Men and Measures of half a century: sketches and comments

Preface

. IN the following pages, which, when I began to write, were intended only for my family and personal friends, I have spoken of men and things as they came to mind, without regard to order or consecutiveness. Many of the men were known only in limited circles, but they were well known there, and the impressions which they made upon me have not been effaced nor weakened by intervening years. Of some prominent persons I have spoken with great freedom, but neither as eulogist nor critic. Their historic deeds form impor tant chapters in the national history, and what I have said about them, if it is not now, .will, I think, ere long, be in accord with the sentiment of a large majority of their countrymen. Our civil war was the result of the differences between the free and the slave-holding States in their social and civil institutions.

Long before the Avar it had become apparent to thoughtful men in all parts of the country that these differences were irreconcilable ; that the national unity could not be preserved unless slavery were nationalized or uprooted. That it could not be nationalized was certain ; that it could not be uprooted by any constitutional exercise of Federal power was

PREFACE.

. VIII also certain. At the same time there was a radical difference of opinion between the citizens of the free and the citizens of the slave-holding States in regard to the character of the Government. In the free States the prevailing opinion was that the Government was formed " by the people, and for the people ; " that by the Con stitution the States were bound together in a union that could not be severed except by a revolution, or by a change in this organic law in accordance with its pro visions. In the slave-holding States the prevailing < >pinion was, that the Government was a league between sovereign States, which had united for certain govern mental purposes, and that their sovereignty, which had been conditionally relinquished, might be resumed by them, or by any of them, whenever, in their judgment, their interests required it.

I have not, therefore, spoken of the civil war on the part of the Southern States as treasonable, nor of those who were on that side engaged in it, as having been traitors. Open rebellion is attempted revolution — not treason. Successful rebellion against real, or even supposed, oppression is always and everywhere honored ; it does not become treason by unsuccess. If the colonies had not achieved their independence (and they would not when they did, even with France as an ally, if the mother country had not had plenty of work nearer home), they would not have been guilty of treason. Treason is committed by individuals, not by uprising communities. Whatever one may think of the folly or the wicked-

PREFACE.

. IX ness of those who precipitated the war, one cannot help feeling that it was, after all that may be said about it, a necessity ; nor can one help admiring the spirit and con stancy which were displayed by the Southern people in prosecuting it. By no people under the sun were they excelled in bravery, and in devotion to what they con sidered their rights ; by none were they ever equalled in the steadfast cheerfulness with which they endured protracted hardships and deprivations. I may go further : No people defeated in a cause which they had at heart ever behaved better than they did when the war was over. One hardly knows which most to admire, the good temper with which the most 'of them accepted their situation, humiliating as it was. or the magnanim ity of the Government in the exercise of its authority.

Costly as the war was, the country, and the whole coun try, was immensely the gainer by it. It put an end to slavery — the apple of discord between the sections. It cemented the Union with the blood of its enemies as well as with that of its friends. It ended in the mut ual respect of those who were actively engaged in it. There was no exultation on the part of the victors, no feeling of degradation on the part of the vanquished. The bad spirit afterwards engendered was the work of those whose faces had not been seen upon the battle field. Of the prominent and meritorious Union soldiers, I call to mind but one who seemed desirous of keeping alive the animosities of the war. I have said something about the tariff, because it is

PREFACE.

. X a subject that has always been interesting to me, and because it involves questions of the highest importance to the country. The United States is far in the lead of all nations in the enterprises, the industry, and versatile intelligence of the major part of its population ; with coal and iron in close proximity, and in inexhaustible supply ; with the finest and most extensive cotton-fields in the world ; with fertile lands enough for the homes of hundreds of millions of people ; with manufactories of almost all descriptions well established and skilfully managed ; with unequalled commercial facilities, and with abundant capital and cheap money. That such a country should need protection in its home markets against the competition of nations thousands of miles distant to a greater extent than would be afforded by a revenue tariff, is a conclusion that I have been unable to reach, strong as has been, and is, my attachment to the partyof whose economical — perhaps I ought to say political — policy, protection is the corner stone.

