History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 81

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 81

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" Then, resting his arm a moment, he turned to the table, took up the pen, and slowly and firmly wrote Abraham Lincoln. He smiled as, handing the paper to Mr. Seward, he said, 'that will do.'

" From this day, to its final triumph, the tide of victory seemed to set more and more in favor of the Union cause. The capture of Vicksburg, the victory of Gettysburg, Chattanooga, Chica- mauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Sheridan's brilliant campaign in the Valley of the Shenandoah; Thomas' decisive victory at Nashville; Sherman's march, through the Con- federacy, to the sea; the capture of Fort McAl- lister; the sinking of the Alabama; the taking of Mobile, by Farragut; the occupation of Colum- bus, Charleston, Savannah; the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond; the surrender of Lee to Grant; the taking of Jefferson Davis a pris- oner; the triumph everywhere of the National Arms; such were the events which followed (though with delays and bloodshed) the ' Proc- lamation of Emancipation.

THE AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION.

" Meanwhile Lincoln had been triumphantly re-elected, Congress had, as before stated, abol- ished slavery at the Capital, prohibited it in all the Territories, declared all negro soldiers in the Union armies, and their families free, and had repealed all laws which sanctioned or recog- nized slavery, and the President had crowned and consummated all, by the Proclamation of Emancipation. One thing alone remained to perfect, confirm, and make everlastingly perma- nent these measures, and this was to embody in the Constitution itself, the prohibition of slavery everywhere within the Republic.

"To change the organic law, required the adoption by a two-thirds vote of a joint resolu- tion, by Congress, and that this should be sub-

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mitted to, and ratified by two-thirds of the States.

"The President, in his annual message and in personal interviews with members of Congress, urged the passage of such resolution. To test the strength of the measure, in the House of Rep- resentatives, I had the honor, in February, 1864, to introduce the following resolution:

"' Resolved, That the Constitution should be so amended as to abolish slavery in the United States wherever it now exists, and to prohibit its existence in every part thereof forever.' (Cong. Globe, vol 50, p. 659). This was adopted by a decided vote, and was the first resolution ever passed by Congress in favor of the entire abolition of slavery. But although it received a majority, it did not receive a majority of two- thirds.

"The debates on the Constitutional Amend- ment (perhaps the greatest in our Congressional history, certainly the most important since the adoption of the Constitution) ran through two sessions of Congress. Charles Sumner, the learned Senator from Massachusetts, brought to the discussion in the Senate, his ample stores of historical illustration, quoting largely in its favor frem the historians, poets and statesmen of the past.

"The resolution was adopted in the Senate by the large vote of ayes, 38; noes, 6.

"In the lower House, at the first session, it failed to obtain a two-thirds vote, and, on a mo- tion to reconsider, went over to the next session. "Mr. Lincoln again earnestly urged its adop- tion, and, in a letter to Illinois friends, he said, ' The signs look better. * * * Peace does not look so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay, and so come as to be worth keeping in all future time.'

"I recall, very vividly, my New Year's call upon the President, January, 1864. I said:

."I hope, Mr. President, one year from to-day I may have the pleasure of congratulating you on the occurrence of three events which now seem probable.'

"' What are they ?' inquired he.

""'1. That the rebellion may be entirely crushed.

"'2. That the Constitutional amendment, abolishing and prohibiting slavery, may have been adopted.

"'3. And that Abraham Lincoln may have been re-elected President.'

"'I think,' replied he, with a smile, 'I would be glad to accept the first two as a compromise.'

"General Grant, in a letter, remarkable for

that clear good sense and practical judgment for which he is distinguished, condensed into a single sentence the political argument in favor of the Constitutional Amendment, 'The North and South,' said he, 'can never live at peace with each other except as one Nation and that without slavery.'

GARFIELD'S SPEECH.

"I would be glad to quote from this great de- bate, but must confine myself to a brief extract from a speech of the present President, then a member of the House. He began by saying, ' Mr. Speaker, we shall never know why slavery dies so hard in this Republic, and in this Hall, until we know why sin outlives disaster and Satan is immortal.' * * · How well do I remember,' he continued, 'the history of that distinguished predecessor of mine, Joshua R. Giddings, lately gone to his rest, who, with his forlorn hope of faithful men, took his life in his hands and, in the name of justice, protested against the great crime, and who stood bravely in his place until his white locks, like the plume of Henry of Navarre, marked where the battle of freedom raged fiercest.' ' In its mad arrogance, slavery lifted its hand against the Union, and since that fatal day it has been a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth.'

