Diary of Edward Bates, May 27, 1859

The N. York Commercial advertiser of May 23d. contains a very complimentary notice of my letter to the Whig Committee,⁶² and extracts the part of it against the rage for foreign acquisition — heading it, Bates versus Fillibusterism [sic]. Such a compliment from such a paper goes for something.

If my letter does no other good, I hope it will embolden some men, both North and South, to speak out boldly against the system of aggression and plunder, whose feelings are right, but have heretofore been too timid to denounce it. The truculent impudence of certain buccaneers in the South seems to have taken the start of public opinion, and silenced the opposition of the timid and the peaceful.

I see by the Nat:[ional] Intelligencer of May 24. that there is established in Baltimore (and the 1st. No. actually issued) a Weekly Periodical called "The American Cavalier" which professes to be — "A Military Journal, devoted to the extension of American Civilization."

The Cavalier declares that it will "place its feet upon [on] the broad platform of the [‘]Monroe doctrine[’] and will maintain that the Government of the U[nited] States is the only legal arbiter of the destiny of American nationalities." (!)

Sir Knight (the Editor of the Cavalier) stimulated by the prospect of universal expansion, talks grandiloquently thus — "This nation is the Empire of the People, and as such we shall advocate its extension until 1 [sic] every foot of land on the continent (wonder if he means to leave out the Islands? — Perhaps, as he is a cavalier, he'll go only where [he] can ride) owns only our flag as the National emblem, and that flag the ["]Stars and stripes["] — Aye, we say, add star to star until our Republican constellation is a very sun of light[,] throwing its genial rays into into [sic] the humblest home of the poor man, in the most distant part of the earth[!] — <what! outside the "Continent!"> Let not the virgin soil of America be polluted by oppression— [ ;] <Can he mean to abolish slavery?> Let it not be the continued seat of war and bloodshed; <No more fighting then I hope> let the great people <and why not the little ones too> rise up as one man and command peace and love to be enthroned as the presiding genii of this new world."⁶³

There is a good deal more of that sort of nonsense —

"And then he pierc'd his bloody-boiling breast, with blameful — bloody blade!"

It is perhaps fortunate that such political charlatans do commonly disclose the dangerous absurdity of their projects, by the stupid folly of their language.

The paper, observe, is to be military — All this spread of 'American Civilization' is to be done by martial law. Buchanan wants to take military possession of Mexico; and Douglas wants a seabound Republic !

The Louisville Journal of May 26 — sent me by some one — contains a long article, written with ability (I guess by Judge Nicholas⁶⁴) with a view to organize a general Opposition Party. He argues that the only way to beat the Democrats effectively is for the Republican party to abandon its separate organization, and unite its elements with the general opposition. He thinks that the Abolitionists proper, will not go with the Republicans, any how, and that the Republicans, altho' very strong, are not more numerous than the other elements of opposition ; and that standing alone, they are, like the Democrats, sectional — But, fused with the other elements, and thus taking the character of the general opposition, the party would become essentially national, and would easily put down the sham Democracy.

I read in the papers that a Company is formally organized down South, to increase the African labor of the Country — i. e. import slaves — and that DeBow⁶⁵ is a head man of it.

This is said to be the result of the deliberations⁶⁶ of the "Southern Commercial Convention"⁶⁷ at its late session in Mississippi — Vicksburg.

Are these men mad, that they organize in open defiance of the law, avowedly to carry on a felonious traf [f]ic, and for an object, tho' not distinctly avowed yet not concealed, — to dissolve the Union, by cutting off the slave states, or at least the cotton states ?

Again — are these men fools ? Do they flatter themselves with the foolish thought that we of the upper Mississippi will ever submit to have the mouth of our River held by a foreign power, whether friend or foe? Do they not know that that is a fighting question, and not fit to be debated? The people of the upper Miss[issip]pi. will make their commerce flow to the Gulf as freely as their waters. If friendly suasion fail, then war: If common warfare will not suffice, they will cut the dikes, at every high flood, and drown out the Delta!⁶⁸

[Marginal Note.] June 4. I see by the papers, that since the adjournment of the Southern convention, there has been a great antislave-trade meeting held at Vicksburg — called to order by Foote⁶⁹ and presided over by Judge Sharkey⁷⁰ — which denounced all that the Convention had done about the slave trade.

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⁶² Supra, 1-9.

⁶³ Mr. Bates has quoted inaccurately. The punctuation and capitalization are changed, and with the exception of "legal " and “Empire of the People" the italics are Mr. Bates's.

⁶⁴ Samuel S. Nicholas: judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, 1831-1837; author in 1857 of a series of essays on Constitutional Law.

⁶⁵ James D. B. De Bow: economist; short-time editor of the Southern Quarterly Review published at Charleston, South Carolina; editor of the Commercial Review of the South and Southeast (later De Bow's Review) which he founded in New Orleans in 1846 ; superintendent of the U. S. Census under President Pierce ; and a leader in the Southern Commercial Conventions.

⁶⁶ May 9-13, 1859. On May 10, L. W. Spratt of South Carolina, Isaac N. Davis of Mississippi, and John Humphreys of Mississippi introduced resolutions urging a reopening of the African slave-trade, and Humphreys, G. V. Moody of Mississippi, and J. D. B. De Bow of Louisiana made speeches supporting them. On May 12, the Convention voted 40—19 for repeal of all laws prohibiting the importation of African negroes. A committee on the "legality and expediency" of the slave-trade was appointed to report to a later convention.

⁶⁷ This was one of a series of "commercial conventions" of the 1850's in which Southerners sought to analyze their economic and commercial ills and find remedies that would enable them once more to overtake the North in economic development.

⁶⁸ The Northwest's need of a free outlet through the lower Mississippi to the sea had always played an important role in national history. The South thought that this factor would force the Northwest to follow it in secession. The editor, however, decided (in a detailed study made of Southern Illinois in 1860-1861) that railroad building of the 1850's had made at least that portion of the Northwest which lies east of the Mississippi equally dependent by .1861 upon rail connections with the Northwest, and that this importance of both outlets actually forced a strongly pro-Southern Southern Illinois to defend the Union, since preservation of the Union was the only way to maintain both the river and the rail outlets. Mr. Bates's comment throws interesting light upon this same influence of the Mississippi upon Missouri unionist sentiment.

⁶⁹ Henry S. Foote of Mississippi: Unionist U. S. senator, 1847-1852; governor of Mississippi, 1852-1854 ; opponent of states' rights and secession. He later moved to Memphis. Tennessee. As a member of the lower house of the Confederate Congress, he criticized Davis severely. When Lincoln's peace proposals were rejected, he resigned and was imprisoned by the Confederacy, but finally was allowed to remove to Union territory.

