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THE LIFE

OF

JAMES W. GKIMES,
GOVEBJVOB OF IOWA, 1854-1858;
A SENATOB OF TEE UNITED STATES, 1859-1869.

BY
WILLIAM SALTER.

NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
649 AND 551 BROADWAY.
1876.

Ektbebd, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by
D. APPLETON & COMPANY,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PEE FAO E.

My acquaintance with Mr. Grimes commenced in 1846.
Mrs. Grimes has honored me with her confidence, and placed
his home letters in my hands. From this and his other cor
respondence, and from the public records, I have arranged as
clearly and succinctly as possible these memoirs of his life.
They are substantially autobiographical, and afford, in his
own language, his views of the questions and events in the
consideration and determination of which he bore his part.
Bcblinoton, Iowa, November 17, 187S

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Early Life and Education, 1816-1836. PAGE
Birth — Parents — Ancestry — Education — At Hampton Academy and Dartmouth
College — Student of Law — Friendship of Mrs. Walker .... 1
Letters :
1. To his Parents and Sister Susan — A Season of Religious Interest . 4
2. To his Pather— Eighteenth Birthday ...:.. 1
CHAPTER H
Life at Burlington, 1836-1853.
Removal West — At Burlington, in the Black Hawk Purchase — Under the Gov
ernment of the Territory of Michigan — In Wisconsin Territory— In the
Territory and State of Iowa — Practice of Law — Marriage — Interest in Hor
ticulture^ — Bailroads — Politics — Member of the Territorial and State Legis
latures  10
Letters : ,
3. To his Sister Sarah — In Illinois — Burlington, in 1836 — Manners —
Society  13
4. To the same — Sickness — Growth of Burlington — Temporary Capital
of Wisconsin Territory '  15
6. To the same — Death of Joshua Sears, a Native of Yarmouth, Mass. 16
6. To the same — Becovery from Sickness — Hard Times — Views on
Preaching  17
1. To the same — Leader of the Opposition in the Territorial Legislature
of Iowa  20
8. To his Father — Went to College too young — Pohtical Speeches for
General Harrison  20

vi CONTENTS.
Letters : paob
9. To his Sister Sarah— A Lawyer's Anxiety for his Client— Death of
Friends  2*
10. To the same — Death of a Relative and his Teacher . . . .22
1 1 . To his Father— Sickness in the West — Crops— Low Prices— Rejection
of a State Constitution in 1845 — Purchase of Land ... 23
12. To his Parents— Ten Years in the West— Climate— Productions-
Success — Rev. Horace Hutchinson  24
13. To his Sister Sarah— Death of his Sister Susan .... 27
14. To his Father— Death of his Mother  2S
15. To Mrs. Grimes — Attending the Legislature in the Interest of the
Burlington and Mount Pleasant Plank-road Company . . 29
16. To his Father — Plank-roads and Railroads  30
17. To his Sister Sarah— Death of his Father  30
18. To Mrs. Grimes— Life and Society at Washington, D. C— Daniel
Webster— H. W. Bellows, D. D  30
19. To the same — In the House of Representatives of the State of Iowa 31
20. To the same — Legislative Duties  32
CHAPTER III.
Governor of Iowa, 1854-1868.
His Nomination, Address to the People of Iowa, Election — Not a Candidate for
the U. S. Senate — Inaugural — Asylum for the Insane — Geological Survey
— Thanksgiving — The Assault upon Mr. Sumner — Kansas — Land-Grant for
Railroads in Iowa — Special Session of the General Assembly — Fremont
Campaign — Letters of Mr. Lincoln — Sixth General Assembly — Message —
New Capital — New Constitution — Message to the Seventh General Assem
bly — Rev. Asa Turner's Reminiscences  33
Letters :
21. To Rev. H. Clay Dean— Prohibition of Sale of Ardent Spirits— The
Veto-Power  50
22. To Mrs. Grimes — Campaign Speeches — Mrs. Gage . . . .51
23. To  Traveling on Sunday — The Gospel of Liberty . . 51
24. To Mrs. Grimes — SameiOpinions on the Missouri as on the Mississippi 52
25. To Hon. S. P. Chase— State of Politics . . 54
26. To Mrs. Grimes — Executive Duties — Letter from Joshua R. Giddings 62
27. To  Candidates for the U. S. Senate — Expiring Whiggery . 63
28. To  Election of Senator and Judges  64
29. To Mrs. Grimes — Acts of the Fifth General Assembly ... 65
30. To Hon. S. P. Chase — Presidential Candidates — Preference for Mr.
Chase — Mr. Seward — Organization of the Republican Party . 68
31. To Mrs. Grimes — Preaching of Rev. Mr. Hosmer — Visiting Asylums
for the Insane — Prof. James Hall, State Geologist . . .69
32. To Hon. S. P. Chase— The New Political Party— The Know-Nothinga
— Dartmouth College  70

CONTENTS. vii
Letters : page
33. To Mrs. Grimes — Aversion to Public Dinners — The Know-Nothings
breaking down —Growth of Antislavery Sentiment . . .71
34. To the same — Necessity of an Asylum for the Insane — A Fugitive
from Slavery in Burlington — Edwin James, M. D. . . . 72
35. To the same — Fourth of July — Everybody coming to Iowa — Mr. Sum
ner — Mr. Chase  74
36. To Hon. S. P. Chase— Pohtics in Ohio— The German Vote . . 75
37. To the same — Congratulations upon his Election as Governor of Ohio 78
38. To the same — Prospects of the Republican Party ... 78
39. To the same — The German Vote — Mr. Seward . . . .79
40. To Franklin Pierce, President of the United States — Kansas Affairs 84
41. To Hon. S. P. Chase— Kansas  86
42. To Mrs. Grimes— Wendell Phillips  92
43. To W. H. Buchanan, Sheriff of Clinton County — To execute the Laws
— Against Mobs  93
44. A Circular— State of Politics, 1857  95
45. To Mrs. Grimes — Retirement from Office — Elected Senator of the
United States  113
46. To Hon. S. P. Chase— The Free-Soil Vote  116

CHAPTER IV.
A Senator of the United States, 1859-1869.
§ 1. — In the Thirty-sixth Congress, 1859-1861.
Course in the Senate — Committee Service — A Working Member — Defense of
Iowa — Court of Claims — Homestead Bill — Des Moines River Land-Grant —
Post-Office Department — U. S. Offices in Iowa — Military Academy — U. S.
Police for City of Washington — The Navy — Kansas — Peace Conference —
Tariff — Detection of Treason  118
Letters :
47. To Mrs. Grimes— Life and Manners in Washington . . . 118
48. To Messrs. Hillguertner and Olshausen — The Naturalization Laws . 119
49. To Mrs. Grimes — Rev. Jonathan Blanchard — Mrs. Crittenden . 120
50. To the same — John Brown  121
51. To the same — John Brown — Dislike of Social Conventionalism . 121
52. To the same — Mr. Sumner's Speech on the Barbarism of Slavery —
¦ Charles F. Adams's Speech — Mr. Seward's Intellectual Vigor —
Mr. Lincoln's Nomination  127
53. To the same — Secession of South Carolina— War inevitable— Presi
dent Buchanan — His Cabinet tumbling . . . . 131
64. To Hon. S. P. Chase — Desire that he should be Secretary of the Treas
ury ............ 133
55. To Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood, Governor of Iowa— Condition of Pub
lic Affairs — Mr. Crittenden's Proposition . . . .133

viii CONTENTS. PAGE
§ 2. — In the Thirty-seventh Congress, 1861-1863.
Special Session — Slavery in the District of Columbia and Earliest Act of Prac
tical Emancipation — Letter from Hon. Simon Cameron — The Army — The
Navy — Hon. G. V. Fox, Assistant Secretary — Port Boyal Expedition —
Commodore Du Pont — Conduct of the War — Drunkenness in the Army —
Beform in Naval Organization — Jail of District of Columbia — Marshal
Lamon— Iron-clads — Western Naval Flotilla — Fort Donelson — General C.
F. Smith — Surrender of Slaves by the Army — Employment of Colored Per
sons in Military Service — Parker Pillsbury — George B. Cheever, D. D. —
Abolition of Grog-Ration — Commodore Foote — National Armory at Rock
Island — Higher Grades of Naval Officers — Admirals — Marine Corps — Abo
lition of Useless Offices — Excessive Multiplication of Generals — Executive
Power — Hospitals — Recommendation of Changes in his Cabinet to Mr. Lin
coln — Troops at Election in Delaware — Emancipation in Missouri — Presi
dent's Emancipation Proclamation — Military Academy — Naval Academy —
Removal of the Philadelphia Navy- Yard to League Island — Ninth Circuit
of the Supreme Court — Greenbacks — Banks — National Debt — Letters of
Marque — Banks Expedition — Frauds in Transport Service — Commodore
Vanderbilt — John Tucker, Assistant Secretary of War — Against Increase
of Pay to any Civil Officer, while Soldiers were unpaid — Fortifications for
Harbor Defense — Pacific Bailroad — Education of Colored Girls in District
of Columbia — No Compromise with Rebellion  139
Letters :
56. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden— Mr. Lincoln's Attempt to add to the Stand
ing Army a Dangerous Precedent  140
57. To the same — Volunteers demanded  140
68. To Mrs. Grimes — Reflections at the Old Home .... 141
59. To Hon S. Cameron— Emancipation in District of Columbia, July 4,

1861

142

60. To Mrs. Grimes— Bull Run— On the Field of Battle . . 146
61. To the same — Close of Special Session .... 147
62. To J. H. Gear, W. F. Coolbaugh, and others— Eebellion to be sup
pressed, otherwise Iowa a Dependent Province . . 147
63; To A. C. Barnes— Approval of the Acts of President Lincoln by
Congress  150
64. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden— Circulation of Treasury Notes— Army
Contracts — Fremont .... 152
65. To Mrs. Grimes— Dissatisfaction with the Course of the Administra
tion — W. H. Channing, D. D. 1So
66. To the same— General Fremont— His Proclamation— His Bemoval ' 154
67. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden— Removal of General Fremont— Extrava
gance— Responsibility of Mr. Fessenden to arrest the Progress of
Corruption  . „
68. To Commodore Du Pont— Capture of Port Royal . . . i58

CONTENTS. ix
Letters : pAUH
69. To Mrs. Grimes— "Keep up the Fire"— W. H. Channing— Captains
Rodgers and Porter, U. S. N.— "Running the Committee alone" 159
70. To Commodore Du Pont— Vote of Thanks  1 68
71. To the same — Captain Foote, U. S. N  182
72. To Mrs. Grimes— Employment of Colored Persons in the Army and
Navy more important in putting an End to Slavery than Con
fiscation — Robert Small — Hunter's Proclamation rescinded —
Liquor banished from the Ships  196
73. To Commodore Du Pont— Restoration of Naval Officers — Vote of
Thanks to Farragut's Fleet-Officers — Naval Bill . . .200
74. To the same — Grade Bill  201
75. To Hon. S. P. Chase— The People of Iowa in Advance of the Admin
istration for a Vigorous Prosecution of the War . . .215
76. To Mrs, Grimes — Canvass of Iowa — Enthusiastic Receptions — Among
the Quakers — President Lincoln's Proclamation well received . 216
77. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden— Death of his Son Samuel— His Tax-Bill
Speech  217
78. To Hon. S. P. Chase — The President's Proclamation an Issue in the
Iowa Election — Politicians behind the People .... 217
79. To Admiral Du Pont — Attack on Charleston — Navy nationalized;
no Man from the Interior having presumed to know anything
about it before  218
80. To a Midshipman at the Naval Academy — "Keep ahead of your
Class"  219
§ 3. — In the Thirty-eighth Congress, 1863-1865.
Employment of Colored Troops, and not as Substitutes for White Soldiers —
Repeal of Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 — Chosen Senator for Six Years, from
March 4, 1865 — Economy demanded in Public Service — Intercontinental
Telegraph — Work of the Navy in the War — Diplomacy — History of Naval
Academy — Loss of the Baron de Kalb — Frauds in Contracts for Naval Sup
plies—Navy-Yard at Cairo — Pacific Bailroad — Agamst allowing Trade
with the Bebels — "Fill up the Banks" — Freedmen's Bureau — Letter of Mr.
Fessenden's — Defense of Northern Frontier — Reciprocity Treaty — Military
Arrest of Citizens of Kentucky — Management of the Navy Board of Ad
miralty — Boundaries of Nevada — Stone Fortifications .... 235
Letters :
81. To Admiral Du Pont — Attack on Charleston — Emancipation — The
Work of the Thirty-seventh Congress second only to that of the
First Continental Congress — Naval Legislation . . . 235
82. To the Editor of the Linn Comity Register — Views on Reelection
to the Senate  236
83. To Admiral Du Pont — Charleston a Hard Nut to crack . . 236
84. To Mrs. Grimes — Political Speeches in Iowa  238

x CONTENTS.
Letters : page
85. To Admiral Du Pont— Official Etiquette— Personal Influence at the
Navy Department — Intention not to serve longer on Naval Com
mittee  239
86. To Mrs. Grimes— At Mr. Fessenden's House in Portland . . 239
87. To the same — Francis Fessenden wounded — Banks Expedition —
Rev. J. Blanchard — Negro Troops  260
88. To the same — Army of the Potomac — Battles . . • -261
89. To Admiral Du Pont— Intended Visit  26S
90. To Mrs. Grimes — Grant's Campaign in Virginia .... 263
91. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden — His Position in the Cabinet — Their
Friendship  263
92. To Mrs. Grimes — "Naval Warfare ashore and afloat" — Hon. F. A.
Pike's Speech  2?2
93. To Admiral Du Pont— The Prize Law  272
| 4_ In the Thirty-ninth Congress, 1865-1867.
Reconstruction — Inexpediency of Land Grant for Schools in District of Colum
bia — Colorado not entitled to Admission as a State — Ships that had been
transferred during the Rebellion to a Foreign Flag to be prohibited an Am
erican Register — Search for Missing Soldiers, Clara Barton — Against In
crease of the Army — Roll of Soldiers — Indian Agents — Private Claims —
Senator Foot, his Death — Non-interference with Matters belonging to States
— Naval Academy — Monitors — Hon. G. V. Fox, his Letter to Mrs. Grimes
— Appointments in the Navy — Napoleon's Interference in Mexico — Paris
Exposition — Railroad Bridge over the Mississippi at Burlington — Union Pa
cific Railroad — -Niagara Ship-Canal — Against Leasing of Saline Lands —
Pacific Mail Steamships to touch at Honolulu — Tariff — Agricultural Bureau
— Public Money to be deposited in the Treasury — Admission of Nebraska
— Tenure of Office — League Island — Des Moines Bapids of the Mississippi 276
Letters :
94. To A. D. Smith, D. D., Dartmouth College  276
95. To Mrs. Grimes — Iowa College — The Grimes Foundation . . 276
96. To the same — Assassination of Mr. Lincoln .... 277
97. To the same — Happy Spring-Time  279
98. To Hon. W-. P. Fessenden — "Come West" .... 280
99. To E. H. Stiles — Necessity of an Unbroken Front in the Union Party
— Impolicy of introducing any New Issue .... 280
100. To Mrs. Grimes — Eulogies on Senator Foot  290
101. To the same — President Johnson — Reconstruction . . . 291
102. To the same — Constitutional Amendment — Mission of Mr. Fox to the
Emperor of Russia  297
103. To the same — Examination of Naval Academy, its Efficiency . 298
104. To the same — Visit to West Point — The Mihtary and Naval Acad
emies—Central Park, New York — Report of the Reconstruction
Committee  298

CONTENTS. xi
Letters : PAQE
105. To Mrs. Grimes — Ristori — Letting the President alone . . 308
106. To the same— Speech on the Tariff— Handel's " Messiah " . . 321
107. To the same — Night Sessions  322
§ 5. — In the Fortieth Congress, 1867-1869.
Impeachment of the President — Against Class Legislation — On Thanks to Gen
erals for Civil Administration — Cotton Tax, and Prosperity of the Southern
States — Pubhc Library in Burlington — Retired Naval Officers recommended
for Consuls — Naval Pension Fund — Pension System — Reduction of Navy
and Marine Corps— Naval Apprentices — Admiral Farragut — Reduction of
Duties, Protection and Free Trade — Trial of the President — Opinion and
Vote — Paralysis — Card to Chicago Tribvme — Donation to Dartmouth Col
lege — Duty upon Copper — Revenue Tariff — Compensation to a Naval Con
structor's Widow for his Invention — Publication of the-Medical and Surgical
History of the War  323
Letters :
108. To Mrs. Grimes — The Impeachment Project — President's Hands tied 323
109. To H. W. Starr, Esq.— Pubhc Library  328
110. To the same— Selection of Books — Senate organized as a Court . 336
111. To the same — First Letter after Paralysis  358
112. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden — Recovering Health — Mr. Sumner's Reso
lutions on Impeachment a Political Proceeding — Revolutionary
Tendencies — We saved the Country  360
113. To Mr. N. C. Deering — The Republican Party saved, and such a Pre
cedent prevented as would have turned ours into a Sort of South
American Republic  361
§ .6 — In the Forty-first Congress, First Session, March-April, 1869.
Economy in Public Expenditure — Sinking Fund — Repeal of Tenure-of-Office Act 366
Letter: 114. To H. W. Starr, Esq. — Impeachment Furor subsided . . . 367
CHAPTER V.
Travels in Europe. — Return Home. — Death. — Character. — 1869-1872.
In London  368
Letters :
115. To the London Times — Excitement in London from Mr. Sumner's
Speech on the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty — England's Offense in
the Eyes of Americans  368
116. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden — Tumult caused by Mr. Sumner's Speech
—John Bright  870

xii CONTENTS.
Letters : page
117. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden — In Paris — Second Attack of Paralysis —
Memoirs of Public Men, numerous in England, needed in America 372
118. To H. W. Starr, Esq.— Treatment in Paris — Effect of Mr. Sumner's
Speech on our Bonds in London — Health prostrated in the Full
Vigor of Mental Power  373
119. To Mr. Lyman Cook — Switzerland — Resignation of Office of Senator 374
120. To Hon. W. P. Fessenden — Reflections on laying down Office — Cor
rupt Senatorial Elections — Extract from Mr. Fessenden's Last Let
ter to Mr. Grimes  376
121. To Mr. Lyman Cook — Severe Affliction in the Death of Mr. Fessen
den — His Character — Their Friendship  377
122. To Mr. Jacob Rich — Power corrupts all Parties — Change essential
— San Domingo — Revenue Reform  378
123. To Mr. Lyman Cook — Berlin — Leipsic — Admiration for the German
People — German Books for the Pubhc Library .... 380
124. To the same — Lake Geneva — The Mountains — Meditations in Review
ofLife  381
125. To Hon. F. A. Pike — Six Months in Switzerland — Glory in Sumner's
Pluck on San Domingo Annexation, " and wish I were able to fight
by his Side " — Franco-German War  382
126. To Mr. J. W. Cadwallader — Account of Health and Travels to an
Old Neighbor  383
127. To Mr. Lyman Cook — Necessity of Occupation — Prussian Generals
— The North German  384
128. To Hon. Charles Mason — Nothing more to do with Public Life . 384
129. To Mr. H. K. Edson— Prussians the Greatest People in the World 385
Return Home — Letters of Hon. E. Price and Hon. Samuel Merrill, Governor —
Silver Wedding— Last Months — Death— Funeral — Tributes to his Memory
— Character  386
Index  395

ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait ¦¦•........ Frontispiece.
House  25
Seal of State of Iowa  117
U. S. Ship Ironsides  234
Tomb  888

THE LIFE OF JAMES ¥. GRIMES.

CHAPTEE I.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION.
1816-1836.
In the early part of the seventeenth century a colony of
people from Argyleshire, Scotland, emigrated to the north of
Ireland, and settled in the Province of Ulster, encouraged by
grants of land from James I., made for the purpose of strength
ening his throne and the Protestant interest in Ireland. From
being the most wild and disorderly province of Ireland, Ulster
soon became the best cultivated and most civilized. In process
of time the appellation "Scotch-Irish" was fixed upon the de
scendants of this people, though they always insisted upon their
pure Scotch blood. Emigrants from this body of people came
to America, and commenced the settlement of Londonderry,
New Hampshire, in 1719, and others of them, about the same
time, settled in and near Boston, Massachusetts.
Of this sturdy and vigorous stock, James Wilson Grimes
was born in the town of Deering, Hillsborough County, New
Hampshire, on the 20th of October, 1816. His parents — John
Grimes, born August ' 11, 1772, and Elizabeth Wilson, born
March 19, 1773 — were natives of the same town. He was
named for a brother of his mother. Her parents, Captain
David Wilson and Sarah Cochran, were born in Londonderry

2 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
in 1743. On his father's side, his grandfather, Francis Grimes,
was born, in 1747, upon Noddle's Island, now East Boston ; and
his grandmother, Elizabeth Wilson, a sister of his mother's
father, in Londonderry, in 1736. The first permanent settle
ment of the town of Deering was made in 1765, and these per
sons were among the early settlers. The town was incorporated
in 1774, and named, with Francestown, which adjoins it on the
south, for Frances Deering, wife of John Wentworth, the last
royal governor of the Province of New Hampshire. In re
sponse to a resolution of the Continental Congress of March
14, 1776, the male inhabitants of Deering Colony over twenty-
one years of age, with two exceptions, signed the following
declaration, April 12, 1776 :
" To show our determination in joining our American brethren
in defending the lives, liberties, and properties of the inhabitants
of the United Colonists, we, the subscribers, do hereby solemnly
engage and promise that we will to the utmost of our power, at
the risk of our lives and fortunes, with arms, oppose the hostile pro
ceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United Amer
ican Colonies."
Among the thirty-three subscribers to this declaration were
Francis Grimes and David Wilson.
Born of such an ancestry, among a people inheriting these
traditions, he breathed the free air of the hills in a community
of intelligent, self-reliant, and independent farmers. He was
the youngest of eight children, of whom one died in infancy ;
the others survived him, except a sister, Susan, who became the
wife of Mr. Alden Walker, and died October 31, 1846. She
was the mother of Captain John G. Walker, United States
Navy. Being thirteen years older than her brother, she assisted
very much in the care of his childhood. Through life he cher
ished a grateful recollection of her kindness, and regarded her
children with peculiar tenderness and affection. His father,
whom he resembled in temperament and appearance, was a sub
stantial farmer, a man of unpretending goodness, warmly at
tached to his family, hospitable and kind to all, of thrifty hab
its, and highly esteemed among his neighbors and in the sur-

EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION. • 3
rounding region for sterling integrity and worth. His mother
was a woman of energy and determination, and gave herself to
the duties of home with careful industry and devotion. The
happy parents lived together more than half a century, the
mother dying in 1850, and the father the next year. His fa
ther's farm was situated in the northern part of Deering, about
two and a half miles from the village of Hillsborough Bridge,
upon the broad expanse of a hill-top that affords an extensive
outlook over the valley of the Contoocook, and far away to distant
hills that ennoble the landscape on every side. In 1806, the
house which his grandfather built in the early settlement of the
town gave place to a large, two-story double house, erected by
his father. Here was his birthplace. A short distance down
the road was a district schoolhouse, where the child mingled
with his mates in study and play. The town of Deering had
ten school-districts, each with a schoolhouse, and possessed a
social library.
From early childhood he was fond of reading, and eagerly
devoured books. He commenced the study of Latin and Greek
with Eev. Eber Child, pastor of the church in Deering, and
boarded in his family a few months. Mr. Child was highly
esteemed in the region as a scholar. He was a graduate of
Dartmouth College in 1821, and of the Theological Seminary
at Andover in 1826. His widow gives the following reminis
cences of her husband's pupil :
Mr. Grimes was but a lad when I knew him over forty years
ago, but I can think of no young man out of my own family of
whom I have such vivid recollections. I remember the tones of his
voice and his smiling countenance. He always laughed with his
eyes. He had a happy disposition and an uncommon flow of spir
its. I have no recollection of ever seeing him angry or put out at
anything. If for nothing else, I should love his memory because he
was so kind to my children. He would often undress our youngest
child, and put him in his cradle to hear him sing his lullaby. After
the child's death, he went to his scrap-book, and cut out some beau
tiful lines written over the grave of a child. I think he did not like
his studies, still he always got his lessons. My husband thought a

4 " LIFE OF JAMES W. GKIMES.
great deal of James, and was proud to hear of his success in life.
When my husband died (December, 1847), I was left in a land of
strangers, with my family of little ones, to get through the world
as best I could. My husband left a small farm of unimproved land
in Rock Prairie, Wisconsin, but mortgaged for all it was worth at
the time of his death. I managed to clear the incumbrance, and
went on it to make a home. I needed money, and wrote Mr.
Grimes, asking the loan of a hundred dollars, to which he readily
responded. In his letters to me he never alluded to self in any
shape, only the state of his health and his family, but always remem
bered his old friends and relations with unabated interest and affec
tion. In one he said, " Could you see my gray hair and wrinkled
face, you would not recall the gay, rollicking boy I used to be." In
the dark hours of the nation's peril, when I read in a description of
the Senate, " There is Senator Grimes — he is always found in the
right place," I thought, " James has not altered any — the boy is
father to the man." When the disappointment of " Impeachment "
flashed over the land, I told a neighbor I was confident there was
one who decided according to the evidence ; that I knew Mr.
Grimes and his father before him, and he had not swerved from
what he thought was right and duty.
The lad completed his preparation for college at Hampton
Academy, under the instruction of Rev. Roswell Harris. In one
of his compositions, while a member of the academy, he describes
the beauty of Hampton Beach, and the picturesque and sublime
scenery of Boar's Head. . At this period many portions of the
country were visited with seasons of special rehgious awakening.
The year 1831 was memorable in this respect. Several eminent
clergymen of the vicinity visited Hampton, and preached to the
students. The following letter, the earliest that has been pre
served, gives an account of the interest that prevailed, and
records the impressions and convictions of ingenuous youth :
1. — To his Parents, and Sister, Mrs. Susan O. Walker.
Hampton, October, 1831.
It is certainly with feelings of quite a different nature I ad
dress you now, from those with which I have hitherto addressed
you. On Monday Dr. Dana addressed the students, and it was an

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION. 5
affecting time ; my sins were exposed to me. It seemed as if I
was the greatest sinner under heaven. I immediately retired to
my room, and before that night found joy, and peace, and comfort
to my soul. Yesterday, in the morning, there was a prayer-meet
ing. Mr. Harris proposed that all who were determined to .have
religion and to seek the Lord should rise. Ten in our department
arose. It is a very interesting time among us. It seems as if the
Holy Spirit was in our midst. And may the Divine Spirit be with
you! My dear sister, it seems as if I wanted to write to some one
of our family continually, but I sometimes forbear for fear I shall
not do the subject justice. You have professed an interest in
Christ. You have taken upon you the solemn covenant of the
Church. You have said you would devote yourself to the cause of
the Redeemer, who has died and done so much that you, and I, and
every one of the human family, might be saved. Now, will you
live up to this affirmation, and do everythmg in your power to bring
precious and immortal souls to taste of the waters of life ? Do you
administer help to the sick and needy ? If you do, you are doing
your duty. If not, it is the sad reverse. Let me entreat you to
take impenitent sinners by the hand, and tell them, " Now is the
accepted time. To-day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your
heart. The Spirit and the bride say, come ; and let him that hear-
eth say, come ; and let him that is athirst come ; and whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely."
During the last week, eighteen belonging to the academy have
obtained hopes. Oh, imagine, if it is possible, the happiness I now
feel ! Supposing there was no hereafter, I would be constrained to
have religion for the sole purpose of having temporal happiness.
Mr. Harris is very much engaged, and I am afraid will wear
himself out. Indeed, who would not be engaged in such a time as
this ? I suppose you are enjoying all that domestic happiness
which this world can give. But do not fail, while you are enjoying
this happiness, to give the praise to Almighty God. He alone can
make you happy or miserable.
He entered Dartmouth College, August, 1832, in the six
teenth year of his age. Here his tastes led him into general
and miscellaneous reading, rather than close application to the
2

6 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
prescribed course of study. His favorite books were of his
tory and light literature. His journal of reading and reflec
tions at this period shows a free range of mind over a wide cir
cle of subjects. One of his essays is a criticism on the college
course of study, as prescribing too much Latin, Greek, and
metaphysics, and not enough deep and laborious reading of
the British classics. He handled the following, among other
topics :
" Independence of Spirit."
" Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' with an
Abstract of the Fortieth Chapter."
" Hume and Robertson as Historians."
" The'-English Constitution, and the Superior Advantages of the
Constitution of. the'United States."
" British Jealousy of America."
" Codper's'N'o'vels."
"Paulding'sTtfovels." "Sketches', of •» Public Characters: Webster, Calhoun, Living
ston, Chancellor- Kent:" ....
" A'Republican' Government for France." i
" Dissensions. among Christians."
"The Error of 'Students hr depending too much upon their
Talents, and not-enough upon Application."
" The Mistake of depending upon Riches."
" Intellectual Improvement conducive to True Happiness."
An esteemed classmate, for .whom he 'predicted, in their
Freshman year, the distinction he has attained as a scholar— Rev.
Samuel C. Bartlett, D. D., professor in the Chicago Theological
Seminary — says: , , ¦ '
He was a man of general intelligence, and had acquired an
easy, fluent style, both of writing and talking, ' but was entirely
modest, and free from arrogance or assumption. He was a very
genial person, with a steady vein of humor and good-nature. I
always liked and respected him. I think he had no enmities or jeal
ousies. He took little active part in class or college excitements
and office-seeking. He gave no offense and took none. ' He was
liked by his classmates, who all knew he could have made more of

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION. 7
himself in college. When he left, he was beginning to wake up to
greater earnestness of purpose, thought, and application.
Another classmate, subsequently a member of Congress for
twelve years, two of which were during the period of Mr.
Grimes's senatorial career — Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago

I never saw or heard of Grimes until we met at Hanover,
Freshman year, 1832. He left at the close of the first term of the
Junior year, 1835. James F. Joy was our tutor that year, and I
have often heard him say that Grimes and myself recited in Tacitus
to him. After that, I did not meet him until he came to Washing
ton while I was Congressman. Grimes was a Whig and I was a
Democrat, but was then quarreling with our Democratic President
(Pierce) about the Douglas Kansas-Nebraska bill. General Pierce
knew Grimes's people well, and he knew their Whig affinities, and
I thought it would be a good joke to take Grimes to him, and in
troduce him as the next Governor of Iowa, as he was. Pierce
thought he would have to change his politics first. After I got
into Congress, I called upon President Lord to send him his degree,
the same as if he had graduated, and I noticed that his name ap
peared in the next triennial catalogue as a graduate. Our class
mate, Rev. E. E. Adams, now deceased, preached at Washington
in the winter of 1866-'67, and Grimes, Daniel F. Merrill, and my
self, went together to hear him.
2. — To Ms Father'.
Dartmouth College, October 20, 1834.
My birthday ! I am eighteen years old. How I have spent
these eighteen years, and to what advantage, time will show. But
one thing I know, I have spent the happiest part of my life. It is
melancholy to think I have lived so long, and where we shall be at
the end of another eighteen years. That length of time will un
doubtedly make a great alteration in our family. What change
there will be, I know not. I do not wish to know. The whitened
hair and furrowed brow of yourself and dear mother seem to fore
tell a change which no human foresight can prevent. But a truce
with this for the present. I have written in a mournful strain ; but
when is a better time to feel mournful ? It is indeed a serious

8 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
I was extremely sorry to hear Mr. B. accused me of neglect in
not calling oftener to see him. I called there oftener than upon
any of my brothers and sisters. You know I heartily hate to visit,
not because I do not wish to see my friends, but I like to be at
home all the time. Besides, to go and talk about nothing seems
strange, and I appear perfectly ridiculous.
Immediately on leaving college, February, 1835, young
Grimes entered the law-office of James Walker, Esq., in Peter
borough, N. H. In Mr. Walker's absence from home, he was
frequently intrusted with important matters of business. He
became a member of his family, and won a place in the affec
tionate regards and care of his wife, a gifted and amiable lady,
whose superior intelligence and enlightened counsels were so
helpful to his studies, that he sometimes said that he read law
with Mrs. Walker. A few extracts from her letters show her
appreciation of the young student. When he was planning to
go Westj she wrote to his parents :
I wish to see and converse, with you respecting his project.
Allow me to say that I am much interested in his welfare, and I
should be ungrateful were it otherwise. His whole conduct since
he entered our family has been that of a kind and dutiful son, and
his society has added much to my happiness.
Soon afterward she writes to her young friend :
Do you still look to the West as your future home ? If so, I
pray God it may be a happy one. The world is open before you, a
world full of blessings to the wise and the good. Let me hope that
you will be both. I can hardly account for the interest I feel in
your welfare. I have known those a great deal better than you,
that I did not like half so well. Now you must turn out well, that
I may have some excuse for this predilection. What pride I shall
take in my old age, when I shall see your name among the great
ones, in saying, " I aye thought he would be something ! "
The following summer, after hearing from him of his settle
ment in the West, she wrote to him in a letter full of affection
ate counsel :
Let me caution you against expecting uninterrupted good

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION. 9
fortune, and do not make haste to be rich. Every day's experience
confirms me in the belief that our happiness does not depend on
the abundance of the things which we possess. Be honest and
honorable in your dealings, and leave the event to Him who orders
all things for our good. Excuse the motherly counsels of one who
feels it her privilege to address you in that character.
A few years later, she wrote :
Can you really think that I have forgotten you, or that time
and distance have made me indifferent to your welfare ? Do you
not know that, in spite of all your faults, I loved you almost as well
as if you had been my own son ? I hardly know why, but so it
was. Most sincerely do I rejoice in your brilliant success, and
most earnestly pray that you may be a good and happy man. Do
not let prosperity make you unmindful of the bountiful Giver.
There is much in your situation unfavorable to serious thought ;
but you have a mind capable of judging whether something more
than fame and riches be not necessary to your happiness. I cannot
bear to think of your being devoted wholly to politics and money-
making. I have always hoped you would marry a sensible woman,
who would influence you to all that was good. What is the pros
pect ? Remember, I shall never give my consent to your marrying
.any woman, however rich and pretty, that does not possess firm, re
ligious principles. This world is not always bright to the most
favored ; and there are times when our hopes and wishes go for
ward to another.

CHAPTER II.
LIFE AT BURLINGTON.
1836-1853.
In the spring of 1836, the young adventurer left the pa
ternal roof to seek his fortunes in the far West. He came first
to Alton, Illinois, and after visiting Pittsfield, Peoria, and Mon
mouth, in that State, his attention was directed to Burlington,
a new town on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in what
was known as the " Black Hawk Purchase." Thither he turned
his steps, and landed in the town on the 15th of May, and at
once embarked in business as an attorney-at-law, though not yet
twenty years of age.
The Black Hawk Purchase was a strip of land lying along
the west bank of the Mississippi River, from the north line of
the State of Missouri to opposite Prairie du Chien, and ex
tending back forty or fifty miles, which was ceded to the
United States upon the close of the Black Hawk War, by treaty,
September 21, 1832. It contained about six million acres of
fair and fertile land, and by the terms of the treaty the Indian
possession ceased on the lst day of June, 1833. From that day
explorers and settlers flocked rapidly into the country. A census,
taken a few months after his arrival, showed a population of
more than ten thousand, viz. : 6,257 in the county of Des Moines,
4,274 in the county of Dubuque. These counties had been or
ganized by an act (September, 1834) of the Legislative Assem
bly of the Territory of Michigan, to which Congress had at
tached (June 28, 1834) the territory north of the State of Mis
souri. The division line between these counties was a line drawn
due west from the foot of Rock Island. Burlington was the

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 11
seat of justice of Des Moines County. The town was laid out
in 1834, and named after Burlington in Vermont. The busi
ness and trade of the region found a natural centre at this point,
and assured the growth of a flourishing town. The first court
was held here in April, 1835.
By an act of Congress, approved April 20, 1836, the country
north of the States of Illinois and Missouri to the boundary-
line of the United States, lying between Lake Michigan and
the upper peninsula of the State of Michigan on the east, and
the Missouri and White Earth Rivers on the west, was consti
tuted on the 4th of July, 1836, a separate Territory by the name
of Wisconsin. The second session of the first Legislative As
sembly of this Territory was held at Burlington, November 6,
1837, and a special session June 11, 1838. By an act of Con
gress, approved June 12, 1838, the Territory of Wisconsin was
divided, and the portion west of the Mississippi River was con
stituted a separate territorial government, by the name of Iowa.
This act took effect on the 4th of July, 1838. ,The Legislative
Assembly of the Territory was convened at Burlington for
three successive years, 1838, 1839, and 1840.
Thus, in a little more than two years, Mr. Grimes lived under
three different territorial governments; under that of Iowa,
during the whole period of its existence, eight years and a half.
In September, 1836, he went up the Mississippi River to
attend a council of the chiefs, braves, and principal men of the
Sac and Fox Indians, at Rock Island. By appointment of
Henry Dodge, Governor of Wisconsin Territory, and com
missioner on the part of the United States, he served as secre
tary of the commission. Two treaties were made. One relin
quished to the United States the lands lying between the then
boundary-line of the State of Missouri and the Missouri River,
which were soon after added to that State, and contained six
counties, with a population of 102,441, and the flourishing city
of St. Joseph, with a population of 19,565 (census of 1870).
The other ceded to the United States four hundred sections of
land lying along both sides of the Iowa River, in what is now
Louisa County, and which Keokuk, Wapello, and their bands,

12 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
had occupied as a reservation, under the treaty of September
21, 1832.
In the mutation of affairs, it came to pass that from the ter
ritory ceded to the United States under the first treaty, there
went forth, in less than twenty years, a violent effort to. carry
slavery into Kansas, in resistance to which Mr. Grimes bore a
conspicuous part, and rendered efficient service.
The young lawyer took the attorney's oath, " to demean him
self honestly," before Judge Irvin, one of the Associate Judges
of the Territory of Wisconsin, February 24, 1837. In the prac
tice of law he early secured business, and established a reputation
for abihty and integrity in the management of cases. In April,
1837, he was appointed city solicitor by the trustees of the town
of Burlington. He pleaded nonage, but the board insisted upon
the appointment, and he entered upon the duties of the office,
and assisted in drawing up the first police laws of the town. He
again held the same office in 1840. During the second session
of the first Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin Territory, held
at Burlington in the winter of 1837-38, he was employed as
assistant librarian of the Territorial Library. At this session, a
member of the House from Dubuque County was charged with
having taken a bribe of three hundred dollars from John Wil
son, for the purpose of obtaining a charter for a ferry over the
Mississippi River at Davenport. The matter excited a stormy
discussion. A committee of investigation was appointed, who
recommended the expulsion of the offending member, and that
Wilson should be brought before the bar of the House and be
reprimanded by the Speaker. Mr. Grimes, who had been em
ployed, with Henry W. Starr, Esq., as counsel for John Wilson,
promptly sent a communication to the Speaker, protesting against
the right to reprimand him, and asked to be heard in his defense.
On the 16th of January, 1838, the House heard Messrs. Grimes
and Starr, and rejected the proposition to reprimand Wilson by
a vote of seventeen to seven ; the whole number of members
of the House was twenty-six.
During the same winter he was appointed a justice of the
peace by Hon. Henry Dodge, Governor of Wisconsin Territory,

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 13

and formed a law-partnership with Wilham W. Chapman,
United States District Attorney for Wisconsin Territory, and
subsequently the first Delegate to Congress from Iowa Territory.
In the threatened disturbances between Missouri and Iowa on
the " boundary question," in 1839-40, he was commissioned by
Governor Lucas as first-lieutenant, and afterward captain of the
Iowa Guards, and shared in the humor of the period.
In January, 1841, he entered into a partnership with Henry
W. Starr, Esq., which continued twelve years. Their practice
was large and lucrative, and the firm stood at the head of the
legal profession in Iowa. Mr. Grimes gained wide repute as a
prudent and sagacious counselor, attentive to the interests of his
clients, and as having a superior faculty for detecting sophistry,
for lucid statement, and for disentangling things confused and
mixed. Courts, and juries, and opposing counsel, listened to
him with respect and confidence, assured of his knowledge of
the law, and of his clear sense of truth and justice. Thoroughly
independent and self-reliant, and shunning irrelevant and ver
bose speech, his mind grasped the strong points of a case, and
his efforts were confined to the law and the evidence.
He said to a young student :
Stick to your law until you can make a lawyer of yourself, and
get a practice, and save money ; then it will do to play with poli
tics. You do not need much money. I commenced with fifty
dollars worth of law-books, and accumulated by degrees, until I had
the best library in town. A determined, persistent industry will
secure your success anywhere, and without it no one can succeed.
Learn to read and speak deliberately ; you can do neither too
slowly. His home-letters of this period afford some information of
the course of his life, and occasionally give his views of passing
events. 3. — To Miss Sarah C. Grimes, Deering, AT. E.
Burlington, Des Moines County, )
Wisconsin Territory, July 3, 1836. )
I intended to have written you when I first arrived in Alton,
but not concluding to stay (and glad I am I did not, for it is very

14 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
sickly there), and rambling about over Illinois, I did not find
time for a convenient opportunity to write much. I am now per
manently located, I hope, at this place. I am building an office,1
and shall move into it next week. I shall then be on my own foot
ing, and in my own possession.
It is natural to suppose that you want to know something
about the people of this country. Imagine yourself just where
you are, but fifty years ago. The countries are very different.
Here we have not so much wood as there is in New England at the
present day, and the soil is not half nor one-sixteenth part so fertile
there as here, but the people here now, and there then, are very
much alike. The country is rather more thickly settled here, but
the character of the people, their manners, customsj and dress, are
similar. There are no more schools here now than there then.
Imagine your grandmothers dressed in their old garments, whale
bone stomachers, etc., and you will have a very correct idea of the
dress of Illinois females. The morals of the people are as good as
they were then in New England. You have heard father tell of
the wild doings of the young men of those days, and it is just so
here. Every one goes in for sport and social enjoyment, more so
on this side the river than on the other.
Burlington is on the bank of the Mississippi, and is about as
large as Nashua village. The houses are not as large and splendid,
for a good many are built of logs. But there are as many inhab
itants, taking out the factory-girls there. One street runs exactly
up the bank, facing the water. There is but one row of buildings
on this street ; the other side is a steamboat-landing. There are
twelve stores on this street, not more than fifty feet from the water.
My office is on Second Street, right back of Water Street, and par
allel with it. There are three stores on Second Street, offices, etc.
There are six doctors, five lawyers with myself, sixteen stores, five
or six groceries, or, in New England, called grog-shops. No minis
ter in town. We had one, but he died a few days ago.
I found Mark M. Aiken in Peoria. I should not have known
him, if he had not come up to me and called me Mr. Grimes. I
had not seen him for ten years. He did not know I was in the
country, but he said he knew it was one of our family from the re-
1 On Main Street, west side, between Columbia and Court Streets. It stood
until destroyed by fire, June 19, 1873.

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 15
semblance to father ; but he thought it was David, for he had for
gotten me, that I ever was. The resemblance between me and
father must be very great to cause one to know me by him, among
strangers, two thousand miles from home. He is pious, a great
temperance man, is getting rich, and looks very much like the
Aikens, or like the Aiken boys.
4. — To Miss Sarah C. Grimes.
Burlington, W. T., December 29, 1836. '
I was very sick in the summer, for some time was not expected
to live by my physician or myself. Do you ask whether I thought
of home and my mother, etc., at that time ? I did, but was so stu
pid, I did not care whether I got well or not ; but, when I got up,
I was determined to leave the country ; and, had it not been for the
urgent solicitation of my friends, I should not now be in Wisconsin
Territory. A young lawyer, by the name of Stockton,1 and myself
had determined to go to Cincinnati, and attend the law-school
there. My health is now excellent. When I left home I weighed
a hundred and thirty pounds ; I now weigh a hundred and seventy-
five. The hundred dollars I received from you I invested in town
property in Bloomington, in Muscatine County. I was this very
day offered two hundred and fifty dollars for the lot and refused it.
I will sell when I can get enough for it, and purchase you a farm. I
should have been independently rich if I had had any money when
I came to this place. It is now the seat of government for the Terri
tory, and property is worth ten times as much as it was when I
came. Here is a fine field for any one who has industry, prudence,
and economy, or a speculating turn.  is better fitted for the East
ern country than the Western. He is, if I mistake not, wanting in
an essential requisite, energy of character. One must be a driving,
bustling person to take well in this country, and must look out for
himself, putting not much dependence on any one. I wish a host
of my old friends would come out and make fortunes here. A good
blacksmith can make fifty dollars per month ; carpenters, masons,
joiners, etc., three dollars per day ; a man for common work the
1 Lacon D. Stockton, appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Iowa by Gov
ernor Grimes, May 17, 1856, afterward elected by the General Assembly, and again
by the people. Died June 9, 1860.

16 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
year round twenty-five or thirty dollars per month. I will give H 
twenty-five dollars per month to work on my farm, at splitting rails,
breaking prairie, and putting up fence. I own a claim of four
hundred acres, in company with a Boston firm of merchants, Dick
inson, Hedge & Sears. I own one-half, and we must get work done
on it, in order to make it more valuable, and bring more in the
spring. F  is to be married I I give up all hope of seeing him
out here. He will probably settle down on his farm, and never go
off it but to mill and to meeting. It is strange how people can
content themselves — young people, I mean — to live in that cold
country, when they know from representations that there are
preferable climes and more fertile lands.
5. — To Miss Sarah 0. Grimes, Eillslorough Bridge, N. M.
Burlington, October 9, 1837.
How can I spend the hour that remains between this and day
light otherwise than in writing to you ? It is now three o'clock in
the morning, and since " yesternight's sun " I have closed the eyes
of one of the best friends I had upon earth. You have heard me
speak of Sears, formerly of Boston. He is no more; one of the
most amiable, accomplished, and beloved young men in our place. I
told you that I wrote to you generally when I felt mournful, and
seldom have I felt more so than at present. To me belonged the
painful duty of closing his eyes, robing him in the habiliments of
death, and preparing him for the grave ; but the most painful duty is
yet to come, of acquainting his parents and friends of his decease.
Readily can I imagine the sorrow that my letter will produce in his
father's family, easily can I picture the anguish of a bereaved
mother, the uncurbed sorrow of brothers and sisters, and the heart
felt sympathy of neighbors and kindred. He died of congestive
fever, suffered excruciating agony for the last six days, was sick
only ten.
Never did I feel more sensibly than at this moment the folly of
abandoning one's home and all its endearments for passing fame or
fleeting wealth. To have the last rites that man pays to man per
formed by strangers, no relatives to soothe the last pangs of the
departing spirit, how mournful the thought ! Yet such was poor
Sears's case, and such would be mine, too, if in the inscrutable wis
dom of Providence I should be thrown on a bed of sickness and
death.

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 17
But let me turn from this mournful subject. I have now been
in Burlington since my return about two weeks. There are a great
many sick in town, some whole families, one close by me, in which
, the father, mother, and four children are down with the fever. I am
very pleasantly situated, more so than when I was here before.
My health is excellent, never better. I have written this letter un
der the effect of strong excitement. Pray excuse it; I dare not
read it, for I know I should tear it up, and you would not hear
from me at present. 6. — To Miss Sarah 0. Grimes. Burlington, March 10, 1838.
Since I have begun to recover —
"My thoughts are in my native land,
My heart is in my native place,"
and I think of hardly anything but home. I sit in a little room, no
one with me, hardly able to rise or turn my chair round, with eyes
so poor that I cannot read. I suppose I never was so near eternity
as during my last sickness. The people were once called in to see
me die. My pulse had stopped, my extremities were cold, and my
eyes fast setting in my head ; fortunately, the doctor came in just
then. He commenced the work of resuscitation, and I revived. I
was in this situation five days, not expected to live from hour to
hour. Oh, if I had died in this far-distant land, among strangers,
what would be the feelings of our dear mother ! I have cried
when I thought of it. I ought to congratulate myself on my re
covery. I owe a great deal to the good nursing I had. I have no
recollection of anything that occurred during about three weeks of
my sickness.
We have hard times here, such as were never conceived of in
the East. There is no money in the country. I saw a man to-day,
who has been keeping a shop. He was obliged to sell out on credit,
and he had, besides, small notes due to the amount of twenty-five
hundred dollars ; yet he could not raise money enough to buy a
bushel of corn-meal for his family. I expect I shall be one of the
first to go by the board, for my sickness will cost me at least one
hundred and twenty-five dollars, which I shall be obhged to pay, as
board bills and sickness bills are considered cash articles. As for
¦collecting, it is impossible ; for the Legislature passed a stay law

18 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
of twelve months ; that is, a stay of execution on judgment. They
thought they would relieve the people ; but it serves to oppress
them. If I could only be at home, and have your living, I should
regain my strength in a week. You who never tried it cannot
imagine the difference between New England and Western living.
I would give a hundred dollars for three good meals at home ; they
would do me so much good, and I should gain strength so fast from
them. But it is of no use to wish for them, and I had perhaps bet
ter, like the fox, call the grapes sour, because I cannot get them.
 is not a minister who will be popular a great while. He is
not a man of much mind, and a very ordinary preacher. He has a
fine voice, which helps him ; but, come to digest what he says, it
does not amount to much.
Mr. Grimes was chosen one of the Representatives of Des
Moines County in the first Legislative Assembly of the Territory
of Iowa, which convened at Burlington, November 12, 1838 ;
and in the sixth, which convened at Iowa City, December 4,
1843; and in the fourth General Assembly of the State, which
convened at Iowa City, December 6, 1852. Though generally
in a political minority in the county, such was his established
character for ability and fairness, and so general the confidence
awarded him, that he received the suffrages of many who were
not. of his own party. Reared in the traditions of the Whig
party, he adhered to that organization from preference and con
viction, but not as an unscrupulous partisan. ' In the halls of
legislation he bore an active and leading part, and from the first
took front rank among the most enlightened and sagacious pub
lic men of Iowa. He was chairman of the Judiciary Commit
tee in the House of Representatives of the first Legislative
Assembly of the Territory of Iowa, and all the laws for the new
Territory passed through his hands. In this Assembly he intro
duced a memorial to. Congress, asking an appropriation of lands
for the construction of a railroad from Burhngton to Mount
Pleasant, and to the Missouri State line, and secured its adop
tion, December, 1838.
A conflict of authority early arose between the Assembly and
the Governor of the Territory, Hon. Robert Lucas; the latter

LIFE. AT BURLINGTON. 19
claimed a power of veto upon all acts of the former, and exer
cised it in a number of matters regarded as important. A bitter
controversy ensued. The House appointed a Standing Commit
tee on Yetoes, of which Mr. Grimes was made chairman. On
the 7th of- January, 1839, the committee presented an elaborate
report, reviewing the grounds upon which the Executive vetoes
were based, and concluding thus :
We have attempted to ascertain where the Governor derives
the power of unconditionally vetoing bills ; but in vain. We find
no such authority delegated in the Organic Law, and we believe no
such power can be obtained by implication. It is a power of too
much importance to the people, and too liable to abuse, to be exe
cuted but by positive grant. It is a power now obsolete even in
the monarchical government of Great Britain. Notwithstanding
the peremptory manner in which it can be exercised in that govern
ment, it has not been used since the reign of William III., in 1692;
and then that sovereign was obliged to sanction the same bill at the
commencement of the next Parliament which he had before disap
proved of.
The Congress of the United States has a restraining and annul
ling power over the acts of this Legislature, and it certainly could
not have been intended that there should be more than one "veto
ing " power suspended over our heads. As representatives of the
people, we should be recreant to their rights and interests, if we
should acquiesce in the " veto-power," as used by the Executive,
when there was the least doubt whether that despotic privilege be
longed ,to his office or not. We believe the people should be heard
through .those who represent them, and are responsible to them,
that their wishes should be regarded, and not those of the Federal
Government, or a Federal officer. We believe the principle claimed
by the Governor dangerous and pernicious, contrary to the spirit of
republican institutions, degrading to the Legislative Assembly, and
subversive of independent legislation ; and as the representatives
of freemen we cannot acquiesce in it.
The House concurred in the report by a vote of sixteen to six,
and a memorial- to the President of the United States was adopt
ed by both Houses, asking for the removal of Governor Lucas.

20 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
Congress intervened by an act, providing that two-thirds of each
House could enact a law over the Governor's objections.
In the sixth Legislative Assembly of the Territory (1843-'44)
Mr. Grimes was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and
chairman of the Committee on Corporations. To the former
were referred ten petitions for divorces, upon which he presented
an elaborate report. In that report the power of the Legisla
ture to grant divorces was fully discussed, and the conclusion
reached that the Legislative Assembly was not invested with
it. A resolution to this effect was adopted by the House, and
thus an end put to a reprehensible practice of several earlier Ter
ritorial Legislatures. 7. — To Miss Sarah G. Grimes.
Burlington, Iowa, January 29, 1839.
Our Legislature has adjourned, and our little city is compara
tively deserted. We are now drawn into two great parties in this
Territory : one in favor of the Governor and his course ; the other
opposed. I come in for a tolerably large share of executive male
dictions, as I took a somewhat decided and conspicuous stand
against him. I was called the leader of the opposition. We were
divided in the House of Representatives, eighteen in opposition, and
eight in favor of the Governor. I hardly know or anticipate the
result. Politics are very uncertain, but I believe the Legislature
was right, and will be sustained by the people. The members from
this county will be, at all events.
I presume I shall be very lonesome, and perhaps homesick,
the remaining part of the winter. The excitement has been so
great for the last three months, that my office will seem uncom
monly dull, and the hours very heavy. I wish I could be instanta
neously placed by the family fireside.
8. — To his Father, Hillsborough Bridge, N. H.
Burlington, I. T., September 20, 1840.
I am under infinite obligations for the books and money, and
particularly to mother for the shirts and socks. I am now almost
twenty-four years old, and it seems but a short time since I was
fourteen, and entered college. There was a very great mistake on
my part, or on yours. I entered college too young. I am now

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 21
old enough to reason correctly upon such subjects, and believe a
boy should not enter until he is at least eighteen or nineteen years
old. His habits will then be formed somewhat, and his mind disci
plined. Do not let any of my nephews be sent to college until they
are at least of that age. I hope some of them will be sent there,
or to West Point. They ought to be prepared well.
My health has generally been good this summer. I have been
all over the Territory, making political speeches, and shall make one
to-morrow at Fort Madison, about twenty miles distant. My pro
fessional business is very good, but I receive no money. I am so
well established here that I have some credit ; else I should starve
to death assuredly.
Our town is improving rapidly, between sixty and seventy
buildings erected this season, many of them three-story bricks.
We shall some day have a very large town here. I hope New
Hampshire will not vote for General Harrison. We do not want
her. We can elect him without, by the largest majority by which
a President was ever elected. Did you know that I came near
being nominated for Congress ? I could have had a unanimous
nomination, if I had seen fit to accept it. Indeed, it was pressed
upon me, and I was obliged to come out and tell them that I
lacked a year of being eligible. I "shall give them a turn for it
after a while. 9. — To Miss Sarah 0. Grimes.
Burlington, Iowa, April 27, 1843.
I returned a day ago from attending courts in distant counties.
You will have learned, from a newspaper I sent, that young Ross
has been acquitted for killing Bradstreet. The trial lasted five full
days, and five laborious and tedious days they were to me, but I
' was amply compensated for my labor by the result. For you must
know that a lawyer acquires a deep interest in and solicitude for
his client, however guilty he may suppose him in reality to be. In
this case Ross was not so much to blame as many supposed ; yet
he acted very imprudently, foolishly, if not wickedly. In New
England he would have been hung ; but here, under no circum
stances, could it be made more than manslaughter. This is the
fourth person I have defended for murder, and all have been ac
quitted. This is a source of self-felicitation, for I hardly know
3

22 LIFE OF JAMES "W. GRIMES.
what' my feelings would be if I defended a man who was con
demned. I should fear I had made some misstep, had left unex-
erted some energy I possess, or some influence I ought to have
brought to bear on the case, and that, through my unskillfulness or
neglect, a fellow- creature had been sent into eternity.1
I doubt not that the melancholy news of Chase's death caused
the hearts of his parents to bleed, and tore open afresh the wounds
created by the death of their other son. We are so constituted
that we can hardly refrain from mourning the loss of those we love,
and I am one of the few who believe that there is nothing effemi
nate or unmanly in tears. Yet, why should we sorrow ? Death is
the lot of all, and what matters it, whether it takes us in the tender
years of infancy, the bloom of youth, the strength of manhood, or
when we are in the sere and yellow leaf? We and our friends
must obey a law universal in the animal, vegetable, and' organic
worlds, and we could not expect nor even wish that the law should
be changed as to us. We might as well expect or desire the law
of gravitation to be changed so far as we are concerned.
I can hardly realize that it is more than seven years since I
left home for the West. It is indeed a large space in a man's life,
and not unfrequently spent to but poor advantage. For and to
what purpose I have lived, time alone will develop. May we all
act upon the saying of an ancient philosopher, that it is sweet to
live after one's death in the remembrance of friends !
10. — To Miss Sarah G. Grimes.
House of Bepresentatives, Iowa City )
January 24, 1844. J
Your favor of December 30tb, announcing among other things
the death of Elvira Forsaith, has just been received. It came at a
time when it would be well calculated to make the deepest impres
sion upon my mind. I am myself unwell, and was to-day com
pelled to go to the House, to give my vote upon an exciting ques
tion, and while there, amid the noise and bustle of business and of
conflicting interests, your letter was handed to me. It seemed as
1 " Sometimes, years after a case had been tried, he would feel a pang of reproach
that he had not urged some argument which at that moment flashed across his
mind. He always fought his lost causes over again, to see if he could find any argu
ment whereby he might have gained them." — " Life of Eufus Choate," by S. G.
Brown, p. 30.

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 23
though I heard her funeral knell, and saw her coffin-lid closed.
When I say that I esteemed her, I express but half of my affection
for her. I always loved her almost like a sister. In fact, it could
hardly be otherwise, for I have known her ever since I have known
any one, and have spent with her many of my youthful and happi
est days. I have been taught by her as an instructress, and associ
ated with her as a relative and friend. Many of the scenes around
which my recollection most tenderly clings are connfected with her.
But she is gone where we must all soon go. She is probably but a
few months, or years at most, in advance of us ; and it is not the
part of wisdom or religion to mourn over the blest early dead. I
hope we shall be prepared to meet her in that world of uninter
rupted blessedness where I doubt not she now is.
11. — To his Father. \
Burlington, September 13, 1845.
I reached this place after a pleasant and prosperous journey of
some eighteen days (from New Hampshire).
It has been and is yet very sickly. Throughout the entire
Western country it is probably more sickly than in any year since
1838, which was emphatically the sickly season. The weather is
still extremely warm — warmer than it was at Hillsborough during
any part of the past summer. The crops are excellent. So abun
dant are they, that wheat is worth only forty cents, and spring
wheat will bring little or nothing. All other kinds of produce
bring correspondingly low prices. I found that our town had in
creased astonishingly during the summer. Several fine brick edi
fices have gone up, and several others are in progress. The value
of property is slowly advancing, though we labor under some diffi
culties in that respect. We have no currency except what is fur
nished from other States. If we had banks, where our citizens could
obtain accommodations, our business would be greatly increased,
and the prices of property improved.
Our people have again rejected the constitution, and the result
will probably be that we shall remain a Territory for two or three
years. It is fortunate for the people that the question has been
decided as it has, for they will now be free from a heavy debt that
must inevitably be saddled upon them in the event of becoming a
State.

24 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
The business of our firm is steadily increasing all the time. In
truth, we have as much as we ought to do, if not more. Money,
however, although nominally made fast, yet comes in very slow.
In Albany, on my way West, I made a large purchase of land, over
eleven thousand acres. I do not know how I shall come out, but
hope to make money out of it ; cannot believe I shall lose ; shall
give a good deal of attention to sales for a few months, so as to
pay what I still owe speedily as possible.
12. — To his Parents. Burlington, Iowa, March 12, 1846.
I intended to have written to you on the 5th of the present
month, which you will recollect as the anniversary of my first leav
ing home for the West. It was ten years ago the 5th day of March
that I started from the paternal mansion with a heavy heart, but
with buoyant hopes, to seek a home in this strange and far-off land.
These ten years have produced wonderful changes in us all. I feel
that a great, an incomprehensible change has been wrought in me.
Instead of a boy of nineteen, without experience, or judgment, or
business habits, I am now in the meridian of life, and,' if either way,
past its culminating point. From the sudden and premature deaths
of my companions and friends around me, I am reminded that in all
probability the better and larger portion of my life is past. But
such is the fate of all. This is a world of change, and it is foolish
to wish it otherwise. My health has been excellent since I returned,
though there has been much sickness here, and many deaths. Our
Congregational clergyman 1 was buried yesterday. He was a tal
ented and quite promising young man from Massachusetts, and has
left a young widow to whom he had been married only twelve
months. She too came from Massachusetts, and is now left entirely
destitute among strangers.
Our winter has been remarkably mild and pleasant. We have
had no sleighing, and only two snow-storms. The snow at neither
time remained upon the ground more than forty-eight hours. The
weather is now so mild that we have for the last week or ten days
dispensed with stoves and fires. Our town has been very active
this winter, and our merchants have done a good business. I am
1 Eev. Horace Hutchinson (Amherst College, 1839, Andover Theological Semi
nary, 1843).

iiyiiii1
i":|l|»i! 

m
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g«

g M«
S

'^M«s§W™l8»
,i , //-It." r4

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 25
told by some of them that there are ten thousand barrels of flour,
one hundred thousand bushels of wheat, fifteen thousand barrels of
pork, and one hundred thousand bushels of corn, and other articles
of produce in proportion, ready to be shipped from this place.
Winter wheat is now worth fifty cents, spring wheat thirty-five
cents, corn ten cents, oats twelve and a half cents per bushel.
I know not whether I told you about a speculation that I was
trying to make while I was East, in the purchase of lands. I do
not like to talk about myself so much, nor to brag, but I know you
want to hear all about me, and I will therefore say that I was for
tunate in the operation and succeeded, beyond my hopes even, in
making money by it. Our law business is still good, much the best
of any lawyers in the Territory.
Mr. Grimes was married to Miss Elizabeth Sarah Nealley at
Burlington, November 9, 1846. For a few years he kept house
on Main Street, between Elm and Maple Streets, and in 1850-51
built a comfortable residence upon a commanding elevation on
the South Hill, which he occupied the rest of his life. At both
places he gave personal attention to his garden, which he
stocked with choice fruits. He was one of the original mem
bers of the Southern Iowa Horticultural Society, organized
May, 1849, and for several years exhibited at its pubhc meetings
fruits and flowers from his garden. In September, 1853, at the
annual exhibition, which was peculiarly rich and brilliant, he
delivered an address replete with enlightened views upon the
utility, value, and methods of fruit-culture. Specimens of fruit
from his garden were taken to Chicago, and exhibited at a fruit
growers' convention held in that city.1 One specimen was sent
to the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. In 1853-54 he served
for a year and a half as one of the editors of the Iowa Farmer
and Horticulturist, a monthly journal, published at Burhng
ton. His services were rendered with no other compensation
1 " Conspicuous among the notable collection of fruit shown here at the Fruit
Convention by Mr. Avery, were some of Coe's golden-drop plums, the largest we
ever saw. They were from the garden of James W. Grimes, editor of the Iowa
Farmer. Some Northern Spy apples, raised by the same person, were also of unu
sual size." — Prairie Farmer, Chicago, November, 1853.

26 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
than results from a conscientious effort to incite inquiry, to
stimulate manly and generous rivalry, to disseminate correct
and important information, and do good. He took especial care
to select the best essays and practical suggestions of the leading
agriculturists of the country, and made a paper of permanent
value, still interesting and instructive to read. At one period
he gave some attention to the oversight of a farm, especially to
the raising of stock, and improving the breed of horses. He
put himself among the farmers, in a list of occupations of the
members of the fourth General Assembly.
He' was appointed, January, 1847, one of the school-in
spectors of Burlington, with his friends, Hon. Charles Mason
and Mr. George Partridge, and was twice chosen to the same
office by the people. He presided at an educational convention,
held in Burhngton, June 7, 1847, in which the duty of the
State to provide for the education of all children by equitable
taxation was earnestly advocated, and the profound regret ex
pressed that the first General Assembly of Iowa had made no
provision for building school-houses by law, but had left the
whole matter to voluntary subscription. He was one of the
school-directors of Burlington in 1850, and president of the
board in 1851.
He cooperated with the temperance reformation, under the
auspices of the " Sons of Temperance," and gave an oration at
their anniversary, April 13, 1848.
He attended the Whig National Convention, which met at
Philadelphia, June, 1848, as a delegate from the State at large,
and was appointed one of the vice-presidents of the conven
tion. At the first ballot he voted for John McLean for Presi
dent, subsequently for Zachary Taylor. He disapproved of the
course of President Fillmore on slavery, and was indignant at
the passage of the fugitive-slave law.
He took an active part in awakening public attention to the
importance of plank-roads and railroads, and in efforts .to build
them. Upon the completion of a plank-road from Burlington
to Mount Pleasant, at a celebration held at the latter place, De
cember 18, 1851, he spoke of ardently looking for the time

LLFE AT BURLINGTON. 27
when a railroad should connect the Mississippi with the Mis
souri, and be part of one to the Pacific Ocean through Southern
Iowa, by a nearer route than any other then proposed or con
templated ; and he advocated memorializing Congress for a
grant of public lands to aid in its construction. He was one of
the original directors of the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad, or
ganized in 1851, of which the western terminus was on the
bank of the Mississippi, opposite Burlington. The same year
he was chosen an alderman from the Fourth Ward.
In the deliberations of the fourth General Assembly of the
State (1852-53), he was a leading member. He was on the Com
mittee of Ways and Means, and chairman of that on charitable
institutions. He introduced a memorial to Congress, asking
for a grant of land to aid in building a railroad from Burling
ton to the Missouri River, and secured its adoption against a
powerful influence that was interested to obtain legislative ac
tion in favor of a north and south road. As chairman of a
special committee, he reported a general law granting the right
of way to railroads, under which in twenty years, to December
31, 1872, three thousand six hundred and forty-two miles of
railroad have been built. His sympathies were particularly
awakened in behalf of the insane, many of whom at this period
were confined in county poor-houses and jails, and he made
their condition and rehef a special study. He was an earnest
advocate for submitting the question of amending the constitu
tion of the State to a vote of the people, but Governor Hemp
stead interposed his veto twice against any legislation for that
object. 13. — To Miss Sarah 0. Grimes.
Burlington, November 17, 1846.
The news of Susan's death came upon me unexpectedly, and
has thrown a chill upon my heart, and a gloom around my other
wise cheerful fireside. She was to me almost a mother, as well as a
sister. Her age being so much greater than mine, she had in my
youth something of the control of me, and I can conscientiously
and thankfully say that her government was always exercised for
my good. She first taught me to lisp the prayer of our Saviour,

28 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
and endeavored to direct my steps in the paths of truth and virtue,
and always had a word of sweet encouragement to bestow, when I
had acted a manly and praiseworthy part, nor failed to discharge
her duty by proper remonstrances when I had done wrong. It was
her aim to make us happy, amiable, and good. My only regret is,
that I have not sought to make myself more like her.
She is gone, and why should we repine ? She is freed from .
pain and suffering, and I entertain no fears for her future condition.
She has exchanged a corruptible for an incorruptible world, and we
should rather sigh and mourn for ourselves who are left behind,
than for her who has preceded us in that happy world, " where the
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." That
we should mourn is natural, but it should not be a selfish sorrow
for the loss we sustain. It should be, though it seldom is, a heart
felt sorrow for our own errors and imperfections.
You have now a heavy responsibility to be a mother to the
motherless, and train and guide our deceased sister's children in the
most important period, and teach them to act their parts in life. I
know she would prefer that charge should be yours, and that you
will fulfill the office with your best ability. But always remember
that, as there is nothing so sweet as a sense of duty discharged, so
there is nothing so bitter as a sense of duty violated.
14.— To his Father. Burlington, May 26, 1850.
Two days ago I received the melancholy announcement of the
death, of my mother. I would have written you sooner, but I have
not felt in a proper frame of mind to do so until now. The news
of her death was wholly unexpected ; yet I had no reason to sup
pose she would live long. I could see the hand of disease upon
her when I parted from her, and then feared that I was taking my
last look of her. But now, when I know that such is the fact —
that she is dead — I can hardly realize it or reconcile myself with the
idea that I am never to meet her again. When I was with you,
' her tottering step and emaciated form told me too well that death
had marked her for his own; but her mind was so unclouded and
strong, and her energy and determination so great, that I thought
she might perhaps almost conquer disease, and live some years to
some. It has been otherwise ordained, and it becomes us to bow

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 29
with meek resignation to the will of Him who orders all things for
the best.
We have all sustained a great loss, but the loss of her children
is as nothing compared with yours. You have lost her who has
been your bosom companion for more than fifty years, who has
shared all your griefs and partaken of all your joys, who has borne
and reared your children, and sympathized in all your desires and
efforts for their welfare. That mysterious bond of union which
connects the father with the mother of his offspring has been sun
dered in your old age, and you must totter on to the close of life
without the aid or comfort of her from whom you hoped never to
part. I know how solitary you must feel. I sympathize in your
afflictions, and would mingle my sorrows with yours. And yet
why should we sorrow ? Our mother has gone down to the grave
full of years. She has lived far past the allotted age of man.
While here, she acted well her part. Her children have cause to
rise up and call her blessed, for she did everything in her power to
make them prosperous, respectable, and happy. She discharged all
her obligations to the community. What more could we expect or
desire ?
I have only one regret in relation to mother. My folly used to be
the source of a great deal of anxiety and pain to her, and she may
have continued to think that I would make shipwreck of myself.
But I hope she did not think so. It would certainly pain me much
if I thought she did. 15. — To Mrs. Grimes. Iowa City, December 16, 1850.
I wrote a few lines night before last in great haste and in the
midst of a crowd. I have now more leisure, as it is Sunday morn
ing, when people are quiet here. Not very quiet either, for there
is all sorts of electioneering going on at all hours of the day and
night. The business I came up to attend to will be arranged pretty
comfortably, I think, though I have been compelled to manage tol
erably shrewdly. There is some opposition in the House of Repre
sentatives, but I think I shall succeed in quelling it before any final.
action is had. I shall return as soon as it will be safe for me to leave.
I think I am doing a great deal of good for Burlington by being
here, but others may be of a different opinion. At any rate I am
trying.

30 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
16.— To his Father. Burlington, February 15, 1851.
We have a great railroad and plank-road fever here now. We
have nearly completed a plank-road thirty miles west of this place.
I am the president of the company, have had the entire responsi
bility and management of the work, and I think it will pay well.
I have four thousand dollars of stock in it. We are now about to
build a railroad from this place east about one hundred miles. In
three years there will be continuous lines of railroad from Burling
ton to Hillsborough Bridge, and the trip will be made in three or
not exceeding four days. This is a great change from what was
the case when I came to this country fifteen years ago.
I am building a new house for my own occupation. It will be
a tolerably good one. You will no doubt think I am rather extrav
agant, and perhaps I am, but I believe I can afford it. I shall have
much the finest place in town, though by no means the most costly
house. There are houses here that cost twice as much as mine, but
there are no pleasure-grounds around them.
17. — To Miss Sarah 0. Grimes. Burlington, October 27, 1851.
The melancholy intelligence of the death of our dear father
came upon me suddenly ; still I was not wholly unprepared for the
news. His advanced age and full habit have led me to anticipate
his dying in an apoplexy or something of the kind. It should be
a consolation to his children that he has been permitted to be with
them so long — that he has placed before us so good an example —
that he has lived a life so blameless. I do not believe he ever in
tentionally wronged any man. Without making any pretensions
to goodness, he was a good man. He was hospitable and kind to
all, and he loved his children. I pray that we may all imitate his
example, and that his memory may ever be kept green in our hearts.
We are now without parents. Let the love we felt toward them
be turned toward each other. 18. — To Mrs. Grimes.
Washington, D. C, February 15, 1852.
I am at the largest house in the town, where most of the mem
bers congregate, and where it is the fashion to sit up all night, and
sleep nearly all day. Out of five hundred persons staying here,

LIFE AT BURLINGTON. 31
there were but five of us at breakfast this morning at half-past
seven o'clock. This Washington is a fashionable, false-hearted, un
comfortable place, where all kinds of immorality and vice are ram
pant. I could not be induced to live here as a home, upon any
consideration whatever.
February 2Qth. — I cannot endure the practice of turning night
into day, eating dinner from four to six o'clock in the afternoon,
and going to bed at three or four in the morning ; yet I am com
pelled to fall in, in some degree, with this method of living. As I
have strolled about the city, you cannot imagine how often I have
thanked God that I was not cursed with a fashionable wife. I do
not believe I have seen a woman since I came here who was not
painted, and the affectation and foreign airs of both ladies and their
whiskered attendants are exceedingly disgusting to me. I have
often wondered whether it was possible for such artificial, made-up
persons to have any hearts, and whether they were capable of feel
ing any real love for either their own or the opposite sex.
I called upon Mr. Webster two nights ago, and spent an even
ing with him, and was invited to breakfast the next morning, but
declined. He was exceedingly affable and polite, and made my call
quite agreeable.
I have just heard Mr. Bellows again, and he delivered by far the
best sermon I ever listened to in my life. It would be a great treat
indeed, to have him within reach, so that we could attend upon his
ministrations. I would be willing to pay liberally for such intel
lectual feasts as he would spread before us.
19. — To Mrs. Grimes. Iowa City, December 6, 1852.
I reached this town yesterday after two days and a half of
tedious and hard driving. There is a large crowd of people here ;
the taverns full, and all the private boarding-houses. Everybody
is busy electioneering, some for one office, and some for another,
but the all-engrossing subject is the election of United States Sena
tor. It has already been the subject of one bloody fight, and many
more are anticipated. Of course, being a Whig, I take no part in
the controversy.
December 10th. — I am kept as busy as a bee. There is a great
excitement all the time about senatorial elections, railroads, etc.

32 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
I am pretty well mixed up in them, it being understood that I have
more votes at my back than any five members of the House com
bined. I have succeeded in all my efforts thus far ; hope I shall
deserve and win success in future.
December \%ih. — I have succeeded in the principal object for
which I came here, viz., upon the subject of railroads, and, I am
told, have elevated the character of your husband as a tactician and
parliamentary leader. We had a fierce struggle for four days, but
won the battle triumphantly. Our opponents now beg of us for
quarter, and I am magnanimous and give it to them. If I can get
all my cherished projects out of the way handsomely, so that they
cannot be interfered with, I may come home before the close of
the session. You may be sure that I wish I was there now. I love
the excitement of a legislative assembly, but I love the quiet of a
happy home more. There are no laurels to be gathered in the po
sition I am in, but some one must discharge the duty assigned to
me, and it may perhaps as well be done by me as by others.
20. — To Mrs. Grimes.
House of Bepresentatives, Iowa City, January 9, 1853.
This is Sunday. I have just returned from church. The House
may adjourn on the 24th inst. As an individual, I want to ad
journ ; but as a legislator, I vote against it. It is utterly impos
sible for us to mature and pass all the laws we ought to pass in
the short period indicated.
This week we are to have up the question of whiskey. I have
been expecting numerous petitions upon the subject from home,
but thus far have received only a little over two hundred, including
men, women, and children. Unless there is a stronger demonstra
tion than this from a county containing fourteen thousand, I shall
be compelled, under instructions, to let the present law stand, so
far as my vote will go toward that result.
January lith. — We sit immediately after breakfast, and, with a
recess for dinner and supper, until nine or ten o'clock at night. I
have to work hard, doing not only my own business, but the busi
ness of a great many old fellows, who are not able to write bills and
reports, and in the evening I am the presiding officer.

CHAPTER III.
GOVERNOR OF IOWA.
1854-1858.
In February, 1854, Mr. Grimes was nominated by a Conven
tion of the Whig party for Governor of the State. It was the
largest State Convention of that party ever held in Iowa, and the
last. The following month, March 28th, a Free-Soil Convention,
held at Crawfordsville, of which Isaac Field, of Denmark, was
president, recommended the Free Democracy to cast their votes
for him ; and a candidate who had previously been nominated by
that party withdrew. The country was violently agitated by a
proposition in Congress to declare inoperative and void the pro
hibition of slavery in those vast regions which have since been
constituted into the States of Kansas and Nebraska. Mr.
Grimes perceived that the proposition involved a crisis in the
nation's history, and at once threw himself against it with de
termined resolution and energy. Entering upon the campaign
with vigor, he ralhed to his support the great body of the Whigs,
the original abolitionists and Free-Soilers, as they were variously
called, who had polled more than a thousand votes in the presi
dential elections of 1848 and 1852, and not a few Democrats,
who were opposed to the repeal of the Missouri compromise.
Yisiting nearly every portion of the State, he addressed the
people in speeches that won him high reputation for ability and
candor. He drove from county to county in his own convey
ance, and was often weary with exposure and fatigue. Meeting
a friend near the close of his travels, he spoke of being worn

34 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
and tired, and remarked, pointing to his attenuated and jaded
horses : " What shadows we are,
And what shadows we pursue ! "
The issues of the period were clearly set forth in the follow
ing paper : To the People of Iowa.
The Whig State Convention assembled at Iowa City, on the
22d day of February last, did me the honor to present my name be
fore the people of the State as a candidate for the office of Gov
ernor. I accept the nomination.
As I am compelled to be absent from the State during a portion
of the summer, and shall, in consequence of such absence, be de
prived of the pleasure of addressing the people in many places
where I have desired to address them, I take this method of stat
ing my views in relation to such subjects as are likely to enter
into the canvass, and about which the public mind is now agitated.
The limits of this paper will necessarily compel me to be brief.
1. For the constitution of our State I do not entertain the high
est reverence. I believe that the best interests of the State require
its speedy amendment. In favor of such amendment numerous
substantial reasons might be assigned, but one or two will be suffi
cient to be stated here.
The experience of the past eight years has demonstrated that
the power to elect judges is more wisely and satisfactorily exercised
by the people than by the Legislative Assembly. The people
have shown that they will not be dragooned into voting for incom
petent and faithless partisan judges. Everybody admits that the
character of the inferior tribunals of the State is superior to that of
the Supreme bench. If, therefore, it is important to elevate the
character of the Supreme Court, as I believe it is, the Judges of that
Court should be elected by the people, as are now the Judges of
the District Courts. If learning, firmness, and impartiality, are su
perior, as qualifications for judges, to party fealty and partisan ser
vices, the selection of those important officers should be left with
the people, instead of being made the subject for corrupt legisla
tive bargainings.
That part of the constitution which prohibits banks and bank-

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 35
ing institutions should be changed so as to allow them to be
established in the State under proper restrictions. On this subject
I am sorry to differ, as far as I believe I do, from my respected com
petitor, Mr. Bates. He was a member of the Constitutional Con
vention, and was chairman of the Committee on Incorporations, by
whom the prohibitory article was framed and reported. He at that
time thought that it was the highest reach of human wisdom on
that subject. I never thought so. But it is a question about
which our respective political parties differ as widely as their can
didates. The Whig State Convention, on the 22d of February,
unanimously adopted a resolution in favor of amending the consti
tution so as to allow the introduction of banks. The Democratic
Convention, on the 8th of January last, refused to adopt such a
resolution. On this question, therefore, the two parties are at
issue in this State — the Whigs believing that banking should be
permitted, and a domestic currency furnished to the people of the
State, and the Democrats negativing these propositions.
When the constitution was adopted eight years ago, its advo
cates predicted that, long before this time, Iowa would be blessed
with an exclusive metallic currency. They will hardly pretend
that their prediction has been verified. So far from it, the entire
business of the State during these eight years has been conducted
upon the issues of foreign banks, and the profits derived therefrom
have gone into the pockets of foreign stockholders, instead of en
riching our own citizens. In place of having a domestic cur
rency, the value of which might be known to every one, the
country has been furnished with the worst conceivable currency
from every State in the Union, and of the value of which nothing
could be known. It has been estimated that from a quarter to
half a million dollars has been annually realized by foreign banks
upon this kind of circulation furnished to Iowa, all of which might
be saved to the State, but for the constitutional prohibition.
If every other State in the Union would abolish banks, and the
value of the supply and products of the whole country were re
duced to a specie standard, there would be but few advocates for
the creation of banks here. But so long as they are allowed and
encouraged elsewhere, their circulation cannot be driven from the
State, except by a currency of our own, without greatly depre
ciating the value of our agricultural, mechanical, and mineral

36 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
products, and producing a general derangement and paralysis in
the business of the community. Other States have tried the
experiment. I need not refer to the recent experience of the
neighboring States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Why shall not Iowa profit by their experience ? Why shall she
not secure to her citizens the same facilities for transacting busi
ness as are enjoyed by the citizens of other States ? Are not our
people as competent to manage the affairs of banking institutions
discreetly and safely as those of any other State ? Is there not
the same necessity for banks here as elsewhere ?
The argument urged by some that banks are not in accordance
with the principles of the Democratic party, is unworthy of consid
eration. How can it be democratic to charter banks in New Hamp
shire, Virginia, South Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Indiana,
and be wwdemocratic to do the same thing in Iowa ? There is not
a State east of the Mississippi River in which there are not banks
incorporated by Democratic Legislatures, and yet, in the view of
some wise men, it is a gross violation of democratic principles to
create them west of that river.
I do not propose to discuss the mode of banking that should
be adopted in this State, nor have I space to point out the benefits
that would result to the community by the establishment of banks
in furnishing facilities for business — in diminishing the rate of in
terest, etc. The people are capable of determining the system that
should be adopted satisfactorily to themselves, through their dele
gates to a constitutional convention, or by their representatives in
the General Assembly. All I contend for is that they shall have
the privilege of doing so.
A submission to the people of the question of amending the
constitution of the State can be attended with no expense, and
there is not a valid argument to be urged against it. If the prin
ciple of a government by a majority is correct — if the people are
really capable of self-government, why should they not be per
mitted to decide for themselves a question of so vital importance ?
Why should Legislative quibbling and Executive vetoes be inter
posed to prevent an expression of the popular will on this subject ?
A majority of the members of the last General Assembly were
professedly in favor of a change in the constitution. They had
been elected by constituencies who required them to commit them-

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 37
selves in favor of the proposition before their election. But many
of them were at heart opposed to any change, and, after interpos
ing frivolous objections, amendments, and delays, finally refused to
pass a bill submitting the question to the people, over the Executive
veto. Thus, by the exercise of two vetoes, and the timidity and
faithlessness of some representatives, the principle of self-govern
ment was virtually denied, and the people refused the privilege of
determining for themselves whether or not their constitution should
be amended. Let the voters of Iowa understand that, if they desire a change
in their constitution, they must elect public servants who are in
favor of that change from principle and honest conviction. Let
them remember that the best criterion of a man's future conduct are
his past opinions and conduct. Let them elect men who will not
be driven from their positions by the frowns of party leaders, nor
be seduced from them by Executive fawning or the bestowment of
Federal offices. Then, and not till then, will the desired and much-
needed change be effected.
2. It is no doubt expected that I shall state my views of the
temperance question.
I have been repeatedly inquired of, by letters and otherwise,
whether I would (if elected) veto a prohibitory liquor law.
It is a cardinal principle of the Whig party that all questions
of expediency belong legitimately to the people, and should be set
tled by the legislative department of the government. The veto
should be exercised only for the gravest constitutional reasons.
Should, therefore, an act be passed either prohibiting the sale of
intoxicating liquors, or licensing their sale, I would (if elected) ap
prove the law, unless, in my judgment, palpably unconstitutional.
It would be a violation of my own principles, as well as of the
party to which I belong, to endeavor to thwart in any degree the
wishes of the people of the State as expressed through their repre
sentatives. The friends of both the prohibitory and the license
systems must bear in mind that the Executive of the State has
nothing whatever to do with the preparation of the laws. To the
members to be elected to the General Assembly, therefore, they
must look for the consummation of their wishes in this behalf.
3, It has ever been the Whig doctrine that to the General Gov
ernment belong the power and duty of increasing and protecting

38 • LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854
the commerce of the country by works of internal improvement
that are general and national in their character. Hundreds of mill
ions of dollars have been expended by the General Government in
the improvement of the rivers and harbors on the Atlantic seaboard,
and now, when they are completed, and the commerce of the West
ern rivers and lakes has increased to $560,000,000 annually, we
are told that the system of internal improvements is improper and
unconstitutional, and that, if we wish to improve our rivers, we
must assent to tonnage duties on our own commerce. After drain
ing the West to perfect the improvement of Eastern harbors, and
while voting annually millions of dollars to build lighthouses
and breakwaters, and to support a navy, all for the protection of
Eastern commerce, the West is told that her commerce must lan
guish unless she commits a felo-de-se by voluntary taxation.
Mr. Douglas has introduced a bill into the United States Senate,
by which the nine States bordering on the Mississippi River are
authorized to bind themselves into a confederated commercial com
munity, for the purpose of levying these duties and making the
necessary improvements. How he disposes of the first clause of
Article I., Section 10, of the Constitution, which declares that " no
State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation," is not
known ; or, how the section of the celebrated Ordinance of 1787,
which declares that " the navigable waters leading into the Missis
sippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying-places between the same,
shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabi
tants of the said Territory as to the citizens of the United States,
and those of any other States that may be admitted into the
Confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor" is to be
evaded, I have not learned.
But, in whatever way these and many other very serious objec
tions are overcome, it is enough for us to know that the proposed
plan is both impracticable and unjust. It is a system that is calcu
lated to injure the West by depreciating the value of her agricultural
productions and mineral wealth to the extent of the tax imposed.
It is hardly possible to suppose that any one believes that the sys
tem is at all practicable. Who believes that these nine States can
act in harmony on a single question ? How is their business to be
conducted ? Is there to be a Constitution to bind them together,
and a new Congress to legislate for them ? Is there to be a new

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 39
Supreme Court to decide disputes arising between them, and a new
army raised and supported to enforce its decrees? It seems to
me that a more absurd and preposterous project was never pre
sented to Congress, and a more suicidal policy could not be adopted
by the West.
4. I regard the homestead bill as beneficent in its character, and
as calculated to greatly advance the material interests of Iowa.
But I cannot give my assent to all the provisions of the bill recent
ly passed by the House of Representatives, and now pending in the
Senate. I cannot assent to the principle of discriminating against
foreigners who come to the country with a bona-fide intention to
become citizens. I do not concur in the recent promulgations of
Southern politicians, that our institutions are in danger from foreign
immigration, and I abhor the sentiment announced by Senator But
ler,1 that Iowa would be more prosperous with the institution of
slavery than with her industrious and patriotic German popula
tion. I beheve that the homestead bill, now under consideration in
the Senate, should be so amended as to allow foreigners coming to
our shores with the intention to remain, and who declare their in
tention to become citizens, to enjoy the same advantages under the
law as though they were born on American soil.
5. But tbe most important of all the questions now engrossing
the public attention is the attempt to introduce slavery into the
Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, by the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise act.
Let us briefly review the history of the Missouri Compromise,
and the reasons given for its violation.
When the Constitution of the United States was adopted, ac
quisitions of new territory were never contemplated. Slave-labor
was then unprofitable, and it was thought to be alike the interest
and the duty of the slave States to gradually abolish slavery, but in
such way and at such time as might be most convenient to them
selves. Upon the supposition that successful efforts would be made
to accomplish this result, the North consented to the slave represen
tation in Congress, as provided in that instrument.
By the treaty with France, in 1803, the United States acquired
a vast domain, then known as Louisiana, embracing the whole coun-
1 In the Senate of the United States, February 24.

