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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
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 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 092 907 116 
 
 
 / 
 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092907116 
 
LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN HAY 
 
 AND 
 
 EXTRACTS FEOM DIAEY 
 
 Volume I 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 1908 
 
 Feinted bdt not Pdblished 
 
COPYKISHT, 1908, BY ClAKA S. HAT 
 
 /j&^- - "^^' 
 
 tvlltQ 
 
Custom, amounting to rule, requires the building of 
 some memorial for men of note at their death, — the 
 carving of some statue, — the painting of some portrait, — 
 suited to their careers ; not to instruct the public but to 
 please and satisfy their friends. As these memorials 
 multiply and become a large branch of art and literature, 
 both writers and readers show preference for figures that 
 stand free, and for workmanship that places no artificial 
 medium between the man and the public. Especially the 
 men of many sides, — artists, poets, wits, men-of-the- 
 world, — reject flattery, tolerate no artifice, want to be 
 viewed in no strange light, and shame the literary work- 
 man who is so bold as to risk the chances of a comparison 
 between his own powers and the subject he is trying to 
 adorn or exhibit. 
 
 The method is sometimes hard in manner and always 
 fragmentary, but is less annoying to the reader than the 
 obtrusion of a third person ; and it has been adopted in 
 trying to collect material intended not to give John Hay 
 his place in history, but to preserve the features and 
 figure of the man as he moved or talked or showed 
 himself to his friends and to society. To make this 
 method of biography clearer, the responses should also be 
 
11 
 
 given, but this would require a group of figures, and 
 would change the whole object of the art. As the portrait 
 stands, it is meant to represent him alone, and if the 
 lights are somewhat abrupt or broken, they are at least 
 meant only to show a single form. 
 
 Therefore no comment or connection has been added to 
 the text of these extracts, except an occasional note where 
 some allusion seemed to need a name or date ; but even 
 the most intimate friend could not follow intelligently so 
 long a story without an occasional reminder of a society 
 which is fading from sight or has actually disappeared. 
 These memoranda can be condensed into a small space 
 and are not hard to remember. They begin with the 
 conditions which explain how men like Hay came to exist 
 in the western country. 
 
 All the Hays seem to have had a Scotch origin, but 
 this American branch sprang from a soldier in the service 
 of the Elector Palatine between 1700 and 1750 or 
 thereabouts, who may have come to America with the 
 swarm of emigrants from the Palatinate who invaded 
 Pennsylvania in those days, but who was evidently a man 
 of education and standing. One of his four sons, John, 
 the eldest, settled in York, Pennsylvania, where he took 
 a rather promineut position ; while another, Adam, went 
 a little further West, to Berkeley County at the bottom of 
 the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, bordering the Poto- 
 mac River, where he settled. 
 
Ill 
 
 Tradition failed to tell whether Adam had a share in 
 the Campaign of Braddock who passed up to Cumberland 
 with his army in May, 1755; but he certainly shared in 
 some part of Washington's career, for his son John, born 
 February 13, 1775, remembered being patted on the head 
 by Washington ; and, since Washington's last visit to the 
 neighborhood seems to have been in 1784, the boy was 
 nine years old. 
 
 This son John is said to have found his father so strict 
 a master that, before the boy came of age, he emigrated 
 to Kentucky. Like Henry Clay and many other Virgin- 
 ians at the same time, he helped to build up the town of 
 Lexington which claimed to be a center of western 
 cultivation. There John Hay married Jemima Coulter 
 and brought up a family of fourteen children ; and there 
 he stayed until ] 830. 
 
 John Hay shared many of the views of Henry Clay ; 
 among the rest, his antipathy to General Jackson, and his 
 want of sympathy with slavery. These two opinions 
 defined social position in the West. They explain his 
 removal in 1830 to free territory. At fifty-five years old 
 he abandoned Kentucky and wandered away to the 
 remote Sangamon County in Illinois where he helped to 
 strengthen the town of Springfield. In the same year 
 Abraham Lincoln, born in Kentucky in 1809, emigrated 
 to Sangamon County. To this chance, possibly, the 
 Third Chapter of the Life of Lincoln owes some of its 
 sympathetic interest. 
 
IV 
 
 Old John Hay lived to be one of Lincoln's friends and 
 supporters, — outlived him, in fact, a few days, just long 
 enough to watch Lincoln's funeral pass his windows, — and 
 died May 20, 1865, ninety years old, a monument of the 
 past, leaving, among the other thirteen children, one son, 
 Milton, at the head of the Bar, enjoying a professional 
 and social position to be kept in mind as decisive on the 
 career of his nephew the future Secretary of State. 
 
 Meanwhile another son, Charles, born in Kentucky, 
 February 7, 1807, had been educated at Lexington, where 
 classical training held its own, and had taken a degree as 
 Doctor of Medicine at the Medical College there. He, 
 too, shared in his father's antipathies, and also moved his 
 residence across the Ohio River in 1830, but not so far as 
 Springfield. He stopped at Salem in Indiana, only about 
 thirty-five miles from Louisville on the Ohio River. By 
 a curious coincidence, the leading lawyer of the place was 
 named John Hay Farnham ; he had married Evelyn 
 Maria Leonard ; and both Farnhams and Leonards were 
 purest New England stock. The Farnhams were last 
 from Newburyport, the Leonards from Middleboro, 
 Massachusetts ; and their connections covered the country. 
 With the Farnhams, in Indiana, lived at that time Mrs. 
 Farnham' s sister, Helen Leonard, born not far from New 
 Bedford and Fall River, at Assonet, February 7, 1809, — 
 two years, to a day, younger than Charles Hay. They 
 were married, October 12, 1831, and lived to great age, 
 
in great affection, respected far beyond the common by 
 the society about them. 
 
 They had six children, all born at Salem in Indiana 
 except the youngest. As all are mentioned in these 
 letters, the names and dates of birth are best given in one 
 note : — 
 
 Leonard, born December 3, 1834; enlisted as private 
 soldier in the Fifth U. S. Infantry, 18 June, 1864; 
 commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Ninth U. S. 
 Infantry, July 2, and Fii'st Lieutenant, September 29, of 
 the same year. He remained in the service and became 
 Captain in the same Regiment March 11, 1878. 
 
 Mary, born December 17, 1836, married October 8, 
 1863, Captain Woolfolk of the regular Army, who 
 resigned after the war, and became Circuit Judge, dying 
 at Denver in 1880. John, the future Secretary of State, 
 born October 8, 1838. Charles, born March 23, 1841, 
 Second Lieutenant in the Third U. S. Cavalry and Aide 
 on General Hunter's staff during the Civil War. He 
 resigned at the peace, and settled at Springfield, where he 
 married May 10, 1865, Mary Ridgeley, also of Springfield, 
 to whom the early letters constantly allude. Charles Hay 
 became repeatedly Mayor of Springfield, and his brother's 
 letters often refer to him. 
 
 All these children were born at Salem in Indiana, 
 The youngest, Helen, was born September 13, 1844, in 
 Warsaw, Illinois, where she was married in 1870 to 
 
VI 
 
 Harwood O. Whitney ; and died June 19, 1873, as ie told 
 in the course of the story. 
 
 Nearly all the allusions in these letters, as far as they 
 relate to the family, refer to Springfield. None of the 
 young John Hay's letters to his father and mother, or to 
 his family at Warsaw, have been found. He thought 
 them too intimate to be kept. The gap is impossible 
 to fill, for his relations with his father and mother were 
 afifectionate and confidential. The little aid that is at 
 hand to fill the gaps of the correspondence can be given 
 in the mere note that Dr. Charles Hay moved his 
 residence to Warsaw, Illinois, in 1841. The town of 
 Warsaw, on the Mississippi River, about eighty miles 
 west of Springfield, happened to be then the newest hope 
 of western ambition. There the boy John, at three years 
 old, began life in surroundings very like those of a New 
 England town. His father soon got a large practice, and 
 rode far and wide about the neighborhood on horseback 
 visiting his patients. His profession was a liberal one ; 
 his education was classical ; his social position was that 
 of a Whig and Virginian of the federalist school, relics of 
 General Washington and John Marshall ; and his wife 
 belonged as little as himself to the Jacksonian democracy 
 of the backwoods. They set their children a standard 
 rather higher than they might have found in the East, 
 where the young generation clung less closely to the ideals 
 of the past. The greater world that lay outside of their 
 Warsaw life would widen the children's education to their 
 
vu 
 
 wants, but they would need to undo nothing that their 
 parents had done ; and, in the case of the boy John, as 
 though they foresaw his easy contact with a multifarious 
 life, they sent him in 1855 to Brown University in Rhode 
 Island, where the Leonards felt most at home. There he 
 took his degree in June, 1858. 
 
 When he quitted the University he saw his life before 
 him in a path so plainly marked that he could scarcely 
 miss it. Even as a young man he was very like himself, 
 never greatly changing with years, and one of his last 
 letters to Nicolay recalls the unity of his ambitions and 
 achievements, marking how regularly his life had moved 
 from phase to phase, from first to last, finding each phase 
 easy. In 1858, he saw his uncle, Milton Hay, at 
 Springfield, with a large law practice and a high social 
 position, ready to receive him as a student in the office, 
 and he knew that at Springfield law and politics went 
 hand in hand. The law-office of Milton Hay opened into 
 that of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was then 
 immersed in the famous Lincoln-Douglas campaign and 
 his political career was already certain to be in the front 
 rank. No young man with tastes such as those of John 
 Hay could have rejected such a chance. He went to 
 Springfield to study law, and his first letters show him 
 there, studying not law but French. The rest was simple. 
 Like all, or nearly all, the old anti-slavery leaders, Mr. 
 Lincoln was serious by nature, and more than most he 
 tended to melancholy. Past fifty years of age, he was 
 
Vlll 
 
 older than his years, and he found relief in the humor 
 and cheeriness of those about him. "With them, as John 
 Hay himself told in his " Life in the White House " he 
 was " the Lincoln of the Eighth Circuit, the cheeriest of 
 talkers, the riskiest of story tellers " ; but to the young 
 man be was at the same time an object of great deference, 
 as the extracts of diary show. At no time of his life 
 could Hay's own manners have been called familiar, for, 
 with all his gaiety he was a man of the world and knew 
 how to be lively or serious with his surroundings, but 
 this faculty may have seemed valuable at that moment to 
 a man of Mr. Lincoln's nature ; while, as the political 
 situation took shape, Hay inevitably felt himself drawn 
 towards its central figure, the most sympathetic among all 
 Americans, living or dead. 
 
 To this natural afiinity, chance added the accident that, 
 among the very few men at Springfield with whom Hay 
 could be intimate, the most obvious was John G. Nicolay, 
 six years older than himself, German by origin and as 
 intensely serious as he was thorough and exact. When 
 Mr. Lincoln, on his election as President, decided to take 
 Mcolay with him to Washington as Private Secretary, 
 it was natural that both of them should have seen in Hay 
 the aid they most needed to smooth their path, or to 
 relieve their weariness, in the many-sided, exhausting and 
 sometimes fretful personal relations of the White House. 
 
 Hay naturally and gladly came, perhaps hoping to 
 make of the temporary station only a short step to some 
 
permanent career ; but the series of extracts taken from 
 his note books show how he was quickly caught and 
 swept along by the outbreak of war, and their sequence 
 is close enough to need no commentary, except an occa- 
 sional reference to the Life of Lincoln where most of his 
 material was used. 
 
 Neither do the two episodes in the winters of 1863 and 
 1864 need much comment. They tell their own story 
 except so far as they leave to be inferred that Hay felt 
 restless in the White House and wanted to be nearer the 
 field of war. Evidently informed that the reconstruction 
 of Florida would be a work of as much delicacy as 
 importance, he sought a mission there, and devoted a 
 winter to the task. He found the difficulties greater than 
 he could overcome, and after much effort, gave up the 
 scheme. 
 
 With the last extracts from the note books made in the 
 White House, the story of this experience as Private 
 Secretary abruptly ends; but these show that, before the 
 assassination. Hay had asked and obtained the promise of 
 an appointment abroad. Mr. Seward gladly took him 
 into the service of the State Department on March 22, 
 1865. An ambitious young man had little or nothing to 
 gain by remaining in a subordinate place in the White 
 House, while before the new post abroad could be taken, 
 the murder of Mr. Lincoln had already put an end to any 
 chance of further usefulness at home. The letters and 
 diary contain no allusion to the death of Mr. Lincoln and 
 
the account given in the History (Vol. x, pp. 300-301) 
 is all that is known to have been written by Hay on the 
 subject. 
 
 Equally little has been found in regard to his residence 
 in Paris for the next two years. There he had John 
 Bigelow as chief, and Napoleon III, to study. He took 
 the experience as a necessary part of his education, but he 
 never showed much interest in it, or much sympathy for 
 France, and he expressed energetic antipathy for the 
 Emperor. Very early in his residence, in August, 1865, 
 only a few weeks after his arrival in Paris, he wrote the 
 poem " Sunrise in the Place de la Concorde," which is the 
 best record of his first diplomatic attitude and atmosphere. 
 Readers of his life will be most struck by noticing that, 
 almost in spite of himself, his imagination was filled much 
 less by the "lurking jail-bird" that stole the treasure ot 
 liberty, than by — 
 
 " The tremulous shafts of dawning 
 As they shoot on the Tuileries early, 
 Strike Luxor's cold gray spire ; 
 And wild in the light of the morning 
 With their marble manes on fire 
 Kamp the white Horses of Marly." 
 
 These were things which few Secretaries of Legation 
 could see, and which were not on the line of preferment ; 
 but nothing shows that Hay cared much for preferment at 
 that time. After the strain of the Civil "War, he felt, 
 like most of the young men who were in it, a reaction and 
 
XI 
 
 fatigue which took most naturally the form of poetry, 
 although he settled readily into the routine of office-work 
 and study of the language. This gained, after two years 
 in Paris, he resigned and came home. 
 
 The letters begin here with the interesting series 
 addressed to Nicolay who was then Consul in Paris. The 
 situation at home was discouraging, but the quarrels of 
 Andrew Johnson's administration happened at that 
 moment to drive Mr. Motley from the Vienna mission, 
 and Mr. Seward, with whom young Hay was always a 
 favorite, invited him to go out as chargi till a new 
 minister could be agreed upon. The letters at this point 
 are full enough of his acts and thoughts to need no 
 comment. They tell how, as soon as the new minister, 
 Henry M. Watts, was confirmed, Hay resigned and came 
 home. He had acquired only a certaio knowledge of 
 German and a large field of diplomacy. 
 
 Once more, in the following year, when President 
 Grant's administration came into office and sent General 
 Sickles to Spain as minister, the post of Secretary was 
 offered to Hay, and he went to Madrid for a year. He 
 seems then to have considered his diplomatic education 
 complete, or sufficient, and returned to America, in the 
 autumn of 1870, to seek his fortune in the press. 
 
 His letters first allude to an attempt to help Nicolay in 
 managing the Republican at Chicago, which broke down 
 for financial reasons ; but they say little of his own 
 literary doings ; and although his Castilian Days and Pike 
 
Xll 
 
 County Ballads gave him at this time, in 1871, a sudden 
 popularity, he was always inclined to treat them as 
 occasional trifles, and to think that they hurt, rather than 
 helped, his career. For himself, he looked for more 
 serious work, even to the law as profession, but he could 
 not escape the field of the press for which he had fitted 
 himself with extraordinary completeness ; so that when 
 Whitelaw Reid invited him into the office of the New York 
 Tribune, he found himself at once so much at ease, and 
 so pleasantly established, that he conquered even the 
 prejudices of Horace Greeley, who remembered acutely 
 the negotiations at Niagara described in the extracts of 
 diary for July, 1864, but who soon appreciated the value 
 of the young man in the new character of ally. The letters 
 tell something, though not much, about the newspaper 
 life of the years after 1871, which greatly colored and 
 controlled the course of Hay's career. The New York 
 Tribune, the only consistent and thorough Republican 
 newspaper in New York, was itself a school, and stamped 
 its character on all its staff. Seldom quite in harmony 
 with the machinery of the party in the State, it had at 
 times an energy and influence that rose against the 
 machinery and broke down the men who controlled it. 
 As an organ, the New York Tribune had hardly a rival, 
 and as an ally, its value was great — perhaps decisive. 
 
 From this period, the letters show the steps of Hay's 
 career so plainly as to need very little commentary. He 
 
Xlll 
 
 had been no long time on the Tribune before he met and 
 became engaged to Clara, daughter of Amasa Stone, of 
 Cleveland, Ohio, which led to their marriage, February 
 4, 1874, and presently to his going to live in Cleveland. 
 The change drew him away from the newspaper press, 
 and allowed him to take up, with Nicolay, the long- 
 intended Life of Lincoln. Of these years, 1874-1879, 
 little, except the literary record, remains ; but constant 
 allusions to his children seem to need the note, that, of 
 the four, the oldest, Helen, married in 1902, Payne 
 Whitney. The second, Adelbert, born November 1, 
 1876, went as Consul to the Transvaal during the Boer 
 War, and died tragically at New Haven in 1901 ; Alice, 
 married James W. Wadsworth, Jr., of Geneseo, in 1902 ; 
 lastly, Clarence, born December 19, 1884. 
 
 At last in 1879, after some hesitation, described in a 
 remarkable letter from Whitelaw Eeid, Mr. Evarts 
 decided to invite Hay to reenter the service of the State 
 Department; and, after an equal hesitation, Hay con- 
 sented to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for two 
 years while Mr. Evarts remained at the head of the 
 Department. This renewal of activity in politics led to 
 the very interesting series of letters to Whitelaw K.eid in 
 1880 and 1881. 
 
 The story is more nearly consecutive than any other 
 part of the life. After the difficult and delicate situation 
 which followed the defeat of Grant at Chicago in 1880 
 
XIV 
 
 and the nomination and election of Garfield, Secretary 
 Blaine who succeeded Evarts in the Department of State 
 would have been glad to keep Hay in office; but 
 President Garfield would have liked still better to restore 
 him to the White House, and actually proposed to raise 
 the office of Private Secretary to a sort of position that 
 would induce Hay to accept it. The letters on this 
 subject are printed as far as they have been found. 
 
 Hay declined to return to duties which were never 
 very much to his taste, and still less suitable to his 
 position; but for the moment, he was called to other 
 duties which he could not reject. The marriage of 
 Whitelaw Reid and his wedding vacation in Europe 
 imposed on some one the task of editing the Tribune in 
 his absence, and Mr. Reid asked Hay to do him this 
 favor, which, at the moment, seemed not very serious. 
 Scarcely had Hay taken charge of the office than the 
 feud with Roscoe Conkling broke out, followed by the 
 assassination of Garfield, events in which the Tribune 
 was deeply involved. 
 
 The letters show that at about this time. Hay had 
 fancied himself ambitious to enter Congress, and was 
 surprised to find, when the object came within his grasp, 
 that he had deceived himself; that he had already seen 
 enough of practical politics. He turned back, very 
 willingly, to literature, and between 1882 and 1890, 
 completed with Nicolay the Lincoln, which was laboriously 
 
XV 
 
 edited in the Century and afterwards published in ten 
 volumes. The letters on this subject are mostly casual, 
 brief and strictly critical ; only a few have been selected, 
 merely to show their character and fill the series. 
 
 The years between 1890 and 1897 offer no great public 
 interest in Hay's correspondence. He took no active 
 part in politics under the administrations of Cleveland 
 and Harrison. His personal relations were with the Ohio 
 candidates, Garfield, John Sherman and William McKin- 
 ley, or with Mr. Blaine, and such letters as he wrote to 
 them are lost, or of little interest. With Mr. McKinley 
 whose candidacy grew slowly in dimensions, relations 
 became closer than with the others, but seem never to 
 have led to correspondence. The election of McKinley 
 as President in November, 1896, — an election in which 
 Hay had taken an active though not very public part, — 
 brought upon him the question of ofiice. Never eager 
 for prominence. Hay inclined to put forward Whitelaw 
 Eeid as the proper representative of the Tribune influence 
 to which the election of McKinley was largely due ; but 
 Mr. McKinley decided the question for himself by 
 appointing Hay as Ambassador in London. The choice 
 was personal rather than political, and showed regard for 
 the fitness of the public service rather than reward for 
 service in the party. 
 
 Few letters of a private kind were written during the 
 year or eighteen months of his residence as Ambassador, 
 of which two months were passed in a trip to Egypt. 
 
XVI 
 
 The Spanish war threw on him some unexpected cares in 
 the summer of 1898, but the most serious consequence to 
 him was its indirect eifect in breaking down the strength 
 of Secretary John Sherman, which caused President 
 McKinley to summon Hay to Washington as soon as 
 possible, in September, 1898. Then began his service in 
 the State Department, rivalling that of James Madison, 
 John Quincy Adams, William Henry Seward, and Ham- 
 ilton Fish in length, and surpassing all rivalry in the 
 volume of work accomplished. 
 
 The letters selected to carry on the story during these 
 seven years have been chosen only for their personal, not 
 at all for their public interest. None have been admitted 
 that are supposed to have official value or even diplomatic 
 bearing on any part of the actual interests of the country. 
 These matters belong to history and to the administration 
 of President McKinley as a whole ; the records are in 
 the Department of State ; and the interests are still more 
 or less open to dispute. The State Department itself 
 would not assist, and might not permit, the story of its 
 long and laborious efforts, involving complicated condi- 
 tions, in widely separated parts of the world to be laid 
 bare, — or still worse, mangled in telling, — while the same 
 interests in the same, or similar forms are still active. 
 The story cannot be treated as the personal property of a 
 government official, even in the expressions of private 
 correspondence; but, in order to explain the allusions 
 
XVll 
 
 that occur in such letters as are admitted, the succession 
 of business needs to be noted as it occurred. 
 
 Hay assumed charge of the office in October, 1898, 
 and found a number of important matters, some of them 
 pending since fifty years, waiting action. The result of 
 the Spanish war and the changes in the balance of power 
 in Europe gave him a hope of settling them, and he began 
 at once with the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty which obstructed 
 the legislative scheme for a Nicaragua Canal. After 
 much negotiation he signed with Sir Julian Pauncefote, 
 on February 5, 1900, a convention that was submitted to 
 the Senate and proved unsatisfactory to that body, which 
 adopted a number of amendments. 
 
 The amendments in their turn were unsatisfactory to 
 Hay, who dropped the old convention, and renewed 
 negotiations with Sir Julian Pauncefote, ending in the 
 signature of a new convention, November 18, 1901, 
 which the Senate accepted, December 16, by a vote of 72 
 to 6. Frequent allusions occur in his private letters to 
 this negotiation which consumed three years of time and 
 severely strained his strength. Its success at last marked 
 the turning point of his career and established his author- 
 ity, till then much contested. 
 
 At the same time and for similar objects he negotiated 
 with Denmark a Treaty for the purchase of St. Thomas, 
 St. John's and Santa Cruz, for $5,000,000 signed Janu- 
 ary 24, 1902, and promptly ratified by the Senate, 
 February 17, but rejected by the Danish Senate, or upper 
 
xvm 
 
 house, by a tie vote on October 22. This failure 
 seriously impaired the measures necessary for the comple- 
 tion of the Isthmian Canal ; but a greater embarrassment 
 was caused by the sudden abandonment of the Nicaragua 
 Eoute, for which the necessary diplomatic arrangements 
 had been made, and the purchase of the Panama Eoute 
 from the French company, by an Act approved June 28, 
 1902, which threw on Hay the task of dealing with the 
 Government of Colombia. For reasons which are not in 
 place here, he failed in his negotiations with Colombia, 
 and the knot was cut by the negotiation of what was 
 called the Bueno-Varilla Treaty, guaranteeing the inde- 
 pendence of the Republic of Panama, ratified by the 
 Senate on February 23, 1904, by a vote of 66 to 14. 
 
 This series of negotiations, covering six years, carried 
 out a policy desired and affirmed by the United States 
 Government in all its branches, without party distinction, 
 for at least fifty years, and for its creation or principle 
 Hay had no share of responsibility. Likewise in negoti- 
 ating, with the President's approval, a long series of 
 Eeciprocity Treaties, he acted under what the President 
 conceived to be the mandate of the Eepublican Party 
 Platform adopted at Philadelphia, June 20, 1900. The 
 Eepublican Senators thought otherwise and admitted no 
 discussion. All these Treaties failed. On the other 
 hand, a number of Treaties aiming at the creation of 
 Courts of Arbitration and peaceful settlement of disputes, 
 
XIX 
 
 met little or no opposition, since they seemed to interfere 
 with no interest. 
 
 His arrangement of the Samoan question with Germany 
 by the Treaty of December 22, 1899, — one of his first 
 and most serious measures — was allowed by common and 
 tacit consent, to pass almost xmnoticed ; but the Alaskan 
 question with Canada gave an infinity of trouble, and the 
 Convention signed at Washington, January 24, 1903, and 
 approved February 11, arranging for a final decision of 
 the Canadian claim, was probably his highest triumph of 
 delicate and difficult manipulation against tripartite 
 reluctance. 
 
 Even this hardly gave him so much personal annoy- 
 ance as was caused by the affairs of Venezuela, to which 
 his letters scarcely refer. His rale in diplomacy was to 
 settle all questions, if possible, by word of mouth, and to 
 write few papers. This practice reversed the old custom 
 of American diplomacy, but reached results more rapidly. 
 His name is attached to no state papers such as fill the 
 records of Jefferson, J. Q. Adams, or Webster and 
 Marcy ; it is attached only to the results ; yet even the 
 results sometimes fade out of sight when the student tries 
 to fix precisely their nature. This is especially true of 
 the field where he won most fame. The phrases " open 
 door" and "administrative entity" may alone survive 
 as the only literary record of five or six years filled with 
 incessant activity in the affairs of the extreme east ; and 
 these phrases, both in what they express and what they 
 
XX 
 
 avoid expressing, show Hay's method : — a method that 
 he may have learned from Abraham Lincoln. Not 
 averse to the strongest measures when he could see no 
 choice, he relied by instinct on patience and good-temper, 
 but above all on his judgment. The manner in which he 
 dealt with the Chinese and Manchurian problem cannot 
 yet be told in his own words ; too many interests and 
 persons are still involved ; and a partial or garbled 
 account would be worthless for the portrait ; but future 
 text books of American diplomacy will probably use this 
 story as their standard of instruction. Students will be 
 shown how a situation of extreme delicacy, bristling with 
 possible errors, was managed without a mistake, and 
 made to yield an unparalleled reputation at the cost of 
 no display. of force. The patience, the persistence, the 
 good-temper with which Hay pursued his object, from the 
 moment of his instructions of September 6, 1899, to the 
 telegraphic confirmation by the Senate, December 18, 
 1903, of his Treaty with China opening to him the 
 Manchurian trade, with necessary consulates, are instruc- 
 tive enough in themselves, and, as lessons in diplomacy, 
 deserve careful study ; but they are much more instructive 
 as a study of Hay himself, his peculiar combination of 
 obstinate persistence with good humored caution, — of 
 perfect self-control with singular, and what a highly 
 competent critic called "delightful audacity." To the 
 student, who alone penetrates these dim paths of inter- 
 national politics, the humor is more evident than the art. 
 
XXI 
 
 but it surprises and puzzles the reader, because it is not 
 the humor of 1900 but rather the freshness of 1860. 
 The hand is the hand of Hay, but the temper, the tone, 
 the wit and genius bear the birthmark of Abraham Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 The student, noticing the ease and rapid resource with 
 which Hay seemed always to handle these intricate and 
 cumbrous problems, might think that he was favored by 
 circumstances, but the record proves the contrary. His 
 failures were many, and the friction was greater than even 
 the failures reveal. Very slowly he conquered control — 
 in a certain degree — at home, and Congress ceased to 
 regard him as an amateur politician ; but, abroad, the 
 circumstances turned decisively in his favor only when 
 his strength was exhausted, and death was a matter of 
 days. The letters, if read attentively, show that his 
 ultimate triumph was one of judgment, not of act, for 
 he could risk no act that Congress could be depended 
 upon to approve ; and that he was still carrying the load 
 of affairs, in their fullest strain, when at the close of the 
 Fifty-eighth Congress, March 3, 1905, his strength gave 
 way, and he was obliged to sail, on March 18, for Europe. 
 The letters follow him to Nauheim, Paris and London ; 
 where, only at the moment of his return to America he 
 heard, on June 1, the result of the battle of Tsushima. 
 On June 6, he saUed from Liverpool ; on June 8, the 
 Tsar accepted mediation. It was too late for him to 
 complete his own work. The President completed it for 
 
XXll 
 
 him, and the letters can only follow him back for a few 
 days to Washington, and thence to his country house at 
 Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire, where he died July 1, 
 1905. 
 
LETTERS 
 
 JOHN HAY 
 
 TO MISSES JTJLIA, ANNIE AND MARY R , 
 
 Springfield, 111., 
 
 This afternoon, 
 
 Six o'clock. 
 
 TO THE MISSES R : ^ 
 
 I am lamentably ignorant as to whether Gold- 
 smith is one of your favorite poets, hut if he is, 
 you have doubtless admired his beautiful and 
 merciful lines : — 
 
 No PUox that range the valley free 
 
 To slaughter I condemn ; 
 Taught by the power that pities me, 
 
 I learn to pity them. 
 
 1 'Sent with a huge bunch of wild, blue phlox, I860.' 
 
 1 
 
2 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Please follow the example of the gentle bard 
 and pity the wretched condition of these chaotic 
 flowers, and let your exquisite taste produce a 
 combination that shall do justice to the senti- 
 ments with which we gathered and send them. 
 Yours " Haw "-fully, 
 
 JNO. G. NICOLAY. 
 
 Yours blue-mingly, 
 
 JOHN HAY. 
 
 HAY TO MISS MAKY E,- 
 
 MADEMOISELIiE MARIE : ' 
 
 Vous avez, sans doute, entendu les mots sublimes 
 d'un anteur inconnu, 
 
 "Si au premier vous ne reussissez pas 
 Tachez, tachez, une autre fois ! ' ' 
 
 Croyant en les principes de ces mots memorables, 
 voulez vous, avec votre humble serviteur, prendre 
 votre revanche sur le desappointment de le Jeudi 
 
 "We were all studying French at the time with a Mons. Anglade.' 
 — M. E. H. 
 
LETTEES OF JOHN HAY 3 
 
 dernier, et faire un autre essai pour entendre le 
 discours de M. Herndon ? 
 
 Le votre, 
 
 JEAN HAY. 
 
 ' V A 
 
 5 > 
 
 Distribuez les accents pour moi, s'il 
 vous plait. 
 
 HAY TO MISS MAKY E- 
 
 Springfield, 111. 
 
 MADEMOISELLE MAKIE : 
 
 Je suis bien heureux que je puis annoncer a 
 vous que M. Lincoln, I'honnete vieux Abe, va 
 faire un discours a la salle du Cuisinier ^ demain 
 au soir. Voulez vous rappeler votre promesse et 
 m'accompagner ? J'espere d'entendre beaucoup de 
 les clioses bonnes, qui reposent comme Lazare apres 
 son mort, en " Abraham's Bosom." 
 
 Peut-etre il est necessaire que j'explique la raison 
 pourquoi je suis de si bonne heure en urgeant mes 
 pretentions a votre compagnie. Voila la raison ! 
 II y aura ce soir une " Societe a Coudre " et vous 
 rencontrez 1^ beaucoup de vos amis et vos adoreurs. 
 
 •Cook's Hall. 
 
LETTEKS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Est-il possible que vous voulez vous souvenir de 
 votre engagement, sans que je le mentionne a vous ? 
 Je pense que je suis " Out of sight, out of mind ; " 
 mais, absent ou present, je suis Tout a vous. 
 
 HAY TO MISS MARY K . 
 
 Springfield, 111. 
 
 MISS MAEY : 
 
 I remember having heard, in the innocent days 
 when I went to Sunday School, some advice to the 
 effect that if mine eye offend me I shall pluck it 
 out and cast it from me. I have been strongly 
 tempted to follow the admonition during the last 
 few days in which I have been playing the part of 
 the sullen Cyclops. But now I can adopt in some 
 measure the language of the poet and say : — 
 
 "Thee I revisit safe." 
 
 I intended that quotation at first to refer to the 
 " Holy Light " referred to by the blind bard, but 
 won't it be neater to read it as it is ? 
 
 Circumstances over which I had no control, — 
 convenient phrase ! — prevented me from sending 
 you last evening the explanation I had written. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 5 
 
 I use the first moment of my enfranchisement to 
 beg the privilege of making some other engage- 
 ment with you to go somewhere to see or hear 
 something or somebody. Prayer-meeting par 
 example ! E. S. V- P. 
 
 All my visual powers have been employed 
 since I last saw you in a diligent and delighted 
 perusal of the columns of the Lincoln Clarion : a 
 paper filled with useful reading, and edited with 
 great decision of character/ 
 
 Yours of course. 
 
 HAY TO MISS MAEY K- 
 
 Springfield, Illinois. 
 
 MISS MAKY : 
 
 I think we will at length have an opportunity, 
 this evening, to discover the important principles 
 that underlie the great contest between Symboli- 
 cism and Anti-Symbolicism, M. Anglade. If you 
 are interested in this momentous subject, will you 
 go with me this evening to the Lutheran Church. 
 Providence and the weather permitting ? 
 
 ' "The Lincoln Clarion had published one of my school-girl composi- 
 tions on "Decision of Character." — M. B. H. 
 
6 LETTEBS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Besides the pleasure to be derived from the 
 orations of the zealous young soldiers of the 
 Church Militant, there is a further inducement in 
 the music that you will ye-aw if you have ye-aws 
 to ye-aw. You will remember the music is very 
 en-ticin. 
 
 I particularly admire the neat and unobtrusive 
 manner in which that pun is introduced. I flatter 
 myself I can do some things ! ^ 
 
 HAY TO MKS. R- 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 
 March 19, 1861. 
 
 MY DEAR MKS. R : 
 
 An enterprising genius has just opened a little 
 collection of Japanese curiosities under Willard's, 
 and everybody goes there and gets unmercifully 
 cheated. I was beguiled into the shop to-day 
 and my eyes fell upon these little mother-of-pearl 
 trinkets. I inquired their possible use and was 
 told they were used in Japanese gambling, but 
 were sold here for counters. I remembered the 
 pleasant whist-parties at your house, and take 
 
 ' "Mrs. Tyson was singing in the Lutheran Church." 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 the liberty of sending them. There is nothing 
 domestic about them. The box, the wood and 
 the paper are all dj'outre mer. 
 
 Mr. B and his cara sposa left us to-day. 
 
 It made me positively homesick. I would give 
 everything for a day or two in Springfield. Not 
 that I love Washington less, but that I love 
 Springfield more. This town will be very pleasant 
 after a while when we have leisure to enjoy it. 
 With great respect. 
 
 HAY TO MISS MAEY E- 
 
 Washington, 1861. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND : 
 
 I send you this book * because it is new — that is 
 its only recommendation. It sketches with the 
 most miraculous fidelity characters that are not 
 worth sketching. It reminds me of a satiric car- 
 toon of a Dutch painter, representing Art knocking 
 in vain at his door, and the artist within industri- 
 ously engaged in drawing an old shoe. This 
 woman has wonderful power but is wasting it on 
 unworthy subjects. 
 
 ' George Eliot's Silas Marner. 
 
8 LETTEKS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 There is something strange, almost startling in 
 this story. There is not one single character in it 
 who is not below mediocrity in mind, morals and 
 manners. Yet these people, so drearily common- 
 place, in actual life, move us strongly in the book. 
 It is not sympathy with the people ; it is sympathy 
 with the success of the portraits. 
 
 When women write books they make young 
 people fall in love very foolishly. I want to write 
 a novel on common-sense principles and change all 
 that, some day, when I have grown rich and idle, 
 and have forgotten to-day and yesterday. 
 
 We are very jolly here now, on a warfooting. 
 We are hoping for a little brush with the traitors, 
 but are very much afraid they will deprive us of 
 that pleasure. 
 
 .... I wish I were in Springfield for a little 
 while. I am afraid to leave here just now, lest I 
 should lose some fun in my absence. 
 
 Your friend. 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 April 18, 1861. 
 
 The White House is turned into barracks. J, 
 L marshalled his Kansas warriors to-day at 
 
LETTEES OF JOHN HAY 9 
 
 Willard's and placed them at the disposal of 
 
 Major H , who turned them to-night into 
 
 the East Eoom. It is a splendid company, worthy 
 such an armory. Besides the western jayhawkers, 
 it comprises some of the best material of the 
 
 east. Senator P and old Anthony B 
 
 stood shoulder to shoulder in the ranks. J. L 
 
 walked proudly up and down the ranks with 
 a new sword that the Major had given him. 
 The Major has made me his aid, and I labored 
 under some uncertainty as to whether I should 
 speak to privates or not. 
 
 .... All day the notes of preparation have 
 been heard at the public buildings and the armo- 
 ries. Everybody seems to be expecting a son or 
 brother or "young man" in the coming regiments. 
 
 To-night Edward brought me a card from 
 
 Mrs. Ann S. S expressing a wish to see the 
 
 President on matters concerning his personal 
 safety. As the Ancient was in bed, I volunteered 
 to receive the harrowing communication. Edward 
 took me to the little room adjoining the hall, 
 
 and I waited. Mrs. S , who is neither young 
 
 nor yet fair to any miraculous extent, came in 
 leading a lady, who was a little of both, whom 
 she introduced as Mrs. Col. L . I was de- 
 
10 LETTEBS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 lighted at this chance interview with the Medea, 
 the Julia, the Mona Lisa of my stage-struck days. 
 After many hesitating and bashful trials, Mrs. 
 
 L told the impulse that brought them. Some 
 
 young Virginian, long-haired, swaggering chival- 
 rous of course, and indiscreet friend, had come 
 into town in great anxiety for a new saddle, 
 and meeting her had said that he, and half a 
 dozen others, including a dare-devil guerilla from 
 
 Richmond, named F , would do a thing within 
 
 forty-eight hours that would ring through the 
 world. Connecting this central fact with a multi- 
 plicity of attendant details, she concluded that 
 the President was either to be assassinated or 
 captured. She ended by renewing her protesta- 
 tions of earnest solicitude, mingled with fears of 
 
 the impropriety of the step. L has made 
 
 her very womanly since he married her. Imagine 
 
 J. M. D a blushing, hesitating wife ! 
 
 They went away, and I went to the bedside 
 of the Chief couche. I told him the yarn ; he 
 quietly grinned. Going to my room I met the 
 Captain. He was a little boozy and very elo- 
 quent. He dilated on the troubles of the time, 
 and bewailed the existence of a garrison in the 
 White House, " to give eclat to J. L ! " 
 
LETTEES OF JOHN HAY 11 
 
 H. L came in about midnight saying that 
 
 C C was drilling a splendid company 
 
 at Willard's Hall, and that the town was in a 
 general tempest of enthusiastic excitement. Which 
 not being very new, I went to sleep. 
 
 Friday, April 19. Early this morning I con- 
 sulted with Major H — — as to measures proper 
 to be taken in the matter of guarding the house. 
 He told me that he would fulfil any demand I 
 should make. The forenoon brought us news 
 of the destruction of Government property at 
 Harper's Ferry. It delighted the Major, regard- 
 ing it as a deadly blow at the prosperity of the 
 recusant Virginia. 
 
 I called to see Joe J , and found him more 
 
 of a gentleman than I had expected. A very 
 intellectual face, thin and eager, with large, intense 
 blue eyes, the lines firm, and the hair darker than 
 
 I had thought. I then went to see Mrs. L , and 
 
 made her tell her story all over again "just by 
 
 way of a slant." Miss L the sculptor was 
 
 there. Coming up, I found the streets full of the 
 bruit of the Baltimore mob,' and at the White 
 House was a nervous gentleman who insisted on 
 
 ^Abraham Lincoln, IV, 123. The attack on the Sixth Massachusetts 
 Regiment took place in Baltimore towards noon this day. 
 
12 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 seeing the President to say that a mortar battery 
 has been planted on the Virginia heights, com- 
 manding the town. He separated himself from 
 the information and instantly retired. I had to do 
 some very dexterous lying to calm the awakened 
 
 fears of Mrs. L in regard to the assassination 
 
 suspicion. 
 
 After tea came P and P from Balti- 
 more. They came to announce that they had 
 taken possession of the Pikesville Arsenal in the 
 name of the Government — to represent the feeling 
 of the Baltimore conservatives in regard to the 
 present imbroglio there, and to assure the President 
 of the entire fidelity of the Governor and the 
 State authorities. The President showed them 
 
 H and B 's despatch, which (said) " Send 
 
 no troops here. The authorities here are loyal to 
 the Constitution. Our police force and local mili- 
 tia will be sufficient ; " meaning as they all seemed 
 to think, that they wanted no Washington troops 
 
 to preserve order ; but, as S insists, that no 
 
 more troops must be sent through the city. S 
 
 seemed to agree with S . His answer to a 
 
 despatch of inquiry was : — " Governor H has 
 
 no authority to prevent troops from passing through 
 Baltimore." S interpolated, "no right." 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 13 
 
 P and P seemed both loyal and hopeful. 
 
 They spoke of the danger of the North being roused 
 to fury by the bloodshed of to-day and pouring in 
 an avalanche over the border. The President most 
 solemnly assured them that there was no danger : — 
 " Our people are easily influenced by reason. 
 They have determinded to prosecute this matter 
 with energy, but with the most temperate spirit. 
 You are entirely safe from lawless invasion." 
 
 W came up to say that young H saw 
 
 a steamer landing troops off Fort Washington. I 
 
 told the President. S immediately drove to 
 
 S 's. 
 
 About midnight we made a tour of the house. 
 
 H and the Italian exile V were quietly 
 
 asleep on the floor of the East Eoom, and a young 
 and careless guard loafed around the furnace fires 
 in the basement; good looking and energetic 
 young fellows, too good to be food for gunpowder, 
 — if anything is. 
 
 Miss D called to-day to offer her services 
 
 in the hospital branch. She makes the most 
 munificent and generous offers. 
 
 April 20, 1861. Colonel Washington called 
 this morning but could not see the President. 
 
14 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 It would seem like a happy chance to have a 
 General Washington living and fighting among 
 us at this time. 
 
 The streets were full of the talk of Baltimore. 
 It seems to he generally thought that a mere 
 handful of men has raised this storm that now 
 threatens the loyalty of a State. 
 
 I went up with N , P and W to 
 
 see the Massachusetts troops quartered in the 
 Capitol. The scene was very novel. The contrast 
 was very painful between the grey-haired dignity 
 that filled the Senate Chamber when I saw it last, 
 and the present throng of bright-looking Yankee 
 boys, the most of them bearing the signs of New 
 England rusticity in voice and manner, scattered 
 over the desks, chairs and galleries, some loafing, 
 many writing letters slowly and with plough- 
 hardened hands, or with rapid-glancing clerkly 
 
 fingers, while G stood patient by the desk and 
 
 franked for everybody. The Hall of Representa- 
 tives is as yet empty. Lying on a sofa and looking 
 upward, the magnificence of the barracks made 
 me envy the soldiers who should be quartered 
 there. The wide-spreading sky-lights overarching 
 the vast hall like heaven, blushed and blazed with 
 gold and the heraldic devices of the married States, 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 15 
 
 while, all around it, the eye was rested by the 
 massive simple splendor of the stalagmitic bronze 
 reliefs. The spirit of our institutions seemed 
 visibly present to inspire and nerve the acolyte, 
 sleeping in her temple beside his unfleshed 
 sword .... 
 
 The town is full to-night of feverish rumors 
 about a meditated assault upon the town, and one, 
 which seems to me more probable, on Fort 
 McHenry. The garrison there, is weak and inad- 
 equate, and in spite of the acknowledged bravery 
 of E, and H , it must fall if attacked. 
 
 E— — telegraphs that his regiment has been 
 raised, accepted, and that he wants them sent to 
 
 Fort Hamilton for preliminary drill. C 
 
 authorised the answer that the commander there 
 should have orders to that effect. Much is hoped 
 from the gallant Colonel's Bloodtubs. They would 
 be worth their weight in Virginia currency in Fort 
 McHenry to-night. 
 
 The Massachusetts men drilled to-night on 
 the Avenue. They afford a happy contrast to 
 the unlicked patriotism that has poured ragged 
 and unarmed out of Pennsylvania. They step 
 together well, and look as if they meant business. 
 
 J. L wrote a note to the President to-day. 
 
16 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 offering to bring any assignable number of north- 
 ern fighting men over the border at the shortest 
 
 possible notice. Gen. S seems to think that 
 
 four or five thousand men will be a sufficient 
 garrison to hold this town against any force that 
 may be brought out from Maryland or Virginia 
 woods. 
 
 April 21 (Sunday). This morning came a 
 penitent and suppliant crowd of conditional seces- 
 sionists from Baltimore, who, having sowed the 
 wind, seem to have no particular desire to reap 
 the whirlwind. They begged that no more 
 federal troops should be sent through Baltimore 
 at present ; that their mob was thoroughly 
 unmanageable, and that they would give the 
 government all possible assistance in transporting 
 its troops, safely, across the State by any other 
 route. The President, always inclined to give all 
 men credit for fairness and sincerity, consented to 
 this arrangement, contrary to the advice of some 
 of his most prominent counsellors ; and afterwards 
 said that this was the last time he was going to 
 interfere in matters of strictly military concern- 
 ment ; that he would leave them hereafter wholly 
 to military men. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 17 
 
 I spoke of the intended resignation of Col. 
 
 M . The Tycoon was astonished. Three 
 
 days ago M had been in his room making 
 
 the loudest protestations of undying devotion to 
 the Union. This canker of secession has wonder- 
 fully demoralised the army. Capt. F is the 
 
 firmest and soundest man I meet. He seems to 
 combiae great honesty of purpose with accurate 
 and industrious business habits and a lively and 
 patriotic soldier's spirit that is better than any- 
 thing else to-day. 
 
 This morning we mounted the battlements of 
 the Executive Mansion, and the Ancient took a 
 long look down the bay. It was a " water-haul." 
 
 Any amount of feverish rumors filled the even- 
 ing. The despatch from M. A , in regard 
 
 to 1,500 Massachusetts troops being seen off 
 Annapolis, seemed to please the President very 
 much. Then there was a Fort Monroe rumor 
 and a 7th Regiment rumor, and a Rhode Island 
 rumor; all which, to-morrow will sift. 
 
 We passed the evening pleasantly at E 's, 
 
 where were the English Legation, and returned 
 
 to find V and his borderers guarding the 
 
 imperial palace, pacing in belted and revolvered 
 dignity, up and down the wide portico, to give 
 2 
 
18 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 style and tone to the defensive guard, looking, 
 as he said, like gentlemen in feature and dress. 
 We went up and found a despatch stating that 
 no troops had arrived at the Navy Yard. Tant 
 pis we said, and slept. 
 
 April 22, 1861 The whining traitors 
 
 from Baltimore were here again this morning. 
 The President, I think, has done with them. 
 
 In conversation with Major H last night, 
 
 in reply to the Major's blunt assertion that the 
 troops should have been brought through Balti- 
 more if the town had to be leveled to the earth, 
 he said that that order commanding them to 
 return to Pennsylvania was given at the earnest 
 solicitation of the Maryland conservatives who 
 avowed their powerlessness in Baltimore, but 
 their intention to protect the federal troops else- 
 where, granted them as a special extension ; as 
 an exhaustion of the means of conciliation and 
 kindness. Hereafter, however, he would interfere 
 with no war measures of the army. 
 
 A young lady called to-day from Baltimore, 
 
 sent by her father, H. P , Esq., to convey 
 
 to the Government information as to the state 
 of affairs in the Plug-ugly city. She was very 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 19 
 
 pretty and soutliern in features and voice, and 
 wonderfully plucky and earnest in the enuncia- 
 tion of her devotion to the Stars and Stripes. 
 She stated that the mails had been stopped at 
 the Baltimore Post-office — arms expected from 
 Virginia — ^Fort McHenry to be attacked to- 
 night — the scared Commanders here thoroughly 
 traitorous, and other things. I met her again 
 this afternoon and talked three hours. Her quiet 
 courage and dauntless patriotism brought back 
 to me the times of De Montfort and Queen 
 Eleanor, and the girl of Dom Remy. I gained 
 a new idea of the possibilities of true, brave 
 hearts being nourished in Republics. Just as 
 she stepped into her carriage, her friend called 
 her " Lilie," and I knew her name. She seemed 
 so heart whole in her calm devotion to the Union 
 that flirtation died in her presence and better 
 thoughts than politicians often know, stole through 
 the mind of one who listened to the novelty of 
 an American woman, earnest, intelligent, patriotic 
 and pretty. 
 
 This afternoon the Pocahontas and the Ana- 
 costia came peacefully back from their cruise 
 and folded their wings in the harbor. The 
 Pocahontas has done her duty at Norfolk and 
 
20 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 is welcome to our bay, with its traitor-haunted 
 shores. She reports no batteries at the White 
 House Point, and makes no record of any hostile 
 demonstration from the banks of Alexandria. 
 The very fact of the Pocahontas coming so 
 quietly in, is a good one. 
 
 A telegram intercepted on its way to Baltimore 
 states that our Yankees and New Yorkers have 
 landed at Annapolis. Weary and foot-sore but 
 very welcome, they will probably greet us to- 
 morrow. 
 
 .... It is amusing to drop in some evening at 
 C 's Armory. The raw patriots lounge elegant- 
 ly on the benches, drink coffee in the ante-room, 
 change the boots of unconscious sleepers in the 
 hall, scribble busily in editorial note-books, while 
 the sentries snore at the doors, and the grizzled 
 Captain talks politics on the raised platform, and 
 dreams of border battle and the hot noons of 
 Monterey. 
 
 It was melodramatic to see C. C come into 
 
 the President's reception room to-day. He wore, 
 with a sublimely unconscious air, three pistols and 
 an Arkansas tooth pick, and looked like an 
 admirable vignette to 25 cents worth of yellow- 
 covered romance. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 21 
 
 Housekeepers here are beginning to dread, 
 famine. Flour has made a sudden spring to |18 
 a barrel, and corn-meal rejoices in the respectable 
 atmosphere of $2.50 a bushel. Willard is prepar- 
 ing for war, furling all sails for the storm. The 
 dinner-table is lorn of cartes, and the tea-table 
 reduced to the severe simplicity of pound-cake. 
 
 April 23. This morning D. W came rush- 
 ing into the office, looking for S with what he 
 
 called important news. He said that the two ships 
 at the Navy Yard were the Pawnee and the 
 Kingston. They brought marines and naval 
 stores from Norfolk, which place they left after 
 carrying what government property they could not 
 remove. The Premier cursed quietly because the 
 
 Baltic had not come ; told W not to contradict 
 
 the report that the Baltic had come; said the 
 
 treason of H would not surprise him ; that 
 
 the Seventh could cut their way through three 
 thousand rioters ; that Baltimore delenda est ; and 
 other things, — and strolled back into the audience 
 chamber. 
 
 At dinner we sat opposite old Gen. S , who 
 
 was fierce and jubilant. No frenzied poet ever 
 predicted the ruin of a hostile house with more 
 
22 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 energy and fervor than lie issued the rescript of 
 destiny against Baltimore. "We've got 'em/' he 
 said. " It is our turn now. We keep steadily one 
 
 week ahead of them, as S says. We have 
 
 burned their hospital and poor-house, Harper's 
 Ferry and the Norfolk Navy Yard. Now let 
 them fight or starve." He was peculiarly dis- 
 gusted with the impertinence of Delaware. " The 
 contemptible little neighborhood without popula- 
 tion enough for a decent country village, gets 
 upon her hind legs and talks about armed neu- 
 trality. The only good use for traitors is to hang 
 them. They are worth more, dead than alive." 
 — Thus the old liberty-loving Teuton raged. 
 
 A gaunt, tattered, uncombed and unshorn 
 figure appeared at the door and marched solemnly 
 up to the table. He wore a rough, rusty over- 
 coat, a torn shirt, and suspenderless breeches. 
 His thin hair stood fretful-porcupine-quill-wise 
 upon his crown. He sat down and gloomily 
 charged upon his dinner. A couple of young 
 exquisites were eating and chatting opposite him. 
 They were guessing when the road would be open 
 through Baltimore. " Thursday ! " growled the 
 grim apparition ; " or Baltimore will be laid in 
 ashes." 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 23 
 
 It was J. L- 
 
 To-niglit there seems to be reliable news at 
 the State Department that the Seventh Eegi- 
 ment and the Massachusetts troops would start 
 from Annapolis to-night, and through the favor- 
 ing moonlight march to the Junction, where the 
 Government has possession of the Road. The 
 hostile peasantry can harass them fearfully on 
 the way, from fence-corners and hill-sides, if they 
 are ready and brave. ... A large and dis- 
 appointed throng gathered at the Depot this 
 morning hoping to get deliverance. But the 
 hope was futile. They seem doomed to see 
 the rising of the curtain. . . . 
 
 April 24. ... This has been a day of gloom 
 and doubt. Everybody seems filled with a vague 
 distrust and recklessness. The idea seemed to 
 be reached by Lincoln when chatting with the 
 volunteers this morning, he said : " I don't believe 
 there is any North ! The Seventh Regiment is 
 a myth ! Rhode Island is not known in our 
 geography any longer. You are the only North- 
 ern realities." Seward's messengers, sent out 
 by the dozen, do not return. The Seventh and 
 Butler's are probably still at Annapolis. A 
 
24 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 rumor this evening says the Railroad is in the 
 hands of the Government and the Seventh's 
 sappers and miners are at work repairing it. . . . 
 
 April 25. A.t the request of the Tycoon, who 
 imagined he had seen something significant steam- 
 ing up the river, I went down to the Navy Yard. 
 
 Saw D , who at once impressed me as a 
 
 man of great coolness and power. The hoat was 
 the Mt. Vernon, who reported everything right 
 in the river. 
 
 Ahout noon the Seventh Regiment came. I 
 went to the Depot and saw L , who com- 
 municated the intelligence of their peaceful 
 passage, with which I straightway gladdened the 
 
 heart of the Ancient. C. S was with him 
 
 as I returned. He was just reading a letter from 
 
 H advising the immediate manufacture of 
 
 rifled cannon from the Chicopee Works. Lincoln 
 seemed to he in a pleasant, hopeful mood, and, 
 in the course of the conversation, partially fore- 
 shadowed his present plan. He said : " I intend, 
 at present, always leaving an opportunity for 
 change of mind, to fill Fortress Monroe with 
 men and stores ; blockade the ports efiectually ; 
 provide for the entire safety of the Capital ; keep 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 25 
 
 them quietly employed in this way, and then 
 go down to Charleston and pay her the little 
 debt we are owing her." 
 
 .... General B has sent an imploring 
 
 request to the President to be allowed to bag the 
 whole nest of traitorous Maryland legislators and 
 bring them in triumph here. This the Tycoon, 
 wishing to observe every comity even with a 
 recusant State, forbade. 
 
 To-day we got a few letters and papers and 
 felt not quite so forlorn. . . . 
 
 April 26. Massachusetts and Rhode Island 
 troops in large numbers arrived to-day. ... I 
 
 called on S , the Governor of Rhode Island, 
 
 with N . A small insignificant youth, who 
 
 bought his place; but who is certainly all right 
 now. He is very proud of his company, of its 
 wealth and social standing. 
 
 C. S was here to-day. He spoke with 
 
 wild enthusiasm of his desire to mingle in this 
 war. He has great confidence in his capability 
 of arousing the enthusiasm of the young. He 
 contemplates the career of a great guerilla chief 
 with ardent longing. He objects to the taking 
 
26 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 of Charleston and advises forays on the interior 
 states. . . . 
 
 The Seventh Eegiment band played gloriously 
 on the shaven lawn at the south front of the 
 Executive Mansion. The scene was very beautiful. 
 Through the luxuriant grounds, the gaily dressed 
 crowd idly strolled, soldiers loafed on the prome- 
 nades, the martial music filled the sweet air with 
 
 vague suggestion of heroism, and C. S and 
 
 the President talked war. 
 
 April 28. All this blessed Sunday, free from 
 
 war's alarms, we have lounged sans souci. S 
 
 and his staff called on the President ; and the 
 Cabinet dropped in and gave a last word to the 
 new Proclamation, blockading Virginia. . . . 
 
 April 29. Going into N 's room this morning, 
 
 C. S and J. L were sitting. J was 
 
 at the window, filling his soul with gall by steady 
 telescopic contemplation of a secession flag impu- 
 dently flaunting over a roof in Alexandria. " Let 
 me tell you," said he to the elegant Teuton, " we 
 have got to whip these scoundrels like h — 1, C. 
 
 S . They did a good thing stoning our men 
 
 at Baltimore and shooting away the flag at Sum- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 27 
 
 ter. It has set the great North a howling for 
 blood, and they'll have it." 
 
 " I heard," said S , " you preached a sermon 
 
 to your men yesterday." 
 
