The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-03

distant when anything will be done. and mean
time q spirit Of agitation at one end Of the Union
and of dissolution at the other grows apace."
VII.
Tho second winter OF Mr.. Winthrop's Speaker
ship ended in q political storm. The House had
passed Territorial bills with an anti.slavery re-
striction. but the Senate laid them on the table,
and then foisted into the General Appropriation
bill a provision for Territorial governments
without any such restriction. The House nom
concurred, and q conference was called for.
Toombs and Alexander II. STEPHENS urged Mr..
Winthrop to appoint to the conference commit
tee men who would favor a concurrence with
the Senate. This the Speaker positively de-
clined to do, and made his appointments accord.
ing to his convictions of duty. The night was
spent in agitation and confusion in the course
of which Mr.. Winthrop was constrained to order
Mr.. Toombs to his seat. One outcome Of this
incident was that when. in the closing hours OF
tho Congress-, tho customary vote Of thanks
was moved for the liable. dignifed. and
impartial" manner in which the Speaker had
presided. Andrew johnson of Tennessee moved
that the word impartial" be stricken out of
the resolution. on the ground that Mr.. Win
throp had been unfair to the South. not merely
in the appointment of committees. but in his
habitual awards Of the floor. Fourteen meln-
bers supported Johnson on division; they seem
to have been a curious admixture of Democrats,
Free Sellers, and disaffected Southern Wings.
On the following day 1t was Mr.. Winthrop's
duty to escort to the inauguration at the Capitol
both the incoming and retiring Presidents.
Some days later W. W. Sea on, then Mayor
of Washington, and an intimate friend both
of the President and Of the Speaker, came
to tho latter privately and said: THE
General is bothered to death by pres
sure for Office. both direct and indirect. He
would like to offer you the mission to London.
but Clayton is Of the opinion that 1t would be
for the interest of he party IL you could be per-
suaded to stay in Congress, and. in any case. he
prefers to keep the foreign appointments in
allegiance for the present. II. however. you will
suffer me to 60 to the General and tell him from
you that the post would DO particularly agree-
able to you. I think this can be arranged forth.
with. Otherwise, 1t may eventually go to -
or -" Mr.. Winthrop positively refused to
send such a message. on the ground that he had
always made 1t q rule of conduct never to ask
for anything. and that he was very sensitive to
imputations OF self-seeking. After thinking the
whole matter over carefully. he wrote a friendly
note to Clayton suggesting that it might re-
lieve the Administrator from embarrassment il
it were distinctly understood that he was not .
candidate Tor any once In It's gilt.
Mr.. Winthrop had been elected o member Of
the next Congress; before it met he had mar
ried, for his second wife. Mrs. Welles. formerly
Miss Laura Derby, one Of whose sisters had mar
ried the Rev. Ephraim Peabody. AS a married
man, he took a larger house in Washington,
though with little expectation of being re-elect-
ed Speaker. The contest for that Office lasted
nearly three weeks, no less than sixty-three
separate votes being taken. besides ma y Incl
dental ones on different subjects. Andrew
johnson took tho opportunity to renew his at
tacks upon Mr.. Winthrop. and the iron will of
Toombs held five Southern Whigs against him.
II even four Of these could have been won back
to their allegiance. Mr.. Winthrop would have
been elected. In view of this fact. it 10 sur
prising that, in the History Of the Rebellion
published by Mr.. Giddings in 1864. and in other
books Of reference, the statement should be
made that Mr.. Winthrop owed his defeat to his
devotion to the interests of slavery" 1t is i'm
possible to reconcile this assertion with the
speech made at the time in Congress by Mr..
Toombs. In which he said: II do not act with
the Wings because tho events Of the past. tho
present and the future force the conviction on
my mind that the interests of my section Of the
Union are In danger, and ! Am. therefore. un.
willing to surrender tho great power of the
Speakers chair without obtaining security for
tno IutuTC. "ucu Wo UCdT 1 II Hluu, moreover,
that nine Free Sellers voted against Mr..
Winthrop. VIC read with interest certain
letters written at the time by Horace
Mann. who voted for him. He wrote. for In.
stance. on Dec. %, lSi9: II have voted for Mr..
Winthrop, and, In that way. have fulfilled the
hopes OF the Wings. He was their first choice
he Is only my second or third; yet, as he Is the
best man we could possibly elect, I have sup
ported him. Just 80 much undeserved credit as
l get from the Wings, just so much undeserved
censure ! shall get from the Free Sellers" On
the following day tho blundcr committed by the
Free Sellers was brought out still more clearly
by Horace Mann: Howell Cobb Is Speaker
one of the fercest, stcrncst, strongest pro
slavery men In all the South. . And
by whom was he allowed to be Gle.
waited to this important postf BY the Free
Sellers, who at any time during the last
three weeks might have prevented II, and who
permitted 1t last night when the fact stared
them full in the face. Mr.. Winthrop was moi
unexccptionable. II is true; but what a vast diff
ference between him and an avowod champion
of slavery, with all the South at his back tc
force him on and at his ear TO minister counsel.
How strange. that love OF a good thing which
destroys il! Now we shall have pro-slavcry
committees. All the power and patronage OF
the Speaker, and it is great, will be on the
wrong side; and this has been permitted by
those who clamor most against all forbca rance
toward slavery. when. by a breath. they might
have prevented it,"
VIII.
Soon after the death of President Taylor ant
the consequent accession of President Fillmore
Joseph Grinneli OF New Bedford tame 10 Mr.
Winthrop and said: Fillmore IL always slow
in making up his mind, but this time he is in
pitiable state of indecision; there are so many
doubts and difficulties, and he is 30 anxious II
do the right thing. The offer OF the State DE
partment lies between you and Webster, Per
sonally he would prefer you. but Webster il
aIrnnltl u nrrah. lie wnnld like To tnlk the mai