XII.CONTINUED WORK IN CONGRESS.
I
IT is Inauguration Day in Washington. Not McClellan,—he is in Europe,—but Lincoln is to be inaugurated. It is a day of wondrous glory to him, and to the nation, but one so oppressed with the cares of state has but little joy in it. There is no retiring president to sign all the tardy bills of an expiring congress. He must do it all, and then go from the realizations of the past to the unknown of the new. There was no instant of rest for him between laying off the armor and putting it on anew.
Of all the many thousand eyes that looked on him that day, none were more brilliant with the look of praise, none gleamed with a soul-light more fervent, none took in the scene with deeper thoughts of the hour or the future, oppressive with interest, than Mr. Blaine.
Little did he dream of twenty years to come. He had thought to scale the centuries as they stood like silent statues in the sombre, shadowypast, and read out the hieroglyphics of their history. But just as the rebellion was broken, shattered, staggering to its fall, and seemed certain, and was scarce hung about with doubt, so now to faith the future is bright and clear, while hope is strong and almost gay with vivid anticipations.
Mr. Blaine was profoundly impressed with the religious character of Abraham Lincoln, as exemplified in the tone of his public documents.
He says: “Throughout the whole period of the war he constantly directed the attention of the nation to dependence on God. It may indeed be doubted whether he omitted this in a single state paper. In every message to congress, in every proclamation to the people, he made it prominent. In July, 1863, after the battle of Gettysburgh, he called upon the people to give thanks because ‘it has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe signal and effective victories to the army and navy of the United States,’ and he asked the people ‘to render homage to the Divine Majesty and to invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion.’”
“On another occasion,” writes Mr. Blaine, “recounting the blessings which had come to theUnion, he said: ‘No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.’ Throughout his entire official career, attended at all times with exacting duty and painful responsibility, he never forgot his own dependence unto the same authority, or the dependence of the people upon a Higher Power.” And then he quotes those words of the great man, uttered reverently to the people assembled in crowds to congratulate him upon the return of peace: “In the midst of your joyous expressions, He from whom all blessings flow must first be remembered.”
His last inaugural, delivered but a little while before this final utterance, was in keeping with it. It was a deeply religious document, referring to no political measure or material interest, and in six days after the people crowd about him, full of joy at the close of the war, the bullet of the assassin is in his brain! What a week was that in which the war closed, and the great Lincoln was murdered! And what a summer was that, when the broken armies came marching home, halting in Washington for the great review!
But a campaign is on Mr. Blaine, and he hurrieshome. For the third time Samuel Coney is elected governor, and Mr. Blaine has again done his work well. Autumn passes, and he is in his place at the opening of the thirty-ninth congress. With his usual unforgetfulness, he resumes connection with a bill presented by him in the early part of the previous congress, for reimbursing the loyal states for war-expenses in response to the president’s call for troops. His bill is very explicit, and shows that during the long delay he had perfected it in its details. No flaw is found in it, no amendment is made to it, but it is at once referred, upon his motion, to a select committee of seven, and upon his motion he demands the previous question, so that the matter shall be attended to at once. The bill was read a first and second time, and so referred.
Mr. Blaine is of course upon the committee, and by his motion members are added to it, and they are empowered to hire a clerk. What a work to examine and pass upon all the war-debts of the loyal states! A grave question soon makes its appearance in congress. In undoing the legislation of years, enacted in the interests of slavery, they have come to the basis of representation. The slave is not yet a citizen, and if the basis is population and not suffrage, the South will have an immense advantage,—indeedan advantage similar to that enjoyed before the war, when, though slaves were expressly recognized as chattels, and according to the Dred Scott decision, “a black man had no rights a white man was bound to respect,” yet, according to slavery law five of them gave their master three extra votes.
But the ratio of voters to population varied from nineteen to fifty-eight per cent. in different states, as, for example, California had two hundred and seven thousand voters out of a population of three hundred and fifty-eight thousand one hundred and ten, while Vermont had but eighty-seven thousand voters out of a population of three hundred and fourteen thousand three hundred and sixty-nine, and each had three representatives in congress; that is, eighty-seven thousand voters in Vermont sent three congressmen, while two hundred and seven thousand voters in California sent but the same number.
There were more women and children in Vermont, two to one, than in California, and so in the latter state there were more than twice as many voters in the same population.
It was with such arguments as the above,—a mathematical argument, without sophistry, and that cannot be impeached,—that he opposed a constitutional amendment making suffrage andnot population the basis of representation, and so reserving an argument to use in framing the citizenship of the freemen.
Mr. Blaine has long been noted for the great rapidity with which he works.
