Perley's Reminiscences Part 36

An amusing feature of Mr. Evarts' argument was his ill.u.s.tration of "the proprieties of speech, as shown by the official report of the debates." He read from the _Congressional Globe_ that Senator Sumner had called Andrew Johnson an "enemy of his country," and had been called to order. Senator Anthony, in the chair, said that it was usual and proper to call the President an enemy of his country, and Senator Sherman scouted the idea that Senator Sumner was out of order, saying that he had heard such language in the Senate fifty times. Senators were a good deal amused at this exhibition of their record. Then Mr. Evarts turned to the record of the House as to the propriety of speech, and there was a general stir and smile, as if to say, "Here's richness." The celebrated pa.s.sage between Bingham and Butler, about murdering Mrs. Surratt, and Fort Fisher, and the bottle and spoons, was recited, and there was almost universal merriment. Bingham smiled and squirmed, looking, when his remarks about Butler were given, both puzzled and pleased. Butler had fixed himself in an easy position, his right elbow upon the manager's table, and his head leaning upon his hand, and he was as still as a wooden image until Evarts was through with the matter of decorum. Members of the House who were present, seemed greatly edified, and Garfield and Colfax talked it over, laughing heartily.

At last came the verdict. The votes on the two articles were taken May 16th and 26th, standing, in each case, thirty-five guilty and nineteen not guilty, which acquitted the President, as a two-thirds vote is required to convict. Mr. Stanton at once resigned, and General Schofield was made Secretary of War. The fact that had Mr. Johnson been found guilty Mr. Wade would have been President of the United States doubtless had great weight with several Senators who voted "not guilty."

Within thirty minutes after the first vote was taken, which resulted in acquittal, a Congressional Committee of Inquiry was inst.i.tuted by Republicans in regard to the conduct of the disagreeing members of the Senate. Witnesses were summoned, and volumes of testimony were taken and ingeniously exhausted in the vain endeavor to fix a stain upon a single Senator, but the Committee had to give up the matter in disgust, being quite unable to accomplish the ends they so zealously pursued.

The remainder of Mr. Johnson's Presidential career was not especially noteworthy. On the 25th of December, 1868, he issued a full pardon to everybody who had taken part in the Rebellion.

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J. S. Black JEREMIAH SULLIVAN BLACK, born in The Glades, Somerset County, Pa., June 10th, 1810; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1831; in 1851 was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and became its Chief Justice; was Attorney-General under President Buchanan, 1857-1861; resumed private practice at law; defended President Johnson in the Impeachment trial; died near York, Pa., August 19th, 1883.

CHAPTER XXI.

A NEW PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.

As the time approached for the selection of a candidate by the Republicans, Ohio presented four names. General Grant, the conqueror of the Rebellion, who was without experience, qualifications, or capacity as a civil ruler, was evidently the choice of the loyal people of the North. The old Abolitionists and the national banks favored Chief Justice Chase, who possessed brains, personal dignity, and ability to perform the duties of the Executive. Stanton was the martyr-candidate of the contractors, an unscrupulous man of action and decision, bold, audacious, and unshrinking; and the Western Reserve brought forward bluff Ben Wade, feigning fanaticism and stoical virtue, but a mere mouther of strong words and profane epithets. A few spoke of a fifth Ohio candidate for the nomination in General Sheridan, but, "like a little man," he promptly sat down on every demonstration in his behalf. It soon became evident that General Grant would be nominated. State Republican Conventions, Union Clubs, and newspapers of all political shades declared their preferences for him, the New York _Herald_ finally coming out for the "Conqueror of the Rebellion," with these lines, by General Halpine (Miles O'Reilly), as a text. They afterward became historic:

"So, boys, a final b.u.mper, While we all in chorus chant, For next President we nominate Our own Ulysses Grant.

"And if asked what State he hails from, This our sole reply shall be, From near Appomattox Court-House, And its famous apple tree.

"For 'twas there to our Ulysses That Lee gave up the fight; Now, boys, to Grant for President, And G.o.d defend the right."

