Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1899-04-20
SETTING IT UP FOR LINCOLN.
Editor Medill's Story OF How the Con
vention OF 1860 Was Worked.

The Mcclure syndicate published
some years ago, an interview with
Editor Joseph Meuill, now deceased
from which this extract is taken
The republican convention CT 1860
was held in great wigwam, Temporal
rily erected for the purpose, on Market
! street, Chicago. Mr. Medill cooper
ated with the chairman of the state
central committee, Norman b. Judd, in
arranging the delegates seats. This
7 aifoiment vas one OF the minor cir
cumstances leading up to Mr.. Lin
E, coins denomination, and Mr.. Medill
tells Of his share in it with an ire
sistible look Of mock contrition. 1T
was" he says the meanest political
trick ] ever had a hand in in my
! life.
| New York came to the convention,
of course, under the management of
| Thurlow Weed, solid for her favorite
| son, William II Seward. From the
! Lincoln point OF view 1t was highly de-
| sirable to isolate the Empire state DEL
! egation and place the delegates of the
| doubtful states as far outside of the
| sphere of It's influence as possible
! Mos: important of the doubtful states
| for Lincoln was Pennsylvania and next
! OHIO This circumstance furnished
| the key to the Lincoln committees
| plan OF arrangement. New York was
| seated at one extreme end of the vast
| hall, with no state for neighbor that
| was not already hopelessly for Seward
! At the other extreme was placed Penn
| sylyania, at so long a remove that the
voices of Seward orators of New York
| could barely be heard by the doubtful
delegates of Pennsylvania.
Close about the Keystone state On
| the side toward New York, were
! packed the faithful Lincoln delegations
of Illinois ana Indiana, and also the
New Jersey delegation, which was ac
| counted but tail to the Keystone dog
! There were convenient passages
leading from the Pennsylvania seats to
/ ante-rooms which were also directly in
| communication with Illinois, so that
when delegates from Pennsylvania be
! took thmselyes from the hall for con
/ sultation they We're reasonably certain
To meet delegates from Illinois or In
| diana primed with an argument for
| Lincoln. The Ohio delegation was
placed on the other side of Illinois and
! Indiana.
| II took my seat" says Mr. Medili
| among my old friends of the Ohio
| delegation, as | personally knew near
| ly all of them, and did what mission
/ airy work | could Joshua II. Giddings
! soon espied me, and, without cere
mony, ordered me out. lie made bit
| ter little speech for my benefit and for
the edification of the Ohio delegates
within hearing, My frienus among the
me to stay, and | did, and We had
| nice little argument, | remained
with the Ohio men.
After the second ballot | whispered
to Chairman Carter of Ohio: Now is
your time If you throw the Ohio vote
for Lincoln Chase can have anything
he wants
"'H-how d-d'ye know? suffered Car
ter
81 know, and You know l wouldn'
say SO il | didn't know, Ask Judge
Davis. He holds the authority from
Lincoln,
80 Carter got up and boldly an
nouncea is or l9 Ohio votes for Lin
coin, though the delegation had not
been polled Giddings challenged the
vote, but after an acrimonious wrangle
on the poll 1t was found that Carter
hadn't 'uigged' more than one or two
votes. That Ohio vote put him up
alongside OF Seward The next ballot
brought the victory, and the naughty,
lord-like Seward goose was cooked.
\ don't know that this arrangement
OF seats in the convention was poten-
tial for the nomination OF Lincoln bu.
/ have always believed that II Penn
syyania had been placed within the
sphere OF Thurlow Weeds influence we
shouldn't have come within 50 votes
OF success. As for Ohio, If that state
had been near New York it would
never have broken for Lincoln as II
uid, and the result would have been
Seward S nomination. and defeat at the
polls, for all The pro-slayery and con
sentative elements would have com
hIned against, the irrepressible con
act man and crushed him thus elect
ing Douglas
After Mr. Lincoln became president
his relations WIKI Mr. Medill contn-
ued 10 be Of the most friendly charac-
ter The two men met occasionally in
toe White House, and they maintained
steady correspondence. Communi-
cation was kept up between the presi-
dent and Mr.. Medill through the me-
diary offices Of Schuyler Colfax and T.
~ Washburne. Mr. Medill when he
wanted 70 reach the president. would
s-r8fa ! long {atfa- ~ rD3Fax rr{ffAfs