40 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
try between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and
bounded on the north by the British possessions, and on the south
by the Gulf of Mexico. That the Constitution never contemplated
such a purchase is sufficiently shown by its contemporaneous history
and exposition, and by the solicitude of President Jefferson that it
should be amended solely to confirm this acquisition. The commer
cial advantages derived from the purchase, however, were so great
that the people of the country at once confirmed it, and the Consti
tution was never amended. From this Territory of Louisiana, which
was bought with the common treasure of the country, the slave
States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, have been created, and
the free State of Iowa.
When Missouri applied for admission into the Union, in 1820,
her application was resisted by the North on the ground that the
expectation of the gradual abolition of slavery, entertained by the
whole country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, had
not been realized — that slavery was about to swallow up the entire
country acquired from France, and thus, by virtue of the slave repre
sentation allowed by the Constitution, an undue preponderance
would be obtained in Congress and in the electoral colleges by the
slave-owners of the South over the freemen of the North. She was
finally, however, admitted into the sisterhood of States, but not
until after the adoption of the Missouri Compromise act, the eighth
section of which declares :
" That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States,
under the name of Louisiana which lies north of thirty-six degrees
and thirty minutes of north latitude, not included within the limits
of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary ser
vitude, otherwise than as the punishment of crimes, shall be and is
hereby forever prohibited."
This act was passed thirty-four years ago, at the instance of the
South, and almost exclusively by Southern votes. By that act the
admission into the Union of the slave State of Missouri was secured,
and all of the country purchased from France north of 36° 30' was
forever dedicated to freedom. The question of the constitu
tionality of the eighth section was submitted by President Monroe
to his cabinet, then composed of John Quincy Adams, John C. Cal
houn, William H. Crawford, Smith Thompson, and William Wirt,
each of whom gave a written opinion in its favor, and, from that

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 41
time until the present, it has been regarded as inviolable as the
Constitution itself.
It is now pretended that this prohibition of slavery north of
the line indicated is unconstitutional and void. That Mr. Douglas
and his friends did not so consider it in 1845 is shown by the amend
ment he proposed to the joint resolution admitting Texas into the
Union, which reads, " and in such States as shall be formed out of
said territory, north of said Missouri Compromise line, slavery or
involuntary servitude, except for crime, shall be prohibited." That
he did not regard it as unconstitutional in 1848 is shown by his
attempt to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific
Ocean, and apply it to the country acquired from Mexico by the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. On the 10th of August, 1848, he
offered in the Senate the following proposition :
" That the line of 36° 30' of north latitude, known as the Mis
souri Compromise line, as defined by the eighth section of an act
entitled ' An act to authorize the people of the Missouri Territory
to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission
of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original
States, and to prohibit slavery in certain Territories,' approved March
6, 1820, be and the same is hereby declared to extend to the
Pacific Ocean ; and the said eighth section, together with the com
promise therein effected, is hereby revived and declared to be in full
force and binding for the future organization of the Territories of
the United States, in the same sense and with the same understand
ing with which it was originally adopted."
In favor of this proposition voted every Southern Senator who
voted for the repeal of the compromise, now in Congress. How
could the principle contained in the eighth section of the Missouri
' Compromise be constitutional in 1845 and in 1848, and be uncon
stitutional now ? And if it has no constitutional validity, where
fore the necessity or propriety of repealing it ? — Why not suffer
the courts to decide the question without any legislative interfer
ence on construction ?
The unconstitutionality of this prohibition is a new discovery.
The committee of the Senate, that reported the Nebraska bill on the
4th of January last, did not think of basing the repealing attempt
upon any such argument. It is an after-thought, designed to cover
up a discomfiture on other arguments. Until the present time,

42 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
the acts of Territorial Legislatures have been subject to revision
by Congress, and nobody ever doubted the power or the propriety
of that revision. Congress no power to prohibit slavery in the
Territories ! The Constitution expressly declares that " Congress
shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and reg
ulations respecting the territory of the United States." The great
expounder of the Constitution, Mr. Webster, whose opinions were
regarded by his enemies even as of more than ordinary value,
says :
" The power, then, of Congress over its own territories, by the
very terms of the Constitution, is unlimited. It may make all
' needful rules and regulations,' which of course include all such
regulations as its own views of policy or expediency shall from
time to time dictate. If, therefore, in its judgment it be needful
for the benefit of a Territory to enact a prohibition of slavery, it
would seem to be as much within its power of legislation as any
other act of local policy. Its sovereignty being complete and
universal as to the Territory, it may exercise over it the most ample
jurisdiction in every respect. It possesses in this view all the au
thority which any State Legislature possesses over its own terri
tory ; and if any State Legislature may, in its discretion, abolish or
prohibit slavery within its own limits, in virtue of its general legis
lative authority, for the same reason Congress also may exercise
the like authority over its own Territories. And that a State Leg
islature, unless restrained by some constitutional provision, may do
so, is unquestionable, and has been established by general practice."
Such has been the uniform opinion of the statesmen and jurists
of the country, until it was discovered that the interests of certain
presidential aspirants required the introduction of slavery into Ne
braska and Kansas. Such, too, has been the legislation of the -
country. It is also said that the Compromise acts of 1850 were inconsist
ent with, and hence repealed, the Compromise of 1820. If so, the
question is again pertinent, Why then attempt to repeal it a
second time ? Why not allow the question to rest until an oppor
tunity is afforded the proper tribunals to settle it conclusively ?
If the Compromise of 1820 was repealed by that of 1850, then
it was a fraud. It was not so understood by the people of the
country, nor by Congress. It is well known that not a man voted

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 43
for the measures of 1850, who entertained the most remote idea
that those measures interfered with or affected in any degree the
Compromise of 1820. In no one of the thousand speeches made on
the Compromise of 1850, in Congress and out of Congress — in none
of the comments of the press — was such an idea expressed or even
remotely insinuated. On the contrary, until the introduction of
the Nebraska bill into the Senate, on the 4th of January last, the
Missouri Compromise was everywhere, and by everybody, regarded
as irrepealable and inviolable as the Constitution. Mr. Webster,
in his celebrated compromise speech on the 7th of March, 1850, de
clared :
" I now say, sir, as the proposition on which I stand this day,
and upon the truth and firmness of which I intend to act until it is
overthrown, that there is not at this moment in the United States,
or any Territory of the United States, one single foot of land, the
character of which, in regard to its being free Territory or slave
Territory, is not fixed by some law, and some irrepealable law be
yond the power of the action of this Government."
The-irrepealable law that settled the character of Nebraska as a
free Territory, was the Missouri Compromise act. To the mainte
nance of that law the public faith was pledged, and that great man
little thought that so soon after his death an open and wanton at
tempt would be made to violate it.
An attempt has also been made to raise a popular clamor against
any restraints upon what is called squatter sovereignty. It is said
that if Congress has the power to legislate on the subject of sla
very in the Territories, yet in justice to the people of the Territories
it. should not be exercised. It is somewhat singular that the same
men who used this argument were all found voting against a propo
sition to allow the people of the Territories to elect their own offi
cers. According to the doctrine of Mr. Douglas and his obedient
followers, the people of the Territories are fully competent to do
their own legislation, but are wholly incompetent to elect their
Governor, judges, and other public servants. The President has the
power to appoint Governors for the Territories, who by virtue of the
veto power can control the legislation of the people. He has the
power to appoint judges, who are in no degree responsible to the
people, and who may be required to obey the Federal authorities at
the risk of being evicted from office. All the officers of the Terri-

44 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
tories are to be foreign officers — appointed by a foreign authority —
in no way amenable to the people, and have the power to set at
defiance the popular will of the Territories, and will be required to
do it, when it comes in conflict with the slavery propagandists at
Washington. What a commentary is here presented of the doc
trine of " squatter sovereignty ! "
On the 2d of March last, an amendment was offered in the Sen
ate to the Nebraska and Kansas bill, adding a distinct declaration
of. the right of the people to exclude slavery if they chose, and it was
rejected by a vote of thirty-six to ten. Against this proposition
were arrayed the following believers in " squatter sovereignty : "
Messrs. Adams, Atchison, Badger, Bell, Benjamin, Brodhead,
Brown, Butler, Clay, Clayton, Dawson, Dixon, Dodge of Iowa,
Douglas, Evans, Fitzpatrick, Gwin, Houston, Hunter, Johnson,
Jones of Iowa, Jones of Tennessee, Mason, Morton, Morris, Pettit,
Rusk, Sebastian, Slidell, Shields, Yancey, Walker, and Williams.
All the peculiar friends of non-intervention were found voting
against the amendment. How sincere were their professions of
non-intervention, the country can decide. They have certainly fur
nished some beautiful illustrations of their belief in " squatter
sovereignty." It must be a singular sovereignty over the subject
of slavery which cannot be declared capable of excluding it !
One would suppose that the new principles of " squatter sov
ereignty" would be comprehensive enough to allow aliens the same
rights of citizenship that they enjoy in other Territories. But the
man who imagines so would be egregiously mistaken. The bill
that passed the Senate, and for which Mr. Douglas and all his will
ing followers voted, denies to the " squatters " who happen to
have been born on the banks of the Rhine or the Shannon, and
who reside in these Territories, the privilege of voting for or against
the constitution of the new States, even after making declarations
of their intention to become citizens. And this, too, when the uni
form practice has been to grant the elective franchise to foreigners
under such circumstances. Five hundred slaveholders from Vir
ginia or South Carolina may carry slaves into the Territory and
legislate for the protection of slave property, while five thousand
German settlers — free laborers — who become landholders in the
Territory, and have made oath of their intention to become citi
zens, shall have no control in its government and no opportunity to

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 45
protect themselves against the degrading competition with slave-
labor. Another evidence of the meaning of this doctrine of " squat
ter sovereignty ! "
And to what does this doctrine of " squatter sovereignty "
tend if carried to its legitimate conclusions ? What is to prevent
the Legislature of Utah from declaring that no man shall enjoy the
rights of citizenship in that Territory unless he becomes a member
of, and pays tithes to, the Mormon Church ? What is to hinder the
Catholics from taking possession of New Mexico, the Methodists of
Nebraska, and the Presbyterians of Kansas ? Why cannot the
first thousand settlers create a state religion in each Territory, and
exclude people of all other creeds from the rights of citizenship ?
Where will be the remedy against such religious and political tyr-
ranny ? Not in Congress ; for, according to the theory of " squatter
sovereignty," it has no legislative jurisdiction over the Territories.
Not at the ballot-box ; for none but the state religionists will be
entitled to the elective franchise. Revolution, revolution by the
sword, will be the only remedy.
It has been asserted by some of the advocates of this infamous
attempt to nationalize slavery, that the first violation of the Mis
souri Compromise was by the North, and that that violation now
justifies the South in entirely repudiating it. How, when, and
where was it violated by the North ? Why, forsooth, because North
ern Senators and Representatives refused to extend the compromise
line of 36° and 30' through to the Pacific Ocean ! Is there a man
in the State who does not know that the Missouri Compromise
line only applied to the country purchased from France ? Does
it not by its very terms apply only to the Territory of Louisi
ana ? What right, then, had the South to demand or expect that
it should be extended and applied to country afterward acquired ?
Upon this slender foundation is built this whole argument against
the compromise, and in favor of its violation by the South.
It is urged by some that if the Missouri Compromise is repealed,
slavery will not become a permanent institution in Nebraska and
Kansas. So it was said of Missouri thirty-four years ago. It was
then confidently predicted, in Congress and elsewhere, that slaves
would be excluded from that State by the action of the State gov
ernment. Instead of this being the case, they have increased from
that time to the present, at the rate of three thousand a year, 'and

46 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
Missouri now contains more than one hundred thousand slaves !
Those who are most familiar with the institution, and with the Ter
ritories of Nebraska and Kansas, entertain no doubt but that they
will become slave States. Senator Atchison, who lives near the
line of Nebraska, and is a large slaveholder, expressed the opinion
a year ago, that but for the Missouri Compromise they would be
come extensive slaveholding States. He is said to have expressed
the same opinion at the time of the passage of the bill by the Sen
ate, provided his amendment disfranchising the Germans and Irish
should be adopted, and it was adopted accordingly. And why
would they not become slave States ? They embrace a rich agri
cultural country. The soil and climate are well adapted to the pro
duction of corn, hemp, tobacco, and all the cereals. They are in
close proximity to the slave States of Arkansas and Missouri. They
are in the same parallel of latitude with Missouri, Kentucky, Mary
land, and Virginia.
What does the history of the West teach us of the insidious
and aggressive character of slavery ? The sixth article of the
Northwestern Ordinance, the provisions of which, until the past
winter, have been regarded as imperative as the Constitution, de
clares that —
" There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in
said Territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted."
When the first Constitutional Convention of Ohio assembled in
1802, a committee of nine members was appointed to prepare and
report a bill of rights. A proposition was made to incorporate a
clause that " no person shall be held in slavery, if a male, after he
is thirty-five years of age, and if a female, after twenty-five years
of age," and was voted down by a vote of five to four. This in a
Territory where slavery had been for fifteen years excluded. In
tbe same year the Legislature of Indiana Territory petitioned Con
gress to suspend the operation of the sixth article of the same Or
dinance for the space of ten years. The petition was refused.
These propositions were evidently designed to prepare the way for
the permanent establishment of slavery in Ohio and Indiana and
had the authority been vested in the Legislature of Indiana, that
State would now be a slave State.
Every one familiar wi,th the early history of this State knows

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 47
that, but for the prohibitions of the Missouri Compromise act, and
of the Northwestern Ordinance, the provisions of which were ex
tended over Iowa by the organic law of the Territory, this would
to-day be a slave State. Prior to 1838, when the Territory of Iowa
was organized, numerous slaves had been introduced in all the
principal towns and villages. They had been purchased and brought
here for the alleged reason that servants were scarce, or could not
be procured at all. The very first decision made by the Supreme
Court of the Territory was in the case of the negro Ralph, who
had been retained by his master in slavery, in the County of Du
buque. Other suits of the same character followed, and the slaves
were either run by their owners from the State, or allowed their
freedom here. Had the question remained open, or had the Supreme
Court decided that it was a matter for determination by the Terri
torial Legislature, there would have been found men enough about
the villages and towns to mould the legislation of the Territory in
favor of slavery. And if there is no expectation that slavery will
take possession of Nebraska, why the strenuous effort to repeal the
Missouri Compromise ?
If there is one State in the Union more interested than another,
in the maintenance of the Missouri Compromise, it is the State of
Iowa. With a free, enterprising population on the west, our State
will be vastly benefited by an early organization of Nebraska.
With a slave State on our western border, I see nothing but trouble
and darkness in the future. Bounded on two sides by slave States,
we shall be intersected with underground railroads, and continually
distracted by slave-hunts. Instead of having a population at the
west who will sympathize with us, we shall find their sympathies
and interests constantly antagonistic to ours. The energies of our
people will be paralyzed, our works of internal improvement will
languish, and the bright anticipations of the future greatness of
Iowa forever blasted. In the boastfulness of anticipated triumph,
the citizens of Iowa have been told by a Southern Senator 1 how
much better would be the condition of our State with negro slaves
than with our foreign population. A distinguished Representative
from Georgia3 has announced that in fifteen years Iowa will be a
slave State. I sincerely believe that, should the Missouri Compro-
1 Hon. A. P. Butler, of South Carolina.
2 Hon. Alexander H. Stephens.

48 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
mise be repealed, there will soon be a contest for the mastery be
tween freedom and slavery on the soil of Iowa. The principle of
non-intervention so strenuously contended for by the South will
soon be extended to the free States of the Northwest. It is already
contended in some quarters that slaves are mere appendages and
attachments to the person, and that the owner has the same right
to remove them to a free State that he has to remove his cattle and
horses. Let the Missouri Compromise act be repealed, and this
will be the next question to be met. Citizens of Iowa, are you
ready to meet this issue ? Are you prepared for the conflict that
must assuredly come ? Whatever may be your opinions of the ab
stract question of slavery, or whatever might be your opinions of
the Missouri Compromise, were it a new question, are you ready and
willing to disturb it ? Do you believe it right to open this ques
tion which was settled thirty-four years ago by Southern votes, and
as the South desired ? Are you willing to sanction a palpable, vio
lation of the public faith, merely for the sake of nationalizing sla
very, and having another slave State adjoining our own ? Shall
populous, thriving villages and cities spring up all over the face of
Nebraska, or shall unthrift and sparseness, stand-still and decay,
ever characterize that State ? Shall unpaid, unwilling toil, inspired
by no hope and impelled by no affection, drag its weary, indolent
limbs over that State, hurrying the soil to barrenness and leaving
the wilderness a wilderness still, or shall it be thrown open to the
hardy and adventurous freemen of our own country, and to the con
stantly-increasing tide of foreign exiles ?
So far as the Senate of the United States is concerned, this
fraud has been consummated. The Nebraska and Kansas bill, with
its attendant wrongs, has passed that body by a large majority. It
is now pending before the House of Representatives. Its advocates
predict that it will be triumphantly passed into a law. They claim
that the people desire and will sanction its enactment. To obtain
an evidence of the approbation of the people, they have attempted
to rally the Democratic party to its support. The Burlington
Gazette, the recognized organ of the Iowa Senators, has sounded
the tocsin of party. In its issue of the 30th of March last, in speak
ing of this measure, it declares :
" It is in vain to say the bill is not a party question ; the na
tional Democrats of the North are for it, almost to a man ; and these

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 49
constitute nine-tenths, or more, of the Democratic party there ; the
Whigs and Free-Soilers alone are opposed to it. It is true that in
the South both parties are united on the subject. . . .
" It is an eminently popular measure, and must ultimately pre
vail. It is founded on truth and justice, and the longer it is before
the people, the more popular it must become. The sober, second
thought will rally all reflecting, honest men to its side, and it is
bound to be triumphantly sustained. On this we are willing to
stake our existence."
A majority of the Democratic press in the State have followed
the example of the Gazette.
Fellow-citizens, shall this attempt to induce you to support this
measure by the force of party ties and affinities succeed ? Is there
no moral and high political responsibility resting upon you in this
matter? Are you not bound by the highest considerations of duty
to assist in building up the institutions of the empire on our west
ern border on a substantial and free basis ? The Constitution has
given you the power through your Senators and Representatives to
" make all needful rules and regulations " respecting the Territories
of the United States, and will you shrink from the discharge of that
duty ? Are you willing to jeopardize the interests of Iowa by
surrounding her by slave States? Will you exclude your own
children, and the free laborers of Iowa, from those fertile Territories,
or force them to compete with slave-labor ? What object can be
gained for Iowa by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise ? On
the other hand, what interest of the State will not be jeopardized
or destroyed ?
I am aware that, for entertaining these opinions of the Nebraska
question, and for fearlessly expressing them,. I am denounced in
some quarters as an abolitionist. I heed not the senseless charge.
It is too late in the day for any man to be deterred from express
ing his opinions by the mad-dog cry of abolitionism. No impu
tations or false charges shall force me to be false to my convic
tions of duty and right. I will not surrender the right of private
judgment on this or any other subject, to avoid a false clamor, or a
willful perversion of my sentiments. I do not attempt or desire to
interfere with slavery in the slaveholding States. I do not seek to
violate any of the compromises of the Constitution. I am content
that the slaveholders of the South may possess their slaves, and be

50 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
responsible for their control over them to their own laws and to
their consciences. I will not even presume to judge them. But,
with the blessing of God, I will war and war continually against
the abandonment to slavery of a single foot of soil now consecrated
to freedom. Whether elected or defeated — whether in office or out
of office — the Nebraska outrage shall receive no " aid or comfort "
from me. And I here declare that, while I am as anxious as any
man for the speedy organization of the new Territories, yet I
will not only everywhere and at all times oppose their organization
under a bill allowing the introduction of slavery, but, should the
present bill pass, I will advocate its repeal and oppose the
admission of Nebraska and Kansas into the Union as slave
States. I have thus briefly and frankly given my views of the issues
presented by the Whig Convention on the 22d of February last,
and that are involved in the approaching canvass. They have not
been hastily adopted. They will not be hastily abandoned. Know
ing them, the electors of the State can determine whether they are
such as they will be willing to sanction at the ballot-box. The re
sult is with them.
James W. Grimes.
Burlington, April 8, 1854.
21. — To Rev. Henry Clay Bean, West Point, Lee County.
Burlington, March 2, 1854.
I have received your letter of the 28th of February, in which you
addressed to me the following question : " Should you be elected,
will you veto, or approve, such a law, consistent with the constitu
tion of the State, as may be enacted by the State Legislature, for
the prohibition of the sale of ardent spirits as a beverage ? " And
I hasten to reply, most unequivocally, that I should certainly approve
such an act.
It has ever been a principle of the Whig party that the Execu
tive veto should be exercised only for the greatest constitutional
reasons. All reasons of expediency should be determined by the
legislative department of the Government. And should I be so
fortunate as to be elected, I should endeavor to avoid encroach
ment in the remotest degree upon the prerogative of that depart
ment.

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 51
22. — To Mrs. Grimes. 'Oskaloosa, June 4, 1854.
I have now been absent one week, have made six speeches, none
less than one hour and a half long, and, what is singular, I am en
tirely well, except that my throat is a little out of order. I have
had very good audiences in point of numbers and respectability, and
at three of my meetings have had the ladies to hear me. Yesterday
I was honored with the presence of Mrs. Frances D. Gage, and took
tea with her at Mr. Dart's. I found her more agreeable in conver
sation, and less manly in her intercourse, than I had expected. She
is evidently a well-informed, talented woman, and I presume is
doing much good. I have heard her lecture twice, last evening on
temperance ; both lectures were good.
I think the prospects for me in this region are very good, but
there is no knowing how men's minds may change between this
and the day of election. I shall start on in a few minutes, and
speak at Pella to-morrow. It is monstrous hard work that I have
undertaken, and I am fearful that I shall not be able to perform all
that is allotted me to do. 23.— To  .
Council Bluffs, June 16, 1854.
Your favor in regard to traveling on Sunday is received. I
started from Burlington between six and seven o'clock on Sunday-
evening, because I knew I would be too exhausted to speak at
Mount Pleasant, if I rode all the way there on Monday morning. I
therefore rode to New London Sunday night, mostly after dark.
Since then, I rode from seven to ten o'clock one Sunday evening.
The other Sundays I have laid up, and have pressed through on
week-days, much to my inconvenience and fatigue. I endeavor to
respect the opinions, prejudices, and inclinations of both my friends
and enemies. I think I have done nothing wrong, and that there
is no good occasion for fault-finding. There would not be, if I
traveled all the day. I am proclaiming the great gospel of liberty
wherever I go. I flatter myself that I have already done more
good to the cause of humanity and liberal ideas than has ever been
done by all the speeches made in the State, and by many sermons.
I have had large audiences, and very attentive ones. I have no
fears of the result.

52 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
24. — To Mrs. Grimes. Council Bluffs, June \Uh.
I am well, though- fatigued and worn down by traveling and
speaking. I have undertaken too much hard labor, but am re
solved to persevere unto the end. I speak here this afternoon. I
have poorer prospects before me here than at any point I have
been. The majority of the people here are Nebraskaites and
whiskey-men. I write in the midst of a crowd, and am in trouble
to find time to do anything. Glenwood, Mills County, June ISth.
I had just time, night before last, to merely acknowledge your
letter. I have since read it two or three times, and each time with
additional pleasure. It affords me words of encouragement and
hope, from one by whom I desire to be encouraged more than by
all others in the world — one whose approbation I seek more than
the approval of all my other kind friends. The sentiments you
utter make me strong. They have caused me to renew my resolu
tion to continue to proclaim the gospel of liberty until the day of
the election.
When I came here I found that the population is entirely South
ern. My friends were tender-footed, and did not wish me to de
nounce the Nebraska infamy. I did not teU them what I would
do, but when we met in the court-house I told them that the prin
ciples I maintained on the Mississippi River I should maintain and
express just as boldly on the Missouri River. I then discussed the
subject an hour, and pleased both my friends and enemies. They
all saw that my principles did not change with a change of latitude,
and they applauded me to the skies. Although this is a Democratic
county, my friends assure me that I will receive fifty majority in
the county.1
I am much better now than a week ago. I think I shall be able
to stand the canvass until the election. It is a comfort to know
that before three weeks elapse I shall be at home. But I shall be
compelled to absent myself again for three weeks. Then, thank
Heaven, the election takes place, and this business will be over.
At the election (August 3d), of 43,594 Votes, Mr. Grimes
received a majority of 2,486. His energetic canvass of the
1 The vote of Mills County was 177 for Grimes, 155 for Bates.

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 53
State, and the result, were regarded with great interest through
out the country. Said the Galena Gazette :
The freemen of the North are indebted to Mr. Grimes, in a great
measure, for one of the most brilliant victories ever achieved in the
annals of politics. His recent contest, and its results, have given
him a national reputation which he has nobly earned.
In his native State his election was welcomed as a fitting
rebuke to another son of New Hampshire, who had said in his
first message to Congress (December, 1853), in relation to the
peaceful condition of the country, at that time, upon the ques
tion of slavery :
This repose is to suffer no shock during my official term, if I
have power to avert it.
Mr. Grimes and President Pierce were natives of adjoining
towns. Hon. S. P. Chase wrote (Cincinnati, September 24th) :
Allow me to congratulate you on the result in Iowa. It sur
passes my hopes, and is due in great measure to your indefatigable
exertions. We all owe you a debt of gratitude. But now as much
of wisdom will be needed to secure the fruits of victory and perma
nent ascendency, as there was of courage, energy, and tact, to gain
it. Your message will be looked for with great interest.
Two years later, Mr. Chase wrote (August 23, 1856) :
Your election was the morning star. The sun has risen now.
Soon after his election, it was proposed in some quarters that
he should be sent to the Senate of the United States. He at
once gave it to be understood that he should fill the term of
office for which he had been chosen by the people. The Hawk-
eye, October 12th, said :
The papers need not trouble themselves about having Mr. Grimes
presented to the Legislature for election to the United States Sen
ate. He was elected to be simply Governor of the State, which
position he is satisfied to occupy, at least for the term of his elec
tion ; after that, we cannot speak for him. He will then be in the
hands of his friends, for Governor, or the Senate, or something else ;
maybe for President, for aught we know.

54 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
25. — To Hon. S. P. Chase, Cincinnati. Burlington, October 3, 1854.
I regret that I am unable to meet you at Galena. Other en
gagements, ana my ill health, will prevent. I wish much to have
a few minutes' conversation with you. I shall take about the
ground you suggest, in my message. I have not prepared it, but I
have thought I would occupy about the positions taken by the re
cent Whig State Convention in Massachusetts.
I am astonished at my own success in this State. I fought the
battle nearly alone. My colleagues on the congressional ticket
were dead weights ; one of my colleagues on the State ticket de
clined, because I was too much of a Free-Soiler; and I had the Bur
lington Hawkeye, a professedly Whig paper, and the whole silver-
gray interest, openly against me. Thank Heaven ! I triumphed over
the combined powers of darkness, and carried a handsome majority
(ten) of the Legislature with me. We lost two members by draw
ing lots, where there was a tie.
The southern half of our State is strongly pro-slavery, but I
think we will be able to carry a majority with us for free princi
ples, and for a disconnection with slavery. The Whigs are just now
learning that it does not hurt them to be called " abolitionists,
woolly-heads," etc., and, when the great contest of 1856 comes on,
they will be prepared for and callous to all such epithets. The
north third of our State will be to Iowa, politically, what the West
ern Reserve is to the State of Ohio. No man can obtain the elec
toral vote of Iowa, in 1856, who was in favor of the passage of the
Nebraska bill, and who will not favor the repeal of the " Fugitive-
Slave law." Such, at any rate, is my opinion at this time.
I would be much pleased to hear from you, and to receive any
suggestions at any time when you have the leisure or inclination.
Mr. Chase wrote hi reply (Cincinnati, October 31st) :
The people are in advance of the politicians on the slavery ques
tion. Now is the time for that other wisdom, whose name is cour
age. Hence my solicitude for your message. You have the credit
of fighting, under the most auspicious circumstances, the best battle
for freedom, yet fought. From your State, the extreme West, will
most appropriately come the suggestions which shall shape this

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 55
new movement. I feel thoroughly persuaded that if your message
shall grapple directly and boldly with the question, and take tlie
high but safe ground of consistent principle, you will do yourself
the greatest honor, and your country the greatest good. Such a
message cannot fail to have a most important and beneficial effect
on the events of 1856, including the presidential election itself.
He who speaks clearest will be best understood and most honored.
Mr. Chase wrote again (November 13th) :
If I may judge of your forthcoming inaugural by the part you
have sent me, it will be an excellent one. It does me good to
think that a New Hampshire boy, and a Governor of a Western
State, will have the honor of being the first to lay down the great
principle on which the slavery question must be finally settled, if
peacefully settled at all. As a New Hampshire boy, and Western
man, I am proud of it.
Tbe salary of the Governor was twelve hundred and fifty
dollars a year. The term of office under the constitution was
four years. Mr. Grimes was inducted into office on the 9th of
December, 1854, the oath of office being administered by Hon.
Maturin L. Fisher, president of the Joint Convention of both
Houses, and delivered on the occasion the following
ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Bepresentatives :
Having now, in your presence, assumed the duties of the office
to which I have been elevated by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens,
it becomes my duty, under the constitution, to call your attention
to such subjepts as I beheve demand your consideration.
No one, however connected with legislation, can too highly esti
mate the responsibilities of his position. He cannot feel too deeply
the delicacy of his labors, and his ignorance of the complicated
structure and conflicting interests of society over which he is called
to exercise control. To legislate is the noblest employment in
which he can be engaged, and the most difficult of satisfactory exe
cution. It is so everywhere, but it is peculiarly so in a new and growing
State, where the population is drawn from all parts of the civilized

56 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
globe, where the public policy and public institutions are just being
established, and where different portions of the State are in differ
ent conditions of progress and development. It is a difficult task
to protect and advance the pioneer interests of our western settle
ments, and also encourage, and establish on a substantial basis, the
commercial and manufacturing interests of the old counties, by gen
eral laws that shall operate equally and beneficently upon all. It
is not an easy matter to lay strong and deep the foundations of the
educational institutions of a uew State, and to rear thereon super
structures that shall honor the State and bless mankind. The duty
of restoring reason to those who are bereft of it, of giving sight to
the blind and hearing to the deaf, by the establishment and proper
endowment of charitable institutions ; of repressing evil, of punish
ing crime, of stimulating industry, of protecting public virtue, and
of maintaining the integrity of the State sovereignty, cannot be
exercised withcfut incurring grave responsibilities.
Government is established for the protection of the governed.
But that protection does not consist merely in the enforcement of
laws against injury to the person and property. Men do not make
a voluntary abnegation of their natural rights, simply that those
rights may be protected by the body politic. It reaches more vital
interests than those of property. Its greatest object is to elevate
and ennoble the citizen. It would fall far short of its design if it
did not disseminate intelligence, and build up the moral energies
of the people. It is organized " to establish justice, promote the
public welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty." It is designed
to foster the instincts of truth, justice, and philanthropy, that are
implanted in our very natures, and from which constitutions and laws
derive their validity and value. It should afford moral as well as
physical protection, by educating the rising generation, by encour
aging industry and sobriety, by steadfastly adhering to the right,
and by being ever true to the instincts of freedom and humanity.
To accomplish these high aims of government, the first requisite
is ample provision for the education of the youth of the State. The
" common-school fund of the State should be scrupulously preserved,
and a more efficient system of common schools than we now have
should be adopted. The State should see to it that the elements
of education, like the elements of universal Nature, are above, around,
and beneath all.

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 57
It is agreed that the safety and perpetuity of our republican
institutions depend upon the diffusion, of intelligence among the
masses of the people. The statistics of the penitentiaries and alms
houses throughout the country, abundantly show that education is
the best preventive of pauperism and crime. They show, also, that
the prevention of those evils is much less expensive than the pun
ishment of the one, and the relief of the other. Education, too, is
tbe great equalizer of human conditions. It places the poor on an
equality with the rich. It subjects the appetites and passions of
the rich to the restraints of reason and conscience, and thus pre
pares each for a career of usefulness and honor. Every consider
ation, therefore, of duty and policy impels us to sustain the common
schools of the State in the highest possible efficiency.
I am convinced that the public schools should be supported by
taxation of property, and that the present rate system should be
abolished. Under the present system of a per capita tax upon the
scholars, the children of the poor are in a measure excluded from
the benefit of the schools, while the children of the opulent are
withdrawn from them to be educated in private institutions. Prop
erty is the only legitimate subject of taxation. It has its duties,
as well as its rights. It needs the conservative influences of edu
cation, and should be made to pay for its own protection.
I suggest the propriety of establishing in each school district in
the State a district-school library. I believe that an act appropri
ating to each district a small sum of money for this purpose, pro
vided the district would appropriate an equal amount, would be
received by the people with the highest satisfaction. It would
establish in each district complying with the provisions of the act a
nucleus, around which in a few years would be gathered respecta
ble hbraries that would be accessible to all. These libraries would
be great aids in the diffusion of general intelligence.
I am not informed of the amount or condition of the university
fund of the State. It is known, however, that a munificent grant
of land was made by Congress for the establishment of a seminary
of learning ; that a large part of those lands has been sold, and
that the proceeds have never been applied to any specific use, ex
cept the sum of five thousand dollars heretofore granted to the
Medical School at Keokuk. I think the time has come when steps
should be taken to carry out the design of Congress in making the

58 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
grant. If the State can ever establish an institution of learning, it
can be done under as favorable auspices now as at any future time.
I do not believe it to be sound policy to establish a literary insti
tution that shall come into rivalry with the various denominational
colleges now struggling into existence. Those institutions should
be encouraged, and not depressed. They can and will educate the
young men who wish to enter the professions of law, physic, and di
vinity. But the State has a greater want than of lawyers and doc
tors. She wants educated farmers and mechanics, engineers, archi
tects, chemists, metallurgists, and geologists. She needs men en
gaged in the practical duties of life, who have conquered their pro
fessions, and who are able to impart their knowledge to others. She
wants farmers who shall be familiar with the principles of chemistry,
as applied to agriculture ; architects and mechanics, who will adorn
her with edifices worthy of so fair a land ; and engineers and geolo
gists who will develop her resources, and thus augment the wealth
and happiness of her citizens. This want can only be supplied by
the establishment of a school of applied sciences. I have no hesi
tation, therefore, in recommending that the university fund be ap
propriated to establish a practical scientific or polytechnic school.
The State and county agricultural societies are doing much to
improve agriculture and the industrial arts, and deserve encourage
ment from the government.
The General Assembly cannot be too urgently called on to take
immediate steps to establish State charitable institutions. Accord
ing to the most reliable information, there are now more than one
hundred pauper insane persons in the State. One-half of these are
confined in the common jails, and are thus placed beyond even a
reasonable expectation of recovery ; the other moiety are roaming
at large, a terror to their friends and neighbors, and by exposure to
exciting causes rendering their disease hopelessly incurable. Ev
ery dictate of humanity — every principle of sound public policy —
demands that the State should make immediate provision for the
care and treatment of this unfortunate class of our fellow-citizens.
There can be no question of a desire on the part of the people
of the State that their constitution should be amended. It is need
less at this time to allude to the arguments that may be urged in
favor of a change in that instrument. The amendments can only
be made by a constitutional convention. The only question now

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 59
presented is, Shall the people have the privilege of determining for
themselves, at the ballot-box, whether they want revision and amend
ment at all ? Not a single valid argument can be urged against
this proposition. A submission of the question of revision to the
people can be attended with no expense, for, according to the con
stitution, it must be done at a general election. If the decision,
therefore, is against revision, the State will sustain no injury ; if in
favor of it, the genuine doctrine of popular sovereignty will be vin
dicated. There is a strong public sentiment in favor of a radical change
of the present laws regulating the manufacture and sale of intoxicat
ing liquors. Every friend of humanity earnestly desires that some
thing may be done to dry up the streams of bitterness that this
traffic now pours over the land. I have no doubt that a prohibitory
law may be enacted that will avoid all constitutional objections,
and meet the approval of a vast majority of the people of the State.
The public mind has been, and is now, greatly excited on the
subject of. slavery in the Territories of the United States. At the
last session of Congress, that solemn compact, known as the Mis-.
souri Compromise, which had existed more than thirty years with
out any attempt to disturb it — which was passed at the instance
of the South— and which the people of the whole country have
been taught by the great expounders of the Constitution to regard
as inviolable as the most sacred provisions of that instrument itself
— was repealed. By that compromise, all that portion of the origi
nal Territory of Louisiana that lay north of the parallel of 36° 30'
was forever dedicated to freedom. By its repeal it is attempted to
subject that vast domain to the withering influences of African
slavery. This only compromise that favored freedom was ruthlessly vio
lated by the very men who were most clamorous for the mainte
nance of every compromise that favored slavery. It was done in
defiance of the remonstrances of the people, and by a palpable vio
lation of parliamentary rules. The motive with which it was done
is apparent. While its few supporters in the North attempt to
justify the act, and shield the perpetrators from reproach, by appeal
ing to the doctrine of popular sovereignty, its principal supporters
in the South utterly repudiate that doctrine, and openly avow that
they will never submit to it. The primary motive was to extend

60 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
the area of slave territory, and thus give a political supremacy to
the slaveholding States, by virtue of representation of slave prop
erty. The Federal Government was established " to secure the bless
ings of liberty," and not to perpetuate and extend human bondage.
Its founders intended to confine slavery to its then existing limits.
It was with this settled conviction of the policy, of the government,
and with the universal opinion, moreover, that new territory could
not be acquired by purchase, that the several States consented to
that provision of the Constitution which allows three-fifths of the
slave population of the country to be enumerated as the basis of
representation in the electoral colleges, and in the House of Bepre
sentatives. But, without any change of the Constitution, the whole
policy of the Government seems to be changed on this subject. Vast
territories have been acquired. Five new slave States have been
admitted into the Union from territory purchased with the common
treasure of the country. The number of slaves has increased from
697,897 in 1790 to 3,204,313 in 1850, now represented by twenty-
one votes in the electoral colleges and in Congress.
I trust that there is no citizen of Iowa who desires the General
Government to interfere with slavery in the States of this Union.
It is a local institution, and to the States that maintain it belong
its responsibilities and its perils. But while the people of the
North should scrupulously regard the rights of others, they should
manfully maintain their own. They are recreant to their own inter
ests; they betray the rights of their posterity; they give a fatal
blow to the principles of free and equal government, when they
consent to the creation of new slave States and a consequent fur
ther representation of slave property.
The removal of that great landmark of freedom — the Missouri
Compromise line — when it had been sacredly observed until slavery
had acquired every inch of soil south of it, has presented the ag
gressive character of that system broadly before the country. It
has shown that all compromises with slavery, that are designed to
favor freedom, are mere ropes of sand, to be broken by the first
wave of passion or interest that may roll from the South. It has
forced upon the country an issue between free labor, political equal
ity, and manhood on the one hand ; and on the other, slave-labor,
political degradation and wrong. It becomes the people of the free

1854.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 61
States to meet that issue resolutely, calmly, and with a sense of the
momentous consequences that will flow from its decision. To every
elector, in view'of that issue, might appropriately be applied the
injunction anciently addressed to the Jewish king, " Be strong,
and show thyself a man."
It is both the interest and duty of the free States to prevent
the increase and extension of the slave element of power, by every
constitutional means. To do so successfully, they must adhere to
the principles of the founders of the republic. In the view of
those principles, slavery is a local institution, depending wholly on
State laws for its existence and continuance. Freedom being the
natural condition of all men, and no authority being delegated to
the General Government to establish or protect slavery, Congress
can pass no law establishing or protecting it in the Territories. If
Congress can pass no such law, much less can it delegate such au
thority to the Territorial Legislatures, over whose acts it has ever
exercised a supervisory and restraining power. By a wide depart
ure from constitutional principles, slavery has been tolerated in
some of the Territories. Let such toleration forever cease. Let
the Government be brought back to its original purity. Let the
principle be authoritatively announced and persistently adhered to,
that there can be no slavery outside of State sovereignties. Let
the Government, in all its relations, be divorced from the system,
and the agitation of this subject will cease, the conscience of the
North will be quieted, and the rights of the people of the South
fully sustained. It is only by an entire disconnection of the General
Government from the institution of slavery, that the people of the
free States can find safety and honor. In no other way can they
maintain their political equality, and stand acquitted before the bar
of an enlightened public sentiment.
It becomes the State of Iowa — the only free child of the Mis
souri Compromise — to let the world know that she values the bless
ings that compromise has secured to her, and that she will never
consent to become a party to the nationalization of slavery.
I desire to cooperate with the General Assembly in every meas
ure that may tend to promote the prosperity of the State.
I trust that our mutual counsels will be characterized by calm
ness and prudence ; and I devoutly pray that, in our respective
spheres, we may be guided by " that wisdom which is from above."

62 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1854.
26. — To Mrs. Grimes. Iowa City, December 23, 1854.
I find my time entirely occupied with duties that properly per
tain to my office, and others that are assigned me by the Legisla
ture. They pretend that they have more confidence in my judg
ment than they had in my predecessors, and hence intrust to me
various duties that have never been assigned to the Governors of
the State. The Senate called on me a few days ago for a report
and suggestions in relation to the insane, etc. I sent in a mes
sage yesterday in reply. They ordered two thousand copies to
be published. It was prepared in a hurry, and does not amount to
much.1 There has, as yet, been no senator elected. I understand that
Warren went away with the impression that I was opposed to his
election, and in favor of Harlan. He was never more mistaken. I
preferred him to any one named, but I did not choose to mingle in
the strife that was going on for the office. I did not believe that
it became the position I occupy, and I still think so. I trust the
result may be in favor of progress and freedom.
We have had a grand ball. There was a large crowd. I did
not attend. I find that I shall have a great deal more to do than I
1 1 am an advocate for economy. But I conceive that it would be the poorest
possible economy to erect any other than the most substantial buildings. Unlike
the deaf, dumb, and blind, insane persons cannot be kept in ordinary buildings.
Structures must be erected for their special use and treatment.
I think it would be wise to appoint commissioners of intelligence and character,
with authority to visit asylums for the insane in other States, to obtain plans for
proper buildings, and to lay these plans before the superintendents of those asy
lums for such suggestions as their experience may dictate. Improvements are
being constantly made in the construction, ventilation, and heating, of such struct
ures, and the State should avail herself of all such improvements.
It should be borne in mind that it will be but a few years before a second asy
lum for the insane will be required. This unfortunate class will increase with the
population of the State. Massachusetts, with a population of 994,514, has 1,661
insane, or one in 604 of her population. She has three asylums filled to overflow
ing. Vermont, with 314,120 souls, not as many as there are now in the State of
Iowa, has 560 insane, or one in 569 of her population. Ohio is now erecting two
new asylums, one in the northern and another in the southern part of the State.
Our State asylum, therefore, should be located with a view to the future increase
of the number. — Extract from the Message.

1855.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 63
had expected, and that it will probably be necessary for me to visit
Iowa City frequently. I shall endeavor to preserve my honesty, as
you desire. The abuse of the Gazette does not disturb me in the
smallest degree. Inclosed you will find a private letter from Mr.
Giddings.1 Do not show it to any one.
27.— To  . Iowa City, January 4, 1855.
I have been attempting to bring Davis forward, but ineffectually.
There is no man in the State I prefer to him. To-day I had a talk,
for the first time since last spring, with Browning, and endeavored
to induce him to support Davis. He could not conscientiously do
so, he replied, on account of Davis's Free-Soil proclivities. Mr.
Harlan's friends think his chances are improving. I had my first
conversation with him to-day, and talked to him frankly and freely.
He avowed himself a Republican. Russell and the Washington
and Henry County Free-Soilers nominated him. There are but ten
Whigs in the Legislature. The other forty-five are known as anti-
Nebraska men, Republicans, and Woolly-Heads. Harlan is too
Free-Soil for the Whigs, and is regarded by the Free-Soilers as
sufficiently antislavery for them. Father Turner says they will
hold a meeting at Denmark, and wipe their hands of Whiggery. I
say amen to that, if he means to get clear of such Whiggery as we
have here.
There will be but very little done this winter by the Legisla-
1 Hall of Repbesentattveb, December 18, 1854.
My dear Grimes : Thanks for your message, for its doctrines. They are well
and fearlessly expressed. One thing more, and Iowa will lead the great Republi
can party. Let your Legislature back up the Governor by resolutions, on your
grounds, and your State, our youngest sister, will stand in a most admirable posi
tion. The point you make is the true issue, and I wonder that our State Legisla
tures have not taken it long since. It is now admitted by all that our issue must
soon be fixed on the principle expressed in your message of a total separation of
the Federal Government from all participation in the support of slavery, leaving
the institution entirely with the States in which it exists, while we of the free
States will stand lustrated from its contagion. This issue cannot be withstood in
any free State ; it will overwhelm all opponents in every free State.
" God bless and prosper you ! " is the prayer of
Tour obedient servant, J. R. Giddinos.
Bis Excellency J. W. Grimes.

64 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
ture. The Democrats have the Senate under their control, and
seem to have adopted the do-nothing policy.
I find my office no sinecure. I have a hundred-fold more to do
than I expected when I came here.
28— To  . Iowa City, January 7, 1855.
The 'great national party of Iowa has exploded ! The Demo
crats resolved in caucus- to go for Browning. There were but two
who stood out. He hoped to be elected on the first ballot, Friday
morning, but, before the convention assembled, it was discovered
that the Cook men would not vote for him. The Democrats did
not, therefore, all rally on him, as had been agreed, because it was
found that there would be no use in doing so. He received thirty-
five Democratic votes, but not a Whig or anti-Nebraska man could
be brought up to vote for him. After balloting a few times, our
folks made a motion to reverse the order of things, and elect Judges
of the Supreme Court first. This took our opponents by surprise,
but we carried it. Wright and Woodward were elected judges.
Isbell could only get forty-seven votes. He needed fifty. The con
vention adjourned to ten o'clock yesterday morning. The objec
tion with four or five men was that Isbell was a Free-Soil elector in
1848 and in 1852. For the first time this winter I turned out to
electioneer, and the Democrats discovered, in the morning, that
Isbell would be elected on the first ballot. The Senate met at nine
o'clock, and immediately adjourned to Monday morning. At ten
o'clock, our-side Senators went into the House of Representatives,
and a joint convention was declared. The recusant Senators filled
the lobbies, and attempted to kick up a row, but were overawed
by General Brown, the House Sergeant-at-Arms. After making
speeches and wrangling two or three hours, all the Democratic rep
resentatives but three withdrew, and the convention proceeded to
elect Isbell and Harlan, the Cook men voting for each of them.
They received fifty-two and fifty-three votes respectively ; fifty is a
majority of a full convention. The proper officers have certified
their election to me, and I will issue their commissions to-morrow.
There was not the least apology for this revolutionary proceed
ing. The parties engaged in it only attempt to excuse themselves
on the ground that time enough had been expended in attempt-

1855.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 65
ing to elect a Senator, and that they wanted to go on with the
regular business of the session. Yet they adjourned over to
Monday the moment that Parson Shearer got through his prayers.
An unsophisticated man would imagine that they might as well
spend the day in joint convention as in the drinking-houses about
the city.
The Locofocos do not intend that anything shall be done this
session, and imagine that they will hold the Whigs and anti-
Nebraska men responsible for a failure to do the necessary legisla
tion. We shall see. Harlan would not have been elected, if the
Locos had not revolutionized. We would have elected Isbell. Let
them hear from their acts in the papers.
29. — To Mrs. Grimes. Iowa City, January 24, 1855.
I shall start home the last of this week. The Legislature has
done an immense amount of business, more than has been done by
any two Legislatures before. The Constitution bill ; Maine law ;
Insane Asylum ; Blind Asylum ; Deaf and Dumb Asylum ; Sunday
law — that will prevent the dancing on the Sabbath that so much
annoys us and our neighbors in the summer — Geological Survey
bill — all have passed and become laws.
Very cold here ; ball last night ; thermometer 21° below zero ;
some of the members got drunk, and are ashamed of themselves to
day ; capital of the State to be located at Fort Des Moines.
By an act of the General Assembly, approved January 24,
1855, the Governor, and Hon. Edward Johnstone, and Charles
S. Clarke, M. D., were appointed commissioners to locate and
superintend the erection of an asylum for the insane, at or near
Mount Pleasant, in Henry County. In discharge of this duty,
they purchased an eligible farm of one hundred and seventy-
three acres, for twenty-five dollars per acre, one mile distant
from Henry County Court-House ; and visited the best institu
tions, and those recently erected, or in process of erection, in
the Eastern States. After an examination of nine asylums, and
consultation with architects, superintendents, and persons inter
ested in institutions of the kind, they became satisfied that the
General Assembly, in limiting the cost of the asylum to fifty

66 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
thousand dollars, could have known as little what was required
as the commissioners did before they began their investigations.
They therefore determined to adopt such plans as they believed
the wants and interests of the State demanded. Massachusetts
was then commencing the erection of a third asylum, at North
ampton, with all modern and desirable improvements. The
commissioners procured transcripts of the plan, with a view to
lay it before the General Assembly for approval. In the mean
time, they proceeded with the excavation for the foundation,
quarried rock, and made brick, but did nothing by which the
State would be injured a thousand dollars, if the Legislature
should disapprove their action. The General Assembly met in
extra session, July, 1856, before the foundations of the building
were laid, when the plans and specifications were submitted to
committees of the Legislature, and after a thorough canvass of
the whole matter an additional appropriation of fifty thousand
dollars was made, not that the money would be needed before
the next regular session, but as an indorsement of the recom
mendations of the commissioners.
The following is from Governor Grimes's message of Janu
ary, 1858 :
I am pleased to be able to say that the Hospital for the Insane
at Mount Pleasant has advanced rapidly toward completion. The
whole work is of the most substantial character ; the plan of the
structure meets the approbation of all who are familiar with
the treatment of insane persons, and I think I hazard nothing in
saying that when completed the hospital will be creditable to the
State. It may be thought by some that the size of this building is
greater than the necessities of the State require, and more expen
sive than the finances of the State will justify.
In response to such suggestions, I beg leave to say that there
are now insane people enough in the State to fill it to its utmost
capacity, and that, while it has thus far been most substantially
built, no money has been spent, nor does the plan contemplate the
expenditure of any, for useless finish or adornment. When it is
remembered that each patient requires a separate dormitory, in-

1855.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 67
closed by brick walls, thus requiring three hundred rooms for the
inmates alone; that there are day-rooms and associated dormito
ries; dining-rooms, wash-rooms, bathing-rooms, and water-closets,
in each of the sixteen wards ; and that there must necessarily be
large accommodations for baking, cooking, washing, ironing, etc.,
etc., for a household of nearly four hundred persons, the magnitude
of the building and its cost will not be surprising.
No one who examines the census returns of this State for 1856,
and informs himself of the proportion of insane cases that become
chronic and incurable when treated as they now are in this State, to
the proportion that are cured when sent immediately to an asylum,
will hesitate to believe that humanity, economy, and safety require
that this institution should be immediately completed, and hereafter
liberally supported.
In August, 1859, he made the following statement with ref
erence to attacks of unscrupulous partisans upon the Republican
party, and upon himself, in a foolish attempt to mingle politics
with the asylum :
It was established, the commissioners appointed, and the plans
for the building approved by a Legislature, of which one branch was
Democratic, and the other anti-Democratic, and all appropriations for
the work were voted for by members of all parties, without the
slightest regard to their political predilections. No one of the com
missioners was ever influenced in the slightest degree in his con
duct as commissioner by political considerations. I am well satis
fied that Judge Johnstone was not, and, as an evidence that the
other commissioners were not, I will state that the man who was
selected to supervise the whole work, Henry Winslow, Esq., ever
was and is now an uncompromising Democrat, who never voted any
other than the Democratic ticket, and was discharged from a similar
position in the State of Maine, on account of his advocacy of Demo
cratic principles, and his hostility to Know-Nothingism. He was
employed by the commissioners on account of what were believed
to be his merits, and they are happy to know that his conduct has
justified the selection. He has employed, discharged, and paid
every man employed about the work, purchased all the material, and
superintended the construction of the entire building. Almost all
the chiefs of the carpenter, brick-making, brick-laying, stone-cutting,

68 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
stone-laying, etc., departments have been Democrats. I will say,
however, that I have only learned this latter fact recently, for no
one of the commissioners ever thought to inquire to what political
party any employe belonged.
As a citizen, I protest against the precedent, now sought to be
established, of making the humane institutions of the State shuttle
cocks, to be knocked back and forth between the two political par
ties. I have made this statement that the people may know the
exact facts with regard to the asylum, and not by way of apology.
I am proud of my connection with that institution, and the time is
not remote when the Democratic party will be proud that their
representatives stand so unanimously recorded in its favor. I read
last year, in the speech of a candidate for a State office, that the
asylum was established by the commissioners at Mount Pleasant
especially for my benefit, as a large owner of real estate in that
city and its vicinity. The laws of the State show that the location
was made by the General Assembly, and the records of Henry
County will show that I never owned but one lot in Mount Pleasant,
which I sold long before the insane asylum was established there;
and that I do not, and never did, own any property in the vicinity
of that place. It must have required a very fertile imagination to
conceive the idea that the proximity of a lunatic asylum would
enhance the value of real estate !
Governor Grimes took a lively interest in providing for a
geological survey of the State, and in securing the highest scien
tific ability for the work. Mr. James Hall, the State geologist,,
having named a new species of fossil shell, of large size, found
in the Burlington limestone, Spirifer Grimesii, it afforded no
small amusement to the Governor to find this represented by
some jealous opponents as his act — done for the glorification of
his name ! 30.— To Hon. Salmon P. Chase. Burlington, April 8, 1855.
What is going to be done in 1856 ? How are we to bring the
antislavery forces into the field, and under whose standard? I
believe a very large part of the friends of freedom in Iowa would
be glad to see you a candidate for the presidency. I am one of the
number. How do you feel on the subject, and are your aspirations
that way inclined at present ?

1865.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 69
I think there is too much asperity of feeling throughout the
country to justify us in placing Mr. Seward forward as the Repub
lican candidate, and, to confess the truth, I must say that I have
horror of New York politicians.
It seems to me that it is time to thoroughly organize the Re
publican party. The Know-Nothings have pretty well broken
down the two old parties, and a new one, now organized, would
draw largely from the foreign element that goes to make up those
parties, while it will draw away one-half of the Know-Nothings, at
least. 31. — To Mrs. Grimes. Buffalo, N. V., April 15, 1855.
I have heard Mr. Hosmer preach twice to-day. In the forenoon
his theme was the necessity and duty of obeying all the physical
laws, as well as those that relate to the moral nature. He claimed
that it was a sin to disobey the one as much as the other, inasmuch
as we are taught the principles of the laws of Nature, by our
instincts, experience, and observation, as conclusively as we are
taught to believe any of the principles of the divine law. His
afternoon discourse was on the duty of good citizens to sustain the
prohibitory law, and was mostly a history of the rise and progress
of the temperance movement during the last forty years. The
Unitarian Society here is large and popular. Among its members
are Mr. Fillmore, Judge Hall, of the United States Court, and, I
presume, many other quite as good if not better men, though not
so noted. I have been through one or two insane asylums. There is one
near Cleveland, Ohio, which I think we shall mostly copy. It is
just completed, and is rather a model institution. When I went
through the building, and saw how nearly the poor creatures are
provided with every comfort, how tidy everything was, how the
poor insane women had tastefully decorated their rooms with ever
greens and flowers, and appeared for the most part happy, I re
joiced that I had so urgently called the attention of the Legislature
to the necessity of providing an institution for our State, and that
it will, in some measure, be built through my instrumentality.
I shall leave here for Utica, to examine the State asylum in that
place. 6

70 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
New York City, April 21, 1855.
I spent one day in Utica, two in Albany. At Albany I saw
Prof. Hall, and secured his services at the head of our geological
survey. The State authorities of New York are unwilling -to sur
render his services entirely, and we cannot therefore have his entire
time ; but he will have the general direction and entire responsi
bility of the survey. He is one of the most modest, unobtrusive
men I ever met, and all the various scientific cliques speak well of
him. Prof. Whitney is to meet me here to-day, with Prof. Hall,
when I expect to engage him, also, as State chemist. He seems to
have a high reputation, also, in scientific circles, and I doubt not
will prove to be an accession to our State!
32.— To Hon. S. P. Chase. Burlington, May 12, 1855.
I found yours of April 13th on my return from the East a couple
of days ago.
I have more hope than you have. I am sanguine that we shall
organize a party that will carry the elections in most of the North
ern States in 1856, and in all of them in 1860. I abhor the principles
of the Know-Nothings, so far as I understand them, yet I think they
are accomplishing a great work in breaking down the old parties.
When new parties are constructed, as they shortly will be, ours will
be uppermost, in my opinion. I find encouragement in every move
ment that is made by our enemies. I think that they are resolved
to ruin themselves, and that there is every prospect of success.
Names are of no consequence to me. There are objections in
the minds of some to any name that can be used. I would be con
tent with any designation, for I do not believe that a party name is
of much consequence after all. People in New York seem to be
as well satisfied with the titles of Hunker, Barnburner, Silver-Grays,
and Woolly-Heads, as with the old distinctions of Whig and Demo
crat. When in New York I saw Governor Medill. He told me that
you would be the candidate against him, and that you would beat
him. He seemed to think so in truth, and I hope he will not be dis
appointed. During my trip I was attending to business of the State, and
was not brought into connection with politicians, so that I could

1855.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 71
not learn what was going on. I was in New Hampshire forty-eight
hours. It was conceded that Hale would be returned to the Senate.
I learn that you are to deliver an oration in July, at Dartmouth. I
hope you will arouse that pre-Adamite institution from its slumbers.
It is from fifty to a hundred years behind the age, and the Presi
dent is a real antediluvian. He is the strongest pro-slavery man in
the North.
You see by the returns of our April election that Iowa " takes
no step backward." 33. — To Mrs. Grimes. ,
Burlington, June 17, 1855.
The Burhngton people went on Wednesday on an excursion to
Chicago.1 They had a magnificent reception. I chose to remain
at home. It is no pleasure to me to travel, or to make speeches,
as I would have been compelled to do, had I been one of the
company. You ask why I did not attend the supper at Burlington, and
speak, as desired. In the first place, I did not think it became me,
occupyingthe position I do, as a temperance man, and a Governor,
who recommended and approved a prohibitory liquor law, to at
tend a supper where it was known that champagne was to be drunk,
and when I had reason to believe from past observation that some
of the guests and hosts would be drunk. In the second place, no
one of the company at my house wished to attend, and I thought it
more becoming to remain with and entertain them, than to leave
them to themselves ; and in the third place, I abhor public dinners,
and suppers, and especially do I detest dinner speeches. Another
reason was this: unfortunately, some people think that I am a
passable public speaker, and they try to dragoon me into speaking
on all occasions. I wished them to know that if I have any gifts
that way, they are not to be prostituted to their use at all times
and everywhere. Do you need any more reasons assigned to con
vince you that I did right ?
I have been rejoicing for two days over the result of the Know-
Nothing National Convention at Philadelphia. I have been afraid
of that organization. I knew it would break down in a year or two,
but I was fearful that before dissolution it would give a pro-slavery
1 To celebrate the opening of a railroad.

72 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
tinge to the sentiment of many of its members. It has gone over
board sooner than I expected, and I can see nothing now to obstruct
a perfect anti-Nebraska and antislavery triumph. God speed the
day ! The right sentiment becomes firmer and more intense every
day in this State. Strong ground was taken on the subject of sla
very at the Congregational Association here. I am almost every
day receiving letters, some from those who opposed my election a
year ago, saying that, if I were now a candidate, it would not be
necessary to canvass the State, and speak in every county, as I
then did. And I do not believe it would be necessary. The out-
1 rages in Kansas have opened the eyes of the people to the intent
with which the Missouri Compromise was repealed.
34. — To Mrs. Grimes. Burlington, June 20, 1855.
I would go East to you in July, were it not for the Insane
Asylum. One hundred and fifty poor people in the jails and alms
houses of the State are calling upon me to relieve them, as far as
may be in my power, from their present wretched condition, and I
would not be justified in turning a deaf ear to their petition. We
may perhaps get it started during the month, so that I can be absent
in August. Then, again, it is made my duty, in conjunction with
the Secretary of State, to locate the Blind and Deaf and Dumb In
stitutions, and that ought to be done this summer, though there is
no pressing necessity for it.
June 2ith. — Exciting times here. Yesterday morning Dr. James 1
was captured on the Illinois side of the river, with a fugitive slave
in his carriage. Bowie knives and revolvers were drawn on him by
the Missourians in pursuit, and he and the negro were forced back
to town. A process was afterward obtained, the negro thrown
into jail, where he is to remain to await his trial on Tuesday. There
was great excitement in town yesterday and to-day, and several per
sonal collisions have grown out of it. How it will end no one
knows. I shall certainly furnish no aid to the man-stealers, and it
has been determined that the negro shall have able counsel, and a
resort to all legal means for release, before any other is resorted to.
I am sorry I am Governor of the State, for, although I can and shall
1 Edwin James, M. D., botanist and historian of Long's Expedition to the Rocky
Mountains, in 1820. Died October 28, 1861.

1855.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 73
prevent the State authorities and officers from interfering in aid of
the marshal, yet, if not in office, I am inclined to think I should be
a law-breaker. It is a very nice question with me, whether I should
act, being Governor, just as I would if I were a private individual.
I intend to stand at my post, at all events, and act just as I shall
think duty may require under the circumstances.
June 27th. — The negro is free, and is on his way to Canada. A
great crowd yesterday in town. I sent on Monday to David's, via
Yellow Spring and Huron, and told my friends and the friends of
the slave to be present at the trial. They were here en masse.
Marion Hall was filled, and guards were stationed at the door, to
prevent any more people entering, and around the house. Rorer
and Crocker appeared for the negro. When the decision was made,
such a shout went up as was never heard in that hall before, and
then it was caught up by the people outside the building, and the
whole town reverberated. A thousand men followed Dr. James
and the negro to the river, and rent the air with their cheers, as
the boat was unlashed from her moorings, and started with the poor
fellow on his road to freedom. Judge Lowe was brought from
Keokuk Monday in the night, and a writ of habeas corpus was
ready to be served, if the decision had been adverse to us. Writs
were sued out against the negro-stealers for kidnapping, assault, etc.,
but, unfortunately, they escaped, before service could be made upon
them. I am satisfied that the negro would never have been taken
into slavery from Burlington.
Our friends, Colonel Warren and Rev. W. F. Cowles, showed
that there was some marrow in their spinal columns.
Thus has ended the first case under the fugitive-slave law in
Iowa. The State, the town, and the people, thank God, are saved
from disgrace. How opinions change ! Four years ago, Mr. 
and myself, and not to exceed three others in town, were the only
men who dared express an opinion in opposition to the fugitive-
slave law, and, because we did express such opinions, we were de
nounced like pickpockets. Now I am Governor of the State ; three-
fourths of the reading and reflecting people of the county agree
with me in my sentiments on the law, and a slave could not be
returned from Des Moines County into slavery. It is a blessed
thing that there is no ebb to the principles and progress of free
dom : it is always a flood-tide.

74 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
He attended a celebration of the Fourth of July, at Den
mark. Among the sentiments of the day were the following :
The State of Iowa : Fortunate in geographical position on the
Father of Waters, and midway between the two oceans, fortunate
in natural resources, fortunate in an enterprising and rapidly-in
creasing population, and fortunate in the possession of a chief
magistrate who knows how to employ all these advantages to make
a model State.
Governor Grimes : As he has been fortunate enough to sign a
Maine law in Iowa, may he remain Governor long enough to sign a
personal-liberty law ! 35. — To Mrs. Grimes. Burlington, July 5, 1855.
I received your letter from Bath. I am glad to learn that we
have friends in the Fatherland, who feel an interest in us.
Yesterday, Mary and I spent the day at Denmark. There was
a very agreeable celebration of the Fourth. The orator of the day
was Mr. Dixon, of Keokuk. At the dinner-table Colonel Warren,
Rev. E. Adams, and myself, made speeches. ¦ Everything passed
off harmoniously, and very pleasantly. M  enjoyed herself well
with Vinnie and the other little girls. Vinnie has been attending
singing-school, and sung with the other children in the church.
Her term will be out next week, when I shall go after her. We
are getting along very quietly and comfortably, though I must con
fess that we are a little lonely at times.
There is no news in town or country, except that everybody
is coming to Iowa; and that has ceased to be news. There seems
to be no check to the immigration. We shall before long be a
model State, if we act right, and I hope we shall. As one of the
signs of advancement, a lady has just become associated with her
brother in the editorial management of a newspaper in Cedar
County. I have, of course, become a subscriber.
Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, was at Davenport last Monday.
I do not agree with the estimate of your friends of his intellectual
calibre, as compared with Webster. They are not to be mentioned
in the same day. They are as unlike as a beautiful silver brooklet
meandering through a rich meadow, amid flowers and fragrance, is

1855.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 75
unlike the Niagara River, with the Falls thrown in for great occa
sions. I won't pretend to say that the brooklet, within its sphere,
is not more useful than the river, and it is certainly more ornamental.
Mr. Sumner is a fine scholar, a finished gentleman, and, what is
wonderful in a politician, has a heart; but he has not half the in
tellectual stamina that Mr. Chase, of Ohio, has. Mr. C  is gen
erally right on small as well as great questions, and on these smaU
matters Mr. S  is frequently wrong. Mr. C  has invariably
voted against all the stealing bills that have been before Congress,
and Mr. S  has sometimes voted for them. By-the-way, I had
a letter day before yesterday from Mr. C  , in which he says that
he shall be nominated and elected Governor of Ohio. He says he
does not wish the office, but thinks it his duty to consent to take it.
I cannot yet say when I can go East, if at all. Our plans for
the asylum Dr. Bell cannot forward to us before the 15th of this
month. It will require thirty days to advertise before the contracts
can be let, which will be August 15th. From the 20th August to
September lst, Profs. Hall and Whitney will be here, to commence
the geological survey, and I ought to be here to receive them, and
concert measures to carry the work forward.
36.— To Hon. S. P. Chase. Burlington, July 16, 1855.
I duly received yours of the 27th of June, and have delayed an
swering it until I could hear from your Republican Convention of
the 13th inst. I have just seen a telegraphic dispatch that you
have been nominated, but I have not heard who are associated with
you on the ticket, nor do I know the character of the platform upon
which you go into the canvass. It is to be presumed, however,
that the men who would nominate you would be sure that the reso
lutions should be orthodox -upon the slavery question, and that is
the only subject connected with politics about which I care a
farthing. I congratulate you upon your nomination, and, above all, I con
gratulate every lover of freedom and correct principles upon an
event that shows such progress in the public sentiment of Ohio.
The entire Northwest is guided in a great degree by the opinion
and action of your State, and no one who is not in the habit of
watching political occurrences pretty closely can appreciate the

76 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
influence which your election by a large majority would have upon
all the States west of you. You may be assured that the contest in
Ohio will be watched with a great deal of anxiety by the friends
of freedom everywhere, but nowhere more anxiously or more hope
fully than by your friends in Iowa. Be sure that your majority
shall not be less than fifty thousand. Cannot you in some way
secure the German vote ? We must in some way secure the Ger
man vote in the free States, and that class of citizens elsewhere will
in a great measure follow the example of those in Ohio.
I am beginning to despair of carrying the presidential election
next year. It appears to me that there is very little prospect of
consolidating a party by 1856 that can accomplish much, as against
the old-line Democracy. But you are a much better judge of this
than I am. ... I pray you, give me a good report of Ohio in
October. Mr. Seward (Auburn, September 8th) wrote to Mr. Grimes :
" I rejoice to see that you are preparing to meet the exactions
of the slaveholders with firmness on the constitutional ground of
State rights and State authority."
To a recently-arrived foreigner employed in his service, who
asked the meaning of our day of Thanksgiving, he rephed that
it was in honor of Saint Jonathan ; who, though a stranger in
the calendar of Europe, was the patron saint of this free coun
try, and worthy of respect by every one who wanted to be an
American citizen. He issued the foUowing
PROCLAMATION.
It is a venerated custom, in the older States of this Union, to
dedicate one day toward the close of each year to public thanks
giving and praise to God for his continued blessings and protection.
Such public recognitions of the government of a Divine ruler, and
such manifestations of gratitude for benefits received at his hand,
are worthy of imitation everywhere, and eminently become the
people of Iowa. The past year has been crowded with blessings to
our State. We have been exempt from pestilence. Abundant
harvests have rewarded the toil of the husbandman. We have
been preserved from intestine commotions and bloodshed. No dis-

1855.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 77
tracting evils have occurred to impede our prosperity. Our popu
lation, wealth, and productive resources of every character, have in
creased in a wonderful degree. The facilities for educating the
youth of the State have been greatly multiplied. Steps have been
taken to establish charitable institutions corresponding to the prog
ress and spirit of the age, and the demands of humanity. There
are evidences all around that the State has made unexampled prog
ress in everything that tends to promote her best physical and
moral interests.
As citizens, we have enjoyed liberty without licentiousness.
Civil and religious freedom, without distinction of party, sect or
nationality, has been enjoyed by all.
Our nation has been prosperous. Peace has been preserved.
While other nations have been plunged into bloody and desolating
wars, we have been preserved from that great calamity.
For these, and for numberless other blessings, it has been
deemed proper that a day should be set apart by the Executive of
the State for praise and thanksgiving.
Therefore I, James W. Grimes, Governor of the State of Iowa,
do designate Thursday, the 22d day of November next, as a day of
public thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for the innumer
able blessings which, as a people and individuals, we have en
joyed. I recommend that the people of the State assemble on that day
in their respective houses of public worship, and devoutly raise
their hearts and voices in gratitude to our heavenly Father for his
past protection, and beseech its continuance. Let us give thanks
that he reigns ; that we are the product of his hand, and not of a
blind, unreasoning chance. Let our hearts swell with gratitude for
the blessings of civil and religious liberty ; and pray for their ex
tension to every human being. Let us be thankful that war, with
its devastation, its slaughter, and its agonies, does not desolate our
land ; and pray that peace may be established among all mankind.
Let us be thankful for the Government we have inherited from our
fathers ; and pray that it may ever be preserved worthy of the
confidence and support of their descendants. Let us be thankful
for comfort and plenty, for peace and order, for the means of educa
tion, for health, and for all other national and personal blessings.
Let us ask to be preserved " alike from poverty and riches," from

78 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1855.
bigotry and intolerance, from pride and hatred, from anarchy and
civil strife, from immorality and crime of every grade.
But above all, let us be thankful for the Christian religion,
which has raised man from a state of barbarism, given him the
means of intelligent happiness in this life, and the hope of glory in
that which is to come.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused
to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Iowa.
Done at Iowa City, this 20th day of September, in the year of
our Lord 1855, of the Independence of the United States the
eightieth, and the State of Iowa the ninth.
By the Governor :
James W. Grimes.
George W. McCleary, Secretary of State,
37. — To Hon. S. P. Chase, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Burlington, October 14, 1855.
Allow me to congratulate you upon your glorious triumph. I
had been all along fearful of the result of your election in Ohio,
and the first returns received at Chicago (where I was, for the pur
pose principally of learning the result) indicated your defeat. But,
happily, Know -Nothing and Nebraska news seems to travel very
much as Whig election news used to, somewhat in advance of the
mails and telegraphs. But Friday morning satisfied us how strong
was the principle of free soil in the hearts of the people of Ohio.
For surely that must be a strong and active principle that could
cause such a glorious majority of the people of your State to forget
all their past political proclivities and prejudices, and rally them
around you. Your election has given to good men throughout the
country new hope, and will inspire them to renewed and stiU more
vigorous effort. 38— To Hon. S. P. Chase. Burlington, November 2, 1855.
I am sorry tnat I am so poorly qualified to respond to your in
quiries as to our future course and prospects. I am not properly in
formed of the condition of things in the States east of us, and can
not say what the prospects for the Republican organization may be ;
but I feel justified in saying that Iowa will be erect in any conflict
that may come. I think that there can be no difficulty in combin-

1856.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 79
ing all the opposition to the Nebraska swindle in this State, and
arraying it under the Republican banner. I fear that this cannot be
done in Illinois. I am satisfied that there is a large majority of the
people of that State opposed to the Administration, and to Doug
las, but there will be very great difficulty, if not an entire impos
sibility, to unite them so as to insure their defeat. From what I
hear, such is the case, too, in Pennsylvania and Indiana. With these
three States secured to us, the Republican cause would, I conceive,
be certain of a triumph next year in the presidential canvass. Can
they be secured ?
I have heard (I have seen nothing of it) that one of the Cleve
land papers has placed my name in its columns as a candidate for
Vice-President, with yours for President. I am convinced that I
can add nothing to your strength, nor to the strength of any man
who may be a candidate — that I am not qualified for the position
even if elected — that a political life is uncongenial with my habits
of life and modes of thought ; in a word, that the office is unfit for
me, and I am unfit for the office. I am a Governor by accident.
Nothing could have induced me to accept a nomination but a desire
to expose to the people of the State the infamous exactions and en
croachments of the slave-power. Being elected, I endeavored to
play the Governor as well as possible ; but I do not want another
office, nor do I wish to be put in the attitude of a seeker for one.
I beg you, therefore, if an opportunity presents, to dissuade our
friend at Cleveland and all others, if there are any so foolish, or so
blindly partial to me, from mentioning my name in connection with
any office. I assure you that I would esteem it the highest honor
of my life to have my name connected with yours in any way, but
I conceive that the use of my name in connection with yours would
only injure you in this instance. That I wish to avoid.
39.— To Hon. S. P. Chase. Burlington, March 28, 1856.
The difficulty with the Germans, if it can be called a difficulty,
arose from the fact that the Republican Convention of the 22d Feb
ruary declined to say that they abided by the present naturalization
laws. I was at Iowa City at the time, and favored the insertion of
the clause, but the Know-Nothings opposed it, and then there were
some, not of the order, who were opposed to saying anything on

80 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1856.
any subject save that of slavery. The latter policy prevailed, and
our State platform looks to no other question.
I have never had any conversation with any of the delegates to
the National Convention, except Mr. Seward's "administrator" in
this State, and his preferences are for him. In a conversation a few
days ago, I told him that I had not the remotest idea that Mr.
Seward could be elected, that there were too many old chronic preju
dices to be overcome to allow him to make a respectable poll ; and
he seemed to coincide in that opinion.
It is impossible to say how the Germans in this State will vote
in November. They will be greatly influenced by Remelin, and the
Germans in Cincinnati and New York. They will act with many
of the Republican county parties, where the platforms and candi
dates suit them.
The Fillmore nomination will damage us considerably in this
State, and I fear will render the result doubtful. I think it will
affect us as much here as in any State in the Union, especially in
the Southern part, where the people are mostly Southern by birth.
Mr. Grimes presided over a pubhc meeting in Burlington,
May 31st, called to consider the assault upon Senator Sumner in
the Capitol, May 22d, and the outrages in Kansas. Upon taking
the chair he remarked that " we had assembled together, as was
our privilege, to express our feelings and opinions in reference
to recent an d most important occurrences. We had indeed fallen
upon perilous times, when our legislators, for words spoken in
debate, were attacked with murderous weapons in the Senate
of the United States. It was not Senator Sumner and the State
of Massachusetts alone that suffered by this violation of the Con
stitution. We were all interested. The State of Iowa might
next be stricken down in the persons of her Senators or Repre
sentatives. It was a blow at the foundation of our liberties,
the freedom of our legislators. Mr. Sumner was a ripe scholar,
a statesman, and an orator — a credit to Massachusetts and to
the deliberative body of which he was a member. What had
he said to justify the cowardly and murderous assault that had
been made upon him ? His speech fell short in invective of the
philippics of Randolph, Calhoun, McDuffie, Hayne, Prentiss,

1856.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 81
and Henry A. Wise. It was diluted when compared to Daniel
Webster's onslaught upon Charles J. Ingersoll. But what Mr.
Sumner may have said in debate was of no consequence — was
no palhation or excuse for the outrage that had been committed."
Governor Grimes spoke also of affairs in Kansas, of the le
galized robberies, burnings, and murders, in that unfortunate
Territory ; of its conquest by citizens of the adjoining State of
Missouri and of distant States, with the complicity of the Presi
dent of the United States, and said that any man or set of men
who would palliate, excuse, or justify the assault upon Mr. Sum
ner, or the state of affairs in Kansas, were fit for slaves, and
deserved to be enslaved.
More than seventeen years after Mr. Grimes had introduced
a memorial to Congress, in the first Legislative Assembly of the
Territory, asking an appropriation of lands for the construction
of a railroad in Iowa, a grant of lands was made to the State, by
act of Congress, approved May 15, 1856, for the purpose of aid
ing in the construction of four different hnes of railroads, viz.,
from Burlington, from Davenport, from Lyons, and from Du
buque, across the State to the Missouri River. The grant was
hailed with high satisfaction and hope by the people of Iowa.
The Governor, deeming immediate legislative action demanded,
issued his proclamation, June 3d, for a special session of the
General Assembly, which met at Iowa City on the 2d of July.
The following extracts are from his message to the Assembly :
the railroad grant.
I have convened you, gentlemen, in special session, that you
may determine —
1. Whether or not the State shall accept the grant made under
the act of the 15th of May last ; and, if so —
2. Whether the lands granted shall be transferred to any spe
cific railroad companies ; and, if so, to what companies they shall
be transferred ; and —
3. Upon what terms shall the transfer be made.
My experience in matters of this kind has been so limited, that
I am not prepared to submit to you any plan for the proper disposal
of these lands. Your wisdom will doubtless mature a system which,

82 ' LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1856.
while it promotes the present material interests of the State by
developing its resources and advancing its settlement by the con
struction of lines of intercommunication, will protect the people
against the sometimes oppressive monopolizing tendencies of. pow
erful corporations.
THE RIGHTS, DUTIES, AND LIABILITIES, OF RAILWAY COMPANIES.
The introduction of railroads within the State has rendered
necessary an act more clearly defining the rights, duties, and
liabilities, of railway companies. The law should declare that,
where death is caused through negligence or misconduct of the
agents or servants of such companies, the same remedies shall be
open in a suit at law, as for Hke injuries to the person resulting in
disability and not in death. Among other things, the speed of
trains passing through cities, and villages, and across highways,
should be regulated by law ; and the disasters that have occurred
in a neighboring State have admonished us of the necessity for a
law prohibiting a company from carrying passengers over a new
road until it has first been examined and pronounced safe by a
competent and disinterested Board of Engineers. It is evidently
as much the duty of the State to protect the lives and safety of the
citizens from accidents, resulting from carelessness, misconduct, or
cupidity, as from open and premeditated violence.
THE PARDONING POWER.
The constitution confers upon the Governor of the State " the
power to grant reprieves and pardons and commute punishments
after convictions," for offenses against the laws. In a large pro
portion of cases, the friends of the persons convicted endeavor to
procure the exercise of this power; and as few, if any, of the
judges preserve minutes of the testimony taken on the trial of
criminal causes, these efforts are, for the most part, based upon
ex-parte statements, made without the sanction of an oath, and
obtained without notice to the prosecuting attorney, or other per
son representing the government. It is frequently alleged that
there was error in the trial ; that the judge mistook the law ; that
there was a mistake of fact by the jury ; that there is newly-dis
covered evidence, showing the sentence to be unjust ; or that the
case, although within the letter of the law, was not within the
spirit of it.

1856.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 83
The interests of society require that this great power should be
exercised with humanity, but, at the same time, with the greatest
discrimination and caution. Justice to the officer who is compelled
to investigate each case presented to him, as well as to the par
ties more immediately interested, requires that every fact proved
upon the trial should be accessible to him, to the condemned, and
to the prosecutors. I therefore recommend that the judges of the
several district courts be required to reduce the evidence given in
all criminal cases to writing, to be preserved as a permanent record
in the county where the trial was held ; and that, before any appli
cation shall be made to the Governor for pardon, a notice of the
time and place, when and where the application will be presented,
shall be served upon the prosecuting attorney of the county where
the offense was committed. THE AFFAIRS OE KANSAS.
Concurring in the general desire that your session may be
short, and that your time may be occupied solely by matters
relating to the State, I do not deem it proper at present to call
your attention at length to the deplorable condition of affairs in
Kansas and at our national capital. It would be an error to sup
pose that my failure to do so is attributable to any want of sym
pathy with the patriotic and devoted men who are struggling to
uphold the rights of free speech, free labor, free soil, and a free
press in that Territory, and in the councils of the nation.
Having extended an invitation to Hon. Abraham Lincoln to
address a public meeting in Iowa upon pohtical questions, prior
to the State election in August, Mr. Grimes received the fol
lowing reply : Springfield, Illinois, July 12, 1856.
Yours of the 29th of June was duly received. I did not answer
it because it plagued me. This morning I received another from
Judd and Peck, written by consultation with you. Now let me tell
you why I am plagued :
1. I can hardly spare the time.
2. I am superstitious. I have scarcely known a party preceding
an election to call in help from the neighboring States, but they
lost the State. Last fall, our friends had Wade, of Ohio, and others,

84 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1856.
in Maine ; and they lost the State. Last spring our adversaries
had New Hampshire full of South Carolinians, and they lost the
State. And so, generally, it seems to stir up more enemies than
friends. Have the enemy called in any foreign help ? If they have a
foreign champion there, I should have no objection to drive a nail
in his track. I shall reach Chicago on the night of the 15th, to at
tend to a little business in court. Consider the things I have sug
gested, and write me at Chicago. Especially write me whether
Browning consents to visit you. Your obedient servant,
A. Lincoln.
40. — To His Excellency Franklin Pierce, President of the United States.
Executive Office, Iowa, )
Burlington, August 28, 1856. )
During the last twelve months I have been constantly receiving
letters, memorials, and affidavits, from former citizens of Iowa, now
residents of the Territory of Kansas, alleging that they are not pro
tected by the United States officers in that Territory in the enjoy
ment of their hberty and property. They charge, and the evidence
fully supports the charge, that at the first, and at each subsequent
Territorial election, armed bodies of men from an adjacent State in
vaded the Territory, took possession of the polls, deprived the act
ual settlers of the right of suffrage, and perpetrated gross outrages
upon such citizens as professed political sentiments disagreable to
the invaders. By threats and lawless violence, they secured the
election of a majority of the members of the Legislative Assembly
— many of whom were then, and are now, citizens of another State.
By this Assembly a code of laws was enacted, unparalleled in the
history of legislation — laws palpably unconstitutional, and which no
man with the spirit of a freeman could obey, without personal dis
honor and a violation of his conscience.
In this condition of things, and without any attempt to repel
violence by violence, the people of Kansas sought a peaceful remedy
for the wrongs that had been perpetrated, by forming a State con
stitution, electing State officers, and asking admission into the
Union as a sovereign State.
Although the Constitution of the United States declares that
treason " shall consist only in levying war," yet a man holding a

1856.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 85
commission under the seal of the United States, and exercising the
office of Chief-Justice in that Territory, has decided that the per
sons who accepted office under the State constitution are guilty of
treason. Under his instructions, the State officers have been in
dicted, arrested, and bail denied them. Under the pretense of
judicial proceedings, but without a trial or hearing of any kind, an
armed posse has invaded ^the town of Lawrence and destroyed print
ing-presses, private dwellings, and an hotel Human lives have been
sacrificed, property to a large amount has been destroyed, citizens
have been driven from the Territory by violence, and anarchy and
disorder everywhere prevail.
Among the sufferers have been former citizens of Iowa, who
went to Kansas in no spirit of propagandism, but with the intention
of becoming permanent residents of that Territory. Three of them
have been slain by arms said to have been placed by a Federal offi
cer in the hands of a band of outlaws from a remote State. Some
have been compelled to flee from the Territory for no offense save
that of having emigrated from a free State, while others remain
there, stripped of their property, and appeal to their fellow-citizens
of Iowa for sympathy and protection.
In my conviction their appeal should not be in vain. They went
to Kansas relying upon and having aright to expect the protection
of the General Government. In this expectation they have been
disappointed. Citizenship has been virtually denied them. Their
rigiit to defend themselves and " to keep and bear arms " has been
infringed by the act of the Territorial officers, who have wrested
from them the means of defense, while putting weapons of offense
into the hands of their enemies. They have been oppressed by a
code of laws unequaled in atrocity in modern times. The character
and conduct of the Territorial judges have shown that an appeal to
the judicial tribunals is worse than useless.
The Central Government having failed to perform its duty by
protecting the people of Kansas in the enjoyments of their rights,
it is manifestly the right of each cf the States to adopt measures to
protect its former citizens. If the people of Iowa are not permitted'
to enjoy the right of citizenship in that Territory, they retain their
former citizenship in this State, and are as much entitled to protec
tion from the State while upon the public domain, as they would be
if the General Government failed to protect them in a foreign country.
7

86 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1856.
While I write, an army raised in the State of Missouri is march
ing into Kansas, with the avowed purpose of driving out all those
citizens of the Territory who emigrated from the free States, and
who express a preference for a free State constitution. Another
armed body of men have placed themselves on the emigrant route
from the State of Iowa, to prevent at the point of the bayonet any
further emigration from this State.
The State of Iowa cannot be an indifferent spectator of these
acts of lawless violence. She demands that her citizens shall be
protected in Kansas, and stand upon an equality there with the
citizens of other States. She will not submit to the closing pf the
emigrant route through her domain into that Territory.
As the Executive of Iowa I demand for her citizens in Kansas
protection in the enjoyment of their property, their liberty, and
their political rights. I ask that the military force on the line of
immigration into the Territory be dispersed.
A compliance with these reasonable requests will tend to re
store peace in Kansas and quiet the public mind of this State. In
the event of a non-compliance, in my view, a case will have arisen
clearly within the principle laid down by Mr. Madison in the Vir
ginia Resolutions of 1798, when it will be the duty of the States " to
interpose to arrest the progress of the evils " in that Territory.
41.— To Hon. S. P. Chase. Burlington, August 30, 1856.
Yours of the 23d instant, from New York City, has been duly
received. I am quite as powerless as you are, and must appeal to you for
counsel and direction. All our information in relation to Kansas
affairs comes from the East, and especially from Chicago.
I have written to the President a letter, a copy of which I in
close herewith. I do not expect it to do any good, but it will con
vince him how I feel on the subject.
I am ready and anxious to unite in any feasible scheme to rescue
the free-State men in Kansas. Suppose the Governors of Ohio,
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, meet at Chicago, say 7th Septem
ber, to consider what can be done, and what ought to be done in
the premises ? I name that day because I have agreed to stump
the State, and it will not conflict with any of my,*6ther appoint-

1856.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 87
ments or business. I would have the meeting unheralded by notices
in the newspapers.
I have not made my letter to the President public. Perhaps it
had better not be done. If you think, however, that any good
might come of it, you are at liberty to make such part of it public
as you choose.
In the course of the summer and fall, Mr. Grimes addressed
public meetings at many different places, in behalf of the Repub
lican party, and spoke with the force and earnestness of deep con
viction. He attributed the evils of the country to the wanton
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, with the evident purpose of
forcing slavery upon a people who detested it. Regarding old
parties and old issues as dead, he said that the issue before the
country was the extension or non-extension of slavery into the
Territories ; that by no act of his, either of omission or of com
mission, should slavery be extended over free territory, and that,
when called to rest with his fathers, he did not wish the stain
of having extended slavery, or of having fastened shackles upon
a single human being, to rest upon his name ; and be further
declared that under all circumstances, whether the Republican
party was defeated or victorious, the Union should be preserved.
The sixth General Assembly of the State convened at Iowa
City, December 1, 1856. The following extracts are from the
Governor's message : GROWTH OP IOWA.
The progress of the State during the past two years has been
extraordinary, and in many respects unexampled. In population,
in wealth, in productive power, in educational facilities, the advance
has been such as to astound the doubtful and to surprise the most
sanguine. Iowa occupies a proud position, and with wise legisla
tion a glorious destiny awaits her. You are called to assist in
shaping that destiny, and to aid in laying the foundations of a future
empire. It is impossible to be too deeply impressed with the re
sponsibility and delicacy of the great trust confided to you.
STATE STATISTICS.
An enumeration of the inhabitants of the State, and of her pro
ductive resources, was taken in June last, as required by the consti-

88

LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.

