The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-06-11
C. A. DANA ON LINCOLN
THE FAMOUS EDITOR LECTURES BE-
FORE A NEW HAVEN SOCIETY.
sJincoln and His Cabinet" the Title OF
the Speech-Cameron and Stanton-Hfs
On;nion of Lincoln-Inside History Of .
Constitutional Amendments.

SDeecn-O8u1cEOu
Opinion of Lincoln-Inside History Of a
Constitutional Amendment.
Charles A. Dana delivered lecture
before the New Haven County Histor-
ical society the other evening on his
personal recollections of Lincoln and his
cabinet.
Mr.. Dana traced the history OF the
campaign that led to Mr.. Lincoln s cleo
ton. His election, he said, was due to
united Republican party, aided by
Democrats from disunited Democratic
party. He dwelt at length upon the
candidates who opposed Mr.. Lincoln
for the nomination. and remarked that
the people then were just as eager as
they now are to get rid of what they
call "bosses. y
"But Just what boss is l have never
been able to discover" Mr.. Dana con-
tinued. People complain about bosses,
but do not know of anything that sue
ceeds that does not have boss at the
head. An army is not an army without
a general, and ship is not navigated
unless it has boss at the helm. And it
has been my experience that the man
who kicks hardest against political
boss is the man who has tried hardest to
run that boss to suit himself, and who
has met with the poorest success. "
Mr.. Dana named the members OF
President Lincoln's cabinet. He spoke
at length of Simon Cameron of Penn
sylvania, first secretary of war under
Lincoln, and who was succeeded by
Stanton He said Cameron was an able,
loyal official and painstaking and far
seeing statesman. "The only criticism
they could make of him was that he
bought too many guns, Mr.. Dana said,
"but the truth was that he foresaw the
great struggle that was on and appre-
ciated its magnitude. ="
Stanton was the most eloquent man
Mr.. Dana had ever known or heard. He
mentioned an incident when a dozen
Baltimore bankers, representing proba-
bly, $50, 900, 900, went to Washington to
protest against the arrest of Baltimore
merchants who had been selling contra
band articles to southern peddler who
acted as a sort of spy for the war de-
partment.
Cali of these splendid gentlemen,
who came in long black coats, and who
were very respectable indeed. were ush-
cred into Mr. Stanton s office and seated
before the fire. Mr.. Stanton asked me
to come in, and added that all Balti-
more was there. One after another these
gentlemen denounced the arrest Of the
merchants as groundless and outrageous.
When they had finished, Mr.. Stanton
delivered the most eloquent Grafton l
ever listened to.
HE told them how the war had been
begun and how at that moment hun
dreds of thousands of the best sons of
the nation were lying dead on scores OF
battlefelds. He concluded by telling
them that they had come to Washington
to seek aid for men who had been aid
ing the enemies of the Union, who were
seeking to destroy it. When Mr.. Stanton
had finished, one by one they left the
room without a word" "
Mr.. Dana finally described the presi-
dent "Mr. Lincoln was not an educated
man, in the sense that we here in New
Haven know an educated man. His
learning was of that type that is gained
by rising at o'clock in the morning,
hoeing corn ali day, and reading the
best book he could get hold of by the
light of pine log at night He had
read considerable, and had most ten
acious memory. But, above all, he had
genius, which is SO inestimably greater
than learning In this connection Mr..
Dana referred to remark made by
Seward regarding the famous speeches
at Gettysburg that Everett's was the
speech of the scholar, Lincoln's an in
spiration of genius.
And" Mr. Dana continued, "Mr.
Seward was right, and Lincoln's speech
will live as long as the English Ian
guage is read But Mr.. Lincoln's great
est characteristic was his wisdom. He
never acted too soon, and he never
struck too late. He was the most pa
tient man ever knew, and yet his will
was always the law in the end. He was
ed humor. He was plain man, honest,
gentle and good, and by good mean a
good man in every sense of the word.
Neither was he eccentric, as he has been
described There was nothing Of the
mysterious about him. He had the char
acteristics of genius, but these were
lovable traits of character.
L., 70
office Oh the third floor of the war de-
partment. He liked to 60 about and at
tend to matters himself instead of send
ing for the men he wanted. The consti-
tuticnal amendment prohibiting slavery
was then before congress and was to
come up in few days. The president
said to me: Dana, am anxious about
this matter. 1t is going to be good
deal closer than should wish. There
are three men I am uncertain about,
and I want you to see them, for you
know them better than any one else
asked him what they would want. L
do not know the president replied,
but you can promise them anything you
wish. One thing do know, and that is
that whatever you promise them will
give them.
II saw the three men. It does not
now make any difference who they were.
One was from New York and two were
from New Jersey. Two wanted some
internal revenue appointments, and I
gave them. The other wanted the ap-
pointment of collector Of customs of the
port of New York, and gave that to
him. The amendment was passed, but
few days before the term of the collector
expired Mr.. Lincoln was assassinated.