The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-09-02
2ECOLLECTIONS OF LORD CHIEF
JUSTICE COLERIDGE.
(Tenth Paper.)

In my conversations with Lord Coleridge
and his guests 1 discovered a tone of de-
probation in what they had TO say of
President Harrison. This was an echo Of
the views OF the so-called press,
notably the Nation and the New York
Evening Post. Mr.. Godkin and Mr.. Horace
White. il seems. could never see ability
or merit in Morton or harrison. In the
same way the members of the Reform
Cuba club OF which / am an unworthy
member. with my dues for "a still unpaid,
1 believe-the members of this club are in
the habit of belittling. or TO use a milder
phrase. patronizing men of the West who
show ability of a high order. This habit
they should set themselves to work
10 reform at once. Their judg-
ments OF men are happily re-
Tersed in most cases. and no serious
harm is done in the long run. Seward was.
20 men of this class, the only great states
man. and Lincoln a 'j~ack-legged" country
lawyer. a sort OF cheap John politician.
and nothing more. Mcclellan was par ex-
cellence the great military chieftain of
the war. Grant was a dull fellow. Phil
Sheridan was properly employed in buying
mules for the ouartermaster's department.
Sherman was supposed to be insane be-
cause he dlssented from Seward's opinion
that the war was a ninety days. affair.
and had said that it would take quite a
large force to keep the rebels out of Ken
lucky. And then John Sherman and Gar
field and Harrison, bearing the bar sinister
OF Western birth. were second-rate men.
So they wrote and talked in their little
lotteries in the East. But even the most
pronounced mugwump. rising now from
his salaams to the great statesman who
is resting at Gray Gables. viii admit that
Lincoln was something of a man after all.
and that Grant, and Sherman, and Me-
Pherson. and Logan. and Sheridan. handi-
capped as they were by reason OF their OBJ
scure births in the wild West. made toler-
able figures as military leaders: that Sena-
tor Sherman. and Harrison. and Garfield
ala not appear at a disadvantage along
side OF the later specimens of Eastern
craftsmanship. the Germans, the Hills, the
Quays, the Camerons. etc. Well. Lord Cole
-fdge being much with these Eastern
gentlemen when in this country in 1883
and reading copies Of the Nation occasion
ally . d come TO think that Harrison was
a sol of hoy statesman" whose adj
minist. alton would be respectable and pos
sibly able under the guidance of Mr..
Blaine. who 10 the English mind stood
as a sort of Premier to a fgure-head
President. To disabuse the mind of his
Lordship L took occasion TO send him a
ketch of the life and public career of
resident Harrison, which was published
IN the New York Evening Post Dec. I.
1888. "A few weeks after the presidential
election. In response 1 received a letter
dated Jan. 10. 1897, from st. Lawrence-on-
the Sea. In Kent. where Lord Coleridge
had gone for his Christmas vacation.
Among other things he said:i
7 thank you for the paper and for your
InnUUhr 49, me- IN An1fE - $50
Ii with great interest, not only as being
yours. but because IL narrates and ex-
IN Itself. and il V may n be- said hnd im 5Ooehlns
IN England. There may have been iex-
arnples in the times of the Commonwealth.
perhaps. when Bishop Compton, Bishop of
London. certainly had been a cavalry Off
Ger. but they were very few. There were
bar who left the army at the peace and
disarmament after Waterloo. but that
again was a very different sort of thing.
They were little more than boys when they
went on half pay, and practically they
nved the ordinary humdrum life of barris-
ters ever after With you ii must have
been more common. though such a charac-
ter as you describe could be common no.
where / remember coming across a very
interesting and powerful man in Ohio, who
mad served as a private. and was then
usSJ) one of the first men in his State. a
Mr. Lincoln; i believe. no relation TO the
great president, but a man of very great
vsor or mind and character. There we're
very good stories OF his force and power
TOTO ME, but all highly to his honor. IL is
"A poor return for your paper. but | send
you a hasty thing ] had to write against
time for the unwilling OF Matthew Arnold's
bust 1t Is really as much about - as
Arnold, and in thas view perhaps may in
terest you i often think of our pleasant
time together in the summer, and wish
that IL could have been prolonged or could
be repeated i should be glad 10 have
shown you my DevOnshire home merely as
the sort of country house, not large and
splendid. but comfortable. which so many
OF us love so well. l was in one or two
country houses In America. particularly at
the town OF LennOx. Mass. which seemed
10 me In itself and In its surroundings very
beautiful and liVeable, II one may coin a
WORD. Ihat L aid not see many more such
L attribute to my own journeying being so
much amongst the cities OF America, which.
indeed, with the people. were what / went
10 see But L suppose they are at least
rarer with you than with US, for | observe
cultivated Americans always were pleased
with them here and speak with regret of
their comparative absence in the States"
When President Harrison had completed
his tour across the country and his
speeches were collected l sent Lord Cole
ridge a copy OF the book containing them.
His Lordship was much pleased. and IN a
letter dated JUL 2. 1892. he said:
"The speeches gi-e me a very high idea
OF Mr.. Harrison. We know very little here
sf Saur politicians. and IL is pleasant TO be