Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1886 — REMINISCENCES OF PUBLIC MEN. [ARTICLE]

REMINISCENCES OF PUBLIC MEN.

BY BEN : PERLEY POORE.

The nomination of Andrew Johnson as \ ice President, at the National Republican Convention held at Baltimore in 18!4, was the work of William H. Seward, who helped thus to secure Southern support for himself in lsps, when he expected to succeed Mr. Lincoln. The New York delegation, however, was not subservient, and at a caucus held by its members on the tit-h °f June there was an animated discussion, some of the delegates not wanting to throw Mr. Hamlin overboard, while others favored the nomination of Mr. Dickinson, and the friends of Seward ad vocated the nomination of Johnson. < 'n the first informal ballot there were lb votes for Dickinson, 28 for Hamlin, b for Tremaine and 8 for Johnson. The six votes for Mr. Tremaine were iu fact votes tor Mr. Dickinson, and some of the eight votes for Mr. Johnson were also votes finally thrown for Mr. Dickinson. After the informal ballot the caucus adjourned to the next day, when the contest was continued. A ballot was finally ordered, and Mr. 'Raymond nominated Andrew Johnson as the candidate of the delegation. W hen the vote came iu it stood: Dickinson, 29; Johnson, oil; Hamlin, 7; and before it was announced two more votes were obtained for Johnson. Mr. Raymond obtained, one of these, and Preston King the other, although Mr. King himself did not vote in caucus for Mr. Johnson. The vote as announced was •12 for Johnson, 28 for Dickinson and G for Hamlin. It was then, on motion of Mr. Raymond, 1 think, ordered that the Chairman report the vote as it stood to the convention as the vote of tho State, and the caucus adjourned. After the adjournment the tide seemed to set strongly for Mr. Dickinson, so much so that on tho evening of the 7th his nomination was deemed certain. The Dickinson men were jubilant and the Johnson men despondent. Mr. Weed sought to escape defeat by suggesting other names in the place of •lohnson, and spoke of Hancock, of Holt, but left that night for New York expecting that Mr. Dickinson would receive the nomination. Such was also the expectation of Senator Morgan when he went to Washington on that day. After the departure of Mr. Weed and Senator Morgan, some of the friends of Mix Johnson began to consider the propriety of throwing the ! whole vote of the State for Mr. Dickinson. The became heated, and the talk between the members as they met about the hotels was far from conciliatory.

On the follouing morning the announcement was made that Massacliussets hail determined to present General Butler as a candidate for Vice President, anil some of the political men of Xew r York at once advocated taking up Butler in place of Johnson as a way of avoiding the defeat which seemed impending. This new phase of the contest led to a consultation between 31 r. Raymond, Mr. Stranahan, and one or two others, which in calling together all the friends of Mr. Johnson who could be found on a short notice, to prevent, if possible, any break in the Johnson vote. This meeting was held in Mr. Strailalian’s room, was addressed by him, by Mr. Wakeman, by Mr. Robertson, and others, and resulted in the determination to hold firmly to 3lr. Johnson, at least till a recess in the convention. This meeting adjourned only just in time to reach the convention at its opening on that day. Alter the convention opened for that day, the influence of New York was first felt upon the question of admitting the delegates from Tennessee. Preston King moved their admission as an amendment to the report of the Committee on Credentials, and displayed great judgment in getting his proposition before the House, for, owing to objections to the competency of Mr. Dennison, of Ohio, as a presiding officer, the convention was in the greatest confusion from the beginning to the end. Mr. King’s proposition, in point of fact, was once voted down in the hubbub, but no one seemed to know it, and tmough the courage of the mover it was again presented. The Tennessee delegation was then admitted, and the New York friends of 31r. Johnson, for the first time in two days, began to smile a little.

When the vote was taken on 3’ice President, New York voted as in caucus —32 for Johnson, 28 for Dickinson, (j for Hamlin—and the vote of the convention, as it came in, stood: Johnson, 200; Dickson, 113; Hamlin, 145. But before the announcement, States began to change. Mr. Cameron went over to the New York delegation and was heard to ask Mr. Raymond “who he wanted.” On his return the sixty-tM'O votes of Pennsylvania changed solid to Johnson. The result M r e all know. Gen. Grant, when he became President, had desired to have his brother-in-law, Gen. Frederick Dent, as his Private Secretary, but the prominent Republican Congressmen objected, saying : “Dent has a good heart, General, and would be faithful, but he can’t keep a secret five minutes.” Young Robert Dougla°, a son of the “Little Giant,” was then taken up, but he M'as not equal to the position, and the President fell back upon Capt. Horace Porter, one qf his military aids. He was a graduate of West Point, the son of a Pennsylvania Governor, well educated, well informed, and noted for his reticence, which appeared to be expressed upon his face. There seemed always to be the look upon it which a secret long kept n r ears there at last, the look not like guilt, yet not frank, the look of avoidance, the habit of digression in talk from the large and immediate to the trivial, a coldness and

| distance which was no part of bis warm temperament. Rawlins, and the old neighbors and servitors of Grant, began to feei the cold, clocklike constancy of this young captain, so unsocial compared with their Western candor and public spirit, and some of the worser feelings of Rawlins’ later days were associated with this still young safe deposit company who had replaced him in Grant’s martial confidence. Porter had steadily grown, somewhat as 'Tien. Hamilton grew, upon the envious admiration of his older rivals in Washington’s admiration, except that Hamilton had genius, whiie ; all that the public knew of Porter was liD reticence. His associate, Capt. : Babcock—they were both made gen- ! orals- got into trouble through his con- ; nection with San Domingo, the New Y'ork bonded warehouse and the St. l.ouis whisky ring; but he had amassed a large estate be ore he was drowned in 1884. Gen. Porter got himself ‘ rotated” from the White House into the Vice Presidency of the Pullman Car Company, and it is understood that he is wealthy. As an after-dinner speaker he has few equals and- no superior on this continent.