On the contrary, my conclusion has been, that what was needed by our manufacturers (to say nothing about our farmers, whose wants are becoming painfully pressing), and will become more and more needed as their produc tive power increases — was, wider markets for their manufactured goods ; — the very markets of which thev have, to a large extent, been deprived by the measures that have been thought necessary to secure for them the control of the markets at home. Inactive as most of our mills are (very few are being worked up to their

PREFACE.

. XI full capacity), there is still overproduction, and manu facturers are combining to limit supplies and maintain high prices at the cost of consumers. Combinations for these purposes are the necessary outgrowth of our pro tective tariff, and they will exist until import duties are levied for revenue only, and as largely as may be practicable upon luxuries. In our zeal to sustain home industry we have overlooked the importance of foreign markets, which cannot be open to us as long as we sub ject their productions to very high duties. Of the immense South American trade, which we ought to control, and should now control if wisdom had prevailed in our national councils, very little is left to us except that with Brazil, and that would be carried on with much difficulty if the European demand for our cereals and cotton should be seriously reduced.

We buy of Brazil chiefly coffee, to the amount in round numbers of fifty millions of dollars, and sell to her chiefly lumber and flour to the amount of ten millions. The resulting balance we pay by what we send to Europe, the larger part of which goes to England, against which country our protective tariff is mainly aimed. Our trade with China and Japan is of the same one-sided character, and we continue the trade with these nations, one-sided as it is, because tea and coffee are articles which we must have and cannot produce. It is to England, which takes our wheat and flour and cotton and other articles free from duties, that we are very largely indebted for the means to pay the balances

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. XII due to the countries I have named, and to other coun tries in our unequal trade with them. England buys our breadstuff's because she cannot produce what she needs, and she will continue to buy as long as she can buy of us cheaper than she can buy of Russia, and no longer. As long as we maintain a tariff to protect our own manufacturers, we can have no reliable interest in inter-' national trade. Those who expect that our lost South American trade can be recovered, or that profitable trade with other nations can be established, as long as we maintain a tariff which is, against many important articles, substantially prohibitory, are expecting what will never be realized. The British manufacturers would be glad if they could have free trade with the United States, not because they can make goods at less cost than they can be made by United States manufacturers, but because they are willing to work at less profit.

This free trade they know they cannot have, because they know that the United States Government is to be mainly supported, as it always has been, by import duties. They would be quite content if they were sure that our protective laws would be continued, so that they would never have to meet the competition of United States manufacturers in the markets which they now substantially control. That the reduction of duties to the revenue standard would affect injuriously mechanical and manufacturing labor in the United States, is not believed by many who have carefully and disinterestedly considered the

PREFACE.

. XIII subject. High duties are prejudicial to the laboring classes, by increasing the cost of goods with which they must be supplied. Wages are now higher in the United States than in other countries, but so is the expense of living. Steady employment is becoming as uncertain in the United States as in Europe, and strikes are more frequent and persistent here than in any other country. There has never been so much discontent among manufacturing laborers in the United States as there is now, when Protection, in the opinion of its friends, is doing its perfect work ; when the duties on many articles are equal to the cost of the labor in producing similar articles by our own manufacturers. Wages depend upon demand and supply, and they will steadily decline in the United States in consequence of the foreign immigration.

Humane considerations are not apt to influence the action of business men. There is free trade in labor, and our manufacturers will employ, if they do not import, cheap laborers from the other side of the Atlantic, until wages approach pretty near to the European standard. The outlook for laborers in the manufacturing districts of the United States, if no check is put upon immigration, and no new markets are opened for our manufactured goods, is the reverse of encouraging. With due respect for the opinions of protectionists, I cannot see how the country can continue to be highly prosperous, and peace and order can be maintained in the manufacturing districts, without the admission, free from duty, of the raw

PREFACE.

. materials which are needed by our manufacturers, nor without a reduction of duties upon many articles which are in general use. The real danger which threatens the country, and especially the manufacturing interests, is, not a reduction of duties to the revenue standard, but the necessity which may exist for so high duties for revenue purposes as will prevent free international exchanges. The suffrage question to which I have referred, engages little public attention, and yet it is a question of supreme importance, upon the disposition of which the permanency of our republican institutions may depend. " How is this," asked an intelligent foreign looker on, just before our last presidential election — " how is this, that I see frequent reference in the newspapers to the Irish vote, and the German vote, and sometimes to the foreign vote ?

Do foreigners vote in your presidential elections ? " " Yes, they do," I replied ; " but not until they have been naturalized." My regret was that I could not say that naturalization laws would doubt less be at least so changed that none but native-born citizens would be voters. What I have said in the following pages upon suffrage expresses but faintly the dangers to be apprehended if immigration continues, and no check is put upon the exercise of the highest of all privileges by those who have no stake in the national welfare, and especially by those whose mission it seems to be to wage war upon all governments, the freest as well as the most despotic. H. McC. November, 1887. PAGE CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Growth of England and the United States — Bill for Railroad from Boston to Salem — Jeremiah Mason — Iehabod Bartlett — Stage-coaching — Boston in 1883 — Its Commercial Character — Massachusetts — Her High Character — Change in Character of New England Population — Boston — Southern Prejudices against New England — Bishop Spaulding's Anecdote 1

Chapter II

Changes in New England Theology— The Westminster Catechism— Dr. Channing's Sermon at the Ordination of Mr. Sparks — Division of the Churches— The Unitarians — The Calvinists— Dr. Beecher tried for Heresy — Thomas Fessenden— His Question to a Dying Christian — Plenary Inspiration 10

Chapter III

Boston— Its Lawyers — Daniel Webster — His Varied Talents — His Debate with Hayne — Mr. Calhoun — Sectional Feeling — Race between a, Northern and Southern Horse — Mr. Webster before a Jury — Franklin Dexter — Benjamin Curtis — W. M. Evarts— William Groesbeck— Rufus Choate — Richard Fletcher — Mr. Choate and Mr. Clay — Mr. Burlingame and Mr. Brooks — Theodore Lyman — Harrison Gray Otis — Josiah Quincy — Edward Everett — Caleb Cushing — Henry W. Longfellow — Oliver W. Holmes — Interesting Incident 1G

Chapter IV

The Boston Clergy : Channing, Gannett, Parker, Lowell, Ware, Pierpont. Palfrey, Blagden, Edward Beecher, Frothingham, Emerson, Ripley, Walker — Outside of Boston : Upham, Whitman and Nichols, Father Taylor, the Sailor Preacher— James Freeman Clarke — Edward Everett Hale — M. J. Savage — Decline of Unitarianism — The Catholic ( 'hurch — Progress of Liberal Thought — Position of the Churches in Regard to Slavery — The Slave Question CONTENTS. XVI PAGH 35

Chapter V

Departure from New England— William Emerson— New York— Philadelphia— Baltimore— Wheeling— The Ohio River— Thomas F. Marshall—Emancipation-Feeling in Favor of it checked by the Profits of Slavery— John Bright and the Opium Trade— Mr. Adams— Mr. Adams's Speech upon the Right of Petition— Mr. Marshall in Chicago —Cincinnati in 1833 — Importance of Railroads to the West— Alexander Ewing— Cincinnati as a Manufacturing City— Distribution of her Manufactures— Her High Character

Chapter VI

Madison, Indiana — Jeremiah Sullivan — Algernon S. Sullivan — License to practise Law— Charles Dewey— Isaac Houck— Isaac Blacks ord— Blacklord's Reports— Prominent Young Men in Indiana in 1836 — Joseph G. Marshall —Caleb B. Smith— Richard W. Thompson— Henry S. Lane— Edward A. Hannegan— Samuel Parker— Horace P. Biddle— George G. Dunn — William McKee Dunn — Lucy Stone — Samuel Judah — District-Attorney Howard— George H. Proffit — John B. Howe — John B. Niles — The Harrison Campaign — Condition of the Country — Low Prices, and the Causes — Removal of the Government Deposits by General Jackson — President Van Buren— Creation of State Banks — Sneers at General Harrison — Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign — Singing effective in Politics and Religion— Scenes at a Church in Cincinnati — Failure of Harrison's Election to bring Relief to the Country — Usual Causes of Financial Troubles in the United States — The Pennsylvania Bank of the United States — The Specie Circular — Disastrous Effects of the Failure of the Pennsylvania United States Bank — The Pet Banks — The Banks of Michigan — Depression in Prices of Leading Articles 46

Chapter VII

Thomas Corwin — His Popular Oratory— Reply to General Crary of Michigan — Speech on the Mexican War — Robert C. Schenck — First Laurels Won in Debate with John Brough — Appointed Minister to Brazil — Resumes the Practice of the Law — At the Outbreak of the Civil War gives up a Lucrative Practice and becomes a Soldier — Elected to Congress while in the Field — Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means— Appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain— Performs his Duties with Great Ability — His Connection with a Mining Company— Complies with the Request of a Distinguished Lady to Describe a Game of Cards — Unjustly Treated by the Press and by the Government CONTENTS. XVII PAGE

Chapter VIII

Ride to Indianapolis— The City as it Then Was — Its First Settlers— Nicholas McCarty, James Blake, Samuel Merrill, Harvey Bates, Calvin Fletcher, James M. Ray, John Coburn, Dr. Coe— Some of the prominent Men of the State — Oliver P. Morton— Thomas A. Hendricks — Daniel W. Voorhees— The Methodists — Armstrong, Bascom, Durbin, Simpson 70

Chapter IX

By the Advice of General Howard, I go Northward — Eagle Village — First Night in a Cabin — Its Occupants — Ten-Mile Ride to Breakfast, — The Village of Frankfort — Military Company in Training — Delphi — The Wabash — Adventure with a Rattlesnake — Logansport — Lewis Cass — John Tipton — South Bend — Charles Crocker— Samuel C. Sample — Rolling Prairie — Laporte — First Sitting there of the Circuit Court — The Court-room — Resolve to go to Fort Wayne — Goshen — J. L. Jernegan — Fort Wayne, its Situation and Appearance— Rapid Growth of the Country 78

Chapter X

Situation of Fort Wayne — French Catholic Priests — Anthony Wayne — Little Turtle — First Temperance Society in the United States — The Indians — Indian Agents — Passing Away of the Tribes — Samuel Hanna — Allan Hamilton — William G. and George W. Ewing — Charles W. Ewing — Samuel Lewis — Lewis G. Thompson — Jesse L. Williams — Robert Breckenridge — Marshal S. Wines — John Spencer — Francis Comparet — -John B. Bourie — John B. Richardville 98

Chapter XI

My First Illness Cheered by a Catholic Priest — The State Bank of Indiana —Appointed Cashier and Manager of the Fort Wayne Branch — Excellent and Liberal Charter of the Bank — General Management — Benefits to the State — Capital Paid up in Spanish and Mexican Dollars — Its Managers— Samuel Merrill. President, and James M. Ray, Cashier, and Prominent Directors — J. F. D. Lanier Ill

Chapter XII

Demand for more Banking Capital — Free Banking Authorized — Manner in which it was Conducted — Its Failure— Bill Chartering the Bank of the State of Indiana Passed over the Governor's Veto— Manner in which its Stock was Subscribed for— The Control Passes into Hands B CONTENTS. XVIII PAGE 124 of Managers of the Old Bank— I Become its President—Commence ment of Business, January, 1857 — Failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company of Cincinnati— General Suspension of the Banks— The Bank of the State of Indiana Maintains its Integrity and Saves its Charter —Authorized by Opinion of the Supreme Court to Redeem its Notes in Legal Tenders— Good Behavior of the Banks of New Orleans

Chapter XIII

Henry Ward Beecher— He becomes the Pastor of a New-School Presbyterian Church at Indianapolis— The Character of his Sermons— Manner of Preparing them— Touching Address at Fort Wayne— His Power as a Speaker — His Speeches at Liverpool and London — At the Height of his Career in 1863— His Influence as a Preacher, and his Personal Character — His Encounter with a Constable at Indianapolis— His Employment Outside of the Pulpit — Not a Partisan— Dr. Lyman Beecher — His Ride to Fort Wayne — His Pleasant Manners 140

Chapter XIV

Mr. Lincoln's Election a Pretext for Secession — South Carolina and Nullification — Mr. Buchanan's Conservatism — Slavery — Northern and Southern Views of the Constitution — Expectation of Secessionists in Regard to Action of Border States — Opposition to Coercion in Some of the Free States — Dark Days between November, 1860, and April, 1861 — Slavery the Question which Statesmen were Unable to Handle — Defeat at Bull Run Unexpected — Demoralization at Washington after the Battle — Subsequent Defeats Created no Dismay — Platform upon which McClellan was Nominated for the Presidency — Mr. Lincoln's Remarks Upon it 151

Chapter XV

My opposition to the National Banking System in 1862 — Justin S. Morrill — Visit to the Eastern States — Am requested by Secretary Chase to become Comptroller of the Currency — My Connection with the Bank ol the State of Indiana Dissolved — George W. Rathbone my Successor — Samuel T. Howard, Deputy Comptroller — Rules in Regard to Appointments — John Burroughs — Organization of the National Banks — Unwillingness of the State Banks to become National Banks, and the Reason therefor — Especial Objection to their being Known by Numerals— My Successors as Comptroller of the Currency — Mr. Chase's Opinion of the Legal Tender Acts — First Case in regard to their Constitutionality — Appointments of Justices Strong and Bradley — Extracts from Judge Strong's Opinion in the Second Legal Tender Case —Decision in the First Legal Tender Case Overruled by the Second— The Third Legal Tender Case — Free Comments CONTENTS. XIX PAGE

Chapter XVI

Salmon P. Chase — Entitled to the Gratitude of his Countrymen for Services as Secretary of the Treasury — Condition of the Treasury when he Entered It— His Two Mistakes— His Ambition to be Chief Justice — Not Satisfied after his Ambition had been Gratified — Abraham Lincoln — His Educational Advantages — His Knowledge of Men and his Far-seeing Wisdom — William P. Fessenden — His Administration of the Treasury — His Statesmanship— Am Appointed Secretary of the Treasury — Thurlow Weed's Agency in the Appointment — Extracts From my Advice to National- Banks When Comptroller of the Currency — Extracts from my Speech at Fort Wayne in October, 1865— My Opinions of the National Debt 181

Chapter XVII

The House on the 18th of December, 1865, by Vote of 144 to 6, Approved my Recommendation for the Withdrawal of the Legal-tender Note — In April following an Act was Passed Authorizing the Withdrawal and Cancellation of Ten Millions of Legal Tenders in Six Months, and Four Millions per Month Thereafter — Under this Act Forty-eight Millions of Legal-tender Notes Cancelled — Market not Affected by the Reduction — Increase of Issue in Panic of 1873 — Francis E. Spinner, Treasurer — His Character — Panics and their Cause — Speculation in the Timbered Lands of Maine— Financial Crisis of 1857 — Charles Francis Adams's Letter to Sidney Brooks in Regard to President Johnson's Message and the Secretary of the Treasury's Report — Mr. Gladstone's Remarks — President Johnson's First Message 210

