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Show in Dark Horses 1S PrCSiclCIltS"' -By Ghauncey M. Depew I I-: k.'.wj'.w.' Veteran of Sixteen National Campaigns Tells Inside Mf.- " H - K i V- P$t- "THE TRUE LINCOLN" . v.. ,' kvAw- ..,1:3 Editorial Foreword The mind of Chauncey M. Depew supplies to his own pleasure and the delight of his friends an incomparable panorama, stirring, momentous, mo-mentous, of American politics for. sixty-four years. His intimate recollections of Presidential campaigns the big moments of them, the startling upsets of them, :he dark horses that plunged out of nowhere, the ruined ambitions and the unexpected un-expected successes carry back to Fremont the Pathfinder, for whom he stumped as a lad of 20. And in the lifetime that has intervened between the rise and fail of the Republican party's f:rsi Candidate for President and the thrilling possi-hilitics possi-hilitics of this year of 1920 Mr. Depew has participated m sixteen national cam-jtsigns, cam-jtsigns, has sat as a delegate in thirteen Republican National Conventions and Has had an influential hand, and several times an absolutely cbntrolling hand, in the nomination of men that took their place in the list of Presidents. Mr. Depew will tell his story in his own wav to the readers of this newspaper let us hope not too modestly, not too sclf-effaeingly He j By CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. . . I J T N the birth year nationally of our Ho- (; I publican party, I was not quit of vot- ln& age, my birthday bavins fallen on Shakespeare's and St. George's. April 23. j But in 1856 I had the overmastering lmpul30 J to take part In politics, which, after all. has , been and doubtless always will be the most 1 interesting of all American spcrts. Perhaps at 20, a youngling frcch from Yale and fired f by all of the enthusiasm and Illusions o: a I very young- man thank God I havo pre- 1 scrvod tho enthusiasm, and some of the illu- . 1 slons, too I went out to dump for that.rc- i markable man. John C. Fremont the Palh- jjf I finder of tho West. j' "We were a new party, so new that wo if scarcely knew whence wo had sprung Lai or where we were going-. But back of our MJt orlgir was the tremendous impulse that the rU American Union was worth saving, and ewn If fighting for. That background of faith drew . to the young organization many Democrats Li'aL of the old sort. The fact Is, Fremont's nom-lnutlon nom-lnutlon at Philadelphia sixty-four years agn plJ next month wan really engineered by the 1 Democratic recruits, assisted by sucb power- vM I fui men as Horace Greeley, editor of the trc- 1 I mendously influential New York Tribune. '(I Campaigning for Fremont. k M I These leaders, after canvassing the whole 1 country and reviewing the whole situation. im I decided that it was necessary to select a Xm J candidate who had no political record and :M 1 who would not. therefore, antagonize nnv of M 1 the elements That made up the new Rcpub- M i "lean party. Naturally enough vthey settled jfl upon Fremont, who haJ served in the army with much distinction, who had blazed th' trail to California and had done as much as any man toward winning California for the g SUrs and Stripes. Moreover, this restless K ceniua of such attractive personality had Hi bn forced to retire from military service ! because- of the hostility of powerful persons t0 acts ot h,s which he claimed to have been H : conspicuously valorous and patriotic, and he H : was therefore in the rather favorable posl-H posl-H ; tlon of a man who bad been abused. The people are very apt to support tho under dog. Rj and the politicians of that distant year were not deficient in understanding of human na-H na-H urc' W . 1 scarcely recall what I said on tho stump z J In behalf of the Pathfinder after his nomina- mggr Uon had beep accomplished with one ballot tK only. Here in the East. I rcrnc'ftfo- Fre- P ; mont went splendidly, and the 1h5rTfabrt of mSM tho """hole campaign wa that he ran bes: JpnW where Ihe people had th least chance to JJI 8120 hm UP- Tho Tv,a' d!(Jn't take to him If 11 nearly so warmly, and out in California arose IjjfwS n famous sneer against "Fremont, a million - Six a,re without a dollar, a soldier who never Itt .V fought a battle, and a statesman who never F F, ma.do a speech!" This sneer was as unjust & V n such political attacks are apt to be, even 3) ln this enlightened age. but no doubt it did V harm. Then, loo. there was a feeling that I '. Fremont was a bit harum-scarum, too im- G pv.lslve, too much inclined to let his feelings I ; Get the better of hl3 Judgment. The campaign, with Buchanan leading the Democrats and Fillmore the remnants of tho . (J Whig party, was h savage battle from r,rs to las'- Pennsylvunia was the hottest ? battleground of all, for it was evident early tho contest that Fremont couldn't bo I ! WiiMiiiniiinniiii boa ten ln New York. It seems strange to think of Pennsylvania even blng doubtful, but in those day old Penn was more than doubtful. When the voles wore counted Buchanan liad won Pennsylvania, and wiih the State the election. Fremont carried Ntnv York'aml the New England