The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-12-30
MIR. Stanton as Secretary of
War-Interesting Reminis-
CenCes.
From the Chicago Post.

of January 1862, a month before the deci-
sive and cheering victory Of Fort Donel-
son. Though never identified with the
party by which Mr. Lincoln was elected,
his appointment was urgently recon-
mended by both Mr.. Seward and Mr..
Chase, as well as by Mr. Cameron, whose
retirement caused the vacancy which he
was to fill. He had always been thor
ough-going Democrat of the Jackson
school; but these Republican leaders well
knew the earnestness of devotion to the
Union and the extraordinary power he
had manifested while member, for a
brief but momentous period, of Mr.. Bu-
chanan's Cabinet It was also felt to be
desirable to give prominent part In the
work Of the administration to some repre-
sentative man of the war Democrats, who
were then nobly suitaining Mr.. Lincoln
in his efforts to vindlcate the national in
tegrity.
At the time when Mr.. Lincoln appoint
ed him to this Office, these two remarka bic
men, who were destined to an intimacy
which history will never cease to remem
Der, had not seen each other. The first
meeting between them was when Mr..
Stanton went to the White House to re-
ceive his commission. We believe, also,
that the first notice which the new Secre-
tary received of his appointment was but
the day before the nomination was sent to
the Senate, when he was informed of it
just as he was about to rise for the argu-
ment of a cause in the Supreme Court.
The relations thus commence between
the President and the Secretary of War
remained exceedingly cordial or, rather,
they Consistently became warmer and more
confidential, down to the last fatal day
which ended Mr.. Lincoln's worldly ca
reer. While he was rarely seen at the
offices of the other executive departments,
at the War Office he was not merely a
frequent but constant visitor. His tail
form, wrapped in his ia nilar gray shawl,
8 was usually to be seen making its way
along the back alley that leads there from
the White House, at from nine to ten
o'clock in the morning, OF. about four in
the afternoon; and persons who were ad-
mitted to see the Secretary on important
business in his private room at those
hours, would sometimes find the Presi-
dent stretched upon the sofa there, as if
the discussion between him and the Sec
rotary had not yet been concluded In
deed, the tie between them seemed to be
quite as much that Of private affection as
of official duty and when the catastrophe
occurred which robed the nation in
mourning, all will remember how .ad-
mirbly the confidence of the decease /
statesman in his friend and adviser was
justified by the latter. For brief time,
In that awful crisis, the whole govern
ment seemed to rest upon the shoulders
of the Secretary of War; and the country
will not soon forget the manner in which
the momentous trust was discharged
The circumstances of Mr. Stanton's re-
naming in the Cabinet under Mr. John
son, of his suspension from that office, of
his re-entering upon its duties, of his re-
fusal to vacate it on the appointment OF
Adjutant General Thomas, and on his
final resignation on the failure of impeach-
ment, are too well remembered to need
special recapitulation. Mr. Stanton has
since that time remained in private life,
engaged in seeking to restore his shatter-
ed health Within the past few days he
was nominated and confrmened as Asso-
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court to fill
the vacancy occasioned by Judge Griers
resignation.
Mr. Stanton was called the American
Carnot. He took the most laborious DO
sitiOn In the Cabinet at the darkest hour,
and under the force of his will, energy,
and power Of organization, order sprang
forth from chaos, and from that day till
the close of the rebellion there was no
delay or imbecility that could be charged
upon the head Of that department. NIGHT
and day, almost without intermissiou or
rest, he toiled and planned, with cour-
age that never was dispirited by defeat,
and a trust in the cause of the Union that
made him always buoyant when other
members of the Cabinet were Respondent.
Lincoln leaned upon him in the darkest
hours, and he stayed his hands to point
to the coming and certain triumph of free
dom. Red tape, the pretensions of civil
officials, the plausible treachery ofthe Sey-
mours and other Democratic leaders who
industriously heaped mp difficulties and
multiplied obstacles In the rear, while
his heart and hands were more than filed
with the gigantic and awful life and
death struggle going on at the front, the
selfishnesS of place-seekers and the greed
of contractors and money-makers-all
were swept out of the way by his hercu
lean strength of mind and will, as he
planned and executed with sleepless Wig
lance and underwriting labor for the
salvation of the nation This intense and
unparalleled devotion, beyond all cues
ton, is the cause of the death which the
country must deplore His whole nervous
system, though that of an unusually robust
man, was Frustrated by tolls and burdens
beyond all human endurance. Nothing
but the intense excitements, and dire
necessities of the occasion ever carried
him through to the end for which he a.
heroically and truly fought as the braves
and the best of the men who went dowr