Perley's Reminiscences Part 27

Mr. Sickles sat in the dock, which was for all the world like the old-fashioned, square, high church pews. He looked exactly as one would imagine a successful New York city politician would look-- apparently affable, yet bent on success, and unrelenting in his opposition to those who sought to impede his progress. When the verdict of acquittal came, there was a scene of tumultuous disorder in the court-room. Mr. Stanton called in a loud tone for cheers, and rounds of them were given again and again. President Buchanan was delighted with the acquittal of "Dan," as he familiarly called him, and his friends gave him a round of supper-parties.

Anson Burlingame, who was prominent in political and social circles at that eventful epoch, had transplanted the Western style of oratory to Ma.s.sachusetts, where he had married the daughter of a leading Whig, and entered political life through the "Know-Nothing"

door. He did not have much to say on the floor of the House, but he was an indefatigable organizer, and rendered the Republican party great service as, what is called in the English House of Commons, a "whipper-in." He prided himself on being recognized as a man who would chivalrously defend himself if attacked, but he showed no desire for fighting when hostilities became inevitable.

He then went abroad in a diplomatic capacity.

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John Adams.

JOHN ADAMS was born at Braintree, now Quincy, Ma.s.s., October 19th, 1735; removed to Boston, 1768; was Delegate to first Congressional Congress, September, 1774; a.s.sisted in the Treaty of Peace, January, 1783; was United States Minister to England, 1785-1788; was Vice- President with Washington, 1789-1797; was President of the United States, 1797-1801; died July 4th, 1826.

CHAPTER II.

VISITS FROM DISTINGUISHED FOREIGNERS.

The j.a.panese Emba.s.sy arrived in Washington on the 14th of May, 1860, in the steamer Philadelphia, which brought them up the Potomac from the United States frigate Roanoke, on which they had come from j.a.pan. They were received at the Navy Yard with high honors, and escorted by the district militia to their quarters at Willard's Hotel.

The entire party numbered seventy-one. The three Amba.s.sadors were rather tall and thin in form, with long and sharp faces. They had jet-black hair, so far as any was left by the barber. In dressing the hair the men expended as much care as women, and took as much pride and pleasure in its neat and fashionable adjustment. It was shaved off to the very skin, except around the temples and low down in the back of the neck, from which it was brought up on all sides to the top of the head and fastened by a string. It was then carried forward, well stiffened with pomatum, in a queue about four inches long, and of the size of one's finger, and pointed over the front part of the head, which was left completely denuded of all hair. They dressed in silk robes, and wore two swords at their sides, according to universal usage with the higher cla.s.ses of their land. When they went in state to see the President they had little hats tied on the tops of their heads, and some of them had water-proof hats along, but they generally went bare-headed, carrying fans to keep the sun's rays away from their eyes. When not using these fans they stuck them down back of their necks into their robes. They used the folds of cotton cloth swathed around them in place of pockets. President Buchanan entertained the eight highest dignitaries of the Emba.s.sy at a dinner-party, at which ladies were present, and they attended evening parties given by Mrs. Slidell and by Madame Von Limburg, arriving at eight and leaving at nine.

They paid one visit to the Capitol, where they went in on the floor of the Senate by virtue of their diplomatic position, and after a short stay crossed the rotunda to the House, where they took seats in the gallery set apart for the Diplomatic Corps. A special committee, with John Sherman as Chairman, waited upon the three Amba.s.sadors and invited them to take seats on the floor. On the way they stopped to pay their respects to Mr. Speaker, in his gorgeous apartment, where they took a gla.s.s of champagne with him.

They then went on the floor and took seats at the right of the Speaker's platform, where the members crowded around them. Some children attracted their attention, and Master Dawes was taken on the knee of the j.a.panese chief Amba.s.sador while he was a guest of the House.

The princ.i.p.al object of the mission of the Emba.s.sy was to get an English copy of the treaty between j.a.pan and the United States, signed by the President. The original was burned in the great fire at Jeddo in 1858. The copy in j.a.panese was saved. This they brought with them, and a copy of it not signed, and a letter from the Tyc.o.o.n to the President. The box containing these doc.u.ments was looked upon by them as almost sacred. It was called the "treaty box," and was never allowed to be out of their sight. It was a box three feet long, twenty-six inches in depth, and eighteen inches wide, covered with red morocco leather, and neatly sewed around the edges. There were three j.a.panned boxes placed together, and then covered. Around the box was a light framework, and when carried was borne on a pole which rested on the shoulders of two stalwart policemen, closely followed by a j.a.panese with two swords in his girdle.

