That he, more than any other man, was chagrined by the result

of Cincinnati; that he does not consider Mr. Greeley a

reformer, and has no expectations of any reforms at his hands,

and will say so on the stump; that he believes him "to be

surrounded by bad men"; that he (Mr. Schurz), however, is so

satisfied of the necessity of defeating Grant and dissolving

existing party organizations, that he is ready to use any

instrument for the purpose, and will, therefore, support

Greeley in the modified and guarded manner indicated above. He

looks forward, with a hopefulness bordering on enthusiasm, to

the good things which will grow out of the confusion following

on Greeley's election, and is deeply touched by the Southern

eagerness for Greeley.

A private letter from E. L. Godkin to Schurz, dated Lenox,

Massachusetts, June 28, gives reasons for deprecating the course that

the latter had decided to take in the campaign.

He has considered Schurz's words about Greeley; would be most

glad could he see any way to join in supporting Greeley, Schurz

being the one man in American politics who inspires Godkin with

some hope concerning them. He maturely considered what he could

and would do when Greeley was first nominated. In view of his

own share in bringing public feeling to the point of creating

the convention, he would have stood by Greeley if possible; saw

no chance to do so and sees none now; is satisfied he can have

nothing to do with Greeley. If Greeley gave pledges, and broke

them, "_as I believe he would_," it would be no consolation to

Godkin that an opposition would thereby be raised up. He went

through all this with Grant, who gave far better guarantees

than Greeley offers, "and he made fine promises and broke them,

and good appointments and reversed them, and I have in

consequence been three years in opposition." Cannot afford to

repeat this. "Greeley would have to change his whole nature, at

the age of 62, in order not to deceive and betray you," and

when he has done so it will be too late to atone for having

backed him by turning against him, which would then merely

discredit one's judgment, and invite suspicion of some personal

disappointment. Moreover, the small band of political reformers

will have fallen into disrepute and become ridiculous and the

country will be worse off than before. Feels that Schurz is

sacrificing the future in taking Greeley on any terms....

Parke Godwin was even more bitter against Greeley. He wrote to Schurz

under date May 28:

"... I have so strong a sense of Greeley's utter unfitness for

the presidency that I cannot well express it. The man is a

charlatan from top to bottom, and the smallest kind of a

charlatan,--for no other motive than a weak and puerile vanity.

His success in politics would be the success of whoever is most

wrong in theory and most corrupt in practice." All the most

corrupt spoilsmen of either side are either with him now or

preparing to go to him. It is the first of duties to expose him

and his factitious reputation. Grant and his crew are bad,--but

hardly so bad as Greeley and his would be. Besides, Grant,

though in very bad hands, has his clutches full: Greeley's set

would be newcomers.

The regular Republican Convention met at Philadelphia, June 5, and

nominated General Grant for President by unanimous vote. The names of

Henry Wilson, Schuyler Colfax, and several others were presented for

Vice-President. On the first roll-call Wilson had 361 votes and Colfax

306, and there were 66 for other candidates. Before the result was

announced, 38 votes from Southern States were changed to Wilson, giving

him 399, a majority of the whole number cast. This decision was brought

about by the wish of Grant himself, communicated to General Grenville

M. Dodge before the convention met. Grant had no liking for Colfax.[128]

The platform of the convention laid stress on the imperative duty of

"suppression of violent and treasonable organizations in certain lately

rebellious regions and for the protection of the ballot-box." This meant

the stern execution of the Ku-Klux Law, under suspension of the writ of

_habeas corpus_, which was already in progress. The remainder of the

platform was either "pointing with pride" at past achievements, or

clap-trap of various kinds, including a promise to take good care of

capital and labor, so as to secure "the largest opportunities and a just

share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of

civilization."

The Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore, July 9, and adopted

both the platform and the candidates of the Cincinnati Convention. This

involved a complete reversal of the party's principles as declared in

its last previous platform, but it was not inconsistent with inexorable

facts. There was nothing else to be done unless the party was determined

still to battle against the result of the Civil War. It was inevitable,

however, that there should be a remnant of the party that would never

vote for Greeley--the man who above all others had gored them most

savagely in the fights of a quarter of a century. The dissentients

called and held a convention at Louisville, September 3, where they

nominated Charles O'Conor of New York for President and John Quincy

Adams for Vice-President, both of whom declined. Other attempts to put a

third ticket in the field came to nothing. The recalcitrants either

voted for Grant or abstained from voting altogether.

Trumbull took an active part in the campaign, speaking to large crowds

and almost incessantly in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan,

Indiana, and Illinois. His first speech was made at Springfield,

Illinois, June 26, a synopsis of which will serve to indicate the views

which he advocated.

He said that he was glad to explain to Illinoisans the position

he had felt it his duty to take on many points. It was now more

than seventeen years that he had represented the state in

Washington. In that time the principles on which the Republican

party was formed had all been settled. Nothing remained but the

machinery, which had fallen into the hands of those who sought

to use it for merely selfish ends. During his service he had

sometimes not acted according to the views of all his

constituents, but he had not failed to follow his own sense of

duty and right. Within the last ten years many abuses had crept

into the Government and numerous defalcations had occurred,

perhaps the most noted being that of Hodge, paymaster, in the

office of the Paymaster-General, "whose defalcations, occurring

right under the eye of the Government, amounted to more than

$400,000." An investigating committee had reported to a

previous Congress great abuses in the New York

Custom-House--bribery and demoralization. At the beginning of

the recent session he [Trumbull] had introduced a resolution

for a joint committee of investigation, with power to send for

persons and papers; introduced it in good faith to unearth

frauds, if existent, and to correct them, without design of

injuring the party. "I was simple-minded enough to believe that

the Republican party, ... with which I had been identified for

so many years, would be lifted in public estimation ... if it

had the virtue and the honesty to expose, even among its own

members, wrong, corruptions, and fraud if fraud existed, and to

apply the proper corrective. And I was very much astonished

when that proposition was met by gentlemen in the Senate who

constitute what, for brevity's sake, I may denominate a

Senatorial Ring, denouncing me as unfaithful to the Republican

party and as throwing dirt upon it by offering a resolution to

inquire into the conduct of public officers."

The public indignation aroused by this forced the Senatorial

Ring to action. "A party caucus of Republican Senators was

called, and a scheme devised to change the character of the

resolution, and to organize and pack the committee, which,

instead of going forth to uncover and expose corruption, should

go forth to conceal and cover it up. The proposition for the

joint committee of the two houses, with power to send for

persons and papers, was voted down, and in its place a

resolution was passed creating a committee of the Senate alone.

The members of the committee were selected in a party caucus,

and not a single Republican Senator who had originally favored

the investigation was placed upon the committee. This was

contrary to parliamentary law, and contrary to the plainest

principles of common sense, if the object was to discover

abuses, and contrary to that ordinary rule which says that a

child must not be put to a nurse who cares not for it. This

investigation was placed in the hands of the parties to be

investigated...." Even this committee, going to New York, could

not, however, shut their eyes to the enormous abuses there. But

they did give public notice that any merchants who had paid

bribe money to customs officials would be prosecuted to the

extent of the law, thereby securing the non-appearance of any

such merchant as a witness. They acted as if sent to

investigate merchants, not officials.... And the Senate Ring

would allow no measure to be considered tending to rectify

these abuses, wanting to keep the spoils to carry next fall's

elections. A bill from the House was referred to the Judiciary

committee, which had a majority of Ring members,--a bill to

inaugurate reforms and to protect merchants from plunder.

Although it was before the committee two months it was never

reported to the Senate. "I made two motions in the Senate to

have the committee discharged and to bring the bill before the

Senate, that it might receive its attention, but they were

voted down under party drill."

"Let me tell you of another committee of investigation, raised

in the House of Representatives, and packed also by an

obsequious and partisan Speaker,--a committee, a majority of

which consisted of the friends of the Secretary of the Navy

whose conduct was about to be investigated. I want to tell you

what that committee did, and I think you will be astonished

when I state the fact that a committee of members of the House

of Representatives could have been found, who were so blinded

by party zeal, so full of bigotry or cowardice that they could

not see, or were afraid to expose, violations of the law on the

part of political associates. This committee was raised on the

motion of Governor Blair, of Michigan, a high-minded,

independent, and able Republican.... At his [Blair's] instance,

a committee was raised to inquire into certain transactions in

the Navy Department, presided over by Secretary Robeson....

Among many of the things that the committee was instructed to

inquire into ... was a claim for building certain vessels for

the Government of the United States during the war. I have the

precise figures here, giving the exact amounts which the

Government contracted to pay for the construction of the three

vessels, Tecumseh, Mahopac, and Manhattan. The contract was

made in 1862, and the Government agreed to pay a contractor of

the name of Secor $1,380,000 for the construction of these

three vessels. After the contract was made, the Government

desired some changes in the plans of the vessels, and a board

of naval officers was appointed to superintend them and to

certify bills for extra work, which they did to the amount of

more than $500,000. The vessels were furnished, the contract

price paid--the sum due for the extra work was paid, and it was

all settled and closed in the Navy Department in 1865. But

these contractors, who had received more than $1,900,000 for

building the vessels and the extra work, came to Congress by

petition, and complained that they still had not received as

much as they ought, because they said that they were delayed in

their contracts by the action of the Government; that while

thus delayed the price of labor and of materials advanced, and

they had met with great loss, and they, therefore, asked

Congress to allow them something more. Congress, in 1867,

passed a law directing the Secretary of the Navy to look into

this matter and report to the next session. The Secretary

appointed a board of Naval officers, who made the

investigation, and reported to Congress that these Secors ought

to be allowed $115,000 more (I use round numbers)--$115,000 in

addition to what they had already received, and put into the

law these words, 'which shall be in full discharge of all

claims against the United States on account of the vessels upon

which the Board made the allowance as per this report.' Now,

do any of you, does any lawyer, ... know how to write a

stronger clause than that to end this claim? If you do, I do

not.... The Secors, in 1868, received the $115,000 and gave

their receipt.... Would you believe it possible that the

Secretary of the Navy would, after that, pay anything more?...

Mr. Robeson, in 1870, ... on his own motion, without any act of

Congress authorizing it, proceeds to reinvestigate this claim,

and without coming to Congress at all pays over to these

gentlemen $93,000 more. Well, that is not the worst of it. He

might just as well have paid them $93,000,000. The Congress of

the United States never appropriated any money to pay this

$93,000, but the Secretary of the Navy took the money

appropriated for other purposes and other years and paid it out

of that. This is bad enough.... But when this packed committee

came to examine this transaction, a majority of its members

reported that the transactions only involved a mere difference

of opinion as to the construction of the law, and, in their

opinion, the Secretary had construed it rightly. And Mr.

Robeson, instead of being rebuked, is commended by the

committee, and is continued in office. It is due to the

chairman of the committee--Governor Blair, of Michigan, and one

of his associates--the committee consisted of five members--to

say that they dissented from the majority report, and held that

the transaction was not only without authority of law, but in

direct violation of it....

"I was never a party man to the extent of being willing to

serve the party against my country and if, to-day, I am acting

with the Liberal Republican party, if I have denounced these

transactions at the hazard of being myself denounced, it was

done in good faith on my part, for the purpose of correcting

abuses, and appealing from a party tyranny established by a

Senatorial Ring to the honest, intelligent, upright citizens of

the country, who are bound by no such shackles as will compel

them to cover up fraud and iniquity in any party...."

He mentioned the encroachments of the Federal Government, as in

the attempt to destroy the privilege of the writ of _habeas

corpus_ in the last session of Congress, as a bill virtually

placing the elections of the Southern States under the

direction of the President. If the people have become so far

indifferent to their rights as to permit the President to

suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ at will, and to control

and supervise their elections, their liberties are gone, and

"they have only to wait until a man sufficiently ambitious

reaches the Presidency, for him to grasp and maintain absolute

powers."

The speech was two hours long, and concluded with this tribute to

Greeley:

... Mr. Greeley [he said] is a man of the highest character and

intelligence. No man in the land is better acquainted with the

public men of the country than he. He is a man of purity of

character, of strict honesty, who would not look upon

corruption and official delinquency with the least degree of

allowance. You may rely upon that and upon his bringing about

him the ablest men of the land to form a strong and able

Administration, because he knows who the able men are, and

could have no other motive than to make his Administration a

success, as he will not seek a reelection. I am not in the

habit of saying much about individuals, but I think I may say

to you that you may trust Horace Greeley for an honest

administration of the Government, and that is what the people

of the country want. You may trust him above almost all other

men in this land for bringing about that state of good feeling

between the North and the South, so essential to the peace and

prosperity of the nation.

The campaign started with considerable eclat among the ranks of

Greeley's supporters and corresponding depression on the other side.

Carl Schurz, who took the laboring oar, at first with reluctance

bordering on gloom, gathered confidence as he progressed in his stumping

tour. Enthusiasm for the old white hat seemed to be no figment of

imagination, but a living reality. All eyes were fixed upon North

Carolina which had an election for state officers on the 1st of August,

and which the Liberals expected to win. The early returns seemed to

justify their confidence, but there was a change when the western

mountain districts were heard from. The supporters of Grant carried the

state by about 2000 majority. This wound was not so deep as a well nor

so wide as a church door, but it answered one purpose. It ended the "old

white hat" enthusiasm and turned attention to the more sober and solid

aspects of the campaign. That Greeley was an unbalanced character, that

he was lacking in steadiness, in mental equipoise and ability to look at

both sides of any question where his feelings were strongly enlisted, it

was easy to show by many examples in his brilliant career. His

occasional controversies with Lincoln during the war, in which he was

invariably worsted, were now reproduced with effect by the orators on

the Grant side, and the old white hat and coat and the Flintwinch

neck-tie were savagely pictured by Tom Nast in _Harper's Weekly_. There

were satirical persons who said that Greeley took as much pains to make

himself a harlequin as another might take to make himself a dandy.

The attacks were not without effect upon people who had never seen

Greeley face to face. To his immediate friends in New York it seemed

necessary that he should show himself to the public so that people might

know he was a man of solid parts, of statesmanlike proportions and brain

power. He was persuaded to make a series of speeches in Indiana, Ohio,

and Pennsylvania in the month of September, as those states were likely

to have a decisive influence on the country in their local elections,

which took place in October. Accordingly he took the stump, beginning at

Jeffersonville, Indiana, and moving eastward. His speeches surprised

both friends and enemies by their high tone, argumentative force, good

temper, and versatility and vigor of expression. The main point which he

sought to enforce was the need of restored peace and brotherhood in all

the land. No pleading could be more persuasive or more touching. No

doubt can exist of the sincerity with which it was uttered.

It was somewhat droll that in the last speech of the series he was

confronted by a speaker on the Grant side at Easton, Pennsylvania,

September 28, who predicted that if Greeley were elected all the furnace

fires in the Lehigh Valley would be put out and their working-people

thrown upon the almshouses. This to the stoutest champion of the

protective tariff then living! He was not, however, struck dumb by the

prospect of the early impoverishment of the iron workers. He said:

A recent speaker of the opposition has asserted that if I were

made President all the furnace fires in the Lehigh Valley would

presently be put out. This seems incredible. All men know I am

a protectionist; but that I would not veto any bill fairly

passed by the Congress of the United States modifying or

changing the tariff is certainly true. I do not believe in

government by selfish rings, but I believe just as little in

government by the one-man power. I don't believe in government

by vetoes. The veto power of the President is not given him to

enable him to reject every bill for which he would have refused

to vote if a member of Congress, but only to be employed in

certain great emergencies where corruption or recklessness has

passed a measure through Congress which would not stand the

test of inquiry. I tell you, friends, I believe in legislation

by Congress, not by Presidents, and I should myself approve and

sign a bill which had a fair majority in Congress, although in

my judgment it was not accordant with public policy--with the

wisest policy.

Although Greeley's stumping tour raised him in the public estimation, it

is doubtful if it gained him any votes. It was now too late. People's

minds were made up and nothing could change them, not even the

Credit-Mobilier scandal. General Grant was not concerned in this

scandal, but a number of his most distinguished supporters, the very

pillars of the Republican party, beginning with Vice-President Colfax,

were named as guilty of taking bribes to influence their votes in

Congress for the Union Pacific Railroad. This accusation was not made

public until September, and then by accident. Most of the persons

accused made denial, and since no investigation could be had until the

next session of Congress (a month later than the election), nobody was

bound to give credence to an unproved charge. The general answer of the

supporters of Grant was that they would not withhold their votes from

him even if the charge were true. Nor could they be blamed for so

saying. If the persons accused were really guilty, they would be

punished in due time, or at all events exposed, and exposure would

itself be punishment. It is needless to go into the details of the

Credit-Mobilier scandal here. It was investigated by an able and

impartial committee of the House, and all the guilty ones were visited

with such punishment as Congress could legally inflict.

Of the three October states, Pennsylvania and Ohio gave large Republican

majorities and Indiana a small majority for Hendricks (Democrat) for

governor. This was decisive of the general result in November. Greeley

and Brown were overwhelmingly defeated. The only states that gave them

majorities were Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and

Texas, having altogether 66 electoral votes. The others gave Grant and

Wilson a total of 272 electoral votes. The state of New York, which

Greeley, in his letter to Schurz, had claimed by 50,000, gave 53,000

majority against him.

I have always held the opinion that either Adams or Trumbull could have

been elected if nominated at Cincinnati. I think also that Adams was the

stronger of the two, because he had incurred no personal ill-will during

the twelve years of war and Reconstruction and because the minds of the

Democratic leaders who had encouraged the Liberal movement were eagerly

expecting him. There would have been no bolting movement in that

quarter. The Germans also were enthusiastic for Adams, and although they

would have supported Trumbull willingly, there would have been perhaps a

trifle less of cordiality for him. Neither of the two was gifted with

personal "magnetism," but either of them had as much of that quality as

Grant had, or as the public then desired. The voters were not then in

search of the sympathetic virtues. There was a yearning for some

cold-blooded, masterful man to go through the temple of freedom with a

scourge of small cords driving out the grafters and money-changers.

Adams was qualified for this role. He was also the man of whom the

Republican leaders had the gravest fears as an opposing candidate.

The campaign and its result killed poor Greeley. The election took place

on the 5th of November. On the 10th he wrote a letter of two lines

marked "private forever" to Carl Schurz, saying:

I wish I could say with what an agony of emotion I subscribe

myself, gratefully yours, Horace Greeley.

He then took to his bed and his friends became alarmed. Frequent

bulletins were published in the _Tribune_ showing that he was a victim

of insomnia, from which, the paper said, he had been a sufferer, more or

less, at former periods of his life. He died on the 29th. His wife had

died one month earlier, October 30. History says that he died of a

broken heart.[129]

That Greeley had been eager for public office from an early period was

shown by his famous letter withdrawing himself as junior partner from

the firm of Seward, Weed, and Greeley. When the Cincinnati nomination

came to him his fondest dreams seemed to be on the eve of fulfillment.

Now all such dreams had vanished, a political party of noble aspirations

had foundered on him as the hidden rock, his self-esteem had received an

annihilating blow, and his beloved _Tribune_, the labor of his lifetime,

was supposed to be ruined pecuniarily. Whatever his faults may have

been, he received his punishment for them in this world. He was only

sixty-two years of age, of sound constitution and good habits, and had

never used liquor or tobacco. He ought to, and probably would, have

lived twenty years longer if he had put away ambition and contented

himself with the repute and influence he had fairly earned. He was the

most influential editor of his time and country, but as a political

writer E. L. Godkin was his superior, and in fact Godkin, in the columns

of the _Nation_, contributed more than any other writer, perhaps more

than any other person, to his overthrow.

* * * * *

The state election of Louisiana in 1872 had resulted in a disputed

return for governor and legislature. One set of returns showed a

majority for John McEnery, the conservative candidate. Another set

showed a majority for William P. Kellogg, Republican. The sitting

governor, Warmoth, controlled the returning board and he favored

McEnery. A former returning board headed by one Lynch had been dissolved

by an act of the legislature. To this defunct board the supporters of

Kellogg appealed. The Lynch Board, without any actual returns before

them, declared Kellogg elected. They then procured an order from Judge

Durell, of the United States Circuit Court at New Orleans, to the United

States Marshal, Packard, who had a small military force at his command,

to seize the State House. This was done and the act was approved by

President Grant. An appeal to him from the better class of citizens of

New Orleans was rejected. The excitement in Congress growing out of this

usurpation was intense, even among Republicans. The Senate Committee on

Privileges and Elections was ordered to make an investigation, which it

did, and it reported, through Senator Carpenter on the 20th of February,

that the action of Judge Durell was illegal and that all steps taken in

pursuance of it were void. It recommended a new election and reported a

bill for holding it; but Senator Morton, who made a minority report,

prevented it from coming to a vote. Trumbull, who was also a member of

the committee, made a report more drastic than that of Carpenter and

supported his own view by a speech delivered on the 15th of February.

Here you have [he said] an order sent from the city of

Washington on the 3d day of December, which was before Judge

Durell issued his order to seize the State House and organize a

legislature, and directing that nobody should take part in the

organization except such persons as were returned as members by

what was known as the Lynch Board, a board which the committee,

in their report drawn by the Senator from Wisconsin, say had

been abolished by an act of the legislature, and had not a

single official return before it. It undertook to canvass

returns without having any returns to canvass. On forged

affidavits, hearsay, and newspaper reports and verbal

statements, the Lynch Returning Board, consisting of four men,

without legal existence as a returning board, got together and

without one official return, or other legitimate evidence

before them, undertook to say who should constitute the

Legislature of Louisiana.[130]

This was Trumbull's last speech in the Senate and was one of his best,

but other influences prevailed with Grant.[131]

Thus Kellogg and his crew became the masters of Louisiana, and four

years later became the deciding factor in the Hayes-Tilden presidential

contest.

FOOTNOTES:

[128] This fact was given to me by General Dodge, in writing.

[129] John Bigelow's Diary, under date Nov. 28, 1872, contains the

following entry:

"Greeley is now in a madhouse, and before morning will probably be

dead--so Swinton tells me to-day; and Reid, whom I saw to-day, confirms

these apprehensions." _Retrospections of an Active Life_, v, 91.

[130] _Cong. Globe_, 1873, p. 1744.

[131] Rhodes thinks that the influence which prevailed with Grant in

this instance was that of Morton. (_History of the United States_, VII,

111.)

CHAPTER XXVII

LATER YEARS

The defeat of the Liberal Republicans terminated Trumbull's official

career. His senatorial term expired on the 3d of March, 1873. The

regular Republicans carried the legislature of Illinois, and Richard J.

Oglesby was elected Senator in his stead. He was now sixty years of age

and he resumed the practice of his profession in the city of Chicago,

which had been his place of residence during the greater part of his

senatorial service. His law firm at the beginning was Trumbull, Church &

Trumbull, the second member being Mr. Firman Church and the third Mr.

Perry Trumbull, a son of the ex-Senator. Mr. William J. Bryan soon

afterward became a student in the office. Various changes took place in

the Trumbull law firm. Mr. Church removed to California, and his place

was taken by Mr. Henry S. Robbins, and the firm became Trumbull,

Robbins, Willetts & Trumbull. Mr. Hempstead Washburne, son of Hon. Elihu

B. Washburne, became a member of the firm later. Trumbull's reputation,

talents, and experience soon gave him a place in the front rank of his

profession, which he maintained till the end of his long life. I shall

not attempt to follow the details of his career at the bar except as

they touch upon public questions. The first affair of this kind was the

Hayes-Tilden disputed election of 1876.

The second Grant Administration was more lamentable than the first in

respect of military rule, turbulence, and bloodshed in the South and

corruption in the civil service in the North. These evils became so

glaring and intolerable that the Republican party suffered a disastrous

defeat in the congressional elections of 1874, and failed to secure a

majority of the popular vote in the presidential election of 1876. The

opposing candidates in this contest were Hayes (Republican) and Tilden

(Democrat). One hundred and eighty-five electoral votes were necessary

to a choice. The undisputed returns gave Tilden 184 and Hayes 166. Those

of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were in dispute. It was

necessary that Hayes should have all of them in order to be the next

President. All of these states were under military control, and the

returning boards who had the power of canvassing the votes, and the

governors who had the power of certifying the result to Congress, were

Republicans.

The excitement in the country when this condition became known was

extreme. No confidence was placed in the character of the Southern

returning boards. That of Louisiana consisted of three knaves and one

fool,[132] and the governor of the state was W. P. Kellogg, who had

acquired the office by the acts of usurpation described in the preceding

chapter. It was seen at once that unless some respectable tribunal could

be devised to decide between the conflicting claims the country might

drift into a new civil war. The first thing to be done was to endeavor

to secure a fair count of the ballots cast in the disputed states. To

this end a certain number of "visiting statesmen" were chosen by the

heads of their respective political parties to go to the scene of the

contest and watch all the steps taken by the canvassers of the votes.

President Grant appointed those of the Republican party and Abram S.

Hewitt, chairman of the National Democratic Committee, appointed the

others. Trumbull had voted for Tilden in the election, and he was

chosen by Hewitt as one of ten visiting statesmen for Louisiana. Senator

Sherman, of Ohio, was one of the Republican visitors. Congress passed a

law on the 29th of January, 1877, to create an Electoral Commission,

consisting of five Senators, five Representatives, and five judges of

the Supreme Court, to take all the evidence in regard to the disputed

elections and to render a decision thereon by a majority vote of the

fifteen members. Four of the five judges of the Supreme Court were named

in the act of Congress. They were Miller and Swayne, Republicans, and

Clifford and Field, Democrats, and the act provided that these four

should choose the fifth. It was the general expectation that they would

choose David Davis as the fifth member, as he was commonly classed as an

Independent, since he had been a candidate in the Cincinnati Convention,

which nominated Greeley. But, on the very day when the Electoral

Commission Bill passed, Davis was elected by the legislature of Illinois

as Senator of the United States, to succeed Logan whose term was

expiring. Davis accepted the senatorship and declined to serve as the

fifth judge. Thereupon Bradley was chosen in his stead.

Trumbull was chosen as one of the counsel on the Tilden side to argue

the Louisiana case. On the 14th of February he appeared before the

Commission and offered to show that the votes certified by the

commissioners of election in the voting precincts of Louisiana to the

supervisors of registration, who were the officers legally appointed to

receive the same, showed a majority varying from six to nine thousand

for the Tilden electors; that the returning board did not receive from

any poll, voting place, or parish, and did not have before them, any

statement, as required by law, of any riot, tumult, act of violence,

intimidation, armed disturbance, bribery, or corrupt influence tending

to prevent a free, fair, peaceable vote; that the supervisors of

registration, without any such statements of violence or intimidation,

omitted to include in the returns of election, or to make any mention of

the same, votes amounting to a majority of 2267 against W. P. Kellogg,

one of the Hayes electors; that the votes cast on the 7th of November,

1876, had never been compiled or canvassed; that the votes had never

been opened by the governor in the presence of the other state officers

required by law to be present, nor in the presence of any of them; that

the law of Louisiana required that both political parties should be

represented on the returning board, but that all the members, four in

number, were Republicans, and that although there was one vacancy on the

board they refused to fill it by choosing anybody; that the returning

board employed as clerks and assistants four persons, whose names were

given, all of whom were then under indictment for crime, to whom was

committed the task of compiling and canvassing the returns, and that

none but Republicans were to be present; and that all the decisions of

the returning board were made in secret session.

Not to detain you [said Trumbull] as to this Government in

Louisiana, I will only say that it is not a republican

government, for it is a matter that I think this Commission

should take official knowledge of, that the pretended officers

in the state of Louisiana are upheld by military power alone.

They could not maintain themselves an hour but for military

support. Is that government republican which rests upon

military power for support? A republican government is a

government of the people, for the people, and by the people:

but the Government in Louisiana has been nothing but a military

despotism for the last four years, and it could not stand a day

if the people were not overborne by military power.

His speech was about two hours long, and he was followed by Carpenter

and Campbell on the same side. The leading argument on the Hayes side

was made by Mr. E. W. Stoughton, of New York, who contended that neither

the Commission nor Congress itself could go behind the official returns

certified by the governor of the state of Louisiana, and that the

recognition of Kellogg as governor by the President of the United States

was conclusive evidence of the fact that he was the person empowered to

act in that capacity.

By a vote of eight to seven the Commission decided in favor of

Stoughton's contention, and the same rule was applied to all the other

disputed returns, and by this ruling the presidential office was awarded

to Rutherford B. Hayes.

Under the circumstances then existing, and with the characters then

holding office in Louisiana, it is obvious that the latter had power to

throw out an unlimited number of Tilden votes if necessary to make a

majority for Hayes. It is not obvious that the supporters of Tilden had

power to intimidate an unlimited number of negroes; the number of the

latter was slightly less than the number of whites in the State, and it

was known that some of the negroes had joined the conservative party.

Moreover, the Kellogg government was shamefully illegal, even as

measured by the standards then enforced upon the South. It is fair to

presume, therefore, that Tilden was justly entitled to the electoral

votes of Louisiana. That is my belief although I voted for Hayes.

It does not follow, however, that the decision of the Electoral

Commission was wrong. That body was bound to consider the remote as well

as the immediate consequences of its acts. It was engaged in making a

precedent to be followed in similar disputes thereafter, if such should

arise. If Congress, or any commission acting by its authority, should

assume the functions of a returning board for all the states in future

presidential elections, what limit could be set to their investigations,

or to the passions agitating the country while the same were in

progress? In short, the Electoral Commission was sitting not to do

justice between man and man, but to save the Republic. Even if it made a

mistake in the exercise of its discretion, the mistake was pardonable.

* * * * *

On the 3d of November, 1877, the subject of this memoir was married to

Miss Mary Ingraham, of Saybrook Point, Connecticut. The lady's mother

was his first cousin. Two daughters were born of this union, both of

whom died in infancy.

* * * * *

In 1880, when the next presidential campaign, that of Garfield and

Hancock, opened, the Democrats of Illinois nominated Trumbull for

governor of the State, without his own solicitation or desire. He was

now sixty-seven years of age, with powers of body and mind unimpaired.

In accepting the nomination he gave a brief account of his political

life extending over a period of nearly forty years. He acknowledged that

he had made mistakes, but said he had never given a vote or performed an

act in his official capacity which he did not at the time believe was

for his country's good. He made a vigorous campaign, but the traces left

of it in the newspapers contain nothing that need be recalled now. The

Republican majority in the state was between thirty and forty thousand.

The Republicans nominated Shelby M. Cullom for Governor and he was

elected.

* * * * *

The World's Columbian Exposition took place at Chicago in the year 1893.

During one of my visits to it I had the pleasure of dining with Mr.

and Mrs. Trumbull at their home on Lake Avenue. The only other guest was

William J. Bryan, whom I had not met before. The leading issue in

politics then was the free coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to

one. Mr. Bryan was an enthusiastic free-silver man and a firm believer

in the early triumph of that doctrine. Trumbull was inclined to the same

belief, although less confident of its success. We had an animated but

friendly discussion of that question. President Cleveland had just

called a special session of Congress to repeal the Silver Purchasing Act

then in force, which was not a free-coinage law. I ventured to predict

to my table companions that the purchasing law would be repealed and

that no free-coinage law would be enacted in place of it, either then or

later. None of us imagined that three years from that time Mr. Bryan

himself would be the nominee of the Democratic party for President of

the United States, on that issue. Trumbull's geniality and cordiality at

this meeting were a joy to his guests. Our conversation, ranging over a

period of nearly forty years, filled two delightful hours. He was then

eighty years of age, but in vigor of mind and body I did not notice any

change in him. We parted, not knowing that we should not meet again.

[Illustration: _AET. 80_]

Trumbull's next appearance on the public stage was in the case of Eugene

V. Debs, who is still with us as a perpetual candidate of the

Socialistic party for President. In 1894 he was president of an

organization of railway employees known as the American Railway Union.

In the month of May a dispute arose between the Pullman Palace Car

Company and its employees in reference to the rate of wages, which

resulted in a strike. Debs and his fellow officers of the Railway Union,

for the purpose of compelling the Pullman Company to yield to the

demands of their employees, issued an order to the railway companies

that they should cease hauling Pullman cars, and, if they should not so

cease, that the trainmen, switchmen, and others working on the railways

aforesaid should strike also. As a consequence of this order twenty-two

railroads were "tied up." All passengers trains composed in part of

Pullman cars were brought to a standstill. Riots broke out in the

streets of Chicago. An injunction was issued against Debs by Judge

Woods, of the United States Circuit Court. Governor Altgelt, of

Illinois, was called upon to restore order in the city, but before he

did so President Cleveland, having been officially informed that the

movement of the mails was obstructed by violence in the streets of

Chicago, ordered a small body of troops to that city to break the

blockade. This they accomplished without delay and without bloodshed. In

the mean time Debs and his associates were put under arrest for

violating the injunction of the court. Debs employed Mr. Clarence Darrow

as his attorney, and Darrow applied for a writ of _habeas corpus_, which

was refused. Darrow appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States

and engaged Lyman Trumbull and S. S. Gregory as associate counsel. The

appeal was argued by Trumbull at the October Term in Washington City.

Trumbull had volunteered his service and refused a fee, accepting only

his traveling expenses. The court rejected the petition for a writ of

_habeas corpus_ and affirmed the jurisdiction of the circuit court.

Both President Cleveland and the court were sustained by public opinion

in this disposition of Debs. On the 6th of October, a large meeting was

held at Central Music Hall in Chicago to consider the recent exciting

events. It was addressed by Trumbull and Henry D. Lloyd. Trumbull's

speech was published in the newspapers and in pamphlet form as a

Populist campaign document. It was extremely effective from the Populist

point of view, and was not, on the whole, more radical than the

so-called Progressive platform of the present day. While expressing

decided opinions on the subject of "judicial usurpation" (referring to

the Debs case without mentioning it), he exhorted his hearers to seek a

remedy by the action of Congress. "It is to be hoped," he said, "that

Congress when it meets will put some check upon federal judges in

assuming control of railroads and issuing blanket injunctions and

punishing people for contempt of their assumed authority. If Congress

does not do it, I trust the people will see to it that representatives

are chosen hereafter who will." The recall of judges, as a remedy for

unpopular decisions, had not yet been discovered.

The testimony of persons who were present at this meeting is that

Trumbull showed no abatement of his powers as a speaker, and that the

audience "went wild with enthusiasm."

In the month of December following, the leaders of the People's party in

Chicago, ten in number, requested Trumbull to prepare a declaration of

principles to be presented by them for consideration at a national

conference of their party to meet at St. Louis on the 28th. This paper

was drawn up and delivered to them in his own handwriting a few days

before the meeting and was published in the _Chicago Times_ of December

27, in the following words:

1. Resolved, That human brotherhood and equality of rights are

cardinal principles of true democracy.

2. Resolved, That, forgetting all past political differences,

we unite in the common purpose to rescue the Government from

the control of monopolists and concentrated wealth, to limit

their powers of perpetuation by curtailing their privileges,

and to secure the rights of free speech, a free press, free

labor, and trial by jury--all rules, regulations, and judicial

dicta in derogation of either of which are arbitrary,

unconstitutional, and not to be tolerated by a free people.

3. We endorse the resolution adopted by the National Republican

Convention of 1860, which was incorporated by President Lincoln

in his inaugural address, as follows: "That the maintenance

inviolate of the rights of the states, and especially of the

right of each state to order and control its own domestic

institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is

essential to that balance of power on which the endurance of

our political fabric depends, and we denounce the lawless

invasion by armed force of the soil of any state or territory,

no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes."

4. Resolved, That the power given Congress by the Constitution

to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of

the Union, to suppress insurrections, to repel invasions, does

not warrant the Government in making use of a standing army in

aiding monopolies in the oppression of their employees. When

freemen unsheathe the sword it should be to strike for liberty,

not for despotism, or to uphold privileged monopolies in the

oppression of the poor.

5. Resolved, That to check the rapid absorption of the wealth

of the country and its perpetuation in a few hands we demand

the enactment of laws limiting the amount of property to be

acquired by devise or inheritance.

6. Resolved, That we denounce the issue of interest-bearing

bonds by the Government in times of peace, to be paid for, in

part at least, by gold drawn from the Treasury, which results

in the Government's paying interest on its own money.

7. Resolved, That we demand that Congress perform the

constitutional duty to coin money, regulate the value thereof

and of foreign coin by the enactment of laws for the free

coinage of silver with that of gold at the ratio of 16 to 1.

8. Resolved, That monopolies affecting the public interest

should be owned and operated by the Government in the interest

of the people; all employees of the same to be governed by

civil service rules, and no one to be employed or displaced on

account of politics.

9. Resolved, That we inscribe on our banner, "Down with

monopolies and millionaire control! Up with the rights of man

and the masses!" And under this banner we march to the polls

and to victory.

These resolutions were conveyed to the St. Louis meeting by Henry D.

Lloyd and F. J. Schulte and were adopted by the conference without

alteration.

FOOTNOTES:

[132] Rhodes, _History of the United States_, VII, 231.

CHAPTER XXVIII

CONCLUSION

On the 22d of March, 1896, Trumbull made an argument before the Supreme

Court at Washington City. On the 11th of April, although ailing from an

unknown malady, he went to Belleville to attend the funeral of his old

and faithful friend, Gustave Koerner, and to make a brief address over

the remains. This journey was made against the advice of his physician.

At the conclusion of his remarks he became ill at his hotel in

Belleville. There was a consultation of physicians, who reached the

conclusion that he would be able to go home if he should go at once. He

decided not to delay, and he reached home on the morning of April 13.

Here another consultation of physicians took place at which a surgical

operation was decided upon. This led to the discovery of an internal

tumor which, in their judgment, could not be removed without causing

immediate death. He lingered till the 5th of June. Before his death he

made a calm and careful adjustment of his business affairs and gave to

his children and grandchildren keepsakes that he had for years preserved

for them. He passed away at the age of eighty-two years, seven months,

and twelve days. His funeral, which was largely attended, took place

from his house, No. 4008 Lake Avenue, and his remains were interred in

Oakwoods Cemetery.

There was a meeting of the Bar Association of Chicago to prepare a

memorial on his life and services. On this occasion Hon. Thomas A.

Moran, former judge of the appellate court, said:

At the end of his career in the United States Senate, Judge

Trumbull became a member of the Chicago Bar. He was thereafter

continuously, and up to the time of his death, engaged in the

active and laborious practice of his profession. The great

place that he had held in the councils of the nation, the

influence that he had exerted upon national legislation, and

the esteem in which he was held by the lawyers and the

statesmen of the country, entitled him to a lofty mien; but as

is well known to us all who had the privilege of his

acquaintance at the bar, while his demeanor was grave it was

also modest, and his manner was marked by a gentleness that was

most grateful to everybody with whom he came in contact. His

sincerity and honesty in the presentation of his case, his

respectful demeanor to any court in which he was engaged in a

legal contest, constituted him a model that the lawyers of our

bar might well imitate. He was in practice at the bar

forty-four years after he ceased to be a judge of the supreme

court of this state.... He was preeminently the grand old man

of this country. In his intercourse with his fellow citizens he

was a quiet, sincere, frank, honest American gentleman. Lyman

Trumbull was one of the very great men of the nation.

Eulogistic remarks were made also by Senator John M. Palmer, ex-Senator

James R. Doolittle, and Judge Henry W. Blodgett. Mr. Doolittle said that

of the sixty-six members of the United States Senate who were there when

Secession began, only four were then living. They were Harlan, of Iowa,

Rice, of Minnesota, Clingman, of North Carolina, and himself

(Doolittle).

Trumbull's forte was that of a political debater well grounded in the

law. Here he stood in the very front rank, both as a Senator addressing

his equals and as an orator on the hustings. He was always ready to

discuss the questions which he was required to face. He had a logical

mind, and the ability to think quickly and to choose the right words to

express his ideas. He never wasted words in ornament or display. He

never lost his balance when addressing the Senate, or a public audience.

He had perfect self-possession. He never stood in awe of any other

debater or hesitated to reply promptly to question or challenge. Nor did

he ever lose his dignity in debate. Once he came near to calling Sumner

a falsifier, when the latter had described him as recreant to the

principles of human liberty; but he restrained himself in time to avoid

an infraction of the rules of the Senate. And he afterwards came to the

defense of Sumner when the latter was deposed, by his more subservient

colleagues, from the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

On this occasion Sumner came forward holding out both hands, and with

tears in his eyes thanked him for his generosity.

His rare forensic gifts would have been unavailing without confidence in

the justice of his cause, and a clear conscience which shone in his face

and pervaded him through and through. Although not endowed with

oratorical graces he grasped the attention of his audience at once, and

he never failed to convince his hearers that he had an eye single to the

public good. It was hard for him to separate himself from the Republican

party in 1871-72, but he considered it a duty that he owed to the

country to expose the rottenness then pervading the national

administration. He did not have General Grant in mind when he moved the

investigation of custom-house frauds in New York. He did not aim at him

directly or indirectly, but at the system which had grown up before his

election. Grant's mental make-up was such that he considered any

fault-finding with federal office-holders a reproach to himself, as the

head of the Government, and accordingly braced himself against it; and

this habit grew on him through the whole eight years of his presidency.

Yet Trumbull uttered no reproach against him during the campaign of

1872, or later.

It was commonly said that Trumbull's nature was cold and unsympathetic.

This was a mannerism merely. He did not carry his heart upon his sleeve

for daws to peck at, but he was an affectionate husband and father and

grandfather, most generous to his parents, brothers, and sisters, and

one of the most unselfish men I ever knew. His poor constituents, who

were often stranded in Washington, needing help to get home, seldom

applied to him for assistance in vain, and this kind of drain was pretty

severe during his whole senatorial service. He was fond of little

children. He was often seen playing croquet with his own and others in

Washington City. Mr. Morris St. P. Thomas, a member of the Chicago Bar

who shared Trumbull's office during his later years, says that he never

knew a warmer-hearted man than Trumbull. He was kindness and

consideration itself to the people in his office. He was never cross or

short, and every young man there always felt that he could go into the

judge's room whenever he liked, and sit down and tell him his troubles.

Once it devolved upon Mr. Thomas to engage a stenographer for the

office. Of the several applicants the best was an unprepossessing,

hump-backed girl. "I told the judge about her--that she was the ablest

applicant, but very unprepossessing in appearance." "Why," said he, at

once, "that's the very reason to take her, poor girl!" And they kept her

for years.[133]

In short, he was a high-minded, kind-hearted, courteous gentleman,

without ostentation and without guile. In business affairs he was

punctual, accurate, and spotless. He never borrowed money, never bought

anything that he could not pay cash for, never gave a promissory note in

his life, not even in the purchase of real estate where deferred

payments are customary. The best blood of New England coursed in his

veins and he never dishonored it, in either private or public life.

It is perhaps too early to assign to Trumbull his proper place in the

roll of statesmen of the Civil War period. Those who come after us and

can look back one hundred years, instead of fifty, will doubtless have a

better perspective and a clearer vision than those who lived with the

actors of that momentous struggle. Some things, however, we may be sure

of. One is that the man who drew the Thirteenth Amendment of the

Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States and all places

under the jurisdiction thereof, will never be forgotten as long as the

love of liberty survives in this land. Not that the Thirteenth Amendment

would not have been passed and incorporated in our system even if Lyman

Trumbull had not been a Senator, or if he had never been born. It was a

consequence of the taking-up of arms against the Union in 1861 that

slavery should come to an end somehow. All that Lincoln did, all that

Trumbull did, all that Congress did, was to seize the occasion to give

direction to certain irresistible forces then called into existence for

blessing or cursing mankind. There were different ways of bringing

slavery to an end. That of constitutional amendment was the best of all

because it removed the subject-matter from the field of dispute at once

and forever. Lincoln paved the way for it. He prepared the public mind

for it by his two proclamations of emancipation. Trumbull and Congress

and the state legislatures did the rest.

It may be fairly said that Trumbull took the lead in putting an end to

arbitrary arrests in the loyal states where the courts of justice were

open, and in prescribing the process of the suspension of the writ of

_habeas corpus_. This was a difficult problem to handle and it cost

Trumbull some popularity, since the loyal spirit of the North was very

touchy on the subject of Copperheads and easily inflamed against anybody

who was accused of sympathy with them. The law finally passed seems now

to be altogether just, and well suited to be put in practice again if

occasion for it should arise.

Trumbull's place as one of the "Seven Traitors" who voted not guilty on

the impeachment of Andrew Johnson is now universally considered a proud

position, and I think that that of his neighbor and friend, James R.

Doolittle, of Wisconsin, who earned the title of traitor a year or two

earlier, is entitled to a place in the same Valhalla. Both are deserving

of monuments at the hands of their respective states.

The reader of these pages cannot fail to discern a marked change in

Trumbull's course on Reconstruction about midway of the struggle on that

issue. Gideon Welles said, under date January 16, 1867, "He [Trumbull]

has changed his principles within a year.[134] The facts are that he

agreed with Lincoln's plan of Reconstruction, embodied it in the

Louisiana Bill, reported it favorably from the Judiciary Committee,

tried to pass it in the closing days of the Thirty-eighth Congress, but

was prevented by the filibustering tactics of Sumner. After Johnson

became President he adhered to that plan until Johnson vetoed the

Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights Bills. He then believed that Johnson

had betrayed the cause for which the nation had fought through a four

years' war and that the freedom of the blacks would be endangered if

Johnson were sustained by the loyal states. He accordingly went with his

party, but with misgivings, halting now and then, putting blocks in the

way of the radicals here and there. He ceased to be the leader of the

Senate as he had hitherto been, on this class of questions, and he

became a reluctant follower. When Sumner became angry and charged him in

1870 with betrayal of the cause of freedom, he hotly affirmed that he

had voted for every measure for the equal rights of the freedmen that

Congress had passed, including the three constitutional amendments. The

truth was that he had put obstacles in the way of several measures that

Sumner deemed indispensable, until it became plain that the Republican

party was determined to pass them and that further resistance would be

useless. Then he gave his assent to them. This course he pursued until

the Anti-Ku-Klux Bill was agreed to, by the Judiciary Committee, in

1871. Against this measure he voted in the committee and in the Senate.

He held it to be unconstitutional, and he used against it the same

arguments in substance that Bingham had used in the House against the

Civil Rights Bill; and both he and Bingham were right. Trumbull did not

change his principles, but he made an error in common with his party and

he corrected it as soon as he became convinced that it was an error. I

am open to the same criticism."