"Up to the last roll-call, on the question of the passage of the resolution, we were uncertain and anxious about the result. We needed Demo- cratic votes. We knew we should get some, but whether enough to carry the measure, none could surely tell.

"As the clerk called the names of members, so perfect was the silence that the sound of a hundred pencils keeping tally could be heard through the Hall.

"Finally, when the call was completed, and the Speaker announced that the resolution was adopted, the result was received by an uncon- trollable burst of enthusiasm. Members and spectators ( especially the galleries, which were crowded with convalescent soldiers) shouted and cheered, and before the Speaker could obtain quiet, the roar of artillery on Capitol Hill pro- claimed to the City of Washington, the passage of the resolution. Congress adjourned, and we hastened to the White House to congratulate the President on the event.

"He made one of his happiest speeches. In his own peculiar words, he said, 'The great job is finished.' 'I cannot but congratulate,' said he, 'all present, myself, the country, and the whole world on this great moral victory.'

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.

"And now, with an attempt to sketch very briefly some of his peculiar personal character- istics, I must close.

" This great Hercules of a man had a heart as kind and tender as a woman. Sterner men thought it a weakness. It saddened him to see others suffer, and he shrunk from inflicting pain. Let me illustrate his kindness and tenderness by one or two incidents. One summer's day, walk- ing along the shaded path leading from the Ex- ecutive Mansion to the War Office, I saw the tall, awkward form of the President, seated on the grass under a tree. A wounded soldier, seeking back pay and a pension, had met the President, and, having recognized him, asked his counsel. Lincoln sat down, examined the papers of the soldier, and told him what to do, sent him to the proper bureau with a note, which secured prompt attention.

"After the terribly destructive battles be- tween Grant and Lee, in the Wilderness of Vir- ginia, after days of dreadful slaughter, the lines of ambulances, conveying the wounded from the steamers on the Potomac to the great field hospitals on the heights around Washington, would be continuous-one unbroken line from the wharf to the hospital. At such a time, I have seen the President, in his carriage, driving slowly along the line, and he looked like one who had lost the dearest members of his own family. On one such occasion, meeting me, he stopped and said: ' I cannot bear this; this suf- fering, this loss of life-is dreadful.'

"I recalled to him a line from a letter he had years before written to a friend, whose great sorrow he had sought to console. Reminding him of the incident, I asked him: 'Do you re- member writing to your suffering friend these words:

' " And this, too, shall pass away, Never fear. Victory will come".'

"In all his State papers and speeches, during these years of strife and passion, there can be found no words of bitterness, no denunciation. When others railed, he railed not again. He was always dignified, magnanimous, patient, considerate, manly, and true. His duty was ever performed, 'with malice toward none, with charity for all,' and with 'firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.'

NEVER A DEMAGOGUE.

"Lincoln was never a demagogue. He re- spected and loved the people, but never flattered them. No man ever heard him allude to his

humble life and manual labor, in a way to obtain votes. None knew better than he, that splitting rails did not qualify a man for public duties. He realized painfully the defects of his educa- tion, and labored diligently and successfully to supply his deficiencies.

11IS CONVERSATION.

" He had no equal as a talker in social life. His conversation was fascinating and attractive. He was full of wit, humor and anecdote, and, at the same time, original, suggestive and in- structive. There was in his character a singular mingling of mirthfulness and melancholy. While his sense of the ludicrous was keen, and his fun and mirth were exuberant, and sometimes almost irrepressible; his conversation sparkling with jest, story and anecdote and in droll description, he would pass suddenly to another mood and become sad and pathetic-a melancholy expres- sion of his homely face would show that he was ' a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

HIS STORIES.

"The newspapers, in America, have always been full of Lincoln's stories and anecdotes, some true and many fabulous.