⁷⁰ William L. Sharkey of Mississippi: elective chief justice of the Court of Errors and Appeals, 1832-1850 ; president of the Southern Convention at Nashville in 1850; provisional governor of Mississippi under the Johnsonian restoration of 1865.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, Annual Report of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930, Vol. 4, The Diary Of Edward Bates, pp. 18-20

Diary of Gideon Welles, Saturday, June 30, 1866

Had a long talk this afternoon with the President on the condition of affairs and especially in regard to the proposed national convention. He does not like the composition of the Cabinet, yet does not, in my opinion, perceive the most questionable feature in it. Harlan and Speed, he does not conceal from me, are in the way. The course and position of Dennison do not suit him. Dennison, like others, has been drawn into the Radical circle against his better judgment, is committed to the Republican Party, and is appointing extreme Radicals to the local post-offices, carrying out the views of the Radical Members and strengthening them by displacing friends of the President. In this I do not think D. intends antagonism to the President, although it is that and nothing else. But he does not permit himself to believe that the President and the Party, which is now a mere machine of Thad Stevens, are not identical.

Seward knows the distinction and yet contrives to persuade the President to acquiesce, while favoring the Radicals. It is curious, but by no means pleasant, to witness this proceeding. The President, usually sagacious, seems not to discern the management and ultimate purpose of the Secretary of State, who is prompted by Stanton, one of the Radical chiefs. Stanton has an assumed frankness, but his coarse manner covers a good deal of subtle duplicity. Seward never differs with the President. If he has taken an opposite view from or with others, or before the President's opinion is known, it disappears forever when the sentiments of the latter are ascertained. His knowledge and estimate of men are weak and erroneous in the extreme.

The President understands the political dexterity of Seward and yet does not apprehend that it may ever operate adverse to himself, nor does Seward intend to antagonize his chief. Some recent proceedings, connected with the schemes of the Radicals, are to me inexplicable, and in our talk I so informed the President. I could not understand how all the Republican Members from New York, a considerable portion of whom are under the influence of Seward and Weed, should vote steadily with the Radicals and against him, if Seward and Weed are his true friends.

The New York Times, Raymond's paper controlled by Weed, declared that the President and Radicals were pretty much reconciled on the Constitutional changes, and by this representation multitudes were entrapped into the measure. Seward, hastily and without consulting the President, hastened to send certified copies of the Amendment by the first mail to the State Executives. These and other things I alluded to as very singular, and that I could hardly reconcile them to sincere and honest friendship. The President was puzzled; said it was strange.

I told him I could account for these proceedings readily, if it were to build up and sustain the Weed and Seward party in New York, but it certainly was not strengthening the Administration.

Raymond and Seward knew of the movements for the convention, and the Times in advance spoke of it as a move to unite the Republican Party while it would certainly injure the Administration. The effect was, when the call appeared, to cause distrust among Democrats, and to repel the World, the Herald, etc. It looks like design or stupidity. I knew they were not fools.

My efforts to incorporate with the call a clause adverting to the proposed Constitutional changes which made a convention advisable were resisted and defeated by the tools of Seward, because it would be agreeable to the Democrats and opposed to the Radicals. His friends were committed on that subject. They had adopted it and were, therefore, antagonistic to Johnson, yet they succeeded through the assistance of Radicals who care little for principles.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, pp. 543-5

Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Tuesday, May 22, 1860

Fine day—At work in office. out at Cox's to tea. “Help me Cassius or I sink” received a long letter from Hon David Davis, Tho^s A Marshall, N. B. Judd, E Peck¹ & O. M. Hatch, entreating me in the most earnest terms to go, without delay, to St Louis, and see Judge Bates, and try and prevail upon him to come into Illinois, and assist us in the campaign. They want his influence to carry the old whig Quincy element for Lincoln.² Some of these same men had blamed me for supporting Judge Bates for the Presidency and had asserted, in the most emphatic terms, that he could not carry Illinois. I believed before the convention, and believe now, that he would have carried the entire Republican party, and the old whig party beside, and I think others are beginning to suspect the same thing, and that we have made a mistake in the selection of candidates.

I immediately wrote a long and urgent letter to Judge Bates, and will follow it in person tomorrow—for in my opinion, the existence of the party and the highest good of the country, are alike dependent upon our success, and I am willing to forego all personal preferences, and make any reasonable sacrifice to secure a triumph

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¹ Ebenezer Peck, 1805-1881. Born in Maine; admitted to bar in Canada; member of Canadian Parliament; came to Chicago, 1835, being one of the founders of the Democratic party and one of its supposedly unscrupulous politicians. Lincoln opposed him then, but by 1856 Peck had become a Republican and he took part in the Republican convention at Bloomington in that year. He was elected clerk of the Supreme Court in 1841 in a meeting of five of the nine justices of the court. His election was supposed to be part of a bargain regarding the passage of the act of 1841 reorganizing the Supreme Court on Democratic lines. He was therefore known as the "midnight clerk." President Lincoln appointed him to the United States Court of Claims. Palmer, The Bench and Bar of Illinois, 1:76-77; 2: 627; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, 1:126127; 2: 28; Memoirs of Gustave Koerner, 2: 93.

² This letter is in the files of the Illinois State Historical Library at Springfield and reads as follows:

Springfield, Ills

May 21 1860

Dear Browning—

 

There must be no mistake about carrying Illinois—

 

Our honor is pledged to it—

 

To conduce to this end, it is apparent to a number of friends now here, that Judge Edward Bates should be got to make speeches, at 4 or 5 prominent places in this State, say Charleston Springfield, Jacksonville, Carlinville, or Alton, & some place on Military Tract

 

Judge Bates owes it to himself & the cause to make this sacrifice His appearance & the man himself would be more effective, than a thousand speeches from Eastern Orators—

 

—Mr Bates, would emphatically settle the Fillmore element for us—

Your friends think that if these speeches could be made all of them before the Baltimore nomination—that they would be greatly—infinitely more effective—than if made afterwards

 

Now is the appointed time— In looking over the list of our friends, who should be sent to Mr Bates to effect this end a number of your friends & Mr Lincoln's now here, unitedly believe that you are that man—

 

The undersigned therefore, earnestly & affectionatley urge you immediately to visit Saint Louis & if possible secure the services of Mr Bates— We assure you that you could not more effectually serve the cause—

 

We beg of you to lay aside business & visit Saint Louis—for this purpose—

 

Write to Mr Hatch the result of your mission—Knowing your interest in this cause, we feel certain that you will not hesitate a moment, in endeavouring to accomplish this very desirable object.