Slates and Ohio, bus he lost California and Texas, and got only 11-1 electoral votes to Buchanan 171. I touch lightly upon this first campaign in which Phad a part, however humble, because be-cause the recollections of It seem a necessary preliminary to the subsequent political history his-tory of which I was cognizant and in very much of which it was my good fortuno to tako an active part. Four years after Fremont Fre-mont had been rejected after a brilliant cam-"paign cam-"paign I had settled into the practice of law nd was struggling lb make my way. When tho timo for the convention came around I wa3 eager to become a delegate, but I found I could not spare the lime or tho monev. However. I followed tho lively developments of the spring and summer of 1S60 with absorbing ab-sorbing interest, and the happenings of that great year, the year that gave Lincoln to us. are clearer in my mind thaM many episodes occurring a score o-' years later. Thr- rr.in nii.ct-.,,jin n 0. ....... vuuuunuiiK i,ui c in mo KC- l-ubllcar. parly in 1SC0 was William H. Seward. Sew-ard. Ke had served years in the Senate with extraordinary brilliancy. He was without question the ablest man In the partv. Ht-was Ht-was absolutely stainless, exemplary. He-had an hninense following the country over. As the year came ln it seemed almost certain that Seward must be nominated that no one could possibly arise with strength enough to snatch from his hands the prlzo be desired. And as a matter of fact when the delegates to the convention of IStJO were selected two-thirds of them were Seward men. picked as friends of Seward and expecting ex-pecting to voto for Seward. But the great Senator and bis friends reckoned without one figure. Horace Greeley, with Soward and Thurlow Weed, grandfather of William Barnes of Albany. Greeley and the Tribune had dominated the party in Now York State, but in 1360 Greeley decided to smash the partnership. Keep in mind, reader, that few persons had really beard much about Mr. Lincoln. The truth is "Honest Abe. the Rail Splitter." vc rather laughed at In the East. Outside of his own State, Illinois, ho wasn't well Known, and even the delegation from Illinois contained a third of out and out Seward partisans. Greeley startled, not to say shocked, the country by a barrage of editorials edi-torials ln the Tribune, the Republican Biblo of those (toys, warning tho delegates that Seward couldn't bo elected and urgently putting put-ting forward the name of Edward Bates of Missouri. Doubtless Mr. Greeley knew all thcro was to know at tho time about Mr. Lincoln, but there Is no evidence that he was an original Lincoln man. Quito. tho contrary. He was cut to beat Seward, and he waa so set ln that purposcr that he got himself elected as-, a dolegat from tho new Stato of Oregon That sounds extraordinary, doesn't it? But tho reason is not far to seek. Oregon was so far distant, travel waa so arduous that Oregon was willing enough to be represented , by an Easterner who could attend tho con- , ventlon easily, and especially by a man ao , . NOM'NATED CHAUNCEY M DEPEW". , . ,' (age 227 When he was Graduated from yale ) minima ana so powcrrui ln tna party councils as Greeley of tho Tribune. Wecd'e Plea All in yain. Thurlow Weed, also an ex-partner of the Grecley-Seward-Weed political concern, championed Seward'a cauao with tho genius that marked him. but he found, as I know very fjulckly after the skirmishing began that Greeley had thoroughly undermined Seward and that there was small chanco of Seward carrying Pennsylvania or Indiana, or oven some of tho New England States. Ono of tho telling accusations against Seward was lhat be had beer, much too liberal ln his attitude toward the Catholics, and In those days, one remembers with a blush of shame, the religious question played a .considerable part in our politics. When Henry S. Lano of Indiana refused to support Seward, oven after Weed had argued with him and pleaded with him for hours, the defeat of Soward impended like a storm cloud. It was known that ho could control more delegates at the outset than could any other candidate, but throughout the delegation, as I clearly recall from my talks with so many of tho leaders who wero there men always on tho inside of tho mysterious negotiations that have marked every political convention since the Year Ono -there was a feeling that Seward was a goner, and that it would bo well to cast about 1 1 swirtly for a man who couia do nominated and who could be elected. .1 have a notion that the selection of Lincoln, Lin-coln, who was the first of our Dark Horses, our Republican Dark Horses, I mean, was tho result of a very smooth trick played by IJie Lincoln leaders, who wero directed in Ihcir strategy by the subtle Medill of the Chicago Tribune. On the day the cqnven.-llon cqnven.-llon was to meet Weed arranged to have n great Seward parade to stir up enthusiasm enthus-iasm and make itself felt among the delegates dele-gates when they should meet soon afterward. after-ward. Medill took shrewd advantage of that parade of tho fact that the Seward shouters were marching In or hallooing from the sidewalks.. side-walks.. Working rapidly, they filled ihe convention con-vention hall with 5.000 Lincoln shouters. F.000 men picked and pledged to cheer for Lincoln and demand Lincoln only as' tho choice ot tho party for President. It worked. No Room for Sowardite. When tho Sewardites got through parading parad-ing up and down and had shouted themselves them-selves hoarso, they surged toward the convention con-vention and sought to pour ln. There was no place for them. Tho seats were taken. Tho atmosphere had been created. Very few partisans of Seward ever got into the ball. I have been told by men who wero there, and Soward's folk had to stand tvithout, their hearts sore, their cheeks burning with 6 chogrin ana numlllatlon as Cho CTlMlng rocked to cheers for Honest Abe. Thae cheers kept mounting and mounting with Ihe .steady gains made by their candidate Stw-" Stw-" nr,d started off with 17316, and Lincoln wilh 302., and at the end of the third ballot the change of a few votes from Ocwanl to Lincoln Lin-coln gave the latter the necessary two-thirds required in our party conventions at that time, and the nomination. . Although I spoke for l,lmcln ha.t year and got to' know him formally, hlfghlly. it was not until the campaign of lunr years later that I came to enjoy his womlrifnl ' friendship. I need not go into the cucurn-stanccs cucurn-stanccs of the convention of -that jeur so for as tho Presidency is concerned, though there Is an interesting word or two to say about how Andrew Jolni-un really came to be named as running lii.iie, Lincoln, of course, wax a foregone conclusion con-clusion for the nomination. Nobody clso-could clso-could have been selected by the Eulilmore conference of the party in 'G I. but the Vice-Presidency Vice-Presidency was quite another matter. Up lo a little while before tho convention met on the seventh of June. ISC I, it was gentrr-ally gentrr-ally .supposed even by party leaders lhat Hannibal Hamlin, the Vice-President, would b renominated. To the amazement of mot of us. it became known that the President himself was against Hamlin's renomlnatlon t.nd had spoken privately to several Influential Influen-tial leaders suggesting that they unite upon Tenncssean, Andrew Johnson. New York's choice for tho Vice-Presidency was Daniel S. Dickinson, who had been a United States Senator and who was a national na-tional figure. On the way to the convention I dined with William IL Seward, whom Lincoln had made Secretary of ' State after the generous gener-ous and broad fashion of those days when It was considered not unwise to place a defeated de-feated but still powerful opponent within the party, and with Judgo Robertson of Westchester. West-chester. The talk foil upon the Vice-Presidential situation. Wo asked Secretary Seward Sew-ard his opinion of Mr. Dickinson's strength and general availability. Ho replied that it would be a mistake to nominate Dickinson: that tho thing to do was to nominate a man who could wir the border States. Ho suggested sug-gested the name of Andrew Johnson, who had kept his part of Tennessee, the eastern east-ern part, ln tho Union, and who had suffered' suf-fered' and risked a ciuat deal In this lnval endeavor. "President Lincoln," continued Secretary Saward. "agrees with me absolutely on this point. It Is Ids earnest deslro that Mr. Johnson John-son be selected to run wilh him. Perhaps it is not desirable that the President's namo be brought directly Into this delicate matter, mat-ter, but while you had better not quote Lincoln, Lin-coln, you can quote Soward right and left." Gov. Johnson was nominated on the first ballot as the result of this powerful influence, another example of the way things are done ln politics. The merest hints cf a President ln .powor and especially a President fairly eure of reelection are thundering commands to the faithful. We havo seen remarkable examples of that In recent times, notably on the occasion of a Republican Stale Convention Conven-tion at Saratoga, when the voice of another Secretary of Smte. speaking over the long distance telephone wire at tho behest of another an-other President of the United States, commanded com-manded and obtained Iho renomlnatlon of Chcrlos E. Hughes as Governor. There aro innumerable instances of this interesting sort, but I know of r-onc more Important than Lincoln's and Seward's Interposition in behalf of Andrew Johnson and of how thai changed the history of our countrj". How New York Waa Saved for Lincoln. Ono of the moat interesting stories that I can rell tbe '.'eadcrs of this newspaper touches upon the elcctiou of Mr. Lincoln In this second c.impnigu of bis and of how t near, indeed, be came to defeat. In a way It was an accident, a singularly fortunate meeting I had with nu old friend, that saved the electoral vote of New York for Lincoln. I trust this does not sound like boasting. Nothing is- farther from my thought, for tbe facts are historical, and every episode is as clear in my mind today, at past S6, as they wero the day the news came that Lincoln was again the President New York was closo that year. Everybody Every-body knew it was going to be, and that tho votes ot