennison was strongly for him, and Wade, who disliked Seward, finally withdrew opposition to C. But about the time I reached Washington on the 1st of March another hitch had taken place. I had remained away until invited, and had been mixed up with none of the intrigues.

The President (Lincoln) told me on Sunday, 3d March, that there was still some trouble, but that he had become satisfied he should arrange the matter. Fogg tells me that Greeley and others who were here attending to the rightful construction of the Cabinet had deputed him to call upon the President and ascertain if Chase was to be excluded. A rumor to that effect had got abroad and Lamon, a close friend of Lincoln (too close), was offering to bet two to one that C. would not have the Treasury. Fogg called on the President, but first Mrs. L. and then Seward interrupted them. On Tuesday, the 5th, at 7 A.M., Fogg and Carl Schurz called on the President to make sure of Chase. Seward followed almost immediately. Lincoln, in a whisper, told F. all was right, and subsequently informed him that he had been annoyed and embarrassed by Seward on the 1st of March, who came to him and said that he, S., had not been consulted as was usual in the formation of the Cabinet, that he understood Chase had been assigned to the Treasury, that there were differences between himself and Chase which rendered it impossible for them to act in harmony, that the Cabinet ought, as General Jackson said, to be a unit. Under these circumstances and with his conviction of duty and what was due to himself, he must insist on the excluding of Mr. Chase if he, Seward, remained. Mr. Lincoln expressed his surprise after all that had takenplace and with the great trouble on his hands, that he should be met with such a demand on this late day. He requested Mr. S. to further consider the subject.

The result was that Mr. Lincoln came to the conclusion if Seward persisted, he would let him go and make Dayton, of New Jersey, Secretary of State. But Seward did not persist.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 387-92

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, August 9, 1865

I yesterday wrote a letter to Paul S. Forbes, returning an impertinent and insolent letter of his lawyer, Dickerson, and also wrote to Gardner, who claims to be his agent, and mentioned that the trial of the Algonquin was to be made by engineers selected by the Secretary of the Navy pursuant to contract. These letters I modified to-day and more carefully worded, for there is an obvious intention on the part of Dickerson, the patent lawyer, to have a controversy.

J. Z. Goodrich, Collector at Boston, called on me to-day. An effort is making — an intrigue, he says to displace him and appoint some other person. Ex-Vice-President Hamlin has been one of the persons named to succeed him, Assistant Postmaster-General McClellan another; the last person named is Gooch, the Representative. From the facts stated by Goodrich, I have little doubt that Mr. Representative Hooper has been active in this matter, probably the instigator. Gooch is doubtless in complicity with him. But Hooper is a man of equivocal character from these representations, and has connived at a fraud, was exposed and defeated by Goodrich, and now seeks to get Goodrich displaced from his position.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 356-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, July 27, 1865

Brown, the Navy Agent, did not call on me yesterday as he promised. I therefore sent a paymaster to take charge of the office and directed a transfer to be made at two o'clock. But the messenger returned about that hour with a letter from Brown, stating that a consultation had been had with the President, who would see me, but if no change of programme was ordered by 5 P.M. he would immediately thereafter transfer. About three I received a note that the President wished to see me. He said Hamlin had been to see him and was very vehement, from some cause, in behalf of Brown. I stated what had been done; that I felt a little delicate in consequence of my relations with H., so had President Lincoln and himself also. I informed him I had a frank conversation with Brown, who said he wanted time to consider, but had obviously telegraphed to Hamlin. The President said he could not understand why H. should take such extraordinary interest in this case. He then got me the statutes and showed me a law on which Hamlin dwelt with some emphasis. We read it over together. I told the President the law offered no serious obstacle to me. He said he took the same view and would not deviate from his convictions. But Hamlin was vehement, and he wished to treat him with courtesy, and give him time to fully examine the case.

The paymaster (Fulton), who called to have the transfer made, said Brown told him he should not be prepared to transfer at two. F. then said he would wait, when a man whom he did not know, but who sat smoking a cigar, said it would be of no use, F. could wait or not. This man was Hamlin. Fulton replied that his business was with the Navy Agent and not with him (Hamlin.) The latter soon re marked he would go over and see Harlan, Secretary of the Interior.

Postmaster-General Dennison took a walk with me this evening. Returning, we had a cup of tea together. A shower came on, which detained him through the evening, and among a variety of topics we got on this of Hamlin and the Navy Agent. He thought the proceeding most extraordinary, and was especially surprised at the conduct of Hamlin. This led to some exposure of Hamlin's conduct which I have made to no others.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 344-5

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, July 28, 1865

Immediately after reaching the Department this morning I was told there was a suspension of action in the case of the Navy Agency. Soon after, Mr. Brown called. I told him he had not kept his promise of seeing me on Wednesday. He was, as Jack Downing says, “a little stumped” but said he supposed it was of no use. He then informed me that the President had been seen the night before, and had referred the case of the Navy Agency to the Attorney-General and the Solicitor of the Department for their written opinion on a legal point.

