CH. XXIII.] SEYMOUR'S AND WINTHROP'S SPEECHES

533

advantage of the confusion in affairs to do acts of wrong. But I do complain that when these wrongs are done, the government deliberately passes laws that protect the doer, and thus makes wrongdoing its own act. Moreover, in an election like this, when the government is spending such an enormous amount of money, and the liability to peculation is so great, the administration that will say to contractors, as has been openly said in circulars: 'You have had a good contract, out of which you have made money, and we expect you to use a part of that money to assist to replace us in power,' renders itself a partner in fraud and corruption. The contractor will say to this government: You shall not make a peace that shall put an end to all my profits.'”1 "The Republican party," declared Winthrop, "have so thriven and fattened on this rebellion, and it has brought them such an overflowing harvest of power, patronage, offices, contracts, and spoils, and they have become so enamoured of the vast and overshadowing influence which belongs to an existing administration at such an hour, that they are in danger of forgetting that their country is bleeding and dying on their hands."2

Worthy of note, too, is what both Seymour and Winthrop said, respecting the suppression of newspapers and arbitrary arrests. "In Great Britain," asserted Seymour, "the humblest hut in the kingdom, although it may be open to the winds and rains of heaven, is to the occupant a castle impregnable even to the monarch, while in our country the meanest and most unworthy underling of power is licensed to break within the sacred precincts of our homes." 3 "When martial law," said Winthrop, "is deliberately and permanently substituted for almost every other kind of law; when it is promulgated and enforced in places and under circumstances where it has no relation whatever to military affairs;

1 Speech in Philadelphia, Oct. 5, Public Record of H. Seymour, p. 257. 2 Speech at New London, Conn., Oct. 18, Addresses and Speeches, vol. ii. p. 615.

3 Speech in Philadelphia, Oct. 5, Public Record, p. 254.

when this extreme medicine of government is adopted and administered as its daily bread; when we see persons arrested and imprisoned . . . without without examination or trial; . . when we see newspapers silenced and suppressed at the tinkling of an Executive bell, a thousand miles away from the scene of hostilities; . . . when we hear those who have solemnly sworn to support the Constitution, proclaiming a prospective and permanent policy in utter disregard and defiance of that great charter of free government, and deriding and denouncing all who are for holding fast to it as it is, - who can help being alarmed for the future?"1

...

The speeches of Winthrop and Seymour, however logical in appearance and finished in expression, were answered in the common mind by the bulletins of Sherman and Sheridan, the decline in gold and in the necessaries of life, and the

1 Speech in Boston Nov. 2, Addresses and Speeches, vol. ii. pp. 633, 634; Seymour's speeches at Milwaukee Sept. 1, in New York City Sept. 8, in Philadelphia Oct. 5, are printed in Public Record of H. Seymour. The speech in Philadelphia is especially dignified, high-toned, and patriotic. Winthrop's speeches in New York City Sept. 17, at New London Oct. 18, in Boston Nov. 2, are printed in vol. ii. of Addresses and Speeches. The New London speech was the chef-d'œuvre. It was printed in many Democratic newspapers. See N. Y. World, Oct. 20, Boston Advertiser, Oct. 21. Winthrop wrote in a private letter, Oct. 23: "The McClellan managers .think so well of my New London speech that they have had it stereotyped, and besides my own edition, 200,000 copies are being circulated as campaign documents. My nomination at the head of the Democratic electoral ticket in this State was without my knowledge, but, feeling as I did, I could not refuse it, though I was sorry to be placed in a sort of antagonistic position to Everett" (who was at the head of the Union ticket).—Memoir, p. 258. He wrote, Dec. 10: "I dined yesterday with William Amory - the Friday Club all of whom, as it turned out, had voted McClellan except Agassiz and Chief Justice Bigelow. Caleb Cushing was there as a guest, but his politics I doubt if any one can accurately define except himself. He and I walked home together about midnight, when he volunteered the remark that my New London speech was the most effective one on that side, and that if McClellan's cause had been uniformly advocated in the same spirit, and the campaign run on those lines, he might have been triumphantly elected. I had already learned, on good authority, that both Lincoln and Seward had expressed a substantially similar opinion, which I consider one of the greatest compliments ever paid me, there being no better judges of the ability of campaign speeches than these three men." — Ibid., p. 261.

CH. XXIII.]

