The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-04
Visit-to the Southern Abolition.
list and Statesman.
GREAT MEN he HAS KNOWN.
How He Got the Russian Mission and
How He Gave Us Alaska - Ais
Opinion OF George KEENAN,.

abolitionist of the shareholders of thu
South, prominent candidate for vice
president at the time that Hamlin was
nominated, our minister to Russia durin
the administration of Abraham Lincoln.
and for the past fifty years one of the Lead
ing thinkers of the country, he is TODAY.
at 81, almost as strong intellectually and
physically as he was when he made his
first abolition speech as q student in
Yale college, nearly sixty years ago.
His fourscore years have not diminished
his courage, and his arm is as ready to
strike in his own defense today as it has
been in the many deadly encounters of his
past, wherein in self-defense he has used
the pistol and the knife in the support of
his doctrines and has fought to the death.
There is no Drawer man in the United
States than Cassius NJ. Clay, and doubt
whether there. is gentler or more Gull
tured one. l have spent several days with
MIN on his estate known as White Hall,
ana have had hours of chatty conversation
with him about the great men he has
known, and as to some of the most stirring
incidents of his eventful life.
GENERAL CLAY AT WHITE HALL.
Cassius M. Clay was perhaps the richest
young man in the South. His father had
vast tracts of land, and he left him 9. 200
acres OF the very best Kentucky blue grass.
White Hall is one of the finest mansions
In the South. General Clay was born upon
the spot on which he now lives. His
fathers house cost $4,000, and General
Clay has added such improvements as to
make it cost $50, 600 more. It is a great
red brick of three stories, of nearly an hun
dred feet front, and almost the same
depth. 1t stands on knoll, and a rich.
rolling country of forest and lawn slopes
out on every side of it. A wide hall is
entered through big front door, and as
you go in you see in inches on either side
of you, busts of Henry Clay and Horace
Greeley. The bust of Greeley was taken
when he was a young man and it was
made by Joel Hart. the famous Kentucky
sculptor, for Mr.. Clay. Henry Clay's bust
is also by Hart, and both of them are
originals of great value. The hall is SO
large that you could turn wagon load of
hay about In it without touching tbs
walls. 1t is furnished with sofas and
chairs, none of which are less than an
hundred years old, and upon It's walls
hangs works of art by famous European
painters. Gortchakoff and the Empress Of
Russia look down upon you from the left
as you enter, and on the right you see a
magnificent painting by the Landseer of
Russia, of the Gar Alexander IL,
riding In sleigh. To the
right of this hall are the
parlors. Their ceilings, like that of the
hall, are at least twenty feet high, and
they are luxuriously furnished and have
many beautiful paintings. To the left of
the hall is the generals library, consisting
of two large rooms. and back of this is the
dining-room. The second floor is of the
same generous dimensions, and my bed
room had ceilings fifteen feet high, and it
was, I judge twenty-five feet square.
Shortly after I was shown to my room
plate of the most luscious grapes was sent
up, and General Clay has, perhaps, the
finest fruit in Kentucky. He is famed
for his watermelons, and on the inside
of the hall, near the door, noted at
least score of great melons, some Of
which were four feet long and about eigh-
teen inches in diameter. I found them
as sweet as they looked, and General Clay
discussed the fruit as we ate them to-
gether. "The best melons," said he, one
day as we were getting away with one
about the size of waste-paper basket,
"nevet get into the market. They have
thin and brittle rinds and they are
sure to break in shipping. You notice
that this melon has white seeds, and still
it is as ripe as it can be. find that the
seeds of melons change with cultivation
and the seeds of this stock were black
when began to cultivate them few years
ago, but they have changed from year to
year until they are now as white as snow"
During our meals-we ate as rule alone,
for the general keeps bachelors hall-he
discussed astronomy and the laws of
health, and told me that he attributed his
longevity to temperance In eating, and
that he always got up from the table
hungry, He preferred vegetables to
meats, and though the table was
loaded down with good things, he took
but little. He proudly said that
everything on his table with the exception
of the pepper, the salt and the coffee, had
been raised by him on his farm, and that
he felt happy in being independent. At
one time during my stay he talked offarm-
ing, and said that ne found the raising Of
Southdown sheep and export cattle the
most profitable, and | am told that he has
the finest sheep in the United States.
LINCOLN AND SEWARD.
One evening during my stay asked Mr..
Clay who was the greatest man he had
ever known. He replied: 81 believe that
Abraham Lincoln was the greatest man
this country has ever produced. AS a
diplomat he was greater than all his diplo-
mats as general he was superior to
any general in the army, and as states
man he far outranked his cabinet. He
was clogged in his administration by his
cabinet, and be had some bad elements
about him. Take Seward, for instance.
He was not in sympathy with Lincoln.
He was a man of no principle and he ives
always working for himself and stealing
from the presidency. / knew Seward very
well before the convention of 1860, and
/ called on him here at Washington.
lie was then very anxious to be presi-
dent, and he showed me a paper
he had written in which he announced be
was for the Union, slave or free. That
killed him with me. and then decided
would have nothing TO do with his can
didacy. He knew that / went against him
and he became my enemy and we were
enemies until the day of his death. He
was secretary Of state while | was IN
Russia. and he heaped many petty insults
upon me. / first met Lincoln before he
was elected 10 congress. It was
during lecture that i gave
at Springfield, and Lincoln was
sitting whiting In the back part
of the crowd. l became. well acquainted
with him later on, and when he was noml-
mated / was leading candidate for vice
president, but did not go TO the conven-
ton nor make any effort to have my
friends nominate me and Hamlin WIS
chosen. President Lincoln wrote ne
shortly after this that he intended to APP
point me secretary of war. l had served