Chief Justice Chase was treated with less favor by another poet, who thus described his visit to Ohio to rally his followers:

"Says Salmon P.

Chase, says he, 'I'll fish, by Jupiter Ammon!'

He went to Ohio, And threw in his fly--oh!

But never a sign of a Salmon."

The Chief Justice was a prominent candidate for the Democratic nomination. His eldest daughter, Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague, was in New York when the Democratic Convention was held there, and her parlor was the head-quarters of her father's friends. Mr. Frederick Aiken, a lawyer-journalist, who had appeared at the trial of the conspirators as the defender of Mrs. Surratt, was her master of ceremonies, and introduced the delegates from the rural districts to Mrs. Sprague, but she failed to capture a majority. The Chief Justice saw plainly that the star of Grant was in the ascendant, and that his life-cherished hope of being President was doomed to disappointment.

General Grant was very positive in demanding that all officers of the Confederate army should enjoy their liberty. Among those of them who had been imprisoned by order of the Secretary of War was General Clement C. Clay, an ex-United States Senator from Alabama.

He was taken ill in prison with asthma, and his wife came to Washington to solicit his release. She went to President Johnson, and he gave her the necessary order, which she took back to Secretary Stanton. Stanton read the order, and, looking her in the face, tore it up without a word and pitched it into his waste-basket.

The lady arose and retired without speaking; nor did Stanton speak to her. She was filled with despair. She saw her husband, in whom her life was wrapped up, dying in prison, and she was unable to help him.

Soon afterward she was advised to call on General Grant, who ascertained by consulting his roster of the Confederate army that her husband was a Brigadier-General, and then wrote an order directing his release, under the Appomattox parole, on giving the required bond, and added: "I shall see that this order is carried out." Having signed the order, he gave it to Mrs. Clay, who the next day presented it to the Secretary of War. Mr. Stanton read it, then touched his bell, and when an officer appeared, handed him the order, saying, "Have that man discharged."

The extensions of the Treasury Department were completed during the Administration of President Johnson under the efficient direction of Mr. A. B. Mullett, supervising architect. The entire building is four hundred and sixty feet long and two hundred and sixty-four feet wide. The new portions are constructed of granite, and the entire cost of this elegantly finished structure was about eight million dollars.

Senator Ben Wade, of Ohio, as President _pro tempore_ of the Senate, enjoyed the privilege of appointing the keeper of the Senate restaurant. That establishment, elegantly fitted up in the bas.e.m.e.nt story of the Senate wing of the Capitol, brilliantly lighted and supplied with coal and ice, was enjoyed rent free by the person fortunate enough to obtain it. It was customary, however, for him to send a good lunch every day to the Vice-President's room without charge.

One day the restauranteur, hearing that he was to be superseded by a caterer from Cincinnati, called on Mr. Wade and said obsequiously, "I am the keeper of the Senate restaurant, Senator." "Oh! yes,"

replied Mr. Wade, "you run the cook-shop down-stairs, don't you?"

"Yes, sir," was the reply, with a low bow. "Well," said Mr. Wade, "what can I do for you? what do you want?" "I have called to express my wish, sir, that I may continue to keep the restaurant, and anything you want, sir, you have only to send a page down-stairs and it shall be furnished quick as a flash, without costing you a cent, sir."

Just then Mr. Wade appeared to recollect something, and looking the man directly in the eye, said: "Oh! I don't want you to feed me; when I do I will pay you for what I eat, like other people.

But, listen: complaint has been made to me that you don't treat the little pages fairly or kindly. They complain that they can't get anything to eat except expensive things, for which they have to pay a large price. Now, sir, just remember that these pages are our boys, and you had better overcharge Senators, who are able to pay, than these little chaps, who want to save all of their wages that they can for their mothers. You must be civil and kind to these pages, sir, or I'll have you moved out of your cook-shop and put in some one there who will treat the boys well." The restauranteur promised that he would do so, and bowed his way out.

