Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-27

a WI as widely dlVerg-
Ed,ci, NJ Stanton. ing as night and
day, portraying him as worthy of eminent
praise and as worthy of scorching eensure,
and yet both absolutely true.
His dominant quality was his heroic
mould. He could be heroic to adegree that
seemed almost superhuman, and yet at
times submissive to the very verge of cow
ardice. Like Lincoln he fully trusted no
man; but unlike Lincoln, he distrusted all,
and doubt whether any man prominently
connected with the Government gave con-
fdenee to so few as did Stanton. He in
turn trusted and hated nearly every Cen
eral prominent in the early part of the
war. He was McClellan's closest personal
friend and counselor when he entered the
Lincoln Cabinet, and later became McClel-
lan's most vindictive and vituperative foe.
The one General who held his confidence
without interruption was General Grant.
Often Spoke sneeringly to Lincoln.
He often spoke of, and to, public men,
military and civil, with withering sneer.
I have heard him scores Of times thus
speak of Lincoln. He was q man of ex-
treme moods; often petulent, irritating and
senselessly unjust, and at times was one Of
the most amiable, genial and delightful
conversationalists I have ever met. He
loved antagonism, and there was hardly .
period during his remarkable service as
War Minister in which he was not, on some
more or less important point, in positive
antagonism with the President In his an
tagonisms he was, as rule, Extensively
despotic, and often pressed them upon Lin
coin to the very utmost point of Lincoln's
forbearance; but he knew when to call a
halt upon himself, as he we'll knew that
there never was a day or an hour during
his service in the Cabinet that Lincoln was
not his absolute master.
He respected Lincoln's authority because
it was greater than his own, but he had lit
tie respect for Lincoln's fitness for the re-
sponsible duties of the Presidency. have
seen him at times as tender and gentle as q
woman, his heart seeming to agOnize over
the sorrows of the humblest: and I have
seen him many more times turn away with
the haughtiest contemplation appeals which
should at least have been treated with re-
spect.
Was Proud of His Enemies.
He had few personal and fewer political
friends, and he seemed proud of the fact
that he had more personal and political enc
mics than any prominent officer of the Gov
ernment. Senators, representatives and
high military commanders were often Of
Tended by his wanton arrogance. and again
thawed into cordial relations by his elusive
kindness. Taken all in all, Edwin NJ.
Stanton was capable of the grandest and
the meanest actions of any great man have
ever known, and he has reared imperishabls
monuments to the opposing qualities he
possessed.
After Stanton's retirement from the
Buchanan Cabinet when Lincoln was 1n-
he maintained the closest conf
Dental relations with Buchanan, and wrote
him many letters expressing the utmost con-
tempt for Lincoln, the Cabinet, the Republi-
can Congress and the general policy of the
These letters, given to the -
public in Curtis life of Buchanan, speak
freely ofthe ''painful imbecility of Lincoln"
of the ''venality and corruption" which ran
riot in the Government, and expressed the
belief that no better condition of things was
possible ''until JEFF Davis turns out the
whole concern" He was firmly impressed
for some weeks after the battle of Bull Run
hat the Government was utterly over.
thrown, as he repeatedly refers to the
coming of Davis into the National Capital.
In one letter he says that 'in less than 30
lays Davis will be in possession of Wash
ngton," and it is an open secret that
Stanton advised the revolutionary over
hrow of the Lincoln Government to be re-
placed by General Mcclellan as military
dictator.
The Worst Letters Never Published.
These letters published by Curtis, bad az
hey are, are not the worst letters written
" Stanton to Buchanan. Some of them
we're SO violent in their expressions against
lincoln and the administration that they
ave been charitably withheld from the
,ublic, but they remain in the possession OF
he surviving relatives of President Bu-
hanan. OF course, Lincoln had no knowl-
dge of the bitterness exhibited by Stanton
o himself personally and to his admInistra-
ion, but if he had known the worst that
,tanton ever said or wrote about him,
oubt not that he would have called him to
he Cabinet in January, 1862. The disas-
ers the army suffered made Lincoln forget
ul of everything but the single duty OF
uppressing the Rebellion
From the day that Mcclellan was called
0 the command of the Army of the Poto-
lac in place of Mcdowell, Stanton was in
Enthusiastic accord with the military policy
f the Government. The constant irrita-
ion between the War Department and mil.
ary commanders that had vexed Lincoln
4 the early part OF the war made him anx-
,us to obtain War Minister who was not
My resolutely honest, but who was in
lose touch with the commander of the ar
lies. This necessity, with the patriotic
,cord that Stanton had made during the
osing months of the Buchanan administra-
on, obviously dictated the appointment OF
tanton. 1t was Lincoln's own act.
A Great Financial Stroke.
Lincoln was not long in discovering that
his new Secretary of War he had an in.
aluable but most troublesome Cabinet
ficer, but he saw only the great and good
ices that Stanton was performing for the
nperiled Republic. Confdence was re-
ored in financial circles by the appoint
ent Of Stanton, and his name q War