The Life of Lyman Trumbull

On the 13th of January, Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, another member of the committee, alluded to certain purchases of cavalry horses, saying:

A regiment of cavalry has just reached Louisville one thousand strong, and a board of army officers has condemned four hundred and eighty-five of the one thousand horses as utterly worthless. The man who examined those horses declared, upon his oath, that there is not one of them worth twenty dollars. They are blind, spavined, ring-boned, with the heaves, with the glanders, and with every disease that horseflesh is heir to. Those four hundred and eighty-five horses cost the Government, before they were mustered into the service, $58,200, and it cost the Government to transport them from Pennsylvania to Louisville, $10,000 more before they were condemned and cast off.

There are, sir, eighty-three regiments of cavalry one thousand strong now in or roundabout the army. It costs $250,000 to put one of those regiments upon its feet before it marches a step. Twenty millions of dollars have thus far been expended upon these cavalry regiments before they left the encampments in which they were gathered and mustered into the service. They have come here and then some of them have been sent back to Elmira; they have been sent back to Annapolis; they have been sent here and they have been sent there to spend the winter; and many of the horses that were sent back have been tied to posts and to trees within the District of Columbia and there left to starve to death. A guide can take you around the District of Columbia to-day to hundreds of carcasses of horses chained to trees where they have pined away, living on bark and limbs till they starve and die; and the Committee for the District of Columbia have been compelled to call for legislation here to prevent the city wherein we are assembled from becoming an equine Golgotha.59

Horse contracts of this sort had been so plentiful that Government officials had gone about the streets of Washington with their pockets full of them. Some of these contracts had been used to pay Cameron's political debts and to cure old political feuds, and banquets had been given with the proceeds, "where the hatchet of political animosity," said Dawes, "was buried in the grave of public confidence and the national credit was crucified between malefactors."

Dawes said also that there was "indubitable evidence that somebody has plundered the public treasury well-nigh in a single year as much as the entire current yearly expenses of the Government which the people hurled from power because of its corruption"—meaning Buchanan's Administration.60

In the Senate on the 14th, Trumbull, quoting from the testimony of the House Committee, said that Hall's carbines, originally owned by the Government, but condemned and sold as useless at about $2 each, were purchased back for the Government, in April or May, at $15 each. In June, the Government sold them again at $3.50 each. Afterwards in August, they were purchased by an agent of the Government at $12.50 each and turned over to the Government at $22 each, and the Committee of the House was then trying to prevent this last payment from being made, and eventually succeeded in doing so. The beneficiary in this case was one Simon Stevens, not a relative of Thaddeus Stevens, but a protégé of his, and an occupant of his law office. He operated through General Frémont, not through Cameron.

"Sir," said Dawes, "amid all these things is it strange that the public treasury trembles and staggers like a strong man with a great burden upon him? Sir, the man beneath an exhausted receiver gasping for breath is not more helpless to-day than is the treasury of this Government beneath the exhausting process to which it is subjected."

Somewhat later Congressman Van Wyck showed, among other things, that Thurlow Weed, by the favor of Cameron, had established himself between the Government and the powder manufacturers in such a way as to pocket a commission of five per cent on purchases of ammunition.61

The committee visited severe censure on Thomas A. Scott, for acting as Assistant Secretary of War, while holding the office of vice-president of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad. Scott said that he ceased to draw salary from the railroad when he became Assistant Secretary, but that he had retained his railroad connection because he considered it of more value to himself than the other position. The committee considered it highly improper for him to hold the power to award large Government contracts for transportation and to fix prices therefor while he had personal railroad interests, and while Secretary Cameron, to whom he owed his appointment, was interested in the Northern Central Railroad. The latter was commonly called "Cameron's road." An order had been issued by Scott, without consultation with the Quartermaster-General of the army, fixing the rates to be paid for the transportation of troops, baggage, and supplies. The Quartermaster-General testified that Scott's order as to prices was addressed to one of his own subordinates and that he first saw it in the hands of that subordinate. He construed it, however, as an order from his superior officer and therefore as governing himself. Officers of other railroads testified that the rates fixed by Scott were much too high considering the magnitude and kind of work to be done. Thus, the rate for transporting troops was fixed at two cents per mile per man, whether carried in passenger cars or in box cars, and whether taken as single passengers or by regiments.

Nicolay and Hay tell us that Cameron's departure from the Cabinet was in consequence of his disagreement with the President as to that part of his report relating to the arming of slaves; that although nothing more was said by either himself or Lincoln on that subject, "each of them realized that the circumstance had created a situation of difficulty and embarrassment which could not be indefinitely prolonged." Cameron, they say, began to signify his weariness of the onerous labors of the War Department, and hinted to the President that he would prefer the less responsible duties of a foreign mission. To outsiders this affair seemed to have completely blown over when, on January 11, 1862, Lincoln wrote the following short note:

My dear Sir: As you have more than once expressed a desire for a change of position, I can now gratify you consistently with my view of the public interest. I, therefore, propose nominating you to the Senate next Monday as Minister to Russia.