He very soon has an immense report from his committee of nine, to pay the loyal states their war-claims. In it twenty-six states, five territories, and the District of Columbia have their war-claims adjusted, and they are to receive all the way from nine thousand nine hundred and fifty-five dollars, as in the case of the territory of Dakota for enlisting one hundred and eighty-one men, up to twenty million nine hundred and ninety-three thousand two hundred and eighty dollars, as in the case of New York for enlisting three hundred and eighty-one thousand six hundred and ninety-six men; and it is a peculiarity with him to know for himself, by careful computation, the exact truth of the statistics he employs.
One day it so happened that he used the calculations of a distinguished member who was chairman of a prominent committee,—that of ways and means,—and they were called in question; but soon after he was able to affirm publicly that they were correct.
There was such a charm in being right and knowing it, despite all contradiction, that hecould not forego the pleasure, the very confidence and self-respect, even at the expense of perplexing effort. A point of order was raised against him one day; his instant reply was, “That point was raised exactly ten years ago and overruled,” and the chair ruled in harmony with his remembrance.
His great love for mathematics, and the position he was in requiring it, he was led to make an extensive study of the history of finance, and in a speech of great length, by which he supported his report to pay the vast war-claims of the loyal states, he clearly shows the wide range of his acquaintance with the subject. He shows great familiarity with the policy and utterances of Alexander Hamilton, his exceeding common-sense methods, which he quotes with so great aptness as to give them the power of living arguments, as he offers them in evidence of the wisdom of his own views and the tenable nature of the positions he has taken.
It was proposed to bring all troops to a three years’ basis, and then refund at the rate of fifty-five dollars a man. Thus, Pennsylvania, with three hundred and sixty-six thousand three hundred and twenty-six men, which, reduced to a three years’ basis, gave two hundred and sixty-seven thousand five hundred and fifty-eight, whichat the rate proposed made the claim of that state fourteen million seven hundred and fifteen thousand six hundred and ninety dollars. The Gettysburgh battle alone had cost the state seven hundred thousand dollars, and as for that and other service she had furnished men for a much shorter period than three years, the whole number of men were reduced nearly one hundred thousand to get them all on the three years’ basis.
No question commanded a more wide-spread or deeper attention for years subsequent to the war than the question of money, and it behooved any man with the aspirations of a statesman, to make a long and thorough study of it.
“Reading,” it is said, “makes a full man, speaking a ready man.” He was both reader and speaker, and so proved the truth of the maxim, by being both a full and a ready man; and he never allowed himself to get empty. It was the knowledge of the day, most valuable to him, with which he was filled, as well as that which came from historical research.
It was about this time that, as a member of the committee on military affairs, and while the conduct of the office of provost-marshal general was being investigated, that he had his lively tilt with Mr. Roscoe Conkling, and brought out all of his powers of wit and sarcasm, showinghim more than a match for the gentleman. It was undoubtedly the most brilliant intellectual contest of the session. Ex-Governor Morrill says, “It was a pretty lively time, but they were boys then, and probably are better friends to-day, though it is certainly evident they both did their best.”
Consistency in legislation seemed a law with Mr. Blaine, so that the House should not be found contradicting itself on the military functions of the president. Indeed the powers of government are so nicely balanced between the executive and the Senate and House, that great watchfulness is needed that there be no conflict; and new members,—and sometimes old members,—are found transgressing legitimate bounds. For instance, there was a section to a bill that “until the fourth day of July, in the year 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for representatives in congress, and for elections for president and vice-president of the United States.” He at once raised the question of bad faith, because on July 17, 1862, they had authorized the president to grant pardon and amnesty to any person, state or part thereof, that was in rebellion.
And to this effect President Lincoln did issue a proclamation, and hundreds, and perhaps thousandsof pardons were granted. And in 1865 President Johnson issued his celebrated amnesty proclamation, pardoning all below the military rank of colonel, who had participated in the Rebellion, excepting certain classes.
One thing is clearly manifest in all of Mr. Blaine’s operations in congress,—he thoroughly enjoys it all; he is at home, and feels so constantly. He can trust himself; there is no striving for effect. He never gets lost in depths, nor aground upon shallows. He can fish in deep water, or seine near shore. It is quite noticeable how he will go with the passage of a motion from some minor detail of internal revenue to the gravest questions of constitutional law. It was said once by a great preacher who was pastor of a large church, editor of a large paper, and engaged in writing a book, that he had to live in those three great spheres, transporting himself daily from one to another, as he worked in each. But here were not less than a dozen great departments with which one must be as familiar as with the rooms of his dwelling, and have in possession, living, present, trenchant facts; the latest phases of new, fresh life, and the old and musty as well. For it will not do to blunder in congress; it is blundering before the nation, and before the world. The folks at home will find it out right off, andworst of allyouwill find it out, and a man will feel so terribly small, and ashamed, and mean, and it will be such desperate hard work to own up, and sit down with all-hands looking straight at you.