Some of the caricatures sketched by the j.a.panese were excellent, and there was no mistaking Mr. Buchanan as they portrayed him.

They would not, however, sell one of these productions, even when fabulous prices were offered, replying: "_Mi sogo Miphon_"--I will take it to j.a.pan.

When President Buchanan learned that the Prince of Wales intended to visit Canada, he hastened to write to Queen Victoria, tendering to her son a cordial welcome should he extend his visit to the United States. The invitation was accepted, and the Prince, who traveled under the name of Lord Renfrew, with the gentlemen of his suite, became the guests of Mr. Buchanan at the White House. The heir-apparent, who was then rather stout and phlegmatic, appeared, like Sir Charles Coldstream, to be "used up," but he philosophically went the rounds of the public buildings and was the honored guest at a public reception and at a diplomatic dinner. He apparently enjoyed a visit, with Miss Lane, to a fashionable boarding-school for young ladies, where he rolled several games of nine-pins with the pupils, but he could not be induced to remain on the White House balcony at night in a drizzling rain watching fire-works that would not always ignite. Indeed, it was rumored that his Lordship had slipped away from his guardian and visited some of the haunts of metropolitan dissipation.

The British party was taken to Mount Vernon on the revenue cutter "Harriet Lane," accompanied by President Buchanan, Miss Lane, nearly all of the Diplomatic Corps, and the leading army, navy, and civil- service officials. President Buchanan escorted his guests to Washington's tomb, and the great-grandson of George III. planted a tree near the grave of the arch-rebel against that monarch's rule. That evening the Prince dined at the British Legation, where Lord Lyons had invited the Diplomatic Corps to meet him, and the next morning he left for Richmond. When President Buchanan learned that the expenses of the trip to Mount Vernon were to be paid from a contingent fund at the Treasury Department, he objected, and wished to pay the bills himself, but Secretary Cobb finally paid them.

Mr. Buchanan's courteous civility toward the Prince of Wales, and the demonstrations made toward him in the Northern States, evidently made a deep impression on Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, who also doubtless felt chagrined by the inhospitable manner in which the young traveler was treated in Virginia. In the darkest hours of the Civil War which followed, when so many leading British statesmen espoused the cause of the Confederates, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were always friends of the Union. Their restraining influence, at a period when there were many causes of alienation, undoubtedly prevented a recognition of the belligerent rights of the Confederate States, which would have been followed by an alliance with them as an established government. Commercially this would have been desirable for Great Britain, as it would have enabled her merchants to have obtained possession of the cotton crop, and to have paid for it with manufactured articles--British shipping enjoying the carrying trade.

President Buchanan was very industrious, and gave personal attention to his official duties. Rising early, he breakfasted, read the newspapers, and was in his office every week-day morning at eight o'clock. There Mr. J. Buchanan Henry, his private secretary, laid before him the letters received by that morning's mail, filed and briefed with the date, the writer's name, and a condensed statement of the contents. Letters of a purely personal nature the President answered himself, and he gave Mr. Henry instructions as to the reply to, or the reference of the others. An entry was made in a book of the brief on each letter, and the disposition of it if it was referred to a Department. This system enabled the President to ascertain what had been done with any letter addressed to him by reference to Mr. Henry's books.

President Buchanan remained in his office, receiving such visitors as called, until one o'clock, when he went to luncheon. Returning to his desk, he rarely left it before five o'clock, when, with few exceptions, he took a hour's walk. He did not use his carriage a dozen times a year, except when he resided, during the summer, at the Soldiers' Home, and drove in to the White House in the morning and back in the afternoon.

On his return from his daily "const.i.tutional" walk, Mr. Buchanan dined, at six o'clock, with the members of his household. He kept up the established etiquette of not accepting dinner invitations, and rarely attended evening parties or receptions, on the ground that universal acceptance would have been impossible, and any discrimination would have given offense. Once a week some of the members of the Cabinet, accompanied by their wives, dined at the White House "en famille," and, as there was no ceremony these were regarded as pleasant entertainments.

A series of State dinners was given during each session of Congress, the table in the large dining-room accommodating forty guests.

The first of these dinners, annually, was given to the Justices of the Supreme Court and the law officers, the next to the Diplomatic Corps, and then to the Senators and Representatives in turn, according to official seniority, except in a very few cases where individuals had by discourtesy rendered such an invitation improper.