 

Mr Blair of St Louis thinks it most important & if in St Louis will lend his aid— Mr Blair has the matter at heart—

 

We remain

Dear Sir

Your friends

David Davis

N. B. Judd

T. A. Marshall

Eb Peck.

O. M. Hatch

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, pp. 408-10

Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Thursday, May 24, 1860

St. Louis     Reached St Louis at 6 A. M. went to Planters House and had short interview with Gov Morgan of New York. Also met Judge Bates & Mr Gibson there, and made an appointment with the Judge to meet him at his office at 11 O'clock. I then had a long talk with Gibson in the parlor of the Planters House, and at 11 he and I met at Judge Bates' office. The Judge had just recvd and read my letter of Tuesday—I exhibited to him the letter I had received from Springfield, and made an urgent appeal to him to come into Illinois, and make a few speeches. Whilst I was engaged in urging such considerations as I thought would be most effectual in prevailing with him, Mr Goodrich,¹ one of the Massachusetts delegates to the Chicago Convention, came in and united with me in the appeal I was making. But our efforts were unavailing. Judge Bates very emphatically declined to take the stump, saying that such a thing as one who had been before the convention as a candidate for nomination for the presidency taking the stump was unprecedented that he thought it would be in very bad taste, and incompatible with the dignity of his character & position, and that he must respectfully decline to do so that his situation was peculiar that he had been thought of as a candidate for the Presidency not because he was a member of the Republican party, but because he was a man outside of the Republican party harmonizing with it in political sentiments, and because it was supposed, therefore, that he could bring outside strength to the support of the party—that the platform, in the main expressed his sentiments, but there were some things in it unnecessary and untrue, which did not meet his approval, and mentioned particularly the clauses relating to the power of Congress over slavery in the territories, and the naturalization laws—that he felt no emotion of chagrin, or regret at not getting the nomination—that he entertained the highest regard for Mr Lincoln, appreciated and admired his character, and should rejoice at his success over any democrat who could be nominated, but that he must take a little time to deliberate as to the course proper to be when pursued by him, and that when he had reflected and matured his opinions he would write me fully upon the subject. I met Sam Glover and had a short conversation with him.² He thought Judge Bates ought to write me a letter for publication endorsing Lincoln's nomination, but he would not advise him, as he was a man of great intellect who thought, and acted for himself, and he had never known him make a mistake especially in a matter of taste and propriety

At 11 A. M. called on Mrs Bennett She was not in. At 2 P. M. called and spent an hour with Mrs Greenleaf. At 3 came on board Die Vernon on my way home Very hot day.

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¹ Probably John Z. Goodrich, born 1801. Elector on Harrison ticket, 1840; representative in 32d and 33d congresses; collector of customs at Boston, 1861-1865.

² Among the Browning letters in the Illinois Historical Library at Springfield is one from Sam T. Glover to Browning, dated St. Louis, June 13, 1860. This letter deals with the attitude of Mr. Bates. After stating that he (Mr. Glover) had recently identified himself with the Republican party, and felt considerable concern as to Bates's course, he writes of a call which he made upon Mr. Bates in order to elicit some statement as to his position. The letter continues:

"He then took out of his desk and read to me a most happy well considered eloquent letter . . . defining his own position as not a republican but as a whig & one who is from principle obliged to vote with that party as the conservative party of the country. He shows up the negro democracy in their native colors— He turns the other end of the Telescope on Bell & Everet and shows how small they really are He does justice to Lincoln & Hamlin & spurns the idea that any little feeling of personal pique can influence his conduct.

 

"The letter is truly a great one. It is as solid as iron and brilliant as jaspar. I urged him to publish it immediately     He did not give me a satisfactory answer . . .

 

"Can you come here     If not can you not write to Mr B a strong letter urging him not to postpone longer his promise to send the letter"

The letter referred to was addressed to Browning and was published in the St. Louis Democrat of June 19, 1860, and widely copied. See entry for June 19, 1860, post, 416-417 n. 3.

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, pp. 410-2

Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Thursday, May 31, 1860

Cloudy, cold day, but cleared off, and became more pleasant in the afternoon

There was a large Republican ratification meeting held here to day, which was addressed by Mr Grimshaw and myself in the afternoon, he speaking a half hour, and I an hour and a half. The Court house was packed to its utmost capacity, and then not half the crowd was in. There were a large number of ladies present.

There seems to be a great deal of enthusiasm among the people, and every thing now indicates an ardent and successful campaign.

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413

Diary of Gideon Welles, Wednesday, June 20, 1866

Went with G. W. Blunt to see the President this morning. Blunt wants to be Naval Officer and has been a true and earnest friend of the Navy Department during the War and boldly met our opponents when friends were needed. Of course I feel a personal regard for him and have two or three times told the President that, personally, Blunt was my choice. If other than personal consideration governed I had nothing to say.

After Blunt left, the President and myself had a little conversation. I expressed my apprehension that there were some persons acting in bad faith with him. Some men of position were declaring that he and Congress were assimilating and especially on the Constitutional change. He interrupted me to repeat what he said to McCulloch and me,—that he was opposed to them and opposed to any change while any portion of the States were excluded. I assured him I well knew his views, but that others near and who professed to speak for him held out other opinions. I instanced the New York Times, the well-known organ of a particular set, which was constantly giving out that the President and Congress were almost agreed, and that the Republican Party must and would be united. The fact that every Republican Representative had voted for the changes, that the State Department had hastened off authenticated copies to the State Executives before submitting to him, the idea promulgated that special sessions of the legislatures in the States were to be called to immediately ratify the amendments, or innovations, showed concert and energy of action in a particular direction, but that it was not on the road which he was traveling.

He answered by referring to yesterday's conversation with Seward; said he had sent early yesterday morning to stop action at the State Department, but found the circulars had been sent off. He seemed not aware that there was design in this hasty, surreptitious movement.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, pp. 532-3

Diary of Edward Bates, April 27, 1859

Dined with F. P. Blair Jr²⁵ — the first [t]ime I was ever in his house — invited specially with Judge Jno. C. Richardson²⁶ and C Gibson,²⁷ to meet Mr. Schuyler Colfax²⁸ M.[ember of] C.[ongress] of Indiana.

The object of Messrs. Blair and Colfax, no doubt, was to have a confidential conference with me and a few of my known friends, so as to approximate the terms upon which the Republican party might adopt me as its candidate for the Presidency, and I and my friends might co-act with them, in federal politics, upon honorable relations.