SPEECHES OF CARL SCHURZ

535

advance in price and continued large purchase of our bonds in Germany. But persons given to reflection, who liked to see argument met by argument, found matter to their satisfaction in the campaign speeches of Carl Schurz, which, though not seemingly purposed as a direct answer to Winthrop and Seymour, shook their positions, demonstrating clearly and cogently the necessity for the re-election of Lincoln. Schurz maintained that the evidence was abundant and clear that the Confederates would not come back on the basis of reunion; that "the recognition of the independence of the Confederacy was a condition sine quâ non for all peace negotiations;" and that the Democratic argument, "while the rebel government is for war the Southern people are for peace," although specious, was in reality destitute of foundation. The sentiment which pervaded Winthrop's and Seymour's speeches he showed to be merely a "vague impression

. . that the union and universal good feeling may be restored by a policy of conciliation and compromise. But nothing could be clearer than that the only course to be pursued was to fight the war out. "We went into the war," he declared, "for the purpose of maintaining the Union and preserving our nationality. . . . Gradually it became clear to every candid mind that slavery untouched constituted the strength of the rebellion, but that slavery touched would constitute its weakness.. It became a question of life or death the death of the nation or the death of slavery. Then the government chose. It chose the life of the nation by the death of slavery. . . . As soon as a man throws his whole heart into the struggle for the Union, he throws, at the

1 Boston Advertiser, Sept. 24, Oct. 2, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 17, 28; city article London Times, cited in Boston Advertiser, Sept. 22. Carl Schurz said, in a speech in Philadelphia, Sept. 16: "You have heard of the people of Germany pouring their gold lavishly into the treasury of the United States [applause]. You have heard of a loan of a thousand millions having been offered and being now in progress of negotiation. Would those people who are standing by us so generously in our embarrassments, would they have done so if they did not trust in our ability and determination to carry through the war?"-Speeches, p. 289.

"Thank

same time, his whole heart into the struggle against slavery." It is useless to talk of restoring the Union as it was. God, it is impossible" to revive slavery.1

"There is not, now, the slightest uncertainty about the reelection of Mr. Lincoln," wrote Chase to John Sherman, October 2. "The only question is, by what popular and what electoral majority. God grant that both may be so decisive as to turn every hope of rebellion to despair!"2

October 11 State and congressional elections took place in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Ohio went Union by a majority of 54,751; Indiana gave Morton, for governor, 20,883 more votes than were received by his Democratic opponent, and all three States made material gains in Union members of Congress. These elections manifested a tendency of public opinion which gave an almost unerring indication of the election of Lincoln in November. Sheridan conveyed an augmented force to the movement, and infused enthusiasm into the last weeks of the canvass. In a despatch to Grant, at ten in the evening of October 19, he thus tells the story: "My army at Cedar Creek was attacked this morning before daylight, and my left was turned and driven in confusion; in fact, most of the line was driven in confusion with the loss of twenty pieces of artillery. I hastened from Winchester, where I was on my return from Washington, and found the armies between Middletown and Newtown, having been driven back about four miles. I here took the affair in hand, and quickly united the corps, formed a compact line of battle just in time to repulse an attack of the enemy, which was handsomely done at about 1 P. M. At 3 P. M., after some changes of the cavalry from the left to the right flank, I attacked, with great vigor, driving and routing the enemy, capturing, according to the last report, forty-three pieces of artillery and very many prisoners. . Affairs at

1 Speeches of Schurz in Philadelphia, Sept. 16, in Brooklyn, Oct. 7. Speeches, pp. 277, 278, 284, 290, 291, 338, 339, 340, 348, 356.

2 Recollections of John Sherman, vol. i. p. 341.

28,152 of this was contributed by the soldiers.

CH. XXIII.]

SHERIDAN'S RIDE

537

times looked badly, but by the gallantry of our brave officers and men disaster has been converted into a splendid victory."1

"With great pleasure," telegraphed Lincoln to Sheridan, "I tender to you and your brave army the thanks of the nation, and my own personal admiration and gratitude for the month's operations in the Shenandoah valley; and especially for the splendid work of October 19, 1864."2 "The nation rings with praises of Phil Sheridan," said the Chicago Tribune.3 In New York City his exploit was "recited in prose and chanted in verse."4 The most famous poem called forth by the battle was "Sheridan's Ride," written on the impulse of the moment by Thomas Buchanan Read, and delivered immediately after it was written to a large audience in Cincinnati by James E. Murdoch, a retired actor and celebrated reader, whose declamation in the dramatic style eight days before the election stirred the crowd and served as effective last words of the political campaign.5

1 N. Y. Times, Oct. 21; O. R., vol. xliii. part i. p. 32; see Sheridan's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 68. In this connection the glimpses we get of Sheridan in Busch's Bismarck are interesting. Speaking of the battle of Gravelotte, Sheridan said, "Your infantry is the best in the world; but it was wrong of your generals to advance your cavalry as they did.” — Vol. i. p. 74; see, also, pp. 97, 99, 107, 128.

2 Oct. 22, Complete Works, vol. ii. p. 589.

• Oct. 22.

4 N. Y. Times, Oct. 22.

5 Cincinnati Commercial, Nov. 1, 1864. A different account of the circumstances under which the poem was composed is given by David L. James, cited in the Boston Eve. Transcript, Oct. 31, 1898. The poem is printed in a volume, "A Summer Story, Sheridan's Ride and other Poems" (Phila., 1865); the great effect which it had must have been due largely to the exciting time when it appeared and the impressive delivery of Murdoch. It is a laudation of the horse (see Sheridan's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 177) which bore Sheridan from Winchester to the battle-field; its keynote is

"Hurrah! hurrah for Sheridan!

Hurrah! hurrah for horse and man!"

The best stanza historically is

"The first that the general saw were the groups

Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops.