Chapter 29

[221]Edwin D. Morgan, 247,953; Amasa J. Parker, 230,513; Lorenzo Burrows, 60,880; Gerrit Smith, 5470.—Civil List, State of New York(1887), p. 166.

[222]"'Scripture Dick,' whom we used to consider the sorriest of slow jokers, has really brightened up."—New YorkTribune, March 17, 1859.

[223]Congressional Globe, 36th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 553-4 (January 23, 1860).

[224]James E. Cabot,Life of Emerson, p. 597.

[225]Samuel Longfellow,Life of Longfellow, Vol. 2, p. 347.

[226]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 441.

[227]Ibid., p. 442.

[228]New YorkTribune, February 28, 1860.

[229]Century Magazine, July, 1891, p. 373. An address of Greeley written in 1868.

[230]New YorkTribune, March 1, 1860.

[231]New YorkTribune, March 1, 1860.

[232]New YorkTimes, March 2, 1860.

[233]Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 260.

[234]New YorkTribune, March 22, 1860.

[235]The Liberator, March 9, 1860.

[236]New YorkTribune, March 2, 1860.

[237]"The Fernando Wood movement was utterly overthrown in the preliminary stages. Several scenes in the fight were highly entertaining. Mr. Fisher of Virginia was picked out to make the onslaught, when John Cochrane of New York, who is the brains of the Cagger-Cassidy delegation, shut him off with a point of order."—M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 20.

[238]"Many of New York's delegates were eminent men of business, anxious for peace; others were adroit politicians, adept at a trade and eager to hold the party together by any means."—James F. Rhodes,History of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 474.

[239]"Though destitute of all literary furnishment, Richmond carried on his broad shoulders one of the clearest heads in the ranks of the Barnburners."—H.B. Stanton,Random Recollections, p. 183.

[240]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 20.

[241]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 48.

[242]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 50.

[243]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 66.

[244]Ibid., p. 68.

[245]"There was a Fourth of July feeling in Charleston that night—a jubilee. The public sentiment was overwhelmingly and enthusiastically in favour of the seceders. The Douglas men looked badly, as though they had been troubled with bad dreams. The disruption is too serious for them. They find themselves in the position of a semi-Free Soil sectional party, and the poor fellows take it hard. The ultra South sectionalists accuse them of cleaving unto heresies as bad as Sewardism."—M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 76.

[246]"Dickinson has ten votes in the New York delegation and no more."—New YorkTribune'sreport from Charleston, April 24, 1860.

[247]"The drill of the New York delegation and its united vote created a murmur of applause at its steady and commanding front."—New YorkTribune, June 19, 1860.

[248]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 85.

[249]"After the vote of New York had decided that it was impossible to nominate Douglas, it proceeded, the roll of States being called, to vote for him as demurely as if it meant it."—M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 84.

[250]James F. Rhodes,History of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 453.

[251]Ibid., p. 455.

[252]Ibid., p. 453.

[253]James F. Rhodes,History of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 455.

[254]Ibid., p. 456.

[255]New YorkTribune, June 2, 1860.

[256]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 137.

[257]"Mr. Seward seemed to be certain of receiving the nomination at Chicago. He felt that it belonged to him. His flatterers had encouraged him in the error that he was the sole creator of the Republican party."—H.B. Stanton,Random Recollections, p. 214. "I hear of so many fickle and timid friends as almost to make me sorry that I have ever attempted to organise a party to save my country." Letter of W.H. Seward to his wife, May 2, 1860.—F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 448.

[258]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 360.

[259]Ibid., p. 448.

[260]"Mr. Julius Wood of Columbus, O., an old and true friend of Mr. Weed, met Mr. Seward in Washington, and reiterated his fears in connection with the accumulation of candidates. 'Mr. Lincoln was brought to New York to divide your strength,' he said. But Mr. Seward was not disconcerted by these warnings. Less than a fortnight afterwards Mr. Wood was at the Astor House, where he again met Mr. Weed and Mr. Seward. Sunday afternoon Mr. Greeley visited the hotel and passing through one of the corridors met Mr. Wood, with whom he began conversation. 'We shan't nominate Seward,' said Mr. Greeley, 'we'll take some more conservative man, like Pitt Fessenden or Bates.' Immediately afterwards Mr. Wood went to Mr. Seward's room. 'Greeley has just been here with Weed,' said Mr. Seward. 'Weed brought him up here. You were wrong in what you said to me at Washington about Greeley; he is all right.' 'No, I was not wrong,' insisted Mr. Wood. 'Greeley is cheating you. He will go to Chicago and work against you.' At this Mr. Seward smiled. 'My dear Wood,' said he, 'your zeal sometimes gets a little the better of your judgment.'"—Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 269.

[261]Parke Godwin,Life of William Cullen Bryant, Vol. 2, p. 127.

[262]Horace Greeley, New YorkTribune, May 22, 1860.

[263]"At this time there was friendly intercourse between Mr. Greeley and Mr. Weed, nor did anybody suppose that Mr. Greeley was not on good terms with Governor Seward. He had, indeed, in 1854, written to Mr. Seward a remarkable letter, 'dissolving the firm of Seward, Weed & Greeley,' but Mr. Weed had never seen such a letter, nor did Mr. Greeley appear to remember its existence. Mr. Weed and Mr. Greeley met frequently in New York, not with all of the old cordiality, perhaps, but still they had by no means quarrelled. Mr. Greeley wrote often to Mr. Weed, in the old way, and he and his family were visitors at Mr. Weed's house. Indeed—though that seems impossible—Mr. Greeley stopped at Mr. Weed's house, in Albany, on his way West, before the Chicago convention, and made a friendly visit of a day or so, leaving the impression that he was going to support Mr. Seward when he reached Chicago."—Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 268.

[264]"I was with my husband in Chicago, and may tell you now, as most of the actors have joined the 'silent majority,' what no living person knows, that Thurlow Weed, in his anxiety for the success of Seward, took Mr. Lane out one evening and pleaded with him to lead the Indiana delegation over to Seward, saying they would send enough money from New York to insure his election for governor, and carry the State later for the New York candidate." Letter of Mrs. Henry S. Lane, September 16, 1891.—Alex. K. McClure,Lincoln and Men of War Times, p. 25,note.

[265]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 145.

[266]James S. Pike,First Blows of the Civil War, p. 519.

[267]Hollister,Life of Colfax, p. 148.

[268]William M. Evarts' speech making Lincoln's nomination unanimous. F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 451.

[269]Alex. K. McClure,Life of Lincoln, p. 171.

[270]"On the day the convention was to ballot for a candidate, Cayuga County poured itself into Auburn. The streets were full, and Mr. Seward's house and grounds overflowed with his admirers. Flags were ready to be raised and a loaded cannon was placed at the gate whose pillars bore up two guardian lions. Arrangements had been perfected for the receipt of intelligence. At Mr. Seward's right hand, just within the porch, stood his trusty henchman, Christopher Morgan. The rider of a galloping steed dashed through the crowd with a telegram and handed it to Seward, who passed it to Morgan. For Seward, it read, 173½; for Lincoln, 102. Morgan repeated it to the multitude, who cheered vehemently. Then came the tidings of the second ballot: For Seward, 184½—for Lincoln, 181. 'I shall be nominated on the next ballot,' said Seward, and the throng in the house applauded, and those on the lawn and in the street echoed the cheers. The next messenger lashed his horse into a run. The telegram read, 'Lincoln nominated. T.W.' Seward turned as pale as ashes. The sad tidings crept through the vast concourse. The flags were furled, the cannon was rolled away, and Cayuga County went home with a clouded brow. Mr. Seward retired to rest at a late hour, and the night breeze in the tall trees sighed a requiem over the blighted hopes of New York's eminent son."—H.B. Stanton,Random Recollections, pp. 215-16.

[271]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 453.

[272]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 453.

[273]Ibid., p. 454.

[274]Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 270.

[275]"There was no question that the New York delegation had the fate of the convention in its keeping; and while it was understood that the strength of Douglas in the delegation had been increased during the recess by the Fowler defalcation (Fowler's substitute being reported a Douglas man) and by the appearance of regular delegates whose alternates had been against Douglas at Charleston, it was obvious that the action of the politicians of New York could not be counted upon in any direction with confidence. Rumours circulated that a negotiation had been carried on in Washington by the New Yorkers with the South, to sell out Douglas, the Southerners and the Administration offering their whole strength to any man New York might name, provided that State would slaughter Douglas. On the other hand, it appeared that Dean Richmond, the principal manager of the New Yorkers, had pledged himself, as solemnly as a politician could do, to stand by the cause of Douglas to the last."—M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 159.

[276]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 167.

[277]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 168.

[278]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, pp. 168-171.

[279]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 185.

[280]"Therealbusiness transacting behind the scenes has been the squelching of Douglas, which is understood to be as good as bargained for. The South is in due time to concentrate on a candidate—probably Horatio Seymour of our own State—and then New York is to desert Douglas for her own favourite son. Such is the programme as it stood up to last evening."—New YorkTribune(editorial), June 20, 1860. "There are plenty of rumours, but nothing has really form and body unless it be a plan to have Virginia bring forward Horatio Seymour, whom New York will then diffidently accept in place of Douglas."—Ibid.(telegraphic report).

[281]"The Soft leaders still shiver on the brink of a decision. But a new light broke on them yesterday, when they discovered that, if they killed Douglas, his friends were able and resolved to kill Seymour in turn."—New YorkTribune(editorial), June 21. "The action of New York is still a subject of great doubt and anxiety. As it goes so goes the party and the Union of course."—Ibid.(telegraphic report).