[1856.

tution. It is somewhat defective ; two counties and several town
ships in other counties not having been returned at all, while in
almost all the counties there are very great omissions. Many
townships and some counties are returned without any statistics,
save those in relation to population. Such will always be the case,
so long as the census shall be taken by township assessors, instead
of being taken by marshals, to be appointed by the census
board. The following statement will show the increase of population
since the settlement of what is now the State :

Population in 1836  10,531
" 1838  22,859
1840  43,116
1844  71,650
" 1846  78,988

Population in 1847  116,204
1849  130,945
1850  192,204
" 1854  326,014
" 1856  503,625

The population of the State is probably at this time not far
from 600,000. The vote polled on the 4th day of November last
reached 92,644, and indicates the truth of this supposition.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
In pursuance of the act of the last General Assembly, authoriz
ing a geological survey of the State, I appointed Prof. James Hall,
of Albany, New York, State geologist, and, in conjunction with
Mr. Hall, appointed Prof. J. D. Whitney, of Massachusetts, State
chemist. These gentlemen prosecuted their survey during a por
tion of the years '1855 and 1856, and to their report, which will
be shortly transmitted to you, I refer you for an account of their
explorations and the results.
The high rank among scientific men enjoyed by each of these
gentlemen gives ample assurance that the survey will be thorough,
practical, and creditable to the State.
STATE PENITENTIARY.
I transmit herewith the report of the Inspectors of the State
Penitentiary, and solicit your attention to the suggestions it con
tains. The penitentiary is established in one corner of the State,
and the ground connected with it is limited in extent and not well
adapted to the purpose for which it is used.
I am not prepared to say that sound policy does not dictate a

1856.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 89
removal of the institution to some more central and accessible part
of the State. Should it be deemed expedient to maintain the pres
ent as a permanent penitentiary, very considerable appropriations
will be required to build an additional number of cells, a hospital
for the sick, and erect a substantial wall around the prison-yard.
If, on the contrary, it is thought expedient to establish a peniten
tiary in a more central position in the State, then the manner in
which it shall be constructed, and the system upon which it shall
be conducted, become subjects for very grave consideration.
Notwithstanding the very general prejudice that exists against
it, many wise and good men, after a thorough investigation of the
subject, are convinced that the solitary system, as practised at Pen
tonville, in England, and in the Eastern Penitentiary, in Pennsyl
vania, would be most conducive to the interests of the State and
to the reformation of convicts. Before any permanent system of
prison discipline shall be established, it is to be hoped that the
subject will receive a most thorough examination.
REGISTRY LAW.
Almost every person, residing in any of the large towns in the
State, acknowledges the imperative necessity for some law to pro
tect the purity of the ballot-box. That gross frauds are perpetrated
at every exciting election, by the voting and double voting of un
qualified persons, is not to be denied. To remedy this great and
constantly-increasing evil, the passage of a registry law is respect
fully recommended. Such laws have been in operation in several
States from a period long anterior to the adoption of the Federal
Constitution, and have fully answered their design.
SCHOOL PUNDS.
I again call your attention to the propriety of entirely discon
necting the offioe of Superintendent of Public Instruction from all
control over the school money and school lands.
The five-per-cent. fund, arising from the sale of public lands
within the State, has always, until the past year, been distributed
by the Superintendent among the several County School Fund Com
missioners, under what was supposed to be the requirements of the
laws of this State. .The amount of $226,800.56 received from the
General Government as the five per cent, accruing ' on the 31st of

90 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1856.
December, 1854, has, I learn, been partially distributed among the
County School Fund Commissioners, and partially loaned out by
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, but, as I conceive, wholly
without authority of law. This is too important and too large an
interest to suffer any doubt to exist as to the proper disposal of
the fund, or as to the powers, rights, and liabilites, of any officer
connected with it. I therefore commend the snbject to your im
mediate consideration. REVISION OF SCHOOL LAWS.
In compliance with the provisions of the act of July 14, 1856,
Hon. Horace Mann, of Ohio, Hon. Amos Dean, President of the
State University, and F.- F. Bissell, Esq., of Dubuque, were ap
pointed commissioners to revise the school laws of the State. The
commissioners are engaged in the discharge of their duties, and will
be able to lay their report before you in a few days.
STATE UNIVERSITY.
It would seem that with a population in the State of half a mill
ion of souls, and a university fund of nearly two hundred thousand
dollars, the time had arrived for a thorough and efficient organiza
tion of this institution. If it is the design of the General Assem
bly to surrender the Capitol buildings, at Iowa City, for university
purposes, provision should be made to that effect at an early day.
STATE CAPITOL.
In compliance with the act of 25th of January, 1855, entitled
" An act to relocate the seat of government," I appointed commis
sioners for that purpose, and they have discharged their duty. The
site selected for the future Capitol is on a gentle swell of land about
three-quarters of a mile east of Fort Des Moines, and on the east
side of the river. It commands a good prospect, and, seems to be
well adapted to the purpose for which it has been selected.
COUNTY INDEBTEDNESS.
The constitution wisely provides that the State shall not in any
manner create a debt exceeding one hundred thousand dollars.
The framers of that instrument did not imagine that there was as

1856.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 91
great a necessity to prohibit the counties from creating large public
debts, for the reason that the history of the country did not then
present the case of a county becoming a large stockholder in pri
vate corporations.
Within the past few years, however, so great has been the anx
iety to procure the construction of works of internal improvement,
that many counties and cities in this State have adopted the very
doubtful policy of creating large municipal debts, for the purpose
of becoming stockholders in railroads and other private corpora
tions. The amount of municipal indebtedness already voted by the
different cities and counties exceeds seven million dollars.
Without stopping to inquire into the authority under which the
loans have heretofore been voted, it seems to me that prudence and
sound policy require that some check be imposed upon the future
exercise of this power to create public indebtedness. It is true
that many investments made by the counties and cities may result
profitably to the stockholders ; but, it is equally true that many
will prove disastrous, as some have already done.
Municipal corporations are designed for local and limited pur
poses, and it is a perversion of their organization when they are
embarked in internal improvement beyond their jurisdiction. Nor
is that an equitable principle which allows the people of one por
tion of a county to fasten an indebtedness upon a remote portion
of the county, for other than legitimate county purposes. Equally
unjust is it to allow the property of one man to be heavily bur
dened by taxation, imposed by the vote of another man, who is
without property, without a household, and who sustains none of
the burdens of government. There is a manifest propriety in al
lowing every man the right of suffrage,' under ordinary circum
stances. It is proper that every man should have the privilege to
join in the selection of his own law-makers, and his own execu
tioners, but there is not the same propriety in allowing to every
man the privilege of creating an indebtedness for others to
pay. It occurs to me that too many checks and safeguards cannot be
thrown around this power, if such power exists at all, of creating
municipal indebtedness for purposes of internal improvements. It
is a dangerous power, and liable to the grossest abuse.

92 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1856.
KANSAS.
During the past summer it was reported and generally believed
that the President of the United States only failed to interpose his
authority for the protection of the rights of the free-State people in
Kansas, for the reason that no official intelligence had reached him
that any outrages had been perpetrated in that unfortunate Terri
tory. Having such information myself, I conceived it to be my
duty to notify the President of the crimes that had been committed
against the persons and property of former citizens of Iowa, and to
demand for them that protection which the Federal Government
was in part established to secure.
Accordingly, on the 28th day of August last, I addressed to him
a letter on this subject, a copy of which I herewith transmit. With
out desiring to forestall the opinion or action of the General Assem
bly in this regard, I beg leave to reiterate the opinion then ex
pressed, that it is the right and duty of the State to protect the
rights of her former citizens in Kansas when the Federal Govern
ment fails to perform that duty.
I desire to cooperate with the General Assembly in the adoption
of any measures that may tend to uphold the sovereignty and pro
mote the prosperity and honor of our noble State.
42. — To Mrs. Grimes. Iowa City, December 5, 1856.
My message, much to my astonishment, is well received. I have
been highly complimented on its conciseness and information. I
send you a copy.
December 12th. — Night before last I heard your friend Wendell
Phillips lecture on the " Lost Arts." It was, I think, the best lect
ure I ever listened to. Such seems to have been the experience of
every one.
After the lecture, he was publicly requested to give to the audi
ence an expression 'of his peculiar views. He gave us the length
and breadth of Garrisonism, and, what was unexpected to me, the
audience not only listened patiently to what he said, but received
his utterances with unbounded applause. This is another evidence
of the progress of antislavery sentiment. I know no place in this
State where Mr. Phillips would have been permitted to give a free
expression to his sentiments five years ago. Now, at the capital

1867.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 93
of the State, before an audience embracing almost all the members
of the General Assembly, and very much of the conservatism and
wealth of the State, his opinions are applauded to the echo. Let
us thank God that the world moves.
Mr. Phillips spent an hour or more in my room after the lecture.
Indeed, we did not go to bed until twelve o'clock. He is genial in
his intercourse, has traveled all over Europe, apparently a man of
great erudition, and is blessed with very fine sensibilities. I do not
recollect when I have been so captivated by the manner and intel
lect and heart of a man with whom I have been brought in contact.
I shall spend Christmas at home. I rejoice to know-that this is
the last winter I shall spend away from that dear place.
43. — To W. H. Buchanan, Sheriff of Clinton County.
Executive Office, Iowa, )
Burlington, July 3, 1857. >
Your letter of the 29th June, in which you state that you have
warrants in your hands for the arrest of persons who seized and
hanged Bennet Warren in your county on the 25 th in st. ; that you
are "informed that a very large combination has been formed,
banded together by agreement or oath to execute similar outrages
upon other persons, and protect and defend any of their members
who may be attempted to be dealt with according to law," and that
this combination is supposed to number " about two thousand per
sons in Jackson and the adjoining counties," has been duly received.
You ask me " what course shall be pursued." I answer unhesi
tatingly, serve the warrants in your hands and enforce the laws of
the State. You have authority to summon to your aid the entire
force of your county. If you deem it to be necessary to do so, call
for that force, and prosecute every man who refuses to obey your
summons. If the power of your county is not sufficient to execute the laws,
a sufficient force from other counties shall be placed at your dis
posal. If the persons arrested refuse to give bail, and you believe your
county jail to be unsafe, you will have authority to establish a
guard, or send the prisoners to some other county in the State,
where they will be secure.
I am resolved that, so far as in me lies, this lawless violence,

94 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1857.
which, under the plea of administering justice to horse-thieves, sets
at defiance the authorities of the State, and destroys all respect for
the laws, both human and divine, shall be checked. I shall have
no hesitation, therefore, when officially advised of the exigency, to
call out the entire military power of the State, if necessary, to
crush out this spirit of rebellion, which has shown itself in your
county. I shall direct all the military companies in the State to hold
themselves in readiness for duty.
As I have been written to on this subject by your county judge,
and by other citizens of Clinton, and as I desire that there should
be no doubt as to my opinions on the subject, or as to what my
action will be, I request you to give publicity to this communi
cation. Mr. Grimes participated in a Fourth of July celebration upon
the grounds of the Burlington University, and made an address of
great originality and force in behalf of the education of women.
A new constitution of the State of Iowa, with such provi
sions substantially as Mr. Grimes had long advocated, was ap
proved by the people, August 3, 1857, and he issued a procla
mation September 3d, declaring it to be adopted, and proclaim
ing it the supreme law of the State. The votes for the adop
tion of the constitution were 40,311, against 38,681. At the
same election, there were 8,207 votes for striking out the word
" white " from the article on the " right of suffrage." Suitable
buildings having been prepared for the accommodation of the
General Assembly and the officers of State at Des Moines,
Governor Grimes issued his proclamation, October 19th, making
known his opinion to that effect, and declaring the capital of
Iowa to be established, under the constitution and laws, at Des
Moines, in Polk County, and the University of the State to be
established at Iowa City, in Johnson County.
Under the new constitution an election was held October
13th. In view of that election he invited Mr. Lincoln to make
a speech in Iowa. He presented his own views of public affairs
in a circular. From Mr. Lincoln he received the following
reply:

1857.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 95
Springfield, Illinois, August, 1857.
Yours of the 14th is received, and I am much obliged for .the
legal information you give.
You can scarcely be more anxious than I that the next election
in Iowa should result in favor of the Republicans. I lost nearly all
the working-part of last year, giving my time to the canvass ; and
I am altogether too poor to lose two years together. I am engaged
in a suit in the United States Court at Chicago, in which the Rock
Island Bridge Company is a party. The trial is to commence on
the 8th of September, and probably will last two or three weeks.
During the trial it is not improbable that all hands may come over
and take a look at the bridge, and, if it were possible to make it hit
right, I could then speak at Davenport. My courts go right on
without cessation till late in November. Write me again, pointing
out the more striking points of difference between your old and
new constitutions, and also whether Democratic and Republican
party lines were drawn in the adoption of it, and which were for
and which were against it. If, by possibility, I could get over
among you it might be of some advantage to know these things in
advance. Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
44.— A Circular Letter. Burlington, September 3, 1857.
I am led by my anxiety in relation to the approaching State
election, to briefly address j'ou on that subject. I confess that I
am anxious about the result. That anxiety is caused by the ex
traordinary efforts that are made, and will continue to be made, to
defeat the Republican nominees, and the disastrous consequences
that must inevitably ensue, should those efforts prove successful.
About to retire from office, but still in office, it may be thought
by some that I should abstain from all interference with the pres
ent contest. If nothing were involved in it but the personal aggran
dizement of the rival candidates, I should do so. But, when I re
flect upon the influence the result of this contest is destined to
exercise upon the interests of this State, upon the public sentiment
of other States, and upon the future action of the Federal Govern
ment, I cannot reconcile silence or apparent indifference with my
sense of duty.

96 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1857.
The design of the adherents of Mr. Buchanan's Administration
is very apparent. They are resolved to carry Iowa at the October
election. To this end the services of the whole praetorian band of
office-holders in the State — every postmaster, land-officer, mail,
timber, and other agents — will be put in requisition. Committees
are appointed in every county and township — the Democratic party
will be thoroughly organized — money will be freely spent, and the
entire pro-slavery vote of the State will be polled. Should their
efforts be crowned with success, the result will be heralded to the
world as a triumph of the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska act.
With a view to paralyze their efforts, the struggling free-State men
in Kansas will be told that the freemen of Iowa have decided the
issue in which they are involved in favor of the Administration, and
its representative, Governor Walker.
That proconsul of the Government will be stimulated to enforce
the collection of taxes, imposed upon the people of that unfortu
nate Territory by fraud and violence, at the point of Federal
bayonets. The whole State will resound with rejoicings over the
triumph of the principles embodied in the extra-judicial opinion of
Chief- Justice Taney in the case of Scott vs. Sandford.
It cannot be disguised that this great issue between freedom
and slavery is a prominent question in this contest. It has been
made so by both political parties. They could not do otherwise.
Freedom and slavery are the antagonistic elements in this govern
ment. They cannot harmonize, and must overshadow every other
question until settled upon the principle enunciated by the Repub
lican party. The success of the Democratic party in October will
be an indorsement by the people of the State of the Democratic
platform, as the triumph of the Republican party will be an indorse
ment of the Republican platform.
It is my sincere and mature conviction that the success of the
Democratic party in Iowa, at the October election, would irre
trievably fix the character of Kansas as a slave State, and inflict a
malignant, if not fatal, wound upon the free labor and Free-Soil
party everywhere.
It would discourage our gallant friends in Missouri, who have
just achieved a noble triumph. It would encourage the slavery
propagandists to proceed with their scheme of reopening the Afri
can slave-trade, as foreshadowed in the recent Southern Convention

1857.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 97
at Knoxville, and tend to hasten forward that day, so anxiously
desired by the South, when we shall become a great nation of slaves
and slave-owners.
It would be a great error to suppose that the slave propagan
dists have abandoned hope or relaxed their efforts to secure the
Territories to slavery. In Oregon they are fiercely contending for
the ascendency, with every prospect of success. In Minnesota,
when defeated at the polls, they refuse to abide by the judgment
of the people, and now strive to prevent the admission of that Ter
ritory as a State. We are justified in believing that at this mo
ment parties are organizing to again invade Kansas with the
design to carry the fall election. The real author of the Kansas-
Nebraska bill, ex-Senator Atchison, in his letter to Colonel Baker,
of South Carolina, of the 12th of July last, declares that he still
has hopes from the border counties of Missouri. The Charleston
Mercury, speaking of this letter, says :
" In addition to the letter published recently from General
Atchison, we beg to say to our readers that, from other letters
received from Kansas, we are informed that the pro-slavery party
in Kansas is resolute in its determination of making Kansas a slave
State. In consenting to become a Democratic party, the pro-slavery
men did not mean to abandon their policy, but to lift the minority
it placed with them to their support. On the 21st day of last
month they were confident of success, and would form a constitu
tion with slavery acknowledged in it. If this constitution is re
ferred to the people for ratification, it is intended to refer it only
to the registered voters, who will doubtless ratify it. We have
more hopes of Kansas than we have ever had. We have great
faith in the fighting capacity of Southern men."
It requires no prophet to foretell what is meant by " the fight
ing capacity of Southern men."
It is very evident that the friends of free Kansas and " self-gov
ernment " cannot rely upon the support of Mr. Buchanan. So far
from aiding them, he is now attempting to force slavery upon that
Territory against the well-known wishes of three-fourths of the
actual citizens. He declares that the bogus taxes shall be collected,
and the bogus laws enforced. He has refused to remove the in
famous Lecompte, which even Mr. Pierce attempted to do. He
appointed Emory, Whitfield, Clark, Woodson, and others, the most

98 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1857.
active and unscrupulous agents in all the frauds and violence and
murders committed in that Territory, to the most valuable and in
fluential offices. He has not appointed one known free-State Demo
crat to office, but he has removed every free-State Democrat from
office, who was appointed by his predecessor.
The truth is, there is no hope for Kansas since the decision of
the Dred Scott case, soon to be followed by a decision in the Lem-
mon case, except in the earnest, manful, resistless, public sentiment
of the free States as expressed through the ballot-boxes.
At the first session of the General Assembly of the Territory of
Iowa, held at Burlington in 1838, an act was passed " to regulate
the practice in the Supreme and District Courts," which was an
exact transcript of the Illinois statute on the same subject. It was
adopted in that State at an early day, when slaves were held under
her local laws, and contained an exclusion of negro, mulatto, and
Indian testimony. In 1850 the commissioners appointed to revise
the laws of the State (Judges Mason and Woodward, and Governor
Hempstead) reported section 2,388 of the Code as follows : " Every
human being of sufficient capacity to understand the obligation of
an oath is a competent witness in all cases both civil and criminal,
except as herein otherwise declared." This section was amended
by the General Assembly by adding, " but an Indian, a negro, a
mulatto, or black person, shall not be allowed to give testimony in
any cause wherein a white person is a party." Thus the law stood
until last winter, when this exclusion was removed.
The recent Constitutional Convention added to the fourth sec
tion of the Bill of Rights, " and any party to any judicial proceed
ing shall have the right to use as a witness, or to take the testi
mony of, any other person not disqualified on account of interest,
who may be cognizant of any fact material to the case." The
Democratic Convention, assembled on the 26th of August at Iowa
City, declared in favor of an amendment to the new constitution so
as to exclude the testimony of colored persons, or, in other words,
to strike off this amendment to the Bill of Rights.
I find upon examination that in every free State in this Union,
save in Illinois and Indiana (and I cannot ascertain what the law is
in these States), by some law, or constitutional provision, every
human being endowed with reason and conscience is admissible
as a witness before judicial tribunals, leaving the credibility of the

1857.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 99
witness to be passed upon by the jury. Governor Hempstead,
Judge Mason, Judge Woodward, the last General Assembly, and
the Constitutional Convention, thought that the same should be
the law in this State.
The members of the Democratic Convention, however, think
otherwise. They strangely overlook the fact that the admission of
this testimony is for the benefit of the white race, and not for the
peculiar benefit of the black. It is no benefit, no interest to me to
give testimony in my neighbor's suit. I am called as a witness,
because I know some fact important to his cause, and I am per
mitted to testify for the very reason that I have no interest in tes
tifying. So may the testimony of a colored man be important to
my neighbor. He may be the only witness cognizant of the facts.
If he is ignorant, degraded, false, let his testimony be weighed by
all the surrounding circumstances, as the evidence of ignorant, de
graded, false, white men is weighed. If he is truthful and honest,
is it just or proper that my neighbor should be deprived of his tes
timony ? Is the Democratic party willing to be held to the legiti
mate conclusion from their position, viz., that the jurors of this
State are competent to weigh testimony, and do justice between
parties, only in cases where the witnesses are of one race ? I have
always supposed the object of all judicial investigations was to
reach the truth — " It is the truth that makes us free " — no mat
ter where it comes from, provided it stands the tests applied to
falsehoods. I hardly need say that the law of the last winter, as well as the
constitutional provision, sprung from the fact that several criminals
have "gone un whipped of justice" on account of this disability of
witnesses. The facts that would have insured conviction were
known only to colored persons, but their testimony was inadmissi
ble under the law, though they were as credible men as were in the
community in which they resided. But, what matters it why or
how it originated, 'if the provision is just in itself?
I am anxious as to the result in this State, on account of our
local and State policy.
We have now a new constitution. We want a banking system
established under it that shall furnish facilities for transacting the
business of our citizens, and be safe for the community. Principally
for this reason, I think it was, that the people adopted it as the.

100 LIFE OF JAMES "W. GRIMES. [1857.
supreme law. Yet the effort will be made to defeat the very object
of the new constitution, by electing a Governor and a majority
of the members of the General Assembly who are opposed to all
banking. A great many friends of the new constitution imagine that, be
cause it has been ratified by the people, all the reforms it proposes
will be consummated. This is a great mistake. The new pro
visions are self-executing only in relation to the time of holding the
annual election. All other essential provisions must be acted upon
by the General Assembly. The power, therefore, to thwart the
wishes of the people in this regard will be in the hands of the Gen
eral Assembly in the first instance, and afterward in the power of
the Governor. It would surely be the height of folly to intrust the
constitution at this time to its enemies, and expect them to carry
it into successful operation.
Upon the next General Assembly will devolve the duty of elect
ing a United States Senator from this State. Shall he be a repre
sentative of the free-labor sentiment of the State, or shall his every
vote pander to the slavery-extension sentiment of the South, and
only tend to stimulate to further demands ? That question will be
decided by the result of the election in October.
I have been, during nineteen years, acquainted with the Repub
lican nominee for Governor, Ralph P. Lowe. During the past five
years he has been judge of the judicial district in which I reside,
and discharged the duties of that important office to the satisfaction
of every one. I am warranted in saying that, had he consented to
be a candidate for reelection, there would have been no opposition
to him. His sense of propriety forbade him mingling actively in
politics during the term of his judgeship. He stands firmly upon
the Republican platform and possesses every qualification for a good
Governor. Of the Democratic nominee I have nothing to say. I believe
Mr. Samuels to be an honorable man. I have always understood him
to be an ultra, hard-money, anti-bank Democrat, with strong South
ern proclivities. I presume he will so declare himself during the
campaign. But I do not choose to look to his individual opinions.
I look to the platform on which he stands. I find that platform
indorsing the principle of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. I find it in
dorsing the Administration of Mr. Buchanan, with all its pro-slavery

1857.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 101
tendencies, and without one word in condemnation of such immense
robberies of the Government as were perpetrated by the sale of the
Fort Snelling reservation, or such smaller robberies, according to
Commissioner Manypenny, as the forty thousand dollars paid to R.
W. Thompson, of Indiana. I find it thus approving the course of
Governor Walker in Kansas, including the recent outrageous ap
portionment of members to the Territorial Assembly, and the quar
tering a United States Army upon Lawrence with a view to harass
and overawe its citizens. I find it virtually approving the Dred
Scott decision, which breaks down every barrier against slavery and
makes the whole nation responsible for the crime. I find it appeal
ing to the lowest passions of the human heart in order to excite
still greater prejudice against a degraded race, and full of revilings
against those who would humanely ameliorate their condition.
Every vote for the Democratic nominees is an approval of this plat
form. With such principles to contend against, is it not your duty to
take an active part in this contest ?
Will not every one who prefers free soil and free labor to slave
soil and slave labor, every one who recognizes the principles of self-
government, as now attempted by the freemen of Kansas and Min
nesota, every one who would rebuke the lawlessness, and violence,
and wrongs perpetrated in those Territories under the apparent
sanction of the Federal Executive, every one who recognizes his
duty to humanity, whether exalted or degraded, every one who
would arrest the attempt to reopen the African slave-trade in its
incipient stage, every one who desires the genuine free-labor senti
ment of the State to be represented in the United States Senate, and
every one who desires for this continent a civilization of law and
justice, not only vote for but labor for the Republican nominees ?
We cannot be indifferent to the contest. We have no right to
be indifferent. The issue has been made up. No man can shrink
from meeting it. He is no friend to freedom who absents himself
from the polls. In a republican government, it is as much the duty
of every citizen to take care of and participate in the government
as it is to provide for his own household.
I have addressed you with confidence and freedom. If I have
exhibited zeal, it is because I feel strongly on the subject. I know
the efforts that will be made by the pro-slavery party in the State,
8

102 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
and I appreciate the humiliating effect their success would have
upon the party of progress and freedom everywhere.
Hon. Ralph P. Lowe was chosen Governor, under the new
constitution, and, upon his installation, January 14, 1858, Mr.
Grimes laid down his office.
The following is from his message to the seventh General
Assembly, January 12, 1858 :
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Bepresentatives :
I congratulate you upon the continued prosperity of our State.
Since you were last assembled, its population has continued to in
crease, and its resources of every character to be each day more and
more developed. The earth has yielded liberally of its abundance,
and peace, good order, and happiness, everywhere prevail. It be
comes us to be devoutly thankful to that benign Providence that
has blessed our beloved State with another season of prosperity, and
brought us to the commencement of another official year.
You are convened under the provisions of a new organic law.
You are expected to provide the proper methods for carrying that
law into full effect. Your labors will exercise a potent influence upon
the future character and prosperity of the State. That influence
will extend to a period long after the last of you shall cease to be
interested in human affairs. It is not to be doubted that you
appreciate the just responsibilities of your position. It is expected
that the spirit of moderation and prudence will preside over all your
deliberations. It is hoped that all your legislation will be stamped
with the utmost simplicity and singleness of purpose, and that you
will abstain from all measures which, from their doubtful tendency,
may needlessly distract the pubhc mind and throw it into agitation
and controversy.
All the general laws of the State require some modifications to
adapt them to the provisions of the new constitution. Several new
acts of a general character will also be necessary. Special legisla
tion is opposed to the true theory of a republican government, and
is the source of great corruption. The new constitution inculcates
most strongly the duty of general legislation, and declares that " in
all cases where a general law can be made applicable, all laws shall
be general, and of uniform operation throughout the State."

1858.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 103
REGISTRY OF VOTERS.
The general election law will require very material changes, and
I again submit to the General Assembly the propriety, when re
vising this law, of incorporating into it provision' for a complete
registration of all the legal voters in the State. In no other way
can the ballot-boxes be protected against fraud, and the elective
franchise preserved in its purity. The argument, that a registry
law from its complexity would be too burdensome to be complied
with, is entitled to no consideration. It is predicated upon the
idea, either that the General Assembly is incapable of maturing a
simple and judicious law on this subject, or that the people of the
State are incapable of comprehending and enforcing one, neither of
which suppositions can be admitted to be correct. Such laws have
been in operation in several of the States ever since the foundation
of the Government, and have met the approval of all classes of citi
zens. With such a law, and with the strict and honest enforcement
of the naturalization laws, we shall cease to see parties arrayed
against each other on account of the birthplace of those who compose
them, and every bona-ftde citizen will be secure in his just weight in
the affairs of the State. Without such a law, judging from recent
events, it is feared that popular elections will become a reproach.
TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR AND TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
It is much doubted whether the law of last session, substituting
county for township assessor, was any improvement upon the for
mer method of assessment. Judging from my own observation, I
do not hesitate to conclude, that many millions of dollars' worth of
property was overlooked at the last assessment, and is this year un
taxed. I recommend the old law in this particular to be restored.
Sound policy requires that administration as well as legislation
should be brought as directly home to the people as possible. There
must ultimately be a thorough township organization throughout
the State, and the sooner the people become accustomed to it the
less difficult and burdensome it will become, and the more perfect
and satisfactory will be the transaction of public affairs.
BANKS.
The people of this State have indicated their opinion that, so
long as banks of issue are tolerated in other States, our interests
require that similar institutions be established here. If we must

104 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
have a paper currency, it is infinitely better that it should be issued
and secured and redeemed at home, under our own laws, than that
it should be issued under laws of which we are ignorant, and con
trolled by men with whom we have no community of interest.
The constitution authorizes the General Assembly to establish,
with the subsequent approval of the people —
1. A State Bank with branches, to be founded upon an actual
specie basis, and the branches to be mutually liable for each other's
issues. 2. A general free banking law with the restrictions and limita
tions imposed by Article VIII., Section 8, of the constitution.
In acting upon this subject, it will doubtless be ever borne in
mind by the General Assembly that banks are to be established to
secure the public welfare, and not to promote the purposes of stock
holders and capitalists ; and that it is far better that banks should
realize small profits, than that the public should be liable to injury
by their suspension or failure.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
I cannot forbear repeating the opinion expressed to the General
Assembly three years ago, that " the public schools should be sup
ported by taxation of property, and that the present rate system,
ot per capita tax upon scholars, should be abolished." I have seen
no reason to change my opinion on this subject, but, on the contrary,
I have been every day more and more strengthened in the convic
tion that it is the only wise and politic method of educating the
people. The per capita system is based upon the idea that educa
tion is a personal benefit for which those who receive it should pay,
while the true theory of popular education is that it is a public
benefit for which the public should pay.
The Capitol-building at Iowa City has been surrendered to the
trustees of the State University. The building is out of repair, and
requires considerable change in its internal arrangements to adapt
it to the purposes for which it is to be used. I recommend the
General Assembly to appropriate a sum sufficient to put it in com
plete order for the uses for which it is now designed.
The report of the trustees of the university will be laid before
you. The time has come when this institution should be put in
vigorous operation and be made a benefit and honor to the State.

1868.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 105
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE.
In compliance with the instructions of the General Assembly, I
have caused the report of the Geological Survey of the State to be
printed at Albany, New York, under the immediate supervision of
Prof. Hall. The work has been issued from the press, and is now
in transit to this place. I am pleased to be able to say that it is
regarded by men of science, who have had access to the proof-sheets,
as one of the noblest contributions that have ever been made to the
scientific history of the country, and is spoken of by all as an honor
to our State.
BREACH OF FAITH ON THE PART OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE
MATTER OF THE FIVE PER CENT. OF THE NET PROCEEDS OF
THE PUBLIC LANDS.
By the act of Congress admitting Iowa into the Union, approved
March 3, 1845, it is declared " that five per cent, of the net pro
ceeds of sales of all public lands lying within the said State, which
have been or shall be sold by Congress from and after the admis
sion of said State, after deducting all the expenses incident to the
same, shall be appropriated for making public roads and canals
within the said State, as the Legislature may direct." This act
of admission was accepted by the State on the 15th of January,
1847, with the provision that " the General Assembly shall have
the right, in accordance with the provisions of the second section
of the tenth article of the constitution of Iowa, to appropriate the
five per cent, of the net proceeds of sales of all public lands lying
within the State which have been or shall be sold by Congress
from and after the admission of said State, after deducting all ex
penses incident to the same, to the support of common schools."
At the time this contract was made between the State and the
United States — for it can be regarded in no other light than a con
tract — the United States disposed of the public lands in no other
way than by bona-fide sales for money. This obligation on the
part of the Federal Government was based upon the obligation on
the part of the State that lands belonging to the United States
should not be taxed, and that the lands of non-residents should not
be taxed higher than the lands of residents.
The State had reason to believe that the same policy would be
continued. Since that time, however, the policy has been changed,

106 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
and immense quantities of land have been entered by military land-
warrants, issued to former soldiers in the United States Arm}'. The
law authorizing them to be issued provides that these warrants
shall be received in payment for lands. The Government, there
fore, receives a consideration for the land thus entered, in the dis
charge of its obligations upon the warrants. It is exceedingly un
just for the Government to destroy the fund which it holds in trust
for the State, for the purpose of rewarding those who have rendered
it service. Between private persons, the same state of facts would
justify a recovery in a court of law. It seems to me that the same
principle should prevail between the two governments. The mili
tary land-warrants located in this State up to the 30th June, 1856,
covered 10,929,692.30 acres. The percentage due to the State
thereon is $682,980.20. I have no means of knowing the number
of acres located in the fiscal year ending 30th June, 1857, but I
judge that the aggregate percentage now due the State approaches
very near $1,000,000.
I recommend that Congress be again memorialized on this sub
ject, and that suit be authorized to be instituted against the
United States, for the recovery of the amount due, in the Court
of Claims.1
HOSTILE INCURSION OF INK-PA-DU-TAh's BAND OP SIOUX INDIANS.
During the past three years my attention has been frequently
called to the probability of a collision between the Indians and the
settlers in the west and northwestern counties of the State. I have
repeatedly addressed the President of the United States, the Secre
tary of War, and the Co.mmissioner of Indian Affairs, warning them
of the apprehended danger, and urging that immediate steps be
taken to remove the Indians beyond our fimits.
Without any military organization in the State, and without any
power to act, except in the event of an actual hostile invasion ; re
siding remote from the scene of anticipated difficulty, and fearful
that some exigency might arise that would require prompt and
energetic action ; in January, 1855, I requested Major William
Williams, of Fort Dodge, to assume a general charge of this sub
ject, and authorized him, as far a's I had power to do so, to act in
1 Mr. Grimes, when he became Senator, moved for the payment of this five per
cent., but the motion was voted down — yeas, 15 ; nays, 35 — June 7, 1860.

1858.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 107
my behalf, in any contingency that might arise in connection with
the Indians.
In February last, Ink-pa-du-tah's band of Sioux Indians made a
hostile incursion into the State, and perpetrated most horrible
atrocities in Dickinson County. When intelligence of this event
reached Fort Dodge, Major Williams at once enrolled three com
panies of men under Captains Richards and Duncomb, of Webster
County, and Captain Johnson, of Hamilton County, and proceeded
to the scene of difficulty. These heroic men left their homes in the
most inclement season of the year, and endured almost unheard-of
sufferings and privations ; crossing swollen streams flooded with
ice, and traversing uninhabited prairies in the most tempestuous
weather, that they might save their fellow-creatures from a savage
butchery, or rescue them from a captivity worse than death.
Two of their number, Captain J. C. Johnson, of Hamilton County,
and William Burkholder, of Webster County, perished on the march.
Others returned frozen and maimed. The expedition did not over
take the Indians ; but they reached the scene of their barbarities,
gave to the dead a Christian burial, and brought back with them
two children, the sole survivors of the slaughtered settlement.
The men who thus gallantly and humanely periled their lives
have received no compensation for the time employed in the expe
dition, or for their outfit. The Federal Government is in equity
bound for their compensation. The Indian tribes are under its pro
tection and control. It has allotted to each tribe a scope of coun
try for its exclusive occupation. It has sold lands to settlers in this
State with the understanding that these tribes shall be confined to
their respective limits, and that the possession of the land purchased
shall never be disturbed by the Government, or those under its
management. If the savages break over their bounds, and inflict
injury upon others, the Government should respond to the parties
injured for the damages sustained, and for the expenses incurred in
protecting themselves against a repetition of the injury. To this
end I recommend that a memorial be addressed to the Congress of
the United States.
But many of the members of Major Williams's command are un
able to await the tardy action of Congress, and I therefore advise
that the State assume the payment, and reserve the same from any
appropriation that may be made.

108 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
I submit to the General Assembly whether some public recog
nition of the noble gallantry and untimely death of Messrs. Johnson
and Burkholder is not alike due to their memory and to the grati
tude of the State.
1 do not anticipate any further trouble from the Indians. The
rumors put afloat in regard to future difficulty can generally be
traced to interested persons who seek by their circulation to accom
plish some ulterior purpose. To be prepared for any such emer
gency, however, I have established a depot for arms and ammunition
at Fort Dodge, and have procured a cannon, muskets, and ammuni
tion for another depot in Dickinson County.
THE OPINION OP THE SUPREME COURT THAT SLAVERY IS A NA
TIONAL INSTITUTION.
I cannot close this communication without briefly calling your
attention to the extraordinary doctrine announced by some of the
Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States in the recent
case of Scott vs. Sandford, and which the people of this country are
now called on to indorse as the true construction of our national
Constitution. The founders of this republic entertained no doubt that Con
gress had power to make all needful rules and regulations for the
government of the Territories of the United States, and that a pro
hibition of the introduction of African slavery within these Ter
ritories was legitimately within the scope of this authority. Such
was the universal sentiment of the country, and the principle was
recognized in numerous instances by Congress, prior to 1854, when
the Missouri Compromise line was obliterated, and the Territories
of Kansas and Nebraska created. The new and specious theory of
" popular sovereignty " was then promulgated. The people of Iowa
were besought to acquiesce in the repeal of the Missouri Compro
mise, on the ground that, by the principle established by the Kansas-
Nebraska act, the people of the Territories would have the power to
determine for themselves whether freedom or slavery should p-evail
within their several jurisdictions. It was contended that the inevi
table effect of giving the people the power to settle this question for
themselves would be to establish freedom in every Territory — that
such were the vitality, and vigor, and advantages of free institutions
over slave institutions, that so apparent were the withering influences

1858.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 109
of slavery upon all the best interests of society, that no intelligent
people would encourage or allow it to be established within any of
the new Territories. There was such a degree of plausibility and
fairness about this argument that it received the support of a con
siderable portion of the American people.
But the theory of popular sovereignty, and the theory of the
power of Congress over the subject of slavery in the Territories,
have alike been overthrown by the decision of the Supreme Court.
After overturning the law, as it had been settled more than seventy
years, by deciding that Scott was not a citizen, because of his Afri
can descent; that he had no right to bring suit; that the court had
no jurisdiction of the case, for the reason that there was no case
legitimately before it, for the want of a proper party — a majority
of the judges proceeded to pass upon what they were pleased to
consider the merits of the case.
I am aware that, except upon the single question of the citizen
ship of Dred Scott, their opinions are entirely extra-judicial, and
entitled to no more weight than the opinions of any other citizens.
But they are worthy of your consideration, because they fore
shadow the opinion that -will be authoritatively announced, when
ever the proper state of .facts shall be presented that may seem to
justify it.
It is first declared by a majority of the judges that Congress
has no power over slavery in the Territories, and, as a natural corol
lary, cannot delegate to the people of the Territories a powe4r it can
not itself exercise. It is declared that the Constitution plants slavery
upon all the public domain, and there nurtures and protects it.
It is no longer held, under this decision, that freedom is nation
al, and slavery local, confined to the limits of the States that see fit
to uphold it. Slavery is in effect declared to be a national institu
tion, belonging not to the States, but to the United States. It is
fastened upon every foot of soil belonging to the Government, and
there is no power in Congress, or in the Territorial governments, to
expel it. Whatever territory may be hereafter acquired by the
United States, will instantly become slave-soil. Wherever the
flag of the country goes, there goes slavery with its chains and
manacles !
The logical result of this decision goes still farther. It carries
slavery into every State in this Union.

110 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
One of the justices of the Supreme Court even declares that
" the only private property which the Constitution has specifically
recognized, and has imposed it as a direct obligation both on the
States and the Federal Government to protect and enforce, is the
property of the master in the slave ; no other right of property is
placed by the Constitution upon the same high ground or shielded
by a similar guarantee." If this be true, the whole Union is slave
territory, and there is no power on earth to abolish it. If both the
States and the Federal Government are bound to protect this right
of property, there is nothing to prevent slavery from taking posses
sion of Iowa to-day.
But it is not true. There is no such obligation imposed upon
the States. The Constitution nowhere regards slaves as property.
They are uniformly spoken of as "persons." As "persons" they
are enumerated and entitled to representation. As "persons " they
are subject to rendition as fugitives from " service or labor," as are
apprentices and minors. As "persons " their " immigration or im
portation " could not be prohibited prior to 1808.
It needs no argument to show that this decision is unwarranted
by the facts presented to the courts ; that it is revolutionary in its
character ; subversive of the policy of the founders of the republic,
and violates the rights of the States. Being wholly extra-judicial,
so far as relates to the power of Congress and the States over sla
very, it cannot bind the conscience, or command the obedience of
any man.
I trust that, as the representatives of the freedom-loving citizens
of Iowa, you will explicitly declare that you will never consent
that this State shall become an integral part of a great slave repub
lic, by assenting to the abhorrent doctrines contained in the Dred
Scott decision, let the consequences of dissent be what they may.

KANSAS, AND THE TENDENCY OP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO
CONSOLIDATION.
The condition of affairs in Kansas certainly demands your con
sideration. Notwithstanding the grossest frauds, and the most unequal
legislative apportionment, the people of that unfortunate Territory
have declared by an emphatic majority in favor of freedom. No

1858.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. Ill
candid mind can now doubt that at least four-fifths of the bona-f.de
citizens of the Territory desire to erect it into a free State.
But the more evident it is that the people do not desire slavery
fastened upon them, the more desperate are the efforts of the sla
very propagandists to thwart the popular will. We have seen,
within a few weeks, a small number of persons, pretending to be
the representatives of only a small minority of the people, proclaim
ing what they call the constitution of Kansas. That constitution
recognizes slavery as already established, makes provision for its
protection, and undertakes to bind posterity against its abolition.
The attempt is made to subvert every principle of popular govern
ment by fastening this constitution upon the people without their
consent. Conscious that it would be overwhelmingly defeated, if
fairly submitted for their approval or disapproval, they are denied
the privilege of determining for themselves the character of the
institutions under which they are to live. They are not permitted
to settle for themselves any of the important questions connected
with their judiciary, representation, taxation, internal improvements,
education, finance, State indebtedness, or personal rights. For the
purpose of riveting slavery upon them, a blow is thus struck
at the very foundation principle of popular government. Had
a similar, attempt been made by the recent Constitutional Con
vention in this State to force a constitution upon the people,
regardless of the popular will, it would justly have resulted in a
revolution. This pretended Constitutional Convention, it is true, proposed a
separate article which was submitted to the people, and which, if
adopted, establishes slavery in Kansas upon a more barbarous sys
tem than is known to any of the slave States of this Union. But
no one was permitted to vote either for or against this separate
article until he first voted for the constitution. He was not allowed
to vote against it. Thus, whether the separate article was adopted
or rejected, if the constitution, which could not be voted against, is
permitted to stand as the organic law of the State, Kansas must
become a slave State.
We cannot be indifferent to the efforts of the people of Kansas
to perpetuate freedom in that Territory. We ought not to be in
different. No people are deserving of freedom who do not sympa
thize with those who are struggling to attain it. The people of

112 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
Kansas are the champions of popular government everywhere.
They are bringing to the test the great principle enunciated by our
Revolutionary fathers, that government derives its power from the
consent of the governed.
If the recent Constitutional Convention of Kansas, defended as it
was by Federal bayonets against the just indignation of the people,
can succeed by trick and fraud in fastening an obnoxious constitu
tion upon them, and take away from them the power to amend it
until slavery shall become further strengthened, there is an end to
free government and American liberty.
The people of Iowa look with alarm upon the constant aggres
sions of the slavery propagandists, but I confess that I look with
equal alarm upon the manifest tendency of our Government to con
solidation. The events of the past few years would seem to indicate that the
predictions of some of the men who achieved our liberties for us
were being fulfilled. Our Government is fast becoming an elective
monarchy. The States are gradually losing their consequence, and
will soon be reduced to the condition of mere municipal appendages
to the central power. The influence of the Federal Government is
prostituted to interference in State affairs, even to that of munici
pal elections. The doctrine inherited from our ancestors, that stand
ing armies are dangerous to the liberties of the people, is repudiated
by constant and strenuous efforts to increase the national army.
The Federal Government now asks to control all the banking insti
tutions in the States by virtue of some law of Congress. Sinecure
offices are created for the purpose of influencing public opinion.
The army of office-holders scattered through the States, uttering the
sentiments, disbursing the money, and obeying the commands of the
central authority, govern in a great degree the sentiment of the
country. Thus, the Federal Government, instead of being, as it
was designed to be, the mere creature and under the control of the
States, is fast becoming their master.
This centralizing influence of the Government, the immense in
crease of our national expenses, the history of slavery propagandism
in Kansas, and the complicity of the Federal Government there
with, the attempt to overthrow the clearest right of self-government
for the purpose of extending the institution of slavery, and the
efforts to destroy the rights of the States by political decisions of

1858.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 113
the Supreme Court, should remind the freemen of Iowa that their
political rights are in danger.
The liberties of the people can only be preserved by maintain
ing the integrity of the State governments against the corrupting
influences of Federal patronage and power.
Closing with this communication my official connection with the
government, I may be permitted to avail myself of the occasion to
return to my fellow-citizens my heartfelt thanks for the honor and
confidence they have bestowed on me, and to assure them of my
continued aspirations for the advancement of our beloved State in
virtue, prosperity, and happiness. 45. — To Mrs. Grimes. Des Moines, January 23, 1858.
I am pleased to know that my message is satisfactory to my
friends, and, saving that portion relating to national affairs, to my
political opponents also. It will please you, I know, to be assured
that I retire from my late office with the almost universal (and, so
far as I know, the universal) opinion of all parties that I made a
good officer, and that I discharged the duties of Governor to the
acceptance of all parties.
The senatorship will be settled in a few days. It is admitted
on all hands, by both friends and enemies, that I am the choice of
the people. No one denies that nine-tenths of the Republican
voters in the State desire my election. But, it is arrogantly
claimed, that the people do not and ought not to control the elec
tion of Senators, and that they may be made to acquiesce in what
ever the politicians may do in the matter. This is not my theory
of " popular sovereignty."
January 25th. — I have just been nominated by the Republican
caucus for United States Senator, for six years from March 4, 1859.
I received the nomination on the first ballot, by five majority. My
vote would have been much larger, and nearly unanimous, on the
second ballot — as many voted for persons in their own counties on
the first ballot, by way of compliment, who would have voted for
me on the second ballot, and for me on the first had their votes
been necessary.
January 30th. — Last evening I gave a supper to the members
of the General Assembly, State officers, some citizens of the town,

114 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
and some from abroad. There were one hundred and seventy-eight
guests. All the rival candidates were present. The best feeling
prevailed. The only drawback was the laudations of me by the
speakers. They were Governor Lowe, Lieutenant-Governor Fa
ville, Hon. Lincoln Clark, Finch, Grinnell, and others. I inclose a
bill of fare. It was got up, as you see, on temperance principles.
Every one says that he never attended a more harmonious, well-
conducted, or sumptuous feast.
I shall leave for home in three or four days, but no one can pre
dict how long I shall be on the road. The traveling is horrible,
and I fear that it may take me a week to get home.
Mr. Grimes made a brief address at this festival, and, ex
pressing his appreciation of the honor that the General Assem
bly had conferred upon him, avowed his determination to be
the Senator of no clique, or party, but of the whole State. His
election was everywhere bailed as a fitting tribute to one whom
the people delighted to honor, for his brave and earnest devo
tion to the Republican cause, and for his abihty and fidelity in
the office of Governor.
He had been the faithful leader in the political regeneration
of the State. At the time of his nomination for Governor, an
Iowa Senator said in Congress :
Iowa is the only free State which never for a moment gave way
to the Wilmot Proviso. My colleague voted for every one of the
compromise measures, including the fugitive-slave law, the late
Senator Sturgeon, of Pennsylvania, and ourselves, being the only
three Senators from the entire non-slaveholding section of this
Union who voted for it.
Now Iowa was redeemed and disenthralled. The change
was largely due to the earnestness, and ardor, and force, with
which Mr. Grimes had advocated throughout the State his cher
ished convictions upon the questions at issue.
He maintained the dignity and promoted the welfare of the
Commonwealth. He introduced enlightened and liberal meas
ures to develop the resources of the State, to promote public
instruction, and guard the sacredness of humanity in prison
discipline, and in a considerate treatment of the insane and

1858.] GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 115
other unfortunate persons. He consulted in these matters the
most advanced and cultivated minds in the land, and secured
their suggestions and services in the geological survey, and in
the educational and humane establishments of the State. Much
is due to his sagacity for the vast system of railways in Iowa,
and, had his counsels been heeded, many cities and counties
would have been preserved from a heavy indebtedness. Not a
few of his recommendations were embodied in the laws. The
impress of his mind and character will thus be perpetuated.
His wisdom, fidelity, and devotion to public duty in the execu
tive chair, will be for a memorial to his successors in office.
One of them has said :
If, in the high duties to which we are called, we would measure
ourselves up to a worthy pattern, no better standard can be found
than was illustrated in the public life of James W. Grimes.1
Rev. Asa Turner, pastor at Denmark, 1838-68, gives the
following reminiscences :
I think that Mr. Grimes has done more for Iowa, politically,
than any man that ever lived in it. From its first organization as
a Territory, the Democracy reigned supreme up to 1854. Our
Representatives in Congress were the allies of the slave-power, and
carried out its wishes. The Whigs pretended to be antislavery,
but were not willing to do anything that would compromise them
with their Southern allies. We had a Free-Soil organization, em
bracing a few voters, and had nominated Simeon Waters as our
candidate for Governor, not with any hope of electing him, but to
show our strength. In this state of things, Mr. Grimes came over
to Denmark and said that if the Free-Soilers would vote for him he
would be a candidate for Governor, and assured us that he would
be true to the principles we wished should triumph. I believed he
would, and that he could make our principles triumph. The Free-
Soilers, after free and full discussion, voted to intrust in his hands
the interests of our organization, and the principles we had been
laboring to establish. We should not have been willing to commit
such interests to any ordinary man, to any one of whose integrity
or ability we had a doubt. But it was done — with fear and trem-
1 Hon. Cyrus C. Carpenter, in his second inaugural, January, 1874.

116 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1858.
bling by some, by others with the confidence of faith. He took the
stump. I doubt whether any man ever worked harder. He gave
his whole soul to the work. Wherever he went he secured favor
with the people, and he was elected.
From that day, Iowa has stood in the front rank of liberty-lov
ing and progressive States. And for all we have become, civilly —
for ah we have done, as a State, to make the United States a bless
ing at home, and an honor abroad — I look to Mr. Grimes as one of
the first and principal instruments. Nothing less than his heart
and soul, his resolute will and far-seeing mind, with his powerful
influence, could have turned the tide and brought Iowa by the side
of Massachusetts and Vermont. There was not a moment to lose.
It was only seven years before the rebellion; Iowa must be re
generated, and allied to the right, in order to save the Union.
With Iowa neutral, or on the side of the enemy, who can tell what
the result would have been ? But God purposed otherwise, and
raised up Mr. Grimes to marshal her among the loyal States. The
influence on the State, and on the country and world, no finite mind
can measure. Much as he did as Governor, especially in heading
off the Missouri raiders on Kansas, and much as he did in Congress,
this early work was preparatory for all that followed. It used to
be said that Isaac Hill made New Hampshire Democratic, and allied
it with Jackson and Van Buren. It is not a figure of speech that
Governor Grimes made Iowa Republican, and allied it with the
loyal States. 46.— To Hon. S. P. Chase.
Burlington, February 20, 1858.
I desire to thank you for your kind note of the 4th inst. The
great comfort that my election gives me is enhanced by the
apparent satisfaction the result gives to my many friends beyond
the State. I have always regarded myself and the cause greatly
indebted to you for your influence in my gubernatorial campaign,
now four years ago. I was nominated then wholly without my
knowledge, and against my desire. I was persuaded to run, not
with any very sanguine hope of being elected, but with the view
to educate the people, as far as might be possible from the stump,
on the slavery question. Had we not succeeded in securing the
old Free-Soil vote, which was done mainly through your influence
(although I might have been elected, would have been), the Gen-

1858.]

GOVERNOR OF IOWA.

117

eral Assembly would have been against us, Mr. Dodge returned to
the Senate, the State would have probably remained Democratic,
and the succession of anti-Nebraska triumphs that followed our
election in the autumn of 1854 would probably have never occurred.
I am conscious of my unfitness for the position I am to occupy.
I shall feel constrained to follow in a good degree the counsel of
those who have shown themselves to be older and better soldiers
than I am. I need not say to you that there is no one by whose
advice I shall be more cheerfully guided, than by that of the pres
ent Governor of Ohio, in everything that relates to our cause and
party.

CHAPTER IT.
A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES.
1859-1869.
§ L— In the Thirty-sixth Congress.— 1859-1861.
Mr. Grimes took his seat in the Senate on the 4th of March,
1859, and served in the thirty-sixth Congress on the Committees
on Pensions and on Private Land Claims, and was placed, January
24, 1861, upon the Committee on Naval Affairs, in which he re
mained during the rest of his senatorial career, serving as chair
man from December, 1864. 47.— To Mrs. Grimes Washington, March 5, 1859.
I write you my first letter from the Senate-Chamber. I was
sworn into office yesterday, with seven other new Senators, three
of whom are of my complexion in politics, and as substitutes for
pro-slavery Democrats.
March 6th. — It is remarked here that a great change has taken
place with Southern Senators. For the first time, they came over
to the Republican side of the chamber, and sought introductions
to the new Republican Senators. Heretofore they cut them so
cially. I do not include all from the South in this statement.
But Hunter, Chesnut, Fitzpatrick, Kennedy, Mallory, Brown, and
Benjamin, were quite generous to me, and desire, I think, to be on
amicable terms.
Last night I dined at Governor Seward's. Our repast com
menced at seven o'clock, and ended when the clock struck twelve.
The party was composed of Governor Wilson,1 of Massachusetts;
1 Tree-Soil candidate for Governor in 1853.

1859.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 119
Governor Anthony, of Rhode Island ; Governor Bingham, of Michi
gan ; General Shields, of Minnesota ; Smith O'Brien, John Mitchel ;
Preston King, of New York ; and your unworthy husband. Gov
ernor Seward told me that he went to find O'Brien to invite him,
and discovered him at the house of John Mitchel. He was there
fore in a measure compelled to invite Mitchel also. This offended
Mrs. Seward and her daughter so much, that they declared they
would not go to the table, or see him ; and they kept their word.
March 9th. — I have come to the conclusion that this is very
stupid business. " 'Tis distance lends enchantment " to the Senate.
I have by no means had any occasion to complain of my treat
ment since I came here. I have been given the most conspicuous
and important position on the committees of any of the new mem
bers of the Senate. Still, the life I shall be compelled to lead is
not at all adapted to my habits or inclinations., I have no day
since I came here been to dinner earlier than half-past four o'clock.
I rise at six, wander about the city like a ghost until nine, when I
am permitted to jjet some breakfast ; most people not eating until
an hour or two after. Then I am compelled to spend three lazy
hours in the best way I can until twelve o'clock, when the Senate
assembles. We sit about four or four and a half hours, with closed
doors, and then go to dinner. I go to bed at ten o'clock, but the
rest of the world sits up nearly all night.
48. — To Messrs. Hillguertner, Olshausen, and others.
Burlington, April 30, 1859.
I have just had placed in my hands a copy of your letter to the
congressional delegation from Iowa, in which you propound to
them the following inquiries, viz. :
" 1. Are you in favor of the naturalization laws as they now
stand, and particularly against all and every extension of the pro
bation time ?
" 2. Do you regard it a duty of the Republican party, as the
party of equal rights, to oppose and war upon each and every dis*
crimination that may be attempted to be made between the native-
born and adopted citizens, as to the right of suffrage ?
" 3. Do you condemn the late action of the Republicans in the
Massachusetts Legislature, attempting to exclude the adopted citi-

120 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1859.
zens for two years from the ballot-box, as unwise, unjust, and un
called for?"
To each of these interrogations, I respond unhesitatingly in the
affirmative. In regard to the recent action of the Massachusetts Legislature,
I have this to say : that while I admit that the regulation sought
to be adopted is purely of a local character, with which we of Iowa
have nothing whatever directly to do, and while I would be one of
the last men in the world to interfere in the local affairs of a sover
eign State, or with the action of any party in that State upon local
matters, yet I claim the right to approve or condemn as my judg
ment may dictate. I believe the action of the Massachusetts Legis
lature to be based upon a false and dangerous principle, and fraught
with evil to the whole country, and not to Massachusetts alone.
Hence I condemn and deplore it, without equivocation or reserve.
Knowing how much the proposed constitutional provision will
offend their brethren elsewhere, the Republicans of Massachusetts
owe.it to their party that this amendment shall be overwhelmingly
voted down, and I think it will be.
49. — To Mrs. Grimes. Philadelphia, November 24, 1859.
I am safely in this beautiful city of brotherly love, and shall be
compelled to remain here a week, to close up some old business that
has been dangling on my hands for years.
From Galesburg to Wheaton I was in company with Dr. Blan
chard. He wished to be kindly remembered to you, and expressed
the hope that you would be led at no distant day to change your
rehgious views, though, I believe, he seemed to entertain a faint
hope that you was good enough to go to heaven with your present
heterodox opinions. He uttered no word of reproach, remonstrance,
or persuasion to me, for having no settled religious convictions ; so
you perceive that in the view of some of our orthodox friends it is
a good deal more dangerous to believe too much than not to believe
£t all. But Dr. Blanchard is an able, honest, ultra, enthusiastic,
and somewhat bigoted man — a great friend of ours, and I entertain
great respect for him. We also had on board Mr. Lovejoy, mem
ber of Congress of Illinois, a talented and agreeable man. From
Crestline, Ohio, to this place, I have been in company with Mr.

1859.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 121
Crittenden and his wife, who are on their way to Washington.
Perhaps I have told you that Mrs. Crittenden, though a rather
elderly lady, is one of the leaders of the ton in Washington, as she
is in Kentucky, and as she used to be in St. Louis, when she was
the wife and widow of General Ashley. She is a very kind, amiable
lady, but there is so much precision and mock dignity about every
thing she says and does, that intercourse with her is not so pleasant
as it would be if one could only persuade himself that her heart
would come gushing out of her mouth once in a while.
50. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, November 30, 1859.
Everybody but me is busy about the organization of the House
of Representatives. That, and the execution of John Brown day
after to-morrow, are the only topics discussed.
I heard Wendell Phillips lecture on l'Ouverture at Philadelphia,
to an immense and breathless audience.
Senate- Chamber, December 6th. — This body was organized yes
terday ; Mason, of Virginia, immediately introduced Harper's Ferry
resolutions, which are to be taken up, and discussed this morning
on the assembling of the Senate. So you see the excitement is to
be kept up upon the irrepressible conflict question.
Mr. Sumner appeared in his seat yesterday, looking in vigorous
health. We expect to hear from him in a great speech during the
session. There is an immense crowd of people here for one purpose
and another, but I keep out of it pretty much. I am as retired here
as ordinarily at home. 51. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, December 10, 1859.
One week of congressional life is over, and I think it to be
the stupidest business I was ever engaged in. We have done noth
ing in the Senate but discuss " John Brown," " the irrepressible
conflict," and " the impending crisis," and no one can imagine where
the discussion will stop. The House of Representatives is still un
organized, and daily some members come near to blows. The mem
bers on both sides are mostly armed with deadly weapons, and it is
said that the friends of each are armed in the galleries. The Capi
tol resounds with the cry of dissolution, and the cry is echoed

122 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1859-'60.
throughout the city. And all this is simply to coerce, to frighten
the Republicans and others into giving the Democrats the organiza
tion of the House. They will not succeed.
I called on Mrs. Trumbull to-day. She is the only woman I have
spoken with since I came here. I called on another, to whose party
I was invited the other day, and did not go ; but she was not at
home. You cannot imagine how I dislike this fashionable formali
ty. It is terribly annoying, and I think I shall repudiate the whole
thing. Sunday, December llth. — I have just been to church, and heard
a long and not remarkably entertaining sermon.
I have about as much as I can do to restrain myself from plun
ging into the debate in the Senate on John Brown, but I exercise
self-denial, and do not.
In the Senate Mr. Grimes gave close attention to pubhc busi
ness, and to whatever matters were referred to committees upon
which he had been placed, and was early known as a working
member of the body. Mr. Hammond, of South Carolina, spoke
of him, May 28th, as " an active and able, and rather a young
man." Mr. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, said, June 13th :
I have been repeatedly struck with the accuracy of view taken
by the Senator from Iowa upon military questions. I think in
principles he is usually correct, but in detail requires yet to obtain
a good deal of information.
He was a skillful parliamentarian and a ready debater, curt,
and to the point, never prolix, nor caring for the last word.
He spoke in a clear, direct, and succinct manner, and was heard
with attention for his candor and power of elucidation.
Extracts will be given from his remarks at different times
upon various subjects. They show his opinions, and the vigi
lant scrutiny and enlightened consideration he gave to public
affairs. His first remarks in the Senate were in reply to Mr. Toombs,
of Georgia, who, January 24th, had arraigned Iowa, with other
States, for having passed laws in contravention of the Constitu
tion of the United States, and violative of the rights of sister
States. Mr. Toombs said :

I860.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES.

123

Whenever the Republicans have had power, notwithstanding
their oaths to maintain the Constitution, they have proved false to
it. DEFENCE OP THE STATE OP IOWA.
Mr. Grimes said, January 30th :
It is true that the Republican party have been in possession of
the government of the State of Iowa during the last five years
and upward. They have had the unlimited control of the govern
ment of that State in every one of its departments. They have
had a succession of Governors of that pohtical party. They have
had all the judicial tribunals, with very few exceptions ; and all
the judges of the Supreme Court have belonged to that party.
Their majorities in. the House of Representatives and in the Senate
of the State have been predominating, almost two to one, during
four successive Legislative Assemblies. But it is not true that the
General Assembly of that State has ever passed any law in viola
tion of the Constitution of the United States, in regard to the fugi
tive-slave law, or in regard to any other act of Congress. No law
has been passed by that State, either since it has been under the
domination of the Republican party, or before it came under their
control, that in the remotest degree contravenes the rights of any
of the sister States, or interferes with the relation of master and
slave, or master and servant.
I have not risen for the purpose of making this explanation,
because I am disposed to censure or approve the acts of this kind
that have been passed by other States. I have no judgment to
pronounce upon that subject. I have no criticism to make on that
species of legislation. It is no part of my business, as I under
stand it, to sit here and arraign the action of sovereign States of
this Union in regard to their local laws, whether they may be as
objectionable as are the laws of Louisiana and South Carolina to
Senators, like the Senator from Massachusetts, or whether they are
as objectionable as are the laws of Massachusetts and Connecticut
to the Senator from Georgia, and others who act and feel with him.
That is not my business. But I am not disposed to let the State
of my adoption, where I have the happiness to reside, and which I
have the honor here in part to represent, have either the glory or
the discredit — whichever way they may be regarded by Senators—

124 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [I860.
of passing any law which she did not pass. Whenever she shall
see fit to pass a law of this kind, or of any other kind, I, as a citi
zen of that State, will express my opinion in approbation or in dis
approbation of it, as my judgment shall dictate.
Nor do I allude to this subject at this time for the purpose of
relieving myself, my State, or the people whom I represent, from
the epithets which were so abundantly poured out upon them by
the Senator from Georgia. If there are any people in my State
who will be disturbed by them it will not be the men with whom I
act, but those who profess a sympathy and affinity for the po
litical party with which the Senator from Georgia associates. So
far as the Republicans are concerned, I can vouch for them that they
will never be won or intimidated by adjectives, no matter how boist
erously, or how numerously, or how harshly, they may be applied.
THE COURT OF CLAIMS.
He said, March 13th :
A few years ago (1855) you organized a Court of Claims. You
designed that that court should be a merely examining court ; that
they should marshal the accounts ; that they should investigate
questions of law, and submit their conclusions to you for final de
cision ; but, like all courts that have been established since the foun
dation of the world, it has been constantly attempting tq draw to
itself more and more power, until nowit seeks to acquire the con
trol of the Treasury. During the last Administration, when you
had one of the best Secretaries of the Treasury that you ever had —
Mr. Guthrie — a decision was made by this court in regard to some
drawbacks growing out of your revenue laws, in favor of the claim.
Mr. Guthrie objected to that decision, and brought the attention
of the Committee on Claims to it, and the committee decided that
Mr. Guthrie was right, and that the Court of Claims was wrong ;
but, if that decision had been confirmed by the Senate, it would have
drawn millions of dollars out of the Treasury.
I am opposed to the whole bill. I consider myself standing here
as one of the" guardians of the Treasury, and am not willing to say
that one hundred thousand dollars shall be voted as a gross amount,
to meet the judgments that may be rendered by the Court of Claims,
upon the supposition that that is the amount which will be required
for an average number of years, for I apprehend that the Court of

I860.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 125
Claims will be continually drawing to itself more and more power,
encroaching more and more on other courts in its jurisdiction, until
finally we shall find that we have erected a tribunal dangerous to
the Treasury, if not to the liberties of our people.
HOMESTEAD BILL.
Mr. Grimes moved, May 9th, to grant the preemption right
to a single person over the age of twenty-one years, as well as
to the head of a family, and remarked :
I cannot see any principle on which Congress should undertake
to distinguish between persons, as to their domestic and social rela
tions. Because a man happens not to be a married man, or the
head of a family, I do not conceive that a substantial reason why
he should be deprived of the benefits of a preemption, under the laws
of the United States. I do not apprehend that gentlemen whom I
see around me should be deprived of the benefits of a preemption,
because they are so unfortunate as not to enjoy the domestic felicity
which some other members of the Senate are permitted to enjoy. I
cannot conceive why the venerable President of the United States,
for instance, when he shall retire from the position he now occupies,
and shall seek to forget the cares and anxieties of public life, if he
chooses to go upon the public domain, should not be permitted to
go there and enjoy like privileges with the humblest citizen. It
would be unjust to him, and it would be equally unjust to my
friends around me, and to any other citizen, and it is in contraven
tion of the settled policy of this Government on this subject.
You have passed since the first preemption law was adopted, in
1799, fifty-nine preemption laws. With the exception of three of
them, you have granted them without distinction of right, whether
persons were citizens, or had filed their declarations to become citi
zens, or were heads of families, or not. I cannot comprehend why
any Senator should propose that this benefit should be conferred
upon one class of citizens, to the exclusion of another. Perhaps I
may judge of this subject from interested motives. I am myself a
settler upon the public lands. I went upon the -public domain at
the early age of nineteen years, unaided and alone, and established
for myself whatever fortune I have been able to acquire ; and I was
not a solitary instance. I know of hundreds and thousands of young
men who went under the same circumstances, to hew out for them-

126 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1860.
selves a fortune and a reputation, if possible. I say it is unjust to
them, for Congress to declare that they shall not be permitted to
enjoy the same benefits on the public domain with other men, be
cause their domestic or social institutions may be variant. I pred
icate my action entirely on principle ; I ask for the young men of
the country no more than for anybody else ; but I say that when a
young man reaches the age of maturity he should have precisely
the same privileges that anybody else has and no more. If it be
the sense of the Senate that this amendment be voted down, I shall
acquiesce in that decision. I am honestly in . favor of the bill. I
shall support it. This is the only proposition to amend that I shall
make ; and I think it is but fair that this should be adopted. I
think the Senator from Arkansas ought not to call upon me to with
draw the amendment, for, I wish to show to those with whom I
started in the career of my life, that I am still standing by them
and by their successors, and undertaking to defend here those rights
which I claimed twenty-odd years ago, as one of their number.
The amendment was rejected — yeas 27, nays 28.
Mr. Grimes made a clear statement as to the conflicting
decisions respecting lands given to Iowa, in 1846, for the im
provement of the Des Moines River navigation, and presented
the claims of settlers upon the lands in dispute (three hundred
and seventy-one thousand acres) for the interposition of Congress
in their behalf (May 26th).
He criticised the extravagance in the Post-Office Depart
ment, and on the subject of railroad transportation of the mails
said, May 28th :
A great deal of the evil flows from the fact that the railroad
companies have got control of your postal routes. I am not arraign
ing the Department, but the public generally, and Congress, for not
interposing in this matter, and passing some law by which we can
secure some control over these companies. They ought to be clas
sified into two or three different classes. We ought to fix the
amount that each class should be allowed.
UNITED STATES OFFICES IN IOWA.
There are many in my State that are utterly useless, and ought
to be abolished. We have half a dozen — I speak without knowing

I860.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 127
the precise number — custom-houses in our State, fifteen, sixteen, or
eighteen hundred miles above tide-water, where we have surveyors
of ports, to whom this Government is paying annual salaries of six
or eight hundred dollars. We have many other offices which are
useless. I have been waiting very patiently during the entire ses
sion, in the hope that some of the gentlemen on the other side, who
are so much outraged at the profligate expenditure of the Republi
can party, would introduce a bill abolishing these offices. We have
in the town in which I have the honor to reside a marine hospital,
built at considerable expense to the Government, which never had
a patient, and in all probability never will have. It ought to be
abolished. I am not anxious that these offices shall be retained in
my State. I am not anxious that the Federal Government shall
own property there. If I had my way, I would not have the Fed
eral Government own a foot of ground in the State of Iowa. I do
not wish the State to be dotted over with Government offices and
buildings, and filled with Federal officers. I do not wish the Gen
eral Government to be aggrandized at the expense of the States.
(June 14th). 52. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, June 4, 1860.
We have just had a four hours speech from Sumner on the
" Barbarism of Slavery." In a literary point of view it was of
course excellent. As a bitter, denunciatory oration, it could hardly
be exceeded in point of style and finish. But, to me, many parts
of it sounded harsh, vindictive, and slightly brutal. It is all true
that slavery tends to barbarism, but Mr. Sumner furnishes no reme
dy for the evils he complains of. His speech has done the Republi
cans no good. Its effect has been to exasperate the Southern mem
bers, and render it utterly impossible for Mr. Sumner to exercise
any influence here for the good of his State. Mr. C. F. Adams
made a manly, statesmanly speech in the House of Representatives,
four days ago, which was attentively listened to by everybody. He
read it, as did Mr. Sumner his.
Mr. Seward is now here, and made a speech in Executive session
the other day on the Mexican Treaty, that to my view showed more
intellectual vigor than did his speech which you heard. His speech
to which I refer was short, extemporaneous, and very able, convert
ing: almost the whole Senate to his views.

128 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [I860.
The nomination of Lincoln strikes the mass of the people with
great favor. He is universally regarded as a scrupulously honest
man, and a genuine man of the people.
Mr. Grimes took an active part in advocating the election
of Mr. Lincoln, and made speeches in many places during the
fall, in Iowa and in Ulinois.
THE MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT.
I think the Government expects that the officers of the United
States Army shall be something more than mere fighting-men. It
expects, and has a right to expect, that they shall be thoroughly
educated gentlemen. I, for one, have entertained none of the
prejudice that is felt by some toward the Military Academy, and
those who graduate from it. That academy, and the character and
conduct of those who have graduated from it, have sufficiently vindi
cated -the institution from all aspersions that have been cast upon
it. I look upon the military and naval academies as- conservative
institutions. It is the duty of the Government to give the young
men who graduate at each of these institutions the highest attain
able education. That is our duty ; that is the interest of the Gov
ernment ; and while education is being elevated in every other in
stitution of the ccfuntry, while your common schools, academies,
colleges, and universities, are raising their standards of education,
I cannot comprehend any reason why we should not also elevate
the standard in our military and naval academies. Hence I am in
favor of anything that will have a tendency -to operate in that
direction. (June 7th.)
ON FURNISHING A POLICE FORCE POR THE CITY OP WASHINGTON.
I should like to know on what principle it is that the Govern
ment of the United States furnishes a police-force to the city of
Washington. I understand that the services of these persons are
not confined to the public grounds — to the custody of the property
belonging to the United States — but that they are the regular
police-force of the whole city, under control of the city authorities.
If this Government has the authority to furnish such police-officers
for this city, why has it not for every city where the Government
owns property ? The furnishing of this police-force seems to me

I860.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 129
violative of every principle ; and it is another evidence of the fact
that this Government is gradually drawing to itself more and more
power, and in the end this police-force will swell up from one hun
dred men to its thousands, and become a guard to any man who
may undertake to assume the control of this Government. (June
14th.) THE NAVY.
Having a favorite nephew in the navy, Mr. Grimes had for
years been familiar with naval affairs, and now gave careful
and thorough consideration to everything connected with the
service. Advocating an increase of pay to minor officers, he
said, March 27th :
I have always thought, ever since I paid any attention to the
navy, that there were only two things that this Government could
honorably do in connection with it ; either disband it, or increase
the paji of officers to something commensurate with what their ser
vices require. . It is just as necessary to increase the pay of the
minor officers as of the superior officers. The rate of compensation
to midshipmen and passed midshipmen was fixed many years ago,
when the expenses of living were small. It will be many years
before the young men now at your Naval Academy will become
lieutenants. The young men who entered the navy in 1840 were
between fifteen and sixteen years in the service before they became
lieutenants. Then, the service was not dammed up as it is now ;
there was not such an accumulation of dead matter at the head of
the register The young men who enter your Naval Academy this
year will be in the service twenty years, in my opinion, before they
become lieutenants. They will be performing as important duties
as if they were lieutenants — the duties of passed midshipmen,
masters, or acting lieutenants. You should increase the pay of
these officers from eight hundred dollars up to something corre
sponding with the amount their services demand. We do not want
to pay the mass of the money that we are going to pay to our offi
cers to the superior officers.
It was his opinion that the navy was too much under the
charge of civilians, and that it should be more under the con
trol of naval officers. Accordingly, he proposed, March 28th,

130 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861'.
the creation of a bureau of registry and detail, to have the
assignment of all officers and men to duty. His proposition
was rejected.
He early gave attention to the subject of iron-clad vessels,
and introduced a resolution, January 19, 1861, directing the
Secretary of the Navy to furnish a detailed estimate of the ex
pense of building a steel or iron-clad gunboat.
Advocating, February 11th, the construction of screw sloops-
of-war of the second class, that might be as efficient as larger
vessels to protect our commerce, with a saving of several hun
dred thousand dollars, he said :
I vote for this proposition as an economical measure, not with
a view to coerce anybody, or for the purpose of entering the ports
of any of the Southern States, except for some peaceful purpose ;
certainly not for, any warlike purpose. I believe it is essential for
the interests of the country, without regard to the present uneasy
and disturbed condition of the Southern States. We cannot be
influenced in our action here, and we ought not to abandon the
navy because there happens to be dissatisfaction growing out of the
slavery question, or out of the tariff question, or out of any other
local question. I think we ought to go on in our legislation exact
ly as though we were at peace with all the world ; not with the
view to coerce any portion of the country, but to maintain the
honor of our flag in foreign seas.
The same day, Mr. Grimes proposed the appointment of an
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, from the line of the navy, to
be charged especially with the detailing of officers and the disci
pline and efficiency of the service ; and also the establishment
of the grade of assistant pay-masters, appointments to be made
from graduates of the Naval Academy. The propositions
were rejected. His reasons for the last were given as follows
(February 11, 1861) :
If you go to the line, or to the academy for these officers, it
ceases to be a political office, and is not to be bestowed upon any
body because he happens to have been an active or influential par
tisan in a political campaign. Then, again, you get one who is
conversant with the duties of the situation to which he is called^

I860.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 131
and also acquainted with sea-life. Besides, you give to a purser in
the navy a rank as an officer ; and there will be some reason for
giving this rank to him, if you take him from the line, or from
among the graduates of your academy, and have a man who is com
petent to discharge sea-duty. There was another reason, and that
was because these pursers may be called upon to work the ship —
to command the men. In cases of conflict with a foreign power,
it may be not only important, but very necessary, to order a purser
to command a prize ; or, if the officers were mostly shot down, it
might be very important that he should command the vessel on
which he was. If you take an officer from the line, or from the
academy, and put him in this position, you have a man who is com
petent to discharge that duty.
That is not all. If you take a man from the academy, or one
who has passed through the academy, you get one of perfect phy
sique. These young gentlemen, when they go there, are thoroughly
examined upon that subject ; and you take a man who is perfect in
his development and in the prime of life, when he is capable of per
forming important service to the country. I knew a purser, recent
ly appointed, a man a little past the meridian of life, appointed
probably on account of his having been an active partisan; and
upon the first cruise, before he had been twelve months in the ser
vice, he was stricken down, disabled, and always will remain dis
abled, and he remains upon your hands a pensioner ; and if he lives
to be seventy years of age, you will have to pay him a salary
amounting to leave-pay. But if you had taken that man at twen
ty-one, or at twenty-five, or twenty-nine, you would have had prob
ably fifteen, or twenty, or twenty-five years of good, efficient, active
service out of him. This amendment, therefore, limits the age at
which these young men shall have arrived, in order that we may
have men who are not partisans, or broken-down merchants, past
the meridian of life, but young, active, thorough-going, efficient
men, who can perform efficient duty for the Government.
53. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, December 5, 1860.
Secession of one or more States is inevitable. The members of
both Houses are in remarkable good-humor, but everybody seems
firmly resolved to adhere to his professed principles and course of

132 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1860.
action. We are getting into deep water, and it is doubtful what
shore we shall reach. Mr. Fessenden urges me every day to send
for you. December 16th. — I have been writing letters the whole day, and
now conclude. I suppose I can hardly add anything to what you
have already heard of the condition of things here. Public affairs
certainly wear a very bad aspect at present. South Carolina will
leave the Union, so far as she has the power, this week, beyond
question. Five or six States may follow her, and I think that some
of them will be sure to. There will be an effort to go peacefully,
but war of a most bitter and sanguinary character will be sure to
follow in a short time. We can never divide the army, the navy,
the public lands, the public buildings, the public debt, the Missis
sippi River, etc., in peace. All these questions must be submitted
in the end to the arbitrament of the sword, and the strongest bat
talions will be victors. This is certainly deplorable, but there is no
help for it. No reasonable concession will satisfy the rebels. It is
not that Lincoln is elected, or that there are personal liberty laws
in some of the States, or that their negroes occasionally run off,
that troubles them. They want to debauch the moral sentiment
of the people of the North, by making them agree to the proposi
tion that slavery is a benign, constitutional system, and that it shall
be extended in the end all over this continent.
There is, as you have heard, much talk about all sorts of com
promises, but there is not the slightest probability that anything
will be done. We have a rumor every few hours of bloodshed that
is to be, but I do not imagine that anything of the kind is to be
apprehended here. A great many men make a great many foolish
remarks, and they are sure to increase in magnitude and nonsense
as they pass from mouth to mouth.
General Cass has resigned, as well as Mr. Cobb. The whole
cabinet is tumbling to pieces, and what remains is without influ
ence. Mr. Buchanan, it is said, about equally divides his time be
tween praying and crying. Such a perfect imbecile never held office
before. When Cobb resigned, he sent him a letter, saying that he
was going home to Georgia, to assist in dissolving the Union, and
breaking up the Government ; and Buchanan replied to the letter,
and complimented Mr. Cobb, as you have seen.

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 133
54. — To Hon. S. P. Chase, Columbus, Ohio.
Washington, January 11, 1861.
I desire to say, in as few words as possible, that it is the almost
universal desire of our true friends here that you should accept the
position of Secretary of the Treasury, which it is understood that
Mr. Lincoln has tendered to you. We would all like to see you in
the Senate. We very well know that you would do great good in
this body, but it is vastly important to our party, and, above all, to
the country, that we should at the present crisis have the right man
at the head of the Treasury. I think I can safely say without any
flattery to you, that the general idea among our friends is, that the
country will regard the right man in the right place, with you there.
Of course, I do not expect or desire to influence you in this matter
against your better judgment. I know that you will sacrifice much,
by surrendering your place in the Senate for the head of the Treas
ury, but I beg to assure you that it is my sincere conviction that
the safety of the party, and probably of the country, depends upon
your being there. Pardon this intrusion.
55. — To Hon. Samuel J. Kirhwood, Governor of Iowa.
Washington, January 28, 1861.
Your esteemed favor of the 17th inst. has reached me.
There appears to be a very great misunderstanding in the public
mind, as to the present condition of affairs at the capital of the
nation, and especially in relation to the demands of the disunionists
upon the Union men of the North. I find that the impression pre
vails quite extensively that the " Crittenden proposition," as it is
called, is simply a reestablishment of the Missouri Compromise line.
This is very far from the truth.
Mr. Crittenden proposes to extend the line of 36° 30' through to
the Pacific Ocean, and to agree, by constitutional provision, to pro
tect and defend slavery in all the territory of the United States
south of that line. Nor is this all. Me now proposes that this
protection to slavery shall be extended to all territory that may here
after be acquired south of that line. The sum and substance of the
whole matter is, that we are asked, for the sake of peace, to sur
render all our cherished ideas on the subject of slavery, and agree,
in effect, to provide a slave code for the Territories south of 36° 30'
and for the Mexican provinces, as soon as they shall be brought
10

134 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
within our jurisdiction. It is demanded of us that we shall consent
to change the Constitution into a genuine pro-slavery instrument, and
to convert the Government into a great slave-breeding, slavery-ex
tending empire.
Every man blessed with ordinary foresight must see what would
be the inevitable and almost immediate consequence of the adop
tion of this provision as a part of the Constitution. It would dis
close itself to be the very reverse of a measure of peace. Raids would
at once begin upon the provinces of Mexico ; war would ensue ; the
annexation of Sonora, Chihuahua, Cohahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamauli-
pas, and other provinces, would follow ; they would be converted, at
the instant of their acquisition, from free into slave Territories, and
ultimately be admitted into the Union as slave States. Much as I
love peace and seek to pursue it, I am not prepared to pay this
price for it. Let no man in Iowa imagine for a moment that the
Crittenden proposition is for a mere restoration of the Compromise
line of 1820. It is simply and truly the application of the Breck
inridge platform to all territory now acquired, or hereafter to be ac
quired south of 36° 30', and would result, if adopted, in the acqui
sition and admission of new slave States for the ostensible purpose
of restoring what is called the equilibrium of the sections. The
restoration of the Missouri Compromise line has been offered to the
disunionists and contemptuously rejected. Their maxim is "rule
or ruin." I confess that I look with amazement upon the course of the
Northern sympathizers with the disunionists. Six years ago they
assisted to break down a compromise of thirty-four years' standing,
and defended their action by what they claimed to be the right of
the people to determine for themselves what should be the charac
ter of their own domestic institutions. There was much plausibility
in their argument. They made a party creed of it. Now, after the
lapse of six short years, they have become so pro-slavery in their
opinions that they are willing to ignore the past, and recognize and
protect slavery in the very country which they boasted that their
own act had made free.
There are other provisions in the Crittenden resolutions which to
my mind are wholly inadmissible, but let them pass. My objection
is to any compromise. I will never consent to compromises, or the
imposition of terms upon me or the people I represent, under threats

1861.1 A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 135
of breaking up the Government. I will not " give reasons under
compulsion." No surer or more effectual way could be devised for
converting this into a revolutionary Government than the adoption
of a compromise expedient at this time.
Eight months ago the four political parties of this country, in
their several conventions, announced certain abstract propositions
in their platforms which each believed to be true, and which, if
acted upon, would in their opinion most conduce to the prosperity
of the whole country. The issue upon these propositions was sub
mitted to the people through the ballot-boxes. One party was
successful, as either might have been, but for the lack of votes ; and
now one of the vanquished parties seeks to overthrow the Govern
ment, because they were not themselves the victors, and will only
consent to stay their work of demolition upon the condition that we
will agree to make their platform, which is abhorrent to us, a part of
the Constitution of the country. After taking their chances for suc
cess, and being defeated in a fair and manly contest, they now seek
to overthrow the Government under which they live, and to which
they owe their allegiance. How rapidly are we following in the
footsteps of the governments of Mexico and South America !
I do not believe that the public mind is now in a condition to
calmly consider the great questions involved in the amendments
proposed. But suppose the people were willing and anxious that
such amendments to the Constitution should be submitted to them;
suppose they were in a proper frame of mind to weigh them and
decide upon their adoption ; suppose their adoption was not at
tempted to be enforced by threats, can we have any assurance that
this is the last demand to be made upon us ? Can we be certain
that success in this instance will not whet the appetite for new con
cessions and new demands, and that similar threats of secession and
revolution will not succeed every future presidential election ?
Will the demand for new guarantees stop here ? Shall we not be
as liable to have our trade paralyzed, our finances deranged, our
national flag insulted, the public property wrested from us and de
stroyed, and the Government itself overthrown, four years hence, if
we amend the Constitution, as we should be if we now stand firmly
by our principles and uphold the authority of the. Government ?
The question before the country, it seems to me, has assumed
gigantic proportions. It has become something more than an issue

136 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
on the slavery question growing out of the construction of the Con
stitution. The issue now before us is, whether we have a country,
whether or not this is a nation. Is this a Government which
Florida, with eighty thousand people, can destroy, by resolving
herself out of the Union and seizing the forts and arsenals within
her borders ? That is the question presented us for our de
cision. Can a great and prosperous nation of thirty-three millions
of people be destroyed by an act of secession of some of its
members ? Florida and her' sister revolutionary States answer in the
affirmative. We deny it. They undertake to act upon their pro
fessed belief, and secede, or, as I term it, rebel against the Government.
While they are in this attitude of rebellion a compromise is presented
to us for adoption,by which it is proposed, not to punish the rebel
lious States, but to entice them back into the Union. Who does not
see that by adopting these compromise propositions we tacitly recog
nize the right of these States to secede ? Their adoption at this
time would completely demoralize the Government, and leave it in
the power of any State to destroy. If Florida and South Carolina
can secede because of the slavery question, what shall prevent
Pennsylvania from seceding because the Government declines to
adequately protect her iron and coal interests, or New England be
cause her manufactures, or New York because her commerce is not
sufficiently protected ? I could agree to no compromise until the
right to secede was fully renounced, because it would be a recogni
tion of the right of one or more States to break up the Government
at their will.
Iowa has a peculiar interest in this question. If this right of
State revolution be conceded, her geographical position is such as to
place her completely in the power of revolutionary States. Will she
agree that one State can secede and take from her the mouth of the
Mississippi River, that another can take from her the mouth of the
Missouri, and that others shall be permitted to deprive her of the
right of passage to the Atlantic Ocean ? If she will not agree to
this, it becomes her people to insist that the Constitution of the coun
try shall be upheld, that the laws of the land shall be enforced, and
that this pretended right of a State to destroy our national existence
shall be sternly and emphatically rebuked. I know the people of
Iowa well enough to believe that appeals to their magnanimity, if
not successful, will be kindly received and considered, while appeals

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 137
to their fears will pass by them as the idle wind, and that they will
risk all things and endure all things in maintaining the honor of the
national flag and in preserving the national Union.
One word more and I close this letter, already too long. At the
commencement of the session, before revolution had assumed its
present gigantic proportions, before any State had pretended to
secede except South Carolina, before the forts and arsenals of the
United States had been captured, the flag of the country fired upon,
and the capital of the nation threatened, I assented, as a member of
the Senatorial Committee of Thirteen, to three propositions, which
were to the following effect, viz. :
1. That Congress should never be permitted to interfere with
the domestic institutions of any State, or to abolish slavery therein.
2. That the several States should be advised to review their legis
lation in regard to persons of color, and repeal or modify all such
laws as might conflict with the Constitution of the United States
or with any of the laws of Congress made in pursuance thereof.
3. To admit Kansas into the Union under the Wyandotte consti
tution, and then to admit the remaining territory belonging to the
United States as two States, one north and one south of the parallel
of 36° 30' with the provision that these States might be subdivided
and new ones erected therefrom whenever there should be sufficient
population for one Representative in Congress upon sixty thousand
square miles.
'-''Those propositions, if adopted, would have quieted the apprehen
sions of the Southern people as to the intention of the people of the
free States to interfere with slavery in the States, and would have
finally disposed of all the territory belonging to the Government.
They would have made two very inconvenient States, but they would
have settled a very inconvenient question. They could have been
adopted without any surrender of principle by anybody or any sec
tion, and therefore without any party and personal humiliation.
But they were spurned by the disunionists. They preferred to
plunge the country into revolution, and they have done it. It only
remains for us now to obey and enforce the laws, and show to the
world that this Government is strong enough to protect itself from
rebellion within as well as from assault without.
The issue now made up for the decision of the people of this
country is between law, order, the Union, and the Constitution, on

138 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
the one hand, and revolution, anarchy, dissolution, and bloodshed, on
the other. I do not doubt as to the side you and the people of Iowa
will occupy in this.contest.
January 21st Mr. Grimes gave his vote for the admission of
Kansas into the Union.
February 5th, at the request of the Governor of Iowa, he
attended a Peace Conference, held in Washington at the call of
the Legislature of Virginia, but did not take part in its discus
sions, confident that they would end in naught.
THE TARIFF.
He said, February 18th :
I wish to insert " sugar " with tea and coffee in the amendment,
so that at the expiration of two years there shall be no duty either
on tea or coffee or sugar. I object most decidedly to the idea that
those of us who shall vote in favor of the reduction of the duty on
sugar are going to vote it from revenge, or out of retaliation, or
out of any unkindness toward Louisiana, or the sugar-producers of
that State. This bill comes before us as an entirely new bill, and I
propose to vote on this sugar-duty, and on all other duties, precise
ly as I should vote if we had no tariff on our statute-books. I will
not now, I neyer saw the time when I would, and I never expect
to see the time when I will, vote for a duty on tea and coffee and
sugar. I will not consent to tax the farmers of my State upon the
iron they use for the benefit of Pennsylvania, and upon their jack-
knives for the benefit of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and upon
their woolens and cottons for the benefit of New England, and then
add to that a tax upon tea and coffee and sugar, the necessaries of
every man's home. I have my views in regard to secession, in re
gard to the attitude of Louisiana, and of all the States that have
gone out ; but, as the representative of my State, I cast my vote as
I believe the interests of my State require on that particular meas
ure, without any regard to the attitude of those outgoing States.
During the stormy months at the close of this Congress, treason
coming to a head, distrust pervading every part of the Govern
ment, many in confidential positions being of doubtful loyalty,
or privy to evil designs, Mr. Grimes was associated with several

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 139
gentlemen in an effort to have persons of traitorous intent, in
the pubhc service or elsewhere, sifted out and marked, with an
eye to the national safety in the trouble that threatened. The
Superintendent of Pohce of the City of New York and skilled
detectives were employed and kept upon watch at Baltimore,
Washington, and other places, who reported to Mr. Grimes the
actual position of doubtful persons, and the plots and conspira
cies they unearthed. Contrary to his principles as was a system
of surveillance and espionage, but possessing a remarkable
power of worming men's secrets out of them, with an air of
calmness and unconcern such as Napoleon attributed to his
minister of police, he was called at this juncture to act as a
sort of Fouche' for the Government, in the interest of the in
coming Administration. Under his direction this delicate and
responsible service was performed, without trenching upon pro
priety, without injustice to any one, with acknowledged advan
tage to pubhc order, and with such skill and caution as com
manded respect, and obviated suspicion or offense.
§ 2. — In the Thirty -seventh Confess.— 1861-1863.
Mr. Grimes was in his place in the Senate at the Special
Session, March 4th, and on the last day of the session, March
28th, expressed his full agreement with the sentiment of a reso
lution, offered by Mr. Trumbull, that the true way to preserve
the Union was to enforce the laws, and that it was the duty of
the President to protect the public property in all the States.
After the attack on Fort Sumter, April 12th, and the Presi
dent's call for troops, April 14th, he was requested to go to
Washington in behalf of the Iowa soldiers, by Governor Kirk
wood. At Annapolis he found a mihtary force occupying the
grounds of the Naval Academy. He proceeded with a naval
officer to Washington, visited the Secretary of War and the
Secretary of the Navy, before either was out of bed in the
morning, secured orders for a temporary transfer of the Academy
to Fort Adams, Newport, and saw the students embark on the
ship Constitution.

