Showing posts with label Lyman Trumbull. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lyman Trumbull. Show all posts

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, April 6, 1866

The decision of the Supreme Court in the Indiana cases Milligan, Bolles, and others was discussed. Attorney-General Speed could not state exactly the points. The judges do not give their opinions until next winter. They seem to have decided against the legality of military commissions.

I inquired what should be done in Semmes's case, which had been long pending. Little was said, and the President remarked he would see me after the session, and I therefore remained. He remarked that there was a somewhat strange state of things. Grant thought the paroles he had given covered almost everything. The courts were taking up some of the cases for treason and were showing themselves against military commissions. He therefore thought it would be as well to release Semmes on his parole.

I suggested, in view of the present condition of affairs, and this late decision of the Court, that if Semmes could not have a prompt trial, it would be better to release him from his present arrest unconditionally. We already have two paroles from him, one on the surrender of the Alabama, and another at the time of Johnston's surrender. I would not take another. Nor would it be right, after holding him over three months in custody, to prolong his imprisonment.

The President assented to my suggestion and wished me to present it in some form for his action. My first thought was to place the grounds of his release, first on the proclamation, and second on the recent decision of the Supreme Court, making no allusion to Semmes's long imprisonment; but on second thought I omitted the President's own act, the proclamation, for it would be used against him by the captives.

The Senate by a vote of 33 to 15 this evening overrode the veto on the Civil Rights Bill. Wright of New Jersey was in his seat, but Dixon was not. Morgan, unexpectedly to me, and, I think, to most persons, voted with the majority. The vote of M. was one of calculation, not of conviction. I shall be disappointed if he does not lose rather than gain by the step he has taken. Such is usually the righteous termination of calculations made by scheming and ambitious men who consent to do wrong. In this instance M. may have had honest reasons. It is true he voted for the passage of the bill, but that was, as he has said to me, without much consideration given to the law, and, in repeated interviews and conversations since, he had left the impression on my mind that he should sustain the veto.

General and Mrs. Grant gave their last reception for the season this evening. Being somewhat indisposed, I did not propose to attend, but Edgar had not returned and there was no one to accompany Mrs. Welles and her friend, and I was, consequently, under the necessity of going, though afflicted with a severe headache. The party was in some respects unlike any of the season, and there was present not only a numerous but a miscellaneous company of contradictions. There had been some pre-understanding on the part of the Radicals, or a portion of them, to attend and to appropriate General Grant, or at least his name and influence, to themselves. But, most unexpectedly to them, as I confess it was to me, the President and his two daughters appeared early, and Montgomery Blair and some of his ladies were also on hand. There came also Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the late Confederacy, so called. When, therefore, Thad Stevens, Trumbull, and others, not exactly homogeneous though now acting together, came in, they were evidently astonished and amazed.

Stevens, though a brave old stager, was taken aback and showed himself discomfited. Trumbull betrayed surprise. I was not in a condition to circulate much in the crowd, but heard repeatedly, amid the exultation over the vote of the Senate, expressions of vexation that there was such a strange attendance here. Theodore Tilton, as full of fanatical, fantastical, and boyish enthusiasm as of genius and talent, but with no sensible ideas of the principles on which our government is founded or accurate knowledge of our republican federal system, or of the merits involved in pending questions, was boisterous over the result in the Senate. It was sufficient for him that a victory had been achieved for an ideal and fanciful theory, regardless of consequences, and indifferent whether we had a union or an empire, so that he could do a little more for the black man than for the white man. When a little older, if his erratic genius does not spoil him, he will be a little wiser. For a time he fastened himself on me, but I was too indisposed to do more than listen. He gloated over Morgan's vote; said he could have thrown his hat to the ceiling when he heard it, not that he cared for Morgan.

General and naval officers, as well as politicians, were present, with most of the foreign ministers. Of the Cabinet I saw none but Harlan.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 476-8

Monday, February 12, 2024

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, March 28, 1866

The death of Senator Foot has checked excitement. Senators have put off discussing the veto till next week. Many of them are going to Connecticut to electioneer. Some will accompany the remains of the deceased Senator to Vermont. In the mean time Trumbull will prepare himself to attack the veto with all his power. So with others.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 465

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, February 19, 1866

Attended special Cabinet-meeting this morning, at ten, and remained in session until about 1 P.M. The President submitted a message which he had prepared, returning the Freedmen's Bureau Bill to the Senate with his veto. The message and positions were fully discussed. Seward, McCulloch, and Dennison agreed with the President, as did I, and each so expressed himself. Stanton, Harlan, and Speed, while they did not absolutely dissent, evidently regretted that the President had not signed the bill. Stanton was disappointed. Speed was disturbed. Harlan was apprehensive. The President was emphatic and unequivocal in his remarks, earnest to eloquence in some portion of a speech of about twenty minutes, in which he reviewed the intrigues of certain Radical leaders in Congress, without calling them by name, their council of fifteen which in secret prescribed legislative action and assumed to dictate the policy of the Administration. The effect of this veto will probably be an open rupture between the President and a portion of the Republican Members of Congress. How many will go with him, and how many with the Radical leaders, will soon be known. Until a vote is taken, the master spirits will have time to intrigue with the Members and get them committed. They will be active as well as cunning.

Senator Trumbull, who is the father of this bill, has not been classed among the Radicals and did not intend to be drawn in with them when he drew up this law. But he is freaky and opinionated, though able and generally sensible. I shall be sorry to have him enter into associations that will identify him with extremists, and yet it will not surprise me should such be the case. He will be the champion of his bill and, stimulated and courted by those with whom he does not sympathize, will strive to impair the effect of the impregnable arguments and reasoning of the message.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 434-5

Friday, March 3, 2023

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, April 8, 1866

WASHINGTON, April 8, 1866.

MY DEAR DARLING:— The last week is the only one since you left that you would have enjoyed here particularly. The Connecticut election early in the week was an enjoyable thing. The passage of the Civil Rights Bill in the Senate over the veto was a most exciting and delightful thing-such enthusiasm was manifested. Things have improved here. The general feeling is hopeful, loyal, and patriotic. A great change from that [of February] 22nd, when treason crept out an d triumphed. The next thing was the great party at Grant's the night of the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. All our side was there in great spirits, Trumbull, Stevens, and all. The President stood between General and Mrs. Grant. Vice-President (Rebel) Stephens stood near. Montgomery Blair, etc., etc. Old Thad shook hands cordially with Andy. Andy presented him to Mrs. Grant. It was the happiest gathering I have seen. Andy looked and behaved very well indeed.

R.

Judge Kelley introduced me to his daughter, telling her if she ever saw my wife she would see the image of her mother. (Her mother was a first wife.) He said she looked like the daughter except as she departed from her mother in some resemblance to him all an injury. The daughter is a good-looking young person. Love to the bairns.

Affectionately ever, your
R.
MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 22

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, June 24, 1865

Senator Trumbull called on me today. Says he is and has been Johnsonian. Is not prepared to say the Administration policy of Reconstruction is not the best that could be suggested. As Trumbull is by nature censorious, — a faultfinder, — I was prepared — to hear him censure. But he has about him some of the old State-rights notions which form the basis of both his and my political opinions.

He expressed a hope that we had more regular Cabinet meetings and a more general submission of important questions to the whole council than was the case under Mr. Lincoln's administration. Trumbull and the Senators generally thought Seward too meddlesome and presuming. The late President well understood and rightly appreciated the character and abilities of Trumbull, and would not quarrel with him, though he felt him to be ungenerous and exacting. They had been pretty intimate, though of opposing parties, in Illinois, until circumstances and events brought them to act together. In a competition for the seat of Senator, Mr. Lincoln, though having three fourths of the votes of their combined strength,1 when it was necessary they should have all to succeed in choosing a Senator, finding that Trumbull would not give way, himself withdrew and went for T., who was elected. The true traits of the two men were displayed in that contest. Lincoln was self-sacrificing for the cause; Trumbull persisted against great odds in enforcing his own pretensions. When L. was taken up and made President, Trumbull always acted as though he thought himself a more fit and proper man than Lincoln, whom he had crowded aside in the Senatorial contest.

Preston King thinks that D. D. T. Marshall had better be retained as storekeeper at Brooklyn for the present, unless there is evidence of fraud or corruption. On these matters K. is very decided and earnest and would spare no one who is guilty. I have always found him correct as well as earnest. King is domiciled at the Executive Mansion, and I am glad the President gives him so truly and fully his confidence, and that he has such a faithful and competent adviser.

The President permits himself to be overrun with visitors. I find the anteroom crowded through the day by women and men seeking audience, often on frivolous and comparatively unimportant subjects which belong properly to the Departments, often by persons who have cases which have been investigated and passed upon by the Secretaries or by the late President. This pressure will, if continued, soon break down the President or any man. No one has sufficient physical endurance to perform this labor, nor is it right.

_______________

1 On the first ballot Lincoln had 45 votes and Trumbull 5.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 322-3

Sunday, August 7, 2022

Senatorial Canvass in Illinois, August 27, 1858

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS AT OTTAWA.

[FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]

CHICAGO, August 27, 1858.

After Mr. Douglas spoke at Peoria on the 8th, he proceeded to Lacon, where, on the next day, he made the discovery that all the Presidents, naming them in order from Washington to Buchanan, had endorsed the principles of the Dred Scott Decision by refusing to grant passports to negroes to travel in foreign countries. After which, he reposed his wearied virtue for one day, to prepare for the extreme of mendacity, which he reached on Saturday at Ottawa. There, most aptly, he illustrated the Latin proverb— “Andas omnia perpeti, ruat per retitum nefas1 — and there he strode so deeply into the mire of falsification that extrication is impossible. But more of this further on.

At Lewiston, in Fulton county, on the 17th, Mr. Lincoln held one of his largest meetings and spoke for two hours and a half. At this place he tore from Douglas the mantle of Henry Clay, under which the senator had been strutting and hoping to hide the wickedness of his pretenses. Mr. Lincoln read largely from Clay’s writings and speeches, wherein he contends for the ultimate emancipation of the slave, and said that he would claim no support from the old line Whigs unless he could show that he stood upon the ground occupied by that great statesman. He further said that he believed Mr. Douglas was the only man of prominence before the country who had never declared, to friend or enemy, whether he believed slavery to be right or wrong. His speeches, to be sure, leave the hearer to infer that he did not desire slavery to be introduced into Illinois, but he indicates that no moral consideration would prevail with him against the exercise of slave-ownership, provided there was more money in working a negro that in working a horse. It was in this speech that Mr. Lincoln uttered an eloquent and impressive apostrophe into the Declaration of Independence, which ranks him at once among the foremost orators of the land. I give you a brief extract from the correspondent of the Press and Tribune:

“These communities, the thirteen colonies, by their representatives in old Independence Hall, said to the whole world of men; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’” This was their majestic interpretation of the economy of the Universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and noble understanding of the justice of the Creator to His creatures.  Applause.  Yes, gentlemen, to all His creatures, to the whole great family of man. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Devine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows. They grasped not only the whole race of man then living, but they reached forward and seized upon the farthest posterity. They erected a beacon to guide their children and their children's children, and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began—so that truth, and justice, and mercy, and all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of liberty was being built. Loud cheers.

“Now, my countrymen (Mr. Lincoln continued with great earnestness,) if you have been taught doctrines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur, and mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by our charter of liberty, let me entreat you to come back. Return to the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of the Revolution. Think nothing of me—take no thought for the political fate of any man whomsoever—but come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence. You may do anything with me you choose, if you will but heed these sacred principles. You may not only defeat me for the Senate, but you may take me and put me to death. While pretending no indifference to earthly honors, I do claim to be actuated in this contest by something higher than an anxiety for office. I charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant thought for any man's success. It is nothing; I am nothing; Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal emblem of Humanity—the Declaration of American Independence.”

Reports from various localities indicate that the Fillmore Americans and Old Lane Whigs are coming to the support of Mr. Lincoln, to put down the agitator and demagogue, who, on the other hand, is appealing to them for their votes. It is not to be disguised that Mr. Douglas has the [illegible] faith of the masses of the democratic party; whether it be abiding is another question. Once he had the ear of the federal administration; now he has lost it, and it is the object of unceasing opposition from that quarter. Then he could rally his lieges and hold them because he had rewards to bestow; now his promises are beggarly and unproductive. Thrift no longer follows fawning upon him. The Buchanan men do not warm towards him yet, and they are not likely to although it is said a joint and special commission has gone to Washington to plead with the unrelenting Executive.

Saturday, the 21st, was the day of the first discussion between Lincoln and Douglas. It was held at Ottawa, a city of about 9,000 inhabitants, on the line of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad and the Illinois canal, and the junction of the Fox and Illinois rivers. I arrived late the night before at Ottawa, and was accommodated with a sofa at the hotel. The city was already even full. Saturday was a pleasant, but warm day, and Ottawa was deluged in dust. By wagon, by rail, by canal, the people poured in, till Ottawa was one mass of active life. Men, women and children, old and young, the dwellers on the broad prairies, had turned their backs upon the plough, and had come to listen to these champions of the two parties. Military companies were out; martial music sounded, and salutes of artillery thundered in the air. [Eager] marshals in partisan sashes rode furiously about the streets. Peddlers were crying their wares at the corners, and excited groups of politicians were canvassing and quarrelling everywhere. And still they came, the crowd swelling constantly in its proportions and growing more eager and more hungry, perhaps more thirsty. Though every precaution was taken against this latter evil. About noon the rival processions were formed, and paraded the streets amid the cheers of the people. Mr. Lincoln was met at the depot by an immense crowd, who escorted him to the residence of the mayor, with banners flying and mottoes waving their unfaltering attachment to him and to his cause. The Douglas turnout, though plentifully interspersed with the Hibernian element, was less noisy, and thus matters were arranged for the after-dinner demonstration in the Court House square, where the stand was erected, and where, under the blazing sun unprotected by shade trees, and unprovided with seats, the audience was expected to congregate and listen to the champions.

Two men presenting wider contrasts could hardly be found as the representatives of the two great parties. Everybody knows Douglas, a short, thickset, burly man, with large round head, heavy hair, dark complexion, and fierce bull-dog bark. Strong in his own real power, and skilled by a thousand conflicts in all the strategy of a hand-to-hand or a general fight. Of towering ambition, restless in his determined desire for notoriety, proud, defiant, arrogant, audacious, unscrupulous, “Little Dug” ascended the platform and looked out imprudently and carelessly on the immense throng which surged and struggled before him. A native of Vermont, reared on a soil where no slave ever stood, trained to hard manual labor and schooled in early hardships, he came to Illinois a teacher, and from one post to another had risen to his present eminence. Forgetful of the ancestral hatred of slavery to which he was the heir, he had come to be a holder of slaves and to owe much of his fame to his continued subservience to southern influence.

The other—Lincoln—is a native of Kentucky, and of poor white parentage; and from his cradle has felt the blighting influence of the dark and cruel shadow which rendered labor dishonorable, and kept the poor in poverty, while it advanced the rich in their possessions. Reared in poverty and the humblest aspirations, he left his native state, crossed the line into Illinois, and began his career of honorable toil. At first a laborer, splitting rails for a living—deficient in education, and applying himself even to the rudiments of knowledge—he, too, felt the expanding power of his American manhood, and began to  achieve the greatness to which he has succeeded, With great difficulty struggling through the tedious formularies of legal lore, he was admitted to the bar and rapidly made his way to the front ranks of his profession. Honored by the people with office, he is still the same honest and reliable man. He volunteers in the Black Hawk war, and does the state good service in its sorest need. In every relation of his life, socially and to the state, Mr. Lincoln has been always the pure and honest man. In physique he is the opposite to Douglas. Built on the Kentucky type, he is very tall, slender and angular, awkward even, in gate and attitude. His face is sharp, large-featured and unprepossessing. His eyes are deep set, under heavy brows; his forehead is high and retreating, and his hair is dark and heavy. In repose, I must confess that “Long Abe’s” appearance is not comely. But stir him up, and the fire of his genius plays on every feature. His eye glows and sparkles, every lineament, now so ill-formed, grows brilliant and expressive, and you have before you a man of rare power and of strong magnetic influence. He takes the people every time, and there is no getting away from his sturdy good sense, his unaffected sincerity, and the unceasing play of his good humor, which accompanies his close logic and smoothes the way to conviction. Listening to him on Saturday, calmly and unprejudiced, I was convinced that he has no superior as a stump speaker. He is clear, concise and logical; his language is eloquent and at perfect command. He is altogether a more fluent speaker than Douglas, and in all the arts of debate fully his equal. The Republicans of Illinois have chosen a champion worthy of their heartiest support and fully equipped for the conflict with the great “squatter Sovereign.”

By previous arrangement, Mr. Douglas was to open in a speech of one hour, Mr. Lincoln was to respond in a speech of an hour and a half, and Mr. Douglas was to conclude in another half hour. The square was filled with people, and when the cannon and the music had been quieted, Mr. Douglas commenced. He began by referring to the attitude of the Whig and Democratic parties prior to the spring of 1854, claiming that up to that time they stood on the same platform with regard to the Slavery question. He said that in the session of 1853-4 he introduced the Kansas bill, in accordance with the principles of the compromise of 1850, and endorsed by the Wig and Democratic National Conventions of 1852. In 1854, after the passage of this bill, he said that Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Trumbull entered into a league to deliver up, bound hand and foot to the Abolitionists, the old Whigs and the old Democrats—in consideration whereof, Mr. Lincoln was to have Shield’s place, and Mr. Trumbull was to have his own. (A screw subsequently became loose, and the programme of substitution was changed.) In pursuance of this plan, the parties met at Springfield in 1854, to perfect arrangements. There they, Mr. Lincoln included, passed a certain series of abominable resolutions, one of which he would read, and to which Mr. Lincoln, and his party were [committed]. He then proceeded to discuss Mr. Lincoln’s position in regard to negro equality, to the evident satisfaction of the Hibernian body guard, who were made to believe that Mr. Lincoln was aching to place the African in high places of the land, and to fold him to his arms in a fraternal embrace. Recurring them to his doctrine of popular sovereignty, he lauded it as the great element of our growth and prosperity, and closed with a spread-eagle eulogium upon the democratic party. Mr. Douglas was often interrupted with light applause, but, on the hole, it was not a very enthusiastic demonstration.

Then the tall form of “Long Abe” loomed above the heads on the stage, the signal for a fanatic expression of applause. Mr. Lincoln replied seriatim to Mr. Douglas’s charges, denying the conspiracy with Trumbull entirely, stating that at that time he was opposed to the formation of a new party, and that he had no hand in the preparation of the Springfield resolutions. On the subject of negro equality, he read from a speech of his in 1854, and which he said Mr. Douglas heard, and on that record he was prepared to stand.

Mr. Lincoln closed, and Douglas came forward, evidently under much excitement. He took advantage of his last half hour, and rose to such a pitch of arrogance and audacity as is seldom witnessed. With brazen front and lungs of iron, with a recklessness peculiarly his own, he launched forth a bold and defiant speech, which his retainers applauded to the echo. The charges of his first speech he re-affirmed with an unblushing effrontery, denounced Trumbull and Lincoln in unstinted terms, passed the lie around the circle, shook his long locks, grew red in the face, stentorian in voice, declared that Buchanan was a most excellent man, and scouted at the idea of Mr. Lincoln’s having any reputation for veracity. When he concluded, he was followed to his quarters by part of the crowd. The rest gathered about the stand, cheering Lincoln, and when he descended, he was seized by his enthusiastic friends, and in spite of his struggles, borne in triumph to the hotel, on the shoulders of half a dozen men, at once a novel exhibition of the freedom of western politics and the exuberance of western feeling.

I said, near the commencement of this letter, that Mr. Douglas waded very deeply into the mire of mendacity at Ottawa. The full vindication of this charge, and the proof of his singular madness, is furnished in the Chicago Press and Tribune of this morning, to whose excellent phonographic report of the Ottawa meeting. I have been indebted for the completion of the brief notes which I took at the time. I can do no better than give you the proof, in the words of the journal to which I refer. “At the meeting in Ottawa, on Saturday, the senator read a series of radical resolutions, which he assured his hearers were passed by a Republican State Convention in 1854, at Springfield; that the constituted the platform of the party at that day, and that they represented the views of his distinguished competitor, who, he said, took part in the proceedings of which the resolutions were a share. The resolutions were frauds and forgeries from first to last. No such series was ever presented to, hence never adopted by, any State Republican Convention in Illinois! And in making the assertion Mr. Douglas knee that he basely, maliciously and willfully LIED. He not only lied circumstantially and wickedly; but be spent the first part of his speech in elaborating the lie with which he set out, and the entire latter part, in giving the lie application and effect. The resolutions which he read were adopted by one house meeting at Aurora, in Kane county, with which Mr. Lincoln had nothing to do, which he was not near, which he possibly never heard of except though the public prints.”

There the senator stands, branded and convicted of a deliberate fraud, gibbeted before the public. I confess I was prepared for this exhibition. I knew that Douglas’s life as a politician was one great [illegible] vocation, that he had experienced incessant “changes of heart,” and that his position in [illegible] campaign was only a trap and a lure to another and falser position in the next. But I could hardly expect that he would coolly stand up and read a printed resolution as genuine, where he must have known that he was deliberately submitting a false and fraudulent record. Yet, he it is that goes over the states saying “you lie,” and infamous liar,” to Trumbull and Lincoln. This exposure of the Press and Tribune takes the very heart and core out of Douglas’s Ottawa speech. It to the very bone, and leaves only a hollow and baseless frame behind, “were words, “mouthfuls of spoken wind,” a figure with swollen features, and windmill arms beating the air, with violent but [imbecile] gesticulation. The very audacity of this charge gave Douglas this seeming advantage; that it put Lincoln on the explanatory and defensive, in regard to a series of resolutions which, whether passed at a one horse meeting in Kane county” or at Springfield, he could know nothing about it, as he had no hand in making them, and it is asking too much, to require a politician to have at his tongue’s end all the resolutions of four year old conventions. Lincoln will overhaul Douglas for this cheat, at Freeport, on Friday, when they meet again. The senator’s friends came home in jubilant spirits on Saturday, but they are crest fallen to-day, and doubtful of the implicit faith they have heretofore reposed in him. Douglas is unchanged. Perhaps the wise men of the East, that counseled the Republicans of Illinois to sustain him, are still regretful that their arrangements were not carried out.

After the Ottawa meeting was concluded on Saturday, Hon. Owen Lovejoy addressed the Republicans in the evening. Thrusting aside the assaults in his own party, he dashed headlong at the enemy and carried the war into the democratic party. “from grave to gay, from lively to severe,” he proceeded boldly and eloquently to arraign that party at the popular bar, and to convict it of its errors, crimes and inconsistencies. It was a great speech, and finished up admirably the performances of the day. There was then a torchlight procession. By the moonlight thousands wended their way home, and quiet began to reign in Ottawa.

Senator Trumbull is on the stump in the central and southern part of the state. He speaks at Alton on Wednesday, and at Springfield on Saturday. Douglas speaks at Galena on Wednesday and meets Lincoln at Freeport of Friday.

Douglas is in a quandary in regard to popular sovereignty and Dred Scott. At some places he tells his audiences that the decision is not binding where it conflicts with his specific. His reporter for he carries one about with him—omits this part of the performance from the bills.

Yours, &c.,
BAYOU.
_______________

1 This was in italicized and hard to make out, but I believe I got it right as when I put in into Google Translate I got the translation as: “You go through everything, rush through the net of evil”

SOURCE,  The New York Eveing Post, New York, New York, Friday August 27, 1858, p. 1

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Gerrit Smith: Destroy Not Man's Faith In Man!, June 12, 1862

DESTROY NOT MAN'S FAITH IN MAN!
ACCEPT THE RIGHT MAN, WHICHEVER PARTY NOMINATES HIM!

A people are demoralized by being trained to the ready entertainment of charges of corruption against those, whom they select to be their rulers, teachers and exemplars. For, when they can easily suspect such ones of baseness and crime, their faith in man is destroyed. It scarcely need be added that, when they have no longer faith in man, they will be quick to acquiesce in the application of a very low standard of morality to their leaders, and a still lower one to themselves. I say a still lower one, inasmuch as they will, naturally, expect a less degree of moral worth in the masses than in the individual, who is, here and there, selected from the masses on account of his superior wisdom and virtue. How much better it would be to persuade the people that it is their duty to hold sacred the reputation of those, whom they elevate to posts of honor! For how much more like would they, then, be to elevate those only, whose reputation is worthy to be held sacred! Moreover, what could be more elevating to themselves than such carefulness in selecting their guides and representatives!

I have been led to make these remarks by seeing the recent calumnious and contemptuous treatment of the Chief Justice and such Senators as Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Trumbull. The flood-gates of defamation were opened upon Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Trumbull, because they voted for the acquittal of the President. I wish they had voted for his conviction. For, although I had not, previously, taken much interest in the proposition to impeach him, nevertheless, after reading those parts of his last Annual Message in which he traduces the colored citizens of our country, I was quite willing to have him removed from office. Were Victoria to take such an outrageous liberty with the Irish or Scotch or Welsh, she would quickly be relieved of her crown. I do not forget that insulting the negro is an American usage. But not with impunity should the President of the whole American people insult, in his official capacity, any of the races, which make up that people — least of all the race, which is, already, the most deeply wronged of them all. This gross violation of the perfect impartiality, which should ever mark the administration of the President's high Office — this ineffable meanness of assailing the persecuted and weak, whom he might rather have consoled and cheered, should not have been overlooked, but should have been promptly and sternly rebuked. How petty the President's affair with Mr. Stanton, compared with his unrelenting wicked war upon these black millions, to whose magnanimous forgiveness of our measureless wrongs against them, and to whose brave help of our Cause we were so largely indebted for its success!

I said that I wish Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Trumbull had voted for the conviction of the President. Nevertheless, in the light of their life-long uprightness, I have not the least reason to doubt that they voted honestly. Nay, in the light of their eminent wisdom, I am bound to pause and inquire of my candid judgment whether they did not vote wisely as well as honestly.

This clamor against the Chief Justice was not, as is pretended, occasioned by his conduct in the Impeachment Trial. That this conduct was wise and impartial, scarcely one intelligent man can doubt. This clamor proceeded from the purpose of preventing his nomination to the Presidency. It is said that he desires to be President. But a desire for this high Office is not, necessarily, culpable. Instead of being prompted in all instances by selfishness, it may in some instances be born of a high patriotism and a disinterested philanthropy. For one, I should rejoice to see the Chief Justice in the Presidency; — and I say this, after a-many-years intimate acquaintance with him — after much personal observation of the workings of his head and heart. I, however, expect to vote for Grant and Colfax. I like them both; and, in the main, I like the platform on which they stand. Nevertheless, if contrary to my expectations, the Democrats shall have the wisdom to nominate the Chief Justice, and along with him a gentleman of similar views and spirit — a gentleman honest both toward the Nation's creditors and toward the negro — I shall prefer to vote for the Democratic Candidates. And why, in the case of such nomination by the Democrats, should not every Republican be willing, nay glad, to sustain the nomination? If the Democrats, at last sick and ashamed, as I have no doubt tens of thousands of them are, of ministering to the mean spirit of caste — prating for “a white man's government,” and defying the sentiment of the civilized world — shall give up their nonsense and wickedness, and nominate for office such men as Republicans have been eager to honor — how wanting in magnanimity and in devotion to truth, and how enslaved to Party, would Republicans show themselves to be, were they not to welcome this overture, and generously respond to these concessions!

By all means should the Republicans let, ay and help, the Democratic Party succeed at the coming Election, provided only that its candidates be the representatives of a real and righteous, instead of a cutaneous and spurious, Democracy. That success would bring to an end this too-long-continued War between Republicans and Democrats. That success would turn us all into Republicans and all into Democrats. The old and absorbing issues about Slavery and its incidents would, then, have passed away. The “everlasting negro,” having gained his rights, would then have sunk out of sight. Doubtless, new Parties would, ere long, be formed. But they would be formed with reference to new questions or, more generally, to old ones, which, by reason of the engrossing interest in the Slavery Battle, have been compelled to wait very long, and with very great detriment to the public weal, for their due share of the public attention.

And, then too, when the quarrel between the Republican and Democratic Parties had ended, Peace between the North and the South would speedily come. Hitherto, the Republican Party has been so anxious to keep a bad Party out of power, that it has not been in a mood to use or study all the means for producing Peace between the North and South. It should, immediately on the surrender of the South, have inculcated on the North the duty of penitently confessing her share of the responsibility for the War—a share as great as the South's, since the responsibility of the North for Slavery, out of which the War grew, was as great as the South's. Quickly would the South have followed this example of penitent confession. And, then, the two would have rivalled each other in expressions of mutual forgiveness and mutual love. Amongst these expressions would have been the avowal of the North to charge no one with Treason, and to open wide the door for the return of every exile, who had not, by some mean or murderous violation of the laws of war, shut himself out of the pale of humanity. And amongst these expressions would have been the joyful consent of the North to let fifty or a hundred millions go from the National Treasury toward helping her War-impoverished sister rise up out of her desolations. The heart of the South would, now, have been won; and she would have manifested the fact by tendering to the North a carte blanche — feeling no fear that there would be any designed injustice in the terms of “Reconstruction,” which her forgiving and generous foe should write upon it. Yes, there would, then, have been Peace between the North and the South — a true and loving and enduring Peace. Ashamed of their past, they would unitedly and cordially have entered upon the work of making a future for our country as innocent and as happy as that past had been guilty and sorrowful. It is not, now, too late to have, by such means, such a Peace. We should, surely, have it, were there to be, at the coming Election, that oneness between Republicans and Democrats, which good sense and good feeling call for.

Is it said that the money, which in loans or (preferably) gifts to the South, I ask to have used in effecting this Peace would make the Peace cost too much? I answer that it would be returned tenfold. The improvement in our National credit, resulting from such a Peace, would, very soon, enable our Government to borrow at an interest of four per cent. Comparatively small, then, would be our taxes, and, by the way, comparatively small, then, would be the temptation to cheat the Nation's creditors.

Peterboro JUNE 12 1868.
G. S.
Bottom of Form

SOURCES: Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Gerrit Smith: A Biography, p. 266-7; Smith, Gerrit. Destroy not man's faith in man! Accept the right man, whichever party nominates him! ... G. S. Peterboro. Peterboro, 1868. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.12703100/

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, April 16, 1864


Had a long telegram at midnight from Cairo, respecting Rebel movements in western Kentucky, — at Paducah, Columbus, Fort Pillow, etc. Strange that an army of 6000 Rebels should be moving unmolested within our lines. But for the gunboats, they would repossess themselves of the defenses, yet General Halleck wants the magnanimity and justice to acknowledge or even mention the service.

There is still much excitement and uneasy feeling on the gold and currency question. Not a day but that I am spoken to on the subject. It is unpleasant, because my views are wholly dissimilar from the policy of the Treasury Department, and Chase is sensitive and tender — touchy, I may say — if others do not agree with him and adopt his expedients. Mr. Chase is now in New York. He has directed the payment of the May interest, anticipating that throwing out so much gold will affect the market favorably. It will be likely to have that effect for a few days but is no cure for the evil. The volume of irredeemable paper must be reduced before there can be permanent relief. He attributes to speculators the rise in gold! As well charge the manufacturers with affecting the depth of water in the rivers, because they erect dams across the tributaries! Yet one cannot reason with our great financier on the subject. He will consider it a reflection on himself personally and claims he cannot get along successfully if opposed.

I remarked to Senator Trumbull, whom I met when taking my evening walk last Thursday, and was inquired of, that I could hardly answer or discuss his inquiry in regard to the gold excitement, because in a conversation which we had a year or two since, when one of the bills was pending, —  the first, I believe, — I had said to him I was a hard-money man and could indorse no standards but gold and silver as the measure of value and regretted and distrusted the scheme of legal paper tenders. Chase heard of that conversation and claims I was embarrassing the Treasury.

This sensitiveness indicates what I fear and have said, viz. Chase has no system on which he relies, but is seeking expedients which tumble down more rapidly than he can construct them. He cannot stop what he and others call “the rise of gold,” but which is really the depreciation of paper, by the contrivances he is throwing out. The gold dollar, the customs certificates, the interest-bearing Treasury notes, etc., etc., are all failures and harmful and will prove so. The Secretary of the Treasury found a great and rich country filled with enthusiasm in a noble cause and full of wealth, with which they responded to his call, but their recourses and sacrifices were no evidence of financial talent on the part of the Secretary who used them. The Secretary is not always bold, and has not enforced taxation; he is not wise beyond others, and has not maintained the true measure of value; he resorts to expedients instead of abiding by fixed principles. By multiplying irredeemable paper and general inflation, his “ten forty” five-per-cents may be taken, but at what cost to the country! He is in New York and may negotiate a loan; but if he does, it will be with the banks and, I presume, at six per cent. If so, the banks will not be able to help the speculators, and they, being cramped, will suffer, and perhaps fail. The fancy stocks will be likely to fall under this operation, and the surplus money may seek government securities, but under the inflation how expensive to the country!

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 12-4

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Edward S. Hamlin, February 9, 1855

Washington Feb 9. 1855.

Dear Hamlin, A much longer time has slipped by without my writing to you than ought; but you know what my situation is & your charity will excuse me.

The papers, which are really hearty against Slavery, are, I perceive, unanimous in urging my name for Governor, & I have assurances from whigs and democrats that if I become the Peoples Candidate there will be large support from the liberals of all sides. I appreciate these manifestations of regard very — very highly. Whatever proximate results may be they bind me by fresh ties to the Cause of Liberty & Progress. There seems now to be little opposition to my nomination except with the inconsiderable number who look with alarm or dislike upon the progress of our doctrine, unless the Kns1 shall take distinct ground against me. The opposition of the former class may be safely disregarded — that of the latter will probably divide the People's Movement if based on the ground that nobody is to be supported by the Kns unless a member of their order.

Judge Spalding was here a day or two since, and sought a conversation with me in relation to the Governorship. I was very explicit on all points:

1. That the nomination and election would doubtless gratify me as an endorsement of my course & a manifestation of confidence from the People of Ohio.

2. That I could not accept a nomination or be a candidate on any platform which did not represent my convictions. Of course, I wd. not insist on the expression of all I wished; but the actual expression must be right & in the right direction.

3. That in no case could I suffer my name to be used to divide the opponents of slavery in Ohio; but, in case the Convention should take ground on which I could not honorably act, I should regard myself as having no present work to do in Ohio.

He seemed to have been a good deal under the impression that the Whigs would not support me, because of the events of 1849, & to have inclined to the idea that it would be best to defer to this sentiment & nominate another man: but he left apparently determined to use his influence with us.

Here the members of Congress all seem willing to support me, except perhaps, Campbell. He manifests a disinclination to touch the subject at all. I think he wishes to await the decision of the Kns. It is curious that he, a Seward Whig, should be apparently the chief of the western Knownothings. But strange things are happening now a days.

The elections of the last few weeks have produced a marked effect here. Harlan, Wilson, Durkee, Seward, are all regarded as hot shot from abolition cannon. Then the action of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin has startled the politicians — & the Judges too — not a little — and now even while I am writing comes the election of Trumbull in Illinois — Anti Douglas & Anti Nebraska at all events & an election which in this [illegible] at least a triumph. Everything indicates that the Antislavery Sentiment will [go] on & on to its final triumph now. What part Ohio shall have the next few months will go far to determine.

Write me soon & tell me all you learn. It seems to me you have said enough agst the Kns, and had better hold up. Give them credit for [illegible] in Massachusetts & wait till [illegible] if ever, to renew the combat. My idea is fight nobody who does not fight us. We have enemies enough in the Slaveholders & their aiders.

I write [illegible] about the paper.
_______________

1 The Know Nothing Party

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. ChaseAnnual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 269-70

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, December 19, 1863

There was a reception to-day from one to three at the President's. Went over for an hour. Several of the Cabinet, most of the foreign ministers, judges of the Supreme Court, and a gay assemblage of ladies, with some of the Russian officers, were present.

Told Grimes he must remain on the Naval Committee; that the country required it; that we could not dispense with his services. He says he cannot serve under a chairman whom he knows to be corrupt, indolent, faithless, worthless. He spoke of Hale in most disparaging terms as an unfit associate of honorable men, selfish and wicked, wholly regardless of the Navy or country. There is not, he says, a man in the Senate that does not know him to be an improper person to be on the committee, yet they had not the courage to do their duty and leave him off, — in other words cannot resist his appeals to be kept in the position in order to aid him in a reëlection.

Sent a letter to Wilkes this afternoon inquiring if he procured, assented to, or knew of, the publication of his letter of the 11th inst. He coolly returns a negative, which does not surprise me, though palpably untrue. I am prepared to receive any affirmation of a falsehood or denial of a truth from him, provided his personal interest can be thereby subserved. His letter of the 11th is equivocal and in some respects untrue.

Had a call from Senator Trumbull, who feels that the Senate ought not to continue Hale in the chairmanship of the Naval Committee, but says the Department will not suffer in consequence, for Hale is well understood, and I must have seen that the Senators as against him always sustain the Department. Fessenden also called with similar remarks and views. I avoided the expression of any opinion, or wish, as to the construction of the committee. If the question were open and I was consulted, I should not hesitate to give my views, but I do not care to be intrusive, to interfere with or complain of what the Senate does, or has done, in these matters. Senator Fessenden wants a portion of the prizes should be sent to Portland. Told him of difficulties. Portsmouth, Providence, New Haven, New Jersey have made similar applications. Whatever pecuniary benefit there might be to a few individuals in each locality, the true interest of the country could not be promoted by such an arrangement. Attorneys, marshals, and their set would have additional business, but to get it, a host of additional officers must be employed and paid at each place.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 490-1

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Senator Lyman Trumbull & Congressman Isaac N. Arnold to Abraham Lincoln, June 3, 1863

CHICAGO, June 3, 1863.     
(Received 10.38 p.m.)
Hon. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President:

At a meeting held to-day in reference to the suppression of the Chicago Times, by order of General Burnside, the following was adopted:

Whereas, in the opinion of this meeting of citizens, of all parties, the peace of this city and State, if not the general, welfare of the country, are likely to be promoted by the suspension or rescinding of the recent order of General Burnside for the suppression of the Chicago Times: Therefore, Resolved, That upon the ground of expediency alone, such of our citizens as concur in this opinion, without regard to party, are hereby recommended to unite in a petition to the President, respectfully asking the suspension or rescinding said order.

The undersigned, in pursuance of the above resolution, respectfully petition the President's favorable consideration and action in accordance therewith.

 F. C. SHERMAN,
 Mayor of Chicago.

 VAN H. HIGGINS.
 WILLIAM B. OGDEN.
 E. VAN BUREN.
 SAMUEL W. FULLER.
 S. S. HAYES.
 A. WARRINGTON.
 THEODORE HAYNE.
WIRT DEXTER.
A. C. COVENTRY.
W.A. HOHN.
C. BECKWITH.
HENRY G. MILLER.
M.F. FEELEY.

We respectfully ask for the above the serious and prompt consideration of the President.

LYMAN TRUMBULL 
ISAAC N. ARNOLD

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 23, Part 2 (Serial No. 35), p. 385

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, February 17, 1863

The President read to the Cabinet a correspondence between himself and Fernando Wood. The latter wrote the President on the 8th of December last that he had good reason to believe the South desired a restoration of the Union, etc. The President replied on the 12th of December that he had no confidence in the impression, but that he would receive kindly any proposition. Wood's letter was confidential; the President made his so. All was well enough, perhaps, in form and manner if such a correspondence was to take place. Wood is a Representative and his letter was brought to the President by Mayor Opdyke.1 Mayor Opdyke and ex-Mayor Wood are on opposite extremes of parties, — so opposite that each is, if not antagonistic, not very friendly inclined to the President. Wood now telegraphs the President that the time has arrived when the correspondence should be published. It is a piece of political machinery intended for certain party purposes.

Chase says that Howard and Trumbull of the Senate were dissatisfied with their vote in favor of his bank bill, which they had given under the impression it was an Administration measure, but they had since understood that Usher and myself were opposed to it. I told him that my general views were better known to him than them, that I had no concealment on the subject; I had, however, no recollection of ever exchanging a word with either of those Senators concerning his measures; that I had given his financial questions little or no attention, had never read his bill, had but a general conception of his scheme; that, so far as I was informed, it was not in conformity with my old notions, as he well knew, for I had freely communicated with him early, though I had not been consulted recently and matters had taken such a shape I was glad I had not been, and that the whole subject had been committed to him and Congress. I had neither time nor inclination to study new theories, was wedded to old doctrines and settled principles. Usher said he had electioneered for the measure with sundry Congressmen, whom he named. I told him I had not with any one and did not intend to.
_____________

1 George Opdyke, Mayor of New York.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 237-8

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Diary of John Hay: October 26, 1861

This evening the Jacobin Club, represented by Trumbull, Chandler and Wade, came up to worry the administration into a battle. The agitation of the summer is to be renewed. The President defended McClellan's deliberateness. We then went over to the General's Headquarters. We found Col. Key there. He was talking also about the grand necessity of an immediate battle to clean out the enemy at once. He seemed to think we were ruined if we did not fight. The President asked what McC. thought about it. Key answered: — “The General is troubled in his mind. I think he is much embarrassed by the radical difference between his views and those of Gen'l Scott.”

Here McC. came in, — Key went out, — the President began to talk about his wonderful new repeating-battery of rifled guns, shooting 50 balls a minute. The President is delighted with it, and has ordered ten, and asks McC. to go down and see it, and if proper, detail a corps of men to work it. He further told the General that Reverdy Johnson wants the Maryland volunteers in Maryland to vote in November. All right.

They then talked about the Jacobins. McC. said that Wade preferred an unsuccessful battle to delay. He said a defeat could be easily repaired by the swarming recruits. McClellan answered that “he would rather have a few recruits before a victory, than a good many after a defeat.”

The President deprecated this new manifestation of popular impatience, but at the same time said it was a reality, and should be taken into the account: — “At the same time, General, you must not fight till you are ready.”

“I have everything at stake,” said the General; “if I fail, I will not see you again or anybody.”

“I have a notion to go out with you, and stand or fall with the battle” . . . .

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 48-9; Tyler Dennett, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay, p. 31-2.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Resolution of Senator Lyman Trumbull, Thursday, March 28, 1861

Mr. Trumbull submitted the following resolution; which was ordered to be printed:

Resolved, That, in the opinion of the Senate, the true way to preserve the Union is to enforce the laws of the Union; that resistance to their enforcement, whether under the name of anti-coercion or any other name, is encouragement to disunion, and that it is the duty of the President to use all the means in his power to hold and protect the public property of the United States, and enforce the laws thereof, as well in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, as within the other States of the Union.

The Senate proceeded by unanimous consent to consider the said resolution; and,

On the question to agree to the resolution,

On motion by Mr. Sumner, that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business,

It was determined in the affirmative,
Yeas 25
Nays 11

On motion by Mr. Bright, The yeas and nays being desired by one fifth of the senators present,

Those who voted in the affirmative are,

Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harris, Howe, Johnson, King, Lane, Morrill, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Wilmot, Wilson.

Those who voted in the negative are,

Messrs. Breckinridge, Bright, Clingman, Douglas, Kenuedy, Mitchel, Nesmith, Nicholson, Powell, Trumbull, Wade.

So the motion was agreed to; and,

After the consideration of executive business,

The doors were opened.

SOURCE: Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the Second Session of the Thirty-Sixth Congress; Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 3, 1860, p. 431

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Mark W. Delahay to Abraham Lincoln, February 6, 1860

Lawrence Feby 6th 1860
Dear Lincoln

Trumbull says in a Letter, that I recd yesterday, that he would be glad to serve me in any way he could; Do you know any of our members under the State Constitution, that you could say a word to for me, or could you not by writing to your friends at Washington for me, in that way do me a good service– Genl. Lane has just made this Latter suggestion to me– Trumbull, says two members of the Legislature has written to him asking his advise &c but that he gave not; now a word from you to Trumbull could get him to write those members in my behalf – You can loose nothing by it, But may do me a great benefit– Lane, is the only man that is prominently before the people for Senator; he can be elected without any combination, and he can designate his colleague, and I am that man of which he will assure you if it would be any source of satisfaction to you to have him do – I think we can show a Pretty Determined front for you at Chicago; The Bates movement has a little more prominency just at this time than I desire to see. – I think Cameron or Reed for Vice Pres & yourself would give is a certain success – hoping you are well and in good keeping, I Remain Truly & faithfully your friend

M W Delahay
P S

My health is not good, my duties are arduous, all my Clerks are raw hands, &c
D

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Abraham Lincoln to Lyman Trumbull, November 28, 1859

Springfield, Nov. 28. 1859
Hon. L. Trumbull.

My dear Sir: Yours of the 23rd. is received. I agree with you entirely about the contemplated election of Forney. Nothing could be more short-sighted than to place so strong a man as Forney in position to keep Douglas on foot. I know nothing of Forney personally; but I would put no man in position to help our enemies in the point of our hardest strain.

There is nothing new here. I have written merely to give my view about this Forney business.

Yours as ever
A. LINCOLN

SOURCE: Roy P. Basler, Editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 3, p. 495

Friday, August 26, 2016

Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln, November 23, 1859

Washington, Nov. 23d, 1859
Hon. A. Lincoln,

My Dear Sir,

Am obliged for the information in regard to the meeting of the National Committee. I confess myself disappointed at McClernand's majority – The truth is, that we have got about all we ever will from the old Whig element in central Ill. We must hereafter rely upon obtaining accessions from the young men & from the Democracy. About the hardest man on earth to get along with is an old Whig of pro-slavery proclivities. I reckon the Harpers Ferry affair damaged Palmer somewhat.

I met Cameron on the cars on my way here. He is in earnest about getting the Pa. delegation for himself, & I reckon will succeed. Nobody seems to say much about Read.

I passed a few days in New York City & there learned that the New York politicians were very much in favor of making Forney clk of the House, & that too without any assurance from him that he would act with the Republicans. The idea seemed to be that Forney could bring enough Anti Lecompton Democrats to act with the Republicans to give them the Speaker &c – When will the leading men of our party learn to pursue a straight forward course? Till they do, Republicanism can never have, & might never to have a permanent hold in the country. What consumate folly to bargain with half a dozen Douglasites & that the most active of them all to an important office, where he can wield a large influence in favor of his pet man, & to our prejudice. Douglas & his popular sovereignty humbug are the only things which now keep the great mass of Northern Repub Democrats from uniting with the Republicans at once. For my part, I believe it would be much better that the Democrats should organize the house by a bargain with Know Nothings, & anti-Lecomptonites, than that we should do it; but if the Republican members will go right along supporting no man for any of the offices who is not prepared to act with the Republican party, they being the strongest party in the house, will in the end succeed. If Forney or the South Americans will be of us & act with us, we ought to be liberal towards them; but it certainly cannot be our policy as a party to support any man, who will use the influence of his office to build up another party to our prejudice—

The Anti Lecomptonites & the South Americans will in my opinion in the end come to act with us, if we pursue a straight forward course without assailing them; but they will never do this, while the idea is held out that the Republican party will go to them.

Since commencing this letter, two Gentlemen residents of Washington have called upon me, stating, that one of them had been just been arrested for using language hostile to slavery – He had given bail for his appearance before a justice of the peace on Friday, & called to advise with me about the matter. What are we coming to? Excuse this long letter.

Truly Yours
Lyman Trumbull

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Abraham Lincoln to Senator Lyman Trumbull, December 28, 1857

BLOOMINGTON, December 28,1857.
Hon. Lyman Trumbull,

Dear Sir: What does the New York Tribune mean by its constant eulogizing and admiring and magnifying Douglas? Does it, in this, speak the sentiments of the Republicans at Washington? Have they concluded that the Republican cause generally can be best promoted by sacrificing us here in Illinois? If so, we would like to know it soon; it will save us a great deal of labor to surrender at once.

As yet I have heard of no Republican here going over to Douglas, but if the Tribune continues to din his praises into the ears of its five or ten thousand readers in Illinois, it is more than can be hoped that all will stand firm. I am not complaining, I only wish for a fair understanding. Please write me at Springfield.

Your obt. servant,
A. LINCOLN

SOURCE: Horace White, The Life of Lyman Trumbull, p. 87