Mr. Wade after this made inquiry of the pages from time to time, and found that they were civilly treated, and that lunches of reasonable cost were provided for them.

Mr. Sumner's enemies circulated a statement that his great speech on Alaska was prepared at the Department of State, and there published at Government expense. This was an unmitigated falsehood.

Mr. Sumner obtained the materials for his speech by a careful examination of all the available works in the Congressional and other libraries at Washington in which reference is made to Alaska, and by conversing with officers of the navy and of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution who had been there. Everything supplied from the Department of State was a brief correspondence between Mr. Stoeckel and Secretary Seward, which made a quarter of a printed page. Mr.

Sumner's speech, written in his own hand, made nearly one hundred foolscap pages, and the ma.n.u.script, which he gave me, is now in my collection of autographs. He had it printed at the _Congressional Globe_ office at his own expense, and an expensive job it was.

Subsequently Mr. Seward asked and received permission to have a small extra edition struck off, before the type was distributed, for the use of the Department of State, and with these copies was bound a coast survey chart, for which Mr. Sumner had supplied much information.

General Grant, although at times annoyed by his relations with the President, pa.s.sed the happiest period of his eventful life at Washington during the Johnson Administration. He occupied a large house which had been built by Judge Douglas, in what was known as Minnesota Row. A devoted wife, Mrs. Grant was also an affectionate mother, and the happy pair enjoyed the society of their children as they grew up. Fred, the eldest son, who had shared some of his father's later campaigns, was being prepared for admission to West Point. The General's pet was his only daughter, Nellie, who was bright and beautiful, and whose girlish prattle was far more attractive to him than the compliments of Congressmen or the praises of politicians.

General Grant used generally to walk to and from his "head-quarters,"

which were in a two-story house on Seventeenth Street, opposite the War Department, and he was often seen trudging along on a stormy day, his only protection from the rain being an army cloak and a slouch hat. There was nothing to indicate that he was the Commander- in-Chief of the army, and he was always alone in the morning when he went to the Department. His route was through I Street to Ma.s.sachusetts and New York Avenues, to Fifteenth Street, and thence by the broad-flagged pavement on Pennsylvania Avenue to the War Department. Even the children along this route knew General Grant, and would frequently salute him as he pa.s.sed, silently smoking his cigar. General Grant was very fond of walking about Washington, and even after he became President nothing was more agreeable to him than a stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue. Frequently in these walks he would meet going in an opposite direction Sir Edward Thornton, then the British Minister. Sir Edward was a good pedestrian, and took long strolls every day, and would go springing along like a boy out for a holiday. On the other hand, General Grant walked slowly and deliberately, and would invariably return every salutation, no matter how humble the person saluting might be.

General Grant's evening receptions at his house on Minnesota Row were the social feature of Washington. Cabinet officers, diplomatists, Judges, Congressmen, officers of the army and navy, residents, and the strangers within their gates made up the throng that good- humoredly jostled and crowded each other in futile attempts to move through the parlors and hall. When General Grant had issued cards of invitation to his first reception, hundreds who had received none went, all the same, so he afterward announced through the newspapers that he would be "happy to see his friends."

General Grant received all those who could get near him in his usual stoical manner, his eyes lighting up when he took an old friend or comrade by the hand. He wore his undress uniform, with the four golden stars glistening on his shoulder-straps, while Mrs.

Grant, who stood at his side, wore a plain, high-necked, long- sleeved, pink silk gown, with a Honiton black lace shawl thrown over her shoulders. The wives of Senators Chandler and Morgan vied with each other in the richness of their toilets and the splendor of their diamonds, but the observed of all observers was Mrs.

Charles Sumner, on the Senator's arm, wearing a becoming dress of black velvet, with a white lace shawl, and a flexible golden serpent woven among her dark tresses.