140 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
56. — To Hon. William P. Fessenden, Portland, Maine.
Burlington, May 12, 1861.
I have just received your note of the 9th inst., inclosing one to
your son, which I reinclose to you. I returned from Washington
last Monday in the night, whither I went at the instance of our
State authorities, and found that Frank had been here and left,
remaining but one day, and that he spent at the tavern. Mrs. G.
says she tried to induce him to remain, and to make our house his
home, but he had his head full of the army, and was in a great hur
ry to get away. I am sorry that he did not remain a little longer,
that we might have seen more of him.
It is quite evident to my mind that this great rebellion is to be
suppressed ; but, in the effort, it occurs to me that we are about to
encourage precedents that will be very dangerous to the rights of
the States, and to the liberties of the people. This attempt of Mr.
Lincoln to add ten legions to the regular standing army, each le
gion to equal in size three regiments, without any authority of law,
and against law, is the most extraordinary assumption of power
that any President has attempted to exercise. Our ancestors were
so jealous of executive power that they refused to allow the Presi
dent to call even the militia into service for a period exceeding
thirty days after the assembling of the next ensuing session of
Congress. Mr. Lincoln is not content with violating that law, and
calling for volunteers for three years, making them in effect a stand
ing army subject to his will, but he goes away beyond that, and
more than doubles the standing army, and issues commissions to
officers which are not authorized by law. Where is this to stop ?
Will he be content with ten legions ? If so, will the next Presi
dent ? What do you think of this thing ? I do not wish to oppose
the Administration, but I will not support such a measure.
57. — To Hon. W. P. Fessenden, Portland, Maine.
Burlington, June 6, 1861.
The whole action of the President in regard to the volunteers
the blockade, etc., has been unconstitutional, but I am willing to
overlook that, dangerous as it may be. But I cannot and will not
agree that he shall be permitted to remodel the army, more than
double its size, and appoint nine hundred new officers, without any
authority of law, and without the slightest justification in the con-

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 141
dition of the country. I say, condition of the country ; by that I
mean, that the country demanded immediate troops, if any at all>
and they could only be secured by volunteering. Do you know
that, while we are paying the officers of the new regiments their
salaries, there are not so many men as there are officers ? While
four hundred thousand volunteers have rallied to our standard?
there have not been fifteen hundred men recruited for the regular
army. These new regiments cannot be got ready for the field
for a year yet, and then they will be raw men, no better than volun
teers. They say we shall want them when the war shall be over.
Well, who is to judge of that, the President or Congress ? Was it
not possible to wait until the 4th of July, to let the constitutional
authority speak on that subject ? The precedent is the thing that
troubles me. Will it not justify the next President in doing the
same thing, and if so, how extensive must the insurrection be that
will justify him ? Where is this thing to stop ? I see conscription
and direct taxes in the future. I shall be the only man in the
Senate who will vote against the increase of the standing army.
58. — To Mrs. Grimes.
Hillsborough, N. H., June 23, 1861.
You cannot, perhaps, comprehend the depression of my spirits
while I am here. I feel as though I were spending my time among
the tombs, and long to have the morning come that I may start
away. All about me are memorials of the past, mementoes of friends
lost, and very few cheerful faces known to me. People are as much
excited about the war in this region as elsewhere. Every one asks
rae, when will a battle take place, and when will the war cease, as
though I knew anymore on the subject than others. I am just
going to church ; I know that information will please you.
The foUowing correspondence of a later date explains an in
cident of this period, and his practical action with reference to
slavery in the District of Columbia.
To Hon. J. W. Grimes.
Senate-Chamber, February 20, 1868.
In reflecting over some of the earlier incidents of the rebellion,
I call to mind a circumstance in connection with yourself with great
interest and satisfaction. By the law and the custom of the Dis-

142 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
trict of Columbia a large number of escaped slaves were incarce
rated in the jails of the city of Washington. To these were added
a large number of free men confined on suspicion of being fugitive
slaves, through a superserviceable zeal for slavery on the part of
the local authorities. In calling. my attention to this fact you por
trayed the hopeless condition of the slaves, and the helpless plight
of the free men. The former could only look forward to the lash
for daring to seek liberty, the latter were bound to serve a period
after their freedom was legally established, in violation of every
principle of justice, and in contempt of every instinct of generosity.
The result of our interview was, that we determined on a gen
eral jail-delivery by military authority. On the 3d of July, 1861,
I think, this conversation took place. It ended by your undertak
ing the work, and my signing an order for the enlargement of all
such prisoners on the day following, July 4, 1861. It gratifies me
to remember that in the execution of this order you did no violence
to the proverbial promptness of military law.
As the historical interest of fixing the date of the first act of
practical emancipation increases and may yet become a subject of
controversy, I would be obhged if you will give me such facts in
connection with this incident as may yet retain a place in your
memory. Your friend,
Simon Cameron.
The following draft of a reply was found among Mr.
Grimes's papers :
59. — To Hon. Simon Cameron.
Washington, February 22, 1868.
I remember very distinctly the circumstance referred to in your
letter of the 20th instant, now before me.
In March, 1861, I was appointed chairman of the Senate Dis
trict of Columbia Committee, and felt it to be my duty to inform
myself of the condition of the public institutions of the District
by personal inspection, as well as by an examination of the official
reports of those in immediate charge of them. Upon visiting the
jail, I found a large number of colored persons detained there ; some
for safe keeping at the instance of those who claimed to own them
some on the ground that they were supposed to have escaped from
their masters, though there was no evidence of that fact ; and some

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 143
because of alleged acts of insubordination to their masters or mis
tresses. In a word, I found that the jail, perverted from the uses
for which it was erected, was being used for private purposes, and
as a means of oppression.
Public sentiment was not at that time sufficiently advanced to
justify an appeal to Congress with any prospect of success, and, as
the District of Columbia was under martial law, I appealed to you.
You at once, as Secretary of War, directed an officer of the Army
to proceed with me to the jail, and set all captives of the above
description free, and from that time forward the jail has been used
only for legitimate purposes. I cannot recollect the precise date at
which this was done, save that it occurred in 1861, and before the
subject of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia had
been taken into consideration by Congress.
Mr. Grimes was in his seat at the assembling of Congress,
July 4th. Knowing how fiery and resolute were the master
spirits of the rebellion, he advocated a definite war policy and
the prompt and vigorous prosecution of the war. Counseling the
concentration of all the forces of the nation upon this object,
and the discontinuance meanwhile of appropriations for other
things, he said, for instance, with reference to the Coast Survey :
Many of the officers are receiving their salaries to keep them
ready for prosecuting the work at some future time. I want those
gentlemen to have an opportunity to leave their present business,
and that they shall not be kept at our expense without employment.
Let them go into the Army or the Navy, and render the services
we have a right to expect under the circumstances. I want to
show to the country, that while we are appropriating one hundred
and seventy-nine million dollars in one bill (for the Army) there
is a little evidence of a disposition to curtail expenses somewhere
else. I have been told that in order to keep up the Coast Survey,
for which we appropriated nearly half a million of money, the forces
have been transferred to the lakes ; but I do not think we have the
means for it now, and therefore I wish that that money may be di
verted to another channel, and used for the energetic prosecution
of the war.
He was a close observer of every military and naval move
ment, and of the skill and prowess of different commanders. A

144 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
fine judge of official capacity, and quick to detect incompetency,
he wanted to see inefficient officers retired, and men of ability
and skill placed in important commands, irrespective of rank or
grade. His advice and counsel aided in putting forward a num
ber of naval commanders, who became illustrious for their ex
ploits. Speaking of the Navy, he said, July 31st :
It is confessedly the fact that the younger officers are better
educated, are more scientific than the older ones. There are men
in your lieutenants' rank who possess more information in regard
to the science of gunnery than your older captains. Why not
avail yourselves of the information and scientific skill they possess ?
There are lieutenants to-day in command of some of your largest
steamships. Why not avail yourselves of their ability, integrity,
and capacity? I do not beheve in the Army or the Navy being
controlled as a close corporation for the benefit of any particular
rank. . It is for the interest of the country that the best talent in
each of these grades should be put into service.
Jealous from long conviction of an increase of the standing
army, Mr. Grimes felt that the proper reliance for the defense
of the country was upon volunteers. He said, July 15th :
There is not a man in this Senate who will go before me in a
disposition and in an anxiety to furnish to the President every
means in the power of this body to put down this very causeless and
wicked rebellion ; but I do not believe that by the creation of these
eleven regiments we put any power in his hands. Men do not
wish to enlist into the regular service. You lack several thousand
of as many as you are authorized to have in your old regiments, and
yet undertake to raise another regular service to the extent of
twenty-four thousand men, and to fasten that upon the country
as a permanent standing army. I see it stated that the week be
fore last, in New York, where are the headquarters of the Eleventh
Regiment, and where are between forty and fifty officers in recruit
ing stations, the whole number of men recruited for six days was
twelve — two men to a day. If, instead of sending forty men, you
had sent one man, and called for volunteers, in the name of the
United States, instead of twelve men, you would have had twelve
thousand.

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 145
An argument urged here is, that we need a larger standing army.
I do not believe it. I cannot sympathize in that argument. 1 be
lieve, with my ancestors, that standing armies are hostile in their
tendency and effect on republican government ; that they are pro
vocative of wars ; and I am not willing to say to the people of my
section of the country that they are hereafter to support a larger
standing army than that which is now authorized. I am willing to
vote all the volunteers that may be necessary ; I am willing to as
sist in making these regiments into volunteer regiments ; but never
into regiments of a standing army. It is said that a proper force
last fall, in the hands of proper men, would have prevented all this
trouble. Now, my conviction is that if we had had a standing army
last winter to the extent of seventy thousand men in this country,
under the command of the then Secretary of War, the present Presi
dent of the United States would never have been inaugurated in
the office which he now holds. I want the yeas and nays. I want
to record my name against the permanent increase of the standing
army. The Navy was Mr. Grimes's favorite arm of service. He made
himself familiar with its entire organization, and with all its oper
ations, and knew the rank and rate of every officer and ship.
Though representing an interior State, not directly interested v
in the commerce and manufactures of the seaboard, he believed
the Navy the right arm of the public defense, that it would be
as efficient as the Army in the present troubles, and that it was
destined to become of much more consequence to the nation.
He was the first member of the Senate to suggest the introduc
tion of iron-clad vessels into the Navy, and to bring the atten
tion of the country to the subject. He brought in a bill for the
construction of armored ships, July 19th. The following re
marks show his habits of observation and inquiry :
It so happens that for two or three years I have read every
thing I have seen or come across on the subject of iron-clad ships,
and on my way hither sought all the information I could in New
York and Brooklyn. The experiments in France, in England, and
in this country, have demonstrated that, however valueless or valu
able armored ships may be as cruisers, they certainly are destined

146 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
to be valuable for the defense of harbors. This is the opinion of
the scientific men in this country and in Europe. In case a conflict
with some foreign power might grow out of our present complica
tions, it would be very important that the Government should have
the power to construct floating batteries for the defense of our har
bors, that could take position anywhere to resist the fleet of an
enemy. In the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Hon. G. Y. Foi;
he found a gentleman of signal ability, intent upon pubhc duty,
possessing, after nineteen and a half years' service in the Navy,
thorough insight into naval affairs, and who had been long
enough in civil life to be clear of the jealousies and entangle
ments from which the naval profession is not exempt. Between
Mr. Grimes and Mr. Fox a mutual confidence was at once estab
lished. Through the war, during the sessions of Congress, they
were in the habit of meeting for consultation in Mr. Grimes's
parlor, at least three times a week, when all naval matters of
every description were discussed and settled. Mr. Grimes had
himself a large naval correspondence. All the diverse views
gathered from all sides, naval and political, he would carry in
his head, bring them forth, force the Secretary to an opinion,
and after full discussion he would sum up in his clear, concise,
common-sense way. The next day he would present the whole
matter before the Senate, in a little more elaborate but in the
same truth-convincing manner. No one could answer him, and
finally both sides accepted his statements as the end of the whole
matter. Every measure, great or small, connected with the
Navy, from July, 1861, until Mr. Fox left for Russia, had this
discussion. There was no disposition of important commands
that was not a matter of consultation with him.
60. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, July 22, 1861.
Yesterday I was on the field of battle. No one can have a
proper conception of its horror. Our army was totally routed, with
immense destruction of life on both sides. I was not much ex
posed, except to capture, which I escaped by less than a minute.
I have witnessed the last battle-field, certainly the last I shall visit

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 147
voluntarily. I cannot picture its horrible details, but will tell you
of them, if I can.
July 29th. — The enemy's pickets are close upon us, but we have
no fears of what the result is to be. Our new general is here, and
inspires great confidence. Would that we had the same confidence
in some of the members of the cabinet !
61. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, August 4, 1861.
I am happy to say that we shall adjourn in two days. I am on
a select committee to investigate the causes of the loss of the
Norfolk and Pensacola Navy-Yards, and Harper's Ferry Arsenal,
which will sit in the recess, and that possibly may detain me a day
or two, but I hope. not. It will compel me, however, to leave home
again in October. The city is now under the most rigid military
discipline, and perfect order prevails everywhere. All have un
bounded confidence in General McClellan. There are about eighty
thousand troops in the vicinity.
John Grimes is getting well. He was blistered and dosed to
his heart's content. His trouble was the shock of a large Minie-
ball, which struck him in the chest, and knocked him over. The
concussion, and going two entire days without food or sleep, and the
last one in a drenching rain, caused a sort of haemorrhage of the
lungs. His officers say he behaved very gallantly. He did not
shrink from any part of his duty, was the last to come in, and
brought with him, alone, the remnant of the battalion of marines.
I hope to see you soon, and I long to have the day come. This
congressional life is poor business — taking one away from all he
loves, and that can make him happy. I have a great many things
to tell you about the battle.
62. — To J. H. Gear, W. F. Cooloaugh, A. W. Carpenter, Joshua Copp, J. G.
Foote, and other Citizens of Burlington. Burlington, August 17, 1861.
I have received your favor of the 15th instant, in which you con
gratulate me upon my return to the State, and invite me to address
the people of this city, at such time and place as I may designate,
on the important questions now before the country, involving the
existence of the Government.

148 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
I appreciate, as I ought, the kind feeling that prompted this invita
tion, and return you my sincere thanks for it. I would address you
at any time and at any place, if I supposed I could communicate a
particle of information not already in the possession or within the
reach of every citizen of the State. I could only say in many words,
what I now say in a few, that it seems to me that there is no safe
alternative before us, but to give a firm and ardent support to the
Government in its attempt to put down insurrection and rebellion.
More than any State in this Confederacy, Iowa should resist the pre
tended right of a State to secede from it. Our position in the centre
of the continent, without foreign commerce, dependent upon other
States for our markets and for our means for transportation to reach
them, would soon, if the right to destroy the Union by the secession
of the States be conceded, place us in the character of a dependent
and conquered province. We need, and must have, at whatever
cost, a permanent government and unrestricted access to the Atlantic
Ocean and to the Gulf of Mexico. There must be no foreign soil
between us and our markets.
As one of the Representatives of Iowa in the Federal Congress, I
ha ve sought to give expression by my votes to what I believe to be
the opinions of the people of the State, and have uniformly voted
all the men, money, ships, and supplies, that were asked for. In
doing so, I have not only expressed what I believed to be their
wishes, but I have acted upon my own convictions of duty. I shall
continue to do so until this unholy war shall be brought to a success
ful conclusion. The public debt that this war will impose upon us will appall
some and perhaps dampen the patriotism of some. Most erroneous
impressions, however, seem to prevail as to the magnitude of our
present indebtedness, and that which we are Hkely to create. The
entire public indebtedness of this country on the 6th instant, the day
Congress adjourned, was a hundred and eleven million dollars, most
of which was inherited from the preceding Administration, and the
estimated expenses of the next year, for military, naval, and civil pur
poses, were less than three hundred million dollars, less than the an
nual expenses of Great Britain in a time of profound peace. In con
nection with the aggregate of these two sums let us remember that
England paid eight thousand five hundred million dollars to carry
on her wars with the first Napoleon. She was contending for her

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 149
commercial rights, and the result showed that her money was well
expended : we are not only contending for our commercial rights,
but we seek to uphold and perpetuate the best Government ever
known among men.
Foreigners call us, with great truth, the most impatient people
on the earth. This natural impatience is greatly increased by our
present troubles. We all want peace restored and business revived,
and most of us believe that a permanent peace can only be estab
lished by the victorious arms of our soldiers. Our anxieties in this
regard are very liable to cause us to do great injustice to the Gov
ernment and to ourselves also. We clamor for victories, forgetting
that the most thorough preparation is necessary to achieve them.
We forget the condition of the country four months ago, and ask
that that shall be done in a week which requires months of arduous
labor to perform. Very few fully appreciate the difficulties by
which the President of the United States found himself surrounded,
when he assumed power on the 4th of March last. Many of the
Executive Departments had recently been under the control of trai
tors. The army had been dispersed and demoralized, and many of
the most trusted and prominent officers were disloyal. Our vessels-
of-war were scattered upon foreign and remote stations. The
Departments were full of spies and traitors. The pubhc armories
had been plundered and their contents delivered to the rebels. The
President was without an army, without a navy, without arms or
munitions of war, and with enemies within and without. In this
condition of things, and after an almost uninterrupted peace of fifty
years, he was called upon to organize in a few weeks five armies,
each of them larger than any that had ever been marshaled on this
continent, and to improvise a navy with which to blockade a coast
greater in extent than that which England was unable to blockade
with more than four hundred vessels-of-war in 1812-'14. That there
have been mistakes committed in the selection of agents and officers
cannot be denied, but, that there has been any lack of energy or of
devotion to the cause of the country, it seems to me that no fail
man who examines the subject will assert. Few persons compre
hend all the labor, the time, and the perplexities involved in furnish
ing clothing, arms, transportation, stores and pay for four hundred
and fifty thousand men, and in purchasing or building, manning,
arming, and equipping two hundred vessels-of-war by a Government
11

150 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
whose credit was impaired, whose armories had been destroyed, and
whose munitions of war had been stolen, and to do all this in the
space of three months.
It becomes us to be hopeful and patient, bearing in mind that
the authorities in Washington are resolved that their preparation
for the conflict shall correspond with the magnitude of the conspir
acy they are compelled to encounter.
You say, gentlemen, that you address me without distinction of
party, and I find among the signatures appended to your letter the
names of many to whom I have always been politically opposed.
Permit me to say that the time has arrived when I am anxious to
forget all party names, and party platforms, and party organizations,
and to unite with anybody and everybody in an honest, ardent, and
patriotic support of the Government — not as a party Government
with a Republican at its head, but as the national Government, or
dained by and for the benefit of the whole people of the country.
63. — To A. C. Barnes, Albia, Monroe County, Iowa.
Burlington, September 16, 1861.
Your letter of the 13th instant, in which you say, " Ever since
Breckinridge made his treasonable speeches in the United States
Senate, it is being constantly reiterated that President Lincoln has
violated the Constitution, and, as evidence of the fact, it is asserted
that the Senate refused to ratify his acts ; " and in which you ask
me " to state whether the charge that Congress did refuse to sustain
the acts of the President is true or not," has come duly to hand.
By referring to the " Acts and Resolutions passed at the First
Session of the Thirty-seventh Congress," page 89, section 3 of Act
LVIIL, a copy of which I send you, you will observe that it is enacted
" that all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President of the
United States, after the fourth of March, eighteen hundred and six1-
ty-one, respecting the Army and Navy of the United States, and call
ing out or relating to the militia or volunteers from the States, are
hereby approved, and in all respects legalized and made 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."
This section ratifies and confirms, to the fullest possible extent,
all the acts of the President that needed or that were susceptible

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 151
of ratification, and was adopted by the vote of every Republican
and loyal Democratic member of the Senate present. So far as I
am informed, I believe it was all the confirmation of the acts of the
President that he either expected or desired.
I know it is urged by some, but mostly, if not entirely, by those
who are opposed to the vigorous prosecution of the present war,
that it was also necessary to confirm the acts of the President sus
pending, in some cases, the writ of habeas corpus. It must be ap
parent, I think, to every one who will reflect upon the subject, that
to have attempted such confirmation would be to inferentially admit
that, as commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States, the President had no power to suspend the operation of that
writ without congressional authority. Very few, if any, loyal mem
bers of Congress were willing to admit that. They did not doubt
but that he had complete power in the premises, and they chose to
leave him to exercise his authority under the Constitution according
to his own judgment and as the exigencies of the country might re
quire. They did not believe that his acts in this regard needed con
firmation, and therefore confined their ratification and approval to
such acts as required legal enactments for their basis, and in the
initiation of which they had been anticipated by him.
There may be some who honestly believe that the Senate refused
to support the President because of their failure to pass certain
resolutions presented by Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts. The facts
in regard to those resolutions were these : They were introduced
at an early day in the session, and were put aside from day to day
to make room for what was considered more important business,
until just at the close of the session, when they had reached that
stage in parliamentary proceedings when it was impossible to
amend them without unanimous consent, and that could not be ob
tained. The objection urged by some gentlemen against them as
they stood without amendment was, that they were improperly
drawn, inasmuch as the phraseology was in the past tense, and de
clared that the acts of the President were legal and valid when per
formed, whereas, as they insisted, they ought to have declared that
those acts should be legal and valid as though done under the sanc
tion of law. It was a question of grammatical construction. This,
if my memory serves me correctly, was the position of Mr. Sherman,
of Ohio, whose action has been much criticised in this State, as well

152 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
as elsewhere. He declared his willingness, nay his anxiety, to jus
tify and approve the acts of the President, but he was unwilling to
say that those acts were legal at the time they were performed.
Although not agreeing- with him in his construction of the phrase
ology of the resolutions, it is due to him to say that no man in
America was more anxious than he to give to the Administration
an honest, hearty, and patriotic support. And, when the legaliza
tion of its proceedings was put in what he believed to be proper
language, he cordially sustained it.
It was simply on account of this objection in the minds of a few-
Senators that the ^resolutions which it was impossible to amend
were dropped, and the substance of them incorporated into a law.
Be assured that all these charges of a refusal to support the
Administration by Republican and loyal Democratic Senators are
devices of the enemy, and should only serve to make the path of
duty more plain before us. That duty, it seems to me, is obvious.
We should enthusiastically rally to the support of the noble and
true men who were nominated by the convention held at Des
Moines on the 31st day of July last. They are the representatives
of the Government in this crisis. A vote for them will be a vote in
support of the Administration, in favor of the integrity of the Gov
ernment, and for peace through victory. Let us give to Governor
Kirkwood, who, in the last six months, has done more hard work,
incurred greater responsibilities, and been more causelessly abused
than all the Governors that Iowa ever had, that cheering, sweeping
majority that his patriotism, his integrity of purpose, and his devo
tion to the true interests of the State, so justly merit.
64. — To Hon. W. P. Fessenden, Portland, Maine.
Burlington, September 19, 1861.
Of course, you are so terribly oppressed with the great affairs
of the finance department of this Government as to be wholly un
able to write a letter to one of the outside barbarians in Iowa. I
would not disturb your labors or your repose, if I did not deem it
important to glorify myself a little over the result of the " circula
tion Treasury-notes " measures, about the success of which those
learned financial pundits, Fessenden and Chase, expressed so many
doubts. You learn, of course, as I do, that at least one hundred
thousand dollars of them can be floated to the manifest advantage

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED .STATES. 153
of the Government, and to the immense advantage of this poor and
benighted region. If that pure patriot and model of a public offi
cer, whom you feel called on to defend when aspersed, would call
some Pennsylvanians into the field, instead of keeping them all at
home to 'fill army contracts, and let some of the army contracts and
supplies be furnished here, business would once more assume a
hopeful condition in the West. But we ought not to complain.
We ought to console ourselves with the reflection that Pennsylva
nia furnishes one-third of all the officers to the army, and of course
this draw upon her resources must impair her ability to furnish
privates. When it was reported that Fremont was suspended, cold chills
began to run up and down people's backs, they bit their lips, said
nothing, but refused to enlist. I know nothing of the merits of the
controversy, but it is as evident as the noonday sun that the people
are all with Fremont, and will uphold him "through thick and thin."
My wife says, and I regard her as a sort of moral thermometer for
my guidance, that the only real noble and true thing done during
this war has been his proclamation. Everybody of every sect,
party, sex, and color, approves it in the Northwest, and it will not
do for the Administration to causelessly tamper with the man who
had the sublime moral courage to issue it.
I wish you to understand that I do not intend by this letter to
impose upon you the labor of answering it. I had nothing to write
about, but I had not heard from you, and the spirit said, " write,"
and I have written as the spirit moved. If my wife knew that I
was writing, she would send her love ; as it is, you must content
yourself with mine. 65. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, November 6, 1861.
I reached Washington last^ night, weary with the journey, and
disgusted with what I heard from quite authentic sources of the
course of the Administration. If the other Northwestern members
feel as I do, there will be something more during the coming session
than growling and showing our teeth. And, from what I hear, they
do feel excited and incensed.
November 10th.— I have just returned from church. Dr. Chan-
ning preached a very able, extemporaneous, philosophical, abolition

154 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
sermon to a crowded house — such a sermon as no one would have
dared to preach in Iowa twelve months ago, and yet it was received
here to-day with profound attention and approval. Dr. Channing,
in personal appearance, voice, and manner of enunciation and de
livery, reminded me very much of Jeff. Davis. His voice is not
strong, he has Davis's manner of sinking the last two or three
words of each sentence to a low key, his forehead is high, broad,
and overhanging, and his face thin and expressive of severe men
tal labor mingled with physical pain. It is several years since I
have heard any sermon that compared with it in length and depth
of thought, and in literary finish. There is nothing ornate about his
style, no figures or tropes, no husks, all solid meat.
The society is greatly enlarged, and I shall increase it by one,
for I have rented part of a pew. Rev. John Pierpont, who is over
eighty years of age, but who looks for all the world like a man of
sixty, was present. He is now a clerk in one of the departments.
We hear to-day that Colonel Sumner has been badly wounded.
Nobody can imagine why that battle was fought. It seems to have
been one of those resultless sacrifices of life of which we have had
so many this year. There will be no battle on the Potomac this
year ; I think that is settled. 66. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, November 13, 1861.
I cannot enlighten you very much about Fremont. He has no
doubt done some impolitic and some very foolish things; but I
judge from all I can learn that most of the extravagances with
which he is charged were prompted or perpetrated by or under
the direction of General McKinstry, a regular army officer who
was placed by the Government in charge of his department as
quartermaster. Whatever may have been his acts, or omissions to
aGt, however, there is no question in my mind that the real cause
of his removal was the proclamation he issued, and which he failed
to modify in accordance with the President's wishes. That was the
great sin for which he was punished. The Committee of the House
of Representatives appointed to investigate Cameron's alleged
frauds was composed of Fremont's enemies, and they were soon
induced to abandon Cameron and fall upon Fremont. They have
drawn out all the ex parte testimony they could that was calculated

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 155
to implicate him and his friends, giving him no opportunity to deny
or rebut it ; and yet one of the committee who is very virulent
against Fremont told me yesterday that they were unable to trace
the transactions which they deemed so exceedingly censurable to
him or to his knowledge.
67. — To Hon. W. P. Fessenden, Portland, Maine.
Washington, November 13, 1861.
Your letter of the 10th inst. is at hand, and your imprudence in
writing to me will now impose upon you the infliction of a long
letter. First, as to personal matters; I am domiciled with our good
friend, who seems to love you as though you were her own son,
Mrs. Chipman, at 470 Seventh Street. She fancies that she can
satisfy you in the matter of a room or rooms, and unless you are
exceedingly particular you will be pleased with the company.
You ask me, Who and what caused the removal of Fremont ?
I answer, the primary cause of the removal was his proclamation.
I learn from a most authentic source, a member of the cabinet,
that before the Administration would bestow the appointment of
major-general upon him a promise was exacted from him that he
would not be a candidate for the presidency. Under that pledge
he was appointed, and everything went " merry as a marriage-bell"
until the proclamation was issued. When it appeared, the embryo
Presidents in the cabinet at once took the alarm, and required him
to modify it. This he refused to do, but published the President's
modification instead. Then the war began, and a regular conspiracy
was entered into to destroy his influence in the country and with
the army, and finally to depose him. Every other day the report
was published that he was removed, gross charges were made
against him that were wholly unfounded in fact ; his subordinate
generals were stimulated to disobedience, officers were sent out to
act in confidential positions who were spies upon his every act, and
the select committee of the House of Representatives appointed
to investigate the frauds in this department, almost all of whom
were original enemies of Fremont, were easily and speedily induced
to let Cameron go, and begin on him. Yet with all their sifting of
testimony, taking it from the mouths of disappointed rival contrac
tors in an ex parte manner, and with no opportunity to rebut it, a

156 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
member of the committee tells me that they have been unable to
bring home the perpetration or the cognizance of a single one of
the alleged frauds to General Fremont.
Now you well know that I was not and am not a partisan of
Fremont. I told you and others in July that I doubted his capacity
for so extensive a military command as was assigned to him. I
would never have made him a major-general of the regular army ;
but, being one, I intend to insist most strenuously and persistently
that he shall have complete justice done him, no matter what may
be the effect upon me. General Fremont has doubtless done some
very impolitic, unwise, and extravagant things ; but I assert and
can prove that he has himself done or caused to be done- no impol
itic or unwise or extravagant thing that has not been vastly exceeded
in these qualities by the generals of the Army of the Potomac, un
der the nose and with the sanction of the Administration. The
truth is, all the frauds perpetrated at St. Louis, according to the
testimony before the committee, were perpetrated by and under
General Justin McKinstry, an old officer of the regular army, be
longing to the Quartermaster's Department, who was sent out to
St. Louis by the Administration. I do not question that Fremont
made some unfortunate selections of agents : so has the Secretary
of War, Mr. Seward, Governor Chase, and it is shrewdly suspected
that the " father of the faithful " has sinned in this way. So much,
and enough you will say, of the Fremont imbroglio.
The truth is, we are going to destruction as fast as imbecility,
corruption, and the wheels of time, can carry us. The administration
of the Treasury has thus far been a success, and Chase, though
accused of having no heart, has certainly a good head. But, if he
had in his person all of the elements of greatness, he would be ut
terly powerless before the flood of corruption that is sweeping over
the land and perverting the moral sense of the people. The army
is in most inextricable confusion, and is every day becoming worse
and worse.
Now, my dear sir, it is no flattery to say that an, awful responsi
bility must devolve upon you. If you determine to probe the sore
spots to the bottom, and that right shall be done, we can inaugu
rate a new order of things, and the country can be saved. You
have followers — you can control the Senate. The wicked fear you,
and will flee before you. But, if you rest quietly in your seat, we

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 157
shall go on from one enormity to another, the evil of to-day will be
urged as an apology for greater evil to-morrow, and the devil will
be sure to get us in the end, and that right speedily. As for my
self and my household, I am determined to serve the Lord. I only
regret that I have not the means to do the good for the country that
is in your power.
I congratulate you upon the fact that we now have a preacher
here with brains in his head, and a heart in his bosom, whom it is a
delight to hear, Rev. William H. Channing. I shall expect you to
be a constant attendant with me upon his ministrations.
We have been giving the old commodores an overhauling about
the Gosport Navy-Yard. The result shows that they destroyed ten
million dollars' worth of property in a mere fright. We take up
the Harper's Ferry Armory matter to-morrow, and I presume the
same result will be reached.
Everybody here is jubilant over the victories at Beaufort and in
Kentucky, both of the navy ; for you must know that a navy lieu
tenant commanded in the battle at Pikeville, and that it was an im
promptu army that he was at the head of; the Department only yes
terday declining to furnish Nelson troops, at the instance of May-
nard of Tennessee, who so told me.
With peculiar pleasure Mr. Grimes received news of the
success of the Port Royal Expedition. An officer wrote to
him : TJ. S. S. Wabash, Port Royal, S. C, November 15, 1861.
I have never ceased to remember the faith you expressed in the
letter you wrote to me concerning the Naval School, that our ships-
of-war might be relied on to do good work against the fortifications
of our enemies, and that the chief hope of the nation would centre
in iron-clad ships-of-war for coast-defense. I therefore think that
you, as one of the navy's best friends, may be glad to hear some
thing from the squadron, which with only wooden walls has reduced
trie strongest earthworks in the South, and captured a stronghold
for a loyal army to rest upon. The Government had the wisdom
to put at our head the best man in the navy and to clothe him with
unusual powers. He chose this place of attack, and brought his
squadron and the transports under his protection into the roads of
Port Royal, from which all the aids of navigation had been removed.
The defenses of the place were carefully reconnoitred, and the at-

158 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
tack made with a vigor and nerve worthy of the navy's best days.
The gallant bearing and confidence of our chief inspired us all, and
we engaged and silenced the batteries at a distance of less than six
hundred yards. It would have done your heart good to see the
rapid and precise fire of our heavy guns. The enemy expected to
repulse us, their works were carefully and skillfully constructed,
they had heavy rifled cannon, columbiads of the largest size, and
all their cannon were very heavy. The engagement was altogether
naval on our side. The troops, sorely to their regret, were unable
to take any part in it, or strike any blow to aid us. We had been
in possession of the forts for several hours before a soldier landed.
I am hardly authorized by our brief acquaintance to write to you so
freely, but I remember with so much pleasure our intercourse at
Annapolis, and was so much gratified by the kind letter you wrote
me, that I will not deny myself the pleasure of rendering to one
of the navy's truest champions this greeting from the spot so re
cently reclaimed from secession.
68. — To Commodore Samuel F. Du Pont.
Washington, November 23, 1861.
I have waited to learn the particulars of your grand achieve
ment at Port Royal, and could not, if I would, any longer refrain
from congratulating you upon the splendor of your success. And
yet I was well satisfied before you sailed that you would do precise
ly what you have done. I have never suffered myself to doubt for
a moment the skill, the pluck, and the devotion of the navy, and
have never hesitated to say always and everywhere that it would
be the right arm of the public defense, and that this unholy rebel
lion was to be put down more by the navy than by the army.
I need not say to you, for you already know it, that your name
is fast becoming a household word all over the country, and that
everybody is striving to be foremost in doing you that honor your
merit so justly deserves. I think that the only other officers in
your fleet that I personally know are Captain Davis and the two
Commanders Rodgers. I beg you, if convenient, to extend my con
gratulations to them. Indeed, if I could, I would bid " All hail ! "
to every man and boy in your fleet. Be assured that no man re
joices over your success more than I do, and no man will rejoice
more than I shall over any future success, as well on your personal

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 159
account as on account of the glory your deeds reflect upon the
navy, and the peace and unity which I pray to God they may ulti
mately give to the country.
Commodore Du Pont wrote in reply :
Wabash, Port Eotal Harbor, December 2, 1861.
Your kind and gratifying letter reached me yesterday. It was
especially welcome from a slight circumstance occurring last sum
mer. I was in the Navy Department when Mr. Fox received a let
ter from you from your Western home, and he kindly let me read it.
It related to the Hatteras affair, and contained comments and sug
gestions in reference to any future naval expeditions, which so im
pressed me that I thought of you immediately after our success
here ; but, being too much pressed to write to you, I requested Cap
tain Raymond Rodgers to do so, and I hope his letter reached you,
that you may see our remembrance was mutual.
69. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, November 24, 1861.
I am now indebted to you for two letters, one of yesterday and
one to-day ; I am greatly indebted to you for them, and hope you
will not fail to " keep up the fire." I heard to-day the ablest dis
course I think that I ever heard. I wish you could have heard it ;
it would have done your heart good. This evening I have been
spending with Mr. Channing. He is a very pleasant man in private
as well as in public. He has a full house of very intelligent audi
tors, and there is no flagging of interest among them.
I had a long letter from Captain Rodgers, of the United States
steamer Wabash, giving an account of affairs at Port Royal. He is
one of the most accomplished men I ever met, and is said to be the
best executive officer in the navy. You remember what I always
told you about Captain Du Pont. His success has answered my
expectations. Captain Porter goes out shortly in command of an
expedition against New Orleans.
Hale and Johnson are both gone, and I am " running the com
mittee " 1 alone.
December 7th.— You will see by the proceedings of Congress
'Committee to inquire into the abandonment and destruction of the public
property at Pensacola, Norfolk, and Harper's Ferry.

160 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
that I am likely to have more business to do than anybody else ;
for all the labor of the two committees, of the District of Columbia
and of the Navy, falls upon me.
On the assembling of Congress, Mr. Grimes at once advo
cated a searching inquiry as to the disasters that had befallen
the pubhc arms, and moved the appointment of a joint com
mittee of both Houses on the Conduct of the War, December
5th-9th. He said :
The best interests of the country, the reputation of the coun
try, of the army and of the officers of the army, require that there
should be some investigation. Let me tell Senators that this is no
new proceeding. Investigations like this are coeval with the Gov
ernment. In 1790, during the administration of Washington, a
grand expedition was fitted out to penetrate the Northwest, under
the command of General St. Clair. That campaign was disastrous,
and a resolution was introduced into the House of Representatives
to raise a committee for investigating the causes that led to that
disaster. A committee was raised, and in 1792 a report was made
in response to that resolution. On July 9, 1813, a resolution was
introduced for a committee to inquire into the causes which led to
the multiplied failures of the arms of the United States. At the
next session this resolution was modified and adopted, and an
investigation was had. Justice to the officers, to the soldiers, and
to the country, demands that we should have some sort of investi
gation now, and know where the blame does rest for the disasters
that have occurred.
The committee was appointed, Hon. Benjamin F. Wade,
chairman, and rendered considerable service in exposing abuses
and weeding out incompetent officers.
It was reported that a colonel of the regular army, who com
manded the reserve at Bull Run, July 21st,- was intoxicated on
that occasion. A court of inquiry found that he was " drunk
to a certain extent," but not enough to justify the calling of a
court-martial for his trial. Asking for full information of the
case, Mr. Grimes remarked, December 5th :
It will be interesting to learn how drunk a man may be to jus
tify another in applying that opprobrious epithet to him, and yet

1861.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 161
not drunk enough to warrant his trial and removal from command.
The country, I think, would like to know the names of the astute
officers who composed this remarkable court. It may be desirable
to know the quantity and frequency of the prescriptions of brandy
that were administered to Colonel Miles that day, and which the
court gravely tell us they consider as very slight extenuation of
the guilt attached to his condition. Such was the finding of the
court in relation to the condition of the man who, on the memora
ble 21st of July last, exercised the most important military com
mand next to that of the commanding general in the field. Let
the world know precisely how great his guilt was, and why, if
guilty, he has neither been ordered before a court-martial nor
dropped from the army list.
The time when intemperate officers can be safely appointed to,
or retained in, either the army or navy, has gone by. The people
of this country are now too much in earnest to quietly endure the
one or the other. These are no times to indulge in that sickly sen
timent, sometimes improperly called kindness of heart, which is
unwilling to do, or dares not do, justice to the country by maintain
ing discipline and sobriety in the army and navy. The people are
unwilling to intrust the great interests they have at stake in this
conflict into the hands of those who rest even under the suspicion
of intemperance. They require the entire consecration of the best
energies of their servants, mental and physical, to their cause ; and
they will not send out their sons to battle under the leadership of
officers whose faculties are benumbed by excessive indulgence. It
is idle to suppose that an army commanded by officers who indulge
in or wink at such habits can command the respect and confidence
of the country, or that this great struggle can be brought to a suc
cessful issue under their guidance. For myself, I declare that in
my feeble way I will hold up to the reprehension of a just public
sentiment any man, be he high or low, the head of a bureau, of a
department, a commander in the army, or the President himself,
who shall appoint, or retain, or seek or connive at the appointment
or retention of any man in office who is of intemperate habits.
Mr. Grimes introduced a bill, December 9th, to further pro
mote the efficiency of the navy, and secured its passage on the
12th. In explaining its provisions, he said :

162 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1861.
The necessity of a reform in the navy, by which young, active,
enterprising officers shall be substituted for the old and unseawor-
thy, seems to be admitted by all. The experience of every naval
service in the world shows that old officers, however valuable for
counsel and shore-duty, are generally incompetent to perform the
arduous duties of a captain or commander of a fleet in times of
active hostilities. In times of peace, when the ships have the full
complement of a captain, lieutenants, masters, passed-midshipmen,
and midshipmen, and when their duty does not require them to
appear upon deck except when the sun shines and the sea is smooth,
these old gentlemen may fulfill all the purposes of their office ; but
in times like these, when the line of the service is so reduced that
but one lieutenant can be allowed to a ship, instead of five or six,
as formerly, it is not reasonable to expect that they can endure all
the privations and hardships that their positions as commanders
would demand of them. More is required of a naval than of a
military commander. The naval officer must contend against the
elements as well as against the public enemy. His command is
always, to a great extent, independent of others ; and he must
rely in a great measure upon his own ship for his means of attack
and defense. He must be a thorough sailor, a skillful navigator
and gunner ; he must have enterprise and courage ; he must have
the power to inspire his crew with confidence ; and, in order to
have these qualifications, he must have a clear head and a sound
body. Some old officers possess all these qualities in an eminent
degree, and such will be recalled to the service. But there are
many who tread the deck with a feeble step, and the country re
quires that all such should give place to younger men.
The bill provides for the temporary restoration and employment
of such old officers as may be deemed qualified for duty, with the
full pay of their respective ranks ; and that any one of them, who,
upon the recommendation of the President, shall 'receive a vote of
the thanks of Congress for gallantry in action, may be restored to
the active list. This provision was intended as an incentive to
deeds of noble daring, and as a reward for their performance.
Surely there ought to be no objection to that provision which
authorizes the President to select a flag-officer from the two highest
grades of officers. The highest public interests require that this
be allowed, and allowed at once. The organization of the navy at

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 163
present is analogous to that of a regiment in the army without field-
officers, the oldest captain commanding. It would be quite absurd
to organize a whole army upon such a plan, giving the command of
it to that captain whose birth was nearest the flood ; yet the navy
is organized upon precisely that plan. The bill now under consid
eration, if passed into a law, will abolish this hoary-headed absurd
ity, and give to the President an opportunity to select as the com
manders of our fleets men in the prime of life, with minds and bod
ies in full vigor.
Mr. Grimes was watchful and prompt to detect and expose
abuses in every quarter. For the delay in prosecuting the war,
he said, January 7th :
The Senate is in a great degree responsible, not only on ac
count of the political sentiments inculcated by individual members
in former sessions, but by the course adopted at the July session,
when they allowed majors, captains, and lieutenants, to be elevated
from the line of the army, and put into positions of brigadier and
major generals of volunteers. It is not in human nature to suppose
that they will be exceedingly anxious to prosecute this war to a
conclusion, because when it is concluded they will revert to their
old positions, and cease to enjoy the emoluments and rank of major
and brigadier generals.
As to the way in which Mr. Davis had managed West
Point and the army during the time he was Secretary of War,
Mr. Grimes said, January 15, 1863 :
We created two new cavalry regiments some five years ago.
Mr. Davis selected his favorites for the important offices in those
regiments. He indoctrinated the officers of the army with the idea
that they must be impregnated with his peculiar notions, else they
could not have a favored position in the army. The result was,
that when this rebellion broke out the second cavalry regiment,
which used to be called " Davis's Own," was almost bereft of offi
cers ; 'there was hardly a man left in it in the grades of colonel,
lieutenant-colonel, major, or captain.
As chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia,
Mr. Grimes gave sedulous attention to the interests of the Dis
trict, and secured appropriate legislation for the correction of

164 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
abuses and the prosperity and order of the national capital. He
said with reference to the jail of the District, January 10, 1862 :
I am not very fresh in my reading of history ; but, from recol
lection of the description of prisons I have read of, I think there
never was a place of confinement that would compare with the
Washington Jail as it was at the commencement of the present
session, except the French Bastile and the dungeons of Venice.
The jail was erected at the expense of the United States a great
many years ago, and was designed to accommodate forty or fifty
persons. When I first visited it a few days before the session of
Congress, there were confined in it two hundred and eighteen per
sons, " black spirits and white, blue spirits and gray " intermingled,
of all complexions, colors, ages, of different sexes, and without any
particular classification as to offenses. A little boy, confined for a
trivial offense, who had followed, from youthful indiscretion, a regi
ment from Connecticut to this city, was incarcerated in the same
cell with three men who were committed on a charge of murder.
The prison is in better condition than it was before the especial
attention of Congress was called to it. Many persons have been
removed ; many soldiers who had been put in for trivial military
offenses have been taken out by order of the provost-marshal ; a
good many fugitives from service, or persons claimed to be fugitives
from service, owned by citizens of the adjacent States, have been
removed ; but there are at this time about one hundred and seventy
persons in the jail, more than three times as many as it is designed
to accommodate. When I visited the jail the other day, I had hardly entered the
threshold before a colored boy stepped up and tapped me on the
shoulder. He happened to know who I was. He said he was con
fined as a runaway. I asked him if any one claimed him. " No."
" Are you a free boy ? " " Yes." Turning round to the jailer, I
asked him if that was so. He said it was. I asked him, " How do
you know it to be so ? " "I know it to be so because two men
from Maryland, who were born and reared where this boy was born
¦¦ and reared, stated that he was free of their knowledge, for they
had known him from the time he was born."
Now, I want such cases to be released. I do not believe it is
my duty to vote money, to impose taxes upon my constituents, to
keep a slave-pen here in the capital of the Union for the purpose

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 165
of confining a free boy, who may be thrown in by one of your Dis
trict justices of the peace or constables.
I found another case. A white man who was committed nearly
six months ago told me that he had written to the magistrate who
committed him, to the prosecuting attorney, and to other parties
in this city, imploring them to inform him for what offense he had
been committed ; that he was unable to ascertain why he was com
mitted. There had been a session of the grand-jury, and still be
was held, and was lying upon a bed of sickness. Upon going to
the record, I found that an order had been entered, directing that
the prisoner should be discharged, yet the order had not been car
ried into execution. That the man was sick was no apology for
retaining him in jail. He should have been sent to the almshouse,
which we have provided and are supporting for the purpose of re
ceiving persons who may be in his condition.
There was another case. A young colored fellow, who came as
the servant of an officer from the vicinity of Pittsburg, was thrown
into this jail in August last. The regiment to which he was at
tached went forward toward the face of the enemy. There was
nobody here to look after him. There is no doubt as to his being a
free boy, and yet he was there on the first day of this month.
There are other cases. They have in this District and in Mary
land what they call an apprehension fee. They have a law which
declares that, if any slave wanders a certain distance from the resi
dence of his master, he may be taken up as a fugitive. There are
persons in this vicinity, I am credibly informed, who are lying in
wait around your city and the surrounding country, in the hope
that they can find some poor colored man or woman who is out
picking berries or visiting a friend, and who will wander a little
farther than the distance established by law. The moment they
can find such a person beyond the limited distance, these harpies
pounce upon him or her, and, when the master tries to find the ser
vant, in the course of two or three weeks he will find him in the
Washington Jail ; from which it will be impossible to extricate him,
without paying a large sum for jailer's fees, for justice's fees, and
for constable's fees, in addition to this apprehension fee.
I do not desire, and I do not think that the Senate or the coun
try desires, that the Washington Jail shall be used for any such pur-
pose. ^

166 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
Four days after the above remarks, the Marshal of the Dis
trict sent a communication to the Senate, upon which Mr.
Grimes said :
The communication does not contain the truth as stated to me
at the jail personally yesterday. I applied for admission to the
jail. I was refused. Now, a communication has come here telling
us that a different rule prevails — not the rule that existed yesterday
at two o'clock. I want this matter to be brought to the attention
of the Senate, and I want it publicly brought to the attention of
the President of the United States.
Perhaps the Senate itself is somewhat to blame for the manner
in which the jail has been kept ; for I trace a great many of the
evils existing there, and the failure to remove them, to the appoint
ment of a person as Marshal of the District who was made such by
the advice and consent of this body. The President of the United
States saw fit, in the plenitude of his wisdom, to import to this Dis
trict from the State of Illinois Mr. Ward H. Lamon, and to appoint
him the Marshal. It is not for me to say why one of the seventy
thousand, people of this District was not selected for this responsible
position ; I simply know the fact that a man was brought here
from abroad, who had no interest in the District ; who had no com
munity of feeling or sympathy with the people of the District ; who
was and is wholly unfamiliar with the duties of the position. Among
other important duties intrusted by law to the marshal is the con
trol of the jail. A humane and Christian man might make it a
Bethesda. Mr. Lamon has paid no attention to it until of late, and
now only to make an order prohibiting the admission of all persons
for the purpose of inspection or otherwise, without a special permit
from him.
Shortly after I reached the city on the lst of November last,
supposing that I might possibly be continued as a member of the
Committee on the District of Columbia, I felt it to be my duty to
inform myself, among other things, of the true condition and man
agement of the jail. Accordingly, I have visited it often. I have
conversed with its inmates, examined the records of commitments,
and I think I may safely say that I have been instrumental in secur
ing the discharge of several innocent persons. Last Friday I took
occasion to state to the Senate some of my observations in that jail.
On the day following, Mr. Lamon made a peremptory order that no

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 167
person — not even members of Congress, or members of the Com
mittee on the District of Columbia, who have the general charge
of all matters relating to the District — should be admitted to the
jail, without first supplicating and securing a written permission
from him, or unless he should be personally present. When intelli
gence of this order was brought to me yesterday morning by a
member of the House of Representatives, a large number of Sena
tors around me proffered to go with me to the President and de
mand the instant dismissal of this marshal — not because he had
been strutting through the streets of Illinois and Missouri with stars
on his shoulders, representing himself as a brigadier-general, as
detailed by a select committee of the House of Representatives —
not because he had purloined a regiment of troops and brought it
at great expense from St. Louis to the Potomac — not because he
had been traveling in special railway-trains at the public expense —
although for these reasons he ought to have been instantly dis
missed — but because of his manifest and acknowledged dereliction
of duty as Marshal of the District, and because of the insulting
character of the order he had made in regard to our admission to
the jail.
Upon reflection, I concluded to determine with positiveness for
myself whether such an order had been made. Accordingly, yes
terday I went to the jail and sought admission. Entering its por
tal, I told the jailer that I wished to examine it. He told me that
I could not be permitted to do so. I demanded to know the reason
why I was excluded. He answered that he had a peremptory order
from his superior, Marshal Lamon, forbidding the admission of any
one without a written permission from him, or without he was per
sonally present. I asked him if this rule applied to members of the
Senate and House of Representatives. He replied that it did. I
then asked him if he knew me, and that I was chairman of the
District Committee of this body. He said that he did, but that
that fact made no difference ; the rule was peremptory, and must be
enforced against all alike.
Upon this repulse at the jail, I concluded to go at once to the
President of the United States, to state to him the facts I have de
tailed, and to give him some idea of the expression of opinion of
those around me. When, for the first time in six months, I at
tempted to approach the footstool of power enthroned at the other

168 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
end of the avenue, I was told that the President was engaged, and
his servants declined to convey my name to him. I allude to this
subject, not because I suppose that the influence of this marshal
extends so far as to exclude me from the Executive mansion, as
well as from the jail, but as the reason why I state publicly here
what I intended to state privately there.
In the discipline of the penitentiary of the District Mr.
Grimes recommended a reform, so that prisoners, for good con
duct while in prison, should receive a deduction of a month in
each year from their term of sentence.
Such a system (he said, June 6th) prevails in a great many
States, in Ohio, in Iowa, in Indiana, with the most beneficial results.
It is an inducement to a prisoner to behave well and work well. It
is no pardoning power, but a curtailment of the judgment of the
court. 70. — To Commodore S. F. Bu Pont.
Washington, February 9, 1862.
I was sorry to learn, a few days ago, that you felt some chagrin
at the fact that the resolution tendering to you and to the officers
under your command the thanks of Congress for your exploit at
Port Royal had not been acted upon. As I am alone responsible
for everything in relation to it, I will tell you exactly what the
facts were.
The highest honor we can confer at present upon any naval offi
cer is a vote of thanks. To make such honors worth anything they
must not be too common or cheap. Knowing that several resolu
tions of similar import, but for small affairs, were to be offered, I
determined to forestall the action of the Senate by setting the ex
ample of referring such resolutions to the Committee on Naval
Affairs, and thus get the control of them. Accordingly, I intro
duced the resolutions of thanks to you, and suffered them to remain
quietly in the committee, smothering similar resolutions to others,
until the sentiment of the Senate on such subjects should become a
little rectified. In the mean time, the bill for retirement of old offi
cers became a law, and since then I have waited for the President's
recommendation, which would also, if acted upon, place you per
manently on the active list. That came to us day before yesterday,
and yesterday we passed the resolutions of thanks by a unanimous

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 169
vote. There will be no difficulty whatever about its passage through
the House of Representatives. You will, I trust, perceive that so
far from there being the slightest disposition to ignore or slumber
over the merits of your case, I have acted solely with a view to
subserve your individual interests, and at the same time to advance
the good of the service.
We are now all rejoicing over Foote's success in Tennessee.
We are much more hopeful than we have been, and I fancy that I
can see the end to the rebellion. The army is sore and a little dis
pirited at the naval successes, while they achieve none. May God
bless and prosper you in all your efforts !
Commodore Du Pont wrote in reply :
Wabash, Port Eoyal, February 23, 1862.
Your great kindness has made a deep impression on me. It has
been no trait of mine to " court honor," and I can truly say visions
of distinction formed no part or lot in ray motives of action. To
serve my country, do my duty, and meet the expectations of those
who had given me the opportunity, have been the incentives upper
most iu my mind. Yet I believe this temperament and such im
pulses are in no way inconsistent with feelings of profound grati
tude and pride at the high distinction which has been awarded me,
and which I owe to your kind instrumentality.
I am off to-morrow with a large division of my squadron to com
plete my work on the lower coast, and, if God is with us, in some
three weeks I hope to hold everything by an inside or outside
blockade from Cape Canaveral to Georgetown, South Carolina. Our
hearts have been gladdened by the news from the North. Porter
came in to-day on his way to the Gulf, and gave us the account of
the surrender of Fort Donelson. I have never permitted any in
vidious feelings of rivalry with our military brethren, but we are
thrilled in our esprit de corps at the deeds of the Navy, and I am
sure they must be agreeable to you, as offering some return to that
disinterested sympathy, guidance, and support, which you have ex
tended to that branch of the public service since you took your seat
in the councils of the nation.
We hear fine accounts of the Northwestern army, and Captain
Rodgers had a letter from some officer in the West, who spoke of
the impression made by the Iowa regiments. I thought this item,

170 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
traveling back to you from South Carolina, would not be unaccept
able. The following extract is from a letter of Commodore Du
Pont, dated Wabash, off Fernandina, March 6th :
Captain Davis has in charge for you a. rifle captured at Fernan
dina, which I desire you to do me the honor to accept. The victory
was bloodless, but most complete in results. The defenses have
astounded us by their capabilities, scientific location, and formida
ble character, with wonderful immunity from danger. Their cannon
are heavy and fine ; one 120-pounder rifle-gun, which they had
slung in the trucks to get away with, but dropped on the beach, we
have nothing to compare with. The most curious feature in the
operations was the chase of a train of cars by a gunboat for one
mile and a half ; two soldiers being killed, the passengers rushed
out into the woods, one of your late members among them, Mr.
Yulee ; he passed the night under a bush, and I hope had a blanket,
for it was the coldest of the season.
Objecting to a change in the rules of the two Houses, Mr.
Grimes said, January 29th :
I do not believe that it is proper for us to cripple the power of
a minority. I have been in a minority all my life until the present
time, and I am unwilling to say that when we get into executive
session a two-thirds vote may prevent a minority from expressing
their views, or confine them to only five minutes. I believe in pub
licity in our debates.
With reference to the construction of iron-clad steam-gun
boats Mr. Grimes said, February 4, 1862 :
I believe that the introduction of steam into naval warfare has
revolutionized the whole system of coast defenses, and I do not
want any better evidence of it than the success of the rebels in
attacking our vessels as they pass up and down the Potomac.
Nearly eight thousand shots have been fired at our vessels from
their fortifications along the line of that river, and only one has
been materially injured, and only three or four have been damaged
at all. One of these gunboats, made sharp at the ends, and thor
oughly encased in iron, with a powerful engine, would do more to
defend the harbor of New York than the best fortification there

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 171
that cost this Government a million or two millions of dollars. I
am in favor of this measure, not solely because I am anxious that
these vessels shall be used in the present war, but because I believe
they will more successfully defend the commerce of our country,
and the harbors on our Atlantic seaboard (in which I, although a
representative of a remote State, am as much interested as are the
people living immediately along the Atlantic), than will even stone
fortifications ; and I would much more cheerfully vote money out
of the national Treasury to build vessels of this description, and to
man them, and place them in your harbors for coast defense, than
I would to build stone-walls, as proposed by the Committee on
Military Affairs. In my opinion, it is the only kind of coast defense
that gentlemen of the Atlantic States will ultimately be compelled
to rely upon.
For the disaster to the Cumberland and the Congress in
Hampton Roads (March 8th) Mr. Grimes held the military
branch of the Government responsible, in that they had not
early organized an expedition against Norfolk, and captured the
navy-yard and machine-shop there. He said, March 11th :
In no degree is the navy responsible. Upon two different oc
casions the navy officers have offered to go down and open the
blockade of the Potomac, and upon one occasion for thirty-six hours
was the flotilla under steam, prepared to go down ; but a superior
military officer, who undertook to control all offensive operations,
refused to let it go.
A part of the blame for this disaster is perhaps due to ourselves,
because we have not at an earlier day passed some appropriations
to construct iron-plated ships. I congratulate myself that one of
the first acts I did when I came to Congress was to introduce a
resolution (January 19, 1861) calling for information in regard to
iron-plated ships, initiating the very measures which the experience
of the past few days has shown that it is necessary to adopt, if we
will protect our sea-coast from the ravages of a hostile foe.
He said, March 27th and 28th :
There is a perfect panic in our Northern commercial cities. New
York seems to think that in a few days the Merrimac is going to
be seen sailing up Broadway ! They have had, perhaps, some rea-

172 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
son for excitement, growing out of the egress of the Merrimac from
Elizabeth River ; but they ought to remember that the Government
has done something, and is doing something, to protect the com
merce of the country and these commercial cities against any dan
ger that may arise from the Merrimac coming out again.
It is well enough to know exactly what the department has
done. In the first place, we have the Monitor. She has been test
ed, and in such a manner as no English or French vessel has been
tested. We know exactly her capacities in actual warfare, and heu
sea-going capacities. We have, therefore, some basis upon which
to build a system. If we go on and improve upon that founda
tion which the Monitor and her success seem to have laid, then
we can establish something that will be creditable and useful to
the country. The Monitor was built by Mr. Ericsson at his own
risk. He entered upon the contract, and the Government did not
agree to receive the vessel from him until she had been tested.
She was on the way round to be tested upon the batteries at Pig
Point and on the Potomac, when the Merrimac came out from her
retreat. Then we have the Mystic and the Ironsides. In addition,
the Government have contracted for four steamers, iron-clad, to be
built by Captain Ericsson, upon the general plan of the Monitor,
but larger and with heavier armament, each to carry two fifteen-
inch guns, to be delivered in four months, and two more to be de
livered in five months, and another to be covered with four-inch
iron ; and, in addition, they have entered upon the armament of the
Roanoke. I have stated these facts in order to satisfy the public that there
is not any very great danger to be apprehended from the Merrimac,
and that we shall have plenty of iron-clad vessels built upon a plan
which we know must be successful.
The aspersions cast on naval officers are unjust when it is said
that they were opposed to the introduction of steam-vessels into
the navy. It is equally unjust to say that they were opposed to the
introduction of iron-clad vessels. I know something about that. I
happened to be one of the first members of this body who suggest
ed the subject, and I tried to bring the attention of the country to
the necessity of having iron-clad vessels, and consulted with gentle
men of eminence in that profession, and I did not meet with one
who was not enthusiastic in favor of the proposition ; and it is due

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 173
to that service to say that a board composed of Commodore Smith,
Captain Davis, and Commodore Paulding, were the men to whom
the plans for Ericsson's steam-battery and for the other iron-clads
that the Government is now building were submitted, and that
those plans met their full approbation. It has been said here,
that if naval officers had had their way these vessels would never
have been constructed. The appropriation bill of a million and a
half dollars, that we passed at the extra session, was drawn by a
naval officer, was sent to us with the solicitation of a naval offi
cer that we should pass it, and as soon as we passed it the whole
question was referred to some officers of the line, and they deter
mined as to the character of the vessels 'we should construct, and
are now imploring us to abandon wooden, and adopt iron-clad ves
sels. I say this in justice to the officers of the navy ; and my ob
servation and experience, I think, go as far as anybody's here.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE WESTERN NAVAL FLOTILLA.
Mr. Grimes said, March 13, 1862 :
I conceive it to be my duty, and it certainly is a great pleasure
to me, to call the special attention of the Senate to the achieve
ments of the newly-created naval flotilla on our Western waters,
and to the gallant part borne by its officers and men against armed
rebels in Kentucky and Tennessee. Surely, no one could more
properly be proud of the deeds of our army in that quarter than a
Senator from Iowa. Yet, I know that whatever adds to the glory
of our navy in the recent conflicts in the West adds also to the
glory of the army, and that the two branches of the service are so
conjoined that no rivalry ought to exist between them, except a
virtuous emulation in the performance of patriotic duty. No ex
amples can be found in the history of any country of more impor
tant results, attained in an equal time, in an untried field of naval
enterprise, than those we have lately witnessed on the Ohio, Mis
sissippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers ; and I feel assured that
the successes which have thus far been achieved will be surpassed
by the same forces whenever they can find an enemy to cope with
between Cairo and New Orleans.
On the 16th of May last, Commander John Rodgers was ordered
by the Secretary of the Navy to proceed to Cincinnati and pur-

174 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
chase, or commence the construction of, several gunboats for ser
vice on the Western rivers. Under his auspices the three boats,
Taylor, Lexington, and Conestoga, were purchased and fitted up
for war purposes. They were put in commission, and reached
Cairo after some delay, arising from the low stage of water in the
Ohio River, on the 12th of August. The Taylor carried seven guns,
of large calibre, the Lexington six, and the Conestoga four. Here
was the beginning of the Western flotilla. We all remember the
unfavorable criticisms indulged in when these three stern-wheel
steamers, with oak casings, arrived at that military post. Some
said they would be shaken to pieces by the recoil, of their own
guns ; others that they would be speedily sunk by the shore-guns
of the rebels ; while not a few were alarmed by visions of Hollins's
ram butting them to pieces with impunity. From the day they
reached their destination to the present no rebel craft has shown
itself ten miles above Columbus, and no rebel force of any descrip
tion has harbored in a proximity which could be deemed threaten
ing to navigation, or to the cities of St. Louis and Cairo. A few
experimental trips dispelled all doubts of their efficiency, and all
fears of a rebel incursion into any of the Northwestern States,
other than Missouri. A band of Jefferson Thompson's robbers did,
indeed, make a demonstration of crossing the Mississippi, in Au
gust last, from the town of Commerce, Missouri ; but, at the first
intimation that the gunboats were coming, they fled with what
booty they could lay their hands on, pillaged impartially from friends
and foes on the Missouri shore. The boon of security to the peo
ple of the Northwestern States is due in no small degree to these
wooden gunboats ; for, however numerous and brave our armies, it
would have been impossible with them alone to guard all points on
our river-line. Thus our people were not only protected from dan
ger of invasion, but were enabled to give all their time and ener
gies to preparation for those offensive movements which have re
claimed so much important territory from the domination of the
enemy. On the 23d of September Commodore Rodgers was detached
from service in the West, and Captain A. H. Foote was ordered to
take command as flag-officer. Since that time the following boats,
with iron-clad bows, have been built or prepared for service : St.
Louis, thirteen guns ; Carondelet, thirteen guns ; Pittsburg, thir-

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 175
teen guns ; Louisville, thirteen guns ; Cincinnati, thirteen guns ;
Essex, five guns ; Mound City, thirteen guns.
The first engagement of the gunboats with the enemy took place
on the 9th of September, at Lucas's Bend, in the Mississippi River,
a short distance above the rebel stronghold at Columbus. In that
engagement the Lexington and the Conestoga silenced two shore-
batteries, dispersed a large body of rebel cavalry, and so disabled
the rebel gunboat Yankee that she has not been heard of since.
On the 29th of October the Conestoga proceeded, with three com
panies of Illinois volunteers, sixty-two miles up the Tennessee River,
to EddyviUe, Kentucky, where they jointly attacked and routed a
rebel encampment, bringing away their horses, arms, camp-equi
page, and negro slaves.
There could hardly have been an occasion where the presence
of an efficient naval support was more necessary than at the battle
of Belmont, fought on the 7th of November last ; and there has
been no conflict during the war where this support, when finally
called into requisition, was more effectively and opportunely ren
dered. Nothing but the well-directed fire of grape and canister
from the guns of the Taylor and Lexington saved our land-forces
from being utterly cut to pieces, while retiring on board their trans
ports. Every effort of the enemy to bring his artillery to bear on
our columns was defeated by the storm of iron which assailed him
from the boats. His pieces were dismounted, and his horses and
men swept down as fast as they were placed iri position.
A great deal has been said about the origin of the proposition
to take possession of the Tennessee River. The credit of origi
nating the idea of a campaign in that direction has been claimed
first for one and then for another militarj'- commander. I desire
that impartial justioe may be done to every man ; and, acting upon
the intention to do justice, I must be permitted to say that, so far
as I can learn, the project of turning the enemy's flanks by pene
trating the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers originated with Com
modore Foote.1 The great rise of water in those rivers was provi
dential, and with the quick eye of military genius he saw at once
the advantage that it might secure to our arms.
The fleet, consisting of four iron-clad and three wooden boats,
1 He telegraphed General Halleck, January 28th, proposing an attack on Fort
Henry with the gunboats and several regiments.

176 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
proceeded to Fort Henry and reduced it in one hour and twenty
minutes, Commodore Foote being, as is his wont, in the fore-front
of the battle. It appears that he knew before leaving Paducah that
he should take Fort Henry, no matter what' might be tbe force or
the resistance he should meet there. He was thoroughly inspired
with the great idea of victory. The contingency of failure did not
enter into his calculations. He therefore addressed himself to
plans for reaping the fruits of victory, rather than to plans for
repairing the consequences of defeat. Of the gallant attack on
Fort Donelson no one need be reminded. Subjected as our vessels
were to a long-continued and hot fire from three rebel batteries, at
four hundred yards' distance, they continued the fight for one hour
and thirty minutes, and not until the wheel of one and the tiller-
ropes of another of his boats were shot away did the well-managed
guns of the commodore cease to scatter death and consternation-
among the foes of his country. Although wounded himself, and
his gunboats crippled, yet, with the glory of the gallant combat on
his brow, he indulged in no repinings for his personal misfortunes,
or laudation of his successes, but like a true Christian hero thought
only of his men.
The next movement of Commodore Foote with his flotilla was to
take possession of Clarksville, three days before the arrival of the
land-forces, though that fact, for some unexplained cause, nowhere
appears in the official reports of the military commander of the de
partment. On the 21st of February, 1862, Commodore Foote telegraphed
to General Cullum, the chief of General Halleck's staff, then at
Cairo, as follows : " General Grant and myself were about moving
on Nashville, when General Grant to my astonishment received a
telegram from General Halleck, ' not to let the gunboats go higher
than Clarksville.' No telegram sent to me. General Grant and I
believe that we can take Nashville. Please ask General Halleck if
we shall do it." It may be that there was some great military
reason why General Grant was directed " not to let the gunboats
go higher than Clarksville," but up to this time it is wholly
unappreciable by the public. Had they been permitted to go,
as proposed by Commodore Foote, Nashville would undoubt
edly have capitulated some days earlier than it did, and an im
mense amount of rebel stores been captured, and he would

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 177
probably have intercepted a part of the rebel General Johnston's
army. I ought not to omit to mention the gallant attack by a part of
the flotilla upon the enemy at Pittsburg, on the Tennessee River,
where fifteen hundred rebel infantry and cavalry were completely
routed, with a loss of twenty killed and one hundred wounded.
The next fact of importance in the campaign at the West, and
the most important of all, was the evacuation of Columbus. Why
was this stronghold, which cost so much labor and money, aban
doned without firing a shot ? It is not for me to underrate the ad
vantages of position secured by the valor of our troops at Fort
Donelson ; yet I undertake to say, from the knowledge I have been
able to obtain of the defenses at Columbus, that there was nothing
in the mere fact of the capture of Donelson and Nashville, and ex
clusive of our command of the river, which need have caused the
evacuation, except after a long and bloody siege. The forts at Co
lumbus were so located and constructed as to be almost impregna
ble to an assault by storm. It is well understood that Commodore
Foote was opposed to giving the rebels an opportunity to leave
Columbus. He felt sure of his ability, with his gun and mortar
boats, to shell them into a speedy surrender, but was compelled to
give way to the counsels of mihtary commanders. When we cou
ple the strategic position acquired by our occupation of the Ten
nessee and Cumberland Rivers with the completion of the mortar-
boats, and the absolute command of the river given us by the
armored gunboats, there remains no mystery about the evacuation
of Columbus. The two arms of the public service are equally en
titled to the credit of frightening the rebels from their strongest
position on the Mississippi River, if not the strongest in their whole
military jurisdiction.
Yesterday, the intelligence reached us that the Western flotilla,
composed of ten gunboats and ten mortar-boats, had started for new
scenes of conflict, to achieve, I doubt not, new and yet greater tri
umphs. The country is assured that whatever can be accomplished
by gallantry and nautical experience will be performed by Commo
dore Foote and the brave officers and men under his command.
We await the announcement of new victories.
I have thought it proper, as a Western Senator, in some degree
charged with the examination of naval affairs by this body, to bear

178 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
this testimony to the worth of that branch of the pubhc service in
the Western campaign, and to the noble deeds of the flag-officer in
that command. No one can over-estimate their services to the coun
try, and to the Northwest in particular ; and in the name of that
great section, and of the whole country, I thank them one and all,
officers and men.
But I would avail myself of this occasion to accomplish another
purpose. I am anxious that the people of this entire country may
feel that the exploits of the Navy, wherever performed, are their
exploits, that its glory is their glory, and that, while they are taxing
themselves to support it, they are supporting the right arm of the
national defense. I desire the citizen of the most remote frontier
to feel that he is equally protected and equally honored by the brave
deeds of our naval officers with the citizen of the Atlantic coast. I
wish the men of Iowa and Minnesota to know that they are as
effectually defended in their liberties at home and in their honor
abroad, by the achievements of Du Pont, and Goldsborough, and
Stringham, and Foote, on the water, as they can be by any victories
won by our armies on the land.
Mr. President, ours must be a great maritime nation. Heaven
has ordained that it should be such, and we could not make it oth
erwise if we would. We have a coast, both on the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans, which, with its numerous indentations, is many thou
sand miles in extent, occupied by a hardy, nautical population, and
flanked on either side by soils and climates that furnish the most
valuable productions of the globe, and which must be supplied to
other nations. On the north we have a succession of great lakes,
already bearing upon their bosoms a registered commercial tonnage
of nearly half a million, and navigated by a race of daring, indus
trious, northern seamen. Unlike any other maritime nation, ours is
traversed by navigable rivers, thousands of miles in length, floating
an inland commerce unequaled by that of any country in the world,
except, possibly, that of China, and capable of navigation by armed
vessels of great capacity. With a country of such extent, a soil
and climate furnishing such productions, and a population along
our ocean, gulf, bay, lake, and river coasts, accustomed to naviga
tion, who does not see that ours must, from the very necessities of
our geographical position, and the conformation of our continent,
become a great commercial people ? Our products must be borne

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 179
to remote nations in our own ships, navigated by our own seamen,
and protected wherever they go by our own vessels-of-war.
I know not with whom originated the phrase " The Navy is the
right arm of the public defense ; " but I know that a truer senti
ment was never uttered. In my opinion it will always be in this
country the most efficient and far the least dangerous arm of the
public service by which to maintain the national integrity and de
fend the national honor. History teaches us that every nation that
has depended upon a navy for protection has been comparatively
free by the side of those which placed their reliance upon armies.
I need not go back to antiquity to prove this. I point to Holland
and England in modern times. The former, while she continued to
be the greatest naval power on earth, was the freest government
on earth, and only began to be shorn of her liberties and of her
territory when she neglected to maintain her fleets. England, the
most liberal of all governments save our own, is in no small degree
indebted for her present position to the fact that she maintains only
a small military force in the British Islands, and relies upon her
wooden walls as a means of attack and defense. She puts no faith
in large standing a'rmies, and will not until her people shall be pre
pared to surrender their freedom. With her garrisoned possessions
encircling the globe, her entire military establishment does not ex
ceed one hundred and twenty thousand men. France, Austria,
Russia, and Prussia, maintain large standing armies on their soil;
and in those countries the liberty of the people is measured by the
will of the sovereign. The freedom they enjoy is the gratuity of
emperors and kings ; the servitude they endure is enforced by the
presence of standing armies.
I do not believe that anybody but the public enemy has had
anything to fear from the numerous and well-appointed armies we
have raised ; yet no one of us is prepared to say that, with an army
much longer isolated from home-scenes and home-ideas, concen
trated in large bodies, and taught the duty of implicit obedience to
their superiors, danger to our free institutions might not arise. No
such danger can arise from the existence of a navy, however large,
or however commanded. Seamen are cosmopolitan. Always em
ployed, and generally afloat, they never become, as armies some
times do, as dangerous to friends in time of peace as to enemies in
time of war.

180 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
I might go on and show that, situated as all our large cities are
upon arms of the sea or upon navigable rivers, the Navy might be
made more efficient in suppressing domestic insurrections, as well
as in repelling foreign invasion, than the Army. I might show,
too, that, notwithstanding much that has been said by professed
statisticians, the support of a navy is less expensive, in comparison
with the service it renders to a maritime nation, than that of an
army. But I shall not detain the Senate by attempting to enter
upon such an exposition at this time.
As I said at the outset, my purpose in rising to address the Sen
ate at this time was to call the attention of the country to the suc
cessful operations of the Western flotilla ; but I cannot refrain from
alluding, for one moment, before I close, to the successes of our
Navy elsewhere in this war. The whole southeastern Atlantic
coast has been swept by the fleet of the gallant Du Pont, and is
now effectually held by both an inside and outside blockade. The
enemy have been driven from the waters of North Carolina by Golds-
borough, their whole navy in that quarter destroyed, and their
coast towns occupied. Such progress has been made in the Gulf of
Mexico, that I venture to predict that, in a few days at farthest, in
telligence will reach us that the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi
River have been captured, and that Farragut and Porter are now,
or soon will be, in possession of New Orleans. But the startling
events that have recently occurred in Hampton Roads attract, as
they ought, the attention of all. It would be well for us to reflect
upon what those events have clearly demonstrated. They are —
1. That in modern naval warfare wooden sailing-vessels are per
fectly harmless and helpless.
2. That the strongest stone fortifications can be no obstruction
to the entrance of iron-clad vessels-of-war into our harbors; and
that one or two such vessels, unopposed by vessels • of a similar
character, can hold any commercial city on the continent at their
mercy. 3. That we can now commence the creation of a proper navv,
upon a footing of comparative equality with all the naval powers
of the world.
No man sympathizes with the relatives and friends of the gal
lant dead who perished on the Congress and Cumberland more
than I do. Perhaps, however, their loss was necessary to teach us

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 181
our true path of duty to the country. Let us not suffer more valu
able lives to be periled upon such worthless vessels ; and, while we
deplore the loss of so many brave men, let us rejoice that so many
more are left to the service who are willing to do and die for their
country. Especially let us give thanks for the brilliant example of
courage, seamanship, and patriotism, furnished to the country and
to the world by that matchless officer, Lieutenant John L. Worden,
and the officers and men under his command on board the Monitor.
In that unexampled engagement of Sunday last, after a terribly-
suffocating and dangerous passage from New York, without having
slept, with an undrilled crew, and handling an untried experiment,
Lieutenant Worden and his crew performed prodigies of skill and
valor that will render all on board the Monitor immortal. They
will be immortal not for their valor alone. Who shall undertake
to estimate the influence that battle will exert upon all the mari
time powers of the earth ? Who shall undertake to tell the num
ber of homes to which the news of its successful result carried quiet
on that eventful evening, which had been for hours disturbed by
the most distracting fears ? Is it too much to say that it rescued
our commerce and our commercial cities from ravage, and in one
hour revolutionized all systems of naval architecture and naval war
fare ? Captain Ericsson, too, may well be proud of the place his
name will occupy in the history of nautical science, and we may
well be proud that the country of our birth is the country of his
adoption. But while I would honor the gallant living, I would bear my
tribute of affectionate respect for the memory of the heroic dead
who fell in the engagement at Hampton Roads. Let the remem
brance of that brave young officer, whose obsequies are now being
performed in another part of this city, who, when his vessel was
sinking beneath his feet, replied to a summons to surrender that he
would never give up the flag intrusted to his keeping, and the next
moment met death with composure, be cherished by his country
men. The name of Smith, already illustrious in the annals of the
American Navy, will be added to the bright galaxy of those who
have freely laid down their lives at the call of* their country.
The speech was received in the country as a worthy tribute
to valiant achievements, and gave especial satisfaction to the
Navy. Captain Foote wrote :
13

182 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
I have been for some time on the point of writing to you to
express my appreciation of the ability and discrimination with
which you have managed the interests of the Navy, and for your
views of the importance to the country of this arm of defense ; but
I can refrain no longer. For this manifestation of interest in me,
and for our navy officers, together with the Western officers and
men constituting almost the entire personnel of the flotilla, coming
from the Senator of that glorious banner State of dashing, gallant
officers and men who have been foremost in the field, I most grate
fully in their behalf and my own make my acknowledgments.
Captain Ericsson wrote :
It would, indeed, prove a great stimulus for exertion, if all who
labor for the public good could have their deeds placed before the
country in such striking and eloquent language as characterizes
your speech.
The wife of an accomplished naval officer wrote :
I received a few days since the remarks made by you in regard
to our Western naval flotilla. I have taken great pleasure in read
ing them, and lending them to a good many friends, who have been
equally delighted with them. Our gallant little navy has covered
itself with glory in this war. I am so glad that it has had an op
portunity of making itself known and appreciated in the West,
where it will henceforth, I trust, be as much cherished and admired
as it used to be in the East. The action of the Cumberland and
the Monitor seems to me to be as sublime as anything that we read
of in history, and I can never think of the going down of that
beautiful vessel, with her guns firing and her colors flying, without
the tears coming to my eyes. Please accept my thanks for your
beautiful tribute to the Navy, and for giving me an opportunity to
read it. 71. — To Captain Samuel F. Bu Pont, Flag- Officer.
Washington, March 15, 1862.
I beg you to receive my thanks for your kind remembrance of
me as shown by the valuable rifle sent me by Captain Davis. The
gun of itself is valuable, but the fact that it comes from you ren
ders it doubly so. You may be assured that your services on the
South Atlantic coast are fully appreciated by the country.

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 183
I send you the Globe newspaper, containing some remarks of
mine in the Senate on the operations of the Western flotilla under
Captain Foote. There was to my mind a manifest intention on the
part of the military commanders to do Captain Foote injustice ; and,
although I have no acquaintance with him, I was resolved to see
" the record made right," as not only an act of justice to him, but
also to the service. I flatter myself that the sentiment here is now
with Foote ; I know that it is wholly so in the Senate. He intend
ed to attack the rebel forts at New Madrid, on the Mississippi Riv
er, to-day. Upon hearing of the victory of the national arms at Fort
Donelson, Tennessee, February 15th, Mr. Grimes addressed a
congratulatory letter to General Charles F. Smith, and received
the following reply : Savannah, Tenn., March 13, 1862.
Your kind and complimentary note of the 24th ult., addressed
to me at Paducah, was not received by me until this morning. I
fear that yourself and others overrate the value of my services re
cently ; I did not suppose I was doing anything remarkable ; how
ever, I am not the less sensible of the kindness and manliness you
have exhibited toward one so entirely a stranger to you as myself.
I am deeply grateful to you, believe me. As I know it will gratify
your State pride, it affords me great pleasure to say that, although
all of the Iowa regiments acted creditably, the behavior of the Sec
ond was, during the assault of the 15th, as fine an exhibition of
soldierly conduct as it has ever been my fortune to witness.
I am here with a large force on a rather delicate mission, which
will be developed in a few days. Again thanking you for your man
liness and kindness, I remain
Very truly your friend and servant,
C. F. Smith.
The Hon. James W. Geimes, Washington.
A few weeks afterward General Smith died at his post. In
advocating a pension to his widow, Mr. Grimes paid the follow
ing tribute to his memory :
I should do injustice to my own feelings, and to the gallant
men of my State who composed a part of General Smith's division,

184 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
and who were led so valiantly by him in action, if I did not say a
single word in advocacy of this bill. General Smith was nearly
forty years in the service of the United States. He was recognized
everywhere by everybody and at all times as one of the most skill
ful, one of the bravest and most gallant men we ever had. I have
heard officers say that it seemed to them, who had seen him in
action in Mexico and in this country, that when the action came,
and he saw powder burning, he had a divine inspiration upon him.
At Donelson he was wounded by a ball, and inflammation proceeding
from that wound was the cause of his death. Yet so anxious was
he that his officers and men should not know that he had been
wounded, that he carefully concealed it, and it was not known
except to a few until after his death, and even his widow was not
made conscious of it until weeks after he had died. It is to the
widow of that man who has led your soldiers for forty years, who
has exhibited such bravery upon every field, who was brevetted
three times in Mexico for his gallantry, who was everywhere con
sidered one of the most accomplished officers the public service had,
that I desired to give this pension, even if it may be considered a
little more liberal than we can afford to give to the widows of all
our brigadier and major generals hereafter ; for I apprehend there
will be very few cases so meritorious.
Mr. Grimes moved an mquiry, April 14th, as to what reor
ganization of the army in its personnel, or otherwise, may be
necessary to promote the public welfare and bring the rebellion
to a speedy and triumphant end ; and made a speech against the
surrender of slaves by the army, exposing the abuses of several
commanders in that matter, and advising the employment of
slaves in the mihtary service of the United States. Mr. Sumner
called it a persuasive speech, and said that he was grateful to the
Senator from Iowa for the frankness with which he exposed
and condemned the recent orders of several of the generals.
SPEECH ON THE SURRENDER OP SLAVES BY THE ARMY,
April 14, 1862.
It is, of course, to be expected that there will be great differ
ences of opinion among the friends of the Government as to the
manner in which the present war should be conducted. Such

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 185
differences are the natural results of our various domestic institu
tions, systems of education, modes of thought, degrees of civilization,
and of individual opinions of the necessities of our situation. But
there are certain great fundamental principles upon which, one
would think, all ought to agree. We certainly ought to do nothing
and suffer nothing to be done calculated in any degree to repel or
paralyze the efforts of our friends at home, who are doing every
thing in their power to encourage and sustain the soldiers in the
field. While inculcating the necessity of the strictest obedience
to military duty, it should be constantly borne in mind that ours
are a citizen soldiery, soon to return to the bosom of civil society,
and that the performance of no unsoldierly duty should be
required of them that would be calculated to impair their self-
respect, diminish their regard for their officers, incite them to rebel
against discipline, or taint their reputations at home. It must
not be expected that the natural instincts of humanity will be
stifled by military orders, and surely our soldiers should not be re
quired to assist in the perpetration of acts against which every
enlightened sentiment of their hearts revolts. One would think
that all men would agree in pronouncing that a cruel and despotic
order, which repeals the divine precept, " Inasmuch as ye did it not
to one of the least of these ye did it not to me," and arbitrarily for
bids the soldier to bestow a crust of bread or a cup of water upon
a wretched, famishing fugitive escaping from our own as well as
from his enemy. Yet, I grieve to say there are those high in rank
in the service of the United States who have sought to break down
the spirit of manhood, which is the crowning glory of true soldiers,
by requiring them to do acts outside of their profession which they
abhor, and to smother all impulses to those deeds of charity which
they have been taught to believe are the characteristics, of Christian
gentlemen. It was known to the country at an early day after the commence
ment of the war, that some military commanders were abusing the
great power intrusted to them, and were employing the Army to
assist in the capture and rendition of fugitive slaves, not in aid of
any judicial process, but in obedience to their own unbridled will.
The effect of this assumption of unauthorized power was to incite
the soldiery to disobedience, and to arouse the people to the neces
sity of proper legislative restraints. It was in compliance with the

186 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
popular sentiment on this subject that Congress enacted the addi
tional article of war, which was approved on the 13th of March last,
and which declared that " all officers or persons in the military or
naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing
any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose
of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped
from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be
due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by court-martial of
violating this article shall be dismissed from the service."
It was intended by this article to prevent the military service
from becoming odious to the people who support the war, and
degrading to those who have voluntered to fight under our banners.
It simply declares that the Army of the United States shall not be
perverted from the legitimate use for which it was raised, while it
interferes in no degree with the claim of any man to a person
alleged to be a slave ; it leaves questions of that character to be
settled, and rights of that description to be enforced, by other than
the military authority. The intention of those who voted for this
article was not to abridge any man's rights, but to leave every one
to his legal remedies as though no war existed.
How is this new article of war enforced ? It has been promul
gated to the army it is true. It may not be openly and avowedly
violated. Soldiers may not hereafter be required to actually per
form the humiliating office of fastening manacles upon the limbs of
persons said to be slaves, nor to escort them to the residences of
their masters ; but the experience of the last few days has taught
us that, notwithstanding the new article of war, our military officers
suffer their camps to be invaded by armed detachments of slave-
hunters, without the support of any process of law, who there
attempt to shoot, maim, and kill with impunity those whom they
claim to be slaves, while our soldiers are required to stand indiffer
ently by and witness the inhuman work.
How long, think you, will this method of dealing with the rebels
be endured by the freemen of this country ? Are our brothers and
sons to be confined within the walls of the tobacco-warehouses and
jails of Richmond and Charleston, obliged to perform the most
menial offices, subsisted upon the most stinted diet, their lives
endangered if they attempt to obtain a breath of fresh air, or a
beam of God's sunlight at a window, while the rebels, captured by

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 187
these very men, are permitted to go at large upon parol, to be pam
pered with luxuries, to be attended by slaves, and the slaves
guarded from escape by our own soldiers ?
In the month of February last, an officer of the Third Regiment
of Iowa Infantry, stationed at a small town in Missouri, succeeded
in capturing several rebel bridge-burners, and some recruiting-
officers belonging to Price's army. The information that led to
their capture was furnished by two or three remarkably shrewd and
intelligent slaves, claimed by a lieutenant-colonel in the rebel army.
Shortly afterward the master dispatched an agent with instructions
to seize the slaves and convey them within the rebel lines, where
upon the Iowa officer seized them and reported the circumstances
to headquarters. The slaves soon understanding the full import
of General Halleck's celebrated Order No. 3, two of them attempted
an escape. This was regarded as an unpardonable sin. The Iowa
officer was immediately placed under arrest, and a detachment of
the Missouri State militiamen, in the pay of the Government and
under the command of General Halleck, were sent in pursuit of the
fugitives. The hunt was successful. The slaves were caught and
returned to their traitor master, but not until one of them had been
shot by order of the soldier in command of the pursuing party.
Mr. President, how long shall we permit such conduct as this
to go unrebuked ? Does any one suppose that the people will qui
etly submit to the imposition of taxes to support a State militia in
the field that is to be employed in the capture of slaves for the
benefit of officers in the rebel army ? Is it supposed that the Sen
ators from Iowa will silently, patiently permit the gallant officers
from that State to be outraged in the manner I have described ?
It is quite time that some definite policy should be established
for the treatment of escaped slaves ; and I am of the opinion that
Congress has been grossly derelict in permitting the evil to go so
long unregulated and unchecked. We have almost as many diverse
systems of dealing with this class of persons as we have military
departments. In one, fugitive slaves have been pursued, flogged,
and returned to their masters by our army ; in another, they have
been simply pursued and returned without flogging; in another,
they have been pursued and shot in the attempt to return them ; in
another, they have been termed " contraband," and received within
our lines in the mixed character of persons and property. In the

188 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
absence of any authoritative declaration of Congress, none of these
modes may be held to be in conflict with law, other than the law of
common-sense and common decency.1
It is obvious that the article of war which I have quoted does
not meet the case presented by Major-General Halleck in his Or
der No. 3. That celebrated manifesto declares in substance that
all persons from the enemy's country shall be excluded from our
lines. The plain purpose of the order is to prohibit fugitive slaves
escaping from the rebellious district, and thereby securing freedom.
It was doubtless competent for General Halleck to issue such an
order, and it is equally competent for Congress, which has made
and continues to make articles of war for the government of the
army and navy, to countermand it. And it ought to be counter
manded. I will not pause to discuss the humanitarian features of
the question. Public policy, no less than popular feeling, demands
that Order No. 3 be forever erased. There never was a war waged
in the history of the world where the means of acquiring informa
tion of the enemy's position and numbers were more ample than
here, and there never was one where the commanding officers have
suffered more from lack of such information. Order No. 3 proposes
to incorporate the fatuity and blindness which remained unwritten
in other military departments into an historical record and a public
advertisement. It proposes to warn all persons against bringing
information of the enemy's movements to our camps, under penalty
of being turned back to receive such punishment as the enemy may
choose to inflict for betraying them, or for running away and be
traying combined. No organization of secret service can meet aU
the requirements of an army operating in an enemy's country, un
less aided by some portion of the inhabitants of the country.
What folly, then, to wall out and repel the very inhabitants who
might bring us the information we most need, and who have every
where shown an eagerness to do so !
It is the undoubted right and the duty of every nation, when
engaged in a righteous war — and no other than a righteous war is
justifiable at all — to avail itself of every legitimate means known
1 " Up to that date (July, 1862), neither Congress nor the President had made
any clear, well-defined rules touching the negro slaves, and the different generals
had issued orders according to their own political sentiments." — Memoirs of Gen-,
eral W. T. Sherman, written by Himself, vol. i., p. 26B.