 "No, sir ! this is no time for preaching. When 
 I went to Mexico there were four preachers in my 
 regiment. In less than a week I issued orders for 
 them all to stop preaching and go to playing cards. 
 In a month or so, they were the biggest devils and 
 best fighters I had." 
 
 An hour afterward C. S told me he was 
 
 going home to arm his clansmen for the wars. 
 He has obtained three months' leave of absence 
 from his diplomatic duties, and permission to 
 raise a cavalry regiment. I doubt the propriety 
 of the movement. He will make a wonderful 
 land pirate; bold, quick, brilliant and reckless. 
 He will be hard to control and difficult to 
 direct. Still, we shall see. He is a wonderful 
 man. 
 
 April 30 Three Indians of the Potta- 
 
 watomies called to-day upon their great father. 
 . . . The President amused them greatly by 
 airing the two or three Indian words he knew. I 
 was amused by his awkward efforts to make him- 
 
28 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 self understood by speaking bad English : e. g. — 
 Wbere live now ? Wben go back Iowa ? 
 
 Frederick H and I dined together. He 
 
 seems stung by the inaction which his lameness, 
 besides his foreign duties, imposes upon him. He 
 evidently chafes with generous emulation of the 
 
 coming glories of S in the field. He is a 
 
 delicate-souled and thoughtful genius, but has not 
 
 the vigor and animal arrogance that help S 
 
 to bully his way through life. H will prob- 
 ably indulge his bent for literature in the high 
 solitude of Quito. He intimated a course of 
 articles in the A and an ultimate book. 
 
 Coming home from the theatre I met B , 
 
 S and F coming out of the audience 
 
 chamber. Going in, I saw the great map of 
 Virginia, newly hung, and fronted by conscious- 
 looking chairs. The air is full of ghastly prom- 
 ises for Maryland and Virginia. Meanwhile the 
 north is growing impatient. Correspondents talk 
 
 impertinently, and the N. Y. T advises the 
 
 immediate resignation of the Cabinet, and warns 
 the President that he will be superseded. . . . 
 
 May 1 There were a half-dozen good- 
 looking members of the Seventh Regiment called 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 29 
 
 upon the Commander-in-Chief of the Armies and 
 Navies this afternoon. He was very frank and 
 cordial with them. He spoke amusedly of the 
 
 T 's proposition of deposing him, and said that 
 
 the Government had three things to do : — Defend 
 "Washington ; Blockade the Ports ; and retake 
 Government property. All the possible despatch 
 was to be used in these matters, and it would be 
 well if the people would cordially assist in this 
 work before clamoring for more. The proclamation 
 calling out the troops is only two weeks old. No 
 people on earth could have done what we have in 
 that time. 
 
 M. B came in with the intelligence that our 
 
 office-holders had been quietly installed at Balti- 
 more under the floating of the constellated banner, 
 and that the police-board had removed the 
 restriction on the sale of flour. He thought the 
 outbreak at the Massachusetts passage was the 
 work of secession officials who were unwilling to 
 lose their lease of plunder. He thoroughly 
 believed in the loyalty of Maryland. The Presi- 
 dent seemed to think that if quiet was kept in 
 Baltimore, a little longer, Maryland might be 
 considered the first of the redeemed. . . . 
 
30 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 May 4. The Maryland disunionists — that 
 
 branch of them represented by B. McL called 
 
 to-day upon the President. . . . They roared as 
 gently as 'twere any nightingale. The only point 
 they particularly desired to press was that there 
 was no special necessity at present existing for the 
 armed occupation of Maryland. . . . They also 
 implored the President not to act in any spirit of 
 revenge for the murdered soldiers. The President 
 coolly replied that he never acted from any such 
 impulse ; and, as to their other views, he should 
 take them into consideration, and should decline 
 giving them any answer at present. 
 
 Gen'l S gave orders to Gen'l B to 
 
 occupy the Relay House as soon as practicable, 
 
 and B instantly replied that he should hold 
 
 divine service with his command there to-morrow 
 (Sunday). 
 
 May 5. Which he did. 
 
 May 7. I went in to give the President some 
 little items of Illinois news, saying among other 
 
 things that S was behaving very badly. He 
 
 replied with emphasis that S was a miracle 
 
 of meanness ; calmly looking out of the window 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 31 
 
 at the smoke- of two strange steamers puffing up 
 the way, resting the end of the telescope on his 
 toes sublime. 
 
 I spoke of the proposition of B to sub- 
 jugate the South, establish a black republic in 
 lieu of the exterminated whites, and extend a 
 protectorate over them while they raised our 
 cotton. He said : " Some of our northerns seem 
 bewildered and dazzled by the excitement of the 
 
 hour. D seems inclined to think that this 
 
 war is to result in the entire abolition of slavery. 
 
 Old Col. H , a venerable and most respectable 
 
 gentleman, impresses upon me most earnestly the 
 propriety of enlisting the slaves in our army." 
 
 I told him his daily correspondence was thickly 
 interspersed by such suggestions. 
 
 " For my own part," he said, " I consider the 
 central idea pervading this struggle is the neces- 
 sity that is upon us of proving that popular 
 government is not an absurdity. We must settle 
 this question now, whether, in a free government, 
 the minority have the right to break up the 
 government whenever they choose. If we fail, 
 it will go far to prove the incapability of the 
 people to govern themselves. There may be one 
 consideration used in stay of such final judgment, 
 
32 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 but that is not for us to use in advance : That 
 is, that there exists in our case an instance of a 
 vast and far-reaching disturbing element, which 
 the history of no other free nation will probably 
 ever present. That, however, is not for us to 
 say at present. Taking the government as we 
 found it, we will see if the majority can pre- 
 serve it." 
 
 He is engaged in constant thought upon his 
 Message. It will be an exhaustive review of the 
 questions of the hour and of the future. . . . 
 
 May 9. . . . There was a very fine matinee at 
 the Navy Yard given by some musical members 
 of the 12th New York. They sang well, the 
 band played well, and the President listened 
 well. After the programme the President begged 
 for the Marseillaise. The prime gentleman gave 
 the first verse and then generously repeated it, 
 interpolating nonchalantly " Liberty or Death " 
 in place of " Abreuve nos sillons " which he had 
 forgotten. 
 
 Then we went down to the Pensacola and 
 observed the shooting of the great Dahl- 
 gren gun Plymouth. . . . The President was 
 delighted. . . . 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 33 
 
 May 10. C. S loafed into my room this 
 
 morning, and we spoke of the slaves and their 
 ominous discontent. He agreed with me that 
 the Commandants at Pickens and Monroe were 
 unnecessarily squeamish in imprisoning and re- 
 turning to their masters the fugitives who came to 
 
 their gates begging to be employed. . . . S 
 
 says that thousands of Democrats are declaring 
 that now is the time to remove the cause of all 
 our woes. What we could not have done in many 
 life-times the madness and folly of the South had 
 accomplished for us. Slavery offers itself more 
 vulnerable to our attack than at any point in any 
 century, and the wild malignity of the South is 
 excusing us before God and the world. 
 
 So we talked in the morning. 
 
 But to-night I saw a letter from Mrs. W 
 
 stating that T. E , T. "W. H , the essayist 
 
 of Boston, and young J. B , were " going to 
 
 free the slaves." What we were dreaming of 
 came over my mind with horrible distinctness, 
 but I shrank from the apparition. This is not 
 the time nor are these the men to do it. They 
 should wait till the government gives some kind 
 of sanction to the work. . . . 
 
34 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 May 11 This afternoon the Marine 
 
 Band played on the south lawn, and C. S sat 
 
 with Lincoln on the balcony. After the President 
 had kissed some thousand children, C— — went 
 into the library and developed a new accomplish- 
 ment. He played with great skill and feeling, 
 sitting in the dusk twilight at the piano until the 
 President came by, and took him down to tea. 
 
 S is a wonderful man. An orator, a soldier, 
 
 a philosopher, and exiled patriot, a skilled musi- 
 cian ! He has every quality of romance and of 
 dramatic picturesqueness. . . . 
 
 HAY TO JAMES A. HAMILTON. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 
 Aug. 19, 1861. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 I am the unluckiest wretch that lives. I did 
 not receive the kind note you sent me until 
 Friday night at Long Branch. As it was horribly 
 dull there, I concluded instantly upon reading 
 your kind invitation, to return to New York and 
 go to you Saturday afternoon. But then I found 
 there was no telegraphic station at Irvington or 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 35 
 
 Dobb's Ferry, and that I could not apprize you 
 of my coming. I went down town and lunched 
 
 with Mr. E, at Exchange Place. Coming 
 
 back I was thunder-struck to find you had been 
 at my hotel and were gone. 
 
 There were only three resources left me : — 
 Suicide, intoxication or profanity. As I never 
 drink and am still living, you can imagine which 
 I chose. I thought my stupidity could only be 
 expiated by a rigorous penance. So I resolved 
 not to return to^Long Branch, not to enjoy myself 
 in New York, but to go sulkily back to Washing- 
 ton and stay ,^ at my desk until my luck changed. 
 
 Some day, before long, I will take my fate by 
 the throat and conquer it. It has become a 
 monomania with me to eat salt with you at Nevis, 
 and it shall be done. 
 
 Very gratefully. 
 
 HAY TO MKS. E- 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 
 Aug. 21, 1861. 
 
 DEAR MRS. E : 
 
 If the events of the last few days were to be 
 
36 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 taken as an earnest of the future, I would invest 
 my surplus shekels in a cheap tombstone, write 
 " Miserrimus " on it, and betake myself to Prussic 
 acid glace. I have been like Poe's Raven's "un- 
 happy master whom unmerciful disaster followed 
 fast and followed faster, till he thought all life a 
 bore." It is not a particularly hilarious chronicle, 
 but here it is. 
 
 Finding it hideously dull at Long Branch (the 
 gay and festive Jenkins of the H — — is paid by 
 the line for making the world believe that the 
 place is not ghastly and funereal, the crowd a sort 
 of queer half-baked New Jersey confectionery, 
 with a tendency to stammer when spoken to and to 
 flatten its nose against our windows while we ate), 
 I determined to go up to New York and accept a 
 most kind invitation from Col. Hamilton to come 
 to him Saturday. Arriving there I found there 
 was no telegraph to Irvington or Dobb's Ferry. I 
 could not apprize him of my coming or arrange for 
 him to meet me. I blasphemed at this a little, and 
 went quietly down town and was busy for an hour 
 or two. Coming back I found Mr. Hamilton's 
 card at the Hotel. He had been and gone. 
 
 My rage transcended grief. I was so mad at 
 myself that I was uncivil to everyone else. Mr. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 37 
 
 D came in with brilliant plans for the next 
 
 day. I mildly but firmly requested bim to 
 mobilize himself for an instant trip to the Court 
 of His Most Sulphurous Majesty. I concluded to 
 take a royal revenge on myself by ordering myself 
 back to Washington. 
 
 I came and found the air like a damp oven. 
 They are painting the White House, and the 
 painters from their horrid hair (I mean their 
 brushes) shake pestilence and things. The people 
 in the streets are stupid or scared. It is a bad 
 neighborhood. 
 
 I can do nothing but wish it were " not me 
 but another man." 
 
 Let me tell you a fact which proves me insane 
 or Washington preternaturally dull. Yesterday I 
 went to dinner at Willard's late, and after taking 
 my seat I saw a solitary diner at a distance. I 
 took up my soup and walked. I sat down and 
 ate dinner with 
 
 BiNa. 
 
 I was so dull he was almost endurable. 
 
 I have not seen Mr. E since I returned. 
 
 I have not felt like proper company for a gentle- 
 man and a Christian. I have felt as outlawed 
 as a hasheesh eater. 
 
38 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 There is another offshoot of English nobility 
 coming over in a day or two, a son of the Earl 
 
 of M , Hon. Eobert B . I hope W 
 
 will find it out, and by way of showing him a 
 delicate attention, take him to the observational 
 settee whence, on clear afternoons is to be seen, 
 windows favoring, the Presidential ensarking and 
 bifurcate dischrysalisizing. In view of his late 
 letter, I would mildly inquire " What next ? " 
 Please make your brother and sister remember 
 me, and give my love to F . 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 (Washington) Aug. 21, 1861. 
 
 MY DEAR GEORGE : 
 
 Nothing new. An immense crowd that boreth 
 ever. Painters, who make God's air foul to the 
 nostril. Rain, which makes a man moist and 
 adhesive. Dust, which unwholesomely penetrates 
 one's lungs. Washington, which makes one 
 swear. 
 
 There is not an item. We are waiting for your 
 arrival to make one. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 39 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Washington, Aug. 24 (1861). 
 
 DEAR GEORGE: 
 
 Yours of the 22d received this morning. I 
 don't wish to hurry you, but write simply to 
 
 say that Dr. P 's prediction has been realized. 
 
 I am flat on my back with bilious fever. I 
 had a gay, old delirium yesterday, but am some 
 better to-day. Doctor thinks I will be round 
 in a day or two. Bob L came this morn- 
 ing bringing positive orders from his mother 
 for me to join her at New York for an extension 
 of her trip. Of course I can't go — as things 
 look. There is no necessity whatever for you 
 to return just now. There is no business in 
 
 the office, and S is here all the time. He 
 
 can do as well as either of us. As soon as I get 
 able I shall leave. The air here is stifling. 
 You had better stay as long as you like, for 
 there is nothing but idleness here. As soon as 
 I get on my pins I shall start. It will be a 
 sort of breach of etiquette, but as Joe Gargery 
 feelingly observes : — " Manners is manners, but 
 your 'elth's your 'elth ! " 
 
 Don't come till you get ready. 
 
40 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 DIAEY. 
 
 Aug. 22, 1861. A long hiatus! The nights 
 have been too busy for jottings. 
 
 .... We went over to S 's, found him com- 
 fortably slippered, and after talking about consular 
 
 nuisances, went over to McC 's. Everything 
 
 seems going right. Discipline is perfecting. The 
 Dry Tortugas have squelched mutiny. The drills 
 
 and reviews keep the men alive. H is soon to 
 
 go to Illinois as they need a head. At first he 
 
 wanted to take McD but S objected. 
 
 Regiments are constantly coming in, and arms for 
 
 them. McC is growing jolly. S is in 
 
 better humor than I have lately seen him. 
 
 Aug. 28. I went West and passed several days 
 
 in St. Louis. Saw very much of F and his 
 
 wife. He was quiet, earnest, industrious, imperi- 
 ous. She very much like him, though talking 
 more and louder. 
 
 Oct. 10. To-night I went over to McC 's 
 
 quarters with the President and S L 
 
 was with us part of the way. L was gascon- 
 ading a little. He said he would like a good place 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 41 
 
 to die in with a corporal's guard, to set the nation 
 right in the face of the world after the cowardly- 
 shame of Bull Run. The President, as L 
 
 walked off, said : — " If he really wanted a job like 
 that, I could give it to him. Let him take his 
 squad and go down behind Manassas and break up 
 
 their railroad." S said he disbelieved in 
 
 personal courage as a civilised institution. He had 
 always acted on the opposite principle, — admitting 
 you are scared, and assuming that the enemy is. 
 If this matter had been managed on his basis, it 
 would have been arranged satisfactorily before 
 now. 
 
 We came to McC 's quarters and met in the 
 
 telegraph office a long and awkward youth who 
 
 spoke in a high-pitched and rapid tone to S — : 
 
 — "We are just in from a ride of all day." 
 
 S introduced him to me as Capt. Orleans. 
 
 He went up-stairs to call McC , and the 
 
 President said quietly : " One doesn't like to make 
 a messenger of the King of France, as that youth, 
 the Count of Paris, would be, if his family had 
 kept the throne." 
 
 McC came hurriedly in and began to talk 
 
 with the President. They discussed the events 
 of to-day and yesterday. McC was much 
 
42 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 pleased at the conduct of his men — no rowdyism 
 or plundering to-day. He was merely to-day 
 finishing yesterday's work. The rest of this week 
 will be used in the same way. Says the Presi- 
 dent: — "We have gained a day on our sea 
 expedition. The vessels will leave on the 14th, 
 it is thought, instead of the 15th." 
 
 As we left, McC said : — " I think we shall 
 
 have our arrangements made for a strong recon- 
 noissance about Monday, to feel the strength of 
 the army. I intend to be careful and do as well 
 as possible. Don't let them hurry me is all I 
 ask." " You shall have your own way in the 
 matter, I assure you," said the President, and 
 went home. 
 
 Oct. 12. To-night the President went to 
 
 S 's, I with him. At the door a telegram 
 
 was handed him from McC stating that the 
 
 enemy was before him in force and would prob- 
 ably attack in the morning. "If they attack," he 
 
 added, "I shall beat them." We went to S 's 
 
 and talked of many things. S spoke of 
 
 L 's restlessness and griefs at inaction ; his 
 
 offered resignation, and resolve to go West and 
 begin again, — that watching the Potomac was not 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 43 
 
 congenial, and other such. Gen. S was 
 
 already fixing his orders for exactly the work he 
 wanted to do. 
 
 Col. S came in with despatches from 
 
 McC , ordering H 's Bladensburg Bri- 
 gade in — one countermanding and one reaffirming. 
 
 8 then went out to order transportation for 
 
 6,000. 
 
 G. V. F came in and began to talk about 
 
 the great expedition that is fitting at Annapolis. 
 He wants, when they have sailed, to have 14,000 
 more men detached from the Army of the Poto- 
 mac to be held in readiness awaiting the result 
 of the expedition. If it causes a retreat of the 
 rebels, then this additional force can be easily 
 spared. The fleet wUl probably sail on Tuesday, 
 and will have some work to do at Fernandina, 
 
 Pensacola, Mobile. Gen'l S told F^^ that 
 
 3,600 men would be enough to take Mobile, 
 
 assisted by their ships. F himself seemed 
 
 very confident that the expedition would succeed. 
 His only nervousness was in relation to submarine 
 batteries which modern science has rendered very 
 destructive and entirely feasible. 
 
 S spoke also of M 's despatch which 
 
 seems to contain a most cheering account of honest 
 
44 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 sympathy existing in the best class of English. 
 
 society towards us. M 's letter embraced free 
 
 and cordial conversations with Earl R , Earl 
 
 G , C , M. L , Prince A- and 
 
 the Queen. 
 
 There was much talk of D. W , in which 
 
 the financial sanssoucism of the great man was 
 
 strikingly prominent. S thought he would 
 
 not live, nor C , a tithe as long as J. Q. 
 
 A . The President disagreed with him, and 
 
 thought W will be read forever. 
 
 Oct. 17. At S 's to-night we met Capt. 
 
 S who showed very bad taste by alluding to 
 
 the Chicago Convention and S . The Presi- 
 dent told a good yarn. 
 
 One day in Springfield shortly after some of 
 the lower counties had held meetings and passed 
 Resolutions eulogistic of Trumbull, John Went- 
 worth sitting near Lincoln at breakfast one 
 morning, said: — "Lincoln, have you seen them 
 Resolutions ? " "I have seen what I suppose you 
 refer to." 
 
 " Them Trumbull fellers are going to trick you 
 again." 
 
 " I don't see any trickery about it, and if there 
 was, there is no way to help the matter." 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 45 
 
 "I tell you what, Lincoln," said John, with a 
 look of unutterable sagacity ; " You must do, 
 like Seward does — get a feller to run you." It 
 was vastly amusing to both the President and 
 Secretary. 
 
 The Secretary of State talked about intercepted 
 correspondence, and the double-dealing and lying 
 of our English friends F and B . 
 
 Going to McC^ 's with B , they talked 
 
 about the campaign. McC thought the 
 
 enemy were massing at Manassas. He said he 
 was not such a fool as to buck against that place 
 in the spot designated by the foe. While there 
 
 the President received a despatch from S 
 
 at Annapolis, asking for the 79th New York, the 
 Highlanders. The President was vexed at this, 
 
 and at S 's intimation that the fleet would 
 
 not sail before Sunday. MeC was also bored 
 
 by the request, but S strongly seconded it. 
 
 McC said he would sleep on it. 
 
 We came away, the President still vexed at 
 
 S . At S 's door he turned suddenly 
 
 and said: — "I think I will telegraph to S 
 
 that I will not break up McC ^'s command, and 
 
 that I haven't much hope of his expedition any- 
 way." 
 
46 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 "No," said S , "You won't say discourag- 
 ing things to a man going off with his life in his 
 hands. Send them some hopeful and cheering 
 despatch." 
 
 The President came home and this morning 
 
 telegraphed S : — "I will not break up 
 
 Mc 's army without his consent. I do not 
 
 think I will come to Annapolis." This was all. 
 I think his petulance very unaccountable. 
 
 Oct. 22. This has been a heavy day. Last 
 
 night Col. B was killed at Leesburg at the 
 
 head of his Brigade. Mc and the President 
 
 talked sadly over it. Mc said, "There is 
 
 many a good fellow that wears the shoulder-straps 
 going under the sod before this thing is over. 
 There is no loss too great to be repaired. If I 
 should get knocked on the head, Mr. President, 
 you will put another man immediately into my 
 shoes." " I want you to take care of yourself," 
 said the President. 
 
 McC seemed very hopeful and confident — 
 
 thought he had the enemy, if in force or not. We 
 left him making arrangements for the morrow. 
 (During this evening's conversation, it became 
 painfully evident that he had no plan, nor the 
 slightest idea of what S was about). 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 47 
 
 To-night we went over again. McC was at 
 
 Poolesville. Telegraphs that loss is heavy and that 
 troops behaved well. All right in that quarter. 
 
 At S 's to-night the President talked about 
 
 Secession, Compromise, and other such. He spoke 
 of a committee of southern pseudo-unionists com- 
 ing to him before Inauguration for guaranties, 
 etc. He promised to evacuate Sumter if they 
 would break up their Convention, without any 
 row or nonsense. They demurred. Subsequently 
 
 he renewed proposition to S , but without any 
 
 result. The President was most anxious to pre- 
 vent bloodshed. 
 
 I never heard secession made more absurd than 
 
 by the conversation of to-night; S , C , 
 
 K and Bishop McI . 
 
 To-day Deputy-Marshal came and asked what 
 
 he should do with process to be served on P 
 
 in contempt business. I took him over to S , 
 
 and S said : " The President instructs you 
 
 that the Habeas Corpus is suspended in this city 
 at present, and forbids you to serve any process 
 upon any officer here." Turning to me : " That 
 is what the President says, is it not, Mr. Hay ? " 
 " Precisely his words," I replied ; and the thing 
 was done. 
 
48 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 October 26. This evening the Jacobin Club, 
 
 represented by T , C and W came 
 
 up to worry the administration into a battle. The 
 agitation of the summer is to be renewed. The 
 
 President defended McC 's deliberateness. We 
 
 then went over to the General's Headquarters. 
 
 We found Col. K there. He was talking 
 
 also about the grand necessity of an immediate 
 battle to clean out the enemy at once. He seemed 
 to think we were ruined if we did not fight. The 
 
 President asked what McC thought about it. 
 
 K answered : — " The General is troubled in 
 
 his mind. I think he is much embarrassed by the 
 radical difference between his views and those of 
 Gen'l S ." 
 
 Here McC came in, — K went out, — 
 
 the President began to talk about his wonderful 
 new repeating-battery of rifled guns, shooting 50 
 balls a minute. The President is delighted with it, 
 
 and has ordered ten, and asks McC to go down 
 
 and see it, and if proper, detail a corps of men to 
 work it. He further told the General that R. 
 
 J wants the Maryland volunteers in Maryland 
 
 to vote in November. All right. 
 
 They then talked about the Jacobins. McC^ 
 
 said that W preferred an unsuccessful battle 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 49 
 
 to delay. He said a defeat could be easily repaired 
 
 by the swarming recruits. McC- answered 
 
 that " he would rather have a few recruits before 
 a victory, than a good many after a defeat." 
 
 The President deprecated this new manifestation 
 of popular impatience, but at the same time said it 
 was a reality, and should be taken into the 
 account : — " At the same time. General, you must 
 not fight till you are ready." 
 
 " I have everything at stake," said the General ; 
 " if I fail, I will not see you again or anybody." 
 
 " I have a notion to go out with you, and stand 
 or fall with the battle " . . . . 
 
 Oct. 27. We went over to S 's to-night 
 
 and found C and W there. They had 
 
 been talking to S to get up a battle, saying 
 
 that one must be fought ; saying that defeat was 
 no worse than delay, and a great deal more trash. 
 
 M and S then began to growl about 
 
 their guns. S and the President soon dried 
 
 that up. W came in, a strong, healthy, 
 
 hearty, senator, soldier and man. He was bitter 
 on the Jacobins, saying the safety of the country 
 demanded that the General should have his time. 
 
 Going up to McC 's the Leesburg business 
 
 4 
 
50 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 was discussed ; McC saying that S 's 
 
 report would be in to-morrow ; every one forebore 
 comment. 
 
 .... The night of the 1st November we went 
 
 over to McC 's. The General was there and 
 
 read us his General Order in regard to S 's 
 
 resignation and his own assumption of command. 
 The President thanked him for it and said it 
 greatly relieved him. He added: — "I should be 
 perfectly satisfied if I thought that this vast 
 increase of responsibility would not embarrass 
 you." " It is a great relief, Sir ! I feel as if 
 several tons were taken from my shoulders, to- 
 day. I am now in contact with you and the 
 Secretary. I am not embarrassed by interven- 
 tion." " Well," says the President, " draw on 
 me for all the sense I have, and all the informa- 
 tion. In addition to your present command, the 
 supreme command of the army will entail a vast 
 
 labor upon you." "I can do it all," McC 
 
 said quietly. 
 
 Going to S 's he talked long and earnestly 
 
 about the matter. He had been giving a grave 
 
 and fatherly lecture to McC which was taken 
 
 in good part ; advising him to enlarge the sphere 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 51 
 
 of his thoughts, and feel the weight of the occa- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Then we went up and talked a little while 
 to the Orleans princes. De Joinville is deaf 
 and says little. The boys talk very well and 
 fluently. . . . 
 
 Nov. 8. Here is a cheeky letter just received. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 Gen'l "W has resigned. Gen'l F must. 
 
 Gen'l S has retired. 
 
 I have an ambition, and I trust a laudable 
 one, to be Major-Gen eral of the United States 
 Army. 
 
 Has anybody done more to deserve it? No 
 one will do more. May I rely upon you, as 
 you may have confidence in me, to take this 
 matter into consideration ? 
 
 I will not disgrace the position. I may fail 
 
 in its duties. 
 
 Truly yrs.. 
 
 The President. 
 
 p, g. — I have made the same suggestion to 
 others of my friends. 
 
52 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Nov. 11. To-night B 's Germans had a 
 
 torchlight procession in honor of McC 's pro- 
 motion. I never saw such a scene of strange 
 and wild magnificence as this night-march was. 
 
 Afterwards we went over to McC 's and 
 
 talked about the southern flurry. The President 
 
 thought this a good time to feel them. McC 
 
 said : " I have not been unmindful of that. We 
 will feel them to-morrow." The President and 
 the General were both very jolly over the news. 
 
 Nov. 13. I wish here to record what I consider 
 a portent of evil to come. The President, Gover- 
 nor S' and I went over to McC 's house 
 
 to-night. The servant at the door said the General 
 
 was at the wedding of Col. W at Gen'l 
 
 B 's and would soon return. We went in, and 
 
 after we had waited about an hour, McC^ came 
 
 in, and without paying any particular attention to 
 the porter who told him the President was waiting 
 to see him, went up-stairs, passing the door of the 
 room where the President and Secretary of State 
 were seated. They waited about half an hour, 
 and sent once more a servant to tell the General 
 they were there ; and the answer came that the 
 General had gone to bed. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 53 
 
 I merely record this unparalleled insolence of 
 epaulettes without comment. It is the first indi- 
 cation I haye yet seen of the threatened supremacy 
 of the military authorities. 
 
 Coming home I spoke to the President about 
 the matter, but he seemed not to have noticed it, 
 specially, saying it was better, at this time, not to 
 be making points of etiquette and personal dignity. 
 
 On the 27th of January the President issued 
 his General War Order No. 1, to those whose 
 direction it was to be. He wrote it without any 
 consultation, and read it to the Cabinet, not for 
 their sanction but for their information. From 
 that time he influenced actively the operations of 
 
 the campaign. He stopped going to McC 's, 
 
 and sent for the General to come to him. Every- 
 thing grew busy and animated after this Order. 
 It was not fully carried out in its details. Some 
 of the Corps anticipated, others delayed action. 
 Fort Henry and Fort Donaldson showed that 
 
 H was doing his share. The Army of the 
 
 Potomac still was sluggish. His next Order was 
 issued after a consultation with all the Generals 
 
 of the Potomac Army in which, as S told 
 
 me next morning, "we saw ten Generals afraid 
 to fight." The fighting Generals were McD , 
 
54 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 S , H and K , and B . These 
 
 were placed next day at the head of the Army 
 Corps. 
 
 So things began to look vigorous. Sunday 
 morning, the 9th of March, the news of the 
 Merrimac's frolic came here. S was fear- 
 fully stampeded. He said they would capture 
 our fleet, take Fort Monroe, be in Washington 
 before night. The President thought it was a 
 great bore, but blew less than S — ■ — ■. As the 
 day went on, the news grew better. And at four 
 o'clock the telegraph was completed, and we 
 heard of the splendid performance of the Moni- 
 tor. That evening we heard also of the evacua- 
 tion of the Potomac batteries, the luckiest of all 
 possible chances, as the worst thing about the 
 Merrimac's damages was the fact that they would 
 impede the enterprise of taking those batteries. 
 
 This was McD 's explanation to me when I 
 
 told him of it. 
 
 At evening came the news of Manassas 
 being evacuated ; this came through contrabands. 
 
 McC started instantly over the river. The 
 
 next day the news was confirmed and the next 
 night Manassas was occupied. People said a 
 great deal about it, and thought a great deal more. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 55 
 
 On the evening of the 11th of March, the 
 President requested me to call together the heads 
 of the Departments of War, State and Treasury. 
 
 S came first. The President read to him 
 
 General Order No. 3. He approved it thoroughly. 
 He agreed with the President when the President 
 said that though the duty of relieving Gen'l 
 
 McC was a most painful one, he yet thought 
 
 he was doing Gen'l McC a very great kind- 
 ness in permitting him to retain command of the 
 Army of the Potomac, and giving him an oppor- 
 tunity to retrieve his errors. S spoke very 
 
 bitterly of the imbecility which had characterised 
 the General's operations on the upper Potomac. 
 The Secretary of State urged that the War Order 
 
 go out in the name of S . He said it 
 
 would strengthen the hands of the Secretary, 
 and he needed public confidence. While he was 
 
 urging this, S came in, and at once insisted 
 
 that it go in the President's name. He said that 
 
 a row had grown up between him and McC 's 
 
 friends, and he feared it would be thought to 
 spring from personal feeling. The President 
 decided to take the responsibility. 
 
 B was not consulted. The President knew 
 
 that he would object to the disposition of F , 
 
 and preferred to have no words about it. B 
 
56 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 and the President continued on very good terms in 
 
 spite of tlie publication of B 's letter to 
 
 F . B came to explain it to the Presi- 
 dent, but he told him that he was too busy to 
 quarrel with him. If he (B.) didn't show him the 
 letter, he would probably never see it. He 
 retained his old status in Cabinet councils. . . . 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 March 31, 1862. 
 
 Little M sails to-day for down river. He 
 
 was in last night to see Tycoon. He was much 
 more pleasant and social in manner than formerly. 
 He seems to be anxious for the good opinion of 
 everyone. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Thursday morning. 
 
 McC is in danger, not in front but in 
 
 rear. The President is making up his mind to 
 give him a peremptory order to march. It is 
 disgraceful to think how the little squad at York- 
 town keeps him at bay. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 57 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Friday, April 4, 1862. 
 
 MeC is at last in motion. He is now 
 
 moving on Eichmond. The secret is very well 
 kept. Nobody out of the Cabinet knows it in 
 
 town. Dick W is in a great fidget about 
 
 it. He knows something is in the wind but can't 
 guess what. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, April 9, 1862. 
 
 Glorious news comes borne on every wind but 
 
 the South Wind. While P is crossing the 
 
 turbid and broad torrent of the Mississippi in 
 
 the blaze of the enemy's fire, and G is 
 
 fighting the overwhelming legions of B at 
 
 Pittsburg, the little Napoleon sits trembling be- 
 fore the handful of men at Yorktown afraid 
 either to fight or run. S — — feels devilish about 
 it. He would like to remove him if he thought 
 it would do. Things go on here about as usual. 
 
58 LETTEKS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 There is no fun at all. ... I am getting along 
 pretty well. I only work about twenty hours a 
 day. I do all of your work and half of my own 
 now you are away. Don't hurry yourself We 
 are getting on Very well. I talk a little French 
 too now. I have taken a great notion to the 
 
 G s. I went to see them the other day. The 
 
 children were less scared than usual, and they and 
 Madame la Baronne talked long and earnestly of 
 the state of your hygiene, and said "it was good 
 intentions you for to go to the West for small 
 time." 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, August 1, 1862. 
 
 MY DEAK JSrO. GEORGE : 
 
 There is positively nothing of the slightest 
 interest since you left. The abomination of 
 desolation has fallen upon this town. I find that 
 I can put in twenty-four hours out of every day 
 very easily, in the present state of affairs, at the 
 Executive Mansion. The crowd continually 
 increases instead of diminishing. The Tax 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 59 
 
 Business has begun to grind. C is having 
 
 things very much his own way. He makes out a 
 batch of twenty or thirty commissions at a time, 
 filling in the names, and presenting them to the 
 President to sign. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, August 11, 1862. 
 
 MY DEAR GEORGE : 
 
 You will have seen by the papers that P 
 
 has been running his head into a hornet's nest. 
 He fought a desperate battle the other day — or 
 
 rather B did — P coming up at the end 
 
 of it. 
 
 He stands now in good position, eager for 
 another fight and confident of licking the enemy. 
 
 The Tycoon has given orders that he shan't 
 fight unless there is a first-rate chance of clean- 
 ing them out. The Tycoon thinks a defeat there 
 would be a greater nuisance than several victories 
 would abate. 
 
 There is no further news. It is horribly hot, 
 all but me who have gone to shaking again. 
 
60 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Your infernal soutli windows always give me tlie 
 
 chills. S has broken them up, however, and 
 
 doses me remorselessly to keep them away. 
 
 If in the wild woods, you scrouge an Indian 
 damsel, steal her moccasins while she sleeps and 
 bring them to me. 
 
 The Tycoon has just received a pair, gorgeously 
 quilled, from an Indian Agent who is accused of 
 stealing. He put them on and grinned. Will he 
 
 remember them on the day when C proposes 
 
 another to fill the peculating donor's office ? I 
 fear not, my boy ! I fear not ! 
 
 Aug. 30. Saturday morning, the 30th of 
 August, I rode out into the country and turned in 
 at the Soldiers' Home. The President's horse was 
 standing by the door, and in a moment the Presi- 
 dent appeared, and we rode into town together. 
 
 We talked about the state of things by Bull 
 Kun and P — — 's prospect. The President was 
 
 very outspoken in repard to McC 's present 
 
 conduct. He said that it really seemed to him 
 
 McC wanted P defeated. He mentioned 
 
 to me a despatch of McC 's in which he 
 
 proposed, as one plan of action, to " leave P 
 
 to get out of his own scrape and devote ourselves 
 
LETTEES OF JOHN HAY 
 
 61 
 
 to securing Wasliington." He spoke also of 
 
 Mc ''s dreadful panic in the matter of Chain 
 
 Bridge, which he had ordered blown up the night 
 before, but which order had been countermanded ; 
 and also of his incomprehensible interference with 
 
 F 's Corps which he recalled once, and then, 
 
 when they had been sent ahead by H 's order, 
 
 begged permission to recall them again; and 
 
 only desisted after H 's sharp injunction to 
 
 push them ahead till they whipped something, or 
 got whipped themselves. The President seemed to 
 think him a little crazy. Envy, jealousy and 
 spite are probably a better explanation of his 
 present conduct. He is constantly sending 
 
 despatches to the President and H- asking 
 
 what is his real position and command. He acts 
 as chief alarmist and grand marplot of the army. 
 
 The President, on my asking if H had any 
 
 prejudices, rejoined : — " No ! H is wholly fot 
 
 the service. He does not care who succeeds or 
 who fails, so the service is benefited." 
 
 Later in the day we were in H 's room. 
 
 H was at dinner and S came in while we 
 
 were waiting for him, and carried us off to dinner. 
 A pleasant little dinner and a pretty wife as white 
 and cold and motionless as marble, whose rare 
 
62 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 smiles seemed to pain her. S was loud about 
 
 the McC business. He was unqualifiedly 
 
 severe upon McC . He said that after these 
 
 battles there should be one court-martial, if never 
 any more. He said that nothing but foul play 
 could lose us this battle, and that it rested with 
 
 McC and his friends. S seemed to 
 
 believe very strongly in P— . So did the 
 
 President, for that matter. 
 
 We went back to the Headquarters and found 
 
 Gen'l H . He seemed quiet and somewhat 
 
 confident. He said the greatest battle of the cen- 
 tury was now being fought. He said he had sent 
 every man that could go to the field. At the War 
 
 Department we found that Mr. S had sent 
 
 a vast army of volunteer nurses out to the field, 
 probably utterly useless, over which he gave Gen'l 
 W command. 
 
 Everything seemed to be going well and 
 hilarious on Saturday, and we went to bed expect- 
 ing glad tidings at sunrise. But about eight 
 o'clock the President came to my room as I was 
 dressing, and calling me out, said : — " Well, John, 
 we are whipped again, I am afraid. The enemy 
 
 reinforced on P and drove back his left 
 
 wing, and he has retired to Centreville where he 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 53 
 
 says he will be able to hold his men. I don't 
 like that expression. I don't like to hear him 
 admit that his men need holding." 
 
 After awhile, however, things began to look 
 better, and, people's spirits rose as the heavens 
 cleared. The President was in a singularly de- 
 fiant tone of mind. He often repeated, "We must 
 hurt this enemy before it gets away." And this 
 morning, Monday, (September 1), he said to me, 
 when I made a remark in regard to the bad look 
 of things : — " No, Mr. Hay, we must whip these 
 people now. P — — must fight them ; if they are 
 too strong for him he can gradually retire to these 
 fortifications. If this be not so, — if we are really 
 whipped, and to be whipped, we may as well stop 
 fighting." 
 
 It is due in great measure to his indomitable 
 will that army movements have been characterized 
 by such energy and celerity for the last few days. 
 There is one man who seems thoroughly to reflect 
 and satisfy him in everything he undertakes. 
 
 This is H , the Railroad man at Alexandria. 
 
 He has, as C says, a Major General's head on 
 
 his shoulders. The President is particularly 
 struck with the business-like character of his 
 despatch, telling in the fewest words the informa- 
 
64 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 tion most sougLit for, which contrasted so strongly 
 with the weak, whining, and incorrect despatches 
 of the whilom General-in-Chief. If heads or 
 shoulder straps could be exchanged, it would be a 
 good thing, in either case, here. A good railroader 
 would be spoiled, but the General gained would 
 
 compensate. The corps of H starting from 
 
 Alexandria, have acted as pioneers, adyance-guard, 
 voltigeurs, and every other light infantry arm of 
 the service. 
 
 Sept. 5, 1862. This morning I walked with the 
 President over to the War Department, to ascertain 
 
 the truth of the report that J had crossed the 
 
 Potomac. We went to the telegraph office and 
 found it true. On the way over, the President 
 
 said : — " McC is working like a beaver. He 
 
 seems to be aroused to doing something by the 
 sort of snubbing he got last week. I am of 
 opinion that this public feeling against him will 
 make it expedient to take important command from 
 him. The Cabinet yesterday were unanimous 
 against him. They were all ready to denounce me 
 
 for it, except B^ •. He has acted badly in this 
 
 matter, but we must use what tools we have. 
 There is no man in the army who can man these 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 55 
 
 fortifications and lick these troops of ours into 
 shape half as well as he." I spoke of the general 
 feeling against McC as evinced by the Presi- 
 dent's mail. He rejoined : — " Unquestionably he 
 
 has acted badly toward P . He wanted him to 
 
 fail. That is unpardonable. But he is too useful 
 just now to sacrifice." At another time he said : 
 — " If he can't fight himself, he excels in making 
 others ready to fight " . . . . 
 To-day, going into the Executive Mansion, I 
 
 met Gov. S coming out. I turned back and 
 
 walked home with him. He said our foreign 
 affiairs are very much confused. He acknowledged 
 himself a little saddened. Walking on, he said : 
 — "Mr. Hay, what is the use of growing old? 
 You learn something of men and things, but never 
 until too late to use it. I have only just now found 
 out what military jealousy is. I have been 
 wishing for some months to go home to my people ; 
 but could not while our armies were scattered and 
 in danger. The other day I went down to Alex- 
 andria, and found Gen'l McC 's army landing. 
 
 I considered our armies united virtually and 
 thought them invincible. I went home, and the 
 first news I received was that each had been 
 
 attacked, and each, in effect, beaten. It never had 
 5 
 
66 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 occurred to me that any jealousy could prevent 
 these Generals from acting for their common fame 
 and the welfare of the country." 
 
 I said it never would have seemed possible to me 
 that one American General should write of another 
 
 to the President, suggesting that " P be 
 
 allowed to get out of his own scrape his own way." 
 
 He answered : — " I don't see why you should 
 have expected it. You are not old. I should 
 have known it." He said this gloomily and sadly. 
 
 September 23. The President wrote the 
 Proclamation on Sunday morning carefully. He 
 called the Cabinet together on Monday, Sept. 22, 
 made a little talk to them, and read the moment- 
 ous document. Mr. B and Mr. B made 
 
 objections ; otherwise the Cabinet was unanimous. 
 
 The next day Mr. B , who had promised to 
 
 file his objections, sent a note stating that, as his 
 objections were only to the time of the act, he 
 would not file them lest they should be subject to 
 misconstruction. 
 
 I told the President of the serenade that was 
 coming, and asked if he would make any remarks. 
 He said, no; but he did say half a dozen words, 
 and said them with great grace and dignity. I 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 67 
 
 spoke to him about the editorials in the leading 
 papers. He said he had studied the matter so 
 long that he knew more about it than they did. 
 
 At Gov. C 's there was some talking after 
 
 the serenade. C and C made speeches, 
 
 and the crowd was in a glorious humor. After 
 
 the crowd went away, to force Mr. B to say 
 
 something, a few old fogies staid at the Gover- 
 nor's, and drank wine. C spoke earnestly of 
 
 the Proclamation. He said : — " This was a most 
 wonderful history of an insanity of a class that 
 the world had ever seen. If the slaveholders had 
 staid in the Union, they might have kept the 
 life in their institution for many years to come. 
 That what no party and no public feeling in the 
 North could ever have hoped to touch, they had 
 madly placed in the very path of destruction." 
 They all seemed to feel a sort of new and ex- 
 hilarated life ; they breathed freer ; the Presi- 
 dent's Proclamation had freed them as well as the 
 slaves. They gleefully and merrily called each 
 other and themselves abolitionists, and seemed to 
 enjoy the novel accusation of appropriating that 
 horrible name. 
 
 Sept. 26. Last night, September 25, the Presi- 
 
68 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 dent and I were riding to Soldiers' Home ; lie said 
 lie had heard of an officer who had said they did 
 not mean to gain any decisive victory, but to keep 
 things running on so that they, the army, might 
 manage things to suit themselves. He said he 
 should have the matter examined, and if any such 
 language had been used his head should go off. 
 
 I talked a great deal about the McC con- 
 spiracy, but he would make no answer to any- 
 thing. He merely said that McC was doing 
 
 nothing to make himself either respected or feared. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 
 Washington, Aug. 27, 1862. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 Where is your scalp ? If anybody believes you 
 don't wish you were at home, he can get a pretty 
 lively bet out of me. I write this letter firing 
 into the air. If it hits you, well. It will not 
 
 hurt so much as a Y 's rifle. If in God's 
 
 good Providence your long locks adorn the lodge 
 of an aboriginal warrior and the festive tomtom is 
 
LETTERS OE JOHN HAY 69 
 
 made of your stretched hide, I will not grudge 
 the time thus spent, for auld lang syne. In 
 fancy's eye I often behold you the centre and 
 ornament of a wild wood circle, delighting the 
 untutored children of the forest with Tuscan 
 melodies. But by the rivers of Babylon you 
 refuse to yield to dalliance — yea, you weep when 
 you remember Washington whose magnificent 
 distances are nevermore for you. 
 
 Washington is not at the present speaking an 
 alluring village. Everybody is out of town and 
 nobody cares for nobody that is here. One ex- 
 ception tres charmante which is French for 
 
 devilish tidy. Miss C K is here with a 
 
 pretty cousin from B which E S is 
 
 quite spooney about her while I am languidly 
 appreciative. 
 
 G 's Theatre re-opens next Saturday and 
 
 D breathes again. Some pretty women are 
 
 engaged, to whom I am promised introductions. 
 There is also a new Club House established in 
 the city, to which I have sometimes gone to 
 satisfy the ragings of famine. I think you will 
 patronize it extensively when you come back. I 
 ride on horseback mornings. I ride the off horse. 
 He has grown so rampagious by being never 
 
70 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 driven (I have no time to drive) that no one else 
 
 whom I can find can ride him. S B 
 
 and L ride sometimes the near horse. 
 
 I am yours, 
 
 HAY TO MISS MAKY K- 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 
 Washington, Jan. 22, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR MISS MARY : 
 
 I suppose you have long before this decided 
 that I was never again to be believed or trusted, 
 it has been so long since you kindly gave me 
 permission to send you these books. But I am 
 not so much to blame as you would think. I 
 have made myself a nuisance at the book-stores 
 asking for them ever since I returned. The 
 
 demand for them, Mr. P informs me, has 
 
 been so great that the supply was temporarily 
 exhausted and I have been compelled to wait until 
 now for a complete set. 
 
 I have just finished reading the entire work. 
 I think nothing approaching it in sustained excel- 
 lence has been written in our day. It is a great 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 71 
 
 novel, a splendid historical monogram, a brilliant 
 theological disquisition, and a profound treatise 
 of political philosophy. No man in our day has 
 thought it worth while to use the vehicle of fiction 
 for the transmission of such weighty and porten- 
 tous truths. No philosopher or statesman has 
 had sufficient grace and vigor of imagination to 
 envelope his ideas in a garb so attractive, and no 
 novelist has been gifted with that strength and 
 scope of intellect which would enable him to 
 grasp with so firm a hand the gravest problems of 
 society and progress. In delicacy and fervor of 
 fancy and depth of pathos, in sustained and 
 unflagging power, and in absolute mastery of the 
 machinery of artistic construction, I have read 
 nothing that can even be brought into comparison 
 with it.^ 
 
 Of course there will be many things in it which 
 you will not approve, and many which you will 
 not understand fully until you have finished the 
 book ; and even then if you are dissatisfied, it is 
 not with the author but with society and the great 
 social wrongs against which he is a crusader. 
 
 I envy you heartily. Miss Mary, the leisure 
 
 ' The French edition of " Les Mis^rables." 
 
72 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 which, you are to devote to this wonderful book. 
 I deeply regretted the quiet and "the tranquil 
 mind," with which I should have read it in 
 Springfield a year or two ago. 
 
 Very truly your friend as then and there. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Stone River, S. C, 
 
 Wednesday, April 8, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAK NICO : 
 
 I arrived here to-night at the General's head- 
 quarters and was very pleasantly received by both 
 
 him and H . They are both in fine health 
 
 and spirits. H is looking better than I ever 
 
 saw him before. They asked after you. On the 
 way down I had for compagnons de voyage Gen'ls 
 
 V and G ; G on sick leave and 
 
 V to report for duty. 
 
 I hear nothing but encouraging accounts of the 
 fight of yesterday in Charleston harbor. Gen'l 
 
 S , chief of staff, says we are sure to whip 
 
 them ; much surer than we were before the attack. 
 The monitors behaved splendidly. The Keokuk 
 was sunk and the Patapsco somewhat damaged, 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 73 
 
 but as a whole they encountered the furious and 
 concentrated fire of the enemy in a style for 
 which even our own officers had scarcely dared 
 to hope. The attack will soon be resumed with 
 greater confidence and greater certainty of what 
 they are able to do than before. An expedition 
 is on for the army from which they hope im- 
 portant results. The force of the enemy is much 
 larger than ours, but not so well posted, and as 
 they are entirely ignorant of our plans they are 
 forced to scatter and distribute their strength so 
 as greatly to diminish its efficiency. Our troops 
 are in good order and fine spirits apparently. 
 
 I think highly of S from the way he talks ; 
 
 like a firm, quick and cool-headed man. On 
 the whole, things look well, if not very brilliant. 
 
 The General says he is going to announce me 
 to-morrow as a volunteer Aide without rank. I 
 am glad of it as the thing stands. If I had not 
 been published as having accepted, hesitated and 
 rejected such an appointment, I would not now 
 have it. But I want my abolition record clearly 
 defined, and that will do it better than anything 
 else in my mind and the minds of the few dozen 
 people who know me. . . . 
 
 I wish you could be down here. You would 
 
74 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 enjoy it beyond measure. The air is like June 
 at noon and like May at morning and evening. 
 The scenery is tropical. The sunsets unlike any- 
 thing I ever saw before. They are not gorgeous 
 like ours, but singularly quiet and solemn. The 
 sun goes down over the pines through a sky like 
 ashes-of-roses, and hangs for an instant on the 
 horizon like a bubble of blood. Then there is 
 twilight such as you dream about. . . . 
 
 April 9. Alas for the pleasant prognostications 
 of the military men ! The General this morning 
 received the despatches, which you will see before 
 this, confessing that the attack has been a failure. 
 I do not as yet, know all the results of this bitter 
 disappointment. Charleston is not to be ours as 
 yet, and another instance is added to the many, 
 of the President having clearer perceptions of 
 military possibilities than any man in the Cabinet 
 or the field. He thought it would fail. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Stone Eiver, S. C, April 10. 
 I have written some particulars of my interview 
 with Admiral D which I thought the Presi- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 75 
 
 dent should know. Please give it to him, reading 
 it yourself if you care to. I went up into the 
 harbor yesterday. The gray-coated rascals were 
 on both sides, waiting for another attack. A 
 crowd of them were crawling cautiously over the 
 bluff to look at the wreck of the Keokuk which 
 has sunk near the shore. They are very busy 
 throwing up new batteries on Morris Island, and 
 did not fire on us though we were in easy range. 
 "While I was gone they published the order mak- 
 ing me Voln. A. D. C. 
 
 HAY TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 
 
 Stone Eiver, S. C, 
 
 April 10, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR sib: 
 
 I went yesterday morning to Charleston Harbor 
 
 to deliver to Admiral D the despatches with 
 
 which the Navy Department had charged me. 
 I found the Admiral on board the "Ironsides," 
 which, with the rest of the Monitor fleet, was 
 lying inside the bar, at the point where they had 
 anchored after the engagement of Tuesday. I 
 delivered my despatches, and, while he was read- 
 ing them, I had some conversation with Capt. 
 
76 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 E , fleet captain of the S. A. B. Squadron. 
 
 He said that although the attack had been unsuc- 
 cessful and the failure would of course produce a 
 most unhappy effect upon the country, which had 
 so far trusted implicitly in the invincibility of the 
 Monitors, all the officers of the Navy, without 
 exception, united in the belief that what they had 
 attempted was impossible, and that we had reason 
 for congratulation that what is merely a failure 
 had not been converted into a terrible disaster. 
 The matter has now been fairly tried. With 
 favoring circumstances, with good officers, with 
 good management, the experiment has completely 
 failed. We sailed into the harbor not sanguine 
 of victory. We fought only about forty minutes, 
 and the unanimous conclusion of the officers of 
 the Navy is that an hour of that fire would 
 have destroyed us. We had reached and touched 
 the obstructions. To have remained there long 
 enough to have removed them would have ensured 
 the destruction of some of the vessels. If the 
 others had gone by the fort they would still have 
 been the target of the encircling batteries. There 
 was no sufficient land force to have taken posses- 
 sion of the city. There was no means of supply- 
 ing them with ammunition and provision, for no 
 wooden ship could live ten minutes in that fire. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 77 
 
 The only issue would have been the capture of the 
 surviving and the raising of the sunken vessels. 
 This would have lost us the command of the coast, 
 an irremediable disaster. So the Admiral took 
 the responsibility of aivoiding the greater evil by 
 saving the fleet, and abandoning an enterprise 
 which we think has been fairly proved impossible. 
 
 The Admiral, who had been listening and 
 
 assenting to the latter portion of what E. had 
 
 been saying, added : — " And as if we were to have 
 a visible sign that an Almighty hand was over us 
 for our good, the orders you have given me show 
 how vast was the importance of my preserving 
 this fleet, whose power and prestige are still great 
 and valuable, for the work which I agree with the 
 President in thinking most momentous, the open- 
 ing of the control of the Mississippi River. After 
 a fight of forty minutes we had lost the use of 
 seven guns. I might have pushed some of the 
 vessels past Fort Sumter, but in that case we ran 
 the enormous risk of giving them to the enemy, 
 and thus losing the control of the coast. I could 
 not answer for that to my conscience." 
 
 The perfect approval of their own consciences 
 which these officers evidently felt, did not prevent 
 their feeling the deepest grief and sorrow for the 
 
78 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 unhappy results of the enterprise. Their whole 
 conversation was as solemn as a scene of death. 
 At one time I spoke of the estimation in which 
 they were held by the government and the 
 country, which, in my opinion, rendered it im- 
 possible that blame should be attached to them, 
 and their eyes suddenly filled with tears. A first 
 repulse is a terrible thing to brave and con- 
 scientious men accustomed only to victory. 
 
 I was several times struck by the identity of 
 
 opinion and sentiment between Admiral D 
 
 and yourself. You had repeatedly uttered, during 
 my last week in Washington, predictions which 
 have become history. 
 
 When I left the harbor, they were preparing 
 the torpedo raft for the destruction of the sunken 
 Keokuk. 
 
 I have taken the liberty of writing thus at 
 length, as I thought you should know the senti- 
 ments of these experienced officers in regard to 
 this unfortunate matter. I hope, however, the 
 news may be received that due honor may be 
 given to those who fought with such bravery and 
 discretion the losing fight. 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 79 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 April 14, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR NICO : 
 
 Here is one of the cleverest things I have seen 
 since the war began. It is an impromptu order 
 
 of H 's on Miss Mary Brooks, a New York 
 
 lady, who was down here on a visit with Mrs. 
 
 R . The " Hay " is, of course, Charlie, not 
 
 the Colonel. 
 
 We are living very pleasantly here since the 
 return from Charleston of the K 's. The Gen- 
 eral has some fine horses and the rides are pleasant. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Headquaetees, Dept. of the South, 
 
 Hilton Head, S. C, March 25, 1863. 
 
 SPECIAL ORDERS, 
 A. No. 1. 
 
 I. With her charming looks 
 
 And all her graces, 
 Miss Mary Brooks, 
 Whose lovely face is 
 The sweetest thing we have seen down here 
 On these desolate Islands for more than a year, 
 Is hereby appointed an extra Aide 
 
 On the Staff of the General Commanding, 
 
80 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 With a Captain of Cavalry's strap and grade, 
 And with this most definite understanding. 
 
 II. That Captain Mary, 
 
 Gay and airy, 
 At nine each day, until further orders, 
 
 To Colonel Halpine shall report 
 For special duty at these Headquarters : — 
 And Captain Mary, 
 (Bless the fairy !) 
 Shall hold herself, upon all occasions, 
 Prepared to ride 
 At the Adjutant's side 
 And give him of ilirting his regular rations ; 
 And she shan't vamoose 
 With the younglings loose 
 Of the junior Staff, — such as Hay and Skinner ; 
 But, galloping onward, she shall sing. 
 Like an everlasting lark on the wing — 
 And she shan't keep the Adjutant late for dinner. 
 
 III. The Chief Quartermaster of Department 
 
 Will give Captain Mary a riding garment : — 
 
 A long, rich skirt of a comely hue. 
 
 Shot silk, with just a suspicion of blue, — 
 
 A gipsey hat, with an ostrich feather, 
 
 A veil to protect her against the weather. 
 
 And delicate gauntlets of pale buff leather ; 
 
 Her saddle with silver shall all be studded 
 
 And her pony, — a sorrel, — it shall be blooded : 
 
 Its shoes shall be silver, its bridle all ringing 
 
 With bells that shall harmoniEe well with her singing. 
 
 And thus Captain Mary, 
 
 Gay, festive and airy, 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY gl 
 
 Each morning shall ride 
 
 At the Adjutant's side 
 And hold herself ready, on all fit occasions, 
 To give him of flirting his fuU army rations. 
 