Chapter XVIII

Assassination of Mr. Lincoln — Mr. Lincoln on the Morning of the Assassination — Attemped Assassination of Mr. Seward — Execution of some of the Assassins and of Mrs. Surratt — Indications of a Panic in Wall Street — The Iron-clad Oath — President's Message transmitting Letter of Secretary of Treasury, asking Modification thereof — Senators Sherman and Sumner's Remarks thereon — Sumner's Character and Appearance — Captured and Abandoned Property — Difficulty in Executing the Law — Wm. E. Chandler Assistant Secretary — His valuable Services — John Hartley — Revenue Commissioners David A. Wells, Stephen Colwell, S. S. Hayes— Mr. Wells Sole Commissioner 232

Chapter XIX

Condition of the Treasury in April, 1865— Detailed Statement thereof- Absolute Needs of the Government— Offering of the Seven and Three-tenths Notes— Action of the Press— Large Subscriptions by some of CONTENTS. XX PAGE 243 the Banks— Apprehended Danger therefrom— Thorough Examination of the Loan Books— Result of that Examination— Officers and Clerks —The Currency Question— Review of the General Policy of the Treas ury Department for Four Years

Chapter XX

The Scientific Club— Dr. F. A. P. Barnard— University of Mississippi- Prosperous until Outbreak of War— Dr. Barnard Leaves Mississippi and Comes to Washington— Professor Henry— His High Character and Large Acquirements— His Unselfishness — Professor Bache. great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin — Dr. Peter Parker — His Eminence as a Surgeon — His Diplomatic Relations to the United States — Simon Newcomb — High Reputation as an Astronomer — Also as a Writer on Political Economy — J. E. Hilgard — His Varied Services — George C. Schaeffer — A. A. Humphreys, Distinguished as a General and Engineer — Jonathan H. Lane — His Hobby — William B. Taylor — His valuable Work in the Smithsonian — Titian H. Peale — Benjamin N. Craig —J. M. Gillis— J. N. McComb— 0. M. Poe— M. C. Meigs— His Great Services as Quartermaster-General— General George H. Thomas, the " Rock of Chickamauga " — General John A. Logan — General P. H. Sheridan — General William T. Sherman — Brief Sketch of his Campaigns ... 258

Chapter XXI

General W. S. Hancock — His Modesty and High Sense of Honor — His Nomination for the Presidency — What he Said about the Tariff Habits Formed by a Soldier Unfitted for the Presidency — General George B. McClellan — His Appointment to the Command of the Army of the Potomac — How it was Received in Indiana and throughout the Country— Condition of the Army when he Took the Command Its Re-creation — His Scheme for the Prosecution of the War His Inaction and its Effect upon his Reputation — Appointment by Congress of a Joint Committee to Inquire into the Conduct of the War Peninsular Campaign Commenced under Unfavorable Circumstances —Its Failure, although Great Skill was Manifested in its Conduct- General McClellan not Properly Sustained in Washington— The Command of the Army Transferred to General Pope— The Second Battle of Bull Run— McClellan Takes Again, at the Request of the President, the Command of the Army— Its Discipline rapidly Restored— Battles of South Mountain and Antietam— General McClellan Relieved of his Command and Ordered to Trenton— The Hold he Had upon his Army— His Private Character CONTENTS. XXI PAGE

Chapter XXII

General Grant in the Spring of 1861 — War not Expected until the Attack upon Sumter — Grant Appointed Colonel — a Brigadier by Brevet — Battle of Belmont — Appointed to the Command of the District of Cairo — Capture of Forts Henry and Donelson — Appointed Major- General of Volunteers — General C. F. Smith — Battle of Shiloh — Union Army Saved by Arrival of General Buell with Reinforcements — Capture of Vicksburg — It places General Grant at the Head of the Union Generals — The Man of Destiny — Battle of Chickamauga — General William S. Rosecrans — His Merits as a Soldier — Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge — General Grant made Lieutenant-General — Condition of the Union Array in 1864 — Battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, and Cold Harbor — Heavy Losses Sustained by the Union Army — Difference in the Condition of the Union and Confederate States — The Siege and Capture of Richmond — General Grant's Character and Capabilities as a Soldier 318

