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Recollections Of Seward, Chase And Stanton, By The Hon. Schuyler Colfax

Recollections Of Seward, Chase And Stanton, By The Hon. Schuyler Colfax image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
February
Year
1890
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Wlieii Abraliam Lincoln camfi into the Presidency, he called into hia Cabinct to Ihe important positions of Secretary of State and Seeretary of the Trcasury, his two chiff rivals for the Chicago nomination. Aml Mr. Evartp, in his Dartmouth nration on Chicf Justiee Chase, stated most justly that Ibis very fact proved bevond all qncstion that nature had littcd Lincoln tobe a rulet among men, and tliit uii'v accident had hid his earlier life in Illinois in comparative obscurity. UnJoubtedly Mr. Kvarts hut anticipated the Impartlal verdict of history wlien he iddeil that the presenee of Seward and Chase in those two jreat depurtracute of the gnvernment gave to the Nation cvery posaible benefit that could have resulted liciin tlie Presidency of either, and tliüt neiiher of those dlgtlngutiued political rivals wou'ld hiive made as good aeablnet mini-ter onder the ether as eaeh of tliem ilid under the Presldeney of Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln thtis at the very out3ct of yhat he knew must be a dillicult itdmlntetratlon, beset wlth dangers on v.iy mi!c, and confronted wlth most peiilous problema, Ir.oorporated into lta personae! the two statesmen who had the most conaplcuous positions and the most iMitlm-iiistic following of all the leaders ot h s party, and measurubly couipelled tlielr fiiends to it.s support" And then, when the storm-doud ot tlm civil war he ireaded had buret, wlth all lts borrón apon t lie country, and the ground shook with the tread ot yigautio armlcs on either jide, and the Natlon realized as well as Ijtmselr thntthe War Department sbniild have at its head sorae one spijpjaly tllted by Pternncss of decisioD, fearlesaiie.-s of inincl, aiii! orjranizing power for its vitully important and increasin? duties he aain proved hitnself fitted to be a governor :i nu üi lc men by callin}? to that responsible position, on which the hopes of the Nation in such a large degree were con een trated, Edwin M. Stanton. Unquestionably the ablest polltloimi In the Oablnet was William H. Öuward, Educated to politics, risinjr, with steady step, In the Empire State, froni one distinction to another, up to the very hlhest, ranking in the National Sonate as inferior to none of his colleasrues in the leadership of the young Hepublican )arty just growing into importance and power, he was the first ehoice of a mijority of that party for the Presidency, and would have been nominated at Chicaro, over all others, but for the sume fear that defeati;l the nomination of Henry Clay at sevenil Wliig National conventlons, the apprehension that be mijht bc dcfeated, when another taight be successful. As the chief of the Lincoln Oabiuet, the relations of our republic with lorelgñ, and in many cases, really hostilc nations, became Itr. Seward's special spliere of dniy. How thoroughly he gave h lat sel f, hU thouglits, his pen, his ilays and iIghta to hia w ork, our diplomatic col respondence of that eventful era moït convineinyrly attests. Foreign interventlon was always menacing os, especlaJly when our nuuierous reverse? aod the wi-ary prolongalion of the strugüle enabk-d our critica and enemies abroad to insii-t that the fratricidal strife should be stopped, in the interest, as they claimcd, of liiiinanlty, but really because the dowofall of the great republic of the world woukl sirenj;then the oí monarchy. Hut, month after month, and year itfter year, his hundreds of state papers were masterpieces of diplomatic coniposition, replylng to evcry aciverse argument with dlgnlty and courage, defemling and vindicating the national cause from every po-sible stanilpoint, calmly hutforcibly fortifyinj! his position with apt European precedents and never ab;Ulnr "a jot of heart or hope" as to the final and certain triiimph of the Union. And Ihough he was rarued by the great irriss of our poople as optimist fabel corrtctly, especially If liis Dinety-ttay predictlons as to the Uuration of the rcbellioQ meant inore tha.il a plea for Mme), his glowiog predictious as to the propci 'ity and procreas ol our united and victorioti8 Nation, fn the inunediate future, were realized before the strass had grown griioti on his jjrave, or tlie ballleJ chief of lli! rubellion had ceased hls enloglea on "The Lost Cause.'' Not always popular during part of thls stonny cru with the leading Consrressional Ridic;il?, on account of the development of his unexpected conservatism, and some concessions on wbat were deemed vital querttoos, during the first year of the i ruggle, President Lincoln, after one of his receptions, referred in a conversation witu rue thus quaiotly to some of these Radical stricture?. Said he, ii:uniiir two of these Radicale "Teil tliem they are entlrely mistaken In supposing that Seward can control ine, as lüey assume, In my