Mr. Bolles, the Solicitor, came in soon after Brown left, and said he had been with the President and Hamlin the previous evening, and that the President would in writing call for the written opinion of himself and Ashton, Acting Attorney-General. In a little time B. and A. came in. Ashton did not at first rightly comprehend the case, but soon reached it, and a brief but clear opinion was soon given and transmitted to the President. It will, I think, be conclusive, and dispense with the farther services of ExVice-President Hamlin for the present. Perhaps I judge him severely, but he seems to me a violent and unscrupulous man, avaricious and reckless. Mr. Bridge, Chief of Provisions and Clothing, says he has no doubt Hamlin is a partner of Brown in the Agency. He, as well as they, is from Maine, and from his position has had opportunities of forming correct opinions.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 345-6

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, July 13, 1865

Read to the President a letter from Col. Ashbel Smith of Texas, who sends me resolutions adopted at Houston, and writes me on the condition of affairs. The President was pleased with the letter. A number of Senators and Representatives are here in behalf of the Navy Agents whose terms are about to expire. The public interest does not influence these men. They are here to help men retain positions which they are occupying to no advantage to the country. I stated the case to the President briefly, and my opinion of the policy. He referred the whole subject to me to dispose of. I told him I had no doubts or embarrassments except in the case of Brown, for whom the President was committed on an urgent appeal of Mr. Hamlin.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 332-3

Albert Pike

Lawyer, Poet.

Albert Pike, lawyer, poet, philologist, and for many years prior to his death the highest Masonic dignitary in the United States, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 29, 1809, and died in Washington City, April 2, 1891.

In early childhood he removed to Newburyport, in the same State, at which place and at Framingham he received his early education. In 1825 he entered Harvard College, supporting himself at the same time by teaching. Having studied at home for the junior class and passed the examination to enter in 1826, he found that the tuition of the two previous years was required to be paid, and, declining to do this, he completed his own education, teaching the meanwhile at Fairhaven and Newburyport, where he was principal of the grammar school, and afterwards conducted a private school of his own. In later years the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by the faculty of Harvard College. In March, 1831, he went to the west, going with a trading party as far as Santa Fe, New Mexico. In September, 1832, he joined a trapping party at Taos, with which he went down the Pecos river and into the Staked Plains, where with four others he left the party and, traveling for the most part on foot, reached Fort Smith, Arkansas, December 10, 1832. His adventures during these expeditions, in which he underwent many hardships, are related in his volume of "Prose Sketches and Poems," published in 1834. While teaching in 1833, below Van Buren and on Little Piney river, he contributed articles to the Little Rock "Advocate," which attracted the attention of Robert Crittenden, through whom he was made assistant editor of that paper, of which he afterwards became owner and conducted it for upwards of two years. In 1835 he was admitted to the bar. He had read only the first volume of "Blackstone's Commentaries," but the judge of the territorial superior court said, as he gave the license, that it was not like giving a medical diploma, because as a lawyer he could not take anyone's life. He subsequently made an extensive study of the law, being his own teacher, and practiced his profession until the outbreak of the Mexican War, when he recruited a company of cavalry, and was present at the battle of Buena Vista, being attached to Colonel Charles May's squadron of dragoons In 1848 he fought a duel with Governor John S. Roane, on the occasion of an account of that battle written by him, and which Governor Roane considered reflected unjustly on the Arkansas regiment.

In 1849 he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, at the same time with Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin. A famous case pleaded by him before that tribunal was the claim of Henry M. Rector for the famous Hot Springs property in Arkansas. In 1853 he transferred his law office to New Orleans, having, in preparation for practice before the court of Louisiana, read the "Pandects," making a translation into English of the first volume, as well as numerous French authorities, and he also wrote an unpublished work in three volumes upon "The Maxims of the Roman and French Law." He resumed practice in Arkansas in 1857. In 1859, having been for many years attorney for the Choctaw Indians, in association with three others he secured the award by the United States Senate to that tribe of $2,981,247. He was the first proposer of a Pacific railroad convention, and was sent as a delegate to several conventions of the kind before the war, at one time obtaining from the Louisiana Legislature a charter for a road with termini at San Francisco and Guaymas. During the war of secession, he was sent by the Confederate government to negotiate with the five civilized tribes in Indian Territory, to secure their alliance and adhesion, and commanded a brigade of Cherokees at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. He was also for a short time on the Supreme Bench of Arkansas. In 1867 he edited the "Appeal" at Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1868 he removed to Washington City where he practiced before the courts until 1880.

From the year 1880 until his death, he devoted himself to literary pursuits and to Masonry. In his twentieth year General Pike composed the "Hymns to the Gods," poems published in "Blackwood's Magazine" in 1839, and included in "Nugae," a volume of poems privately printed in 1854. In 1873 and 1882 he printed, also privately, two other collections of poems. In 1840-45 he was the author of five volumes of Law Reports; in 1845 of the “Arkansas Form-Book;” in 1859 of "Masonic Statutes and Regulations;" and in 1870 of "Morals and Dogma of Freemasonry." Unpublished translations of the "Rig Veda," the "Zend Avesta," and other works of Aryan literature (with comments) filled seventeen or eighteen volumes of manuscript, without blemish or erasure. He composed numerous Masonic rituals, and replied to the bull of Pope Leo XIII against Masonry. In 1859 he was appointed grand commander for life of the supreme council of the thirty-third degree for the southern jurisdiction of the United States, the mother supreme council of the Masonic world. He was also at the head of the Royal Order of Scottish Rite Masonry in the United States.