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 189
to civilized warfare to overcome its enemies. What will be thought
by posterity of this nation, if, in the present emergency, we not
only fail to employ the agencies which Providence seems to have
placed at our disposal, but actually seek every opportunity to exas
perate and drive from our support those who are anxious to serve
us ? Were the Russian nobles now engaged in a rebellion against
their Government, would we not regard their emperor as guilty of
the greatest folly, if he not only declined to enlist the serfs of his
empire to aid in suppressing the insurrection, but repelled them
from his service and allowed his generals to return them to his re
bellious nobles, to be used by them in overthrowing his authority ?
And can any one tell me the difference between the case I have put
and our own ?
The whole history of the world does not exhibit a nation guilty
of such extreme fatuity as has marked the conduct of our Govern
ment in its treatment of the colored population since the present
war began. It seems to be impossible to convince ourselves that
war, with all of its attendant responsibilities and calamities, really
exists, and that future generations will not hold those guiltless who
refuse to use any of the means which God has placed in their hands
to bring it to a speedy and successful termination. History will
pronounce those men criminal who, in this crisis of the nation's fate,
consult the prejudices of caste or color, and regard the interests of
property of paramount importance to the unity of the nation.
It is useless to attempt to blink out of sight the great issues
before us — issues that must be settled, and settled by us. It were
wiser and more manly to meet them squarely and at once. We
are in the midst of the greatest revolution that ever occurred in
ancient or modern times. Such armies as are now marshaled in
hostile array on this continent, in point of numbers, equipment,
and expense, have been hitherto unknown in the annals of man
kind. We are imposing burdens in the form of taxes that will be
felt by unborn generations. We are suffering much now ; we ex
pect and are willing to suffer more. And why ? Because we de
sire to preserve the integrity of our nation ; because we believe
that Heaven designed us to be one people with one destiny ; the
freest and happiest on earth. It was to preserve that unity of our
national existence that our sons and brothers have gone forth to do
battle. For this it was that the gallant men of Iowa have freely,

190 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
triumphantly, laid down their lives at Wilson's Creek, Blue Mills,
Belmont, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, and Pittsburg. And shall
we, after these great sacrifices of life and treasure, hesitate about
employing any of the instrumentalities in aid of the country that
are known to civilized warfare ? Shall we not be recreant to our
high trust if we doubt or delay in this particular ?
This war will go on until rebellion is subdued. Upon this point
there need be no controversy. Rely upon it, the Northwestern
States will submit to no temporizing or compromising policy.
They are too much in earnest ; they have suffered too much already ;
they know too well what they would be compelled to suffer in the
future to allow treason to go unpunished. It is because they desire
to prevent the recurrence of the rebellion that they demand that it
shall now be thoroughly crushed out. Among things necessary to
be done to fully accomplish this purpose, we must conquer and hold
all the forts and strong positions on the South Atlantic and- Gulf
coasts. How shall they be garrisoned when captured ? This is a
question we shall soon be compelled to answer ; and I am prepared
for its solution. I answer it unhesitatingly that we should garrison
them, in whole or in part, by soldiers of African descent ; that in
stead of returning slaves to their rebel masters to fight against us,
we should employ them in our own military service.
I know very well that this proposition encounters at once all
the prejudices that have been engendered by differences of race,
education, and social position ; but let us look at it a moment sober
ly and practically. It is assumed as admitted by all that the South
ern forts must be captured and strongly garrisoned for some years
to come. They are situated in a warm and enervating climate, and
the particular location of nearly all of them renders them more than
usually unhealthy, even for that section of the country. In addition
to the forts already established, we shall be compelled to build new
ones. The rebels rely upon the diseases of their climate to deci
mate our Northern army in the summer and autumnal months ; and
their confidence is well placed. Our troops will wither before the
fevers of the Gulf coast as vegetation does before the blast of the
sirocco. Now, we have in our midst thousands of hardy, athletic
colored men, fitted by nature to endure the heat and miasma of
the tropics, and some of them accustomed to it, who are panting
to be employed in the capacity of soldiers. Many of them having

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 191
been in a state of bondage, have been abandoned by their masters,
and are now thrown upon us for support. Some of them were
forced by our enemies into their military service, and have deserted
from it. They implore our protection, and we must give it, if we
would not become a " scorn and derision " among the nations of
the earth. They have shown on divers occasions, both on sea and
land, that they belong to a warlike race. They are obedient and
teachable. They can be subsisted much cheaper than white sol
diers, can perform more labor, and are subject to fewer diseases in
a warm climate.
Now, with these facts before us, shall we refuse to employ them ?
What substantial reason can be given for not doing so ? Is it be
cause they have not the proper capacity for command ? Then give
them white officers, as is done by the British Government to the same
race, by the French Government to the Arabs, and by the Russian
Government to the Tartars and other semi-barbarous soldiers within
that empire. Is it because they do not possess the average courage
of soldiers ? In addition to the testimony in disproof of this, fur
nished a few days ago by the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Wil
son), I refer you to your vessels-of-war, where you have hundreds
of these men employed, and none more valiant. Is it because they
are not obedient to command ? The whole history of the race shows
the contrary, for, if there is any one thing for which they are re
markable more than another, it is their confiding submission to the
will of their superiors. Is it said that we have white soldiers enough
for all of our purposes ? True, we have a large army, composed
of men of unsurpassed valor and patriotism, who, if we require it,
will sacrifice their fives for their country, whether by the sword or
by disease ; but I would, if I could, recall a portion of them to their
homes and to the industrial pursuits of life. Am I told that the
enrollment of a few colored soldiers will be regarded by the Army
as humiliating to them ? Mr. President, those public men fail to
comprehend the character of American soldiers who suppose that
they are fighting for mere military glory, or that in this critical hour
they are controlled by ignoble prejudice against color or race.
They are citizens and taxpayers as well as soldiers. They want
the rebellion speedily crushed and the supreme authority of the
law established, leaving social and political questions to be set
tled afterward. They feel that the desertion of every colored sol-

192 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
dier, artificer, or laborer, from the rebellious States, withdraws aid
and support from the rebellion, and brings it so much nearer to an
end. They cannot understand, nor can I, that refined casuistry that
justifies us in converting the enemy's horse or ox to our use, and in
turning their inanimate engines of destruction against themselves,
but denies to us the right to turn their slaves, their animate hostile
engines in human form, to the same purpose. They cannot imagine
why it is that some gentlemen are so willing that men of the Afri
can race should labor for them, and so unwilling that they should
fight for them.
What a wonderful difference of action and sentiment there is on
this subject between the officers of the Army and Navy ! While
officers of the Army have disgraced themselves, annoyed and in
censed their subordinates, dishonored the country, and injured the
public service, by the promulgation of their ridiculous orders about
slaves, no officer of the Navy, thank God, has ever descended to
follow their example. Their noble, manly, generous hearts would
revolt at the idea of having imposed upon them the humiliating
duty of capturing and returning fugitive slaves. They serve their
country, not rebel slave-owners. They think that duty to the coun
try requires them to avail themselves of the services of these people,
instead of driving them back to their masters, or suffering them to
starve ; and they act upon this conviction. At the taking of Hat-
teras, one of the large guns of the Minnesota was wholly manned
and worked by persons called " contrabands," and no gun on the
ship was better served. These people are, it is well known, re
markable for the proficiency they soon acquire as cannoneers. On
the same ship is a boat's crew, every one of whom, including the
cockswain, is a colored man, and there are none more skillful, or ren
der more satisfactory service to the officers of the vessel. The
whole country knows the services rendered by them to Commodore
Du Pont and to the vessels under his command. They have acted
as pilots, and in the most important positions, and I have the au
thority of the two superior officers of that fleet for saying that they
have never been deceived or misled by any one of them. I am con
vinced that our expedition to the South Atlantic coast would not
have been so perfect a success as it has been but for the slaves found
there, and who were employed by our naval officers. There are
more, or less of them on all our vessels-of-war. They are effi-

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 193
cient men, and their presence produces no discord among the
crews. Mr. President, I wish to be distinctly understood. I advocate
no indiscriminate arming of the colored race, although I frankly
confess that I would do so were it necessary to put down the rebel
lion. I do not favor this proposition merely because of its anti-
slavery tendency. I approve it because it will result in a saving
of human life, and in bringing the rebellion to a speedier termina
tion. It is my business to aid in bringing, this war to a close by
conquering an unconditional peace in the least expensive and
speediest manner possible. Acting upon this idea of my duty, and
believing that humanity and the best interests of the country re
quire the enrollment of a few colored regiments for garrisoning the
Southern forts, I shall vote, whenever an opportunity shall be afforded
me, for converting a portion of the colored refugees into soldiers,
instead of forcing them back into servitude to their rebel masters
and their rebel government. We may hesitate to do this. Our
hesitation will cost us the valuable lives of many of our own race
who are near and dear to us. Our hesitation to use the means
which Providence seems to have placed in our hands for crushing
the rebellion may carry desolation to many a loyal hearthstone.
But we must adopt this policy sooner or later, and, in my opinion,
the sooner we do it the better. The rebels have this day thousands
of slaves throwing up intrenchments and redoubts at Yorktown,
and thousands of them performing military duty elsewhere; and
yet we hesitate and doubt the propriety of employing the same
race of people to defend ourselves and our institutions against them.
Mr. President, how long shall we hesitate ?
Parker Pillsbury wrote to Mr. Grimes from Concord, N. H.,
April 26th :
Your whole speech breathes a spirit of humanity and love of
justice, honorable to your heart. Almost forty years ago, I used
to walk barefooted, and before daylight, by your father's house on
my way to see the musters. I recollect you as a smaller boy than
myself, in more comfortable conditions. I only desire to give you
the good-speed of an humble, but;, I trust, honest, earnest lover of
liberty and of man, of every man. I have not forgotten your brave
letter to Franklin Pierce, when he undertook to play President over

194 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
the country, and work the tyrant in and over Kansas. My mission
is (as for twenty years past) to demand freedom for every slave,
not as a " military necessity," but in the name of humanity, and
accordmg to the laws of the living God.
Dissatisfied with vacillating counsels in carrying on the war,
and advocating a definite policy, Mr. Grimes said, May 20th :
I am not so anxious to tax the people until I have some distinct
line of policy laid down by the President, and by those in authority
in this Government. The time has arrived when we, as the Senators
of the States, when the members of the House, -as the representa
tives of the people, and when the people themselves, have a right to
expect and demand that there should be some definite line of policy
established. How is it now ? In one military district we have
one sort of order enforced ; in another military district, because it
does not suit the views of particular men who have the ear of the
Executive, it is countermanded, and another order submitted ; and
nobody knows what is the true policy of the Government in any
district. Is it not due to us, is it not due to our constituents,
whom we propose to tax heavily, that there should be something
submitted to the people as to what that line of policy shall be ? If
the President reserves to himself, and possesses, as he seems to
intimate, the prerogative, I want to know, for one, and as the repre
sentative of a sovereign State Idemand to know, how that preroga
tive is to be exercised.
Other matters demand our attention quite as much as the tax
bill ; and in behalf of the people that I represent I want to know
what is to be the policy of the Government. Less than eight
months ago five regiments of as gallant and true men as ever
shouldered a musket went into the Army of the United States from
my State with the full complement of men. Within the last ten
days they have been brigaded into one brigade, and the total num
ber of efficient men now is less than one thousand. Is not that a
striking fact worthy of our contemplation? Are we to content
ourselves with merely imposing additional burdens upon the people
in the way of taxation, and take no steps to supply those ranks ?
Mr. Grimes said, May 21st, with reference to numerous
bills to confiscate the property and free the slaves of rebels :

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 195
I am in favor of a confiscation bill. I am in favor of a stringent
one. I am willing to vote for the most stringent one that I can
constitutionally vote for. I want the best one I can get. And, the
sooner we pass it, the sooner the public mind will be satisfied upon
the subject.
Weary of the hesitancy of the Administration to employ
colored persons in the military service, Mr. Grimes submitted
the following resolution June 18th :
Besolved (as the opinion of the Senate), That it is the right
and duty of the Government to call all loyal persons within the
rebellious States to its armed defense against the traitors who are
seeking its overthrow.
On the 9th of July he offered an amendment to the militia
bill, that there should be no exemption from mihtary duty on
account of color or lineage, and said :
I am now more anxious to vote than to speak.
Rev. George B. Cheever, D. D., of New York, wrote to him,
May 22d, that he was encouraged by the firmness and severity
with which he had denounced the pro-slavery policy of the Gov
ernment. Moving to abolish the grog-ration in the naval service, which
was two dips a day, and to give in lieu of it a commutation of
five cents, Mr. Grimes said, June 13th :
I am informed that hardly any difficulty has grown up during
this war on board of a single one of our vessels, th-at has not been
traced directly to the fact that spirituous liquors were allowed on
board the ship. A great many difficulties have occurred both with
the regular officers and with the volunteer officers, but in almost
every instance it has been traced to that source, and I believe that
the men are satisfied that it should be abolished. From what I can
learn, I think that is the universal sentiment ; but so long as we
allow liquor to be taken on board, and allow a few to have the
privilege, a great many others will be induced by the example to
take it too. By abolishing the whiskey -ration we shall take away
one of the strongest reasons why parents are unwilling that their
minor sons should enlist in the naval service. I desire that this

196 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
law shall apply to the officers as well as to the men, that no dis
tilled spirituous liquors shall be allowed on board ; for, so long as it
is known to the men that the officers are allowed by the Govern
ment to indulge in this practice, it will promote insubordination
and trouble on shipboard. 72. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, May 4, 1862.
I have just returned from church ; heard a good sermon from
Dr. Channing, better than I ever heard from him, I think. The
congregation is enlarging, and I am inclined to think that he will
finally succeed in building up a good society here.
I met Miss Donelson yesterday. She returned from Port Royal,
three days ago. She speaks very favorably of the docility, obe
dience, and faithfulness, of the blacks at that place.
You observe that Mr. Wells has issued a circular, directing
" contrabands," as he calls them, to be enlisted in the naval service.
This must be finally followed up by an army order, sooner or later,
and then comes the end of slavery. I regard the employment of
colored persons in the Army and Navy as of vastly more impor
tance in putting an end to slavery than all of the confiscation acts
that could be devised by the ingenuity of man.
I wish I were at home with you, wandering about the garden, as
I should be at this hour.
May 10th. — This letter (of Commodore Du Pont) will convince
you of what I always told you, that Du Pont is a remarkably dis
creet, judicious, practical man, with generous, noble impulses, and
withal a Christian gentleman.
This morning I drew up and passed through the Senate a bill
for the benefit of Robert Small, giving him and his associates one-
half of the value of the steamer Planter, and also one-half of the
value of all the arms, munitions, etc., on board at the time she was
captured. The amount to be distributed among him and his asso
ciates will be about fifteen thousand dollars.
The President has to-day rescinded Hunter's proclamation. The
result will be a general row in the country. All the radical Repub
licans are indignant but me, and I am not, because I have expected
it, and was ready for it. They did not anticipate it, though I have
told them all along that it was sure to come. But the end must

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 197
come, protracted by the obstinacy and stupidity of rulers it may be,
but come it will nevertheless.
May 22d. — I have a long letter from Captain Porter at New
Orleans, and one from Commodore Foote, and one from his wife,
also. Confiscation got the " go-by " to-day, not by my vote, how
ever. Stanton has been on the " rampage " again, and called out the
militia. There has never been any danger here.
June. — I was never so busy before. I have an immense amount
of real business thrust upon me, and I doubt if there is any one in
the Senate who does more.
I waked up the other day, and found myself quite unexpectedly
famous, for having abolished the grog-ration in the Navy, and for
bidding any spirituous liquors to be taken on board of ships-of-war.
I inclose a letter from Commodore Foote to Lieutenant Wise (son-
in-law of Mr. Everett), which I thought you might Hke to preserve,
both on account of the compliment and the autograph.1 I have
been making another speech on naval matters, and am compli
mented on it. I have also engineered a bill through the Senate
for the better government of the Navy upon modern and humani
tarian principles.
Rev. John Marsh, D. D., Secretary of the American Tem
perance Union, New York, wrote to Mr. Grimes, June 28th :
A thousand thanks to you for getting the spirit-ration removed
from the Navy ! 1 Commodore Footf to Lieutenant Wise.
Cleveland, June 19, 1862.
Mt dear Wise : I have written six letters in my bed this morning, and am
exhausted ; but you have been so kind to me, and so accommodating to our flotilla
in its darkest days, that I must say a word in acknowledgment.
Mr. Everett called on me, and I told him how much the country owed you for
invaluable services in the Ordnance Bureau, etc, which elicited the remark that he
was happy to hear such testimony from me. Tour brother is a noble fellow, and
stood up to his arduous duties in a way that should insure him any berth he wants
in case the flotilla, as it should be, is turned over to the Navy Department.
Do thank Mr. Grimes from me for his resolution to stop the grog-ration, and keep
the ardents out of our ships. It will even add to his reputation as the true friend
to the Navy. I am proud that he who advocated my vote of thanks should also
have introduced the resolution to banish liquor from our ships.
Tour faithful friend, A. H. Foote.
14

198 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
Admiral Du Pont wrote, September 12, 1862 :
You will be pleased to hear that the doing away with the spirit-
ration has met with perfect acquiescence
The establishment of a national armory and arsenal on Rock
Island, which Mr. Grimes regarded as the place of all others on
the continent for it, was largely due to his exertions. He intro
duced a bill, July 12, 1861, and after the lapse of a year secured
an appropriation for the object. In the course of debate, other
points being proposed for the location of the arsenal, namely,
Alton, Quincy, Springfield, and Keokuk, he said :
In 1816 the Government located a fort on Rock Island, in the
Mississippi River. In 1836 the fort was abandoned, and from that
time seven hundred and two acres of land on that island have been
reserved by the Government for military purposes, and intended by
the Ordnance men and those familiar with the military administra
tion for this object, and for no other. There is a water-power there
unequaled by any on this continent, unless it be that of Niagara
Falls. The whole volume of the current of the Mississippi River
can be used for mechanical purposes, if the Government sees fit ;
and that was one of the reasons why it was originally reserved for
the specific purposes of an arsenal and armory. We do not ask for
an armory in Iowa. We expect to be sufficiently benefited by the
establishment of an arsenal on Rock Island, in the State of Illinois.
It will be more accessible to the people of the western half of
Wisconsin, and to the people of Minnesota, than it would be at
Quincy, or at any other point below ; and to the people of Iowa,
and two-thirds or one-half of the people of Illinois. The bill I have
introduced (February 20, 1862) authorizes the President to expend
one hundred thousand dollars in clearing the way, and preparing
for the erection of a proper armory at this point.
Mr. Grimes was jealous for the honor and credit of the Navy ;
claimed that it was doing as much for the country, and was en
titled to as much consideration, as the Army, that greater
advances had been made in the manufacture of arms in the
Navy Department than in the War Department, and that
there should be some equality in the relative rank and pay of

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 199
officers in each service. He advocated establishing the grade of
rear-admiral, and said, July 2, 1862 :
If ever a great exigency may arise when the Government may
need an officer of the higher grade, or when any of these rear-
admirals may act so as justly to entitle them to the compliment of
a higher grade, we shall have it in our power to give them a higher
grade. Referring to this measure as justified by events, he said,
March 3, 1863 :
We have had six rear-admirals appointed (nine was the limit
allowed by law). We established at that time a ladder by which
they might climb up to that distinguished rank. We said to them :
If you will distinguish yourselves in this particular service, if you
will achieve some great conquest in this part of the country or in
that part of the country, you shall be made a rear-admiral, you shall
have the highest honor belonging to your profession which the
country can bestow. And what is the result? Why, we have
admirals who command the admiration and respect of the whole
country. Reference has been made to some naval officers of very
considerable merit who are now serving in the capacity of acting
admirals. It was a matter of favor that they were permitted to be
acting admirals. They were given fine commands. They were
told: Go, and take this place ; go, and open the Mississippi River,
distinguish yourselves, win your laurels and you shall receive them.
These places have been kept open as incentives to emulous deeds,
to noble daring, to the performance of high duties on the part of
your officers.
Mr. Grimes advocated appointments to the Marine Corps from
graduates of the Naval Academy, for the purpose of securing
men fully competent for the duties of that service, and also to
give every part of the country a fair representation in it. In the
course of debate upon this subject, May 12, 1862, allusion being
made to the Federal patronage in New York and Iowa, he said :
The Senator from New York mentioned Iowa as one of the
States that had got its full share. In the Navy Department I
think it has during this Administration got everything we have
asked for and that it was entitled to, and I think we have asked

200 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
for nothing more. But it is refreshing, for a gentleman from New
York, where they have a navy-yard that employs three thousand
men, and a custom-house that employs three thousand more, and
an arsenal at Watervliet that employs twenty-three hundred men,
and a navy-yard again at Oswego that employs I do not know
how many more, and the West Point Academy, for which we ap
propriate several hundred thousand dollars a year, to bring that
State in contrast with the State of Iowa, where we have three land-
offices with six land-officers, each with a salary of five hundred dol
lars a year, one marshal, one United States judge with a salary of
eighteen hundred dollars a year, and one clerk. These are ah the
Federal officers we have in Iowa, and I thank God for it. We
do not want any more Federal officers in my State.
He repeated what he had said in the Thirty-sixth Congress
with reference to a United States marine hospital at Burhng
ton, Iowa, and remarked, February 7th :
It would be supposed that I would have some interest, perhaps,
in keeping up the establishment, as the persons appointed to office
there are my friends, and have been appointed, perhaps, slightly
under my influence. But it is of no earthly benefit to the Govern
ment, and ought to be abolished, and I want to avail myself of this
occasion to set an example of self-sacrifice, of disinterested patriot
ism, to gentlemen. 73.— To Captain S. F. Bu Pont.
Washington, June 14, 1862.
Your letter in behalf of two officers in your squadron is at hand
.... The difficulty arises from the displacement of those who have
been continuously in the service, and the apparent impossibility of
stopping restorations with a few of the most worthy ones. About
a score of them have been before us, and the Senate has finally dis
posed of the matter. The officer who in my opinion has the least
merit, was the only one who was strongly urged and insisted upon;
all the others were made to hang upon the decision in his case.
This would not have been fair (though I told the Senate what my
opinion was on the subject), had not the question been decided
squarely upon its real merits, viz., whether any one ought to be
restored, who had resigned and gone into civil life, if the restora-

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 201
tion would injure those who had remained all of the time in the
service. It is doubtless true that the result was influenced by the
fact that we have been besieged during the session by persons in
the interest of those who seek to be restored, and whose names
would probably have been sent to us, had we acted favorably upon
those who were sent in. The number in favor of confirmation was
very small indeed, not half a dozen ; but you will understand that
this decision was not predicated at all upon the merits of the offi
cers themselves.
You are misinformed as to the action of the Senate on the vote
of thanks to Farragut's fleet-officers. The President sent two
recommendations, one embracing Farragut and his officers and men,
which the committee advised the Senate to adopt, and it was
adopted ; and the other, recommending a vote of thanks to the
commander of each vessel, specifying each officer by name. This
last the committee has not acted upon, and will probably take no
notice of.
We have just had the naval bill under consideration. I had put
on amendments :
" 1. Abolishing spirit-ration after lst September, and allowing
no spirituous liquors to be carried on board, save for medical stores,
and giving each man five cents per day in lieu of it.
2. Making board of visitors at Naval Academy a mixed com
mission from civil and naval life, and making an appropriation
for mileage, as in the case of the Mihtary Academy.
3. Authorizing ten naval cadets to be appointed each year, to
be selected from the sons of officers and men in the military and
naval profession, who have distinguished themselves.
4. Giving commodore's secretary fifteen hundred dollars per
annum and one ration. And sundry other amendments in which
you probably take no particular interest.
We hope to leave here soon. I shall hope to hear from you
often at my Western home.
74. — To Commodore Samuel F. Bu Pont.
Washington, June 29, 1862.
Your very kind letter inviting me to visit you at Port Royal was
received yesterday, for which I am greatly indebted to you. At
first, my friend Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, and myself about deter-

202 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
mined to accept your invitation, but my anxiety to see my home,
where I have not been since last October, has constrained me to
forego the pleasure which I am sure a visit to your fleet would
afford me. Should you be in that vicinity in the autumn, I hope I
may be able to make the trip.
We hope to adjourn next week. I shall return to Iowa thor
oughly armed by your kind aid, prepared to kill all the deer, grouse,
aud other game that I may be able to hit.
I have sent you the bill for the government of the Navy, as it
passed the Senate ; also the grade bill as reported to the Senate.
I am sorry to say that I am the only member of the Naval Com
mittee who really desires to pass the bill to establish new grades,
etc. By agreeing to two or three absurd amendments, I finally suc
ceeded in " badgering " it through the committee, and got it re
ported to the Senate, with the understanding that every member
of the committee might vote as he pleased ; hoping and believing
that I can carry it by dint of impudence and will.
The following extract from a letter of Admiral Du Pont
shows what naval gentlemen thought of Mr. Grimes's labors in
behalf of the Navy : Wabash, Port Botal, September 12, 1862.
Since Congress adjourned I have frequently desired to write
you, waiting for a quiet hour to do so. That hour has not come,
and I will no longer delay expressing my warm appreciation of
your labors in behalf of the Navy during the last session. I believe
this to be emphatically the opinion of the whole service. These
labors have had their reward in one sense : never before has so
much and such important legislation been carried through — I do
not mean in one session — in a period of twenty years. In reference
to the great change of all — the creation of the grade of admiral —
there seems but one opinion. I never heard an officer, while fancy
ing something might have been better here or there for his grade,
who did not always wind up by saying : " But we have admirals ;
thank God for that ! " I feel deeply grateful to you personally,
though still more on public grounds, for carrying this great measure
through. In view of the excessive multiplication of generals, Mr. Grimes
introduced a resolution, March 10th, that in the opinion of the

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 203
Senate no persons should be commissioned as generals of divi
sions or brigades, except such as exhibited superior competency
in the command 'of men, or gallantry in action against the enemy.
He said, March 28th, and in the course of debate subsequently :
I wish the Senate and the country to know that at this time
there have been appointed one hundred and eighty brigadier-gener
als. The expenses of the appointment to the United States are
one million dollars a year. The necessities of the Army and the
country do not require one-half of this number. We went through
the Mexican War with only three generals in the field. Brigades
and divisions were then commanded by colonels ; regiments by
captains, in some instances by first-lieutenants. The comparative
expense of conducting that war was nothing at all by the side of
the expense we are now incurring. In addition to this number of
brigadiers — and I think the number ought to appall every lover of
his country — we have twenty major-generals ; and all the staffs are
upon a corresponding magnitude, and attended with a corresponding
expense; Brigadier and major generals in our service have more
aides and a larger staff than the generals of any other government in
the world. I have taken the trouble to investigate the matter a lit
tle, and to look at the practice of other armies. I have the official
" Army Register " of Great Britain and that of France here under
my desk. Of course every general officer wants to have a brilliant
staff; he wants to surround himself with as many aides as possible.
It gives 'eclat to the officer ; it is very convenient under many cir
cumstances ; but it will be exceedingly inconvenient for the people
of this country to pay the salaries which are to be allowed to those
officers. From the fact that they are not regarded as useful in
other armies, I think it is a proper inference that they are not needed
in this. We have to-day the largest army, the best-fed army, the best-
clothed army, the best-paid army on the globe. I am not going
to say how it is commanded. In a few months this question and
some other questions of economy will come home to us, when our
constituents shall be called upon to pay the direct taxes to support
these brigadier and major generals, and their adjuncts and assistants.
He afterward introduced a bill to limit the number of brig
adiers to two hundred, and said :

204 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
I have made several ineffectual attempts to do something tow
ard curtailing the number of general officers in the Army, or at least
preventing the continued increase of them. We are told every day
that this is going to be a financial war more than a war to be fought
upon the battle-field. If so, we should attempt to curtail some of
the expenses of the Government. We have now between two hun
dred and three hundred brigadier-generals, while the French Army,
with a force of about seven hundred thousand men, has only one
hundred and sixty on the active list. And yet we are constantly
increasing them, and by the appointment not of men who have dis
tinguished themselves upon the battle-field, not of men who have
shown gallantry in action, not of men who have had military edu
cations, not of men who have shown skill in the handling of troops,
but mere political appointments, men who, so far as we know, have
not the slightest military capacity. Why continue to increase
them, while the line of service is being decreased ? Each regiment,
when it went into the field, embraced somewhere from eight hun
dred to a thousand men ; but they have been greatly depleted.
Take, for instance, some of the regiments from my State. The Sev
enth Iowa lost nearly three hundred at the battle of Belmont, up
ward of one hundred at Donelson, at Pittsburg Landing nearly two
hundred more, and from disease another hundred or two, so that it
is actually reduced to somewhere in the neighborhood of two hun
dred men. The Second is reduced in the same way ; so are the
Eighth, Twelfth, and Fourteenth, from the same causes. You can
embrace a dozen such fragments of regiments in one brigade, and,
instead of increasing the number of brigadier-generals, it is our in
terest and our duty to decrease them. I have been told by two
generals of the Army, who have no interest either in the increase
or in the decrease of the number, who are skillful officers, whose
opinion I rely upon, that there is not the slightest necessity for
more than one hundred brigadier-generals.
Now, there are some thirty appointments yet unconfirmed. The
moment you fix a limit, we shall not have the appointments taken
up at the heel of a day's session, when everybody is tired out, when
everybody wants to go to dinner, when there is a very thin Senate,
and when appointments are rushed through, against which there
might be objections. Some of the appointments, we know, are not
going to be confirmed ; a good many of them probably ought not

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 205
to be confirmed. Such places will be filled by the gallant men who
deserve promotion. Another effect will be to influence the Presi
dent to strike from the list of brigadier-generals such men as have
been found by experience to be incompetent for command. The
Senator from New York (Mr. Harris) objected to this, because he
regarded it as a sort of strait-jacket to be put upon the President.
He might just as well regard every law that we pass upon the sub
ject in that light. So far from this being a strait-jacket, and any
impeachment of the President, I, as a friend of his, insist that the
Senate should pass the bill, in order to take away from him the im
portunities with which he is now beset, to have this man and that
man appointed a brigadier. Every one of these brigadier-generals
costs the Government about twelve thousand dollars a year. That
is something. I confess that it is a very small consideration. I am
in favor of this proposition on that account, it is true ; but princi
pally, that it will exercise a restraining influence upon executive
power ; it will cause the performance of the duty which I think
the commander-in-chief ought to exercise ; and it will cause the
Senate to inquire more thoroughly into the conduct of these men.
So far as the appointment of gallant men is concerned, fixing the
number at two hundred will afford ample opportunity to give all
the gentlemen who distinguish themselves the stars.
Mr. Grimes had the utmost confidence in President Lincoln
as a discreet, prudent, kind-hearted, and benevolent man, but
looked with distrust upon all increase of executive power, even in
his hands. In the exigencies of the country he held the authority
of Congress and of the law inviolate, and never lost his jealousy
of unlimited power or official assumption. He said, July 1,
1862: I am willing to vote for more men. I am willing to stay here
until December and vote for them as needed. I am willing to be
called back, upon five or ten days' notice from the President, to
give all the additional men or money that may be needed ; but, in
my opinion, it is the duty of Congress to keep the control of the
number of men, and of the amount of money, that shall be voted for
war-purposes, as well as for other purposes. Various circumstances
are occurring which show that it is the imperative duty of Congress;
to exercise a watchful care and supervision over the management

206 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
of the Executive Departments of this country. I am not disposed
to ignore my rights or my duties. I want to give to the Govern
ment all the support that it needs, but I want to vote that support.
I am disposed to give it in a constitutional, legitimate, and legal
way, and in no other.
The multiplication of army officers, of a high grade, before
they had won distinction in the field, or even seen service, was
obnoxious to his judgment. He called attention to a very great
abuse in the appointment of aides-de-camp, upon the recommen
dation of generals in the regular Army, without the advice and
consent of the Senate, and said :
I wish to stop it where it is.
When the President sent in a certain bill to the Senate,
however much Mr. Grimes may have approved its provisions,
he promptly said, July 14, 1862 :
I do not recognize the right of the President to send a bill in
here. Mr. Grimes spent a day, December 12th, in the soldiers' hos
pitals about Washington, and acquainted himself with the details
of their management. Prompt and watchful to observe and ex
pose abuses, he said, December 18th :
Some of the medical officers are humane gentlemen. Oh the other
hand, some are mere brutes, and will not answer you a question civil
ly, unless you tell them that you are in influential position, and then
fear alone prompts them to give you the information they ought to
be willing to give to any gentleman. If you have a man at the
head of your medical department who will put the hand of power
on such a man, turn him out, and substitute a good man for him,
then you will have your Medical Bureau conducted properly ; you
cannot do it by legislation."
Disapproving the course of some of the members of the cabi
net, and regarding their influence as adverse to the policy of
emancipation and to the vigorous prosecution of the war, Mr.
Grimes was one of a committee of nine, with Mr. Collamer and
other Senators, who presented a paper to the President, Decern-

1862-'3.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 207
ber 18th, recommending such selections and changes in his cab
inet as would secure to the country unity of purpose and action.
Complaint being made of the presence of United States
troops at the polls in some of the election precincts at the No
vember election in Delaware, Mr. Grimes favored an inquiry
into the matter, and said, December 23d :
I have offered the resolution without consultation with any
human being, upon my own volition. The Senators from Dela
ware have stated that a portion of the Army has been employed in
attending the polls in that State, and have perpetrated violence
upon certain of the citizens. Now, if sent for the purpose of pre
serving quiet, I think they were sent for a laudable purpose. If
they have perpetrated violence, I want to know it, and I want the
Secretary of War and the military authorities to apply the correc
tion. I do not wish, as one of the representatives of a sovereign
State, to shrink from any investigation in connection with that sub
ject. A proposal was introduced in both Houses of Congress, in
December, 1862, to grant aid to the State of Missouri to eman
cipate the slaves in that State. Mr. Grimes said, January 30,
1863: I feel that the purpose that is sought to be attained is a very
laudable one — a very patriotic one. I am the representative, in
part, of a State that is as much interested in having emancipation
decreed in Missouri as any other State in this Union. I am per
sonally very much interested, for I live near the border of the
State of Missouri ; and I am willing to do as much as I believe I
can constitutionally and properly do, and as much as I think the
people of my State will justify me in doing, in order to accomplish
this purpose. In ordinary times, when war did not exist, I could
not justify a vote in favor of an appropriation of one million dollars
out of the Treasury to emancipate slaves in Missouri, nor one dollar.
I can only justify my vote now, upon the idea that slavery is the
cause of the war, and that by its removal we shall, in some measure,
shorten the continuance of the war. I am willing to go before the
people of my State, and undertake to justify an appropriation of
ten million dollars, to create freedom and only freedom in Missouri,

208 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
from and after 1865. I am willing to take the responsibility of
giving that vote, and stand the test before the freemen of Iowa.
But I am unwilling to vote more. It may be that the slaves are
worth more. I have a great many doubts on that subject. It may
be that we may be benefited by abolition in Missouri more than
ten million dollars. I have a great many doubts on that sub
ject. It may be that the Legislature of Missouri will be unwill
ing to accept a less sum. I have very many doubts on that sub
ject. They are anxious to get as many millions as possible ; but I
think, when they discover that we are willing to give them im
mediately ten millions, and that that is the whole amount we are
disposed to give, they will be perfectly willing to accept it.
A bill appropriating twenty millions passed the Senate, Feb
ruary 12th, but failed in the House. Mr. Grimes voted agamst it.
In relation to President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclama
tion, Mr. Grimes remarked, February 28th :
A great deal has been said about the effect of the President's
proclamation of September last. We have been told that it is hav
ing a most disastrous effect upon the people of the country, and
especially upon the armies of the country ; that its tendency has
been to demoralize the soldiers. I am not authorized to speak for
any other State than that of which I am one of the representatives
in this chamber ; nor am I authorized to speak for any other por
tion of the Army than that gallant portion that my State furnishes.
I desire to say, and I say it knowing, as well as any man can
know, the sentiment of the people he represents, that, instead of the
proclamation having had the effect attributed to it, it had precisely
the contrary effect. It came to us while I was canvassing the State
of Iowa preceding the last October election, and it was hailed by
the loyal men of all parties, who were anxious to put down this
rebellion, as one of the most efficient means of bringing it to a suc
cessful conclusion. The soldiers of Iowa have hailed it with accla
mation. They have accepted it, as the citizens of the State have ;
and they are willing to use that or any other means, in order to pre
serve the Union in its glory and consistency. The motto of my
State at home, in the field, everywhere, is " Onward and upward ! "

1861-'3.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 209
THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY.
Mr. Grimes was a friend to this institution. He said, July
12, 1861 :
I believe it is the universal testimony of this country, and of
citizens of foreign countries who have been brought in contact with
officers educated there, that some of the most accomplished officers
the world has ever seen have been produced in that institution. I
do not believe that there is any army in the world that has more
accomplished officers than we have in the American Army, who have
been educated at West Point. That institution has been under the
charge of the Engineer Corps. You know how that corps is consti
tuted. It is the elite of the service. Those who graduate at the
head of their classes are assigned to that particular department.
They are men selected on account of their intellectual qualifica
tions, their application, and the ability by which they have dis
tinguished themselves while at the Academy.
It is proposed to change this, and open the Academy to the
superintendency of anybody who may, for the time being, be con
nected with our Army. I am opposed to it. I would not object so
much to open the superintendency to the three scientific corps of
the Army, the two Engineer Corps, and the Ordnance Corps ; but
I do insist that we shall confine it to those three.
He said, January 7, 1862 :
There never was a greater mistake than that under which gen
tlemen seem to labor when they suppose that West Point is the
nursery of treason. The facts show the reverse. The proportion
of persons appointed from civil life who turned out to be disloyal
was much greater than of those educated at the Military Academy.
Nearly one-half of those appointed from civil life were disloyal,
while not quite one-third of those educated at the Academy.
In a debate upon the bill making appropriations for the sup
port of the Academy, January 15, 1863, he said :
I have received many letters from my constituents urging me to
vote against this bill. I do not propose to do so, and I desire to
state in one word why I shall not.
The great want of an educated soldiery in this country was first
discovered during our Revolutionary War ; and he who will read the

210 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
letters of General Washington will discover that in almost every
letter to the Continental Congress he urged the necessity of secur
ing engineer officers. It was in accordance with his desire that
they secured through their representatives in France and the other
Continental governments in Europe engineer officers to come here,
who acted as engineers during the Revolutionary War. During
his administration and that of his successor, efforts were made to
establish a military academy upon the plan of the military acade
mies then in existence in France, but I believe none was established
until 1803, during the administration of Mr. Jefferson, when our
present school at West Point was established.
True, you cannot make a good commander out of every one sent
to West Point ; but while we condemn and pass judgment upon
West Point, or the character exhibited by one particular man of its
graduates, who happens to be in the command of a large army, we
forget the other six hundred men from that Academy in subordi
nate positions, who are looking after your artillery corps, fabricating
and looking after your ordnance and missiles of war, attending to
your quartermaster and your commissary departments, who are
skilled in all the details of those different departments, and are
keeping regularity and order throughout.
It may be that the time will come — and I should like to see it
come — when military schools shall be established in the different
States. Whenever the States shall establish these schools, and'
they turn out scholars fit to occupy the positions now given to
graduates of the Military Academy, I would at once say, Let these
young students go before a board of military officers, and, when
they have passed an examination, let them be received into the
Army, and let West Point be dispensed with. But are we prepared
to do it now ? Is there a single school of that description in any
of the States ? I know of none. There are some private schools
where scholars are taught in the manual of arms ; but no such
foundation for a military education is laid as is necessary for an
officer who goes into your Artillery, Engineer, or Ordnance Corps.
Mr. Grimes advised the early return of the Naval Academy
to Annapolis, and said with reference to proposals for locating
it elsewhere, June 16, 1862 :
Let me warn my friends from New England that the worst

1862.1 A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 211
policy for them is this constant attempt to draw all the institutions
of the country up into the Northeastern States. There is a feeling
now in the public mind, in some sections, in the Northwest particu
larly, that they are being made in too great a degree tributary to the
New England States ; that you have all the arsenals, the armories, the
navy-yards, custom-houses, officers, everything almost, up in that
section. I do not entertain any of this feeling ; I want to guard
against it ; and I want to crush out that sentiment as far as possible ;
but the attempt to draw these institutions there tends to increase
this sentiment in other sections. It is not the true policy of any
portion of this country to try to monopolize, or to have the idea go
out that they are trying to monopolize the power and wealth of the
country in a particular locality, or in a particular cluster of States ;
and it is not for the interest of those States that that idea should
be propagated, because we all desire to preserve this Union just as
long as possible. The very way to break it up is, to get the opinion
entertained in other States that some of the States are using the
patronage and wealth of the country for their particular advance
ment and emolument, and not for the common good. We all know
that, from the fact that the New England and Atlantic States were
settled much before the others, there has been an accumulation of
these offices. We have our arsenals, armories, navy-yards, and
military school, all clustered within a radius of two hundred miles.
There are three navy-yards within a radius of two hundred miles,
perhaps four ; for I think that will include Philadelphia. Now,
what I want to impress on the minds of Senators is this : that, every
thing else being equal, it would be for the interest of the Govern
ment to place your Naval Academy and some of your other institu
tions beyond those States. Everything else being equal, it would
be for the interest of the Government, and for the interest of the
New England States, and New Jersey, and New York, to keep
your Academy at Annapolis, rather than to take it to Newport or
Perth Amboy.
Favoring the appointment of boys to the Naval Academy,
who were sons of officers, seamen, marines, or soldiers, Mr.
Grimes said, July 2d :
The purpose is principally on account of the effect that it is
calculated to have upon the men. I know many likely young boys,

212 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
sons of boatswains, carpenters, forward officers, about your navy-
yards. It would be a consolation to those officers to know, when
they go into battle, to uphold the flag of the country, that there is
a provision by which these sons of theirs may secure an appoint
ment, and finally become officers, and that the bestow ment of these
places is not to be restricted entirely to the sons of politicians.
The purpose was to encourage the men in both services, the military
and the naval, by holding out this inducement, saying to them, We
will not only take care of your widow, but we will educate your
boy. And we have provided that the President shall have three
appointments to the Naval Academy from the boys who have en
listed as boys in the naval service, to be conferred on such as the
one who distinguished himself on board the Yaruna at the mouth
of the Mississippi, and another little boy who distinguished himself
on the Cumberland, when she went down in Hampton Roads. It
is a very small boon. We have now in the service of the United
States thirty thousand seamen, and I do not know how many
soldiers — five hundred thousand perhaps — and we merely authorize
the President by this bill to select ten from the sons of these men,
and agree that they shall have an education at the Naval Academy.
The department wanted the limit of age fixed at sixteen. It was
extended to seventeen in opposition to their wishes. In the Eng
lish service they allow no boy to enter over fifteen, and it is stated
to be the fact that no man makes a good officer or a good sailor
who enters after he is sixteen years of age.
Mr. Grimes advocated the removal of the navy-yard at Phila
delphia a mile and a half down the Delaware River to League
Island, especially with reference to the necessities of an iron navy.
He considered it the place of all others for that purpose. The
island is made by the disemboguement of the Schuylkill into the
Delaware. He made a speech in favor of the measure, June 24th,
in which, after contrasting the navy-yards of Great Britain and
France with those of this country, he showed that for capacity
of site, insular position, fresh water, depth of water, suscepti
bility of defense, proximity to the coal and iron fields of Penn
sylvania, and proximity to a manufacturing city with a large
mechanical population, no place on the continent could fairly
compete with League Island for a great iron-navy yard. In

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 213
subsequent debates he vigorously supported its advantages over
other locations, and his influence powerfully contributed to its
acquisition by the Government. In the language of Hon. G. Y.
Fox, " his name is fixed to League Island as a perpetual record."
Mr. Grimes said, January 24, 1863 :
I am not here as the representative of any State that can be
directly or indirectly interested in a navy-yard, except as to the
general interests which my constituents may feel in our maritime
defenses. I believe that I can approach this subject without any
prepossessions in favor of any place, or any prejudices against one.
If I had prepossessions in favor of any one, I think they would be
in favor of my native New England ; but there are considerations
connected with this question of great importance to the welfare of
the country, and we ought not to regard it as a simple question be
tween League Island and New London, or Pennsylvania and Con
necticut, but look at it in a statesmanlike view, and see what will
probably be the consequences of the vote we may give on this sub
ject to the country at large. The best interests of the country and
of the Navy require that we should accept some place remote from
the seashore, where an iron vessel can be cleaned, as it passes from
the sea, and that shall be unapproachable by a hostile force. If we
reject League Island, we shall regret it, and the country w'ill for
ever regret it. Could Great Britain secure to herself such a fresh
water river as the Delaware, and such a site on its banks for a
naval station as League Island, she would willingly give one of
her most-valued possessions.
Mr. Grimes gave his influence, January 24, 1 862, to constitute
the States of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota, the ninth cir
cuit of the Supreme Court of the United States, on the ground
that, though embracing a smaller population than any other
circuit in the United States, these four States were increasing
very rapidly in population, and that they had simplified their
code, had dispensed with the old systems of practice, and adopted
a nearly uniform system different from other States with which
it had been proposed to unite them. The measure failed at the
time, but subsequently became a law, approved July 15, 1862.
Mr. Grimes voted in favor of issuing the United States Treas-
15

214 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862-'3.
ury notes, commonly called greenbacks ; but upon the direct
question of making them a legal tender did not vote (February
13, 1862).
Disapproving the establishment of banks without a specie
basis for their circulation, and not regarding the bill providing
for national banks as expedient or wise, he voted against it. He
supported an amendment, which failed, requiring the banks to
keep in coin an amount equal to one-fourth of their notes (Feb
ruary 10, 12, 1863). In the next Congress, he supported, May
10, 1864, also ineffectually, an amendment requiring each bank
to keep on hand one-fourth of the coin received for interest on
its bonds, until specie payments should be resumed.
Upon the subject of the national debt, he said, May 31, 1862 :
I want to say, for fear the constant repetition of the remark by
various Senators may be regarded as an acquiescence in the doctrine
by all the members of the Senate, that I am utterly opposed to the
theory of those gentlemen who say they do not desire that any
sinking-fund should be established, or any method devised by which
the ultimate payment of the public debt that is now created shall
be projected. I think I can see very distinctly what is going to be
one of the effects of this war, especially if the theories announced
on this floor are to prevail : that we are to have a Government that
is to be controlled by the moneyed men and stock-jobbers of the
country. That is what I am afraid of. We have to-day given a
very significant vote, in my opinion, on that subject. We have de
clared that ah the bonds that are issued by the United States shall
be forever exempt from State taxation. And we shall create, before
the end of another year, fifteen hundred million dollars of indebt
edness. The people that I represent decided about six years ago, when
they established a new constitution, that no debt should be cre
ated unless there was a provision coupled with the act creating it
by which steps should be taken for its speedy repayment ; and it
is their expression of opinion on this subject that I desire to repre
sent, as well as my own. I feel exactly in regard to the creating
of public indebtedness, as the gentleman who is now President said
a few years ago the people of this country felt in regard to slavery.
He said they were perfectly satisfied when they believed it was in

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 215
the process of utter extinction ; and so will I feel, and so will the
people that I represent feel. They will be satisfied in paying taxes
if they believe they are not only carrying on this war, but gradually
getting out of the debt ; because the agricultural people that I rep
resent are not interested in the continuance of a large public debt.
On the contrary, they want to have us recur to the first principles
of the founders of this Government, and be entirely exempt from
debt. 75 — To Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury.
Burlington, July 29, 1862.
I have now been at home ten days. Permit me to tell you
what conclusions I have reached from my intercourse with the peo
ple of Iowa.
The people are far in advance of the Administration and of
Congress in their desire for a vigorous prosecution of the war.
They are unanimous for the confiscation bill, and execrate every
man who opposed its passage, or who now opposes its stringent
execution. There is but little disposition to enlist until it is known
what the course of the Administration is to be on this subject.
I need not tell you that the expressions of confidence in the
management of the President, his prudence, sagacity, etc., are in a
measure enforced, and proceed from the confessed necessity of sup
porting him as the only tangible head of the loyal Government,
and not from any real confidence in his wisdom. Rely upon it, if
things drift along as at present, no volunteers will take the field,
and the tax law will become so odious that it will require a larger
army to enforce it than to put down the rebellion. Sixty days will
determine whether we are longer to have a Government, and the
Administration must decide it. It is folly to disregard the senti
ment of the country in such a time as this — it is worse ; it is wick
edness. Either Mr. Lincoln disregards it, or else he willfully keeps
himself in ignorance of it. Good men, the best we have, are be
ginning to utter expressions of despair ; and they are not cowed
by fear of the strength of the enemy, but by apparent weakness
of our friends. I beg you not to be misled by the proceedings of
war-meetings in our large towns. Volunteers will come when a
" war policy " is declared and acted upon, and not to any consider
able extent before. Speeches and resolutions will not bring them.

216 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
I thought I comprehended somewhat the popular sentiment be
fore I left Washington. In this T was mistaken. It is far more
ardent and extreme than even I ever supposed. It is nonsense to
attempt to frighten the masses by the story that rigorous measures
will " nail up the door against reconciliation of contending sec
tions." We have too much at stake, the Government is of too
much value, too much of the best blood of the nation is calling to
us for vindication, to justify us in neglecting any methods to put
the rebellion down known to civilized warfare. Would to God
every man connected with the Administration could travel incog
nito, through the country, and get the true expression of the people
on these subjects ! Instead of getting a knowledge of that sent>
ment from impartial sources, it now comes to the President and his
cabinet from newspapers edited by men in office, from applicants
for place, from sycophants, and from cowards who dare not tell a
man in power what he knows to be the truth, if he supposes it
will be unpleasant to him.
I pray and hope, but I confess that my hope is becoming daily
fainter and fainter. I know you will pardon this intrusion upon
you. I felt that it was a necessity that I should let out my soul on
this subject, and I know no one else to write to but you. I have
written very frankly, but very honestly. I hope the- country is not
in so bad a condition as I fear it to be in. In my opinion, if wis
dom rules the hour at Washington, a rigorous confiscation war pol
icy will first be declared, and then a conscription of one hundred
thousand men made at once. Men will not volunteer into the old
regiments. One volunteer in ah old regiment is worth three fresh
men in a new regiment. A conscription of one hundred thousand
men would be of more value to the country than three hundred
thousand volunteers, and, of course, cost only one-third as much.
But why should I advise ?
76. — To Mrs. Grimes.
Indianola, Iowa, October 6, 1862.
I have received your various letters, and I believe they have
done me great good by moving me to renewed exertions in behalf
of the good cause. I am enthusiastically received wherever I have
been, and have everywhere addressed large crowds. This is a
Quaker county. A large number have said that they would not

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 217
vote at the coming election. I had a very large number of them
at my meeting yesterday in the public square in this town, and I
am told that after the meeting, with one solitary exception, they
avowed their resolution to vote.
The President's proclamation is everywhere well received. We
shall easily carry the State, and elect all our Congressmen — and a
very able delegation it will be. No State will be better represent
ed in the next Congress than Iowa.
77.— To Hon. W. P. Fessenden. Burlington^ October 12, 1862.
I have been absent nearly four weeks canvassing the State* and
only returned last evening. I knew of the death of your son 1
before I left home. I attempted on two occasions to write to you,
but failed to send or even complete either letter. I know the
anguish that you must feel, and I feared that I would but open
your wounds afresh. I think that the last conversation I had with
you in Washington was in your room, and about Samuel. You
know very well what I thought of him. I always thought that
there were the elements of great success in him, and that he would
one day be a credit to himself, his family, and to the country. If I
knew how to do it I would condole with you. You know that you
have my deepest sympathy in your affliction.
I have ceased to write or talk about the generals and the Admin
istration. The men of brains are still overslaughed and ignored,
and it would seem that they are to continue to be.
Our election takes place day after to-morrow. I have traveled
nearly four weeks, speaking every day. I think we shall elect all
six of our Congressmen, and they will all be capital men. My wife
sends love. When I came home she was full of praises of your tax-
bill speech,2 pronouncing it the best she had seen from you. I tried
to laugh her out of it, but, woman-like, she adheres to that opinion.
Did you ever hear any one else say that ?
18.— To Hon. S. P. Chase. Burlington, October 20, 1862.
We have carried the State triumphantly. We elect all of our six
Congressmen. Without the aid of the army vote, our majority will be
> Mortally wounded at Bull Bun, Virginia, August 80, 1862. * June 6, 1862.

218 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
greater than ever before ; with that added, it will be overwhelming.
We took the bull by the horns and made the proclamation an issue.
I traversed the State for four weeks, speaking every day, and the
more radical I was the more acceptable I was. The fact is, we
carried the State by bringing up the radical element to the polls.
The politicians are a vast distance behind the people in sentiment.
79. — To Admiral Bu Pont.
Burlington, October 20, 1862.
I found your very interesting letter of the 12th September
awaiting my return to my home last week, after a month's absence
in the interior of the State.
I judge, from what I see in the newspapers, that before this
reaches you, you will be making preparations to attack Charleston.
May God speed and protect you ! I doubt not that an attack will
be attended with great risk to our vessels and men ; still, with the
complete and thorough preparation that I know you will make, and
the enterprise that I know you and your officers will exhibit, I am
prepared to prophesy success. And what a glorious triumph it
will be ! It will thrill every loyal heart with delight. I wish it were
possible for the Navy to take it unaided by the Army ; but that
cannot be expected.
I am in no wise deserving of the kind compliments you lavish
upon me. I get credit for a geat deal of knowledge upon naval
subjects, from the simple fact that I am surrounded by the most
profound ignorance. A very small light in such utter darkness
attracts attention, and seems to excite surprise, especially when
the little ray proceeds from the region that this does. For you
know that up to my time it was supposed that all information in
relation to your branch of the public service was confined to a select
" guild " about the Atlantic cities, no man from the interior having
presumed to know anything about it. If I have been of any real
service, it has been in breaking down and eradicating that idea, and
in assisting to nationahze the Navy, in making the frontiersman
as well as the longshoreman feel that he was interested in it, and
partook of its glory.
Washington, November 21st. — I have seen photographs of you
about the book-stores, no one of which satisfies me. I saw one in
Mr. Fox's room to-day, that comes up to my idea of your present

1862.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 219
appearance, and if you are in possession of extra copies, and have
no indisposition to confer such a favor upon me, I would be exceed
ingly pleased to receive one. Will you be kind enough to say to
Captain Rodgers, that if he will permit me I will ask the same of
him? In two or three years I shall retire to my home in the far
West, to spend the remainder of my days. It will be pleasant to
me and to my wife, who takes quite as much interest in the Navy
as I do, to carry with us to our retreat the " counterfeit present
ments " of the gentlemen I have known belonging to your service
who have illustrated the history of our country.
80. — To a Midshipman at the Naval Academy.
Burlington, October 28, 1862.
I have received your letter, and by the same mail one from H  .
In the pressure of my business I must make this letter answer as
the acknowledgment of both. I watch with a great deal of solici
tude the progress that the Iowa boys are making at the Naval
School. I am as anxious as your parents are that you should each
and every one of you succeed and be ornaments of your profession.
I shall hail your success with delight. But you all use one expres
sion that I do not like. You speak of your anxiety and your desire
to " keep up " with your class. You ought to set your mark higher
than that. You should aim not only to " keep up," but to keep
ahead of your class, you should lead and not follow. Be satisfied
with no rank in your class below the first. You should strive for
that position — not merely for the honor of it, that should be a
secondary consideration — but because the habits, methods, and dis
cipline, that will be necessary to enable you to take that high rank
will prepare you for future successes through life, and will inspire
you with a noble ambition to occupy distinguished positions, and
the ability to fill them creditably to yourself and your friends.
You are all blessed with good constitutions. You can safely
submit to the confinement and labor that will be required of you.
You all have the requisite natural capacity. Nothing is necessary
to complete success at the Academy but indomitable energy and
perseverance. I do not expect too much of you in the outset. I
have told your parents that they must be satisfied with a low
report the first month from each of you, but that if you have proper
application to study, the firm resolution to please them, and honor

220 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1862.
yourselves, your monthly reports will grow better and better. Re
member that you are now laying the foundations of your whole
course. Skip nothing ; understand thoroughly all that you go over ;
and your future studies will become comparatively easy. Remem
ber, my dear boys, that I have a deep interest in you, I desire your
welfare. I hope you will each give me further cause to be proud
of our noble State of Iowa. May God bless you all who claim Iowa
as your home !
Mr. Grimes introduced a bill with reference to letters of
marque, and explained his own views upon the subject, July
12th-15th: \<^oV
Here is a proposition to call to our aid the militia of the seas,
to assist in upholding the constituted authorities. Were I the Sec
retary of the Navy, or the President of the United States, I would
not recommend it. I do not believe abstractly in the doctrine of
privateering. I am, however, representing those who desire that
this measure should pass. There are at this time some ten or
twelve valuable iron steamers lying at Bermuda, Nassau, and at
other points in the vicinity of the West Indies, under the British
flag, but prepared at any time, whenever they can see a favorable
moment, to haul down that flag, and raise the Confederate flag, and
become privateers against the commerce of the United States. So
large an amount of the American Navy is compelled to watch those
vessels, that to some extent the resources of the Navy are crippled.
It is solely for the purpose of allowing private citizens to take their
risk in capturing these private-armed vessels of the Confederates,
that this bill is sought to be passed.
In introducing it, I am not representing myself or my own opin
ions, but the opinions of the Administration, who desire this privi
lege, if an emergency should arise ; and I am willing to trust them.
If I had the power, I would abolish all privateering, and rely upon
the armed vessels of my Government. I think one of the greatest
political errors ever perpetrated by the Government of the United
States was, the rejection of the proposition of the Paris Treaty ; but
it was rejected : and now when we have proposed to come in, and
become a part of it, it is understood that we have been repelled.
We therefore have the authority to use privateers.

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 221
The bill failed at this session, but a law was passed at the
close of tbe next session authorizing letters of marque. The
unfriendly acts of England and France, especially Napoleon's
armed intervention in Mexico, had given a threatening aspect to
our foreign relations. With some modification of the views
previously expressed, Mr. Grimes said, February 17, 1863 :
I have a few words to say to the Senate on the bill now under
consideration. I shall be brief, and endeavor to speak to the sub
ject in hand.
What real objection can be urged against the policy of granting
letters of marque, that may not be urged against the employment
of the militia upon land ? I can imagine none. Do not vessels
carrying letters of marque have our commission? Do they not
sail under our flag ? Are they not manned by our countrymen ?
Are they not responsible to our laws ? Must not their captures be
condemned under our admiralty laws and in our courts ?
Doubtless, the nations of Europe who were parties to the Treaty
of Paris, in. 1855, and who rely wholly upon standing armies for
their support, would be pleased to enter into treaty stipulations
with us, by which we also would place our entire reliance upon a
regular army. Shall we gratify them in this regard also ? Shall
we abandon our militia, because they do, and impoverish ourselves
by the support of immense standing armies ? If we will not, if we
adhere to our traditionary policy, and rely upon the citizen soldiery
as the cheapest and best national protection, why shall we not also
adhere to our ancient policy in regard to letters of marque and the
" militia of the seas ? " Because England and France, compelled as
they are to support immense navies, find it convenient to establish
a new rule for their future guidance, shall we, at their politic sug
gestion, subject ourselves to new rules and to, additional burdens ?
They are able to support large navies. They are compelled to sup
port them. Their very proximity to each other constrains them to
do so. They can well say to weaker naval powers, and especially
to those possessing a large commercial marine, needing protection
in time of war, that the practice of issuing letters of marque should
be abolished. But can we afford to say so ? Can we afford to de
clare that when war shall exist between us and any foreign nation,
our whole merchant marine shall rot at our wharves, and no private

222 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
vessel be commissioned to go forth as an armed volunteer upon the
sea to meet our nation's enemy ? Ask the merchants of New Eng
land and New York if they can afford it.
The attempt is made to render this well-settled practice of issu
ing letters of marque by nations in time of war odious, by calling
vessels to which they are issued "privateers," " semi-pirates,"
" marine highwaymen." With what justice can these epithets be
applied to them, when they sail under our flag, carry our commission,
and are amenable to our laws ? It is said that they receive the
compensation for their services in the booty they capture. This is
true in part, and it is true also of every ship-of-war that floats or
that ever floated, belonging to Great Britain or to the United
States. By our laws, one-half of the value of all property of an
enemy captured on the sea is the lawful prize of the captors. Has
that fact caused our naval officers to tarnish their reputation, or that
of their profession, by unmanly acts of cupidity or barbarity ? If,
indeed, it be true that such application of the proceeds of captured
property is immoral, and if it be true that the receiver of goods
improperly obtained is as guilty as he who obtains them, it would
require the nicest casuistry to determine that we ourselves, who
receive one-half of the value of the captured goods in the one case,
are not morally as guilty as the privateer who receives the whole
value in the other. The immorality of the act would hardly be
lessened by a division of the spoils. The truth is, there is no moral
principle involved in this matter. What difference does it make
whether my vessel is captured by a seventy-four-gun ship, with an
admiral in command, or by a fishing-smack, armed with a blunder
buss, provided both are governed by the same laws, and are respon
sible to the same authority for the exercise of the power which cap
ture gives to them ? How does the division of the proceeds of the
capture among the captors affect me, or the legality or the morality
of the capture itself?
We are told that this proposition is against the public senti
ment of the age; that it will encourage uncivilized warfare. All
warlike acts are uncivil. War, in its best conditions, is only
organized, legal barbarism. Still, war is necessary. Does it make
any difference to me, whether I meet in hostile array a recent
volunteer, or an antagonist all his life trained to martial deeds,
provided each fights under the same banner, carries a commission

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 223
issued by the same authority, and is bound by the same laws of
war ? In what manner can civilization or Christianity be affected,
one way or the other ?
Private-armed vessels carrying letters of marque are in effect
national vessels. They are not let loose against merely unarmed
commerce for its destruction. They are to be the pickets of the
great naval armada of the nation. They are to procure informa
tion, convey intelligence, annoy the enemy, cripple his resources,
attack his small armed ships, assist in maintaining blockades, and
in this way materially aid to enforce peace. In the Revolutionary
War, as well as in the War of 1812-15, American privateers at
tacked and destroyed armed vessels of the British Navy. Will we
say that it may never be done again ?
It is said 1 that we can readily secure all the advantages that
might be derived from the passage of this bill, by authorizing the
Secretary of the Navy to purchase all the vessels he chooses, and
receive them into the regular Navy. The proposition is wholly
impracticable. In the first place, it would put in the hands of the
Secretary of the Navy the power to determine the policy of the
Government, and the means of carrying that policy into execution.
In the next place, the Secretary of the Navy does not possess, and
we cannot bestow upon him, the means to purchase, fit out, man,
officer, repair, and control such a number of vessels as might be
desirable, and probably would be required for this service. It will
hardly be necessary to attempt to demonstrate this. The pay of
the agents alone who would be required to conduct a business of
such magnitude would soon bankrupt the Treasury. Not more
impracticable is the proposition to authorize the Secretary of the
Navy to hire vessels, to be used as war-ships for a limited time.
To the suggestion that a bounty or reward for the capture of
an enemy's vessel should be offered, it is a sufficient answer that
such a proceeding would be against the law of nations, unless the
vessel making the capture bore a commission from the nation to
which she belonged ; and, if she did bear a commission, she would
be neither more nor less than a letter of marque.
1 " An enactment, authorizing the Naval Department to employ all the mercantile
marine of the country in the national service, under the national flag, as a part of
the Navy, would be practicable and reasonable. Such a marine will, in a just
sense, be the militia of the sea. Such a militia I am in favor of. Let the Secretary
of the Navy hire private ships." — (Mr. Sumner, February 14th and 11th.)

224 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
For myself, I am not prepared to abandon our well-settled
national policy on this subject. I stand by the traditions and the
policy of our fathers. I am unwilling to impose, upon the people I
represent, the burden of supporting in time of peace such a naval
establishment as will be adequate to protect our commerce in time
of war, and at the same time to inflict such chastisement upon the
enemy as will insure a speedy and honorable peace. I regard the
present a proper time to reaffirm our national doctrine on the sub
ject of maritime rights.
I am aware that this bill confers extraordinary powers upon the
President. It grants no power, however, that I am not anxious to
bestow upon him. I wish to confer upon him ample means to re
store the Union, and to defend the national honor abroad, and I will
hold him and his immediate constitutional advisers responsible for
the manner in which that power shall be exercised. If he shall wield
it feebly, if he neglects his best opportunities, if he dallies with
treason, if he crouches before the insolence of a foreign power, no
part of the responsibility or the disgrace shall be traced to me.
Before I leave here on the 4th of March next, I intend, so far as my
vote will do it, to deposit in the hands of the President every
means and appliance for overcoming the rebellion that I can give
him, and in the name of the people demand of him success. I be
lieve that success can be achieved, and the country, history, will
hold him and his cabinet responsible for a failure.
It is said by the opponents of this bill, that the so-called Con
federate States have no commerce, and hence there is no necessity
for the passage of this act. To this I answer that they have al
ready on the ocean a large number of fast steamers, and are now
building in England a fleet of vessels designed to break our block
ade of their coast. The vessels owned by them, and by parties in
Europe in complicity with them, can already be counted by the
score. But I frankly own that my purpose is to declare a principle,
which shall have a general as well as a special application. I wish
to say to the world that, however much other nations have changed
or may change their policy on this subject, we will adhere to ours.
If the President shall find himself environed with new difficulties,
involved in new complications, I wish him to have the power to
" let slip the dogs of war " against any new enemy that may declare

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 225
In voting as I shall, I am satisfied that I shall reflect the senti
ment of the people of Iowa and of the entire Northwest. No
matter what others may tell you, Senators, be assured that the
people of the upper valley of the Mississippi River are loyal to this
Government. That loyalty is confined to no party. Since I have
held a seat in this body, I have never, so far as I can recollect, even
alluded to a party organization of any kind. I only allude to it
now for the purpose of absolving, so far as I may be able, the
Democratic party of that section from the charge of disloyalty to
the Government. It embraces dissatisfied, revolutionary, and dis
loyal members, who have in some instances secured control ot the
party organization, but the great mass of that party are patriotic,
law-abiding men. Misled, I think, many of them are, as they think
I am ; but treason has never found a lodgment in their hearts.
They scorn the idea that they would consent to a dissolution of the
Union ; and when the issue shall be fairly presented to them,' dis
connected from the idea that this war has not been prosecuted with
sufficient vigor by the party in power, they will cause the wave of
political oblivion to sweep over those who are attempting to dupe
them into concession and compromise with treason. This much is
due from me to the mass of the Democratic party in Iowa, who
have no representative in Congress, and among whom I count
many of my oldest and most cherished personal friends. The
promise of a new confederacy has no charms for the people of Iowa
of any political persuasion. They abide by the Union in its in
tegrity. They will not follow false prophets into disunion and
anarchy. Presumptuous political leaders may for a time beguile
the unwary, and engender local discontent, but a loyal public senti
ment will soon rectify all such evils. The great mass of the people
of that State, irrespective of party ties or affinities, have ventured
their all in behalf of the unity of this Government. They have
given freely of their blood in its support. They will never consent
to its dismemberment. They ask me to place in the hands of the
President all the necessary means to maintain it intact. I obey
their voice when I give my vote for the passage of this bill.
Mr. Grimes was chairman of a select committee, appointed
December 22 and 23, 1862, to investigate the facts in regard to
the employment of transport-vessels for the Banks Expedition,

226 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
and the employment of transports generally by quartermasters
and agents of the War Department. In performance of this duty
the committee examined persons at New York, Philadelphia, and
Washington, and made two detailed reports, Jan. 15 and Feb.
9, 1863, showing acts of fraud and neghgence by ship-owners,
brokers, and officers and agents of the War Department. The ex
posure was very thorough, and was sustained by the testimony of
fifty witnesses, many of whom were persons implicated. A reso
lution of censure upon several parties was submitted by Mr. Hale.
Mr. Grimes remarked, January 29, 30, 1863 :
It seems to me that there are some very important lessons to be
drawn from this investigation, which ought to govern Congress and
the executive officers of the Government in future. I desire to oc
cupy a few minutes in calling the attention of this body and of the
country to some defects in getting up this expedition.
The first great error was in not fairly and openly advertising for
vessels, specifying the character of the vessels required. There was
no earthly reason why this should not have been done. There was
no greater secrecy attained by the method adopted than would have
been observed if advertisements had been published in the newspa
pers. That has been the method pursued by the Government until
the commencement of this war, and it has always worked well.
The select committee, when in New York, took the testimony of
some of the most prominent ship-owners in that city on the subject,
and they all testified that that was what the ship-owners and ship
masters desired, and that the Government interests had hitherto
been promoted and protected by doing so, and that there was no
reason why that system should not have been continued.
The next error was in not following the law of Congress, ap
proved February 12, 1862, which was passed at the instance of the
War Department, and which authorized the President to detail
three competent naval officers for the service of the War Depart
ment in the inspection of transport-vessels. Why was this not
done ? Why did not the Secretary of War comply with that law,
and have three competent naval officers — a sea-officer, an engineer,
and a naval constructor — detailed for this specific duty, men who
were experts in the particular branches to which they were to be
assigned ? That was not done, at the instance of the very gentle-

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 227
man whom the Senator from New Hampshire proposes to strike out
of his resolution, Commodore Vanderbilt. The Secretary of War
sent for him to come here from New York, to have a conference
with him in regard to getting up this expedition. Mr. Stanton
proposed that a commission be appointed to inspect vessels. Com
modore Vanderbilt said : " That is of no use. Congress has passed
a law that every vessel that clears from a custom-house must have
her inspector's papers, and these papers have to be renewed every
twelve months. Is not that enough for this expedition?" Mr.
Stanton said : " I would like to make this doubly sure. There will
be no harm in having them doubly inspected." One inspector was
appointed, Commodore Van Brunt. He was directed to report
immediately to General Banks ; and what was he authorized to do ?
To inspect vessels ? No; but merely to supervise the outfit. He
said to General Banks that he was incompetent to the discharge of
that particular kind of duty, so far as it related to steamships. Gen
eral Banks replied that they had discussed this subject of appoint
ing a man to assist him, so far as steamships were concerned, and
that person was Mr. Charles H. HaswelL
A third error-of Commodore Vanderbilt, for which I think he
was in a great degree censurable, was chartering the steamboat
Niagara without seeing her, without knowing her. She was an old
boat that had been built for the trade on Lake Ontario nearly a
score of years ago. She had been bought for something like ten
thousand dollars, and brought around, and some repairs put upon
her, and some four hundred and fifty men and officers of the Fiftieth
¦ Massachusetts regiment were forced to go upon her at New York,
destined for New Orleans. In smooth water, with a calm sea, the
planks were ripped out of her, and exhibited to the gaze of the in
dignant soldiers on board, showing that her timbers were rotten.
The committee have in their committee-room a large sample of one
of the beams of this vessel, to show that it has not the slightest
capacity to hold a nail. The testimony is from Commodore Van
derbilt, that he had never seen the Niagara, that he knew nothing
about her character, or capacity, or seaworthiness. I think that for
the chartering of that vessel he was censurable.
Another great defect was the concealment from the inspectors
of the destination of the expedition. It was attempted to keep it
entirely secret from everybody, except Mr. Stanton, Genera] Banks,

228 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
and Commodore Vanderbilt ; and what was the result ? Mr. Has-
well and Mr. Van Brunt would have a vessel pointed out to them
by Commodore Vanderbilt. Now, there is one class of steamers
adapted for what are called outside passages, capable of navigating
the ocean anywhere ; while there is another class, many of which
were employed in this expedition, that are only capable of navigating
inland waters. Mr. Haswell and Commodore Van Brunt both tes
tified that, if they had known that the expedition was going beyond
the capes of the Chesapeake, they would have protested against
several of those vessels being chartered ; and yet it is proposed to
strike out the name of the man who did know where the expedition
was going, and censure those who did not know anything about it.
Another difficulty, against which we should guard in future ex
peditions, was the crowding of too great a number of persons on
board these ships. Some of the vessels, which under your emigra
tion act would only be permitted to carry three hundred and fifty
passengers, carried nine hundred and fifty soldiers. The most in
telligent ship-owners who were before us testified that, in their
opinion, soldiers could be crowded together conveniently and hu
manely more than immigrants coming across the Atlantic. They
estimated that possibly six hundred soldiers might have been ac
commodated, whereas nine hundred and fifty were placed on board.
When the question was asked of Commodore Vanderbilt and of
other gentlemen connected with the expedition, why this was, and
why they did not take navigators, and see that there were instru
ments and charts on board, the answer was, the insurance compa
nies and owners of the vessels took that risk, as though the Gov
ernment had no risk in the lives of its valiant men, whom it has
enlisted under its banner, and sent out on an expedition of this
kind. The man who embarks his merchandise on board a ship has
the option of putting it on this vessel or on that ; and I, exercising
my volition as a passenger, can go or not go ; I can go upon one
ship or upon another ; but you order your soldiers to go on board
of a vessel, and they have no power to determine whether that ves
sel is susceptible of carrying them safely, or whether they are to be
humanely or inhumanely packed when they get on board.
I do not desire to say much in regard to the manner in which
these charter-parties were effected. It shows a chapter of fraud
from beginning to end. Men making the most open professions of

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 229
loyalty, patriotism, and perfect disinterestedness, coming before the
committee, and swearing that they acted from such motives solely,
were yet compelled to admit — or one or two were — that in some .
instances they had received as high as six and a quarter per cent.
Since then — for the committee desired to expedite the business and
make a report as speedily as possible to the Senate — the commit
tee have satisfied their own minds that the per cent, was greater
than was in testimony before them. Now, Mr. Vanderbilt did not
exercise reasonable judgment and sagacity to prevent frauds upon
the Government in chartering these vessels. What are the facts ?
It was generally understood in New York that no vessel could be
chartered except through Southard, and only after the owner, or
the representative of the owner, had paid tribute to him. It is
true that Commodore Vanderbilt testifies that he did not know
this, and we are to presume that he did not. Was it not his busi
ness to know it ? When this report was circulated throughout
Broad and South Streets, and was in the mouths of shipping-men
in New York, how happens it that Commodore Vanderbilt was pro
foundly ignorant of it ? Not from any corrupt motive, I am pre
pared to say and believe ; but I cannot say that he did exercise that
reasonable diligence, foresight, and sagacity which a man occupy
ing the position he occupied was bound to exercise, when so mo
mentous a trust was committed to his hands. I am not going to
pass judgment upon that gentleman by anj'thing that he has or has
not done formerly. The question is, not whether he has been gen
erous to the Government by making a present to us of a fine steam
ship, but whether, in connection with this single transaction which
is now under consideration, he did his whole duty. I cannot lay my
hand upon my heart and say, as a Senator, that 1 believe he did.
A few facts from the report of the committee, submitted by
Mr. Grimes, February 9th, will show something of other acts
of fraud and extortion that were revealed by the investigation :
Charles Coblens, of Baltimore, appeared before the committee
as an extensive ship-owner, in possession, in whole or in part, of
ten steamers, three barges, and eighty acres of valuable land in the
vicinity of Baltimore, though but a few months before comparative
ly a poor man. A Prussian by birth, an Israelite by descent, a ped
dler and a horse-jockey by profession, in his business relations with
16

230 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
the Government, fraud, bribery, and perjury, struggle for the most
prominent place. His transactions in the chartering of transports
for the War Department show that he was receiving from the Gov
ernment at the rate of $345,655 per annum on a capital of $65,283,
which is equal to 529^- per cent, per annum on his investment !
Amasa C. Hall, of Baltimore, has played a very conspicuous
part in connection with the chartering of transport-vessels at that
port. Hardly any vessel has been chartered there during the past
eighteen months that has not been secured through his agency, and
of whose earnings from five to twelve per cent, has not found its way
to his pocket. He bought an old boat, the Patapsco, that had been
thrown away as useless by the commissioners for deepening the har
bor at Baltimore, for $1,200, and put her in Coblens's name, and char
tered her to the Government at eighty dollars per day. Her running
expenses were not more than twelve dollars per day ; and she yield
ed a clear profit to her owner at the rate of $26,645 per annum.
The barge Delaware, whose running expenses were not more than
seven dollars per day, was chartered to the Government at seventy
dollars a day by Mr. John Tucker, through Mr. Hall, Captain Hodges
signing the charter-party, and her net receipts were at the rate of
$22,995 per annum. That this chapter of fraud may want no odious
and shameless feature, Mr. Hall affirms that Captain Hodges and Mr.
Tucker thought she was the cheapest thing they chartered.
The committee have failed to discover any satisfactory reason
why Hall was permitted to enjoy this monopoly of chartering ves
sels. There was nothing in his antecedents or character to justify
it. He was a poor man eighteen months ago, with a character not
wholly above reproach ; he is now rich, and fast growing richer by
the receipt of a large daily revenue from commissions upon the
earnings of vessels still in the Government employ. The bestowal
of this large patronage almost exclusively upon him cannot be rec
onciled with any theory of strict integrity on the part of Govern
ment officers. Although the testimony may not warrant the con
clusion that any officer actually shared with him the profits derived
frqm his business, yet the fact that these officers, who knew all the
circumstances, acquiesced in the continuance of this monopoly,
should subject them to severe reprehension ; and it is not easy to
suppose that motives of charity alone impelled them to throw such
vast sums of money into his pocket.

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 231
The committee find Captain Richard F. Loper, of Philadelphia,
to be in receipt of enormous revenues from the chartering of trans
ports, derived partly from commissions received on vessels, where
he acted at the same time as agent of the Government and agent
of the owners ; partly from the charters of vessels belonging to
transportation companies, of which he is a large stockholder ; partly
from vessels owned by himself, and chartered by himself, as Gov
ernment agent, to the Government ; and partly from his " influ
ence." Mr. Hall testifies that he paid Loper $13,000 at one time
for "getting the business for him," the chartering of certain
transports for the McClellan Expedition. Being president, treas
urer, business-manager, and stockholder of the Philadelphia Steam
Propeller Company, and " assistant agent of the War Department,"
Captain Loper had extraordinary facilities for making the charters
to suit himself. It rarely happens, in the ordinary avocations of
life, that a person enjoys the privilege of buying his own property
for another person, and fixing his own price upon it, or of buying
other people's property for a third person, and regulating his com
pensation by the amount of money he squanders ; yet such seems
to have been the manner in which the Government has been
served, not only in Captain Loper's agency, but in nearly all the
business connected with the transportation, by water, of troops,
supplies, and munitions of war.
Facts and testimony force the committee to the conclusion that Mr.
John Tucker, late Assistant Secretary of War, had more or less con
nection with these gigantic and shameless frauds on the Government.
The committee are overwhelmed with astonishment and sorrow
by the revelations which have been made; but they believe that
nothing which so intimately concerns a free people should be con
cealed from them, and they hope that this investigation may lead
to a more honest and economical administration of this department
of the public service. The War Department can only restore con
fidence in connection with army transportation, by inflexibly adher
ing to the rule that contracts shall only be made with the owners
of vessels, or their legitimate agents, and that every officer who
shall be shown to be influenced in the slightest degree in awarding
a charter by fear, favor, affection, or the hope of reward, or who
shall give reasonable ground for suspicion of the honesty of his con
duct, shall be summarily punished, if guilty.

232 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
Mr. Grimes opposed increase of pay to any civil officer while
soldiers in the field were unpaid. He said, January 31st :
I am not conscious of having voted for the creation of any civil
office at this session of Congress, and I do not intend to do so, espe
cially while a portion at least of the soldiers from my State have
not, or had not at the last I heard from them, received one dollar of
pay since November, 1861. With that fact staring me in the face,
I do not see how I can consistently vote money out of the Treasury to
support civil officers here in the city of Washington, who will draw
their pay regularly every month, which ought to go to support the
families of the soldiers in my State who have gone to the battle-field.
Mr. Grimes was among the first to discern that the new naval
warfare had made obsolete the old system of fortifications for
harbor defenses. He said with reference to appropriating more
than six million dollars for fortifications, February 18th:
I think it has been pretty well demonstrated during the last
twelve months that these fortifications, in the present condition of
maritime warfare, are of very little value. New Orleans has suffi
ciently demonstrated that, and several other actions have confirmed
this belief of mine. Hence I am under the impression, as at present
advised, that the continuance of these 'old fortifications upon the
plans originally projected will be virtually throwing money away.
Entertaining that opinion, I am constrained to vote against the bill,
not for the reason that I am not willing and anxious to defend every
harbor on the Atlantic coast — as a Representative of the United
States from the State of Iowa, I am compelled to do so — but I do
not believe that the methods adopted are best calculated to pro
mote that end.
Mr. Grimes voted for the Pacific Railroad bill, June 20, 1862,
and for establishing the gauge of the road from the Missouri
River to the Pacific Ocean at four feet eight and a half inches
(February 18, 1863). Upon the latter measure he said :
One of the great reasons that induced me to vote for the bill
was to enable the country to defend herself in case of war with
any foreign power. Suppose war should exist, and your road was
completed, and you wanted to transport troops over it, how would

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 233
you do it ? That road would never be able to transport with its
own furniture an army of twenty-five thousand men. Cars have
been brought from Iowa and Illinois to assist in the transportation
of the army between here and Baltimore, and for other purposes.
The moment we allow this gauge to be fixed at five feet, we de
prive ourselves of all opportunity to furnish furniture to that road
to transport an army whenever any exigency of that kind shall
arise. That is to me a conclusive argument.
I believe it would be the interest of the country that it should
be a uniform gauge from the Atlantic to the Pacific. If parties
have been injured by our action, it would be better to appropriate
money out of the Treasury to indemnify them for any loss they
may have sustained than have a break in the gauge. So far as the
State I have the honor in part to represent is concerned, if I were
controlled by any local interests, I should be in favor of the break
of the gauge, because where there is a break there is always a large
amount of business to be done, and a town springs up ; but I trust
" that I look at this question in a national point of view ; and in that
view, it seems to me, we ought to make the gauge uniform.
In reply to objections against the incorporation of an insti
tution for the education of colored youth in the District of Co
lumbia, he said, February 27, 1863 :
The very crude notions entertained and expressed by the Sen
ator from Virginia (Mr. Carlile) in regard to education, sufficiently
account to me for a great many things that have hitherto been
wholly inexplicable. It may be true that in that section of the
country where that Senator is most acquainted the whole idea of
education proceeds from the fact that a person is to be educated
merely because he is to exercise the elective franchise ;. but I thank
God that I was raised in a section of the country where there are
nobler and loftier sentiments entertained in regard to education.
We entertain the opinion that all human beings are accountable
beings. We believe that every man should be taught, so that he
may be able to read the law by which he is to be governed, and
under which he may be punished. We believe that every account
able being should be able to read the word of God, by which
he shall guide his steps in this life, and be judged in the life to
come. We believe that education is necessary in order to elevate

234

LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.

[1863.

the human race. We believe that it is necessary in order to keep
our jails and penitentiaries and almshouses free from inmates. In
my section of the country we do not educate any race upon such
low and groveling ideas as seem to be entertained by the Senator
from Virginia.
A few words will set this matter right in the mind of every
right-thinking man. Some humane persons a few years ago raised
a sum of money with which they purchased a lot in this city, now
estimated to be of the value of ten or twelve thousand dollars, the
proceeds of which were to be appropriated exclusively to the edu
cation of girls of the colored race. The purpose is to allow the
trust to be fulfilled, that these colored girls may be educated, and
to allow this corporation to receive any other gifts or bequests that
any humane people in the country may see fit to bestow.
Asked by Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, March 2d, if he would
be willing to have the President's proclamation withdrawn, the
confiscation laws repealed, and the Crittenden compromise with
the Powell amendments adopted, Mr. Grimes replied :
I have no hesitation in saying that I would not. No power on
earth could induce me to consent to any State, or any set of States,
or any people in any portion of the United States, dictating with
arms in their hands the terms upon which I would make peace
with them, and a change of the Constitution. I do not look to
separation. I look to a restoration of the Union, and I look to it
by force, if necessary.

