The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-20
WASHINGTON IN LINcoLN's TIME.


book About Abraham Lincoln? It seems
not. Not even the exhaustive labors of
Messrs. Nicolay and Hav the MARTYR
Presidents literary executors, have tired
the interest of the millions of people
whose pulses still quicken and whose
hearts thrill with loving, patriotic feeling
at the name of Lincoln. 1t will be MANY
long years, we believe, before Americans
sigh for surcease from Lincoln literature.
But the interest of this new book by
Noah Brooks, "Washington in Lincoln's
Time, does not wholly rest in the COM
handing, picturesque personality that is
in the very nature of things its central
figure. Its charm is due in very great
measure to its graphic reality, its perfect
ntempOraneousness Perhaps only a
| newspaper man could have written Just
such book as Mr.. Brooks has given us,
presenting. as it does, an intense, vivid,
and yet almost wholly impersonal view of
| the salient events of a single period Sc
leCted with the true newspaper man I'M
erring instinct for what the people want
| to know" Mr.. Brooks went to Washing
ton in 1862 as correspondent of the Sacra-
mento Union, then the great newspaper
power of the Pacific Coast. He re-
NAMED there until after the close of
the Civil War and saw the be-
ginning of the stormy Presidential
career of Andrew Johnson. During that
momentous period he wrote newspaper
letters nearly every day. and the resulting
scrapbooks, with other materials carefully
kept, form the basis of the "reminiscences
OF which his book is made up. He had tae
advantage of personal friendship, amount
ing almost TO intimacy, with Lincoln, and
enjoyed unusual facilities for arriving at
well-authenticated information. His book
is q series of exceedingly realistic pictures
OF life in the Capital City during the try
ing years from his arrival there up to the
time of the great tragedy of the night of
April IA, 1865. Here is his account of his
first glimpse of the President in Wash
ington:
how far the President resembled the Lincoln
OF Illinois before the war. The change in his
personal appearance was marked and sorrow
ful. His eyes were almost deathly in
their gloomy depths, and on his visage was
air of profound sadness. His face was color
less and drawn, and newly grown whfskers
added TO the agedneSS OF his appearance.
When had seen him last, in Illinois, his face,
although always sallow, wore q tinge of rosi-
ness in the cheeks, but now it was pale and
colorless. Hearing from a friend that was in
the city he Immediately sent word that he
would like to me ''for old times sake" and
nothing could have been more gratifying than
the cordially and bonhomie of his greeting
Wien | called at the White House. 'Do you
! suppose ever forget an old acquaintance? l
reckon not" he said, when We met.
Washington, at that time, was a great
military camp, city of barracks and hospi-
tails. The city was under military govern
ment and the wayfarer was liable to be
halted anywhere, in public buildings or on
the outskirts of the city, who CURLY asked,
what is your business here?" The hos
pitfalls were never empty and after every
great battle came an influx to the city of
the manned and wounded in squads
of hundreds or more, streaming back,
a great wave of sorrow, from the fields of
slaughter. The sessions of Congress at
that time were of intense interest and Mr..
Brooks gives rs many stirring glimples at
the lawmakers of the day. The book
abounds in capital descriptions and happy
touches. He goes at some length into the
details, as he had them from Lincoln's
lips, of the Presidents many encoun-
tiers with Secretary of the Treas
ury (afterward Chief Justice) Chase.
1t would appear that Mr.. Chase
believed that his position in the Govern
ment was absolutely necessary to the well
fare of the country and that he would not
be permitted to resign, as his loss to the
Cabinet would involve inevitable disaster
He insisted strenuously upon having his
own way in every minor detail of his de-
partment, and held over Mr.. Lincoln's
head constant threats of resignation, even
when crossed in such trifles as the removal
of some petty official on the North Pacific
Coast. At last, wearied beyond endur-
ance, Lincoln accepted one of Chase's
MANY written designations in June 1864.
and Congress learned for the first time the
relations that had existed between the
President and the Secretary of the Treas
ury and the course of ill-tempered, tyran-
meal testiness by which the latter had
tried the Executives understanding ma
thence during nearly his entire administra-
ton. After the death of Roger B. fancy
the admirers of Chase at once brought for
ward the ex Secretary name for the office
OF Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and
the pros and cons of such an appointme
were debated holly between them and the
friends of Lincoln, the latter all fastening
to remind the President that Chase had
mot behaved well" etc. Mr.. Brooks SAYS:
While the matter was pending had occasion
to call on the President, and the rumors of
Chase's appointment naturally came up for
discussion. Mr. Lincoln had been, for him,
very gay and CHEEKY, but as soon as Chase and
the Chief Justiceship were mentioned his Wis
age heightened and with great seriousness he
pointed TO pile OF kilograms and letters on
his table and said: s'I have been all day and
yesterday and the day before besieged by mes
sages from my friends all over the country as
if there were determination to put up the
bars between Governor Chase and myself"
Then after pause, he added, "But l shall
nominate him for Chief Justice, nevertheless. !"
at was therefore with amusement"
adds Mr. Brooks, .'that | learned from one
of Chases most ardent friends, about an
| hour later, that Lincoln was not great
enough to nominate Chase as Chief JUS
| tice.'"
| Mr. Brooks "reminiscences close with the
| last grand review of the armies of the Po-
| tomac and of the Mississippi. after which