CHAPTER XXVIII.
ANDREW JOHNSON’S VAGARIES.
“SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE.”—HOW MR. JOHNSON CAME TO VISIT NEW YORK ON
HIS REMARKABLE TOUR.—THE GRAND RECEPTION AT DELMONICO’S.—THE
PRESIDENT LOSES HIS TEMPER AT ALBANY AND BECOMES AN OBJECT OF PUBLIC
RIDICULE.—HIS PROCLAMATION OF “MY POLICY” IRONICALLY
RECEIVED.—RETURNS TO WASHINGTON DISGRACED.—THE MASSACRE OF NEW
ORLEANS.—THE IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT.
As I have attributed the ill luck of myself and others in certain
business ventures in Southern securities to President Andrew Johnson, it
will be necessary to describe some of the vagaries of that gentleman
which had such a ruinous effect upon the investments of Northern men in
the South.
In common with several other Wall Street men, I had an idea that the
President might be favorably affected by the social influence of the
North, if that were brought to bear upon him in the right way. So when
we heard that he had been invited to attend the laying of the
corner-stone in the erection of a monument to the memory of Stephen A.
Douglas, at Chicago, I got up a paper signed by several Wall Street men
and other prominent citizens, urging the President to accept said
invitation and also invited him to stop at New York, on his way to the
West.
The invitation was graciously accepted, and preparations were made at
once to give him a suitable reception. It was hoped that this
demonstration of our good will would have the effect of smoothing down
the asperities of the President, and that it might remove any harsh
feelings that he entertained towards the members of Congress who
represented the Eastern and Western sections, and hence prove a means of
inducing him to advise the people of the South, over whom he had
considerable influence, to lay aside their sentiments of hostility and
attend to their business interests in a manner that should redound to
the mutual benefit of the two great sections of the country. This was in
1866.
The President left Washington about the end of August, accompanied by
General Grant, Admiral Farragut, Secretary Wells, Postmaster Randall,
and a few others of less note.
When the party arrived in New York it was joined by Secretary of State
Seward.
The preparations for the President’s reception were on a magnificent
scale for that time, and the people turned out _en masse_ eagerly to do
honor to the Executive of the nation. There was a grand procession which
conducted him to the City Hall, where he was received by the officials
of the City and State, and the procession afterwards escorted him to
Delmonico’s, at Fourteenth Street and Fifth avenue, where a dinner was
served in the most sumptuous style, with every mark of honor and respect
befitting the distinguished guest and his numerous friends.
There was an address of welcome pertinent to the occasion, and the
President responded in a very happy style. This was said to have been
one of his best efforts in oratory, in which he was, at times,
exceedingly forcible and persuasive.
He was always pithy and powerful, and there has perhaps never been a
President who produced stronger, more brilliant, and more argumentative
state papers than Andrew Johnson.
The audience at Delmonico’s was thoroughly delighted with him, the
dinner came off in a way that left nothing to be desired, and everything
seemed to indicate that the presidential visit would be a potent
influence in creating a new era of harmony between the two hostile
divisions of the country.
Everything was lovely until the presidential party arrived at Albany,
when it became manifest that the President had set out with the full
intention of giving the journey the aspect of a political canvass, and
of taking occasion to abuse his enemies in the strongest terms, and to
vindicate his policy of reconstruction in opposition to that of
Congress.
The crowd which met him on his arrival at Albany was immense, and on the
whole was disposed to accord the President a kind and courteous welcome.
The President was called upon to make a speech, in which he made violent
attacks upon his supposed enemies, or those who opposed his policy,
thereby sinking beneath the dignity which he was expected to maintain as
President of the United States, to the level of a mere political
demagogue. His utterances in that motley assembly, of course, were soon
met by sharp opposition. There were many, however, who did not treat the
fiery demonstration of the President seriously, and several of the crowd
indulged in the pastime of firing off a few good-natured jokes at the
tailor of Tennessee, who, by a mysterious fate, had been raised to such
a dizzy eminence. These jests were taken seriously by the President,
whose hot Southern blood became so aroused that he forgot the dignity of
his office and station and condescended to bandy words, and exchange
terms of ribaldry with people in the crowd. He then became a butt for
savage ridicule. A small black flag was exhibited which seemed to have
the same effect upon him as a red rag has upon a Texan steer.
The President became furious, and losing entire control of himself,
pointed towards a man in the crowd saying, “Who is that man who dares to
hoist that black flag. Let him come up here and I will tell him what I
think of him.”
This descent of personal dignity on the part of the President was
received by the audience with a feeling of ineffable disgust. He had
stooped beneath the level of the average electioneering stump speaker.
He was greeted with jeers and hooting, and the meeting was turned into a
roaring farce, in which the President played harlequin, to the great
delight of the ignorant element in the crowd, and the terrible
mortification of those who had conducted him thither.
His friends were greatly incensed at his conduct. My business friends
and I were heartily sorry that we had anything to do with this unruly
Executive, who had evidently lost his head through the sudden
acquisition of power.
The President’s journey was continued to Chicago by way of Cleveland,
where he made similar outbursts to those displayed at Albany. By the
time he had reached Chicago he had become a public object of ridicule.