Both those gentlemen are influential leaders of their party, and both declare that I am their first choice. They both say that Mr. Seward²⁹ cannot get the nomination of his party, perhaps not because he is not the acknowledged head of the party and entitled to the lead, but because the party is not quite strong enough to triumph alone; and his nomination therefore would ensure defeat.³⁰ Mr. Colfax is very anxious to consolidate the whole N.[orth] W.[est] so as to ensure what he considers the main point for which, as he understands it, his party contends — i. e. — that the U. S. shall not extend slavery into any country where they do not find it already established.

< To that I have no objection >

Mr. C.[olfax] is also a very warm friend of Mr. Blair, and is anxious to consolidate in Missouri, so as to put Mr. B.[lair] on a good footing with a majority in the State.

And, working for that end, Mr. Blair is eager to form a combination within the State, upon the precise question of slavery or no slavery in Missouri. This, undoubtedly, would be good policy for Mr. Blair personally, because it would strengthen the local free soil party (of which he is the acknowledged local head) with all the forces that I and my friends could influence. But I doubt whether it would be good policy for us to be come parties to such an organization. Such a course supposes affirmative action, i. e. the passage of a law for the prospective abolition of slavery; and it can hardly be necessary to incur the labor and encounter the prejudice incident to that course now, when it is plain to be seen that, by the irresistable [sic] force of circumstances, without any statute to help on the work, slavery will soon cease to exist in Missouri, for all practical and important purposes. This latter view, I think ought to be constantly inculcated, and kept before the public mind, by the press — It ought to be habitually mixed up (as it properly belongs to the subjects) with all our views and arguments on public economy — [,] Manufactures, mining, Commerce, handicraft-arts, and grain and cattle farming. This line of policy would aid and accelerate the drain of slaves from the State, which is, even now, rapidly going on, to supply the growing demand in the South.

Mr. Colfax, concurring with a good many Republican papers, is much put out by the first paragraph of my N.[ew] Y.[ork] letter,³¹ denouncing the agitation of the negro question. He seemed to think that it was a denunciation of the Rep[ublica]n. party, and would turn many against me.

I think otherwise; and that its effects will be good. It is chiefly the friends of Mr. Seward who make the objection, and they of course, would be astute in finding or making any plausible objection, to get a rival out of the way. If my letter had been universally acceptable to the Republicans, that fact alone might have destroyed my prospects in two frontier slave states, Md. and Mo., and so I would have no streng[t]h at all but the Republican party. As it is, all sensible Republicans know that it is the Southern democracy which was and is the first and chief and constant agitators [sic] of the question. And even now, such men as Blair and Colfax are fully satisfied of my true position, and the true meaning of the paragraph. And such papers as the Tribune³² of N. Y. and the Advertiser³³ of Boston, tho' they might wish it otherwise, are content with it as it is. While the Baltimore papers (Clipper³⁴ and Patriot) warmly accept it. Being true, I of course stand by it, as I must stand by all truth — Moreover, in cool policy, I am satisfied that it is best as it is.

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²⁵ Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri: an ardent Freesoiler, congressman, 1857-1859 and 1861-1862; major-general in the Civil War; U. S. senator, 1871-1873; supporter of Bates for the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1860; advocate of Johnsonian moderation in Reconstruction.

²⁶ A close personal friend of Bates; judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri; opponent in 1860 of the sectionalism of both Lincoln and Breckinridge and advocate of Bell and Everett.

²⁷ Charles Gibson: a Virginia-born Whig leader of Missouri who had studied law under Bates; an ardent unionist in 1861; solicitor of the U. S. Court of Claims, 1861-1864; a loyal Lincoln man until 1864 when he broke with the President, resigned in a public letter of protest, and supported McClellan; later a Johnson Democrat. At this time he was Bates's political manager.

²⁸ Republican member of the House of Representatives from Indiana, 1855—1869; speaker of the House, 1863-1869; a Radical in Reconstruction politics; vice-president, 1869-1873. At this time he was apparently working for Bates's nomination for the Presidency.

²⁹ Infra, March 5, 1861, note 26.

³⁰ Conservatives who feared extremism on slavery would not have voted for Seward, and he had won the implacable hatred of the large Know-Nothing group, and of Greeley and the Tribune. See infra, Aug. 19, 1859.

³¹ See supra, 1-9.

³² New York Tribune, April 16, 1859.

³³ Boston Daily Advertiser, April 18, 1859.

³⁴ Baltimore Clipper, April 19, 1859.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, Annual Report of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930, Vol. 4, The Diary Of Edward Bates, pp. 11-12

Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Thursday, May 17, 1860

Warm day—The convention was occupied all day on credentials, rules and resolutions. The platform was adopted late in the afternoon, when we adjourned to meet at 10 AM tomorrow when we will proceed to nominate candidates [Leaf missing.] *My first choice for the Presidency was Mr Bates of Missouri, but under instructions our whole delegation voted for Mr Lincoln Many reasons influenced me to support Mr Bates, the chief of which, next to his eminent fitness, were to strengthen our organization in the South, and remove apprehension in the South of any hostile purpose on the part of Republicans to the institutions of the South—to restore fraternal regard among the different sections of the Union—to bring to our support the old whigs in the free states, who have not yet fraternized with us, and to give some check to the ultra tendencies of the Republican party. Mr Bates received 48 votes on the first ballot, and would probably have been nominated if the struggle had been prolonged¹

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¹ Browning's entries in his diary give a disappointing account of the work of the convention which nominated Lincoln, and of Browning's own work therein. Though he privately favored Bates, his influence for Lincoln, exerted according to instructions, seems to have been a factor of importance. Gustave Koerner, one of the Illinois delegates, has left an interesting account of the way in which the Illinois men worked to obtain support for Lincoln from the delegations of other states. The Bates forces were working hard to win over the Indiana and Pennsylvania delegations which were holding a meeting at the court house. Koerner states that he and Browning were "despatched to counteract the movement." Koerner urged Lincoln as a candidate far more likely to win the support of German Republicans than Bates. Browning, he said, spoke from the Whig standpoint, showing that Lincoln ought to satisfy the Whigs of Indiana and Pennsylvania, while his opposition to nativism ought to win for him the foreign vote. Koerner adds: "He [Browning] wound up with a most beautiful and eloquent eulogy on Lincoln, which electrified the meeting." After this the delegates held a secret session and it was later learned that Indiana would go for Lincoln at the start, while the Pennsylvanians would support him as a second choice. Memoirs of Gustave Koerner, 2: 87-89.