Secretary Seward hovered around the host nearly all the evening, anxious to conciliate him and to secure his support of "our Administration." Mr. Speaker Colfax was in excellent spirits, and so were the scores of Congressmen and placemen present, each one anxious to say a word to the next President. Lieutenant-General Sherman was grim and epigrammatic, while Generals Sheridan and Ord appeared delighted at their deliverance from the troublesome duties of reconstruction, and there was much soldier-talk among the many brave men present who had stood shoulder to shoulder on hard-fought fields. Receptions were given by President Johnson, Speaker Colfax, Chief Justice Chase, Governor Morgan, Admiral Dalhgren, and other dignitaries, but those at the house of General Grant eclipsed them all.

Mr. Sam Ward began to operate in the lobby at Washington toward the close of the war. He was a short, compactly built, round-headed gentleman, well educated, with an inexhaustible fund of anecdote and great gastronomic knowledge, which enabled him to give marvelously good dinners. Besides all this, he was a "good witness," and consequently a reliable friend. He said of himself, just after being examined by General Butler, during the Andrew Johnson impeachment investigation, that he had "been before that d----d strabismal inquisition, and that his evidence wasn't worth half his mileage." It should be known that his mileage was twenty cents, ten cents per mile each way from Willard's Hotel to the Capitol, and that, as his street-car fare only cost him twelve, he sent eight cents to the Treasury as conscience money. So powerful a legislative manipulator was Mr. Ward that he claimed for himself the t.i.tle, "King of the Lobby," nor was his claim seriously disputed.

Charles d.i.c.kens again came to Washington to lecture during President Johnson's last official winter. He had rooms at Welcker's restaurant on Fifteenth Street. He used to walk out every fine day, accompanied by his friend and adviser, Mr. Osgood, the Boston publisher, and Mr. Dolby, his financial agent. They would often tramp eight or ten miles before dinner. Simon Hanscom, the journalist, secured him an interview with President Johnson, who impressed him, as he afterward wrote, as "a man of very remarkable appearance--indeed, of tremendous firmness of purpose, not to be trifled with." The only invitation to dine that he accepted was one from Senator Sumner, on a Sunday afternoon, when Secretary Stanton was in the party.

In Washington, as elsewhere, Mr. d.i.c.kens' lectures and readings were to him a mine of pecuniary profit, and to hundreds of the most intelligent and cultured citizens of the metropolis they furnished a treat of the highest intellectual character. His audiences were such as must have highly flattered him, and his entertainments were such as greatly delighted him.

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Charles Sumner CHARLES SUMNER was born at Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts, January 6th, 1811; received a cla.s.sical education, graduating at the Cambridge Law School in 1834; practiced in Boston; traveled in Europe 1837- 1840; was United States Senator from Ma.s.sachusetts from December 1st, 1851, until his death at Washington City, March 11th, 1869.

CHAPTER XXII.

GENERAL GRANT IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

General Grant, having been elected President by a majority of nearly one million and a-half of votes, was inaugurated on Thursday, the 4th of March, 1869. The national metropolis was crowded with those who had come to witness the historic event, many of them veterans who rejoiced in the elevation of their Old Commander to the highest civic office in the gift of the American people.

The military escort was composed of regulars and volunteers, several companies of the latter being colored men. Then came President Johnson and the President-elect in an open landau, drawn by four white horses, Mr. Johnson looking soured and sad, while General Grant, displaying no signs of elation, waved his hat in response to the cheers with which he was greeted all the way from the White House to the Capitol. Next came the Vice-President-elect, Mr.

Colfax, in a carriage with a member of the Senatorial Committee of Arrangements, and the civic a.s.sociations followed. There were the Tanners, the Invincibles, the Wide Awakes, the Grant and Colfax Clubs, and the Colored Republicans, each organization with its band, its banners, and its badges. The Washington Fire Department, their brightly polished engines drawn by spirited horses, brought up the rear.

On arriving at the Capitol, the President and President-elect and the Vice-President-elect were escorted to the Senate Chamber, where, four years previously, Mr. Johnson had disgraced himself by his drunken harangue. The Supreme Court was already there, with the Diplomatic Corps, gorgeously arrayed in their court costumes, and a number of prominent army and navy officers in full uniform. In the galleries were ladies gayly dressed, whose opera-gla.s.ses had been turned on the distinguished personages below as they had successively entered, and who kept up such a buzzing chat that it was almost impossible for the Senators to transact the closing business of the expiring session.

At twelve o'clock Mr. Colfax was sworn in as Vice-President, and afterward administered the oath to the new Senators. Some of those applying, however, had served in the Confederate army, and were not able to take what was known as the "iron-clad oath." A procession was then formed of those present on the floor of the Senate, which moved through the rotunda to the east front of the Capitol, where the President-elect was hailed by hearty cheers. He advanced to the front of the platform, and the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Chase, followed by an artillery salute from a light battery near by, while the whistles of the steam fire-engines joined in the clangor, the band played, and thousands of voices cheered.

When silence was restored, President Grant drew from his coat pocket six or seven pages of foolscap, adjusted his gla.s.ses, and with great deliberation read in a conversational tone his message to the citizens of the Republic and to the world, a plain, practical, common-sense doc.u.ment, in which he declared that he should on all subjects have a policy of his own to recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people. Soon after he began to read his message his little daughter, somewhat alarmed by the clamor and the throng, ran from her mother to his side, and took hold of his hand, which she held until a chair was placed for her, when she sat down, seemingly a.s.sured that no harm could reach her. When the President had concluded he shook hands with his wife, and afterward received the congratulations of many official and unofficial persons, who crowded around and greeted him, before he could return to his carriage and start, escorted as when he came, to the White House. The interest taken in this occasion by the President's old comrades in arms was something wonderful. Every soldier hailed his election as a compliment to the army.

That night General Grant and wife attended the inauguration ball, which was held in the north wing of the new Treasury Department, then just completed. There was a great crowd, and the single flight of stairs proved insufficient for those who wished to pa.s.s up or down, causing great dissatisfaction, especially on the part of Horace Greeley and others, who found that the best hats and coats had been taken from the improvised cloak-rooms early in the evening.

General Grant had kept the formation of his Cabinet a profound secret, and their names were not known until he sent their nominations to the Senate on the day after his inauguration. The nomination of Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, as Secretary of State, created some surprise, as it had been understood that he was to be sent to France as Minister Plenipotentiary. It was soon known, however, that Mr. Washburne only desired to preside over the Department of State for a few days, ostensibly for the prestige it would give him in diplomatic circles abroad, but really that he might appoint some of his political henchmen to profitable consulates. At the end of six days' service, Mr. Hamilton Fish was nominated and confirmed as his successor. Mr. Fish was of orthodox Knickerbocker stock, and the services of his father, Colonel Nicholas Fish, gave him a hereditary right to belong to the Society of the Cincinnati, over the central organization of which he presided as Captain- General. He had served acceptably in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, and as a War Governor of the State of New York he had displayed considerable executive talent. He was rather a large, British-looking man, with leg-of-mutton side- whiskers, a stout nose, and a pleasant expression of countenance, especially when he was chuckling over his success in humbugging some verdant news-gatherer on diplomatic matters.

It was the especial social duty of Secretary Fish to entertain the foreign diplomats in Washington, to settle their little disputes on questions of etiquette, and to make them reasonably happy.

Every winter he dined and wined them, and, although his dining-room in the Morgan House was of goodly size, he was forced to make a three days' job of it. So on Monday he had the Envoys Extraordinary, on Tuesday the Ministers Resident, and on Wednesday the Charge d'Affaires, with a few personal friends to fill up the gaps. The Senate and House Foreign Committees were next entertained at dinner, and then the leading members of either House expected to put their Congressional legs under the Fish mahogany. Meanwhile Mrs. and Miss Fish had to go the grand rounds to leave their cards on the wives and daughters of Senators and Representatives, and to be "at home" every Wednesday to receive visits from them and the rest of society in turn.