Very sincerely your friend,

A. Lincoln.

The real facts were given to the world by A. K. McClure somewhat later in his book on "Lincoln and Men of War-Time." He says that Cameron's dismissal was due to the severe strain put upon the national credit, which led to the severest criticisms of all manner of public profligacy, culminating in a formal appeal to the President from leading financial men of the country for an immediate change of the Secretary of War; that Lincoln's letter of dismissal was sent to Cameron by the hand of Secretary Chase, and that it was extremely curt, being almost, if not quite, literally as follows: "I have this day nominated Hon. Edwin M. Stanton to be Secretary of War and you to be Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia"; that Cameron in great agitation brought this missive to the room of Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, where Mr. McClure happened to be dining and showed it to them; that he wept bitterly, and said that it meant his personal degradation and political ruin. Scott and McClure volunteered to see Lincoln and ask him to withdraw the offensive letter and to permit Cameron to antedate a letter of resignation, to which Lincoln consented. "The letter conveyed by Chase was recalled; a new correspondence was prepared, and a month later given to the public."62

McClure palliates Cameron's conduct by saying that "contracts had to be made with such haste as to forbid the exercise of sound discretion in obtaining what the country needed; and Cameron, with his peculiar political surroundings and a horde of partisans clamoring for spoils, was compelled either to reject the confident expectation of his friends or to submit to imminent peril from the grossest abuse of his delegated authority." This is another way of saying that he was compelled either to pay his political debts out of his own pocket, or give his henchmen access to the public treasury, and that he chose the latter alternative.

The House of Representatives passed a resolution of censure upon Cameron for investing Alexander Cummings with the control of large sums of the public money and authorizing him to purchase military supplies without restriction when the services of competent public officers were available. A few days later the President sent to the House a special message, assuming for himself and the entire Cabinet the responsibility for adopting that irregular mode of procuring supplies in the then existing emergency, a message which, when read in the light of Cummings's testimony, adds nothing to Lincoln's fame.

There was a struggle in executive session of the Senate, lasting four days, over the confirmation of Cameron as Minister to Russia. Trumbull took the lead in opposition. He considered it an immoral act, like giving to an unfaithful servant a "character" and exposing society to new malfeasance at his hands. He believed and said that the new office conferred upon him would serve simply as whitewash to enable him to recover his seat in the Senate, and that that was the reason why he wanted the mission to Russia.

Sumner, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, had been much impressed by Cameron's anti-slavery zeal. As soon as the nomination came in, he moved that it be confirmed unanimously and without reference to any committee, which was the usual custom in cases where ex-Senators of good repute were nominated to office. Objection being made, the nomination went over. This was the day on which Dawes made his speech in the House. Sumner saw the speech, called Cameron's attention to it, and asked what answer should be made to such accusations. Cameron replied that he had never made a contract for any kind of army supplies since he had been Secretary of War, but had left all such business to the heads of bureaus charged with such duties, and had never interfered with them. On the 15th he put this statement in writing and addressed it to Vice-President Hamlin:—

I take this occasion to state that I have myself not made a single contract for any purpose whatever, having always interpreted the laws of Congress as contemplating that the heads of bureaus, who are experienced and able officers of the regular army, shall make all contracts for supplies for the branches of the service under their care respectively.

So far I have not found any occasion to interfere with them in the discharge of this portion of their responsible duties.

I have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servant,

Simon Cameron.

Hon. H. Hamlin,

President of the Senate of the United States.

In reply Dawes produced documents to show that there were then outstanding contracts, made by Cameron himself, for 1,836,900 muskets and rifles, and for only 64,000 by the Chief of Ordnance, the officer charged with that duty, and that on the very day when the letter to Hamlin was written, Cameron made a contract, against the advice of the Chief of Ordnance, for an unlimited number of swords and sabres—all that a certain Philadelphia firm could produce in a given time. This was done after he had resigned and before his successor, Stanton, had been sworn in.63

Cameron was confirmed as Minister to Russia on the 17th, by a vote of 28 to 14. The Republican Senators who voted against confirmation were Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Trumbull, and Wilkinson. Trumbull handed me this list of names for publication, saying that all of them desired to have it published.

