Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-08-18
John Albion Andrew, the War Gov
ernOr of Massachusetts.

In James Freeman Clark's volume OF
Memorial and Biographical Sketches,
the opening chapter is devoted to his no.
BILE friend and parishioner, John A. An
drew The following passages will illus
trate the Governors GOODNESS, poise, fore
sight, and capacity for conduct, when he
was suddenly called to to take the helm
in the hurricane"
Immediately on the news of the taking
of Fort Sumter by the confederates, the
whole South became one frenzy of excite
ment. President Lincoln issued his call
for seventy-fve thousand troops, of which
two regiments were assigned to Massa-
chusetts. Within week from the issue
of this proclamation, Governor Andrew
despatched .1ive reg iments to Washington,
beside battalion of riflemen and a bat
terry Of artillery. This was done by
means of that wise foresight which led
him to act at once, when action was nee
essary, without waiting for the slow de-
lays of legislation; SO that in some Of his
messages ''it is touch1ng,' says Horace
Binney Sargent, "to read anallusion to Ger.
tain expenditures made without authori.
ty OF law but which he leaves 70 the can
dor of the Legislature. The like prescience
induced him, in advance of all statesmen.
to urge upon the National Government the
then astonishing enrolment of six hun
dred thousand men"
Andrew himself said, that "when, on
the anniversary Of the battle of Licking
ton, there came the news along the wires
that the sixth regiment had been cutting
its way through the streets of Baltimore,
whose pavements were Redeemed with the
blood OF Middlesex, it seemed as if there
descended into our hearts a mysterious
strength, and into our minds a supernal
illumination" DR.. Clarke proceeds:
On the afternoon OF that 10Th Of April,
1861, l passed into the Governors office
in the State House, through the ante
room, crowded with the fathers, mothers
and wives of the soldiers Just attacked
in Baltimore. kilograms were arriving,
officers coming and going, messengers
from the adjutant. generals office, from
the quartermaster's office, judges, sena-
tors, the most influential men in the city
and poor women came to ask if their sons
had been heard from. In the midst Of the
commotion, the Governor sat al his table,
calm in the midst of all, attending to
each piece of business in order, hearing
and answering all inquiaies, considering
and promptly deciding every difficult
point, and writing the famous telegram
which seemed to show, tor the first time,
that tenderness might be an element in
war.
AT all events, I cannot but think that
this telegram had much to do with the
tenderness afterward manifested. 1t en-
couraged women 60 as nurses to hospitals,
and to be received in them it encouraged
the sanitary commission in its work, and
gave tone of humanity to what was to
follow. And how many days afterward
do recall during the war, when, going
to his room in the State House on some
special business, found him always the
same-calm, tranquil, doing such an en-
ormous amount Of work, like Goethe's
star, 'Without haste and without rest"
He worked like the great engine in the
heart of the steamship. The vessel may
be rolling and pitching amid frightful
seas, her decks swept by successive waves
but there, i'll the centre of the ship, the
engine works steadily on, with tranquil
accuracy, but enormous power. Such
force, so steadily exercised, was his. There
was no jar, no strain, no hurry, no repose
bat constant, equable motion, on and on
through all those weary years, to their
triumphal end
One secret of this great worklng-pow
was the natural equanimity OF his tenn.
per. He was always cheerful, sunny, +ull
OF anecdotes and pleasant mirth, with in.
finite good nature, with none Of the cor
rosive element of irritable self-love. Il
we keep to our image of an engine, this
Oil of kindness was the lubricating me-
dunn which prevented all waste of power
by friction. Of this golden temper Of
Governor Andrew Mr.. Mason says, III
was the sunshine God sent into his happy
heart to bear him through the labors O,
his life.'
Another cause of his executive force was
that, both by conviction, instinct, anc
habit, he never stopped to lament ovel
the past, or to anticipate with anxiety
the future. I recall one illustration O
| this in 1854. on the occasion of the rem