SOURCE: William Richard Cutter, Editor, American Biography: A New Cyclopedia, Volume 2, p. 184-6

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, June 8, 1864

The President was renominated to-day at Baltimore. A contest took place in regard to Missouri, and the wrong delegates were admitted by an almost unanimous vote. A strange perversion. There was neither sense nor reason nor justice in the decision. Rogues, fanatics, hypocrites, and untruthful men secured and triumphed over good and true men. Prejudice overcame truth and reason. The Convention exhibited great stupidity and actually stultified itself in this matter.

When the vote of the Convention was taken on the nomination for President, it was found the Missouri delegation who had been admitted were not in harmony with the Convention. They would not vote for Mr. Lincoln. He had all the rest of the votes. There was much intrigue and much misconception in this thing.

On the question of Vice-President there was greater diversity of opinion at the beginning, but ultimately and soon all united on Andrew Johnson. Personally I did not regret this result, although I took no part in its accomplishment. The delegates and papers of my State generally have disapproved of Hamlin’s course towards me, and I have no doubt it contributed to their casting a united vote at the start for Johnson. Hamlin and his friends will give me credit for influence which I do not possess, and ascribe to me revenge for malevolence I have never felt. Without cause and because I would not extend undue favor to one of his friends by official abuse, he has treated me coldly, discourteously, and with bad temper, —so much so as to attract attention and inquiry, and lead to opposition to his renomination.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 46-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, June 9, 1864

There seems to be general satisfaction with the nominations made at Baltimore, and with the resolutions adopted. Except the nomination for Vice President, the whole proceedings were a matter of course. It was the wish of Seward that Hamlin-should again be the Vice, and the President himself was inclined to the same policy, though personally his choice is Johnson. This, I think, was the current Administration opinion, though with no particular zeal or feeling. Blair inclined to the policy of taking Hamlin, though partial to Johnson. I took no part and could not well take any. Yet to-day from several quarters it is said to me that Connecticut overthrew Hamlin, and that it was my doings which led to it. While this is not correct, I am nowise disposed to be dissatisfied with the change that has been made.

Concluded to retire the marine officers who are past the legal age, and to bring in Zeilin as Commandant of the Corps. There seems no alternative.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 51

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, June 3, 1864

For several days the delegates to the National Convention have been coming in. Had a call from several. Met a number at the President's. All favor the President. There is a spirit of discontent among the Members of Congress, stirred up, I think, by the Treasury Department. Chase has his flings and insinuations against the President's policy, or want of policy. Nothing suits him. There seems some difference among the delegates about the Vice-Presidency, but they will be likely to renominate Hamlin, though he has not much personal strength and has not the mind and temperament to build up a party for the country. There is an impression here that he has great strength in New England, but that is not my opinion. He has party cunning and management but not breadth and strength and is but little cared for there; is not offensive or obnoxious, but there is no zeal for him. As the President is a Western man and will be renominated, the Convention will very likely feel inclined to go East and to renominate the Vice-President also. Should New York be united on Dix or Dickinson, the nomination would be conceded to the Empire State, but there can be no union in that State upon either of those men or any other.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 44-5

George S. Denison to Salmon P. Chase, September 24, 1862

(Private and Unofficial)

New Orleans, Sept. 24th, 1862.

Dear Sir: Your kind letter of the 8th. inst. reached me yesterday. I showed it to Gen. Butler, as you gave me permission to do. The General requests me to present to you his kindest regards. He is satisfied that Slavery must be abolished, and he will do his part at such time as he thinks proper. He humorously remarked that his colored Brigade was of about the complexion, (upon the average) of the Vice President. He says that after properly organizing and drilling them, he believes they can march triumphantly from here to Kentucky. To-morrow the first Reg't. receives arms and joins the army. The second is fully enlisted and is being drilled. A third will be organized, but the General has arms for no more. His order says none are to be received but those who have received freedom through some recognized legal channel — but these are of three classes, viz: — Those who have received freedom from their owners.  2nd. Those who are made free by the present military courts.  3rd. All who come in from the enemy's lines. You see this includes almost all colored people. Gen. Butler will manage this matter wisely and well.

Gen. Butler does more work than any other man in Louisiana. Every thought seems to be given to the interest of the Government, and his powers of endurance are remarkable. No other man could fill his place here. His popularity among Union men is great and increasing. As I told you in a former letter, it is to be regretted that his brother does business here, but I do not think the General is interested in his speculations. He learns everything and forgets nothing. He comes in contact with the best minds in the State, and is equal, or superior, to them till.

During the week ending last night, the number of people who have taken the oath of allegiance, is very great. Every place where the oath was administered, was thronged. Secessionists can be tamed and Gen. Butler can do it. I should say three-fourths, at least, of the citizens have taken the oath, and yet not a threat was made against such as should not take it. I have reason to believe the General will be very severe toward those who persist in calling themselves loyal to the Southern Confederacy. I think he will confiscate their property and remove them beyond the lines.