U. S. Ship Ironsides.

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 235
§ 3. — In ihe Thirty -eighth Congress. — 1863-1865.
The following letters refer to the naval attackmpon Charles
ton, to Mr. Grimes being a candidate for reelection to the
Senate, and to his labors before the people of Iowa in a political
canvass of the State :
81. — To Admiral Bu Pont.
Burlington, March 27, 1863.
I feel the difficult and responsible position in which you are
placed, and the great questions that are to be settled by the issue.
The country feels them. There are inconsiderate and senseless men
who complain that an attack has not been earlier made ; but they
know nothing of the true posture of affairs, and their opinions
would be worthless if they did. Every one is satisfied that you
will attack at the time your judgment shall decide to be the best
time, and everybody whose opinion is worth anything is satisfied
that your opinion as to when that best time arrives will be correct.
In a word, it gratifies me to be able to assure you that the people
of the whole country have entire confidence in your capacity and
your patriotism, and those who have watched your career do not
suffer themselves for one moment to doubt your complete success.
It may be that the conflict may be over before this reaches you.
I trust it may, and that this may be accepted as my congratulations
upon'the result. If otherwise, if it reaches you on the eve of battle,
then in God's name, in the name of the country, in behalf of your
friends, in the name of a good government and of our common
humanity, I bid you "good cheer." May God in his wisdom and
mercy protect, defend, and give you success ! No grander spec
tacle can be presented to the human vision than a patriotic, Chris
tian man going forth to battle in defense of a wise, paternal, and
humane government.
I regret as much as you can the failure of Congress to provide
means to assist the States of Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware, to
secure emancipation. I do not doubt that freedom will soon be
universal in those States. Just such bills would have been a sort
of culmination and rounding off of the acts of the late Congress that
would have reflected glory upon it and upon the country. The
Thirty-seventh Congress, much maligned as all assemblies of a

236 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
legislative character have been in revolutionary times, composed to
a very great extent of men who had not been trained to statesman
ship — elected in a time of profound peace upon a multitude of
issues, but no one of them in anticipation of a war — that Congress,
in my conviction, has immortalized itself, and stands second only to
the first Continental Congress. Still it might, it ought to have done
more. My policy at the last session in regard to naval legislation was
" hands off." All sorts of attempts were made to overturn the leg
islation of the preceding session, but we in some manner or other
defeated all such efforts.
82. — To the Editor of the Linn County Register,1
Burlington, May 2, 1863.
I have no very great desire to be reelected to the Senate. On
the contrary, I am rather averse to the idea of continuing in public
life beyond my present term. Our friends have insisted that I shall
serve another term, and I have consented to do so, if, after having
surveyed the whole field, they are satisfied that the interest of the
country and our party require it, or that they are unable to secure
the services of a better man. I have no great love for the place,
and can leave it without a single regret, whenever a better man
can be sent to Washington who can more faithfully represent our
State. I did not seek nor did I anticipate the nomination for Gov
ernor, in 1854. When nominated without any agency of mine, as
the representative of certain principles, I did my best to be elected.
I never asked a man to vote for me to the Senate six years ago,
though I was very grateful for the support I got. I have not asked
and shall not ask any man to vote for me now. I cannot improve
my condition in any respect by reelection. -Every one knows my
standing there ; and, if satisfied with it, I shall receive their support ;
if dissatisfied with it, I ought not to receive it.
83.— To Admiral Bu Pont. Burlington, May 26^ 1863.
Absence from home, and very numerous duties in the State,
crowded into the comparatively short period of the recess, have
caused me to be neglectful of the fact that I have not written you
' Tn answer to an inquiry whether he was a candidate for reelection to the
Senate.

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 237
since you attacked Charleston, though I recollect writing very near
that time. The result was not such as we all hoped, and as I con
fess I anticipated, though I will at the same time honestly confess
that I could never give a reason for the faith that was in me. I
always supposed that there was to be some cooperative land-force ;
I was mistaken in this, it appears. I have carefully read all the
reports of the engagement. They have been read by every one.
You may rely upon it that the public fully justifies you in with
drawing from the contest when you did. It would have been ex
treme folly to continue it longer. It is evident to every one that
the article in the Baltimore American was prompted by spme sinis
ter motive, and in receiving that attack you only experience what
all our commanders upon land or water have been or will be subject
to, no matter how successful they may have been, or may be. It
must be a gratification to you to feel that the same amount of con
fidence is reposed in you that was placed in you both by the
Department and the nation before the battle.
We are now rejoicing over a supposed victory at Vicksburg.
Our people are as truly loyal, devoted, and determined as ever. I
see not the slightest abatement among the people of this region of
their firm resolution to crush out the rebellion, and to have indeed
a " Nation."
July ZOth. — I duly received your favor of the 20th inst., and on
the same day the gun captured on the Atlanta, sent by express.
Accept my thanks for the present. I have fired it to-day, and find
it to be a very wicked implement. It seems that Charleston is
destined to be " a hard nut to crack," in the hands of Gillmore and
Dahlgren, as well as in the hands of their predecessor.
Mr. Grimes participated in a festival given to the ministers
and delegates of the churches of the Congregational order in
Iowa, assembled at Burhngton, June 5th, and made an address
in response to the sentiment :
The Senate of the United States— Honor and renown to the
Senators from Iowa for unswerving fidelity to humanity and justice,
and for a country redeemed and disenthralled by the genius of uni
versal emancipation.
He complimented the clergy for their devotion to liberty
and the national cause, acknowledged his indebtedness to their

238 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863.
services, and, turning to the Rev. Asa Turner, said : " You call
him Father Turner ; and I look to him as my political god
father." On the following day he addressed the Association in
the course of a discussion upon the state of the country, and
" made an able and eloquent speech, embodying in it many
sound pohtical and moral truths, which it was refreshing to hear
in such a meeting from one in his position," as reported in the
Boston Recorder by Rev. Lewis Sabin, D. D., who was present
as a delegate from the General Association of Massachusetts.
. 84. — To Mrs. Grimes. Grinnell, September 9, 1863.
I am thus far on my tortuous way. We have very large meet
ings, never so large in the State before, and, so far as I can learn,
the very best of feeling prevails among our friends. I cannot
doubt our success in the State. The Democrats were never work
ing so hard before, but we shall beat them. Independence, September 20th.
I have spoken every day since I was at Des Moines, in the open
air, to large crowds, and generally in a strong gale of wind. Still
I got along very well until yesterday, when I made pretty much
of a break-down. I caught a very bad cold, and my strength is
nearly exhausted. I do not believe that I can keep up long. I
never had anything to do with a campaign that reauired half the
labor that this does. West Union, Fayette County, September W,th.
My course has finally brought me to this place, and my face is
at last turned homeward, though I have many angles to make, and
about three hundred miles to travel before I reach there.
Stone will be elected by a very large majority ; larger, I think,
than was ever given to any candidate for Governor. You may be
interested to know that the people seem to be unanimously in favor
of my reelection to the Senate. So far as I can learn, no Senator
or Representative will be elected by the Republicans who is not
pledged to my election. Of course this makes me proud, for I
have not electioneered for it. Dubuque, October 2d.
It is a comfort to me to know that one week from to-night my
labors will be over. My health is very good, save that I am worn

1863.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 239
down by speaking every day, and nearly every day in the open air.
We shall carry the State by an unprecedentedly large majority,
because the people are in earnest to sustain the Government.
85— To Admiral Bu Pont.
Burlington, October 19, 1863.
Your favor of the 11th ult. reached my home about ten days
after I began my political canvass of this State, and I only returned
three days ago. Hence it is that it has been so long unanswered.
I know so little of the official etiquette of your profession, or of any
other, for that matter, that I am the last man in the world to advise
you on the matter about which you ask my opinion. I can, how
ever, give you what I believe to be the best advice ; to follow the
promptings of your own cool, good judgment. If you do, you will
not much err, I am convinced.
I wish I could do something for Rodgers, and, if the matter is
not disposed of for the year beyond recall, I will attempt it when
I go to Washington next month. There is no man for whom I
have a higher regard, and I know no one who would more adorn
the position, or who deserves it more.' Should I write, the letter
would probably be thrown aside, and the subject be prejudged
without a full hearing.
I think everybody is becoming convinced that your recall from
the South Atlantic Fleet was a hasty, ill-advised measure, and that
the clamor raised against you, and finding utterance in the Balti
more American, was wholly groundless. Such, at any rate, is the
sentiment of those with whom I have conversed, and I think it is
universal. I shall go eastward in about four weeks. I do not expect here
after to have much connection with naval matters, nor do I intend
to serve any longer on the Naval Committee of the Senate.
86 . — To Mrs. Grimes. Portland, November 24, 1863.
I reached Mr. Fessenden's without accident, and am now at his
house. I wanted to leave to-day for Boston, but he has restrained
me, and I shall not go until to-morrow. I shall be in Boston until
Friday, when Mr. Fessenden is to meet me, and we shall go to
Washington together. I judge Portland to be one of the very
pleasantest cities in the United States. Fessenden has a grand

240 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1863-'64.
old place ; house and everything in it appearing to be not less than
fifty years old and upward. He expressed his regret that you were
not with me. All of his family, including sons, brothers-in-law,
etc., seemed to be pleased to see me, and all inquired kindly for
you, as though they knew you. In Fessenden's chamber I found
four framed pictures, his wife, Samuel, who is also dead, my wife,
and my wife's husband. Boston, November 26th.
I have been to church at King's Chapel, and heard a good, patri
otic sermon (Thanksgiving-day). Judge Collamer is at Cambridge-
port with his whole family on their way to Washington.
Upon the assembling of Congress Mr- Grimes asked the
Senate, December 18th, to excuse him from further service
on the Naval Committee. It is the practice of the Senate
to excuse a member who asks to be excused. Mr. Anthony,
of Rhode Island, said : " I hope the Senator will withdraw
his request for the present ; " " or, if not," said Mr. Harris,
of New York, " that the Senate will decline to excuse him."
Mr. Foster, of Connecticut, said : " I would excuse him from
some other committee rather than lose his services on this."
" For one," said Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, " I shall
vote not to excuse him." Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire,
said : " There is nobody in the Senate, certainly, in whom the
Senate have more confidence on naval matters than they have
in the Senator from Iowa." The consideration of the question
was indefinitely postponed.
Mr. Grimes labored to stimulate the Government in the
employment of colored troops. Inquiring as to the number in
the military service, and being told that there were fifty thou
sand, he said, January 12th :
I am rejoiced at the response. The country will be glad to
know that the Administration has established a policy in regard to
the recruitment of colored persons. I have heard for twelve months
givings out that such was to be, or was the policy of the Adminis
tration, but the results have never satisfied me that it was their
real, genuine intention ; for, if there had been the proper agencies,
and the proper degree of practical sagacity exhibited, there might

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 241
have been, and ought to have been, two hundred thousand colored
men in the field at this moment, and, instead of being compelled to
appropriate twenty million dollars for bounties, we need not have
required a single new white soldier to enter the Army. I trust
there will be some effort from this time forward to raise colored
regiments in Missouri. It is only a few months since there was an
effort to raise a colored regiment in that State, but the officers were •
thwarted in it by authorities who had control there, so that they
were obliged to make the rendezvous of the regiment in my State,
in Keokuk. I am gratified, and my constituents will be gratified,
and the whole country will be gratified, that from this time forward
we are to have an earnest, persistent, energetic effort on the part
of the Government to enlist colored men. I have been for that
from the commencement of this war. No man has been ahead of
me in that particular.
I want them called into service as United States troops, and not
'as substitutes for white soldiers from any State. I am utterly op
posed to the selection of these colored men as representatives of
the citizens of any State. I do not care whether it be mine or any
other State, that has not filled up its quota. I do not want any
State to be permitted to go down and pick up negroes, and claim
them as part of her quota. Suppose you let Massachusetts go
down, and with her munificent bounties recruit fifteen thousand
men in General Banks's department, to be substitutes for Massa
chusetts men who were drafted, or who ought to go into the service
under the draft. In that department there are, perhaps, two or
three regiments of Massachusetts soldiers, and at the same time
there are twelve or fourteen regiments from my State. My State
is too poor to send down agents with large bounties in their pock
ets to enlist troops. How long do you suppose there would be a
good military and moral sentiment existing between the soldiers
from Massachusetts and the soldiers from Iowa, if they were per
mitted to fill out their quota with colored men, and we were required
to fill our quota up by the best blood we have in our State ?
It is true that my State has but little interest in the present
draft. We have exceeded the demands upon us, and probably very
nearly come up to filling the second quota that may be called for;
but I am contending for a principle that I believe to be abstractly
right. It seems to me unjust to permit the agent of a State to go

242 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
down and recruit negroes out of that common fund which belongs
to my State as well as to the State that is in default. Do not Sen
ators see that, if they want to avoid a second draft, they must re
serve this body of colored men for United States soldiers, and not
to be the soldiers of any particular State ? If, after this draft shall
be completed, we can only stimulate the War Department to put
one hundred thousand colored men in the field, there will then be
no necessity for a draft.
Contrary to this remonstrance, a law was passed, approved
July 4th, authorizing the Executive of any State to send agents
into the rebellious districts to recruit volunteers, who should be
credited to the State enlisting them. At the next session of
Congress Mr. Grimes opposed this law, February 6, 1865, as
manifestly unjust, and it was repealed.
He advocated giving the same pay and bounty to colored
soldiers as to white soldiers, with guarantees of freedom to their
wives and children. He said, February 13, 1864 :
From the very outset, my colleague from Iowa and myself have
been in favor of arming negroes. We believed that it was not only
the right but the duty of the Government. We have insisted from
the beginning that they should be paid and put upon a perfect
equality with white men.
On the same day, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, anuding to
Mr. Sumner and Mr. Grimes, said :
They have both from the beginning comprehended this rebellion,
understood its cause, and advocated the proper remedies. If their
opinions had been the opinions of the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives, of the President and his cabinet, and had been sustained
by the country, I believe this rebellion would have been crushed
long ago, and the cause of all this trouble and misery ground to
atoms. Mr. Grimes, however, was willing to act in the spirit of ac
commodation. He said, February 19th :
We cannot carry out all our humanitarian views here in the Sen
ate, or in legislating for the country. We want to fill up the
Army, and as rapidly as possible. We want to prevent any disa
greement between the two Houses of Congress. Hence I consented

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 243
to some provisions which are slightly objectionable to me person
alty. I am not going to allow my personal predilections in regard
to any of these questions to control my vote in such a manner as to
prevent the armies being replenished for the spring campaign.
Mr. Powell objecting to the enrollment and drafting of
slaves, Mr. Grimes said :
I am willing to acknowledge to the Senator from Kentucky that
1 vote for this measure believing it to be a genuine antislavery
measure. I am not disposed to go beyond the Constitution and
the laws for the purpose of striking at slavery, but, when I see that
there is an opportunity fairly and legitimately to strike at slavery,
I believe it is not only my right but my duty to do it, and I am go
ing to vote for this measure on that ground, among others, because
I cannot conceive anything that can be devised in a constitutional
and legal form that will strike so severe a blow at the institution.
On the 23d of June he gave his vote for the repeal of the
fugitive-slave act of 1850, and all acts and parts of acts for the
rendition of fugitive slaves.
On the 16th of January Mr. Grimes was chosen United States
Senator from Iowa, for six years from March 4, 1865, receiving
the votes of all the members of the General Assembly in joint
convention but six ; one hundred and twenty-eight out of one
hundred and thirty-four.
A strict economist, and recalling the historical fafets that
Washington and Winfield Scott were not elevated to the rank
of lieutenant-general until many years after the period of their
distinguished services, Mr. Grimes opposed the reviving of that
grade in the Army. He said, February 24th :
I am satisfied that a man can perform the duties of commanding
an army just as well with the rank of major-general as with the
rank of lieutenant-general. The pay of six thousand dollars which
General Grant now receives is adequate to the rank and position
he holds, and it is not necessary for me to assist in running the
hands of Congress into the national Treasury for the purpose of
giving him between thirteen and fourteen thousand dollars a year.
I have come here this session with the determination to assist in

244 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
creating no new office, and in increasing the salary of no officer that
now exists.
A year later, February 24, 1865, speaking of bills for a su
perior organization of the Army, he said :
I want to record my vote against these continual attempts to
build up grand, stupendous military establishments.
Upon a motion for extra compensation to employes of Con
gress, he remarked, December 22, 1864 :
This question is a very broad one ; if we begin in one depart
ment, it will have to run through all the employes of the Govern
ment. It ought to begin with the men in the field — the soldiers
and sailors — not with the men who are here receiving ten times
their compensation as employes about the Capitol.
Watchful against extravagance in the pubhc service, Mr.
Grimes exposed it in the Government printing, in advertising
in the Washington- newspapers, and in the multiplication and
pay of officers. Opposing subsidies generally, he voted against
the appropriation of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a
year for a steam line to Brazil, May 20th, and warned the Senate
whither they were drifting, and of the increase of taxation that
would be necessary, if the principle was established that the
Government should subsidize steamships in order to compete
for the commerce of the world.
He remarked with reference to a proposed subsidy for an
international telegraph, June 21st :
We are willing to grant the right of way, to give the lands, and
that vessels-of war should be employed in transporting material,
making surveys and soundings, and in laying down the cable.
What I object to is the subsidy, which is not given by the Russian or
the British Government. I am not to be put in a false position in
the matter : I do not intend to have it thrown in my teeth that
I am opposed to granting every reasonable facility for making this
line of telegraph. I am willing to do what is necessary in order
to secure the telegraph ; but I know, and I think every man
who has conscientiously investigated the subject knows, that this

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 245
telegraphic line can and will be constructed without any subsidy
from us. It is in the hands of one of the richest companies on the
face of the earth — the Western Union Telegraph Company.
Advocating investigation as to alleged frauds in the Navy
Department, February lst, Mr. Grimes took the opportunity to
present a summary of the work of the Navy in the war :
The Navy Department is peculiarly constructed. It is differ
ently organized from any other. It is almost a specialty in and of
itself. It takes a man a year at least before he can understand its
organization and details. Even the Committee on Naval Affairs
are not thoroughly conversant with the details of the Navy Depart
ment. I confess, as one of them, that I am not, though I have en
deavored as far as I could to inform myself.
I have no doubt that great frauds have been perpetrated. There
are Senators around me who know very well that three years ago,
before the commencement of this war, I called the attention of the
Senate to the necessity of some change in the laws, as they related
to contracts for the naval service. There is an officer known as a
navy agent. So far as I am able to learn, there is no law of Con
gress that authorized the creation of that office. He was originally
a mere agent of the Department, appointed by the head of the De
partment for a temporary purpose ; but we have acts of Congress
that recognize his existence ; and now, at the commencement of
every Administration, the President sends down to us nominations
for these agencies. There is great opportunity for frauds to be per
petrated by them, and by the contractors under them, and under the
Department proper. The Department are conscious of this. They
are as anxious to ferret out these frauds as any member of the Senate
or any person in the country can be. I wish the Senate to under
stand that I am not a " thick-and-thin " defender of the Navy De
partment. I claim np infallibility for that Department, or for any
other. I have condemned some of its acts, as I have condemned
some of the acts of every department of this Government. They
know that I often differ from them. I have frankly told them, when
I condemned them. I have always gone before them and told them
what my opinions were in regard to any particular measure that I
disapproved. Sometimes I have convinced them that they were
wrong ; sometimes they have convinced me that I was wrong ; and
17

246 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
sometimes we have both remained of the same opinion as before.
I differed from the Navy Department in regard to their treatment
of Commodore Du Pont. I told them so, frankly. But I have not
allowed my private grief in that connection, or on any other sub
ject, to control my action as a Senator. I believe that that gallant
admiral would be one of the first to rebuke and condemn me, if he
supposed that I allowed my feelings in his behalf to influence me in
the slightest degree in my conduct here. He loves the country and
he loves the service, of which he is so distinguished an ornament, too
much for that. I disagreed with them in regard to the restoration
of certain officers who had resigned several years ago, and had
recently come back to the service. I thought that action was un
just to the younger officers who had stood by our flag, and carried
it in honor and in triumph over every sea and in every clime. The
Navy Department thought differently, and the Senate of the United
States finally confirmed its action, and there was the end of it. I
do not pretend that the right man is always selected for the right
place. What man or what Department does not commit mistakes?
The true question is, What is the grand total of results accomplished
by the Department ?
When this war began, we had but eight vessels that could be
of any real value to the Government for the purpose of prosecuting
the war. We have to-day between five and six hundred. I stated
the other day, in answer to the clamors which had been raised,
and which had found an echo here in the Senate, that I was satis
fied, from a pretty thorough examination, that it would be discov
ered that, instead of having the slowest vessels in any existing
navy, we really had the fastest naval ships in any service in the
world. Immediately after giving utterance to that opinion, I was
deluged with letters from engineers, ship-builders, and various am
ateurs in the naval profession, all of which went to confirm the
statement that I had made.
But it is asked why we do not catch the Alabama, if our vessels
are so fast ? I might ask, why do you not catch Moseby ? Moseby
for eighteen months, or nearly that time, has been living within the
lines of the American Army, and has destroyed three times as much
property as the Alabama has. Do you condemn the Army, or the
War Department, because he is not caught ? Why do you not
catch Forrest ? It was with a good deal of difficulty that you were

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 247
even able to catch Morgan in Ohio. Morgan traversed the States
of Indiana and Ohio, and would have got away scot-free at last, had
it not been for the much-abused Navy. The trouble is not that
our vessels have not speed enough to catch the Alabama. The dif
ficulty is in finding where she is. People do not reflect upon the
difficulty of finding these corsairs. When found they will be easily
caught, unless in the vicinity of a professedly neutral port into
which they can dodge.
The real difficulty we have to encounter in the capture of the
Alabama is the position assumed by foreign powers, that allows
her, the moment that one of our vessels gets near her, to slip into
a neutral port, and we are not permitted to follow her in. We are
not permitted to lay off abreast the port until she comes out, and,
if we do follow her in, our vessels are compelled to remain there
twenty-four hours after she escapes, and during those twenty-four
hours she will have had such a start that it will have become
almost impossible to capture her. When one of our vessels went
to the harbor of Nassau, where the rebel vessels had received sup
plies that they might prey upon our commerce, our vessel was de
nied the same privilege that had been granted to the rebel cruisers.
Captain Baldwin, who has just returned on the Vanderbilt, would
have captured the Alabama at Cape Town, had not his letters,
giving the information he desired to insure her capture, been re
tained by the postmaster at that place.
During this war a great many grand and noble things have been
done, a great many gallant deeds performed ; but, in my conviction,
fifty years hence it will be the verdict of mankind that the most
wonderful thing has been the stupendous blockade that has been
kept up by this nation so successfully and so long. The blockade
is recognized by all foreign nations as the most efficient that has
ever been maintained. The Navy Department, commencing with
only eight steamships that could be used for blockading purposes
at the commencement of the war, and they scattered all over the
world and beyond its reach for many months, has kept up a block
ade along the coast from Cape Henry to the line of Mexico, of thirty-
five hundred and forty-nine statute miles. In this line there are
one hundred and eighty-nine rivers, bays, harbors, inlets, sounds, or
deep openings, of which forty-five are under six feet in depth at
mean high water, seventeen are between six and twelve feet,

248 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
forty -two are between twelve and eighteen feet, and thirty -two are
over eighteen feet in depth. Not one man in a thousand has an
adequate conception of the difficulties attending the building, equip
ping, furnishing, and manning the vessels required for such' a ser
vice, nor the hardships endured by the officers and men to whom
the duty is assigned. I say, without hesitation, that the ability of
this nation to build and prepare the ships necessary to maintain as
effective a blockade as it has been able to maintain during the last
three years will hereafter excite the wonder and admiration of the
world. This is not all. While we have been able to do this, we have
been able to keep a fleet in the Western waters, traversing the Red
River, the Yazoo, the Cumberland, the Mississippi, the Ohio, Ar
kansas, Tennessee, and all the small streams that empty into the
Mississippi south of the Ohio — a service for which we of the North
west are willing always and at all times to return the Navy Depart
ment our most profound thanks. No man can over-estimate the
services that the Navy has rendered to us in that quarter ; and these
services have been rendered after overcoming the greatest obstacles.
A distinguished naval officer wrote to Mr. Grimes, Febru
ary 5th :
I have read your speech with deep interest and pleasure. I
have seen nothing for a long time that has gratified me so much as
your noble allusion to our old friend Admiral Du Pont. I thank
you fervently for this outspoken expression of confidence and re
spect from your high place in the Senate, where you are deservedly
recognized as the Senator best qualified to speak with authority on
naval affairs.
Mr. Grimes's counsel was often sought in matters of great
moment, and in cases of peculiar difficulty. A gentleman re
questing his interposition for a son wrote :
In sending the inclosed letter, and asking a perusal of it, I
should feel that I was asking a strange and indelicate favor, had
not my intercourse with you, slight as it has been, given me im
plicit confidence in your manly, straightforward principles of ac
tion. My son's letter, written in the sacred confidence of com
munion with his mother, could be intrusted to no eye but that of

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 249
one who could fully appreciate, as we believe you will, the motives
that have actuated us.
Mr. Grimes at once rendered the service solicited, and in a
few days received the response :
I can but very poorly express my sense of the great debt of ob
ligation you have laid me under for your sympathetic and prompt
action. I know not how I shall ever be able to repay a debt of this
kind, but one thing I can do, not forget that I owe it. My wife
feels more sensibly than myself your kindness to her boy.
Upon a proposal to raise the grade of the minister to Bel
gium, Mr. Grimes inquired whether it originated in the fact that
the King of Belgium, Leopold, was the father-in-law of Maximil
ian, and whether it was designed to propitiate the influences that
were likely to control him if he became our neighbor in Mexico.
He thought the country ought to know whether there was any
indication of truckling to a foreign power. " I do not know
anything about diplomacy," he said, " but my idea has always
been that matters of state should be made pubhc" (March 15th).
On the 17th of March he proposed an amendment to the
rules of the Senate, that all Executive nominations should be
submitted, considered, and decided in open Senate.
In advocating, April 12th, the return of the Naval Academy
to Annapolis in 1865, Mr. Grimes gave the following sketch of
the history of that institution :
The idea of establishing a Naval Academy originated with
Alexander Hamilton, and was first suggested in his letter to Oliver
Wolcott, written on the 5th of June, 1798. In a letter from Ham
ilton to Mr. McHenry, then the Secretary of War, his ideas on this
subject were elaborated. He proposed that an academy should be
established to " consist of four schools ; one to be called the founda
tion school, another the school of engineers and artillerists, another
the school of cavalry and infantry, and the fourth the school of the
Navy." He suggested that naval and military cadets should be
instructed in the foundation-school, for two years, in those branches
of mathematics and science that are common and fundamental to

250 ¦ LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
both professions, and that they should then be instructed two years
longer in those branches of scientific and practical knowledge that
are peculiar to their respective professions. He even specified the
branches of learning that he considered it desirable to be taught to
naval cadets ; and what is singular is, that they are substantially
the branches taught to-day. Hamilton immediately inclosed to
General Washington a copy of his letter to Mr. McHenry ; and on
'the 12th of December, 1799, only two days before his death, that
great man wrote to Hamilton, and the last letter I believe that he
ever wrote on public affairs, approving of his plans, and saying that
" the establishment of an institution of this kind upon a respect
able and extensive basis has ever been considered by me an object
of primary importance to this country." This was before a naval
school had been established by any nation, and, so far as I know,
before it had anywhere been proposed to establish one.
In 1802 the Military Academy at West Point was established,
but no provision was made for the 'naval school that Hamilton had
proposed should be connected with it. In 1808 Mr. Jefferson trans
mitted to Congress, with his approval, the recommendation of
General Williams, the superintendent of the Military Academy,
that that institution should be enlarged so as to include naval
cadets, who should be instructed in nautical astronomy, navigation,
etc., but the proposition failed to meet the approval of Congress.
In 1813 the Secretary of the Navy was authorized to appoint a
limited number of naval schoolmasters, who were detailed on board
of the larger class of vessels-of-war, and required to instruct mid
shipmen in the rudimental learning of their profession. By the
act of 1842, these schoolmasters were dignified with the title of
professors of mathematics. Of this system of instruction on ship
board, Mr. Upshur, in his annual report in 1842, said : " Through a
long course of years the midshipmen were left to educate them
selves and one another. Suitable teachers are now provided, but
their schools are kept in the midst of a thousand interruptions and
impediments, which render the whole system of little or no value ; "
and he repeated the recommendation of Secretaries Jones, Thomp
son, Southard, and Paulding, and of President John Quincy Adams,
that a Naval Academy should be established upon a proper basis.
I will not repeat the arguments of those eminent men, in which
they demonstrated that it was the highest dictate of economy,

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 251
honor, and duty, to give to our naval officers, who are our repre
sentatives abroad, the armed embassadors of the nation, the high
est professional education possible.
Finally, in 1845, by a mutual understanding between Mr. Ban
croft, the Secretary of the Navy, and Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of
War, and with the assent of President Polk, Fort Severn, on the
Severn River in Maryland, was transferred to the Navy Department,
and the midshipmen then afloat were ordered there for instruction.
There has never been any act of Congress positively establishing
a Naval Academy, but there have been numerous acts recognizing
its existence at the place I have mentioned. The ground upon
which Fort Severn was erected was purchased by the Government
in 1808, and the' fortifications were built under the direction of the
present General J. G. Totten — the first labor, I believe, of that emi
nent officer and faithful public servant. The original site included
only seven acres. The grounds have been enlarged to forty-seven
and a half acres, furnishing ample parade and exercise grounds. A
more favorable position could not be found for a Naval Academy,
and more satisfactory accommodations for the students could not be
devised, than existed at Annapolis at the breaking out of this rebel
lion. Its immediate proximity to Chesapeake Bay, the quiet retire
ment of the city in which it was established, the salubrity of the
climate, and the length of the seasons in which out-door military
exercise could be indulged, all tended to make Annapolis, in my
opinion, a better place for the concentration of youth for nautical
combined with general instruction than any place within my knowl
edge in the whole country. I think I hazard nothing in saying
that no institution for professional training was ever conducted
with more eminent success. It realized all the expectations of its
founders, and furnished to the country the most accomplished naval
officers to be found in any navy, the benefit of whose services the
nation is now enjoying.
On the 14th of April Mr. Grimes gave the following ac
count of the loss of the gunboat Baron de Kalb, which was
commanded by his nephew, Lieutenant-Commander John G.
Walker :
It so happens that I know something about the history of that
vessel, and know the man who commanded her at the time she was

252 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
blown up. I shall not speak of him particularly, because he is a
townsman and relative of mine. She was the original St. Louis,
and was rechristened the Baron de Kalb, comprising a part of Foote's
fleet, then of Davis's, and then of Porter's. She was a vessel that
lay within sixty yards of the embrasures of Fort Hindman, and if
anybody wants to know how she was managed then, when she was
under the command of the same officer who commanded her when
she was blown up, he can refer to the report of Admiral Porter.
She was then sent up the Yazoo River, and on the third expedition
up there passed over a torpedo, and was entirely blown up, com
pletely destroyed. There was no allegation of any want of good
seamanship, or of proper conduct on the part of any of the officers
or men on board. The men lost every thing they had. I believe
they recovered nothing, and so of the officers ; but it has never
been the policy of the Government to allow the officers anything
in such cases, whether of the hne or of the staff, because they are
considered as being responsible for the management, and even if
an accident befalls them, as in this case, which was unavoidable,
which they could not have foreseen, I know of no case in which an
officer has been paid ; but to the men, who generally have their all
embarked in the little kit they have on board, it has been the
practice of the Government to pay the sum of fifty dollars each. I
remember that, the first winter I was here, five years ago, my atten
tion was called to it. The Government lost a sloop-of-war in the
Pacific, and we made the allowance in that case, and similar allow
ances have been made to the sailors of the Cumberland, the Con
gress, the monitor Ericsson, and all the vessels that have gone down.
On the 23d of May Mr. Grimes made a detailed expose of
frauds and corruptions connected with contracts for naval sup
plies, and recommended various remedies : among others, that
navy agents and storekeepers should be commissioned officers,
with permanency in their tenure of office, and that they should
be held under similar responsibihty with quartermasters and
commissaries in the Army. He said :
A dishonest quartermaster may render abortive the best-matured
plan of a military commander, by furnishing defective transpor
tation, clothing, or shoes. May not a navy agent cripple the effects
of a whole fleet by furnishing adulterated oils for steam machinery,

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 253
and has it not been done ? In one case, the dishonest or incom
petent officer would be brought before a court-martial, tried, con
victed, deprived of his commission, and otherwise punished ; in the
other, he is permitted to go wholly unwhipped of justice, and allowed
to proceed in his career of crime. All dishonest transactions, all
complicity with fraud, on the part of any of the Government em
ployes at the yards, should be promptly investigated before military
tribunals, and summarily punished. It is only by a vigorous ad
ministration and swift justice that you can prevent false estimates
of the supplies needed, false reports of the amounts on hand, false
measurements, false inspections, false reports of weights and quan
tities. At present you have no means of punishing such offenses.
What folly to rely upon removal from office as a restraint upon
crime, when the guilty person would realize more money by suffer
ing himself to be a party to one fraud than by two or three years'
salary in the employment from which you eject him ! Such men
only laugh at your stupidity, and mock at your punishment.
The time has arrived when it should be thoroughly understood
that our navy-yards are national establishments, to be controlled
for the benefit of the nation exclusively, and not for the benefit of
the neighborhoods in which they are established, or of the poli
ticians who surround them. They cost us too much money, we have
too deep an interest in them, to permit them to be' surrendered to
local influences. Let me say to gentlemen representing Atlantic
States, in which are our navy-yards, that we of the States remote
from the seaboard are as much inclined to support and cherish the
Navy as you are. We are interested in your commerce and manu
factures. We want the flag that floats at the mast-head of your
ships protected upon every sea, and recognized as an emblem of the
power of a great nation. To do this we know that we must give
of our substance, and we will give it cheerfully, if we have the
assurance that naval affairs are conducted economically and wisely.
We must know that the affairs of this Department are managed by
the officers of the nation, acting for the common interest, and not
by your officers, acting for the interest of a few contractors among
you. I beg Senators to remember that the people of the great
section of which I am a citizen are very slightly identified with the
Navy. There are no navy-yards among them, and not one in a
hundred of them ever saw a naval officer or a ship-of-war. Unless

254 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
they have the assurance of economy and fidelity in its entire ad
ministration, therefore, it is the department of the public service
that they will be least likely to cheerfully tax themselves to sup
port. Give them that assurance, and the Navy will have the un
wavering support of the agricultural people of the West.
With reference to establishing a navy-yard at Cairo, Illinois,
Mr. Grimes said, June 27th :
I know Cairo ; the levee which keeps the water out is required
to be as high as the top of a two-story house ; and though it is
only at extreme high water, occurring once in from three or four
to ten years, that the water breaks over the levee, yet every year
in the season of high water it slips through, so as to make from five
to ten feet of stagnant water inside. Knowing, as I do, that more
money can be expended there than at any other point on the Mis
sissippi or Ohio, with less advantage to the Government, I did feel
alarmed when I saw the Senate make the appropriation on a day
when gold was 256 in New York, and I did desire that the appro
priation should be defeated. I wanted a commission of skillful
officers appointed to go and determine where this navy-yard should
be established, and not by an act of Congress, without recom
mendation from anybody, absolutely fix it at Cairo. It is because
I love the Navy, and I want to protect it.
In the discussion upon the Pacific Railroad bill, May 19th, Mr.
Grimes advocated hmiting the amount of stock that could be held
by any one person to two hundred thousand dollars, according to
the original act of 1862. When that was stricken out, he said:
We have created a perfect monopoly by the bill as it stands
now. It has the appearance — I know it was not the intention of
the Senator (Mr. Trumbull) or of the Senate — of being the most
stupendous monopoly ever devised on this continent. Allow me
to ask if the Senator ever knew of a corporation that was to have
such beneficent advantages, prerogatives, and privileges, conferred
upon it ? Why, you are putting your hands into the Treasury, and
bestowing upon this corporation most lavishly. The idea of giving
to one man or any ten men this great boon — ninety millions, I be
lieve, under the bill as it now stands — does, I confess, strike me as
most monstrous. Let it not be understood that I am opposed to

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 255
the Pacific Railroad. I am in favor of it, and represent a constitu-
¦ en.cy that is probably more interested in it than the constituency of
any man here. Had we not better avoid even the appearance of
creating a monopoly ? 1
The amended Pacific Railroad act, approved July 2d, made
a land-grant to the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Com
pany, for the purpose of aiding in the extension of its road in
Nebraska. Mr. Grimes was a stockholder in that company.
He did not vote for the bill, or do anything to promote its pas
sage in the Senate, for the reason that he held some of the
stock, and he did not see fit to take any part in connection with
the subject while it was under consideration in the Senate.
Mr. Grimes disapproved of allowing the cotton-trade or any
commercial intercourse with the rebels, and voted against a bill
for that object, June 28, 1864. He held that either there
should be an absolute, unqualified, and unconditional exclusion
of trade, or else that every man should be permitted to trade
who chose to do so. He did not beheve in the theory of allow
ing trade to be carried on under the direction of anybody. He
said, March 3, 1865 :
I never entertained any doubt as to the propriety of stopping this
traffic, and stopping it effectually, sealing it up hermetically, so that
neither Army, nor Treasury, nor Navy, nor anybody else, could carry
on commerce with the rebels. I never could conceive of the propriety
of professing to carry on war with one hand, and trading with the
enemy with the other, furnishing supplies to strengthen and support
them, and to invigorate the armies with which they propose to take
our lives. Is it not the testimony of every military officer, that noth
ing is more calculated to demoralize the public military service than
this system of trading with the enemy ? Is it not so in the nature of
things ? Is there a man of reflection and common-sense who is not
satisfied that that must be the result? If we are going to put
1 " When the honorable member from Iowa speaks of this being a monopoly,
which may redound with great wealth to those who may embark in this business,
he ventures an opinion that perhaps the result may not realize. It is a great enter
prise. It is great certainly in one particular : it is great in the hazards which
are run by those who may embark in it." — (Mr. Keverdy Johnson, in Senate,
May 19th.)

256 LIFE OF JAMES W. -GRIMES. [1864.
down the rebellion, and close this war, it must be done by fighting,
not by trading. Either withdraw your armies, and go to trading,
or else cease trading and continue to fight.
The Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Wilson) says the cotton
must be got out of the rebel lines. I will tell him how it can be
got out, and that is by fighting it out, never by trading it out.
That cotton is ours now. No man was more strenuous in favor of
the passage of the confiscation law than the Senator from Mas
sachusetts. Why is he willing to abandon his right, and the right
of his constituents, and of the soldiers of my State, to that cotton ?
Why is he willing to pay for it to the men who have been attempt
ing to take the lives of our soldiers ? The whole thing proceeds
upon a fallacy. Either let us carry on this war as war, or disband
the Army, and let the Treasury undertake to trade us through the
war. It is the height of ridiculousness to me for a great nation to
be professing to carry on a war, taxing its people, using a conscrip
tion law to reenforce its armies, using all its energies, and at the
same time trading with the men that you are carrying on the war
with, and allowing supplies to go through the lines of your army
in order to enable the enemy to continue to carry on that war ; for
that is the conclusion to which it ah comes at last. I stand where
I have ever stood, where I stood last year when this bill was
passed. Either let there be untrammeled free trade, or else no
trade at all, and let this be a war, and not transactions in merchan
dise. The purpose of the bill is to enable parties to go within the
rebel lines, in order to get out cotton ; and it is to that, General
Canby, in command of the Department of the Mississippi, particu
larly objects, and says that information will be carried by these Treas
ury agents and contractors to the rebels, so that an army of fifty
thousand additional men will be required in order to support our
selves in his department alone. Let me state a case that is on
record here in the Senate. It is not more than four weeks ago that
a vessel came out of one of the North Carolina rivers in the sound,
loaded with articles contraband of war, cotton, turpentine, and
rosin. She went back loaded with provisions and clothing, and the
moment she reached the line that divided the two armies, rebel
soldiers in rebel uniform were put on board of her, and carried her
back whence she had come. There is nothing to prevent anybody
coming within our lines, bringing in their cotton, taking back sup-

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 257
plies, and taking back what is of more advantage to the rebels and
more injury to us — information as to the movements of our troops.
In a discussion with reference to filling up the ranks of the
army, Mr. Grimes said, June 29th :
We are at length, in one of the very last days of the session,
approaching the consideration of the most momentous subject that
can be considered during this session of Congress. We are to deter
mine whether or not the treasure that has thus far been spent and
the blood that has been spilled in this controversy are to be wasted
and sunk into the ground, or whether they are to accomplish the
purpose that the country desires ; that is, the restoration of- the
Union. We are to decide whether or not we are to have an army,
or whether we shall suffer the forces that are now in the field to be
frittered away, to be devastated by war, and nothing be substituted
in the place of the men now standing in the ranks.
I need not say that I have always been opposed to commutation
for military service. I have believed that every citizen of the coun
try owed his property, his service, and his life, to the country, if it
was necessary, and I have always therefore steadily voted against
commutation. We ought to have had a conscription and a draft
long ago.
Speaking of citizens of his own State, he said, February 7,
1865 :
I have seen men of family and of substance who have been
drafted, and who had the capacity and the opportunity to procure
substitutes, but who said that they did not believe that it was a
manly and generous course for them to pursue, and they shouldered
their muskets, leaving their families and their property behind them,
and are now under General Sherman.
Mr. Grimes gave careful consideration to a bill for establish
ing a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs, to mature and perfect it in
harmony with our institutions of government and civilization,
and said with reference to certain propositions submitted by Mr.
Sumner, June 15-28, 1864:
The purpose which the Senator desires to secure is one that
commends itself to my heart. I want to do exactly what he wants
to accomplish ; but I think most conscientiously that he is not attain-

258 LIFE OF JAMES W.. GRIMES. [1864.
ing that object by the bill which he seeks to have us pass, and hence
I am compelled to vote against the passage of the bill. I think that
it is violative of some of the fundamental principles of the institu
tions of this country ; it would violate my convictions of duty and
of right ; and therefore I cannot support it.
The Senator says I have proceeded upon a wrong representation,
that I seem to entertain the notion that these men are not freemen.
It is because I do entertain the opinion that they are freemen, and
because I am anxious that they shall forever remain freemen, that I
oppose this bill. According to my conviction, the only way to treat
these men is as freemen. You have to give them alms, to exercise
acts of humanity and friendship to them, for a while. They will
be jostled, as we are all being jostled through this life, but in a little
while they will settle down into the position that Providence has
designed that they shall occupy under the new condition of affairs
in this country. It is not by any such processes as are attempted
to be enacted into a law that you are going to really alleviate the
wants and difficulties under which these people now suffer. The
bill puts every colored man who was ever a slave under the " gen
eral superintendence " of the commissioner at the head of this bureau.
The Senator admits that it is the purpose of the bill to confer this
extraordinary power, but says he is going to have it executed
beneficially for these colored men. . If we pass this bill, that is the
way, I trust, these great powers will be exercised ; but I am fear
ful that, if we confer upon officials such extraordinary powers, they
may not always and in all cases exercise them for the benefit of
these men.
Looking on them as really freemen, I do not very much admire
the idea of creating a bureau to take care of them. They are the
same class of men upon whom, three or four weeks ago, a portion
of the members of the Senate were attempting to bestow the elec
tive franchise. I submit that there was a very great mistake then, or
there is a very great mistake now, when we undertake to put under
the control of general superintendents all the colored men within their
respective departments, and authorize the commissioners to enforce
with the military power the alleged contracts which this unfortunate
and despised class of people may be said to have entered into. I
would rather appoint a bureau to take care of the confiscated and
abandoned estates, and let the care of the freedmen, so far as they

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 259
shall be cared for, be an incident of the establishment of the bureau
and of the care that shall be exercised over these estates.
It is proposed by the Senator from Massachusetts that we shall
not direct the assistant commissioners to be appointed, as in ordinary
'cases, by the President, and to be confirmed by the Senate, but that
they shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and be
mere tenants by his will. I am unwilling to confer such power on
any Secretary, or upon the President, without the constitutional
check upon him of a confirmation by the Senate. What are we
here for, but to give our advice and consent to the appointment of
such responsible officers as these ? We have declared, this session,
that every acting master in the Navy, to whom j'ou pay one thou
sand dohars a year, shall be appointed by the President, and sent
here to be confirmed by us, men who are merely required to per
form watch duty on the decks of your men-of-war, through whose
hands not one dollar of money is to pass, to whom is confided no
such trusts as are confided by this bill to your commissioners. And
yet it is seriously proposed that these commissioners, who are to
have the control of hundreds of thousands of human beings, of whose
character for humanity, and discretion, and wisdom, we know noth
ing, and can know nothing, who are to have the control of hundreds
of thousands aud doubtless millions of property in the course of a
year, are not to be sent to the Senate for us to advise and consent
to their nomination !
I confess to the Senator that I have been anxious to vote for
his bill. I told him, at the beginning of the consideration of it, that
several amendments must be made before I will vote for it, and this
is one of them. I have as much respect for the Secretary of the
Treasury as any man has, but I never will consent, so long as I oc
cupy a seat in this body, to place in the hands of any Government
officer the overwhelming power that is placed in the hands of this
public officer by the proposition of the Senator. I want to know
the character of these men, the character they have maintained
hitherto, whether they are humane men, Christian men, honest men,
and will do their duty to the men, women, and children, who are
committed to their charge ; and, if the Senator's proposition is
adopted, I unhesitatingly say that I will vote against the bill.
The consideration of the bill as amended by the Senate was
postponed in the House, July 2d, to the next session. Mr.

260 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
Grimes said, February 21, 1865, that his purpose was to get a
Freedmen's Bureau bill that he could vote for ; and in reply to
further strictures by Mr. Sumner :
It will not do for the Senator to raise an issue with me on the«
ground that I am not in favor of the rights of the freedmen, or to
insinuate that I am not so much in favor of liberty and freedom as
he is. I am just as much in earnest, I am just as much in favor of
protecting these freedmen, as he is ; I will go just as far and spend
as much of my own money, or of the money of my constituents, as he
will spend ; but I want to be satisfied that it is going to reach the
objects of my bounty, and that all their rights will be protected
under the law I am to vote for.
87. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, April 24, 1864.
Frank Fessenden has been wounded and captured. It is not
known how badly he is wounded. His regiment behaved well, and
so did he. Everybody curses Banks loud and deep. I have not
seen Fessenden since the news came. I send you Foster's speech
on Sumner. It is regarded as capital here.
April 29th. — I was never half so comfortable in Washington,
without you, as I am now. I am in one of the best, most genteel,
quiet, cultivated families I have ever known in Washington ; my
apartments are two nice, airy, neat, and convenient rooms, and I
have the only breakfasts I have ever eaten at any boarding-house
in Washington. My colleague Wilson, and Henderson, of Mis
souri, dine with me. Fessenden will adopt the same mode of life,
and begin to dine with us on Monday, and Clark and Morrill are to
be admitted to our club during the week. Of course, we have
good dinners. So much for my creature comforts.
I have just received a long letter from Dr. Jonathan Blanchard,
formerly of Galesburg, the old Orthodox apostle at Galesburg, in
which he compliments me in very undeserved terms, and concludes
by saying that all of my merits are to be attributed to j'our instruc
tions and example. I believe that the general impression is, that
I am of myself a most perverse mortal, toned and tempered down
by you into a reasonably civilized piece of humanity.
We have no news here. Every one is incensed against Banks,

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 261
and demands his supersedure. Our disaster in Louisiana was much
greater than was reported. There will be no battle here for some
weeks, probably ; in the mean time a vast force is being concentrat
ed. Last Monday more than forty thousand men marched through
town, six thousand negroes, on their way southward. The univer
sal opinion was that the negroes made much tbe best appearance,
and there seemed to be the best of feeling between them and the
white soldiers. 88. — To Mrs. Grimes, United States Senate-Chamber, )
Washington, May 10, 1864. \
We have an intense anxiety here about the recent battles,
though the people have not been so demonstrative as on many
former occasions. The battle on Friday was fiercely contested all
day, was almost entirely a musketry-fight, and was a success to us,
inasmuch as the enemy did not accomplish his purpose, which was
to whip us. We had two men to their one in action. Grant had
one hundred and forty thousand men, and all engaged, save one
brigade of colored troops, say six thousand men. Grant and Meade
estimate Lee's army at seventy thousand, which I suspect is about
the truth. On Saturday, Lee slowly and sullenly moved off in the
direction of Orange Court-House, expecting, doubtless, that Grant
would follow him, and that he would be able to resume the fight
where he would have great advantages in the topography of the
country. But Grant failed to be caught in that trap, and moved on
the direct road to Richmond, via Spottsylvania Court-House. We
have all sorts of rumors about battles since that of Friday, but there
is nothing whatever reliable. Nearly all of our army was some time
or other in the day soundly thrashed, but generally rallied very well.
There were very few stragglers, less than were ever known before.
The enemy's tactics consisted of the most frantic, impetuous and
gigantic efforts to break our line by attacking it with large masses.
Their troops are far better at this than ours are. At times they drove
our whole line back, and took our positions, but we recovered them.
We lost one entire brigade at one time, most of a brigade at another,
and a regiment at another, by capture. We lost more prisoners
than they did. Had the rebels not gone away from the battle-field,
it would not have been claimed as a victory by us, for they lost no
guns, comparatively no prisoners, no baggage, and carried away
18

262 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
their wounded. They are probably far more exhausted by the
battle than we are, and we hope that this is the beginning of the
end. The rebels fight, though, like very devils incarnate. It is
useless to attempt to disguise it, there is an abandon about their
attacks that is not imitated even by most of our men.
May 12th. — Fighting of the most terrific character still goes on
only a few miles from us. On our side are not less than forty
thousand men hors de combat. This includes killed, wounded, and
missing. Still the cry is for more blood, and more is to be shed.
Our troops are in good condition, hopeful, and anticipate success.
Reenforcements of fresh men are being sent to Grant — a relief
which it is understood cannot be sent by Lee's pretended govern
ment to him. The excitement occasioned by the continuous battles
in the neighborhood has been so great, and has so unsettled every
body's mind, that the Senate to-day adjourned to Monday. I think
that Grant will in the end destroy Lee's army, but his own will be
also destroyed. It will be a sort of Kilkenny cat-fight ; they, you
know, fought until nothing was left of either but the tail ; but
Grant's tail is the longest. We have no other news here. We
think of nothing else, inquire about nothing else, dream about
nothing else.
May 18?A. — I wish I could satisfy your fears about the Army
of the Potomac. Thus far we have won no victory. We have suf
fered a terrible loss of killed and wounded (nearly fifty thousand),
and Lee is in an impregnable position. J. Grimes commanded the
Seventeenth Regiment of Infantry, until he was finally knocked
over by a broken shell. He is not much hurt, only bruised, and will
return to the army, and try his chances again next Saturday.
I have just returned to my room from dining at Mr. Eames's
with Mrs. Julia Ward Howe — for company, Admiral Davis, Foster,
of Connecticut, Gurowski, and your husband — a pleasant time, of
course. Mrs. Howe gave what she calls a reading, last night. I
did not go, but, as she insists upon my going on Friday, I suppose I
must comply.
The news from different directions is not at all pleasant to me.
I confess that just at this present writing I feel prettv bluei
May 2Uh. — As you learn by the papers, I made a speech yes
terday, but I did not, as they say I did, talk two hours. I think I
made a good speech, and such seems to be the general impression,

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 263
but you will see it in a few days, and can judge for yourself. At
least there was no clap-trap and humbug about it.
89.-70 Admiral Bu Pont. Washington, June 15, 1864.
I would be delighted to visit you near Wilmington, and I know
Mrs. Grimes would be, but she went North about the 20th of April,
where she remained a few weeks, and then returned to our home in
Iowa, where she now is. As you can easily suppose, I am most
anxious to leave here that I may join her, and shall not be inclined
to tarry by the wayside on my journey westward. I intend some
time, with my wife, to make you a visit, and I intend to do it at the
first opportunity I have ; and in this I am most heartily joined by
Mrs. Grimes, for I need not tell you that she is a stanch adherent
of yours. 90. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, June 19, 1864.
I hope to be at home by the 4th of July. It is possible I may
not, however, because I am compelled to stop a day in Chicago,
and I do not wish to be there on the 4th, which is the day the con
vention of the Democratic party assembles there. Rather than be
incommoded by that concern in going west, or be mixed up in it,
I will remain on the way a day or two. We have no news here.
Grant's campaign is regarded ¦> by mihtary critics as being thus far
a failure. He has lost a vast number of men, and is compelled to
abandon his attempt to capture Richmond on the north side, and
cross the James River. The question is asked significantly, Why
did he not take his army south of the James at once, and thus save
seventy-five thousand men ?
Smith, Bros. & Co., of whom I made mention in my remarks in
the Senate, found themselves in Fort Warren day before yesterday,
and will be tried before a court-martial, and will, I doubt not, be
convicted. 91.— To Hon. W. P. Fessenden, Secretary of the Treasury, Washington.
Philadelphia, July 3, 1864.
I left Washington yesterday morning, as I told you I should.
I have experienced twenty-six moody and melancholy hours. You
have at no time been separated from my thoughts since I left you.

264 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
I have tried to picture to myself what would be the effect of your
change of position upon the country, upon yourself, and upon our
relations to each other.
I need not tell you that for six years T have been drawn toward
you by an invisible power, magnetic it may be, that I could never
resist, even had I desired to resist it. During the time I have been
in the Senate you have exercised an influence over my wayward
nature such as was never exercised by any human being except
my wife. At times I have been irritated with you, but I can truly
say that I never suffered the sun to go down upon my anger. If at
any such moment of my weakness I ever gave you a pang of pain
ful feeling, I now most sincerely crave your pardon, begging you
to remember that the recollection of any and every intemperate
declaration of mine gives me more sorrow than it can possibly give
to you. Now, our relations are to be changed. I had hoped that so long
as I remained in the Senate we were to be associated together. It
is ordered otherwise, and I trust for the good of the country. You
are to have new surroundings, new associations, and doubtless our
old friendship will be in a measure forgotten ; I trust not de
stroyed. It fills me with grief to think that this must in the very
nature of things be so.
You know what I thought of your going into the cabinet. If
you would not deem it offensive to s^y so, I would say that I really
pitied you when I saw you last. I saw at a glance your true situa
tion. I knew that you had feeble health, that the Treasury is in a
terrible condition, and that the result of your acceptance of office
might be your death. At the same time I believed that no name
would give one-half so much confidence to the country as yours, and
I knew that your declination by every enemy of the country would
be ascribed not to its true cause, your poor health, but to the fact
that you knew too well the condition of the Treasury Department
to accept the portfolio. In this condition of things, I did not feel
like urging you to either accept or decline, but contented myself
with recommending you to make such terms as would prevent you
from being slandered and back-bitten out of the cabinet in a few
weeks by your associates. What is to be the issue in that regard
I do not know. You are, or were, when I left, master of the situa
tion, and in my opinion would fix your own terms.

1864.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 265
Now let me give you one word of parting advice, and I will
never assume to do it again.
Get rid of Mr. Chase's agents as soon as possible. I believe
many of them are corrupt, but whether they be so or not they are
thought to be, and that is a sufficient reason for supplanting them
with new men. One or two men who enjoy your confidence now, I
believe to be tricksters, but you will find them out soon enough. Do
not send abroad to negotiate a loan, but throw yourself upon the
people of this country. Read the Evening Post of yesterday, and
see what was the demand for United States securities in New York.
In the present flush of confidence you can put your loan upon the
American market, and do as you wish.
And now, my dear Fessenden, I start for my rustic home on the
bank of the Mississippi. If there be an angel on earth, there is
one there who prays as devoutly night and morning for your suc
cess and welfare as she does for mine. I dare not trust myself to
read this letter for fear I would destroy it. I do not expect you to
spare the time to answer it. May God give you health and happi
ness, and to the country peace and safety !
Extract of Letter from Mr. Fessenden to Mr. Grimes.
Washington, July 24, 1864.
Your kind letter has neither been overlooked nor forgotten, for
I have wished many times for a moment to acknowledge its receipt,
and to tell you how highly I appreciate its assurances of friendly
regard. You can well imagine, however, that I have been intensely
occupied, and must be aware that I am overwhelmed with per
plexities, and surrounded by dangers. Had I known but two weeks
beforehand what was to happen, I think that with the aid of Con
gress I might have placed myself in a somewhat easier condition.
But things must be taken as I find them, and they are quite bad
enough to appall any but a man desperate as I am. I cannot com
mit to paper all I would say. If my bodily condition was better,
perhaps I might work with more heart and energy ; but I am run
down with fatigue, retiring exhausted, and rising little refreshed —
a poor state for such work as I have to do. But it must be done,
and I will do it somehow.
I wish to assure you, my dear friend, that there are few people
in this world for whom I have so high a regard as for yourself.

266 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1864.
There was no man in the Senate with whom I was on such close
terms of intimacy, or who knew so much of me as you did. If at
any time there was a moment's irritation, it always passed away
with the moment, and left no trace behind. May it remain thus
between us while we both live ! Our country must be served hon
estly and faithfully, and we must do our duty, even if others fail in
theirs. I want your aid and counsel more than ever, and trust you
will not withhold either.
Give my love to your wife, and tell her to think as well of me
as she can, whatever may be my errors.
In the course of debate, December 19th, upon a bill to ap
propriate ten million dollars for the defense of the Northern
frontier, Mr. Grimes said :
The true mode to defend ourselves on the Northern frontier and
on the lakes is to have arsenals and armories there. On the lakes
we have ten tons of shipping where the British have one; we own
nearly all the steamboats that ply there, and we shall continue to
own them so long as we maintain our present navigation laws. All
you want, whenever difficulties shah occur between us and Great
Britain, is to have armaments which you can immediately throw
on board these vessels. Take possession of the mouth of the Wel-
land Canal, and what power will the British have ? Where the
necessity, therefore, of deciding in advance that we must build
fortifications at the mouth of every river, or near every harbor, on
the whole upper lakes ?
The true way is to repeal the reciprocity treaty. Great Britain
is not going to fight for Canada. Canada was an apple ready to
drop into our hands when the reciprocity treaty was agreed to. It
was consummated through the instrumentality of the men who are
now in rebellion against this Government, with a little aid that
was furnished to them by the people of the North. Repeal the
reciprocity treaty, and you will find that in less than twenty-four
months the people of the Canadas, and of the British provinces
generally, will be clamorous to come back to us. The newspapers
tell us that there is a panic in Canada. I have no doubt of it. It
does not proceed from any fear that they have of war ; it proceeds
from the fear that they have of their pockets. The moment you
repeal the reciprocity treaty, the stock of every railroad in Canada

1864-'65.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 267
will become worthless ; every man of wealth and means will be
come bankrupt. It is caused, by the fear they have of the repeal
of that treaty, which gives them the carrying trade of the produce
from the West, and the power to compete with us in the Eastern
markets, which is very much to our injury.
Upon a resolution of inquiry with reference to the military
arrest of two citizens of Kentucky, December 20th, Mr. Grimes
said: The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Powell) says that two eminent
men of that State have been arrested, he knows not by whom, he
knows not for what ; that they have been spirited away, he knows
not whither; and as a representative of that State he asks the
Senate to institute an inquiry, that it may be learned what dis
position has been made of them. I say that it is the right and the
duty of this Senate to give to the Senator the answer that he
demands. Is it not our duty to make some inquiry in regard to a
question of that kind ? Are we going to be entirely indifferent to
the liberties of the people of this country ? I am not sent here
for the purpose of sitting with my arms folded in silence and in
quiet, and giving no vote in favor of an inquiry of this kind. I
have no doubt that when the inquiry shall be pursued properly, there
will be a perfect vindication of the officers of the Government ; but
if it be otherwise, if these men have been improperly arrested, it is
the duty of the Senate to say so, and to put its seal of reprobation
upon those who have improperly arrested them. I trust that this
Senate is not going to sit quietly by, when charges are made by a
Senator of arbitrary conduct on the part of any officers of this Gov
ernment, and refuse to make an inquiry, because it is claimed that
to do so would be a proceeding of a quasi judicial character. It is
one of the prerogatives of this body to protect the liberties of the
people of the States, and the rights and interests of the States
themselves. On the 12th of January the Senate was honored with the
presence of Vice- Admiral Farragut, the first person holding that
position in the American service. Mr. Grimes asked permission
to interrupt the regular order of business, and on his motion a
recess of ten minutes was taken, to afford Senators an opportu
nity to pay their respects to that eminent citizen.

268 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865.

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE NAVY.
On the 17th of February, pending a discussion of the Naval
Appropriation bih, upon a motion of Mr. Wade to create a Board
of Admiralty for the management of the Navy, Mr. Grimes
said: I shall not follow gentlemen in the wandering debate that has
characterized this occasion. I have no encomiums to pronounce
upon, and no denunciations to utter against the old Democratic
and Whig parties, for I am content that the dead should bury their
dead. I do not stand here as the defender or advocate of any man, but
to maintain what I believe to be the public interest in connection
with the Navy Department. It is the public service we are to pro
mote, not the interests of any men or set of men. I shall not seek
to defend or palliate any wrong, no matter by whom committed. I
believe that this Department, as all other Departments, has made
some mistakes ; but the true remedy is not the one set forth by the
Senator from Ohio, and, entertaining the opinions I do, there is no
alternative for me but to oppose as strenuously as I may be able
the amendment he proposes.
I have no fault to find with the Senator for proposing this
amendment. It is true that we have a Naval Committee, of which
I happen to be a member, and that it is the business of that com
mittee to examine into all the laws in connection with naval affairs,
to inform themselves of the operations of the naval organization, to
understand not only its written but its unwritten laws, to know
what vessels are built, the character of their armament, the charac
ter of the machinery by which they are to be propelled, their efl>
ciency and speed, and the contracts under which they are built. I
I think I can say that the committee have endeavored, as far as
their capacity and time would allow, to inform themselves on all
these points. It is their duty also to inform themselves, and I think
they have attempted to do it, in regard to the naval organization of
the different nations of the earth, and if in their opinion there be
any advantages over ours in any of these organizations to suggest
them to the Senate for adoption into our own. I think they have
informed themselves in regard to each of the many descriptions of

1865.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 269
vessels — some twenty-five or thirty — that now constitute parts of
our Navy.
Nor am I going to find fault with the Senator because as a
member of the Committee on the Conduct of the War he examined
only one particular type of vessels that had been built, and found
some objections to that class. But I submit to the Senate that it
would hardly be wise, because there happened to be in the estimation
of that committee some objections to that kind of vessels, to over
turn the entire Navy organization, when the Naval Committee, who
have examined into all the various descriptions of vessels, have'not
deemed it advisable to propose any such change. Informed as
we are in regard to the general operations of the Navy, knowing
what has been accomplished during the last four years under its
present administration, we have unhesitatingly come to the conclu
sion, as the organ of this body in connection with naval affairs, that
this change ought not to be made, and would prove most disastrous
if made. The whole argument upon which this amendment is based pro
ceeds upon one assumption, that there have been mistakes in the
construction of the light-draught iron-clads. Admit it. Is that a
reason for overturning the Navy Department ? Is this the first
mistake that has been made ? If the Committee on the Conduct of
the War had inquired of the Naval Committee, we could have told
them that a similar mistake was made in regard to the second class
of monitors, that same class which have been doing efficient service
at Fort Fisher, and of which Admiral Porter speaks in such eulo
gistic terms. At least one-half of all the old sailing-vessels that
have been built since the establishment of the Navy have been
modified and changed. Within five years the Pensacola was
changed under our eyes at the navy-yard in Washington, and forty
feet added to her length. Was that a reason for overturning the
Department ?
Nearly all of the British iron-clad vessels, such as the Warrior
and Black Prince, are now pronounced failures, and the Warrior is
being dismantled, being considered unfit to go to sea. Did the
Senator ever know that a peer of the realm or any member of the
House of Commons rose in his place in the British Parliament, and
proposed to overturn the whole admiralty system of that empire,
upon a supply-bill, because mistakes had been made in the con-

270 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865.
struction of iron-clad vessels that have cost millions of pounds ster
ling? Admit the mistake to be as great as is charged. Is this the
only mistake that has been made? Has no other Department
blundered ? Have there been no mistakes in the Treasury, and will
you put that in commission also ? Has the War Department been
entirely free from blunders during the last four years, and will you
overturn that Department, upon an amendment to the Army appro
priation bill ?
In regard to the light-draught iron-clads, the facts are very
simple. We had a board, in 1861, composed of three superior offi
cers in the Navy, to determine the character of the vessels that
should be built with the million and a half of dollars appropriated
in July of that year. .They reported in favor of three different
classes of vessels : the Ironsides, which is an excellent vessel ; the
Galena, which has turned out to be a failure ; and they said to
Mr. Ericsson, who proposed to build the original monitor, that he
might build that vessel for a given sum of money, a small price,
and run his own risk upon her : if she turned out to be a success
the Government would take her, and if otherwise it would not.
That monitor, at the time she fought the Merrimac, and relieved us
of the great weight that rested upon every man here in Washing
ton after the destruction of the Congress and Cumberland, was not
the property of the United States, but belonged to John Ericsson
and the men who were associated with him in building her.
Now, let us see what is proposed by the Senator from Ohio. Five
naval officers are provided for, to hold their offices during the will
of the President, and the Secretary of the Navy is to preside over
them. It is to be a kind of New England town-meeting. The
amendment means to put the Navy Department into commission,
to put it into leading-strings, to give the control to these commis
sioners, or else it means to furnish the Department a subterfuge by
which it can at all times avoid responsibility. Do you wish to
divide responsibility thus ? I surely do not. That will be the
effect of this amendment, if adopted. That is the effect of the
British Admiralty administration to-day. There is nothing that the
members of the naval profession in England are so anxious to get
rid of as their admiralty system, after which this amendment is
modeled. They saw fit, two hundred years ago, to put their office

1865.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 271
of lord high admiral into commission, and it is now waelded by such
a board as the Senator has proposed to create here ; and what is the
result ? Precisely the result that I predict will follow here. Sir
Charles Napier, a great naval authority, says that " no permanent
, good can be done for the service until the Board of Admiralty is
abolished." Sir George Cockburn, having filled the station of con
fidential or principal sea-lord of the admiralty for more than sev
enteen years, and feeling that his opinion regarding the constitu
tion of the boar.d might sooner or later be deemed worthy of
attention, stated that " he considered the present establishment of
that board to be the most unsatisfactory and least efficient for its
purpose that could have been devised."
What has been our experience ? We had this board once, or
something tantamount to it. As a friend said to me yesterday,
" When we got rid of the old board, in 1842, we felt as Sinbad the
sailor felt when the Old Man of the sea was lifted off his shoulders."
It was an incubus on the Navy, and was so regarded by everybody,
except some of the old post-captains who were members of the
board. It was an inefficient organization, and was so considered
by every one whose opinion was worth anything. Every nation
that has had it, or anything like it, is attempting to abolish it. The
.Senator proposes that we now, in a time of war, when of all other
times there should not be any division in council, adopt it, and
make it part of our system, without consideration, without any
report by a committee of this body "in favor of it, and upon an
appropriation bill.
The Navy Department, it will be remembered by members of
this body, made estimates for large iron-clad ships, in obedience to
the expressed wishes of the commercial cities on the Atlantic coast,
and sent those estimates here. We refused to vote them. I refused
my vote because I relied upon that system which is now proved to
be the best naval system in the world. Everybody admits that for
the purpose for which the monitors were originally constructed,
the protection of our harbors, nothing exceeds them. Such is not
only the judgment of naval men in this country, but of the com
mercial marine, and of foreign powers, many of whom are at this
moment engaged in constructing them. I am not much of a believer
in them as sea-going vessels; I would not recommend them as
"cruisers, but for harbor defense they are unapproached by anything

272 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865.
yet invented by the ingenuity of man. Then we have the fastest
sea-going naval vessels in the world. It is utter folly for us to
undertake to build a navy with which we can compete with France
and England in immense naval battles. That is not our policy.
Our true policy is to protect ourselves at home, and then to sweep
the commerce of our enemy from the sea ; and the system that has
been pursued by the Navy Department during the last four years,
in building up the Navy we now have, is calculated to accomplish
that purpose in a higher degree than any other plan that could
possibly be devised. 92.— To Mrs. Grimes. Burlington, April 10, 1865.
I send you a copy of " Naval Warfare Ashore and Afloat," a
pamphlet composed of the speeches made in the Senate and House
of Representatives against Davis's and Wade's amendments. I do
not know who got it up, but several copies have been sent to me.
My speech is given the post of honor, though not entitled to it ;
for the other speeches were prepared, and mine was impromptu,
and addressed entirely to the subject in hand. Some of the other
speeches were orations, while mine, if anything, was a simple
argument of the question directly in issue, and only received the
corrections that you and I gave it one Sunday afternoon. Read Mr.
Pike's speech, if you have not ; for I think it a speech of great
power and merit, and about as symmetrical and perfect in all its
parts as any congressional speech that you have read for many a
day. My remarks were the last made on the subject in the Senate^
and should properly have been published last, as the other Senators
alluded to me by name as being about to follow and close the
debate ; but I suppose you will discern this. I would have liked
also to have the fact appear that after the protracted debate of two
days there was but a single vote in favor of Wade's proposition,
and forty-odd against it.
93. — To Admiral Bu Pont.
Washington, January 2, 1865.
The prize law 1 of last winter was drawn up by Judge Sprague
and R. H. Dana, Jr., of Boston, and passed the House of Repre-
1 Approved, June 30, 1864.

1865.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 273
sentatiyes as drafted by them with slight modifications. When it
came to the Senate, believing that it would be suffered to sleep the
sleep of death in the Naval Committee, I got it referred to the
Judiciary Committee, and there intrusted to the guardianship of
my friend Mr. Foster, of Connecticut, who soon reported it back
with the recommendation that the House amendments be disagreed
with, and that the bill be passed precisely as it came from Messrs.
Sprague and Dana. This was done, the House concurred, and thus
the bill became a law.
With reference to a bill to enlarge the boundaries of the
State of Nevada, Mr. Grimes said, February 8th :
There are very grave questions connected with the subject of
taking territory from Territories already in existence, and adding
it to States whence we cannot hereafter reclaim it. If we take
this territory from Utah and add it to Nevada, it cannot be taken
from Nevada again. It may become important to erect a new Ter
ritory between Nevada and Utah. It is not for the interest of the
States of the Northwest that the States to the west of us should
be made as large as we are in the habit of making them, because it
deprives us of our proper representation in this branch of Congress.
This is a matter in which we are all interested, especially the
cluster of States of which mine happens to be one, and which are
destined to be intimately connected with all the States to the west
of us. I want to see prosperous States built up there, and as many
of them as possible. I want that section of the country to have
its due proportion of influence and power in this branch of Con
gress, as well as in the other.
STONE FORTIFICATIONS.
In his speech of March 13, 1862, Mr. Grimes had expressed
the opinion that the strongest stone fortifications could afford
no obstruction to the entrance of iron-clad vessels-of-war into
any of our harbors. In 1863 he voted against appropriations
for such fortifications. Mr. Grimes said, February 24, 1865 :
I rejoice that the Committee on Finance have come to the con
clusion which I reached four years ago, and have recommended
that the Senate shall not proceed with the costly business of con-

274 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865.
tinuing to make large forts. I am willing to admit of the distin
guished gentleman at the head of the engineer corps that he is a
very scientific, practical, and able man. I am willing to admit also
that that corps is the Mite of the Army ; but it should be remem
bered that it is their profession to make forts, and that when you
take away from them the appropriations, and the power to continue
the exercise of that profession, their vocation is gone. I trust
that the engineer corps are not like the Bourbons, who never forget
and never learn anything.
Has not this war taught us something ? Has not our experience
at New Orleans taught us something? When the expedition
against New Orleans was gotten up, there was but one man in the
entire engineer corps who did not say that it was utterly imprac
ticable for New Orleans to be taken. There was one single excep
tion. It was General Barnard. Did not your wooden ships pass
right by those fortifications, that were deemed by everybody al
most, and especially by your engineer corps, as incapable of being
passed by any kind of vessels, much less by wooden vessels?1
Were we not told that Fort Morgan was the strongest fort on this
continent ? And what was the result when Farragut attacked it ?
How long was it able to resist wooden ships ? What has been our
experience with Fort Pulaski, also one of the strongest forts, it
was said at the beginning of the war, that we had on this con
tinent ? How long was it able to resist the attack of members of
this same engineer corps ? I apprehend there is not a single fort
now in the possession of the United States that is not capable of
being reduced by our own vessels; partly growing out of the
nature of the constructions, and partly out of the inability thus far
to make projectiles and guns which are capable of attacking and
destroying iron vessels.
It is not inappropriate for me to read in this connection a letter,
published in the London Post, written by Mr. Blakeley, the invent
or and maker of guns in England, and one of the most distin
guished artisans of that country. It will be remembered that, after
the taking of Fort Fisher^ Admiral Porter made some remarks in
1 The admirals of the French and British navies at the Balize told Farragut
that they had been up to New Orleans, and that it was impossible for him to go,
that it was one wall of fire ; he replied simply that he was ordered up, that was
all. — Mr. James W. Nye, of Nevada, in the Senate, April 1, 1868.

1865.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 275
his report in regard to the value of the iron-clad monitors, which,
he said, had been under the guns of Fort Fisher for five days at a
distance of eight hundred yards, and had come out entirely, or al
most entirely, uninjured ; and he said that with the Monadnock and
vessels of her class he would be willing to undertake to cross the
ocean, or something tantamount to that, and reduce the towns on
the coast of Great Britain. Captain Blakeley says :
" Now that Fort Fisher has fallen, there can be no indiscretion
in my giving some information about its armament. The fact most
instructive to us is that the fort contained not one gun powerful
enough to sink an iron-clad ship. Most of the guns were more
powerful than any gun mounted ofi any fort in England, or on any
English ship, except one; yet they failed to injure the Federal
fleet. It follows that that fleet could attack Portsmouth or Plym
outh with more impunity than Fort Fisher, so far as artillery-fire
is concerned." Mr. Blakeley might further have said that two of the Armstrong
guns, which bore the mark of the English arsenal upon them, the
best pattern of Armstrong guns, were also in the armament of
Fort Fisher.
We have the highest British authority for saying that those
iron-clad vessels, if they crossed the Atlantic, were capable of at
tacking the fortifications of Portsmouth and Plymouth, that were
designed to protect the largest navy-yards on the globe, navy-yards
which contain more supplies by double than any navy-yard on the
globe. Now, what is the necessity for our going on and proceeding to
build more of these forts ?
What we want to successfully resist an iron-clad when it
attempts to enter our harbor, is a gun mounted on a vessel that
can come nearly in contact with the vessel that is attempting to
make an encroachment upon us, and not on a fort a mile or a mile
and a half away from the channel, as many of these forts are
located. I do not think the old forts that have been built will ever
be of any material service. It would be a wise expenditure to change
them, so that we can use the proper kind of artillery in them ; but I
am unwilling to vote for prosecuting the construction of forts that
were undertaken before the commencement of this war, and before
the lessons that have been taught us by Fort Hindman and Fort

276 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865.
Morgan, and St. Philip and Jackson, and Macon and Sumter, had
been learned by the nation. I thought there was one thing that
was learned from the Crimean War by ah nations ; I thought Todle-
ben had been a great instructor of people ; and that the old necessity
of fortifications was an exploded idea, and that, wherever earth
could be obtained, earth was the proper material with which to make
fortifications. I do not know whether we are prepared to abandon
this old and effete system, that has been fastened on us for the last
fifty years, but the time is not far distant. The first foreign war that
this nation has will demonstrate that the old fortifications are value
less, as this war has demonstrated that our artillery was of no
value ; as the Mexican War demonstrated that the artillery with
which our ships were mounted in 1812, by the side of the artillery
we had in 1846, was of no comparative value.
§ 4. — In the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 1865-1867.
94.— To Asa B. Smith, B. B., President of Bartmouth College.
Washington, March 10, 1865.
It has been my fortune to live the last twenty-nine years in a
new country, where schools, colleges, charitable institutions, and
internal improvements of all kinds, were unknown when I went
there, and which I did my share to project, and now feel under ob
ligations to sustain and expand. This, in a country where there is
hardly any concentration of capital, is a heavy burden upon the
comparatively few men on whom it falls. I say this, not because
I wish to avail myself of it as an excuse for withholding any bene
faction to Dartmouth College, but as a reason why I cannot give
so much as my inclination prompts me to give.
95. — To Mrs. Grimes. Burlington, April 13, 1865.
Our place is more beautiful this spring than ever before ; indeed,
I know no more lovely spot anywhere, and my only want now is
that you were here to enjoy it with me. We are having fine
weather, with a prospect of an abundant supply of fruit. Cherries
and pears are remarkably promising at present, and two or three
vine-dressers, who have been here, say my grapes look better than
anybody's about here.

1865.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 277
Among other strange things that I have done, I gave this week
six hundred and forty acres of land, worth I suppose about four to
five thousand dollars, to the Congregational College at Grinnell. I
thought I would administer thus far on my own estate. The col
lege is overrun with students, and I fancied that as good use would
be made of it in this as in any other way.
The whole amount realized from this spontaneous and un
solicited donation was six thousand and forty dollars. It con
stitutes the Gelmes Foundation, and is " to be applied to the
establishment and maintenance, in Iowa College, forever, of
four scholarships, to be awarded by the trustees, on the recom
mendation of the Faculty, to the best scholars, and the most
promising, in any department, who may need and seek such
aid, and without any regard to the religious tenets, or opinions,
entertained by any person seeking either of said scholarships."
These terms were imposed by Mr. Grimes, and assumed, July
20, 1865, by the trustees. President Magoun says :
This foundation is the largest charity fund belonging to Iowa
College. It has been, and it is to be, of great service to deserving
young persons of both sexes. The first expression of special inter
est in the college made to me by Mr. Grimes was on the occasion
of its removal from Davenport to Grinnell, in 1858. He said that
a rural village is a far better place for such an institution than a
business town. In 1864 the trustees made me a committee to se
cure an address from him at commencement. He replied to my
solicitation that discoursing on education was entirely out of his
range. Being further urged, and assured that he would be heard
with interest on public questions, he said that senatorial duties so
absorbed his time and strength as to render preparation for a com
mencement address impossible ; he added, " but I can do something
else of more service to the college than to make a harangue at
commencement." 96. — To Mrs. Grimes. Burlington, April 16, 1865.
Day before yesterday was a day of rejoicing and gladness in
Burlington. The country people were in town in large numbers,
and there were processions, torchlights, fireworks, illuminations,
19

278 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865.
and every one seemed happy at the thought of a speedy and hon
orable peace.
That day bf jubilee has been succeeded by two very sorrowful
ones. About nine o'clock on Saturday, the intelligence reached us
of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, and the attempt upon Mr. Sew
ard's life. Immediately the people began to assemble about the
Hawkeye office, and soon Third Street became packed with people.
And such expressions of horror, indignation, sorrow, and wonder,
were never heard before. Shortly, some one began to decorate his
house with the habiliments of mourning, and soon all the business
part of the town, even the vilest liquor-dens, were shrouded with
the outward signs of sorrow. All business was at once suspended,
and not resumed during the day, but every one waited for further
intelligence from Washington.
This day has been remarkably pleasant, and every one went to
church. I went early, and found our church packed full, so that it
was with difficulty I found a seat. Many were there whom I never
suspected of ever going to church before, among them many Ger
man Turners ; and many were turned away.
I was kept busy last night trying to prevent the destruction of
a foolish woman's store, who, it was said, expressed her joy at Mr.
Lincoln's murder. Had she been a man, so much was the old Adam
aroused in me, I would not have uttered a word to save her.
I am full of forebodings about Johnson. He is loyal enough,
but he is a man of low instincts, vindictive, violent, and of bad hab
its. His course will depend much upon the hands he falls into at
the outset. I hope he will be equal to the occasion, and prove to
be a good President. The performance of the fourth of last month
was not a very flattering augury of the future.
Mr. Lincoln is to be hereafter regarded as a saint. All his foi
bles, and faults, and shortcomings, will be forgotten, and he will be
looked upon as the Moses who led the nation through a four years'
bloody war, and died in sight of peace. Never did men make a
greater mistake than did his assassins, if they desired lenity and
favorable terms, when they slew him, and attempted to slay Seward ;
for they had more to expect from them than from any men, indeed,
from all men connected with the public councils in the North. Mr.
Lincoln was the most amiable, kind-hearted man I ever knew, and
would not, if he could avoid it, punish his most malignant enemy.

1865.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 279
If I am not greatly deceived, they have got a " Tartar " in his
stead. April 19th. — We have four days of universal and heartfelt sor
row and mourning ; business has been nearly suspended. There
was a meeting in Union Hall on Monday evening, and, although
very rainy, the hall was full. I presided, and spoke a few minutes,
and was followed by Mr. Salter, Father Donelan, and Mr. Darwin.
At twelve o'clock to-day there were religious services in all the
churches, and I hear that all were crowded ; Mr. Salter's certainly
was. In the afternoon there was an immense procession through
the streets, ending its march at the hall, where as many entered as
could, leaving a large part out-of-doors. I again presided, and
opened and closed with a few remarks. There was not a business-
house, or a drinking-house even, open during the day, nor an ine
briated man to be seen, in the town. No Sunday was ever so uni
versally kept sacred in Burlington. The real grief does not seem
to be confined to any party or sect. Everybody seems ready to
canonize Mr. Lincoln's memory. If there ever was a man who was
happy in his death, that man was Mr. Lincoln. He is for all time
to enjoy the reputation of carrying the country successfully through
a four years' terrible civil war, and is to have none of the odium and
hate that are sure to be engendered by the rival schemes and rival
parties for the adjustment of our troubles.
97. — To Mrs. Grimes. Burlington, May 15, 1865.
We have had a cold and backward spring, but the weather is
now intensely hot. Tell M  that I have the best crop of onions
on her garden-plat that I ever raised, and beets ditto. Tell her also
that we have had a genuine mocking-bird in the garden, and the
noisiest fellow I ever listened to. He is quite tame, and sits on the
ground and on the grape-stakes to sing, as well as on the trees. I
have a nest of turtle-doves in a fir-tree, with two young doves in it,
besides any amount of thrushes and robins. So she will see that
we do not suffer for the want of music. I suppose V  told you
that Moses was christened yesterday. We are about done with the
house repairing and cleaning, and I am heartily glad of it, I assure
you.