official action. When subjects come before us, he argües thein, Instinctively and with great power too, from tlie standpolnt of what Is tlie wisest and most popular poiicy; tvhile with me ray determinatlon is to find out, and then to stand inflexibly for the right. But I could not get along liere t all without hlni and hls counsel. He knows all about anclent and modern history - the Peloponnesian hs well as the revolutionary war- he s familiar with the ereat men of Kurope, of whom I know but little;he can teil me all about etiquette, when I never went to a dignity school in my llfe; and he writes all the speeches I make to the foreign minister?, for I vvouldn't know wliat to say to them." Salmón P. Chase had, more than any other one man, enjoyed as well as divided with Governor Seward the leadership of the Ropublican party prior to the notnlnation of Mr. Lincoln. And althounh he was a Senator-elect from Oliio, the President iii6isted tliat he should decline tlmt oflice and become ono of his Cabinet ad visors, issuuiiiiii the responsiblities oflhe Tieasury. It was a wise thought and reeulted most beneficently for the cause of the Union. The Natlon's vaults were empty, lts credit so shattered (hatlU latest loan for current expenses undor his predecessor had been at 12 percent, interest while the country bad al most at once to be put on an expensive war footing. No se'.ection of a chlef for the Treasury could have beea more fortúnate. Governor Chase was, indeed, one of the great me% of his times, a t-tatesman of IddU and action, of inlluence and authority, of a cominanding presence, adiguified manner, and with a massive head finely polsed on his broad shoulders. He "rose to the height of the occasion" from bis first conference with tlie New York bunkers and capitalists, where his argumenta compelled to reaüze that the material resources of the Itepublic must be organized to supply itg needs, till the time when, with the army unpaid for six months, and his table burdened with millions of unpaid military requisitions, he induced Jay Cooke to undertake the popularizini; of the loan for hundreds of millions, so absolutely needed to save the National cause from ruin. Not the least of his financial successes was his shrewdly placing the whole banking capital of the country in a position where it had to live or die with the Nation, while he thus made a ninrket also for $300,000,000 of our bomls he found it diflïcult to sell, and the proceeds of which were so sore'y needed for the National exigences. And altliough afterwards on the Supreme bench lie decided so unexpectedly againi-t the legal-tender power of his own greenback, it can never be forgotten th:it in the dark and diuigerous era of the war he assisted in so sh iping our C'ongrpssional Iegislation tliat tlie vast uiudUor Interests of the country, down to the smallest hamlet, were compelled by the use of the legul-tender greenbacke, to ii. u nii fheir posesslous on tbe snlvation mihI solvenoy or iiv. n.vtion wlilch issued them. Although there wus not iy, concord tn the Cabinet bet ween such rivals as Seward and Chase, each tlie head of a greit following in the Rt-piiblican party, yet the President, who waa always the premier of his own administration, tranqulized their differences, iintil Secretary (Jhase, In the summer ot 1S64, insistcd on resigning, and Wllliam l'iit Fessenden was appointed in liis stead. Less th;in four rnonths after this resignation (followed, as I resfret to ay, by sonie illtempered remarks frotn tlie exSecretary against the President, wbich I Rin pure be sooii regretted) the great colee of Cliief Justlce of the Supreme Court becanie vacant, aml iu Congress as well as ni'ing prcs3 and people, tliere va8 developed u strong and tapidly increasing put.lk: opinión in favor of tlie appointnii nt ot ex Secretary Clmse. It lmppenetf i lint, by request of nuinerous fellotv menibers of tlie tiouse in whicli I piesiiid, it devolved unon rae to spend an uvfiiinjr with the President to present Uieir desiri-s. After urging every posslble oonldernttoD, nmnely that as Cliief Justicc, Mr Chase '.vould give up thal aml)i i n for ttie Presidency which had doiiiinatcd his later life, and that on the lienoh we feit that he culd not fail to stuud liy tlie warmeasures lie had assisted in shapiiifi in the Cabinet, etc, Mr. Lincoln replied: "I am siiti-lird that it il the vih of liirge mnjority of my supporters tluit I shouhl appoint Ur.