Miss Lane and Mr. Henry issued the invitations and a.s.signed seats to those who accepted them in order of precedence, which was rather a delicate task. Mr. Henry had also, in the short interval between the arrival of the guests in the parlor and procession into the dining-room, to ascertain the name of each gentleman and tell him what lady he was to take in--probably introducing then to each other. It was, he used to say, a very _mauvais quart d'heure_ to him, as he was pretty sure to find at the last moment, when the President was leading the procession to the table, that some male guest, perhaps not accustomed to such matters, had strayed away from his intended partner, leaving the lady standing alone and much embarra.s.sed. He had then to give them a fresh start.

Mr. Henry, as private Secretary, was charged with the expenditure of the library fund, the payment of the steward, messengers, and also with the expenditures of the household, which were paid out of the President's private purse. These latter expenditures generally exceeded the President's salary in the winter months, because President Buchanan enjoyed entertaining and entertained liberally from inclination. In summer, the social entertaining being much less, and the President being at the Soldiers' Home, the expenses were much less. The President's annual salary, then twenty-five thousand dollars, did not defray the actual household expenses of the Executive Mansion. Other Presidents had saved a considerable part of their salaries, but Mr. Buchanan had to draw upon his private means, not only for his expenses, but for his generous charities. He also made it a rule, which other Presidents had neglected, not to accept presents of any value, even from his most intimate friends or political supporters, and it was a part of the duty of his private secretary, Mr. Henry, to return any gifts at once with the thanks of the President.

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James Buchanan JAMES BUCHANAN was born in Franklin County, Pa., April 22d, 1791; entered the Legislature of Pennsylvania when twenty-three years of age; was elected to Congress, 1820, where he served five terms; was Minister to St. Petersburg, 1831-1833; was United States Senator, 1833-1845; was Secretary of State under Polk, 1845-1849; was Minister to England, 1853-1856; was President of the United States, 1857- 1861; died June 1st, 1868.

CHAPTER III.

THE GATHERING TEMPEST.

The clouds which had long been hovering portentously in our skies now began to spread and to blacken all around the heavens. This was greatly intensified on all sides by the daring raid of John Brown, of Ossawattomie, Kansas. Locating on a farm near Harper's Ferry, Va., he organized a movement looking toward a general slave insurrection. Seizing the Armory of the United States a.r.s.enal buildings, all of which were destroyed during the war, he inaugurated his scheme, and for a few hours had things his own way. But troops were rapidly concentrated; Brown's outside workers were captured or shot; the a.r.s.enal building was fired into; one of his sons was killed, another mortally wounded, and when the doors were forced Brown was found kneeling between their bodies. His arrest, trial, and execution were speedily accomplished, but all the thunders of a coming storm henceforth rolled all around the heavens.

At the South, the leaders used the excitement created by this affair to consolidate public opinion in their section and to cast opprobrium on the Republicans at the North. They saw that their ascendancy in the national councils was hastening to a close, and that if they were to carry out their cherished plans for a dissolution of the Union, and for the establishment of a Southern Confederacy, they must strike the blow during the Administration of Mr. Buchanan.

Meanwhile Washington ran riot with costly entertainments in society and secret suppers, at which the Abolitionists of the North and the Secessionists of the South, respectively, plotted and planned for the commencement of hostilities.

One of the neutral grounds, where men of both parties met in peace, was the superbly furnished gambling-house of Pendleton, on Pennsylvania Avenue, known to its frequenters as "The Hall of the Bleeding Heart," though he preferred the appellation, "The Palace of Fortune."

Pendleton belonged to one of the first families of Virginia, and his wife, a most estimable lady, was the daughter of Robert Mills, the architect of the Treasury. His rooms were hung with meritorious pictures, and the art of wood-carving was carried to great perfection in the side-boards, secretaries, and tables, which served the various purposes of the establishment. The dining and supper tables were loaded with plate of pure metal. The cooking would not have shamed the genius of Soyer, and it was universally admitted that the wines were such as could have been selected only by a connoisseur.

This incomparable provider had ten thousand dollars invested in his cellar and his closet.

The people who nightly a.s.sembled to see and to take part in the entertainments of the house consisted of candidates for the Presidency, Senators and Representatives, members of the Cabinet, editors and journalists, and the master workmen of the third house, the lobby. Pendleton's, in its palmiest days, might have been called the vestibule of the lobby. Its most distinguished professors might be found there. They lent money to their clients when the "animal scratched too roughly," that is to say, when the play ran against them, and they became "broke," as they sometimes did.

