The Van Buren press., 1867-11-08
The Van Buren, Press,
VAN BUREN,, ARKANSAS.
More About Mrs. Lincoln's Old Clothes
and the Radicals.

The announcement of the proposed
sale at auction Of the rich shawls and
other similar articles fMrs. Lincoln, re.
ferred to by us the other day has provok-
ed great deal Of comment on the part
of the press. During the life and admin
istration of MIR. Lincoln whenever the
Democratic press charged that the wife OF
the " government was engaged in the
office brokerage business and in other
corrupt practices, the Republican papers
stoutly denied the charge and declared
that their Democratic contemporaries were
"disloyar' for intimating such a thing.
We therefore desire to put on record the
statements of these same Radical papers,
in which they admit more than we or any
other Democratic paper ever laid to her
charge. ...
1t will be remembered that in one of
her letters, Mrs. Lincoln complains bit
terly of "Weed, Raymond, Seward and
others" through whose influence, she
says, the plan to raise voluntary sub
scription for her benefit was defeated.
Mr.. Weed responds in the Commercial
Advertiser in long article, from which
We make the following extracts
We have never approached q question
with half the sorrow that this one awak-
ems. To vindicate, shield and protect
4" Heavens best gift to man" is CRATE
full duty, while to even reprovs, and much
more to assail woman, is painful, and
if without perfect justification, unmanly.
If the American Congress, or the
American People, have failed to meet the
pecunisry expectations of Mr. Lincoln's
Widow, it is because that parsonage fail
ed, during his life and since his death, to
inspire either with respect or confidence
They should not, therefore, be subject to
the reproach, or rest under the imputa-
ton, of ingratitude. Had Mrs. Lincoln,
while in power, borne herself becoming
ly, the suggestion of a Lincoln Fund by
voluntary contribution, would have been
promptly responded to. The national
heart was warm. 1tgushed out in liber
al endowments for Grant and Farragut.
1t would as cheerfully have met the ap-
peal in favor of Mrs. Lincoln if it had
not intuitively closed and chilled. +
But we happen to know-the late Ca
leb b. Smith, then Secretary of the Inte-
rior, being our informant--a fact which
incensed Mrs. Lincoln against Mr.. Sew
ard. The President gave the Prince Ma
poleon a Dinner, for which Mrs. Lincoln
sent to the Secretary Of the Interior for
payment bill of some $500. This de
mand, though wholly illegal, coming from
the Presidents wife, embarrassed the
Secretary, who called upon the Secretary
of State for advice, where he learned that
Mr.. Seward had also dined the Prince,
having the same number of Guests, and
giving them duplicate of the Dinner at
the White House. In fact, Mr.. Seward
ordered both Dinners from the same Res
taurant and by his own bill, knew the cost
of each. For what Mr.. Seward paid
$500, Mrs Lincoln demanded 5000. But
whether three or nine hundred the claim
was alike illegal and could not be paid.
For this, however, Mrs. Lincoln quarreled
with Secretaries Smith and Seward. This
amount, however, was subsequently COW
cred up in a Gardeners account, but oc-
casioned scandal, which respect for Mr..
Lincoln mcasurably suppressed.
Though Mr. Lincoln left an Estate
which enabled his family to live quite as
comfortably as they had ever lived, Con
gress and the People would have prompt
" and checrfully provided munificently
for them if Mrs. Lincoln herself, with
every advantage that high position gave
her, had made friends or inspired respect
And this last exhibition proves how in
stinctively right the popular estimate o.
her character was
The fact for which Mrs. Lincoln seeks
large publicity; namely, that she rcceiv
ed Presents valued at S24, 900, is a preg
nant and suggestive onc-suggestivc, at
least, of Offices and Contracts, unless tho
more charitable construction is reached
through the assumption that they were
expressions of regard and friendship
But it is not known that the wife of an,
other President, however estimable, wa:
so loaded with shawls, laces, furs, dia
monds, rings, DC,
Mrs. Lincoln's propensity to sell things
was manifested early, and before any ne
cessity was forcsecn. flour Information
is reliable, eleven Of Mr.. Lincoln's new
Linen Shirts we're sold almost before th'
Remains, which were shroudcd in th'
twelfth, had started for that "bourn
from whence no traveller returns" b"
The Washington correspondent OF tn
Brooklyn Eagle says: ..w.Io
Whenever charges were made that tn
wife of Mr.. Lincoln was engaged in tn
office brokerage business during the lat
war, those most Interested were eve
ready to brand them rs canards aud mer
fabrications, manufactured by disappoint
cd Office seekers The developments