The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-28

relations with Mr.. MedilI continued to be
of the most friendly character. The two
men met occasionally in the White House
and they maintained steady correspon-
dence, yet very seldom did either write to
the other a letter. The manner of this
seeming paradox is interesting. In the
midst of the titanic turmoils of the war
Lincoln had little time and less inclina-
ton to write personal letters. Yet no pub
lie man, not even the first Napoleon him.
self, had a stronger appetite for inteli-
gence or more various methods of acquiring
it. In last October's number of McClure's
Magazine Mr.. Mitchell described how adj
mirably Mr.. Dana served the President as
his ''eyes at the 'front.' and with what
keenness of relish the humorist of the
White House absorbed the pungent dis
patches of the humorist of the War De-
partment. Mr.. Lincoln had other means
OF gaining and imparting military and po
litical news of which perhaps not even his
Assistant Secretary of War was cognizant.
Communication was kept up between
the President and Mr.. Mediu through the
mediary Offices of Schuyler Colfax and E.
B. Washburne. Mr.. Medill acquaintance
with Mr. Colfax was of very long standing
=
dill, then youngster of %, was exploring
: Northern Indiana in search of a place in
which TO locate Arriving at South
: Bend he made his way to the newspaper
office. where he found the editor, a very
: blonde and tow-headed young man, at
work at the lease" setting up the matter
for next weeks issue. The tow-headed
:: young man was Schuyler Colfax and the
acquaintance thus formed lasted, with in
'creaSing intimacy, until his. untimely
death: And MIR. MedilPs acquaintance
. withE. b. Washburne was almost as close
and intimate.
" Afr. Medill describes Colfax as ga man
Wlth a. woman's temperament, refined.
nice: and insinuating." He would sit
down by man and smile and purr until
within an hour he would know all that
=<Ifan knew on the point he was seeking,
He would not betray a confidence, but he
..:dearly loved what the Scotch call two
> handed crack" Washburne was more
: hearty and outspoken, but he could not
get at the bottom of his interlocutor's
= mind as Colfax could.
- :. Even the secretiHe Lincoln was not proof
against so insinuating character as this.
=:Nhen MIR. ColfaX was Speaker OF the
: House 1t was pretty well understood that
he was very close in the Presidents conf
.:denee and could approach him at times
and upon ground where other men feared
q: to- tread.
=. Thus Mr. Medill turned these old friend
ships, and especially that with Colfax, to
good account. When he wanted to reach
the: President, to impart or receive impor-
tapt Information, he would write a long
:. letter to Colfax, criticizing, questioning.
,doubtfng. And straightway Colfax would
- repair TO the White House in the evening,
= and read the letter to Lincoln, noting as be
went along the Presidents defenses, replies
= and counter assertions, which indeed the
letter had been framed to elicit. And
these in return would form the body of
C.olfax}s reply to Medill. (These interest
: ing letters OF Colfax's would be admirable
reading at this time but unfortunately
they were lost in the great fire of 1917
In one of his letters to CoIfaX Mr.. Me-
dill deliberately wrote that the Union was
lost unless the President should straight
. way boldly emancipate the slaves and
thus carry out the implied promises con-
tanned in his remarkable speech OF 1885,
already referred to. To this Mr.. Colfax
replied at once that here was a subject
upon which the President daily declined
TO talk, as the time had not come.
This was in the early autumn of 1852
when the fortunes and spirits of McClel-
: lan's army were at the lowest ebb. Mr.
Medill went to Washington with intent to
have private and solemn talk with the
President. But first he visited some mem
. bers of the Cabinet with Salmon 7. Chase,
the Secretary of the Treasury. He spent
dismal evening. The disgruntled Ohioan
declared that he could get no more money
with which to carry on the war and what
he had on hand was not worth forty cents
on the dollar.
The Secretary of War was no less doubt
full. '"Ihis thing is pretty near petered
out" sand Mr.. Stanton. Your man, Lin
coin, is not displaying the ability that is
needed 10 bottom
falling out"
Lincoln heard me out" said Mr.. Medill,
sin long talk at night in favor of emanci-
patton and then answered with great sol
emnlty; II dare not issue this thunder
bolt until the Union armies shall have
won some decisive victory. The effect of
a proclamation now would be to ALLEVIATE
the Union Democrats in the North and in
the army without whose aid we must fail;
for the zeal of the abolitionists has been
well night exhausted by the sacrifice of its
eldest born these two years past
81 confess that Lincoln nearly won me
over to his way of thinking, though what
he said to me was terrible shock to a man
who had just come out of the Northwest,
where all was confident of eventual sue
cess and where everybody was talking of
Hberating the slaves. When l returned to
Chicago found a number of preachers of
several sects, under the leadership of DR..
Patton, since dead, organizing to go on to
Washington upon the same errand as my
own. | told the Rev. DR.. Patton in conf
dence what the President had said to me.
No Union victory, no proclamation but
he and his friends went to Washington,
where, as I learned, they had a pretty
warm time. The President fatty declined
to issue the proclamation for about the
same reason he gave me. Shortly after
this the Union army won the hard fought
battle of Antietam. And in few days
thereafter the thunderbolt of emancipation
was hurled
Mr.. Medill's brother, major in the
Eighth Illinois Cavalry, serving on the
Potomac, was shot near Gettysburg and
carried off the field to the hospital. Mr. |
Medill hurried to his bedside and met
there Vice-President Hannibal HamIin, |
who was there on similar errand, one of |
his sons having been shot in the leg. |
Through the Vice-President's influence
Mr.. Medill procured letter admitting him
to see General Meade, and that officer i
entered upon an errand which, at this day, |
appears extraordinary.
II wanted, Mr.. Medill says, "to urge
rot Al Ill