Notwithstanding Federal reverses, the Union feeling develops itself satisfactorily, and many have realty ceased to be secessionists

The Prussian Ship “Essex” has on board many cases of plate and bullion shipped by rebels. Gen. Butler directed me to grant no clearance to the ship until the cases were landed. The ship has been waiting for a clearance three days, but will (probably) land the cases soon, when there will be no more trouble.

Since I have been here, two small vessels have cleared for Pensacola with Gen. B.’s permit. Admiral Farragut may perhaps complain of these vessels, for one or both, ran into rebel ports or were captured by the enemy. At any rate, they did not reach Pensacola. The Navy seized the Prize Schooner “Emma”¹ at Ship Island, sent by me to New York. I had put iron on her to complete cargo. She was released and continued her voyage.

The business of the Custom House goes on very satisfactorily. The Mr. Flanders² I spoke of is not the one you know, but his brother, and is not perhaps a proper person for Surveyor. He is a proper person for Clerk to perform the duties of Deputy Surveyor and for this office I have nominated him the office of Surveyor being included, I suppose, in my position as Special Agent and Acting Collector.

_______________

¹ In the next letter this name is given as "Elma."

² Mr. B. F. Flanders is frequently mentioned (June 23, 1862, etc.) and, except toward the close of the period, with approval. The second Mr. Flanders is not elsewhere mentioned, either in these letters or in the important printed sources bearing on the period.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 315-7

Grace Bedell to Abraham Lincoln, October 15, 1860

N Y

Westfield Chatauque Co

Oct 15. 1860

Hon A B Lincoln

Dear Sir,

My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only eleven years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is a going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try and get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter dir[e]ct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York

I must not write any more answer this letter right off

Good bye

Grace Bedell

_______________

For Lincoln’s reply see:

• Abraham Lincoln to Grace Bedell, October 19, 1860

SOURCE: Roy P. Basler, Editor, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 4, p. 130

Diary of William Howard Russell: June 23, 1861

The latest information which I received today is of a nature to hasten my departure for Washington; it can no longer be doubted that a battle between the two armies assembled in the neighborhood of the capital is imminent. The vague hope which from time to time I have entertained of being able to visit Richmond before I finally take up my quarters with the only army from which I can communicate regularly with Europe has now vanished.

At four o'clock in the evening I started by the train on the famous Central Illinois line from Cairo to Chicago.

The carriages were tolerably well filled with soldiers, and in addition to them there were a few unfortunate women, undergoing deportation to some less moral neighborhood. Neither the look, language, nor manners of my fellow-passengers inspired me with an exalted notion of the intelligence, comfort, and respectability of the people which are so much vaunted by Mr. Seward and American journals, and which, though truly attributed, no doubt, to the people of the New England States, cannot be affirmed with equal justice to belong to all the other components of the Union.

As the Southerners say, their negroes are the happiest people on the earth, so the Northerners boast, “We are the most enlightened nation in the world.” The soldiers in the train were intelligent enough to think they ought not to be kept without pay, and free enough to say so. The soldiers abused Cairo roundly, and indeed it is wonderful if the people can live on any food but quinine. However, speculators, looking to its natural advantages as the point where the two great rivers join, bespeak for Cairo a magnificent and prosperous future. The present is not promising.

Leaving the shanties, which face the levees, and some poor wooden houses with a short vista of cross streets partially flooded at right angles to them, the rail suddenly plunges into an unmistakable swamp, where a forest of dead trees wave their ghastly, leafless arms over their buried trunks, like plumes over a hearse — a cheerless, miserable place, sacred to the ague and fever. This occurs close to the cleared space on which the city is to stand, — when it is finished — and the rail, which runs on the top of the embankment or levee, here takes to the trestle, and is borne over the water on the usual timber frame-work.

“Mound City,” which is the first station, is composed of a mere heap of earth, like a ruined brickkiln, which rises to some height and is covered with fine white oaks, beneath which are a few log huts and hovels, giving the place its proud name. Tents were pitched on the mound side, from which wild-looking banditti sort of men, with arms, emerged as the train stopped. “I’ve been pretty well over Europe,” said a meditative voice beside me, “and I've seen the despotic armies of the old world, but I don't think they equal that set of boys.” The question was not worth arguing — the boys were in fact very “weedy,” “splinter-shinned chaps,” as another critic insisted.

There were some settlers in the woods around Mound City, and a jolly-looking, corpulent man, who introduced himself as one of the officers of the land department of the Central Illinois railroad, described them as awful warnings to the emigrants not to stick in the south part of Illinois. It was suggestive to find that a very genuine John Bull, “located,” as they say in the States for many years, had as much aversion to the principles of the abolitionists as if he had been born a Southern planter. Another countryman of this and mine, steward on board the steamer to Cairo, eagerly asked me what I thought of the quarrel, and which side I would back. I declined to say more than I thought the North possessed very great superiority of means if the conflict were to be fought on the same terms. Whereupon my Saxon friend exclaimed, “all the Northern States and all the power of the world can't beat the South; and why? — because the South has got cotton, and cotton is king.”

