Edwin M. Stanton

IT is too soon to write the history of the great Rebellion. We have been too deeply involved in the details and issues of the strife. We are yet too near, and the angle of vision is yet too large, to enable us to see perfectly its vast proportions, or correctly estimate its individual acts and actors in their true relations to each other and to the grand result. Time must elapse before that view can be taken.

Equally necessary is time for a true estimate of its costs and sacrifices. Mr. Commissioner Wells estimates its expense at nine billions of dollars. Admitting that figure to be pecuniarily correct, immense as it is, it falls lamentably short of all the nation has been called to pay for the Rebellion and its results. That immense aggregate is growing all too rapidly, as day after day adds its contribution. Indeed, every hour brings its quota, as widows and orphans struggle with the poverty which the strong arms of those who fell in the conflict would have warded off. Soldiers, crippled and diseased in the service, looking helplessly on the work they would gladly perform, wearily succumb in the unequal struggle. Funeral processions are everywhere telling of the fearful price the nation is paying for the Slaveholders’ Rebellion.

But the war brought with it, and has left behind it, large and priceless compensations. Great and grievous as have been its cost and sacrifices, the nation would hardly consent, if it were possible, to be placed again where it stood when the fires of civil strife were kindled. For advantages unparalleled in history have been secured through its agency. Slavery has been utterly extinguished, and for the first time the nation is consistent with its creed. Out of the nettle danger it may be hoped it has plucked the flower safety ; and it stands forth before the world in 1870, widely differing from the nation of 1860.

The war was a furnace that tested alike the character of the nation and of individuals. While many, entering it with fair repute, failed in the hour of supreme trial, others found in it that opportunity, never vouchsafed before, for personal development and achievement, and performed signal and lasting service for their country, making for themselves names the people will not let die.

Prominent among these was Edwin M. Stanton. The Rebellion found him a private citizen and a successful lawyer, but without experience in public affairs, and without a national reputation. Called to the Cabinet, he instantly developed administrative abilities of the highest order. There, for more than six years, he gave time and toil without stint, turning night into day and day into night, in labors unremitting, exhausting, and almost incredible. Indeed, so complete was his self-abnegation that, when released, he went to his home with impaired fortunes, and a body shattered by disease, as really contracted in the service as was ever that of the soldier in the camp, in the battle-field, or in the Rebel prison. And when, on the 27th of December, he was borne through the streets of the capital to his last resting-place in Oak Hill Cemetery, the people felt that they were following a martyr to his tomb no less than when Sedgwick, Wadsworth, and Lincoln were carried through the same streets to their burial.

When time shall have elapsed, and the passions and prejudices engendered by the strife shall have subsided, when the records of events and acts shall come to light, and the philosophic historian shall, with those records, lay bare the motives and purposes of the actors in that conflict, Edwin M. Stanton will stand forth conspicuous among the illustrious characters of the era. It will then be seen that he wielded vast power, and largely influenced results. I now propose simply to speak of Mr. Stanton as I knew him, of his services as I saw them, and of his characteristics as they revealed themselves to me in the varying phases of the struggle. While he was in the cabinets of Lincoln and Johnson, it was my privilege to occupy the position of chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, and our official relations were necessarily intimate and confidential. The legislation requisite for raising, equipping, and governing the armies, and the twenty-five thousand nominations of officers, from the second lieutenants up to the General-inChief, which passed through my committee while he was in the War Department, were often the subject of conference and consideration between us. His office was open to me at all times by day and night. I saw him in every circumstance and condition of the war, in the glow of victory and in the gloom of defeat. Of course his modes of thought, his methods of business, and his moods of feeling were open to my close observation and careful scrutiny. I came to understand, I think, his motives and purposes, to comprehend his plans, and to realize something of the value of his public services.

I first knew Mr. Stanton during the closing hours of Mr. Buchanan’s weak and wicked administration. On the election of Mr. Lincoln, South Carolina, trained for thirty years in the school of treason, leaped headlong into rebellion. Other States followed her example. Southern senators and representatives came to Congress, and, with official oaths on their perjured lips, plotted against the peace and unity ot their country. Conspiracies were rife in the Cabinet, in Congress, in the departments, in the army, in the navy, and among the citizens of the capital, for the overthrow of the government and the dismemberment of the Union.