 By Command of Maj.-Gen'l D. Hunter, 
 
 Ed. W. Smith, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant- General. 
 Official Copy : 
 
 Chas. G. Halpinb, 
 
 Lieut. - Col. and Assistant Adjutant- General, 
 
 ,10th Army Corps, and Department of the South. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Hilton Head, S. C, 
 
 April 16, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOLAY : 
 
 The General and the Admiral this morning 
 received the orders from Washington directing 
 the continuance of operations against Charleston. 
 The contrast was very great in the manner in 
 which they received them. The General was 
 absolutely delighted. He said he felt more en- 
 couraged, and was in better heart and hope than 
 before, at this indication of the earnestness of the 
 government to finish this business here. He said, 
 however, that the Admiral seemed in very low 
 6 
 
g2 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 spirits atout it. He talked despondingly about 
 it, adhering to tlie same impressions of the des- 
 perate character of the enterprise as I reported 
 to the President after my first interview with him. 
 Perhaps having so strongly expressed his belief 
 that the enterprise was impracticable he feels that 
 he is rebuked by an opposite opinion from 
 Washington. 
 
 Gen'l H is in the best feather about the 
 
 matter. He believed before we came back that 
 with the help of the gunboats we could take 
 Morris Island and from that point reduce Fort 
 Sumter ; and he is well pleased to have another 
 chance at it. Whether the intention of the 
 government be to reduce Charleston now, with 
 adequate men and means, or by powerful demon- 
 strations to retain a large force of the enemy here, 
 he is equally anxious to go to work again. 
 
 I write this entirely confidentially for you and 
 for the President to know the ideas prevalent here. 
 
 Gen'l S has been with you before this, and 
 
 has given to the government the fullest informa- 
 tion relative to military matters here. His arrival, 
 I suppose, will only confirm the resolution already 
 taken. Admiral D 's despatches by the Flam- 
 beau of course put a darker shade on the matter 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY §3 
 
 than anything S will say, as he was strongly 
 
 in favor of staying there and fighting it out. . . . 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Hilton Head, S. C, 
 
 April 23, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAE. Nice: 
 
 In yours of the 15th received last night, you 
 say "there was verbal indication of much wrath 
 
 at the report that D intended to withdraw 
 
 his fleet and abandon his position." I was sur- 
 prised at this. If you have received my different 
 letters you will see why. He would have obeyed 
 orders had he done so. You say we have gained 
 points d^appui for future work. The navy say 
 not. They say they cannot lie off Morris Island 
 to cover the landing of our troops, (or rather the 
 crossing from Folly Island, the only practicable 
 route), without imminent danger of being driven 
 ashore and wrecked by the first northeasterly 
 breeze that comes. It is not for me to say what is, 
 or what is not, possible. My old ideas have been 
 horribly shattered when I have seen two men, 
 each of whom I had formerly considered an oracle 
 
84 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 on every subject connected witli ships, accusing 
 each other of ignorance and charlatanism. 
 
 I do not think D— — - is either a fool or a 
 coward. I think there is a great deal of truth in 
 his statement that, while the fight in Charleston 
 harbor demonstrated the great defensive proper- 
 ties of the Monitors, it also proved that they could 
 not be relied upon for aggressive operations. 
 
 With an adequate force I think H could 
 
 dislodge the enemy from Morris Island, and from 
 that point make a hole in Fort Sumter ; but even 
 then little has been done. The General is san- 
 guine. He wants a fight. I hope he may have 
 one before I return. 
 
 To-day I start for Florida, .... 
 
 Saturday, the 11th of July, 1863. The Presi- 
 dent seemed in a specially good humor to-day, as 
 he had pretty good evidence that the enemy were 
 
 still on the north side of the Potomac, and M- ■ 
 
 had announced his intention of attacking them in 
 the morning. The President seemed very happy 
 in the prospect of a brilliant success. He had 
 
 been rather impatient with Gen'l M 's slow 
 
 movements since Gettysburg, but concluded to-day 
 that M^ — — would yet show sufficient activity to 
 inflict the coup de grace upon the flying rebels. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 85 
 
 Sunday, 12tli July. Eained all tlie afternoon. 
 Have not yet heard of M 's expected attack. 
 
 Monday, ISth. The President begins to grow 
 
 anxious and impatient about M 's silence. I 
 
 thought and told him there was nothing to pre- 
 vent the enemy from getting away by the Falling 
 Waters if they were not vigorously attacked. 
 
 E says K is up on their rear. Nothing 
 
 can save them if M does his duty. I doubt 
 
 him. He is an engineer. 
 
 14th July. This morning the President seemed 
 
 depressed by M 's despatches of last night. 
 
 They were so cautiously and almost timidly 
 worded, — talking about reconnoitring to find the 
 enemy's weak place, and other such. He said he 
 feared he would do nothing. 
 
 About noon came the despatch stating that our 
 worst fears were true. The enemy had gotten 
 away unhurt. The President was deeply grieved. 
 "We had them within our grasp," he said ; "we 
 had only to stretch forth our hands and they were 
 ours. And nothing I could say or do could make 
 the army move." 
 
 Several days ago he sent a despatch to M 
 
 which must have cut like a scourge, but M 
 
86 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 returned so reasonable and earnest reply tliat the 
 President concluded lie knew best what be was 
 doing, and was reconciled to the apparent inaction 
 which he hoped was merely apparent. 
 
 Every day he has watched the progress of the 
 army with agonizing impatience, hope struggling 
 with fear. He has never been easy in his own 
 
 mind about Gen'l M since M 's General 
 
 Order in which he called on his troops to drive 
 the invader from our soil. The President says : — 
 
 " This is a dreadful reminiscence of McC . 
 
 The same spirit that moved McC to claim 
 
 a great victory because Pennsylvania and Mary- 
 land were safe. The hearts of ten million people 
 
 sunk within them when McC raised that 
 
 shout last fall. Will our Generals never get 
 that idea out of their heads ? The whole country 
 is our soil." 
 
 15th July. . . . E. 1 L says the 
 
 President is grieved silently but deeply about the 
 
 escape of L He said : — " If I had gone up 
 
 there I could have whipped them myself." I 
 know he had that idea. 
 
 16th July. N leaves to-day for the Pocky 
 
 Mountains. Had a little talk with the President 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 87 
 
 about M . Says H thinks S never 
 
 had a military idea and never will learn one. 
 Thinks S is somewhat to blame for the Win- 
 chester business. President says, however you 
 
 may doubt or disagree from H , he is very 
 
 apt to be right in the end. . . . 
 
 Gen'l W came in. He said in answer to 
 
 A 's question, " Why did L escape ? " 
 
 " Because nobody stopped him," rather gruffly. 
 
 W says that at a council of war of Corps 
 
 Commanders, held on Sunday the 12th, he was 
 present on account of the sickness of his Corps 
 
 Commander, he (W ) being temporarily in 
 
 command of the Corps. On the question of fight 
 or no fight, the weight of authority was against 
 
 fighting. F , S , S and 
 
 strenuously opposed a fight. M was in favor 
 
 of it. So was W , who did most of the talk- 
 ing on that side, and P was very eager for 
 
 it, as also was W himself The non-fighters 
 
 thought, or seemed to think, that if we did not 
 
 attack, the enemy would, and even M thought 
 
 he was in for action, had no idea that the enemy 
 
 intended to get away at once. H had little 
 
 to say on the subject. 
 
 M was in favor of attacking in three 
 
33 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 columns of 20,000 men each. W was in 
 
 favor of doing as S J did at Chancellors- 
 
 ville, double up tlie left, and drive them down 
 on Williamsport. I do not question that either 
 
 plan would have succeeded. W said to 
 
 H , who sat beside him: — "General, there 
 
 are a good many officers of the regular army who 
 have not yet entirely lost the West Point idea 
 of southern superiority. That sometimes accounts 
 for an otherwise unaccountable slowness of attack. 
 
 July 18. To-day we spent six hours deciding 
 
 on Court Martials, the President, Judge H 
 
 and I. I was amused at the eagerness with which 
 the President caught at any fact which would 
 justify him in saving the life of a condemned 
 soldier. He was only merciless in cases where 
 meanness or cruelty were shown. 
 
 Cases of cowardice he was specially averse to 
 punishing with death. He said it would frighten 
 the poor devils too terribly to shoot them. On 
 the case of a soldier who had once deserted and 
 reenlisted, he endorsed : — " Let him fight instead 
 of shooting him ! " 
 
 One fellow who had deserted, and escaped after 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 89 
 
 conviction, into Mexico, he sentenced, saying: — 
 " We will condemn him as they used to sell hogs 
 in Indiana, as they run." 
 
 He told one good story about U. F. L 
 
 getting a fellow off who had stolen a hog, by 
 advising him to go and get a drink, suggesting 
 that the water was better in Tennessee. 
 
 19 July, Sunday. . . . The President was in 
 very good humor ; ... in the afternoon he and 
 I were talking about the position at Williamsport 
 the other day. He said : — " Our army held the 
 war in the hollow of their hand, and they would 
 not close it." Again he said : — " We had gone 
 through all the labor of tilling and planting an 
 enormous crop, and when it was ripe we did not 
 harvest it ! " Still he added, "I am very, very 
 
 grateful to M for the great service he did at 
 
 Gettysburg." 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, August 7, 1863. 
 MY BEAK jsrico : 
 
 .... B and his mother have gone to the 
 
90 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 white mountains. (I don't take any special stock 
 in the matter, and write the locality in small let- 
 ters.) B was so shattered by the wedding of 
 
 the idol of all of us, the bright particular Teutonne, 
 that he rushed madly off to sympathise with 
 nature in her sternest aspects. They will be gone 
 some time. The newspapers say the Tycoon will 
 join them after a while. If so, he does not know 
 
 it. He may possibly go for a few days to C 
 
 M , where H L is now staying, 
 
 though that is not certain. 
 
 This town is as dismal now as a defaced 
 tombstone. Everybody has gone. I am getting 
 apathetic and write blackguardly articles for the 
 
 Chronicle from which W extracts the dirt 
 
 and fun, and publishes the dreary remains. The 
 Tycoon is in fine whack. I have rarely seen him 
 more serene and busy. He is managing this war, 
 the draft, foreign relations, and planning a recon- 
 struction of the Union, all at once. I never knew 
 with what tyrannous authority he rules the Cabi- 
 net till now. The most important things he de- 
 cides, and there is no cavil. I am growing more 
 and more firmly convinced that the good of the 
 country absolutely demands that he should be 
 kept where he is till this thing is over. There is 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 9I 
 
 no man in tlie country so wise, so gentle and so 
 firm. I believe the hand of God placed him where 
 he is. 
 
 They are all working against him like braves 
 
 though, — H and that crowd — but don't seem 
 
 to make anything by it. I believe the people 
 know what they want, and unless politics have 
 gained in power and lost in principle, they will 
 have it 
 
 DIAEY. 
 
 Aug. 9. This being Sunday and a fine day I 
 went down with the President to have his picture 
 
 taken at G 's. He was in very good spirits. 
 
 He thinks that the rebel power is at last beginning 
 to disintegrate ; that they will break to pieces if 
 we only stand firm now. Referring to the con- 
 troversy between two factions at Richmond, one 
 of whom believes still in foreign intervention, 
 northern treason, and other chimseras ; and the 
 other, the administration party, trusts to nothing 
 
 but the army, he said : — " D is right. His 
 
 army is his only hope, not only against us, but 
 against his own people. If that were crushed. 
 
92 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 the people would be ready to swing back to their 
 old bearings." 
 
 He is very anxious that Texas should be occu- 
 pied and firmly held in view of French possibili- 
 ties. He thinks it just now more important than 
 
 Mobile. He would prefer that G should not 
 
 throw his army into the Mobile business before 
 the Texas matter is safe. He wrote in that sense, 
 I believe, to G to-day. . . . 
 
 Aug. 13. Rode to-day with the President and 
 the Secretary of State to the Capitol. Saw the 
 statuary of the east pediment. The President 
 
 objected to P 's statue of the Wood chopper, 
 
 as he did not make a sufficiently clean cut. 
 
 Coming home the President told S of what 
 
 F B said about an interview he had 
 
 had with P in the West. P said, " We 
 
 are gone up ; there is no further use of talking! " 
 
 " How about your institution ? " F asked. 
 
 " Gone to the Devil ! " 
 
 S said : " Slavery is dead ; the only trouble 
 
 is that the fools who support it from the outside 
 do not recognise this, and will not, till the thing 
 is over. In our Masonic warfare we made a great 
 fight. The Masons were beaten ; they knew and 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 93 
 
 felt it, and retired from the fight. But the Jack 
 Masons, as they were called, kept up their dismal 
 howls of sympathy for the masons, long after they 
 had given up the fight and forgotten all about it. 
 So now, though slavery is dead, the Democratic 
 party insists on devoting itself to guarding the 
 corpse." .... 
 
 August 19 This evening and yesterday 
 
 evening an hour was spent by the President in 
 
 shooting with S 's new repeating rifle. A 
 
 wonderful gun, loading with absolutely contempti- 
 ble simplicity and ease, with seven balls, and firing 
 the whole, readily and deliberately, in less than 
 half a minute. The President made some pretty 
 
 good shots. S , the inventor, a quiet little 
 
 Yankee who sold himself in relentless slavery to 
 his idea for six weary years before it was perfect, 
 did some splendid shooting. . . . An irrepressible 
 patriot came up and talked about his son John 
 who, when lying on his belly on a hill-top at 
 Gettysburg, feeling the shot fly over him, like to 
 lost his breath — felt himself pufiing up like a 
 toad — thought he would bust. Another, seeing 
 the gun recoil slightly, said it wouldn't do ; too 
 much powder ; a good piece of audience shouldn't 
 
94 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 rekyle ; if it did at all, it should rekyle a little 
 forrid. 
 
 22 August. The President to-daj^ said J- 
 
 L was acting so splendidly now that he ab- 
 solved him in his own mind for all the wrong he 
 ever did, and all he will do hereafter 
 
 23 August. Last night we went to the Ob- 
 servatory with Mrs. Y . They were very 
 
 kind and attentive. The President took a look 
 at the moon and Arcturus. I went with him to 
 the Soldiers' Home, and he read Shakespeare 
 to me, the end of Henry V, and the beginning 
 of Richard III, till my heavy eyelids caught his 
 considerate notice, and he sent me to bed. This 
 morning we ate an egg, and came in very early. 
 
 He went to the library to write a letter to C , 
 
 and I went to pack my trunk for the North. . . . 
 Staid about a week at Long Branch. Fine air — 
 disgusting bathing — pretty women, and every- 
 thing lovely. No politics, no war, nothing to 
 remind me while there that there was such a 
 thing as government or a soul to save. Count 
 
 G ■ was an undertone of nuisance — that 
 
 was all. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 95 
 
 September 9. Dined with W Met 
 
 H , B and F . H was in fine 
 
 flow. Before dinner we talked about H and 
 
 his connection with H 's resignation. He 
 
 says he was forced to ask to be relieved by 
 repeated acts which proved that he was not to 
 be allowed to manage his army as he thought best, 
 but that it was to be manoeuvred from Washing- 
 ton. He instanced Maryland Heights, whose 
 garrison he was forbidden to touch, yet which 
 was ordered to be evacuated by the very mail 
 
 which brought his (H 's) relief. And other 
 
 such many. 
 
 At dinner he spoke of our army. He says : 
 " It was the finest on the planet. He would like 
 to see it fighting with foreigners. It gave him 
 an electric feeling to be with it. It was far 
 superior to the Southern army in everything but 
 one. It had more valor, more strength, more 
 endurance, more spirit ; the rebels are only supe- 
 rior in vigor of attack. The reason of this is that, 
 in the first place our army came down here capa- 
 ble of everything but ignorant of everything. It 
 fell into evil hands — the hands of a baby, who 
 knew something of drill, little of organisation, 
 and nothing of the morale of the army. It was 
 
96 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 fasliioned by the congenial spirit of this man into 
 a mass of languid inertness destitute of either 
 dash or cohesion. The Prince de Joinville, by 
 far the finest mind I have ever met with in the 
 army, was struck by this singular, and as he said, 
 inexplicable contrast between the character of 
 American soldiers as integers and in mass. The 
 one active, independent, alert, enterprising ; the 
 other indolent, easy, wasteful and slothful. It is 
 not in the least singular. You find a ready 
 explanation in the character of its original Gen- 
 eral. S is an instance of the cankerous in- 
 fluence of that staff. I sent him out to destroy 
 
 the bridges behind L . He rode 150 miles 
 
 and came back without seeing the bridges he 
 should have destroyed. He took with him 4,000 
 men ; he returned with 4,500. His purposeless 
 ride had all the result of a defeat. He claimed 
 to have brought in an enormous train of negroes 
 and other cattle. He brought 30 contrabands 
 and not a man or a mule. He is a brave, good 
 
 man, but he is spoiled by McC . 
 
 " After the battle of Malvern and after the 
 battle of Fair Oaks we could have marched into 
 Richmond without serious resistance, yet the con- 
 stitutional apathy of this man prevented." 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 97 
 
 Says B :— " On the night of the battle of 
 
 Malvern I saw the red lights of M 's signal 
 
 officer, blazing near me, and I went to him to 
 gain information. He told me he had just received 
 
 a despatch from Gen'l McC asking where 
 
 was Gen'l F. J. P ; he wanted news. I 
 
 volunteered a despatch : — ' We have won a glori- 
 ous victory, and if we push on and seize our 
 advantage, Richmond is ours.' The day of 
 Gaines' Mills, I had taken my position when 
 
 P ordered me out of it into a hollow where 
 
 I was compelled to assume a strictly defensive 
 position. I once or twice terribly repulsed the 
 enemy, but my orders peremptorily forbade pur- 
 suit. I had to keep up the spirits of the men by 
 
 starting the rumor that McC was in Eich- 
 
 mond. I am sure I thought he would be there 
 
 that day. In the night, going to Gen'l McC 's 
 
 head-quarters, he asked me what about our Corps. 
 I told him that with a few strong divisions we 
 could attack and drive the enemy. He said he 
 hadn't a man for us." 
 
 He said that the night before the evacuation of 
 
 Yorktown he staid in McC 's tent. McC 
 
 said he expected to bag 78,000 of them. " You. 
 
 won't bag one," replied T . And he didn't. 
 
 7 
 
98 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 H says : — " M sometimes sent impor- 
 tant orders which. McC never saw. On one 
 
 occasion when I had advanced my pickets very 
 near Richmond I received an order through 
 
 H , — "Let Gen'l H return from his 
 
 brilliant reconnoissance. We cannot afford to lose 
 his division." I did not see how my division 
 could be lost, as in that country there was no 
 cutting me off. I started back, however, and soon 
 
 met McC himself who asked me what it 
 
 meant, my withdrawal. I showed him his own 
 order. He said he had never seen it, and I or- 
 dered my men back. I returned over the swamp, 
 and held my position for weeks afterwards." 
 
 H and B both agree as to the terrible 
 
 defeat the rebels suffered at Malvern and the 
 inefficiency which suffered them to escape without 
 injury. They say there was a Corps, fresh and 
 unharmed, which might have pursued the rebels 
 and entered Richmond in triumph (F 's). 
 
 .... H drank very little, not more than 
 
 the rest, who were all abstemious, yet what little 
 he drank made his cheek hot and red, and his 
 eye brighter. I can easily understand how the 
 stories of his drunkenness have grown, if so little 
 affects him as I have seen. He was looking very 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 99 
 
 well to-niglit. A tall and statuesque form — 
 grand fighting head and grizzled russet hair — 
 red-florid cheeks and bright blue eye, forming a 
 
 fine contrast with B , who sat opposite. A 
 
 small, stout, compact man, with a closely chiselled 
 Greek face and heavy black moustaches, like 
 Eugene Beauharnais. Both very handsome and 
 very difierent. . . . 
 
 September 10. . . . I dined to-night at W 's 
 
 with H , B , F , W , and Col. 
 
 E, of P . . . . H says : — " Our war 
 
 has developed no great cavalry officer. S 
 
 has good points, but does not fulfil his early 
 promise. P — — is splendid, enterprising and 
 brave, but full of mannerisms and weaknesses. 
 
 B is far superior to any others in all the 
 
 qualities of a great rider. But none of them 
 approach the ideal." 
 
 Speaking of L , he expressed himself slight- 
 ingly of L 's abilities. He says he was never 
 
 much respected in the army. In Mexico he was 
 surpassed by all his lieutenants. In the cavalry 
 he was held in no esteem. He was regarded very 
 
 highly by Gen'l S . He was a courtier, and 
 
 readily recommended himself by his insinuating 
 
100 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 manner to the General, whose petulant and arro- 
 gant temper has driven of late years all officers 
 of spirit and self-respect away from him. 
 
 " Look at all his staff-officers ! sleek and com- 
 fortable and respectable and obsequious : T , 
 
 C , H , W , etc." 
 
 " The strength of the rebel army rests on the 
 
 broad shoulders of L . He is the brain of 
 
 L , as S J was his right arm. Be- 
 fore every battle he has been advised with. After 
 
 every battle L may be found in his tent. 
 
 He is a weak man and little of a soldier. He 
 naturally rests on L , who is a soldier, born. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, September 11, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOLAY : 
 
 A week or so ago I got frightened at 
 
 " The brow so haggard, the chin so peaked, 
 Fronting me silent in the glass," 
 
 and sending for S (who had been giving the 
 
 northern watering places for the last two months 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 101 
 
 a model of high breeding and unquestionable 
 deportment), I left for a few days at Long Branch 
 and two or three inore at Providence. I was at 
 
 the Commencement at B University, and 
 
 made a small chunk of a talk. I only staid a 
 little over a week, and came back feeling heartier. 
 
 I must be in Warsaw early in October on 
 account of family affairs. As I infer from your 
 letter that you cannot return before November, 
 
 or, as Judge O says, before December, I will 
 
 have to give the reins up for a few days to S 
 
 and H again. I hope the daring youth will 
 
 not reduplicate the fate of Phaeton. 
 
 Washington is as dull here as an obsolete al- 
 manac. The weather is not so bad as it was. The 
 nights are growing cool. But there is nobody 
 here except us old stagers who can't get away. 
 We have some comfortable dinners and some quiet 
 little orgies on whiskey and cheese in my room. 
 And the time slides away. 
 
 We are quietly jolly over the magnificent news 
 
 from all round the board. R won a great 
 
 and bloodless victory at Chattanooga which he 
 had no business to win. The day that the enemy 
 ran, he sent a mutinous message to H com- 
 plaining of the very things that have secured us 
 
102 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 the victories, and foresliadowing only danger and 
 defeat. 
 
 You may talk as you please of the Abolition 
 Cabal directing affairs from Washington ; some 
 well-meaning newspapers advise the President to 
 keep his fingers out of the military pie, and all 
 that sort of thing. The truth is, if he did, the 
 pie would be a sorry mess. The old man sits 
 here and wields like a backwoods Jupiter the 
 bolts of war and the machinery of government 
 with a hand equally steady and equally firm. 
 
 His last letter is a great thing. Some hideously 
 bad rhetoric — some indecorums that are infa- 
 mous, — yet the whole letter takes its solid place 
 in history as a great utterance of a great man. 
 The whole Cabinet could not have tinkered up 
 a letter which could have been compared with 
 it. He can rake a sophism out of its hole better 
 than all the trained logicians of all schools. I 
 do not know whether the nation is worthy of 
 him for another term. I know the people want 
 him. There is no mistaking that fact. But 
 politicians are strong yet, and he is not their 
 "kind of a cat." I hope God won't see fit to 
 scourge us for our sins by any one of the two or 
 three most prominent candidates on the ground. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 103 
 
 I hope you are getting well and hearty. Next 
 winter will be the most exciting and laborious of 
 all our lives. It will be worth any other ten. 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 20 September. Sunday morning, the 20th of 
 
 September, the President showed me R 's 
 
 despatches of the day before, detailing the first 
 day's fighting, and promising a complete victory 
 on the next day. The President was a little 
 uneasy over the promise, and very uneasy that 
 B was not within supporting distance. 
 
 The next morning he came into my bed-room 
 before I was up, and sitting down on my bed 
 
 said : — " "Well, R has been whipped as I 
 
 feared. I have feared it for several days. I 
 believe I feel trouble in the air before it comes.. 
 
 R says we have met with a serious disaster — 
 
 extent not ascertained. B instead of obeying 
 
 the orders which were given on the 14th, and 
 
 going to R , has gone up on a foolish afiair 
 
 to Jonesboro to capture a party of guerillas who 
 are there." 
 
 Day by day the news brightens up. T 
 
104 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 held his own magnificently, and virtually whipped 
 the enemy opposed to him. The scattered divi- 
 sions came together. The enemy halted. E. 
 
 established himself again at Chattanooga. The 
 stampede seemed to be over. 
 
 On Wednesday night, the 23d, coming home, 
 I found on my table some interesting despatches 
 from the rebel papers which I thought the Presi- 
 dent would like to read. They contained pretty 
 full accounts of rebel losses in the late battles ; 
 among other things chronicling the death of B. 
 
 H H , Mrs. L 's brother-in-law, who 
 
 spent some time with the family here and was 
 made a paymaster by the President. I took them 
 over to the War Department to give them to an 
 orderly to carry to the President. I found there 
 the Secretary of War who was just starting to the 
 Soldiers' Home to request the President to come 
 to the Department to attend a council to be held 
 there that night, rendered expedient, as he said, 
 by recent despatches from Chattanooga. 
 
 While I was in the room they were endeavor- 
 ing to decipher an intricate message from R 
 
 giving reasons for the failure of the battle. The 
 Secretary says : " I know the reasons well enough. 
 R ran away from his fighting men and did 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 105 
 
 not stop for thirteen miles." A moment after, lie 
 broke in : — " No, they need not shuffle it off on 
 
 McC . He is not much of a soldier. I never 
 
 was in favor of him for a Major-General. But 
 he is not accountable for this business. He and 
 
 C both made pretty good time away from 
 
 the fight to Chattanooga, but E. beat them 
 
 both." 
 
 I went out to the Soldiers' Home through a 
 splendid moonlight, and found the President 
 abed. I delivered my message to him as he 
 dressed himself, and he was considerably dis- 
 turbed. I assured him as far as I could that it 
 meant nothing serious, but he thought otherwise, 
 
 as it was the first time S had ever sent for 
 
 him. When we got in, however, we found a 
 
 despatch from E. stating that he could hold 
 
 Chattanooga against double his number ; could not 
 be taken until after a great battle ; his stampede 
 evidently over. 
 
 They came together to discuss the practicability 
 
 of reinforcing E from M . Present: A. 
 
 Lincoln, H- , S , S , C , W 
 
 and H , and for a while McC . It was 
 
 resolved to do it. The 11th and 12th Corps were 
 selected for the purpose, H > to be placed in 
 
106 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 command of both. Finished the evening by a 
 supper with S , where few ate. 
 
 On the morning of the 26th Gen'l H , 
 
 11th Corps, came in as he was passing through 
 town. A fine, handsome, thoughtful looking New 
 
 Englander ; and G came at the same time, 
 
 an exchanged prisoner whom the rebs captured 
 
 at Gettysburg; later in the evening came S , 
 
 12th Corps. He said he would call in the morn- 
 ing. He did so, Sunday morning, accompanied 
 
 by Governor S . The result of the visit, a 
 
 request by the President to General II urging 
 
 him to take S from H 's force and give 
 
 H some corresponding force. S does not 
 
 seem to me a very large man. He seems peevish, 
 
 irritable, fretful. H says he is all that on 
 
 account of his digestive apparatus being out of 
 
 repair. H does not speak unkindly of him 
 
 while he never mentions H but to attack him. 
 
 To-night (Sept. 27) drove out to the Soldiers' 
 
 Home with H . The President who had been 
 
 spending the evening at the War Department, 
 
 arranging some plan by which B' may be 
 
 allowed to continue his occupation and protection 
 of East Tennessee, went out at nine o'clock, and 
 H , who wanted to take leave, went out after- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 107 
 
 wards, picking me up on the street. He does 
 not specially approve of tlie campaign down there. 
 He thinks we might force them to fight at dis- 
 advantage, instead of allowing them to continually 
 choose the battle-ground. Does not think much 
 can be made by lengthening R 's line indefi- 
 nitely into Georgia. Atlanta is a good thing on 
 account of the railroads and storehouses and 
 factories. But a long line weakens an army by 
 constant details, while the enemy, falling back 
 gradually, keeps his army intact till the itinerary 
 
 equalises the opposing forces. H goes in the 
 
 morning. I hope they will give him a fair show. 
 
 S^ 's hostility is very regrettable. H is 
 
 a fine fellow. The President says : — " Whenever 
 
 trouble arises I can always rely upon H 's 
 
 magnanimity." The President this morning asked 
 him to write to him. I told him if he did not 
 wish to write to the President, he might write to 
 me. I wish I were able to go with him. But 
 
 N is in the mountains getting beef on his 
 
 bones, and I am a prisoner here. With R— , 
 
 S , B and H , they will have a mag- 
 nificent army there in a few days and some great 
 
 fighting if B does not run. Deserters say 
 
 R. P. H is coming. I don't believe that. 
 
108 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 October 18, 1863. Sunday. I arrived in Wash- 
 ington to-day after an absence of a little more 
 than two weeks. 
 
 On presenting myself to the President this 
 morning .... I gave him my impression of the 
 
 conduct of Mr. C— in trying to cut under in 
 
 the way he is doing, instancing what D of 
 
 New York had related. He said "it was very 
 bad taste, but that he had determined to shut his 
 
 eyes to all these performances ; that C made 
 
 a good Secretary, and that he would keep him 
 where he is : — if he becomes President, all right ! 
 I hope we may never have a worse man. I have 
 all along clearly seen his plan of strengthening 
 himself. Whenever he sees that an important 
 matter is troubling me, if I am compelled to 
 decide it in a way to give offence to a man of some 
 influence, he always ranges himself in opposition 
 to me, and persuades the victim that he (C.) would 
 have arranged it very differently. It was so 
 
 with Gen'l F , — with Gen'l H , when I 
 
 annulled his hasty proclamation — with Gen'l 
 
 B , when he was recalled from New Orleans, 
 
 — with the Missouri people when they called the 
 other day. I am entirely indifferent as to his 
 success or failure in these schemes, so long as he 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 109 
 
 does his duty as the head of the Treasury Depart- 
 ment." 
 
 He talked of the Missouri matter, and read to 
 
 me the letter he had written D for the 
 
 Committee. As it will probably be published, I 
 forbear synopsis. It is a superb affair, perfectly 
 just and frank, courteous but immoveable. He 
 will not be bullied even by his friends. He tries 
 to reason with these infuriated people. The world 
 will hear him, if they do not. He read to me 
 a letter which he has to-day written to Gov. 
 
 G , who, it seems, is anxious to have the 
 
 President espouse his side of the quarrel, and to 
 recognise him as the State Government, and use 
 the federal authority to crush out the radicals, 
 who, he says, meditate revolution and civil war 
 in Missouri. The President answering says he 
 will be at all times ready to extend to Missouri 
 the protection guaranteed by the Constitution 
 against domestic violence, whenever he (the Presi- 
 dent) shall see cause to suspect such violence as 
 imminent. He does not so regard it at present. 
 
 He thinks the instructions given to Gen'l S 
 
 cover the case. 
 
 We got into this vein of talk through my 
 telling him what Joe G says, and what I 
 
110 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 myself observed, of the tendency of public opinion 
 in the West, almost universally, in favor of the 
 radicals as against the conservatives in Missouri. 
 
 Talking of the military situation, he says L 
 
 probably came up the other day thinking our 
 army weaker than it is, and finding his mistake 
 
 from the fight at B , is holding off at present. 
 
 E. is all right, though somewhat bothered 
 
 about his supplies. 
 
 October 19. The President told me this morn- 
 ing that R was to be removed from command 
 
 of the Army at Chattanooga. T is to take 
 
 his original army and G to command the 
 
 whole force including H 's and B 's rein- 
 forcements. He says E, has seemed to lose 
 
 spirit and nerve since the battle of Chickamauga. 
 
 October 21. ... B came in this morning 
 
 with a couple of very intelligent East Tennesseeans. 
 They talked in a very friendly way with the 
 President. I never saw him more at ease than 
 he is with those first-rate patriots of the border. 
 He is of them really. They stood up before a 
 map of the mountain country and talked war for 
 a good while. . . . 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY m 
 
 October 22. I spoke to the President to-day 
 
 about B , bis Rockville speech, and the action 
 
 of the Union League of Philadelphia leaving 
 out his name in Eesolutions electing the Cabinet 
 honorary members of the League. He says 
 
 B is anxious to run S and beat W 
 
 D . The President on .the contrary says that 
 
 as D is the nominee of the Union Conven- 
 tion, and as we have recognised him as our 
 candidate, it would be mean to do anything 
 against him now. 
 
 Things in Maryland are badly mixed. The 
 unconditional Union people are not entirely acting 
 
 in concert. T seems acceptable to everyone. 
 
 C is going to make a good run. But S • 
 
 is complicating the canvass with an embarrassing 
 element, that of forcible negro-enlistments. The 
 President is in favor of the voluntary enlistment 
 of the negroes with the consent of their masters 
 
 and on payment of the price. But S 's 
 
 favorite way, (or rather B 's, whom S 
 
 approves) is to take a squad of soldiers into a 
 neighborhood and carry off into the army all the 
 able-bodied darkies they can find, without asking 
 master or slave to consent. Hence results like 
 the case of W and S " The fact is," 
 
112 LETTEE8 OF JOHN HAY 
 
 the President observes, " S is wider across 
 
 the head in the region of the ears, and loves fight 
 for its own sake, better than I do." . . . 
 
 October 24. This morning the President said 
 that D— has continually been telegraphing of 
 E, 's anxiety for food ; but T now tele- 
 graphs that there is no trouble on that score. 
 
 I asked what D thought about E, . He 
 
 said he agreed that E. was for the present 
 
 completely broken down. The President says he 
 is " confused and stunned like a duck hit on 
 the head," ever since Chickamauga. . . . 
 
 October 28. The President to-day wrote a 
 
 letter to S in relation to his alleged army 
 
 of returned rebels in Missouri. . . . The Presi- 
 dent added : — " I believe, after all, those radicals 
 will carry the State, and I do not object to it. 
 They are nearer to me than the other side, in 
 thought and sentiment, though bitterly hostile 
 personally. They are utterly lawless — the un- 
 handiest devils in the world to deal with — but 
 after all, their faces are set Zionwards." . . . 
 
 October 29. 1 went down to-W 's to-day 
 
 and got from P , who is here, a free ticket 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY II3 
 
 to New York and back for "W. W , the poet, 
 
 who is going to New York to electioneer and vote 
 for the union ticket. 
 
 Saw G and H . H is just start- 
 ing for the West on a tour of inspection. I 
 
 would give my chances for to go with 
 
 him, but N still stays in the sunset, and I 
 
 am here with a ball and chain on my leg. . . . 
 
 I told the President that C- would try to 
 
 make capital out of this E, business. He 
 
 laughed and said, " I suppose he will, like the 
 blue-bottle fly, lay his eggs in every rotten spot 
 
 he can find." He seems much amused at C 's 
 
 mad hunt after the Presidency. He says it may 
 win. He hopes the country will never do worse. 
 
 I said he should not, by making all C 's 
 
 appointments, make himself particeps criminis. 
 He laughed on, and said he was sorry the thing 
 had begun, for though the matter did not annoy 
 him, his friends insisted that it ought to. 
 
 October 30. . . . The President and Mrs. 
 
 L went to see F . About midnight, the 
 
 President came in. I told him about D 's note 
 
 and asked if D had not always been a C 
 
 man. He said: — "Yes, until recently, but he 
 
114 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 seems now anxious for my reelection." I said 
 
 O • was expected here to-day, and told the 
 
 President the story of P— and O . He 
 
 went on and gave me the whole history of the 
 
 visit they made to S , — B ■, O , and 
 
 H , — of the appointment of B , — of the 
 
 way O^ rode him— of his final protest, and 
 
 the break. 
 
 I said " O now was determined to have 
 
 the Custom House cleaned out." 
 
 " He will have a good time doing it." 
 
 He went on telling the history of the Senate 
 
 raid on S , — how he had and could have no 
 
 adviser on that subject, and must work it out 
 by himself, — how he thought deeply on the 
 matter, — and it occurred to him that the way 
 to settle it was to force certain men to say to 
 the Senators here what they would not say else- 
 where. He confronted the Senate and the Cabinet. 
 
 He gave the whole history of the affairs of S 
 
 and his conduct, and the assembled Cabinet 
 listened and confirmed all he said. 
 
 " I do not now see how it could have been done 
 better. I am sure it was right. If I had yielded 
 
 to that storm and dismissed S^ , the thing 
 
 would all have slumped over one way, and we 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 115 
 
 should have been left with a scanty handful of 
 
 supporters. When C ■ sent in his resignation 
 
 I saw that the game was in my own hands, and I 
 put it through. When I had settled this important 
 business at last with much labor and to my entire 
 satisfaction, into my room one day walked D. D. 
 
 F- — — and G. O , and began a new attack 
 
 upon me to remove S . For once in my life 
 
 I rather gave my temper the rein, and I talked to 
 
 those men pretty d d plainly. O may be 
 
 right in being cool to me. I may have given him 
 reason this morning. 
 
 " I wish they would stop thrusting that subject 
 of the Presidency into my face. I don't want to 
 hear anything about it. The Republican of to-day 
 has an offensive paragraph in regard to an alleged 
 nomination of me by the mass-meeting in New 
 York last night." 
 
 November 1 This evening Gen'l S ■, 
 
 accompanied by Gen'l G and Judge K , 
 
 came in to insist upon some order which would 
 prevent disloyal people from voting at the ensuing 
 Maryland election. Before going into the Presi- 
 dent's room (K and G sitting with me 
 
 in the ante-room) K spoke very bitterly of 
 
116 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 B 's working against the Union party in 
 
 Maryland. 
 
 After they were gone I handed the President 
 
 B 's E, speech, telling him I had read 
 
 it carefully, and saving a few intemperate and 
 unwise expressions against leading Republicans 
 which might better have been omitted, I saw 
 nothing in the speech which would have given 
 rise to such violent criticism. 
 
 " Really," says the President, " the controversy 
 between the two sets of men represented by him 
 
 and by Mr. S is one of mere form and little 
 
 else. I do not think Mr. B would agree that 
 
 the States in rebellion are to be permitted to 
 come at once into the political family and renew 
 the very performances which have already so 
 
 bedeviled us. I do not think Mr. S would 
 
 insist that when the loyal people of a State obtain 
 the supremacy in their councils and are ready to 
 assume the direction of their own affairs, that 
 they should be excluded. I do not understand 
 
 Mr. B to admit that J D may 
 
 take his seat in Congress again as a representative 
 
 of his people; I do not understand Mr. S ■ 
 
 to assert that J M B may not. So 
 
 far as I understand Mr. S he seems in favor 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 117 
 
 of Congress taking from the Executive the power 
 it at present exercises over insurrectionary dis- 
 tricts, and assuming it to itself. But when the 
 vital question arises as to the right and privilege 
 of the people of these States to govern themselves, 
 I apprehend there will be little difference among 
 loyal men. The question at once is presented, in 
 whom this power is vested ; and the practical 
 matter for decision is how to keep the rebellious 
 populations from overwhelming and outrooting 
 the loyal minority." 
 
 I asked him if B ■ was really opposed to 
 
 our Union ticket in Maryland. He said he did 
 not know anything about it — had never asked. . . . 
 
 Nov. 2 The President says B 
 
 has been tendered F 's department, while 
 
 F goes to relieve B , who resigns. It 
 
 is not yet known whether B will accept. 
 
 I asked about E, . The President says he 
 
 sees no immediate prospect of assigning him to 
 command; — that he had thought, when the 
 trouble and row of this election in Missouri is 
 over, and the matter will not be misconstrued, 
 
 of sending E, to Missouri and S into 
 
 the field. He says that it was because of G 's 
 
118 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 opposition that E. is not in the Army of the 
 
 Cumberland. When it was decided to place 
 G in command of the whole Military Divi- 
 sion, two sets of orders were made out, one 
 
 contemplating E. 's retention of the command 
 
 of his own army, and the other his relief G 
 
 was to determine the question for himself. He 
 
 said at once that he preferred E. should be 
 
 relieved, — that he (R ) never would obey 
 
 orders. This consideration of course involves a 
 
 doubt as to whether E should be placed in 
 
 command of a district from which G must, 
 
 to a certain extent, derive supplies and reinforce- 
 ments on occasion. 
 
 To-night S sent for copies of the corre- 
 spondence between the President and B . 
 
 The Tycoon came into my room with the de- 
 spatch in his hands, clad in an overcoat, pure 
 and simple, reaching to his knees, and sleepily 
 fumbled for the papers in his desk till he found 
 them, and travelled back to bed. . . . 
 
 Sunday, 8 Nov. The President tells me that 
 
 M is at last after the enemy and that G 
 
 "will attack to-morrow. 
 
 Went with Mrs. E to G 's gallery 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY ng 
 
 and were soon joined by IS" and the Presi- 
 dent. We had a great many pictures taken. 
 Some of the President the best I have seen. 
 
 N and I immortalised ourselves by having 
 
 ourselves done in group with the President. 
 
 In the evening S came in. He feels very 
 
 easy and confident now about aifairs. He says 
 New York is safe for the Presidential election 
 by a much larger majority, that the crowd that 
 follows power have come over ; that the copper- 
 head spirit is crushed and humbled. He says 
 the Democrats lost their leaders when T— — 
 
 and D and B forsook them and went 
 
 south ; that their new leaders, the S s, V s 
 
 and W s, are now whipped and routed. So 
 
 that they have nothing left. The Democratic 
 leaders are either ruined by the war, or have 
 taken the right-about, and have saved themselves 
 from the ruin of their party by coming out on 
 the right side. . . . 
 
 He told the Democratic party how they might 
 have saved themselves and their organisation, 
 and with it the coming Presidential election — 
 by being more loyal and earnest in support of 
 the administration than the Republican party — 
 which would not be hard, the Lord knows ! 
 
X20 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Nov. 12. . . . In the evening Miss C 
 
 and Gov. S 's wedding. A very brilliant- 
 looking party. K looked tired out and lan- 
 guid, especially at the close of the evening, when 
 I went into the bridal chamber to say good night. 
 She had lost her old severity and formal stiffness 
 of manner, and seemed to think she had arrived. 
 
 McD , S , S , S , C and 
 
 others present. The President came for a few 
 minutes. 
 
 Nov. 18. We started from "Washington to 
 go to the consecration of the Soldiers' Cemetery 
 at Gettysburg. On our train were the President, 
 
 S , U and B ; N and myself; 
 
 M and Admiral E, — — ; B and Capt. 
 
 I and Lieut. M and C ; Mrs. 
 
 W ; W. McV ; McD of C ; and 
 
 one or two others. "We had a pleasant sort of a 
 trip. At Baltimore S 's staff joined us. 
 
 Just before we arrived at Gettysburg, the Presi- 
 dent got into a little talk with McV^ about 
 
 Missouri affairs. McV. talked radicalism until 
 he learned that he was talking recklessly. The 
 
 President disavowed any knowledge of the E 
 
 case ; said that B said to him, as indeed he 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 121 
 
 said to me, that E was inefficient and must 
 
 be removed for that reason. 
 
 At Gettysburg the President went to Mr. 
 
 W who expected him, and our party broke 
 
 like a drop of quicksilver spilt. McV^ , young 
 
 S and I foraged around for a while — walked 
 
 out to the College, got a chafing dish of oysters, 
 then some supper, and, finally, loafing around to 
 
 the Court House where L was holding a 
 
 meeting of marshals, we found F ■, and went 
 
 around to his place, Mr. F 's, and drank a 
 
 little whiskey with him. He had been drinking 
 a good deal during the day, and was getting to 
 feel a little ugly and dangerous. He was particu- 
 larly bitter on M. B . McV was telling 
 
 him that he pitched into the President coming up, 
 and told him some truths. He said the President 
 got a good deal of that, from time to time, and 
 needed it. 
 
 He says : — " H , you are a fortunate man. 
 
 You have kept yourself aloof from your office. 
 I know an old fellow now seventy, who was 
 
 Private Secretary to M . He thought there 
 
 was something solemn and memorable in it. 
 H has laughed through his term." 
 
 He talked very strangely, referring to the 
 
122 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 affectionate and loyal support which lie and 
 
 C had given to the President in P , with 
 
 references from himself and others to the favors 
 
 that had been shown the C party whom 
 
 they regard as their natural enemies. F 
 
 seems identified now fully with the C interest, 
 
 though, when C was nominated, he called 
 
 him a heavy weight to carry, and said that 
 C 's foolish attack nominated him. 
 
 We went out after a while following the music 
 to hear the serenades. The President appeared 
 at the door, said half a dozen words meaning 
 
 nothing, and went in. S , who was staying 
 
 around the corner at H 's was called out, 
 
 and spoke so indistinctly that I did not hear 
 
 a word of what he was saying. F and 
 
 McV were still growling about B . 
 
 We went back to F 's room, having picked 
 
 up N , and drank more whiskey. N 
 
 sang his little song of the " Three Thieves," and 
 we then sang John Brown. At last we proposed 
 
 that F should make a speech, and two or 
 
 three started out, S and B and N , 
 
 to get a band to serenade him. I staid with him ; 
 
 so did S and McV . He still growled 
 
 quietly, and I thought he was going to do some- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 123 
 
 thing imprudent. He said, " if I speak, I will 
 speak my mind." The music sounded in the 
 street, and the fuglers came rushing up, imploring 
 him to come down. He smiled quietly, told them 
 to keep cool, and asked, " are the recorders 
 there?" "I suppose so, of course," shouted up 
 the fiigler. " Ascertain ! " said the imperturbable 
 
 F : "H , we'll take a drink." They 
 
 shouted and begged him to come down. The 
 thing would be a failure ; it would be his 
 fault, etc. " Are the recorders congenial ? " he 
 calmly insisted on knowing. Somebody com- 
 mended prudence. He said sternly, " I am 
 always prudent." I walked down stairs with him. 
 
 The crowd was large and clamorous. The 
 fuglers stood by the door in an agony. The report- 
 ers squatted at a little stand in the entry. F 
 
 stood on the threshold, J. Y and I by him. 
 
 The crowd shouted as the door opened. F 
 
 said ; " My friends these are the first hearty cheers 
 I have heard to-night. You gave no such cheers to 
 your President down the street. Do you know 
 what you owe to that great man ? You owe your 
 country — you owe your name as American Citi- 
 zens." 
 
 He went on blackguarding the crowd for their 
 
124 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 apathy, and then diverged to his own record, 
 saying he had been for Lincoln in his heart in 
 1860, — that open advocacy was not as effectual as 
 the course he took — dividing the most corrupt 
 organisation that ever existed — the pro-slavery 
 Democratic party. He dwelt at length on this 
 question, and then went back to the Eulogy of the 
 President, that great, wonderful, mysterious, inex- 
 plicable man, who holds in his single hands the 
 reins of the republic ; who keeps his own counsels ; 
 who does his own purpose in his own way, no 
 matter what temporising minister in his Cabinet sets 
 himself up in opposition to the progress of the age. 
 
 And very much of this. 
 
 After him W. McV made a most touching 
 
 and beautiful spurt of five minutes, and Judge 
 S of P spoke effectively and accepta- 
 bly to the people. 
 
 " That speech must not be written out yet," says 
 
 Y . " He will see further about it when he 
 
 gets sober," as we went up stairs. We sang John 
 Brown and went home. 
 
 In the morning I got a beast and rode out with 
 the President and suite to the Cemetery in the 
 procession. The procession formed itself in an 
 orphanly sort of way, and moved out with very 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 125 
 
 little help from anybody ; and after a little delay 
 
 Mr. E took his place on the stand, — and Mr. 
 
 S made a prayer which thought it was an 
 
 oration — and Mr. E • spoke as he always does, 
 
 perfectly ; and the President, in a firm, free way, 
 with more grace than is his wont, said his half- 
 dozen lines of consecration, — and the music wailed, 
 and we went home through crowded and cheering 
 streets. And all the particulars are in the daily 
 papers. 
 
 I met Gen'l C after coming in and he, 
 
 McV and I, went down to dinner on board 
 
 the U. C. R. E.. Car. I was more than usually 
 struck by the intimate jovial relations that exist 
 between men that hate and detest each other as 
 cordially as do those P- politicians. 
 
 We came home the night of the 19th. 
 
 Nov. 22. This evening S read to the 
 
 President a despatch from C. C , in which 
 
 he discussed the whole field of American politics 
 — European diplomacy — and the naval improve- 
 ments of the century. This man is certainly the 
 most wonderful ass of the age. He recently sent 
 
 a despatch to S , criticising in his usual 
 
 elusive and arrogant style, the late Oration of 
 
126 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 S on Foreign Relations, concluding in regu- 
 lar diplomatic style by saying : — " You will read 
 
 this to Mr. S , and if he desires it, give him 
 
 a copy." 
 
 S says : — " It is saddening to think of 
 
 the effect of prosperity on such a man. Had 
 not we succeeded, and he prospered, he would 
 always have been known as a brave, sincere, 
 self-sacrificing and eloquent orator. I went all 
 
 the way to K to see and to encourage him. 
 
 It is prosperity that has developed that fearful un- 
 derlying vanity that poisons his whole character." 
 
 I asked Mr. S if he heard of the three 
 
 revolutions of Matamoras, of which we have been 
 talking to-day. He said : — " Yes ! I have re- 
 ceived a despatch about it from Gov. B . 
 
 I am surprised that a man so sagacious and 
 cautious should have been on the brink of doing 
 so imprudent a thing." 
 
 " He was about to fire on them then ? " said 
 the President. 
 
 "Yes!" said S . "Our consul at Mata- 
 moras asked for protection, and he brought his 
 guns to bear on the Castle for that purpose. I 
 wrote to him at once that that would be war ; 
 that if our consul wanted protection he must 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 127 
 
 come to B for it. Firing upon the town 
 
 would involve us in a war with the Lord knows 
 who." 
 
 "Or rather," said the President, "the Lord 
 knows who not." 
 
 I happened to mention the Proclamation of 
 
 Emancipation, and S said: — "One-half the 
 
 world are continually busying themselves for 
 the purpose of accomplishing Proclamations and 
 Declarations of War, etc., which they leave to 
 the other half to carry out. Purposes can usually 
 better be accomplished without Proclamations. 
 And failures are less signal when not preceded 
 by sounding promises. 
 
 " The slave States seem inclined to save us any 
 further trouble in that way," he continued. 
 " Their best men are making up their minds that 
 the thing is dead. B has written an admira- 
 ble letter in answer to some slaveholders who ask 
 him how he, a pro-slavery man, can support a war 
 whose result will be the abolition of slavery. He 
 tells them the war must be prosecuted, no matter 
 what the result; that it will probably be the 
 destruction of slavery, and he will not fight against 
 it, nor greatly care to see the institution ended." 
 
 The President added, as another cheering inci- 
 
128 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 dent from Kentucky, that J. B has asked for 
 
 permission to enlist three thousand negroes for 
 teamsters, paying them wages and promising them 
 freedom. 
 
 The President is very anxious about B— — - 
 
 Nov. 24 To-night the President said 
 
 he was much reheved at hearing from F that 
 
 there was firing at Knoxville yesterday. He said 
 
 anything showing that B was not overwhelmed 
 
 was cheering : — " Like Sallie Carter, when she 
 heard one of her children squall, would say ' there 
 goes one of my young ones, not dead yet, bless the 
 Lord ! ' " 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 "Washington, Nov. 25, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR NICO : 
 
 G 's and W 's despatches are so cheering 
 
 this morning that I sent you a cautious despatch 
 
 this morning. H (fighting J ) (Fight- 
 
 inger than ever) has done gloriously ; carried the 
 north slope of Lookout Mountain and gobbled a 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 129 
 
 thousand prisoners. T and S have also 
 
 done all they attempted, and G is to advance 
 
 to-day along his whole line. 
 
 B has sent a courier through to W^ and 
 
 says he is all right as yet ; is not hungry or thirsty, 
 and has not quite begun his share of the fighting. 
 
 Everything looks well. 
 
 Don't, in a sudden spasm of good-nature, send 
 any more people with letters to me requesting 
 
 favors from S . I would rather make the tour 
 
 of a small-pox hospital. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, Nov. 26, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOLAY : 
 
 The newspapers of this morning have told 
 you all you want to know, and so I send you 
 no telegram. The news is glorious. Nature was 
 against us, but we won in her spite. Had not 
 
 the rapid current and drift swept away H 's 
 
 pontoons, he would have utterly destroyed them. 
 
 9 
 
130 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 G will immediately send a column to 
 
 relieve B , and if possible destroy L . 
 
 The President is sick in bed. Bilious. 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 Nov. 27, 1863. I dined to-day at W 's with 
 
 Mr. E . He is a very delightful old gentleman 
 
 in his personal and family relations. His talk to 
 his grandchildren was very winning and graceful. 
 
 Nov. 28. The Secretary of State came in this 
 morning and gave me his contribution to the 
 President's Message, relating exclusively to Foreign 
 Affairs. 
 
 He then said he had a matter to submit which 
 was strictly confidential:—"! saw a great while 
 ago that the President was being urged to do many 
 things which were to redound to the benefit of 
 other men, he taking the responsibility and the 
 risk. I preferred to leave to these men the attitude 
 they coveted, of running before, and shouting for 
 the coming events. I preferred to stay behind, 
 to do with and for the President what seemed best, 
 to share with him the criticism and the risk, and 
 to leave the glory to him and to God. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 131 
 
 "Among other measures to unite good men and 
 to divide the opposition was the Loyal League 
 Association of the country. I saw very early that 
 they would be valuable in bringing over to our 
 side the honest War Democrats, and I therefore 
 encouraged them as far as possible with my influ- 
 ence and my money. Soon I discovered a wheel 
 within the enterprise — a secret, Know Nothing, 
 Masonic Order with signs and pass-words. They 
 asked me for money. They sent to me from 
 California for charters. Not to make trouble I 
 complied with all requests. You will see for 
 what purpose this machine is being used." 
 Here he handed me a scrap of paper on which 
 
 was scrawled in T. W 's handwriting : — 
 
 " Loyal Leagues, into which Odd Fellows and 
 Know Nothings rush, are fixing to control 
 
 delegate appointments for Mr. C ." S , 
 
 still scribbling, said : — " If you want to be cheated, 
 join a secret society. They are all swindlers. 
 If I have an idiosyncrasy it is a hatred of secrets. 
 The Consul at London tells me that he has 
 received trustworthy information of an alliance 
 between France and the rebels ; but his sources 
 of information being secret, he cannot give his 
 authority. I answer, asking him what right he 
 
132 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 has to have a secret from the President con- 
 cerning public affairs, and directing him to lay 
 his information, whatever it may be, before the 
 American Minister at London." 
 
 He handed me a paper upon which he had 
 copied this extract: — "The more I reflect, the 
 less I am inclined to trust the P proposi- 
 tion. The public men of that State are queer." 
 
 I am to give both to the President. 
 
 Dec. 9 In the evening J and 
 
 TJ' , and N and I were talking politics 
 
 and blackguarding our friends in the Council 
 Chamber. A great deal had been said about 
 
 the folly of the E -B letter— the E 
 
 B speech, etc. — when the President came 
 
 in. They at once opened on him, and after 
 some talk he settled down to give his ideas 
 about the B business. He said : — 
 
 " The B s have, to an unusual degree, the 
 
 spirit of clan. Their family is a close corpora- 
 tion. F is their hope and pride. They 
 
 have a way of going with a rush for anything 
 
 they undertake ; — especially have M and the 
 
 Old Gentleman. When this war first began, they 
 could think of nothing but F ; they expected 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 133 
 
 everything from him; and upon their earnest 
 solicitation he was made a General, and sent 
 
 to Missouri. I thought well of F . Even 
 
 now I think he is the prey of wicked and 
 designing men, and I think he has ahsolutely 
 no military capacity. He went to Missouri, the 
 
 pet and "protege of the B 's. At first they 
 
 corresponded with him and with F , who 
 
 was with him, fully and confidently thinking 
 his plans and his efforts would accomplish great 
 things for the country. At last the tone of 
 
 F 's letters changed. It was a change from 
 
 confidence to doubt and uncertainty. They were 
 pervaded with a tone of sincere sorrow, and of 
 
 fear that F would fail. M showed them 
 
 to me, and we were both grieved at the prospect. 
 
 Soon came the news that F had issued his 
 
 Emancipation Order, and had set up a Bureau 
 of Abolition, giving free papers, and occupying 
 his time apparently with little else. At last, at 
 
 my suggestion, M. B went to M to look 
 
 at, and talk over matters. He went as the friend 
 
 of F I sent him as F 's friend. He 
 
 passed on the way, Mrs. F coming to see 
 
 me. She sought an audience with me at mid- 
 night, and taxed me so violently with many 
 
134 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 things that T had to exercise all the awkward 
 tact I have, to avoid quarreling with her. She 
 surprised me by asking why their enemy, M. 
 