" He always had a story ready, and, if not, he could improvise one, just fitted for the occasion. The following may, I think, be said to have been adapted:

"An Atlantic port, in one of the British provinces, was, during the war, a great resort and refuge for blockade-runners, and a large contraband trade was said to have been carried on from that port with the Confederates. Late in the summer of 1864, while the election of President was pending, Lincoln being a candi- date, the Governor-General of that province, with some of the principal officers, visited Washington, and called to pay their respects to the executive. Mr. Lincoln had been very much annoyed by the failure of these officials to en- force, very strictly, the rules of neutrality, but he treated his guests with great courtesy. After a pleasant interview, the Governor, alluding to the approaching presidential election, said, jokingly, but with a grain of sarcasm, 'I under- stand, Mr. President, everybody votes in this country. If we remain until November can we vote ?'

"' You remind me,' replied the President, 'of a countryman of yours, a green emigrant from Ireland. Pat arrived in New York on election day, and was, perhaps, as eager as Your Excel- lency to vote, and to vote early and late and often. So, upon his landing at Castle Garden, he

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hastened to the nearest voting place, and, as he approached, the judge, who received the ballots, inquired, 'who do you want to vote for? on which side are you?' Poor Pat was embar- rassed, he did not know who were the candi- dates. He stopped, scratched his head, then, with the readiness of his countrymen, he said:

" ' I am fornent the government, anyhow. Tell me, if your Honor plases, which is the rebellion side, and I'll tell you how I want to vote. In old Ireland I was always on the rebel- lion side, and, by Saint Patrick, I'll stick to that same in America.'

" ' Your Excellency,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'would, I should think, not be at all at a loss on which side to vote!'

THE BOOKS HE READ.

" The two books he read most were the Bible and Shakspeare. With them he was familiar, reading and quoting from them constantly. Next to Shakspeare, among the poets was Burns, with whom he had a hearty sympathy, and upon whose poetry he wrote a lecture. He was extremely fond of ballads, and of simple, sad and plaintive music.

" I called one day at the White House, to in- troduce two officers of the Union army, both Swedes. Immediately he began and repeated from memory, to the delight of his visitors, a long ballad, descriptive of Norwegian scenery, a Norse legend, and the adventures of an old Viking among the fiords of the North.

" He said he read the poem in a newspaper, and the visit of these Swedes recalled it to his memory.

"On the last Sunday of his life, as he was sail- ing up the Potomac, returning to Washington from his visit to Richmond, he read aloud many extracts from Macbeth, and, among others, the following, and with a tone and accent so impres- sive that, after his death, it was vividly recalled by those who heard him:

"'Duncan is in his grave; After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well ;

Treason has done his worst; nor steel, nor poison, Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, Can touch him further!'

" After his assassination, those friends could not fail to recall this passage from the same play :

"' This Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against The deep damnation of his taking off.'

HIS RELIGION.

" It is strange that any reader of Lincoln's speeches and writings should have had the hardi-

hood to charge him with infidelity, but the charge, having been repeatedly made, I reply, in the light of facts accessible to all, that no more reverent Christian (not excepting Washington) ever filled the chair of President. Declarations of his trust in God, his faith in the efficacy of prayer, pervade his speeches and writings. From the time he left Springfield, to his death, he not only himself continuedly prayed for Divine assistance, but never failed to ask the prayers of others for himself and his country.

"His reply to the negroes of Baltimore, who in 1864, presented him with a beautiful Bible, as an expression of their love and gratitude, ought to have silenced all who have made such charges. After thanking them, he said: 'This great book is the best gift God has given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communi- cated through this book.'

" When a member of Congress, knowing his religious character, asked him 'why he did not join some church?' Mr. Lincoln replied: 'Be- cause I found difficulty, without mental reserva- tion, in giving my assent to their long and com- plicated confessions of faith. When any church will inscribe over its altar the Savior's condensed statement of law and gospel, 'Thon shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neigh- bor as thyself,' that church will I join with all my heart.'

WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED.

" Let us try to sum up in part what he accom- plished.

