Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-01

was unquestionably the most potent ir
molding Republican sentiment, but Greele,
was not in accord with Lincoln. The latter
knew how important it was to have the sup
port of the Herald and he carefully studied
how to bring its editor into close toucl
with himself
Brought Bennett to Terms
The outlook for Lincoln's reelection wa
not promising. Bennett had strongly advo
Gated the nomination of General Mcclellan
by the Democrats and that was ominous o.
hostility to Lincoln; and when Mcclellan
was nominated he was accepted on all side:
as most formidable candidate. 1t was il
this emergency that Lincoln's political
sagacity served him sufficiently to win the
Herald to his cause and it was done by the
confidential tender of the French mission
Bennett did not break over to Lincoln al
once, but he went by gradual approaches.
His first step was to declare in favor of an
entirely new candidate, which was an uttel
| impossibility. He opened leader on the
subject thus: "Lincoln has proved fail.
ure; Mcclellan has proved failure; FIRE.
mont has proved failure; let us have new
candidate"
Lincoln, Mcclellan and Fremont were
then all in the field as nominated candi-
dates, and the Fremont detection was a
serious threat to Lincoln. Of course,
and the Herald failing to get the new man it
knew to be an impossibility, squarely sd-
vocated Lincoln's reelection. Without
consulting anyone, and without any
public announcement whatever, Lincoln
wrote to Bennett, asking him to accept the
mission to France. The offer was declined.
Bennett valued the offer very much more
than the Office, and from that day until the
day of his death he was one of Lincoln 9
most appreciative friends and hearty sup
porters on his own independent line.
No Room for Doubt
The tender of the French mission to Ben
nett has been disputed, but am not mis-
taken about it w. Q. Bartlett, promi-
nent member of the New York bar, and
father of the present Judge Bartlett, of the
Supreme Court of that State, had personal
knowledge of Lincoln's autograph letter
that was delivered to Bennett, and Judge
Bartlett yet has the original letter of Lin
coin to Bennett, unless he has parted with
it within the last few years. Bennett was
not only one of the ablest and one of the
most sagaciouJ editors of his day, but he
was also one of the most independent, and
in controversy one of the most defiant. He
was in a position to render greater service
to Lincoln and to the country in its desper-
ate Civil War than any other one man in
American journalism. He did not pretend
to be Republican,; on the contrary be was
Democratic in all his personal sympathies
and convictions, but he gave faithful sup
port to the war, although often freely criti-
cising the policy of the administration.
He had no desire fo- public Office, but he
did desire, after he had acquired wealth and
,,,4 H. AL4&
Lincoln gave him, and doubt whether any
one thing during Benefits life ever gave
him more sincere qualification than this
voluntary offer of one of the frst-class mis-
sions ofthe country, made in Mr.. Lincoln's
own handwriting, and his opportunity to
decline the same. Looking as Lincoln did
to the great battle for his reelection, this
was one OF the countless sagacious acts by
which he strengthened himself from day to
day, and it did much, very much, to pave
the way for his overwhelming majority
of 1864
Sent Soldiers Home to Vote,
That Lincoln understood practical poll
tics after he had been nominated for a Sec
ond term, is very clearly illustrated in the
letter he wrote to General Sherman on the
18th of September, 1864. The States of
Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania then voted
in October for State Offices, and Indiana was
contested. Ohio was regarded
as certain, and Pennsylvania had only Con-
gressren and local officers to elect. The
soldiers Oh Indiana could not vote in the
field, and Lincoln's letter to Sherman, who
the major portion of the Indi-
ana troops, appeals to him, in Lincoln's
usual cautious manner, to furlough as many
of his soldiers home for the October election
as he could safely spare. His exact Ian
guage is: Anything you can safely do to
let your soldiers, or any part of them, go
home to vote at the State election will be
greatly in point"
To this he adds: 'This is in no sense an
order; it is simply intended to impress you
with the Importance to the army itself, of
your doing all YOU safely can, yourself be-
ing the judge Of what you can safely do"
"While this was sin no sense an order"
It was practically a command that Sherman
and generously obeyed, and the
result was that Morton was elected Gov |
ernor by some 22,00O majority. 1t was at
Lincoln's special request that General |
Logan left his command and missed the |
march to the sea, to stump Indiana and illi- |
1ois in the contest of "a He was one Of |
he ablest and most impressive of all the |
of the West, and it was re-
,arded by Lincoln as more important that
Logan should be on the hustings than in
OF his corps.
Sending Troops to the Front.
recall a pointed illustration of Lincoln's
are sagacity when confronted with embar- |
,assing political complications that occurred
n 1862, when l was in charge of the mill |
AIRY department of Pennsylvania pertain !
ng to the draft of troops made under the |
State law. Harrisburg was an important |
center of military supplies, as well as the |
political center of the State. Immense army |
contracts were then awarded and executed |
lnder officers assigned to duty at that place |
After the draft had been made, the con-
cripts began to pour into the capital BY
and as the demands for reinforce
nents in the field was very pressing, I |
allied upon the military officer of the city |
md urged upon him the necessity of mus
erlng the new men as promptly as possible.
70 my surprise he mustered only two COM
,anies the first day out of /, 900 men. On
he seceon day, notwithstanding my earnest
ppeal to him, he mustered no more than
wo companies, and on the third day, when
had over 5000 men in camp, q mere mob
without organization or dicipline, the same
edious process of mastering was continued.
telegraphed Secretary Stanton that had
many men in camp, and that they were ar
living in large numbers. but that 1 could not
ave them mustered; that 1 could forward
regiment of troops every day if the Gov
rnment would furnish the officers to muster
nd organize them. A prompt answer came
hat it would be done. The following rn-
ng a new officer appeared of course subor-
mate to the commandant of the place who
ad charge # the mastering, and he
romptly mustered an entire regiment the
rst day. On the following morning he was
elieved from duty and ordered elsewhere,