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, pp. 407-8

The passage of the tariff bill . . .

. . . though the House by republicans, is hailed with great enthusiasm in the iron districts of Pennsylvania. Meetings were held and salutes fired in various places on Saturday evening on the receipt of the news.

This may be regarded as a sure omen of the glorious triumph which awaits the republican banner in the Keystone state.

SOURCE: “The passage of the tariff bill,” Janesville Weekly Gazette, Janesville, Wisconsin, Wednesday, May 16, 1860, p. 2, col. 3.

The Winning Man—Abraham Lincoln.

In presenting ABRAHAM LINCOLN to the National Republican Convention, as a candidate for the Presidency, were are actuated not by our great love and esteem for the man, by any open or secret hostility to any other of the eminent gentlemen named for that high office, nor by a feeling of State pride or Western sectionalism, but by a profound and well matured conviction that his unexceptionable record, his position between the extremes of opinion in the party, his spotless character as a citizen and his acknowledge ability as a statesman, will, in the approaching canvass, give him an advantage before the people which no other candidate can claim. We are not disposed to deny that Mr. SEWARD, is the question of availability being set aside, the first choice of perhaps a majority of the rank and file of the party; that Gen. CAMERON has claims upon Pennsylvania which his friends will not willingly have overlooked; that the statesman like qualities, inflexible honesty and marked executive ability of SALMON P. CHASE entitle him to a high place in Republican esteem; that Mr. BATES’ pure life and noble aims justly command the confidence of troops of friends; that the chivalric WADE has extorted the admiration of the North and West; that FESSENDEN, for his gallant service but be gratefully remembers; and that JOHN McLEAN, whose life is without a stain and whose love of country has never been challenged, must be remembered as a strong and unexceptional man. But Illinois claims that Mr. LINCOLN, though without the ripe experience of SEWARD, the age and maturity of BATES and McLEAN, or the fire of FESSENDEN and WADE, has the rare and happy combination of qualities which, as a candidate, enables him to outrank either.

I. By his own motion, he is not a candidate. He has never sought, directly or indirectly, for the first or second place on the ticket. The movement in his favor is spontaneous. It has sprung up suddenly and with great strength, its roots being in the conviction that he is the man to reconcile all difference in our ranks, to conciliate all the now jarring elements, and to lead forward to certain victory. Having never entered into the field, he has put forth no personal effort for success, and he has never made, even by implication, a pledge of any sort by which his action, if he is President, will be influenced for any man, any measure, any policy. He will enter upon the contest with no clogs, no embarrassment; and this fact is a guaranty of a glorious triumph.

II. In all the fundamentals of Republicanism, he is radical up to the limit to which the party, with due respect for the rights of the South, proposes to go. But nature has given him that wise conservatism which has made his action and his expressed opinions so conform to the most mature sentiment of the country on the question of slavery, that no living man can put his finger on one of his speeches or any one of his public acts as a State legislator or as a member of Congress, to which valid objection can be raised. His avoidance of extremes has not been the result of ambition which measures words or regulates acts but the natural consequence of an equable nature and in mental constitution that is never off its balance. While no one doubts the strength of his attachments to the Republican cause, or doubts that he is a representative man, all who know him see that he occupies the happy mean between that alleged radicalism which binds the older Anti-Slavery men to Mr. Seward, and that conservatism which dictates the support of Judge Bates. Seward men, Bates men, Cameron men and Chase men can all accept him as their second choice, and be sure that in him they have the nearest approach to what they most admire in their respective favorites, which any possible compromise will enable them to obtain.

III. Mr. LINCOLN has no new record to make. Originally a Whig, though early a recruit of the great Republican party, he has nothing to explain for the satisfaction of New Jersey, Pennsylvania or the West. His opinions and votes on the Tariff will be acceptable to all sections except the extreme South, where Republicanism expects no support. Committed within proper limitations set up by economy and constitutional obligation to the improvement of rivers and harbors, to that most beneficent measure, the Homestead bill, and to the speedy construction of the Pacific Railroad, he need write no letters to soften down old asperities, growing out of these questions which must inevitably play their part in the canvas before us. He is all that Pennsylvania and the West have a right to demand.

IV. He is a Southern man by birth and education, who has never departed from the principles which he learned from the statesmen of the period in which he first saw the light. A Kentuckian, animated by the hopes that bring the Kentucky delegation here, a Western man, to whom sectionalism is unknown, he is that candidate around whom all opponents of the extension of Human Slavery, North and South, can rally.

V. Mr. LINCOLN is a man of the people. For his position, he is not indebted to family influence, the partiality of friends or the arts of the politician. All his early life a laborer in the field, in the saw-mill, as a boatman on the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi, as a farmer in Illinois, he has that sympathy with the men who toil and vote that will make him strong. Later a valiant soldier in the Black Hawk war, a student in a law office, bonding his great powers to overcome the defects of early training; then a legislator, and at last a brilliant advocate, in the highest courts, and a popular leader in the great movement of the age, there is enough of romance and poetry in life to fill all the land with shouting and song. Honest Old Abe! Himself an outgrowth of free institutions, he would die in the effort to preserve to others, unimpaired, the inestimable blessings by which he has been made a man.

VI. Without a stain of Know-Nothingism on his skirts, he is acceptable to the mass of the American party who, this year, will be compelled to choose between the candidate of Chicago and the nominee of Baltimore. The experience of two years has proved their error and his wisdom. They want the chance to retrieve the blunders of the past. Endeared by his manly defence of the principles of the Declaration of Independence to the citizen of foreign birth, he could command the warm support of every one of them from whom, in any contingency, a Republican vote can be expected.

VII. Mr. LINCOLN is an honest man. We know that the adage “Praise overmuch is censure in disguise” is true; and we know, too, that it is the disgrace of the age that in the popular mind, politics and chicane, office and faithlessness go hand in hand. We run great risk then in saying of Mr. Lincoln what truth inexorably demands,—that in his life of 51 years, there is no act of a public or private character, of which his most malignant enemy can say “this is dishonest,” “this is mean.” With his record, partizanship [sic] has done its worst and the result we have stated. His escutcheon is without a blemish.

VIII. After saying so much, we need not add that Mr. LINCOLN can be elected, if placed before the people with the approbation of the Convention to meet tomorrow. In New England, where Republicanism pure and simple is demanded, and where he has lately electrified the people by his eloquence, his name would be a tower of strength. New York who clings with an ardent embrace to that great statesman, her first choice, would not refuse to adopt Mr. LINCOLN as a standard bearer worthy of the holy cause. Pennsylvania, satisfied with his views in regard to the present necessity of fostering domestic interests, and the constitutional moderation of his opinions upon slavery, would come heartily into his support.

