Part 12 (1/2)

Now, we had in our delegation a gentleman who was accustomed to imbibe somewhat freely on occasions like that. He had pushed himself to the front, and, when the door opened for us, in he rushed shouting: ”Mr.

President! Mr. President! Mr. President! we have found that old sow and pigs for you!”

The President, who was standing on the opposite side of the room, looked somewhat startled at first; but as he evidently recalled the ill.u.s.tration he had given to us, and which was being returned to him, a broad grin went over his face, although nothing further was said about the swine. But the incident was disastrous to our business. We were relying on a prominent St. Louis lawyer, who was with us, to present our case in a calm and impressive way; but he, taking offense at being so unceremoniously forestalled, kept his intended speech to himself. His dignity was hurt, and he had nothing to say. In fact, he walked away and left us. The result was that our claims were rather lamely presented, except by the first speaker, and we left the official presence not a little chagrined and with no favorable a.s.surance having been obtained.

By all recognized party rules, when the nominating convention had given the Missouri Radicals the stamp of regularity, the President was bound to prefer them in the bestowal of patronage. He did nothing of the kind. At his death, practically all of the offices in Missouri that were under his control were held by Claybanks. These men became enthusiastic supporters of Andrew Johnson, and, at the end of his term, to a man went over to the Democratic party, of which their leader, General Blair, was soon made, on the ticket with Horatio Seymour, the Vice-Presidential candidate. At Lincoln's death, the Claybanks, as an organization, went out of business.

Very different was the treatment the Charcoals received at the hands of General Grant when he became President. He made the leader of the anti-Scofield delegation to Was.h.i.+ngton Chief Justice of the Court of Claims. He made two or three other leading Missouri Radicals foreign ministers and officially remembered many of the rest of them. He had been a Missourian, and it was well known that he was in sympathy with the Radicals in their fight with Lincoln.

Although the Missouri Radicals did not favor Mr. Lincoln's candidature, with the exception of a few supporters of Fremont, they gave him their loyal support at the polls, and through this a large majority in the State. They acted towards him much more cordially than he ever acted toward them.

That Mr. Lincoln, in antagonizing the Missouri Free Soilers, acted otherwise than from the most conscientious impulses the writer does not for a moment believe. He opposed them because he disapproved of their views and policy. He said so most distinctly on one occasion.

Certain German societies of St. Louis, having adopted a set of resolutions, entrusted them to James Taussig, a leading lawyer of that city, to present to the President in person. Mr. Taussig's report of the results of a two hours' interview can be found in several of Mr.

Lincoln's biographies. One pa.s.sage from the report is here given because it clearly shows Mr. Lincoln's att.i.tude toward the Missouri problem.

”The President,” says Mr. Taussig, ”said that the Union men in Missouri who are in favor of gradual emanc.i.p.ation, represented his views better than those who are in favor of immediate emanc.i.p.ation. In explanation of his views on this subject the President said that in his speeches he had frequently used as an ill.u.s.tration the case of a man who had an excrescence on the back of his neck, the removal of which in one operation would result in the death of the patient, while tinkering it off by degrees would preserve life.”

”Although sorely tempted,” continues Mr. Taussig, ”I did not reply with the ill.u.s.tration of the dog whose tail was amputated by inches, but confined myself to arguments. The President announced clearly that, so far as he was at present advised, the Radicals in Missouri had no right to consider themselves the representatives of his views on the subject of emanc.i.p.ation in that State.”

The foregoing interview, it is well enough to state, was long after the issuance of Mr. Lincoln's Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation.

In addition to carrying the State for Mr. Lincoln, the Missouri Radicals carried it for themselves. They elected a const.i.tutional convention that promptly pa.s.sed an unconditional freedom ordinance.

And thus terminated what is certainly one of the most notable contests in our political history, bringing about, as it did, the triumph of a reform of unquestionable value to civilization and humanity, which was accomplished by men working without patronage or other outside help, with no pecuniary interest at stake, and no incentive beyond the principle involved.

CHAPTER XXI

MISSOURI--_Continued_

Here follows an extract from the published proceedings of the National Republican Convention of 1864, in which Mr. Lincoln was renominated.

”When that State [Missouri] was called, Mr. J.F. Hume addressed the convention as follows:

”'It is a matter of great regret that we differ from the majority of the convention that has been so kind to the Radicals of Missouri, but we came here instructed. We represent those who are behind us at home, and we recognize the right of instruction and intend to obey our instruction; but, in doing so, we declare emphatically that we are with the Union party of the nation, and we intend to fight the battle through to the end with it, and a.s.sist in carrying it to victory. We will support your nominees be they whom they may. I will read the resolution adopted by the convention that sent us here.'”

[Here resolution of instruction was read.]

”'Mr. President, in the spirit of that resolution I cast the twenty-two votes of Missouri for them an who stands at the head of the fighting Radicals of the nation--General U.S. Grant.'”

The contention between the Missouri Radical and Conservative delegations was thrashed out before the committee on delegates, at an evening session. Judge Samuel M. Breckenridge, of St. Louis, sustained the cause of the Conservatives in a very ingenious argument, while the writer spoke for the Radicals. The result was very satisfactory to the latter, being, with the exception of one vote for compromise, a unanimous decision in their favor. That decision was sustained by the convention in its next day's session by a vote of four hundred and forty to four.

Antic.i.p.ating that the subject would be discussed on the floor of the convention,--which was not the case, however,--I asked a very eloquent St. Louis lawyer to take my place as chairman of the Radical delegation and conduct the debate on the Radical side. He declined. I then went to three or four Congressmen who were members of the Radical delegation and made the same appeal to each one of them. All declined.

I suspected at the time that apprehension that a vote for anybody else would be hissed by Lincoln's friends, had something to do with their reticence. I had no such apprehension. I did not believe there was anybody in that convention who would dare to hiss the name of Grant.

If Grant had been a candidate before the convention he would have been nominated.

When, as chairman of my delegation, I p.r.o.nounced his name as Missouri's choice I remained on my feet for fully a minute while a dead silence prevailed. Meanwhile all eyes were turned upon me. Then came a clap from a single pair of hands, being the expression of a Missouri delegate. Others followed, both inside and outside of the delegation, increasing until there was quite a demonstration. When the clamor had subsided I made the next move according to the programme agreed upon, and the incident was closed.

And here it can do no harm to state that General Grant knew that he was to receive the vote of the Missouri Radicals if they were admitted to the convention--the newspapers having generally published the fact--and did not decline the intended compliment. Grant lived in Missouri for a considerable period, married there, and was on most friendly terms with the Radical leaders, many of whom he generously remembered when he got to be President. For their action in voting for Grant, the Missouri Radical delegates were sharply criticised at the time, on the alleged ground that they secured admission to the convention from Lincoln's supporters by concealing the fact--or at least not revealing it--that they intended to vote for somebody else.