[282]"A dispatch from Douglas to Richmond was sent because a letter containing similar suggestions to Richardson had been kept in the latter's pocket. But Richmond suppressed the dispatch as Richardson had suppressed the letter."—M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 195. "Richardson afterward explained that the action of the Southerners had put it out of his power to use Douglas' letter."—James F. Rhodes,History of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 415.

[283]"It was asserted in Baltimore and believed in political circles that New York offered to reconsider her vote on the Louisiana case, and make up the convention out of the original materials, with the exception of the Alabama delegation. It could not agree to admit Yancey & Co. But the seceders and their friends would not hear to any such proposition. They scorned all compromise."—M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 195. "Many were the expedients devised to bring about harmony; but it was to attempt the impossible. The Southerners were exacting, the delegates from the Northwest bold and defiant."—James F. Rhodes,History of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 474.

[284]M. Halstead,National Political Conventions of 1860, p. 207.

[285]New YorkTribune, July 19, 1860.

[286]"The obduracy, the consistency of Mr. Dickinson's Democracy are of the most marked type. Ever since he changed his vote from Van Buren to Polk, with such hearty alacrity in the Baltimore convention of 1844, he has promptly yielded to every requisition which the Southern Democracy has made upon their Northern allies. All along through the stormy years when the star of the Wilmot Proviso was in the ascendant, and when Wright and Dix bowed to the gale, and even Marcy and Bronson bent before it, Dickinson, on the floor of the Senate, stood erect and immovable."—New YorkTribune, July 4, 1860.

[287]"Mr. Weed was for a time completely unnerved by the result. He even shed tears over the defeat of his old friend."—Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 271."After the joy of Lincoln's nomination had subsided," wrote Leonard Swett of Chicago, "Judge Davis and I called upon Mr. Weed. This was the first time either of us had met him. He did not talk angrily as to the result, nor did he complain of any one. Confessing with much feeling to the great disappointment of his life, he said, 'I hoped to make my friend, Mr. Seward, President, and I thought I could serve my country in so doing.' He was a larger man intellectually than I anticipated, and of finer fibre. There was in him an element of gentleness and a large humanity which won me, and I was pleased no less than surprised."—Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 292.

[287]"Mr. Weed was for a time completely unnerved by the result. He even shed tears over the defeat of his old friend."—Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 271.

"After the joy of Lincoln's nomination had subsided," wrote Leonard Swett of Chicago, "Judge Davis and I called upon Mr. Weed. This was the first time either of us had met him. He did not talk angrily as to the result, nor did he complain of any one. Confessing with much feeling to the great disappointment of his life, he said, 'I hoped to make my friend, Mr. Seward, President, and I thought I could serve my country in so doing.' He was a larger man intellectually than I anticipated, and of finer fibre. There was in him an element of gentleness and a large humanity which won me, and I was pleased no less than surprised."—Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 292.

[288]New YorkTribune, May 22, 1860.

[289]New YorkTimes, May 25, 1860.

[290]"At Chicago, Seward encountered the opposition from his own State of such powerful leaders as Greeley, Dudley Field, Bryant, and Wadsworth. The first two were on the ground and very busy. The two latter sent pungent letters that were circulated among the delegates from the various States. The main point of the attack was that Seward could not carry New York. Soon after the adjournment of the convention, William Curtis Noyes, a delegate, told me that a careful canvass of the New York delegation showed that nearly one-fourth of its members believed it was extremely doubtful if Seward could obtain a majority at the polls in that State."—H.B. Stanton,Random Recollections, pp. 214-15. "Perhaps the main stumbling block over which he fell in the convention was Thurlow Weed."—Ibid., p. 215.

[291]New YorkTribune, June 2, 1860.

[292]New YorkTribune, June 14, 1860.

[293]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 239.

[294]Ibid., p. 240.

[295]"My personal relations with Governor Seward were wholly unchanged by this letter. We met frequently and cordially after it was written, and we very freely conferred and co-operated during the long struggle in Congress for Kansas and Free Labour. He understood as well as I did that my position with regard to him, though more independent than it had been, was nowise hostile, and that I was as ready to support his advancement as that of any other statesman, whenever my judgment should tell me that the public good required it. I was not his adversary, but my own and my country's freeman."—Horace Greeley,Recollections of a Busy Life, p. 321.

[296]H.B. Stanton,Random Recollections, pp. 199, 200.

[297]Ibid., p. 216.

[298]New YorkTribune, July 23, 1860.

[299]Ibid., July 14, 1860.

[300]Ibid., July 24, 1860.

[301]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 462.Seward's Works, Vol. 4, p. 384.

[302]"Seward filled the minds of Republicans, attracting such attention and honour, and arousing such enthusiasm, that the closing months of the campaign were the most brilliant epoch of his life. It was then he reached the climax of his career."—James F. Rhodes,History of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 493.

[303]"Seward charged his defeat chiefly to Greeley. He felt toward that influential editor as much vindictiveness as was possible in a man of so amiable a nature. But he did not retire to his tent."—James F. Rhodes,History of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 494."The magnanimity of Mr. Seward, since the result of the convention was known," wrote James Russell Lowell, "has been a greater ornament to him and a greater honour to his party than his election to the Presidency would have been."—Atlantic Monthly, October, 1860;Lowell's Political Essays, p. 34.

"The magnanimity of Mr. Seward, since the result of the convention was known," wrote James Russell Lowell, "has been a greater ornament to him and a greater honour to his party than his election to the Presidency would have been."—Atlantic Monthly, October, 1860;Lowell's Political Essays, p. 34.

[304]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, pp. 462-66.

[305]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 464.

[306]New YorkTribune, October 19, 1860.

[307]Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 297.

[308]"The names of eighty-one thousand New York men who voted for Fillmore in 1856 are inscribed on Republican poll-lists."—New YorkTribune, September 11, 1860.

[309]F.W. Seward,Life of W.H. Seward, Vol. 2, p. 471.

[310]October 18, 1860.

[311]CharlestonMercury, cited byNational Intelligencer, November 1, 1860; RichmondEnquirer, November 2.

[312]Horace Greeley,American Conflict, Vol. 1, p. 300.

[313]Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 300.

[314]Edwin D. Morgan, 358,272; William Kelley, 294,812; James T. Brady, 19,841.—Civil List, State of New York(1887), p. 166.

[315]Address at Bar meeting in New York City upon death of Daniel S. Dickinson.

[316]Speech of February 29, 1860:Seward's Works, Vol. 4, p. 619.

[317]New YorkTribune, November 30, 1860. The quotation is from an address delivered in Boston.

[318]New YorkTribune, November 9, 1860.

[319]Ibid., November 26.

[320]New YorkTribune, December 17.

[321]Ibid., February 23.

[322]Ibid., November 30. "In so far as the Free States are concerned," he said, "I hold that it will be an advantage for the South to go off."

[323]The Liberator, November and December.

[324]AlbanyEvening Journal, November 26, 1860.

[325]Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 306.

[326]AlbanyEvening Journal, December 1, 1860.

[327]Letters of August Belmont, privately printed, pp. 15, 16.

[328]Congressional Globe, 1860-61,Appendix, p. 221. "Never, with my consent, shall the Constitution ordain or protect human slavery in any territory. Where it exists by law I will recognise it, but never shall it be extended over one acre of free territory." Speech of James Humphrey of Brooklyn.—Ibid., p. 158. "Why should we now make any concessions to them? With our experience of the little importance attached to former compromises by the South, it is ridiculous to talk about entering into another. The restoration of the Missouri line, with the protection of slavery south of it, will not save the Union." Speech of John B. Haskin of Fordham.—Ibid., p. 264. "The people of the North regard the election of Mr. Lincoln as the assurance that the day of compromise has ended; that henceforth slavery shall have all the consideration which is constitutionally due it and no more; that freedom shall have all its rights recognised and respected." Speech of Charles L. Beale of Kinderhook.—Ibid., p. 974. "We of the North are called upon to save the Union by making concessions and giving new guarantees to the South.... But I am opposed to tinkering with the Constitution, especially in these exciting times. I am satisfied with it as it is." Speech of Alfred Ely of Rochester.—Ibid.,Appendix, p. 243. "I should be opposed to any alteration of the Constitution which would extend the area of slavery." Speech of Luther C. Carter of Flushing.—Ibid., p. 278. "I am opposed to all changes in the Constitution whatever." Edwin R. Reynolds of Albion.—Ibid., p. 1008.

[329]AlbanyEvening Journal, November 30, 1860.

[330]Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 309.

[331]Thurlow Weed Barnes,Life of Thurlow Weed, Vol. 2, p. 309.

[332]The full text of the Crittenden compromise is given in theCongressional Globe, 1861, p. 114; also in Horace Greeley'sAmerican Conflict, Vol. 1, p. 376.

[333]Horace Greeley,The American Conflict, Vol. 1, pp. 378, 379.

[334]Coleman,Life of John J. Crittenden, Vol. 2, p. 237.

[335]Letters of August Belmont, privately printed, p. 24.

[336]Horace Greeley,The American Conflict, Vol. 1, p. 362.

[337]"In the committee of thirteen, a few days ago, every member from the South, including those from the cotton States, expressed their readiness to accept the proposition of my venerable friend from Kentucky as a final settlement of the controversy, if tendered and sustained by the Republican members." Douglas in the Senate, January 3, 1861.—Congressional Globe, Appendix, p. 41.

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