 B , had been sent to M . She more 
 
 than once intimated that if Gen'l F should 
 
 conclude to try conclusions with me, he could 
 set up for himself." 
 
 (J says: — "It is pretty clearly proven that 
 
 F had at that time concluded that the Union 
 
 was definitely destroyed, and that he should set 
 up an independent government as soon as he took 
 M and organized his army.") 
 
 " The next we heard was that F had ar- 
 rested F. B , and the rupture has since never 
 
 been healed." 
 
 "During F 's time, the M D , 
 
 which had always been B 's organ, was bought 
 
 up by F , and turned against F. B . 
 
 This took away from F , after his final break 
 
 with F , the bulk of the strength which had 
 
 always elected him. This left him ashore. To be 
 elected in this state of things he must seek for 
 votes outside of the Republican organization. He 
 had pretty hard trimming and cutting to do this 
 consistently. It is this necessity, as it appears to 
 me, of finding some ground for F to stand 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY I35 
 
 on, that accounts for the present, somewhat 
 anomalous, position of the B s in politics." 
 
 J : — " The opinion of people who read 
 
 your Message to-day is that, on that platform, 
 two of your ministers must walk the plank — 
 B and B ," 
 
 Lincoln : — " Both of these men acquiesced in 
 it without objection. The only member of the 
 Cabinet who objected to it was Mr, C ." 
 
 Dec. 10 S speaks of the Message 
 
 with great gratification. It satisfies his idea of 
 proper reconstruction without insisting on the 
 adoption of his peculiar theories. The President 
 repeated, what he has often said before, that there 
 is no essential contest between loyal men on this 
 subject, if they consider it reasonably. The only 
 question is: — Who constitute the State? When 
 that it is decided, the solution of subsequent ques- 
 tions is easy. 
 
 He says that he wrote in the Message originally 
 that he considered the discussion as to whether a 
 State has been at any time out of the Union, as 
 vain and profitless. We know that they were — 
 we trust they shall be — in the Union. It does 
 not greatly matter whether, in the meantime, 
 
136 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 they shall be considered to have been in or out. 
 But he afterwards considered that the 4th Sec- 
 tion, 4th Article of the Constitution, empowers 
 him to grant protection to States in the Union, 
 and it will not do ever to admit that these States 
 have at any time been out. So he erased that 
 sentence as possibly suggestive of evil. He pre- 
 ferred, he said, to stand firmly based on the 
 Constitution rather than work in the air. 
 
 Talking about the M matter, he said these 
 
 radical men have in them the stuff which must 
 save the State, and on which we must mainly 
 rely. They are absolutely uncorrosive by the 
 virus of secession. It cannot touch or taint them. 
 While the conservatives, in casting about for votes 
 to carry through their plans, are tempted to 
 affiliate with those whose record is not clear. If 
 one side must be crushed out and the other cher- 
 ished, there could be no doubt which side we 
 would choose as fuller of hope for the future. We 
 would have to side with the radicals. 
 
 " But just there is where their wrong begins. 
 They insist that I shall hold and treat Gov. 
 
 G and his supporters — men appointed by 
 
 loyal people of M as representatives of M 
 
 loyalty, and who have done their whole duty in 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 137 
 
 the war faithfully and promptly, — who, even when 
 they have disagreed with me, have been silent and 
 kept about the good work, — that I shall treat these 
 men as copperheads and ruinous to the Govern- 
 ment. This is simply monstrous." 
 
 " I talked to these people in this way, when they 
 came to me this fall. I saw that their attack on 
 
 G was malicious. They moved against him 
 
 by flank attacks from different sides of the same 
 question. They accused him of enlisting rebel 
 soldiers among the enrolled militia; and of 
 exempting all the rebels, and forcing Union men 
 to do the duty ; all this in the blindness of passion. 
 I told them they were endangering the election of 
 Senators ; that I thought their duty was to elect 
 
 H and G. B ; and nothing has happened 
 
 in our politics which has pleased me more than 
 that incident." 
 
 He spoke of the newborn fury of some of these 
 
 men, — of D stumping against R in '66 
 
 on the ground that E, was an abolitionist ; — 
 
 of ci-devant rebels coming here in the radical 
 Convention. Not that he objected ; he was glad 
 of it ; but fair play ! let not the pot make injurious 
 reference to the black base of the kettle ; he was 
 in favor of short statutes of limitations. 
 
138 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 In reply to a remark of A 's about the 
 
 improved condition of things in K , and the 
 
 necessity of still greater improvement, and the 
 
 good disposition of the K congressmen, the 
 
 President said he had for a long time been aware 
 
 that the K 's were not regarding in good faith 
 
 the Proclamation of Emancipation and the laws of 
 Congress, but were treating as slaves the escaped 
 freedmen from Alabama and Mississippi ; that 
 this must be ended as soon as his hands grew a 
 little less full 
 
 Dec. 12. I met at the Theatre S. S. C , 
 
 who was speaking of the statesmanship and suc- 
 cess of Gov. S -, attributing much to the bon- 
 
 hommie and affability of his manners. He says 
 
 S sent for him the other day and asked him 
 
 if he wanted to retain his place on the Committee 
 of Foreign Relations, and if he wished to designate 
 what gentlemen on the Democratic side should be 
 
 associated with him, promising to speak to C 
 
 for him. This frank kindliness seemed to have 
 
 won C over very much personally. S— is 
 
 unquestionably gaining in popularity very fast. 
 
 M said of him the other day : — " II est tres 
 
 sage." The diplomatic body have all apparently 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY I39 
 
 stopped abusing iiim, and those who do not like, 
 have been forced to respect. 
 
 Dec. 13. The President, speaking to-day about 
 
 M matters, said he had heard some things of 
 
 S which had very much displeased him : — 
 
 That while W was in M , he saw or 
 
 thought he saw that S was working rather 
 
 energetically in the politics of the State, and that 
 
 he approached S and proposed that he should 
 
 use his influence to harmonize the conflicting 
 
 elements so as to elect one of each wing, G 
 
 B and H . S 's reply was that he 
 
 would not consent to the election of G B . 
 
 Again when G B was about coming to 
 
 Washington, he sent a friend to S to say that 
 
 he would not oppose his confirmation, if he (S ) 
 
 would, so far as his influence extended, agree to a 
 
 Convention of M to make necessary alterations 
 
 in her State Constitution. S 's reply, as 
 
 reported by B to the President was that he 
 
 would not consent to a State Convention. These 
 things, the President says, are obviously tran- 
 scendent of his instructions and must not be 
 
 permitted. He has sent for S to come to 
 
 Washington and explain these grave matters. 
 
140 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 The President is inclined to put E. in 
 
 S 's place, and to give to Gen'l C the 
 
 Department of Kansas. But H and S 
 
 stand in his way, and he has to use the strong 
 hand so often with those impractical gentlemen 
 that he avoids it when he can 
 
 To-night H arrived and spent the evening 
 
 with the President. The conversation at first took 
 a professional turn, the President showing a very- 
 intimate knowledge of those plays of Shakespeare 
 where Falstafi" figures. He was particularly 
 anxious to know why one of the best scenes in the 
 play — that where Falstaff and Prince Hal alter- 
 nately assume the character of the king — is 
 omitted in the representation. Hackett says it is 
 admirable to read, but ineffective on stage ; — that 
 there is generally nothing sufficiently distinctive 
 about the actor who plays Henry to make an 
 imitation striking. 
 
 Hackett plays with stuffing of india-rubber ; — 
 says Shakespeare refers to it when he says : 
 " How now ! blown Jack ! " Hackett is a very 
 amusing and garrulous talker. He had some 
 
 good reminiscences of H , C (the former 
 
 he admires, the latter he thinks a dull man), 
 McC and P . . . . 
 
LETTEES OP JOHN HAY 141 
 
 Tuesday, Dec. 15. The President took S- 
 
 N and me to F 's with, him to see 
 
 Falstaff in Henry IV. D came in after a 
 
 while. Hackett was most admirable. The Presi- 
 dent criticised his reading of a passage where 
 Hackett said, "mainly thrust at me," the Presi- 
 dent thinking it should read "mainly thrust at 
 me." I told the President I thought he was 
 wrong ; that " mainly " merely meant " strongly," 
 "fiercely." The President thinks the dying 
 speech of Hotspur an unnatural and unworthy 
 thing — as who does not. . . . 
 
 Thursday, Dec. 17. One morning this week 
 I went to the State Department. . . . Found 
 
 S very busy over the complication arising 
 
 from the "Chesapeake piracy." He said S 
 
 had just come in and said with great glee : — 
 "This proves my position to be correct, that 
 England was wrong in conceding belligerency 
 
 to these people." "Of course," said S : "but 
 
 how the devil does that help the matter?" 
 S was delighted to have his theory vindi- 
 cated even by such trouble. 
 
 Monday, Dec. 23. I took to the Senate to-day 
 
142 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 the nomination of S as Major General. The 
 
 President had previously spoken to some of the 
 
 Senators about it. He is anxious that S 
 
 should be confirmed so as to arrange this M 
 
 matter promptly. I told S , W , H 
 
 and D . Senator F also agreed to do all 
 
 he could to put the matter properly through. 
 But on the nomination being read in Executive 
 Session, H of M objected to its consider- 
 ation and it was postponed. S and D tell 
 
 me it will certainly go through when it is regularly 
 
 taken up. L came up to the President about 
 
 it, and told him this. L is very anxious to 
 
 have the K part of the plan at once carried 
 
 out. M says that G. B gave to S to 
 
 present to the Senate the radical protest against 
 
 S 's confirmation, and that S presented it 
 
 to-day. The President sent for 8 , but he was 
 
 not at his lodgings. The President is very much 
 
 disappointed at B . After three interviews 
 
 with him he understood that B would not 
 
 oppose the confirmation. It is rather a mean dodge 
 
 to get S to do it in his stead 
 
 The President to-night had a dream : — He was 
 in a party of plain people, and, as it became 
 known who he was, they began to comment on his 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 143 
 
 appearance. One of them said : — " He is a very 
 common-looking man." The President replied : 
 — "The Lord prefers common-looking people. 
 That is the reason he makes so many of them." 
 
 Dec. 24 I dined to-day with S. S. 
 
 C He spoke of G 's foolish C ex- 
 plosion the other night at W. P 's Cooper 
 
 Institute meeting, and said C was working 
 
 night and day. He has gotten nearly the whole 
 strength of the New England States. If there is 
 
 any effort made in O he can be beaten there. 
 
 He has little strength in his own State. 
 
 I asked him whom his party would nominate. 
 
 " Gen'l McC ! We will run McC . He 
 
 is our best ticket. He lost some prestige by his 
 
 W letter. But it was necessary. He never 
 
 would have gotten the nomination without it." 
 
 " You don't agree with the H- on G ? " 
 
 '•' G belongs to the Republicans. We can't 
 
 take him after his letter to W . But for that, 
 
 we might have taken him. The Republicans 
 won't take him either. They have got his in- 
 fluence, and have no further use for him." 
 
 " If I were a soldier I should much prefer com- 
 
144 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 manding the U. S. Army for life, to four years in 
 the Executive Mansion. I think G would." 
 
 "So would McC , I know." 
 
 I met him again to-night in the Theatre. He 
 says he is getting tired of "Washington. He wants 
 to spend a few years in Europe. He will go, if 
 McC is next President ; — thinks he will any- 
 how. Says it is delightful to be in the minority ; 
 you are not bored by your people for office. — 
 " Glad you like it ! " quoth I. " We will try to 
 keep you so." 
 
 Dec. 25. A lonesome sort of Christmas. I 
 breakfasted, dined and supped alone. Went to 
 the Theatre and saw Macbeth alone. 
 
 The President to-day got up a plan for extend- 
 ing to the people of the rebellious districts the 
 practical benefits of the Proclamation. He is 
 to send record-books to various points to receive 
 subscriptions to the Oath, for which certificates 
 will be given to the man taking the oath. He 
 has also prepared a placard himself giving notice 
 of the opening of the books and the nature of 
 the oath required. 
 
 He sent the first of the books to P to 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 145 
 
 be used in Virginia. The second he will proba- 
 bly send to Arkansas. 
 
 The President was greatly amused at G 's 
 
 hasty C explosion and its elaborate expla- 
 nation in the T . He defended Gov. C 
 
 from P 's unjust attacks, saying that he 
 
 thought C 's banking system rested on a 
 
 sound basis of principle; that is, causing the 
 capital of the country to become interested in 
 the sustaining of the National credit. That 
 this was the principal financial measure of Mr. 
 C , in which he (L ) has taken an espe- 
 cial interest. Mr. C had frequently consulted 
 
 him in regard to it. He had generally delegated 
 
 to Mr. C exclusive control of those matters 
 
 falling within the province of his Department. 
 This matter he had shared in to some extent. . . . 
 
 Dec. 28. I received to-night letters from 
 
 P and S asking me to come down to 
 
 Florida and be their Representative in Congress. 
 
 Talked with the President about the matter 
 of the reconstruction of Florida. He wants me 
 to take one of his Oath-books down to Point 
 Lookout, and get the matter going there, and 
 after that he will appoint me a Commissioner 
 10 
 
146 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 to go to Florida and engineer business there. 
 By their meeting at St. Augustine, the other 
 day, there seems a prospect of getting the State 
 under way early next Spring. I will go down 
 and form my plans after I get there as to my 
 own course. . . . 
 
 Jan. 1, 1864 I left W 's yesterday 
 
 and went to live at Club to-day. 
 
 Point Lookout. The President and Secretary 
 of War to-day (Jan. 2, 1864), commissioned me to 
 go down to Point Lookout, and deliver to Gen'l 
 
 M the book of oaths and the accompanying 
 
 blanks, and explain to him the mode in which 
 
 they are to be used. Gen'l B was ordered by 
 
 telegraph to meet me there and consult as to the 
 manner of carrying out the President's plan for 
 pardoning and enlisting the repentant rebels. I 
 bore a letter for Gen'l B 's instruction. 
 
 I went on board a little tug at the Seventh 
 Street Wharf, and rattled and rustled through the 
 ice to Alexandria where I got on board the Clyde, 
 most palatial of steam tugs, fitted up with a very 
 pretty cabin and berths heated by steam and 
 altogether sybaritic in its appointments. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY I47 
 
 The day was bitterly cold, and the wind was 
 malignant on the Potomac. I shut myself up in 
 my gorgeous little cabin and scribbled and read 
 and slept all day. The captain thought best to 
 lay to for a while in the night, so we put in at 
 Smith's Creek, and arrived at Point Lookout in 
 the early morning. I went to the head-quarters 
 of the General, accompanied by a young officer 
 who asked my name and got it. I felt little 
 interest in his patronymic, and it is now gone into 
 the oblivion of those ante Agamemnona. It was 
 so cold that nobody was stirring. A furry horse 
 was crouching by the wall. " Hello, Billy ! cold ! 
 Ain't it ? " said my companion. Billy was indig- 
 nantly silent. "We stumbled on over the frozen 
 ground past the long line of cottages that line the 
 beach, built by the crazy proprietor of the land 
 who hoped to make here a great watering-place 
 which would draw the beauty and fashion of the 
 country away from Long Branch, and make 
 Newport a Ranz des Yaches. We came up to a 
 snug-looking frame house which had been the 
 dwelling of the adventurous lunatic. A tall young 
 man, with enormous blonde moustache and a 
 general up-too-early air about him, hove in sight, 
 and my guide and friend introduced me. " Yes, 
 
148 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 I have heard of you, Mr. Hale. I got a 
 despatch, from the General saying you would be 
 here. When did you arrive, Mr. Kay ? Rather 
 cold weather ! Any ice on the river, Mr. Day ? " 
 All this in a voice like a rumbling of distant 
 thunder, measured and severe, and with a manner 
 of preternatural solemnity. "The General will 
 soon be up, Mr. Hayes." My mild insinuation as 
 to my cognomen having brought him that near to 
 my christening at last. 
 
 He disappeared, and coming back beckoned 
 me out. I followed him across a little entry 
 into a room opposite. There stood in the atti- 
 tude in which, if Comfort ever were deified, the 
 statues should be posed, — parted coat-tails, — a 
 broad plenilunar base exposed to the grateful 
 warmth of the pine-wood fire, — a hearty Yankee 
 gentleman, clean-shaven, — sunny and rosy, — to 
 whom I was presented, and who said laconically, 
 " Sit there ! " pointing to a warm seat by a 
 well-spread breakfast table. I had an appetite 
 engendered by a day and night of river air, 
 and I ate breakfast till the intelligent contra- 
 band, who served us, caught the infection and 
 plied me with pork-steaks till hunger cried 
 quarter. The General told a good yarn on a 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 149 
 
 contraband soldier wlio complained of a white 
 man abusing him : — " I doesn't objeck to de 
 pussonal cuffin, but he must speck de unicorn." 
 
 The General's flock are a queer lot. Dirty, 
 ragged, yet jolly. Most of them are still rebel- 
 lious, but many are tired and ready to quit, 
 while some are actuated by a fierce desire to get 
 out of the prison, and by going into our army, 
 avenge the wrongs of their forced service in the 
 rebel ranks. 
 
 They are great traders. A stray onion, — a 
 lucky treasure-trove of a piece of coal, — is a capi- 
 tal for extensive operations in Confederate trash. 
 They sell and gamble away their names with 
 utter recklessness. They have the easy careless- 
 ness of a about their patronymics. They 
 
 sell their names when drawn for a detail to work, 
 a great prize in the monotonous life of every 
 day. A small-pox patient sells his place on the 
 sick-list to a friend who thinks the path to 
 Dixie easier from the hospital than the camp. 
 The trafiic in names on the morning of Gen'l 
 
 B 's detail of 500 for exchange was as lively 
 
 as Wall Street on days when Taurus climbs the 
 Zenith, or the " Coal Hole " when gold is tumb- 
 ling ten per cent, an hour. 
 
150 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 They live in a 30-acre lot fenced around by 
 themselves. They put up the fence with great 
 
 glee, saying, "they would fence out the d d 
 
 Yankees and keep respectable." 
 
 Kather a pleasant place, on a pleasant day, is 
 Point Lookout. To-day it was dreary and cold. 
 I could not but think of the winter life of the 
 sanguine lunatic who built the little village 
 intended for the summer home of beauty and 
 chivalry, and destined for the malodorous abode 
 and the unfragrant belongings of a great hospital 
 in busy war-times. 
 
 My little boat got frightened at the blow that 
 freshened in the evening, and I sent her up to 
 snooze the night away in Smith's Creek. 
 
 In the dusk of the evening Gen'l B came 
 
 clattering into the room where M and I were 
 
 sitting, followed by a couple of aides. We had 
 some hasty talk about business : — he told me how 
 he was administering the oath at Norfolk ; how 
 popular it was growing ; children cried for it ; how 
 he hated the Jews ; how heavily he laid his hand 
 on them ; — " A nation that the Lord had been try- 
 ing to make something of for three thousand years, 
 and had so far utterly failed," " King John knew 
 how to deal with them — fried them in swine's fat." 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 151 
 
 After drinking cider we went down to the 
 Hudson City, the General's flagship. His wife, 
 niece and excessively pretty daughter ; tall, 
 statuesque and fair, and named, by a happy 
 prophecy of the blonde beauty of her maturity, 
 Blanche, were there at tea. I sent my little 
 weh-footed sulky word to get home as she could, 
 and sailed with the B 's for Baltimore. 
 
 At night, after the ladies had gone off to bed — 
 they all said retired, but I suppose it meant the 
 same thing in the end, — we began to talk about 
 
 some queer matters. B had some odd stories 
 
 about physical sympathies ; he talked also about 
 the Hebrew jurisprudence and showed a singular 
 acquaintance with biblical studies ; his occasional 
 references to anatomy and physiology evidently 
 surprised the surgeon, to whom he respectfully 
 deferred from time to time. He talked till it 
 grew late and we dispersed to bed. I slept on the 
 guards ; a pleasant bed-room, but chilly ; and 
 listened till I slept, to the cold and shuddering 
 roar of the water under the wheels. 
 
 At Baltimore we took a special car and came 
 home. I sat with the General all the way and 
 talked with him about many matters ; Richmond 
 and its long immunity. He says he can take an 
 
152 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 army within tliirty miles of RicLmond without 
 any trouble ; from that point the enemy can either 
 be forced to fight in the open field south of the 
 city ; or submit to be starved into surrender. 
 
 He was very severe on McC for his action 
 
 about the New Orleans expedition. He says that 
 before the expedition was resolved on, by the 
 
 President, McC said it would require 50,000 
 
 men ; after it was resolved on, he said 5,000 
 would be enough. He said he did not like to 
 
 attack McC . Nil nisi bonum, etc. But he 
 
 might have to exploit that matter sometime. 
 
 I told him of the night of October 21. 
 
 He gave me some very dramatic incidents of 
 his recent action in Fortress Monroe, smoking 
 out adventurers and confidence men, testing his 
 detectives, and matters of that sort. He makes 
 more business in that sleepy, little Department 
 than anyone would have dreamed was in it. 
 
 Jan. 8. N and I visited to-night the 
 
 Secretaries of the Interior and of the Treasury. 
 
 U talked about the vacancy occasioned by 
 
 the death of C. B. S . Said he understood 
 
 S to be for him, when he was asking it 
 
 for himself. O is an admirable man for 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY I53 
 
 the place, but U does not want to lose him 
 
 from the Department. 
 
 We found at C 's a most amusing little 
 
 toy, " the Plantation Breakdown." The Secretary 
 and his daughter were busily engaged exhibiting 
 it to some grave and reverend old fellows who 
 are here at the meeting of the Society of Arts 
 and Sciences. In the course of conversation the 
 Secretary said to me : — " It is singularly instruc- 
 tive to meet so often as we do in life and in 
 history, instances of vaulting ambition, meanness 
 and treachery, failing after enormous exertions ; 
 and integrity and honesty march straight in 
 triumph to its purpose." 
 
 A noble sentiment, Mr. Secretary ! 
 
 Jan. 9. C has written to the President 
 
 that the entire Union force of the P Legis- 
 lature, House and Senate, have subscribed a 
 request that the President will allow himself to 
 be re-elected, and that they intend visiting Wash- 
 ington to present it. He says : — " I have kept 
 my promise." 
 
 The indications all look that way. The loud 
 Lincoln men, who are useful only as weather- 
 
154 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 gauges to show the natural drift of things, are 
 laboring hard to prove themselves the original 
 
 friends of the President. M. D is talking 
 
 about the C plot to ruin him and Lincoln. 
 
 He says P is to be at the head of the new 
 
 F party that is soon to be placed in commis- 
 sion ; and much of this. On the other hand, W. 
 
 McV , who dined with me to-day, says that 
 
 the stragglers now seem to get ahead of each 
 other in the nomination. The New Hampshire 
 
 occurrence startled the Union League of P . 
 
 They saw their thunder stolen from their own 
 arsenals. They fear their own endorsement will 
 be passee before long, and are now casting about 
 to get some arrangement for putting him in 
 nomination at once, 
 
 W. told a very funny story about F and 
 
 C ■ in conversation about politics on the train. 
 
 F bibulously insisting that if he had beaten 
 
 C for the Senate, there would have been 
 
 no war. 
 
 Jan. 13. I received to-day my commission as 
 A. A. G. from the War Department, and accepted 
 it, taking the oath of allegiance before Notary 
 C . 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY I55 
 
 Made a visit or two. 
 
 Went into tlie President's room and announced 
 myself ready to start. " Great good luck and 
 God's blessing go with you, John ! " How long 
 will you stay, one month or six months ? 
 
 New York, Jan. 15. On board the Fulton. 
 The embarcation of the 54th Boys. Variety of 
 complexions — redheads, — filing into their places 
 on deck — singing, whistling, smoking and dancing 
 — eating candy and chewing tobacco. Jolly little 
 cuss, round, rosy and half-white, singing : — 
 
 Oh John Brown dey hung him 
 
 We're gwine to jine de Union Army 
 
 Oh John Brown dey hung him 
 We're gwine to Dixie's land. 
 
 Way down by James' Kiver 
 
 Old massa' s grave is made 
 And he or me is sure to fill it 
 
 When he meets de black Brigade. 
 
 We're gwine to trabbel to de Souf 
 To smack de rebels in de mouf. 
 
 Tuesday, 19. A cold, raw day. Passed Char- 
 leston early in the morning. Fort Sumter lit 
 up by a passing waft of sunshine. A shot fired 
 
156 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 from Cumming's Point as we passed. The 
 weather — demoralized by Yankee contact — grow- 
 ing so cold as to drive passengers below stairs 
 to euchre. 
 
 Wednesday, Jan. 20. On arriving at Hilton 
 Head yesterday afternoon I found that Gen'l 
 
 G 's Headquarters were now at Hilton Head. 
 
 I went on shore, met Col. S , and made an 
 
 appointment to be presented to Gen'l G 
 
 later. Took tea at the Port Eoyal House and 
 was told by the gentlemanly proprietor that I 
 had better forage on my friends for a bed. Was 
 presented to the General and delivered my letter 
 
 to Gen'l G . He seemed perplexed rather, 
 
 and evidently thought he was expected to under- 
 take some immediate military operation to effect 
 the occupation and reconstruction. He dwelt 
 on the deficiency of transportation in the Depart- 
 ment and the immobility of his force for the 
 purposes of land attack. He has only now after 
 great efforts succeeded in mounting a regiment 
 of infantry for cavalry service, etc., etc. I told 
 him it was not the President's intention to do 
 anything to embarrass his military operations ; 
 that all I wished from him was an order direct- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 157 
 
 ing me to go to Florida and open my books of 
 record for the oaths ; as preliminary to future 
 proceedings. 
 
 He said we would speak farther of it. Mean- 
 while I will wait for my papers delayed at 
 New York. 
 
 Jan. 23, Saturday. Saturday night I went on 
 board the Ben Deford with the General to visit 
 
 Folly and Morris Islands. Col. J , Major 
 
 B , Capt. E, and F were in the party. 
 
 In the morning we were at Pawnee Landing, 
 Folly River. "We mounted and rode to Gen'l 
 
 T 's headquarters; saw model of Fort 
 
 Wagner. T joined G and we went 
 
 up the beach to Light House Inlet; saw the 
 
 scene of the crossing by S ; crossed and 
 
 went in ambulances to Wagner; spent some 
 time there. From Wagner walked up to Gregg, 
 leaving our ambulance. Saw the mortar bat- 
 teries before getting there. From Gregg had a 
 good view of Fort Sumter — silent as the 
 grave — flag flying over it — a great flag flying 
 over the battery on Sullivan's Island. The 
 city, too, was spread out before us like a 
 map ; everything very silent ; a ship lying 
 
158 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 silent at the wharf. No sign of life in Eipley, 
 Johnson or Pinckney. 
 
 Jan. 27. The Atlantic arrived this morning 
 from the North vice the Arago transferred to 
 New Orleans, and brought my books and my 
 whiskey. 
 
 I am happy — modifiedly, as a worm must be. 
 
 Feb. 1st and 2nd. Evening of February 1st 
 
 Gen'l T and I got on board a noisy little tug 
 
 at the wharf which took us to the Ben Deford. 
 We went upstairs and drank a few whiskey 
 punches, and then to sleep. In the morning 
 found ourselves off Stone ; — tide too low to let us 
 
 over the bar ; — were rowed ashore, — Gen'l T , 
 
 Turner and I. Stopped at lower end of Folly for 
 an ambulance ; rode to Gen'l T 's headquar- 
 ters and took horses to ride to Light House Inlet; 
 
 crossed in a boat and walked up to Col. D . 
 
 Col. D. full of a plan for capturing the Sumter 
 garrison. 
 
 We went in ambulance to Wagner. The sound 
 of firing had been heard all the morning. It grew 
 more frequent, and Davies told us it was directed 
 at a stranded blockade-runner. Just as we got in 
 
LETTBES OP JOHN HAY 159 
 
 sight of Wagner a white smoke appeared in the 
 clear air (the fog had lifted suddenly) and a sharp 
 crack was heard. It seemed as if a celestial pop- 
 corn had been born in the ether. " There's a 
 shell from Simkins," said Turner. We went on, 
 and there were more of them. As we got to 
 Wagner we got out and sent the ambulance to a 
 place of safety under the walls. They were just 
 making ready to discharge a great gun from 
 Wagner, The Generals clapped hands to their 
 ears. The gun was fired, and the black globe 
 went screaming close to the ground over the 
 island, over the harbor, landing and bursting near 
 the helpless blockade-runner stranded half-way 
 from Fort Beauregard to Fort Moultrie. We 
 walked up the beach. Heretofore we had from 
 time to time seen little knots of men gathered to 
 look at the fight, but now the beach was deserted. 
 Once in a while you would see a fellow crouching 
 below a sandhill keeping a sharp lookout. We 
 soon came to Batteries Seymour, Barton and 
 Chatfield, which were firing vigorously. We 
 mounted the parapet and took a good look at the 
 steamer. She was already a good deal damaged 
 by one shell amidships. 
 
IQQ LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Felb. 2. The enemy's fire was getting pretty 
 warm. They had the range perfectly ; most of 
 the shell burst in or over the works ; but the men 
 were so well protected that all the time we were 
 there but three were hit, and they were said to 
 be imprudent. The men dodged and broke to 
 cover at the flashing of the enemy's battery, but 
 the officers exposed themselves with perfect in- 
 souciance. 
 
 The shells had singular voices. Some screamed 
 frightfully ; some had a regular musical note like 
 Chu-chu-weechu-weechu-^rrr ; and each of the 
 fragments a wicked little whistle of its own. 
 Many struck in the black, marshy mud behind 
 us, burying themselves, and casting a malodorous 
 shower into the air. Others burrowed in the 
 sand. One struck the face of C — ■ — , while I 
 was standing on the parapet, with a heavy thud, 
 and in a moment afterward threw a cloud of sand 
 into the air. I often saw in the air a shell burst- 
 ing, — fierce, jagged white lines darting out first, 
 like javelins — then the flowering of the awful 
 bud into full bloom, — all in the dead silence of 
 the upper air ; — the crack and the whistle of the 
 fragments. 
 
 Col. D took us to see the great 300- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 161 
 
 pounder Parrot. At a very little distance, an 
 ugly-looking hole where a shell had just burst ; 
 — ^beside the gun traces in the sand of hasty 
 trampling and wagon-wheels; — dark stains soak- 
 ing into the sand; — a poor fellow had just had 
 his leg taken off by a piece of a shell. 
 
 I saw them putting a crushed and mangled 
 mass into an ambulance. He was still and pale. 
 The driver started off at a merry trot. A captain 
 said : — " D you, drive that thing slower ! " 
 
 Two or three young fellows were playing with 
 their horses in the parade. The horses joining 
 in the fun threw riders over their heads and 
 started off. 
 
 The ill-starred boat got badly pounded, her 
 machinery and works battered in. She seemed 
 sinking before we left. The navy were off nearly 
 two miles, but still made passable shooting. 
 Their ricochet shots, however, were generally 
 failures. 
 
 With a good glass we could see a good many 
 anxious spectators on the rebel side. 
 
 Chatfield to boat, 2,600 yards. 
 Wagner " " 3,000 " 
 Monitors, 2 miles. 
 11 
 
162 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 We walked back on the beach to Wagner. A 
 shell exploded close behind us. I made a bad 
 dodge. Walked all over Wagner and got a 
 sympathetic view of the whole affair. 
 
 Feb. 9, Jacksonville We came to 
 
 Jacksonville, gay with flags and busy with ship- 
 ping at noon. I landed and found no General, 
 no staff, no means of information. Ignorance 
 
 the densest. Met D , who took me to Mrs. 
 
 . I saw in a few moments' glance the 
 
 Avretched story of two years. A lady, well-bred 
 and refined, dressed worse than a bound girl, 
 with a dirty and ragged gown that did not hide 
 her trim ankles and fine legs. A white-haired, 
 heavy-eyed, slow-speaking old young man. A 
 type of thousands of homes where punishment 
 of giant crimes has lit on humble innocents. I 
 
 put on my seven-leaguers and rode with K 
 
 and P in the afternoon around the pickets. 
 
 P selected points for fortifications. We saw 
 
 two negro regiments, one at dress parade, gay with 
 banners, one in camp, fragrant with salt-horse. 
 Some firing in the front, with ultimate intentions 
 of mutton or fresh pork. As we came home we 
 saw a train going to provision Gen'l G 's 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 163 
 
 advance; — a pretty dowdy walking in the silent 
 street, — and some blue-bellied vandals making 
 themselves agreeable to one of the few remaining 
 families. 
 
 Feb. 10 Yesterday I had a number of 
 
 copies of the Proclamation posted through the 
 town. The few citizens gathered around, the 
 lettered reading, the unlettered listening with 
 something that looked like a ghost of interest. . . . 
 
 At 2i p. m. Gen'l G and staff came clat- 
 tering into the cabin of the Ben Deford. They 
 seemed greatly elated by the success of the expedi- 
 tion, and were full of Col. H 's achievement in 
 
 the capture of artillery beyond Camp Finegan. In 
 the afternoon Lieut. M came in with his rail- 
 way train from Baldwin. He had four mules for 
 locomotive who had a playful habit of humping 
 themselves and casting off their riders. He had a 
 young woman on board to whom he showed the 
 usual courtesies of railroad Conductors. 
 
 Feb. 11. By direction of Gen'l G I went 
 
 to the prisoners confined in the guard-house, read 
 to them the Proclamation, and said I had come to 
 inform them " of this executive act, and extend to 
 
164 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 you its benefits. I liave in my possession a book 
 for the record of oaths. I have certificates 
 entitling those signing the book to the benefit 
 of the act. If you sign, you will be released or 
 allowed to return to your houses, if they are not, 
 etc. If not, you will be sent North as prisoners 
 of war for exchange. By signing it you will 
 entitle yourselves to all your rights as citizens of 
 the United States. It is a matter for your choice. 
 There is to be neither force nor persuasion used 
 in the matter. It is a matter that you must decide 
 for yourselves. There has been some doubt ex- 
 pressed as to whether you will be protected. I 
 am authorized to promise that you will be. The 
 occupation does it for the present. Men enough. 
 Inducement is peace and protection and reestab- 
 lishment of your State Government." 
 
 When I had finished the little I had to say, 
 they crowded around me asking innumerable 
 questions. I got away and had an office fixed up 
 in the quartermaster's block and waited for my 
 flock. They soon came, a dirty swarm of grey 
 coats, and filed into the room, escorted by a negro 
 guard. Fate had done its worst for the poor 
 devils. Even a nigger guard didn't seem to excite 
 a feeling of resentment. They stood for a moment 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 165 
 
 in awkward attitudes along the wall. I could not 
 but think that the provost had made a mistake 
 
 and sent me his whole family, as A said he 
 
 thought eight or ten of them could be induced to 
 take the oath of allegiance. But I soon found 
 they had come up in good earnest to sign their 
 names. They opened again in a chorus of ques- 
 tions which I answered as I could. At last a big 
 good-natured fellow said, "This question's enough. 
 Let's take the oath ! " They all stood up in line 
 and held up their hands while I read the oath. 
 As I concluded, the negro sergeant came up, 
 saluted, and said : — " Dere's one dat didn't hole 
 up his hand." 
 
 They began to sign, — some still stuck and 
 asked questions, some wrote good hands, but most 
 bad. Nearly half made their mark. 
 
 .... The General received to-day a despatch 
 
 from S , sayiag that H fell into an 
 
 ambush at the South Fork of the St. Mary's, 
 and lost twenty-five in kUled and wounded. The 
 
 enemy got away with slight loss. S is 
 
 informed and seems to believe that there is a 
 large rebel force at Lake City, larger than his 
 own. The General gives no opinion. He says, 
 "S has positive orders not to get whipped." 
 
166 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Feb. 12. Received orders from tlie General 
 to go to St. Augustine with despatches for Col. 
 
 O ' to move his force, except two companies, 
 
 to Picolata. (S asked last night for the 
 
 54th Mass. without delay. "One company is 
 enough for St. Augustine." " Cool for a sub- 
 ordinate," said Q. A.) I went over to H 
 
 and transferred my blasphemy business to him, 
 and made ready at once to go to the Helen 
 Getty. I concluded to go by way of Fernandina 
 to get near my base of supplies. . . . 
 
 My first day's operations in Jacksonville were 
 such as to give me great encouragement. I 
 enrolled in all sixty names — some of them men 
 of substance and influence. The fact that more 
 than fifty per cent, of the prisoners of war were 
 eager to desert and get out of the service shows 
 how the spirit of the common people is broken. 
 Everybody seemed tired of the war. Peace on 
 any terms was what they wanted. They have 
 no care for the political questions involved. Most 
 of them had not read the oath, and when I 
 insisted on their learning what it was, they 
 would say listlessly: — "Yes, I guess I'll take 
 it." Some of the more intelligent cursed their 
 politicians and especially South Carolina; but 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 167 
 
 most looked hopefully to the prospect of having 
 a government to protect them after the anarchy 
 of the few years past. There was little of what 
 might be called loyalty. But what I build my 
 hopes on is the evident weariness of the war, 
 and anxiety for peace. 
 
 Feb. 21, Hilton Head. Got over bar this morn- 
 ing soon after day. B woke me up with the 
 
 miserable news of H 's death, loss of seven 
 
 pieces, capture of four hundred wounded, and our 
 total repulse about seven miles beyond Sanderson. 
 
 He has despatches from T to G . 
 
 Arrived at Hilton Head about 9 J after a good run 
 of 141 hours. Delivered our news to Gen'l 
 
 G The General was much shocked. He 
 
 said : — " This comes of disobeying orders." He 
 dwelt on this for some time. He said afterwards • 
 — "I should rather he had lost these men in 
 obedience to orders than in disobedience." 
 
 S has been very unsteady and queer since 
 
 the beginning of this campaign. He has been 
 subject to violent alternations of timidity and rash- 
 ness, now declaring Florida loyalty was all bosh, 
 now lauding it as the purest article extant ; now 
 insisting that B was in his front with the 
 
168 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 whole confederacy, and now asserting that he 
 could whip all the rebels in Florida with a good 
 brigade. He was ordered to fortify St. Mary's 
 and Baldwin, but pushed out beyond Sanderson 
 instead and got severely punished. 
 
 Feb. 22. ... There was a ball to-night at 
 Beaufort, gotten up by young officers there in 
 
 honor of the 22d. Gen'l G went up for a 
 
 few moments to lend his influence to counteract 
 the gloom which was overspreading the camp. 
 We got there early and loafed about till the danc- 
 ing began. The room was exquisitely decorated ; 
 several very clever pictures, eagles, etc., were done 
 on the walls with magnolia leaves ; flags of all 
 nations, from the Navy, etc. 
 
 I left with Gen'l G and went on board the 
 
 Hospital Ship, filled with wounded ; went through 
 hold and up-stairs where the artillery boys were. 
 
 Saw many desperately wounded ; Col. K. 
 
 mortally, clutching at his bed-clothes and passing 
 garments ; picked up, bed and all, and carried 
 away, picking out his clothes from a pile by 
 shoulder-straps — " Major ? " " No ! Lieutenant- 
 Colonel." H , M , D and E , 
 
 all very chipper and jolly ; M shot in toes 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 169 
 
 and hat (like a parenthesis) and sabre; H 
 
 between seat and saddle, and in fore-arm. M 
 
 proposed to H "to go to party; I'll do danc- 
 ing, and you hugging." 
 
 Suddenly Gen'l S , who had been much 
 
 moved by R 's appearance, started off up to 
 
 the ball. He arrived during a moment's pause 
 in the Lanciers. He stamped his foot : " Let 
 the music stop ! " and it did. " The ball cannot 
 go on. Lights to be out in half an hour." A 
 friend of the General asked : — " Can we eat 
 supper?" "Anyone who has the heart to eat 
 at such a time." All had a heart of that peculiar 
 construction, for all ate. He came back glowing 
 with the triumph of a generous action performed, 
 and asked us up to his room, where we drank 
 champagne and whiskey, and ate cake. Coming 
 out found the grumbling feasters and went to 
 Hilton Head after two o'clock. 
 
 Feb. 24. Eode out with T , who returned 
 
 last night, and represents S as plucky and 
 
 defiant. He brought his troops off the field 
 splendidly, according to all accounts. 
 
 Feb. 28, Sunday. The Arago came in this 
 
170 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 morning. The papers of the 23d and 24th attack 
 my coming here as a political trick. Q. A. G. 
 is much troubled at it. I had some talk with 
 
 T He thinks I had better stay. . . . We 
 
 got on the Dictator at midnight. . . . 
 
 Feb. 29. This morning, as we neared Fernan- 
 
 dina, I persuaded Gen'l G to go on to 
 
 Jacksonville and send boat back here for us. 
 We landed. . . . 
 
 March 1, Fernandina. I opened my books 
 this morning and got a few more names. Some 
 refused to sign on the ground that they were 
 not repentant rebels. . . . The Dictator came 
 in this afternoon and reported to me for orders. 
 I will start for Key West in the morning. 
 
 March 2 We got on board the Dictator 
 
 for an early start. The wind moans ominously 
 round the state-room doors, presaging a rough 
 day to-morrow. . . . 
 
 March 3. We went out to the bar and passed 
 it. I heard the sea hammering on the guards, and 
 turned over for another nap. Came back to 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 171 
 
 Fernandina. Tlie sea was very heavy ; a steady 
 line of breakers rolling in over the bar without a 
 break in three fathoms water. ... I spent part 
 of evening on board the Peconic. Trash for a 
 little while till I got opportunity to talk to 
 
 Judge F who seems a sincere and candid man 
 
 with clear views. He thinks the time is not yet 
 come for Florida. I am very sure that we cannot 
 now get the President's 10th, and that to alter the 
 suffrage law for a bare tithe would not give us the 
 moral force we want. The people of the interior 
 would be indignant against such a snap-judgment 
 taken by incomers and would be jealous and 
 sallow. 
 
 March 5 Did not get up until tea 
 
 to-day. " In bunco tutissimus ibis ! " There has 
 been quite a heavy swell. To-night the phospho- 
 rescent show is the finest I have yet seen. A 
 broad track of glory follows the ship. By the 
 sides abaft the wheels, the rushing waves are 
 splendid silver, flecked here and there with jets of 
 flame ; while outside the silvery trouble, the 
 startled fish darting from our track mark the blue 
 waters with curves and splashes of white radiance. 
 Occasionally across our path drifts a broad blotch 
 
172 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 of luminous brilliancy, a school of fishes brighten- 
 ing the populous waters. 
 
 March 6. A beautiful Sunday ; the purest 
 southern day ; the air cool but cherishing and 
 kindly ; the distant shore fringed with palms and 
 cocoanuts ; the sea a miracle of color ; on the one 
 hand a bright vivid green ; on the other a deep 
 dark blue ; flaked by the floating shadows cast by 
 the vagrant clouds that loaf in the liquid sky. 
 
 Florida Keys. Passed Hillsboro and New River 
 Inlet in the morning, and made Cape Florida at 
 noon. We struck out seaward there, skirting the 
 inner edge of the Gulf-Stream where the pure 
 emerald of the water was marred by the darker 
 waves of the Gulf. Lighter around the vessel 
 grew the pale green of the sea ; more vivid and 
 brilliant the shine in shore. When we passed the 
 shoals off the Cape and took our southerly course 
 outside the reefs I thought I had never seen so 
 splendid a prodigality of coloring in any marine 
 picture. On our left, towards the horizon, rolled 
 the dark azure of the Gulf-Stream ; before us, and 
 to our right, as far as the distant shore, the vivid 
 emerald of these strange Floridian waters, the 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 173 
 
 darker vegetation of the coral keys throwing its 
 pale beauty into finer relief, while the sunny skies 
 were flushed with a faint auroral radiance of pearl 
 and pink, such as tinges the polished lips of the 
 sea-shells of this coast. 
 
 Leaning over the starboard rail, gazing with a 
 lazy enjoyment at this scene of enchantment, at 
 the fairy islands scattered like a chain of gems 
 on the bosom of this transcendent sea, bathed 
 in the emerald ripples and basking in the rosy 
 effulgence of the cherishing sky; the white sails 
 flitting through the quiet inlets ; the soft breeze 
 causing the sunny waters to sparkle and the trees 
 to wave, I thought that here were the Isles of the 
 Blessed ; within the magic ring of these happy 
 islands the syrens were singing, and the maids 
 were twining their flowing hair with sprays of the 
 coral. Anchored in everlasting calm, far from 
 the malice of the sky, or the troubling eyes of 
 men, they sported through the tranquil years of 
 the everlasting summer, in the sacred idleness of 
 the immortals. 
 
 My friend Canis Marinus begged to differ. He 
 said : — " There's the Kagged Keys ; full o' mud- 
 torkles and rattle-snakes ; them little boats is full 
 of Conks — come up for to sponge." 
 
174 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Indian Key. At dusk we came to anchor off 
 Indian Key, a rather famous place where a horti- 
 cuhural lunatic lived, planted and died. We 
 rowed ashore. As we neared the island, a gruff* 
 
 voice hailed us :— " Who are you ? " " E ! " 
 
 shouted our pilot, which seemed satisfactory. We 
 scraped heavily on the coral bottom as we went in, 
 and brought up at a ricketty old wharf. There 
 had once been a rather lively place here. Large 
 buildings fitted up for hospital purposes in the 
 
 old wars. Now occupied by Captain B and a 
 
 family of spongers. We asked for fish. B 
 
 said it was Sabbath ; caught no fish to-day. 
 Asked for cocoanuts. Said hadn't any gathered. 
 "Pretty ugly job gathering on 'em in the night." 
 Our little purser volunteered for the service, and 
 he, S and I went out. He and I scaled alter- 
 nate trees and sent down the heavy clusters. We 
 plunged into a tangled abattis of some thorny 
 thing they called manilla, which scratched and 
 
 pierced like the d . 
 
 We came in bearing our spoils and found the 
 whole family in the great barn-like room of the 
 store. White-headed, apathetic — open-mouthed 
 — silent — indolent and stupid. We bought 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 175 
 
 sponges and shells of them galore, and went back 
 to our ship. 
 
 B came after us for a newspaper and a gass 
 
 with R . They talked about wrecks and the 
 
 profits thereof — of weddings and elopements — of 
 crops and wealth, — at intervals of ten minutes 
 between interlocutions. Brains hardening into an 
 unlovely mould in a lonely life on one of these 
 coral islands. 
 
 Monday, March 7, 1864, Key West. We steamed 
 away as it grew light and arrived at Key West 
 about noon. The Key lies bathed in the quiet 
 ripples of the pale green water, whitened by the 
 coral. So bright green that I cannot describe 
 the gem-like shine of the distant waters. The 
 sea-gulls that soar above the sea have their white 
 breasts and inside wings splendidly stained with 
 green by the reflection of the gleaming water. 
 
 I went ashore, and after several inquiries found 
 
 that Gen'l W lived half a mile from the 
 
 dock. I went to a hotel to inquire about a 
 carriage, and was referred to a Jew druggist, — 
 who pointed to a bay rat hitched to a shay in 
 front of his door, and implored me for pure 
 love of God to be back by two. I drove out 
 
176 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 by the beach to the barracks ; passed two black 
 sentries, and found the General's Adjutant, Capt. 
 
 B , and soon thereafter Gen'l W . I 
 
 was expected, Gen'l B s' orders having 
 
 arrived some time ago. I arranged my matters 
 in half an hour. 
 
 .... In the evening S and I went out 
 
 to see a "popular nigger" named Sandy. Some 
 young " Knavies " were there. They chatted a 
 moment, ordered some sapodillos (which tasted 
 like Castile soap and rotten apples), and then 
 went away saying they were going to see the 
 ladies. Whereat Sandy chuckled and guffawed 
 to the imminent danger of his supper, which he 
 had been eating quietly, sensibly refusing to let 
 our entrance disturb him. 
 
 Sandy talked mostly of his influential friends. 
 " Captains and Colonels and them things," and 
 gingerly of the rebellious and fugacious. S. asked 
 him if he were bothered much. " No ! not sence 
 I broke dat feller's jaw in tree pieces. I b'lieve 
 he was a rebel — a passel of 'em, — a dozen, sah, 
 come to debbil me ; dey tore down my fence 
 panels, and I went out to see. I ain't feared o' 
 nobody. But a man got to be lively when he's 
 fighting a passel, it's a busy time ob de year den. 
 
• LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 177 
 
 I hit one ob 'em and he straightened out like a 
 log; broke his jaw in tree pieces; and de rest, 
 dey run. I nebber complains ; de officers, dey got 
 dere hands full ; mustn't trouble bout every little 
 tittle. I's a darkey sort ob person. I takes off 
 hat to everybody ; but dey got to luff me alone." 
 
 March 8, Tuesday. I walked round the town 
 this morning, — met several of the citizens who 
 said they were pure and disinterested, and other 
 people were unscrupulous scamps ; — seems the 
 usual topic of conversation here with strangers 
 within their gates 
 
 March 9, Wednesday I found a very 
 
 decent darkey with a very decent buggy belong- 
 ing to a V. d. Dr. S ; and they, all together, 
 
 took me riding to my engagements. The only 
 blot of decency on the Key West escutcheon. 
 Otherwise they are a race of thieves and a de- 
 generation of vipers. 
 
 We cast off about noon, and night came on 
 us before we had made Indian Head, which was 
 to be our anchorage for the night, as we wanted 
 to be in the lee of Alligator Bank and reef to 
 avoid the fresh gale now blowing in the gulf We 
 12 
 
178 LETTEES OF JOHN HAY 
 
 all stood wide-legged and anxious on the forecastle 
 as men will about little things on ships, — Joe 
 heaving the lead, — the Captain leaning to the 
 breeze, his alpaca coat bagging like a seedy 
 
 balloon, — old E. confident and oracular, — till 
 
 S who had been hanging like a pointer dog 
 
 over the rail, sung out — " Light ho ! 4." This 
 
 was old B — , and we at once knew where we 
 
 were. We anchored and lay there quietly. 
 
 I finished my poem, " Northward," begun to-day 
 on leaving Key West. 
 
 March 11 We reached Fernandina 
 
 between four and five, entering the muddy water 
 of this coast soon after dinner. We found there 
 had been a heavy hailstorm here this morning. . . . 
 
 March 12, Saturday. A fine day. Got away 
 from Fernandina at half past five a. m. and 
 arrived at Hilton Head at three p. m. 
 
 March 19 The General tells me he 
 
 intends to ask of the War Department permission 
 to take the 10th Army Corps away from here and 
 
 lead it in the field himself H has asked him 
 
 how many troops he can spare, reserving enough 
 
LETTERS OS" JOHN HAY I79 
 
 for purely defensive operations. He says he can 
 spare eight or nine thousand. Now, the effective 
 force of the 10th Corps is eleven thousand men, 
 and the troops composing it are such as have been 
 longest in the Department, and the medical 
 director advises that they be moved first. Gen'l 
 
 Gr will make this application by to-day's 
 
 steamer. 
 
 We got on board at about four o'clock and soon 
 after weighed anchor. We lay in the stream until 
 
 Gen'l G boarded us in a tug, and gave me 
 
 despatches for H and C of the tenor 
 
 aforesaid. 
 
 Wednesday, 23. Lay to, soon after midnight. 
 A full attendance at breakfast. Three inches of snow 
 on deck ; effeminate southerners of six months' 
 
 standing, shivering like Italian greyhounds 
 
 We drove to the hotel and played soldier like 
 young idiots coming home from school 
 
 . . . . Arrived at Washington, half past 
 six. 
 
 March 24. I arrived at Washington this morn- 
 ing, finding N in bed at 7 o'clock in the 
 
 morning. We talked over matters for a little 
 
180 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 while and I got some ideas of the situation from 
 him. 
 
 After breakfast I talked with the President. 
 There was no special necessity of presenting my 
 papers, as I found he thoroughly understood the 
 state of affairs in Florida, and did not seem in the 
 least annoyed by the newspaper falsehoods about 
 the matter. Gen'l H , I learn, has contin- 
 ually given out that the expedition was the Presi- 
 dent's and not his (H 's), — so F tells 
 
 me. The President said he has not seen G 's 
 
 letters to H , but said he had learned from 
 
 S that they had nothing to bear out H 's 
 
 assertion. I suppose H is badly bilious about 
 
 G . G , the President says, is Com- 
 mander-in-Chief, and H is now nothing but a 
 
 staff officer. In fact, says the President, "when 
 
 McC seemed incompetent to the work of 
 
 handling an army and we sent for H to take 
 
 command, he stipulated that it should be with 
 the full power and responsibility of Commander- 
 in-Chief. He ran it on that basis till P 's 
 
 defeat; but ever since that event he has shrunk 
 from responsibility whenever it was possible." 
 
 April 24. To-day the President, loafing into 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 181 
 
 my room, picked up a paper and read the R 
 
 E 's recent attack on J D . It 
 
 amused him. " Why," said he, " the E 
 
 seems about as fond of J as the W is 
 
 of me." 
 
 . . . . E. L. S , son of Lord S , has 
 
 been here for a week. I took him over to Ar- 
 lington and showed him the African. He asked 
 more questions than I ever dreamed of in similar 
 circumstances. He applied a drastic suction to 
 every contraband he met with, and came back 
 with brain and note-book crammed with instruc- 
 tive miscellany. He has been exhausting every- 
 body in the same way, till his coming is dreaded 
 like that of the schoolmaster by his idle flock. 
 He is a most intelligent gentleman — courteous 
 and ready — a contrast to most Englishmen in 
 his freedom from conceit and prejudice. 
 
 He leaves town to-day. I gave him my auto- 
 graph book ; we exchanged Cartes " like two 
 young shepherds, very friendly and pastoral." 
 
182 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 HAY TO C. G. HALPINE. 
 
 April 13, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR H : 
 
 I thank you for your kind and most unjust 
 letter. I did call at your liouse on Bleecker 
 Street, and you were not at home — nor was M. le 
 General. I am too old a soldier to pass through 
 your camp without reporting. 
 
 I thank you for offering to set me right with 
 the pensive public. But the game is not worth so 
 
 bright a candle. The original lie in the IT 
 
 was dirty enough, and the subsequent commen- 
 taries were more than usually nasty. But the 
 Tycoon never minded it in the least, and, as for 
 me, at my age the more abuse I get in the news- 
 papers, the better for me. I shall run for con- 
 stable some day on the strength of my gory 
 exploits in Florida. 
 
 I am stationed here for the present. I fear I 
 shall not get away soon again. I have a great 
 deal to do. It is the best work that I can do if I 
 must stay here. 
 
 To-night (April 24) Gen'l B came up 
 
 ■vfith. me from Willard's to see the President. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 183 
 
 They talked about the opening campaign more 
 than anything else. ... He gave some interest- 
 ing reminiscences of the siege of Knoxville (Tad 
 laughing enormously whenever he saw his father's 
 eye twinkle, though not seeing clearly why). 
 
 B and S are the only ones in motion 
 
 in accordance with the Order for a general move- 
 ment on the 23d. 
 
 April 25. This morning B came in with 
 
 F , a fine handsome fellow who looks like a 
 
 soldier at least. ... If I can get away during this 
 
 campaign I think I will go either with B or 
 
 G . 
 
 On the evening of the 25th F . who had 
 
 been frequently telegraphed by B to come 
 
 down to Fort Monroe, determined to go, and asked 
 me to go with him. We started for the Navy 
 
 Yard at 5.30, passing W 's while B 's 
 
 splendid column was moving down 14th Street 
 across the Long Bridge into Virginia. This is 
 the finest looking and best appointed force I have 
 ever yet seen. A little gorgeous and showy, 
 reminding one of the early regiments who went 
 shining down to Bull Run and the Peninsula as 
 if to a picnic. The 8th N. J. Cavalry looked 
 
184 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 fine and yellow in their new cloaks and gold- 
 braided breasts. The officers looked so superbly 
 outlandish that it surprised one to hear them 
 speaking in a Yankee accent, pure American as 
 
 C. C calls it. The black regiments looked 
 
 well, and marched better than others — as in fact 
 they always do. 
 
 We went down the river among the twilight 
 " shadders " and got some fish and dined off shad- 
 roe and shad. F had brought with him some 
 
 of his choice Oolong tea. . . . We got to Fortress 
 
 Monroe in the morning, and W and I visited 
 
 the "Iroquois," Capt. E. E , while F 
 
 went to see the General. Coming ashore we 
 skirmished for some time about the walls of the 
 Fortress before we could find the right entrance. 
 
 We went in ; saw S , and K who was 
 
 lounging round with an air intensely ennuy^e, 
 and who said : — " There are plenty of indications 
 here which to a green hand would presage an 
 early movement ; but we blase fellows don't seem 
 to see it ; we are familiar with large promise and 
 scanty performance." 
 
 Joined B and F on the ramparts. 
 
