Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-09-27
:" What do you think about it, Mr..
Attorney General?'

ing up camp at Fort Moultrie and GO
ing into Fort SUMTER
The most glorious event since the
8th of January, 1885, answered the
new member of the cabinet, lit has
stirred the heart of every loyal man
in the nation
What, demanded Floyd, 'an Of
ficer of the army violating his orders?'
What orders?' retorted Stanton.
Did you, Mr.. President, give orders
to Major Anderson to remain in that
old, delapidated fort, surrounded by
enemies, when stronger one was
available?'
No. said Mr.. Buchanan, 4 gave
no such ORDERS
"'Dld you know of any such orders
being given?' Mr.. Stanton asked.
{" NO sir. l never heard of it be-
fore, said the President.
g 'Then,' said Mr.. Stanton, the man
who gave such orders ought to be
hanged on gallows higher than Ha-
MANS
Here Secretary Thompson inter-
| posed to rebuke the insolance of SO
new man in the Cabinet.
" Mr.. thompson said Mr.. Stanton
in reply, Il have been here long
enough to find out that you have stolen
| nearly million of Indian bonds, and
expect to stay here till I see you pun
ished for it,
ssThen the tempest rose and ragged
till midnight, when the meeting broke
up. The next morning Cobb, Floyd
and Thompson resigned. In single
night Stanton broke the conspiracy
in the Cabinet, which was killing his
feeble old friend. There were now
two honest men in the Cabinet, Stan
ton and Holt. Through their inf1u-
ence, Gen. John A. Dix was put at
the head of the treasury"
s'There is reason to believe, and L
for one do believe" said the friend
here quoted, "that but for the bold
stand taken by Mr.. Stanton on that
memorable night Mr.. Lincoln wouldn't
have been inaugurated in Washing
ton. The knives of the assasins were
already whetted, and he would inevi-
tably have been murdered. But the
active traitors being driven from the
Cabinet, Gen. Scott collected a few
soldiers and marines to the number of
about 1000, and secured the peaceful
Inauguration of the new president"
solved, Stanton went back to his law
practice. Nine months later Mr.. Lin
coin sent for him and asked him to be
his Secretary of War. He defended
his action on the ground that he want
ed Stanton not for his politics, but for
his patriotism and power. Stanton
had been one of the first of the
Northern Democrats to take sides
against secession. Previous to that
time he had been a strict construc-
ZIONIST of the constitution, as it APP
piled to the rights of the Southern
states, so much SO that he supported
Breckenridge for the presidency. He
chose the Breckenridge ticket because
it was, as he said, the only one
brought before the country on the
platform of the constitution, as inter
preted by the court of last resort.
The Republican Senate was inclined
to hesitate when the President nomi-
mated for Secretary of War man who
had upheld the bred Scott decision.
Old Ben Wade, of Ohio, found it nee
essary to vouch for Mr.. Stanton's 10y
atty before the nomination was con-
frmed. But the same devotion to
the constitution which had charac
terized him before the war made him
the great War Minister. He took
possession of a dingy Office on Seven
teenth street, where now stands the
palatial War, Navy and State building.
There he toiled day and night.
While Democrat before attempted T
disunion, Mr.. Stanton had upheld the
fugitive slave law, because it was law. /
Thereby he had made himself odious
to the Republicans. AS secretary
with but one end in view-the restor-
alton of the union-StantOn was t
among the earliest members of the |
Cabinet to favor emancipation. This
will be a revelation to many whose
memories go back to the dark days of
1852, when bloody Antietam was a
reality, when Gettysburg had not been
fought and Vicksburg had not been
taken.
'sThat act of Mr.. Lincoln, which be-
came a military necessity and was the
turning point of the war, know per-
sonally was favored by Mr.. Stanton
time before the action of