The Central Illinois officer did not suggest the propriety of purchasing lots, but he did intimate I would be doing service if I informed the world at large, they could get excellent land, at sums varying from ten to twenty-five dollars an acre. In America a man's income is represented by capitalizing all that he is worth, and whereas in England we say a man has so much a year, the Americans, in representing his value, observe that he is worth so many dollars, by which they mean that all he has in the world would realize the amount.

It sounds very well to an Irish tenant farmer, an English cottier, or a cultivator in the Lothians, to hear that he can get land at the rate of from £2 to £5 per acre, to be his forever, liable only to state taxes; but when he comes to see a parallelogram marked upon the map as “good soil, of unfathomable richness,” and finds in effect that he must cut down trees, eradicate stumps, drain off water, build a house, struggle for high-priced labor, and contend with imperfect roads, the want of many things to which he has been accustomed in the old country, the land may not appear to him such a bargain. In the wooded districts he has, indeed a sufficiency of fuel as long as trees and stumps last, but they are, of course, great impediments to tillage. If he goes to the prairie he finds that fuel is scarce and water by no means wholesome.

When we left this swamp and forest, and came out after a run of many miles on the clear lands which abut upon the prairie, large fields of corn lay around us, which bore a peculiarly blighted and harassed look. These fields were suffering from the ravages of an insect called the “army worm,” almost as destructive to corn and crops as the locust-like hordes of North and South, which are vying with each other in laying waste the fields of Virginia. Night was falling as the train rattled out into the wild, flat sea of waving grass, dotted by patch-like Indian corn enclosures; but halts at such places as Jonesburgh and Cobden, enabled us to see that these settlements in Illinois were neither very flourishing nor very civilized.

There is a level modicum of comfort, which may be consistent with the greatest good of the greatest number, but which makes the standard of the highest in point of well-being very low indeed. I own, that to me, it would be more agreeable to see a flourishing community placed on a high level in all that relates to the comfort and social status of all its members than to recognize the old types of European civilization, which place the castle on the hill, surround its outer walls with the mansion of doctor and lawyer, and drive the people into obscure hovels outside. But then one must confess that there are in the castle some elevating tendencies which cannot be found in the uniform level of citizen equality. There are traditions of nobility and noble deeds in the family; there are paintings on the walls; the library is stored with valuable knowledge, and from its precincts are derived the lessons not yet unlearned in Europe, that though man may be equal, the condition of men must vary as the accidents of life or the effects of individual character, called fortune, may determine.

The towns of Jonesburgh and Cobden have their little teapot-looking churches and meeting-houses, their lager-bier saloons, their restaurants, their small libraries, institutes, and reading rooms, and no doubt they have also their political cliques, social distinctions and favoritisms; but it requires, nevertheless, little sagacity to perceive that the highest of the bourgeois who leads the mass at meeting and prayer, has but little to distinguish him from the very lowest member of the same body politic. Cobden, for example, has no less than four drinking saloons, all on the line of rail, and no doubt the highest citizen in the place frequents some one or other of them, and meets there the worst rowdy in the place. Even though they do carry a vote for each adult man, “locations” here would not appear very enviable in the eyes of the most miserable Dorsetshire small farmer ever ferreted out by “S. G. O.”

A considerable number of towns, formed by accretions of small stores and drinking places, called magazines, round the original shed wherein live the station master and his assistants, mark the course of the railway. Some are important enough to possess a bank, which is generally represented by a wooden hut, with a large board nailed in front, bearing the names of the president and cashier, and announcing the success and liberality of the management. The stores are also decorated with large signs, recommending the names of the owners to the attention of the public, and over all of them is to be seen the significant announcement, “Cash for produce.”

At Carbondale there was no coal at all to be found, but several miles farther to the north, at a place called Dugoine, a field of bituminous deposit crops out, which is sold at the pit's mouth for one dollar twenty-five cents, or about 5s. 2d. a ton. Darkness and night fell as I was noting such meagre particulars of the new district as could be learned out of the window of a railway carriage; and finally with a delicious sensation of cool night air creeping in through the windows, the first I had experienced for many a long day, we made ourselves up for repose, and were borne steadily, if not rapidly, through the great prairie, having halted for tea at the comfortable refreshment rooms of Centralia.

There were no physical signs to mark the transition from the land of the Secessionist to Union-loving soil. Until the troops were quartered there, Cairo was for Secession, and Southern Illinois is supposed to be deeply tainted with disaffection to Mr. Lincoln. Placards on which were printed the words, “Vote for Lincoln and Hamlin, for Union and Freedom,” and the old battle-cry of the last election, still cling to the wooden walls of the groceries, often accompanied by bitter words or offensive additions.