 B said he was walking there for the first 
 
 time in several months ; preferring to take neces- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 185 
 
 sary exercise on horseback. He spoke highly 
 of the negro troops — especially of their walking 
 powers. They start off and trot slouchingly with- 
 out wasting any muscle in grace of action, he said, 
 illustrating the shuffling step, on the ramparts, 
 bending his knees, and dragging his feet over 
 the oniony grass. He spoke of the delight with 
 
 which B. O ate the good dinners he got 
 
 while at the Fort — saying that one breakfast he got 
 at S 's would have cost $2,000 in Richmond. 
 
 .... I had a good deal of a talk with S , 
 
 one of "the best staff a man was ever blessed 
 
 with,— S , T , S and W ," as 
 
 B says. S is sanguine about the coming 
 
 movement. " We will fasten our teeth," he says, 
 " on his line of supplies, and he must leave his 
 positions to come and beat us off;" — relying on 
 
 G 's not being the man to let that be done 
 
 quietly. . . . 
 
 F seemed troubled sorely by the prospect. 
 
 He fears the details have not been sufficiently 
 studied ; that the forces are to bulge ahead and get 
 badly handled ; that they rely on help from the 
 navy in places where the navy cannot possibly 
 help, — but rather " will be useless as an elephant 
 with his trunk unscrewed and his tusks un- 
 
186 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 shipped ; " that going up the James between the 
 precipitous banks, a few riflemen on the banks 
 will produce a panic that nothing can remedy. He 
 seemed surprised that the navy should not have 
 been informed of the intended movement until 
 
 to-day; or that G should have sanctioned, 
 
 and concluded that G must be letting the 
 
 thing slide on without suggestion from him, to 
 squelch it before it was consummated, or, relying 
 upon his other plans, might have given this column 
 up to the fate of a reconnoissance in force which 
 will have accomplished its object if it diverts from 
 his front a force large enough to destroy it 
 
 28 April. Had considerable talk with the Pres- 
 ident this evening. He understands that the day 
 
 arranged for G 's movement is to be the 2d 
 
 prox. — Monday. S has asked for a little 
 
 more time, says that he can't fully come up to his 
 
 part in the programme before the 5th. S is at 
 
 work on his. The stories of G— 's quarrelling 
 with the Secretary of War are gratuitous lies. 
 G quarrels with no one. 
 
 The President told a queer story of M . 
 
 "When McC lay at Harrison's Landing, 
 
 M came one night to the President and waked 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 187 
 
 him up at the Soldiers' Home to urge upon him 
 the immediate flight of the army from that point 
 — the men to get away on transports, and the 
 horses to be killed, as they could not be saved. 
 Thus often," says the President, " I, who am not 
 a specially brave man, have had to restore the 
 sinking courage of these professional fighters in 
 critical times. 
 
 "When it was proposed to station H— in 
 general command, he insisted, to use his own 
 language, on the appointment of a General-in- 
 Chief who should be held responsible for results. 
 We appointed him, and all went well enough 
 
 until after P 's defeat, when he broke down, — 
 
 nerve and pluck all gone, — and has ever since 
 evaded all possible responsibility, — little more, 
 since that, than a first-rate clerk." 
 
 G. M was here this evening and told a 
 
 good story about A. J and his fearful excite- 
 ment when B was proposing to give up 
 
 Nashville to the enemy. He found him walking 
 up and down the room, supported by two friends. 
 
 "M , I'm glad to see you," he said. The 
 
 two friends left, and he and M were alone. 
 
 " We're sold, M , we're sold; " fiercely reiter- 
 ating. " He's a traitor, M ," and such, 
 
188 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 " ." At last, suddenly, " Pray, M- 
 
 .1 
 
 And they knelt down and prayed, A joining 
 
 in the responses like Methodists. After they 
 
 had done, he said : — " M , I feel better. 
 
 M , I'm not a Christian, — no church, — but 
 
 I believe in God, — in the Bible, — all of it — 
 
 M , but ril be d if Nashville shall be 
 
 given wp." 
 
 The President was much amused by a story 
 I told him of G . 
 
 The venomous old Count says : — " I despise 
 the anti-Lincoln Republicans. I say I go against 
 Lincoln, for he is no fit for be President; de 
 say d^ for one term (holding up one dirty finger) 
 bimeby de beat Lincoln, den de for two term 
 (holding up two unclean digits) : de is cowards 
 and Ass ! " 
 
 A despatch just received from C stating that 
 
 the Harrisburgh convention had elected Lincoln 
 delegates to Baltimore properly instructed. 
 
 The President assents to my going to the field 
 for this campaign if I can be spared from here. 
 
 April 30, 1864 The President came 
 
 loafing in as it grew late and talked about the 
 reception which his H letter had met with. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 189 
 
 He seemed rather gratified that the T was in 
 
 the main inspired by a kindly spirit in its criticism. 
 He thought of, and found, and gave to me to 
 
 decipher G 's letter to him of the 29th July, 
 
 1861. This most remarkable letter still retains 
 for me its wonderful interest as the most insane 
 specimen of pusillanimity that I have ever read. 
 
 When I had finished reading, N said : — " That 
 
 would be nuts to the H , B would will- 
 ingly give $10,000 for that." To which the 
 President, tying the red-tape round the package, 
 answered, — "I need |10,000 very much, but he 
 couldn't have it for many times that." 
 
 The President has been powerfully reminded by 
 
 Gen'l G 's present movements and plans, of 
 
 his (President's) old suggestion so constantly made 
 
 and as constantly neglected, to B and H 
 
 et al., to move at once upon the enemy's whole line 
 so as to bring into action our great superiority in 
 numbers. Otherwise, by interior lines and control 
 of the interior railroad system, the enemy can 
 shift their men rapidly from one point to another 
 as they may be required. In this concerted move- 
 ment, however, great superiority of numbers must 
 tell ; as the enemy, however successful where he 
 concentrates, must necessarily weaken other por- 
 
190 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 tions of his line and lose important positions. 
 This idea of his own, the President recognised 
 
 with especial pleasure when G said it was his 
 
 intention to make all the line useful — those not 
 fighting could help the fighting : — " Those not 
 skinning, can hold a leg," added his distinguished 
 interlocutor. 
 
 It seems that B 's unhappy Eed River 
 
 expedition was undertaken at the order and under 
 
 the plan of Gen'l S , who, having lived 
 
 at Alexandria, had a nervous anxiety to repossess 
 
 the country. G assented from his confidence 
 
 in S , and H fell into the plan. Had 
 
 not this wasteful enterprise been begun, B 
 
 would now be thundering at the gates of Mobile 
 
 and withdrawing a considerable army from S 's 
 
 front at Chattanooga. 
 
 S has asked for an extension from the 2d 
 
 to the 5th to complete his preparation against 
 
 D . He says that T 's and S 's 
 
 armies will be within one day's march of Dalton 
 by to-night, and that McP will be on time. 
 
 A little after midnight, as I was writing those 
 last lines, the President came into the office 
 laughing, with a volume of Hood's Works in 
 his hand, to show N and me the little 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY I91 
 
 caricature, "An unfortunate Bee-ing," seemingly 
 utterly unconscious that he, with his short shirt 
 hanging about his long legs, and setting out 
 behind like the tail feathers of an enormous 
 ostrich, was infinitely funnier than anything 
 in the book he was laughing at. What a 
 man it is ! Occupied all day with matters of vast 
 moment, deeply anxious about the fate of the 
 greatest army of the world, with his own fame and 
 future hanging on the events of the passing hour, 
 he yet has such a wealth of simple honhommie and 
 goodfellowship, that he gets out of bed and peram- 
 bulates the house in his shirt to find us that we 
 may share with him the fun of poor Hood's queer 
 little conceits 
 
 May 9. Received to-day the first despatches 
 
 from G . The President thinks very highly 
 
 of what G ■ has done. He was talking about 
 
 it to-day with me, and said : — " How near we have 
 been to this thing before, and failed ! I believe if 
 any other General had been at the head of that 
 army, it would have now been on this side of the 
 
 Eapidan. It is the dogged pertinacity of G 
 
 that wins." It is said that M observed to 
 
 G that the enemy seemed inclined to make a 
 
192 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Kilkenny cat fight of the affair; and G- 
 answered " Our cat has the longest tail," 
 
 HAY TO CHARLES EDWARD HAY. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 May 8, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR C : 
 
 I have received and read with great pleasure 
 your long letter about the good fortune that has 
 come to you.^ I congratulate you very heartily 
 and say God bless you and her whom you have 
 chosen. 
 
 I knew her very intimately when I was in 
 Springfield, and have rarely met anyone so young 
 who was so sensible, so good and true. I think 
 I have never known a girl more sincere and 
 conscientious. It is with none but the brightest 
 anticipations and hopes for your future that I 
 congratulate you and her. 
 
 I do not know whether you have yet made 
 up your minds as to time and seasons. I want 
 
 ' Charles Hay married Mary Ridgely, May, 1865. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 193 
 
 very much to see you and talk over a thousand 
 things that it is inconvenient to write ahout. I 
 hope that you will conclude to delay for a while 
 the consummation of your intentions. You are 
 both very young. You can of course trust each 
 other fully. I doubt if you will ever meet a 
 nicer girl anywhere, and I think it will puzzle 
 her to find a better fellow. So now in your jolly 
 youth, you had better wait awhile, don't you 
 think ? You will be a Captain some of these fine 
 mornings. You are now third on the list of 
 Lieutenants. Why not wait that long at least? 
 Although I know nobody whom I would sooner 
 have chosen for a sister than her you have chosen 
 for me, I cannot think of losing you, my dear 
 boy, without a feeling of sadness. We have not 
 been very much together, but we have been 
 friends as well as brothers, and so the past is 
 very much endeared to me. The woods and hills 
 of dear old Warsaw, the rivers of Florida and the 
 sands of South Carolina are all fastened on my 
 heart by your companionship. Although I liked 
 Col. W.^ very much, I was miserable at losing 
 Mary Hay, and now you are about to obey the 
 
 1 Mary Hay married CoL Woolfolk. 
 13 
 
194 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 universal law and pass out of our exclusive pos- 
 session. Of course I rejoice with you and applaud 
 your choice. I am glad you have chosen so early 
 and so wisely. But our home grows more desolate 
 day by day as all of your dear ones leave it, not 
 to return. I believe Gus and I, some of these 
 days, will come back to Warsaw, jolly old cum- 
 berers of the ground, and pass with Father and 
 Mother the last quiet days of their green old age. 
 And you and yours will always be joyfully wel- 
 comed in my heart and my home. 
 
 May 13 J. L came into my 
 
 room this morning and said the President must 
 now chiefly guard against assassination. I pooh- 
 poohed him, and said that while every promi- 
 nent man was more or less exposed to the attacks 
 of maniacs, no foresight could guard against 
 them. He replied by saying that he had, by 
 his caution and vigilance, prevented his own 
 assassination when a reward of a hundred 
 thousand dollars had been offered for his head. 
 
 May 14 I have not known the Presi- 
 dent so affected by a personal loss since the death 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 195 
 
 of B , as by the death of Gen'l Wadsworth. 
 
 While deeply regretting the loss of S , he 
 
 added : — " S 's devotion and earnestness were 
 
 professional. But no man has given himself up 
 to the war with such self-sacrificing patriotism 
 as Gen'l Wadsworth. He went into the service, 
 not wishing or expecting great success or dis- 
 tinction in his military career, and profoundly 
 indifferent to popular applause, actuated only by 
 a sense of duty which he neither evaded nor 
 sought to evade." 
 
 The President came in last night in his shirt 
 and told us of the retirement of the enemy from 
 his works at Spottsylvania, and our pursuit. I 
 complimented him on the amount of underpin- 
 ning he still has left, and he said he weighed 
 180 pounds. Important if true. 
 
 21 May B is turning out much as 
 
 I thought he would — perfectly useless and incapa- 
 ble for campaigning. He quarrels with G 
 
 and S , and makes rather a nuisance of him- 
 self 
 
 I said to the President to-day that I thought 
 
 B was the only man in the army in whom 
 
 power would be dangerous, McC was too 
 
196 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 timid and vacillating to usurp; Gr was too 
 
 sound and coolheaded and too unselfish ; B 
 
 also ; F would be dangerous if lie had more 
 
 ability and energy. 
 
 " Yes," says the American ; " He is like Jim 
 Jett's brother. Jim used to say that his brother 
 
 was the d d-st scoundrel that ever lived, but 
 
 in the infinite mercy of Providence he was also 
 the d d-st fool." 
 
 June 5. For a day or two the house has been 
 full of patriots on the way to Baltimore who wish 
 to pay their respects, and engrave on the expectant 
 mind of the President their images in view of 
 future contingencies. Among the genuine delega- 
 tions have come some of the bogus and the irregu- 
 lar ones. C. B is here with Louisiana in his 
 
 trousers' pocket. He has passed through New 
 York and has gotten considerably stampeded by 
 the talk of the trading pettifoggers of politics 
 there. He feels uneasy in his seat. 
 
 The South Carolina delegation came in yester- 
 day. The President says " let them in." " They 
 are a swindle," I said. "They won't swindle me," 
 quoth the President. They filed in ; a few sutlers, 
 
LETTEKS OF JOHN HAY 197 
 
 cotton-dealers and negroes presented a petition and 
 retired. 
 
 Florida sends two delegations ; neither will get 
 in. Each attacks the others as unprincipled 
 tricksters. 
 
 L hurt himself badly yesterday by falling 
 
 from his carriage on the pavement. I went to see 
 him this morning ; found him bruised but plucky. 
 Says he intends to go to Baltimore to-morrow. 
 
 Says he feels inclined to go for C for the 
 
 Vice-Presidency, on personal grounds. Says he 
 
 thinks Lincoln rather prefers J or some War 
 
 Democrat as calculated to give more strength to 
 the ticket. 
 
 N started over to-day in company with 
 
 C 
 
 June 6 Got a letter from N at 
 
 Baltimore ; answered by mail and telegraph. The 
 President positively refuses to give even a confi- 
 dential suggestion in regard to Vice-Presidency, 
 Platform or Organization. 
 
 Everybody came back from Convention tired 
 but sober, N says it was a very quiet Con- 
 vention. Little drinking — little quarrelling — an 
 earnest intention to simply register the expressed 
 
198 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 will of the people, and go home. They were 
 intolerant of speeches — remorselessly coughed 
 down the crack orators of the party. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 June 20, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAK NICOLAY : 
 
 I went blundering through the country after 
 leaving you, missing my connections and buying 
 tickets until I landed in Baltimore without a 
 cent ; had to borrow money of the Eutaw to pay 
 for my dinner and hack. Got home tired, dusty 
 and disgusted. 
 
 The Tycoon thinks small beer of R 's 
 
 mare's nest. Too small, I rather think. But let 
 
 'em work ! V 's sudden Avatar rather startles 
 
 the Corps here away. B. M asks me how 
 
 much we gave F for importing him. 
 
 Society is nil here. The L s go to-morrow 
 
 — last lingerers. We mingle our tears and ex- 
 change locks of hair to-night in Corcoran's Row, 
 — some half hundred of us. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY I99 
 
 I went last night to a Sacred Concert of pro- 
 fane music at Ford's. Young Kretchmar and old 
 
 Kretclipar were running it. — H s and H 
 
 both sang ; — and they kin if anybody kin. The 
 Tycoon and I occupied private box, and both of 
 
 us carried on a hefty flirtation with the M 
 
 Girls in the flies. 
 
 Madame is in the North. The President has 
 
 gone to-day to visit G . I am all alone in the 
 
 White pest-house. The ghosts of twenty thousand 
 drowned cats come in nights through the south 
 windows. I shall shake my buttons off with the 
 ague before you get back. . . . 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 Thursday night, June 9, the President came 
 into my room just before bed-time, and said that 
 
 R had been sending despatches requesting 
 
 that an officer of his staff might be sent to Wash- 
 ington to lay before the President matters of great 
 importance in regard to a conspiracy to overthrow 
 the government. He asked for this permission 
 on account of the outrage committed upon Major 
 
200 LETTEES OF JOHN HAY 
 
 B of his staif, who was some time ago court- 
 martialed for coming to Washington under Gen'l 
 
 E 's orders. Recently Gov. Y has joined 
 
 in E 's request asking that S shall be sent 
 
 for. " If it is a matter of such overwhelming 
 importance," said the President, " I don't think 
 
 S is the proper person to whom to entrust it. 
 
 I am inclined to think that the object of the 
 General is to force me into a conflict with the 
 Secretary of War, and to make me overrule him 
 in this matter. This, at present, I am not inclined 
 to do. I have concluded to send you out there 
 
 to talk it over with E and to ascertain just 
 
 what he has. I would like you to start to-morrow." 
 He gave me in the morning, before I was out of 
 bed, this note to deliver to E : — 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, June 10, 1864. 
 
 MAJOK-GENEEAL E- 
 
 Major John Hay, the bearer, is one of my 
 
 Private Secretaries, to whom please communicate 
 
 in writing or verbally, anything you would think 
 
 proper to say to me. 
 
 Yrs truly, 
 
 A. LINCOLN. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 201 
 
 Friday afternoon, June 10, I left Washington 
 and passed through Harrisburg at midnight ; 
 Pittsburgh, noon on the 11th; through Mingo, 
 Cadiz, to Cincinnati, where I arrived on Sunday 
 morning. I washed my face and went out ; saw 
 a plain, old church covered with ivy, and con- 
 gratulated myself that there I would find some 
 decent people worshipping God comme il faut; 
 and was horribly bored for my worldliness. After 
 dinner, where I met a rascally looking Jew, who 
 was dining with a gorgeous lorette, and who 
 insisted on knowing me and recognising me from 
 a picture in Harper's Weekly, I strolled out to 
 
 make visits. The A 's were not at home, 
 
 except young L I plunged into the bosom 
 
 of a peaceful family, and demanded to see the 
 wife of a quiet gentleman on the ground that 
 she was a young lady now travelling in Europe. 
 He commiserated my wild and agitated demeanor, 
 and asked me to dinner. 
 
 I left Cincinnati Sunday evening and came to 
 St. Louis about 11 o'clock Monday morning. 
 The road is a very pleasant one, though rather 
 slow. I sat and wrote rhymes in the same 
 compartment with a pair of whiskey smugglers. 
 I reported to Gen'l E. immediately upon my 
 
202 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 arrival. After waiting some time in an ante- 
 room full of officers, among them Gen'l D , 
 
 a young, nervous, active looking man ; Gen'l 
 
 E , whom I had known before, a man of 
 
 great coolness and steadiness of judgment : E, 
 
 came out and took me to his room. I presented 
 my letter ; he read it, and nodded : — "All right — 
 got something to show you — too important to 
 talk about— busy just now — this orderly busi- 
 ness—keep me till four o'clock — dine with us 
 
 at the L^ half-past five — then talk matter 
 
 over at my room there. Hay, where were you 
 born ? How long have you been with the Presi- 
 dent ? " etc. And I went away. He is a fine, 
 hearty, abrupt sort of talker, heavy-whiskered, 
 blond, keen eyes, with light brows and lashes, 
 head shunted forward a little ; legs a little un- 
 steady in walk. 
 
 We dined at the L quietly at six o'clock : 
 
 R , Major B and I. The General was 
 
 chatty and sociable ; told some old army stories ; 
 and drank very little wine. The dinner had 
 nothing to tempt one out of frugality in diet, 
 being up to the average badness of hotel dinners. 
 
 From the dining room I went to his private 
 room. He issued orders to his intelligent contra- 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 203 
 
 band to admit no one. He seated himself in a 
 queer combination chair he had — which let you 
 lounge or forced you to a rigid pose of business 
 as you desired, — and offered me a cigar. " No ? 
 long-necked fellows like you don't need them. 
 Men of my temperament derive advantage from 
 them as a sedative, and as a preventer of corpu- 
 lence." He puffed away and began to talk, in a 
 loud, easy tone at first, which he soon lowered, 
 casting a glance over his shoulder and moving 
 his chair nearer. 
 
 There is a secret conspiracy on foot against 
 the Government, carried on by a society called 
 the Order of the American Knights, or, to use 
 their initials — O. A. K. The head of the Order, 
 
 styled the high priest, is in the North, V , 
 
 and in the South, S. P ■. Its objects are, in 
 
 the North to exert an injurious effect upon public 
 feeling, to resist the arrest of its members, to 
 oppose the war in all possible ways ; in the border 
 States to join with returned rebels and guerilla 
 parties to plunder, murder and persecute Union 
 men and to give to rebel invasion all possible 
 information and timely aid. He said that in Mis- 
 souri they had carefully investigated the matter 
 by means of secret service men who had taken 
 
204 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 the oaths, and they had found that many recent 
 massacres were directly chargeable to them ; that 
 the whole Order was in a state of intense activity ; 
 that they numbered in Missouri 13,000 sworn 
 members; in Illinois, 140,000; in Ohio and In- 
 diana almost as large numbers, and in Kentucky 
 a very large and formidable association. 
 
 That the present objective point was the return 
 
 and the protection of V . He intends, on dit, 
 
 that the district convention in his district in Ohio 
 shall elect him a delegate to the Chicago Conven- 
 tion. That he is to be elected and come over from 
 Canada and take his seat, and if the Government 
 should see fit to re-arrest him, then his followers 
 are to unite to resist the ofiicers and protect him 
 at all hazards. 
 
 A convocation of the Order was held at W , 
 
 C , in the month of April under his personal 
 
 supervision ; to this came delegates from every 
 part of the country. It is not definitely known 
 what was done there 
 
 I went over to S 's ofiice, and he read to me 
 
 his voluminous report to R in regard to the 
 
 workings of the Order, and showed me some few 
 documents. . . . We went back and finished the 
 evening at R 's rooms. I said I would go 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 205 
 
 back to Washington and lay the matter before 
 the President, as it had been presented to me, and 
 I thought he would look upon it as I did, as a 
 matter of importance. I did not make any sug- 
 gestions ; I did not even ask for a copy of S 's 
 
 report, or any of the papers in the case : — 1st, 
 because my instructions placed me in a purely 
 receptive attitude ; and, — 2d, because I saw in 
 
 both R. and S. a disposition to insist on S 's 
 
 coming to Washington in person to discuss the 
 matter without the intervention of the Secretary 
 of War. Two or three motives influenced this, 
 
 no doubt. E, is bitterly hostile to S ; 
 
 he is full of the idea that S has wronged 
 
 him, and is continually seeking opportunities to 
 
 thwart and humiliate him. Then S himself 
 
 is rather proud of his work in ferreting out 
 this business, and is not unwilling to come to 
 Washington to impress the President with the 
 same sense ; they wish a programme for future 
 opportunities determined ; and finally they want 
 money for the secret service fund. 
 
 Gen'l R wrote a letter to the President 
 
 Monday night, which I took on Tuesday morn- 
 ing, and started back to Washington. 
 
 .... I had bad luck coming back. I missed 
 
206 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 a day at Springfield, a connection at Harrisburgh, 
 and one at Baltimore, leaving Philadelphia five 
 minutes after the President, and arriving at 
 Washington almost as many hours behind him. 
 I saw him at once, and gave him the impressions 
 I have recorded above. The situation of affairs 
 had been a good deal changed in my transit by 
 
 the Avatar of V in Ohio. The President 
 
 seemed not over-well pleased that R had not 
 
 sent all the necessary papers by me, reiterating 
 
 his want of confidence in S , declining to 
 
 be made a party to a quarrel between S 
 
 and E, •, and stating in reply to E. 's sug- 
 gestion of the importance of the greatest secrecy, 
 that a secret which has already been confided 
 
 to Y , M , B , B and their 
 
 respective circles of officers, could scarcely be 
 worth the keeping now. He treats the northern 
 section of the conspiracy as not especially worth 
 regarding, holding it a mere political organiza- 
 tion, with about as much of malice and as much 
 of puerility as the Knights of the Golden Circle. 
 About V himself he says that the ques- 
 tion for the Government to decide is whether it 
 can afford to disregard the contempt of authority 
 and breach of discipline displayed in V 's 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 207 
 
 unauthorized return. For the rest it cannot result 
 in benefit for the Union cause to have so violent 
 and indiscreet a man go to Chicago as a firebrand 
 to his own party. The President had some time 
 ago seriously thought of annulling the sentence 
 of exile, but had been too much occupied to do it. 
 
 F. W said to him on one occasion that he 
 
 could do nothing more politic than to bring 
 
 V back ; in that case he could promise him 
 
 two Democratic candidates for President this year. 
 
 " These War Democrats," said F. W , " are 
 
 scoundrelly hypocrites ; they want to oppose you, 
 and favor the war, at once, which is nonsense. 
 There are but two sides in this fight, — yours 
 and mine : War and Peace. You will succeed 
 while the war lasts, I expect, but we shall succeed 
 when the war is over. I intend to keep my 
 record clear for the future." 
 
 The President said one thing in which I differ 
 from him. He says : — "The opposition politicians 
 are so blinded with rage, seeing themselves unable 
 to control the politics of the country, that they 
 may be able to manage the Chicago Convention 
 for some violent end, but they cannot transfer 
 the people, the honest though misguided masses, 
 to the same course." I said: — "I thought the 
 
208 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 reverse to be true : that the sharp managers would 
 go to Chicago to try to do some clever and 
 
 prudent thing, such as nominate G without 
 
 platform; but that the bare-footed democracy 
 from the heads of the hollows, who are now 
 clearly for peace would carry everything in the 
 
 Convention before them. As it was at C : 
 
 — the New York politicians who came out to 
 
 intrigue for G could not get a hearing. 
 
 They were as a feather in the wind in the midst 
 of that blast of German fanaticism. I think my 
 idea is sustained by the action of the Illinois 
 
 Convention which endorses V on his return 
 
 and pledges the party strength to protect him. 
 In the stress of this war, politics have drifted 
 out of the hands of politicians, and are now 
 more than ever subject to genuine popular cur- 
 rents." 
 
 The President said he would take the matter 
 into consideration and would write to-morrow, the 
 
 18th, to B and H about V , and 
 
 to E, at an early day. 
 
 June 21. To-day the President started down 
 
 the river with F to have a talk with Gen'l 
 
 G and Admiral L . . . . 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 209 
 
 June 23. Tlie President arrived to-day from 
 the front, sunburnt and fagged, but still refreshed 
 and cheered. He found the army in fine health, 
 
 good position, and good spirits ; G quietly 
 
 confident ; he says, quoting the Richmond papers, 
 it may be a long summer's day before he does 
 his work, but that he is as sure of doing it as he 
 
 is of anything in the world. S is now on 
 
 a raid, the purpose of which is to sever the 
 connection at junction of the Richmond and 
 Danville Railroads at Burk's, while the army 
 is swinging around to the south of Petersburg 
 and taking possession of the roads in that direc- 
 tion. 
 
 G says he is not sufiiciently acquainted 
 
 with H to say with certainty whether it is 
 
 possible to destroy him ; but that he has confi- 
 dence in him that he will not be badly beaten. 
 
 When McP or S or S or W 
 
 is gone on any outside expedition, he feels per- 
 fectly secure about them, knowing that, while 
 they are liable to any of the ordinary mischances 
 of war, there is no danger of their being whipped 
 in any but a legitimate way. 
 
 B says of G that he seems to arrive at 
 
 his conclusions without any intermediate reason- 
 14 
 
210 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 ing process — giving his orders with the greatest 
 rapidity and with great detail. Uses the theo- 
 retical staif-officers very little. 
 
 June 24. To-day a Resolution came from 
 the Senate asking information about War and 
 Treasury Orders concerning exportation of arms 
 to Mexico. I did not like to act without con- 
 sulting S , so took the papers to him, asking 
 
 if it would be well to send copies to Secretaries 
 of Vv^ar and Treasury or not. He said, — " Yes ! 
 send the Resolution to the Secretary of War ; a 
 copy to the Secretary of the Treasury ; asking 
 reports from them, and then when the reports are 
 in, 
 
 " Did you ever hear Webster's recipe for cook- 
 ing a cod ? He was a great fisherman and fond of 
 cod. Some one once asking him the best way to 
 prepare a cod for the table, he said : — ' Denude 
 your cod of his scales — cut him open carefully — 
 put him in a pot of cold water — heat it until your 
 fork can pass easily through the fish — take him 
 out — spread good fresh butter over him liberally, 
 — sprinkle salt on the butter — pepper on the salt 
 — and — send for George A and me.' 
 
 " When the Reports are in, let me see them ! " 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 211 
 
 He got up, stumped around the room enjoy- 
 ing his joke, then said : — " Our friends are very- 
 anxious to get into a war with France, using this 
 Mexican business for that purpose. They don't 
 consider that England and France would surely 
 be together in that event. France has the whip- 
 hand of England completely. England got out 
 of the Mexican business into which she had been 
 deceived by France, by virtue of our having 
 nothing to do with it. They have since been 
 kept apart by good management ; and our people 
 are laboring to unite them again by making war 
 on France. Worse than that, instead of doing 
 something effective, if we must fight, they are for 
 making mouths and shaking fists at France, warn- 
 ing and threatening and inducing her to prepare 
 for our attack when it comes." 
 
 C , the artist, who is painting the picture 
 
 of the "Reading the Proclamation," says that 
 
 S protested earnestly against that act being 
 
 taken as the central and crowning act of the 
 administration. He says slavery was destroyed 
 years ago ; the formation of the Republican party 
 destroyed slavery ; the anti-slavery acts of this 
 administration are merely incidental. Their great 
 work is the preservation of the Union, and, in 
 
212 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 tliat, the saving of popular government for the 
 world. The scene which should have been taken 
 was the Cabinet Meeting in the Navy Department 
 when it was resolved to relieve Fort Sumter. 
 That was the significant act of the Administra- 
 tion : — the act which determined the fact that 
 Eepublican institutions were worth fighting for. 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 July, 1864. 
 
 .... Got in to ISTew York at 6 o'clock the 
 16th, Saturday, and, while I was washing my 
 
 face, came up G 's card. I went down to 
 
 the parlor and delivered the (President's) letter 
 to him. He didn't like it, evidently ; thought 
 he was the worst man that could be taken for 
 that purpose ; that as soon as he arrived there 
 the newspapers would be full of it ; that he 
 would be abused and blackguarded, etc., etc. 
 Then he said, if the President insisted on his 
 going he would go, but he must have an absolute 
 safe-conduct for four persons, saying the Presi- 
 dent's letter would not protect him against our 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 213 
 
 own ofl&cers. This seemed to me reasonable, and 
 I had even presented the matter to the President 
 in the same way. I wrote the despatch, and 
 sent it to Washington. About noon came the 
 answer. I then wrote the safe-conduct and took 
 
 it to the T office. I left the names blank, 
 
 and was going to let G fill them up, but 
 
 he said " no," in his peculiar, querulous tone : — 
 " I won't write a word. I expect to be pitched 
 into everywhere for this ; but I can't help it." 
 I was going to write a safe-conduct for " H. 
 G and four others ; " but he would not per- 
 mit it. "I want no safe-conduct. If they will 
 catch me and put me in Fort La Fayette, it will 
 suit me first-rate." I wrote the names in and 
 gave it to him. " I will start to-night," said he ; 
 " I shall expect to be in "Washington Tuesday 
 morning if they will come." 
 
 He was all along opposed to the President 
 proposing terms. He was in favor of some 
 palaver anyhow; wanted them to propose terms 
 which we could not accept, if no better, for us 
 to go to the country on ; wanted the government 
 to appear anxious for peace, and yet was strenu- 
 ous in demanding as our ultimatum proper terms. 
 
 As I left his office, Mr. C entered. 
 
214 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 I went back to Washington, arriving there 
 Monday morning (July 18). A few hours after 
 
 I arrived, a despatch came from G . I took 
 
 it to the President. He told me a few minutes 
 afterwards to hold myself in readiness to start 
 if it became necessary, — that he had a word 
 
 to say to Mr. S in regard to the matter. 
 
 In the afternoon he handed me the note, and 
 
 told me to go to the Falls, see G , and 
 
 deliver that note, and, to say further, that if 
 they, the commissioners, wished to send any 
 communications to Richmond for the purpose 
 indicated, they might be sent through Washing- 
 ton, subject to the inspection of the government ; 
 and the answer from Richmond should be sent 
 to them under the same conditions. Provided 
 that if there was anything either way objection- 
 able to the government in the despatches senll, 
 they would be returned to the parties sending 
 them without disclosure. 
 
 I went over to see S ; — he repeated about 
 
 the same thing, adding that I had better request 
 the commission to omit any official style which it 
 would compromise our government to transmit ; 
 that they could waive it in an unoificial com- 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 215 
 
 muni cation among themselves, and not thereby 
 estop themselves of every claim. 
 
 I left Washington Monday evening, — arrived 
 in New York too late Tuesday ; took the evening 
 Tuesday train and arrived at Niagara Wednesday 
 
 morning (July 20) at 11 J. Saw G at once 
 
 at the International Hotel. He was evidently a 
 good deal cut up at what he called the Presi- 
 dent's great mistake in reftising to enter into 
 negotiations without conditions. He thinks it 
 would he an enormous help to us in politics and 
 finance to have even a semblance of negotiations 
 going on ; — that the people would hail with ac- 
 claim such a harbinger of peace. He especially 
 should have, as he said, shown his hand first. 
 That he should have waited their terms — if they 
 were acceptable, closed with them, — if they were 
 not, gone before the country on them. 
 
 I, of course, combatted these views, saying that 
 I thought the wisest way was to make our stand 
 on what the moral sentiment of the country and 
 the world would demand as indispensable, and in 
 all things else offering to deal in a frank, liberal 
 and magnanimous spirit as the President has 
 done ; — that the two points to insist on are such 
 points, — that he could not treat with these men 
 
216 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 who have no powers, that he could do no more 
 than offer to treat with any who came properly 
 empowered. I did not see how he could do more. 
 
 Mr. G did not wish to go over. He had 
 
 all along declined seeing these people and did not 
 wish to give any handle to talk. He thought it 
 better that I should myself go over alone and 
 deliver the letter. I really thought so too — but 
 
 I understood the President and S to think 
 
 otherwise, and so I felt I must insist on G 's 
 
 going over as a witness to the interview. We got 
 a carriage and started over. 
 
 We got to the Clifton House and met G. 
 
 S at the door. I wrote G 's name on my 
 
 card and sent it up to H- ■, C being out 
 
 of town at St. R 's. 
 
 S is a seedy-looking rebel, with grizzled 
 
 whiskers and a flavor of old clo'. He came up 
 
 and talked a few commonplaces with G , as 
 
 we stood by the counter. Our arrival, G 's 
 
 well-known person, created a good deal of interest, 
 the bar-room rapidly filling with the curious, 
 and the halls blooming suddenly with wide-eyed 
 
 and pretty women. We went up to H — 's room, 
 
 where he was breakfasting or lunching — tea and 
 toasting — at all events. He was a tall, solemn, 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 217 
 
 spare, false-looking man, witli false teeth, false 
 eyes, and false hair. 
 
 Mr. G said: — "Major H has come 
 
 from the President of the United States to deliver 
 you a communication in writing and to add a 
 verbal message with which he has been entrusted." 
 I handed him the note, and told him what the 
 
 President and S had told me to say, and 
 
 I added that I would be the bearer of anything 
 they chose to send by me to Washington, or, if 
 they chose to wait, it could go as well by mail. 
 
 He said : — " Mr. C is now absent at St. 
 
 Catherine's. I will telegraph to him at once, 
 and inform you in the morning." 
 
 We got up to go. He shook hands with 
 
 G , who "hoped to meet him again;" with 
 
 me ; and we went down to our carriage. S 
 
 was on the piazza. He again accosted G ; 
 
 made some remark about the fine view from the 
 
 House, and said, " I wanted old B to come 
 
 up, but he was afraid to come." G 
 
 answered : — " I expect to be blackguarded for 
 what I have done, and I am not allowed to 
 explain. But all I have done has been done 
 under instructions." 
 
 We got in and rode away. As soon as the 
 
218 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 whole thing was over, G recovered his spirits 
 
 and said he was glad he had come, — and was very- 
 chatty and agreeable on the way back and at 
 dinner. 
 
 After dinner I thought I would go down to 
 Buffalo and spend the night. Went down with 
 
 young D , formerly of F 's staff. I found 
 
 him also deeply regretting that the President had 
 not hauled these fellows into a negotiation neck 
 and ears without terms. He gave me some details 
 
 of what G had before talked about, — the 
 
 political campaign these fellows are engineering 
 
 up here. He says C • is to write a letter 
 
 giving three points on which, if the Democracy 
 carry the fall elections, the South will stop the 
 war and come back into the Union. These are : 
 1st. Restoration of the Union. 2d. Assumption of 
 Confederate Debt. 3d. Restriction of slavery to 
 its present limits and acknowledgment of de facto 
 emancipation. On this platform it is thought 
 Judge N- will run 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 219 
 
 HAY TO NICOI/AY. 
 
 Warsaw, Illinois, 
 
 August 25, 1864. 
 .... We are waiting with the greatest interest 
 for the hatching of the big peace-snake at Chi- 
 cago. There is throughout the country, I mean 
 the rural districts, a good, healthy Union feeling, 
 and an intention to succeed in the military and 
 the political contests; but everywhere in the 
 towns the copperheads are exultant, and our own 
 people either growling and despondent or sneak- 
 ingly apologetic. I found among my letters here, 
 
 sent by you, one from J. M , inconceivably 
 
 impudent, in which he informs me that on the 4th 
 of next March, thanks to Mr. Lincoln's blunders 
 and follies, we will be kicked out of the White 
 
 House. The d d scoundrel needs a day's 
 
 hanging. I won't answer his letter till I return 
 
 and let you see it. Old Uncle J is talking 
 
 like an ass, — says if the Chicago nominee is a 
 good man, he don't know, etc., etc. He black- 
 guards you and me — says we are too big for our 
 breeches, — a fault for which it seems to me 
 Nature or our tailors are to blame. After all 
 your kindness to the old whelp and his cub of 
 
220 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 a son lie hates you because you liave not done 
 more. I believe he thinks the Executive Man- 
 sion's somehow to blame 
 
 Land is getting up near the stars in price. It 
 will take all I am worth to buy a tater-patch. I 
 am after one or two small pieces in Hancock for 
 
 reasonable prices, 20 to 30 dollars an acre. L 
 
 paid $70,000 for a farm a short while ago, and 
 everybody who has greenbacks is forcing them off 
 like waste paper for land. I find in talking with 
 well-informed people a sort of fear of Kansas 
 property, as uncertain in future settlement and 
 more than all uncertain in weather. The ghost of 
 famine haunts those speculations. 
 
 You were wrong in thinking either M. or C. 
 
 H at all copperish. They are as sound as 
 
 they ever were. They of course are not quite 
 clear about the currency, but who is ? 
 
 Our people here want me to address the Union 
 League. I believe I won't. The snakes would 
 rattle about it a little, and it would do no good. 
 I lose my temper sometimes talking with growl- 
 ing Republicans. There is a diseased restlessness 
 about men in these times that unfits them for the 
 steady support of an administration. It seems 
 as if there were appearing in the Republican 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 221 
 
 party the elements of disorganization that de- 
 stroyed the Whigs. 
 
 If the dumb cattle are not worthy of another 
 term of Lincoln, then let the will of God be 
 done, and the murrain of McC fall on them. 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 Sept. 23, 1864. Senator H thinks that 
 
 B 's support is so important, especially con- 
 sidered as to its bearing on the soldier vote, that 
 it would pay to offer him a foreign mission for it, 
 and so told me. F has also had a man talk- 
 ing to the cannie Scot who asked plumply, " Will 
 I be a welcome visitor at the White House if I 
 support Mr. Lincoln ? " What a horrible question 
 for a man to be able to ask ! So thinks the 
 
 President apparently. It is probable that B 
 
 will stay about as he is, thoroughly neutral, 
 balancing carefully until the October elections, 
 and will then declare for the side which he thinks 
 will win. It is better in many respects to let 
 him alone. 
 
 Sept. 24. This morning I asked the President 
 
222 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 if the report of the resignation of B were 
 
 true. He said it was. 
 
 " Has D been appointed to succeed him ? " 
 
 " I have telegraphed to him to-day — have as 
 
 yet received no answer." 
 
 " What is Mr. B going to do ? " 
 
 " He is going up to Maryland to make speeches. 
 
 If he will devote himself to the success of the 
 
 national cause without exhibiting bad temper 
 
 towards his opponents, he can set the B • 
 
 family up again." 
 
 " W. D is taking the stump also. I doubt 
 
 if his advocacy of you will be hearty enough to 
 
 be effective." 
 
 " If he and the rest can succeed in carrying the 
 
 State for emancipation, I shall be very willing to 
 
 lose the electoral vote." 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, Sept. 24, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR Nice : 
 
 Your despatch was just brought in. I took it 
 to the President, and he told me to tell you, you 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 223 
 
 had better loaf round the city a while longer. 
 You need some rest and recreation and may as 
 well take it in New York as anywhere else. Be- 
 sides, you can't imagine how nasty the house is 
 at present. You would get the painters' colic in 
 twenty-four hours if you came home now. 
 
 Politicians still unhealthily haunt us. Loose 
 women flavor the anteroom. Much turmoil and 
 trouble. . . . The world is almost too many for 
 
 me. I take a dreary pleasure in seeing P 
 
 eat steamed oysters by the half-bushel. He has 
 gotten a haven of rest in the family of some 
 decayed Virginian gentry ; really a very lucky 
 chance, good, respectable, and not dear. 
 
 S ■ must be our resource this winter in 
 
 clo'. If you don't want to be surprised into 
 
 idiocy, don't ask C • and L the price 
 
 of goods. A faint rumor has reached me and 
 paralyzed me. I am founding a "Shabby Club" 
 to make rags the style this winter. Write to me 
 some morning while you are waiting for your 
 cocktail, and tell me how's things. Give my love 
 to the fair you are so lucky as to know. 
 
 Isn't it bully about S ■? 
 
224 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 DIAKY. 
 
 Sept. 25, Sunday. Yesterday N ■ who has 
 
 been several days in New York telegraphed to 
 
 the President that T. W had gone to 
 
 Canada, and asking if he (N.) had better return. 
 I answered he had better amuse himself there 
 for a day or two. This morning a letter came in 
 the same sense. The President, when I showed it 
 to him, said, — " I think I know where Mr. W. 
 has gone. I think he has gone to Vermont not 
 Canada. I will tell you what he is trying to do. 
 I have not as yet told anybody. 
 
 "Some time ago, the Governor of Vermont 
 came to me ' on business of importance ' he said. 
 
 I fixed an hour and he came. His name is S . 
 
 He is, though you wouldn't think it, a cousin 
 
 of B. S . B. is large, blonde, florid. The 
 
 Governor is a little, dark sort of man. This 
 
 is the story he told me, giving Gen'l B. S 
 
 as his authority. 
 
 " When Gen'l McC was here at Washing- 
 ton, B. S was very intimate with him. They 
 
 had been together at West Point, and friends. 
 
 McC had asked for promotion for B. from 
 
 the President, and got it. They were close and 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 225 
 
 confidential friends. When they went down to 
 the peninsula, their same intimate relations con- 
 tinued, the General talking freely with S 
 
 about all his plans and prospects ; until one day 
 
 F. W and one other politician from New 
 
 York appeared in camp and passed some days 
 
 with McC . From the day that this took 
 
 place S saw, or thought he saw, that McC 
 
 was treating him with unusual coolness and re- 
 serve. After a little while he mentioned this to 
 
 McC who, after some talk, told B. he had 
 
 something to show him. He told him that these 
 people who had recently visited him, had been 
 urging him to stand as an opposition candidate for 
 President ; that he had thought the thing over, 
 and had concluded to accept their propositions. 
 and had written them a letter (which he had not 
 yet sent) giving his idea of the proper way of 
 conducting the war, so as to conciliate and im- 
 press the people of the South with the idea that 
 our armies were intended merely to execute the 
 laws and protect their property, etc., and pledging 
 himself to conduct the war in that inefficient, con- 
 ciliatory style. This letter he read to B , who, 
 
 after the reading was finished, said earnestly : — 
 * General, do you not see that looks like treason ? 
 15 
 
226 LETTEKS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 and that it will ruin you and all of us.' After 
 some further talk, the General destroyed the 
 
 letter in B 's presence, and thanked him 
 
 heartily for his frank and friendly counsel. After 
 this he was again taken into the intimate confi- 
 dence of MeC . Immediately after the battle 
 
 of Antietam, W and his familiar came again 
 
 and saw the General, and again B saw an 
 
 immediate estrangement on the part of McC 
 
 He seemed to be anxious to get his ultimate 
 friends out of the way, and to avoid opportunities 
 
 of private conversation with them. B he 
 
 particularly kept employed on reconnoissances 
 
 and such work. One night S was returning 
 
 from some duty he had been performing, and 
 
 seeing a light in McC 's tent, he went in to 
 
 report. Several persons were there. He reported 
 and was about to withdraw when the General 
 requested him to remain. After everyone was 
 gone, he told him those men had been there 
 again and had renewed their proposition about 
 the Presidency : — that this time he had agreed to 
 their proposition, and had written them a letter 
 acceding to their terms, and pledging himself to 
 carry on the war in the sense already indicated. 
 This letter he read then and there to B. S ■. 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 227 
 
 "Immediately thereafter B. S applied to be 
 
 transferred from that army. 
 
 "At very nearly the same time, other prominent 
 men asked the same ; F , B and others. 
 
 "Now that letter must be in the possession of F. 
 
 W , and it will not be impossible to get it. 
 
 Mr. W has, I think, gone to Vermont to see 
 
 the S s about it." 
 
 I was very much surprised at the story and 
 expressed my surprise. I said I had always 
 
 thought that MeC 's fault was a constitutional 
 
 weakness and timidity which prevented him from 
 active and timely exertion, instead of any such 
 deep-laid scheme of treachery and ambition. 
 
 The President replied : — " After the battle of 
 Antietam I went up to the field to try to get him 
 to move, and came back thinking he would move 
 at once. But when I got home he began to argue 
 why he ought not to move. I peremptorily 
 ordered him to advance. It was nineteen days 
 before he put a man over the river. It was nine 
 days longer before he got his army across, and 
 then he stopped again, delaying on little pretexts 
 of wanting this and that. I began to fear he was 
 playing false, — that he did not want to hurt the 
 enemy. I saw how he could intercept the enemy 
 
228 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 on the way to Richmond. I determined to make 
 that the test. If he let them get away, I would 
 remove him. He did so, and I relieved him. 
 
 " I dismissed Major K for his silly, treason- 
 able talk because I feared it was staff-talk, and I 
 wanted an example. 
 
 " The letter of B furnishes another evi- 
 dence in support of that theory. And the story 
 
 you have heard N tell about S 's first 
 
 visit to McC , all tallies with this story." 
 
 Sept. 26. B has gone into Maryland 
 
 stumping. He was very much surprised when he 
 got the President's note. He had thought the 
 opposition to him was dying out. He behaves 
 very handsomely, and is doing his utmost. He 
 speaks in New York Tuesday night. 
 
 B , in spite of some temporary indiscretions, 
 
 is a good and true man and a most valuable public 
 officer. He stood with the President against the 
 whole Cabinet in favor of reinforcing Fort Sumter. 
 
 He stood by F in his Emancipation Decree, 
 
 though yielding when the President revoked it. 
 He approved the Proclamation of January, 1863, 
 and the Amnesty Proclamation, and has stood like 
 a brother beside the President always. What 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 229 
 
 have injured him are his violent personal antago- 
 nisms and indiscretions. He made a bitter and 
 vindictive fight on the radicals of Missouri, 
 though ceasing it at the request of the President. 
 
 He talked with indecorous severity of Mr. C , 
 
 and with unbecoming harshness of S , saying 
 
 on street-corners " this man is a liar, that man is a 
 thief." He made needlessly enemies among public 
 men who have pursued him fiercely in turn. W. 
 
 E, said to-day that H was going to 
 
 placard all over Maryland this fall : — " Your time 
 has come ! " I said, "he won't do anything of the 
 
 kind, and moreover M. B will do more to 
 
 carry emancipation in Maryland than any one of 
 those who abuse him." 
 
 N got home this morning, looking rather 
 
 ill. I wish he would start off and get hearty 
 again, coming back in time to let me off to 
 
 Wilmington. He says W said he was on the 
 
 track of the letter and hoped to get it 
 
 Sept. 29 W has just returned here 
 
 from the North. He says New York is absolutely 
 
 safe ; that W is advising his friends to bet ; 
 
 that D. E is despondent — saying the Demo- 
 cratic party are half traitors. 
 
230 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Things looked very blue a montli ago. A 
 meeting was held in New York (to which Geo. 
 
 W refers) of Union men opposed to Lincoln, 
 
 and it was resolved that he should be requested to 
 withdraw from the canvass. But Atlanta and the 
 response of the country to the Chicago infamy set 
 matters right 
 
 G is moving on L . This morning 
 
 early the President telegraphed to G express- 
 ing his anxiety that L should not reinforce 
 
 E against S . G answered that he 
 
 had taken measures to prevent it by attacking 
 
 L himself. He is moving in two columns ; 
 
 O south, and B north of the James. 
 
 S was much excited on hearing the news and 
 
 said "he will be in Richmond to-night." "No," 
 
 said the President; " H^ , what do you think ? " 
 
 H answered that he would not be surprised if 
 
 he got either Richmond or Petersburg by the 
 manoeuvre. 
 
 Oct. 2. To-day I received a letter from W. N. 
 
 G saying certain of his friends had agreed 
 
 to press his name for Judge of the District Court, 
 
 Western Missouri, in place of Judge W He 
 
 adds, however, that, in case Judge B , At- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 231 
 
 torney-General, should desire the appointment, 
 he would not stand in his way, believing that 
 
 B 's appointment would be very advantageous 
 
 and satisfactory to the Union people of the State. 
 He requested me to make this known both to Mr. 
 
 B and the President. I read his letter to the 
 
 President, and, at the same time referred to the 
 
 recent indiscreet announcement made by C , 
 
 that in the event of a reelection the President 
 would call around him fresh and earnest men. 
 He said : " They need not be especially savage 
 about a change. There are now only three left of 
 the original Cabinet with the Government." He 
 added that he rather thought he would appoint 
 
 Mr. B to the vacant judgeship if he desired 
 
 it. He said he would be troubled to fill his place 
 in the Cabinet from Missouri, especially from 
 among the radicals. I thought it would not be 
 necessary to confine himself to Missouri ; that he 
 might do better farther South by taking Mr. 
 
 H from Kentucky. 
 
 He did not seem to have thought of that before. 
 But said at once : " That would do very well ; 
 that would be an excellent appointment. I ques- 
 tion if I could do better than that. ... I had 
 always thought, though I had never mentioned 
 
232 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 it to anyone, that if a vacancy should occur in 
 the Supreme Bench in any Southern District, I 
 would appoint him, . . . but giving him a place 
 in the Cabinet would not hinder that." 
 
 I told him I should show G 's letter to 
 
 Judge B , to which he assented. 
 
 Oct. 7. I showed B the letter to-day. He 
 
 said some friends of his had previously spoken to 
 him in the same sense ; that he was friendly to 
 
 G ; thought well of him as a gentlemam and 
 
 a lawyer, and knew of no one whom he would 
 sooner see appointed. That he would not take the 
 office himself in any case. That he had earnest 
 antagonisms in that State ; he was fighting those 
 radicals there that stood to him in the relation of 
 enemies of law and order. " There is no such 
 thing as an honest and patriotic American radical. 
 Some of the transcendental, red-Bepublican Ger- 
 mans were honest enough in their moon-struck 
 theorising ; but the Americans imprudently and 
 dishonestly arrogate to themselves the title of 
 unconditional loyalty, when the whole spirit of 
 the faction is contempt of, and opposition to 
 law While the present state of things 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 233 
 
 continues in Missouri, there is no need of a 
 
 Court, — so says Judge T , and I agree with 
 
 him." 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, Oct. 10, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOLAY : 
 
 How are your mails for this morning. We are 
 very busy. . . . 
 
 Pennsylvania fellows are very confident. You 
 will know the result before this gets here. 
 
 K- — — was here this morning. He seemed to 
 be in a great hurry, as he only staid two hours 
 and a half, and didn't talk about himself more 
 than nine-tenths of the time. i 
 
 No fun — no Christmas ! Thank God you are 
 not here. We are dreary enough. The weather 
 is nasty. 
 
 DIAKY. 
 
 Oct. 11. ... I was mentioning old Mr. B 's 
 
 very calm and discreet letter of October 6 to 
 
234 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 the President to-day contrasting it with M 's 
 
 indiscretions ; and the President said : — " Yes, 
 
 they remind me of . He was sitting in a 
 
 bar-room among strangers who were telling of 
 some affair in which his father, as they said, had 
 been tricked in a trade, and he said, ' That's a 
 lie ! ' Some sensation. ' What do you mean ? ' 
 ' Why the old man ain't so easy tricked. You 
 can fool the boys but ye can't the old man.' " 
 
 .... At eight o'clock the President went over 
 to the War Department to watch for despatches. 
 I went with him. We found the building in a 
 
 state of preparation for siege. S had locked 
 
 the doors and taken the keys up-stairs, so that it 
 was impossible even to send a card to him. A 
 shivering messenger was passing to and fro in the 
 moonlight over the withered leaves who, catching 
 sight of the President, took us around by the 
 Navy Department and conducted us into the War 
 Office by a side door. 
 
 The first despatch we received contained the 
 
 welcome intelligence of the election of E and 
 
 H in the C district. This was from 
 
 S at C who also promised considerable 
 
 gains in Indiana, made good a few minutes after 
 by a statement of 400 gain in Noble County. 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 235 
 
 Then came in a despatch from S stating we 
 
 had 2500 in the city of Philadelphia and that 
 leading Democrats had given up the State. Then 
 S was seen to be crowding S. C very- 
 hard in the C district, in some places 
 
 increasing B -'s colossal vote of last year. 
 
 The President, in a lull of despatches, took 
 fi'om his pocket the Nasby papers, and read 
 several chapters of the experiences of the saint 
 and martyr. Petroleum V. They were im- 
 mensely amusing. S and D enjoyed 
 
 them scarcely less than the President, who read 
 on, con amove, until nine o'clock. At this time 
 
 I went to S 's to keep my engagement. I 
 
 found there B and his wife ; Cols. C 
 
 and W , A. B and M D 
 
 was also there. We broke up very early. D 
 
 and I went back to the Department. 
 
 We found the good Indiana news had become 
 better, and the Pennsylvania had begun to be 
 streaked with lean. Before long the despatches 
 announced with some certainty of tone that 
 
 M was elected by a safe working majority. 
 
 The scattering reports from Pennsylvania showed 
 about equal gains and losses. But the estimates 
 and the flyers all claimed gains on the Congress- 
 
236 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 men. Reports began to come in from the hospi- 
 tals and camps in the vicinity, the Ohio troops 
 about ten to one for Union, and the Pennsylvania 
 less than three to one. Carver Hospital, by which 
 
 S and L pass every day, on their way 
 
 to the country, gave the heaviest opposition vote, 
 
 — about one out of three. L says, — " That's 
 
 hard on us, S , — they know us better than the 
 
 others." Co. K, 150th P. V., the President's 
 personal escort, voted 63 to 11 Union. 
 
 I am deeply thankful for the result in Indiana. 
 I believe it saves Illinois in November. I believe 
 it rescues Indiana from sedition and civil war. 
 A copperhead Governor would have afforded a 
 grand central rallying point for that lurking 
 
 treason whose existence C has already so 
 
 clearly demonstrated. ... I should have been 
 willing to sacrifice something in Pennsylvania to 
 avert that calamity. I said as much to the Presi- 
 dent. He said he was anxious about Pennsylvania 
 because of her enormous weight and influence, 
 which, cast definitely into the scale, would close 
 the campaign, and leave the people free to look 
 again with their whole hearts to the cause of the 
 country. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 237 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion. 
 Washington, Oct. 13, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOLAY : 
 
 I suppose you are happy enough over the 
 elections to do without letters. Here are two. I 
 hope they are duns to remind you that you are 
 mortal. 
 
 Indiana is simply glorious. The surprise of 
 this good thing is its chief delight. Pennsylvania 
 has done pretty well. "We have a little majority on 
 home vote as yet, and will get a fair vote from the 
 soldiers, and do better in November. The wild 
 
 estimates of F and C -, founded on no 
 
 count or thorough canvass, are of course not 
 fulfilled, but we did not expect them to be. 
 
 Judge T died last night. I have not heard 
 
 anything this morning about the succession. It is 
 a matter of the greatest personal importance that 
 Mr. Lincoln has ever decided. 
 
 W. D s' clique was badly scooped out in the 
 
 mayoralty election at Baltimore yesterday. C 
 
 (regular Union) got nearly all the votes cast. . . . 
 
238 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Nov. 7, 1864. 
 I have nothing to say till the day after to-mor- 
 row. God save the Republic ! 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 Nov. 8. The house has been still and almost 
 deserted to-day. Everybody in Washington, not 
 at home voting, seems ashamed of it and stays 
 away from the President. 
 
