Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1885 — REMINISCENCES OF PUBLIC MEN. [ARTICLE]

REMINISCENCES OF PUBLIC MEN.

BY BEN : PERLEY POORE.

The Wilmot proviso, which was destined to play an important part in- politics, originated at the dinner-table oi a political club in the city of New York, which met weekly. It was composed of Democrats opposed to the extension of slavery, and among those present on the day in question were John Van Buren, Samuel J. Tilden, John A. Kennedy, Isaac Fowler, Andrew EL Greene, and other well-known Freesoil Democrats.

Mr. Howe, a Western member of Congress, was a guest, he having visited New York to confer with the Democratic opponents of slavery. During the consultation, John Van Buren said that the protest against the extension of slavery introduced into Congress was not worded right He suggested that the exact words of Jefferson, in the famous ordinace of ’B3 and ’B7, should be used. This was agreed to. Mr. Howe stated that it would be difficult to introduce the proviso, as thejSpeaker would not give the floor to any one friendly to freedom. Mr. Tilden, as the chief organizer of the movement about to be made, proposed that a ruse should be played. It -was agreed that each man, composing the little body of sixteen or eighteen Freesoilers in Congress, should have a copy of the proviso in his pocket. Each man should spring to the floor at the first chance, and shout; “Mr. Speaker!” It was thought that one of them would be recognized. Mr. Tilden, with other members of the club, went to Washington to aid in carrying out the plan. At a time agreed upon, the Spartan band, each with the proviso in his hand, sprang to the floor, and in concert shouted, “Mr. Speaker!” The Speaker was bewildered. He could not ignore the whole crowd. He selected Judge Wilmot as the most moderate of the party, and so the Wilmot proviso passed into history. Henry Wilson arrived at Washington in October, 1861, in command of the regiment and attached companies, raised by him in Massachusetts, and he at once turned over the command to Capt. Grove, a regular officer, who had come to Washington from Utah in command of a battalion of volunteers that was encamped on Franklin Square. Mr. Wilson had had some experience as a Brigadier General of uniformed militia in Massachusetts, but he found himself unable to command a body of men mustered into the regular service, and he wisely resigned. To avoid criticism, he solicited an appointment on Gen. McClellan’s staff, which “Little Mao” gave him, and he reported for duty at headquarters. A few days afterwards, he was shown on the orderbook an order directing him and two of the young regular officers on the staff “to go the grand rounds” of the cordon of forts which then encircled Washington, and to report on the condition of the improvised roads which connected them. So the next day the trio started. The two young men were used to the saddle, and they dashed away at a hard canter, soon leaving Mr. Wilson, who was mounted on a spirited horse, to follow as he best might. The entire winter’s day was consumed in riding over the roads to be examined, and when they returned, late in the afternoon, Mr. Wilson had to be lifted from his saddle, and he was sent to the Washington House in a hack. There was a demand for arnica, and several dayfc elapsed before the volunteer staff-officer was able to leave his bed. When he could go to headquarters, he did so, and tendered his resignation, which Gen. McClellan accepted.

Col. Tobias Lear, who was born in the vicinity, of Portsmouth, N. H., was educated at Dummer Academy, Byfield, Mass., and graduated from Harvard College in 1783. Three years afterwards he went to Mount Vernon by invitation of Gen. Washington, to act as his private secretary, and to instruct the grandchildren of Mrs. Washington. He remained at Mount Vernon, for fourteen years, during which time he classified and arranged Washington’s voluminous correspondence, civil and military, and he was present when the illustrious chieftian breathed his last. He was an accomplished gentleman, of courtly manners, and wrote with facility on whatever topic might present itself to his attention. He was the author of the first book on the District of Columbia printed in New York in 1793. Col. Lear was an especial favorite with M rs - ashington, two of whose nieces became successively his second and third wives.

Col. Lear’s first wife, a daughter of CoL Pierse Long, of Portsmouth, died in 1792 of yellow fever, in Philadelphia, leaving an only son, Benjamin Lincoln Lear, who died of cholera in Washington in 1832. Lincoln Lear was an eminent lawyer of high character. His first wife was a sister of Commodore Morris, his second, a daughter of Col. Bomford, Chief of Ordnance, U. S. A. After the death of Mr. Lear, this lady married the celebrated Richard Derby, of Boston, an eccentric man of fashion. CoL Lear’s second wife was a niece of Mrs. Washington, Frances, daughter of Col. Barwell Bassett, of Virginia, and widow of CoL George Augustine Washington, who died in 17Q3, a nephew of the General. The Colonel’s third wife was Frances Dandridge Henley, alsoaniece of Mrs. Washington, and sister of Capt. John D. Henley of the navy. I can remember seeing her at the reception of President Fillimore, a well-preserved matron, who wore her . own gray hair, then a novelty. CoL Lear has been charged by the biographers of Washington with abstracting from his papers, after his death, certain correspondence between himself and Mr. Jefferson, and transmitting the same to the latter, by whom it was destroyed, to prevent any knowledge of its contents ffom becoming a matterof history. And it was alleged tbatfor this sendee, he was rewarded by Mr. Jefferson with the place of Consul General at St Domingo in 1802, and that of Consul General at Algiers in 1804, which he held for eight years, when he returned home and was appointed by Mr. Madison, accountant of the War Department. He died in 18J6 by his own hand, in the “Wirt House? on G street, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets. He

was more intimately acquainted with the secret history of Washington’s life than any one else, and it is greatly to be regretted that he did not write his “Reminisences of Mount Vernon.” i