One of my friends argues that as slavery is at the base of Secession, it follows that States or portions of States will be disposed to join the Confederates or the Federalists, just as the climate may be favorable or adverse to the growth of slave produce. Thus in the mountainous parts of the Border States of Kentucky and Tennessee, in the north-western part of Virginia, vulgarly called the pan-handle, and in the pine woods of North Carolina, where white men can work at the rosin and naval store manufactories, there is a decided feeling in favor of the Union; in fact, it becomes a matter of isothermal lines. It would be very wrong to judge of the condition of a people from the windows of a railway carriage, but the external aspect of the settlements along the line, far superior to that of slave hamlets, does not equal my expectations. We all know the aspect of a wood in a gentleman's park; which is submitting to the axe, and has been partially cleared, how raw and bleak the stumps look, and how dreary is the naked land not yet turned into arable. Take such a patch, and fancy four or five houses made of pine planks, sometimes not painted, lighted by windows in which there is, or has been, glass, each guarded by a paling around a piece of vegetable garden, a pig house, and poultry box; let one be a grocery, which means a whiskey shop, another the post-office, and a third the store where “cash is given for produce.” Multiply these groups, if you desire a larger settlement, and place a wooden church with a Brobdignag spire and Lilliputian body out in a waste, to be approached only by a causeway of planks; before each grocery let there be a gathering of tall men in sombre clothing, of whom the majority have small newspapers, and all of whom are chewing tobacco; near the stores let there be some light-wheeled carts and ragged horses, around which are knots of unmistakably German women; then see the deep tracks which lead off to similar settlements in the forest or prairie, and you have a notion, if your imagination is strong enough, of one of these civilizing centres which the Americans assert to be the homes of the most cultivated and intelligent communities in the world.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, Vol. 1, p. 346-51

Simon Cameron to William P. Fessenden, June 15, 1864

Harrisburg, June 15, 1864.

My Dear Sir, — I strove hard to renominate Hamlin, as well for his own sake as for yours, but failed only because New England, especially Massachusetts, did not adhere to him.

Johnson will be a strong candidate for the people, but in the contingency of death, I should greatly prefer a man reared and educated in the North. 1 hope you will come this way going home.

Truly yours,

Simon Cameron.

Hon. W. P. Fessenden.

SOURCE: Charles Eugene Hamlin, The Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 463

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Edward S. Hamlin, March 16, 1850

Mar. 16, 1850.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *

As to affairs here, there is little of interest which you will not learn from the papers. Of our Ohio Democrats I regard only four as heartily opposed to the extension of slavery. These are Carter, Wood, Cable & Morris. All the rest except Miller & perhaps Hoagland may be relied on to vote for the proviso when brought forward. But I am not sanguine that it can be passed. The ground taken by the Administration and the hope on the part of the Old Line Democracy of securing the support of the slaveholders in the next Presidential struggle, and the peculiar circumstances which tie up Col Benton & prevent him from taking ground in favor of the proviso & induce to represent it as unnecessary — all these things are against the friends of freedom. Still this Congress will not go by without something gained for humanity and progress — the slave trade will be abolished in the District & two cents postage probably established. It will then remain for the Free Democracy by its steadfastness, courage, & perseverance to bring up the nation to the standard of our principles, by declaring and acting upon, a fixed resolution to support no candidate who will not take decided ground against all slavery which the national jurisdiction reaches and against all national political alliances which involve the support of slavery. Our cause is onward. The fluctuations which ordinary politicians see are occasioned by the ebb and flow of the accidental floating mass which comes and goes without principle. But the current, which knows no ebb flows on steadily swelling in volume & accumulating power, freighted with the hopes of millions.

I send you Seward's speech & Hamlin's. Walker of Wisconsin also has made a good speech which I will send you by & by. Hale is to speak Tuesday. I have been endeavoring to get the floor lately, but have not succeeded as yet. I am only beginning feel at home.

P. S. Was any thing done about getting a suitable Editor for the Columbus paper. Do see to it that we have a real democratic platform.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 204-5

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Edward S. Hamlin, December 21, 1849

Washington, Dec^r. 21, 1849

My Dear Hamlin, As to unfaithfulness, I deny the charge. This is my third letter to you, and it is in answer to your third just received.

It is quite true that I don't give you a quid pro quo, for your letters are very interesting, and give me an insight into things in Ohio, which I greatly desire to have, whereas mine to you are very barren; and this present one must be most barren of all.

M^rs Chase, since coming here, has become quite ill, and her symptoms, pulmonary, are quite alarming. I have concluded to take her to the Hydropathic Establishment near Phila. and shall start tomorrow. 1 write, therefore, tonight; and must write briefly. Next week I hope to be back and settled.

Mr. Giddings has written to Mr. Randall advising him to vote for Swift and to aid in repealing the Hamilton County division clauses as soon as possible. He seems to have a clear idea of the necessity of this action. You suggest that Randall may be elected if he will agree to recognize Randall [Johnson?]. Giddings says Randall will vote for admission of Johnson as prima facie entitled, but wants a pledge that he will not vote in his own case. To require such a pledge is absurd. Mr. Johnson has rights — Mr. Randall is bound to recognize them. He has no more right to ask pledges of Johnson, than Johnson has to ask pledges of him. I do hope to hear soon of the settlement of this affair. Randall is bound by every consideration to yield to Swift — not Swift to Randall, this year.