 I was talking with him to-day. He said : — 
 " It is a little singular that I, who am not a 
 vindictive man, should have always been before 
 the people for election in canvasses marked for 
 their bitterness : — always but once. When I came 
 to Congress it was a quiet time. But always 
 besides that, the contests in which I have been 
 prominent have been marked with great rancor. 
 
 During the afternoon few despatches were 
 received. At night, at seven o'clock, we started 
 over to the War Department to spend the even- 
 ing. Just as we started we received the first 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 239 
 
 gun from Indianapolis showing a majority of 
 
 8,000 there, a gain of 1,600 over M 's vote. 
 
 The vote itself seemed an enormous one for a 
 town of that size, and can only be accounted 
 for by considering the great influx, since the war, 
 of voting men from the country into the State 
 centres where a great deal of army business is 
 done. There was less significance in this vote 
 on account of the October victory which had 
 disheartened the enemy and destroyed their 
 incentive to work. 
 
 The night was rainy, steamy and dark. We 
 splashed through the grounds to the side door 
 where a soaked and smoking sentinel was stand- 
 ing in his own vapor with his huddled-up frame 
 covered with a rubber cloak. Inside, a half- 
 dozen idle orderlies ; up-stairs the clerks of the 
 telegraph. As the President entered, they handed 
 him a despatch from F claiming ten thou- 
 sand Union majority in Pennsylvania. " F 
 
 is a little excitable." Another comes from F , 
 
 Baltimore, giving 15,000 in the city, 5,000 in 
 the State. "All Hail, Free Maryland. That is 
 
 superb ! " A message from R to F , 
 
 followed instantly by one from S to L , 
 
 claiming Boston by 5,000, and R and H 's 
 
240 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 elections by majorities of 4,000 apiece. A mag- 
 nificent advance on the chilly dozens of 1862. 
 
 E came in, shaking the rain from his 
 
 cloak, with trousers very disreputably muddy. 
 We sternly demanded an explanation. He had 
 done it watching a fellow-being ahead, and chuck- 
 ling at his uncertain footing. Which reminded 
 the Tycoon of course. The President said : — 
 " For such an awkward fellow, I am pretty sure- 
 footed. It used to take a pretty dexterous man 
 to throw me. I remember, the evening of the 
 day in 1858, that decided the contest for the 
 Senate between Mr. Douglas and myself, was 
 something like this, dark, rainy and gloomy. 
 I had been reading the returns and had ascer- 
 tained that we had lost the legislature, and started 
 to go home. The path had been worn hog- 
 backed, and was slippery. My foot slipped from 
 under me, knocking the other one out of the 
 way, but I recovered myself and lit square; 
 and I said to myself: 'It^s a slip and not afalV " 
 
 The President sent over the first fruits to 
 
 Mrs. L . He said, "She is more anxious 
 
 than I." 
 
 We went into the Secretary's room. Mr. 
 W and F soon came in. They were 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 241 
 
 especially happy over the election of K , 
 
 regarding it as a great triumph for the Navy 
 
 Department. Says F , — "There are two 
 
 fellows that have been specially malignant to 
 
 us. H and W. D , and retribution has 
 
 come over them both." "You have more of 
 that feeling of personal resentment than I," 
 said Lincoln. "Perhaps I may have too little 
 of it, but I never thought it paid. A man 
 has not time to spend half his life in quarrels. 
 If any man ceases to attack me, I never remem- 
 ber the past against him. It has seemed to 
 
 me recently that W. D was growing more 
 
 sensible to his own true interests, and has ceased 
 wasting his time by attacking me. I hope, for his 
 own good, he has. He has been very malicious 
 against me, but has only injured himself by it. 
 His conduct has been very strange to me. I came 
 here his friend, wishing to continue so. I had 
 heard nothing but good of him ; he was the cousin 
 
 of my intimate friend Judge D . But he had 
 
 scarcely been elected when I began to learn of his 
 attacking me on all possible occasions. It is very 
 much the same with H . I was much dis- 
 appointed that he failed to be my friend. But 
 my greatest disappointment of all has been with 
 16 
 
242 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 G . Before I came here I certainly expected 
 
 to rely upon G more than any other one man 
 
 in the Senate. I like him very much. He is a 
 great strong fellow. He is a valuable friend, a 
 dangerous enemy. He carries too many guns not 
 to be respected on any point of view. But he got 
 wrong against me, I do not clearly know how, 
 and has always been cool and almost hostile to 
 me. I am glad he has always been the friend of 
 the Navy, and generally of the Administration." 
 . . . Towards midnight we had supper. The 
 President went awkwardly and hospitably to work 
 shovelling out the fried oysters. He was most 
 agreeable and genial all the evening, in fact. . . . 
 
 Capt. T came up with a band about half 
 
 past two, and made some music. The President 
 answered from the window with rather unusual 
 dignity and effect, and we came home. 
 
 Nov. 11 At the meeting of the Cabinet 
 
 to-day the President took out a paper from his 
 desk, and said : — " Gentlemen, do you remember 
 last summer I asked you all to sign your names to 
 the back of a paper of which I did not show you 
 the inside? This is it? Now, Mr. Hay, see if 
 you can get this open without tearing it." He 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 243 
 
 had pasted it up in so singular style that it 
 required some cutting to get it open. He then 
 read as follows : — 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, Aug. 23, 1864. 
 This morning, as for some days past, it seems 
 exceedingly probable that this Administration will 
 not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so 
 co-operate -with the President elect, as to save the 
 Union between the election and the inauguration ; 
 as he will have secured his election on such 
 ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards. 
 
 A. LINCOLN. 
 
 This was indorsed : — 
 
 William H. Seward, 
 W. P. Fessenden, 
 Edwin M. Stanton, 
 Gideon Welles, 
 Edw. Bates, 
 M. Blair, 
 J. P. Usher. 
 
244 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 The President said : — " You will remember 
 that this was written at a time (six days before 
 the Chicago nominating Convention) when as 
 yet we had no adversary, and seemed to have 
 no friends. I then solemnly resolved on the 
 course of action indicated above. I resolved, in 
 
 case of the election of Gen'l McC , being 
 
 certain that he would be the candidate, that I 
 would see him and talk matters over with him. 
 I would say, " General, the election has demon- 
 strated that you are stronger, have more influence 
 with the American people than I. Now let us 
 together, you with your influence, and I with 
 all the executive power of the government, try 
 to save the country. You raise as many troops 
 as you possibly can for this final trial, and I 
 will devote all my energies to assisting and 
 finishing the war." 
 
 S said : — "And the General would answer 
 
 you ' Yes, Yes; ' and the next day when you saw 
 him again, and pressed these views upon him, 
 he would say, ' Yes, Yes ; ' and so on forever, 
 and would have done nothing at all." 
 
 "At least," added L , "I should have done 
 
 my duty and have stood clear before my own 
 conscience." 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 245 
 
 The speeches of the President at the last two 
 serenades are very highly spoken of. The first 
 I wrote after the fact, to prevent the "loyal 
 Pennsylvanians " getting a swing at it them- 
 selves. The second one, last night, the President 
 himself wrote late in the evening, and read it 
 from the window : — " Not very graceful," he 
 said : " but I am growing old enough not to care 
 much for the manner of doing things." 
 
 To-day I got a letter from E. breathing fire 
 
 and vengeance against the Custom House which 
 came so near destroying him in his district. I 
 read it to the President. He answered that it 
 was the spirit of such letters as that, that crdated 
 the faction and malignity of which R com- 
 plained. 
 
 It seems utterly impossible for the President to 
 conceive of the possibility of any good resulting 
 from a rigorous and exemplary course of punish- 
 ing political dereliction. His favorite expression 
 is : — " I am in favor of short statutes of limitations 
 in politics." 
 
 12 Nov., 1864. I started for G 's head- 
 quarters. We left the Navy Yard at two o'clock 
 in the afternoon. The party consisted of F , 
 
246 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 D , W— , M. B , P , I , F , 
 
 I , T. W , F , a Chinese English 
 
 merchant, and R of the G . The day- 
 was sad, blowy, bleak, and a little wet. 
 
 We dined, and some played cards and all went 
 to bed. When we got up in the morning, we were 
 at Hampton Eoads. We made no stay there, but 
 after communicating with the Admiral D. D. 
 P , we started up the James Eiver, he follow- 
 ing in his flagship, the Malvern. He overtook us 
 about noon or a little after, and came on board 
 
 with Captain S of the Navy. P is a 
 
 good-looking, lively man, a very off-hand talker, a 
 man not impressing me as of a high order of 
 talent, — a hale-fellow ; a slight dash of the 
 rowdy. 
 
 In the afternoon we passed by the island of 
 Jamestown. On the low, flat, marshy island, 
 where our first colony landed, there now remains 
 nothing but ruins. An old church has left a 
 solitary tower as its representative. A group of 
 chimneys mark the spot of another large building. 
 On the other side of the river, there is high, fine, 
 swelling land. One cannot but wonder at the 
 taste or judgment that selected that pestilential 
 site in preference to those breezy hills. They 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 247 
 
 probably wished to be near their boats, and also 
 thought a river was a handy thing to have 
 between them and the gentle savages that infested 
 the shores of the James. 
 
 Fort Powhatan we saw also — where a battalion 
 
 of negroes flaxed out F. H 's command of the 
 
 F. F. Vs. 
 
 We arrived at City Point at three o'clock. 
 There are very few troops there but quite a large 
 fleet lying in the river. 
 
 We went ashore; walked through the frame 
 building standing in place of that blown up by 
 the late fearful explosion. We climbed the steep 
 hill, whose difficulty is mainly removed by the 
 neat stairs that Yankee care has built since our 
 occupation of the Point. At the top of the hill, 
 we found a young sentry who halted us, and 
 
 would not let us go further, till P , throwing 
 
 himself on his dignity, which he does not use 
 often, said : " Let that General know that Admiral 
 
 P and Mr. F are here to see him." He 
 
 evidently impressed the sentry, for he said, after 
 an instant's hesitation : — " Go ahead ! I reckon 
 it's all right." 
 
 A common little wall-tent being indicated, we 
 went up to beard the General. At our first knock 
 
248 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 he came to the door. He looked neater and more 
 careful in his dress than usual ; his hair was 
 combed, his coat on, and his shirt clean, his long 
 boots blackened till they shone. Everybody was 
 presented. 
 
 After the conference was over we went back 
 to the boat ; the General accompanied us. We 
 
 started down the river and soon had dinner 
 
 After dinner we all gathered around G who 
 
 led the conversation for an hour or so. He thinks 
 the rebels are about at the end of their tether, and 
 said : — " I hope we will give them a blow this 
 winter that will hasten their end." 
 
 He was down on the Massachusetts idea of 
 buying out of the draft by filling their quota with 
 recruits at $300, from among the contrabands in 
 Sherman's army. " S— 's head is level on that 
 question," he said in reply to some strictures of 
 
 Mr. F ; "he knows he can get all these 
 
 negroes that are worth having anyhow, and he 
 prefers to get them that way rather than to fill up 
 the quota of a distant State and thus diminish the 
 fruits of the draft." S — — does not think so 
 hopefully of negro troops as do many other 
 
 Generals. G himself says they are admirable 
 
 soldiers in many respects ; quick and docile in a 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 249 
 
 charge; excellent in fatigue duty. He says he 
 does not think that an army of them could have 
 stood the week's pounding at the Wilderness and 
 Spottsylvania as our men did ; "in fact no other 
 troops in the world could have done it," he said. 
 
 G is strongly of the belief that the rebel 
 
 army is making its last grand rally; that they 
 have reinforced to the extent of about 30,000 
 
 men in Virginia, L getting 20,000 and 
 
 E getting 10,000. He does not think they 
 
 can sensibly increase their armies further. He 
 says that he does not think they can recover 
 from the blows he hopes to give them this 
 winter. 
 
 He is deeply impressed with the vast impor- 
 tance and significance of the late Presidential 
 election. The point which impressed him most 
 powerfully was that which I regarded as the 
 critical one — the pivotal centre of our history 
 — the quiet and orderly character of the whole 
 affair. No bloodshed or riot, — few frauds, and 
 those detected and punished in an exemplary 
 manner. It proves our worthiness of free in- 
 stitutions, and our capability of preserving them 
 without running into anarchy or despotism. 
 
 G ■ remained with us until nearly one 
 
250 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 o'clock at night — Monday morning — and then 
 went to his own boat, the " Martin," to sleep 
 
 till day. B , D , and B , of his staff, 
 
 were with him. 
 
 .... We left Fort Monroe at 3i, and arrived 
 at Washington Tuesday morning, the 15th, at 
 7 a. m. 
 
 18 Dec. . . . When the President came in, he 
 
 called B and B into his office, meeting 
 
 them in the hall. They immediately began to 
 
 talk about A 's Bill in regard to States in 
 
 insurrection. The President had been reading 
 it carefully, and said that he liked it with the 
 exception of one or two things which he thought 
 rather calculated to conceal a feature which might 
 be objectionable to some. The first was that 
 under the provisions of that bill, negroes would 
 be made jurors and voters under the temporary 
 
 governments. " Yes," said B ; " that is to be 
 
 stricken out, and the qualification ' white male 
 citizens of the United States ' is to be restored. 
 What you refer to would be a fatal objection to 
 the bill. It would simply throw the Government 
 into the hands of the blacks, as the white people 
 under that arrangement would refuse to vote." 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 251 
 
 "The second," said the President, "is the 
 declaration that all persons heretofore held in 
 slavery are declared free. This is explained by- 
 some to be, not a prohibition of slavery by Con- 
 gress, but a mere assurance of freedom to persons 
 actually there in accordance with the Proclama- 
 tion of Emancipation. In that point of view it 
 is not objectionable, though I think it would have 
 been preferable to so express it." 
 
 The President and Gen'l B spoke very 
 
 favorably with three qualifications of A 's 
 
 Bill. B is especially anxious that the Bill 
 
 may pass and receive the approval of the Presi- 
 dent. He regards it as merely concurring in 
 the President's own action in the important case 
 of Louisiana, and recommending an observance 
 of the same policy in other cases. He does not 
 regard it, nor does the President, as laying down 
 any cast-iron policy in the matter. Louisiana 
 being admitted and this Bill passed, the President 
 is not estopped by it from recognizing and urging 
 Congress to recognize, another state of the South, 
 coming with constitution and conditions entirely 
 dissimilar. B^ thinks that the object of Con- 
 gress in passing the Bill at all, is merely to assert 
 their conviction that they have a right to pass 
 
252 LETTERS OF JOHIST HAY 
 
 such a law, in concurrence with the executive 
 action. They want a hand in the reconstruction. 
 It is unquestionably the prerogative of Congress 
 to decide as to qualifications of its own members : 
 — that branch of the subject is exclusively their 
 own. It does not seem wise, therefore, to make 
 a fight upon a question purely immaterial ; that 
 is, whether this bill is a necessary one or not, 
 and thereby lose the positive gain of this endorse- 
 ment of the President's policy in the admission 
 of Louisiana, and the assistance of that State in 
 carrying the Constitutional Amendment prohibit- 
 ing slavery. 
 
 B talked more than both Lincoln and 
 
 B , and somewhat vehemently attacked the 
 
 radicals in the House and Senate, who are at work 
 upon this measure, accusing them of interested 
 motives and hostility to Lincoln. The President 
 said : — ■" It is much better not to be led from 
 the region of reason into that of hot blood, by 
 imputing to public men motives which they do 
 not avow." 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 253 
 
 HAY TO CHARLES EDWARD HAY. 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, 31 March, 1865. 
 
 MY DEAR C- 
 
 I have been a little neglectful of my duties to 
 you lately. I have written almost no letters except 
 on business for some time. 
 
 I am getting very hurried as the time approaches 
 for me to give my place in the Executive Office to 
 some new man. The arrears of so long a time 
 cannot be settled in a day. 
 
 You have probably seen from the papers that I 
 am to go to Paris as Secretary of Legation. It is 
 a pleasant and honorable way of leaving my 
 present post which I should have left in any event 
 very soon. I am thoroughly sick of certain 
 aspects of life here, which you will understand 
 without my putting them on paper, and I was 
 almost ready, after taking a few months' active 
 service in the field, to go back to Warsaw and try 
 to give the Vineyard experiment a fair trial, when 
 the Secretary of State sent for me and offered me 
 this position abroad. It was entirely unsolicited 
 and unexpected. I had no more idea of it than 
 
254 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 you have. But I took a day or two to think it 
 over, the matter being a little pressing, — as the 
 
 Secretary wanted to let Mr. B know what he 
 
 was to expect, — and at last concluded that I would 
 accept. The President requested me to stay with 
 him a month or so longer to get him started with 
 the reorganised office, which I shall do, and shall 
 sail probably in June. 
 
 Meanwhile N^ ■, whose health is really in a 
 
 very bad state, has gone off down the coast on a 
 voyage to Havana, and will be gone the " heft " of 
 the month of April, and I am fastened here, very 
 busy. I don't like to admit and will not yet give 
 up that I can't come on to your " happiest-day-of- 
 your-life ; " but I must tell you that it looks 
 uncommonly like it just now. But whether I 
 come or not, I will be with you that day in my 
 love and my prayers that God will bless you and 
 yours forever. 
 
 I very much fear that all my friends will 
 disapprove this step of mine, but if they know all 
 that induced me to it they would coincide. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 255 
 
 HAY TO ALBERT RHODES. 
 
 Paris, Sept. 7, 1865. 
 
 MY DEAR RHODES : 
 
 I have just received your lively letter of the 
 last of August from which I infer that the agony 
 of tearing yourself loose from your adored Paris 
 has been met in a heroic spirit and survived. 
 " Parigi O cara " is very hot and nasty now. 
 "All in a hot and copper sky. The bloody sun 
 at noon blisters and broils the asphalt pave 
 as hot as Hell in June," as our mutual friend the 
 Ancient Mariner says. I feel deep sympathy 
 for fat women at this season. They pay a heavy 
 tax for your admiration. 
 
 Your anxiety in regard to Mr. P I am 
 
 happy to relieve by stating, that he has returned 
 in an astounding state of Teutonic health. He 
 was detained by sickness in Bonn but is now 
 quite well. 
 
 I congratulate you on making the acquaint- 
 ance of Mrs. L One of the cleverest 
 
 women I know. And thoroughly feminine and 
 amiable. 
 
 I saw in the street the other day a handsome 
 Spaniard named B , Secretary of Legation at 
 
256 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Stockholm, who asked tidings of you. I said you 
 were in England. He looked polite commisera- 
 tion and we drifted apart. 
 
 DIAKY. 
 
 Paris, Sept. 25, 1866. 
 
 The Reverend Dr. S , Professor of Dog- 
 matic Theology in the Propaganda Fide College 
 at Rome, called to-day and talked a good while 
 about American and Roman politics. I am not 
 in the condition to give anybody the most direct 
 and valuable instructions about our politics, and I 
 hope the Doctor got some more definite idea from 
 my talk than there was in it. I got one idea from 
 him which was definite enough, to wit, the condi- 
 tion of absolute uncertainty in which the Roman 
 politicians are as to the future. He says the Pope 
 really is not fixed in any plan. It seems to be 
 now certain that the French will withdraw in 
 December. Then, what will happen, remains to be 
 seen. If the enemies of the Temporal Power are 
 willing to allow him to exercise the sovereignty 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 257 
 
 over the little patch of earth around the Eternal 
 City, he can still retain his position and prestige 
 in the Catholic World. If on the contrary he is 
 made the object of violent attack from without, he 
 will retire from Rome. There are unquestionably 
 many revolutionists in Rome. But it is not from 
 them that danger is apprehended. The Romans 
 are themselves too weak, too destitute of enter- 
 prise to accomplish anything. The friends and 
 foes of the Pope in Rome are of the same feeble 
 stamp. The only thing to be feared is the flood 
 swelling in from Italy and submerging Rome. 
 But, I asked, is it considered impossible, among 
 reasonable men around the Pope, to treat with 
 the King of Italy and to obtain from him the 
 protection he would doubtless gladly accord ? The 
 Doctor shook his head and said slowly, " I do not 
 see how it can be done. There are some compro- 
 mises which would destroy the very essence of 
 the principle in question. These cannot be made. 
 Such compromises are different from merely ac- 
 cepting the logic of events." 
 
 I asked about the Pope's projected retirement to 
 
 Malta. He said that several years ago, the Pope 
 
 in conversation with the English representative 
 
 at Rome, said in allusion to some danger then 
 
 17 
 
258 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 contemplated, " I suppose if I am driven out of 
 Rome you will let me come to Malta, would you 
 not ? " Upon that the envoy wrote to his govern- 
 ment, and Earl R immediately answered that 
 
 whenever his Holiness desired it an English Man- 
 of-War would be at his service at Civita Vecchia 
 to take him to Malta. This despatch still exists 
 
 and Dr. S says it is the only document that 
 
 has passed between the two governments on the 
 subject. 
 
 I asked if O E, was a Catholic. He 
 
 said no, Lady Wm. R ■, his mother, is. 
 
 I referred to the hope that the Catholics in 
 America had, to see the Pope among them. He 
 said the matter had sometimes been thought of, 
 but that it seemed impracticable, as the Pope 
 should occupy a more central position in reference 
 to Christendom. 
 
 Col. R informed me to-day of S 's 
 
 engagement to Mrs. S H . He wrote a 
 
 letter to Mrs. A announcing his engagement 
 
 but did not even mention the lady's name. This 
 is eminently characteristic. The great point with 
 
 S is that he is to be married. If the lady 
 
 happens to get married about the same time, all 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 259 
 
 the better for her. But this is quite a secondary 
 consideration. 
 
 W tells me that once, while S was 
 
 sick, he said to him, " S , you ought to marry 
 
 and have a woman to take care of you." S 
 
 answered, " Don't talk of that, W ■ ! I am 
 
 left behind." 
 
 W tells me another very good thing on 
 
 S . When the question of the admission of 
 
 Louisiana and Arkansas, in President L 's 
 
 time, was before the Committee, B opposed 
 
 it, giving his reasons. S agreed with him 
 
 and urged him to make a speech to that effect 
 
 in the Senate. " No," said B , " I am what 
 
 you call a copperhead and a speech from me to 
 that effect will do the question more harm than 
 good. You make the speech." " I can't," said 
 
 S , "have got too many irons in the fire 
 
 now." " If you will deliver a speech I will 
 
 write it," says B . "Agreed," said S . 
 
 B wrote the speech and S , after put- 
 ting a quotation from Milton in, delivered it. 
 While he was giving it to the Senate in that 
 
 high-priced style of his, old C , the nestor 
 
 and pride of the Senate, suddenly pricked up 
 his ears and began to listen, a thing he seldom 
 
260 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 did when the great Bostonian had the floor. 
 
 His seat was near B 's, toward whom he 
 
 leaned, and nudging him, said, " B , listen ! 
 
 Hanged if the fellow is not arguing ! " 
 
 I believe this to be a copperhead fiction, but 
 it is very good, " all same so," as Japanese 
 Tommy used to say. 
 
 Just before going to Biarritz, B says, 
 
 the Emperor went to the Palais de I'Exposition. 
 He seemed to be very bilious. On coming in 
 sight of the Champ de Mars, he said : " Call 
 that a palace ! Looks like a gasometer ! " 
 When he came to the high, closed fence, sur- 
 rounding the park, he says : " What does this 
 mean ? Tear it down ! The people have a right 
 to see the building." They explained and he 
 compromised by tearing holes in the fence at 
 intervals. On each side of the North entrance 
 were neat brick structures for the officers of the 
 Exhibition. Here his bile biled over. " Otez-moi 
 ga. What the Devil do you spoil the view so for ? 
 Tear them down ! " and this week you see work- 
 men demolishing with pick and shovel what they 
 built laboriously last week with chisel and trowel. 
 
 The Emperor never was the meekest of men, but 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 261 
 
 his temper is sour this autumn as the disappointed 
 vintage of Burgundy. 
 
 Sept. 27. Yesterday Mr. B — - was one of the 
 party that accompanied L. L. M. M. on the visit 
 
 to the iron-clad fleet at Biarritz. I wish F 
 
 had heen there. 
 
 L -^ gives an odd reverse to the brilliant 
 
 account of the Russo- American festivities of this 
 summer. He says the persons in charge of it 
 swindled the government infamously. That the 
 appropriations were most munificent, but that the 
 arrangements made were paltry and shabby. 
 
 Sept. 30. This morning I found at the Lega- 
 tion a despatch from Mr. S (sent through the 
 
 French Ministere de I'lnterieur) saying : " Resigna- 
 tion accepted — Gen'l D appointed successor 
 
 — leaves here 28 October" — dated Washington, 
 29th September, 12.45 at night. I sent copy to 
 Biarritz. 
 
 The morning papers contained the bare 
 announcement. The Patrie in the afternoon 
 
 contained an attack on Mr. B for his ultra 
 
 American stiffness in the Mexican question. 
 
 The Constitutionel this morning shows by its 
 
262 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 announcement that it has been made acquainted 
 with S 's despatch. 
 
 The General (Dix), immediately after his arrival, 
 
 was presented by Mr. B to the Marquis de 
 
 M and a few days afterwards received from 
 
 the Grand Master of Ceremonies a letter informing 
 him that he would be received by the Emperor on 
 Sunday, the 23d, at two o'clock. He afterwards 
 received a note from the Duke de Fascher la 
 Pajerie informing him that the Empress would 
 receive him immediately after his audience with 
 the Emperor. 
 
 I hired a carriage and two servants in the Rue 
 
 Boissy d'Anglas for H and myself. It was 
 
 a highly respectable looking affair, not fresh 
 enough to look hired, with a couple of solemn 
 flunkies that seemed to have been in the family 
 for at least a generation. We went to the 
 General's and in a few moments came in the 
 
 Baron de la J . He said he was very much 
 
 crowded to-day with besogne, that he had five 
 Ministers to bring to the Palace and that therefore 
 we would please excuse his hurry. Upon which 
 we all rose and went to the door, where we found 
 a court carriage, the Imperial arms blazing on the 
 panels and the harness, drawn by four horses and 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 263 
 
 accompanied by two mounted outriders. Every- 
 thing covered with tawdy, tarnished gold lace. It 
 seemed like the Triumphal Car in a flourishing 
 circus. Into this vehicle mounted the General 
 
 and the Chamberlain, H and I following in 
 
 our sham-private remise and we had the honors of 
 a stare from the badauds on the asphalt of the 
 Champs Elysees as the party lumbered down 
 to the Tuileries. We were all in our Army 
 uniform. 
 
 Arrived there we were shown to a warm, cheery 
 anteroom, with a superb wood fire and a fine view 
 of the Tuileries gardens and the river and the 
 Arch of Triumph. The Colombian Minister had 
 already arrived. He and his Secretary stood 
 conversing with one of the fine violet-colored 
 Chamberlains. Another received us and talked 
 of nothing in particular — the weather, which was 
 sharp for Paris — skating, monuments, acquaint- 
 ances. One torment of diplomatic life is that 
 you never know the names of these agreeable 
 fellows. They lose all identity in their violet 
 coats and Imperial moustaches. You do not hear 
 their names when you are presented to them, 
 and if you look upon the oflScial list of the 
 officers of the Emperor's household you only find 
 
264 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 tliat you may take your clioiee of a dozen names 
 for the man you are looking after. 
 
 F , the British Minister ad interim, came 
 
 in. I presented him to Gen'l D . They 
 
 talked Alabama, Fenians and stuff. Then a long 
 gaunt Bavarian, P de P , and his Secre- 
 tary, who seemed moved by rusty springs — in 
 military uniform ; a thin, wiry, blue-blooded Bra- 
 zilian — a Peruvian and some more. B , at 
 
 least a half head taller than anybody but F , 
 
 who is not tall by the way — only long. 
 
 There came some more violet people and moved 
 us into a larger saloon. They were presented 
 
 to the Due de C , — a jaunty old gentleman, 
 
 lean and shaven and wigged — long also. He 
 bowed lavishly and seemed distressed that nobody 
 would sit down. B — — in a few moments was 
 called for. He entered the next room where the 
 blaze of the Imperial presence dazzled us through 
 the opening of the door. His audience of leave 
 
 was soon over. Gen'l D , followed by me 
 
 and H , was then ushered into The Presence. 
 
 The General looked anxiously around for the 
 Emperor, advancing undecidedly, until a little 
 man who was standing in front of the Throne 
 stepped forward to meet him. Everybody bowed 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 265 
 
 profoundly as the Due de C gave the name 
 
 and the title of the General. The little man 
 bowed, and the General, beginning to recognize 
 in him a dim likeness to the Emperor's portrait, 
 made his speech to him. I looked around the 
 room for a moment, admiring as I always do on 
 ceremonial occasions in France the rich and taste- 
 ful masses of color which the various groups of 
 Great Officers of the Crown so artistically present. 
 Not a man's place is left to accident. A cardinal 
 dashes in a great splash of scarlet. A cent-garde 
 supplies an exquisite blue and gold. The yellow 
 and the greens are furnished by the representa- 
 tives of Law and Legislation, and the Masters of 
 Ceremonies fill up with an unobtrusive violet. 
 Yet these rich lights and soft shadows are acces- 
 sory to the central point of the picture — the little 
 man who is listening or seeming to listen to the 
 General's address. If our Republican eyes can 
 stand such a dazzling show, let us look at him. 
 
 Short and stocky, he moves with a queer, 
 sidelong gait, like a gouty crab. A man so 
 wooden looking that you would expect his voice 
 to come rasping out like a watchman's rattle. 
 A complexion like crude tallow — marked for 
 Death, whenever Death wants him — to be taken 
 
266 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 sometime in half an hour, or left, neglected by 
 the skeleton King, for years, perhaps, if properly 
 coddled. The moustache, an imperial which the 
 world knows, but ragged and bristly, concealing 
 the mouth entirely, moving a little nervously 
 as the lips twitch. Eyes stupidly watchful — 
 furtive — stealthy, rather ignoble, like servants 
 looking out of dirty windows and saying nobody 
 at home and lying, as they say it. And withal 
 a wonderful phlegm. He stands there as still 
 and impassive as if carved in oak for a ship's 
 figure-head. He looks not unlike one of those 
 rude inartistic statues. His legs are too short — 
 his body too long. He never looks well but on 
 a throne or on a horse, as kings ought. 
 
 But the General, who has raised his voice 
 and grown a little oratorical as he closed his 
 speech by recalling the bonds of union which 
 ally America and France, hands the Emperor 
 his sealed letter of credence. He receives it 
 
 and gives it to the Due de B , who stands 
 
 at his right. His face breaks up with ungainly 
 movements of the moustache and the eyelids. 
 You can imagine it a sort of wooden clock pre- 
 paring to strike. When he speaks you are sure 
 of your theory. His voice is wooden ; it is not 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 267 
 
 SO strong or as full as a year ago. He speaks 
 rather rapidly and not distinctly. He slews half 
 his words, as rapid writers do half their letters. 
 He makes his set speech, which, with the 
 General's, will appear to-morrow in the Moniteur, 
 and then comes sidling up and says (smilingly, 
 he evidently thinks, but the machinery of smiles 
 at the corners of his mouth is apparently out 
 of repair), " You expect many of your country- 
 men in Paris this year ? " 
 
 "A great many, doubtless." 
 
 "There will be a regiment of your milice?" 
 
 "There has been some talk of it, etc., etc., 
 but your Majesty will not expect them to com- 
 pare with your veterans." 
 
 " But you have shown that it does not take 
 long to make good troops." 
 
 When I and H (that is awkward, but 
 
 I preserve the order) were presented He, clearly 
 wishing to be very civil, as it is most rare that 
 a monarch addresses a Secretary of Legation, 
 said, "But you are very young to be Col-o-nel. 
 Did you make the war in America?" 
 
 I wanted to insist that older and wickeder 
 men than I were responsible for that crime, but 
 I thought best to answer the intention rather 
 
268 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 than the grammar, and said I had an humble 
 part in the war. 
 
 " Infanterie or cavalerie?" 
 
 "The general staff!" 
 
 " And you ! " he said, turning to H , and 
 
 received the same answer. 
 
 We bowed and backed out of the Presence. 
 
 We were then taken to the apartments of the 
 Empress. She was charmingly dressed in a lilac 
 walking dress with an almost invisible bonnet. 
 She had doubtless been to church like a good, 
 pious lady as she is and received afterwards in 
 her promenade costume. Time has dealt very 
 gently with her. She is still full of those sweet 
 winning fascinations that won her a crown. 
 There are few partisans so bitter as not to be 
 moved by her exquisite manner. Even the little 
 stories at which men smile, her subjection to 
 priests, her hanging up over old B — 's death- 
 bed the holy rag from the baby linen of John 
 Baptist, which extorted from the tormented old 
 sinner his last grim smile, her vestal lamp in the 
 Church of Our Lady of Victories and all that 
 mummery, is not unfeminine, and people do not 
 care to be bitter about it. To the General she 
 was charming. She talked about the President 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 269 
 
 and his trip to Chicago (which the General ex- 
 plained was purely a personal visit of friendship 
 to the tomb of a friend ! ! !). When we were pre- 
 sented, she made the identical remark made by 
 the Emperor, " You are young to be Colonel ? " 
 People after a dozen years of intercourse get the 
 same ideas and ways of looking at things. She 
 asked if the grade of Colonel was the same in 
 our army as in the French. She spoke Eng- 
 lish with a charming Castilian accent, which is 
 infinitely prettier than the French. 
 
 She is so winning and so lovely that one feels 
 a little guilty in not being able in conscience 
 to wish her eternal power for herself, her heirs 
 and assigns. 
 
 So we left the gracious blonde Spaniard and 
 passed down through avenues of flunkeys to the 
 door where our own sham flunkies received us 
 and drove us to the Kue de Presbourg. 
 
 The ceremony is concluded by giving to the 
 Chief Piqueur a present of 250 francs. 
 
 The last time I saw the Emperor, was on the 
 1st of January, 1867, at the Diplomatic recep- 
 tion. Instead of admitting the Diplomats by a 
 door nearest the Salle de Trone, they always 
 manage to drag them through a long series of 
 
270 LETTEBS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 saloons crowded with footmen of portentous calf 
 development and Chamberlains in purple : to 
 strike the imagination of outside barbarians. We 
 were pressed on as usual through these blazing 
 hedges of tinsel, to the Reception room. It was 
 pretty well filled when we entered and we passed 
 a pleasant half hour talking to our acquaintances 
 in the Corps. A good deal of interest was 
 taken in the General, who was one of the newest 
 arrivals, and whose venerable and gentlemanlike 
 appearance produced a most favorable impression. 
 At the order of the bustling Chamberlains we 
 took our places, the United States by a queer 
 chance finding itself between the two American 
 
 Empires, Mexico and Brazil, A having been 
 
 presented just before and the Brazilian just after 
 
 Gen'l D . The Brazilian Minister presented 
 
 D to A , the General thinking that 
 
 much could be sacrificed to courtesy, and they 
 began to recall an old Washington acquaintance, 
 when the door opened and the usher shouted 
 " L'Empereur." Everyone bowed with various 
 degrees of abject servility. The Emperor came 
 woodenly in. He was dressed in his usual uni- 
 form of General of Division. The Prince Impe- 
 rial, a nice, slender child, with pleasant, sad eyes 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 271 
 
 like his mother, came in with his august sire 
 for the first time. The Emperor only begins to 
 associate him with great public ceremonies. He 
 was dressed in black-velvet coat and short, full 
 breeches, with red stockings — the broad cordon 
 of the Legion of Honor over his shoulder and 
 across his little chest. He walked beside his 
 father, bowing when we bowed, and stopping a 
 little, fidgeting while the Sphinx talked with 
 the wise men of the World. 
 
 But, on entering, the Emperor paused, bowed 
 and took position — the Pope's Nuncio — Mgr. 
 C , made the usual formal speech of con- 
 gratulations, to which the Emperor replied with 
 his best wishes for the perpetuity of thrones and 
 the prosperity of peoples and his hopes that the 
 Exposition would bring the millenium this year. 
 He evidently had his brain full of the vast 
 results that are to accrue to him from that un- 
 sightly structure in the Champ de Mars. He 
 then went around the circle, speaking a word to 
 
 most of the Ministers. I stood next to A and 
 
 waited with great interest to see how they met. 
 The Emperor came rolling up to the Mexican 
 
 and stopped. Both bowed. A seemed rather 
 
 ill at ease. The Emperor held him a moment 
 
272 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 with his dead eyes half shut. He then said in a 
 manner which was carefully cold and insolent, 
 "Les choses sont bien compliquees Ik has." The 
 poor devil, who doubtless feels himself lost by 
 his advocacy of the Imperial cause in Mexico, 
 had no reply ready to this insolent remark 
 from his angry and ungrateful temptor. The 
 Emperor bowed, the Prince Imperial bowed 
 
 and A bowed. I did not dare to look 
 
 at him. 
 
 I looked at the Emperor instead, who came to 
 
 Gen'l D and was very gracious — speaking 
 
 French this time — asked the General where he 
 lived and said it was a beau quartier — the Gen- 
 eral said yes, thanks to His Majesty — and His 
 Majesty pulled the corners of his mouth into a 
 sort of smile and bowed to the General and bowed 
 to me and passed to Brazil — and put a malicious 
 little question to Brazil about its war, and then 
 walked almost hastily past the smaller powers — 
 pausing an instant with F — (who was below us, 
 having been presented five minutes later the day 
 we were) — then passed out and we loafed down to 
 the door and waited in the uncomfortable entry 
 for our carriages, till we were blue and ill-natured. 
 Then made calls on the necessary nobs by writing 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 273 
 
 our names in a book at their door, and at last 
 went home and took off our livery and were glad 
 it was over. 
 
 HAY TO ALBERT RHODES. 
 
 Paris, Oct. 19, 1866. 
 
 MY DEAR RHODES : 
 
 I offer you my warmest congratulations upon 
 your new clustering honors. Don't get proud 
 thereat, hut always remember you are a miserable 
 sinner, and that if you had your deserts you 
 would be howling in ignited sulphur, instead of 
 standing as you do in the face of an admiring 
 world, with one foot at the Hague and one at 
 Rotterdam, the modern Colossus of Rhodes. 
 
 Gen'l H. E I do not personally know — 
 
 and am likewise ignorant of his Etat-Civil. If 
 it would be of any advantage to you, I know his 
 father, his elder brother, his brother-in-law, his 
 brother-in-law's son's first cousin and their wives 
 and daughters, and good eggs are the men, and 
 winsome creatures are the girls of that family. 
 
 But with Gen'l H. E I have not fore- 
 
 18 
 
274 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 gathered, as I have with, his brother T and 
 
 Gen'l T , Judge T. E , Jr., who is a 
 
 monstrous good fellow. 
 
 Wishing you continuous good luck, I am. 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 HAY TO ALBEKT KHODES. 
 
 Paris, Dec, '66. 
 
 MY OWN" AND ONLY RHODES : 
 
 I am going home, as the papers have stated, in 
 a strange paroxysm of truthfulness. I leave the 
 service of the ungrateful Republic in a week or 
 two more. 
 
 Vain pomps and glories of this world I hate ye. 
 
 (Shakes. ) 
 
 I shall try to find a place behind some respecta- 
 ble counter. I do not care what I sell — candles 
 or stocks — so that profits shall accrue. I shall 
 pull off my coat and roll up my sleeves, but I don't 
 believe Jordan will be so hard a road to travel 
 as it is cracked up to be. 
 
 General D is a most genial gentleman 
 
 with a very charming family. The New Secre- 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 275 
 
 taries are good fellows and will keep up the high 
 
 traditions bequeathed by me and P . They 
 
 are W H and J D . 
 
 There is no news. 
 
 I went down to No. 30 Victory Street the 
 other day, but I could not recall my vanished 
 illusions. 
 
 I am falling into the sere, the yellow leaf. 
 I am yours. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 February 14, 1867. 
 
 MY DEAK NICOLAY : 
 
 .... We had rather a rough passage. I was 
 in the condition of every man qui se respecte, on 
 such occasions, the first day or two, but afterwards 
 experienced a salutary shock by falling in love 
 with the prettiest woman you ever clapped eyes 
 on, which kept me on my sea-legs the rest of 
 the voyage. 
 
 .... I found Mr. S as admirable as ever — 
 
 calm, philosophical, optimist as ever. Not a word 
 against his enemies and slanderers ; a little 
 
276 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 astonisliment at the completeness of the defeat, 
 hut a perfect comprehension of it. He treats me 
 with the most distinguished kindness, offered me 
 any mission that was falling in ; — proposed my 
 name to the President for the reversion of Sweden, 
 
 McG • having fallen a victim to the celestial 
 
 wrath of the Gods Senatorial. But the President 
 wanted the place for a deadbeat copperhead 
 
 soldier named B of New York. . . . S 
 
 says the Senate will reject him. C squirms — 
 
 don't want to be turned out — says the Senate 
 ought not to allow it, and the Senate seem inclined 
 to protect the poor devil by rejecting everybody 
 who is nominated to succeed him. I am inclined 
 to decline a nomination in that state of affairs, 
 
 though S thinks I would be confirmed. I 
 
 will wait a day or two to see what becomes of 
 
 Gen. D . The Senate is very ugly — will 
 
 certainly reject C for A , and talk of 
 
 rejecting E for the H . D 's chances 
 
 are growing every day darker. F and 
 
 H — — both want his place. S has blood in 
 
 his eye. He is splendid in his present temper — 
 arrogant, insolent, implacable, — thoroughly in 
 earnest — honest as the day. . . . 
 
 You are all right everywhere. That push 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 277 
 
 against you came from cops who want your place. 
 
 S wrote you that letter simply to give you 
 
 an opportunity to say the charges were lies. He 
 was rather amused at the completeness of your 
 defence — " ten times over justified," he said. 
 Letters like that were written to nearly everyone 
 in the service ; — nobody grew furious and resigned 
 
 hut M . He becomes a high-priced martyr 
 
 and has the sure thing on a first-class mission 
 
 two years hence. It is hard for S to save 
 
 L 's friends from being pushed off their stools 
 
 by hungry copperheads ; — he defends them when- 
 ever he can. 
 
 I am a little at sea about what I shall do. The 
 law has been a magnificent business for the past 
 two years — a little duller now. ... I may go to 
 law after I have rested a while. Everybody with- 
 out exception tells me I am looking very ill. It 
 has demoralized me a little, . . . 
 
 It is all one way here. Nobody dares for an 
 instant oppose the current. The thing must work 
 itself clear. I have faith in the end. . . . 
 
278 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Warsaw, 111., 
 
 March 18, 1867. 
 
 MY DEAK NICOLAY : 
 
 I am safely lodged at last among my Lares and 
 Penates. I find my parents as well as ever ; my 
 mother better than usual, and full of her old good 
 spirits ; my father at 66 with not a gray hair, 
 with the ruddy cheek and ravenous appetite of a 
 growing boy. . . . 
 
 There is little comfort in the country now. 
 The weather is hideous ; i. e. what people insanely 
 call "beautiful, fresh, cold weather." A cloudless 
 sky, white, shining distances, and a thermometer 
 ten degrees below according to Meinherr 
 Fahrenheit. I have escaped six winters, and my 
 good nature has been nipped and frozen in this 
 absurd springtime. 
 
 So much for nature. Society much worse. 
 Poverty everywhere. In the East it is still tem- 
 pered by the fever of speculation, but in the West 
 everything and everybody is as flat as a buck- 
 wheat cake de la veille. There is no money and 
 no business. One endless Sunday seems to gloom 
 over all the little towns you pass. A man can 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 279 
 
 live for almost nothing here ; but he just misses 
 that, and he makes nothing. For instance a very 
 decent fellow came to Warsaw some time ago to 
 start a newspaper. He had a little money, within 
 $200 of the amount. He could not raise in the 
 town the other $200. Again, a church here gave 
 a fair and a supper. They spent $50. They 
 received $40. These trivial figures give you some 
 idea of the thumb and finger with which hard 
 times is pinching. 
 
 Moral : — ^You stay where you are for the 
 present. In the East, if you are lucky, these 
 things would work to your benefit. There are 
 some men who are growing rich. ... In the West 
 you would not make your Kanawha salt. (That 
 H has given me a world of trouble.) Nobody is 
 keen for our book. We will have to write it and 
 publish it on our own hook some day, when we 
 can afford. You had better not come home till 
 you are kicked out, and our crazy friends in the 
 Senate have legislated all the dead-beats now in 
 office into an eternity of bread and butter. News- 
 papers are all running down. The E P , 
 
 the J of G , and a few others are doing 
 
 well. The W papers nil. 
 
 While in W , D proposed a Claim and 
 
280 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Law business partnersMp. I held it under advise- 
 ment. He is public printer again, appointed by 
 the Senate, but does not intend to hold it very- 
 long. . . . 
 
 A is making a collection of Lincoln's let- 
 ters, speeches, etc., but on his own hook. B 
 
 encourages it, but will not give him the key to the 
 boxes. He will keep them for the present, and 
 still hopes for our assistance in classifying them. 
 He has commenced practice in partnership with 
 
 S 's son — with brilliant prospects. Mrs. L 
 
 was well — was extremely kind — insisted on my 
 moving my traps to her house ; I could not, as I 
 only remained one day. She is living in a pretty 
 house of her own. 
 
 DIAKY. 
 
 Warsaw, Illinois. 
 
 June 3, 1867. 
 It would be hard for me to imagine a pleasanter 
 spring than I have passed. I have worked enough 
 not to feel utterly idle and desoeuvre. I have been 
 idle enough to enjoy in its fullest extent the joy of 
 the ne rien faire. I have taken a deep interest in 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 281 
 
 the destruction of caterpillars on my apple trees — 
 in the planting of my own little orchard of 5 acres 
 — in the growth and welfare of my orchard that 
 
 S has leased. S is a Methodist Colporteur, 
 
 who peddles the Gospel with Methodist sauce in 
 the winter and vexes the envious soil in the sum- 
 mer — a quaint and most worthy man. He has 
 
 leased my orchard — the S ■ place for ten years, 
 
 for half the crop. On College Hill the D 
 
 boys — two fine, industrious Yankees — have taken 
 the vineyard and the ten-acre block. They seem 
 to be thoroughly good fellows with sand in their 
 gizzards. They are the terror of loafing and 
 swindling laborers who don't want to give a day's 
 work for a day's wages. One of them is somewhat 
 damaged by rebel lead at Gettysburg. I have 
 spent a good deal of time on the different places : 
 digging some, planting, pruning. I find a singular 
 love for that kind of work in myself. It is the 
 sense of justification it gives me for not doing 
 nothing. If I stay at home I cannot idle or read 
 for amusement, without being haunted by the 
 ceaseless reproach of misspent time. But in the 
 fields, tiresome and monotonous as the work may 
 be — such as shovelling dirt or dropping corn — it 
 frees me utterly from the sense of responsibility 
 
282 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 for the passing hour. I am doing work, sub- 
 stantial, real work which will have its result doubt- 
 less some day and so I plod on and watch the sun, 
 glad after all when my day is over and I can 
 ramble home through the magnificent hills and 
 valleys that surround this town. 
 
 I never was so close to nature before since I was 
 a child. I have watched the flowers like a detec- 
 tive this spring. There is a little patch of wild 
 
 woodlawn on my S place that is very sweet 
 
 and solitary — full of fresh, woodsy smells and far 
 enough from any farmyards to be utterly still — 
 barring the birds and the grasshoppers — whose 
 racket only makes the solitude more perfect by 
 proof I stumbled one day on a patch of open 
 turf thick in blue grass and superbly illuminated 
 with great purple pansies that had probably 
 bloomed for years unseen by any eyes, but the 
 bright, beady ones of orioles and jays and catbirds. 
 It was worth the price I paid for the land, to feel 
 that this exquisite show, so lavishly running to 
 waste year after year, was mine. I would not 
 pluck them — the violets and phlox, the wind- 
 flowers and bluebells — because I loved them. When 
 I crossed the fences, however, and walked down the 
 valley pastures of my neighbors, the poaching 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 283 
 
 spirit waked in me and I gathered red bud, haw- 
 thorne, apple bloom and plum blossom rigbt and 
 left — making what I thought an equitable return 
 in killing about a thousand ugly green-black- 
 yellow caterpillars that had raised their tent on 
 the limb of a splendid crab, all pink and fragrant 
 in its May bloom. I cut off the branch they were 
 on and dropped it into the fresh, clear rivulet. 
 Then at the risk of my neck I clambered up the 
 
 bank by G 's — where the surviving precipice 
 
 looks like a ruined amphitheatre of the woodlawn 
 gods that are gone — and got a handful of colum- 
 bine and then came slowly down to the river and 
 along its pebbly banks home. I can never get 
 enough of looking at the river. It has its new, 
 fresh beauty every morning and noon. And a 
 new and unimagined transfiguration every sunset. 
 So the pleasant spring has shaken away its 
 sands. I have scarcely any plans. I came to 
 
 wait for answers from M , who wanted me to 
 
 come into his establishment — from S , who 
 
 wanted to buy my Florida property — and from 
 
 B , who wanted me to enter his firm as a 
 
 Washington partner. I have answers from all — 
 singularly unanimous — all backing out as if they 
 had suddenly discovered that I was a leper. I 
 
284 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 am not disappointed. I could scarcely have 
 
 brought myself to enter M 's hoiise in any 
 
 case. I have a great distaste to the life of a claim 
 agent in the Federal City where my associations 
 have been so different, and I long ago made up 
 my mind not to lose any sleep over my ill-starred 
 Florida speculation. 
 
 I can scarcely say now to myself what my 
 
 plans are. Let me see. Go to S , see some 
 
 publishers in New York and Boston — write 
 
 L 's book for him — write two lectures and 
 
 that will pretty well fill up the summer. 
 
 If it were only myself I thought of I would 
 stay here. I will have an income — all things 
 succeeding — of at least $500 a year, and I can 
 bring that up a few hundreds by writing — and 
 have a more tranquil mind than anywhere else. 
 
 To-day voted for the second time in my life — 
 the Republican Judicial Ticket. I had to make 
 oath to my residence. 
 
 Went last week to a ball at K , a Mrs. 
 
 I . It was a pretty party — toilettes very neat 
 
 and fresh. The ladies all in full dress — very few 
 gentlemen — in fact I alone, I think, was in evening 
 dress. The talk very much as at a party any- 
 where else. The dancing, all quadrilles. Only 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 285 
 
 one or two men in town can waltz — to the desola- 
 tion of the girls, most of whom waltz well enough. 
 
 June 11, 1867. The newspapers a week or so 
 ago announced my appointment to Austria — all, 
 so far as I know, taking their cue from the New 
 
 Yorlc T , ought to be good enough authority 
 
 on that matter. B and P write me very 
 
 hearty letters of congratulations. I write to 
 
 B , My Dear Mr. B , If nothing more 
 
 comes of it, I am grateful to the guidance who 
 first sent the news of my appointment on its travels, 
 some weeks ago, since it has procured me so kind 
 and cordial a letter from you. And another from 
 
 P • to the same tenor. I am without any further 
 
 intimation of the truth or falsehood of the report — 
 and indeed do vehemently doubt it. If it comes 
 I may not go to Austria, but I will try to borrow 
 money enough on my crop to go to Washington to 
 see what it means. If it means a scandal or row 
 
 about the place, i. e., if M insists on being 
 
 kicked out, another boot than mine must do it. 
 Not that I object to the kicking out per se, but I 
 don't think the fun of doing it and then parting 
 my own coat tails for the heavy-shod Senate, will 
 pay for a month of sea sickness. 
 
286 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 The Senate is of late gone clean daft in its 
 Presidentophobia. It slaughtered a dozen brave 
 fellows because they were nominated and then 
 confirmed another dozen wild caps for no better 
 
 reason. They threw over McG because they 
 
 thought he might be a copperhead and confirmed 
 
 B , who was a blatant one of the Five-Points' 
 
 race — a gambler of highly ungrammatical habits. 
 They confirmed D , who was the P con- 
 vention's incarnate, obstinate and unrepentant, and 
 
 smothered K, ,who did more than any mother's 
 
 son of them to defeat the nominee of that move- 
 ment and elect F . They refuse to be com- 
 forted because of M , and there are not a half 
 
 a dozen Senators who would not have said of him 
 
 just what that shabby blackguard McC said, 
 
 after a week in Vienna. So, though my record is 
 of the straightest radicalism — abolitionist when 
 many of them were doughy of face, and ever since 
 — they would fling mud upon me if my appoint- 
 ment were attended with any squeak of martyrdom. 
 As to all that I am ignorant. I do not know where 
 Mr. M is — where the Legation is — who is run- 
 ning it — what has become of L . All this, if 
 
 I should be appointed I would go to Washington 
 
LETTEKS OP JOHN HAY 287 
 
 to inquire about and decide according to my best 
 lights and the state of my liver. 
 
 I make you a thousand impressive compliments 
 in recognition of your kindness in asking me to 
 your estates. It would be the greatest pleasure in- 
 cident to this probationary state of existence — ^but 
 it does not look probable. If I can, I will, gladly 
 and gratefully. Make Miladi remember me and 
 recall me to the young people whose memories 
 have doubtless cicatrized the impression I made in 
 past pleasant days. Your friend and servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Until this thing is developed you had better 
 
 write to me. Care State Dept. Mr. C always 
 
 knows my address and is good enough to send me 
 my letters. 
 
 Rode down to the Golden Bluffs and spent an 
 
 hour or so with George W , in his vineyard, 
 
 pinching his vines. The prospect for wine this 
 year so far is excellent. 
 
 P. S. P. M. 
 
 This afternoon I received a copy of the Secre- 
 tary's letter notifying me of my appointment and 
 asking me when, if I accept, I will be ready to 
 
288 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 start. The long delay is accounted for by the 
 fact that the letter had been sent to Warsaw, 
 Wisconsin, by mistake. C — — 's letter is dated 
 June 6, the original May 30. I very much fear 
 it will be found impracticable, as I am appointed 
 Secretary of Legation to act as Charg^ d* Affaires. 
 
 I do not yet know whether L has resigned 
 
 or been dismissed. I will go to Washington and 
 talk with both sides about the matter before I 
 decide. It is not worth a quarrel. I do not care 
 for a quarrel if I am to gain by it, but a squabble 
 for a counter is poor wisdom, in spite of Robert 
 Browning. (Statue and Bust). 
 
 HAY TO MISS ELIZABETH HAY. 
 
 Warsaw, 111. 
 June 12, 1867. 
 
 DEAR aunt: 
 
 I have a presentiment that a weary and wayworn 
 pilgrim will knock at your door between dusk and 
 midnight of Monday evening next, craving shelter 
 from the warm blast of summer and the fierce 
 rays of the moon. Deny him not — for he will 
 bring you tidings of your brethren and friends in 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 289 
 
 this country. You can recognize him by his 
 answer to the name of John, and by a broad 
 accent derived from a prospective residence in the 
 city of Vienna ! He is unable to go to a tavern, 
 having expended his last kreutzer in the purchase 
 of this half sheet of paper. You will do well to 
 lock up your spoons, as I fear that a sojourn of 
 several years in Washington has not had a bene- 
 ficial effect on his morals. Don't set any wine 
 before him, as he has sunk his entire fortune in 
 an unprofitable vineyard, and bursts into tears 
 whenever grape-juice is mentioned. Treat him 
 kindly, for, though feeble-minded and erring, he 
 is still a fellow-worm. But be careful about the 
 spoons. 
 
 [John Hay was commissioned Secretary of 
 Legation, May 20, 1867, to act as charge 
 d'affaires ad interim after the retirement of 
 Mr. Motley, June 14, 1867, at Vienna.] 
 
 Monday, June 17, 1867. I started from home 
 for Washington. On the train to Hamilton met 
 
 Col. C with his dog, a singularly intelligent 
 
 pointer which he had captured during the war as 
 
 19 
 
290 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 a pup. Met at Hamilton, where we waited two 
 
 hours for the train, Pros. Atty. P . Told me 
 
 of the decay of the W family. " When 
 
 a young man gits bloated — with a crick in his 
 neck you know — he's about a gone coon." 
 
 Rode to Carthage in the same seat with R 
 
 L , a second cousin of the late President. He 
 
 is forty-one years old, looks much older. The same 
 eyes and hair the President had — the same tall 
 stature and shambling gait, less exaggerated, a 
 rather rough, farmer-looking man. Drinks hard, 
 chews ravenously. He says the family has about 
 run out. "We are not a very marrying set." 
 He is dying of consumption, he said very coolly. 
 There was something startling in the resemblance 
 of the straight thicket of hair, and the grey, caver- 
 nous eyes framed in black brows and lashes, both 
 features of the great dead man. He was a pioneer 
 of our country. Knew my father since long years. 
 