It is one of the first matters of congressional courtesy, to let anyone ask you a question. And this is all done so blandly, and in such elegant diction, one is almost charmed by the tones so as scarcely to get hold of the question itself; but that question is like the bee, so bright and beautiful, and musical withal, and yet it has a sting.
What is denominated “brass,” in modern parlance, will not serve one’s purpose. It is at once detected by its sound, and then confusion comes,—it will come, it must come, and brass cannot prevent it.
The present was a long, tedious term, and kept the members well into the summer. The internal-revenue laws must be properly adjusted; the army re-organized; settlers were pouring, by the thousand, and actually by the hundred thousand, into the great region between the Missouri and the Pacific,—so much so that the lieutenant-general urges congress to provide the means requisite for their protection, as a great body of citizens who are filling up the country, rendering it productive, and erecting states; andbeside these, a multitude of other things are demanding attention.
And then, after adjournment, comes the great campaign, in which the thirteenth amendment is submitted to the suffrage of the people. Two-thirds of the states must endorse it to make it organic law, and this they do right heartily, and congress resumes its session the first Monday in December. It is the second session of the thirty-ninth congress, and the second of Mr. Blaine’s second term.
Mr. Blaine had a very eligible seat, at the left of the speaker, and well in front; almost within reach of him sat Garfield.
The first day of the session Mr. Blaine made a move for the repeal of the three cents per pound tax on raw cotton, which was finally carried. This was a move which affected every home, and especially the laboring classes; for older ones do not forget how enormously high cotton goods were in war times and subsequently, and so have little difficulty in understanding the importance of such a move. It was contended that it was a wrong principle to tax the raw production of the soil, and in conflict with the long-established policy of the nation.
Mr. Blaine’s resolves at this time came thick and fast, like resolutions at New Year’s, but with more purpose in them. Indeed his purposeis a noticeable feature of every move, and he could state it in the plainest kind of English, and it was his practice, after a bill was read, or resolution presented, to state its meaning, tell just what he meant by it, as the legal forms do not always make it at once apparent. He gives his reasons for the measure. For instance, volunteer officers could not be breveted in the regular army for meritorious service in the volunteer service. This he saw was wrong, and drew up a bill in regular form to right the matter, and then states what he means about it, and the facts that have moved him, generally move the rest. Almost nine-tenths of the new regular army was to be made up of the old volunteers, and he would have the old regular army laws changed so as not to discriminate against them and in favor of West Pointers.
There was no red-tape about him. He did not believe in it. It took too much time, and was too unjust. He believed in solid worth, and in rewarding it. He is a straight and constant American, and loves all who love America, and will not have them dealt unfairly with if it is in his power to prevent. Fair play is a term he often used during his early terms in congress. It seemed to express his ideal of honor. An unfair man was not respectable in his eyes.It was a right upon which he strenuously insisted for himself. He evidently had seen the old definition of freeman, “Who knows his rights and knowing dare maintain.”
And yet this genius of fair play which possessed him, kept him from being a bigot. His sense of justice would rebel against an outrage inflicted upon anyone. But it is getting to be a hot place in congress. Andrew Johnson has disappointed the hopes of the nation. He is not filling the place of the dead Lincoln, but rather dishonoring it, and articles of impeachment are originating in the House, summoning him before the bar of the senate because of “the crimes and high misdemeanors of which he is manifestly and notoriously guilty, and which render it unsafe longer to permit him to exercise the functions he has unlawfully assumed.” The air was filled with this matter of impeachment during the summer campaign, but on in the dead of winter there is no disposition to rush madly or blindly into it. It is but one of many things demanding attention.
Mr. Blaine is as conservative as he is radical. He combines in a very strong and decided manner many of the best characteristics of both. He does not rush into everything that comes before the House, but calmly surveys and studies, and comes to know the question in its bearings,and reaches conclusions, and with these truly gained and firmly held, he is ready for action.
The novelty of a thing makes him suspicious; he must know it through and through, for when he begins he will surely end. One comes to expect that when he presses a measure it will pass, and however much there may be to retard its progress, he will never lose sight of it until it goes through.
It seemed to be a time of political apostasy in the nation. Many are betraying their trusts, and a large number fall, politically, to rise no more. Many of the old war Democrats, like Andrew Johnson, were simply Democrats when the war was over. It seemed to be a sort of political reaction after the high pressure of the war. They were not prepared to accept all the results of the war. It was more than they had anticipated, and the result was an unwillingness to proceed, and so many called a halt; but Thaddeus Stevens in the House, and Charles Sumner in the senate, kept the work planned and the forces in motion. Mr. Stevens formed a strong friendship for Mr. Blaine, and as they were on the military committee together, he learned to respect his talents and prize his ability.