New York's thousands of soldiers in the field might be necessary to save Lincoln 'C tho caso were desperate. It was pretty sure how the army would vote. Pennsylvania MlllMMIiin!niMS ."tit homo some thousimds of soldiers, wbo Wf!iit almost solidly for Lincoln, and there was no doubt t fin 1 his strength among .he IH soldiery of New York was fully as strong. IH J(y a law wit put thiotigh our legislature our IH troops wero allowed 10 vote ln tho field, wherever tln'y might be. Tlu-y were scat- H U-ied all over th South by division-, brig- sdes, regiments, battalions and even by com- panics and squads H ( Collecting l Jin" total voto of these troops was lo be a monumental task, as was recog- nlzcd. I was (hen Secretary of Stale .of New "iork and I was Instructed by the Legls- laturc tc proceed to Washington, obtain the necessary authority, make my way to the IH various commands and obtain the results of IH tbe balloting. I went eagerly and with a IH young man's love for adventure, and 1 went IH or course to Washington to get the necessary permits and puspotts ana ot'.icr credentials jH And thcro I -had my first experience with Stanton, tbe Secretary of War. , . I don't know .that he disliked me on first acquaintance I don't know why be should have done s6. I was never politer in my life, never laid myself out to please more but lit seemed tu lake pleasure In curtly rcbuffing-'mc. He aald ln so many words in the couise of the few ..Interviews -I could obtain with him. lhat It wouldn't be safe; that I here was luo much danger of exposing mllilaiy secrets, that It was unthinkable to let civilians, politicians,' roam all over the ' military field. Mr. Slanton was a pretty 1 brutal person in his special way. Lincoln 1 knew it better than any one in the world, but ho had special use for Stanlon's rouph-ness rouph-ness and acerbity, and when he 'wanted to come down un Stanton, as occasionally Iha gentle and patient 'Lincoln had to do, he came down like tons of brick. For many weeks I was compelled to loaf , In Washington, with the ever Increasing fear that I could not get permission in time to save New York's soldier vote. I was morally certain that If It wero kept dangling in Washington only a 'ew days more there would not he time enough remaining In which lo canvass the vote, that the vote would be uncountable, and that Mr. Lincoln would be defeated. As a matter of fact, the army vole of several Stales was not re- fl eeSved in time to be counted, Vermont, Kan-sas Kan-sas and Minnesota losing in this way. I be- lieve, loo, that tho vote of another Western State, or part of 11. wa thrown out for some alleged Irregularity. While worrying and pondering I met Senator Washburn, a great friend of President Lincoln, and I confided to him my fears. "Oh, that won't do," he said. "Things are bad enough without Stanton acting liko k ' mule. I'll go to Abe. And let me tell you this, Chauncey Depew, Abe Is so much of a politician that if he had to he would take up a carpet bag and collect every vote him-self. him-self. I think I can fix this." H Later that day I was summoned to the President with whom I hacT had many chats 1 one day be told me eleven stories in one of those moods of his In which he was wor-rlcd wor-rlcd and depressed, but in which he fought - iM gloom with the sense of humor that God had fl Implanted In him and told me smilingly to 'M go to see Stanton. I found-the war chief ut-terly ut-terly changed. Instead ot being gruff and H insulting he was as affable as sunshine. I H could have anything I wanted, whenever I H wanted it. It was pretty obvious that Mr. H Lincoln had said a word or two to the auto- H crat ot the War Department; and that the H admonition had bitten deep. H The next day I left for tho South, and i IH when I came back to New ork I had the IB Lincoln vote ln my bag. Even with thh) IH vote Lincoln carried the State by only a little IB more than C.000, and Pennsylvania was saved t H by only about 20.000, because Gen. Meade ( IH and Phil Sheridan sent home enough Lincoln r H soldier voters to overcomo the McClellan M swing. It was a near thing. As it turned H out, my fears tho fe3rs of a million men were unwarranted, because Providence, hold-ing hold-ing in the hollow of Its hand the fate of nations and the destinies of men, was not H through with Abraham Lincoln. H As election time drew near and the fears of H Lincoln's defeat grew, thero carao brilliant fl victories by Sherman and Sheridan, the cap- ' , l turo of Atlanta, notably, and a general rise H in the stock of the Federal Union, the Republican Re-publican party and A. Lincoln. Doubtful States were saved in the nick of time though New York would have been lost had I Stanton been able to hold me at Washington. Washing-ton. As I recall the weeks I spent there, in which I got to know more or less intimately every great figuro of our Government, and especially the greatest of all Presidents. I thrill with pleasure. I would not give my rocollections of friendship with Lincoln for all the money to be made in America. IHTWifMIKI'dJHI'IITniIMiVlll'illi!flTnfMM m jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj I |