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.
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
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
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
SOURCE: “Seward vs.
Douglas,” The Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Tuesday, May
15, 1860, p. 1, col. 1
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
SOURCE: New York
(State). Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and
Chattanooga, In Memoriam: Henry Warner
Slocum, 1826-1894, p. 104
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.
* 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
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
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
MANSFIELD, OHIO,
Aug. 4, 1872.
Dear Brother: . . .
Just now all interest is centred upon the Presidential election. As you say,
the Republicans are running a Democrat, and the Democrats a Republican. And
there is not an essential difference in the platform of principle. The chief
interest I feel in the canvass is the preservation of the Republican party,
which I think essential to secure the fair enforcement of the results of the
war. General Grant has so managed matters as to gain the very bitter and active
hostility of many of the leading Republicans, and the personal indifference of
most of the residue. He will, however, be fairly supported by the great mass of
the Republicans, and I still hope and believe will be elected. The defections
among Republicans will be made up by Democrats, who will not vote for Greeley.
The whole canvass is
so extraordinary, that no result can be anticipated. You will notice that Sumner,
Thurman, Banks, and others are for Greeley, who is probably the most unfit man
for President, except Train, that has ever been mentioned. I intend to support
Grant fairly and fully, as best for the country and Republican party.
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 338-9
* * * * * * * * * *
He1 will be nominated and I hope elected. So shall I; and it is better for the country that, in our relative positions, we are independent of each other. I hope you and he will preserve your ancient cordiality; for though he seems willing to strip your office of its power, yet I have no doubt he feels as warm an attachment for you as, from his temperament, he can to any one. You have been forbearing with him, but lose nothing by it. I have seen nothing in the course of the Republican party unfriendly to you. I know you have hosts of friends. in our party who would resent any marked injustice to you. . . .
1 Grant
SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 332-3
Myers of Philadelphia had a long conversation with me in regard to the "admission" of Tennessee. I told him, as I have others, that Tennessee had been admitted more than seventy years ago. Well, he said, he did not mean admission, but to permit her to send Representatives. I told him he did mean admission and nothing else, and that permission to send Representatives was quite as offensive as his first position. The Constitution secured her that right when the State was admitted and made part of the Union, and Congress could neither deprive nor grant her the privilege of representation. Much more of like tendency passed between us—pleasantly. He expects to make a speech on the subject.
Governor Dennison called this evening to see whether he, McCulloch, and myself had not best consult with the President in regard to the welfare of the Republican Party and endeavor to bring about a reconciliation with the factious majority in Congress. I told him I could see no benefit that would result from such an effort; that the President's policy was well defined; that when Congress assembled, the Members well understood that policy, and that they, the Radicals, had promptly organized to oppose and defeat it; that this hostility or antagonism had gone forward for three months, Congress doing nothing, accomplishing nothing towards a restoration of the Union, but on the contrary had devoted its time and energies to prevent it. What, I asked him, could the President do under these circumstances? He cannot abandon his honest, rightful convictions, and to approach or attempt to approach these Radical leaders in their present state of mind would be misconstrued and retard rather than promote the work. The Republican Party had evidently about accomplished its mission. Slavery was abolished and the Rebellion suppressed. Perhaps it would result beneficially to take a new departure. He appeared to acquiesce in my suggestions.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 446-7
* * * * * * * * * *
I am in possession of all the news up to date, the passage of the impeachment, resolution, etc., but I yet don't know if the nomination of T. Ewing, Senior, was a real thing or meant to compromise a difficulty.
The publication of my short note of January 18th, is nothing to me. I have the original draft which I sent through Grant's hands, with his endorsement back to At the time this note must have been given to the reporter, the President had an elaborate letter from me, in which I discussed the whole case, and advised against the very course he has pursued, but I don't want that letter or any other to be drawn out to complicate a case already bad enough.
You may always safely represent me by saying that I will not make up a final opinion till called on to act, and I want nothing to do with these controversies until the time comes for the actual fight, which I hope to God may be avoided. If the Democratic party intend to fight on this impeachment, which I believe they do not, you may count 200,000 men against you in the South. The negroes are no match for them. On this question, the whites there will be more united than on the old issue of Union and Secession. I do not think the President should be suspended during trial, and if possible, the Republican party should not vote on all side questions as a unit. They should act as judges, and not as partisans. The vote in the House, being a strictly party vote, looks bad, for it augurs a prejudiced jury. Those who adhere closest to the law in this crisis are the best patriots. Whilst the floating politicians here share the excitement at Washington, the people generally manifest little interest in the game going on at Washington. . . .
SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 312-3
Dear Brother: Your letter of the 25th is received. I need not say to you that the new events transpiring here are narrowly watched by me. So far as I am concerned, I mean to give Johnson a fair and impartial trial, and to decide nothing until required to do so, and after full argument. I regard him as a foolish and stubborn man, doing even right things in a wrong way, and in a position where the evil that he does is immensely increased by his manner of doing it. He clearly designed to have first Grant, and then you, involved in Lorenzo Thomas' position, and in this he is actuated by his recent revolt against Stanton. How easy it would have been, if he
had followed your advice, to have made Stanton anxious to resign, or what is worse, to have made his position ridiculous. By his infernal folly we are drifting into turbulent waters. The only way is to keep cool and act conscientiously. I congratulate you on your lucky extrication. I do not anticipate civil war, for our proceeding is unquestionably lawful, and if the judgment is against the President, his term is just as clearly out as if the 4th of March, 1869, was come. The result, if he is convicted, would cast the undivided responsibility of reconstruction upon the Republican party, and would unquestionably secure the full admission of all the States by July next, and avoid the dangerous questions that may otherwise arise out of the Southern vote in the Presidential election. It is now clear that Grant will be a candidate, and his election seems quite as clear. The action of North Carolina removed the last doubt of his nomination.
EXETER, SEPT. 28,
1853.
We deem it advisable
to hold an informal meeting composed of some of the principal members of the
parties at this place on the 12th of October (Wednesday), at Major Blake's
Hotel. One of the principal objects of this informal meeting is to fix on a
plan of harmonizing the different party organizations, whereby a more united co-operation
can be secured, and the four parties may pull together under one title of
organization. Hale, McFarland and Fogg will be present. We shall expect you and
Currier, of Auburn, to be present.
VILLA MARGARET, Sept. 14, 1860.
MY DEAR ROBERT: I see the election is gone in Maine, although Douglas confidently calculated on carrying the State. Such were his declarations here. You say nothing to me as to Pennsylvania. Can you hold out any hope in regard to it? I am almost in despair as to results, and deeply meditate the future. The Marylanders have struck upon the right key in nominating Chief-Justice Taney and Nelson. I fear that they move too late. My hope is that many here will come to their reason before it be too late; but it seems to me certain that Lincoln is to be elected, in despite of all combinations. How stand things in New Jersey? The increase of the Republican vote in Maine augurs an increase all through the free States.
What does Seward mean by originating a war on the army and navy? Does he design to hold out inducements to the wide-awakes? In his strategemic game, does he mean to open to the ambition of his organized bands generalships, colonelships, etc., etc., and the $25,000,000 now bestowed on the army and navy; and thus with his train-bands have his will supreme in the execution of his movements on the Constitution and the South? I suspect the man at every step and in every movement. A more arch and wily conspirator does not live. I can understand why, if the army or navy be too large, they should be reduced; but how to get on without them entirely I cannot understand. Or how the militia could be called on to do duty in fortifications and the Indian frontier, or how to collect a revenue, or claim the respect of the world without regular seamen, officers, and men, I cannot understand. If he makes the move, depend upon it he seeks only to further his ambitious schemes. Do write to me your opinion relative to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
All send love.MANSFIELD, OHIO,
Aug. 9, 1867.
Dear Brother: . . . It
is now becoming extremely important to know precisely what Grant wants in
connection with the Presidency. If he has really made up his mind that he would
like to hold that office, he can have it. Popular opinion is all in his favor.
His position is the rare one of having that office within his easy reach, and
yet it is clear that his interest is against his acceptance. The moment he is
nominated, he at once becomes the victim of abuse; and even his great services
will not shield him. Our politics for years will be a maelstrom, destroying and
building up reputations with rapidity. My conviction is clear that Grant ought
not to change his present position to that of President; and if he declines,
then by all odds Chase is the safest man for the country. He is wise, politic,
and safe. Our finances, the public credit, and the general interests of all
parts of the country will be safe with him. His opinions are advanced on the
suffrage question, but this waived, he would be a most conservative President.
He is not a partisan, scarcely enough so for his own interests; still, if Grant
wishes to be President, all other candidates will have to stand aside. I see
nothing in his way unless he is foolish enough to connect his future with the
Democratic party. This party cannot dictate the next President. They would
deaden any man they praise. Even Grant could not overcome any fellowship with
them. If they should take a wise course on future political questions, their
course during the war will bar their way. You may not think so, but I know it.
The strength is with the Republicans. Not of the Butler stripe, but with just
that kind of men who would be satisfied with the position of Grant. The
suffrage and reconstruction questions will be settled before the election, and
in such a way as to secure the Republican party an even chance in every
Southern State except Kentucky. . . .
I agree with you
that Indian wars will not cease until all the Indian tribes are absorbed in our
population, and can be controlled by constables instead of soldiers.
I mean to remain as
quiet as possible this fall. I am not now in high favor with the Radicals, and
can afford to wait awhile. The election in Ohio will go as usual. The suffrage
amendment will be adopted by a close vote, and that will settle forever the
negro question in Ohio. A reaction and struggle may occur in the South, but no
change will occur in the loyal States until they decide on financial questions.
This is inevitable after the next election..