Day by day, during that terrible winter, loyal men in Congress saw with profound sorrow their riven and shattered country sinking into the fathomless abyss of disunion. The President and his Attorney-General surrendered the government’s right of self-preservation by assuring the conspirators that “ no power had been delegated to Congress to coerce into submission a State which is attempting to withdraw, or which has entirely withdrawn, from the confederacy.” The Secretary of the Treasury was deranging the finances and sinking the national credit. The Secretary of War was scattering the little army, and sending muskets, cannon, and munitions of war where they could be clutched by the conspirators. The Secretary of the Interior was permitting the robbery of trust funds, and revealing to traitors the action of his government. A New England Secretary of the Navy was rendering that arm of the service powerless for the national defence. Northern politicians were ostentatiously giving pledges “ never to vote a man or a dollar for coercion,” and assuring the conspirators, who were seizing forts, arsenals, and arms, and raising batteries for assault or defence, that troops, raised for the subjugation of the South, "must pass over their dead bodies.” Officers of the Senate and of the executive departments were members of secret organizations that nightly plotted treason in the national capital.

It was a time of peril, anxiety, and gloom. Patriotic men can hardly recall those days of apostasy without a shudder. President Buchanan was weak and wavering. Mr. Stanton, whom he had consulted before the meeting of Congress, had advised him to incorporate into his message the doctrine that the Federal government had the power, and that it was its duty, to coerce seceding States. But timid and treasonable counsels prevailed, and the patriotic and vigorous advice of Mr. Stanton was rejected. The plottings and intrigues of the secessionists and the fatal weakness of the President alarmed the veteran Secretary of State. With large intelligence and experience, General Cass had little strength of will or tenacity of purpose. But whatever may have been his faults and shortcomings, he was a true patriot, and ardently loved his native land. The threatening aspect of public affairs greatly excited the aged statesman. The secession leaders sought to impress upon the mind of the President the idea that his Secretary of State was losing his mind ; but a loyal Democrat, to whom the President communicated his apprehensions, aptly replied that General Cass was the only sane man in his Cabinet. Feeling that he could no longer serve his country by continuing in the Cabinet, the Secretary retired, leaving to Joseph Holt, then Postmaster-General, the pressing injunction to remain, and, if possible, save the endangered nation.

On his retirement, Attorney-General Black, who had pronounced against the power of the government to coerce a seceding State, and who maintained that the attempt to do so “ would be the expulsion of such State from the Union,” and would absolve all the States “ from their Federal obligations,” and the people from contributing “ their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that,” was made Secretary of State. In the terrible conflict through which the nation has passed, there has been a general recognition, by men not given to superstition, of the hand of God in its progress. And in that eventful history nowhere did the Divine interposition appear more evident than in the appointment of Mr. Stanton as Attorney-General. That the vacillating President, at such a crisis, with his disloyal Cabinet and traitorous associates, should have offered the vacant Cabinet office to that strong, rugged, downright, patriotic man, was strikingly providential.

On the evening of the day when he took the oath of office, he said to a friend that he had taken the oath to support the Constitution of his country, and that he would keep that oath in letter and in spirit. Faithfully did he keep his pledge amid the apostasies that followed. He was a marvel of resolution and rigor, of industry and vigilance. His words and acts were instinct with the loyalty which glowed in his bosom. His soul seemed on fire. He saw treason in every part of the government, and sought to unmask those who were plotting its overthrow. He set his face sternly against the conspirators, and showered upon their heads his withering rebukes. Rising in that crisis above the claims of partisanship, he consecrated himself to the lofty duties of an exalted patriotism. In the Cabinet he urged bold and decisive action. He counselled often with the aged veteran, General Scott, and with leading statesmen, and he gave patriotic advice to the members of the Peace Congress.

He went even farther. He put himself in communication with the Republicans in Congress, and kept them well informed of what was going on in the councils of the administration directly relating to the dangers of the country. The House of Representatives had raised a committee to investigate treasonable machinations and conspiracies. Howard of Michigan and Dawes of Massachusetts, zealous Republicans, were upon it. So was Reynolds, an earnest and patriotic member from New York; Cochrane from the same State, then much of a Democratic partisan ; and Branch, who was killed fighting in the ranks of the Rebels. Mr. Stanton was so anxious to baffle the conspirators, that he made an arrangement by which Messrs. Howard and Dawes were informed of whatever occurred tending to endanger the country, and which he desired should be thwarted by the friends of the incoming administration. He believed that Mr. Toucey, Secretary of the Navy, was false to his country, and that he ought to be arrested. The resolution concerning him, introduced into the House by Mr. Dawes, was inspired by Mr. Stanton.