Chapter XXIII

Condition of the two great Parties in 1868 — Horatio Seymour Nominated for the Presidency, and General Frank P. Blair for the Vice-Presidency, by the Democrats — General Grant and Schuyler Colfax Nominated by the Republicans, and Elected — General Grant Nominated on account of his Military Reputation — His Nominations for the Heads of Departments — Elihu B. Washburne — George S. Boutwell — Jacob D. Cox— John A. J. Creswell — E. Rockwood Hoar— Alexander T. Stewart — Adolph E. Borie— Hamilton Fish — George M. Kobeson — William W. Belknap — Morrison R. Waite — Negotiation for the Annexation of St. Domingo — Mr. Sumner's Opposition to it— Mr. Motley Recalled from the Court of St. James — Change in the Office of Attorney General — Cieneral Grant as a Civilian — Manner in which he Used his Authority — Appointment of his Son to be a Lieutenant- Colonel, and a Distinguished Clergyman to be Examiner of Consular Offices — His Retirement from the Presidency — Desire of a Nomination for a Third Term — He Visits Europe — Is everywhere Received with Great Respect — Efforts to Nominate him for a Third Term on his Return from Europe — His Unfortunate Connection with a Banking Firm — His Fatal Illness and Death 344

Chapter XXIV

The Navy — The Blockade the Severest Blow given to the South — Gallantry on Both Sides — Services of the Navy not Confined to the Blockade — Battle between the "Monitor" and the "Virginia" the most Important Single Event of the War — Passage of the Union Ships CONTENTS. PAGE by Forts Jackson and St. Philip — Capture of New Orleans — Battle in Mobile Bay — Gallantry of Farragut— Letterof Captain Theodorus Bailey — The Effect of the War upon our Merchant Marine 362

Chapter XXV

Andrew Johnson — His Devotion to the Union — His Early History — His Limited Advantages — His Self-Reliance and Energy — The Position which he Took at the Close of Mr. Buchanan's Administration — While Military Governor of Tennessee, he Visits Ohio and Indiana — His Unfortunate Appearance when he took the Oath as Vice-President — Mr. Lincoln's Remarks About it — He Takes the Oath of Office as President — He Desires the Members of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet to Retain their Positions — His Reconstruction Policy — His View of the Suffrage Question — His Veto of the Civil Rights Bill — Extracts from his First Message to Congress— Views Expressed by Mr. Lincoln — His First Message Approved by all the Members of the Cabinet — Management of the Different Departments Left to their respective Heads — Our Relations with Mexico under French Domination — Reference to them in the President's Message— Action of Mr. Seward, Secretary of State — His Wisdom 369

Chapter XXVI

Harmony between the President and his Cabinet until the Spring of 1866 —Differences between them after Veto of the Civil Rights Bill— Mr. Dennison, Mr. Harlan and Mr. Speed Resign— Mr. Stanton Holds on to his Place against the Wishes of the President— The President Fails to Remove him before the Passage of the Act, and then Suspends him— The President's indefensible Extempore Speeches — Impeachment of the President— First Instance in the History of Nations of such a Trial— Manner in which it was Conducted— The Prosecutors —The President's Counsel— The Trial a Political One— Course Pursued by General Grant— Speech of Mr. Fessenden— The President Acquitted— How the Vote Stood— Mr. Stanton Resigns— Disadvantages under which the President Labored— His Messages and his Vetoes— Henry Stanbery— William M. Evarts— Injustice to President Johnson Continued after his Death— Jefferson Davis— I Visit him at Fortress Monroe— The Manner in which he was Treated— His Appearance—Never Brought to Trial— Mr. Johnson Elected United States Senator in 1875— His Death after Serving a Single Term 390