Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-12-08
washington Correspondence Of the Cincinnati
Commercially
Political "Reminiscences.

Political "Reminiscences.
STANTON, LINCOLN, CAMERON, ETc.-A
TALK BETWEEN JERRY BLACK AND
DON PIATT.
Piatt.-It's shame, Mr.. Black, that,
with your knowledge Of events, and clear,
forcible style, you do not devote portion
of your time to writing up the history CT
the late troubled period.
Black Thank you and when done it
would be Jerry Blacks opinion, and SO
pass as history, eh? But / have little
paper now prepared that I want to show
you, touching this controversy over Stan
ton.
PA most unfortunate controversy,
Mr. Black. The late War Secretary suf-
fers at the hands Of his friends.
B.-Not more than I suffer to see facts
brought out that never dreamed of.
P.-Are you certain Of the facts :?
b. have had legal training, and
cannot shut my eyes to evidence, however
unpleasant it may be.
P.-But Is it evidence Now you
knew Edwin M. Stanton through life
time, almost, and you were warm, cher
ished, confding friends. Can you not say
that YOU know him as well as Senator
Wilson or Chief Justice Chase?
B.-Cannot say that. To know man
one must listen to his enemies as well as
his friends. To a wife and children, for
example, many convict is saint and a
martyr. 1t is always unsafe to run on
ones preiudices, be they for or against a
man. Now when it is proven that man
has been double-sided, held with the
hounds when running with the hare, I am
forced to accept the proof, however pain
full it may be. For example, when Sum-
ner tells me of Stanton's consorting with
abolitionists at DR.. Bailey's house in
Washington, at the very time he was ex-
pressing an utter adherence of them, !
am amazed and panied, but 1 accept the
fact. f@f-
P.-Which is not the fact, don't care
who asserts it. I knew Mr.. Stanton and
DR.. Bailey intimately. Stanton had a
great admiration for DIR. Bailey, person
ally, regarding him as pure, high-toned
man, of remarkable intellect, but he did
not sympathize with his party, and, I'll
venture to say, was never in his house
but once, and that was when that great
and good man was carried out to be bur-
led. He and I rode in the same carriage
to the cemetery, and in that ride he ex-
pressed himself freely in eulogy of the
doctor, and his condemnation of the party
B.-That is one instance-'hose ieiio"s
give me many
Yes, precisely such as are en-
bodied in the Chief Justices letter, in
which he says Mr.. Stanton was an anti
slavery man when he knew him in Col
umbus. So were you; so were the entire
Democratic party at that time. But
Stanton did not sympathize with the men
who proposed to cut down the tee to get
clear of the catepillars. Co.,
Mr.. Black shook his head, then said,
after pause II think his course toward
Lincoln was the most remarkable. I was
cognizant of all that. l remember we'll
Stanton telling, on his return from the
trial of an important railroad case in Gin
cinnati, of the attempt made to force in a
buffoon of man called Lincoln, from
Illinois, and how he shouldered him out.
Stanton called him a baboon. 1t was a
favorite term before he became Secretary
of War. Gentlemen told me afterward
that Lincoln, on his return to Springfield,
complained of the treatment, and said
that he had never before been treated with
such brutality.
P.-Yes; the late Col. Key, of Gin
cinnati, witnessed the scene. He said
that Lincoln appeared in a light summer
run, and his long, Tank, queer appearance
was really startling.
b. was present when Lincoln and
Stanton met for the first time after that
event. Stanton was cool and quiet, while
Lincoln was excited and, could see, a
little Hurried. He seized Stanton by the
arm, and shaking it nervously, said: Yes,
yes, here's man | know know Stan
ton. But / could see underneath futter
that came of keen remembrance of the
insult.
P.-Do you think so ? doubt whether
anything ever reached him. He lacked
sensibility. While Stanton, Thomas, Lee,
and now Chase, suffered through the
dreadful wear and tear Of those days,
Lincoln remained unmoved, and had he
escaped assassination, would have lived to
an old age.
Bile was wonderful man. He is
moderated because not understood. To
control men and influence events he has
no equal in history.
PIE had cunning that amounted
to genius, and no constituencies to interfere
with his designs. What other man would
have received Stanton kindly, and made
him Secretary of War, after the insults
that Edwin M. had heaped upon him?
b could not, for one. But his dis
missal of Cameron was of the same sort
The cool, quiet way in which he kicked
Cameron out of the Cabinet was an event
unsurpassed up to that time.
P.-You were right, too, IN your his
tory of that event. The idea that Cam
eron selected and designated Stanton as
his successor is preposterous. I never
heard Stanton speak of Cameron that be
did not denounce him, and Cameron must
have known of it.
B.-If he had not, it was not Stanton's
fault. | heard an officer once complain to
Stanton that he never could get in to see
Cameron while Secretary Of War, although
he had been kicking his heels in the ante
chamber for week. That is because,
said Stanton, you are an honest man and
a gentleman.
P.-About Cameron's successor Cam
eron was never consulted. The appoint
ment hung between Holt and Stanton for
some time, and the scales were turned in
favor of Stanton by Chase and Mcclellan.
Stanton had been McClellan's adviser,
though after Little Macs extraordinary
elevation, he was above taking advice. l
asked Stanton, few days before he went
in, what he proposed doing, and he said
he intended dropping Thomas subse-
quently ad interim-out of the nearest
window, with a pair of tongs, and then
make Lincoln President and Mcclellan
fight. s... -r...-r