A committee of vigilance was organized by the more active Republican members of Congress. I was a member of that committee, as was also Mr. Colfax. It was in that time of intense anxiety and trial that I became acquainted with Mr. Stanton, and consulted with him, and received from him warnings and suggestions. He was in almost daily consultation, too, with members of both Houses. In one of the most critical periods, Mr. Sumner, who made his acquaintance soon after entering Congress, visited Mr. Stanton at the Attorney - General’s office. Being surrounded by false and treacherous men, who watched his every word and act, he led Mr. Sumner from his office, told him that he did not dare to hold conversation with him there, and made an appointment to call upon him at one o’clock in the morning. At that hour, he made the promised call, and explained to him the perilous condition of the country, and suggested plans of action for the loyal men in Congress.

Of course such intense patriotism, sleepless vigilance, and tireless activity brought him in conflict with disloyal men both in the Cabinet and in Congress. Scenes of thrilling interest were sometimes enacted in the Cabinet. Floyd, who had administered the War Department so as to disarm the nation anil weapon the rising Rebellion, had expected that Colonel Anderson, a Southern man, would carry out the Secretary’s purposes in the interest of treason. When that officer abandoned Fort Moultrie, which he could not hold, and threw his little force into Fort Sumter, which he hoped to hold, Floyd, whose corruptions were coming to light, appeared in the Cabinet, raging and storming like the baffled conspirator he was. He arraigned the President and Cabinet, and charged them with violating their pledges to the secessionists. The President, — poor, weak old man, — trembled and grew pale. Then it was that Stanton met the baffled traitor and his fellow-conspirators with a storm of fierce and fiery denunciation. His words, voice, and bearing are said to have been in the highest degree impressive, and those who knew the men can well imagine the thrilling moment when treason and loyalty grappled in the persons of such representatives. Floyd at once resigned his commission, slunk away from the office he had so prostituted into the Rebellion, where he achieved neither credit nor success, and soon sank into an obscure and dishonored grave. Some time afterwards Mr. Stanton drew up a full and detailed account of that Cabinet scene. It was read to Mr. Holt, and pronounced by that gentleman to be truthful and accurate. It was in the form of a letter to a leading Democratic politician of the city of New York, but it was never sent. It is hoped, however, that for the sake of history, it may soon be placed before the public eye.

To this noble fidelity of Edwin M. Stanton, sustained as it was by the patriotism and courage of Joseph Holt and John A. Dix, the country is largely indebted for its preservation from the perils which then environed it, and for the transmission of the government into the hands of the incoming administration.

After weary months the Fourth of March gladdened the longing hearts of patriotic men who had clung to their country when darkness was settling upon it. The riven and shattered government passed from the nerveless hand of that weakness which betrayed like treason, into the strong and faithfull grasp of Abraham Lincoln. His stainless record, and the records of those who gathered about him, gave assurance to all the world that, in accepting the guardianship of their imperilled country, they would cherish and defend it with all their hearts. The administration was quickly forced by the Rebels, who held in their hands, as they were solemnly assured by Mr. Lincoln in his Inaugural, “ the momentous issues of civil war,” to summon troops into the field for national defence. Large armies were created and vast quantities of arms and munitions were provided.

But vigorous as was this action of the government, and prompt as were the responses of the people, the military movements did not fully answer the public expectation. Mr. Stanton, then pursuing his profession in Washington, deeply sympathized in this general feeling. His knowledge of the public dangers and his earnest and impulsive nature made him impatient of delays. To ardent friends who, like him, chafed at what seemed to them inaction, he expressed his profound anxieties, and he joined them in demanding a more vigorous and aggressive policy. More fully than most public men, he comprehended the magnitude of the struggle on which the nation had entered, and fathomed, perhaps, more deeply its causes. His position in Mr. Buchanan’s Cabinet had revealed to him the purposes of the Rebel leaders and the spirit of the Rebellion, and he knew that slavery was its inspiration.

Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, was in advance of the President on the slavery question, not perhaps in sentiment and feeling, but in the matter of policy. In his first annual report he recommended freeing and arming the slaves. Deeming this, however, a delicate matter, he submitted the important passage to several of his friends, all of whom, except Mr. Stanton, disapproved of the policy proposed. He cordially indorsed it, and, taking his pen, modified one or two sentences, remarking that he would “fix it so that the lawyers will not carp at it.” This portion of the Secretary’s report, it will be remembered, did not meet the views of Mr. Lincoln, and he required its suppression.