 Brought a load of wheat to G and M in 
 
 1842 with ox teams ; got $90 in gold for it. Told 
 me that in 1860 he had talked to "Abe" about 
 assassination. Abe said: "I never injured any- 
 body. No one is going to hurt me." He says he 
 was invited by Abe to go on to Washington at the 
 time of the inauguration but declined, thinking it 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 291 
 
 dangerous — a naivete of statement I thought would 
 have been impossible out of the west. 
 
 Spent Tuesday, the 18th, at Springfield. Talked 
 
 with C at length. He was rather disgusted 
 
 with the extra session, but could not think of dis- 
 regarding the summons. He promised to talk 
 
 with W and Y about my confirmation. 
 
 Thought there was no doubt about it. 
 
 When I left Springfield C came with me to 
 
 New York. I went there, instead of directly to 
 Washington, because I saw in the papers that the 
 President and the Secretary of State would be 
 there on Friday on their way to Boston. They 
 passed up Broadway in the evening. I was on 
 the balcony of the Metropolitan. Two or three 
 men beside me made criticisms on the President — 
 not kindly, but when the common council came 
 by, they looked at each other, and said, " Don't 
 say anything about them or they'll get out and 
 bust your snoot." 
 
 I went late in the evening to the Fifth Avenue 
 Hotel and saw a good many people, but not the 
 President nor the Secretary. Most of the men 
 I saw were balmily tight and insisted on my 
 drinking with them. I found Mr. S after- 
 wards at T W 's. He explained the 
 
292 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 vacancy in the Austrian mission — asked me when 
 I could go. "At once." He told me to go down 
 to Washington and get my papers and start by 
 the first steamer. " I would do so." I spoke of 
 the Senate's possibly throwing me out, but he 
 said that was not probable and there was no use 
 
 anticipating it. He had told M that evening 
 
 that the moderate men who did not want an extra 
 session and who compromised on this provisional 
 arrangement, now found themselves like a man 
 whose reprieve had run out and who had gained 
 nothing by the delay. He thought nothing would 
 come by the extra session. Congress were called 
 together on false issues, and they will see when 
 they get here, that the President, instead of being 
 reckless and factious, is carrying out their own 
 law in good faith. 
 
 This is all true ; but I think, as W said to 
 
 me in the morning, it is regrettable that the Presi- 
 dent and S should have given room to these 
 
 false issues by stirring up this row before the 
 4th of July. 
 
 The next day, Saturday, G D brought 
 
 me a kind invitation from L J to go to 
 
 the races at Jerome Park in his drag. The day 
 was exquisite — the crowd brilliant — the mercury 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 293 
 
 very fair. I became acquainted with S B , 
 
 a very agreeable fellow, spite of bis politics. 
 
 M was tbere, and, as I had outgrown my 
 
 animosity, we were friendly enough. E, was 
 
 on hand. He has a great talent for talking to 
 
 women. Sir Fred. B was also on hand, and 
 
 was civil enough to say that he hoped they would 
 not get a minister to Vienna till they took me. 
 
 John M was strutting about, less important 
 
 than of yore, waxed and dyed and holystoned 
 like the battered old buck he is. I met the 
 
 V s, S s, C s and many more. Was 
 
 delighted to have one more hour with Mrs. B , 
 
 who was as lively as ever. As old P said, 
 
 Mon Dieu ! qu'elle est vive, qu'elle est vive ! 
 
 Went to see the K s and the S s and 
 
 more ladies. Saw a good many men, who were all 
 cordial. Everybody thinks my appointment is a 
 good thing and does not for a moment conceive 
 that I can refuse it. 
 
 Went on board the Steamer "City of Boston," 
 Saturday, June 29, in a highly mixed-up con- 
 dition. I had dined the night before with D , 
 
 B , F , V at the Union Club, where 
 
 we ate abominations, i. e., homards fareis, Gibelottes 
 a la Maitre d'hotel, etc., and nothing solid and 
 
294 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 honest. So I was an indigested mass. Add to 
 that a severe sore throat, and you have me a 
 prisoner in my berth the first two days out. Then 
 
 the ship's doctor, H^ • (a most clever fellow, by 
 
 the way, who owns a copy of the " Princess," in 
 which Tennyson's own rough draft of the " Home 
 they brought " and the " He hears thy voice mid roll- 
 ing drums ! " are written in. They are infinitely 
 weaker than the revised versions, ^hich again he 
 has botched and spoiled in his last volume). 
 
 H gave me a purge and lotion which brought 
 
 me right up again. 
 
 When I came on deck C S began to 
 
 joke. He said he did not know what kept me so 
 long in New York till some one explained. I was 
 curious to know where he got this news and he 
 
 told me M .. How M ever dreamed such 
 
 a thing puzzles me. S says M told him 
 
 he had said to me, " You had better keep this 
 thing and let Austria alone," and the blackguard 
 never had mentioned the matter to me and I can't 
 conceive where he heard it. He spoke to me at 
 Jerome Park and said he had made a strong push 
 
 for the Mexican mission. Said he thought J 
 
 would refuse to receive O . I said, " Then he 
 
 certainly would have refused you, as you are well 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 295 
 
 known to have been one of tlie most earnest par- 
 tisans of Maximilian." He only said he thought 
 
 J ■ would not have dared reject him. This 
 
 was every word that passed between us. 
 
 We had a pleasant celebration of the 4th of July, 
 
 S , D and W made neat speeches, 
 
 S presided very effectively and I answered 
 
 very briefly and drily to the toast " The President 
 of the United States." 
 
 We landed at Liverpool Tuesday evening and 
 got lodgings at the Queen's Hotel. My card and 
 a couple of crown pieces were very effectual in get- 
 ting my luggage and the H — — s' out of the Cus- 
 toms. Wednesday morning I went out to walk. 
 A small and dirty newsboy accosted me on the 
 street and said, " Buy a paper, sir, got the passen- 
 gers by City o' Boston, got your name in it." I 
 bought the paper overcome by the dirty youth's 
 sagacity. I shall go to my grave uncertain how 
 he discovered I was a Yankee and had come over 
 in the " City of Boston." I suppose it must have 
 been my boots. 
 
 We got off on the London train a little before 
 noon and arrived in the great city Wednesday 
 
 evening at 5.15. I packed the H ladies in a 
 
 cab for Charing Cross and started myself for the 
 
296 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Found it full. They offered to send a 
 
 porter to get me rooms at N 's. N 's 
 
 grinningly announced a glut of guests. I went to 
 Charing Cross. All full. I told my cabby to 
 drive anywhere. He brought up at a French 
 
 house, D . They asked me if I would have 
 
 a room on the first, second, third or fourth floor. 
 I said the first. "Well, I believe we have none." 
 The second, then. " Mon Dieu, I believe we have 
 none on the second," etc., etc. There was one on 
 the fourth right under the shingles baking and 
 frying. I fled aghast. My ever-faithful cabby 
 
 brought up in 8 T Street, near Tottenham 
 
 Court Road, Hotel B , a queer little Spanish 
 
 house that had a vacant room. I took it desper- 
 ately, though everything looked Seaviter. I pre- 
 pared to pass the night in deadly struggles with 
 garrotters. But it was far better than it seemed. 
 I had a good dinner, good bed, and good breakfast 
 and almost regretted to leave it when the next 
 morning I had gotten a room at the splendid and 
 
 comfortless L . If ever I come to London 
 
 incog., I will find that little house again. 
 
 I called at the Legation. Met M and 
 
 A . M took me to call on Mr. A . 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 297 
 
 I passed the rest of the day shopping — hatters, 
 boot-makers, tailors, and bankers. 
 
 Dined in the evening with Mr. and Mrs. A . 
 
 A very pleasant dinner and pleasant talk. A • 
 
 has been a great deal in Vienna. Knows it very 
 well and likes it — was full of pleasant things about 
 Vienna people. He seems rather more cheery and 
 
 better contented with the world than M . I 
 
 should say it was because he has a wife and baby. 
 
 When I came in I found W and the 
 
 B s had arrived, and Mr. and Mrs. C 's 
 
 card in my box. 
 
 Friday, July, 1867. I breakfasted with the 
 
 C s. W B and I mounted an omnibus 
 
 and went up High Holborn, passed the site of the 
 New Viaduct, the foundations of the great New 
 Market and descended near Cheapside, the road 
 being barred by dense crowds gathering to see 
 the Belgian Volunteers march by. We wormed 
 through the mass to St. Paul's and walked through 
 the vast pile. Thence through Paternoster Row 
 and a succession of tortuous little streets till we 
 came to Holborn again, and I took a hansom and 
 
 went to the Legation. Saw Mr. A there — 
 
 asked when the ladies received calls, found it was 
 
298 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 just the hour — went around to Portland Place 
 
 and lunched with them. Mr. and Mrs. K 
 
 were there. The piquante Madam K insist- 
 ing that she had suddenly been attacked with 
 water on the knee, which occasioned much glee. 
 
 We tore our friends to pieces a little while. 
 
 M got one or two slaps that were very 
 
 unexpected to me. S and his new wife were 
 
 brushed up a little. I dine with them on Tuesday 
 at 7.45 and on Sunday at 7.30, if I have nothing 
 else, as the terms of the invitation kindly ran. 
 
 At 3.30 M came for me and Judge W 
 
 of Pennsylvania to go with him to the House of 
 Commons. At the door of Westminster Hall we 
 
 met Tom B. P ■, G 's successor, who, as 
 
 M found his party, suddenly increased by 
 
 K and F , rather cumbrous, took one 
 
 of them off his hands and got K into the 
 
 Speaker's gallery. P ■ was very robust and 
 
 hearty in his Americanism — rather too much so 
 to suit the public, conservative stomach of Judge 
 W , who is reaction and discontent personi- 
 fied. P took us into the crypt, where Guy 
 
 Fawkes collected his incendiary materials " to 
 blow us all up," he said. It is now a most 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 299 
 
 gorgeously ornate Chapel — too handsome to be 
 good for anything. 
 
 In the vestibule I met Lord E- , looking, 
 
 with his blazing head and whiskers, as if he " had 
 just come through hell with his hat off." We 
 
 talked a moment of Lord Lyons, and M 
 
 called me to follow him. He seems to have 
 great and unusual privileges in their Parliament 
 Houses : he took three of us to good seats upon 
 the floor, facing the Speaker, and giving a good 
 view of the whole house. The members sit on 
 either side of the hall on five benches running the 
 whole length of the room but cut in the middle 
 by a narrow gangway. The Speaker's chair is at 
 the end opposite the entrance. Three clerks sit 
 below, in front of him. The Reporters' gallery is 
 just above and behind him, and higher still the 
 ladies' boxes are railed off and you see them 
 dimly behind the railing like prisoners in the 
 gloomy twilight. Narrow galleries surround the 
 hall, but they are vacant. They are reserved for 
 members in case of a full house, something which 
 rarely happens. 
 
 On the government bench, to the right of the 
 Speaker, the most noticeable man was Disraeli, 
 who, since the very inception of the Reform Bill 
 
300 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 whicli is now near its passage, lias been constantly 
 at his post, defending, explaining and fighting for 
 the Government Measure. He has grown enor- 
 mously in the public estimation in this session. 
 It was a stroke of the shrewdest policy on the 
 part of the present Tory Government, having 
 gained office by defeating the Liberal Bill last 
 year, to keep it by carrying a more liberal one 
 this year. In the great fight now beginning 
 between privilege and democracy in England, the 
 Democrats will have need of all their skill and 
 discretion, for the aristocracy seem to perceive to 
 a great extent the meaning of the occasion, and 
 they will throw everything away in the fight that 
 does not seem essential. If the Republicans are 
 not distracted by false issues they will conquer at 
 last, by the force of numbers. But they must 
 make a good fight or suffer long delays. 
 
 While we were there, Disraeli, Gladstone, Fors- 
 ter, Newdegate and several others made short con- 
 versational talks. I was very much impressed 
 with their directness and simplicity of statement. 
 I think the exclusion of the public, by taking 
 away all temptation to display, has a very fine 
 effect on parliamentary oratory. Nothing could 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 301 
 
 be clearer and finer than Disraeli's and Glad- 
 stone's manner of stating their points. 
 
 The members sat with their hats on, taking 
 them ofi" when they rose to speak and replacing 
 them immediately afterwards. Many had their 
 feet on the back of the bench in front. Yet on 
 the whole their demeanor was very attentive and 
 respectful. They have a very decided way of 
 expressing their approbation or disapproval of the 
 member speaking. I admired Newdegate's cool- 
 ness in holding his own and talking unmoved by 
 a general growl of ill-natured comment, until the 
 Speaker called him to order. 
 
 There were a dozen or so very young fellows in 
 the Hall, who were, of course, the representatives 
 of their families. Among the most youthful look- 
 ing was Lord Amber^. , 
 
 The debate not being specially entertaining we 
 went over to the House of Lords. We came in 
 just behind the woolsack and took Our seats on 
 the steps of the Throne. The Lord Chancellor 
 was in his seat. In front of him the Clerks, on 
 either side, on benches, the Peers. The Govern- 
 ment occupying his right ; Lord Derby at their 
 head. Nearest us, on the right, were the spiritual 
 Lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury, an elderly 
 
302 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 and rather infirm-looking man; the Bishop of 
 Oxford, a fine, portly prelate, whose blue riband 
 made me think of a prize ox ; the Bishop of South 
 Wales and the Bishop of London. On our left 
 sat the Duke of Buccleuch, a stiff, dry Scotch- 
 man, with a wen on his forehead. Next to him 
 snored comfortably Viscount Sidney. Then came 
 Lord Stanhope. Then the Duke of Argyll, small 
 
 of stature and red of hair. M pointed out to 
 
 us the tall, slender, finicky Marquis of Bath, who 
 was severely nipped by the Cotton Loan; Earl 
 Powis, a smaller Forrest without the mustache; 
 the Duke of Richmond, a good-looking silver- 
 haired man ; Lord Stratford de Eedcliffe, a rather 
 undersized old gentleman, white-haired, bent, and 
 not in the least the grand manner that King- 
 lake fancies ; and the Duke of Buckingham and 
 Chandos, the most remarkable-looking nobleman 
 I ever saw — who looks in style, station, dress, 
 way of getting over the ground, face and features 
 like a brisk country grocer in New England. 
 Yet he is one of the best bloods that the English 
 stud can show and is a bright fellow besides, as the 
 plucky retrieval of his estates, ruined by the waste 
 of his father, shows. Bourgeois as he looks, he is 
 as proud as any one of his class, they say. The 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 303 
 
 Earl of Bradford is a good-looking, youngish 
 man. Lord Romilly and Lord Cairns, two recent 
 additions to the lower Lords, made short, sensible 
 speeches while we were there. 
 
 They adjourned rather early. One of the 
 gentlemen with black calves picked up the Mace, 
 another the Seal, a third the Lord Chancellor's 
 scattered papers and marched out before him in 
 solemn procession, a fourth following him and 
 holding up the tail of his gown. We saw them 
 safely under way and passed out the other way, 
 through the anteroom, where we saw the superb 
 marble of Gibson representing the Queen, sup- 
 ported by Justice and Grace. The room contains 
 also a great many royal portraits. As we went 
 out, we saw the Lord Chancellor coming solemnly 
 up the corridor. We dropped into the doorway 
 and the gorgeous pageant — little man staggering 
 under the Mace, stout man carrying the Seal, and 
 tall man bravely holding the tail of his Lordship's 
 coat — swept before our own stricken gaze. We 
 went out — again passing through the grand and 
 imposing hall of William Kufus. 
 
 In the evening a man named Y , a good- 
 hearted grain dealer from M , who has been 
 
 to Paris ten days and comes back bored to death 
 
304 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 because lie couldn't tell a cabman where to drive, 
 and wbo for that eminently satisfactory reason is 
 cutting short in a month a projected tour of a 
 year — the moral of which is, that before you go 
 to Paris you should ascertain what language 
 
 people speak there — Y , I say, took us to 
 
 Cremorne and the Alhambra — which are dreary 
 beyond the power of human tongue to describe. 
 Yet they were full of the same class one finds at 
 the Mabille and elsewhere, who have nothing 
 better in God's world to do. When we left the 
 Alhambra we passed down the Haymarket for 
 quarter of an hour. The streets were full of poor 
 old women and some not so old, painted, bedizened 
 and miserable. The Belgians just now overflow 
 the town and they were the objective point of 
 these poor, lost creatures to-night. The Beiges 
 seemed rather to enjoy the attention they received, 
 from which I conclude that the Belgian women 
 must be hideous, or that there is a charm in novel 
 ugliness. It was certainly in London that Pope 
 learned that "Vice is a monster of such frightful 
 mien," etc. 
 
 Saturday. W and I started out together 
 
 for a ramble. We went to S , where we saw 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 305 
 
 F , then to the Legation. Then walked down 
 
 Regent Street to Waterloo Place, skirting St. 
 James Park by the Horseguards, the Treasury 
 and the New Foreign Office to Westminster 
 Abbey. We lunched in a little shop over against 
 the Abbey on sandwiches and ale, for which we 
 paid, both of us, 6 pence. This economy put us 
 in high spirits and we attacked the Abbey with 
 good heart. Entering by the North porch I was 
 a little disappointed. The building is choked and 
 crowded by its several tablets fitting the space 
 between the columns of the aisles, and by the' 
 introduction of the choir forward of the transept. 
 But the great enchantment of the place remains. 
 Kare Ben Jonson and Garrick and Thackeray and 
 the rest, and the busts of the greatest. Andre's 
 alto-relief with Washington's head knocked off 
 and pasted on again. Lamb accused Southey of 
 doing ; Milton's name at the head of a long list 
 of titles of a well-meaning snob who placed his 
 monument there, and the herd of magnificent 
 cenotaphs and epitaphs of the illustrious obscure, 
 were the little farces that relieve the more solemn 
 suggestions of the place. When I came to the 
 extreme west end and got a better view of the 
 superb proportions of the nave I was consoled for 
 20 
 
306 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 my former disappointment. It is hard to imagine 
 anything finer. 
 
 We went out into the muggy daylight and 
 tossed up a penny to see if we should go to Hyde 
 Park or the River. There was some attraction in 
 the running water, I presume. The denarian 
 oracle said Eiver. We walked to Westminster 
 Bridge and then took passage to London Bridge, 
 as the clouds looked minatory. They kept their 
 evil promise, for the rain began to fall as we 
 came near to Southwark Bridge, " which is of 
 iron," the haunt of Gaffer Hexam. We hurried 
 ashore and loafed till the rain ceased, in the Can- 
 non Street Station. Then took a cab for Charing 
 and embarked again for Greenwich. This river 
 omnibus is the pleasantest thing I know in the 
 way of city locomotion. I wonder they have 
 never adopted it in Paris. We had a fine view as 
 we passed, of Whitehall Gardens, Somerset House, 
 The Temple, The Tower, and the long lines of 
 docks and warehouses that stretch from London 
 Bridge to the Isle of Dogs. In half an hour we 
 were at Greenwich. We ordered dinner at the 
 Ship Tavern and strolled around the hospital 
 buildings, first built for the weak lungs and the 
 dyspeptic stomach of William III, who could not 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 307 
 
 stand the foul air of London, but abandoned on 
 the death of his wife, Queen Mary, and given up 
 to the crippled sailors. Thus is humanity some- 
 times reconciled to the sorrows of kings. 
 
 Our dinner was to me unique. It consisted 
 entirely of fish. Beginning with matelotte of eels, 
 it went on with fried cutlets of salmon with picca- 
 lilli sauce, which we rejected because it tasted 
 fishy, and ending with the specialite of the place, 
 Whitebait, plain, and devilled. The peculiarity 
 of this appetizing little beast is, that you can eat 
 all day without getting tired. We finished about 
 a peck of the plain, and our appetites scarcely 
 needed the spur of the cayenne pepper to induce 
 them to do justice to the devil. 
 
 We sat in the mellow sunset on the garden ter- 
 race and looked up and down the river. The day 
 was hazy and the distant ships looked dim and 
 ghostly in the vague far mist that hid the town. 
 The sun, near its setting, poured a long, blazing 
 lane of light over the still water which was 
 tangled in the rigging and sails of the ships that 
 lay at anchor before us. The exquisite harmony 
 seemed to embrace the bright red of the sunlight, 
 the blue waters, the white sails and the green gun- 
 wales of the little boats. At intervals the river 
 
308 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 steamers dashed by like wild, graceful creatures 
 of the wave. Solitary oarsmen rowed their slim 
 wherries over the light into the hazy distance. 
 Oub shellboats dashed along, their crews rising 
 and weaving in perfect cadence. The misty haze 
 that covered the scene was too thick for the 
 cloudy splendors of our sunsets, but a strange and 
 beautiful effect was created by this rosy veil of 
 failing sunlight fading away on either side into 
 the gray, mysterious horizon. In the grandeur of 
 this uncertain light we came back to town. 
 
 July 14, Sunday. Went to morning service at 
 the Church of All Saints, the new Eitualistic 
 church in Margaret Street, a beautiful and 
 unusual-looking building, crowded into a space 
 too small for it, and looking very uncomfortable 
 there. The crowd was very great : every inch of 
 sitting and standing room was taken. The service 
 was very finely given. The priests had rather 
 poor voices, but the choir was good and the whole 
 congregation joined in the hymn with fine effect. 
 
 In the afternoon I went with W to the 
 
 Temple. We were too early and passed a pleasant 
 half hour in rambling around the walks and 
 gardens of that venerable pile. A series of light 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 309 
 
 sliowers were falling, compelling us to dodge 
 under arches and doorways like vagrant cats. We 
 got good enough seats, just outside the rail, among 
 the industrial classes, while the nobs who had 
 orders sat inside and lost the effect of the fine, 
 harmonious nave. The singing was superb. The 
 sermon, a sensible and gentlemanlike talk about 
 Judas. 
 
 "We came away sorry to leave the quaint old 
 place, with its exquisite tesselated floors, its 
 arches where the Gothic is dawning, its grim 
 bronze Templars asleep in full mail until God 
 loosens over sea and land the thunder of the 
 trumpets of the night. 
 
 I dined at Mr. A s'. We talked among 
 
 other things of the late extraordinary recantation 
 
 speech of Earl E . A says R has 
 
 been always in his way our friend. G has 
 
 not; has been led away by his impulses now 
 and then. 
 
 A thinks D has forced the present 
 
 bill on the Tory party, that he has led them the 
 devil's own rigadoon of a dance. If so, I take 
 back all the credit I have given them for shrewd- 
 ness and sagacity and transfer it all to Dizzy 
 himself. 
 
310 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Then A gave a most humorous account of 
 
 the visit of the Prince of Wales to the Monitor. 
 
 They evidently dislike F at No. 54. I 
 
 hardly know why. 
 
 July 15. This morning I went to call on Mr. 
 
 M , who has been here a day or two. (I shall 
 
 never have any more doubt as to the long, involved 
 question, whether it hurts a man to cut off his 
 head. It hurts like the devil.) 
 
 He received me very coolly and stiffly — not 
 speaking a word in reply to my salutation. He 
 answered in the dryest and briefest way my ques- 
 tions about his family. I asked when he had left 
 Vienna, and he began to talk. He grew almost 
 hysterical in his denunciation of the " disgusting, 
 nasty outrage of his being turned out." His 
 resignation has been forced from him by a trick 
 and then snapped at, to give the place to some- 
 body else. " But the crowning insult of all was 
 his recent letter of recall." 
 
 He evidently thought that the Senate was going 
 to keep him in by rejecting all nominees, and was 
 bitterly disappointed at the turn things had taken. 
 He wanted to stay at Vienna a few years more to 
 make the necessary researches in the archives 
 there for his history of the Thirty Years' War. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 311 
 
 He said S liad committed a great blunder 
 
 in throwing away a friend. He seems most 
 bitter on tbe recent correspondence, in which 
 his resignation is accepted without any further 
 words. 
 
 He says the Baron von B wrote a despatch 
 
 to W , strongly laudatory of him (M.) and 
 
 directing him to oflfer his services as a mediator, 
 if possible, to fix the thing up. 
 
 "We talked an hour or so. As it is not possible 
 to justify entirely the conduct of the Government 
 in this matter, I did not attempt that, but ex- 
 plained to M how I thought he was mistaken 
 
 in imputing it to any hostility on S- 's part. 
 
 S 's utter indifference to attacks and his phil- 
 osophic calmness under abuse, I think, render him 
 a little indifferent to the sufferings of his sensitive 
 fellow creatures under the same inflictions. He 
 
 never dreamed that M would take that letter 
 
 in such dudgeon, though it must be admitted that 
 it was a frightful one for a gentleman to write 
 or to receive. 
 
 After an hour's talk Mr. M. grew very much 
 more sociable and we parted in quite a cordial 
 manner. 
 
 I walked through the National Gallery and 
 
312 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 saw for the first time Turner. I would go to him 
 very often if I lived in London. 
 
 Left a card on S and came home in a 
 
 smart little shower, to which I did not object, as 
 it justified my umbrella. 
 
 On the 18th of July, 1867, Fred W and 
 
 I started for the southwestern railway station, 
 main line, intending to visit 
 
 Salisbury and Stonehenge. 
 
 We got to the station exactly in time. W 
 
 bought the tickets and I had the baggage labelled, 
 they have no checks in England, and we got our 
 seats just as the whistle blew. W was light- 
 ing a cigar as the Guard looked in and said, " you 
 can't smoke in there." I breathed a sigh of relief 
 until he added in hope of a tip, " you can smoke 
 in the next compartment." W joyfully fol- 
 lowed the suggestion and I followed like a lamb. 
 There was a stout Briton in that carriage of whom 
 W^ — — asked leave civilly. " Of course," said 
 the jolly Briton, " what's the use of travelling if 
 you can't smoke " — so they both lighted their 
 weeds and poisoned the pure air for half an hour 
 or so in sweet, dumb sympathy. The fool masonry 
 of blowing clouds together thawed out the Yankee 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 313 
 
 and tlie Englishman, and I gained from their 
 lively chat that we passed by Hampton Court and 
 Wellington College for the support and education 
 of soldiers' children, an enormous building on the 
 right : then on the left the new Micropolis, a 
 graveyard laid out on a barren heath, intended to 
 serve as the future accommodation of the dying 
 Londoners, its cheapness being expected to un- 
 derbid the convenient but expensive city grave- 
 yards, " and Westminster Abbey is getting too 
 common, you know." We rattled by Aldershot 
 and Wimbledon common, the headquarters respec- 
 tively of the regulars and the militia of England. 
 We came to Overton, where a great sheep fair was 
 being held upon the top of a neighboring hill. 
 Around the platform stood great numbers of 
 drovers and sheep raisers. I could not help 
 remarking what a different crowd that would 
 have been in America. Here they were clean, 
 decent, stolid fellows, dressed as befitted their 
 vocation, talking little, walking very slowly or 
 standing in quiet groups. In America, you would 
 have seen nervous, quick movement, or utter rest ! 
 Loud talking, or whistling, or whittling, or some 
 more decided way of passing the time. The old 
 Church of Basing Stoke gave us a beautiful ruin 
 
314 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 as we passed. "We arrived at Salisbury about 
 noon. I knew we were tbere, for towering aloft 
 into the clear, summer sky stood that airy and 
 elegant spire, whicb gives to the city all its style 
 and character. 
 
 We drove to the White Hart Hotel and were 
 shown by a round, fresh, hearty girl to our room, 
 which, to our delight, still gave us a view of the 
 spire. We took luncheon, the tenderest round of 
 cold roast beef, the whitest bread, the clearest ale, 
 and then took a fly for Stonehenge. We drove 
 through the quaint old town, gleefully pointing 
 out the queer fronts and shrug-shouldered gables 
 on the streets like children over new toys. There 
 is nothing that children like so much as that 
 which differs widely from their everyday food. 
 There seemed in Salisbury to be no corrupting 
 trace of the nineteenth century. Out of the town 
 we passed into the fresh and fragrant country 
 lanes. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Vienna, September 2, 1867. 
 
 This place is as bad as Paris. It is 
 
 dearer than I thought it would be in some 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 315 
 
 respects, cheaper in others. I have an apartment 
 of three good rooms, kitchen and servant's room, 
 for which I pay 1500 florins a year. The florin 
 is worth from forty to forty-eight cents, according 
 to the fluctuation in gold. 
 
 The great luxury is music — this is cheap, also. 
 One of the Strauss family leads in the Volks- 
 garten several times a week, admission forty kreut- 
 zers, — not twenty cents. Or, you can cool your 
 nose on the bars of the enclosure and hear it for 
 nothing — if you are not beamier. The opera is 
 good — the only ballet I ever saw that was not a 
 bore. Faust was superbly given a few nights 
 
 ago. Mr. M has a box and has given me 
 
 the reversion of it till October, in the which I 
 am luxurious. The acting is very fine also in 
 the Hofburg Theatre, the classic, — and Offenbach 
 is lord over all in the other show-houses. Blue 
 Beard, Belle Helene, and the Grand Duchess have 
 delighted the town for the last fortnight 
 
 You ought to come and see this town. The 
 asses say, as the asses say everywhere, that it 
 is very unpleasant in summer — that the winter 
 is the time. But if a man be not an ass, he knows 
 there never was a town north of the tropics that 
 was not pleasanter in summer than in winter. 
 
316 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 The suburbs of tbis town — the environs ratber — 
 are very beautiful. I spend most of my Sundays 
 in the mountains and valleys of this cbain of tbe 
 Tyrols tbat seems to have been caught and tamed 
 into a wild pleasure ground. 
 
 I do nothing but read German. There is 
 
 nothing to do here. L says there never was 
 
 anything. He is a fine fellow, — lives like a bour- 
 geois prince ; received me cordially and took 
 great pains to make me comfortable. He is in 
 now, I think. 
 
 Mr. M took leave as Minister June 14, 
 
 and G. A. L , Secretary of Legation, was in 
 
 charge, until relieved by John Hay, who became 
 Charge (U affaires ad interim, 20 August. 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 Vienna, September 8, 1867. 
 To-day was a great festival. They have grown, 
 even in the month I have been here, so common 
 that I take no note of them. The people, who 
 seem in the main a rather industrious community, 
 yet seize with the greatest avidity on all excuses 
 for leaving their work. On these festival days 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 317 
 
 the whole town shuts up shop and goes to the 
 country. They eat a good dinner, drink a great 
 deal of beer, and smoke many cigars, and the 
 economies of the week vanish in the enjoyments 
 of a day. When they go off" on these excursions 
 they are very sensible about it, enjoying them- 
 selves in a most hearty and naive way. They do 
 not seem to need the excitement that the Parisians 
 crave or demand. They are contented to lie on 
 the grass and look at the white clouds, to loaf 
 through the balsamic woods, to live and let the 
 world roll on. They break very easily into 
 groups of two and are not ashamed to let the 
 world into the confidence of their tender sen- 
 timents. 
 
 To-day's fete fell on a Sunday, and the holiday 
 was therefore considered rather a swindle by the 
 easy-going people, who want no cumulation of 
 idle days, but insist on taking them in detail. 
 Crowding two holidays into one was, as Charles 
 Lamb once said, " an economy unworthy of the 
 Dispensation." But it laid the obligation on 
 every soul in Vienna to give the day up to 
 indolence. I never saw a town so utterly idle 
 as Vienna to-day. A New England village on 
 Sunday is as still, but there is the earnest Sunday 
 
318 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 work going on ; the Church, and the Sunday 
 School, and the reading and the singing, fill up 
 these sacred hours and leave no time for mere 
 loafing. But the few Viennese that staid in town 
 were purely idle. I saw them sitting like slouchy 
 statues in the parks, dawdling on the quais, posi- 
 tively leaning against the shady walls of houses, 
 because they were too lazy to find a seat. I saw 
 one stalwart young porter asleep on a bench, his 
 arms on the bundle he was carrying, his pipe 
 clenched firmly in his teeth. 
 
 I saw in a little paper this morning that the 
 Belvedere was open to-day. I went there, but 
 was punished for my weak credence in a Vienna 
 paper, by finding that the all-powerful Fest had 
 shut the doors of the gallery. So I went away 
 from the southern doors inclined to be critical ; 
 and my mood was justified by the first thing my 
 eyes lit upon, the two swaybacked horses that 
 ramp before the palace in an attitude suggesting 
 a sudden attack of mollities ossium. A man who 
 has once seen and thoroughly studied the Marly 
 horses at the gates of the Champs Elysees, has 
 his judgment formed and his verdict forestalled 
 for any other horses that ever have been cast or 
 hewn. All the other rampant horses I have ever 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 31 9 
 
 seen impress me as imperfect imitations, or des- 
 perate variations of the incomparable marbles of 
 Couston. 
 
 The Belvedere is a pretty palace and placed on 
 a fine eminence commanding a fine view of the 
 city, the audacious tower of St. Steplian's forming 
 an elegant center to the picture. In front is a 
 stiff and formal garden, covering, with frequent 
 terraces and fine marble stairways, the descent 
 from the palace to the tower Belvedere. This is 
 intersected by neatly gravelled paths, of which the 
 entrances are guarded by smiling sphynxes about 
 whom there is nothing to suggest either mystery 
 or cruelty. About half way down the garden, 
 tasteful stairways on either side are adorned with 
 twelve statues of children representing the months 
 of the year, entirely original in conception and 
 most graceful and pleasing in attitude and exe- 
 cution. The ascending view of the upper Bel- 
 vedere, from the south front of the lower, is full 
 of grace and dignity. 
 
 I think I shall be friends with the Belvedere. 
 I spent a day there some weeks ago to get the 
 " hang of the school house " (a Western boy who 
 had never learned his letters, on his first day at 
 school was asked by the schoolmistress if he could 
 
320 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 read. He replied, with the spirit of Western 
 pluck, he reckoned he could as soon as he got the 
 hang of the schoolhouse). I went through, rather 
 hurriedly of course, and have not yet entirely 
 selected my favorites. I found food for my new 
 love of Rubens, whom I detested in Paris, but 
 to whom I have made reverent recantation since 
 Antwerp. In fact, the picture I was most curious 
 to see was his Helen Forman, that odd and 
 fantastic, artistic pillorying of a pretty woman's 
 immodest fancy and a husband's proud and 
 sensual love, for the disrespectful admiration of 
 all coming time. But when, after long searching, 
 I came to the place where it should be, I found 
 a black frame on the wall and the number of 
 the picture mocking me with its absence. I asked 
 where was the picture. The attendant Mein- 
 gotted and did not know. I walked through the 
 galleries, in another room I found some works 
 of Rubens : one of which is catalogued " Die vier 
 Welttheile," in which a suckling tigress in 
 the corner is enough to drive Landseer to despair. 
 The versatility of this man Rubens is his most 
 wonderful quality. But I was cross about the 
 Helen Forman. As I went down to the Erd- 
 geschoss I saw some easels in the west end and 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 321 
 
 following my nose, whicli flared game, I came 
 before long to the object of my search. It stood 
 in a good light by a window and next it was a 
 very good copy just finished. I felt as glad as if 
 I had found a lucky stone. So she stood, those 
 centuries ago, before her fond, jolly husband, to 
 whom Art was its own excuse in everything. You 
 can see in the pretty, naive face, with its great blue 
 eyes, full yet of childish wonder, framed in those 
 splendid, crisp locks of gold, the struggle of love 
 and vanity against natural modesty. She snatches 
 up the artist's furred cloak and wraps it round her 
 with a quick, coquettish grace — and all the warring 
 sentiments are appeased. They are as old as 
 Eden, the vanity, the sensualism, the suggestive 
 concealment. And as she stands thus, in that 
 attitude when grace and awkwardness, are, as in all 
 real women, so charmingly blended, the fond eye 
 of the Artist husband catches the fleeting loveli- 
 ness and fixes it forever. The sweet, artless, spoiled- 
 child face that we know so well, that walks with 
 Rubens in the garden in the Pinocothek at 
 Munich, that goes sailing up to Heaven in the 
 Altar piece at Antwerp, and stands on the volet of 
 her husband's stupendous Avork, The Descent from 
 the Cross, is here most exquisitely drawn, and the 
 21 
 
322 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 enamoured artist revels in the red and white and 
 blue and gold, of cheeks, lips, hair and eyes. 
 And yet you see he loves no less the soft, round, 
 pink knees and the fat, white feet. 
 
 You are glad Rubens had such a wife, and very 
 glad he did not marry your sister. 
 
 But I was talking about something else. I was 
 walking this afternoon out in the Josephstadt and 
 saw a crowd in the Lerchenfeld Strasse. There 
 was music, and the idle Viennese seemed wide 
 awake in the neighborhood. I went up to see 
 what it was all about, being also idle and a Vien- 
 nese pro hac vice, and I came just in time to see a 
 religious procession go by. Monks in dozens with 
 shaved heads, the first honest shaved heads I have 
 ever seen, all sorts of ecclesiastical supes, with 
 candles, that flickered in the wind and went out. 
 Some lit them conscientiously and shaded them 
 with their hands. Others marched on stolidly, 
 careless of appearances, with shameless black wicks. 
 Six expensive-looking fellows carried a heavily 
 embroidered baldaquin, six more lighted them 
 with gorgeous red lamps. Under the baldaquin 
 walked a very pompous party who from time to 
 time stopped the procession and made a remark 
 or so in an unknown tongue : upon which the 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 323 
 
 whole procession and the majority of the bystanders 
 ducked, beat their breasts and moaned as if in 
 severe indigestion. A smell of incense filled the 
 air, which to me always has an odor of good 
 company, I don't know why. I took ofi" my hat 
 with the rest, and was grateful for the incense and 
 the music. 
 
 I believe Austria is the only country on earth 
 where the priests wear top boots. It gives them a 
 remarkably rakish and knowing air. They feel 
 their oats more plainly here than anywhere in the 
 world. 
 
 The Church is enormously rich and has thus far 
 succeeded in retaining its vast possessions free from 
 the requisitions of the sorely pressed and almost 
 bankrupt government. In Vienna nearly every- 
 one of the great religious orders are still in full 
 possession of the vast estates acquired by their 
 predecessors in the middle ages. The Schottenhof, 
 a reminiscence of the Scotch Benedictines of the 
 twelfth century, the Molkenhof and others are 
 little cities of themselves. The liberals, there are 
 a few liberals here, are very bitter upon this 
 non-producing and all-consuming body. 
 
 A few days ago a convention of school teachers 
 was held here — the first of the kind ever seen in 
 
324 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 "Vienna. Like all beginnings, the character was 
 rather rude and raw. But one most promising 
 sign was that it spoke out freely and boldly upon 
 the question that underlies all education — freedom 
 from religious or political trammels. It is to be 
 hoped that under the dead and decaying life of 
 Austria, new forms of intellectual vigor and 
 activity are preparing among the people, to rebuild 
 and save the nation, after the storm of the coming 
 revolution has destroyed the useless forms of the 
 past, and swept the field clean for the future. 
 
 Sept. 9. The present heavily embarrassed con- 
 dition of the Austrian finances naturally calls the 
 attention of the people to these vast riches of the 
 Church, and of late the impression has gained 
 ground that the State must receive some financial 
 help from the plethoric ecclesiastical establishment. 
 There is as yet very little talk of compulsory 
 measures. These are in fact denied in the official 
 journals. But it is thought possible that the 
 Emperor himself may make a solemn appeal to 
 the Church for a free will offering to the Treasury. 
 It would be disastrous if the Church should have 
 the wit to take advantage of this juncture to lay 
 upon themselves a free tax, and trade the sums 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 325 
 
 thus easily raised against a re-affirmation of the 
 Concordat. 
 
 The existence of this incubus is now seriously- 
 menaced. It is improbable that it can much 
 longer continue to oppress and crush the life of 
 this nation. 
 
 The Church is making frantic efforts to save it. 
 In the mountains of the Tyrol, petitions for its 
 preservation are circulated for signatures, and even 
 now a Catholic convention is sitting in Innsbruck, 
 for the purpose, as stated by their organ, Tiroler 
 Stimme, " Den lieben Herrgott wieder in seinem 
 lichte ihm zu sitzen." They are sitting in a hall 
 adorned with statues of Francis Joseph and the 
 Immaculate Conception, and the walls are hung 
 with crucifixes and the Imperial Shields of 
 Austria. The toothless old giant that Bunyan 
 set away out of the active field of fight two 
 centuries ago, has still wit enough to make the 
 proudest monarchy of earth hew his wood and 
 draw his water. 
 
 As I go in the early morning to take my plunge 
 and splash in the Danube water in Leopold Stadt, 
 I walk through the Tiefen Graben, the deep ditch 
 which marks the site of the ancient moat of the 
 
326 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 outer fortress of tlie city. At the corner of tlie 
 Strauch Gasse and the Freyung, stands at the 
 angle of Monte Novo's palace, a sanguinary- 
 looking infidel flourishing a malignant cimeter. 
 This marks the spot when in John Smith's time, 
 our friend John who married into one of the first 
 families of Virginia — I prefer Brougham's version 
 to the historical one — stood a baker's shop. John 
 may sometimes have refreshed exhausted nature 
 there after the slaughter of his baker's dozen of 
 Turks, who were encamped just outside the wall, 
 upon the famed Viennese Semmels and Spritz 
 Krapfen. One night the bakers, preparing the 
 city's breakfast at midnight, heard the shovels and 
 pickaxes of the enterprising Musselmen, under 
 their feet. They had mined thus far under the 
 wall and into the city. The bakers gave the alarm 
 and the Turks were cut off and crushed, caught 
 as I have often caught moles, by sticking a spade 
 into his hill just behind him. 
 
 The Tiefen Graben is so far below the average 
 level of the city that about half way down its 
 length, Wipplinger Strasse strides far above it in 
 the air. In the T. G. you wonder what that 
 Suspension Bridge is for, and in Wipplinger 
 Strasse you gaze with amazement at the men and 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 327 
 
 wagons burrowing at the bottom of tbe ditch. 
 The Tiefen Graben runs into the Gestade, and out 
 of this dark, foul and utterly ignoble place starts 
 the Talzgries, which runs for a few hundred paces 
 and ends in the broad, bright, garish sunshine and 
 wide daylight of the Donau Arm. 
 
 Along this unclean street rolls an endless tide 
 of Polish Jews continually supplied by little 
 rivulets running down from the Judenplatz and 
 the culs de sac of that neighborhood, not running, 
 but trickling down the steep, stone bed of the 
 canons called Fischer Stiege and Marien Stiege and 
 Wachtel Gasse, Quail Alley. These squalid veins 
 and arteries of impoverished and degenerate blood 
 are very fascinating to me. I have never seen a 
 decent person in those alleys or on those slippery 
 stairs. But everywhere stooping, dirty figures in 
 long, patched and oily black gaberdines of every 
 conceivable material, the richest the shabbiest 
 usually, because oldest and most used, covering 
 the slouching, creeping form, from the round 
 shoulders to the splay, shufl9.ing feet. A battered 
 soft felt hat crowns the oblique, indolent, crafty 
 face, and what is most offensive of all, a pair of 
 greasy curls dangle in front of the pendulous ears. 
 This coquetry of hideousness is most nauseous. 
 
328 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 The old Puritan who wrote in Barebones' time 
 on the " Unloveliness of love locks " could here 
 have either found full confirmation of his criticism 
 or turned with disgust from his theme. What 
 they are all doing is the wonder. They stand 
 idle and apathetic in the sunshine, or gather 
 in silent, or chatty groups of three or four, take 
 snuflf and blow their aquiline noses in chorus on 
 dubious brown handkerchiefs. They have utterly 
 revolutionized my ideas of the Hebrew. In 
 America we always say rich as a Jew, because 
 even if a Jew is poor he is so brisk, so sharp and 
 enterprising that he is sure to make money 
 eventually. But these slouching rascals are as 
 idle as they are ugly. It occurred to me that it 
 might be these long coats that keep them down in 
 life, and that the next generation if put early into 
 roundabouts might be spry fellows. But the 
 Jesuits moved the world in their long coats. I 
 suppose the curse of the nation has lit on these 
 fellows especially. 
 
 All this quarter is subject to them apparently, 
 for the little, obscure shops in the blind alleys have 
 Hebrew signs. This was another shock to me. 
 Think of tallow and onions advertised in a corner 
 grocery in the sublime and mysterious characters 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 329 
 
 in which the tables of the law were carved. I saw 
 that this morning. 
 
 To-night I walked again through those blind 
 alleys and swarming streets. The veil of darkness 
 made the crowd more easy and confidential. The 
 noise of traffic was over, but the small hucksters 
 were busy shovelling their green peaches and 
 astringent pears into baskets, or cooping up their 
 melancholy chickens and ducks that seemed 
 heavyhearted and humiliated that the day had 
 passed and they were not stewed. The talk in the 
 streets was noisier and freer, the dinner and the 
 darkness had loosened these awkward tongues. 
 Porters and charwomen stood in discreet corners 
 and squeezed each others' hard fingers. The same 
 mysterious Hebrews glided by, a little brisker as 
 the night gathered and loafing time was shortened. 
 In the Gestade I came across a group of little 
 Goths who had pulled off their trousers and were 
 lashing each other merrily with them. Old 
 women sat dozing on their doorsteps too tired to 
 rest well ; almost always alone. Their men were 
 dead or off to the beer shops. While the women 
 are young, they go with them. But with age 
 comes with them only the brute's drudgery and 
 the brute's repose. Under the shadow of the tall 
 
330 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 black bulk of Mary-Stairs Church, young women 
 sat in silence with shabby and ignoble-looking 
 men. And overhead, between the high walls of 
 the narrow streets, you could see as clear and dark 
 blue patches of sky, as if you stood on the icy 
 spire of the Matterhorn. 
 
 Sept. 10, 1867. They talk in Prussia, in the 
 interest of peace, always, of substituting Prince 
 de E for C. v. d. G at Paris, to counter- 
 act the strong personal amiability of M . 
 
 When will these old children here learn that it is 
 a positive disadvantage to have their Minister 
 " beloved " at a foreign Court ! Napoleon is not 
 
 much of a man, yet he twisted his friend M 
 
 around his gouty fingers, while old G , whom 
 
 he hated, bullied him out of his wits whenever he 
 got sight at him. 
 
 Garibaldi at the Geneva Peace Congress makes 
 a war speech ! This is bold and fine. The old 
 man has not long to live and he will go up with 
 a flash. He loved liberty and peace so well 
 that he is willing to fight for them. He hates 
 war — as a doctor hates drugs, but he uses it, for 
 the good of the world. He ought to free Rome, 
 if Rome is worth freeing? and then die. His short 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 331 
 
 cuts, by the compass of abstract right, over the 
 field of Government and law are too destructive 
 to the Fetishes for him to lead a quiet life even in 
 Italy free. John Brown is a saint now. Had he 
 lived he would have been a malignant Ead, and 
 people would have tired of him. In America the 
 current of national life is so healthy, that one 
 man cannot disturb it. So that our revolutionists 
 do not hurt anything. Error and truth, as we 
 regard them, must never have full course. We 
 must take both diluted. 
 
 Sept. 11, 1867. Heard to-night Minna von 
 Barnhelm at the Burg. It was well played by 
 
 S , whom the ladies loved because of his good 
 
 legs, by LaE, who is said to be a son of 
 
 Goethe and who really resembles him strikingly ; 
 
 by M and Schone. Either a majority of the 
 
 audience understood French or they were well- 
 bred enough to seem to, for in the long scene 
 between Minna and Eiccault de la Mortimere 
 they listened with the same quiet attention which 
 they always give to the play. The women were 
 Bognar and Schneeberger — the former good, but 
 gaspy and the latter first rate. Baumeister was 
 excellent as the Wachtmeister. 
 
332 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 Kiccaut calls cheating at cards, " corriger la 
 fortune." 
 
 There is too much talk in the German plays to 
 suit us. 
 
 The liberals here would not in the least gain if 
 Garibaldi smashed the temporal power in Rome. 
 It would relieve them at once of the Concordat, 
 they think. 
 
 Saphir once was advised by a friend to take 
 measures against the cholera that had just 
 appeared in Europe and was expected in Vienna. 
 " Bah ! not yet," he said, " Vienna is a century 
 behind the rest of the world in everything." 
 
 Sept. 12, 1867. The papers find it as hard to 
 get at the kernel of the King of Prussia's throne 
 speech, as Balzac's monkey to get at the nut. 
 Baden has done all the talking necessary for the 
 present. All that is necessary for Prussia is to be 
 steady. 
 
 Sept. 13, 1867. I am mentioned in the Freuen- 
 den Blatt as " Der Amerikanische Minister Camel 
 Hey." That looks deliciously oriental : I can 
 imagine myself in a Burnous and yellow shoes. 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 333 
 
 Began to-day to study the substratum of 
 Viennese life. 
 
 The Peace Congress breaks up with some ill- 
 feeling. 
 
 Sept. 14, 1867. J P. B , our Secretary 
 
 of Legation at Constantinople, called to-day and 
 talked an hour or so. His long residence in 
 Turkey has almost made a Turk of him. He 
 espouses heartily the Turkish cause, berates Russia 
 soundly for the secret interventions in Greece and 
 
 the principalities, and denounces M S 
 
 for the aid and comfort they give to the enemy 
 in Candia. He says these two officers are in very 
 bad odor with the Turkish Government ; that 
 matters have several times approached an open 
 rupture. He said that the Pasha Ali complained 
 
 to him of M having " Chante les victoires de 
 
 ces sujets la sur nos troupes." S is of course 
 
 a hearty Hellenist. 
 
 B has written a book on the Dervishes 
 
 which is being printed in London. He gave me 
 a little resume of it which seems curious. 
 
 His boy came to me at the opera in the evening. 
 He is a very accomplished linguist. Is educated 
 by the State Department. 
 
334 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Sept. 15. The Prince of Waldeck Pyrmont 
 gives up his realm to Prussia, retaining his church 
 interest and his resources. He is playing sovereign 
 on half pay. 
 
 King Lear at the Burg. A general dead level 
 of respectable acting that was very dreary in effect. 
 I remembered Forrest's storms and tempests of 
 passion — often overdone, sometimes in bad taste, 
 but always full of wonderful spirit and inexhaust- 
 ible physical energy ; and the careful and some- 
 what lachrymose style of Wagner suffered very 
 much by the comparison. The Schlegel text, 
 though very correct and scholarly, is not Shake- 
 speare. There is not a word of Shakespeare that 
 can well be altered now. The blast of his mighty 
 thought sweeping through his words for three 
 centuries has attuned them to an immortal and 
 perfect harmony. 
 
 I was very curious to see Shakespeare in Ger- 
 man. It is certainly very fine. But I shall not 
 go often. 
 
 Literature is considered here rather a low 
 business. If a noble is clever and can write 
 verses, he is very proud of it, but as a gentleman 
 is proud of being able to dance a clog dance or 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 335 
 
 play the banjo well. So they never put their 
 names to their poems, but have a literary name, 
 which is kept rigidly distinct from the one that 
 bears sixteen quarterings. Count Anton is Anas- 
 
 tasius Griin — Baron M B is Fried 
 
 Hahn. 
 
 Sept. 18. Last night I saw a remarkably fine 
 performance of Robert le Diahle at the Opera. 
 The more I see of this work of Meyerbeer's 
 the more I am convinced that for men standing 
 on my musical plane this is the greatest Opera yet 
 written. I am willing to shut my eyes and admit 
 that Fidelia and Don Juan are finer considered in 
 the light of abstract poetic truth. But Robert 
 comes home harder than anything I have ever 
 heard. It is not cheap effect — no one dare say 
 that. It is as pure and scholarly as anybody's 
 work. Yet from the uproarious camp scene in the 
 beginning to the final psalm of holy triumph at 
 the close, there is not a note that palls upon the 
 attention of the hearer. It is a high and classic 
 state of music "brought home to the meanest 
 capacity." I think a great deal is due to the 
 superb scaffolding that Scribe had erected for 
 Meyerbeer to build his great conceptions by. 
 
336 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 There is a vast variety of scenes and pictures 
 embracing almost a panorama of human life and 
 passion. The Camp, the Court, the Grave, are the 
 scenes where we are led. Men drink, sing, gamble, 
 love, hate, and pray. The devil plays upon the 
 hearts of men as upon the keys of a piano. 
 Heaven and Hell fight a grim duel for the soul 
 of Kobert and in this ghastly contest, material 
 love strives leagued with the light, against the 
 Devil and the Father. And all this is combined 
 with perfect taste and a masterly subordination of 
 accessories to the main purpose. 
 
 One great attraction of the play to the parterre 
 was Fraulein Lucas, who danced the part of the 
 seductive Helen in the uncanny graveyard scene. 
 The public estimate this young woman much 
 higher than the K. K. management of the Opera. 
 She is relegated usually to third or fourth rate 
 parts, but gets more applause than the prime ladies. 
 She cannot dance, to speak of, but she is young, 
 flexible and sinuous as a snake, with a pretty, jolly, 
 mutine face, and whirls and writhes in passionate 
 contortions that remind us we are on the border- 
 line of civilization and that just at our door are 
 the mysteries, the languors, and the splendors of 
 the Orient. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 337 
 
 Sept. 20. An old man was to-day sentenced to 
 eighteen months in prison for Majestatsbeleidi- 
 gung. When asked if he were satisfied he said : 
 " Ja, das ist gerade genug, ich kiiss die Hand fur die 
 Strafe." He had committed the offence to get his 
 living in jail. 
 
 HAY TO ALBERT RHODES. 
 
 Legation of the United States, Vienna. 
 September 25, 1867. 
 
 MY DEAR RHODES : 
 
 You know I love you, but you never write a 
 letter without some offensive insinuation in it. 
 When I started home before, you said I was after 
 an "orifice" — though the Lord knows you lied. 
 I can never prove it because the facts are against 
 me. But I did not ask for it — and had been 
 appointed nearly a month, before, in my out of 
 the way den, I ever heard of it. 
 
 Now I am going home again and as lightning 
 never strikes twice in the same spot, it is safe to 
 conclude that they will not offer me another place, 
 I shall not ask for one unless I get very hungry 
 and the chickens roost too high in my neighbor- 
 hood for stealing. 
 22 
 
338 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 I sail in a week or so. I am working like the 
 d to get off and stall accomplisli it. 
 
 I am anxiously awaiting the appearance of your 
 novel. There is a dead calm now in letters and 
 you could not have a better time to speak with 
 the certainty of being heard. 
 
 P made me a flying visit the other day. 
 
 We may possibly go home together. He spoke 
 of you and old times in Parigi O Cara. 
 
 If in future years you ever drift up the Miss- 
 issippi (you are so cross-grained that you will 
 never float with the stream) and come to my 
 humble ranch, I will comfort you with apples and 
 stay you with flagons — and you will confess how 
 much better and decenter is the life of a laboring 
 man with honest content, than the vicious pleasures 
 and hollow splendors of public service. 
 
 But you will go back to diplomacy and vice and 
 leave me in my honest poverty. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 339 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Vienna, October 19, 1867. 
 
 MY DEAE NICOLAY : 
 
 I had no end of a good time after I left you. 
 I poked around Poland, lonesomely enough, but 
 fully compensated by the unusual and peculiar 
 towns I passed througli. Warsaw is a very 
 respectable place — 170,000 inhabitants, — with two 
 theatres and a fair opera. I heard an opera by a 
 Polish composer which was not bad. There was a 
 little passage of instrumentation in it that was 
 exquisite and brought down the house with the 
 wildest enthusiasm. But Cracow was the quaintest 
 and most entirely satisfactory little town I ever 
 saw. It has only 40,000 inhabitants but it has a 
 palace and a cathedral, and theatre (where I heard 
 a very fair burlesque), and a regular mediaeval 
 Jews' quarter, I regretted being alone, as that 
 prevented me from passing a day in the salt mines 
 at Wieliesga, which are the most curious in the 
 world. I thought it would become a little monot- 
 onous after an hour or so, hearing nothing but 
 Polish. 
 
 I found nothing had suffered by my absence, 
 
340 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 but in the day or two since I returned I have had 
 a good deal to do 
 
 Send me B 's F du M . If you 
 
 have an Italian grammar belonging to me, send it 
 to me. I have forgotten. 
 
 I couldn't stand it. I bought the Cignani. 
 
 ^ HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Vienna, Nov. 24, 1867. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOLAY : 
 
 I was a little cross that your letter came just 
 in time and the packages j\ist too late, but in the 
 end it made no difference at all, or rather was for 
 the better, as I did not go to Italy and had no 
 special need of the language. So I will cram the 
 grammar and dictionary for the scoot I think of 
 making this winter to Rome and back. I was 
 gone just fifteen days, only nine of them being 
 outside of the Imperial Royal Apostolic Empire. 
 
 W went with me, and a young Bostonian, 
 
 — a Q . We had a good time — a sweet season. 
 