280 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865.
98. — To Hon. W. P. Fessenden, Portland, Maine.
Burlington, July 19, 1865.
Your letter leads me to think that you may possibly be inclined
to come West, though I am quite skeptical on the subject. I do
hope you will come ; I think you ought to come, not for your own
pleasure, or the pleasure of your friends alone, but as a leading pub
lic man you ought to see this country for yourself. I am only a few
hours' ride from Chicago, but in a far more quiet, respectable, moral,
healthy, comfortable place. I cannot promise you the luxuries of a
commercial metropolis on the seacoast, but I will feed you on grapes
if you are here in September, and intoxicate you with their pure
juice. I have between seven hundred and eight hundred vines
loaded down with most promising grapes, though we have much
wet weather, which is not propitious.
Of course, I always give a hearty support to the Administration,
as in duty bound, but we will reserve our quarrel about the Navy
Department, the Administration, and Charles Sumner, until you
come here. I prefer to fight you in my own barn-yard. Mrs. Grimes
says she shall never forgive you, if you do not come to see us, and
spend at least two weeks with us.
99.— To E. H. Stiles, Ottumwa.
Burlington, September 14, 1865.
I am astonished to learn, as I do by your letter of the 12th inst.,
that any one has asserted or believed for one moment that I do not
fully, freely, and as enthusiastically as I am capable of doing it, sup
port the entire Republican ticket in the pending canvass. You say
the report is that I am indifferent to the result " on account of the
uncalled-for and unwise action of the Union convention on the suf
frage question." I certainly did regard that action as uncalled for
and impolitic, and had I been a member of the convention I would
have opposed the introduction into the platform of any new issue
upon any subject, however just I might believe the principle to be.
I would have opposed it because I believe that there has been no
time during the last four years when it was more necessary that the
Union party of the nation should present an unbroken front and'
stand as a unit, than at the present moment, and I would have done
nothing, consented to nothing, that would have a tendency to repel
a single voter from a support of the Union party, which is the sup-

1865.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 281
port of the Union itself. I believe every vote withdrawn at this
time from the support of the Union ticket withdraws just that much
moral support from the Administration, and that that support is just
as necessary to the Government in the present crisis as it was neces
sary to support our armies when in the field.
The very fact that in my view the convention erred by intro
ducing a local issue into the canvass when the minds of the people
are very properly engrossed by the transcend ently great national
issues pressing upon them, so far from begetting " indifference,"
would give me much greater anxiety as to the result of the election,
and would call forth a corresponding exertion, did not I know that
the people of Iowa thoroughly understand the questions before them,
and cannot be diverted from their support of the Government by
any side-issue like this of negro suffrage in this State.
There is not an intelligent man in the State who does not fully
comprehend all the subjects legitimately embraced in this canvass.
The Union party seek simply to fulfill in good faith their obli
gations assumed during the war, and to secure to the country as the
fruits of four years' struggle permanent unity, peace, and prosperity.
We all know that the Democratic party desire and intend to
coalesce with the returned rebels from the South. By that means,
if they can succeed in distracting the supporters of the Government
and secure a few Northern States, they hope to obtain control of
the Government, and then will follow the assumption of the rebel
debt, the restoration of slavery under a less odious name, and the
return of the leaders of the rebellion to power. It was to this end
that the farce was enacted a few weeks ago at Des Moines of nomi
nating a Soldiers' ticket by the Democratic party.
But of this folly it is hardly worth while to speak. I have nei
ther seen nor heard of a man who is likely to be deceived by it. It
is only calculated to make the actors in it ridiculous, and its only final
result will be to add one disappointed man to the Democratic party.
No, my dear sir, there never was a time in the history of the
Government when it was more incumbent upon every good citizen
to support the Union ticket, whatever may be his intentions on the
subject of universal suffrage, than now ; and if I believed that there
was the slightest doubt about the result, though I am admonished
by my physician that I can no longer safely speak out-of-doors, as I
should generally be compelled to do, I would at once enter person-

282 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1865-'66.
ally into the canvass, and use what strength I have to urge upon
the people the importance of the contest. But there is no need of
it. The people will not be deceived or misled on this subject. The
jugglery at Des Moines, when Colonel Benton received the nomina
tion of the men who, during the last four years, have thrown every
possible impediment in the way of the Union cause, was too trans
parent to deceive any one.
Mr. Grimes received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws
this year from Dartmouth College, and also from Iowa College.
President Smith wrote to him :
The honor is no great matter to you, honored as you have been
by the people and by your associates in the councils of the nation,
save as it serves to brighten the links which bind you to your Alma
Mater. As showing her appreciation of your course, you will
value it.
Appointed upon the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Recon
struction, December 21st, and upon the sub-committee to in
quire into the condition of Tennessee, he gave anxious and assid
uous attention for months to those matters, and aided in devel
oping the clear and conclusive views of the subject, which Mr.
Fessenden presented in the final report of the committee, June
8, 1866. Upon a proposition to grant one million acres of public lands
for the benefit of public schools in the District of Columbia, Mr.
Grimes gave his views on the expediency of land-grants for such
purposes, February 7th :
If this bill shall pass, there will not be a great many schools sup
ported by the funds that will be created by it. This land will not
net ten cents an acre to the District. That has been the experience
of all to whom grants of this kind have been made.
The Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Wilson) bases this grant,
first, on the poverty of the city of Washington. In regard to that,
the Senator is mistaken. According to the assessment returns, this
is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. The poor peo
ple of whom he speaks, who have been brought here as mechanics
from the North and West, have really the control of the city gov-

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 283
ernment. Why do they not levy a tax on the valuable property
that is located here ? The truth is, not that the people are poor, but
that they are not willing to tax the property that is subject to taxa
tion, for the purpose of educating their children; and no grant of
land, and no scrip that the Senator can get us to authorize to be
issued, is going to improve the people of the District in that regard.
Let him turn out as a missionary, and lecture the people in their
various wards on the necessity of education, and when he has brought
them up to the standard that will justify us in putting money into
their hands for this object, let him ask for an appropriation of money
out of the Treasury. That we can grant ; but the indirect way pro
posed, while it may be a slight advantage to the District, is des
tined to be a great disadvantage to the new States.
The Senator says that we have been in the habit of making
grants of land to the Western States for education ; but they have
been granted upon a different principle. The Government had vast
tracts of land, subdivided into townships and sections. You wanted
to sell those lands. You said to the citizens of the North and East,
" If you will go West and buy those lands, we will set apart every
sixteenth section in each township for the purpose of educating
your children." But here you propose to grant to the city of Wash
ington lands or scrip, which is the same thing, for the purpose of
establishing schools in this District. You might with equal pro
priety issue scrip to support the schools in the city of Boston.
This scrip will, in a short time, find its way at a low rate into
the pockets of the wealthy capitalists, and be located on a township
or several townships, and that land will remain for ten, twenty, or
twenty-five years without a single occupant. That is the danger
and damage to the States where this land will be located. I am not
speaking of my State — her public lands are exhausted — but for the
other States and Territories. We have been through this expe
rience. We have in some portions of our State almost whole coun
ties taken up under the land-warrant, system in this way by non
residents, preventing the settlement and development of the State.
I am arguing for the purpose of preventing other States apd Terri
tories from having the same experience. I do not want to see them
put through the same process.
The Senator from Maine (Mr. Morrill) says that he has been
appalled at the number of propositions to grant lands for wagon-

284 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
roads, railroads, etc. I think he will bear me witness that I have
voted against as many of them, and have been as urgent against
them, as any one in this body. I have opposed nearly all of them,
and I think it exceedingly bad policy for the Government to grant so
large a portion of them. I want these lands saved for the purpose
of enabling his constituents and mine to go upon them and occupy
them as bona-fide settlers. That is what the Government ought to
use them for. Nearly all the grants of land to railroads and wagon-
roads find their way into the hands of rich capitalists, and, in eigh
teen months or two years after this grant is made, the scrip will be
held by the wealthy men of the country, and the tendency will be
to exclude settlers.
The Senator says that this principle is sustained by innumerable
precedents. He quotes one, the Agricultural College bill, and none
other, so far as I know, except the grant of one township in Florida
over forty years ago to the State of Kentucky, for a deaf and dumb
asylum. The precedent in the case of the Agricultural College bill
I do not think worthy of being followed ; and one of the first sub
jects that I heard under discussion when I came to Washington was
a bill, introduced at the instance of the State of Florida, to compel
the State of Kentucky to sell that land. The argument was, that
here was an entire township in one of their best counties, that was
owned by the State of Kentucky, but with not a single bona-fide
settler upon it. It retarded the settlement and prevented the devel
opment of the country.
AGAINST THE ADMISSION OF COLOEADO AS A STATE.
With reference to the admission of Colorado into the Union,
Mr. Grimes said, March 13th :
There is probably no State more deeply interested in having a
strong and prosperous State in Colorado than Iowa. She is des
tined to be one of our neighbors. I presume that a larger portion
of the population of Colorado emigrated from Iowa than from any
other State ; and I apprehend we are more intimately connected
with her, and the people of Iowa are more thoroughly acquainted
with the history and condition of Colorado, than the people of any
other State. Hence nothing would afford me greater pleasure, if I
thought I could do so in justice to other States and in justice to

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 285
myself, than to vote for her admission. But entertaining the opin
ions I do, believing that such a vote is calculated to lead to disas
trous consequences in the future, I am constrained, notwithstanding
the interest my constituents, I am aware, feel in the admission of
Colorado, to vote in opposition to this bill.
The simple objection that I have is that Colorado has not popu
lation enough, and that nothing could be more injurious to the
people themselves than to permit her to erect herself into a State,
with a population of only from fifteen to twenty-five thousand.
I have had about as much experience in Territorial life as almost
any one else. It has so happened to me that I have lived in three
different Territories, under three different Territorial governments,
although I have resided in the same town all the time. Iowa came
into the Union upon the old theory, which it was supposed we were
always going to adhere to, that no State should be admitted until
she had the population required to send a representative to Con
gress. We had been in a Territorial condition for twelve or fourteen
years, and had a vast amount of real estate subject to taxation for
supporting the government ; yet the first thing that the people of
the State of Iowa were compelled to do was to go into the money
market of New York and borrow money at the enormous rate of
ten per cent., in those days, for defraying the necessary expenses of
the government. Gentlemen who have not lived in a new State can
not conceive of the constant drain that is made upon everybody who
emigrates to one of these States. Dwellings, schoolhouses, churches,
roads, charitable institutions, must be provided, as well as the ordi
nary State, county, and township taxes paid ; and the result is, that
the people of a new State, with the population there is in Colorado,
and with comparatively no real estate to tax, nothing but personal
property, will be oppressed with taxation. If I were a citizen of
Colorado I would remonstrate and protest against the admission of
the State under all circumstances, until there were at least one
hundred thousand people to support the State government. I can
not conceive of anything more injurious to the people of that Ter
ritory than to allow her with her small population to come into the
Union, and be compelled to pay her own expenses from this time
forward. In 1864 the vote of Colorado on the adoption of the constitu
tion was 6,192: for, 1,520; against, 4,672. There was another

286 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
election, September 5, 1865, and the total vote was 5,895, less than
in 1864, and the majority in favor of the adoption of the State con
stitution was only 155. Now it is seriously proposed here that we
shall admit a State into this Union which, in an exciting election,
when all the office-seekers, who expect to be senators and repre
sentatives and judges and governors, are arrayed on one side, and
are using their influence to bring men to the polls, and when the
tax-payers, who are conscious that they are to be oppressed with
the burdens of taxation, if they come into the Union, are arrayed
on the other, can only poll 5,895 votes ; and that a mining State,
where there is a vast preponderance of males over females. I con
fess that it strikes me as the sublimity of impudence for the State
to come here and ask to be admitted into the Union, and be en
titled to the same power and influence in this body as the State of
Ohio or New York or Pennsylvania.
If I vote to admit Colorado to-day, is there any reason why I
shall not vote to admit Nebraska to-morrow, with twenty-six thou
sand people ? If I agree to admit these two Territories, is there
any reason why I shall not the day after admit another Territory,
Montana ? Let me ask Senators if they are prepared to let all the
political power and influence of this country be carried up to these
mountains, to be wielded by a few miners and men of the most
transitory description of population. I am not prepared to do it.
I do not believe that it is the part of wisdom and statesmanship,
notwithstanding the local interests of my own State might possibly
be advanced by admitting this Territory and the adjacent Territory
of Nebraska. I did not vote for the enabling act for Colorado. The chairman
of the Committee on Territories (Mr Wade) will bear me witness
that I have opposed all these enabling acts. I have always told
him, and everybody around me, that I thought nothing could be
more deleterious to the interests of these Territories, and nothing
more jeopardize the interests of the country, than to hold out the
idea that they could be admitted into this Union, having the power
of the largest States in this body, with a population of twenty or
thirty thousand. The sum and substance of it is, whether or not
the Senate is prepared by its solemn vote to create a kind of rotten-
borough State in the Rocky Mountains; I mean, a State that a

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 287
powerful, rich, and influential man can carry in his pocket, or which
he can control by that which he does carry in his pocket.
April 19th. — Nor am I willing to indorse this constitution of
Colorado to-day, with a perpetual exclusion of the colored people
of that State from voting, and then to-morrow undertake to confer
the eleotive franchise upon colored people in the seceded States. I
do not consider myself bound by any past action of Congress to
give so inconsistent a vote as that ; and never, so long as I occupy
a seat on this floor, will I consent to do it.
This bill was rejected, March 13th, yeas 14, nays 21 ; recon
sidered and passed, April 25th ; vetoed by President Johnson,
May 15th.
Supporting a bih to prohibit a register as an American ves
sel to any ship that had been transferred during the rebellion to
a foreign flag, except by act of Congress in each particular case,
Mr. Grimes said, February 7, 1866 :
We ought to impose a penalty upon ship-owners who have
transferred their vessels to a neutral flag. If you do not, when you
have another war, the first day that war is declared, all the shipping
of the United States will be transferred ; and how are you going to
reenforce your navy, or secure vessels to keep up a blockade, such
as you kept up during the recent war ? There ought to be a pen
alty imposed on these men, who have shirked the payment of the
extra insurance which the honest and patriotic ship-owners have
paid, and who, having enjoyed the advantages of foreign vessels in
the carrying-trade, and filled their pockets with British gold, now
come and ask to be put upon the same foundation with the loyal
ship-owners, who have been paying this insurance during the last
five years. It is due to the shipping interests of the country and
to the patriotism of the country that a bill of this kind should

THE SEARCH FOE MISSING SOLDIERS.
Mr. Grimes interested himself in the search for missing sol
diers that was undertaken at the close of the war by Miss Clara
Barton, and, after personal examination of her work, commended
it in the Senate as most valuable to the cause of humanity and
the country, and advocated an appropriation to reimburse her for

288 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
what she had expended, and to aid her further search. He said,
February 5th, and March 5th :
The Government owes it no less to the brave men who lie in
unknown graves than to the anxious and longing friends in whom
hope is not yet wholly dead, to see that no stone is left unturned to
complete the personal record of all its preservers. With suitable
facilities, some trace may be gained of four-fifths of all who have
disappeared amid the quicksands of war. The work must be vig
orously prosecuted, as the sources of information are rapidly wast
ing away by disease and premature decay. Miss Barton was
connected with the Sanitary Commission, and was stationed at An
napolis. A great many persons came there in grief and trouble in
search of their friends, expecting them on the ships that brought
our returned prisoners from Belle Isle and Andersonville. A few
were successful in finding their friends, but a large portion were
not. They were unable to ascertain whether they were dead, or
whether they might expect them on any other transport-ship, and
there was no system by which the facts in regard to those missing
soldiers could be obtained. Miss Barton devised a scheme herself,
and undertook to perform that labor. Whenever the missing sol
dier's name was handed to her, she obtained the number of his regi
ment and company, and all the facts in connection with him. She
then published lists of missing soldiers, first beginning in a small
way, as she was able to write them herself, or procure assistance,
and posting them upon barrack-doors and conspicuous places about
Annapolis, so as to attract the attention of our returned prisoners.
The work greatly enlarged until it was impossible to post them all
in this way. It was soon learned that she was in search of those
missing soldiers, and letters began to pour in upon her from all sec
tions of the country. I am told (I judge the statement true from
what I saw) that she has at this time unanswered nearly six thou
sand letters from the parents, wives, and relatives in one degree ,or
another of missing soldiers. Her means are exhausted, and the
question arose among the people who were interested in the prose
cution of this work, What is the best way to carry it forward ?
When consulted by the chairman of the Committee on Military Af
fairs (Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts) as to my opinion, I thought it
would be better to enlarge this appropriation a few thousand dol
lars, and let Miss Barton go on in her own way precisely as she has

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 289
been doing. She* deserves well of Congress, and has accomplished
a most humane and excellent work.
AGAINST AN INCREASE OF THE ARMY.
The House of Representatives have killed their army bill, and
I congratulate the House and the country. If they will now only
kill the army bill we sent them, they will have accomplished an
object equally as great and good, for we now have a large army,
fifty thousand men, one-half more than we can keep full, and I
know of no necessity for increasing the army. — May 4.th.
Upon a resolution to publish a roll of all volunteer officers in
the Army during the rebellion, Mr. Grimes remarked, May 7th :
I would not give a straw for a mere roster of the officers. That
indicates nothing. It was not the officers that fought our battles
and won our victories. I would like to see the gradations by which
those men went up from privates to become officers, which is ex
hibited by the Adjutant-General's report of my State, showing that
a very large proportion of the men who went into the army as offi
cers ceased very soon to be such, and that the men who went in
the humblest positions very soon became the commanders, not only
of their companies, but of regiments and brigades. We have a
report in my State that embraces officers, privates, musicians, every
body connected with the service, showing when he entered, when
he went out, what offices he filled during the time he was in ser
vice, what has become of him since, where he was born, and in
what place he enlisted.
Mr. Grimes regarded it as one of the great sources of corrup
tion in the management of Indian affairs that the Indian agents
were usually partners with the Indian traders. He knew a trader
to pay an agent twelve thousand dollars for the purpose of be
ing selected as an Indian trader. He proposed to do away with
this, and allow the Indians to trade with any loyal citizen, of
good moral character, who should comply with the regulations
prescribed for intercourse with the Indians.
Explaining his course with reference to some private claims
against the Government, Mr. Grimes said, April 11th :

290 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
Ever since I have been a member of this body I have had only
one rule on these matters; that is, never to vote for putting private
bills upon appropriation bills, or agree to make any kind of an om
nibus bill, by which a bad claim shall be carried through Congress
on the back of a good one.
100. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, April 6, 1866.
To-day has been devoted to eulogies on Mr. Foot. Some of
them were very good — one, that of Mr. Fessenden, the best I ever
heard, and there have now been nine Senators buried since I have
been here. Fessenden spoke with much feeling, and his remarks
made a very deep impression on all. There was a marked contrast
in this respect between his effort and that of Mr. Sumner. The
latter gentleman pleased no one. His eulogy was considered as a
strained effort to appear learned, and he introduced topics that
might as well have been avoided on such an occasion. Fessenden
was dissatisfied with his last paragraph — the apostrophe to Mr.
Foot — and submitted the question to me whether or not he should
omit it. I decided for its retention, and it was delivered, and will
be published. I was invited by Judge Poland to say something,
but declined, believing that there were enough to speak.
This is the paragraph : " Admirable Senator ! patriotic citizen !
dear and cherished friend ! this scene of your many labors will
know you no more, but long will your memory dwell in these halls.
This marble pile, bearing the impress of your watchful care, is one
of your monuments. Its massive pillars will stand erect, giving
their testimony to our country's grandeur, long after we and gen
erations yet to come shall have passed like shadows upon the wa
ter ; yet he, who like#yourself shall have performed his duty in life,
and died with a Christian's hope, will survive when all these col
umns shall be lost to sight in the accumulated dust of ages."
The chaplain of the Senate, Byron Sunderland, D. D., in a
funeral discourse over the bier of Mr. Foot, mentioned the fol
lowing among other incidents of his last hours :
At this time Senator Fessenden approached him, to whom he
eagerly stretched out his hand and said : " My dear friend Fessen
den, the man by whose side I have sat so long, whom I have re-

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 291
garded as the model of a statesman and parliamentary leader, on
whom I have leaned, and to whom I have looked more than to any
other living man for guidance and direction in public affairs, the
strong tie which has so long bound us together must now be sev
ered. But, my dear Fessenden, if there is memory after death,
that memory will be active, and I shah call to mind the whole of
our intercourse on earth." The Senator thus addressed, too much
affected to reply in words, stooped over and kissed the brow of his
dying friend, and turned away in silence.
Afterward Senator Grimes approached him, to whom he said :
" Ah, my dear friend Grimes, have you come to see me ? I have
been through a terrible ordeal the last six weeks." Then noticing
that all were deeply affected, he added : " Do not cease to talk ;
these things cannot alarm me." Then taking the Senator by the
hand, he said : " Yes, I know the man, a man about whom there is
no deceit ; with whom neither in private nor in public was there a
deceitful thought or a deceitful word." Then recurring to scenes of
the past, in which he had mingled with his friend, as if soliloquiz-
ing, he added, " He was one of the first and last and best of my
associates, and there was no mistake about him."
101. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, April 16, 1866.
To-morrow is the anniversary of freedom in this District, and is
to be celebrated by the colored people by processions, displays, etc.
The President has invited, I hear, the procession to give him a call,
and they will do so. The indications are that the President has
become satisfied that he has gone too fast and too far, and is now
inclined to cultivate the friendship of the radicals. I am inclined
to think that there is something in this report.
Allison and I went to hear Mr. Hale preach. He had a full
house, and preached a good sermon, as he usually does, I guess.
The " Central Directory " ' meet to-morrow, and we hope soon
to agree and report upon a plan of reconstruction. I regret that
I am one of the committee, but I do not know that I ought to
shrink from my share of the very grave responsibility imposed on
us. > "An irresponsible, central Directory."— Speech of President Johnson, February
22d.

292 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
April 30th. — We have at last agreed upon a plan of reconstruc
tion, which will be reported to-morrow, and which, so far as I can
learn, is quite acceptable to our friends. It is not exactly what
anjT of us wanted ; but we were each compelled to surrender some
of our individual preferences in order to secure anything, and by
doing so became unexpectedly harmonious. You wih observe that
the proposition I offered was adopted as the second section, em
bracing the whole question of representation, negroes, etc., etc.
Mr. Fessenden is able to be out again, and was with the Com
mittee of Fifteen yesterday. I heard Dr. Bellows preach a good
sermon this morning, and intended to go to hear him this evening,
but was prevented by company.
May 8th. — It is the usual wrangle and jangle in Congress.
Thaddeus Stevens attacked Sumner to-day, because of his opposition
to the first proposed constitutional amendment, which Sumner was
instrumental in defeating. I did not hear him, but of course he
was severe, as he always is.
NON-INTERFERENCE WITH MATTERS BELONGING TO THE STATES.
Upon a resolution to cause a rigid quarantine against the
Asiatic cholera, Mr. Grimes said, May 8th :
I do not recognize the obligation on the part of Congress, that
because certain physicians in the city of New York beheve it
necessary that there should be a cordon established in order to
keep the cholera away from this country, therefore we shall be
justified in abandoning all the powers of Congress into the hands
of a commission, and in conferring upon the Secretary of the
Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Navy, all
control over the military arm of the Government and over the
Treasury. The bill does not require that the Government shall
adopt the quarantine officers of the State of New York. They are
to be new appointees. We are to have another batch of office
holders, innumerable in number, if extended uniformly over the
country. I have not any such fear of the cholera as to induce me to vote
for a bill like this. I believe that it will be attended with worse
consequences to the country than the most malignant type of
cholera that ever prevailed upon this continent. As my friend near

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 293
me says, one thing would certainly result — it would give the cholera
to the Treasury of the United States. It may perhaps be owing to
the fact that I have no very great fears of the cholera, having lived
in a town with it three years, that I am not willing to break down
all the barriers around the Treasury, which some gentlemen seem
disposed to do. In my locality we are familiar with this disease.
We know that it has no such terrors as it seems to have to gentle
men who are not familiar with it, and we do not want to have our
liberty restrained, nor our privilege of locomotion, nor the Treasury
afflicted,* by any such bill. I trust that the time has gone by when
we are going to be called on to legislate in the manner this bill
proposes. During the war we drew to ourselves here, as the Federal
Government, authority which had been considered doubtful by all,
and denied by many of the statesmen of this country. That time,
it seems to me, has ceased, and ought to cease. Let us go back to
the original condition of things, and allow the States to take care
of themselves, as they have been in the habit of taking care of
themselves. THE NAVAL ACADEMY.
Continuing to cherish a generous care for the Naval Acade
my, Mr. Grimes advocated Annapolis as its proper location,
agamst proposals for removing it to Newport, Rhode Island,
or to the vicinity of Newport News, James River, and secured
appropriations for enlarging the grounds, for ii troducing water
from the Annapolis water-works, for establish ng a foundery
and machine-shop, to afford instruction and practice in naval
engineering, for a new chapel, and for tablets upon its walls,
in memory of persons belonging to the naval service who have
fallen in the defense of the country. He said, March 20th :
The Secretary of the Navy has proposed to take the Academy
down to the waters of James River ; to which I have told him that
I was unalterably opposed. He has assigned various reasons why
it ought not to be continued at the present place. I believe that
nearly every one of those reasons is fallacious. I do not think that
he has exhibited his usual good judgment in proposing to take the
Academy from Annapolis, and carry it down to a country where
there is nobody, remote from all civilization, where there is not a
20

294 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
village within thirty miles, I believe; and although I am in the
habit, as a general thing, of concurring with him, for I think that
his judgment on most things is correct, yet upon this subject I am
convinced that he is decidedly in error. I have no sort of partiality
for Annapolis. I think I am capable of looking at 'this question of
the location of the Academy with great disinterestedness. I be
lieve that it is now located where it ought to be ; in the proper
climate, in the right location, central to our country, and near the
seat of Government. The grounds are not quite so capacious as
they ought to be, but we have made provision to enlarge them. We
have expended there more than nine hundred thousand dollars. I
do not think it is the dictate of economy to throw away the money,
and appoint a roving commission to travel ovjer the country to see
if they cannot find a place where they can expend a similar sum
for the same purpose.
Mr. Grimes held that seventeen was the proper limit of age
for boys to be admitted to the Academy, and said, May 24th :
There happened to be a likely boy who was a little over the
age of seventeen, and could not be admitted. I believe it was
purely through the influence exerted by the friends, of that young
man that we changed the period to eighteen years. He was ad
mitted, went to the Academy, was there three months, and was
unable to make any progress in his studies, had not any adaptation
to the profession, and was dismissed ; and we have now upon the
statute-book a limit of eighteen in place of seventeen years, when
every naval officer concurs in the opinion that the shorter number
of years is the Droper age for boys to go into the naval service.
THE MONITORS.
Of the progress of improvement in the construction of
monitors, Mr. Grimes gave the following explanation, April
17, 1866 :
Iron vessels have been built before, but no such vessels as we
have built ; and almost all of the attachments have been compelled
to be of a different character from what was known before. In the
first place, it required a good deal of time and ingenuity, and many
experiments, to determine the best character of a rudder to apply

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 295
to these monitors. Then there were constant changes made, in
order to obviate the defects which were found to exist in the origi
nal monitor, so as to prevent the great overhanging, which was
doubtless the cause of the sinking of the original monitor. Then
it was exceedingly difficult to arrange the compass ; and many ex
periments were made, and considerable delay occasioned in con
sequence of the variation caused by the action of the iron on the
deck of the vessel upon the compass. They finally devised a way
of raising the compass on a high staff, and having a card on which
it could be read down in front.
If the Senator (Mr. Guthrie) will go with me to the navy-yard,
I will show him two monitors, one built in 1862, and another one
built recently, the Tonawanda; and he would hardly suppose that
the original monitor was the prototype and original of the perfect
vessel that is now lying at the wharf. These changes have been
going on gradually. Every battle that has been fought, every
storm that they have encountered, every experienced and capable
man who has commanded one of them, has made some suggestive
changes ; and when these changes have met the approval of the
proper advisory officers of the Navy Department, although a vessel
might be upon the stocks, ^vailing themselves of the clause in the
contracts which authorized them to change the specifications, they
have done so. Manifestly it was the interest and the duty of the
Government to make such changes. I am happy in being able to
say, what is my own honest conviction, that we have to-day the
most perfect iron vessels in the world ; and they have all sprung
out of a defective original vessel, and been perfected through those
changes which have been gradually going on in the various ship
yards, either private ship-yards or our own.
I rose not for the purpose of entering into a discussion, but
simply not to let it be inferred that I believed there had been any
improper blundering in regard to these iron-clads. I know that
the Navy Department have made mistakes, egregious mistakes in
regard to one class of vessels. I am not here to defend those mis
takes, but I am here to defend every improvement and change
that has been made toward making a perfect ship-of-war, which I
think we have done.
Mr. Grimes made the following remarks with reference to the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Hon. G. V. Fox, May 15th :

296 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
When the resolution congratulating the Emperor of Russia upon
his escape from assassination was adopted by Congress, it was sug
gested by the Secretary of State, and by some other persons con
nected with the Administration, that Mr. Fox should be deputed to
carry the congratulatory resolution to Russia; it was also suggested
to him that he should withdraw his resignation as Assistant Sec
retary of the Navy, for the reason that it would be more acceptable
to the Russian Government if he went in his official capacity as
second in authority in the Navy Department than if he went as a
private individual. Mr. Fox proposes to start in the Miantonomoh,
an iron-clad ship, a class of improved impregnable vessels, for which
this country is indebted to him more than to any other person, ex
cept Mr. Ericsson ; the best iron-clad ship, I believe, in the world,
and which we hope, and he believes, will safely cross the Atlantic.
I believe the appearance of that ship in European waters would '
have a greater tendency to promote peace between the nations of
Europe and this country than all the diplomats we shall be likely
to send to Europe during the next thirty years.
In explaining a bill to regulate the appointment of officers
in the Navy, Mr. Grimes said, June 14th :
Heretofore, since the time of Decatur, who was promoted over
the heads of other officers for his distinguished merit, all promo
tions, with the exception of six, I believe, have been made by reg
ular gradation. Captain Worden, Commodore Rodgers, Lieutenant
Cushing, Commodore Rowan, Admiral Porter, perhaps one or two
more, were promoted over the heads of persons who stood before
them, for distinguished merit. This bill proposes to authorize a
few persons to be promoted over the heads of those who have not
distinguished themselves. The purpose is to recognize the valuable
services of officers who during four years have been engaged, some
of them, almost in constant, battle, and to enable them to be pro
moted, even at the expense of others who have not seen any ser
vice during that time.
Section seven provides that the annual compensation of the ad
miral shall be ten thousand dollars a year. I need not say that that
provision was intended for Admiral Farragut, to give him a cor
responding rank to that which is contemplated to be bestowed
upon General Grant. These ranks are relative. A bill has been

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 297
passed by the House of Representatives, making General Grant a
full general; and then it was proposed that Admiral Farragut
should be made a full admiral. He is now on leave, and gets five
thousand dollars a year. The officer in the Army of corresponding
rank gets between seventeen and eighteen thousand dollars. It is
proposed by this bill to make an admiral, and give him all the time
a salary of ten thousand dollars. I think the country will say that
if there be any man who is really entitled to ten thousand dollars a
year salary it is Admiral Farragut.
102. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, May 11, 1866.
The House has passed the constitutional amendment by an un
precedented majority. We take the matter up in the Senate next
week, will have a long debate, possibly make an amendment, and I
think finally pass the measure by the constitutional majority of
two-thirds. Debate rages in the Senate on the same old subjects,
rehashed to us by the same orators.
May 23 c?. — Mr. Fox and wife left the city this morning. He
expects to sail for Europe in a few days in the Miantonomoh. The
selection of him, by a unanimous vote of the Senate, and by a large
majority in the House of Representatives, to carry the congratula
tory resolutions of Congress to the Emperor of Russia, was a fine
culmination of his public services, and ought to be regarded by
him as very complimentary.
LETTER OF HON. G. V. FOX, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY,
TO MES. GRIMES. Boston, Mass., May 27, 1866.
I have left Washington forever as a residence, and only await
the cessation of a storm to cross the Atlantic in a monitor. There
is no tie severed which causes me more regret than that which has
existed between Mr. Grimes aud myself. Besides the esteem which
every one has for him, I have felt confidence and courage, leaning
upon him, and not only have defied the public enemies, but by his
aid have triumphed over them. He has known, better than any
other person, my thoughts, feelings, and actions, and his good
opinion and yours are the result of such knowledge. It is to be
esteemed by such friends, that I find more solace than any reward

298 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
Government could bestow. Wishing you both every happiness, I
bid you farewell. 103. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, May 26, 1866.
Day before yesterday, I went to Annapolis with Governor Morrill,
of Maine, and^came back last night. The examination is going on
there, and among the examiners is Mr. Scammon, of Chicago, who
was appointed at my instance. Two years ago he was an examiner
at West Point, and I wanted a comparison between the two schools,
drawn by some one in whose judgment I had confidence. I am
happy to be able to say that he gives the preference most decidedly
to the Naval Academy. His opinion is that, while the instruction
is quite as thorough and critical as at West Point, there is as much
again of common-sense here. It is quite evident that a very great
improvement has been made in the school within the last year, and
Porter turns out to be, what I believed he would not be, an excel
lent superintendent. He has secured the confidence and affection
of the young men, and they have made unprecedented progress
since they were placed under his charge. I need not say that I was
highly pleased with all that I saw and heard of the school, and do
not regret anything that I have done for it in the past, and that has
been a good deal, as you know.
We shall, I think, get through the reconstruction measures this
week without any difficulty. 104. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, June 6, 1866.
I twice made the attempt yesterday to write, but was so sleepy
and exhausted by my trip to West Point and back that I was act
ually unable to do it. I was away three days and nights, and had
sleep only one of the three nights. I made with friends two trips
through the Central Park, when in New York, and was delighted
with what I saw. It is certainly the most beautiful place I have
ever seen, and I judge it is destined to be, when the trees are
grown, and the work completed, the most beautiful place in the
world. I am satisfied from what I saw and heard at West Point that the
Naval Academy is the superior institution of the two. The truth

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 299
is, I came away rather disgusted with the Military Academy people,
though Iowa has four very bright, accomplished young fellows
there, who stand very high in their classes ; young Griffith is in
point of scholarship the third in his class, and young Hoxie the first
in his class.
June 11th. — You learned long ago of the passage of the recon
struction measures. I am happy to be able to say that they meet
with general approval, and we feel much more confident, and
stronger, since their passage than before. The final report of the
committee, which was drawn by Mr. Fessenden, is regarded by
everybody here, I think, as a very able paper ; the ablest, in my
opinion, submitted to Congress as a report, or in the form of a
speech, since I have been in the Senate.
June 18th. — Fessenden is very poorly, and it seems to me as
though his prediction that he will be the next to go is likely to
be true. I have made the Navy officers all glad by passing a bill
for their benefit, but I fear it may meet with trouble in the House
of Representatives. Mr. Grimes's views of Napoleon III., of his interference in
Mexico, and of the Paris Universal Exposition, to be held in
1867, were given June 13th :
It seems to me that the whole question is. in a nutshell. Every
gentleman who has visited France since this exposition has been
projected, has returned entertaining the opinion that it was gotten
up more for the purpose of glorifying the present Imperial Govern
ment of France than for any other purpose ; and that for that rea
son the infant Napoleon has been made president of the exposition.
Now, I am not disposed to be in any way instrumental in accom
plishing the object of the Imperial Government in this particular at
any time, and especially not so long as their troops shall remain
within the territorial jurisdiction of the republic of Mexico, which
would not have been sent there, as everybody knows, but for the
difficulties that were occurring in this country at that time. They
were sent out to take advantage of the unfortunate posture of pub
lic affairs in this country. I do not want to assist in elevating in
public estimation in any part of the world the present dynasty in
France, so long as it shall stand really, morally, and militarily, in an

300 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
antagonistic position to this Government ; and France does stand
in that position, so long as her troops remain in Mexico.
I am utterly opposed to the principle of the bill (making ap
propriations for the exposition). There is no authority from the
Constitution to make any such grant of money from the Treasury ;
and I believe the whole scheme is antagonistic to the spirit of
republican liberty, which should be propagated by the Congress of
the United States.
In favor of authorizing the construction of a bridge over the
Mississippi River at Burhngton, by the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad Company, Mr. Grimes said, April 30th and
July 18th :
I suppose if there is anybody here who is peculiarly interested
in the navigation of the Mississippi River, I am as much interested
as any one else. I have for thirty years lived immediately upon its
banks, and am familiar with the condition of the commerce of the
country connected with that river. A portion of the people of the
town in which I live, fancying that the construction of a bridge will
not be to their own individual benefit, would not favor the passing
of this law ; while^hose who take the most comprehensive and cor
rect view would favor it.
But, whatever may be the opinions of my fellow-citizens of that
town, there cannot be any question that the commerce and the
interests of the State at large demand that there should be facili
ties for crossing the river without breaking the bulk of the freights
that are to go over. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Company are about to build a bridge at that place. They have the
authority to do it from the State of Illinois and the State of Iowa.
They will not put in as wide a draw as is required by this statute,
unless this statute is passed. We are entirely satisfied that the
construction of a bridge with a draw one hundred and sixty feet wide,
forty feet wider than the two bridges now built across the Mississippi
River, will be ample. If found to be otherwise we will cause them
to be removed, as can be done under the provisions of this bill.
We are deeply interested in the navigation of the river, which
has been the building up of my town. We want for the present time,
and we want for all future ages, to have uninterrupted navigation
of the stream ; but we want at the same time, if it can be done, and

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 301
we are satisfied that it can be done, opportunities to get eastward,
as well as southward and northward. We want to be able to trans
port our produce and ourselves with as little inconvenience as pos
sible to the Eastern markets ; and that is the reason why we insist
that these railroad companies shall have opportunity to bridge the
Mississippi River, provided they do so without interfering in any
degree with the navigation of the stream.
I think I represent the agricultural interests of my State, when
I vote not for the benefit of a particular railroad corporation, but
for the benefit of the universal commerce of the Northwest, that
there shall be bridges across the Mississippi River, not constructed
in such a way that they can by any possibility obstruct navigation,
but so as to promote the interests of commerce crossing the river.
I live in i a wheat-country. That is one of the staple productions of
the region. However valuable and rich in a commercial point of
view St. Louis may be, yet Chicago, the great wheat-market of the
continent, is the point to which we desire to send our wheat. It is
the estimate of everybody in the town where I live, that there is a
loss of seven bushels upon every car-load that is transferred across
the river according to the present plan, which, at the present price
of wheat in the neighborhood of two dollars a bushel, is fourteen
dollars on a car-load, that is sustained by the agricultural interest.
That interest, also the interest of the consumer in the East, demands
that such a loss may be obviated.
Early in the course of this year, upon the urgent solicitation
of Mr. Oakes Ames, a gentleman for whose integrity, capacity,
and public spirit he had high respect, Mr. Grimes became inter
ested in the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, and
took stock in the. company that completed it. He saw no im
propriety in a member of Congress being connected with a rail
road company, as he remarked in the Senate. He had been an
advocate of railroads, and of a railroad to the Pacific, all his life,
and a stockholder and director in several companies. Those
who first undertook to build the road had faltered ; pubhc con
fidence had been shaken ; capitalists generally were suspicious
of the hazards and risks. In this juncture, he had confidence in
Mr. Ames, and, with his energy and resources devoted to it, in
the success of the enterprise ultimately.

302 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
Upon a bill to incorporate the Niagara Ship-Canal Company
Mr. Grimes said, June 28th and July 12th :
I entertain very great doubts whether we have the power to cre
ate a corporation, and endow them with authority for commer
cial purposes to go within the jurisdiction of the State of New
York and construct a canal ; but whether we have that power or
not, believing that we can do the work ourselves, and control it, I
am wholly unwilling to agree that Congress shall devolve this
power on a private corporation, to enjoy the benefits of the immense
water-power that will be created, and establish such tolls upon the
transportation of our agricultural products as they maj' see fit. This
is one of the grandest privileges and will result in being one of the
most tremendous monopolies ever devised on this continent. I am
not disposed to put the agricultural interests of my section of the
country into the keeping of any such corporation.
No man is more anxious to have proper channels of communi
cation between the Northwest and the Atlantic and the Gulf of
Mexico. I have no doubt as to the constitutional power of Con
gress to make those channels of communication. I am as anx
ious as anybody is that Congress shall do it, although not so
anxious as some gentlemen seem to be for the purpose merely
of making the West an agricultural country, continuing us mere
ly as an agricultural population, as the producers of heavy arti
cles for export. If the Committee on Commerce will report a
bill providing that appropriations shall be made and expended un
der our engineer corps, who are created and maintained for just
such purposes, to construct a line of communication between Lake
Erie and Lake Ontario, I will vote for it. I wall go farther, and
vote for a bill continuing the construction of a ship-canal beyond
Lake Ontario. But I do not want to put the public Treasury into
the hands of a private corporation for building any such channel,
and allowing that corporation to fix such tolls as they please. My
sole purpose is to make it truly a national work. I never will con
sent to the Government of the United States making it in any other
light than as a national work. It may cost the Government more
than if this company undertakes to build it ; but we can afford to
pay a great deal more. When we have made it, we are not to be
oppressed with tolls in the future ; we shall have the control of that
subject. All that will be necessary will be to keep it in repair,-

1866.1 A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 303
and furnish the gate-keepers and the agents. They can be paid
through a small toll to be levied, or directly from the Treasury of
the United States.
At the next session he again pledged his hearty support to
such a measure, February 26, 1867.
Upon a bill for the leasing of saline lands, Mr. Grimes said,
June 29th :
I suppose members of the Senate are aware that by the passage
of this bill we are to inaugurate a new system in this country, and
that is, the leasing of the public lands for manufacturing purposes.
The result will be that these salt-lands will never be half developed
under such a system. We shall have agents, appointed by the
central power here, who will have control of these salt-springs, and
I cannot apprehend that any advantage will result to the Govern
ment. The right way is to sell these lands, let them be owned by
citizens of the country, and let them develop them. Tbe Govern
ment ought never to become the landlord of a portion of the people
of this country. That is not the relation that is encouraged by the
laws of our States to any considerable extent, and it ought not to
be encouraged by the Government of the United States. The true
principle in a republican government is, that so far as possible every
man shall be the owner of his own soil, and of his own tools, labor,
and machinery. So long as you undertake to maintain the relation
of landlord to the persons who are going to carry on these salt
works, the country will never realize a tenth part of the advantages
that we would realize if they were conducted by private enterprise.
That is the experience of this Government, and has been from its
foundation. It is the experience of every government on the face
of the earth. I feel a great deal of interest in this subject. I do
not know of any salt-springs of value on the public domain except
those in Kansas arid Nebraska, immediately west of the State in
which I live. We hope that the time is not far distant when we
shall be able to secure our supply of salt from that region. We do
not want to be compelled to become tributary to any such parties as
may happen to be able to secure a long lease under the provisions
of this bill. Why not apply the principle to your iron on Lake Su
perior and in Missouri ? Why not apply it to your gold and silver ?
Why is it that this necessity of life, without which we cannot exist

304 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
at all, is selected and put into the keeping of a few men, who man
age to secure a lease from the Government ?
Opposing a resolution to release the Pacific Mail Company's
steamships, engaged to carry the mails between the United
States and China, from the obligation to touch at Honolulu, Mr.
Grimes said, July 2d : '
It has so happened, in the last three or four years, that I have
every day almost been brought in contact with persons who have
been stationed more or less of their time at the Sandwich Islands,
mostly officers of the naval profession. A large proportion of the
property there is owned by citizens of the United States, and, until
the last eight or ten years, American interests have been vastly in
the preponderance. A few years ago the present king overturned
the constitution, and established a new government, and this new
government has been in the interest of Great Britain. The ques
tion is, whether at this juncture we ought to relax any of our efforts
to keep up a close and immediate communication between this con
tinent and the Sandwich Islands. There are political interests of
the highest consideration that should restrain us at all hazards, no
matter what it may cost, from allowing a single tie to be severed
that can possibly bind us to the Sandwich Islands. About the only
thing in the bill, when it passed originally, that gave me any sort
of consideration for it, was that these steamships would be com
pelled to touch at Honolulu, and, by bringing us in connection with
our friends there, serve to maintain them in their position, and in
some measure overthrow the British interest that is so much antag
onized to us. THE TARIFF.
Upon a motion for a tax of three per cent, ad valorem upon
agricultural implements, Mr. Grimes said, June 21st :
If necessary that everything in the hands of the farmer be taxed,
I am content that tax shall be levied, provided it be levied upon
everything in commerce and manufactures, as well as in agriculture.
My objection is, that there are exceptions in favor of manufactures
and commerce to a considerable extent in the free, list, while there
are not corresponding exemptions to the agriculturists and the
manufacture of implements used in agriculture. I trust we shall

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 305
not have this burden thrown upon us, if the free list at any rate is
to remain as it now is.
A tariff bill that had passed the House of Representatives
was, on his motion, July 12th, postponed to the next session.
He said :
We are now in the eighth month of a very long and arduous ses
sion. This tariff bill, which affects the prosperity of the country,
and the personal and business interests of every man in it, reaches
us at this late period ; and I undertake to say that the members of
this body are not prepared to enter upon a consideration of such a
subject at this time. A bill making such radical changes as this
proposes, should be laid a sufficient length of time before the people
of the country, that there may be some response from them as to
what their judgment is of the merits of the proposition.
I think it will be some time before we shall be able to bring the
people of the Northwest to the belief that it is to their advantage
to increase the duty on salt, an essential to their existence and pros
perity, thirty-three per cent. I do not believe that you can con
vince the people of my State that it will be to their advantage to
put a duty upon lumber, without which they cannot fence their
farms and make them productive of a single cent, of three dollars a
thousand ; or to increase the duty on iron variously from ten to
fifty dollars a ton ; or the duty on low grades of cutlery, such as go
into every farmer's house, six hundred per cent.
I stand here as the representative of the laboring-man, quite as
much as the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Wade), and it is not to be
thrown in my teeth that I am not as willing as he, or anybody else,
to protect the laboring-man. I do not stand here as the representa
tive of a class, of the wool-growers alone, who among my constitu
ents are not more than one in a thousand. I come here to represent
the mass of the people.of my State, who wear the woolen fabric when
it is made up into goods ; and they do not tell me to vote for any
such provision as this, to Oppress the mass of the people for the sake
of securing an advantage to a select few.
I was raised as a tariff protection Whig, and still entertain the
same notions in regard to tariffs as those in which I was early edu
cated. But I am not in favor of this tariff, nor of any tariff except
the one upon our statute-books, until we can see what may be

306 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
the operation of our internal revenue law that we have already
passed. This question is vital to- the interests of the State that
I have the honor in part to represent. The passage of this bill,
in anything like the shape in which it is now lying upon your
table, will be ruinous to the prosperity of Iowa.
THE AGRICULTURAL BUREAU.
This is altogether too great a thing to be run by a central
government here at Washington, and we shall discover that after
a while. We must have these organizations in each State. The
idea of one man here at Washington undertaking to tell the people
of this country, extending as it does through so many parallels of
latitude and longitude, what may be the particular fruits or cereals
adapted to a particular kind of soil or climate, is a great humbug.
It is too big a business. So long as the Federal Government ar
rogates to itself the power of concentrating all information here, so
long the States will neglect to obtain that kind of information ;
but the moment we decline to do it, your agricultural colleges in
the various States will undertake this service, and you will get such
information as will be of value to the people of the respective
States (July 25 th).
Mr. Grimes advocated a provision of law that in the city of
Washington ah pubhc money should be deposited in the Treas
ury of the United States, and, in cities where there is a sub-
Treasury, with the sub-treasurer. He said, July 19th :
The result of depositing in the banks is to cause that very infla
tion which the Secretary of the Treasury says he is attempting to
check. I do not profess to be a financier ; it may be that all knowl
edge on questions of this kind is confined to a few men in this body
or out of it ; but this is a question that has been before this body
for the last six months. I introduced a resolution months ago, call
ing on the Committee on Finance to investigate this whole subject.
According to the last report I read, there were forty-seven millions
of the public money deposited in the different banks, the bulk of it
in the large Cities. It is used there as the basis upon which the
banks make discounts ; and the purpose with which the banks seek
to hold these deposits is to inflate the currency, the very thing
which I understand it is the purpose of the Government to avoid,

1866.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 307
so far as practicable. I should think we had had a warning by the
occurrences of the last few months in this city in this regard. I
should think, when a bank right under the eyes of the Treasury De
partment explodes, in the manner in which the National Merchants'
Bank of Washington did, holding some half a million of the public
money, from which, I understand the Government will not realize
one farthing, that should be a sufficient warning to us in regard to
the proper methods in which we should dispose of the pubhc de
posits. It is said that it would be some inconvenience to men to procure
greenbacks with which to pay their taxes. I do not believe it. If
it be, then I am in favor of withdrawing more of your national cur
rency, and issuing more of your greenbacks, if they are better than
your national currency. That is the way to obviate that. I voted
against your national banking system. I voted against every amend
ment to it. I believed that the true system was to issue your green
backs. I did not believe there could be any better security. But
now after you have created your national banks, when we propose
to render the Treasury perfectly secure and safe, by providing that
the public money shall not be deposited with the national banks,
but with the sub-Treasuries, the argument is presented that we
ought not to allow this national currency to be received in the
discharge of public dues, and nothing except the national Treas
ury notes. I had not anything to do with bringing about that
condition of affairs. It having been brought about, it seems to
me that the safest and wisest way now is to begin to remedy the
evils in which we find ourselves involved, by restoring the old sub-
Treasury system, so far as we can. If the sub-Treasury and the
Treasury of the United States are to be administered in the in
terest of banks, of course the provision of the law which compels
the collector to receive national-bank notes in discharge of the
national taxes, but does not allow him to pay that kind of cur
rency over to the sub-Treasury, will be permitted to remain upon
the statute-book ; and that will always furnish an admirable argu
ment for never authorizing deposits of any other description, and
anywhere else except in the vaults of these pet banks. The Sec
retary of the Treasury cannot foresee the evils that will result,
when he succeeds in what he says he is attempting to do, to curtail
the currency and bring us back to specie payments. Then will

308 LIFE OF -JAMES W. GRIMES. [1866.
come the time when these deposit banks will not be able to re
spond to the demands that will be made upon them ; and I am
disposed to have the record appear in such a shape, that I shall
not be put in the category of those who voted in favor of allowing
the public treasure to remain in their hands. Why is it that we
authorize the collector to receive national-bank notes, and yet re
fuse to receive them from him at the sub-Treasury ? Is it not
because we are administering the Government in the interest of
the banks ?
His motion was non-concurred in : yeas 13, nays 22.
Mr. Grimes voted against the resolution to increase the pay
of members of Congress to five thousand dollars per annum,
July 25th. 105. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, December 5, 1866.
I went to see Ristori last night. She is a large, tall woman, with
a long, prominent Roman nose, and is ease and grace personified.
Such tall women are not unfrequently awkward, but every step,
gesture, and movement, was so artistic and perfect as to be most
pleasing; and although I did not understand a word that was
uttered, yet I could not take my eyes away from her ; and I imag
ined, at least, that I was following and comprehending her 'by her
pantomime. She is not pretty, nor are any of the Italian women
in the company ; the men are better looking. It is an excellent com
pany, and the only one I ever saw in which there was no one who
ranted in the play.
We are getting along quietly thus far, and the indications are
that we shall have an easy-going session. Still, no one can say
what may' be done. I think that the policy I started out with of
letting the President severely alone will finally be the policy of
Congress. NEBRASKA.
Upon the question of the admission of Nebraska into the
Union, Mr. Grimes held it the duty of Congress to provide that
there should be no denial of the elective franchise in that State
by reason of race or color, and that a majority of the voters of
the Territory should assent to this condition, in order to place

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 309
it beyond the possibility of an adverse decision by any tribunal.
He said, January 8th :
If that shall be adopted, although I have many doubts as to
whether there be a sufficient number of people in the Territory to
entitle her to a representation in Congress, yet I shall forego those
doubts, and vote for the passage of the bill. If that be not adopt
ed, I shall not vote for the bill. Are we willing, upon a mere
matter of expediency, to abandon that principle which our constit
uents hold so dear, when it is in doubt whether or not the people
of Nebraska will ratify this condition ? There is no doubt as to
our power to legislate in regard to the District of Columbia, and
we have exercised that power. There is no doubt as to our power
to control the constitution of the State of Nebraska, and determine
the form in which it shall be presented to us. There is some doubt
in the minds of many as to our power to control the subject in
some of the States lately in rebellion ; and are we going to foreclose
ourselves to-day, by saying that we will not undertake to control
this question in a State where confessedly we have the power?
For my part, having as a matter of principle voted the other day
for free suffrage in the District of Columbia, and having voted for it
again over the presidential veto yesterday, I am not to-day to be
hurried by a consideration of expediency to ignore and turn my
back upon that vote, and to say that I was wrong then. We have
the power to fix this question now, beyond cavil and doubt, and I
want to have it thus fixed before it goes out of our hands.
The proposition to submit the matter to a vote of the people
of Nebraska failing, Mr. Grimes voted agamst the bih. Sub
sequently, an amendment being adopted, requiring the Legis
lature of Nebraska to assent to the proposed condition, and to
declare that it shall be held as a part of the organic law of the
State, he voted for the bill, over the President's veto. He also
voted for free suffrage in Colorado, while he continued to op
pose the admission of Colorado as a State, for the reasons as
signed in his speech of March 13, 1866.
TENURE OF OFFICE.
Upon a bill regulating the tenure of office, Mr. Grimes
said, January 16, 1867 :
21

310 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
I have abandoned nearly all the political theories of the party
into which I was born ; but that sentiment is yet remaining in my
breast, which was the war-cry of that party when I first became a
voter, the curtailment of executive power and patronage. That
sentiment I have always entertained, and entertain as strongly to
day as at any period of my life. I propose to record my vote in
favor of the amendment, that every officer of the United States
who receives a salary exceeding one thousand dohars shall be sent
to the Senate for confirmation. We now have that law applying
to postmasters. Why should it not apply to other officers ? It is
said that they are too numerous, that we cannot attend to it. I
know it will throw great burdens upon your committees. That is
no reason why we should not pass the law. Make new committees ;
organize them in a different manner, and you will be able to transact
the business. The very fact that you have the right to pass upon
the nominations will exercise a restraining influence on the ap
pointing power. Confirm them in groups, if you please ; but leave
any Senator, who knows about bad men being appointed, to select
those whom he knows to be unworthy. Do you suppose that, if the
power of confirmation or rejection had been lodged in the Senate
in regard to inspectors, a man would have been appointed from my
State as an inspector who only last year was guilty of smuggling
cigars, and who condoned his offense by the payment of several
thousand dollars ? I want the opportunity to put my seal of con
demnation upon such men ; and if there be only one man rejected
in a State, or in the whole United States, for having violated your
laws, that will have a moral influence and a political influence upon
the President, and upon others who make appointments.
Mr. Grimes voted for the bih to regulate the tenure of cer
tain civil offices, over the President's veto, March 2d.
THE TARIFF.
Mr. Grimes called attention in the Senate, January 18th, to
a libelous attack in The Iron Age, the organ of the manufact
urers of iron and cutlery in the United States, with reference
to his motion for the postponement of the tariff bill, July 12,
1866, representing that he had " used his influence as a member

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 311
of the Senate to promote his own private ends." Mr. Reverdy
Johnson remarked :
The honorable member from Iowa, wherever he is known, and
be is known well to all of us, needed not for his vindication any
thing to be said by himself in contradiction of the charge. I can
not say all that I think in his presence ; but I may, without violat
ing any good taste, I hope, say that every Senator upon this floor
must be convinced that there is no member of the body who is
more incapable of acting from improper or interested motives. His
appearance in this Chamber is not of a day only ; he has been with
us for years, he was reelected by an almost unanimous vote of his
Legislature, and has resolved, wisely I suppose for himself, long
before his term expired, to do nothing more than serve out that
term, and then retire to private life, where I am sure he will be
respected, as much as he has been respected, and, by those who
know him, beloved, by the members of this body. The public,
however, may not know the character of the honorable member,
and I think it is due — a debt which we owe each to the other at all
times and under all circumstances — when we find a brother member
assailed, to denounce it, if we believe it to be false, as a groundless
slander. Such, I am sure, is the case in this instance.
Mr. Fessenden remarked :
I am informed that the article makes an allusion to the Com
mittee on Finance, and to the influence that was probably exerted
by the honorable Senator from Iowa upon that committee. I can
answer only for one of them, and I will say very frankly that, if
there is a man in or out of this Senate who possesses influence with
me, it is the honorable Senator from Iowa. No man possesses more.
I have great respect for his opinions, and for the uniform integrity
of his character, as we all have. But I must say in justification of
the Senator, and of the committee, or of the chairman of it in this
particular instance, that the honorable Senator never spoke to me,
that I know of, upon the subject referred to, or alluded to it in any
way whatever. All I ever heard him say on the subject was said
here, on the floor of the Senate.
Upon the tariff bill Mr. Grimes said, January 24th :
The man who opposes the passage of this bill must expect to
be slandered. The " protectionists," as they choose to call them-

312 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
selves, have opened the vials of their wrath upon those whose op
position they anticipated. Threats of political extinction are hurled
against every man who, in the exercise of an independent judg
ment, is not prepared to impose upon his constituents the burdens
which the- various manufacturing combinations demand. That por
tion of the public press suborned to their interest is rife with
charges that " the capital is thronged with free-traders, and that
British gold is operating to secure American legislation for British
interests." Every man is condemned in advance, who would inquire
before he would vote.
We know what this means ; that two or three large manufact
uring interests, not satisfied with enormous profits during the last
six years, are determined at whatever hazard to put more money in
their pockets, and to this end have persuaded some and coerced
other manufacturing interests to unite with them in a great combi
nation demand for what they call protection to American labor, but
what some others call robbery of the American laborer and agri
culturist. It seems that the men specially interested in the pas
sage of this bill are bent upon taking the legislation of the country
into their own hands, are unwilling that there should be„ impartial,
free inquiry into the subject ; that, conscious of the interested mo
tives from which their own action springs, they cannot conceive it
possible that those who disagree with them can be inspired by any
other than selfish considerations.
This mad-dog cry of " free trade and British gold " passes by
me like the idle wind. Nor am I alarmed at the scheme of sending
free of charge to every prominent man in Iowa, and elsewhere in
the Northwest, a weekly copy of a " protectionist " journal of New
York, for the double purpose of building up a sentiment there in
favor of high duties, and of politically destroying such members
of Congress as may not vote in favor of them. The people have
not asked for this bill ; so far as we know, they are satisfied with
the present tariff laws. The members of this Congress were not
elected upon any issue of this kind. This enactment is solely de
manded by the manufacturers of iron, and a few wool agriculturists
and speculators, who call themselves the wool-growers of the coun
try. They have organized associations, contributed large sums of
money to mould public sentiment through the press, and formed
combinations with other interests to control legislation. The result

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 313
is before us, and we are to determine whether we will permit these
clubs and associations of interested parties to govern us in our ac
tion, as the clubs and associations of revolutionary France governed
the constituent assembly of that country.
It is the fashion to denounce every man who does not favor a
prohibitory tariff as a free-trader. The charge is made that free-
trade agents are at work to influence Congress. Who has seen
these free-trade agents ? I have yet to see the first man who is
in favor of free-trade, nor have I seen any man who was opposed to
a revenue tariff which should incidentally protect such branches of
American industry as needed the fostering care of the Government.
It is on questions of detail that we differ, as to how much shall be
taken from the pocket of Peter to support and enrich his brother
Paul. We are told that for some centuries England maintained a pro
tective system almost amounting to prohibition, and grew rich and
powerful under it ; and that example is presented to us as worthy
of imitation, as though the world had made no progress in arts and
sciences, in productive resources and machinery, in the science of
political economy, and the application of its principles to practical
life. God forbid that we should go back to the early days of the
British Empire, or to her more modern days, for laws or policies
upon which to model our systems, national, social, or economic !
Besides, the prosperity, wealth, and renown of England are due in
a far greater degree to her commerce than to her manufactures. It
is commerce that is the great civilizer and elevator. It is commerce
that has poured the wealth of the world into the lap of England.
The measure before us purports to be a bill " to provide increased
revenue from imports, and for other purposes." If this bill, when
passed into a law, would " provide increased revenue from imports,"
no man could support it more cheerfully than I would. That is pre
cisely what my constituents desire, and believe the interests of the
country demand. They would be glad to see that kind of legisla
tion adopted which would secure such an " increased revenue from
imports " as would be sufficient to pay the annual governmental
expenses and the interest on the public debt, without resort to in
ternal taxes. True relief is only to be found in the abolition of the
manufacturers' tax. But the friends of this bill do not support it
upon any such theory as that. They do not pretend that it will

314 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
" provide increased revenue from imports." If they thought it
would, they would utterly repudiate it. It is for precisely the re
verse reason assumed in the title of the bill — it is because it will not
" provide increased revenue from imports ; " it is because they be
lieve that under its provisions foreign products, coming in compe
tition with American products, will be so excluded from our ports
that no duty at all can be collected on them, that they require its
passage. The title is a misnomer. Let it be amended so as to
read, " An act to prevent the collection of duties from imports, and
defray the expenses of Government by direct taxation."
This bill is said to contain a provision for the benefit of the wool-
growers of the Western States, and on that account my aid is in
voked to secure its passage. No one could be more gratified to
render to that class of our people any legislative assistance in my
power, provided I could do so without detriment to the common
interests of the whole country ; and not otherwise. The Wool-
Growers' Association, and the Wool-Manufacturers' Association, co
operating with them to secure the adoption of this bill, demand
that for every cent of duty imposed on wool there shall be four
cents per pound imposed on imported woolens, and thirty-five per
cent, ad valorem added, to cover the cost of chemicals, dye-stuffs,
transportation, etc. What will be the effect ? Granted, for the
argument, that it will increase the price of both domestic and for
eign wools, to the temporary advantage of the home producer ; but
at whose cost ? Of course, every man knows that the profits of both
the wool-grower and wool-manufacturer must be derived from the
consumer. I would not advise the people of my State, under the
stimulus of a high duty, to rush into attempts to produce wool on a
large scale, which cannot be of advantage to the State, and must
be disastrous to them. From the time of the Shepherd Kings down
to the present moment, no nation, people, or community, that de
voted their energies principally to the husbandry of flocks, ever be
came rich or powerful.
I admit that the agriculturist who diversifies his labor, the
farmer with fifteen horses, forty cattle, fifty swine, and one hundred
head of sheep, is a benefactor, and should be encouraged. Let us
see how this bill encourages him. His one hundred head of sheep
will furnish two hundred and fifty pounds of wool, which will be
increased in value by the passage of this bill, if it does what its

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 315
most ardent friends claim, fifteen cents a pound. But, in order to
secure this, he must consent to be taxed six cents a bushel on the
salt that he feeds to his sheep, and with which he cures his meat
and seasons his food ; he must agree to an additional tax upon the
ploughs, harrows, shovels, hoes, and reapers, with which he cultivates
his crops, and the engine that drags his products to market ; upon
his clothing, the household utensils used in preparing his food, and
the table cutlery with which he eats it. I would be pleased to
know where the net profit on the one hundred head of sheep would
be found in this transaction ; and, if that would be small,- where
would the equally deserving farmer, who was not the owner of
sheep, find a compensation for the additional taxation put upon him
by this bill ? And let it be remembered that those who raise wool
are only as one in a thousand, by the side of those who consume it.
But the truth is, this bill will not cause any permanent and reliable
advance in the price of wool. There may be a sort of spasmodic
rise brought about, for the benefit of speculators holding large
quantities, but it cannot last. This bill will only benefit the man
ufacturer by placing the consumer completely in his power. Never
was the innocent sheep more completely shorn than the wool-
growers have been in the combination they entered into with the
manufacturers to increase the price of wearing-apparel and blankets
on the consumer.
The iron-makers insist that they are in distress and must be
relieved. I do not profess to be as well informed upon the subject
of iron-manufacture as some others, or perhaps as I ought to be ;
but, so far as my observation and inquiries have extended, I am con
vinced that every iron establishment in the country, properly located
and economically conducted, is yielding reasonable profits to its
owners, and some of them yield enormous profits. The average
varieties of iron used by blacksmiths, machinists and ship-builders,
now protected to the extent of fifty-five per cent., are advanced by
this bill fifteen per cent. Nail-plate, hoop-iron, and small bar-iron,
now protected by sixty per cent, duty, are advanced from fifteen to
seventy-five per cent., and some of them over one hundred per cent.
But the iron-manufacturers are not satisfied with the monstrous
duties apparent upon the face of the bill. By adroitly changing the
classification of iron, several descriptions have been carried from
lower to higher classes, thus making an additional increase, not ap-

316 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
parent to a casual observer. The rates of duty average somewhat
over one hundred per cent, on the cost, on shipboard, at the port of
shipment. Is it possible that we are prepared to place such a tax upon
iron, which is the raw material of all our industries, and which it
has been the policy of all civilized nations to afford to their people
cheap ? Can I justify myself to my constituents, for voting to
double the cost of iron, by pleading that in their behalf we secured
the blessed boon of compelling them to pay double for ah the cloth
ing they wear ?
The steel-manufacturers tell us that in 1859, under an ad va
lorem duty of twelve per cent., the manufacture of steel became an
assured success ; that the duty fixed by the act of 1861 was agreed
on between the importers and manufacturers, and was well adapted
to the then existing state of the manufacture in this country.
Now, they demand an increase of from forty-six to sixty-seven per
cent, on the existing tariff. Upon Bessemer steel rails is fixed a
duty of forty-five dollars per ton, intended to be prohibitory, for the
benefit of the rich monopolists who are the assignees of the patent
ed process by which it is manufactured.
Now, what is to be the effect of this great increase in the price
of iron and steel ? Need any one be told that iron and steel are
the bases of all production, and that the enhancement of their value
will increase the cost of every variety of manufacture ? Can any
one name a single fabric the cost of which will not be augmented
by this increased duty ? The manufacturers of every variety of
hardware and cutlery asked, with great justice, that we should give
to them an increased protection, beca use of the anticipated increase
in the value of what is to them the raw material, iron and steel.
There is not a single industry that does not demand and need
greater protection, because of the increase you will give to these
articles. The manufacturers of machinery require, they tell us,
that the duty on machinery be raised from thirty-five per cent, to
sixty-five per cent, ad valorem. They insist that a machine for
spinning cotton-yarn, costing in gold ten thousand dollars, shall
have added to it a duty of six thousand five hundred dollars, and
all other machinery employed in the manufacture of cotton and
wool must be enhanced in a corresponding degree. Mills already
built will become monopolies.

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 317
Do the advocates of this measure insist that this is the way to
build up manufactures and make cheap goods ? Is this the way to
spread prosperity through the land, and make glad the hearts of
the poor ? Is any one so blind as not to see that the effect of the
bill will be to increase the colossal fortunes of iron and steel
masters, and of owners of woolen and cotton mills, at the expense
of consumers of their products ? Is this the way to pay the inter
est on the public debt ? Will an increase of price of every neces
sary of life and of every consumable fabric enable the people to
more easily pay their internal taxes, or make them more willing to
do it ? These are questions that it would do well for us to ponder.
Yet we are expected to vote for all this, because we are permitted
to have an increased duty on wool ! We were reminded that the
farmers' interests were to be specialty protected under this bill, and
so it contains a provision by which the duty on salt is increased one
hundred and sixty per cent, above its cost. We in the West pro
duce beef and pork, which are packed and sent to foreign countries,
where they come in competition with that which is packed else
where with salt that pays no tribute, free salt. Yet the farmers'
interests are protected !
Another effect of this bill will be to destroy the commerce of
this country. I am not interested either in manufactures or com
merce. I speak from the knowledge of historic facts I have
gathered in the course of my life. I hold that no nation can be
great and powerful, and occupy a prominent and respectable posi
tion in the family of nations, without commerce. When I said this
to one of the gentlemen outside of the Senate, who were advocat
ing the passage of this bill, he denied my proposition, and referred
me to Austria, as a great nation without commerce — priest-ridden,
bankrupt, despotic, disintegrating Austria — as an example to the
country ! You have already by hostile legislation nearly destroyed
your commerce. You have destroyed your business with Mexico
and with Central America ; your carrying-trade is to a . great ex
tent done in foreign bottoms. I am told by those upon whom I
rely that where ten years ago there, were ten vessels of this country
in the South American ports, there is not one now. This change
has not been wrought by the Alabamas and Floridas, but by us.
This bill will effectually destroy your trade with the countries of
Northern Europe.

318 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
The true relief' for the manufacturer and the people alike should
be sought in a reduction of the internal tax on manufactures.
But the passage of this bill will preclude us from making such a
reduction ; for its practical effect would be to increase the duty
for the benefit of the manufacturer, and throw so much greater
burden upon the other sources of internal revenue. This measure
will derange the business of the country, and afford relief to no
considerable portion of the people. Its inequalities and partiali
ties and onesidedness will receive the condemnation of the people,
whenever they shall have an opportunity to pass upon it.
With reference to the plea that a high tariff protects Amer
ican labor, Mr. Grimes said, January 28th :
We have other laborers than those employed in manufactures ;
the labor of the country is done upon the farms; and the basis
of our products and of ah our manufactures and commerce is dug
out of the earth by the farmers. But it is proposed to increase
the cost and expense of the products of the American farmer,
by an additional imposition even upon the grindstones with which
he sharpens his tools. That tax upon the importation of grind
stones will be an excuse for the owners of quarries in Ohio and
Michigan to increase the price, in the proportion that Congress
increases the duty.
A Senator having represented Mr. Grimes as denying the
whole principle of protection to American industry, he rephed,
January 30th:
The gentleman is entirely misinformed. I have never declared
myself a free-trader, but am in favor of a revenue tariff with inci
dental protection to such branches of American industry as need the
fostering care of the Government. The question at issue is as to
what these branches are, and how the duties can be properly laid.
He added :
I do not know but that this constant iteration and reiteration
of the charge of free-trader against me will finally lead me to believe
myself that I am actually one ; but I did not come here with that
conviction on my mind, and up to this time I have never avowed
myself to be such.

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 319
LEAGUE ISLAND.
Mr. Grimes continued to advocate earnestly the removal of
the navy-yard at Philadelphia to League Island. The matter
had been upon his hands for more than four years, and he was
anxious to have it disposed of. He said, February 12th :
The country does not want another navy-yard. The great trouble
with us is that we have too many, and those we have are too small.
A simple proposition comes from the Navy Department, asking that
the present yard at Philadelphia be enlarged ; and the question was,
whether we should enlarge that yard by acquiring the adjacent
property, taking it out of the business property of the city that is
necessary for commercial uses, or whether we should move it to
another locality. We decided that it was best for the Government
to move to another locality, and then the question was, whether we
should move it a mile and a half off to League Island, or farther
down the river to Red Bank or Chester.
We have been enlarging our yards ever since the foundation of
the Government. In 1798 the Navy Department was established.
An act of Congress was passed authorizing the construction of six
frigates. At that time Benjamin Stoddart was the Secretary of the
Navy. There was never any authority of Congress to establish the
six navy-yards that we had in this country ; but Mr. Stoddart, under
the latitudinarian notions that prevailed in John Adams's Adminis
tration (as his enemies said), thought that the authority to con
struct the six frigates carried with it the power to purchase the
land upon which they should be built ; and therefore that Secretary
of the Navy, the first one we had, bought small pieces of grouhd
at different points, upon which the ships were built, and from that
day to this we have been continually enlarging these yards. Since
I have been a member of this body, we have made two purchases
to add to the Philadelphia Navy-Yard ; and it is in that way that
all our navy-yards have sprung up. We have never succeeded in
getting a yard as an entirety, except that noble one which we pos
sess on Mare Island, on the Pacific coast. Now, there is an oppor
tunity to secure a yard as an entirety, to lay it off as it ought to be,
to make such a yard as is demanded by the commercial and naval
interests of the country, and worthy of a great maritime power.
I did not commit myself in favor of League Island until I had

320 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
made personal inspection of it. I examined it before I reported in
favor of it. I have been there three times. It is a common, low,
interval land, like the land you find along the streams where there
is tidal water in any of the Northern States. The soil is firm, and
admits of as good constructions being raised upon it as the ground
of any navy-yard we have, unless it be at Kittery and Mare Island,
where we have stone ; and for some purposes, as the construction
of works for the fabrication of arms, and working with trip-ham
mers, it is better.
It will be to our advantage that the ground is low. What are
the necessities of navy-yards at this time ? Let me read an extract
showing what Great Britain is doing, and what we shall be com
pelled to do, if we intend to occupy a first-class position as a naval
power :
" The designs for the enlargement of the Chatham yard will
necessitate the taking in of three hundred and eighty acres adjoin
ing the present establishment, by which the entire area will be en
larged to nearly five hundred acres. Of this, seventy-four acres
will be deep-water space, consisting of three basins ; the fitting-out
basin of thirty-three acres, the repairing-basin of twenty-one acres,
and the factory-basin of twenty acres." — (Chatham, January 17,
1.867. London News.)
The time will come when we shall have to make preparations
for establishing as extensive navy-yards as they have in Great
Britain. Need I undertake to illustrate and prove before the mem
bers of the Senate that it is to our advantage that the ground is
low ? The earth which will be taken from the excavations for the
baisins will be sufficient to elevate the adjacent ground to the neces
sary height ; and the nearer your dumping-ground to the place you
are excavating, the greater is the saving in expense ; whereas, when
you take your navy-yard to some other place, where you have a
granite or a hard-pan formation, the expense for preparing the
grounds for basins will be immense.
THE DES MOINES EAPIDS.
Advocating the improvement of the navigation of the Des
Moines Rapids of the Mississippi River as of great importance
to the people of the Northwest, and to the commerce of the
whole country, Mr. Grimes remarked, February 25th :

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 321
The first survey of the rapids by authority of law was made in
1836 or 1837, by Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, the late general of the
rebel army. He reported that it was feasible to blow out the
" chains " across the river which make the rapids ; and appropria
tions of a small amount have from time to time been made for the
purpose of carrying out his views. Another survey, but not a mi
nute one, I think, was subsequently made by General Warren, who
decided that, although such a process as that might not make the
most perfect navigation, yet it would very much — I think he used
the expression — ameliorate the condition of the stream. Last year
an appropriation was made for the same purpose, and General
Wilson was sent to make a survey. He reports in favor of a canal,
instead of the course that was recommended by Lieutenant Lee.
On tbe strength of this recommendation, it is proposed that we
appropriate one million dollars for the purpose of improving
navigation " on the Mississippi. River," and I suppose the word
" on " is used in that phrase to convey the idea, and is to be re
garded as authority by the War Department, to make a canal, in
stead of improving the navigation itself. I am not prepared to say
that a canal is the right way to improve these rapids. I do not
think it is. I am unwilling, unless there shall be something more
done than the mere survey of General Wilson, that the commerce
of the country shall be liable to the interruption which, I think, a
canal will impose upon it. But I am willing that the Secretary of
War, calling to his aid a board of competent officers, and taking
the report of General Wilson, in connection with that of Lieutenant
Lee, and that of General Warren, shall decide the question ; and I
am willing to abide the result.
On his motion, the proviso was incorporated into the law,
that any canal constructed around the rapids shall be and for
ever remain free to navigation and commerce, and no tolls shall
ever be collected thereon. 106. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, January 25, 1867.
I made a speech yesterday, which is regarded as a pretty good
one, but for which I shall be roundly abused by those who call them
selves protectionists, but who are more properly prohibitionists.

322 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
February 1st. — I send the inclosed from the New York Tribune,1
to show you what a fool your husband is. Horace thinks that when
one becomes a man, he ought not, like St. Paul, to put away child
ish things.
February 9th. — 1" attended the performance of Handel's " Mes
siah " last evening ; it was worth a thousand operas. The leading
female voice was the celebrated Miss Houston, of Boston. There
were about one hundred voices in the chorus, and it was grand,
according to my judgment.
I notice that the papers are still discussing me and the tariff.
The tariff is dead ; perhaps it may be the death of me also.
107. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, February 18, 1867.
I postponed writing until yesterday, Sunday, expecting to have
leisure ; but, when yesterday came, I was hardly able to wield a
pen. On Friday we were in session until half-past three o'clock,
Saturday morning ; Saturday, in committee at 10 A. M., and in
session from 12 M. to half-past six o'clock, Sunday morning. Our
bill was the new reconstruction measure, which the House are now
trying to defeat.
My health has been excellent this winter, but that session put a
great strain upon me, and I have not entirely got over it. I have
about made up my mind not to sit up through another session in
the night.
I found Mary's abstract of her history very pleasant, and do not
doubt that it will greatly improve her, if she makes a similar synop
sis of each chapter, as she reads, and then a full and general one of
each volume. It will improve her style, and teach her to think.
Advise her to keep it up, therefore.
I am still of the opinion that we shall get away by the middle
of March. I shall go at any rate.
•An article, entitled "A mirror for Grimes," concluding thus: "The outcry
against protection, as favoring Pennsylvania and New England, at the cost of the
West, is a false, delusive clamor, which old Clay Whigs, like Mr. Grimes, ought to
be ashamed of."

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 323

§ 5.— In the Fortieth Congress.— 1867-1869.
The impeachment of President Johnson was first bruited in
the House of Representatives, January 7, 1867. It was regard
ed by Mr. Grimes, at the time, as an impolitic measure, and
without sufficient warrant. In the course of this year affairs
assumed a gloomy aspect. Mr. Grimes had serious apprehen
sions of anarchy for a time. The excesses of the President pro
voked extreme measures in opposition. New constructions
were given to the Constitution. The powers of the respective
departments of the Government were disturbed. As Mr. Grimes
predicted, the Republicans lost ground in the fall elections.
The first session of the Fortieth Congress was held in March,
July, and November. 108. — To Mrs. Grimes. Washington, March 12, 1867.
The impeachment project is subsiding ; it being the almost uni
versal opinion that, while the President has been guilty of many
great follies and wickednesses, he has not been guilty of those
overt, flagrant, corrupt acts that constitute " high crimes and misde
meanors," and make an impeachable offense ; and that it is not worth
while to establish an example which might result in making ours a
sort of South American republic, where the ruler is deposed the
moment the popular sentiment sets against him. We have very
successfully and thoroughly tied his hands, and, if we had not, we
had better submit to two years of misrule, which is a very short
space in the lifetime of a nation, than subject the country, its insti
tutions, and its credit, to the shock of an impeachment. I have
always thought so, and everybody is now apparently coming to my
conclusion. AGAINST CLASS LEGISLATION.
Upon a proposition to place in the care of the Freedmen's
Bureau moneys due colored soldiers, to be deposited in the
Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company, Mr. Grimes re
marked, March 13th :

324 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
I do not know that any very great degree of consistency is
expected of public men nowadays. Certainly I do not think we
exhibit any very great degree of it. During the session that has
just closed, we solemnly declared by act of Congress that all the
colored men of this country have intelligence enough, and position
enough, and consequence enough in the country, to entitle them to
the elective franchise. We have made them citizens. We have
said nobody shall exercise guardianship over them. And now comes
a resolution which declares that the Freedmen's Bureau shall take
possession of the property of these men ; that the bureau, or its
agents, shall be authorized to receive the drafts issued to them
from the Treasury Department for their bounty, pay, or pensions ;
and that under certain circumstances the money shall be deposited
to the credit of the commissioner, not in a sub-Treasury of the
United States, not in a national bank, but in the Freedmen's Sav
ings and Trust Company ; which, so far as I know, the Senator from
Massachusetts knows> no more about the solvency of than I do ;
which has made no exhibit of the condition of its affairs to the Sen
ate, or to Congress, or to the Military Committee ; and which may
be no more solvent than the bank in the neighborhood of the Sen
ator, at Newtonville, which, I suppose, he would have been willing
to indorse two weeks ago, in as emphatic terms as he has indorsed
this savings-bank to-day.1
The men belonging to the party to which the Senator from
Massachusetts and I belong have always claimed that this class leg
islation was a great error, that it was wrong, that it was wicked ;
that we should not single out one class, and say that the nation
should take the guardianship of that class, to the exclusion of
another class, and confer upon them a consequence which we would
not confer upon another class. I had thought and hoped that that
time had gone by ; that we were successful ; that we had triumphed
in this regard ; and that we were to see and hear no more of class
1 In 1873, a national-bank examiner, under instructions from the Controller of
the Currency, examined the books of the Freedmen's Bank, and reported its affairs
to be unsatisfactory, and pointed out a number of irregularities, which might
well have been characterized first as last as so many robberies. In 1874, another
examination was held, and the concern was pronounced insolvent. And in little
less than a year from the time that the insolvency of the bank became known — such
was the involved and atrocious condition of its affairs — none of its wronged and
needy depositors has received a cent. — (Tlie Nation, April 15, 1875.)

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 325
legislation. But what is* this proposition but placing, by an act of
Congress, the business affairs of all the colored men who have been
in the Army and Navy and marine corps, under the guardianship of
the Government and of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Com
pany ? I have no doubt that wrong has been perpetrated on col
ored men in the collection of this money. So it has on white men,
and there is no reason why we should pass such a law applicable to
colored people, and not apply it to the white people.
With reference to tendering the thanks of Congress to sev
eral generals for their civil administration in the South, Mr.
Grimes said, July 8th :
I think it would be exceedingly immature and improper for the
Congress of the United States, upon the little testimony they have
before them on the subject, to adopt these resolutions. Until within
the last two or three years, a vote of thanks of Congress was re
garded as the highest benefaction that could be bestowed upon an
American citizen. We have already greatly lowered it in the esti
mation of the public by conferring it upon civilians * for no distin
guished merit ; and now it has been proposed, not, as heretofore, in
regard to Army and Navy officers, for distinguished services in the
field where they have periled their lives, but for, it is supposed,
civil administration. I do not know enough about the administra
tion of these men to be able to pronounce such a judgment as I
ought to be able to pronounce, when I cast a vote for such a propo
sition. So far as General Sheridan is concerned, we have thanked
him for his services in the field. What do we know about his ad
ministration at New Orleans, except such information as we get
through the newspapers ?
the cotton-tax and the peospeeity of the southeen states.
I considered this cotton-tax at the time it was imposed, two
years ago, as a temporary tax. All the taxes imposed at that time
were, in fact, experiments. We all so regarded them, and spoke
of them. We have been taking them off from some articles, and
putting them on others, and changing them every session since we
began this system of internal direct taxation. The question is,
1 Cornelius Vanderbilt, George Peabody.
22

326 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1867.
What has experience taught on this subjec't ? Is it -wise to continue
the tax ? Does the condition of our finances require it ? Will it
improve the industries of the country ? Can its continuance be
longer justified ? I have always voted for taxes on cotton, not be
cause they are based upon the slightest principle in the world, ex
cept the same principle that will justify a forced loan.
I should like to call the attention of the Senate to the chapter
that we are now making in American history, as it is to be read in
the future. There were eleven States of the Union that undertook
to destroy our Government, for the sake, as they insisted, of pre
serving their property in men. They levied war and appealed to
arms. In those eleven States, slaves had been held as property for
many generations. In six of those States, slaves were employed
almost exclusively in the production of cotton for nearly a century.
That was the means by which they supported and accumulated
wealth for their masters, and procured their own daily bread. They
are accustomed to no other kind of labor. The rebellion against
the Government was crushed. We have been the victors. As the
victors, we have imposed terms upon the rebels. One of those
terms is, that the slaves shall be free men from this time forward.
We have done that as an act of precaution, and as an act of justice.
We have felt it to be our duty to elevate, to educate, and to make
free men, in every sense, of these colored people, and have bestowed
upon them the elective franchise. And now, while attempting to
elevate and ennoble that class of men, we propose to strike at the
industry to which they have been accustomed — the only instrumen
tality which it is in the power of those men to use, in order to edu
cate and support their families — by selecting the article of cotton,
the only agricultural product reared upon American soil that is
taxed, and impose upon it a tax of twenty-three per cent. And
you do this, when you protect free labor in the North, by imposing
an average duty of sixty-five per cent, upon all articles which come
in competition with Northern labor from abroad. Do you say that
this is not striking at free labor in the South ? We all know that
it is. If it be not, what becomes of the argument of forty years'
standing, that the free labor of the country needed protection, and
that your tariff had a tendency to foster, protect, ennoble, and dig
nify American labor ? Yet here you take from the very poorest,
the most dependent agricultural laborer in the country, twenty-five

1867.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 327
per cent, of the value of his product, while you protect the skilled
laborer of the country to the average extent of sixty-five per cent.,
knowing at the same time that this burden which you impose upon
the needy American producer of cotton operates as a forty per cent.
bonus to the grower of cotton in India and Egypt, to enable the
latter to drive your own producer out of the markets of the world.
This is the chapter of history we are making.
We are deeply interested in this subject. We are not anxious,
as some gentlemen avow that they are anxious, that the production
of cotton in the South shall be broken up, and the people of that
section only produce corn and the cereals in the place of cotton.
We want labor in the South to be rehabilitated and reorganized.
We want the old productions resumed, and labor there to have its
proper reward. We want the Southern States to furnish in the
future, as they once did, a reliable market for the agricultural prod
ucts of the Northwest. Is there anything improper in this ? What
is the argument that our New England friends urge here in favor
of their sixty-five per cent, upon ah the imports of the country ?
That by the aid of that duty they build up a market where our ag
ricultural products are consumed. Are they unwilling that we
should have two markets ? Is it not as proper for us to be in
terested in having a market at the South, and to that end allow
the Southern people to raise such products as they please, as that
we should vote to enforce sixty-five per cent, of duties on such
imported articles as we consume, and then attempt to justify our
selves on the ground that we thereby make a market for agricult
ural products in the Eastern States?
I am willing that the tax should be suspended for one year, un
til we can see what may be the effect of that suspension upon the
industry and finances of the country ; otherwise, I shall vote for its
entire repeal (December 20th).
In the fall of 1867, before leaving home for Washington, Mr.
Grimes expressed to a few friends his desire to aid in founding
a public library in Burlington. An association was organized
for that purpose, February 22, 1868. His original donation was
five thousand two hundred and four dollars and twenty-five
cents, which he expended in the purchase of twenty-one hun
dred and four volumes, many of them large and costly books.

328 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
Subsequently, he sent from Europe two hundred and fifty-six
volumes in the German language. He also contributed six
hundred volumes of public documents, covering the period of
his service in Congress.
109. — To Henry W. Starr, Esq., Burlington.
Washington, January 20, 1868.
If the citizens of Burlington will organize a library association,
by whatever name and in whatever manner they choose, so that it
shall be virtually a free library, and give ample assurance of being
always preserved and maintained as such, I will place in the hands
of a gentleman, competent to the task, the sum of five thousand
dollars, with which to purchase such books as shah form the nucleus
of a permanent library.
I do not wish to designate the names of the trustees. I only
hope that they will be worthy men, who will take some interest in
the subject ; but I do not intend to become in the most remote
degree responsible for the management of the library. I have read
the constitution of the Keokuk Association. I am not much of a
believer in lectures or lecturers. They are, as a class, rather shal
low, and their productions as shallow as the authors. Still I do
not object to lectures being established as a part of the plan.
You can make use of this letter, so you do not permit it to get
into the newspapers. I think there is no one who dislikes to see
his name in a newspaper as much as I do, and especially in connec
tion with a charity, or with such an object as this. If the library
succeeds, I shall probably do something further for it, but I do not
think it wise to place myself under any obligation to that effect, and
therefore shall not pledge myself to anything of the sort. Money
must be raised from other sources to furnish the necessary appur
tenances of a library, such as furniture, carpets, shelves, light, fuel,
and to keep the property owned by the association forever insured.
Advocating a resolution authorizing the President to appoint
naval officers on the retired hst, not below the rank of command
er, to vacant consulates, Mr. Grimes remarked, January 16th :
A naval officer is a man taken when a youth and educated for the
service of his country, who has been instructed at the Naval School
in international law. During a service of twenty or twenty-five

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 329
years he has mingled among gentlemen, both in our own country and
abroad ; it is his business to understand the commercial laws, for that
is a part of the profession of a naval officer, and he is sent abroad for
the purpose of enforcing them ; and we think that competent men
,may be selected from that branch of the service to perform consular
duty. We think that is a very good school in which to prepare them
for these consulates. The Government will save a considerable
amount of money by allowing naval officers, who are receiving half-
pay, to be appointed consuls. In doing so we follow the practice of
every commercial- nation. One-half of the consulates of Great Brit
ain throughout the world are held by half-pay officers, both of the
army and navy. It is the same with the other governments of the
world. The question as to whether a particular man was compe
tent to fill one of these offices would be determined by the Presi
dent when he appointed him, and by the Senate when they came to
act upon his confirmation. We have a surplus of officers. Some
are unqualified for sea-duty, but they all have the capacity for
doing shore-duty, such as pertains to a consular agency.
the naval pension fund.
When the Navy was established, at the beginning of this cen
tury, there was a law passed that in all future time the proceeds of
prizes captured upon the high-seas by vessels of the United States,
and brought into ports of the United States and condemned,
should be distributed, one half to the captors, in the proportion
specified by the law, and the other half should go into the naval
pension fund, from which the widows and orphans of naval officers
and seamen should be guaranteed the payment of their pensions.
That is the way in which this fund was created ; by the earnings,
in effect, of the sailors and men belonging to the Navy. Whether
it be true that the Government technically pledged its faith to pre
serve the fund intact or not, it is true that they are regarded by
the seamen of the country as having made that pledge, and it has
stood good for about seventy years.
Whenever a sailor who has been employed in the service of the
United States presents his claim for prize-money, and he finds that
it is not as great as he had anticipated, he is immediately told, " It
is true your distributive share is not as great as you think you are
entitled to, but you must remember that one-half of the whole pro-

330 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
ceeds of the prizes, in the capture of which you took part, has
gone into the Treasury, and is part of a fund in Washington,
which is dedicated to your benefit and the benefit of your children,
and which the Government of the United States is Under a moral
obligation, at any rate, if not a legal obligation, never to interfere
with." Now, the question is, whether it is advisable to change the
course of the Government during the last seventy years, and say
that an act shall be done, which will be considered by these sea
men, whether correctly or not, as a violation of the public faith.
I am free to say that I am in favor of letting the matter stand
as it is. If ever there was a fund equitably and justly adminis
tered, this has been ; and the only difficulty is, that it has been so
well administered that these sailors and officers have gathered to
gether so large a fund that it is proposed by certain gentlemen to
put their hands into the Treasury and grab it, because it has be
come so large. But it is said that we ought to abolish the naval
pension fund for the purpose of simplifying the accounts. How far
would that simplify the accounts ? Three or four years ago we
passed a bill directing the Secretary of the Treasury to invest all
this money in registered securities of the United States ; but we
all know that it is really no indebtedness of the United States,
that it is simply keeping the money ; and the proposition is to take
this money out of one pocket and virtually put it into another.
Am I, then, asked why I object to the proposition ? It is because
it bears upon its face, in the estimation of a large class of our fel
low-citizens, the idea that it is diverting a fund which has been
dedicated for their benefit. This fund is composed of the earnings
of men in our employment. We pledged ourselves that, when
they attacked the enemy's vessels and captured them, if they would
bring them into our ports, where they could be condemned by
our courts, this fund should be dedicated for all time to come for a
specific purpose. I am free to confess that the subject of this fund
has given me a good deal of thought. I am willing to admit that
it has been accumulating too rapidly ; not that we have gathered
too many prizes, but that the fund is getting larger, probably, than
it ought to be. My effort has been to find some way in which we
could dispose of this matter without violating what is understood
to be the public faith of the country. I have been waiting for some
proposition, not like this, to sweep the whole fund away, but such

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 331
as that of the Senator from Maine (Mr. Fessenden), to pay the sur
plus of interest into the Treasury of the United States. I would
be content to vote for a proposition that would reduce the rate of
interest on the certificates which are held by the Secretary of the
Navy in trust, as a trustee, for this fund, say to three per cent., or
to such other rates as shall pay the ordinary pensions of the officers
and men of the Navy. What I want to preserve is the principal
of the fund, and the faith of the nation pledged to these men, as
they understand it (March 7th).
the pension system.
It is not a gratuity, to reward men for what they have done ;
but we say to the citizens of this country in advance : "We have
established a pension system ; if you choose to volunteer, or are
drafted for the service of the United States, and are killed or
wounded, you shall be provided for, in the one case during the bal
ance of your life, or your family in the other." That has been the
policy of the Government from its foundation. We have proceeded
upon that idea, and it is a part of the national system ; if you choose
to call it so, to encourage patriotism. It says to the poor man, " If
you choose to leave your family and risk your life, in the defense
of the country, and in holding up its flag when it is attacked, your
family shall be provided for, and your wants supplied in the future."
It was never intended, to meet a charitable case, if you please, but
is part of a system.
Now, the question is, whether or not we had better establish a
precedent, by which we shall pay all the deputy provost-marshals.
But the principle extends beyond a deputy provost-marshal. Why
shall we not extend it to a deputy-marshal, who in the execution of
the process of a United States court is shot down ? A Senator says
we ought to do so. That may be his idea. His idea of the Gov
ernment may be that of a great system of pensioned citizens. That
is not my idea, and that, I apprehend, was not the idea of the men
who founded the Government (March 12th).
the navy.
Mr. Grimes advocated its reduction to eight thousand five hun
dred men, as before the war. In this he stood alone, among those
who were regarded as friends of the Navy. No other member

332 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, nor the Navy De
partment, approved such a reduction. The proposition was
attributed to an extraordinary fit of economy. Of the Marine
Corps, he said :
I know no reason why there should be a greater number of men
or officers in it now than before the war ; and I give notice to those
gentlemen who are electioneering about the Senate in behalf of the
Marine Corps, that, if I can reduce them to where they were before
the war, I shall use my utmost effort to do it.
In reply to some criticisms upon his views, he remarked :
I have never arrogated to myself any particular knowledge upon
naval affairs. It has so happened that during my past life I have
been brought into rather intimate connection with the subject, and
during the term of my service in the Senate I have been on the
Naval Committee. I have done the best that was in my power to
inform myself upon the subjects that came before the committee,
and have honestly attempted to convey the information I have ob
tained to the body of which I was a member.
He said, March 2, 1869 :
The proper way to conduct the Department, if a civilian is
to be at the head of it, is for the Secretary of the Navy to detail
a naval officer to act for the time being as Assistant Secretary.
Explaining the system of naval apprentices, Mr. Grimes
said, April 6th :
That is a system which has grown up during the war. It was
discovered, both in the commercial and in the naval marine, that the
number of sailors was gradually diminishing, and that it was almost
impossible to secure the service of men who were fit to perform
duty as man-of-wars-men. It was, therefore, thought advisable to
establish what is known in our service as the apprentice system,
picking up boys along the coast, and putting them upon old sail
ing-vessels, under the charge of naval officers, where they are in
structed in the rudimentary branches of education, enlisting them
until they are twenty-one years of age, preparing them for the per
formance of the duties of petty officers on board ship ; and, in order
to encourage this class of young men to enter the service, we have

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 333
said that ten of them shall every year be taken from on board these
practice-ships, and be sent to the Naval Academy, to be educated
as officers. The opinion of naval officers is, that this system has
worked admirably. They do not desire that it should be disturbed.
The purpose I had in view was to save this system, to encourage
the education of this class of boys for the naval and the commercial
marine in the future. admiral farragut.
The Franklin is the only large ship we have now afloat. She is
in the European waters, and bears the pennant of the only admiral
this country ever saw. Festivities have been enjoyed by that gen
tleman, whose father was a native of one of the islands in the
Mediterranean, such as have never been enjoyed by any one else in
this country; and greater honors have been bestowed upon him.
Let me relieve any who may have apprehensions on this subject,
by saying that not a dollar is spent by Admiral Farragut in any of
the festivities in which he participates, or that he gives, which does
not come out of his own pocket, and that ours is the only nation on
the globe, that has a fleet, that does not furnish money to its ad
mirals, situated as he is, to entertain distinguished people where
they cruise (April 7th). the tariff.
Proposing a reduction of duties upon all importations, to
the extent of ten per cent., Mr. Grimes said, March 18th :
I offer this proposition for several reasons :
1. To redeem the faith of the Government, that, if not techni
cally, is virtually pledged to a proportionate reduction of the duties
on imports, as the taxes on domestic manufactures shall be removed.
We passed a war tariff in 1861, by which we greatly increased the
duties imposed by the tariff of 1857. The argument urged by the
advocates of the tariffs of 1862 and 1864 was, that it was necessary
to pass those acts in order to adjust the tariff to the existing in
ternal taxes. In fact, the internal tax law was the only pretext for
imposing the high rates of duties under the tariff acts of those
years. 2. Because it is but fair that while we relieve the manufacturers
of the country, and enable them to make money, we should at the

334 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
same time relieve the consumers of the country, and enable them
to save a little money ; for, however we may arrange our tariff and
tax laws, or however we may reason about them, we cannot escape
from the conclusion that the revenues of the Government, through
whatever channels paid' into the Treasury, are wholly drawn from
the consumers. Without the amendment I propose, the advantage
will be exclusively to the manufacturers and not to the consumers.
Every dollar that we prevent going into the Treasury for the bene
fit of these manufacturers, only serves to so much increase the
tariff upon the consumers.
3. Because it is fair and important that all branches of industry
should understand what is to be the whole policy of the Govern
ment. The manufacturers are a comparatively smah class in this
country. While it is important to them to know whether their
products are hereafter to be taxed, it is of equal importance that
the mercantile, the commercial, and the agricultural interests should
know whether or not we are to be content to improve the condition
of the manufacturers, and ignore the claims of all other classes of
people and all other descriptions of industry.
4. Because a reduction of the tariff will greatly increase the
revenue from imports, and for two reasons : first, as we increase the
cost of an article, we diminish the number of those who will be able
to consume it ; and, second, because you will thereby lessen the
amount of frauds upon the revenue. Your tariff laws now furnish
an incitement to smuggling, and the passage of the act as reported
will stimulate that description of enterprise still further. I can
enumerate many imported articles now openly sold in the market
of New York at one-half the import duty. Why ? Because your
high duty has encouraged smuggling.
I do not know that it makes much difference to the Senate or
the country what may be my opinions, or whether or not I have
changed my opinions ; whether or not I was once in favor of pro
tection, and am now in favor of free trade. But it is not true that
I ever was a protectionist, if by a protectionist you mean what I
understand to be meant by the high-tariff men of this body, a pro
hibitionist, or a restrictionist, and there is not any difference. The
word " protection," as applied to this subject, is a misnomer. It
never should be used in connection with it, for there cannot be a
protection unless to the extent that the article is protected ; to that

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 335
extent it is prohibited. There are certain impediments thrown in
the way of carrying on commerce or trade, so as to protect the man
who manufactures the article at home against the man who manu
factures it abroad; and, so far as it is a protection, it is a hinderance,
a restriction, a prohibition upon trade. I never was a protectionist
of that description. I never voted, as I have been charged in the
New York Tribune and other places, for Mr. Clay. I never had an
opportunity to do it. The first presidential vote I ever gave was
in 1848. As I am charged here with being a free-trader, I will say
that if it be a free-trader to try to obtain just as much money as
possible for the benefit of the United States from imports, I am a
free-trader. I am in favor of a revenue tariff. That is legitimate
and proper ; but the moment the Government undertakes to go be
yond that, and take money from my pocket, or take the profit of
my labor, for the purpose of building up a particular manufacture
for the benefit of the Senator from Yermont, that moment the
Government transcends its obligation and its duty. That is the
kind of a free-trader I am. I am in favor of getting just as much
money as possible, and I would, if I could, pay the entire expenses
of this Government from the duties received from imported arti
cles. There is not any trouble about building up manufactures.
They will be created just as fast as the capital of the country shall
become concentrated, and can be used in that way more profitably
than in any other business. Some specific articles of domestic
production might be taxed. I speak in general terms with regard
to the tariff. In my conviction a man has a right to his limbs, and
he has as much right to the product of his limbs, to the productions
of his industry, as he has to his person ; and when you undertake
to say that I shall not be permitted to send the product of my in
dustry, in the shape of wheat, to Montevideo, to Brazil, or to Buenos
Ayres, to obtain with twenty bushels of my product a thousand
pounds of wool with which to clothe my family, but, on the other
hand, I shall buy only a hundred pounds of wool from a farmer of
Yermont, it is incumbent upon the Government to show a good rea
son why I should thus be restrained. And the only reason they can
assign is, that it is necessary in order to procure the means with
which the Government can be conducted. To that extent it has^
a right to restrain me, and no further.