He spoke so vociferously about “my policy” that the very boys in the
streets began to utter these words ironically and jeeringly.
The tour of the President was designated “Swinging around the circle,”
and when he returned to Washington he had become an object of national
contempt, and the majority of the people had entirely lost confidence in
him.
One thing about this time that intensified the popular feeling of
hostility against him was the attitude he assumed concerning the
massacre of New Orleans, which occurred about a month before he started
on his political tour.
The Convention which had formed the free constitution of the State of
Louisiana in 1864 had been ordered to reassemble by its President. The
Confederate sympathizers, who had been greatly encouraged by the acts of
the President to keep alive their old feelings of hostility to the
North, resolved that the Republican Convention should not be permitted
to meet. The ground they urged for this proposed action was that the
Convention proposed to recommend the imposition of Negro suffrage upon
the State. There was a riot and a terrible massacre, in which over a
hundred lives were lost, and several hundred persons were wounded. The
municipal authorities of New Orleans gave aid and comfort to the
rioters.
The Congressional Committee that investigated the circumstances
connected with the riot reported that the President knew that riot and
bloodshed were apprehended. He knew what military orders were in force,
and yet without the confirmation of the Secretary of War, or the General
of the Army, upon whose responsibility these military orders had been
issued, he gave orders by telegraph, which, if enforced, as they would
be, would have compelled our soldiers to aid the rebels against the men
in New Orleans who had remained loyal during the war, and sought to aid
and support, by official sanction, the persons who designed to suppress,
by arrest and criminal process under color of the law, the meeting of
the Convention; and all this although the Convention was called with the
sanction of the Governor and by one of the judges of the Supreme Court
of Louisiana claiming to act as President of the Convention. The effect
of the action of the President was to encourage the heart, to strengthen
the hand, and to hold up the arms of those who intended to prevent the
Convention from assembling.
The President’s opposition to the Reconstruction Bill probably rendered
him more unpopular than any other executive act during his
administration. The bill was passed by large majorities in both Houses
of Congress.
The President’s repudiation scheme was another very unpopular
recommendation, for which he was very strongly reproved by the action of
Congress. He stated in his message of December, 1868: “That the holders
of our securities have already received upon their bonds a larger amount
than their original investments, measured by the gold standard. Upon
this statement of facts, it would seem but just and equitable that the
six per cent. interest now paid by the Government should be applied to
the reduction of the principal, in semi-annual instalments, which in
sixteen years and eight months would liquidate the entire national
debt.”
This clause of the President’s message was condemned by an almost
unanimous vote of both Houses.
The great event in President Johnson’s career, however, was his
impeachment trial, which lasted from March 5 until May 26, 1868. He was
arraigned at the bar of the Senate, which was presided over by the Chief
Justice of the United States, the Hon. Salmon P. Chase.
The counsel of the President were Attorney-General Henry Stanberry, who
resigned his position to defend the President, ex-Judge Benjamin R.
Curtis, William S. Groesbeck, who acted as substitute for Judge “Jerry”
Black, and Hon. Wm. M. Evarts. General Benjamin F. Butler made the
opening argument against the President, accusing him of high crimes and
misdemeanors. Hon. Wm. Lawrence, of Ohio, posted him on the law of
impeachment. The chief charge in the articles of impeachment was the
removal of Mr. Stanton from the office of Secretary of War, in alleged
violation of the Tenure-of-office Act. According to this act Stanton had
a right to hold office during the term of the President by whom he was
appointed, and a month longer. He was appointed by President Lincoln.
The question to be decided then was whether Johnson was serving out
Lincoln’s unexpired term, or whether he was President _de facto_. Judge
Curtis took the latter ground, and argued, therefore, that Stanton’s
term had expired.
At the conclusion of the trial, the Senate was addressed against the
President by General John A. Logan and Mr. Boutwell. Thaddeus Stevens
attempted to read a speech, but was too weak. He handed his manuscript
to General Butler, who read it to the Senate, but it fell comparatively
flat. The Hon. Thomas Williams, of Pennsylvania, read a speech in favor
of impeachment, which was well received. The case on behalf of the
Senate was summed up by Hon. John A. Bingham, who arrayed all the
charges against the President in a very strong and unfavorable light.
His concluding sentences were, “I ask you, Senators, how long men would
deliberate upon the question whether a private citizen arraigned at the
bar of one of your private tribunals of justice, for criminal violation
of law, should be permitted to interpose a plea in justification of his
criminal act that his only purpose was to interpret the Constitution and
laws for himself; that he violated the law in the exercise of his
prerogative to test it hereafter, at such day as might suit his own
convenience, in the courts of justice? Surely, Senators, it is as
competent for the private citizen to interpose such justification in
answer to his crime as it is for the President of the United States to
interpose it, and for the simple reason that the Constitution is no
respecter of persons, and vests neither in the President nor in the
private citizen judicial power. For the Senate to sustain any such plea
would, in my judgment, be a gross violation of the already violated
constitution and laws of a free people.”
The speech of “Our own Evarts” was the _chef d’œuvre_ of his life, and
probably did much to help the President’s narrow escape. As it was, he
was only saved from impeachment by one vote, namely, that of Mr. Ross,
of Kansas.
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