 From Vienna to Pesth, a pleasant, picturesque 
 ride, — a very interesting day in the Hungarian 
 capital, which is a very big town for its size, and 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 341 
 
 which we did very thoroughly ; Pesth to Baziasch 
 on the Danube, a bad ride all night over a rough 
 road. A magnificent day on the Danube to 
 Orsova, and another to Eustchuck — over the 
 railway all day to Varna — and by breakfast time 
 the next morning we were staring with the delight 
 of greenhorns at the unparalleled spectacle that 
 greets you as you sail down the Bosphorus into 
 Constantinople. That closes for me in this world, 
 I verily believe, my sensations of great cities. 
 The last is infinitely finer than anything I ever 
 imagined. I am pretty sure there is nothing 
 that approaches it on earth. "We had perfect 
 weather — June at its prettiest in Illinois for 
 instance, — and this staid with us all the time. 
 We passed a day in Asia and climbed Mt. Boul- 
 gourlou and saw the gates of the morning. We 
 had great larks, which I have not time to write, 
 I found time so running against me, however, 
 that I had to give up Greece and Italy. It takes 
 a sail of six days — though five is the time pub- 
 lished — ^through the Greek archipelago and the 
 Adriatic to get back to Trieste. I will merely 
 tantalize you in your hyperborean home by tell- 
 ing you that last week at Corfu we saw hedges 
 of roses in full bloom and oranges perfuming the 
 
342 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 air as if out of special compliment to me and 
 
 S . This is the latitude of New York. I 
 
 think we had better go there and live, as I 
 learn that at home the country is submerged 
 by a terrible Locofoco hurricane, and we are too 
 old to cruise over the waste waters till it comes 
 
 up again. I see old T and B are still 
 
 plucky, like the Doctor who killed his patient 
 with calomel, and swore the man would have 
 gotten well if he had doubled the doses. 
 
 I hate the water worse than any cat. It will be 
 hard to get me on the Mediterranean again. But 
 I feel very anxious to make that Nile trip with 
 you. When do you think of starting? I shall 
 try to take a flight into Italy this winter — I shall 
 never have time to do it thoroughly, and then, if I 
 can, next spring after I leave here, take a rapid 
 run through Spain. 
 
 DIAKY. 
 
 Christmas Eve I spent at Mrs. L 's. There 
 
 was an enormous tree and presents by hundreds. 
 The young ladies were pretty as ever and very 
 easy and gay. I never saw better breeding than 
 there is in the Haute Bourgeoisie of Vienna. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 343 
 
 They talked German to me for the first time and 
 I was astonished at their wit and the profound- 
 ness of their criticism and observation, which I 
 had utterly failed to see in their English. (I 
 think the reason diplomatists are as a general 
 rule so stupid is, that they are so much in the 
 habit of speaking a foreign language.) The whole 
 household praised my German so that I grew 
 ashamed to speak it. 
 
 Dec. 26. An Italian girl came in and I under- 
 stood a good deal of her talk. She wanted shekels. 
 I took out of my pocket and gave her half of what 
 I had. She said naively, " give me the other 
 half" (datemi I'altra meta). 
 
 It was a fine afternoon and the Ring was 
 crowded from Karnthner Strasse to the Barracks. 
 
 More Gemiitlichkeit. The Ministerial crisis 
 here has lasted a week "on account of the 
 holidays." All the leading statesmen went home 
 to their Christmas tree. 
 
 The Great Princes here speak very bad Ger- 
 man — like F ■. They learn in their youth 
 
 nothing but French, dogs, horses, women. They 
 are embarrassed when they meet with cultivated 
 
344 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 men and so avoid "mixed society." Together, 
 they are all alike. 
 
 Old Carl L , speaking to a servant girl : 
 
 " Where do you live, my pretty dear ? " " In 
 Durchlaucht's kitchen." 
 
 Minister B went off to the country during 
 
 the ministerial crisis here for the holidays. 
 
 Dec. 30. The Ministry is published to-night 
 as formed. 
 
 To-day Countess K received for the Em- 
 press at the Burg. A small, nicely furnished 
 room. Men and ladies in brilliant uniforms, and 
 the richest and most eclatant satins, coming and 
 going. The brilliancy of colors was suggestive of 
 ophthalmia. In the evening, drove out to the 
 Augustan, where Prince Hohenlohe was receiving 
 for the Emperor. Along the avenue to the Pavi- 
 lion, pine wood torches gave a glaring light. 
 Inside the door of the vestibule was ranged a 
 semicircle of some dozens of splendidly-dressed 
 menials, with heads powdered as if by a passing 
 snow storm, to head off the unwary from improper 
 stairs and force them into the broad way that led 
 into Hohenlohe. He is a youngish, stiffish, very 
 pleasant-spoken man, baldish on the bump of 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 345 
 
 firmness. E was there, witli the handsome 
 
 clothes, gallant bearing and feeble face you would 
 expect from an old youth who has squandered all 
 of his estates that he can. 
 
 Spent the rest of the evening at Santa Q 's, 
 
 good music, some very pretty women. Talked a 
 
 little with W , and with B. F. M. L. on 
 
 K •, who speaks very remarkable English for 
 
 a foreigner. 
 
 Dec. 31, 1867. D tells me that A. L. 
 
 influence prevents the marriage of W and 
 
 O'S •: that the Empress mother gave to Mme. 
 
 W 12000 a year to keep her from marrying 
 
 a crazy L : because they thought the example 
 
 of such marriages bad. ' 
 
 Jan. 5, 1868. Last night dined at H 's. 
 
 The Papal Nonce was there and we had more 
 talk than is usual. He is a most amiable old 
 gentleman. 
 
 H took me in and showed me his coffin 
 
 and the skeletons of his friends. One of a woman, 
 " une bonne amie k moi," whom he chucked under 
 the chin and made the bony head wag and grin 
 in the candlelight and the teeth rattle. A music 
 
346 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 box played dirges. Hatchments hung all around 
 dated 186-. 
 
 JOHN HAY TO DAVID GKAY. 
 
 Vienna, Jan. 6, 1868. 
 
 DEAR DAVID : 
 
 I have your letter of the 1st. No letters have 
 come for you. I will inquire at the Post Office 
 every day till the 9th. 
 
 I suppose we will both be disappointed when 
 we meet. We have looked forward to it too long. 
 We have grown too much alike. The same 
 mighty impulse has rushed for years through our 
 souls till we are filled with the same magnetism. 
 Our lives have been sawed off clean at the 
 same place and the stumps are too smooth to be 
 interesting. But notwithstanding these broodings, 
 David Gray, I long to see you as never for any- 
 body before. I don't think that it will do any 
 good to the tired spot — ^but perhaps. I have 
 broken an engagement to meet a party of friends 
 in Kome so as not to miss you. 
 
 You are David and I am not Jonathan, but I 
 am thereabouts. 
 
 J. H. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 347 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 Jan. 18. To-day Maximilian was buried. Tlie 
 streets all day and yesterday were impassable. 
 The wbole town seized eagerly upon this occasion 
 for loafing. They stood quietly about in dense 
 masses as if waiting for something, in streets dis- 
 tant from the church where there was something 
 to be seen. With the patient, stupid good nature 
 of the dummer Kerl von Wien. 
 
 I received no invitation and so had not the bore 
 of refusing. I suppose they had gotten some hint 
 
 of my instructions to T . Possibly opened 
 
 my letter. 
 
 D , Q and W came in and talked. 
 
 I read McC 's report. It is not cheering. 
 
 Called on Dr. G. He says "nothing serious." 
 
 Jan. 18, 1868. 
 
 COPY OF LETTER TO SECRETAEY OF STATE. 
 
 My Dear Sir : — The remains of the Archduke 
 Ferdinand Maximilian, of Austria, were to-day 
 deposited in the crypt of the Capucine Church. 
 All the streets and adjoining squares were filled 
 with a vast crowd of citizens and strangers. 
 
348 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 Nearly every European monarchy sent a special 
 embassy for tliis occasion. The death of Maxi- 
 milian was felt last summer as a sensible blow at 
 the prestige of kings. It was, perhaps, more sig- 
 nificant even than the execution of Louis XVI. 
 For here the Prince of one and the agent of 
 another most powerful Empire was defeated and 
 punished in an attempt upon the life of a weak 
 Republic. The confederated kings have there- 
 fore done their best to rehabilitate the dead 
 usurper by investing his name with an authority 
 and sanction which was denied by events. 
 
 The popular demonstration was very genuine 
 and touching. The Kaiser Max, as the people all 
 call him, was most aifectionately regarded in his 
 life, and mourned in his death by the common 
 folk of this Empire. He was popularly consid- 
 ered a Democrat. He was unpopular at the 
 Court of his brother, feared and dreaded by the 
 bigoted aristocracy, who were always jealous of 
 men suspected of ideas. He was liable to many 
 of the reproaches which Shakespeare's Csesar 
 makes to the spare Cassius. He saw no plays. 
 He read books. He was a great observer. 
 Seldom he smiled. It is highly probable that 
 the vague liberalism of a younger brother, who 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 349 
 
 saw all hope of the crown vanishing in the 
 growing family of his Senior, and which was, 
 perhaps, more the product of ennui and reverie 
 than any firm grasp of true political principle, 
 was not robust enough to have greatly disturbed 
 the serenity of the sacred circle of Austrian 
 noblesse, nor to have afforded any sensible sup- 
 port to the compact phalanx of liberal publicists, 
 who have already wrought out such an oppor- 
 tunity for Austria. The fears of the nobles and 
 the trust of the people were, perhaps, equally ill- 
 founded. But, none the less, the multitude go 
 mourning for him to-day, and the blue blood 
 flows more peacefully in noble veins now that 
 they have seen him laid away in the vault of the 
 Capucines. 
 
 I received no invitation to the ceremonies nor 
 thought proper to make any communication on 
 the subject to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
 I suppose they have in some way received 
 
 intimation of my instruction to Mr. T . By 
 
 a naively indiscreet speech of a country member 
 in the Reichsrath who had once been Postmaster, 
 it was recently made known that the Austrian 
 Government up to a very recent period still 
 adhered to the deplorable habit of examining 
 
350 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 suspected correspondence in tlie mails. Perhaps 
 
 they have regarded my letter to Mr. T as 
 
 coming within that category. 
 
 A few evenings ago in conversation with the 
 Spanish Minister here the reports as to the 
 Cuban purchase were mentioned. He spoke in a 
 way to leave the impression on my mind that the 
 matter was the subject of very serious considera- 
 tion in the leading circles at Madrid. You of 
 course are well informed as to these matters. I 
 only mentioned this little incident, as showing 
 that the loud talk of European journalism of the 
 " absurdity " of the proposition in question is the 
 result either of ignorance or fear. 
 
 Feb. 18. Last night the first and probably the 
 only ball of the season was given at the Palace in 
 honor of the wedding of the young Grand Duchess 
 of Modena to Prince Louis of Bavaria. In the 
 Diplomatic Circle I was presented to the Emperor 
 by Baron Beust. His Majesty was especially 
 courteous. He spoke among other things of the 
 wonderful resources we had displayed in our 
 recent war and of the sudden and complete peace 
 that had followed. He spoke of the difficult 
 position of the President, and complimented him 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 35 1 
 
 higlily on his " energy and courageous consist- 
 ency." 
 
 The ball was given last night, in my opinion, 
 to afford the Imperial family and the great officers 
 of the Empire a valid excuse for absenting them- 
 selves from the ceremonies of the Silver Wedding 
 of the King of Hanover, which took place at the 
 same time with great eclat in the Cursalon, a large 
 building in the city park. There were present 
 about two thousand persons, mostly Hanoverians. 
 The occasion has been awaited for some time, not 
 without uneasiness, as it was thought not improb- 
 able that the dispossessed King might indulge in 
 a demonstration that would seriously compromise 
 his position with the court, both in Vienna and 
 Berlin. But no one could have imagined that 
 his reckless anger and vanity would lead him so 
 far. 'He made a speech of the most violent 
 character, in direct contravention of all the recent 
 treaties made with him at such enormous cost by 
 the Government of Prussia, and in defiance of all 
 the laws of propriety which should have restrained 
 him as the guest of Austria. 
 
 It is generally considered something more than 
 
 a coincidence that Mr. von B yesterday 
 
 declared, that if the Hanoverian intrigues were 
 
352 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 not speedily discontinued, the severest measures 
 of sequestration would immediately be put in 
 force. It remains to be seen whether, even yet, 
 the King of Prussia can be persuaded from his 
 rigid adherence to the dogma of divine right, to 
 allow justice to be done to an avowed public 
 enemy. 
 
 For a week past the public mind has been 
 filled with anxiety by the meagre and confused 
 advices received from the Lower Danube. I am 
 inclined to think from all I can gather, that the 
 stories of armed and organized bodies at present 
 operating in Bulgaria and Servia are at least pre- 
 mature. But it is now no longer possible to 
 ignore the fact that an active organization for 
 revolutionary purposes now exists throughout all 
 the nations forming the more southerly stratum 
 of the great Slavic race. It is very powerful in 
 Servia, Bulgaria and Moldavia- Wallachia — in each 
 case probably secretly encouraged by the reigning 
 Prince in the hope of final independence from the 
 Suzerain Porte. It is thought possible that the 
 first outbreak may take place in Montenegro, as 
 being one of the points most difiicult to reach by 
 the Sultan's troops. 
 
 It is stated that numerous additions to this 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 353 
 
 revolutionary force are being recruited by secret 
 agents in Austrian Poland and sent across the 
 boundary to be armed and drilled in Eussia. 
 
 So far, the remonstrances of the Eastern Powers 
 have had very little effect, as the vassal-Princes 
 give all the explanations and make all the prom- 
 ises required and still placidly watch the brewing 
 of revolt under their very eyes. 
 
 Vienna, March 23. 
 
 Coming back from Italy I found the town in a 
 jubilee over the vote in the House of Lords which 
 virtually dooms the Concordat. A wild, good- 
 humoured and thoroughly enthusiastic crowd 
 roamed the streets all night of Saturday, called 
 out the Ministers, sang the national hymn under 
 the palace windows, cheered for the Emperor, the 
 Government, the House of Peers, the Reichsrath 
 — and insulted nobody and broke no windows — 
 even those that were sulkily dark amid the 
 illumination. But the reactionary party were 
 furious and either silly or malicious enough to 
 telegraph to the Emperor that a revolutionary 
 emeute was in progress. They scared the Arch- 
 duchess' mother out of bed, and aristocracy in 
 general sat and shivered in its nightshirt until the 
 23 
 
354 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 crowd, tired with its loyal jubilee, went home 
 to bed. 
 
 April 12. To-day I have felt like a vagabond 
 and shall always know how to sympathize with 
 the houseless poor. 
 
 My servant's mother being very sick I gave 
 him cong^ for all day and going out myself in 
 the morning, I heedlessly left my key at home. 
 I was in for it, i. e. out for it. I did not know 
 where the servant lived so that I might go for 
 his key. There was nothing before me but to 
 wait till evening. In the morning I got on well 
 enough. I walked in the Exercier-Platz and got 
 an appetite for breakfast, which I took at noon. 
 Then the time began to drag. As my perverse 
 fate would have it I had put on a hideous pair 
 of worn-out boots for convenience in walking and 
 had covered them an inch thick with mud. So 
 making visits was out of the question. I went to 
 
 see P ; of course, he was out. D , of 
 
 equal course, out. I walked down the Graben. 
 It rained. I went into the Cathedral. Sat there 
 till I got out of conceit with the bench I occupied 
 and walked again. Dodged into Cafes, ordered a 
 tasse and read newspapers. Thought of Maria 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 355 
 
 Stiegen and went there. There was preaching in 
 the Czechish language. I staid till the sermon 
 was out. The crowd was more picturesque than 
 usual. Some of the men were dressed in skins 
 with leather girdle and scrip. Many of the 
 women in peasant costume. Two girls came in 
 together, evidently sisters. Yet one was a goose 
 and the other a swan. The one short, stout, high- 
 shouldered, a paysanne in every respect. The 
 other tall and svelte, wore her bright peasant 
 dress like a comedy queen, the silk handkerchief 
 framing a sweet, arch, piquante face. The one 
 kept her eyes fixed on the preacher with a dull 
 stare — the other looked briskly about the house 
 and everything in it, turning her head when the 
 door slammed like a young fawn. There was 
 grace in the way in which she stood about in 
 her thick, little, men's boots. Nothing is stranger 
 than these differences in peasant families — except 
 sometimes the differences of destiny they occa- 
 sion. 
 
 April 18, 1868. P spent the evening with 
 
 me. We had a long talk about old-fashioned 
 politics. I told him of my chance shot at the 
 Methodist preacher who wanted a Brigadier-Gen- 
 
356 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 eral : and of the young Kansian, who thought 
 the Government should have a better system of 
 police. 
 
 He told me many picturesque incidents in the 
 
 history of L . At a time when L 's 
 
 fortunes were most desperate, R committed 
 
 the fatal error of trying to conciliate the Jay- 
 hawkers by appointing J and other ring- 
 leaders to offices in the Militia. J L 
 
 saw his opportunity and instantly made a stump- 
 ing tour through the southern tier of counties, 
 denouncing with the greatest audacity and bitter- 
 ness his former friends and comrades, and holding 
 up the bargain between them and the Governor 
 
 to the indignation of the people. In J^ 's own 
 
 town, a most dramatic scene took place. L 
 
 was savagely denouncing some lawless act of 
 
 J -, when the astonished Jayhawker rose in 
 
 the audience and shouted, "J L , I done 
 
 that by your order." 
 
 " You lie ! " roared J . 
 
 " By your written order, I say." 
 
 " You lie ! " L repeated, with a most brazen 
 
 confidence, which was not altogether unreasonable 
 as he had managed to secure and destroy all his 
 correspondence of that period. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 357 
 
 He continued, " You, J , are a mur- 
 derer ! " 
 
 " By G , I never murdered J ," said 
 
 J , and tlie apt retort tickled tlie Kansas 
 
 fancy. 
 
 L -'s audacious campaign was a great 
 
 success. A legislature was returned friendly 
 to him. 
 
 His connection with the Methodists was a very 
 singular passage in his history. 
 
 R , after having been his intimate friend, 
 
 sad-hearted, one day, turned upon him. His paper 
 
 had been publishing L 's autobiography by 
 
 instalments. JSTow, however, the autobiography 
 disappeared from its columns and instead an ex- 
 posal of the crimes of the Danite Band of which 
 
 L was chief, appeared in the Journal. It 
 
 had a tremendous effect. The contre-coup against 
 
 R himself was so great that he was compelled 
 
 to leave the state. But the expose remained and 
 
 L suffered vastly in public estimation. He 
 
 resolved on a bold stroke. He " got religion," in 
 Western phrase, and joined the Methodist Church. 
 He was at once rehabilitated in the opinion of 
 many. He fell from grace before very long. 
 One day, a man who heard him cursing furiously. 
 
358 LETTEKS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 said, " Take care, L , you'll be kicked out of 
 
 the Church." 
 
 "They may kick me out, but d if they can 
 
 keep me out," said the meek Methodist. 
 
 After he murdered J , he suffered another 
 
 great eclipse of popularity. Kansas never minded 
 killing a man in fair fight, but this was a decid- 
 edly irregular proceeding. J— — - went to draw 
 
 water from a well which L claimed as his 
 
 own property. L shot him coolly, brutally, 
 
 cynically. Kansas looked upon the deed as 
 
 " awfully low form," and rather snubbed L . 
 
 He never could stand the frown of his world. 
 Something must be done "to get up his rep." 
 He joined the Methodist Church again. 
 
 P told me an amusing incident of L^ 's 
 
 second conversion. He had been making a ram- 
 bling exhortation one night in church before a 
 great audience, and perorated by referring to the 
 bloody scenes he had passed through in the 
 Mexican war, and how he had been spared to 
 testify, etc., — as they all say. A drunken young 
 editor, who was also a member of the Convention, 
 then rose in the body of the house and proceeded 
 boozily to the pulpit, followed by friends anxious 
 to prevent a scandal. He anathematized them for 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 359 
 
 interfering with him and began his remarks. 
 
 "Feller citizens, General L has told you 
 
 how he fought, bled, and died in Mexico. Feller 
 citizens, / have fought, bled and died in Mexico, 
 nary time." Here his friends seized him, took 
 him in their arms and carried him down the long 
 aisle to the door. He lay back, much at his ease, 
 gravely repeating, in all the tones of the musical 
 scale — " Nary time — nary time " — till his voice 
 died away out of doors. 
 
 P thinks L had a power over men 
 
 little short of magnetic. Many of his opponents 
 feared to become acquainted with him lest they 
 should become his friends. I have often heard 
 this before, and always with great surprise. To 
 me (and I knew him well) the man had no charm. 
 He seemed coarse, mean and ignoble. His craft 
 was too rude and bungling to deceive any one 
 apparently. He had the sad, dim eyes and bad- 
 toothed face of a harlot. Yet he had a certain 
 easy bonhomie that made him at home every- 
 where. 
 
 They say in Kansas that his suicide was occa- 
 sioned by the fear of detection in a corrupt con- 
 tract bargain with F and McD— , which 
 
 he had solemnly denied in the Senate, but the 
 
360 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 proof of which had subsequently come to the war 
 office. 
 
 April 19. Finished to-day Badeau's life of 
 Grant and sent him a note of thanks. I have 
 read it with more interest than I read novels. It 
 is very successfully written as a popular work. I 
 am glad Badeau has made a strike. 
 
 Some good things in it. I think there are 
 few things in history so ludicrous and touching at 
 
 once, as B (when they were really beaten 
 
 and the invincible West was swarming over Mis- 
 sionary Ridge) riding up and down his lines 
 waving his sword and announcing a victory to 
 his troops. 
 
 April 23. Yesterday P ■ came in, and while 
 
 we were talking, artillery began. He couldn't 
 keep still, so we went out and saw a neat, little 
 review in the Parade Platz. I thought it was 
 the Imperial Baby, but was wrong, for to-day 
 one hundred guns thundered the glad tidings to 
 Austria that they had another omnivorous Haps- 
 burg to provide for. 
 
 April 26. A letter from Mr. M asking 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 361 
 
 if I will stay as Secretary in case he is Minister. 
 Answered that I could not. 
 
 April 27. Letter from Mrs. B which I 
 
 answered and then wrote another to J. B. " Dear 
 Mr. B. I have received and answered a letter 
 from Mrs. B. this evening and I don't yet feel 
 inclined to leave your company. So I will say a 
 word or two to you — lingering with my hand on 
 the doorknob. 
 
 "I had no idea when I came abroad last sum- 
 mer that I should be here so long. I thought 
 they would fix up the vacuum (abhorred of nature 
 and office seekers) in a few months — so I came 
 for a flyer, principally because I was a little 
 ashamed of having been in Europe nearly two 
 years and having seen nothing. I have had a 
 pleasant year of it. There is very little work to 
 do at the Legation. I have sinned grievously 
 against certain ten-day regulations that I have 
 heard of. I have seen all I care to of Prussia, 
 Poland, Turkey and Italy. I have drawn my 
 salary with startling punctuality. I have not 
 wearied the home office with much despatches. 
 My sleep is infantine and my appetite wolfish. 
 I am satisfied with my administration of this 
 
362 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 " arduous and delicate post.' I believe that is the 
 regular shriek of the Radical Press in alluding 
 
 to the Vienna Mission. You and Mr. A 
 
 worked while you were in harness. I am not 
 sure but that a serious man could always find 
 work in those two missions. But equally sure 
 am I that no two other American diplomats can 
 catch each other's eyes without mutual guffaws 
 unless they have a power of facial muscle that 
 would put the Roman Augurs to shame. Just let 
 me get into Congress once, and take one shy at 
 the Diplomatic appropriation bill. 
 
 " I am very glad I came. Vienna is worth 
 while for a year. It is curious and instructive to 
 see their people starting off in the awkward walk 
 of political babyhood. They know what they 
 want and I believe they will get it. The aris- 
 tocracy is furious, and the Kaiser a little bewild- 
 ered at every new triumph of the Democratic and 
 liberal principle. But I don't think they can 
 stop the machine now — though they may get their 
 fingers mashed in the cogs. I don't think the 
 world ever seemed getting ahead so positively and 
 quietly before. Two years ago — it was another 
 Europe. England has come abreast of Bright. 
 Austria is governed by Forty-Eighters. Bis- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 333 
 
 marck is becoming appalled by the spirit of 
 freedom that he suckled with the blood of 
 Sadowa. France still lies in her comatose slum- 
 ber — but she talks in her sleep and murmurs the 
 Marseillaise. And God has made her ruler blind 
 drunk, that his Helot antics may disgust the world 
 with despotism. 
 
 " If ever' in my green and salad days, I some- 
 times vaguely doubted, I am safe now. I am a 
 Republican till I die. When we get to Heaven 
 we can try a Monarchy, perhaps. 
 
 " If you take the trouble to answer this, please 
 tell me what you have been doing. I have heard 
 a work on Franklin mentioned, but have not seen 
 it advertised. Why don't you write a history of 
 American Diplomacy ? " 
 
 May 26. This evening in the Volksgarten 
 there were a good many Americans. I said, in 
 answer to some questions, I thought conviction 
 extremely doubtful. I found myself almost 
 entirely alone in this opinion. 
 
 May 27. F A sent me a despatch 
 
 announcing the acquittal of the President. 
 
 While discussing this subject with L in 
 
364 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Venice two months ago, I said I thought impeach- 
 ment would fail, because from the way the trial 
 had begun, I was convinced it would be a purely 
 legal one, and that on a strictly legal basis, there 
 was no case against the President. He must be 
 turned out, if at all, on political grounds, as an 
 obstacle to peace and union — this could be well 
 done in twenty-four hours — and this, in my 
 opinion, was the only way to do it. These were 
 my first strong impressions. They rather gave 
 way when I saw the apparent unity of the 
 Republican party lay in the pressure of the case. 
 But when the news of the first adjournment came — 
 
 not knowing it was for H 's sickness — ^I took 
 
 it that the majority was stampeded, and have had 
 no confidence in impeachment since. 
 
 June 3. It is very curious to see how the 
 Senators who saved the President have changed 
 their tone. They are gradually becoming the 
 apologists and defenders of the H. E. Forsaking 
 the safe ground of " incompatibility of temper," 
 on which it was certainly agreed the President 
 was to be ousted, they have narrowed their minds 
 to the purely legal aspect of the matter, and 
 having cast loose from party dictation, seem 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 3(55 
 
 already drifting out of the party jurisdiction. It 
 would not surprise me much to see some of these 
 new, jealous Johnson men before the year is out 
 — not corrupted or seduced — but merely fighting 
 themselves off their own lines into the enemy's, 
 while the stupid devils who never had an idea in 
 their lives, get honor and credit from their party 
 for voting solid with the general ruck. 
 
 A most interesting letter from B L in 
 
 Washington. 
 
 -'to'- 
 
 On the whole analyzing my own sentiments. I 
 am not very sorry — not at all sorry at the result. 
 I think Johnson will put some water in his 
 whiskey now. I don't think he can do much 
 more harm. We are still in opposition where a 
 party always works best. Impeachment is demon- 
 strated not to be an easy thing. The lesson may 
 be a good one some day if we have a Republican 
 President and a copperhead Senate. The Tenure 
 of Office law — a fruit of haste and folly — is 
 knocked to pieces. A two-thirds majority in both 
 houses is anomalous. 
 
 P of the Department has been here for 
 
 the last ten days. He made some capital puns. 
 
366 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 Two Germans at Dombacli were guilty of some 
 
 little hoggishness. P called them sardines. 
 
 P ■ said, " No, they are Herren." 
 
 Drove out to Schonbrunn. The elegant world 
 goes there now instead of to the Prater, which is 
 
 quite desolate. Called on the M 's, but could 
 
 not find them. 
 
 June 7, 1868, Monday. This morning a noti- 
 fication came from the Duke de G , through 
 
 K , Doyen of the Corps, that Prince Napo- 
 leon, who arrived here Friday, travelling as he is 
 incognito, would not receive the Diplomatic Body 
 as a body, but would be happy to see any who 
 would call. 
 
 I went over to the Golden Lamb, Leopoldstadt, 
 about one o'clock. I was received, I believe, by 
 Col. E. . Count Z was in the ante- 
 chamber with the Colonel. H came in 
 
 before long. He introduced me and Z . We 
 
 talked a good while till W (Prussian), who 
 
 was with the Prince came out and Z went in. 
 
 H began girding at W about the sup- 
 posed treaties and intrigues he had cooked up 
 with the Prince. W , to escape persecution. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 3(57 
 
 turned to me and talked impeacliment. Z 
 
 made a long stay. F P came in. At 
 
 lastZ emerged and I went in. The Prince 
 
 received us in a pleasant, off-hand way, and we 
 began at once to talk about America and his visit 
 there. He remembered most of the names now 
 
 prominent in politics. He spoke of S , said 
 
 he ought to have prevented the President's trip 
 
 to Chicago. Said he remembered C , a young, 
 
 blackfaced man. President of the Legislative Body 
 
 — he meant G . He spoke of L as a man 
 
 of great merit and deplored his leaving the War 
 
 Ofi&ce, but remembered S , and was much 
 
 pleased with what he saw of him. 
 
 After a few words about Germany and the 
 interesting moment in which he visits it — the 
 interview ended by my retiring. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 St. Moritz, June 30, 1868. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOLAY : 
 
 Don't write or send anything more here. I 
 will leave the first of next week. It is a fine 
 place to grow fat and eat large quantities of 
 indifferent viands at a cheap table dJhote. I walk 
 
368 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 nearly all day, and, Lord bless you, how I can 
 eat. I must hie me back to the Freyung, and 
 endeavor to find in Dreher's Bier some compen- 
 sation for the gushing steel spring of Paracelsus. 
 
 It is a little hard, too, just as Gen'l McC is 
 
 expected here. 
 
 Lots of Hoheiten and Durchlauchts are coming 
 next week, too, and I shall not bask in their 
 glory. But if I can keep through the summer the 
 boiled beef on my bones which I have stowed away 
 these three weeks, I shall be more than content. 
 
 . . . How are you betting on the Fourth of 
 July ? It really seems as if some of the big wigs 
 
 of the M Club are for C . I still, in 
 
 spite of the clamor and loud talk, believe he won't 
 get a vote in Convention. This is hazardous pro- 
 phecy ing so near the event, but as Joe Gargery 
 said, when he thought Pip had swallowed a loaf 
 of bread : — " I have seen many a bolt in my day ; 
 and, as a boy, have bolted frequent, but bless me 
 if ever I see such a uncommon Bolt as that." 
 The Democratic party has more bowels than 
 
 brains, I admit ; but they can't digest the C 
 
 J . 
 
 I "feel to realize" that I must come to Paris to 
 sharpen up my dull wits, — Kriechen ein Bissel an's 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 369 
 
 Schliff, — as tlie exquisite Wiener Deutsch lias it. 
 I am growing Boeotian on the Schone Blaue 
 Donau. But I can't at this moment say when I 
 will come. I can tell better after I have gotten 
 back to the Freyung, — and ascertained the temper 
 and frequency of American visitors in my absence. 
 P has come and gone before this, I sup- 
 pose. There is a remarkable instance of a fellow 
 of fine talents and ambition, sinking year after 
 year into the baleful quicksands of routine. A 
 few years more and all the world can't pull him 
 
 out. P is too good for his place, and yet the 
 
 place requires a first-class man. As I did not 
 make the world, I won't tackle that paradox. 
 The same kind Providence that creates enough 
 crazy men to man our ships, scoops the life out of 
 men enough to carry on the routine of government. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 St. Moritz, 
 
 August 16, 1868. 
 
 MY DEAK NICOLAY : 
 
 I answered day before yesterday your note of 
 the second ; but my mind is so weakened by sor- 
 rows and shower-baths that I can't remember 
 24 
 
370 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 what I told you I have one word to add. 
 
 In my resignation I recommended A at Lon- 
 don to fill my place, and wrote to A advising 
 
 him to pitch in for it. To-night I receive a letter 
 from him (he not having yet received mine), ask- 
 ing my intentions, and saying he is to have my 
 place when I get tired of it. They are parting 
 my vestments among them, and for my raiment 
 are they pitching pennies. 
 
 I am very glad of this turn. A is a good 
 
 fellow, superfluously well qualified for the post, 
 and is, moreover, within a day or two of Vienna. 
 So that when he gets his papers he can come 
 directly on and relieve me. 
 
 I hope to be out and a-rambling by the first of 
 October. I will spend a day or two with you in 
 Parigi O Cara ; then make a straight Hemden- 
 schweif for sunset. 
 
 It seems a thousand years till I start. 
 
 I have a modest letter from the Congressional 
 Committee asking for war-sinews. Concussional 
 Committee ! I will send them something accord- 
 ing to my poverty of resources. 
 
 Gen'l McC is here. He sails for home on 
 
 the nineteenth of September. He " don't take no 
 sort of interest." 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 371 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Liverpool, October 14, 1868. 
 
 (alludes to the Inmanner) My boat is on the shore 
 
 (alludes to J. H. Horticulturalist) My bark is on my tree 
 
 (announces a fact in fysic) Seasickness is a bore 
 
 (gives financial counsel) You bet your pile it be. 
 
 I had a rapid and prosperous voyage from 
 Paris here. I found George Sand's Cadio at the 
 station. It is dedicated to Harrisse. 
 
 The channel was like a duck pond. For these 
 mercies, Laus Deo Ventorum. 
 
 I passed through London with contemptuous 
 speed. Spent fifteen minutes in the Metropolis. 
 
 Was afraid, if B, saw me, he would make too 
 
 fierce a radical of me. 
 
 I ran head-first into a piece of luck that you, 
 of all men, will envy me. That true-hearted 
 American and profound statesman, C. Dickens, 
 Esq., read last night here, and I contributed six 
 shillings to alleviate the sufferings of his honest 
 
 poverty. M can knock the spots out of him 
 
 reading, but whether it was what he read, or what 
 he is, I don't know, — he held that house, full of 
 placid Britons, chained tight for two mortal hours 
 as I never saw a house held. 
 
372 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 I got the worth of my six bob. (The pens here 
 require mending every five minutes). 
 
 Liverpool town is a good town to pass through 
 in a hurry. The sun takes till noon to struggle 
 through the fog. The muffins are good. 
 
 D is out of town. I am gradually lowering 
 
 the tone of my spirits to suit sea life. I shall have 
 attained the proper indifference to life in about 
 
 an hour. 
 
 My tug is by the shore 
 My ship is on the sea 
 As I cannot write no more 
 Here' s a treble health to thee, 
 To Madame and the Babee. 
 
 Hurrah for the elections ! 
 
 DIAEY. 
 
 Buffalo, January 27, 1869. 
 
 Delivered last night a lecture before the Y. M. 
 C. Association on " The Progress of Democracy 
 in Europe." Had a fair house — very attentive 
 and good-natured audience. Was reasonably suc- 
 cessful — especially pleased at the absence of trepi- 
 dation and duration of my voice. 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 373 
 
 After the lecture I went to a large party at Mrs. 
 W W 's. Pretty women, handsome toil- 
 ettes, etc. 
 
 January 28. Dined last night with Mr. J 
 
 G . He told a good story on B . B. F. 
 
 B. had a scheme at Charleston for harmonizing 
 the party by a compromise between the two 
 
 wings : laid it before B and asked him, 
 
 " Isn't that an honest and fair proposition ? " 
 
 B said, " B , you know what I think 
 
 of a man with a cast in his eye. I never saw but 
 three that were thoroughly fair and trustworthy, 
 
 and they are you, R and B (of the 
 
 H )." 
 
 HAY TO E. C. STEDMAN. 
 
 Warsaw, Illinois. 
 February 11, 1869. 
 
 MY DEAR MR. STEDMAN: 
 
 I want to burden you somewhat. You are busy 
 and I am idle. To him that hath much work, 
 shall more be given, and he that hath none shall 
 shirk even that he hath. If you think it is not 
 too bad, will you put it in an envelope and send 
 
374 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 it to the editor of the O ; if you think it is 
 
 too bad, say so, and send it to your abject servant. 
 
 I was in New York a day or two recently. I 
 looked into Broad Street but you were out of your 
 
 lair. I passed an evening at the C Club in 
 
 the constant hope of seeing you come in, but had 
 to go without greeting you. 
 
 I have tried an experiment since I saw you last. 
 I have faced a large audience and spoken a piece 
 
 without breaking down. I lectured in B and 
 
 in a few western towns. I will do more of it next 
 
 winter. I have a friend in B • whom I want 
 
 you to know, — D G- — — of the C. He is a 
 
 noble soul — utterly wrong in politics — but a good 
 Democrat and a poet. He admires you as he 
 ought, — gets your short poems by heart, and you, 
 too, in the process. I have given him a line 
 which he will some time present to you. It is 
 not often we can introduce two men who are 
 worth each other's while, — but this time I know 
 I am doing that same. 
 
 I hope to see you later in the Spring. I shall 
 pass through New York on my way to Europe. 
 I left some unravelled threads of occupation over 
 there, and must go over once more — my own 
 master now — and pick them up. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 375 
 
 HAY TO E. C. STEDMAN, 
 
 St. James Hotel, New York. 
 
 July 10, 1869. 
 
 MY DEAR ME. STEDMAN : 
 
 I tried to find you yesterday but failed. I sail 
 to-day. 
 
 Might I venture to ask you to withdraw that 
 
 poem of mine from the G ? I do not suppose 
 
 it is in print, — if it is, never mind, — only suppress 
 the name. I have resumed the padlocked mouth. 
 
 I wanted to tell you how much genuine enjoy- 
 ment I and some other western people have had 
 in your " Blameless Prince." I confess when I 
 heard the subject announced, I was a little afraid 
 of a certain foreign flavor, — but there is not a 
 trace of it. Familiarity with all that has been 
 done before, — assimilation of the best fruits of 
 others, — all this is there, of course ; but the poem 
 in manner and sentiment and progress is thor- 
 oughly new, and, it seems to me, American. How 
 you can keep your spirit so green and fresh in 
 Wall Street is a marvel to me. I think a month 
 or so of this town would drive me melancholy mad. 
 
 Can you use me in any way, in Madrid ? I 
 will not be gone long. 
 
376 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 DIAEY. 
 
 Madrid, July 29, 1869. 
 
 Drew on Barings for $146.66 for month of 
 transit, June 29 to May 29. 
 
 Indolent people imagine they would like to be 
 busy. Industrious people know they would enjoy 
 being idle. 
 
 The English servant is a statuesque image of 
 propriety. The French, a sympathizing but re- 
 spectful friend. The Spaniard and Italian have 
 the familiarity and subordination of children. An 
 American revenges himself on fate by insolence. 
 
 Americans in Europe waste time enormously 
 in calculating when the mail will arrive. A mail 
 is like a baby — you can't hurry or retard it by 
 talking about it. 
 
 Madrid, October 1, 1869. 
 
 The Spanish Cortes resumed their session 
 
 to-day after a vacation of some months. The 
 
 Diplomatic Body have a little cage holding 
 
 fifteen. We have three cards and one I stole. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 377 
 
 Tlie seats all vacant in the hall. The President 
 comes in in solemn procession with the Maceros 
 and Secretaries. The Maceros dressed out of 
 
 Froissart. R wears white kids during the 
 
 whole session. His opening speech. F re- 
 plies. F , O— — and C sitting together, 
 
 on the top bench of the extreme left. F , a 
 
 western Senator sort of man in build and car- 
 riage, with a wonderful aptitude of speech and 
 
 good knowledge of parliamentary practice. O 
 
 the noble factor of the play. 
 
 R scolds the Deputies like a schoolmaster, 
 
 knocking them over the knuckles without merci or 
 misericordia. The Government sits on a bench 
 distinguished from the rest by being in blue 
 velvet instead of crimson. Out of the three hun- 
 dred and four Deputies, not more than one hun- 
 dred present. The afternoon sun pouring in 
 through the windows facing the west. Lighting 
 up. The Maceros relieving each other. Not 
 many nobles. Marquis of B 
 
 October 2. Went with Fabra to see Castelar ; 
 found him at his own door coming home with 
 his hands full of documents. Walked up with 
 him — and had a long talk about everything. 
 
378 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 He speaks French fluently — learned it in exile 
 in Paris, where he supported himself and many- 
 others by writing for South American papers. 
 He has an exquisite face — a soft, sweet tenor 
 voice, a winning, and what the Spaniards call, 
 simpatico manner. 
 
 He spoke of Napoleon's sickness and of the 
 humiliating spectacle of a great nation looking 
 for its destiny in the cuvette of an old man. We 
 talked a good deal of art and Italy. 
 
 Of Spain he spoke sadly ; he seemed to feel that 
 the insurrection in Catalonia was premature and 
 ill-advised. He thought there were evil days 
 coming for the Republicans in Madrid. He said 
 we have just had a hard hour's work to persuade 
 the party of action not to precipitate an insurrec- 
 tion to-night. This would be madness. Madrid 
 is thoroughly monarchical. It is a city of place- 
 holders. The militia is in great majority mon- 
 archical. There are 10,000 or 12,000 regular 
 troops here. An insurrection would be smothered 
 in blood. Yet it is hard to keep the fiery young 
 fellows from trying it. 
 
 He said he was going to speak in the Cortes 
 to-morrow on the suspension of Guarantees. It 
 is not my subject, he said, mine was the impeach- 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 379 
 
 ment, but this comes first, and I am to say some- 
 thing on it. 
 
 I apologized for having taken up so many of 
 his precious moments ; but he insisted on my 
 staying longer. 
 
 When I went he said : " After a while, when 
 these troubles are over, if I survive them, we will 
 go to Toledo and the Escurial together." 
 
 Fabra and I went to the Theatre Espanol and 
 found the house nearly deserted. An alarm had 
 seized upon the audience early in the evening, 
 and the fear of an insurrection in the city had 
 driven them home. We saw an amusing little 
 farce, stolen from the French, " Les M^prises de 
 Lambinet," which seemed to be highly relished by 
 the well-nourished Madrilenas who sat near me. 
 
 October 3, Sunday. The discussion to-day on 
 the Suspension of Guarantees occupied all the 
 afternoon and will be continued to-morrow. 
 
 Castelar was superb. His action is something 
 marvellous. He uses more gesticulation than 
 any orator or actor I have ever heard. His 
 voice is, as I suspected, rather rich and musical 
 than strong, and he uses it so remorselessly that 
 it is apt to suffer in an hour or so. But his 
 
380 LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 
 
 matter is finer than his manner. I have never 
 imagined the possibility of such fluency of speech. 
 Never for one instant is the wonderful current of 
 declamation checked by the pauses, the hesitations, 
 the deliberations that mark all Anglo-Saxon 
 debate. His whole speech is delivered with pre- 
 cisely the energy and fluency that Forrest exhibits 
 in the most rapid passages of his most muscular 
 plays : and when you consider that not a word of 
 this is written or prepared, but struck ofi" instantly 
 in the very heat and spasm of utterance, it seems 
 little short of miraculous. The most laborious 
 conning and weighing and filing of the most 
 fastidious rhetorician could not produce phrases 
 of more exquisite harmony, antitheses more 
 sharp and brilliant, metaphors more perfectly fit- 
 ting — all uttered with a feverish rapidity that 
 makes the despair of stenographers. Then his 
 logic is as faultless as his rhetoric. He never says 
 a foolish or careless word. All history is at his 
 fingers' ends. There is no fact too insignificant 
 for his memory — none too stale to do service. 
 They are all presented with such felicity and 
 grace too, that you scarcely see how solid they are. 
 
 October 6. Castelar spoke again Monday and 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 331 
 
 again Tuesday. Sagasta, Minister de la Gaber- 
 nacion, greatly distinguished himself on Monday. 
 He defended the Government, especially himself, 
 with wonderful vigor and malice. He is the 
 hardest hitter in the Cortes. Everybody calls 
 him a scamp and everybody seems to admire 
 him, nevertheless. He is a sort of Disraeli — 
 little, active, full of energy and hate, tormented 
 by the opposition to the proper point of hot 
 anger, he made a defense offensive that enchanted 
 the Government benches. 
 
 Silvela also made a good speech or two — but 
 Silvela is rather too good a fellow for this kind of 
 work. He is very sincere and candid but lacks 
 the devil, which makes Sagasta so audacious and 
 Prim so cool. 
 
 Prim's speech Tuesday evening after Castelar 
 had announced the intention of the Republicans 
 to retire, was a masterpiece. He begged them 
 to reconsider — he was frank, open, soldierly : he 
 begged them to stay and threatened them with 
 severe measures if they went — he was not savage 
 and insulting like Sagasta — nor phrasy like Sil- 
 vela, but he was the perfection of enigma — as 
 always. His speech was powerful and impressive 
 in its deep simplicity — and greatly affected 
 
382 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Castelar and the Republicans. Castelar answered 
 in the same tone of exquisite courtesy, rejecting 
 the advice which was coupled with a threat. The 
 law passed and the Republican Deputies left the 
 Chamber. 
 
 To-day the General and I went to the Foreign 
 Office to call on Silvela, to see if we could get 
 any intimation of what the Government thought 
 of the note sent in a week ago. 
 
 Silvela was alone and at once received us. He 
 began off-hand by apologizing for not having sent 
 the note before, but the cares of the new and 
 serious situation were a sufficient cause. He said 
 the notes in reply to ours of the third and sixth 
 of September (the last one referring to what he 
 called those "assassinats lb,-bas"), were written 
 and would be sent to-morrow or next day. 
 
 He then spoke of the situation. He said the 
 insurrection had not as yet taken a serious char- 
 acter, there are no armed and organized bodies: 
 no military leaders : little bands of peasants roam- 
 ing about the provinces: enough of them to be 
 very annoying. He said the last news was favor- 
 able : the insurgents, instead of gaining strength, 
 are losing : the insurrection is taking on a socialist 
 character : they have begun to destroy records of 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 333 
 
 property, this has caused a reaction in public 
 opinion against them. 
 
 He said that General Prim expected in ten or 
 twelve days to be able to finish the insurrection ; 
 the Government had to-day resolved in Council 
 of Ministers to give the Eebels, by proclamation, 
 forty-eight hours' notice to disperse ; that failing, 
 martial law will immediately be put in requisition 
 against them. The Government wish to act as 
 rapidly and energetically as possible, so as to end 
 the rebellion and lay down their extraordinary 
 power at the earliest practical day. 
 
 He said he was not without hope that a portion 
 of the Republican minority, at least, will remain 
 in their seats. Men like Castelar and Figueras 
 are sensible and cultivated : they are in favor of 
 law and order : we can come to an understanding 
 with such as these. If they could be brought to 
 reconsider their purpose of leaving the Cortes, it 
 would be a great gain, as it would probably result 
 in a division of the Republican party which would 
 eliminate their lawless socialist elements. There 
 exists already this division of the party into 
 Democratic and Socialist Eepublicans. With 
 the former we can get along : if they remain in 
 the chambers, restricting themselves to a legal 
 
384 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 and constitutional opposition, acknowledging the 
 authority of the Cortes, we can carry on the 
 Government under this sincere discussion, and if 
 at a given time, the majority of the people desire 
 the Republic, k la bonne heure. He was not 
 without hope that some of the most respectable 
 Republicans will retain their seats. We have 
 no quarrel with men like Figueras and Castelar. 
 Last night after the debate was finished, Castelar 
 and I quitted the Cortes arm in arm. Four of 
 the Republican deputies had a conference with 
 Prim, which was marked throughout by a cordial 
 spirit. 
 
 S asked about the Deputies from Porto 
 
 Rico. Silvela said they had taken their seats and 
 voted yesterday. That the Government was ready 
 to begin the initiation of political reform for Porto 
 Rico at once — but that everything had been post- 
 poned by the exigencies of this sudden insurrec- 
 tion. The Budget was in abeyance — the question 
 of the Monarch — all waiting for the immediate 
 business of the hour to be accomplished — the 
 crushing out of the Socialists (last time he called 
 them Federalists). 
 
 S , on rising to go, and on Mr. Silvela 
 
 again repeating his apologies for not having sent 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 335 
 
 his answer sooner, said, that he had fully appre- 
 ciated the great pressure of business which rested 
 this week on every member of the Government : 
 that he only wished that the Government should 
 understand that the last, like the first note, was 
 dictated by a friendly spirit to Spain, and would 
 wish to be able to inform his Government that 
 Spain so regarded it. 
 
 Mr. Silvela said his answer was expressed pre- 
 cisely in that sense. 
 
 There is much going to and fro of cavalry and 
 infantry this afternoon, though no disturbance is 
 generally anticipated. The air is full of dust and 
 neigh-calls. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Legation of the United States. 
 
 Madrid, October 7, 1869. 
 
 MY DEAK NICOLAY : 
 
 I received to-day a letter from C H in 
 
 which he tells me you are thinking of returning 
 to your first love of journalism. He mentions 
 
 your flirtation with the C Republican. I 
 
 earnestly hope the surmise is true. I would be 
 25 
 
386 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 glad to see you spared to us, and kept away from 
 the sunset a few years more, and a position of such 
 power and influence as the Republican, under 
 vour management, would give you, is the best 
 possible reason for your staying. On a large 
 paper like that, with able subordinates, you would 
 not have to do the drudgery which is necessary in 
 a smaller paper— the Journal, for instance, where 
 I wrote every day all the editorial matter. I am 
 really grieved to learn that your eyes are not yet 
 in a satisfactory condition, but you could manage 
 in many ways to spare them. 
 
 I shall never be done regretting the put-up job 
 by which Fate prevented my seeing you last 
 summer. I had a thousand things to say and to 
 ask which will not keep until next spring. 
 
 I still hold to my original plan of coming home 
 next spring. I am glad I committed the folly of 
 coming. I have seen a great deal and learned 
 something. I speak the language — well enough 
 to be understood and not well enough to be taken 
 for a Spaniard — a Dieu ne plaise ! 
 
 The amount of talk we have done since we came 
 here is something portentous. I have been 
 always on hand as a medium of communication, 
 and so have seen more of the gros bonnets than 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 387 
 
 usually falls to the lot of Secretaries. We have 
 had a good enough time of it ; have done nothing 
 but show our amiable intentions. The Govern- 
 ment here is crazy to accept our offered mediation 
 but does not dare. The cession of Cuba to the 
 Cubans — would be a measure too frightfully 
 unpopular for the government to face in its 
 present uncertain tenure. Still if it continues to 
 grow stronger as now seems probable, it may take 
 the bit in its teeth and do something after a 
 while. 
 
 Some of the Spaniards are men of sense ; — all 
 of them have an astounding facility of expression 
 which is simply incomprehensible to one of our 
 stammering Teutonic race. Castelar, for instance, 
 is an orator such as you read of, and never see. 
 His action is as violent as Forrest. His style as 
 florid as Gibbon. His imagination and his mem- 
 ory equally ready and powerful. He never writes 
 a speech. Yet every sentence even in a running 
 debate when all the government hounds are yelp- 
 ing at him at once, is as finished and as elegantly 
 balanced as if he had pondered all a rainy 
 Sunday over it. I am afraid he will cease to be 
 the Eepublican idol before long. He has too 
 
388 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 much sense and integrity to follow the lead of the 
 socialist fanatics. 
 
 We are a little blue, just now, we Republicans. 
 The Republican insurrection in Barcelona was 
 premature and silly, and has injured the cause, 
 which looked most promising a month ago. It is 
 by no means hopeless yet, though the propaganda 
 is checked for the moment 
 
 HAY TO WHITELAW KEID. 
 
 New York Tribune, N. Y. 
 
 Monday, Dec, 1870. 
 
 MY DEAE MK. KEID : 
 
 I have read all I could find for three or four 
 years,^ and don't believe I can do much worse. 
 But why do you talk of columns and halves ? — 
 the foregoing ones have not averaged a half. 
 However, I will go to-night — see with what eyes 
 are left me, and write till the time of stereotypers 
 comes and the voice of the devil is heard in the 
 hall. 
 
 I am so seedy that I will go home for a nap, 
 
 ' Files of the New York Tribune for the period. 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 33^ 
 
 ■and come out this evening so fresh that a daisy 
 would look blase beside me. 
 
 Dios le guarde a V. muchos anos. 
 
 HAY TO NICOLAY. 
 
 Legation of the United States. 
 Madrid, January 30, 1870. 
 
 MY DEAR NICOI/AY: 
 
 .... I have no news for you. This Legation 
 has absolutely nothing of importance now on its 
 hands. There is a great deal of tiresome routine 
 work which employs the fingers more than the 
 brain, and, by way of keeping the circulation 
 regular, there is dancing enough to keep the feet 
 from rusting. I am getting rather tired of it, and 
 shall begin to plume my wings for flight some 
 
 time in the spring. I am sorry S has not 
 
 had a better chance, but nothing was possible with 
 
 F 's system of platonic bullying. I am afraid 
 
 Cuba is gone. This Government wants to sell out 
 but dares not, and has no power to put a stop to 
 the atrocities on the island. The only thing left to 
 our Government is to do nothing and keep its 
 mouth shut; or interfere to stop the horrors in 
 
390 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 Cuba on the ground of humanity, or the damage 
 resulting to American interests 
 
 HAY TO MAJOR GENERAL SICKLES. 
 
 Legation of the United States of America. 
 
 Madrid, May 1, 1870. 
 
 MY DEAR GENERAL : 
 
 I enclose my resignation of the post of Secretary 
 of Legation in Spain, and beg that you will 
 forward it to the Secretary of State. 
 
 I greatly regret that my pecuniary circumstances 
 compel me to sever the official relations which 
 have been rendered so pleasant by your unfailing 
 kindness and consideration. I shall always 
 remember with the liveliest satisfaction my service 
 with you in Madrid and hope that in the future I 
 may find some means of testifying my gratitude 
 and regard. 
 
 I am, my dear General, 
 
 Your obliged and sincere friend and servant. 
 
LETTERS OP JOHN HAY 391 
 
 HAY TO MISS HARRIET K. LORING. 
 
 Madrid, June 30, 1870. 
 
 MY DEAR MISS LORING : 
 
 I am very glad Mr. Boott and you have not 
 forgotten me, though my poor little verses seem as 
 oddly wedded to his fine music as the beggar-maid 
 to King Cophetua. I am glad he has begun to 
 publish. His original and vigorous melodies 
 cannot but be liked, and will be of positive 
 advantage to the struggling art in our country. I 
 hope you will convey to him my compliments and 
 thanks. 
 
 I have a curious year to look back upon, — more 
 entirely out of the world than any since I came 
 into it. There have been almost no Americans in 
 Madrid and I have not been out of the city but 
 
 once. I went with Mrs. and Miss H and 
 
 Miss Sara S to Toledo, and had a few halcyon 
 
 days favored by fate, weather, and other accesso- 
 ries, in that delicious old town. I have rarely had 
 such larks, — the ladies went crazy sketching ador- 
 able doorways, and I sat by, on the shady side, 
 and chaffed the picturesque beggars grouped 
 around in the rags of the period. I felt the coil of 
 cares slipping away from me, and leaving me 
 
392 LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 
 
 young and appreciative again as when " I roamed 
 a young Westerner, o'er the green bluff, and 
 climbed thy steep summit, oh Warsaw, of mud."^ 
 
 For the first time since I can remember I have 
 been busy this year, and it does not suit my com- 
 plexion. There is a good deal to do in the Legation, 
 and I have imposed a good deal of work upon myself 
 beside, having gotten interested in Spanish His- 
 tory. I have a veritable work-shop for the fellows 
 who know things. I cannot conceive how a man 
 
 like Mr. M^ — — ■ should have preferred E 
 
 with its pitiful annoyances, to A with its 
 
 quiet and its archives. I should like to read about 
 twenty-years. The first ten would be necessary to 
 reach the proper point of humility, and the last 
 one might hope to gain something substantial. 
 
 I expected to return before this, but there has 
 not been a favorable moment yet for me to take 
 leave. 
 
 I do not know whether I ever directed a letter 
 
 to you at W , or whether W is your P. O. 
 
 or your ancestral towers. I will send this and 
 find out. Towns are sometimes absurdly named. 
 I lived at Spunky Point on the Mississippi. This 
 is a graphic, classic, characteristic designation of a 
 geographical and ethnological significance. But 
 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 393 
 
 some idiots, just before I was born, who had read 
 
 Miss P , thought Warsaw would be much more 
 
 genteel, and so we are Nicodemussed into nothing 
 for the rest of time. I hope every man who was 
 engaged in the outrage is called Smith in Heaven. 
 
 Mrs. E and pretty Fanny are in Paris. 
 
 Mrs. W and her daughters, who are growing 
 
 cleverer every day, are there also. I had a 
 
 charming sad letter from Mrs. W some time 
 
 ago, keeping his memory green. W and 
 
 F and L and A and I have dined 
 
 together hundreds of pleasant evenings. I can 
 
 see them and hear them all to-night, — W 's 
 
 fantastic fun, F 's lambent humor, L ^'s 
 
 crabbed wit, and A 's gentle culture. I knew 
 
 so many clever people in Washington that there 
 will be a sort of insipidity about society the rest of 
 my life, I suppose. 
 
 Present my regards to your houseful of them, 
 if you please. 
 
j^ •a-rt 
 
 l-^'^^JJ^Ti^-M. 
 
 '^i%^^4^' 
 
 M-X:'. 
 
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