The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2, by George S. BoutwellThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.orgTitle: Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2Author: George S. BoutwellRelease Date: December 14, 2006 [EBook #20109] [Last updated on May 30, 2007]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS ***Produced by An Anonymous VolunteerTranscriber's note:Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.A few commas have been moved or added for clarity. Obsolete spellings of place names have been retained; personal names and obvious typographical errors have been corrected.REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS VOLUME IIReminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs by George S. Boutwell Governor of Massachusetts, 1851-1852Representative in Congress, 1863-1869 Secretary of the Treasury, 1869-1873 Senator from Massachusetts, 1873-1877etc., etc.,Volume TwoNew YorkMcClure, Phillips & Co.McmiiCopyright, 1902, by McClure, Phillips & Co.Published May, 1902. N.CONTENTS XXVIII Service in Congress XXIX Incidents in the Civil War XXX The Amendments to the Constitution XXXI Investigations Following the Civil War XXXII Impeachment of Andrew ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2, by George S. Boutwell
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org
Title: Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2
Author: George S. Boutwell
Release Date: December 14, 2006 [EBook #20109] [Last updated on May 30, 2007]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS ***
Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer
Transcriber's note:
Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.
A few commas have been moved or added for clarity.
Obsolete spellings of place names have been retained; personal names
and obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS VOLUME II
Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs by George S. Boutwell Governor of Massachusetts, 1851-1852
Representative in Congress, 1863-1869 Secretary of the Treasury, 1869-1873 Senator from Massachusetts, 1873-1877
etc., etc.,
Volume Two
New York
McClure, Phillips & Co.
Mcmii
Copyright, 1902, by McClure, Phillips & Co.
Published May, 1902. N.
CONTENTS
XXVIII Service in Congress
XXIX Incidents in the Civil War
XXX The Amendments to the Constitution
XXXI Investigations Following the Civil War
XXXII Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
XXXIII The Treasury Department in 1869
XXXIV The Mint Bill and the "Crime of 1873"
XXXV Black Friday—September 24, 1869
XXXVI An Historic Sale of United States Bonds in England
XXXVII General Grant's Administration
XXXVIII General Grant as a Statesman
XXXIX Reminiscences of Public Men
XL Blaine and Conkling and the Republican Convention of 1880
XLI From 1875 to 1895
XLII The Last of the Ocean Slave Traders XLIII Mr. Lincoln as an Historical Personage
XLIV Speech on Columbus
XLV Imperialism as a Public Policy
INDEX
REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS VOLUME II
XXVIII SERVICE IN CONGRESS
My election to Congress in 1862 was contested by Judge Benjamin F. Thomas, who was then a Republican member
from the Norfolk district. The re-districting of the State brought Thomas and Train into the same district. I was nominated
by the Republican Convention, and Thomas then became the candidate of the "People's Party," and at the election he
was supported by the Democrats. His course in the Thirty-seventh Congress on the various projects for compromise had
alienated many Republicans, and it had brought to him the support of many Democrats. My active radicalism had
alienated the conservative Republicans. As a consequence, my majority reached only about 1,400 while in the
subsequent elections, 1864-'66-'68 the majorities ranged from five to seven thousand.
Among the new members who were elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress and who attained distinction subsequently,
were Garfield, Blaine and Allison. Wilson, of Iowa, had been in the Thirty-seventh Congress and Henry Winter Davis had
been a member at an earlier period. Mr. Conkling was a member of the Thirty-seventh Congress, but he was defeated by
his townsman Francis Kernan under the influence of the reactionary wave which moved over the North in 1862. At that
time Mr. Lincoln had lost ground with the people. The war had not been prosecuted successfully, the expenses were
enormous, taxes were heavy, multitudes of families were in grief, and the prospects of peace through victory were very
dim. The Democrats in the House became confident and aggressive.
Alexander Long, of Ohio, made a speech so tainted with sympathy for the rebels that Speaker Colfax came down from
the chair and moved a resolution of censure. Harris, of Maryland, in the debate upon the resolution, made a speech much
more offensive than that of Long. As a consequence, the censure was applied to both gentlemen and as a further
consequence, the friends of the South became more guarded in expressions of sympathy. It is true also, that there were
many Democrats who did not sympathize with Harris, Long, and Pendleton. Voorhees of Indiana was also an active
sympathizer with the South. I recollect that in the Thirty-eighth or Thirty-ninth Congress he made a violent attack upon Mr.
Lincoln, and the Republican Party. The House was in committee, and I was in the chair. Consequently I listened
attentively to the speech. It was carefully prepared and modeled apparently upon Junius and Burke—a model which time
has destroyed.
Of the members of the House during the war period, Henry Winter Davis was the most accomplished speaker. Mr. Davis'
head was a study. In front it was not only intellectual, it was classical—a model for an artist. The back of his head was that
of a prize fighter, and he combined the scholar and gentleman with the pugilist. His courage was constitutional and he
was ready to make good his position whether by argument or by blows. His speeches in the delivery were very attractive.
His best speech, as I recall his efforts, was a speech in defense of Admiral Dupont. That speech involved an attack upon
the Navy Department. Alexander H. Rice, of Massachusetts, was the chairman of the Naval Committee. He appeared for
the Navy Department in an able defence. Mr. Rice's abilities were not of the highest order, but his style was polished, and
he was thoroughly equipped for the defence. He had the Navy Department behind him, and a department usually has a
plausible reason or excuse for anything that it does.
An estimate of Mr. Davis' style as a writer and his quality as an orator may be gained from a speech entitled:—"Reasons
for Refusing to Part Company with the South," which he delivered in February, 1861, and in which he set forth the
condition of the country as it then appeared to him. These extracts give some support to the opinion entertained by many
that Mr. Davis was the leading political orator of the Civil War period:
"We are at the end of the insane revel of partisan license, which, for thirty years, has, in the United States, worn the mask
of government. We are about to close the masquerade by the dance of death. The nations of the world look anxiously to
see if the people, ere they tread that measure, will come to themselves.
"Yet in the early youth of our national life we are already exhausted by premature excesses. The corruption of our political
maxims has relaxed the tone of public morals and degraded the public authorities from terror to the accomplices of evil-
doers. Platforms for fools— plunder for thieves—offices for service—power for ambition—unity in these essentials—
diversity in the immaterial matters of policy and legislation—charity for every frailty—the voice of the people is the voice
of God—these maxims have sunk into the public mind; have presided at the administration of public affairs, have almost
effaced the very idea of public duty. The Government under their disastrous influence has gradually ceased to fertilize the
fields of domestic and useful legislation, and pours itself, like an impetuous torrent,