The West is the child of the East, and aside from her local pride in one of the noblest of her sons, she would not fail by her plaudits to exalt and intensify the enthusiasm which the nomination of Honest Old Abe would be sure to excite. The West has no rivalry with the East except in the patriotic endeavor to do the most for the Republican cause. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin desire no triumph in which the East does not share—no victory over which the East may not honestly exult. In a contest for Lincoln, they will fight with zeal and hope that has never before animated the Republican hosts.

We present our candidate, then, not as the rival of this man or that, not because the West has claims which she must urge; not because of a distinctive policy which she would see enforced; not because he is the first choice of a majority; but because he is that honest man, that representative Republican, that people’s candidate, whose life, position, record, are so many guarantys [sic] of success—because he is that patriot in whose hands the interests of the government may be safely confided. Nominated, he would, we believe, be triumphantly elected; but if another, in the wisdom of the Convention, is preferred we can pledge him to labor, as an honest and effective as any that he ever done for himself, for the man of the Convention’s choice.

SOURCE: “President Making,” The Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Tuesday, May 15, 1860, p. 2, col. 1-2

That German Convention.

The German Convention, about which there has been some unnecessary fume, in view of the fact that it was to be held at the same time and place with the National Republican Convention, met in a quiet room yesterday morning, and after a short consultation voted that there was no business before the meeting and adjourned. It was attended by less than a dozen persons, and these were quite agreed that the Massachusetts Amendment (concerning which the convention was first mooted) was a defunct issue so far as the Republican party is concerned.

SOURCE: “That German Convention,” The Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Tuesday, May 15, 1860, p. 1, col. 1

Seward vs. Douglas.

Editors Press and Tribune:

The Nomination of Mr. Seward will necessitate the nomination of Mr. Douglas at Baltimore. If Mr. Seward is placed on the track, the Slaveholders will postpone their quarrel with the Northern Democracy until after the November election, when it will again be renewed, until doughfaces succumb. There is no future event more sure than the nomination of Douglas, and his receiving the united support of the Democratic party, if our convention takes Mr. Seward. The nomination of the latter will draw the broken Democracy together with an adhesion stronger than Spaulding’s glue. And it is also certain that Mr. Bell will draw off a great many of the old Fillmore supporters whose foolish predjudices picture Mr. Seward as an ultra Abolitionist, and Northern fire-eater. Yet I have such confidence in the force and strength of Republican principles, that I firmly believe Mr. Seward can be triumphantly elected over Douglas, notwithstanding the union of the Democracy and the desertion to Bell. I hail from a State where we know no fear, no such thing as defeat. Give us Mr. S. and victory will perch on our banners

MICHIGAN.

Chicago, May 14, 1860.

SOURCE: “Seward vs. Douglas,” The Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Tuesday, May 15, 1860, p. 1, col. 1

Diary of George Templeton Strong: February 10, 1860

Opera tonight with Ellie and Mrs. Georgey Peters and her papa; Der Freischutz in an Italian version. The Germanism of that opera is so intense that any translation of its text is an injustice to Weber’s memory, but its noble music can afford to be heard under disadvantages. Max was Stigelli, and very good. Agatha (Colson) was respectable. She knew how her music ought to be sung and tried hard, but had not the vigor it demands. Caspar (Junca) was pretty bad.

Query: if there ever existed a Caspar who could sing “Hier in diesem Jammerthal” as it ought to be sung, or an Agatha who could do justice to the glorious allegro that follows her “leise, leise, fromme Weise”? I enjoyed the evening, also Wednesday evening, when we had Charley Strong and wife in “our box’’ and heard The Barber, delightfully rendered. Little Patti made a most brilliant Rosina and sang a couple of English songs in the “Music Lesson’’ scene, one of them (“Coming through the Rye’’) simply and with much archness and expression. This little debutante is like to have a great career and to create a furor in Paris and St. Petersburg within five years. . . .

Last night I attended W. Curtis Noyes’s first lecture before the Law School of Columbia College.⁵ It was carefully prepared, and (to my great relief) honored by an amply sufficient audience. The lecture room was densely filled, and Oscanyan told me sixty or seventy were turned away. We may have to resort to the Historical Society lecture room (in Second Avenue).

There is much less talking of politics now that a Speaker is elected.

I think a cohesive feeling of nationality and Unionism gains strength silently both North and South, and that the Republican party has lost and is daily losing many of the moderate men who were forced into it four years ago by the Kansas outrages and the assault on Sumner. If the South would spare us its brag and its bad rhetoric, it would paralyze any Northern free-soil party in three weeks. But while Toombs speechifies and Governor Wise writes letters, it’s hard for any Northern man to keep himself from Abolitionism and refrain from buying a photograph of John Brown.

Southern chivalry is a most curious and instructive instance of the perversion of a word from its original meaning; lucus a non lucendo seems a plausible derivation when one hears that word applied to usages and habits of thought and action so precisely contrary to all it expressed some five hundred years ago. Chivalry in Virginia and Georgia means violence to one man by a mob of fifty calling itself a Vigilance Committee, ordering a Yankee school mistress out of the state because she is heterodox about slavery, shooting a wounded prisoner, assailing a non-combatant like Sumner with a big bludgeon and beating him nearly to death. Froissart would have recognized the Flemish boor or the mechanic of Ghent in such doings. Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot in the Morte d’Arthur would have called them base, felon, dishonorable, shameful, and foul.

Burke announced sixty years ago that "the age of chivalry” was gone, and "that of calculators and economists had succeeded it.” Their period has likewise passed away now, south of the Potomac, and has been followed by a truculent mob despotism that sustains itself by a system of the meanest eavesdropping and espionage and of utter disregard of the rights of those who have not the physical power to defend themselves against overwhelming odds, that shoots or hangs its enemy or rides him on a rail when it is one hundred men against one and lets him alone when evenly matched, and is utterly without mercy for the weak or generosity for the vanquished. This course of practice must be expected of any mere mob when rampant and frightened, but the absurdity is that they call it “chivalry.” There was something truly chivalric in old John Brown’s march with his handful of followers into the enemy’s country to redeem and save those he held to be unjustly enslaved at peril of his own life. For that enterprise he was hanged, justly and lawfully, but there was in it an element of chivalry, genuine though mistaken, and criminal because mistaken, that is nat to be found in the performances of these valiant vigilance committeemen.