The impatience of the public mind at the delays found expression in harsh and generally undeserved criticisms upon the War Department. Mr. Cameron felt the pressure of the multiplied labors that crowded upon him, and he was not insensible to adverse criticisms. He proposed to resign, provided some one should be appointed not unfriendly to his policy. He suggested the appointment of Mr. Stanton. The President acted upon his suggestion, accepted his resignation, and tendered him the mission to Russia. Mr. Stanton was then named Secretary of War, with the hearty concurrence of every member of the Cabinet, excepting Montgomery Blair, who bitterly opposed the appointment.

When Mr. Stanton entered the Cabinet he was in the maturity of his physical and intellectual powers. Without fancy or imagination, or any of the lighter graces, he had been distinguished, as a lawyer, for his immense industry, for the thoroughness of his preparation, and the mastery, both of law and facts, he exhibited in his treatment of the causes entrusted to his care. He carried into the War Department great capacity for labor, almost incredible powers of endurance, rapidity of decision, promptitude of action, and inflexibility of purpose, all inspired and impelled by a vehement and absorbing patriotism.

He entered at once upon an exhaustive examination of the numbers and condition of the military forces, and of the amount of war materials necessary for arming, equipping, feeding, clothing, and transporting them. He then vigorously engaged in the work of rendering these means available for the spring campaign. He met, by appointment, the Military Committee of the Senate, in their room at the Capitol, and, in the strictest confidence, made to them a full exhibit of the number of the troops and the condition of the armies, of the amount of arms and munitions of war on hand and required. He then explained his purposes and plans. He had found more than a hundred and fifty regiments scattered over the country, only partially filled and but slowly filling up. For the sake of economy, and for the purpose of bringing these bodies early into the field, he proposed their consolidation. He was convinced, however, that this task would be a difficult one. Many persons who were engaged in recruiting, and who hoped to be officers, would be disappointed. They and the State authorities would strenuously oppose consolidation. To husband resources of money and men, and to make the troops already enlisted available at the earliest possible moment, he proposed to suspend enlistments, though only for a few weeks. Thinking it might lead to some misunderstanding in Congress, he desired to explain his reasons for the measure, and to solicit the support of the committee in carrying it into effect. The promised support was promptly given. The order was issued, and, though it was misunderstood and sharply criticised, it unquestionably added much to the efficiency of the army. In this, as in all other matters during the war, the Secretary and the committee were in accord, and their relations were perfectly amicable. Though composed of men of differing political sentiments, the committee never divided politically, either on nominations or measures. When the strife had ended, it was a source of great gratification to its members that they had always complied with the Secretary’s wishes, and promptly seconded his efforts. To me it has been, and will ever be, among the cherished recollections of my life that I gave to the great War Secretary an unstinted support, and that there was never misunderstanding or unkindness between us.

Having mastered the details of his department, Mr. Stanton pressed with great vigor the preparations for the active campaign of 1862. He strove to enforce an active prosecution of hostilities, and urged forward the work of suppressing the Rebellion by every practicable means in his power. Early and late, often through the entire night, he was at his post, receiving reports, information, requests, and suggestions by telegraph and mail, holding personal consultations with the military and civil officers of the government, and others having business with his department, and in issuing orders and directions. As he did not spare himself, he was exacting in his demands upon others. He tolerated no laggards or shirks about him. He infused into the chiefs of the bureaus and their clerks something of his own industry and devotion ; and his became a department of intense activity and unceasing toil, continuing thus throughout the war.

But all did not possess Mr. Stanton’s iron will, capacity for labor, and powers of endurance, and many sank beneath these exactions and accumulated labors. He brought into his office, as Assistant Secretary of War, Mr. Watson, a devoted personal friend, a lawyer of eminence, and a man of strong constitution and large capacity for work. Mr. Watson zealously seconded Mr. Stanton’s efforts, but was soon forced to leave office, worn out by the demands made upon him. Mr. Walcott, who had been Attorney-General of Ohio, took Mr. Watson’s place. But he, too, after a few months, left the office, and went home to die. The vacant place was then taken by Mr. Dana, a gentleman accustomed to the exacting toil of a leading daily journal, and possessing great executive force, who rendered his chief most valuable service. His labors were lightened by the establishment of the office of Solicitor of the War Department, to which the innumerable legal questions constantly arising were referred. The duties of that office were ably performed by Mr. Whiting of Massachusetts, who sacrificed the income of a lucrative profession without other reward than the consciousness of serving his country in her time of peril.