Pendleton himself was an operator in the lobby. His professional position gave him great facilities. He a.s.sisted in the pa.s.sage of many useful bills of a private nature, involving considerable sums of money. A broker in parliamentary notes is an inevitable retainer of broker votes.

In the outer parlors, as midnight approached, might have been seen leading members of Congress, quietly discussing the day's proceedings, the prospects of parties, and the character of public men. A few officers of the army added to the number and variety of the groups which occupied this apartment. Here all were drinking, smoking, and talking, generally in a bright and jocose vein. Servants were gliding about with cigars, toddies, c.o.c.ktails, and "whisky-straights"

on little silver trays. Among them were two "old Virginny" darkies, very obliging and popular, who picked up many quarters and halves, and not a few "white fish," representing one dollar each.

But the third room was the haunt of the tiger! The company around the faro table would be playing mostly with counters of red, circular pieces of ivory, called fish, or chips, each of which represented five dollars. A few who were nearly "broke" would be using the white ones of one-fifth the value. The players were silent as the grave, because some of them were "in great luck," and large piles of red chips were standing upon different cards to abide the event of the deal, but, alas! the close of the deal was unfavorable, and before the little silver box, from which the cards were drawn, yielded the last of the pack, the most of the red piles had been drawn to the bank side. But some of them had doubled, and the owners drew them down as capital for the chances of the next deal.

If one had great good fortune and some prudence, while possessor of the red piles before named, he would leave the house with his few hundreds or thousands of dollars; but the chances were that between midnight and dawn the gamesters would all retire minus the money they had brought into the place, and all they had been able to borrow from friends.

There were, however, exceptions. The largest amount ever won from the proprietor at Pendleton's was twelve hundred dollars, for a stake of one hundred dollars. When Humphrey Marshall was appointed Minister to China by President Pierce, in 1852, he lost his "outfit"

and six months' pay, and was forced to accept a loan from Pendleton to enable him to reach the scene of his diplomatic labors. When Pendleton died, Mr. Buchanan attended his funeral, and several leading Democratic Congressmen were among his pall-bearers. His effects, including the furniture of his gambling-house, were sold at auction, attracting crowds of the most fashionable people in Washington, and probably for the first time since the descent of Proserpine, the gates of Hades were pa.s.sed by troops of the fair s.e.x.

Vice-President Breckinridge turned his back on the Union with marked regret. One night, as a supper-party at Colonel Forney's, Mr.

Keitt, of South Carolina, undertook to ridicule the Kentucky horse raisers. Breckinridge stood it for awhile, but Keitt persisted in returning to the blue-gra.s.s region for a location to his stories, and finally Breckinridge retorted. He described a recent visit to South Carolina, and his meeting there with several of the original Secessionists. One of them, who was a militia officer in Keitt's own district, had just returned from a muster arrayed in faded regimentals of blue jeans, with a dragoon's sword trailing at his side and a huge fore-and-aft chapeau surmounted with a long feather.

He was full of enthusiasm for the cause and descanted with particular eloquence upon what he called the wrongs of the South. "'I tell you, sah,' said he," continued Breckinridge, "'we cannot stand it any longer; we intend to fight; we are preparing to fight; it is impossible, sah, that we should submit, sah, not for a single hour, sah.' I asked him, 'What are you suffering from?' and he replied: 'Why, sah, we are suffering under the oppression of the Federal Government. We have been suffering under it for twenty-five years and more, and we will stand it no longer.'" Breckinridge then turned toward Keitt, and continued, "I advise my young friend here from South Carolina to visit some of his const.i.tuents before undertaking to go to war with the North, and advise them to go through the Northern states to learn what an almighty big country they will have to whip before they get through." Breckinridge was sincere in this remark, yet not many months had elapsed before he was forced into secession by the agitators.

The re-opening of the slave-trade, by which negroes could be imported and sold for very low prices, was one of the allurements held out to the poor whites of the South. A cargo was actually brought in a yacht called the Wanderer, commanded by Captain Corrie, who obtained the requisite capital for the enterprise by obtaining the pa.s.sage of a large claim for the military services of a South Carolina organization in the War of 1812. Marshal Rynders suspected the destination of the Wanderer when she was about to leave New York, but he was persuaded to let her go. A few months later she landed near Brunswick, in Georgia, three hundred and fifty negroes, who were speedily distributed over the Gulf States. One or two were seized by United States Marshals, but they were soon taken from them. The experiment was a success.

While the two House of Congress were convulsed by sectional strife there was no cessation in the presentation of jobs, some of which were disgraceful schemes for plundering the Treasury. The most active advocates of these swindles, and of some more meritorious legislation which they were paid to advocate, were the lady lobbyists.