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⁵ William Curtis Noyes (1805—1864), one of the foremost New York lawyers, and owner of a magnificent law library, had distinguished himself in numerous cases; notably in the prosecution of the Wall Street forger Huntington, and in protecting the New Haven Railroad stockholders from the consequences of Schuyler’s embezzlement.

SOURCE: Allan Nevins and Milton Halset Thomas, Editors, Diary of George Templeton Strong, Vol. 3, p. 7-9

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, June 5, 1866

At the Cabinet-meeting an hour or more was wasted in discussing a claim of Madame Bertinatti, a piece of favoritism in which the President has been imposed upon by Seward and Stanton. It seemed to me that it was brought forward and talked over for the express purpose of excluding more important subjects. There is in the Cabinet not that candor and free interchange of opinions on the great questions before the country that there should be. Minor matters are talked over, often at great length.

As McCulloch and myself came away, we spoke of this unpleasant state of things, and we came to the conclusion that we would, as a matter of duty, communicate with the President on this subject of want of frankness and freedom in the Cabinet, also in regard to his general policy and the condition of public affairs. The great mistake, I think, is in attempting to keep up the Republican organization at the expense of the President. It is that organization which the conspirators are using to destroy the Executive.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 522

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, June 8, 1866

But little of importance at the Cabinet. I had some conversation with the President after adjournment, and in the evening McCulloch and myself called upon him by appointment. Our conversation was frank, extending more than an hour. We all concurred that it was not possible to go on much longer with a view of preserving the integrity of the Republican Party, for the Radicals are using the organization to injure the President. There is direct antagonism between the leaders who control Congress and the Administration. The Democrats in Congress are more in harmony with the Administration than are the Radicals;— then why repel the Democrats and favor the Radicals?

We McCulloch and myself spoke of the want of cordial and free intercourse among the members of the Cabinet, that important questions touching differences in the Republican Party were never discussed at our meetings, that it was obvious we did not concur in opinion, and, therefore, the really important topics were avoided. The President admitted and lamented this, as he has done to me repeatedly. He expressed his surprise that Harlan and Speed should, with these understood views, desire to remain. I asked if there were not others among us as objectionable and more harmful. McCulloch said he could not believe Seward was faithless, that he fully agreed with him whenever they had conversed. I admitted the same as regarded Seward and myself, still there were some things I could not reconcile. He is not treacherous to the President, but is under the influence of Stanton and acts with him. His intimates, as well as Stanton's, in Congress, voted steadily with the Radicals; his speech at Auburn was a whistle for the Republicans to keep united and repelled Democrats. The President was reluctant to give up Seward, whose equivocal course is characteristic, but evidently had some doubts as to his sincerity and ulterior purpose. He suggested that Seward should be called in to a conference and come to an explicit understanding. This we all concurred in, though I remarked we should have fair words and no decisive action. But it was left to the President to invite a meeting.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 524-5

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, June 15, 1866

Nothing special at Cabinet. On Tuesday Seward submitted a correspondence between Schenck and Romero, the Mexican Minister. It was a very improper proceeding, and R. evidently thought it wrong in giving a copy to the Secretary of State. Seward mentioned it as of little moment, — a sort of irregularity. Stanton said there was nothing wrong so far as Schenck was concerned, but that it was a questionable proceeding on the part of Romero. I declared my entire disapproval of the whole transaction and that it was one of the many indications of ignoring and crowding on the Executive.

The others were silent, but, after a little earnest talk, Seward said he would give the subject further consideration. To-day he brought forward the correspondence with an indorsement disapproving it and said he should communicate it to Romero.

Senator Doolittle took breakfast with me this morning. We went over the political questions and discussed what had best be done. Both were satisfied that the time had arrived when the Administration must take a stand. The game of the Radicals and of certain conspicuously professed friends of the President, that the Republican Party must be sustained and kept united at any sacrifice, even the surrender of the Constitution in some of its important features, and to the jeopardy of the Union itself, must be checked, and the opposition to any such policy made clearly manifest. We called on the President and made known our opinions. He concurred and thought a prompt call for a national convention of friends of the Union should be issued. Doolittle agreed to undertake to draw up such a call, but desired that I would also place on paper my views. He proposed that the call should be signed by the members of the Cabinet, or such of them as approved the measure. I told them that I, personally, had no objection, but I questioned its propriety and effect.

McCulloch, with whom I had a brief interview after Cabinet-meeting, told me that the elder Blair was preparing the call. I saw Judge Blair this evening and found him much engaged, yet not altogether satisfied. He expresses apprehension that Seward has control of the President and has so interwoven himself into the mind and course of the President as not to be shaken off, and if so that the Democrats must go forward independent of both President and Congress. Says the Democratic leaders, many of whom he has seen, such as Dean Richmond, Dawson, and others, say they will go in under the President's lead provided he will rid himself of Seward, but they have no confidence in him, would rather give up Johnson than retain Seward. Governor Andrew of Massachusetts takes a similar view. B. says his father has had a talk with the President; that he himself has written him fully; that he advised the President not to dismiss Harlan unless Seward also went; that the President expressed doubts whether the Senate would confirm two Cabinet officers; that he was told there would be no difficulty; if there were, he would let the assistants carry on the Departments, and assign General Grant ad interim to the War; that Grant had been consulted and assented to the arrangement.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 527-9

Jno. A. Green, Jr. to Major-General Henry W. Slocum, August 22, 1865

SYRACUSE, N. Y., August 22, 1865.

Strictly confidential.

MY DEAR SIR:

The political campaign is about opening, and from present appearances promises many curious combinations. I have just returned from a meeting of our Democratic State Committee at Albany, which called a State Convention for the nomination of State officers to meet on September sixth.

Now to the point. I am authorized by our leading politicians to offer you the place of Secretary of State on our ticket; or if the duties of this are too active for you, to ask you to accept that of Treasurer, where the duties are less active and require but little of your time. We would, however, prefer you to head the ticket.

Mr. Robinson, the present Comptroller, elected by the Republicans two years ago, desires a renomination from us, and he will in all probability get it. Martin Grover, elected by the Republicans to the Supreme Court bench, will be one of our nominees for the Court of Appeals. I mention these facts in order that you may get some idea of the drift affairs are taking.

There is not much doubt in the minds of good politicians but that we shall carry the State this fall. We intend to endorse President Johnson's administration with regard to his treatment of the Southern States, and while we shall endorse it quite generally, we shall avoid finding fault with it upon any question—believing that in a very short time the President's policy will conform to what is desired by the Democratic party. I am also warranted in saying that if you accept our nomination for Secretary of State, the pleasantest office on the ticket, and should be elected, you can have the nomination for Governor next year. The present would be but a stepping stone to the other. Understand me, this offer is not made by any particular interest or clique in the party, but would be given to you unanimously in the Convention. Dean Richmond knows of my writing this, and I shall expect with your permission to show him your reply. You will notice that I have written you very frankly; my acquaintance with you warrants me in doing so.

