Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-23
violent and to the President almSst otfensire


| read and had hardly entered when the Pre.i-
dent came in and said: ''Give me that letter;
Gen. Grant desires to withdraw it" pro-
tested against his relinquishing il until q COPY
had been made, but he said no; he had no right
| TO withhold the letter or to keep a CODY OF q
letter the writer desired to withdraw. He gave
up what would have been . potent weapon in
the coming political fight
The impeachment which followed the fight
with Mr.. Stanton occasioned bitterness Of feel
was crowded with the friends and enemies of
the President 1t was time OF great excite
| ment
THE cALMEsT MAN OF ALL.
Many friends came from all parts Of the
country to tender him their aid and sym-
pathy, but the calmest man of all was the Pres
ident himself. A republican Senator, who
feared the result Of an acquttal would be vim
dictive war by Mr.. Johnson on his enemies
which would cause bloodshed or something an
preaching it, was ISSUED by Mr.. Reverdy John
son and other democratic Senators that such
would not be the case. He said il he could
obtain that assurance from the President him
self it would influence in great measure his
action. He could not go to the White House.
for that was surrounded by detectives. who re-
ported every one who entered to the managers
of impeachment Despite these argus ewes
however. the President took a late supper with
some friends in the neghborhood of the Ar
lington and spent hour with this Senator
who was so we'll satisfied with the interview
that he was one OF the republicans who voted
against impeachment. In justice to both now
dead and gone, l know they never met after
that night
THE IMPEACHMENT VOTE AND RESULT.
The Hon. John b. Henderson, now a resi-
dent Of Washington, then a Senator from
Missouri, refused to acknowledge the power of
the Legislature to instruct him how to vote
- hnr In ttn1r
with Senators Dixon, Doolittle. Fessenden
Ross, Trumbull and Grimes The
vote Of Mr.. Ross was watched with great in
terest-no one knew how he would vote. On
the day the vote was taken Senator Voorhees,
was at the office ~ the IHteliigencer and mani
tested great anxiety. and though on very close
terms of intimacy with Senator Ross. he had no
knowledge Of how he would vote. When the
acqnttal was announced the friends OF the Presi-
dent thronged the White House and gratula-
tons were poured In upon him by letters and
kilograms from all parts of the country. Amid
this scene Of excitement and hilarty he alone
renamed calm. He never doubted his ac-
qnittaL Senator Ross left the Senate at the
close of that session, and for some years
worked at case" to support his family He
was rendered for himself and friends any favor
the administration could bestow. which he de-
clned. and refused even to call on the Presi-
dent, to whom, however he sent his congratu-
lations.
OF New Mexico. The late Senator Beck Of Ken
lucky was called on to help Judge Trimble.
who for some years represented Kentucky in
Congress- He called 10 the President and
SAID his friend was a candidate for the position
aud no could not too highly recommend him
for any position, but if he was President he
would appoint Mr.. Ross, for he had suffered
for years for the conscientious discharge of his
duty and was entitled to recognition by the ad-
ministratlon. The President, taking Senator
Beck's view Of the matter, made the appoint
ment at Cnce.
REMARKABLE CONVENTION.
/ cannot close this notice of Mr. Johnson's
administration without alluding to the remark
able convention held at Philadelphia in May
1866. THE arm-in-arm" convention IL was
called. as at its opening the northern and south
ern delegates came into the hall arm in arm
led by James l.. Orr of South Carolina and Gen
Crouch of Massachusetts. and so on through all
the states. The convention WAS remarkable as
being the first meeting Of the north and south
after the war. 1t was Charleston, 1860, and
Philadelphia, 1866. Henry J. Raymond as
chairman of the committee. offered the resolu-
tIons. which we're of the most conservative
character. When the committee, indeed the
whole convention, came to Washington TO pre-
sent the resolutions passed by the convention
to the President Gen. Grant stood by the side
of Mr.. johnson and shared with him the thanks
which they conveyed
Mr.. Johnson's cabine. was, with one or two
exceptions, an able one: Gov. Seward, Secre-
tary of State; Gideon Welles. Secretary of the
Navy; j. p Usher. James Harlan and o. H.
Browning, Secretaries of the Interior: William
Dennison and Alex W. Randall, Postmaster
Generals; Hugh Mccullough remained in the
Treasury Department against the protest Of
every friend Mr.. johnson had.
The administration burdened not only
with the reconstruction troubles, but the pres
he i'm
WAS added to the domestic problem it had to
solve. The diplomacy of Gov. Seward was ex-
ercised with great fairness and consideration
and he was aided by the able representative of
France in the person of the Marquis de Mon
thalon. whose knowledg, Of American policy
aidod greatly in the peaceful solution OF that
question. The Marquis de Monthalon was with
the French legation under Mr.. Pagert during
Mr.. Van BurenJ administration, and married
the daughter o. Gen. Gratoit. if | remember
rightly. In the house now occupied as st. AIMS
Infant Asylum. Gen. Gratiot built the house
while CHIEF OF tho engineer department
MIR. johnson appointed Lewis ID. Campbell
of Ohio, minister to Mexico. and empowered
INN to obtain for the Emperor Macmillan
safe conduct from Mexican territory. Unfortu-
nately, Mr.. Campbell was taken sick at New
Orleans en- route and was unable to proceed on
MS mission OF mercy, and MaXimillian was
shot by order of the Mexican president The
Princess Sam Salm, who will be remembered
think, on Gen. McClellan's staff. WAS in Mexico
and made every effort. with other Americans
to save the life of MaXmiiliau. but in vain
think IL was her efforts which induced the
President to send Mr.. Campbell TO Mexico on
his mission. She returned to Austria-where
she now resides near the unfortunate Carlotta,
Mr.. Pagert, who was minister from France when
Marquis de Monthalon married the daughter
of Gen. Gratj6t had married the daughter Of
Major William u. Lewis. who was one Of the
AUDITORS of the Treasury under Gen Jackson.
PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND MRS. sURRArr
have no desire to provoke q controversy,
but cannot but in justice to Mr.. johnson say
Of my own knowledge, had the recommenda-
ton for the pardon of Mrs. Surratt. signed by
every member of the commission but one been
presented to him with the sentence of the COM
mission, the country would have been spared
that blot upon It's escutcheon. Mr. johnson
had no knowledge OF its existence until nearly
two years after the execution, and heard
of it for the first time when Mr.. Edwards
Pierpont, then Attorney General, alluded to it
in his opening speech at the trial Of John
Surratt One of the defenders of the Depart
ment Of Justice who recently appeared in the
Century alluded to the silence Of Rev. Father
Walter as an evidence of his belief in her guilt
and consequently justified her execution. The
twenty-five years of silence having expired
which the venerable Father Walter imposed
upon himself at the request Of the late Arch
bishop Spalding. his statement of the case may
be looked for by the public within the next few
months. MIR. johnson never ceased to regret
the execution Of Mrs. Surratt. and would gladly
have availed himself of the petition, withheld
from him, to commute her sentence. 1 have
heard him express this regret while in the
presidential chair, and after the expiration o.