I regret to see what you say of the hesitation of the Old Line Democracy to take decided anti slavery ground. But if they wish to lag behind the people they must take the consequences. Defeat will follow the adoption of the stationary policy as surely as day follows night. If the Democracy wishes to succeed let them act boldly — declare openly for freedom — adopt the first of the two slavery resolutions of '47 & instead of the second adopt one declaring the want of power in Congress to legislate for emancipation in the states, but its possession of power to exclude slavery in the Territories and to repeal all Acts of Congress by which slavery is sustained in this District & elsewhere & its duty to exercise that power promptly & efficiently. If they will do this & nominate any man of fair character who will heartily espouse the platform, they can triumph.

I trust you will refer to the resolutions of '47, & put them into shape, and use all your influence to bring the democracy right.

The Old Line Caucus in the Senate had much discussion about me. All the northern democrats, I believe, except Dickinson & possibly one or two more were for placing me at the head of one of the prominent committees, and some of the southern men concurred. The majority, however, decided the other way, and my name was, therefore, as you see, omitted from the list of committees.

I have no time to write more. Goodnight & may God bless you — Write often.

Dimmock, Myers or Carter — either it seems to me wd make an excellent Candidate for Governor.

SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 192-3

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, July 8, 1863

There was a serenade last night in honor of the success of our arms at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. The last has excited a degree of enthusiasm not excelled during the war. The serenade was got up for a purpose. As a matter of course the first music was at the President's. Mr. Seward's friend, General Martindale, arranged matters, and a speech of Mr. Seward duly prepared was loudly delivered, but the music did not do him the honors. To Mr. Secretary Stanton and Major-General Halleck they discoursed sweet sounds, and each responded in characteristic remarks. No allusion was made by either of them to the Navy, or its services. General Halleck never by a scratch of his pen, or by a word from his mouth, ever awarded any credit to the Navy for anything. I am not aware that his sluggish mind has ever done good of any kind to the country.

The rejoicing in regard to Vicksburg is immense. Admiral Porter's brief dispatch to me was promptly transmitted over the whole country, and led, everywhere, to spontaneous gatherings, firing of guns, ringing of bells, and general gratification and gladness. The price of gold, to use the perverted method of speech, fell ten or fifteen cents and the whole country is joyous. I am told, however, that Stanton is excessively angry because Admiral Porter heralded the news to me in advance of General Grant to the War Department. The telegraph office is in the War Department Building, which has a censorship over all that passes or is received. Everything goes under the Secretary's eye, and he craves to announce all important information. In these matters of announcing news he takes as deep an interest as in army movements which decide the welfare of the country.

The Potomac is swollen by the late heavy rains, and the passage of the Rebel army is rendered impossible for several days. They are short of ammunition. In the mean time our generals should not lose their opportunity. I trust they will not. Providence favors them. Want of celerity, however, has been one of the infirmities of some of our generals in all this war. Stanton and Halleck should stimulate the officers to press forward at such a time as this, but I fear that they are engaged in smaller matters and they will be more unmindful of these which are more important. Halleck's policy consists in stopping the enemy's advance, or in driving the enemy back, — never to capture. Enough has been said to S. and H. to make them aware of the urgency of the President and Cabinet, and I trust it may have a good effect, but I do not learn that anything extra is being done. The President says he is rebuffed when he undertakes to push matters.

I yesterday informed Vice-President Hamlin and the Maine Senators we should try to keep a couple of steamers and two sailing-vessels cruising off New England during the fishing season; that we could not furnish a gunboat to every place; that the shore defenses belonged properly to the War Department, etc. They on the whole seemed satisfied.

The President sends me a strange letter from Hamlin, asking as a personal favor that prizes may be sent to Portland for adjudication, — says he has not had many favors, asks this on personal grounds. Mr. Hamlin spoke on this subject to me, — said the President referred it to me; — and both he and Mr. Fessenden made a strong local appeal in behalf of Portland. I informed them that such a matter was not to be disposed of on personal grounds or local favoritism; that Portsmouth, Providence, New Haven, and other places had equal claims, if there were any claims, but that public consideration must govern, and not personal favoritism; that additional courts would involve great additional expense; that we had no navy yard or station at Portland, with officers to whom the captors could report, no prison to confine prisoners, no naval constructors or engineers to examine captured vessels, etc., etc. These facts, while they somewhat staggered the gentlemen, quieted Fessenden, but did not cause Hamlin, who is rapacious as a wolf, to abate his demand for government favors. He wanted these paraphernalia, these extra persons, extra boards, and extra expenditures at Portland, and solicited them of the President, as special to himself personally.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 365-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, July 7, 1863

The President said this morning, with a countenance indicating sadness and despondency, that Meade still lingered at Gettysburg, when he should have been at Hagerstown or near the Potomac, to cut off the retreating army of Lee. While unwilling to complain and willing and anxious to give all praise to the general and army for the great battle and victory, he feared the old idea of driving the Rebels out of Pennsylvania and Maryland, instead of capturing them, was still prevalent among the officers. He hoped this was not so, said he had spoken to Halleck and urged that the right tone and spirit should be infused into officers and men, and that General Meade especially should be reminded of his (the President's) wishes and expectations. But General Halleck gave him a short and curt reply, showing that he did not participate and sympathize in this feeling, and, said the President, “I drop the subject.”