" When he assumed the duties of the execu- tive, he found an empty treasury, the National credit was gone, the little nucleus of an army and navy scattered and disarmed, the officers, who had not deserted to the rebels, strangers; the party which elected him in a minority (he having been elected only because his opponents were divided between Douglas, Breckenridge and Everett), the old Democratic party, which had ruled most of the time for half a century, hostile, and even that part of it in the North, from long association, in sympathy with the in- surgents; his own party made up of discordant elements, and neither he nor his party had ac- quired prestige and the confidence of the peo- ple. It is the exact truth to say that when he entered the White House he was the object of personal prejudice to a majority of the Ameri- can people, and of contempt to a powerful minority. He entered upon his task of restor- ing the integrity of a broken Union, without sympathy from any of the great powers of

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Western Europe. Those which were not hostile manifested a cold neutrality, exhibiting toward him and his government no cordial good-will, nor extending any moral aid. Yet, in spite of all, he crushed the most stupendous rebellion, supported by armies more vast, by resources greater, and an organization more perfect, than ever before undertook the dismemberment of a Nation. He united and held together, against contending factions, his own party, and strength- ened it by securing the confidence and winning the support of the best part of all parties. He composed the quarrels of rival generals; and at length won the respect and confidence and sympathy of all Nations and peoples. He was re-elected almost by acclamation, and after a series of brilliant victories, he annihilated all armed opposition. He led the people, step by step, to emancipation, and saw his work crowned by an amendment of the Constitution, eradicat- ing and prohibiting slavery forever throughout the Republic.

"Such is a brief and imperfect summary of his achievements during the last five years of his life. And this good man, when the hour of victory came, made it not the hour of vengeance, but of forgiveness and reconciliation.

" These five years of incessant labor and fear- ful responsibility told even upon his strength and vigor. He left Illinois for the Capital with a frame of iron and nerves of steel. His old friends who had known him as a man who did not know what illness was; who had seen him on the prairies before the Illinois Courts, full of life, genial, and sparkling with fun; now saw the wrinkles on his forehead deepened into furrows -the laugh of the old days lost its heartiness; anxiety, responsibility, care, and hard work wore upon him, and his nerves of steel, at times, be- came irritable. He had had no respite, had taken no holidays. When others fled away from the dust and heat of the Capital, he stayed. He would not leave the helm until all danger was past, and the good ship of state had made her port.

" I will not dwell upon the unutterable sorrow of the American people, at his shocking death. But I desire to express here, in this great City of this grand Empire, the sensibility with which the people of the United States received, at his death, the sympathy of the English-speaking race.

"That sympathy was most eloquently ex- pressed by all. It came from Windsor Castle to the White House; from England's Widowed Queen to the stricken and distracted widow at 5S-

Washington. From Parliament to Congress, from the people of all this magnificent Empire, as it stretches round the world, from England to India, from Canada to Australia, came words of deep feeling, and they were received by the American people, in their sore bereavement, as the expression of a kindred race.

"I cannot forbear referring in particular to the words spoken in Parliament on that occasion, by Lords Russell and Derby, and especially, by that great and picturesque leader, so lately passed away, Lord Beaconsfield. After a dis- criminating eulogy upon the late President, and the expression of profound sympathy, he said:

""' Nor is it possible for the people of Eng- land, at such a moment, to forget that he sprang from the same fatherland and spake the same mother tongue.'

"God grant that, in all the unknown future, nothing may ever disturb the friendly feeling and respect which each Nation entertains for the other. May there never be another quarrel in the family."

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.

Stephen Arnold Douglas was born April 23, 1813, at Brandon, Vermont, "a good State to emigrate from," as he said. His father, who died when Stephen was an infant of three months, was a physician of considerable emimence, and a native of New York. His grandfather was a Pennsylvanian and a soldier in the Revolution, being with Washington at Valley Forge and at Yorktown. His great grandfather was also na- tive born, but the remote ancestry was from Scot- land, and it has been said, traceable to the blood of the Douglas'. In youth, Stephen received the ordinary school education of his native State, and was an apt and diligent pupil. At the age of fifteen, unable to gratify an ardent desire to prepare for college, owing to his moth- er's straightened circumstances, he apprenticed himself to the cabinet trade. In eighteen months afterwards, finding it too hard for his constitu- tion, he abandoned it and entered the academy at Brandon. The following year, his mother having married a Mr. Granger, whose son had previously married his eldest sister, the family removed to Canadagua, New York. Here Stephen resumed his academical course, and also com- menced to read law. At the age of twenty he started West to seek an eligible location. At Cleveland he was long detained by sickness. Recovering, he went to Cincinnati, and thence by river to St. Louis, finding his way, late in the fall of 1833, to the village of Winchester, Scott