Some of them were the widows of officers of the army or navy, others the daughters of Congressmen, and others had drifted from home localities where they had found themselves the subjects of scandalous comments. The parlors of some of these dames were exquisitely furnished with works of art and bric-a-brac, donated by admirers.

Every evening they received, and in the winter their blazing wood fires were surrounded by a distinguished circle. Some would treat favored guests to a game of euchre, and as midnight approached there was always an adjournment to the dining-room, where a choice supper was served. A cold duck, a venison pie, broiled oysters, or some other exquisitely cooked dish with salads and cheese, generally const.i.tuted the repast, with iced champagne or Burgundy at blood-heat. Who could blame the Congressman for leaving the bad cooking of his hotel or boarding-house, with an absence of all home comforts, to walk into the parlor web which the adroit spider lobbyist had cunningly woven for him.

Washington was enlivened during the recess of Congress by a visit from the "Chicago Zouaves," a volunteer organization which had been carefully trained by its young commander, Captain E. E. Ellsworth, in a novel drill based on the quick movements of the Moors. The staid old military organizations were magnetized by the rapid, theatrical manner in which the Zouaves executed the manual and several gymnastic company movements. Their uniform was loose scarlet trousers, gaiter boots, and buff-leather leggings, a blue jacket trimmed with orange-colored braid, and a red cap with orange tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs; their scarlet blankets were rolled on the top of their knapsacks. They drilled as light infantry, and moved like electric clocks. The entire drill lasted nearly three hours, including stoppages for rest, a few moments each time, and, although performed under a scorching sun on the hot sand, and comprising a series of vigorous exercises, the men stood it well, and attended strictly to their business.

The step of the Zouaves was in itself a peculiarity and strongly suggestive of thorough pedestrian and gymnastic preparation. The diminutive stature of the men and their precision in accomplishing the allotted length of the step, gave to it something of a steady _loping_ movement, but yet so firm and springy that the effect was most animated. Another feature in the general excellence of the Zouaves was noted in their method of handling their arms, which, instead of the inanimate and gingerly treatment so observable even among finely drilled companies when executing the manual, were grasped with a nervous energy of action and shifted with a spirit which was thrillingly suggestive of a will, as well as the power, to act. The visitors were quite boyish in appearance, and mostly of small stature, falling even below the ordinary size of short men in our cities.

Captain Ellsworth was in appearance the most youthful of his corps, but he had a finely marked countenance and a self-reliant manner.

The corps visited Mount Vernon, and was received at the White House by President Buchanan and Miss Lane. After witnessing an exhibition of their performance, the President made a patriotic and prophetic little speech to Captain Ellsworth, concluding by the remark: "We wish you prosperity and happiness in peace--should war come, I know where you will be." Within a short year the gallant officer lay in a soldier's grave.

Owen Lovejoy, a Representative from Illinois, was one of the prominent Republican orators. He was a man of considerable brains and a good deal of body, and his style of utterance was of the hyper-intense school. On one occasion he begun his speech at the top of a voice of most prodigious compa.s.s, and kept on in the same strain, which, mildly described, might be characterized as a roar.

When some waggish member on the Southern side cried, "Louder!" the effect upon the audience was convulsing. There stood Lovejoy, with his coat off and his collar open, his big, bushy head thrown back like a lion at bay, and brandishing his arms aloft, while his whole body rocked and quivered with excitement, hurling his denunciations not at the slave-power this time, but at the Secessionists. His tremendous voice rang through the hall like the peal of a trumpet, and when he described the insults to the old flag he was truly eloquent.

The Southern conspirators endeavored to secure the co-operation of the Indians, and delegations from several tribes were successively brought to Washington, where they "went the grand rounds" of the haunts of dissipation. They were dirty, disgusting-looking fellows, without one particle of the romance about them with which Cooper has invested the Indian character. Several tribes joined the Southern Confederacy, and fought desperately against the Union, which had for years before paid them liberal annuities.

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Th. Jefferson THOMAS JEFFERSON was born at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va., April 2d, 1743; was a member of the Virginia Legislature, 1769; was Delegate to the Continental Congress, 1775; re-entered the Virginia Legislature, 1777; was member of Congress, 1783; was Secretary of State under Washington, 1789-1793; was Vice-President with Adams, 1797-1801; was President of the United States, 1801-1809; died July 4th, 1826.

CHAPTER IV.

LINCOLN'S ELECTION INAUGURATES REBELLION.