Regarding you more of a soldier than politician, you will pardon me when I express my belief that everything now indicates the speedy dissolution of the Republican party and the return of the Democracy to power-a result which just laws, equal taxation, and the best interests of the country imperatively demand. You will of course consider my letter as entirely confidential, and favor me with an immediate reply.

Yours very truly,

JNO. A. GREEN, JR.

To Maj. Genl. H. W. SLOCUM.

SOURCE: New York (State). Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga, In Memoriam: Henry Warner Slocum, 1826-1894, p. 104

Isaac E. Holmes to Senator Andrew P. Butler,* March 17, 1856

CHARLESTON, [S. C.], 17th March, 1856.

MY DEAR BUTLER: I have rec[eive]d y[ou]r letter and speech. The best speech you have made and y[ou]r notice of Atchinson was admirable. I shall write a notice of the speech and y[ou]r remarks upon Atchinson, whose devotion to the Southern cause is above all praise. The South are not awake, and my own opinion is very decidedly, that the North will carry their point. I have looked for the success of the Emancipation Party ever since I was in Congress, and believe that henceforth the Battle will always be in their favour. The hostility of Rhett to you, flashes out in the Mercury on every occasion, and even y[ou]r remarks in a letter upon the Convention draws down his ire. A man is a Prophet save in his own Country, and whilst you are acquiring a fame and influence wide as the Union, efforts are making to dwarf you in the State of y[ou]r Nativity. You may look down with scorn upon their efforts, few men have firmer friends in So[uth] Carolina than yourself. The next Presidential contest will be severe. My opinion is that the election will fall upon The House. Events will transpire before this Session closes to bring forth more decided manifestations of the management of Seward and it will require all the Tact, and Knowledge of under-currents, on the part of our friend Hunter to counteract his inclinations. I know little of what is passing in the City, my time is devoted to Mrs. Holmes and my books and the study of philosophy of which I stand in great need. I have read more in one year than I have done in ten previous ones, but I have to submit to fate. I often think of the Mrs. and the happy days spent with you all. You know that I am a great admirer of Hunter who I believe has more wisdom than falls to the Lot of even distinguished Persons, and I regard Mason as a man of sound sense, and an accomplished Gentleman. Atchinson must be missed by you, but he is well employed at home. We are in a revolution of which he is the Master Spirit and in the event of conflict, I doubt not will distinguish himself as the Champion of the South.

Walker at Nicaragua will shortly settle the question of the Musquitoe Kingdom, and it may well be left to him to battle with England who will assuredly crush him, and his great Army, whilst they will embrace the opportunity of settling the vexed question of the Protectorate, with Nicaragua and leave us free to disentangle ourselves of the Monroe Doctrine. Depend upon it, France and Britain will unite in any efforts necessary to keep the United States from possessing the South American States and thus bringing them, as portions of Mexico, already are brought under the influence of our Domestic Commerce. Suppose the Philobusteurs were to take Mexico, Central America, and the other American States South of the Isthmus. They would annex them as Texas was to this Confederacy, and thus the entire commerce of America with New York would be in our hands to the exclusion of Foreign shipping. The first cause which led to the Revolution of the Spanish American provinces, was the jealousy of G[reat] Britain at this very exclusive trade between Spain and her possessions. Miranda's, agent [of] Mexico, expedition was sustain[e]d by England, and it was her apprehension of this evil of exclusive Commerce which incited Mr. Canning to give us notice of the designs of the Holy Alliance to restore the Colonies to Spain, and which led to the Monroe Doctrine. I confess, I dreaded at one time the result of the difficulties about Nicaragua. A War with G[reat] Britain w[oul]d ruin the Southern States, but enough, regard to the Mrs.

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* Andrew Pickens Butler, a Senator in Congress from South Carolina, 1846-1857.

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 182-3

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, May 14, 1866

Mr. Smythe, Collector in New York, called at my house yesterday with Senator Doolittle, and both were much interested in the election of Senator in Connecticut. I remarked to them that the subject had been greatly mismanaged, and I doubted, knowing the men and their management, or mismanagement, whether anything could now be done; that Foster and his friends had been sanguine and full of confidence, — so much so that they had taken no precautionary measures, and he and his friends could not, in good faith, make farther move for him, and yet they would do nothing for any one else.

Mr. Smythe said that from information which he had there was no doubt that Ferry would be defeated and a true man elected. There were, he said, three candidates spoken of, myself, Foster, and Cleveland; that they could do better with me than with either, Foster next, and Cleveland last.

I repeated that I could not well see how Foster could now be taken up, and yet so intense were he and his friends that they would engage for no others. Smythe said he would leave this evening and would go on to-morrow to New Haven, confident he could do something.

But all will be labor lost. I have little doubt that if the matter were taken up sensibly the election of a true man could be secured. But Babcock, Sperry, Starkweather, and others, who had managed things at New Haven, would interest themselves for no one but Foster, while his chances are the worst after what has been done, and to now be a candidate would be dishonorable.

The Democrats, who would securely control this, would probably unite on me sooner than any one named, but the Republican friends of Johnson have been manipulated by Foster's friends and taught to stand by their party until they have no independence or strength. The weak and simple conduct of Babcock and the Republican Johnson men, is disgusting. They have resolved and re-resolved that they will not divide the Republican Party. Consequently they must go with it in all its wrongdoing and mischief, because the Radicals, being a majority, will control what is called the Republican Party. This is the light, frivolous training and results of Connecticut Whiggery. While preferring to be Johnson men and to support the Administration, they are aiding the election of a Radical, anti-Johnson, anti-Administration man to the Senate, — all, as they claim, to preserve the party, but certainly without regard as to consistency or principle.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 507-8

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, April 30, 1866

The Central Directory, or Stevens's Reconstruction Committee, have submitted their plan of Reconstruction, which means division for four years longer at least. The papers of the day contain this extraordinary programme, which is an outrage, and yet is said to have had the approval of all the Republican members of that extraordinary committee. It makes me sad to see men in trusted and responsible positions so devoted to party, so trained and subservient to faction as to trifle with the welfare of a great nation. No one can read the propositions submitted without seeing that the whole scheme is one for party ascendancy. The result will be, after a struggle, perhaps of years, the ultimate overwhelming and disgraceful defeat of the authors and their party.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 494