-Obase and I inteiul to do so, although I think myelf that William M. Evarts is by hls legal attainments, the tittest man for the place. Bilt all of you are mistaken in supposlng that t Wilt end Cliase's longing for the Presidi'iicy, for I predict that he will be a candidate for it, desplte the Judgeship about every four years. and jnst as ardenlly in the future as in the past." Edwin M. Staiiton became Secretary of W ir at a time when the Nation renlized, after months of frnitless 8tru$:gle und mistaken lenity, that war was war, and that the most hutnane-military policy was to strike most enerjietically, so tlmt the hlooriy ciiiillict might tlie sooner be ended. Il has always seemed to me providential that, in these gloomicst bours of our liistory, tliere were associated togetlier in the two cliief places of the government, daily and often hourly consnlting. antagonizing, but vet reconcillng theirconllicting characteritics, one who wassternness and rigor and justice personlfied, and the other who was loving-klndness and mercy and tenderness and forgiveness incarnate. Out of tliis copflictlon of strong iniiuls often caine action far wiscr than either alone would have conceived or executed. Whatever criticisuis inay be made now in these days of peace, just fiich a war minister was an Imperative, cominanding necessity of the nation then. A halting, trimming, nerveless Srtcretary of War would have been worse for the cause of the Union than a score of dufeaU in the Held but Mr. Stanton's iudividualities were all in the opposite direction. Of wonderlul energy, imperlous and dauntless in will-power, lessairainst marplots, irapatientof dilatory generáis, wrathfulagainstoffendcrs, fearirsi of re8pou3ibility, no one man cor.trihutuJ more to our final suooess thuii ilid this Secretar}1, who oreated aruiies as muclraa dld Ctc?ar or Carnot or Bismarck, and who, likc Carnot, can be said to have "organlzed victory." Hearing; the hcaviest burdeng of National cares, systematizinj; the vast inachinery of our military organizatlon and placlnx it on the footIng of the bighest military efficiency, assisting to plan campaigns and to raise and concéntrate re-enforcements, besides giving audlence to thou?ands and attendiiiir to all li is departmont and Cabinet laboi'B, he was the hardest worked official, day and night included, to be found in Washington, for which he paid flnally in ruined healtli and shortened llfe. It would have been impossible that he Bliould have been correct always In his thousanda of decisions; for the rule of hls official life was not to talk but to do - "when a thing was to be done, to do il and it was done." And wlth the vast ïumber wlio thronged hi dcpartraent with this, tliat, or the otUer petitlon, whilo his mind was burdened with the thoughts of nioving arniies and doubtful campaign?, his marnier was often so abrupt and his replies ao qulck tliat lie was denouuced as brusque, heartless, and tyrannicil. Though he must have been "requently itnjust trorn liis hurried decisons and combativo instincts, yet he often showed how human after all, was the loble heart that throbbed within him. Let a single illustration prove this. After the war becanie euoh a dread reality that our land was Wied with weeds of mourDing, the tide of volunteerii ir had ceased and consuription to lili up our regiments at the front, thlnned witli disease and deatn, was a necessity, every Jongressman at Washington had daily numeruus applications from his district for military discharges o-i account of the death of a fatlier, wife, or child, to go :iome to be nursed into health, to attend :o important business, etc, all of which ïad to be presented to the Secretary, who often stood nt a desk to glve quicker audleace to all. One morning wüen a nuinber of us wcre presenting these petitions, but with very rare exceptions to be answered "To" by the stern Secretary, a sad-faced lady In black entered the room, and we all drew back that she miglit present her iipplicatlon to him at once. Few as were her words, I can never forget tlll ray dying dny their sorrowful tone: "VVhen the war broke out I liad a happy family of a loving husband and two braye sons. We gave both our boys to the country. One of them was killed in battle and my husband is now dead. I ask you to "give me back my other son, all I have left now." "I can eau not," replied the apparently iuipassive Secretary. "Can not!"' sho exclalmed. "Certuinly you could not have understood me," and theu repeated the toucliing story of her fainily. "I repeat that I can not,"again Mr. Stanton replied. "Hiveyouany lieart?" gasped out the sorrowful and almost heartbroken woman as slie sank into the nearest chair, the very picture of woe, and all unnerved by the decisión she feit to be so cruel and heanless. "No madam, I can not have one here," answered the inflexible Secretar}'. But, writlng a line with his signature on a card, he added, "Take thls to the White House, and you will tind there a man who lias a heart." And as she went liither to receive from Mr. Lincoln the boon she desired, and wliicli Mr. Stanton liad recommended to the President, the Secretary went on rejecting our appllcations explaining as the reason, "The country is dying 'for want of soldiere, and, tlll the tide of battle turns and the Nation is sale, the living at home must Inijv their dead " Ican not enlarge this arlicie, aireaay too long. The great liearted President and the remarkable triumvirate lic called to his aid in our migtity and memorable stiuggle have all passed away. But while time lasts and the ltepubllc endures iiioj, „n i. not only in history, but in the grateful liearts oí tumi sa.tofii countrymen.-

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Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier