Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2

G >> George S. Boutwell >> Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2

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I mention my own experience and in the belief that it was not
exceptional. From 1840 to 1850 I was the candidate of the Democratic
Party of Groton for representative of the town in the general court.
The party in the town met its moderate expenses by voluntary
contributions. I contributed with others, but never upon the ground
that I was a candidate. We paid our local expenses. We paid nothing
for expenses elsewhere, and we did not receive anything from outside
sources. In 1844-'46 and 1848 I was the candidate of the Democratic
Party for the National House of Representatives. I canvassed the
district at my own charge. I did not make any contribution to any one
for any purpose, and I did not receive financial aid from any source.
The subject was never mentioned to me or by me in conversation or
correspondence with any one. Again, I may say the subject was not
mentioned in my canvass for the office of Governor in the years 1849-
1850 and 1851.

In 1862 I became the candidate of the Republican Party for a seat in
Congress. After my nomination the District Committee asked me for a
contribution of one hundred dollars. I met their request. The request
was repeated and answered in 1864, 1866 and 1868. On one occasion I
received a return of forty-two dollars with a statement that the full
amount of my contribution had not been expended.

While General Butler was in the army, Mr. James Brooks, a member from
the city of New York, charged him, in an elaborate speech, with having
taken about fifty thousand dollars from a bank in New Orleans, and
appropriated the same to his own use. General Butler was then at
Willard's Hotel. That evening I called upon Butler, and said to him
that if he had any answer to the charge, I would reply the next day.
I had secured the floor through Mr. Stevens, who moved the adjournment
upon a private understanding that he would yield to me in case I
wished to reply. As Butler lived in my district and as I was ignorant
of the facts, I avoided taking the floor lest an expectation should be
created which I could not meet. However, I found Butler entirely
prepared for the contest. From his letter books he read to me the
correspondence with the Treasury Department, from which it appeared
that the money had been turned over to the department, for which
Butler had the proper receipts. The money had been seized upon the
ground that it was the property of the Confederacy and was in the bank
awaiting an opportunity to be transferred. The morning following, I
called upon Butler and obtained copies of the correspondence that had
been prepared the preceding night. I rode to the Capitol with Butler
and on the way we prepared the letters in chronological order. Having
obtained the floor through Mr. Stevens I made the answer which
consisted chiefly of the letters. It was so conclusive that the
subject was never again mentioned in the House of Representatives. On
that occasion Butler's habit of making and keeping a full record of his
doings served to release him from very serious charges, and so speedily
that the charges did not obtain a lodgment in the public mind.

Upon another occasion Brooks made an attack upon Secretary Chase and
charged various offences upon S. M. Clark, then the chief of the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Some of the charges were personal,
and some of them official. I called upon the Secretary at his house,
as I was on my way home from the Capitol, and gave him a statement of
the charges made by Brooks. He seemed ignorant of the whole matter,
and upon my suggestion that he should ask Clark for his explanation or
defence he hesitated, and then asked me to call upon Clark for his
answer. This I declined and there the matter ended. There never was
any reply to Brooks. In the end it may have been as well, for the
charges are forgotten, and they are not likely to be brought out of the
musty volumes of debates. Mr. Chase's lack of resolution gave me an
unfavorable impression of his ability for administrative affairs.

Samuel J. Randall first entered Congress in 1862. Mr. Randall's
resources were limited. He was not bred to any profession, and he was
not a man of learning in any direction. I cannot imagine that he had
a taste for study at any kind of investigation aside from politics.
By long experience he became familiar with parliamentary proceedings,
and from the same source he acquired a knowledge of the business of
the Government. He had one essential quality of leadership--a strong
will. Moreover, he was destitute, apparently, of moral perceptions in
public affairs. Not that he was corrupt, but as between the Government
and its citizens the demands of what is called justice seemed to have
no effect upon him. He did not hesitate to delay the payment of a just
claim in order that the appropriation might be kept within the limits
that he had fixed. This, not on the ground that the claim ought not be
paid, but for the reason that the payment at the time would disarrange
the balance sheet. A striking instance of his policy was exhibited in
his treatment of the land-owners whose lands were condemned and taken
for the reservoir at the end of Seventh Street, Washington, D. C. The
values were fixed by a commission and by juries under the law, and when
the time for an appropriation came, Mr. Randall provided for fifty per
cent. and carried the remainder over to the next year. The claimants
were entitled to full payment, but one half was withheld for twelve
months without interest and that while dead funds were lying in the
Treasury.

XXIX
INCIDENTS IN THE CIVIL WAR

THE PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION

When the Proclamation of Emancipation, of January 1, 1863, was issued,
the closing sentence attracted universal attention, and in every part
of the world encomiums were pronounced upon it. The words are these:
"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the
considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty
God." Following the appearance of the Proclamation, and stimulated,
possibly, by the reception given to the sentence quoted, there appeared
claimants for the verbal authorship of the passage, or for suggestions
which led to its writing by Mr. Lincoln.

A claim for exact authorship was set up for Mr. Chase, and claims for
suggestions in the nature of exact authorship were made in behalf of
Mr. Seward and in behalf of Mr. Sumner.

The sentence quoted was furnished by Mr. Chase, after a very material
alteration by the President. He introduced the words, _"warranted by
the Constitution upon military necessity,"_ in place of the phrase,
_"and of duty demanded by the circumstances of the country,"_ as
written by Mr. Chase.

The main credit for the introduction of the fortunate phrase is due to
Secretary Chase. President Lincoln placed the act upon a legal basis,
justifying it in law and in history. The sentence is what we might
have expected from the head and heart of the man who wrote the final
sentence of the first inaugural address: "The mystic chords of
memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every
living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet
swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will
be, by the better angels of our nature." Mr. Lincoln had genius for
the work of composition, and the poetic quality was strong and it was
often exhibited in his speeches and writings. The omission of the
sentence in question would so mar the Proclamation that it would cease
to represent Mr. Lincoln. Thus he became under great obligations to
Mr. Chase.

It was not in the nature of Mr. Lincoln to close a state paper, which
he could not but have realized was to take a place by the side of the
Declaration of Independence, with a bald statement that the freedmen
would be received "into the armed service of the United States to
garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service."

In the month of October, 1863, the ladies of Chicago made a request of
Mr. Lincoln for "the original" of his "proclamation of freedom," the
same to be disposed of "for the benefit of the soldiers." The letter
in their behalf was written by Mr. Arnold, who was then a member of
Congress. Improvidently, I think we may say, Mr. Lincoln yielded to
their request for the original draft of the Proclamation to be sold
for the benefit of the fair. Its transmission was accompanied by a
letter, written by Mr. Lincoln.

"EXECUTIVE MANSION,
"WASHINGTON,
"_October_ 26, 1863.

_"Ladies having in charge The North Western Fair for the Sanitary
Commission, Chicago, Ill._

"According to the request made in your behalf, the original draft of
the Emancipation Proclamation is herewith enclosed. The formal words
at the top and at the conclusion, except the signature, you perceive,
are not in my handwriting. They were written at the State Department,
by whom I know not. The printed part was cut from a copy of the
preliminary Proclamation and pasted on merely to save writing.

"I have some desire to retain the paper, but if it shall contribute
to the relief of the soldiers, that would be better.

"Your obt. servt.,
"A. LINCOLN."

In technical strictness the original Proclamation was of the archives
of the Department of State when the signature of the President and
Secretary of State had been affixed thereto, and its transfer by Mr.
Lincoln was an act not within his competency as President, or as the
author of the Proclamation.

This point, however, is wholly speculative, but the country and
posterity will be interested in the fate of the original of a document
which is as immortal as the Declaration of Independence. The
Proclamation was sold to the Honorable Thomas B. Bryan of Chicago for
the sum of three thousand dollars and it was then presented by him to
the Soldiers' Home of Chicago, of which he was then President. That
position he still retains. The document was deposited in the rooms of
the Chicago Historical Society, where it was destroyed in the great
fire of 1871.

Fortunately the managers of the fair had secured the preparation of
_fac simile_ copies of the Proclamation. These were sold in large
numbers, and thus many thousands of dollars were added to the receipts
of the fair.

The managers of the Soldiers' Home were offered twenty-five thousand
dollars for the original Proclamation.* The offer came from a
showman who expected to reimburse himself by the exhibition of the
paper.

The original now on the files of the State Department is not in the
handwriting of Mr. Lincoln and it has therefore no value derived from
Mr. Lincoln's personality.

When I entered upon this inquiry, which has resulted in the preparation
of this paper, I was ignorant of the fact that the original
Proclamation had been destroyed, and it was my purpose to secure its
return to the archives of the Department of State. That is now
impossible. Its destruction has given value to the _fac simile_
copies. Many thousands of them are in the possession of citizens of
the United States, and they will be preserved and transmitted as
souvenirs of the greatest act of the most illustrious American of this
century.

In the early autumn of 1864 a meeting was held in Faneuil Hall in
honor of the capture of Atlanta by the army under General Sherman, and
the battle in Mobile Bay under the lead of Admiral Farragut. Strange
as the fact may now appear, those historical events were not accepted
with satisfaction by all the citizens of Boston. The leading
Democratic papers gave that kind of advice that may be found, usually,
in the columns of hostile journals, when passing events are unfriendly,
or when there is an adverse trend of public opinion. Hard words should
not be used and nothing should be said of a partisan character. Such
was the advice, and a large body of men assembled who were opposed to
partisan speeches. They were known as the McClellan Club of the
North End of Boston and they were sufficient in numbers, when standing,
to fill the main floor in front of the rostrum, which at that time was
not provided with seats. The meeting was called by Republicans and it
was conducted under the auspices of Republicans. Governor Andrew was
to preside and Governor Everett, with others, had been invited to
speak. Governor Andrew was not blessed with a commanding voice and it
was drowned or smothered by the hisses, cheers and cat-call cries of
the hostile audience in front of him. The efforts of the sympathetic
audience in the galleries were of no avail. Mr. Everett's letter was
then read, but not a sentence of it was understood by any person in the
assembly. Next came Mr. Sennott, an Irishman, a layers, and a man of
large learning in knowledge and attainments not adapted to general use.
He had then but recently abandoned the Democratic Party, but there was
a stain upon his reputation, traceable to the fact that in the year
1859 he had volunteered to aid in the legal defence of John Brown at
Harper's Ferry. The city of Boston could not have offered a person
less acceptable to the crowd in front of the speaker. Mr. Sennott's
voice was weak and of the art of using what power he possessed he had
no knowledge. His speech was not heard by anyone in the assembly.
By the arrangement I was to follow Mr. Sennott. I had had some
experience with hostile audiences, and in the year 1862 I had been
interrupted in a country town of Massachusetts by stones thrown
through the windows of a hall in which I was speaking upon the war and
the administration.

As I sat upon the platform I studied my audience and I resolved upon my
course. I had one fixed resolution--I should get a hearing or I should
spend the night in the hall. Something of the character of my
reception and the results reached may be gained from the report of the
Boston _Journal_, and I copy the report without alteration, premising
however that some minutes passed before I secured a quiet hearing.

SPEECH ON THE CHICAGO RESOLUTION

_Fellow Citizens:_ It depends very much upon what we believe as to the
future of this country and the rights of the people, whether we rejoice
or mourn in consequence of the events in Mobile Bay and before Atlanta.
If it was true on the 30th day of last month that the people of this
country ought to take immediate efforts for the cessation of
hostilities, then, gentlemen, we have cause to mourn rather than to
rejoice. I understand that there were some people in this country,
who, before the 30th of August, since this was opened, had not, as an
aggregate body of men, expressed their opinions in reference to this
war, who then declared that it ought to cease. (A voice--"They're
few.") I observed in a newspaper published in this city two
observations within the last two days. One was that they were afraid
hard names would be used; and the other was that there was some
apprehension that this meeting to-night would have some political
aspect or influence. (Voices--"No! No!") I thought it likely
enough that it would (laughter and applause) because I observed in the
newspapers that it was called to express congratulations over the
events which had taken place in Mobile Bay and before Atlanta, and I
thought that I had observed that those events had rather a political
effect. (Renewed laughter.) Therefore I did not see exactly how it
was possible that men should assemble together to rejoice over events
having a political aspect without the meeting and the rejoicing having
a political aspect also. Well, now, gentlemen, I haven't come here
with any design that, so far as I am concerned, it shall have anything
but a political aspect. ("Good" and applause.) These times are too
serious for the acceptance of any suggestion that hard names are not
to be called if hard names are deserved. (Voices--"That is it!") The
question is not whether the meeting shall have a political influence,
but whether it is necessary to the salvation of the country that it
shall have a political influence. (Applause.) Well, gentlemen, I
observed while the person who last occupied the platform was speaking
certain indications, which I thought were a slight deviation from the
much talked-of right of free speech. (Laughter, and a voice--"Hit 'em
again.") Now, then, I am going to read a resolution adopted at
Chicago. I am going to make two propositions in reference to it. I am
then going to ask whether this assembly assents to or rejects those
propositions. If there is any man in this assembly who denies or
doubts those propositions, if I have the consent of the honored
chairman of this meeting to ten minutes of time in which I can engage
the ear of the assembly, I surrender it to that man, that he may have
the opportunity upon this platform to refute, if he can, the
propositions which I lay down. (Applause.) Now the second resolution
of this platform is in these words-

(At this point there was considerable disturbance in the rear of the
hall, created by one individual, and several voices cried out--"Free
speech!" "Out with him!")

Mr. Boutwell continued: He will be more useful to the country if he
remain here. If he goes away there is no chance for his conversion to
the truth: if he remain here he may be saved. (Laughter.) "The vilest
sinner may return, While the lamp holds out to burn." (Renewed laughter
and applause.) I hope gentlemen who favor free speech will listen
attentively to this resolution:

_"Resolved,_ That this convention does explicitly declare as the sense
of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore
the Union by the experiment of war, during which under pretence of
military necessity, or war power higher than the Constitution, the
Constitution has been disregarded in every part and public liberty and
private rights alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the
country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty and the public
welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of
hostilities with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States, or
other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable
moment peace may be restored on the basis of a Federal Union of the
States."

(The resolution was greeted with a feeble clapping of hands, a slight
attempt at cheers in the rear of the hall, and a storm of hisses. Mr.
Boutwell continued:)

If there are any gentlemen here who approve this resolution, I hope
they will have the opportunity to cheer. (About half a dozen persons
commenced to cheer, but abandoned it on hearing their own voices,
when a voice exclaiming "These are the Copperheads," caused loud
laughter. The speaker proceeded:)

Now then, gentlemen, the two propositions I lay down are there, and if
any one of those gentlemen who indulged in the luxury of a cheer just
now chooses to come upon this platform, I fulfill my pledge: The first
is that this resolution, so far as known, meets the approval of the
rebels in arms against this government. (Voices--"That's so," and
cheers.) The second is that this resolution meets the approval of all
the men in the North who sympathize with the cause of this rebellion
and desire its success. (Repeated cheers and "That's it.") Now, then,
if there is any one who would deny the truth of these propositions, let
him, with the leave of the chair, take ten minutes upon this platform.
(Some confusion ensued, several voices shouting "Make room for George
Lunt," "Where's Lunt?" etc., etc., etc. No one appearing, Mr. Boutwell
continued:) If there is nobody to refute these propositions, I take it
for granted that they meet the general assent of this vast assembly.
(cries of "Good" and cheers); and, if so, isn't this the time, when a
great convention professing to represent a portion of the American
people in time of war, not having spoken since hostilities commenced,
frame a leading resolution so as to meet the assent and approval of
the enemies of the Republic--isn't this the time, when such things are
done, for men who have a faith in the country and a belief in its right
to exist, to declare the reasons of that belief? (Voices--"Yes.") Now
I propose to discuss that resolution in some degree. First, it
proposes a cessation of hostilities. I have heard the word armistice
mentioned to-night. The declaration of that resolution is not for an
armistice. An armistice, according to its general acceptation and
use, implies a suspension of hostilities upon the expectation and
condition that they are to be resumed; and if hostilities are not to
be resumed then a cessation of hostilities is an abandonment of the
Government. It is treason. (Voices--"That's so," and loud and
continued cheers.) I declare here that the proposition for a
cessation of hostilities is moral and political treason (voices--
"Good"); and, further, every man who knowingly and after investigation,
and upon his judgment favors a cessation of hostilities, is a traitor.
(Loud cheers.) The issue, gentlemen, is no longer upon the tented
field. No danger there to the cause of the Union. The soldiers are
true to the flag and they will fight on and march on until the last
rebel has fallen to the dust or laid down his arms. The soldiers are
true, but the cause of the Union is in peril at home (voices--"That's
where it is"), where secret organizations are mustering their forces
and gathering in material of war for which there can be no possible use
except to revolutionize this country through the fearful experience of
civil war. (A voice--"Shame on them.") O how I long for some
knowledge of the English language so that I may select a word or a
phrase which shall fully express the enormity of this treason! (Voices
--"Hang them." "String them up.")

The rebels of the South have some cause. They believe in the
institution of slavery,--they have been educated under its influence.
They thought it in peril. They made war with some pretence on their
part for a reason for war, but what excuse, what palliation is there
for those men in the North, who, regardless of liberty, of justice, and
of humanity, ally themselves, openly some and secretly others, with the
enemies of the Republic? Spare, spare, your anathemas, gentlemen. Do
not longer employ the harsh language which you can command in
denunciation of Southern traitors. They of the North who give aid and
comfort to the enemy deserve to monopolize in the application all the
harsh words and phrases of the English language. (Applause.)
Cessation of hostilities--what follows? Dissolution of the Union
inevitably. Will not Jefferson Davis and his associates understand
that when we have ceased to make war, when our armies become
demoralized, public sentiment relaxed, when they have had opportunity
to gather up the materials for prosecuting this contest, that we
cannot renew the contest with any reasonable hope of success.
Therefore, if you abandon this contest now, it is separation--that is
what is meant, and nothing else can follow. But suppose that what
some gentlemen desire could be accomplished,--a reconstruction of the
Union by diplomatic relations inaugurated between this Government and
Jefferson Davis'--suppose the South should return--what follows? When
you have permitted Jefferson Davis and his associates to come back and
take their places in the government of this country, do you not see
that with the help of a small number of representatives from the North
whose services they are sure to command, they will assume the war debt
of the South. When you have assumed that debt, and taken the
obligation to pay it, these men of the South will treat the obligation
lightly, and upon the first pretext will renew secession and will
march straight out of the Union, and you, with your embarrassed
finance, will find yourselves unable to institute military proceedings
for their subjugation. Therefore I say that by the reconstruction
some men desire you render secession certain, bankruptcy throughout
the North certain. The repudiation of the Public Debt is not a matter
of expectation or fear, it is a matter of certainty, if you assent to
any reconstruction of this Union through the instrumentality of
Jefferson Davis and his associates. You must either drive them into
exile or exterminate them. Break down the military power of the
people, and exterminate or exile their leaders, and bring up men at
the South in favor of the Union--there is no other way of security to
yourselves. (Cheers.) Now, then, are you prepared to cease
hostilities with the expectation of negotiations with Jefferson Davis
for the dissolution of the Union or for its restoration? (Voices--
"No!") Either course is alike fatal to you, for the war must go on
until peace is conquered. (Loud cheers and voices--"That's so.") On
the one side they offer you as negotiators Franklin Pierce, perhaps,
and A. H. Stephens; on the other, possibly one of the Seymours, either
of Connecticut or New York, Wise of Virginia, Vallandingham of Ohio,
and Soule of Louisiana. The only negotiators, gentlemen, to be
trusted as long as the war continued or there is a rebel in arms--the
only negotiators are Grant upon one line and Sherman upon the other.
(Tremendous cheers.)

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