Cameron remained abroad until time and more exciting events had cast a kindly shadow on his record. He then came home and a few years later was reëlected to the Senate. When the attack was made on his dear friend Sumner, which ended in displacing him from the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, which he had held ten years, Cameron retreated to a Committee room, as to a cyclone cellar, where he remained until the deed was done, leaving Trumbull, Schurz, and Wilson to fight the battle for his dear friend. Then he returned and sat down in the chair thus made vacant. He subsequently explained that he did so because his name was the next one to Sumner's on the committee list.64

CHAPTER XII

ARBITRARY ARRESTS

The jaunty manner in which Secretary Seward administered the laws respecting the liberty of the citizen in the earlier years of the war is treated by John Hay with a humorous touch under date October 22, 1861:

To-day Deputy Marshal came and asked what he should do with process to be served on Porter in contempt business. I took him over to Seward and Seward 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.65

Prior to the assembling of Congress in July, 1861, the President had given to General Winfield Scott authority in writing to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus at any point on the line of the movement of troops between Philadelphia and Washington City. Without other authority Seward began to issue orders for the arrest and imprisonment of persons suspected of disloyal acts or designs, not only on the line between Philadelphia and Washington City, but in all parts of the country.

When the special session of Congress began, Senator Wilson, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, introduced a joint resolution to declare these and other acts of the President "legal and valid to the same intent and with the same effect as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States." The clause of the Constitution which says that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it, does not say in what mode, or by what authority, it may be suspended.

Straightway there were differences of opinion as to the lodgment of the power to suspend, whether it was in the executive or in the legislative branch of the Government. Other differences cropped up as to the phraseology of the Wilson Resolution and its legal intendment. It might be construed as an affirmance by Congress that the President's act suspending the writ was lawful at the time when he did it, or, on the other hand, that it became lawful only after Congress had so voted, and hence was unlawful before. These diversities of opinion were very tenaciously held by different members of the Senate and House, of equal standing in the legal profession. The result was that Wilson's joint resolution was debated at great length, but did not pass. Instead of it an amendment was added to one of the military bills declaring that all acts, proclamations, and orders of the President after the 4th of March, 1861, respecting the army and navy, should stand approved and legalized as if they had had the previous express authority of Congress; and the bill was passed as amended. This was understood to be a mere makeshift for the time being.

The general question was again brought to the attention of Congress by Trumbull, December 12, 1861, when he introduced in the Senate the following resolution:

Resolved, that the Secretary of State be directed to inform the Senate whether, in the loyal states of the Union, any person or persons have been arrested by orders from him or his department; and if so, under what law said arrests have been made and said persons imprisoned.

When this resolution came up for consideration (December 16), Senator Dixon, of Connecticut, objected strongly to it. He thought that it was unnecessary and unwise, and that it could result in nothing advantageous to the cause of the Union. Some of the persons referred to, he said, had been arrested in his own state. They had manifested their treasonable purposes by attempting to institute a series of peace meetings, so-called, by which they hoped to debauch the public mind under false pretense of restoring peaceful relations between the North and the South. The Secretary of State had put a sudden stop to their treasonable designs by arresting and imprisoning one or more of them. He contended that the Secretary had done precisely the right thing, at precisely the right time, and had nipped treason in Connecticut in the bud. The only criticism which loyal citizens had to make of his doings was that he had not arrested a greater number. If there had been any error on the part of the Executive, it had been on the side of lenity and indulgence. He, Dixon, would not vote for an inquiry into the legality of such arrests because they found their justification in the dire necessity of the time.

Trumbull asked how the Senator knew that the persons arrested were traitors. Who was to decide that question? If people were to be arrested and imprisoned indefinitely, without any charges filed against them, without examination, without an opportunity to reply, at the click of the telegraph, in localities where the courts were open, far from the theatre of war, such acts were the very essence of despotism. The only purpose of making the inquiry was to regulate these proceedings by law. If additional legislation was necessary to put down treason or punish rebel sympathizers in Connecticut, or in any other loyal state, he (Trumbull) was ready to give it, but he was not willing to sanction lawlessness on the part of public officials on the plea of necessity. He denied the necessity. The principle contended for by the Senator from Connecticut would justify mobs, riots, anarchy. He understood that some of the parties arrested had been discharged without trial and he asked if Mr. Dixon justified that. Then the following ensued:

Mr. Dixon. I do.

Mr. Trumbull. Then the Senator justifies putting innocent men in prison. Else why were they discharged? I take it that was the reason for their discharge. I have heard of such cases.

Mr. Dixon. They ought to be discharged, then.