This is the President's error. His own convictions and conclusions are infinitely superior to Halleck's, — even in military operations more sensible and more correct always, — but yet he says, “It being strictly a military question, it is proper I should defer to Halleck, whom I have called here to counsel, advise, and direct in these matters, where he is an expert.” I question whether he should be considered an expert. I look upon Halleck as a pretty good scholarly critic of other men's deeds and acts, but as incapable of originating or directing military operations.

When I returned from the Cabinet council I found a delegation from Maine at the Department, consisting of Vice-President Hamlin, the two Senators from that State, and Senator Wilson of Massachusetts. These gentlemen had first waited on the President in regard to the coast defenses and protection of the fishermen, and were referred by him to me instead of the army, which claims to defend the harbors. At the moment of receiving this delegation I was handed a dispatch from Admiral Porter, communicating the fall of Vicksburg on the fourth of July. Excusing myself to the delegation, I immediately returned to the Executive Mansion. The President was detailing certain points relative to Grant's movements on the map to Chase and two or three others, when I gave him the tidings. Putting down the map, he rose at once, said we would drop these topics, and “I myself will telegraph this news to General Meade.” He seized his hat, but suddenly stopped, his countenance beaming with joy; he caught my hand, and, throwing his arm around me, exclaimed: “What can we do for the Secretary of the Navy for this glorious intelligence? He is always giving us good news. I cannot, in words, tell you my joy over this result. It is great, Mr. Welles, it is great!”

We walked across the lawn together. “This,” said he, “will relieve Banks. It will inspire me.” The opportunity I thought a good one to request him to insist upon his own views, to enforce them, not only on Meade but on Halleck.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 363-5

William Barton Rogers to Henry Darwin Rogers, October 30, 1860

Boston, October 30, 1860.

I have already seen your article in “Blackwood.”  . . . It strikes me, however, as an entirely fair and rational view of the question, as presented by you. The fact of the present association of human relics with the fossils in a bed of gravel is no proof of synchronous deposit. Nor have we a right, even granting the synchronism, to exclude positively the very great geological antiquity of man, since we have no certain knowledge of the time of extinction of these accompanying fossil forms.

It will be important to weigh the evidence, such as this is, gathered from neighbouring and remote regions, on the question of the degree of antiquity to be assigned to these extinct fossils, wholly independent of any association with traces of man. Next, it will be necessary to accumulate all the facts bearing on the question of the physical relations and those under which the two have been brought together, whether by a tranquil process or by turbulent intermingling of different sediments. This, it seems to me, would demand an examination of the whole region, topographically, connected with the Somme valley. As our knowledge in all these particulars now stands, I think a suspension of judgment is the truly philosophical course. You have shown this, I think, most clearly and impressively, and I am sure that all the readers of the article will be struck with its cogency and ability.

I send you in a box some copies of my Report on an Institute of Technology, which you may distribute as you think best. I am, however, mailing a copy to you by to-morrow's steamer. The pamphlet will not be distributed for some time. After the elections are over, and the public ready for other thoughts, we shall try to interest parties here and in the other larger towns, so as to effect a preliminary organization. Then this Institute will join the Natural History Society, Horticultural Society, etc., in a renewed application to the Legislature for a grant of land on the Back Bay. I think you will find the plan of the Institute to include all the features which we used to talk of, and to be at least broad enough for any practical result.

. . . We have no doubt of the election of Lincoln and Hamlin. But there will, of course, be a Democratic Senate, and a very large opposition in the House. The threats of disunion are already less loud. Robert is well, and about to make an analysis of the water-gas, as it is called, which is now used in lighting the new hotel at the corner of Ninth and Chestnut streets. He likes Dr. Pepper, the successor of Wood, very much, and writes in good spirits.

SOURCE: Emma Savage Rogers & William T. Sedgwick, Life and Letters of William Barton Rogers, Volume 2, p. 43-5

Diary of John Hay: April 25, 1861

At the request of the Tycoon, who imagined he had seen something significant steaming up the river, I went down to the Navy Yard. Saw Dahlgren, who at once impressed me as a man of great coolness and power. The boat was the Mt. Vernon, who reported everything right in the river.

About noon the Seventh Regiment came. I went to the Depot and saw Lefferts, who communicated the intelligence of their peaceful passage, with which I straightway gladdened the heart; of the Ancient. Cale Smith was with him as I returned. He was just reading a letter from Hamlin advising the immediate manufacture of rifled cannon from the Chicopee Works. Lincoln seemed to be in a pleasant, hopeful mood, and, in the course of the conversation, partially foreshadowed his present plan. He said: “I intend, at present, always leaving an opportunity for change of mind, to fill Fortress Monroe with men and stores; blockade the ports effectually; provide for the entire safety of the Capital; keep them quietly employed in this way, and then go down to Charleston and pay her the little debt we are owing her.”

. . . . General Butler has sent an imploring request to the President to be allowed to bag the whole nest of traitorous Maryland legislators and bring them in triumph here. This the Tycoon, wishing to observe every comity even with a recusant State, forbade.

To-day we got a few letters and papers and felt not quite so forlorn. . . .

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 24-5