The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1886-03-27

that bill
Il returned to the hotel and i'm
mediatly informed my colleagues,
Senator Wiley and Congressman
Brown, of our appointment with the
President Promptly at O'Clock
we were on hand. After the usual
salutations, Mr. Lincoln remarked.
81 have asked and received the
written opinions of my Cabinet, as to
the propriety of approving this bill.
These l will read to you, but as l
read them ! will not inform you
whose opinions they are
OPINIONS OF THE CABINET.
AS you may imagine, we were all
well informed as to the positions oc-
cupied by the Cabinet on the subject
and Mr.. Brown told the President
that we could easily inform him of
each opinion, and we did so. As
Mr.. Lincoln read each paper either
pro or con, one of our delegation
would tell him who wrote it, and
we were given to understand indi-
rectly that we were correct. There
were six of these opinions. William
ii. Seward, Secretary of State, Sal
mon p Chase, Secretary of the
Treasury, and Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War, were strongly in
favor of the admission of the State
of West Virginia; while Gideon
Wells, Secretary of the Navy, Ed
ward Bates, Attorney General, and
Montgomery Blair, Postmaster Gen
eral all strenuously opposed the
measure. Caleb B. Smith, Secretary
of the Interior, was at his home in
Indiana, and his opinion was not
had.
Laying aside the documents he
had read, Mr.. Lincoln reached with
his left hand and drew out of draw
er in the little old pine table at which
he sat, a written paper, and looking
up with a quizzical smile, he said:
Now, gentlemen, l will read you
the odd trick
''Of course we all knew it was his
own opinion, and we listened to it
with intense interest, for we knew
that on the purport of the few words
penned on the paper he held in his
hand, depended the fate of our new
State project. After he had finished
reading it, thought, and l think
now, that he had said more in the
same space than any member of the
Cabinet as to the ACCESSIBILITY of adj
hitting the new State. We were
overjoyed by the fact that he was on
our side, as indicated by what he
had read, and l remarked to him
that liked that odd trick better
than any of the others.
after talking some time longer
on the matter which had brought us
together, and other topics of current
interest, we took our leave. Before
going, however, said to him;
Tomorrow, Mr.. Presidents New
Years Day, on which occasion /
know you will not receive business
callers. 1t would afford me great
pleasure to be able to send to my
constituents, as New Years present
the news of the admission of the State
of West Virginia into the Union.
"If you will come up here early in
the morning. Mr. Lincoln replied, i
will tell you what | have done with
the bill
II could scarcely sleep that night,
and the next morning not later than
8 o'clock, / was on hand at the Pres
idential Mansion. Through his pri-
vate secretary, l informed Mr. Lin
coin that l was there to see him, and
that | would not detain him a mo-
ment. | was admitted at once to
the Presidents office and to my as
constituent, / found Mr.. Seward and
Mr.. Stanton there at that early hour
to wish Mr.. Lincoln the compliments
of the season. They were then in
the office. I did not sit down. AT
ter greeting ME, Mr.. Lincoln walked
at once to the well known standing
desk in the room. which was shah
by, rude sort of an affair, and took
the bill from the pigeon-hole where
it rested. He opened it, and walking
to my side, held it close to my eyes
and said:
THE NEW STATE BORN.
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