Mr. Trumbull. They ought to be discharged, and they ought to be arrested, too. An innocent man ought to be arrested, put into prison, and by and by discharged. Sir, that is not my idea of individual or constitutional liberty. I am engaged, and the people whom I represent are engaged, in the maintenance of the Constitution and the rights of the citizens under it. We are fighting for the Government as our fathers made it. The Constitution is broad enough to put down this rebellion without any violations of it. I do not apprehend that the present Executive of the United States will assume despotic powers. He is the last man to do it. I know that his whole heart is engaged in endeavoring to crush this rebellion, and I know that he would be the last man to overturn the Constitution in doing it. But, sir, we may not always have the same person at the head of our affairs. We may have a man of very different character, and what we are doing to-day will become a precedent upon which he will act. Suppose that when the trouble existed in Kansas, a few years ago, the then President of the United States had thought proper to arrest the Senator or myself, and send him or me to prison without examination, without opportunity to answer, because in his opinion we were dangerous to the peace of the country, and the necessity justified it. What would the Senator have thought of such action?

The debate lasted the whole day. Senators Hale, Fessenden, Kennedy, and Pearce, of Maryland, supported the resolution. Senators Wilson, of Massachusetts, and Browning, of Illinois, opposed it.

Read in the light of the present day the arguments of the opposition are extremely flimsy. They said in effect: "We know that our rulers mean well; if we ask them any questions, we shall cast a doubt upon their acts and then the wicked will be encouraged in their wrongdoing, and treason will multiply in the land." It was Trumbull's opinion that arbitrary arrests were causing division and dissension among the loyal people of the North, and were thus doing more harm than good, even from the standpoint of their apologists. Democratic conventions censured them. That of Indiana, for example, resolved:

That the total disregard of the writ of habeas corpus by the authorities over us and the seizure and imprisonment of the citizens of the loyal states where the judiciary is in full operation, without warrant of law and without assigning any cause, or giving the party arrested any opportunity of defense, are flagrant violations of the Constitution, and most alarming acts of usurpation of power, which should receive the stern rebuke of every lover of his country, and of every man who prizes the security and blessings of life, liberty, and property.

At the close of the debate, Senator Doolittle moved to refer the resolutions to the Committee on the Judiciary, in order to have a report on the question whether the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus appertains to the President or to Congress. This motion was opposed by Trumbull, but it prevailed by a vote of 25 to 17, and the subject was shelved for six months.

The question upon which Senator Doolittle wanted information had already been decided, so far as one eminent jurist could decide it, in the case of John Merryman, a citizen of Maryland, who was arrested at his home in the middle of the night on the 25th of May, 1861. He applied to Chief Justice Taney for a writ directing General Cadwalader, the commandant of Fort McHenry, to produce him in court, on the ground that he had been arrested contrary to the Constitution and laws of the United States. He stated that he had been taken from his bed at midnight by an armed force pretending to act under military orders from some person to him unknown.

The Chief Justice issued his writ and General Cadwalader sent his regrets by Colonel Lee, saying that the prisoner was charged with various acts of treason and that the arrest was made by order of General Keim, who was not within the limits of his command. He said further that he was authorized by the President of the United States to suspend the writ of habeas corpus for the public safety. He requested that further action be postponed until he could receive additional instructions from the President.

Judge Taney thereupon issued an attachment against General Cadwalader for disobedience to the high writ of the court. The next day United States Marshal Bonifant certified that he sent in his name from the outer gate of the fort, which he was not permitted to enter, and that the messenger returned with the reply that there was no answer to his card, and that he was thereupon unable to serve the writ. The Chief Justice then read from manuscript as follows:

1. The President, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, cannot suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, nor authorize any military officer to do so.

2. A military officer has no right to arrest and detain a person not subject to the rules and articles of war, for an offense against the laws of the United States, except in aid of the judicial authority and subject to its control, and if the party is arrested by the military, it is the duty of the officer to deliver him over immediately to the civil authority to be dealt with according to law.

The Chief Justice then remarked orally that if the party named in the attachment were before the court he should fine and imprison him, but that it was useless to attempt to enforce his legal authority, and he should, therefore, call upon the President of the United States to perform his constitutional duty and enforce the process of the court.

July 8, 1862, the House, after a brief debate, passed a bill reported by its Judiciary Committee directing the Secretaries of State and of War to report to the judges of the courts of the United States the names of all persons held as political prisoners, residing in the jurisdiction of said judges, and providing for their prompt release unless the grand jury should find indictments against them during the first term of court thereafter. The bill also authorized the President, during any recess of Congress, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus throughout the United States, or any part thereof, in cases of rebellion, or invasion, where the public safety might require it, until the meeting of Congress. Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, who reported the bill, explained that the committee did not attempt to decide whether the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus was vested in the executive or in the legislative branch of the Government. That was a matter of dispute, and the bill was intended to settle doubts, not theoretically but practically. If the right belonged to the Executive under the Constitution the passage of the bill would do no harm; if it belonged to Congress the bill would enable the President to exercise it legally. A motion to lay the bill on the table was negatived by a vote of 29 to 89, after which it was passed without a division.