Among interviews with men of note published in the Chicago press

concerning the deceased was one with Mr. Joseph Medill, not a friendly

critic but a political seer of the first class, who thought that

Trumbull might have been President of the United States if he had voted,

in the impeachment case, to convict Andrew Johnson.

If he had remained true to his party [said Mr. Medill], Judge

Trumbull, I believe, would have died with his name in the roll

of Presidents of the United States. I have always thought that

he could have been the successor of Grant. He stood so high in

the estimation of his party and the nation that nothing was

beyond his reach. Grant, of course, came before everybody, but

Trumbull was next, a man of great ability, undoubted integrity,

and stainless reputation, pure as the driven snow and nearly

as cold. He could have been President instead of Hayes, or

Garfield, or Harrison.[1]

Following the interview with Mr. Medill is one with Mr. Henry S.

Robbins, a member of Trumbull's law firm from 1883 until 1890. Mr.

Robbins did not find Trumbull a cold man.

All the time we were together [said Mr. Robbins] I never heard

him speak a cross word to a clerk in the office. Among children

he was a child again. He and his little grandson, the child of

Walter Trumbull, who died several years ago, were inseparable

companions when the grandfather was at home. They played

together and talked together like two little boys. All the

children in the neighborhood where he lived were wont to come

to him with their little troubles and always found him one who

could enter into fullest sympathy with them. Judge Trumbull had

no worldliness. He seemed to practice law as a mission, not as

a vocation by which to make money. With his reputation and his

ability combined he might have died a millionaire. It always

gave him a pang to charge a fee, and when he fixed the charge

it was usually about half what a modern lawyer would charge.[1]

Another partner, Mr. William N. Horner, said:

I came here from Belleville where Judge Trumbull formerly

lived, and people down there--some of them at least--used to

think that he was a cold man. I never found him so. I remember

the first day we moved into these offices and while we were

getting settled, Judge Trumbull worked harder than any of us.

He was more solicitous for our comfort than he was for his own.

He was always trying to do something for the comfort of others.

He had all the gentleness and sweetness of disposition and

patience of a woman.[135]

Mr. C. S. Darrow, who had charge of the Debs case in which Trumbull

volunteered his services, said that

the socialistic trend of the venerable statesman's opinions in

his later years sprang from his deep sympathies with all

unfortunates; that sympathy that made him an anti-slavery

Democrat in his early years, and afterwards a Republican. He

became convinced that the poor who toil for a living in this

world were not getting a fair chance. His heart was with

them.[136]

A letter to myself from the widow of Walter Trumbull, who died in 1891,

says:

After my husband died, I, with my two boys, lived with Judge

Trumbull until his death; and I wish I could tell you how

beautiful that home life was. He was so devoted to his family,

so sweet and tender and thoughtful for us all. Others never

realized this and often thought him cold. He was so great a man

and yet so gentle and simple in his ways that little children

clung to him.

Among the papers left by Trumbull was the following estimate of the

character and career of Abraham Lincoln. It was addressed to his son

Walter Trumbull and is here published for the first time:

MY DEAR SON: I have often been requested to give my estimate of

Mr. Lincoln's life and character. His death at the close of a

great civil war in which the Government of which he was the

head had been successful, and the manner of his taking off,

were not favorable to a candid and impartial review of his

character. The temper of the public mind at that time would not

tolerate anything but praise of the martyred President, and

even now it is questionable whether the truthful history of his

life by Mr. Herndon, his lifelong friend, and law partner for

twenty years, will be received with favor. As I could not give

any other than a truthful narration of Mr. Lincoln's character,

as he was known to me, I have hitherto declined to write

anything for the public concerning him. Having known him at

different times as a political adversary and a political

friend, my opportunities for judging his public life and

character were from different standpoints. We were members of

the Illinois House of Representatives in 1840. He was a Whig

and I a Democrat, but we had no controversies, political or

otherwise. Indeed, Mr. Lincoln took very little part in the

legislation of that session. It was the period when, as

related by Mr. Herndon, he was engaged in love affairs which

some of his friends feared had well-nigh unsettled his mental

faculties. I recall but one speech he made during the session.

In that he told a story which convulsed the House to the great

discomfiture of the member at whom it was aimed. Mr. Lincoln

was regarded at that time by his political friends as among

their shrewdest and ablest leaders, and by his political

adversaries as a formidable opponent. Contemporary with him in

the legislature of 1840 were Edward D. Baker, William A.

Richardson, William H. Bissell, Thomas Drummond, John J.

Hardin, John A. McClernand, Ebenezer Peck, and others whose

subsequent careers in the national councils, on the field of

battle, and in civil life have shed lustre on their country's

history. It is no mean praise to say of Mr. Lincoln that among

this galaxy of young men convened at the capital of Illinois in

1840, to whom may be added Stephen A. Douglas, although not

then a member of the legislature, he stood in the front rank.

As a lawyer Mr. Lincoln was painstaking, discriminating, and

accurate. He mastered his cases, and had a most happy and

fascinating way of presenting them. He was logical, fair, and

candid. It was said of him by one of the most eminent judges

who ever presided in Illinois, that after Mr. Lincoln had

opened a case he [the judge] fully understood both sides of it.

Some of Mr. Lincoln's contemporaries at the bar were more

learned, and better lawyers, but no one managed a case, which

he had time to thoroughly study and understand, more adroitly.

The breaking-up of the Whig and Democratic parties in 1854,

growing out of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the

opening of the territory to slavery, threw Mr. Lincoln and

myself together politically. We were both opposed to the spread

of slavery, and from the foundation of the Republican party

till his death we were in political accord. I do not claim to

have been his confidant, and doubt if any man ever had his

entire confidence. He was secretive, and communicated no more

of his own thoughts and purposes than he thought would subserve

the ends he had in view. He had the faculty of gaining the

confidence of others by apparently giving them his own, and in

that way attached to himself many friends. I saw much of him

after we became political associates, and can truthfully say

that he never misled me by word or deed. He was truthful,

compassionate, and kind, but he was one of the shrewdest men I

ever knew. To use a common expression he was "as cunning as a

fox." He was a good judge of men, their motives, and purposes,

and knew how to wield them to his own advantage. He was not

aggressive. Ever ready to take advantage of the public current,

he did not attempt to lead it. He did not promulgate the

article of war enacted by Congress forbidding army and navy

officers from employing their forces to return slaves to their

masters, under penalty of dismissal from the service, till more

than six months after its passage. It was more than nine months

after the enactment of a law by Congress declaring free all

slaves of rebels captured, or coming within the Union lines, or

found in any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards

occupied by the forces of the Union, that he issued the

proclamation declaring free the slaves then within the rebel

lines, all of whom, belonging to persons in rebellion, were

made free by the act of Congress as soon as the Union forces

occupied the country, and till then the proclamation could not

be enforced. When applied to by a friend, just previous to the

meeting of the convention at Baltimore which nominated him for

a second term, to indicate what resolutions or policy he

desired the convention to adopt, he declined to suggest any.

These and many other illustrations might be given to show that

Mr. Lincoln was a follower and not a leader in public affairs.

Without attempting to form or create public sentiment, he

waited till he saw whither it tended, and then was astute to

take advantage of it. Some of Mr. Lincoln's admirers, instead

of regarding his want of system, hesitancy, and irresolution as

defects in his character, seek to make them the subject of

praise, as in the end the rebellion was suppressed, and slavery

abolished, during his administration, ignoring the fact that a

man of more positive character, prompt and systematic action,

might have accomplished the same result in half the time, and

with half the loss of blood and treasure.

Mr. Lincoln was by no means the unsophisticated, artless man

many took him to be. Mr. Swett, a lifelong friend and admirer,

writing to Mr. Herndon, says: "One great public mistake of his

character, as generally received and acquiesced in, is that he

is considered by the people of this country as a frank,

guileless, and unsophisticated man. There never was a greater

mistake. Beneath a smooth surface of candor, and apparent

declaration of all his thoughts and feelings, he exercised the

most exalted tact, and the widest discrimination.... In dealing

with men he was a trimmer, and such a trimmer as the world has

never seen."[137]

Herndon in his "Lincoln," at page 471, says: "He had a way of

pretending to assure his visitor that in the choice of his

advisers he was free to act as his judgment dictated, although

David Davis, acting as his manager at the Chicago Convention,

had negotiated with the Pennsylvania and Indiana delegations,

and assigned places in the Cabinet to Simon Cameron and Caleb

Smith, besides making other arrangements which Mr. Lincoln was

expected to satisfy."

Another popular mistake is to suppose Mr. Lincoln free from

ambition. A more ardent seeker after office never existed. From

the time when, at the age of twenty-three, he announced himself

a candidate for the legislature from Sangamon County, till his

death, he was almost constantly either in office, or struggling

to obtain one. Sometimes defeated and often successful, he

never abandoned the desire for office till he had reached the

presidency the second time. Swett says, "He was much more eager

for it [a second nomination] than for the first," and such was

known to his intimate friends to be the fact, though his manner

to the public would have indicated that he was indifferent to a

second nomination. When first a candidate for the presidency

Mr. Herndon tells us, "He wrote to influential party workers

everywhere," promising money to defray the expenses of

delegates to the convention favoring his nomination.

While ardently devoted to the Union, Mr. Lincoln had no

well-defined plan for saving it, but suffered things to drift,

watching to take advantage of events as they occurred. He was a

judge of men and knew how to use them to advantage. He brought

into his Cabinet some of the ablest men in the nation, and left

to them the management of their respective departments. This

country never had an abler head of the Treasury Department than

Salmon P. Chase. To his skillful management of the finances the

country was indebted for the means to carry on the war of the

rebellion, and bring it to a successful issue. For the

distinguished ability with which the State and War Departments

were managed during the rebellion the country is greatly

indebted to Mr. Seward and Mr. Stanton. Other members of Mr.

Lincoln's Cabinet were men of great executive ability. Lincoln

was unmethodical and without executive ability, but he selected

advisers who possessed these qualities in an eminent degree.

To sum up his character, it may be said that as a man he was

honest, pure, kind-hearted, and sympathetic; as a lawyer,

clear-headed, astute, and successful; as a politician,

ambitious, shrewd, and farseeing; as a public speaker,

incisive, clear, and convincing, often eloquent, clothing his

thoughts in the most beautiful and attractive language, a

logical reasoner, and yet most unmethodical in all his ways; as

President during a great civil war he lacked executive ability,

and that resolution and prompt action essential to bring it to

a speedy and successful close; but he was a philanthropist and

a patriot, ardently devoted to the Union and the equality and

freedom of all men. He presided over the nation in the most

critical period of its history, and lived long enough to see

the rebellion subdued, and a whole race lifted from slavery to

freedom. The fact that he was at the head of the nation when

these great results were accomplished, and of his most cruel

assassination, before there was time to fully appreciate the

great work that had been done during his administration, will

forever endear him to the American people, and hand his name

down to posterity as among the best, if not the greatest, of

mankind.

Another manuscript, addressed to Mrs. Gershom Jayne, the mother of the

first Mrs. Trumbull, in answer to a communication from her, gives

Trumbull's views on religion:

CHICAGO, Apr. 22, 1877.

DEAR MOTHER: I scarcely know how to reply to your texts of

Scripture and your solicitude for me. If the fervent prayers of

the righteous avail, it would seem as if yours and those of my

departed Julia should have their influence, and I sometimes

feel as if the spirit of my dear Julia was even now not far

away. That I am not what I should be is too true: I feel it

and I know it, and yet I trust the influence and prayers of

those who have loved me have not been entirely thrown away. I

have abundant reason to be thankful to our Heavenly Father for

his protection and ten thousand kindnesses to me which I know I

have not deserved. How often when the way was dark before me

has an unseen hand carried me safely through! And yet, whilst

ever ready to acknowledge my own imperfection and impotence, I

suppose I know nothing of, or at best see but as through a

glass dimly, that change of heart of which the converted speak,

and which comes of a faith it has not been given me to possess.

I certainly hope through the Saviour's interposition for a

happy hereafter, but at the same time am obliged to confess

that the way is to me dark and mysterious, and by no means as

discernible as it appears to some others. I rejoice that they

can see it clearly and wish that I could too....

Affectionately yours,

LYMAN TRUMBULL.

Three sons of Lyman Trumbull reached mature years: Walter, Perry, and

Henry. The latter died unmarried, January 20, 1895.

Walter, the eldest, was married September, 1876, to Miss Hannah Mather

Slater. Three sons were born of this union. The first of these, Lyman

Trumbull, Jr., died in infancy. The second, Walter S., was born in 1879,

married Miss Marjorie Skinner, of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1905, and

now resides in New York City. The third, Charles L., born in 1884,

married in 1910 Miss Lucy Proctor, of Peoria, Illinois, and now resides

in Chicago. Walter Trumbull died October 25, 1891.

Perry Trumbull was married to Mary Caroline Peck, daughter of Ebenezer

Peck, judge of the United States Court of Claims, in 1879. Four children

were born to them: (1) Julia Wright, married to H. Thompson Frazer,

M.D., now resides at Asheville, North Carolina; (2) Edward A., married

Anna Whitby, and resides at Seattle, Washington; (3) Charles P.,

married, resides at Las Vegas, New Mexico; (4) Selden, resides in

Chicago. Perry Trumbull died December 10, 1902.

Mrs. Mary Ingraham Trumbull, widow of Lyman Trumbull, resides at

Saybrook Point, Connecticut.

FOOTNOTES:

[133] Interview, June 13, 1910.

[134] _Diary of Gideon Welles_, III, 21.

[135] Chicago _Times_, June 26, 1896.

[136] Chicago _Times_, June 26, 1896.

[137] Herndon's _Life of Lincoln_, 537, 538.

THE END

INDEX

Throughout the Index, the Initial T., standing alone, represents the

subject of the book.

Abolition movement, the, and the murder of Lovejoy, 10.

Act of March 27, 1868, purpose of, 328, 329;

passed by Congress, and vetoed, 329;

passed over veto, 330;

its application to McCardle case glaringly unjust, 330.

Adams, Charles Francis, Seward's dispatches of April, 1861, and

July, 1862, to, 210 _ff._;

proposed for Liberal Republican nomination for President, 372, 373,

374, 381;

his attitude regarding the nomination, 377, 378;

defeated by Greeley, 383, 384;

why Blair and Brown opposed him, 385 and _n._;

a stronger candidate than T., 402, 403; xxi, 182, 389, 390.

Adams, Charles Francis, Jr., _The Trent Affair_, etc., 349 _n._; 353,

378.

Adams, John, xxiii.

Adams, John Quincy, xxii, 27, 103.

Adams, John Quincy, 2d, nominated for Vice-President by dissentient

Democrats (1872), 394;

declines, 394.

Akerman, Amos T., succeeds Hoar as Attorney-General, 350.

Alabama, admission of, xxix;

and the 13th Amendment, 229;

order for reconstruction of, 238.

Alabama Claims, T. on, 348;

Grant's great service in settling, 362.

Aldrich, Cyrus, 68.

Alien and Sedition laws, xxiii.

Allen, G. T., 42, 43, 46 _n._

Allen, Robert, 13.

Allison, John, 69.

Allison, William B., Senator, 304, 346.

Altgeld, John P., Governor, and the Pullman strike, 414.

Alton, Ill., T. removes to, 21.

Alton riot, the, 8-10.

American Bottom, locus of slavery in Ill., in 1783, 23.

_American Historical Review_, quoted, 174.

American Railway Union, 413.

Ammen, Jacob, General, 206, 208.

Amnesty, Johnson's proclamation of, 239.

Amnesty bill, debated in Senate, 359;

amended by Sumner, and rejected, 359;

reintroduced and passed, 359, 360.

Anderson, Robert, Major, proposed recall of, from Sumter, 122, 123;

128, 155.

_And see_ Sumter.

Andrew, John A., Governor, 287, 307 _n._

Anthony, Henry B., Senator, his attitude on ousting of Sumner from

Foreign Affairs Committee, 347; 314, 364, 366, 367.

Anti Ku-Klux bill. _See_ Ku-Klux Bill

Anti-Nebraska Democrats, in Ill. legislature, 41 _ff._;

and the Senatorial election of 1854, 46 _n._

Archer, William B., 69.

"Arm-in-Arm Convention." _See_ National Union Convention.

Armstrong, postmaster at St. Louis, 81.

Arnold, I. N., Congressman, 207.

Arrests, arbitrary, T's resolution of inquiry concerning, 191 _ff._;

censured by Democratic Convention, 193;

license to make, transferred to Stanton, 197;

effect of change, 197, 198;

action of Democrats on, 197;

T. took lead in stopping, in loyal states, 422, 423.

_And see_ Habeas corpus.

Arthur, Chester A., appointed Collector of New York, 368.

Asay, E. G., 208.

Ashley, James M., Congressman, 228 _n._

Atchison, David R., Senator, his advice to Missourians, 52; 49, 54.

Atkinson, Edward, 353.

Atzerodt, conspirator, 289.

Babcock, Orville E., sent by Grant to San Domingo, 342, 362, 369.

Bacon Academy, 3.

Badger, George E., 49.

Bailey, G., quoted on Dred Scott case, 83.

Baker, Edward D., Senator, 10, 132, 427.

Baker, Henry L., 42, 43, 46.

Baldwin, J. B., and Lincoln's offer to evacuate Sumter, 159, 160;

his version contradicted by Botts, 160, 161;

R. L. Dabney's account of interview of, with Lincoln, 161, 162.

Bancroft, George, wrote Johnson's first message, 244, 245.

Banks, Nathaniel P., General, 36, 87, 102, 232, 233.

Barney, Hiram, Collector of New York, 147, 181, 182.

Barrett, A. B., quoted, 117.

Bates, Edward, candidate for Republican nomination in 1860, 103;

and enforcement of Confiscation Act, 177; 104, 150.

Bayard, James A., Senator, 200, 201, 228.

Bayard, Thomas F., Senator, 366.

Beecher, Henry W., 287.

Belknap, William W., General, 362.

Belleville, Ill., T. settles at, 5, 6;

described by Dickens, 14, 15.

Belleville _Advocate_, the, 323.

Belmont, August, quoted, on Liberal Republican movement, 373, 374.

Benjamin, Judah P., Senator, on the Dred Scott case, 82;

his reply to Douglas, 95, 96;

contrasts Douglas and Lincoln, 96.

Benton, Thomas H., Senator, 126.

Bigelow, Israel B., quoted, 217.

Bigelow, John, his Diary quoted, 403 _n._

Bingham, John A., Congressman, opposes Civil Rights bill, 271, 272,

281;

on Reconstruction Committee, 281;

proposes amendment to Constitution, 282;

amends Georgia bill, 298, 299; 196, 304, 309, 339, 424.

Bird, Frank W., quoted, on Cincinnati nominations, 385 _n._; 387.

Birney, James G., 37, 40.

Bishop, Mr., killed in Alton riot, 9.

Bissell, W. H., Governor, quoted, 10, 69, 70, 74, 88, 427.

Black, Jere. S., counsel for McCardle, 327.

Blaine, James G., interview of, with author, on revenue reform, 354.

Blair, Austin, Congressman, 397, 398.

Blair, F. P., General, Democratic candidate for Vice-President (1868),

333;

and the Cincinnati convention, 385 and _n._; 37, 120, 382.

Blair, Gist, quoted, 220 _n._

Blair, Montgomery, quoted, on Cameron's appointment, 151;

on Cameron's emancipation hobby, 172 _n._;

his resignation as Postmaster General and Fremont's withdrawal, 220

and _n._;

on reconstruction, 293; 83, 112, 157, 234, 307 _n._

Blatchford, Samuel J., Justice, 275.

Blodgett, Henry W., 419.

Blow, Henry T., 281.

Bonifant, U. S. Marshal, 195.

Booth, J. Wilkes, 289.

Border Ruffians. _See_ Missourians in Kansas.

Borders, Sarah, 28, 29.

Borie, Adolph, appointed Secretary of Navy, 337;

resigns, 337.

Boston _Advertiser_, 300.

Botts, John Minor, his _Great Rebellion_ quoted on Lincoln's offer to

evacuate Sumter, 159, 160;

denies Baldwin's story, 160, 161.

Boutwell, George S., Congressman, appointed Secretary of Treasury,

336, 337;

and the Leet and Stocking scandal, 364, 365; 281, 291, 304, 309,

339.

Bowles, Samuel, 86, 353, 387.

Bradley, Joseph P., Justice, 275, 276, 409.

Brainard, Daniel, 80.

Brayman, Mason, 13.

Breckinridge, John C., elected Vice-President (1856), 70;

nominated for President (1860), by seceding delegates, 96.

Brinkerhoff, R., 353.

Brooks, Preston S., Congressman, his assault on Sumner, 65.

"Brother Jonathan," 2 _n._

Brown, Albert G., Senator, 63.

Brown, B. Gratz, elected governor of Mo. as a liberal, 352;

candidate for Liberal Republican nomination, 377, 378;

arrives at Cincinnati, 382;

withdraws in favor of Greeley, 383;

nominated for Vice-President, 384;

divers views of his course, 384, 385 and _n._;

nominated by Democrats, 394; 220, 285, 389, 402.

Brown, George T., 80.

Brown, John, his raid on Harper's Ferry, 96-100;

author's impression of, 97;

his own view of his mission, 97, 98;

T. on moral and legal aspects of the raid, 98, 99; 53.

Brown, Joseph, 375.

Brown, William G., quoted, xxxiv.

Brown, W. H., 87.

Browning, Orville H., Secretary of Interior, his views on question of

territorializing states, 291; 92, 194, 197, 285, 307.

Brownlow, W. G., reconstruction governor of Tenn., 237.

Bryan, Silas L., 375.

Bryan, William J., student in T.'s office, 407;

author's meeting with (1893), 413.

Bryant, John H., quoted, 67 and _n._; 375.

Bryant, William Cullen, refuses to support Greeley, 385;

correspondence with T. thereon, 386, 387; 139, 140, 141, 145, 287,

353, 375, 391.

Buchanan, James, elected President, 70;

appoints Walker Governor of Kansas, 71;

and the Lecompton Constitution, 73;

his message to Congress on Topeka and Lecompton constitutions,

answered by T., 76, 77, and by Douglas, 77;

said to favor rejection of pro-slavery clause, 78;

recommends admission of Kansas under Lecompton Constitution, 81;

his message thereon discussed by T., 81, 82;

Chief Justice Caton on his attitude toward Lecomptonism, 84, 85;

and Justice McLean, 122, 123 and _n._;

policy of his government toward secessionists, 127, 128;

takes sides for the Union under pressure, 128; 74, 75, 113.

Buchanan Democrats in Ill., adopt name of National Democracy, 89;

Lincoln quoted concerning, 90;

their small poll, 91;

their poll in 1860 even smaller, 96.

Buckalew, Charles R., Senator, 285, 329.

Buckingham, William A., Senator, 366.

Bull Run, first battle of, described by T. in letters to Mrs. T.,

165-167.

Bullock, Rufus P., reconstruction governor of Georgia, 297, 298,

299, 300.

Burchard, Horatio C., Congressman, 354.

Burke, Edmund, 358.

Burlingame, Anson, 86, 88.

Burnside, Ambrose E., General, orders arrest of Vallandigham, 204;

his proceedings against the Chicago _Times_, 206-209;

his order revoked by Lincoln, 208;

defeated at Fredericksburg, 211.

Butler, Benjamin F., Congressman, reports Georgia bill, 298;

author of 10th article of impeachment, 311; 304, 309, 359, 362.

Butler, Fanny Kemble, xxxiv.

Butler, William, quoted, 148; 149, 151.

Cabinet, Pres. Johnson's, discussion of Tenure-of-Office bill by,

302, 303;

unanimous in advising veto, 303, 311.

Cabinet officers, and the Tenure-of-Office Act, 301, 302.

Cadwalader, George, 195.

Calhoun, John, and the Lecompton Constitution, 73; 18, 75, 84.

Calhoun, John C., Senator, and the doctrine of Nullification, xxv and

_n._, xxvii; 4.

Cameron, Simon, history of his inclusion in Lincoln's Cabinet, 142

_ff._;

visits Lincoln at Springfield, 144;

Lincoln promises portfolio to, 144, 429;

urgent opposition to, from McClure, T., and others, 144, 145, 146,

147 _ff._;

and Fremont, 172;

his report in favor of freeing and arming slaves suppressed by

Lincoln, 172 and _n._;

and the War Department frauds, 178 _ff._;

and T. A. Scott, 184, 185;

Nicolay and Hay on causes of his leaving Cabinet, 185, 186;

made Minister to Russia, 186;

McClure on his dismissal, 186, 187;

censured by House in Cummings affair, 186;

his confirmation as Minister to Russia opposed by T. and others,

187, 188,

but favored by Sumner, 188;

his statement to Hamlin, 188;

vote on Confirmation of, 189;

how he repaid Sumner, 189; 108, 343, 371.

Carlile, John S., Senator, opposes habeas corpus suspension act, 199.

Carlin, Thomas, 11.

Carpenter, Matthew H., Senator, counsel in McCardle case, 327, 329;

300, 358;

report on Louisiana election, 405;

speech before Electoral Commission, 411.

Carpetbaggers, and the San Domingo treaty, 350; 241.

Cass, Lewis, Senator, his Nicholson letter on squatter sovereignty,

94; 48, 63, 125.

Castle Pinckney, 129.

Catiline, steamer, 179, 180, 181, 182.

Caton, John D., quoted, on Buchanan's attitude toward Lecomptonism,

84, 85; 20.

Caulfield, B. G., 208.

Cavalry, fraudulent contracts for purchase of horses for, 182, 183.

_Century Magazine_, cited, 245 _n._, 307 _n._, 321 _n._

Chandler, Zachariah, Senator, and T.'s connection with the McCardle

case, 331, 332; 150, 166, 233, 355, 363, 371.

Channing, William Ellery, xxxii.

Charleston Convention of 1860, 107.

Chase, Salmon P., Chief Justice, quoted, 67;

and Cameron's dismissal, 186;

presides at impeachment trial, 309;

on the 11th article, 311;

his ruling on evidence of Johnson's intent to make a case for the

Supreme Court, overruled by the Senate, 313;

vote for, in Cincinnati convention (1872), 383;

T's estimate of, as Secretary of Treasury, 429, 430; 79, 102, 103,

107, 145, 147, 148, 150, 151, 170, 234, 240, 274, 289, 320, 372.

Cheever, Rev. George B., 220.

Cherokee Tract, the, 5.

Chesnut, James, 99.

Chicago, rioting at, in Pullman strike, 414;

troops ordered to, 414;

meeting at, addressed by T., 414, 415.

Chicago _Advance_, T.'s article in, on restriction of suffrage, 294.

Chicago Bar Association, and T.'s death, 418, 419.

Chicago _Evening Journal_, quoted, on T.'s speech on Chicago Times

matter, 208; 93.

Chicago _Times_, publication of, forbidden by Burnside, 206-209;

meeting of protest against the order, 207;

the order revoked by Lincoln, 208; 415, 424, 425.

Chicago _Tribune_, quoted, on the duty of Senators in impeachment

trial, 315, 316; 372, 389, 390.

Cincinnati, Liberal Republican Convention at (1872), 374 _ff._;

how composed, 379, 380;

difficulties of, on tariff question, result in compromise, 381, 382;

Greeley nominated for President by, 383, 384.

Cincinnati _Commercial_, 372.

Citizens of U. S., definition of, in 14th Amendment, 283.

Civil Rights bill, introduced by T., 257;

T.'s proposed amendment to, debated in Senate, 265 _ff._;

passes Senate, 271, and House, 272;

vetoed by Johnson, 272;

passed over veto, 272, 273;

held constitutional by Circuit Court of U. S., 274;

in Supreme Court, 275 _ff._;

Bingham's objections to, 281;

relation of 14th Amendment to, 282, 283;

T.'s course on, 424, 425.

Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S., 275, 276.

Civil service, demoralization of, under Grant, 341, 342.

Civil-service reform, T. on, 359, 376.

Civil War, the, could not have been averted, xxi, xxii.

Clark, Daniel, Senator, 262, 264.

Clay, Clement C., Senator, his farewell speech in Senate, 121; 100.

Clay, Henry, xxvi, xxxi, 27, 39, 125.

Clayton, John M., 63 _n._

Cleveland, Grover, orders troops to Chicago, 414; 413.

Clifford, Nathan, Justice Sup. Court, 289, 409.

Clingman, Thomas L., Senator, 419.

Cochrane, John, General, nominated for Vice-President by anti-Lincoln

Republicans (1864), 219, 220.

Cole, Cornelius, Senator, 314.

Coles, Edward, and the "Anti-convention"

Contest in Ill., 27, 28.

Colfax, Schuyler, elected Vice-President (1872), 333;

and Grant, 393, 394;

and the Credit-Mobilier, 402; 80, 331, 359.

Collamer, Jacob, Senator, speech of, on Kansas affairs, 65;

attacks T.'s Confiscation bill, 173, 174; 55, 102, 198.

Collins, James H., 30.

Colonization Society, xxxi.

Compromise of 1860, xxi, 34, 124, 125.

Confederate States. _See_ States, seceding.

Confiscation bill, concerning slaves only, introduced by T., and

passed by Congress, 168.

Confiscation bill (II), introduced by T. (Dec. 1861), 173, 176;

debated all the session, 173 _ff._;

report of Conference committee on, adopted, 175;

Lincoln proposes to veto, 175;

passage of joint resolution interpreting, 175;

the first step toward full emancipation, 176;

trifling proceeds of confiscation under, 176;

controversy over enforcement of, 176, 177.

Congress, adopts Missouri Compromise, xxx;

passes Kansas-Nebraska bill, 37;

Pres. Pierce's special message to, on Kansas affairs, 55;

Pres. Buchanan's first message to, 76;

Buchanan recommends admission of Kansas to, 81;

passes first Confiscation bill, 168;

debate on second Confiscation bill in, 173 _ff._;

Pres. Johnson's first message to, 244, 245;

power of, to pass laws for ordinary administration of justice in

states, 258-260, 265 _ff._;

attacked by Johnson, 286;

radicals in, and the Milligan case, 289, 290;

makes general of the army virtually independent of the President,

291;

measures of reconstruction passed by, over vetoes, 291-295;

and impeachment of Johnson, 303 _ff._;

intensity of contest in, 312;

and the McCardle case, 328-330;

passes Act of March 27, 1868, over veto, 330;

and the 15th Amendment, 338-340;

Pres. Grant's message to, on Ku-Klux-Klans, 356;

and the Amnesty bill, 359, 360;

and the Credit-Mobilier, 402.

_And see_ House of Representatives, Reconstruction, Committee on, and

Senate.

Congress of the Confederation, and Jefferson's ordinance concerning

slavery (1784), xxviii, xxix;

passes Ordinance of 1787, 24, 25, 29.

_Congressional Globe_ of 1860-61, 114.

Conkling, Roscoe, Senator, 281, 331, 339, 355, 362, 363.

Connecticut, opposed to nomination of Seward, 103.

Constitution of U. S., obstacles to ratification of, xxii and _n._;

its "educational work," xxvi, xxvii;

and the power to free slaves, 222, 223;

projects of amending, in that regard, 223;

the James F. Wilson resolution, 223;

the Henderson resolution, 223,

reported by T. in amended form, 224.

_Amendment_ XIII, reported by T. in Senate, 224;

his speech thereon, 224-226;

favored by Henderson and R. Johnson, 227;

adopted by both branches, 228;

scene in House described by Julian, 228 and _n._;

ratified by States, 229, 252;

Seward's interpretation of, 229;

discussed in connection with Freedmen's Bureau bill, 258, 260;

and the Civil Rights bill, 267, 269, 270;

construed by Supreme Court in U.S. v. Harris, 275, 358,

and in Civil Rights Cases, 276, 277;

T.'s connection with, 422.

_Amendment_ XIV, construed by Supreme Court in U.S. v. Harris, 275,

358,

and in Civil Rights Cases, 276;

prepared and reported by Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 282,

283;

provisions of, 283;

passes both houses, 283;

history of framing of, 284 _n._;

Southern States refuse to ratify, and why, 287;

and the power of Congress to enforce ordinary civil law in the

states, 356, 357, 358.

_Amendment_ XV, construed by Supreme Court in U.S. _v._ Harris, 276,

358;

history of, 338-340;

passed by Congress, 339;

text of, 340;

ratified by States, 340.

"Convention party," the, attempts to amend Illinois constitution to

legalize slavery, 25, 26; defeat of, 27.

Cook, Burton C., 41, 43, 45, 46 _n._, 93.

Cook, Daniel P., in the "anti-convention" contest, 27, 28;

Cook County, Ill., named for, 27.

Cooper Union, Liberal Republican meeting at, 376, 377.

Copperheadism, Vallandigham the incarnation of, 203.

Corbett, Henry W., Senator, 314.

Corning, Erastus, 205.

Corwin, Thomas, Congressman, 112, 117.

Cotton-gin, results of invention of, xxxii.

Cowan, Edgar, Senator, attacks T.'s Confiscation bill, 173;

his great speech in favor of _habeas corpus_ suspension act, 201;

on Civil Rights bill, 269, 271, 272; 146, 261, 262, 285, 286, 323.

Cox, Jacob D., appointed Secretary of Interior, 337, 338;

why he resigned, 349, 350; 353, 373.

Credit-Mobilier scandal, the, 401, 402.

Cresswell, John A. J., appointed Postmaster General, 337.

Crittenden, John J., Senator, his compromise measure, debated and

rejected by Senate, 115-117; 48, 60, 66.

Crittenden Compromise, debated, 115, 116;

T's speech against, 115, 123-138;

rejected by Senate, 117;

letters to T. from Illinoisans concerning, 117-119.

Cullom, Shelby M., Senator, quoted, 293;

defeats T. for governor of Ill., 412.

Cummings, Alexander, one of Cameron's agents, 143, 178;

the leading figure in War Dep't scandal, 178 _ff._;

a candidate for office under Johnson, 181 _n._

Curry, J. L. M., letter of, to Doolittle, as to Southern views, 255,

256.

Curtin, Andrew G., Governor, vote for in Cincinnati Convention, 383;

106, 144, 374, 377, 378.

Curtis, Benjamin R., of counsel for Pres. Johnson, 309.

Curtis, George W., 338, 368.

Curtis Commission on Civil Service Reform, 376.

Dabney, Rev. R. L., his account of the Lincoln-Baldwin Interview, 161,

162.

"Danites." _See_ Buchanan Democrats.

Darrow, Clarence S., quoted, on T.'s "socialistic trend," 425, 426;

414.

Davidson, G. C., 179, 180.

Davis, David, and Cameron's appointment, 142 _ff._;

bargains with delegates from Penn. and Ind., 142, 429;

his influence with Lincoln, 143 and _n._;

opinion of, in Milligan case, 289;

candidate for Liberal Republican nomination at Cincinnati, 377, 378;

his candidacy objected to by editors, 380, 381;

and the Electoral Commission (1877), 409; 178, 384.

Davis, Garrett, Senator, on Civil Rights bill, 270; 161, 234.

Davis, Henry Winter, Congressman, opposes Lincoln's reelection, 220.

Davis, Jefferson, and "Squatter Sovereignty," 94, 95;

his resolutions aimed at Douglas's nomination, 95;

not a hothead, 110;

his speech of Jan. 10, 1861, 110;

his last speeches in Senate, 114, 115;

his farewell speech, 121;

his Rise and _Fall of the Confederate States_, 123 _n._; 83.

Dawes, Henry L., Congressman, on purchases of cavalry horses, 182,

183;

on corruption in government service, 184;

replies to Cameron's statement to Hamlin, 188, 189; 304, 354.

Dayton, William L., Senator, 69, 142.

Debs, Eugene V., and the Pullman strike, 413-415;

T. counsel for, 414, 415.

Delahay, M. W., opposition to his appointment as district judge, 213,

214;

appointed, impeached, and resigns, 214; 100, 101 and _n._

Dement, Isaac T., on affairs in Kansas, 53.

Democratic National Convention at Baltimore (1860), nominates Douglas,

96;

Southern delegates secede from, 96; 107;

(1872) adopts platform and candidate of Liberal Republicans, 394.

Democratic party, in North, split by Kansas-Nebraska bill, 37.

Democrats, condemn suspension of habeas corpus and arbitrary arrests,

194, 197;

in Senate, oppose habeas corpus suspension bill, 198, 199,

and filibuster against it, 200-203;

in North, protest against Vallandigham's trial and sentence, 205;

in Congress, oppose 13th Amendment, 228,

but not unanimously, 228 _n._;

union of, with Liberal Republicans, suggested by M. D. Sands, 353;

sympathy of, with that movement, 372 _ff._, 379;

dissentient (in 1872), nominate O'Conor and Adams, 394.

Denver, John A., appointed Governor of Kansas, 73.

Develin, John E., 179.

Dexter, Wirt, 208.

Dickens, Charles, describes Belleville, Ill., in _American Notes_, 14,

15.

Disfranchisement, chief cause of bad conditions in South, 356.

Dixon, Archibald, Senator, and repeal of Missouri Compromise, 34; 49.

Dixon, James, Senator, opposes inquiry as to arbitrary arrests, 192,

193;

his vote

against Impeachment, 323; 247, 261, 264, 265, 285, 313.

Dodge, Augustus C., Senator, 35.

Dodge, Grenville M., General, 227, 334 _n._, 394.

Dodge, William E., 365.

Doolittle, James R., Senator, on Tenure-of-Office bill, 303;

his vote against impeachment, 323;

his resignation demanded, 323; 150, 194, 220, 233, 247, 261, 273

_n._, 285, 313, 329, 419, 423.

Dougherty, John, 18, 89, 90.

Douglas, Robert M., 32 _n._

Douglas, Stephen A., appointed to Ill. Supreme Court, 10;

elected U. S. Senator, 19;

his early career, 32 and _n._, 33;

his position in the Democratic party, 33;

his personal appearance, 33;

his talents and character, 33;

reports Nebraska bill, 33;

accepts Dixon Amendment repealing Missouri Compromise, 34;

offers amendment dividing the territory, 34;

his reasons, 35,

and why not convincing, 35, 36;

not a pro-slavery man, 36;

his reasons for repealing Missouri Compromise, 36, 37;

Lincoln's reply to his Springfield speech (1854), 39, 40 and _n._;

and the senatorial election of 1854, 46 _n._;

his report on affairs in Kansas, 55;

attached by T., 56;

his sophistry, 57, 58, 62;

his debate with T., 59 _ff._;

declares T. not a Democrat, 60, 66;

further debate with T. on Kansas, 63 _ff._;

T. a match for, in debate, 65, 66;

denounces Cabinet conspiracy regarding referendum on Lecompton

Constitution, 72, 73;

his motion for that action, 74, 75;

his anti-Lecompton speech, 77, 78;

for the first time, opposes wishes of South, 77;

was he sincere? 77, 78;

his lack of principle, 78;

contemplates alliance with Republicans, 78-80;

opposes English bill for admission of Kansas, 84;

his attitude toward slavery, 78, 86;

his aid indispensable in defeating Lecompton bill, 86;

appeals to imagination of Eastern Republicans, 86;

distrusted by Republicans of Ill., 86-88, 91, 92;

his instability, 88;

his campaign for reelection in 1858, 89 _ff._;

his health impaired, 89;

reaffirms doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty, 94;

answered by J. Davis, 95;

his speech of May 15, 1860, 95;

answered by Benjamin, 95, 96;

nominated for President at Charleston, and by one faction at

Baltimore, 96;

favors Crittenden Compromise, 116;

his views on causes of disunion, 116, 117;

his last days devoted to the Union, 152, 153;

speaks to Ill. legislature, 153;

his influence alone saves Southern Ill., 153;

his death, 153;

T.'s eulogy of, 153, 154;

G. Welles's account of his attitude in 1861,

and his interview with Seward, 163, 164; 42, 47, 49, 76, 85, 100,

104, 107, 108, 169, 427.

Douglass, Frederick, 236, 237.

Drake, Charles D., Senator, 296, 298, 352.

Dred Scott case, opinion of Supreme Court, criticized by T., 82; 64.

Drummond, Thomas, Justice, enjoins executor of Burnside's order

against Chicago _Times_, 206;

his order disregarded, 207; 10, 208, 427.

Dubois, Jesse K., quoted, 79, 87, 216, 217; 213, 375.

Duncan, Joseph, Governor, 11.

Dunning, William A., his _Reconstruction_, quoted, 274, 321 _n._; 244.

Durell, Edward H., Justice, and the contested election in Louisiana,

404.

Durkee, Charles, Senator, 150.

Dyer, Thomas, 91.

Eaton, Major, 178.

Edmunds, George F., Senator, 339, 346, 358, 363.

Edwards, Ninian, Governor, 11, 45.

Electoral Commission (1877), composition of, 409;

decision of, 410, 411;

its purpose, "not to do justice between man and man, but to save the

Republic," 411.

Eliot, Thomas D., 172.

Ellsworth, Oliver, xxii _n._

Emancipation, Seward on actual date of, 222;

doubt regarding President's power in relation to, 222, 223.

_And see_ Slavery, Slaves.

Emancipation movement, history of, xxviii.

Emancipation Proclamation, issued, 200;

distasteful to Democrats, 200;

force and extent of, 222;

doubt as to its legal effect, 229, 230.

Embargo, the, xxiv.

Emerson, Dr., Dred Scott's master, 82.

Emigrant Aid Co. (Worcester), 50, 59 _n._

Emigrant Aid societies, 59 _n._

Emory, William H., General. 9th article of impeachment based on

alleged conversation of Johnson with, 310.

England, mission to, offered to T., 347, 348,

and declined, 348;

T.'s speech on claims against, 348, 349;

and demands surrender of Mason and Slidell, 349 and _n._

English, William H., Congressman, his bill for admission of Kansas,

passed by Congress, 83, 84,

but rejected by people, 84.

Equal Rights Act (1875) held unconstitutional by Supreme Court, 275.

Europe, and Lincoln's death, 231.

Evarts, William M., of counsel for Pres. Johnson, 309.

Farragut, David G., Admiral, 221.

Federalist party, xxiii.

Fenton, Reuben E., 386, 390.

Fessenden, William P., Senator, Chairman of Reconstruction Committee,

281, 282;

opposes conviction of Johnson, 313;

abused by radicals, 313;

"read out" of Republican party, 324;

called upon to resist Greenback heresy in Maine, 324;

his death and character, 324;

T's eulogy of, 324, 325; 82, 83, 89, 102, 168, 194, 202, 287, 292,

316, 317, 335.

Field, Alexander P., 11.

Field, D. D., 147.

Field, Stephen J., Justice, 275, 289, 409.

Fillmore, Millard, candidate for Pres., in 1856, 70; 92, 108.

Finkelnburg, Gustavus A., Congressman, 354.

Fish, Hamilton, appointed Secretary of State, 335;

letter of, to T., offering English mission, 347, 348; 362.

Flack, Horace E., history of the 14th Amendment, 284 _n._

Florida, and the 13th Amendment, 229;

order for reconstruction of, 238;

disputed returns from (1876), 408 _ff._

Flournoy, Charles G., 212.

Floyd, John B., Secretary of War, resigns, 128; 130.

Fogg, George G., 144, 146.

Foot, Solomon, Senator, 168, 261, 263.

Ford, Thomas, historian of Ill., quoted, 11;

as governor, requests T.'s resignation as Secretary of State, 12 and

_n._, 13; 18.

Foreign Relations, Senate Committee on, reorganization of, to punish

Sumner, 343-347.

"Forever," meaning of, in Missouri Compromise Act, 62, 63 _n._

Forney, John W., 300, 342.

Forsyth, John, Senator, xxvii, 156.

Foster, Lafayette S., Senator, 189, 273.

Fouke, Philip B., 38.

Fowler, Joseph S., Senator, 285, 314, 316, 317.

Free-silver, T. a believer in, 413.

Free Soilers, in 1854, 40;

nucleus of the Republican party, 41.

Free State men, in minority in Kansas in 1855, 49, 51;

convention of, 55;

refuse to take part in election of constitutional convention, 71,

72;

elect majority of territorial legislature, 72.

Free trade, meaning of, in 1871, 355.

Freedmen's Bureau, powers of, 257, 258.

Freedmen's Bureau bill, introduced by T., 257;

provisions of, 257, 258;

vetoed by Johnson, 260, 261;

fails to pass Senate over veto, 261;

T.'s course on, 423.

Freeport, Ill., joint debate between Lincoln and Douglas at, 94 _n._,

96.

Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., Senator, 314, 316, 347 _n._

Fremont, John C, Republican nominee for Pres., 69;

his defeat fortunate for the country, 70;

candidate for nomination in 1860, 103;

his order emancipating slaves revoked by Lincoln, 169, 170, 171;

nominated for Pres. by Anti-Lincoln Republicans (1864), 219, 220;

withdrawn, 220;

connection between his withdrawal and Mr. Blair's retirement, 220

and _n._; 141, 194.