Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1885 — RECOLLECTIONS OF A VETERAN. [ARTICLE]

RECOLLECTIONS OF A VETERAN.

(From Henry B. 8 qnton’s New Book.) TtIURLOW WEED WHILE A CANDIDATE. In 1829 it was resolved to run Thurlow Weed for tiiel Assembly. The campaign was to the last degree acrimonious. Weed’s leadership in the antiMasonio excitement had 0 raised up against him an army of enemies. The famous cry of “A good enough Morgan till after the election” was worked for all it was worth. Weed was a tremendous power at the polls. With one hand full of ballots, aud the other on the shoulder of a hesitating voter, it was impossible for his prisoner to escape the influence of his magnetic eye. Weed’s opponent was. a prominent' member of the Erst Presbyterian con-’ gregation. It was deemed important that Weed should attend service there on the Sabbath previous to the election. He borrowed some garments, came in on time, wearing a wretched • cravat and a shocking bad hat. The next day he abstained from the polls, but coifld not help taking a seat in a loft which overlooked the principal voting place of Rochester, and for three days during which the contest lasted, he walked the room like a caged lion. I now and then repaired to the room, and as Weed would look out upon the side-walk and see a doubtful voter approaching the polls he would wring his hands and say: “Oh! what would I give if I could see that min for one moment.” Weed was triumphant and went to tlie Assembly, and in April, 1830, he issued the first number of the Albany Evening Journal.

SEWARD AND CONKLING. In 1857 Roscoe Conkling was the Republican candidate for Congress in Oneida. Mr. O. B. Matteson, who had previously represented this district, was seriously opposing him. Matteson had long been a personal friend.of Mr. Seward. Hard pressed, Mr. Conkling sent for Mr. Seward and myself to address a county meeting at Rome. Mr. Seward was summoned to counteract the affect of Matteson’s hostility. Wrapped in a blue broadcloth cloak with elegant trimmings, Conkling surveyed the large audience with anxious eyes. I spoke first, eulogizing Seward and Conkling. The Senator commenced his address with a hearty enconium upon Matteson by way of preface to the matter in hand. He then spoke generally in support of the Republican cause, and eloquently commended his young, friend Conkling to the voters of Oneida. The next morning I went to Utica, and was amused to see that the only notice taken of the Rome meeting by the general press was a nearly verbatim report of Mr; Seward’s eulogium of Mr. Matteson. This, of course, would go the grand rounds of the newspapers in the State. 1 mot Mr, Conkling. My acquaintance with the English language is not sufficiently intimate to enable me to describe how angry he was. ' Mr. Conkling was elected. Then commenced those twenty years of service in the House and Senate- which have left their lustrous mark on tlie recordsof Congress.

„ SEWARD AND GREELEY. I was at Mr. Seward’s in Auburn. The conversation ran on public affairs and-publicmen. He remarked that it was a longtime before he fathomed one prominent character in New York. This was Horace Greeley. He said he had supposed Greeley was doing his work from philanthropic motives and had no desire for office; but subsequently ho had found ho was mistaken and that he was very eager to hold office. I replied in rather a careless tone, “Governor, do you not think it would have been better for you if you had let him have office?” Mr. Seward looked at me intently, and then slowly responded, “I don’t know but it would,” I was not aware how point blank a shot I had fired, for I did not then know of the existence of the letter of Nov. 11, 1845, addressed by Greeley to Seward, dissolving the old political firm of “Seward, Weed, and Greeley,” by the withdrawal of the junior partner. Greeley’s opposition to Seward’s nomination to the Presidency, in 1860 brought this unique epistle out of the secret archives of Mr. Seward. It is printed in Mr. Greeley’s “Hecollections of a Busy Life,” and will repay perusal by students of fallen human nature. Lincoln’s trust at gideon Welles. Gideon Welles as chief of a martial bureau in one of the greatest wars in modern times! My authority for the following incident was present at the cabinet meeting where it occurred. Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, came in with the details of a foreshadowed plan for a simultaneous attack of the rebels at three points in which he would want a little assistance from the navy. Stanton described his first place of attack, and said the troops would need the coopperation of one or two gunboats. The President, addressing Welles, asked if they could be furnished. He wiggled around in his chair and said no couldn’t tell, but woftld inquire and let them know at the next meeting of the Cabinet. And this, in substance, was his response on all the three points of Stanton’s program. Putting one of his feet on the table, the vexed President said: “Mr. Secretary, will you please tell us what you know about the navy, and tlifen we shall know all you don’t know about it/’ And he was at the head of the department for eight years.