It is not my purpose to recount the acts of Mr. Stanton’s administration of the War Department during the Rebellion. That must be the task of the historian. When this is faithfully and fully accomplished, it will be seen that he performed an amount of organizing and administrative labor as far exceeding the achievements of Carnot and other war ministers, as the gigantic proportions of the Rebellion exceeded those of the military events with which their names are associated. Mr. Stanton was moreover compelled to organize the forces of a people unaccustomed to war and unskilled in military affairs. Vast armies were to be raised from peaceful communities, large amounts of war material were to be provided, great distances were to be traversed, and an impassioned and brave people were to be subdued. The work which the soldiers and statesmen of Europe pronounced impossible was done, and well done. I shall not attempt to describe that work. I only propose to delineate some of Mr. Stanton’s leading characteristics as they appeared to me, and as they were illustrated by some of the acts of his administration.

His official position, his vigilance, his industry, his mastery of details, and his almost intuitive perceptions gave him, perhaps, a clearer insight into the characters and services of men in the army, in the national councils, and in State governments, than that possessed by any other public man. With the impulsiveness of his nature, he distrusted and condemned perhaps too hastily, and sometimes unjustly, but never, I am sure, from interest or prejudice. Swift in his judgments, often doubting when others confided, he sometimes made mistakes, though events commonly vindicated the correctness of his estimates. He had no favorites, and he measured men according to his idea of their value to the public service.

Singularly unselfish in his purposes, careless of his own reputation, and intensely devoted to the success of his country, he was ever ready to assume, especially in critical moments, the gravest responsibilities. Neither the interests of political friends, nor the wishes of army officials, could swerve him from his purpose. He said no to the President quite as often and quite as emphatically as he did to the people, to members of Congress, or to officers of the army seeking undeserved preferment or safe places at the rear. He knew Mr. Lincoln’s yielding nature and kindness of heart; and even the President’s requests, though amounting almost to positive orders, and borne by governors of States, members of Congress, and even by associates in the Cabinet, were frequently laid aside, and sometimes promptly and peremptorily refused.

There were many signal illustrations of this characteristic. Shortly after the disastrous battle of Chickamauga, a despatch stating the perilous condition of the army, and the pressing need of immediate reinforcements, was received at the War Office from General Garfield. After the hour of midnight, the President, Mr. Chase, and Mr. Seward were summoned by Mr. Stanton. It was a most critical and trying moment. In answer to questions, General Halleck revealed the fact that few troops operating in the West could be sent in season to the relief of Rosecrans. The facts disclosed perplexed, if they did not dishearten, all but Mr. Stanton, who was never downcast, who never doubted the triumph of the loyal cause, who seemed to take heart as dangers thickened, and who now surprised his listeners by proposing to take thirty thousand men from the Army of the Potomac and place them in Tennessee within five days. The President and General Halleck doubted, hesitated, and opposed. But Mr. Stanton, sustained by Mr. Chase and Mr. Seward, carried his point. Telegrams were at once sent to General Meade and to railroad-managers, and, in a few days, General Hooker, with more than fifteen thousand men, was thrown into Tennessee. When he arrived within supporting-distance of Rosecrans, Bragg was making movements which he believed would result in the utter destruction or defeat of that general’s army. Chief Justice Chase, who has recorded in his diary the doings of that midnight council, and who has, since the war, spoken of it with officers of the Rebel army, expresses the opinion that Mr. Stanton’s bold counsels and decisive action saved the army of Rosecrans, and that he then rendered greater service to the country than was rendered by any civilian during the war.

On the eve of his second inauguration, Mr. Lincoln expressed to members of his Cabinet his purpose, in case General Grant should be victorious at Richmond, to allow him to negotiate terms of peace with the Rebel leaders. From this Mr. Stanton strongly dissented, and in explicit and unequivocal terms declared that no peace ought to be negotiated by generals in the field, or by any one other than the President himself; and he pretty distinctly intimated that, if the President permitted any one to enter into such negotiations, it was hardly necessary for him to be inaugurated. Mr. Lincoln at once assented to the views of his faithful and far-seeing Secretary, and orders were immediately transmitted to General Grant to hold no conferences with General Lee on any questions not of a purely military character. The sagacity of Mr. Stanton was soon again put to the test. After the surrender of Richmond, President Lincoln visited that city, and, while there, assented to the assembling of the Rebel Legislature of Virginia by General Weitzel. Mr. Stanton, who had no confidence in the good faith of the Rebels, held that they should not have any voice in fixing the terms of peace and reconciliation, and should not be permitted to meet at all. His earnest protests were heeded, his counsels prevailed, and the impolitic and dangerous scheme was abandoned.

Mr. Stanton’s course touching the arrangements between General Sherman and the Rebel General Johnston afforded another signal illustration of his readiness to assume responsibility when the safety and honor of the nation were at stake. He gave that arrangement a prompt, peremptory, and emphatic disapproval. While he held General Sherman in high esteem for his brilliant services in the field, he felt constrained to advise President Johnson to set aside that officer’s unfortunate diplomacy, and to declare to the country the reasons for so doing. Although General Grant was sent to North Carolina to announce the action of the government, General Sherman and several of his generals took umbrage, and on the arrival of their army at Washington indulged in severe denunciations of the Secretary of War. But the indomitable Secretary, conscious of the integrity of his purpose, bore in silence these criticisms and the denunciations directed against him by a portion of the press. In the light of subsequent events, few loyal men will question the wisdom of his action, or distrust the motives that prompted it.

Innumerable instances of a similar kind might be adduced. A single additional example will be mentioned. When in the winter of 1863 the faithless Legislature of Indiana was dissolved, no appropriations had been made to carry on the State government or aid in putting soldiers in the field; and Governor Morton was obliged, without the authority of law, to raise more than a million and a quarter of dollars. In his need he looked to Washington for assistance. President Lincoln wished to aid him, but saw no way to do it, as no money could be taken from the treasury without appropriation. He was referred to Mr. Stanton. The Secretary saw at a glance the critical condition in which the patriotic governor, who had shown such vigor in raising and organizing troops, had been placed. A quarter of a million of dollars were needed, and Mr. Stanton took upon himself the responsibility, and drew his warrant upon the treasury for that amount, to be paid from an unexpended appropriation made, nearly two years before, for raising troops in States in insurrection. As he placed this warrant in Governor Morton’s hands, the latter remarked : “If the cause fails, you and I will be covered with prosecutions, and probably imprisoned or driven from the country.” Mr. Stanton replied: “If the cause fails, I do not wish to live.” The money thus advanced to the governor of Indiana was accounted for by that State in its final settlement with the government.

The remark just cited illustrates another prominent trait of Mr. Stanton’s character,— his intense and abounding patriotism. It was this which emboldened him in his early struggle with treason in Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet, upheld him in his superhuman labors through the weary years of war, and kept him in Mr. Johnson’s cabinet when not only was the President seeking his removal, but the tortures of disease were admonishing him that every day’s continuance was imperilling his life. It was this patriotism which invested the Rebellion, in his view, with its transcendent enormity, and made him regard its guilty leaders and their sympathizers and apologists at the North with such intense abhorrence. It also made him fear the success of a party of which he was once a member, and which now embraces so many who participated in the Rebellion or were in sympathy with it; and he was loath to remove the disabilities of unrepentant Rebels, or to allow them a voice in shaping the policy of States lately in insurrection. This feeling he retained till the close of his life. On the Saturday before his death, he expressed to me the opinion that it was more important that the freedmen and the Union men of the South should be protected in their rights, than that those who were still disloyal should be relieved of their disabilities and clothed with power.

This patriotism, conjoined with his energy, industry, and high sense of public duty, made him exacting, severe, and often rough in his treatment of those, in the military or civil service, who seemed to be more intent on personal ease, promotion, and emolument than upon the faithful discharge of public duty. It led him, also, warmly to appreciate and applaud fidelity and devotion, wherever and however manifested. Honest himself, he, of course, abhorred everything like dishonesty in others ; but his patriotism intensified that feeling of detestation in cases of peculation or fraud upon the government. He laid a strong hand upon offenders, and no doubt saved millions of dollars to the nation, by thus restraining, through fear, those who would otherwise have enriched themselves at their country’s expense. This spirit of patriotic devotion indeed often inspired measures which brought upon him great and undeserved censure. The people were anxious for war news. The press were anxious to provide it. Mr. Stanton knew that the enemy largely profited by the premature publication of such intelligence, and he was anxious to prevent this. Consequently he made regulations which were often embarrassing to newspaper correspondents, and sometimes he roughly and rudely repelled those seeking information or favors.