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county, Illinois, whither he walked from Jack- sonville, in quest of a school to teach, his ex- chequer being reduced to thirty-seven and a half cents. His first work was clerking at a vendue, which yielded him six dollars, but he obtained, shortly after, a school of forty pupils at three dollars a quarter. He kept up his law studies meanwhile, and the following March was admit- ted to the bar by the Supreme Court sitting at Vandalia. He now partook himself to the practice of the law, and speedily won distinc- tion in his profession. Within a year of his admission to the bar he was twenty-two years old, he was chosen by the legislature, Attorney- General of the State. In 1836 he was elected to the legislature from Morgan county, being the youngest member in that body. At this session the Internal Improvement folly of the State was entered upon. In 1837 he was appointed by Van Buren, Register of the Land Office at Spring- field. The same year he was nominated for Congress, and at the election of August, 1838, came within five votes of an election out of thirty-six thousand cast, his opponent being the Hon. John T. Stuart, Whig. He now devoted himself assiduously to his new profession, and proved himself an able lawyer and successful advocate. His tact and skill in the examination of witnesses was unrivalled. In 1840 he entered with great ardor into the exciting Presidential campaign, canvassing the State thoroughly by ad- dressing two hundred and seven meetings in fa- vor of Van Buren. Upon the meeting of the legislature in December of that year he was ap- pointed Secretary of State by Governor Carlin, who was unable to withstand the pressure in his favor. During the session, from partisan mo- tives, the Supreme Court was re-organized, in which Douglas took an active part through lobby addresses, etc., and was also elected to a seat upon the bench, rendering the court Democratic. The Supreme Judges had to perform circuit duty, Douglas being assigned to the Quincy Distriet. In the fourth volume of the "Law Reporter," Boston, 1842, may be found a letter from a law- yer, who had emigrated to Illinois, giving the following description of him on the bench: "The Judge of our circuit is S. A. Douglas, a youth of twenty-eight, who was the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1838, in opposition to J. T. Stuart, the late member. He is a Ver- monter, a man of considerable talent, and in the way of dispatching business, is a perfect ' steam engine in breeches.' This dispatch is the only benefit our circuit will derive from the change. He is the most democratic Judge I

ever knew. While a case is going on he leaves the bench and goes among the people and mem- bers of the bar, takes a cigar and has a social smoke with them, or often setting in their laps, being in person five feet nothing, or thereabouts, and probably weighing about one hundred pounds. I have often thought we should cut a queer figure if one of our Suffolk bar should ac- cidentally drop in."

But Douglas' manners upon the bench were nnexceptional. He was studious, clear, compre- hensive and expeditious, and it may be said that a more popular judge never wore the ermine in this State, notwithstanding his youth and slight figure.

In 1834, he was first elected to Congress by a majority of about four hundred. He was twice re-elected, his majority being increased each time-the last time to three thousand. In the lower house he is said to have been cautious and sparing of debate, studious and closely ob- servant, and when he did arise for a speech, it was apt, forcible and to the purpose. Ilis early education was not so thorough and scholaristic as it might have been, as he well knew, but this fact could never have been gathered from his speeches. Ashamed to be either uninformed or misinformed, he was a studions toiler throughout his busy and boisterous political life, amidst all its engrossing cares and unceasing occupation, and a wide and varied reader of history and its kindred of politics and law. Contact with pub- lic affairs gave scope to his understanding and depth to his judgment, and his knowledge be- came vast, complete and accurate. One of his first masterly efforts in Congress to attract Na- tional attention was his speech on the bill to re- fund to General Jackson, the fine imposed upon him for placing New Orleans under martial law at the time of the battle in its defence on the 8th of January, 1812. The venerable hero of that glorious event subsequently thanked Douglas for this able vindication, saying, "I know when I proclaimed and enforced martial law that I was doing right; but never until I read your speech, could I express the reasons which actuated my conduct." In 1847, Douglas entered the Senate, which was the arena of his hurculean labors. His name, young as he was, became speedily as- sociated with the great National issues which affected the destiny of this people. He moulded and gave them direction in public affairs. Be- tween the aggressions of the South and the resis- tance of the North over the angry subject of sla- very in our Territories, it has been said that there is no escape from the conclusion that the genius

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History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 81

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084