The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-16

Adams career as Minister to England. The
biographer does not have that exalted
! opinion of Lincoln which other writers OF
| the history OF the war have shown. He says
that his father had but one interview with
! the President and in that interview Lin
coin seems not to have given as much
| consideration to the newly appointed Min
| lister as the latter could have wished. The
story of this meeting is rather picturesque,
1 and has. perhaps never before appeared
in print It is as follows:
I Mr.. Adams made at the time his own diary
record of the single official interview he was ever
destined to have with President Lincoln His
half-anused. hslf-mortifed, altogether shocked
description Of it, given conteinporaneopsiy 70
members OF his family, was far more graphc. lie
! had been summoned to Washington by tue sec
Rotary of State to receive his verbal INSTRUCTIONS
The country was in the miCat Of the most dan
gcsous crisis in its history; crisis in which the
action OF foreign Governments, especially OF Eng
] lard, might well be decisive OF results. The
! IiSiey 10 be pursued was under consideration Il
( vss a grave topic, worthy of thoeShtfut consid-
sration. Deeply impressed with the RESPONSE
j biity devolved upon him, Mr.. Adams went with
the new Secretary to the State Department,
whence, at the suggestion Of the latter, they
! presently walked over to the White House. and
! were ushered into the which more than
thirty years before Mr.. Adams associated most
ciCstiy with his father and his fathers trained
bcarrg and methodcal habits. Presently a door
opcred, and tail, largefeatured stability dressed
! room Ills much-kneed. ili-htting trousers, coarse
: stockings ard worn slippers at once caught the
I eye. lie seemed generally i'll at ease-in manner,
{ constrained and shy. The Secretary introduced
the minister to the President, and. the appo.ntee
of the last proceeded to make the usual conven-
tional remarks, expressive II obligation, and his
J. hope that the confidence implied in the appoint
ineIt he had received might not prove to have
BEN misplaced. They had all by this time taken
chairs, and the tall man. listened in silent abb
stIaetiOn. When Mr.. Adams had fnished-and he
not IA e IL ffp tai man rgu cd in an
indifferent, careless way, that the appointment in
J question lad not been his, but was due to the
Secretary Of State, and that it was to Governor
Seward rather than To himself that Mr.. Adams
shorld eNprcss any of obligation he might
feel; then, stretching out his legs before him.
said, with an air Of great relief as he swung his
long to his head: well. Governor, I've
this morning decided that Chicago pos;offce APP
poiBtment' Mr. Adams and the nations foreign
policy were DIMINISHED together Not another ref
mace TO them Mr.. Lincoln seemed
TO think that the occasion called for nothing fur
ther; as tu Mr.. Adams, it good while be
fore he recovered from his snay-he reyer re-
covered Ion his establishment. nor did the i'm
preston then made ever wholly fade from his
mind.
This is truly quaint incident, and rath-
er characteristic of the two men
An intensely interesting chapter is that
which gives the inner history of certain
! diplomatic proceedings of the yesr 1861.
Like most records of the doings OF
that troublous time, it clearly shows the
I men2trous misapprehensions under which
I almost all the public men OF both England
and America labored. Jefferson DAVIS, in
! common with other Southern statesmen,
had an idea that cotton vas SO important
to England that nothing would be allowed
TO interfere with that part of AngloAmeri-
can commerce Seward was possessed of
the notion that there was a widespread
Union sentiment throughout the South. CT
ha time when q Sfure after anafhpr
WAS dropping out of the Union. 1t was a
miXeGup period
Still another chapter OF considerable sig
nifcarce tells of the effect which General
Buffers famous woman order" had on
public sentiment in London. Mr.. Adams
says of this:
Gen. D. F. Buffers memorable order No. Is
declaring that the women Of New Orleans who in
suit any soldiers are to he gardcd and treated
as common women plying their vocation,
made public on May 10. 1892. An Englisiraan
idea Of women Of the town and the tredtms Mt
accorded them, and the ideas Of an American
differed greatly. As respects that class, the
London Of 1852 was, nearly a so-caled
civilized community could be, positively shame
less. No respectable Of ordinarily at
tFactiye appearance could venture alone the
streets She Was almost certain 10 he addressed,
while men were invariably and openly solicited
In the United States, and especially in the cities
Of the S0n.h, il in both respects altogether
otherwise. Ia NEW Orleans, foE instance, tle
deiersBee shownato white we'll known
and almost excessive IL was the custom OF the
country-a custom well understood that 1t
had long and frequently exeit.d the notice of
travellers from Europe and more than once been
ne subject Of amused comment. The S0uthern
women were, so to spsak. acciina,ed to it.
Taking it matter Of course, they often
assumed upon it. Especially this the case
under the excitement ef the civil ware and
Pollard, tlle Confederate historical wri;er de-
scribes the state Of things in this respect then
existent in terms which, TO a European wolld
be ineoneeivabie, as implying only one thru;
ana that thing satIrnaa. The informing
ling he wrote. ''of the best ladies with ne
soldiers was something curious Tie usual
routine Of social life WAS abandoned. and uni
versal interest in the broke down the
barriers of sex well OF class. Even those
ladies who were most exclusively reared, who
had formerly briStled with prnc.ios OF pro-
priety, admitted the right Of any soldier to sd !
dress them, to offer them attention, and to
escort ihCm in the street The ceremaDy OF an
introduction not requred the uniform was /
sufficient as SUCH
Unfortunately, when. through the fate Of war 7
the Union soldier in his Federal uniform little (
later on took the place Of the Confederate in |
those same streets. this female effectiveness
sumcd quite different though not less demon
stTative form In the many accounts Of GER |
tain famous interview between Queen Louisa o. I
Prussia and Napoleon, in October. 1896 il has /
never been suggested that Her MAZE. tv began by
bearing herself toward the victor Of Jena as II |
be were Corsicar dog whose presence was |
pollution; does Marriott, or any other writer |
OF reductions OF tlai PERIOD anywhere /
ton that. after Austerlitz. high-bon Viernese /
DANES took occasion 10 empty the stops out of /
CHAMBER windows at tn. moment when uniformed /
uarsh3s OF France were passing the pavement 4
below. As matter Of historical fact how
ever, availirg themselves OF the habits Of defer
ence asscciated with their skirts. the demeanor
Of the white women of Southern cities occupied !
by the Union army toward those wearing the Fed
er.d uniform was. in the early days of the war.
simply both indecent aud inJ0l,rsbe. Not con
teit with merely avoiding any contact with their /
victors, ostentafiousiy and a contamination.
they evuced their spirit and patriotism in
WAYS not strictly indicative of refinement or
even what is grossly accepted as oivility of the
conmoEest kind
Mr.. Adams book is not likely TO receive |
favorable notice from the Southern press.
Perhaps ii would have been better If he
had tempered his statements a little. II |
is probably true that some white women I
in all Southern cities INDUCED IN prae-
tees of the kind described but that such |
conduct was characteristic of the true
Southern lady is hardly possible, because
it is incompatible with any kind Of lady
hood, and especially with the gentleness
and refinement of the Southern woman at
her best. All the same this account is
worth preserving as document Dos
ton: Houghton, Mifiin G. Co. S125)
Miscellaneous Books.
THE Colombian aad Venezuelan Repub-
lies" by William L. Scruggs, is book
which must prove interesting to any stu
dent of South American affairs. The au-
thor, while minister to these two coun-