Towards the close of the war his intense application began to tell on even his robust constitution, developing a tendency to asthma, which was exceedingly distressing to him and alarming to his friends. Consequently he looked forward to the cessation of hostilities, anxious not only that his country might be saved from the further horrors and dangers of civil war, but that he might be released from the burdensome cares of office. After the election of Mr. Lincoln and a Republican Congress, in 1864, which he justly regarded as fatal to the Rebellion, he often avowed his purpose to resign at the moment hostilities should cease. When, therefore, .the news of Lee’s surrender reached Washington, he at once placed his resignation in the President’s hands, on the ground that the work which had induced him to take office was done. But his great chief, whom he had so faithfully and efficiently served, and who, in the trials they had experienced together, had learned to appreciate, honor, and love him, threw his arms around his neck, and tenderly and tearfully said : “ Stanton, you have been a good friend and a faithful public servant; and it is not for you to say when you will no longer be needed here.” Bowing to the will of the President so affectionately expressed, he remained at his post. Little did he then imagine that, within a few hours, his chief would fall by the assassin’s hand, and the Secretary of State lie maimed and helpless, and that the country, in that perilous hour, would instinctively turn to him as its main reliance and hope. Andrew Johnson, too, who then intended to make treason odious and punish traitors, leaned on the strong man for support.

Mr. Stanton now resolved to remain in the War Office till the army should be disbanded ; and that great work was accomplished with an ease and celerity which surprised and gratified the country and astonished the world. It was indeed one of the most marvellous achievements of the war. That was hardly accomplished, when the work of reconstruction began to loom up in all its vast proportions. Indications, too, of the President’s apostasy began to appear. Mr. Johnson had been smitten with the idea of a re-election by means of the reorganization of parties, in which, to use his own words, “the extremes should be sloughed off,” and a new conservative party be formed which should accept him as its leader.

Mr. Stanton was a just and humane as well as a patriotic man. He had earnestly pressed upon Mr. Lincoln the policy of emancipation, had applauded his Proclamation, approved the enlistment of colored troops, and was a warm supporter of the Thirteenth Amendment, forever prohibiting slavery. Although he had never, before the war, acted with antislavery men, yet he had early imbibed antislavery sentiments. He was of Quaker descent. His grandparents were from New England, and his grandfather provided in his will for the emancipation of his slaves whenever the laws of his adopted State would permit it. Benjamin Lundy, the early Abolitionist, was a frequent visitor at his father’s house ; and Mr. Stanton once told me that he had often sat upon that devoted philanthropist’s knee when a child, and listened to his words. Nearly thirty years ago, in the streets of Columbus, Ohio, he familiarly accosted Mr. Chase and said to him, referring to antislavery sentiments the latter had just put forth, that he was in entire agreement with him, and hoped he should soon be able to take his place by his side. Though he never did so, but continued to act with the Democratic party, yet he always maintained his intimacy with Mr. Chase, and after he came to Washington was a frequent visitor at the house of Dr. Bailey, editor of the "National Era,” where he met antislavery men and members of the Republican party.

The Rebellion of course absolved him from all allegiance to the Democratic party, and then his early impressions were revived. The events of the war intensified them, and he became a consistent and persistent supporter of the rights of the colored race. He saw that Mr. Johnson’s reactionary policy was imperilling the interests of the freedmen as well as the safety of the nation, and he resolved to remain in the Cabinet and save, as he once said to me, what he could of “the fruits of the war.” It was, indeed, a critical period, and he wisely counselled moderation. Premature action would have been disastrous. To break with the President before he had fully revealed his purposes would, he thought, place the Republicans in a false position before the people, and mure solely to the advantage of Mr. Johnson. At the same time he did all he could to secure, in the elections, the success of those who had loyally stood together during the war. This policy, of combining and keeping intact the Republican party, and of giving the President an opportunity to convince the people, as he did in his speech of the 22d of February, of his premeditated treachery, subjected Mr. Stanton and those who concurred with him in that policy to the sharp criticism of more hasty and less discerning men. It was, however, a complete success, and subsequent events vindicated its wisdom.

By such firmness, fidelity, and sagacity, Mr. Stanton incurred the dislike of the President, who determined, if possible, to eject him from the Cabinet. The more clearly this purpose appeared, the more determined was the Secretary to retain his position; not from a love of office,— for he longed to escape from its thraldom,—but from a sense of duty. If need be, he was ready to bear, not only the burdens which his failing strength made more trying, but personal insults and indignities, and, hardest of all, to occupy an equivocal position which subjected him to the distrust and criticism of some of his associates.

In the summer of 1867 his friends began to fear that his health was hopelessly failing, and that unless he took the needed relaxation his life was in imminent and immediate peril. He was repeatedly urged to leave the heated atmosphere of Washington, and seek at least temporary relief at the seashore or in the mountains. As I was pressing this upon him one day, he replied that duty required him to remain at his post, that he believed the President to be a bad and dangerous person, who was heeding the counsels of designing and unscrupulous men, and no one could foresee what he would do. “ Life,” he said, "is at best a struggle, and of no great value. We are but the instruments of Providence in working out its purposes. It matters not when, where, or how we die, if we are only performing faithfully our duty. I will remain here, if I die in this room.”

A few days before his suspension by the President, while I was at his office, General Grant came in. Mr. Stanton was suffering much, and seemed anxious and perplexed. At that time he was not a little annoyed by the adverse criticisms of two or three Republican journals upon his remaining in the Cabinet. “ They will some time see,” he said, “ that I am right, and appreciate my motives and vindicate my action.” An act of the President, showing his hostility to the Secretary of War, and his want of confidence in the General of the Army, had just come to light. Mr. Stanton remarked that, during the war, he had never felt so anxious about public affairs and the condition of the country as he did then ; that, in the war, he knew what to depend upon and what to do : but no one could depend upon the action of the President. General Grant expressed his entire concurrence in that sentiment. A few days later, Mr. Stanton was suspended, and General Grant made Secretary of War ad interim. The former had long held the office from patriotic motives; and the latter, in accepting it, was actuated by the same high considerations. By the action of the Senate, Mr. Stanton was brought back into the War Department. When the President attempted to thrust him forcibly from it, he, though the hand of disease was weighing heavily upon him, exhibited another characteristic evidence of his inflexible adherence to principle, and pertinacity of purpose, by encamping in the War Office during more than forty days. When, however, the Senate failed to convict the President, he bowed before the decision therein implied, retired from the position he could no longer maintain, and left the responsibility where it rightfully belonged.

Mr. Stanton has been the subject of the sharpest criticism and of unmeasured censure. The disloyal, the lukewarm, the incapable, the selfish, and the corrupt have heaped upon his head their coarsest invectives and their fiercest denunciations. Nor, indeed, had they much occasion to love him ; for towards such the evidences of his disapprobation were unequivocal and strong. His natural energy and impulsiveness of character, the continuous pressure and exhausting nature of his duties, made him often brusque in manner and curt in speech, even to those in whose loyalty, fidelity, and purity he had all confidence. But he seemed ever ready to correct mistakes, and make amends to those whom he had wounded or aggrieved by hasty words or acts. His heart was full of tenderness for every form of suffering and sorrow, and he always had words of sympathy for the smitten and afflicted. Many a sick and wounded soldier, and many a family, bereaved by the war, will gratefully cherish the remembrance of his considerate regard. The same characteristics were exhibited in the hearty support he gave to the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, which did so much to relieve suffering and sorrow, and in his ready co-operation with the officers of the Freedmen’s Bureau in their efforts for the newly emancipated race.

After his retirement from office, Mr. Stanton struggled with mortal diseases fastened upon him by the immense responsibilities and labors of the war. His closing hours, however, were brightened by the high appreciation of the government and the flattering manifestations of popular regard. The Republican members of the Senate and House, with singular unanimity, joined in recommending his appointment as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The recommendation was sincere and hearty. The Chief Magistrate, accompanied by the Vice-President, called upon him, tendered him the office, and cordially urged its acceptance. His assent having been given, the President at once sent his nomination to the Senate, and it was confirmed without the formality of a reference. This unsolicited action of the members of Congress, and the cordial and courteous conduct of the President, were approved by a loyal press and applauded by a loyal people. Congratulations flowed in upon Mr. Stanton, and he realized, perhaps for the first time, the hold he had upon the nation, and the gratitude and confidence of his countrymen. But in that moment of triumph he was stricken down. As Lincoln fell when the rejoicings of the nation over the capture of the Rebel army were ringing in his ear, so fell his trusted counsellor, companion, and friend, amid these demonstrations of public favor. So passed from earth Edwin Macy Stanton, to take his place in the hearts and memories of the people, among the most illustrious, honored, and loved of his countrymen.

But large as is my estimate of Mr. Stanton, and high as is the value I place upon his unsurpassed public labors, I do not believe that he was absolutely essential to the salvation of the nation. The government that survived the death of Lincoln and the life of Johnson did not, during the Rebellion, depend for existence on any one man, or any score of men. Its preservation must ever redound to the glory of the people, whose great uprising, inspired self-sacrifice, and sublime endurance astonished the world. The principles involved in that conflict were too vast and grand, too vital to humanity and a Christian civilization, to be suffered to fail through the dismemberment and death of this nation. God and the people saved the Republic of the United States.