336 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
110.— To H. W. Starr, Esq., Burlington.
Washington, March 6, 1868.
Mr. Spofford, the Librarian of Congress, and a noted bibliopo-
list, is making out for me a catalogue of books to cost five thou
sand dollars. He is very familiar with the subject, and will try to
secure the very best editions. If money can be raised to put Ma
rion Hall in complete order, and heat it with steam, the only proper
method of heating a library, I would be in favor of buying it.
The Senate is now organized as a court, and we have a six
months' job upon us in the trial of the President. About a dozen
men are determined to convict, about the same number are deter
mined to acquit, and the balance intend to hear the evidence and
weigh the law before they pronounce judgment. The President,
as you observe, is to be defended by the most eminent lawyers in
the country, and the House managers are no match for them. It
will be the greatest trial in history, but I wish to Heaven that I
had nothing to do with it, for it is sure to be to a great extent par
tisan, and, in so far as it may be, it will in the future be discredi
table to all concerned in it. I am over the ague, etc., and pretty
well. The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad will be completed
at once. I do not see why the prospects for Burlington's prosperity
are not bright at present.
March 15th. — With the proper action, Burlington will become
the most important city in Iowa.
We are in a tumult here. I advise you to believe nothing you
see or hear from Washington, until you see the proof; especially
believe no telegraphic reports. They are generally lies, and sent
from here by the most worthless and irresponsible creatures on the
face of the earth.
A resolution for the impeachment of President Johnson
¦ was adopted in the House of Representatives, February 24th,
and on the following day a committee of the House appeared
before the Senate, and impeached him of high crimes and mis
demeanors in office.
In the discussions preliminary to the trial, Mr. Grimes held
'that it was not proper to establish rules of procedure and prac
tice beforehand, as to the admission or exclusion of testimony,

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 337
the number of counsel that should be heard, or limitations of
time upon arguments, but that these matters should be deter
mined after the Senate was resolved into a court, and when pre
sided over by the Chief-Justice. Different views prevailed, and
the Senate, March 2d, adopted rules of proceeding. The court
was formed March 5th, and on that day Mr. Grimes took the
prescribed oath, administered upon the Bible by Judge Chase,
in the following words :
I do solemnly swear that in all things pertaining to the trial
of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United
States, I will do impartial justice, according to the Constitution
and the laws : so help me God.
The following day, the rules of procedure adopted by the
Senate, at the suggestion of the Chief -Justice, were adopted by
the body sitting as a court. Mr. Grimes gave close attention
to the conduct of the trial through all its weary stages, and
having heard the testimony, and having weighed the whole
matter thoroughly, on the 11th of May delivered his
OPINION.
The President of the United States stands at the bar of the
Senate charged with the commission of high crimes and misde
meanors. The principal offense charged against him is embodied
in various forms in the first eight articles of impeachment. This
offense is alleged to consist in a violation of the provisions of the
first section of an act of Congress, entitled " An act regulating the
tenure of certain civil offices," approved March 2, 1867, in this, that
on the 21st day of February, 1868, the President removed, or at
tempted to remove, Edwin M. Stanton from the office of Secretary
for the Department of War, and issued a letter of authority to
General Lorenzo Thomas as Secretary for the Department of War,
ad interim. The House of Representatives charge in their first three articles
that the President attempted to remove Mr. Stanton, and that he
issued his letter of authority to General Thomas with an intent to
violate the law of Congress, and with the further " intent to violate
the Constitution of the United States." The President, by his

338 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
answer, admits that he sought to substitute General Thomas for
Mr. Stanton at the head of the Department of War ; but insists that
he had the right to make such substitution under the laws then
and now in force, and denies that, in anything that he has done or
attempted to do, he intended to violate the laws or the Constitution
of the United States.
To this answer there is a general traverse by the House of Rep
resentatives, and thereon issue is joined ; of that issue we are the
triers, and have sworn that in that capacity we will do " impartial
justice according to the Constitution and the laws."
It will be perceived that there is nothing involved in the first
eight articles of impeachment but pure questions of law growing
out of the construction of statutes. Mr. Johnson's guilt or innocence
upon those articles depends wholly on the fact whether or not he
had the power, after the passage of the tenure-of-office act of March
2, 1867, to remove Mr. Stanton and issue the letter of appointment
to General Thomas; and upon the further fact, whether, having no
such legal authority, he nevertheless attempted to exercise it "with
intent to violate the Constitution of the United States."
Mr. Stanton was appointed Secretary for the Department of
War by Mr. Lincoln on the 15th day of January, 1862, and has not
since been reappointed or recommissioned. His commission was
issued to continue " for and during the pleasure of the President."
His appointment was made under the act of August 7, 1789, the first
two sections of which read as follows :
" There shall be an executive Department to be denominated
the Department of War ; and there shall be a principal officer
therein, to be called the Secretary for the Department of War, who
shall perform and execute such duties as shall from time to time be
enjoined on or intrusted to him by the President of the United
States, and the said principal officer shah conduct the business of
the said Department in such manner as the President of the United
States shall from time to time order and instruct.
" There shall be in the said Department an inferior officer, to be
appointed by said principal officer, to be employed therein as he
shall deem proper, and to be called the chief clerk of the Depart
ment of War ; and whenever the said principal officer shall be
removed from office by the President of the United States, and in
any other case of vacancy, shall, during the same, have charge of
the records, books," etc.
At the same session of Congress was passed the act, of July 27,

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 339
1789, creating the Department of Foreign Affairs. The two first
sections of the two acts are precisely similar except in the designa
tions of the two Departments. Upon the passage of this last act
occurred one of the most memorable and one of the ablest debates
that ever took place in Congress. The subject under discussion was
the tenure of public officers, and especially the tenure by which the
Secretaries of the Executive Departments should hold their offices.
Without going into the particulars of that great debate, it is suffi
cient to say that the reasons assigned by Mr. Madison and his asso*
ciates in favor of a " tenure during the pleasure of the President"
were adopted as the true constitutional theory on this subject.
That great man, with almost a prophetic anticipation of this case,
declared, on the 16th of June, 1789, in his speech in the House of
Representatives, of which he was a member from Virginia, that —
" It is evidently the intention of the Constitution that the First
Magistrate should be responsible for the Executive Department.
So far, therefore, as we do not make the officers who are to aid him
in the duties of that department responsible to him he is not re
sponsible to the country. Again, is there no danger that an officer,
when he is appointed by the concurrence of the Senate and his
friends in that body, may choose rather to risk his establishment
on the favor of that branch than rest it upon the discharge of his
duties to the satisfaction of the executive branch, which is consti
tutionally authorized to inspect and control his conduct ? And if
it should happen that the officers connect themselves with the Sen
ate, they may mutually support each other, and for want of efficacy
reduce the power of the President to a mere vapor, in which case
his responsibility would be annihilated, and the expectation of it
unjust. The high executive officers joined in cabal with the Senate
would lay the foundation of discord, and end in an assumption of
the executive power, only to be removed by a revolution of the
Government." It will be observed that it is here contended that it is the Con
stitution that establishes the tenure of office. And, in order to put
this question beyond future cavil, Chief-Justice Marshall, in his
" Life of Washington," volume ii., page 162, says :
"After an ardent discussion, which consumed several days,
the committee divided, and the amendment was negatived by a
majority of thirty-four to twenty. The opinion thus expressed by
the House of Representatives did not explicitly convey their sense
of the Constitution. Indeed, the express grant of the power to the
President rather implied a right in the Legislature to give or with-

340 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
hold it at their discretion. To obviate any misunderstanding of the
principle on which the question had been decided, Mr. Benson
moved in the House, when the report of the Committee of the
Whole was taken up, to amend the second clause in the bill so as
clearly to imply the power of removal to be solely in the President.
He gave notice that if he should succeed in this he would move to
strike out the words which had been the subject of debate. If
those words continued, he said, the power of removal by the Presi
dent might hereafter appear to be exercised by virtue of a legisla
tive grant only, and consequently be subjected to legislative insta
bility, when he was well satisfied in his own mind that it was by
fair construction fixed in the Constitution. The motion was sec
onded by Mr. Madison, and both amendments were adopted."
And Judge Marshah adds :
" As the bill passed into a law it has ever been considered as a
full expression of the sense of the Legislature on this important
part of the American Constitution."
And Chancellor Kent says, when speaking of the action of this
Congress, many of the members of which had been members of the
convention that framed the Constitution, the chiefest among them,
perhaps, being Madison, who has been called the father of that in
strument :
" This amounted to a legislative construction of the Constitu
tion, and it has ever since been acquiesced in and acted upon as of
decisive authority in the case. It applies equally to every other
officer of the Government appointed by the President and Senate
whose term of duration is not specially declared. It is supported
by the weighty reason that the subordinate officers in the Executive
Department ought to hold at the pleasure of the head of that de
partment, because he is invested generally with the executive au
thority, and every participation in that authority by the Senate was
an exception to a general principle, and ought to be taken strictly.
The President is the great responsible officer for the faithful execu
tion of the law, and the power of removal was incidental to that
duty, and might often be requisite to fulfill it." — 1 -Kenfs Commen
taries, 310.
Thus the Constitution and the law stood, as expounded by the
courts, as construed by commentators and publicists, as acted on
by all the Presidents, and acquiesced in by all of the Congresses
from 1789 until the 2d of March, 1867, when the tenure-of-office act
was passed. The first section of this act reads as follows :
" That every person holding any civil office, to which he has

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 341
been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
and every person who shall hereafter be appointed to any such
office, and shall become duly qualified to act therein, is and shall be
entitled to hold such office until a successor shall have been in a
like manner appointed and duly qualified, except as herein other
wise provided."
Then comes what is " otherwise, provided : "
" Provided, That the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, of
War, of the Navy, and of the Interior, the Postmaster-General, and
the ^Attorney-General, shall hold their offices respectively for and
during the term of the President by whom they may havebeen ap
pointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate."
The controversy in this case grows out of the construction of
this section. How does it affect the act of 1789, and does it change
the tenure of office of the Secretary for the Department of War as
established by that act? To this inquiry I propose to address my
self. I shall not deny the constitutional validity of the act of March
2, 1867. That question is not necessarily in this case.
The first question presented is, Is Mr. Stanton's case within the
provisions of the tenure-of-office act of March 2, 1867 ?
Certainly it is not within the body of the first section. The
tenure which that provides for is not the tenure of any Secretary.
All Secretaries whose tenure is regulated by this law at all are to
go out of office at the end of the term of the President by whom
they shall be appointed, and one month thereafter, unless sooner
removed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, while all other civil officers are to hold until a successor
shall be appointed and duly qualified. The office of Secretary has
attached to it one tenure ; other civil officers another and different
tenure; and no one who holds the office of Secretary can, by force
of this law, hold by any other tenure than the one which the law
specially assigns to that office. The plain intent of the proviso to
the first section is to prescribe a tenure for the office of Secretary
different from the tenure fixed for other civil officers. This is known
to have been done on account of the marked difference between the
heads of Departments and all other officers, which made it desira
ble and necessary for the public service that the heads of Depart
ments should go out of office with the President by whom they
were appointed. It would, indeed, be a strange result of the law
23

342 . LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
if those Secretaries appointed by Mr. Lincoln should hold by the
tenure, fixed by the act for ordinary civil officers, while all the other
Secretaries should hold by a different tenure ; that those appointed
by the present and all future Presidents should hold only during
the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed,
while those not appointed by him should hold indefinitely ; and this
under a law which undertakes to define the tenure of all the Secre
taries who are to hold their offices under the law. I cannot come
to that conclusion. My opinion is that, if Mr. Stanton's tenure of
officejis^prescribed by this law at all, it is prescribed to him as Sec
retary of War, under and by force of the proviso to the first sec
tion ; and if his case is not included in that proviso it is not included
in the law at all.
It is clear to my mind that the proviso does not include, and
was not intended to include, Mr. Stanton's case. It is not possible
to apply to his case the language of the proviso unless we suppose
it to have been intended to legislate him out of office ; a conclusion,
I consider, wholly inadmissible. He was appointed by President
Lincoln during his first term of office. He cannot hereafter go out
of office at the end of the term of the President by whom he was
appointed. That term was ended before the law was passed. The
proviso, therefore, cannot have been intended to make a rule for
his case ; and it is shown that it was not intended. This was
plainly declared in debate by the conference committee, both in the
Senate and in the House of Representatives, when the proviso was
introduced, and its effect explained. The meaning and effect of
the proviso were then explained and understood to be that the only
tenure of the Secretaries provided for by this law was a tenure to
end with the term of service of the President by whom they were
appointed, and, as this new tenure could not include Mr. Stanton's
case, it was here explicitly declared that it did not include it. When
this subject was under consideration in the House of Representa
tives on the report of the conference committee on the disagreeing
vote of the two Houses, Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, chairman of the con
ference committee on the part of the House, said :
It will be remembered that by the bill as it passed the Senate
it was provided that the concurrence of the Senate should be re
quired in all removals from office, except in the case of the heads
of Departments. The House amended the bill of the Senate so as

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 343
to extend this requirement to the heads of Departments as well as
to their officers.
The committee of conference have agreed that the Senate shall
accept the amendment of the House. But, inasmuch as this would
compel the President to keep around him heads of Departments
until the end of his term who would hold over to another term, a
compromise was made by which a further amendment is added to
this portion of the bill, so that the term of office of the heads of
Departments shall expire with the term of the President who ap
pointed them, allowing these heads of Departments one month
longer. When the bill came to the Senate and was considered on the
disagreeing vote of the two Houses, and Mr. Doolittle, of Wiscon
sin, charged that, although the purpose of the measure was, in his
opinion, to force the President against his will to retain the Secre
taries appointed by Mr. Lincoln, yet that, the phraseology was such
that the bill, if passed, would not accomplish that object, Mr. Sher
man, of Ohio, who was a member of the conference committee,
and assisted to frame the proviso, said :
I do not understand the logic of the Senator from Wisconsin.
He first attributes a purpose to the committee of conference which
I say is not true. I say that the Senate have not legislated with
a view to any persons or any President, and therefore he commences
by asserting what is not true. We do not legislate in order to
keep in the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, or the
Secretary of State.
Then a conversation arose between the Senator from Ohio and
another Senator, and the Senator from Ohio continued thus :
That the Senate had no such purpose is shown by its vote
twice to make this exception. That this provision does not apply
to the present case is shown by the fact that its language is so
framed as not to apply to the present President. The Senator
shows that himself, and argues truly that it would not prevent
the present President from removing the Secretary of War, the
Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of State. And, if I
supposed that either of these gentlemen was so wanting in man
hood, in honor, as to hold his place after the politest intimation
by the President of the United States that his services were no
longer needed, I certainly, as a Senator, would consent to his
removal at any time, and so would we all.
Did any one here doubt the correctness of Mr. Sherman's inter
pretation of the act when he declared that it " would not prevent

344 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
the present President from removing the Secretary of War, the
Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of State ? " Was there
any dissent from his position ? Was there not entire acquiescence
in it? Again, said Mr. Sherman :
In this case the committee of conference — I agreed to it, I
confess, with some reluctance — came to the conclusion to qualify
to some extent the power of removal over a cabinet minister. We
provide that a cabinet minister shall hold his office not for a fixed
term, not until the Senate shall consent to his removal, but as long
as the power that appoints him holds office.
But, whatever may have been the character of the debates at
the time of the passage of the law, or whatever may have been
the contemporaneous exposition of it, I am clearly convinced that
the three Secretaries holding over from Mr. Lincoln's Administration
do not fall within its provisions under any fair judicial interpreta
tion of the act ; that Mr. Stanton held his office under the act of
1789, and under his only commission, issued in 1862, which was at
the pleasure of the President ; and I am, consequently, constrained
to decide that the order for his removal was a lawful order. Any
other construction would involve us in the absurdity of osten
sibly attempting to limit the tenure of all cabinet officers to the
term of the officer having the power to appoint them, yet giving to
three of the present cabinet ministers an unlimited tenure ; for, if
the construction contended for by the managers be the correct one,
while four of the present cabinet officers will go out of office abso
lutely, and without any action by the Senate, on the 4th of March
next, they having been appointed by Mr. Johnson, the three cabi
net officers appointed by Mr. Lincoln will hold by another and dif
ferent tenure, and cannot be removed until the incoming President
and the Senate shall mutually agree to their removal.
If I have not erred thus far in my judgment, then it follows
that the order for the removal of Mr. Stanton was not a violation
of the Constitution of the United States by reason of its having
been issued during the session of the Senate. If Mr. Stanton held
his office at the pleasure of the President alone under the act of
1789, as I think he did, it necessarily follows that the President
alone could remove him. The Senate had no power in reference to
his continuation in office. I am wholly unable to perceive, there-

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 345
fore, that the power of the President to remove him was affected or
qualified by the fact that the Senate was in session.
It has sometimes been put forward, as it was by Mr. Webster
in the debate of 1835, that the usual mode of removal from office
by the President during a session of the Senate had been by the
nomination of a successor in place of A B, removed. This would
naturally be so in all cases except the few in which the officer could
not be allowed, consistently with the public safety, to continue in
office until his successor should be appointed and qualified, and also
should refuse to resign. Such cases cannot often have occurred.
But, when they have occurred, I believe the President has exercised
that power which was understood to belong to him alone, and which
in the statute tenure of most offices is recognized by the acts of Con
gress creating them to be the pleasure of the President of the United
States. A number of cases of this kind have been put in evidence.
I do not find, either in the debates which have been had on the
power of removal, or in the legislation of Congress on the tenure
of offices, any trace of a distinction between the power of the Presi
dent to remove in recess and his power to remove during a session
of the Senate an officer who held solely by his pleasure ; and I do
not see how such a distinction could exist without some positive
and distinct provision of law to make and define it. I know of no
such provision. If that was the tenure by which Mr. Stanton held
the office of Secretary for the Department of War, and I think it
was, then I am also of the opinion that it was not a violation of
the Constitution to remove him during a session of the Senate.
If Mr. Stanton held under the act of 1789, no permission of the
President to continue in office, no adoption of him as Secretary
for the Department of War, could change the legal tenure of his
office as fixed by law, or deprive the President of the power to
remove him.
My opinion on the matter of the first article is not affected by
the facts contained in it, that the President suspended Mr. Stanton
and sent notice of the suspension to the Senate, and the Senate
refused to concur in that suspension. In my opinion that action of
the President could not and did not change the tenure of Mr. Stan
ton's office, as it subsisted by law at the pleasure of the President,
or deprive the President of that authority to remove him, which
necessarily arose from that tenure of office.

346 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
If the order of the President to Mr. Stanton was a lawful order,
as I have already said I thought it was, the first question under the
. second article is whether the President did anything unlawful in
giving the order to General Thomas to perform the duties of Sec
retary for the Department of War ad interim.
This was not an appointment to office. It was a temporary desig
nation of a person to discharge the duties of an office until the office
could be filled. The distinction between such a designation and an
appointment to office is in itself clear enough, and has been recog
nized certainly since the act of February 13, 1795. Many cases
have occurred in which this authority has been exercised. The
necessity of some such provision of law, in cases of vacancy in
offices which the Executive cannot instantly fill, must be apparent to
every one acquainted with the workings of our Government, and I
do not suppose that a reasonable question can be made of the con
stitutional validity of a law providing for such cases.
The law of 1795 did provide for such cases ; and the President,
in his answer, says he was advised that this was a subsisting law
not repealed. It may be a question whether it has been repealed ;
but, from the best examination I have been able to bestow upon the
subject, I am satisfied it has not been repealed.
I do not propose to enter into the technical rules as to implied
repeals. It is a subject of great difficulty, and I do not profess to
be able to apply those rules ; I take only this practical view of the
subject : When the act of February 20, 1863, was passed, which it
is supposed may have repealed the act of 1795, it is beyond all dis
pute that vacancies in office might be created by the President ;
and there might be the same necessity for making temporary provi
sion for discharging the duties of such vacant offices as was provided
for by the act of 1795. The act of 1863 is wholly silent on this
subject. Why should I say that a public necessity, provided for in
1795 and not negatived in 1863, was not then recognized ; or why
should I say that if recognized it was intended by the act of 1863
that it should not thereafter have any provision made for it?
Comparing the act of 1863 and the cases it provided for, I see no
sufficient reason to say that it was the intention of Congress in
1863 to deprive the President of the power given by the act of
1795 to supply the temporary necessities of the public service in
case of vacancy caused by removal.

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 347
But if I thought otherwise I should be unable to convict the
President of a crime because he had acted under the law of 1795.
Many cases of ad interim appointments have been brought before
us in evidence. It appears to have been a constant and frequent
practice of the Government, in all cases when the President was not
prepared to fill an office at the moment when the vacancy occurred,
to make an ad interim appointment. There were one hundred
and seventy-nine such appointments specified in the schedule an
nexed to the message of President Buchanan, found on page 584 of
the printed record, as having occurred in little more than the space
of thirty years. I have not minutely examined the evidence to
follow the practice further, because it seems to me that if, as I
think, the President had the power to remove Mr. Stanton, he
might well conclude, and that it cannot be attributed to him as a
high crime and misdemeanor that he did conclude, that he might
designate some proper officer to take charge of the War Depart
ment until he could send a, nomination of a suitable person to be
Secretary ; and, when I add that on the next day after this designa
tion the President did nominate for that office an eminent citizen in
whose loyalty to our country and in whose fitness for any duties he
might be willing to undertake the people would be willing to con
fide, I can find no sufficient, reason to doubt that the President acted
in good faith and believed that he was acting within the laws of
the United States. Surely the mere signing of that letter of ap
pointment, neither attended nor followed by the possession of the
office named in it, or by any act of force, of violence, of fraud, of
corruption, of injury, or of evil, will not justify us in depriving the
President of his office.
I have omitted to notice one fact stated in the second article.
It is that the designation of General Thomas to act ad interim as
Secretary of War was made during a session of the Senate. This
requires but few words. The acts of Congress, and the nature of
the cases to which they apply, admit of no distinction between ad
interim appointments in the sessions or the recess of the Senate.
A designation is to be made when necessary, and the necessity may
occur either in session or in recess.
I do not deem it necessary to state any additional views con
cerning the third article, for I find in it no allegations upon which I
have not already sufficiently indicated my opinion.

348 LIFE OF JAMES W. .GRIMES. [1868.
The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh articles charge a conspir
acy. I deem it sufficient to say that, in my judgment, the evidence
adduced by the House of Representatives not only fails to prove a
conspiracy between the President and General Thomas to remove
Mr. Stanton from office by force or threats, but it fails to prove any
conspiracy in any sense I can attach to that word.
The President, by a written order committed to General Thomas,
required Mr. Stanton to cease to act as Secretary for the Department
of War, and informed him that he had empowered General Thomas
to act as Secretary ad interim. The order to General»Thomas em
powered him to enter on the duties of the office and receive from
Mr. Stanton the public property in his charge. There is no evi
dence that the President contemplated the use of force, threats, or
intimidation ; still less that he authorized General Thomas to use
any. I do not regard the declarations of General Thomas, as ex
plained by himself, as having any tendency even to fix on the Presi
dent any purpose beyond what the orders on their face import.
Believing, as I do, that the orders of the President for the re
moval of Mr. Stanton, and the designation of General Thomas to
act ad interim, were legal orders, it is manifestly impossible for me
to attach to them any idea of criminal conspiracy. If those orders
had not been, in my judgment, lawful, I should not have come to
the conclusion, upon the evidence, that any actual intent to do an
unlawful act was proved.
The eighth article does not require any particular notice after
what I have said of the first, second, and third articles, because the
only additional matter contained in it is the allegation of an intent
to unlawfully control the appropriations made by Congress for the
military service by unlawfully removing Mr. Stanton from the office
of Secretary for the Department of War,
In my opinion, no evidence whatever, tending to prove this in
tent, has been given. The managers offered some evidence which
they supposed might have some tendency to prove this allegation,
but it appeared to the Senate that the supposed means could not,
under any circumstances, be adequate to the supposed end, and the
evidence was rejected. Holding that the order for the removal of
Mr. Stanton was not an infraction of the law, of course this article
is, in my opinion, wholly unsupported.
I find no evidence sufficient to support the ninth article.

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 349
The President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, had a right
to be informed of any details of the military service concerning
which he thought proper to inquire. His attention was called by
one of his Secretaries to some unusual orders. He sent to General
Emory to make inquiry concerning them. In the course of the
conversation General Emory himself introduced the subject which
is the gist of the ninth article, and I find in what the President said
to him nothing which he might not naturally say in response to
General Emory's inquiries and remarks without the criminal intent
charged in this ninth article.
I come now to the question of intent. Admitting that the
President had no power under the law to issue the order to remove
Mr. Stanton and appoint General Thomas Secretary for the Depart
ment of War ad interim, did he issue those orders with a manifest
intent to violate the laws and " the Constitution of the United
States," as charged in the articles, or did he issue them, as he says
he did, with a view to have the constitutionality of the tenure-of-
office act judicially decided ?
It is apparent to my mind that the President thoroughly be
lieved the tenure-of-office act to be unconstitutional and void. He
was so advised by every member of his cabinet when the bill was
presented to him for his approval in February, 1867. The man
agers on the part of the House of Representatives have put before
us and made legal evidence in this case the message of the Presi
dent to the Senate, dated December 12, 1867. In that message
the President declared :
" That tenure-of-office law did not pass without notice. Like
other acts it was sent to the President for approval. As is my cus
tom, I submitted its consideration to my cabinet for their advice
upon the question, whether I should approve it or not. It was a
grave question of constitutional law, in which I would of course rely
most upon the opinion of the Attorney -General and of Mr. Stanton,
who had once been Attorney-General. Every member of my cabi
net advised me that the proposed law was unconstitutional. .All
spoke without doubt or reservation, but Mr. Stanton's condemnation
of the law was the most elaborate and emphatic. He referred to
the constitutional provisions, the debates in Congress — especially
to the speech of Mr. Buchanan when a Senator — to the decisions of
the Supreme Court, and to the usage from the beginning of the
Government through every successive Administration, all concur
ring to establish the right of removal as vested by the Constitution

350 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
in the President. To all these he added the weight of his own de
liberate judgment, and advised me that it was my duty to defend
the power of the President from usurpation, and to veto the law."
The counsel for the respondent not only offered to prove the
truth of this statement of the President by members of the cabinet,
but they tendered in addition thereto the proof "that the duty of
preparing a message, setting forth the objections to the constitu
tionality of the bill, was devolved on Mr. Seward and Mr. Stanton."
They also offered to prove —
" That at the meetings of the cabinet, at which Mr. Stanton
was present, held while the tenure-of-office bill was before the Pres
ident for approval, the advice of the cabinet in regard to the same
was asked by the President and given by the cabinet ; and there
upon the question whether Mr. Stanton and the other Secretaries
who had received their appointment from Mr. Lincoln were within
the restrictions upon the President's power of removal from office
created by said act was considered, and the opinion expressed that
the Secretaries appointed by Mr. Lincoln were not within such re
strictions. And— " That at the cabinet meetings between the passage of the ten-
ure-of-civil-office bill and the order of the 21st of February, 1868,
for the removal of Mr. Stanton, upon occasions when the condition
of the public service as affected by the operation of that bill came
up for the consideration and advice of the cabinet, it was consid
ered by the President and cabinet that a proper regard to the pub
lic service made it desirable that upon some proper case a judicial
determination on the constitutionality of the law should be ob
tained." This evidence was, in my opinion, clearly admissible as cumula
tive of, or to explain or disprove, the message of the President,
which narrates substantially the same facts, and which the managers
have introduced and made a part of their case ; but it was rejected
as incompetent testimony by a vote of the Senate. I believe that
decision was erroneous ; and inasmuch as there is no tribunal to
revise the errors of this, and it is impossible to order a new trial of
this case, I deem it proper to regard these offers to prove as equiva
lent to proof.
We have in addition to this testimony as to the intent of the
President the evidence of General Sherman. The President desired
to appoint General Sherman Secretary ad interim for the Depart-

1868.J A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 351
ment of War, and tendered to him the office. The complications
in which the office was then involved were talked over between
them. General Sherman says that the subject of using force to eject
Mr. Stanton from the office was only mentioned by the President to
repel the idea. When General Sherman asked him why the lawyers
could not make up a case and have the conflicting questions decided
by the courts, his reply was " that it was found impossible, or a case
could not be made up ; but," said he, " if we can bring the case to
the courts it would not stand half an hour."
Here, then, we have the Prerldent advised by all of the mem
bers of his cabinet, including the Attorney-General, whose duty it
is made by law to give legal advice to him, including the Secretary
for the Department of War, also an eminent lawyer and an Attor
ney-General of the United States under a former Administration,
that the act of March 2, 1867, was unconstitutional and void, that
the three members of the cabinet holding over from Mr. Lincoln's
Administration were not included within its provisions, and that it
was desirable that upon some proper case a judicial determination
on the constitutionality of the law should be obtained.
Now, when it is remembered that, according to Chief-Justice
Marshall, the act of 1789, creating the Department of War, was in
tentionally framed " so as to clearly imply the power of removal to
be solely in the President," and that, " as the bill passed into a law,
it has ever been considered as a full expression of the sense of the
Legislature on this important part of the American Constitution ; "
when it is remembered that this construction has been acquiesced
in and acted on by every President from Washington to Johnson,
by the Supreme Court, by every Congress of the United States from
the first that ever assembled under the Constitution down to the
Thirty-ninth ; and when it is remembered that all of the President's
cabinet and the most eminent counselors within his reach advised
him that the preceding Congresses, the past Presidents and states
men, and Story, and Kent, and Thompson, and Marshall, were right in
their construction of the Constitution, and the Thirty-ninth Con
gress wrong, is it strange that he should doubt or dispute the con
stitutionality of the tenure-of-office act ?
But all this is aside from the question whether Mr. Stanton's
case is included in the provisions of that act. If it was not, as I
think it clearly was not, then the question of intent is not in issue,

352 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
for he did no unlawful act. If it was included, then I ask whether,
in view of those facts, the President's guilty intent to do an unlawful
act " shines with such a clear and certain light " as to justify, to
require us to pronounce him guilty of a high constitutional crime or
misdemeanor? The manager, Mr. Boutwell, admits that —
" If a law passed by Congress be equivocal or ambiguous in its
terms, the Executive, being called upon to administer it, may apply
his own best judgment to the difficulties before him, or he may seek
counsel of his advisers or other persons ; and acting thereupon with
out evil intent or purpose, he would be fully justified, and upon no
principle of right could he be held to answer as for a misdemeanor
in office." Does not this admission cover this case ? Is there not doubt
about the legal construction of the tenure-of-office act ? Shall we
condemn the President for following the counsel of his advisers and
for putting precisely the same construction upon the first section
of the act that we put upon it when we enacted it into a law ?
It is not necessary for me to refer to another statement made by
a manager in order to sustain my view of this case ; but I allude to
it only to put on record my reprobation of the doctrine announced.
It was said that —
" The Senate, for the purpose of deciding whether the respond
ent is innocent or guilty, can enter into no inquiry as to the
constitutionality of the act, which it was the President's duty to
execute, and which, upon his own answer, and by repeated official
confessions and admissions, he intentionally, willfully, deliberately
set aside and violated."
I cannot believe it to be our duty to convict the President of an
infraction of a law, when in our consciences we believe the law
itself to be invalid, and therefore having no binding effect. If the
law is unconstitutional it is null and void, and the President has
committed no offense and done no act deserving of impeachment.
Again, the manager said :
" The constitutional duty of the President is to obey and exe
cute the laws. He has no authority under the Constitution, or by
any law, to enter into any schemes or plans for the purpose of test
ing the validity of the laws of the country, either judicially or oth
erwise. Every law of Congress may be tested in the courts, but
it is not made the duty of any person to so test the laws."
Is this so ? It is not denied, I think, that the constitutional

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES.

353

validity of this law could not be tested before the courts unless a
case was made and presented to them. No such case could be
made unless the President made a removal. That act of his would
necessarily be the basis on which the case would rest. He is sworn
to " preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States." He must defend it against all encroachments from what
ever quarter. A question arose between the legislative and execu
tive departments as to their relative powers in the matter of remov
als from and appointments to office. That question was, Does the
Constitution confer on the President the power which the tenure-
of-office act seeks to take away ? It was a question manifestly of
construction and interpretation. The Constitution has provided a
common arbiter in such cases of controversy — the Supreme Court
of the United States. Before that tribunal can take jurisdiction a
removal must be made. The President attempted to give the court
jurisdiction in that way. For doing so he is impeached, and for
the reason, as the managers say, that —
" He has no authority under the Constitution, or by any law,
to enter into any schemes or plans for the purpose of testing the
validity of the laws of the country, either judicially or otherwise."
If this be true, then if the two Houses of Congress should pass
by a two-thirds vote over the President's veto an act depriving the
President of the right to exercise the pardoning power, and he
should exercise that power nevertheless, or if he should exercise it
only in a single case for the purpose of testing the constitutionality
of the law, he would be guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor and
impeachable accordingly. The manager's theory establishes at
once the complete supremacy of Congress over the other branches
of Government. I can give my assent to no such doctrine.
This was a, punitive statute. It was directed against the Presi
dent alone. It interfered with the prerogatives of his Department
as recognized from the foundation of the Government. It wrested
from him powers which, according to the legislative and judicial
construction of eighty years, had been bestowed upon him by the
Constitution itself. In my opinion it was not only proper, but it
was his duty, to cause the disputed question to be determined in the
manner and by the tribunal established for such purposes. This
Government can only be preserved and the liberty of the people
maintained by preserving intact the coordinate branches of it — leg-

354 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
islative, executive, judicial — alike. I am no convert to any doctrine
of the omnipotence of Congress.
But it is said that in our legislative capacity we have several
times decided this question, and that our judgments on this trial
are therefore foreclosed. As for myself, I have done no act, given
no vote, uttered no word, inconsistent with my present position.
I never believed Mr. Stanton came within the provisions of the
tenure-of-office act, and I never did any act, or gave any vote, in
dicating such a belief. If I had done so, I should not consider my
self precluded from revising any judgment then expressed, for I am
now acting in another capacity, under the sanction of a new oath,
after a full examination of the facts, and with the aid of a thorough
discussion of the law as applicable to them. The hasty and incon
siderate action of the Senate on the 21st of February may have
been, and probably was, a sufficient justification for the action of
the House of Representatives, as the grand inquest of the nation,
in presenting their articles of impeachment, but it furnishes no
reason or apology to us for acting otherwise than under the respon
sibilities of our judicial oath, since assumed.
The tenth article charges that, in order to
" bring into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, and reproach, the
Congress of the United States, and the several branches thereof, to
impair and destroy the regard and respect of all the good people of
the United States for the Congress and legislative power there
of (which all officers of the Government ought inviolably to pre
serve and maintain), and to excite the odium and resentment of all
the good people of the United States against Congress, and the
laws by it duly and constitutionally enacted ; and in pursuance of
his said design and intent, openly and publicly, and before divers
assemblages of the citizens of the United States, convened' in divers
parts thereof, to meet and receive said Andrew Johnson as the Chief
Magistrate of the United States, did, on the 18th day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1866, and on divers other days and times, as
well before as afterward, make and deliver with a loud voice cer
tain intemperate, inflammatory, and scandalous harangues, and did
therein utter loud threats and bitter menaces."
These speeches were made in 1866. They were addressed to
promiscuous popular assemblies, and were unattended by any of
ficial act. They were made by the President in his character of a
citizen. They were uttered against the Thirty-ninth Congress,
which ceased to exist more than a year ago. That body deemed

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 355
them to be unworthy of their attention, and the present House of
Representatives decided by an overwhelming majority that they,
too, did not consider them worthy to be made the ground of im
peachment. The first amendment to the Constitution of the United
States declares that " Congress shall make no law abridging the
freedom of speech." Congress, therefore, could pass no law to pun
ish the utterance of those speeches before their delivery ; but, ac
cording to the theory of this prosecution, we, sitting as a court
after their dehvery, can make a law, each for himself, to govern this
case and to punish the President.
I have no apology to make for the President's speeches. Grant
that they were indiscreet, indecorous, improper, vulgar, shall we
not, by his conviction on this article, violate the spirit of the Con
stitution which guarantees to him the freedom of speech ? And
would we not also violate the spirit of that other clause of the Con
stitution which forbids the passage of ex post facto laws? We are
sworn to render impartial justice in this case according to the Con
stitution and the laws. According to what laws ? Is it to be, in
the absence of any written law on the subject, according to the
law of each Senator's judgment, enacted in his own bosom, after
the alleged commission of the offense ? To what absurd violations
of the rights of the citizen would this theory lead us ? For my
own part I cannot consent to go beyond the worst British Parlia
ments in the time of the Plantagenets in efforts to repress the free
dom of speech.
The eleventh article contains no matter not already included in
one or more of the preceding articles, except the allegation of an
intent to prevent the execution of the act of March 2, 1867, for the
more efficient government of the rebel States. Concerning this, a
telegraphic dispatch from General Parsons, of Alabama, and the
reply of the President thereto, each dated in January preceding the
passage of the law, appear to be the only evidence adduced. These
dispatches are as follows : " Montgomery, Alabama, January 17, 1867.
" Legislature in session. Efforts making to reconsider vote on
constitutional amendment. Report from Washington says it is
probable an enabling act will pass. We do not know what to
believe. I find nothing here. Lewis E. Paesons,
"Exchange Hotel.
" His Excellency Andbe-w Johnson, President."

356 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
The response is :
" United States Military Telegraph Executive Office, I
Washington, D. C, January 17, 1867. )
"What possible good can be obtained by reconsidering the con
stitutional amendment ? I know of none in the present posture of
affairs ; and I do not believe the people of the whole country will
sustain any set of individuals in attempts to change the whole char
acter of our Government by enabling acts or otherwise. I believe,
on the contrary, that they will eventually uphold all who have
patriotism aud courage to stand by the Constitution, and who place
their confidence in the people. There should be no faltering on the
part of those who are honest in their determination to sustain the
several coordinate departments of the Government in accordance
with its original design. Andeew Johnson.
" Hon. Lewis E. Parsons, Montgomery, Alabama."
I am wholly unable, from these dispatches, to deduce any crim
inal intent. They manifest a diversity of political views between
the President and Congress. The case contains ample evidence
outside of these dispatches of that diversity of opinion. I do not
perceive that these dispatches change the nature of that well-
known and, in my opinion, much-to-be-deplored diversity.
I have thus, as briefly as possible, stated my views of this case.
I have expressed no views upon any of the questions upon which the
President has been arraigned at the bar of public opinion, outside
of the charges. I have no right to travel out of the record.
Mr. Johnson's character as a statesman, his relations to political
parties, his conduct as a citizen, his efforts at reconstruction, the
exercise of his pardoning power, the character of his appointments,
and the influences under which they were made, are not before us
on any charges, and are not impugned by any testimony.
Nor can I suffer my judgment of the law governing this case to
be influenced by political considerations. I cannot agree to destroy
the harmonious working of the Constitution for the sake of getting
rid of an unacceptable President. Whatever may be my opinion of
the incumbent, I cannot consent to trifle with the high office he
holds. I can do nothing which, by implication, may be construed
into an approval of impeachments as a part of future political
machinery. However widely, therefore, I may and do differ with the Presi
dent respecting his political views and measures, and however
deeply T have regretted, and do regret, the differences between

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 357
himself and the Congress of the United States, I am not able to
record my vote that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors
by reason of those differences. I am acting in a judicial capacity,
under conditions whose binding obligation can hardly be exceeded,
and I must act according to the best of my ability and judgment,
and as they require. If, according to their dictates, the President
is guilty, I must say so ; if, according to their dictates, the Presi
dent is not guilty, I must say so.
In my opinion the President has not been guilty of an impeach
able offense, by reason of anything alleged in either of the articles
preferred against him at the bar of the Senate by the House of
Representatives. Two days after delivering this opinion, Mr. Grimes was
attacked with paralysis in the Senate-Chamber, and suffered
extreme prostration. On the 16th of May, though continuing
to be very feeble, he went to the Senate, determined that no
risk should deter him from his public duty. Much apprehen
sion was felt by friends as to the consequences. On that day a
vote was taken on the eleventh article of impeachment. When
his name was called, Judge Chase said he might remain seated.
With the assistance of friends, however, he rose. The Chief-
Justice said : " Mr. Senator Grimes, how say you ? Is the re
spondent, Andrew Johnson, guilty or not guilty of a high mis
demeanor, as charged in this article ? " Mr. Grimes answered,
" Not guilty." Thirty-five Senators voted " Guilty ; " nineteen
voted " Not guilty." The Chief-Justice, announcing the vote,
said : " Two-thirds not having pronounced guilty, the President
is, therefore, acquitted upon this article." The vote was taken
on the second and third articles, May 26th, with the same result,
when the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, adjourned
without day.
Mr. Grimes's vote brought upon him foul abuse and detrac
tion. The country was in a blaze of excitement. Honest opin
ion was divided. Many able and true men had felt assured of
guilt and evil designs on the part of the President. In expecta
tion of- his removal from office, arrangements had been presumed
upon with reference to the high offices of the Government, and
24

358 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
many persons were dazzled by visions of place and power. Mr.
Grimes kept aloof from partisan considerations. He remarked
to an old friend : " Perhaps I did wrong not to commit perjury
by order of a party ; but I cannot see it in that way." He was
upon his oath. He heard the whole case, and, under a sense of
responsibihty to the Supreme Judge and to the country, gave
his verdict.
In the storm of calumny and vituperation that feh upon
him, Chief-Justice Chase called, and, sitting by his bed with
friendly anxiety and sympathy, said to him : " I would rather
be in your place, Mr. Grimes, than to receive any honor in the
gift of our people." In a few years, time and reflection altered
many men's judgments, and the integrity of Mr. Grimes, and
the political wisdom and sagacity of his general views upon the
subject, were approved to the country. In facing clamor and
prejudice and passion with firm resolution and an heroic spirit,
he gave a fine example of unshaken and unterrified faith, loyalty,
and zeal, in a crisis of the nation.1
111. — To Henry W. Starr, Esq., Burlington, Iowa.
Washington, May 17, 1868.
Am writing my first letter after paralysis. Am getting better,
but doctors say I must leave here, and shah go as soon as I can
travel. Am covered with blisters. This attack admonishes me
that my pohtical career is nearly over, that it is quite probable the
last vote I shall ever give I gave yesterday ; and I can say before
God that I never gave one more conscientiously, nor- one I am bet
ter satisfied with.
The foUowing card is a sufficient reference to the calumnies
of the period :
1 " On the trial of Marshal Ney for treason (1815), the Duke de Broglie was the only
peer who voted " Not guilty." The man, the place, and the hour all considered, the
violence of political passions outside, the fear of fresh convulsions within — this was
certainly one of the most heroic actions recorded in parliamentary history. It was
a vote worthy of the son-in-law of Madame de Stael ; and, whatever may be thought
of the weakness and guilt of Ney, many a courtier, a soldier, and a peer, lived to
regret that he did not vote as Victor de Broglie voted on that memorable day." —
Edinburgh Review, April, 1872.

1868.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 359

A Card to the Chicago Tribune. Washington, May 26, 1868.
It is not true that I have now, or ever had, any hostility to Mr.
Wade. I never had the slightest misunderstanding with him in
my life.
It is not true that I ever sought to be, or ever desired to be,
a candidate for Yice-President or President pro tempore of the
Senate. It is not true that Chief-Justice Chase sought to influence my
judgment in the impeachment trial. I never had a word of con
versation with the Chief-Justice on that subject, nor on the subject
of a new party or of any political party ; nor did he ever mention
the subject of the presidency to me. I have not been in the house
of the Chief-Justice for more than two years.
It is not true that I have ever been dissatisfied with the recon
struction plan of Congress. So far from it, I was one of the seven
Senators who were members of the Joint Committee on Recon
struction, and signed the report. I was chairman of the sub-com
mittee on the State of Tennessee, and it was upon my recommenda
tion that that State was so early restored to the Union.
It is not true that I am now or ever was, either directly or indi
rectly, interested in the Chicago Tribune newspaper. I do not
know nor ever have known how the Tribune corps is organized,
what is its capital, who are its stockholders, or the value of its
stock. Nor have I ever sought to influence the course of that paper
on any measure, public or private. I am sorry to be compelled to
add that the story, so circumstantially related and published, that
the wife of the editor of that paper is my daughter, is not true.
It is not true that I ever had the slightest sympathy with the
general policy of Mr. Johnson's Administration. I have had no per
sonal intercourse with Mr. Johnson for two years ; never asked him
for a favor, and never received one from him.
It is true that, when I took an oath that " in all things ap
pertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson I
would render impartial justice according to the Constitution and the
laws" I ceased to act in a representative capacity. I became a
judge, acting on my own responsibility and accountable only to
my own conscience and my Maker ; and no power could force me

360 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1868.
to decide in such a case, contrary to my convictions, to suit the
requirements of a party, whether that party were composed of my
friends or my enemies. James W. Geimes.
112. — To Hon. William P. Fessenden, Washington.
Yonkers, N. Y., June 10, 1868.
I am doing well ; have recovered the use of my arm, though I
cannot wield a pen with ease, and hence use a pencil. My leg is
improving, but is weak, and I suppose will be for some time.
You must accept the Boston dinner. A great deal depends on
it. If you do, it will hurt Sumner ; especially if you and Trumbull
call up and press his resolutions * lately introduced about impeach
ment, or at any rate make speeches about them. Those resolutions
are " the last straw," are odious, and will be fatal to him, if you
press him on them. Even this little use of my arm weakens it,
and I must stop.
June 16th. — I am an egotist, as you know, and therefore will
begin by saying that I am improving, am gaining flesh and strength,
though I fear that my increase of strength is not equal to the
increase of weight. This is partly owing to the fact that I now
eschew tobacco in all its forms.
I hope you can attend the Boston dinner, and make a prepared
speech. If you do not, you must write a long letter. I would
carefully avoid the slightest allusion to Sumner personally, but you
ought to state in the strongest terms your convictions of the rev
olutionary tendencies of the demands of the impeachmentites, and
insist, as is the fact, that we saved the country.
1 June 3d, Mr. Sumner submitted resolutions declaring the constitutional re
sponsibility of Senators for their votes on impeachment :
1. That even assuming that the Senate is a court in the exercise of judicial
power, Senators cannot claim that their votes are exempt from the judgment of the
people, etc.
2. That tbe Senate is not at any time a court, invested with judicial power, but
always a Senate . with specific functions ; that the proceeding by impeachment is
from beginning to end political, and that the vote of a Senator on impeachment,
though different in form, is not different in responsibility from his vote on any other
political question, etc
3. That the simple requirement of the Constitution, which says, "Senators when
sitting to try impeachment shall be on oath or affirmation," was never intended to
change the character of the Senate as a political body, and cannot have any such
operation, etc.

1868-'69.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 361
You are right in supposing that I am not surprised at the
course of Mr. Stanton. You need never expect forgiveness from
him. Governor Fish inquired for you to-day, and so does almost
every one I meet. I see no one who does not sustain you in youi
course. I am satisfied that, with a few well-directed blows now that
we have the anarchists down, their reign will forever end.
Bath, Me., July 7, 1868.
I see that Butler has made a report, but fails to report the tes
timony. From the extracts I have seen, I judge that it is the most
discreditable public paper ever issued in this country. I have not
heard ofa man here who disapproved of your course on impeach
ment, after he came to understand it. Nor did I in Boston. I dis
covered that Hooper telegraphed and went to Boston, while the
matter was pending, to get up a public meeting, petitions, etc., in
favor of conviction, and it was to head off that movement that R.
H. Dana, Jr., introduced his resolutions into the House, which came
so near passing that body. Bath, Me., August 1, 1868.
I have been watching the Portland press to notice the announce
ment of your return home, and not seeing it I judge that you have
not yet reached that to me very desirable place. Had you done so,
I should have been tempted to make a descent upon you, though I
am in a very poor condition to make a visit to anj'body. I leave
on Monday for Rye Beach. I want to see you very much, but my
physician orders surf-bathing, and I must obey. Notwithstanding
his order, however, I think I should lay over a day in Portland, were
I sure you were there.
I am happy to say that my original trouble is over, so far as I
can see, but, having been compelled to cease smoking, I have
grown quite fleshy, and am troubled with weakness and neuralgic
pains in my hips and thighs. Added to this, my head is in a con
stant whirl. So you see I would not be a very agreeable visitor
were I to go to see you. 113.— To Mr. N~. C. Peering.-
Washington, January 29, 1869.
I thank you for your letter of the 19th instant. I had no doubt,
when I gave my vote on the question of impeachment, that the

362 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1869.
storm would beat upon me, and that many good men whose opin
ions I esteemed would always believe that I was influenced by
improper motives ; still there was only one course open to me, and
that was to obey my oath, to " do impartial justice according to
the Constitution, the laws, and the evidence," and submit to the
consequences, let them be what they might. Neither the honors nor
the wealth of the world could have induced me to act otherwise,
and I have never for a moment regretted that I voted as I did. I
shall always thank God that he gave me courage to stand firm in
the midst of the clamor, and by my vote not only to save the Re
publican party, but prevent such a precedent being established as
would in the end have converted ours into a sort of South American
republic, in which there would be a revolution whenever there hap
pened to be an adverse majority in Congress to the President for
the time being.
In January Mr. Grimes made a donation of five thousand
dollars to Dartmouth College : to found two scholarships of one
thousand dollars each ; a prize fund of one thousand dollars,
the income to be given annually in two prizes to members of
the senior class for excellence in Enghsh composition ; a fund
of one thousand dollars, the income to be annually awarded to
that member of the senior class who, in the judgment of the
Faculty, has made the most satisfactory progress during his col
lege course, taking into consideration his preparation when he
entered ; and one thousand dollars to the " Social Friends," a
literary society, of which he was a member when in college.
President Smith, acknowledging the donation, said, Febru
ary -3d:
Allow me to thank you in the name of the Faculty, the trus
tees, and, I will add, of the young men, who, in all future time,
will be benefited by your bounty. For you have given such direc
tion to your gift that, in one way or another, it will affect every
member of the institution. I note what you say about giving
" unnecessary publicity " to your benefaction, and I appreciate your
wish to escape newspaper notoriety. But the thing cannot be kept
in a corner. The students must know it, and they will be delighted
with it ; and gladness, you know, has always a tongue. Besides,
your name is an honored one in New Hampshire, and I almost

1869.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 363
think the good people have a right to know that you have thus re
membered the one college of your native State.

LNCEEASE OP DUTY UPON COPPER.
I am glad to know upon what theory this bill proceeds. We
learn from the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Morrill) that it is a
charitable measure, that it originated in a pure spirit of humanity.
It seems that there is a class of people somewhere in the State of
Michigan who are in a starving condition, and, because they are in
a starving condition, the Senator has been willing to acknowledge
here that he is content to destroy all the commerce of this country
that is used in connection with this copper interest, and increase
the value of every spike and nail, and the sheathing and yellow
metal with which vessels are covered, to the extent of a very large
per cent. If that is the spirit in which this bill originated, it seems
to me it would be better to organize a branch of the Freedmen's
Bureau, to take charge of those famishing and suffering people,
than to increase the duty on every article of household economy
that is made of copper. This increase comes off of every laboring-
man, artisan, and mechanic. It comes off of every man who is com
pelled to buy a cooking-stove. Instead of taking money out of the
wealth of the country for feeding these famishing people in Michi
gan, you make every man in my State and in Illinois poorer to the
extent that the Senator has succeeded in inducing this body to in
crease the duty from thirty-five to forty-five per cent.
There is another question I should like to have solved. I should
like to know how much copper there is on hand. They protected
us in my country, two years ago, by putting a high duty on wool,
by which they succeeded in lowering the value of wool in my State
from forty-five or fifty-five cents down to no market at all ; but there
were parties who were protected, and they were the people who had
large quantities of wool on hand. The immediate effect was that
everybody in the Western country attempted to increase the pro
duction of wool, and doubled his flocks, or increased his flocks to the
largest extent possible. While doing that, you put a high duty on
the imported wool, which was necessary to be used in order to
manufacture the articles that each one wears here to-day, and the
result was, there was not any market for our wool. But there

364 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1869.
were parties that were benefited, who had, in anticipation of the
passage of that law, imported large quantities of foreign wool,
which they were able to sell, realizing the advance we put upon
the tariff. The price rose in anticipation of the law, just as copper
has risen to-day in anticipation of the passage of this bill. I am
told there is a vast quantity on hand, and the passage of this bill
will put immense sums in the pockets of the men owning it. That
is the advantage of passing tariff bills in this way. I need not indi
cate, I think, that I shah vote against this bill, and against all other
tariff bills that are not levied strictly for revenue purposes (Jan
uary 19th)
Congratulating Mr. Cameron, of Pennsylvania, upon his
liberal ideas in favor of free banking, Mr. Grimes said, Febru
ary 22d :
I trust in a few months he will be able still more to liberalize
his conceptions of public affairs, and that he will then be in favor
of more liberal laws and rules in regard to commerce and trade, and
that it will be but a little while before I shall be able to welcome
him into my party of free trade.
Upon a resolution to admit books, maps, regalia, apparatus,
art collections, etc., for certain purposes, free of duty, he said :
While in favor of throwing as few obstacles as possible upon
the importation of such articles, I am not prepared to vote to put
three hundred per cent, duty upon copper, that is used in all sorts
of domestic purposes, and, at the same time, entirely exempt such
articles from duty (February 24th).
In favor of paying three thousand dollars to the widow of
Samuel T. Hartt, naval constructor, Mr. Grimes said, Febru
ary 11th:
This man, while in the performance of his duties at the Norfolk
Navy- Yard, conceived the idea of a new kind of elevator, such as
had never been used in our own or any other navy, by which to ele
vate and depress the breech of a gun. Up to that time it had
always been elevated by inartificial and awkward blocks, if I may
be permitted to use an unprofessional phrase here. The sloop-of-

1869.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 365
war Portsmouth was about being fitted out at the Norfolk Navy-
Yard, and was going to the Asiatic squadron in the Chinese seas,
under the command of the late lamented Rear- Admiral Foote. He
thought favorably of this plan, and, at his instance, the Secretary
of the Navy allowed the guns of that vessel to be fitted out in this
particular way. She sailed for China, and engaged in a conflict
with the Canton Barrier forts, where the guns had a fair opportu
nity of being tested with this experiment, and with very great suc
cess. Shortly after, Mr. Hartt died, leaving a widow and four help
less children. She took out no letters-patent, nor did Hartt in his
lifetime. Finding that it was a success, and that this screw abso
lutely became necessary, we have been introducing it into our ships,
and using it with all our guns. Now the widow comes to us and
says that she is entitled to some compensation for the use of her
husband's method for elevating and depressing guns, and the Naval
Committee have agreed with her in that. I agree with the Senator
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cameron) as to the general principle that
an officer in the employ of the Government ought to bestow upon
the Government his undivided services ; but I think that this bill
does not come within that rule, and this is the first case where I
have ever consented to report such a bill to the Senate favorably.
Advocating the publication by Congress of the medical and
surgical history of the war, Mr. Grimes said, February 13th :
I think it is but due to poor humanity, that we should let it
know what has been accomplished by medical science during our war
to save human life, for the benefit of the world in the future. The
war drew to it the most eminent medical ability in this country, and
the result is that medical science in the United States to-day stands
higher than it does in any country in Europe. There may be indi
vidual physicians and surgeons in Europe, who have devoted their
time to particular specialties, who have a higher reputation, than
any surgeons in this country ; but, as a mass, in consequence of the
developments of this war, I am assured, not by men who are inter
ested in the publication of this work, but by men outside of the
army-surgeons, and by men connected with the profession in other
countries, that American medical science has a higher reputation
than that of any country in Europe ; and it grows out of the expe
rience of this war. I think it is due to the country, it is due to

366 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. . [1869.
humanity, that we should let the world know what these develop
ments have been, in the most authentic way possible.

§ 6. — In the Forty-first Congress. — First Session — March,
April, 1869.
The country still groaning under the burden of taxation,
Mr. Grimes continued to urge economy in all pubhc expendi
ture. He introduced a bill, March 6th, to reorganize the Navy,
mainly for the purpose of reducing its expenses, so that the
number of officers should be a httle less than at the beginning
of the. war ; and advocated similar economy with reference to
the Army and the Indian Department. Upon a motion to ap
propriate five thousand dollars for medallions of the President,
to be distributed to Indian tribes, he remarked :
I am satisfied this is a custom more honored in the breach than
in the observance. At an early day I lived in the neighborhood of
Indians, and I have seen a dozen of these medallions hung up in
corner groceries, where they had been bartered off by the Indians
for whiskey. Once in a while an old fellow may carry one for some
years, but generally they soon are lost, or fall into the hands of the
whiskey-sellers. Upon the introduction of a bill to authorize the prepayment
of interest on the' public debt, a letter from the Secretary of the
Treasury being read in favor of the measure, Mr. Grimes asked
why the Secretary preferred to do this, rather than to comply
with the law in regard to a sinking-fund. Mr. Sherman said,
" Many persons are opposed to a sinking-fund." Mr. Grimes
replied :
Many people may be opposed to it, but Congress is not. When
we authorized the debt to be created, we declared that, there should
be a sinking-fund. That fund exists only upon the statute. The
law authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to buy the bonds of
the United States. Where should we save any money by paying
the interest in advance, over buying up the bonds of the United
States, and putting them into the sinking-fund ? (March 23d).

1869.] A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 367
Mr. Grimes advocated the repeal of the tenure-of-office act, of
March 2, 1867. That act was passed to tie the hands of President
Johnson. It trammeled alike those of the new President.
To repeal it, however, seemed to many Senators, as Mr. Morrill,
of Yermont, remarked, like eating then own words, when they
voted Andrew Johnson guilty of violating the Constitution, as
well as the act in question. Mr. Grimes had no occasion for
such scruples. He held that the Government could be properly
administered only by enforcing a speedy and strict aecountabihty
of ah officers to the Executive. He did not wish to have a
hand in perpetuating such troubles and conflicts between the
Executive and Congress as had existed to the injury of the
public service under Mr. Johnson.
114. — To Henry W. Starr, Esq., Burlington.
Washington, March 18, 1869.
I shall go to Europe next month. Am glad to hear that the
library is so successful, and trust that an effort will be made to
keep it up.
The impeachment furor has entirely subsided here, and those
who voted for it are now on the defensive, rather than those who
voted against it. Between us, I am satisfied that I am stronger in
the Senate in every respect, where I am so well known, than I ever
was before I was tried in the furnace of impeachment. The only
evil resulting to me from that attempt to act according to my con
victions, has been the injury to my health. I am slowly overcom
ing that, however, and I hope that I shall some time be nearly, if
not quite, restored.

CHAPTER Y.
TRAVELS IN EUROPE. — RETURN HOME.  DEATH.  CHARACTER.
1869-1872.
Mr. Grimes sailed for Europe, April 14, 1869, and remained
abroad until the summer of 1871. He was in London early in
May, and found there a state of great excitement, growing out
of a recent speech of Mr. Sumner's on the Johnson-Clarendon
treaty. In interviews with a number of Enghsh gentlemen, who
occupied places of authority and influence, and by a letter to
the Times, which one of those gentlemen assured him would be
of great service at that moment, he assisted to correct and quiet
the public mind. " It is gratifying," said the Times, " to re
ceive so emphatic a disclaimer of Mr. Sumner's extravagant
propositions." 115. — To the Editor of the London Times.
Will you permit an American, who has read all the articles
published in your columns within the last two weeks on American
affairs, and who thinks he has a tolerably correct judgment of the
public sentiment of his country, to assure you —
1. That there never has been a time within the last fifty years
when there was in the United States less of a disposition to go to
war with any country, least of all with Great Britain, than there is
at the present moment.
2. That the Senate of the United States, by their vote on what
is called " the Alabama Treaty," simply agreed to the conclusion

1869.] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 369
at which Mr. Sumner arrived in his speech in the executive session
of that body, and not to the processes by which he reached that
conclusion, or the arguments by which he supported it.
3. That Mr. Sumner delivered an elaborate speech on this sub
ject, which he had been four weeks preparing, and from which he
desired the injunction of secrecy to be removed,1 a request that is
always granted by the Senate. All other remarks made on the
occasion were informal and conversational, and the speakers neither
felt nor expressed any similar desire for publicity.
4. That there were various causes not generally known, and
which it is needless to allude to, that conspired to secure the re
jection of the treaty,, not the least of which were the unwise
declarations of members of the British legation in Washington,
which, coupled with the manner of constituting the commission, as
agreed upon in the treaty, gave an appearance, at least, of probable
unfairness in the arbitration.
5. That England's offense in the eyes of Americans is not " that
she conceded belligerent rights to the Confederacy, at a time when
the Southern States had apparently established themselves as an
-independent power," or that she recognized their belligerent rights
at any time, nor that we did not enjoy the full sympathy of her
citizens during the rebellion. Their real grievance is that the Ala
bama, built and fitted out in an English port, never ran into a Con
federate port so as to acquire the legal character of a Confederate
belligerent, technically or otherwise ; that she was in truth an
English vessel, sailing from a British port, under the British flag,
manned by British sailors, was everywhere cordially received, sup
plied and coaled at British stations, while such hospitality was de
nied to American cruisers ; that she never had any other home than
the port of Liverpool, from which she originally departed, and
remained in law and conscience a British vessel until she sank be
neath the waves. This is our grievance. All else is the embellish
ment of the advocate and orator.
6. That while it is not to be denied that there is a desire in the
Northwestern States of the Union to see the British provinces add
ed to their Government, for the purpose of securing control of the
navigation of the St. Lawrence River, which drains a large portion
1 " The removal of the injunction of secrecy was not made at my request. It
was the spontaneous act of the Senate." — (Mr. Sumner to Mr. Grimes, May 28th.)

370 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1869.
of their territory, it is also true that many of the Atlantic States
are opposed to their acquisition, because they fear that if acquired
the West will have uninterrupted water communication with
Europe, without passing through and being tributary to them.
The intelligent people of the West are patiently biding their time,
. in the full faith that when the British Government concludes, as it
sooner or later will conclude, that the provinces are an element of
expensive weakness to it, aud that it will no longer support them,
they will be quite as anxious to join the United States as their
public men, who almost exclusively enjoy the bounty bestowed by
the home Government, now profess to be unwilling to do so.
There is not a respectable minority of any party in any State in the
Union that would for a moment justify an attempt to wrest the
Canadas, by force, from the British crown.
7. I am not prepared to say what may be the specific instruc-.
tions with which Mr. Motley may come to England ; but I am pre
pared to say that they will not be other than of the most pacific
character. It should be borne in mind that under our Government
the Senate is a part of the treaty -making power ; that the rejection
or amendment of a treaty by that body is of frequent occurrence,
and that such a rejection furnishes no reason to the American mind
why efforts at negotiation should not be renewed again and again.
Possibly Mr. Motley may not be instructed to take the initiative in
a new treaty, but that should not be the cause of uneasiness on the
part of any one, and certainly cannot be the cause of war.
An American Citizen.
1 Charges Street, May 10, 1869.
116.— To Hon. W. P. Fessenden. London, May 10, 1869.
You have no idea of the tumult that has been created here by
Sumner's speech. Our friends during the war are much grieved
about it, for it has had the effect to place them in a false position
entirely. Mr. Bright told me to-day that Johnson brought to him
a letter of introduction from Sumner, indorsing him and what he
might do, in the strongest possible manner, that Mr. Seward fur
nished substantially the terms of the treaty, and he offered to show
me a letter from Sumner to him, received about three weeks ago,
in which he said that if the treaty had been submitted to the Sen-

1869-J TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 371
ate twelve months ago, it Would have passed that body with no dis
sentients. He denounced Sumner quite vigorously, for a quaker,
and wound up by saying that he was either a fool himself, or else
thought the English public and their public men to be fools. He
sent for me to call on him, and I had a long talk with him. He is
undoubtedly a true friend of our country. It cannot be compre
hended how the Senate could remove the injunction of secrecy
from Sumner's speech, so full as it is of vituperation, and not re
move it from the supposed other senatorial speeches, unless the
whole body is in full sympathy with his sentiments. I have ex
plained all that in the Times. Our bonds here have fallen five per
cent., and the English people are really anticipating war with us,
in which they expect to be aided by France. I have laughed and
continue to laugh at the panic, but it is really becoming serious.
The truth is, that Sumner has greatly injured our cause by pre
senting so many perfectly absurd arguments, and urging them with
so much bitterness. The true way is to present our real grievance in
the Alabama case, which is a grievance patent to all. But he covers
up that confessedly evil act in so much rhetorical verbiage about
the sympathies of the English people, which this Government could
not control, and their declaration of belligerent rights, which we
recognized first, that he fritters away the strength of his strong
point. I suppose this will ah blow over in time, but it has really
been looking blue here for a week. There is a talk here among
Americans that Mr. Bright may be sent on a special mission to
America, to adjust this matter. No one here denies their liability
on account of the Alabama depredations, and they are anxious to
settle it. They do not want war, but they are ready for it. They
can borrow money at three per cent., while we would be unable to
borrow it at all, and while they would sweep our commerce from
the seas, they would also ravage our coasts with their vastly su
perior navy, and blockade all our ports.
We have been in England two weeks, and in London one ; have
been seeing and shall continue to see the sights for a week yet,
and then go to Paris and then to the Aix-la-Chapelle baths, whither
I have been ordered by the doctor.
When Mr. Grimes had been about three weeks in Paris, he
suffered a second attack of paralysis. He then believed that

372 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1869.
he should never be able to resume his place in the Senate, and
soon afterward sent in his resignation of the office of Senator
to the Governor of Iowa.
117.— To the Hon. W. P. Fessenden. Paris, July 9, 1869.
Your welcome letter came duly to hand. You have perhaps
heard that I have had the misfortune to be attacked a second time
by my terrible enemy, the paralysis. This time the attack was of
the left side. It occurred about five weeks ago in this city, just as
we were about to leave it, and the very day I had pronounced my
self to my wife as well as I was before my first attack. I am slowly
recovering, and hope to be nearly if not quite well in time. My
head has been a good deal affected, and this is the first time I have
attempted to write, read, or think, without giddiness and suffering
in that important organ. This attack closes up my political career.
I shall never, I am sorry to say, sit by your side as a member of
the Senate again. I shall not return to America this year, but
shall resign my place as Senator before Congress meets. So much
of a personal character, for which you must pardon me ; but I
thought you might wish to know my condition and plans.
I received a letter from Sumner about two weeks ago, grieving
over my letter to the Times. I had a mind to answer it publicly,
but have concluded to let him go. I could scare him terribly. I
hear it from undoubted authority that he has written to Motley,
complaining of his Liverpool speech as not being sufficiently bel
ligerent. I have not seen an American in Europe who is not
ashamed of Sumner's speech, and but feels humiliated that such a
speech should be regarded as the highest attainment of senatorial
eloquence on a great international question.
There is one thing we lack in America, more than anything else,
to make up an accurate history of our country, and that is, me
moirs of public men. I am greatly struck with that fact here,
where they have ever been so abundant. What kind of a history
can any man coming after us make up of the last ten years from the
newspapers ? None at all. Now, you have lived in the most
eventful period of our country's history. You have had a leading
part in public affairs for twenty-five years ; you have a cool head, a
retentive memory, and a facile pen. I insist that you ought, in

1869.] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 373
justice to the future, in behalf of your own memory, and for the
common good, to spend a few leisure hours every day in preparing
your memoirs. You need not necessarily take up subjects seriatim ;
begin with any one of the many interesting topics, and after one is
completed you will be more in the humor to begin another. If
you do not choose to publish them in your own time, leave them to
be published in some future time, in vindication of your memory,
and to promote the cause of truth.
118. — To Henry W. Starr, Esq., Burlington. Paris, July 23, 1869.
I had about six weeks ago another stroke of the paralysis, this
time affecting my left side, from the crown of my head to the sole
of my foot. I had thought I was entirely recovered from the first
attack, which you remember was of the right side, and began to
be imprudent in my diet, labor, etc. This attack came on in the
night. The day before, which was a warm Sunday, I did not go
out of the house, and said to my wife, when going up-stairs after
dinner, that I believed I was now entirely well again. The next
morning I was prostrated. This attack was much more violent than
the first one, affecting my head much more. I have not written a
letter until within three days without the very little mental exertion
causing a pressure upon the brain, and a sense of giddiness or light
ness, so that I would be compelled to rest every minute. I feel
this sensation to some extent now, but I am rapidly gaining on it.
I have had three of the most eminent physicians in Paris. They
are certainly very intelligent men, and appear to understand the
subject. Their course is exactly opposite to that advised by the
American physicians : in America 1 was dosed with strychnine, and
in Paris with arsenic. I am gaining slowly, am keeping house,
have been compelled to remain in Paris, am advised to ride and
be in the open air, and therefore keep a span of horses and a
driver, and have seen the outside of everything in and around Paris,
and Mrs. Grimes and Mary have seen nearly everything inside..
We have been here now three months. We are told that we can
go to Homburg, in Germany, next week, but we shall remain here
a week after that, in order to see John Walker, who is on his way
hither, in command of the frigate Sabine, with the class of grad>-
uating midshipmen, George Remey,. young Bridgman,.etc.
25

374 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1869.
I was shocked to hear of the death of Mr. Carpenter.1 There
seem to be very few, if any, of our early contemporaries left about
Burlington. I wrote the Alabama letter when in London, and published' it
at the instance of John Bright, who had been all through the war
our friend, is such now, and always will be, but who at the time
was terribly disturbed by the taunts of Roebuck, Laird, and the
rest of our enemies. It was known all through London who wrote
it, and it was said to have produced a good effect. Such men as
Robert Chambers, of Edinburgh, called on me to thank me for it,
etc. You can have no conception of the effect of Sumner's speech.
Our bonds fell five per cent, in London in one day, and would have
fallen twenty, but for the German buyers, who stepped in and held
up the market, and made themselves rich by it. Would you be
lieve it possible that John Bright could have a letter from Sumner,
written as late as January last, in which he said that, had the Ala
bama treaty been presented to the Senate one year ago, it would
have been confirmed without a dissenting voice ? Yet it is true, for
I have seen the letter ; and yet Sumner made that speech.
I must from this time forward cease to attend to business of any
kind. It is rather hard that just at this time, when I feel myself
in the full vigor of my mental powers, I should be compelled to
surrender all the ambitions of a lifetime. I have the consolation
of feeling that, however much I may have erred, my error was one
of judgment, and, sweetest of all, I have the consolation of knowing
that on the subject about which I really made shipwreck of my
health, I have daily, hourly evidences that the intelligent senti
ment of the country applauds the course I took, and that that sen
timent will increase more and more from year to year.
119. — To Mr. Lyman Cook, Burlington.
Aix-les-Bains, Savoy, August 27, 1869.
Your long and very agreeable letter of the 8th of August has
just reached me here, for which I am greatly obliged to you. I
assure you that your letters have the effect to dissipate for some
time the feeling of homesickness and the blues, with which I am a
great deal of the time much oppressed.
I flatter myself that you want to hear about, myself and my con-
1 Anthony W. Carpenter, mayor of the city, 1868.

1869.] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 375
dition and future movements. Ten days ago we came to this place,
which is a village of four thousand people, on the bank of Lake
Bourget, and entirely surrounded by high mountains, making it for
about six hours in the day the hottest place in the world. It is six
and a half miles from Chambe>y, the ancient capital of Savoy, a few
miles from the Mont Cenis Tunnel, three and a half hours by rail
from Geneva, and about fifty miles from Mont Blanc. There is a
celebrated hot sulphur spring here, known to the Romans, who
erected baths, a temple to Diana, etc., the remains of which are still
conspicuous, and a splendid gateway to the baths is standing, which
was erected in the fourth century. The water is about 120° Fahr.,
and for the most part administered by douches, and with friction.
There are about three thousand visitors here at present, and the
number is about ten thousand during the year. I fancy that I have
been helped by the baths. The immediate effect of them is to greatly
bleach, and reduce the strength of the patient. Such to some extent
has been my experience. I am not as strong as when I came here,
and I am as white as a ghost ; still I hope and believe that I am
better. The physician advises me to leave here after bathing a few
days longer, and go to the alkaline waters at Evian, a small water
ing place on Lake Geneva. We shall, therefore, leave here on the
4th of September for that place, where we shall remain about three
weeks, when we shall go to Nice, via Lyons and Marseilles, to meet
John Walker and the frigate Sabine, and shall probably go on
her to Naples. My great difficulty is with my head, which is full
of uncomfortable and sometimes excruciating pains. I fancy that I
am destined to overcome them in some measure in the future — at
any rate my experience has taught me the necessity of taking care
of myself. These Savoyards are a very quiet, simple people, and inhabit a
most interesting country. It was in relation to these people that
Milton wrote his grand invocation beginning —
"Avenge, 0 Lord, thy slaughtered saints ! "
and for whom also Cromwell demanded and obtained religious
toleration. Then, they were a part of the dukedom of Savoy, after
ward belonged to the kingdom of Sardinia and Italy, and in 1860
were ceded to France, in consideration of the assistance rendered
by the latter country to Victor Emmanuel in his war with Austria.
It is .curious to see the hills cultivated in places to their very tops,

376 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1869.
to see fig-trees as large as our apple-trees, to see the olive-orchards,
and the grapes twined tree to tree, and hanging in festoons be
tween. You may be interested to know that I have had the honor of
importing the American fever and ague to this Alpine country, and
that that infernal disease, which I have had for thirty-four years, is
the assigned cause for my disease of paralysis. It seems that I
shall never be rid of it.
I am, of course, most happy to know that the eclipse was a great
success.' You have, doubtless, noticed that I have resigned my place in
the United States Senate. It may be that Iowa will secure abler,
more brilliant men, to represent her in the Senate, but she will
obtain no one more anxious always to promote her best interests.
After thirty-one years, off and on, of political experience and office-
holding, I have now laid down the role, never in any event to be
resumed. What may be my future course, I know not.
I hope you will come to Europe in the spring, and spend a few
months at least. I doubt if you could better dispose of yourself
and the small amount of money it will cost. Do not fail to write
often, and remember me kindly to all friends, of whom I trust that
I have a few yet remaining in Burlington.
120.— To Hon. W. P. Fessenden.
Aix-les-Bains, Savot, August 81, 1869.
Your letter of the 8th inst. has just reached me, in the midst
of the Savoy Alps,- being douched and soaked in hot sulphur-water.
Perhaps you have observed that I have resigned my place in the
Senate. The truth is, the place has become irksome to me. There
are so many men there with whom I have not and never can have a
particle of sympathy, so much corruption in the party with which I
would be compelled to act, so much venality and meanness all
around, that, aside from my ill-health, I had about made up my
mind that the Senate was no longer the place for me. To this is
to be added the fact that I am bound, I suppose, to regard myself
hereafter as a broken-down man, unfit for active duties anywhere,
much less in such a body as the Senate. I regret to leave on your
account, and on Trumbull's. I have just counted the Senators over,
1 An eclipse of the sun, total in Burlington, sky clear, August 7th.

1869.] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 377
•
and find that Heave seven men there who were members when I
entered the body.
But if you are going to be as virtuous as you say you will be,
you will not be reelected to the Senate.1 Why, the war has cor
rupted everybody and everything in the United States. Just look
at the senatorial elections of the last winter ! They were all cor
rupt. It is money that achieves success in such affairs nowadays.
Thank God, my political career ended with the beginning of this
corrupt political era !
We are in a valley, on the bank of Lake Bourget, surrounded on
all sides by mountains five thousand feet high, which makes it the
hottest place in the world. The water comes gushing right out of
the mountain, hot enough to boil potatoes. The village has about
four thousand patients and three thousand inhabitants. I am quite
well satisfied that I have improved here, and that my trial of the
waters was a wise act on my part. The American congressional
delegation in Europe is quite numerous, and very eminent. The
truth is, that a quiet gentleman, like myself, does not feel highly
honored by coming in contact with a large majority of his country
men whom he meets in Europe. They are, to a very considerable
extent, of the shoddy species.
I need not say that we shall not return to America this year.
We have it in contemplation to spend the winter in Italy, a con
siderable part of it in Rome, and I shall take the liberty to kiss the
pope's great-toe on your account, and in your behalf. Read Mil
ton's invocation beginning —
" Avenge, 0 Lord, thy slaughtered saints ! "
and then fancy that we are right among the descendants of the
" saints." 121.— To Mr. Lyman Cook, Burlington.
Vevat, Switzerland, October 10, 1869.
You don't know how much good yours of the 19th of last month
did me, which reached me day before yesterday. I do not know
1 "I shall be a candidate ; for duty to myself and the State requires it of me. If
money is to be used, be it so. It will not be used by or for me. I will have no
hand in corrupting legislative morals. If elected at all, it must be on my merits,
and because the people so decree. For corrupt and corrupting honors, I have no
desire. My'hands are clean thus far, and I mean to keep them so. Any but an
honest and high-minded people I have no desire to serve."— (Mr. Fessenden lo Mr.
Grimes, Portland, August 8, 1869.)

378 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1869'70.
that I shall be able to answer it, for*I must tell you that I am
afflicted with some sort of nervous trouble of the head, which be
comes immediately aggravated by the slightest mental exertion. I
can read without difficulty, but continuous thought for five minutes
plays the deuce with me. I may therefore be compelled to stop in
writing this at any minute. . . .
As I feared might be the case, I was obliged to cease writing
last night, and resume my letter to-day.
I have never been so afflicted by the death of any one as by the
sudden decease of Mr. Fessenden.1 He was my most intimate, sin
cere, and attached friend, and the sentiment was most cordially recip
rocated. I knew him as no other man knew him, for he always made
me his confidant ; I admired as only those admired him who knew
him intimately, and I loved him as I never loved a brother. He was
the highest-toned, truest, noblest man I ever knew. I never knew or
expect to know a man who can approach him in the qualities that
go to make a grand man and a noble statesman. The man does not
live who can take his place in the Senate. To tell you the truth,
his death has been a severe blow to me. I suppose it is to be in
some measure attributed to my disordered and weak state ; but sure
it is that the news nearly upset me. I have not been able to think
of much else since I heard it. Only four days before the news came,
I received a long, cheerful, and characteristic letter from him. But
I must stop for the day.
October 12th. — We leave here for Nice the 14th. I won't worry
myself by attempting to describe this beautiful place, which is on
Lake Leman, surrounded by mountains, some of them, as Byron
says, with a thousand years of snow on them. We have been here
just four weeks. We shall probably be as long at Nice ; so you
see we become pretty well acquainted wherever we go. I must
stop, for the suffering from my head is too great to endure.
122. — To Mr. Jacob Rich, Bubuque.
Glion, Switzerland, January 9, 1870.
It is a happy circumstance that you renew your professional
calling so full of hope and faith. As you know, I do not share either
your hope or faith. I do not pretend that the Democratic party is
1 September 8, 1869.

1870.] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 379
pure. Where it has unlimited sway, as in New York, it is unques
tionably corrupt ; but not a whit more corrupt than the Republican
party in Philadelphia and Washington. It is the possession of un
controlled power that makes every party corrupt, and almost every
man. I notice that in your paper you cite, as evidences of corrup
tion in New York City, that some men received pay as office-hold
ers who never rendered any duty. Why, I know a dozen men who
received pay as clerks in the departments, who never entered them
but on the last day of each month to receive their pay. No, no ;
power makes all parties corrupt, and there is nothing more essen
tial than a change ; especially is a change for the good of the coun
try needed now. . . .
Was there ever such an outrage as the attempt to foist upon
the country, in .the interests of the corruptionists, the annexation of
San Domingo ? This purchase was on the carpet when I was in
New York last month two years ago, and I was advised with about
it. A friend asked my advice as to investing money in the public
debt, in buying up Baez, etc. ; and I dissuaded him from it. I could
not imagine that there was a man in America who had the slightest
quantum of brains, or an aspiration toward statesmanship, who would
ever think of the annexation of San Domingo.
The Iowa members-elect are not thinking men enough to study
and comprehend the whole subject of revenue reform. They will
say that we want one hundred and sixty-one millions, and must not
take off anything ; when, if they would take off one-half, they would
probably get twice one hundred and sixty-one millions. I am a
revenue reformer, and I am for raising all revenue from imports. I
therefore insist upon the highest rate that an article can stand, so
as not to prevent its introduction. They say it protects people at
home by preventing importations from abroad. It is enough to
make the de'il laugh with glee, to see the farmers of Iowa voting
to support a high tariff, which doubles the cost of railroad-iron,
spikes, chairs, locomotives, tenders, cars, etc., the effect of which is
to double the cost of transportation of all that they produce, and
all that they consume, and then hear them growl about the high
rates of passage and freight; not for a moment reflecting that they
by their votes impose these high rates of freight on themselves.
The country needs a terrible shaking up and shaking down,
financially, politically, and morally. The war and the easy way of

380 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRTMES. [18V0.
making money have demoralized everybody in America, and we need
a discipline as much as the French did at the beginning of their war,
and we shall get it sooner or later.
From a letter of Hon. H. B. Anthony, Senator from Rhode
Island, to Mr. Grimes: Washington, February 14, 1870.
Mt dbae Admieal — for admiral you still are, although Cragin
has been promoted to that grade, vice Grimes, placed on the retired
list, at his own request — we miss you much in the Senate, and
especially in the Naval Committee, where your name is often on our
lips, and when we are discussing naval questions with too little
information, I put down the other side with, " That is what Grimes
said." 123. — To Mr. Lyman Cook, Burlington. Berlin, May 14, 1870.
You will never be able to imagine how thankfully any news from
home is received, until you shall yourself be in a foreign country a
year or two.
Since I last wrote, I have spent two days at the world-famous
Leipsic Fair, where were assembled people from ah over the world,
and with the products of all the world exposed for sale in thousands
of tents and booths. It was a wonderful sight, and worth crossing
the Atlantic to see. Of course when at Leipsic we rode over the
ground where, in 1813, four hundred and fifty thousand men fought
for four days, commanded by the greatest generals of the world,
with a loss of one hundred and ten thousand human beings.
Berlin is one of the very finest cities in Europe, with a popula
tion of about seven hundred and fifty thousand. Last evening I
saw the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia. I do not know
that the latter potentate came down expressly to meet me, but
fortunately we met here, and our intercourse thus far has not been
unpleasant. I am filled with admiration of the German people. Such indus
try, such order, such sobriety, such neatness, such cultivation of
everything that is beautiful and aesthetic, such schools, such freedom
from poverty and misery, is to be found nowhere else in the world.
I am having some German books selected for the library. I

1870.] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 381
shall buy three or four hundred volumes, including, I am told, almost
all of the standard authors in German literature. I do this for the
benefit of the Germans in Burlington, and of their children, who,
unless they have access to books, will have a very superficial knowl
edge of the German language and literature ; and of such people
of American lineage as choose to cultivate the German. I hope the
effect will be, and I think it will be, to stimulate the Germans in
Burlington to take an interest in the library, which they do not
probably at present feel.
After spending a week here we go to Hanover, thence to Co
logne, and then up the Rhine to Frankfort, and then for a while
into Switzerland. We hope to be at home in October, but I have
not the slightest idea that I can endure the climate of Iowa next
winter. It is wonderful how the climate affects me. The wind
blowing from the south makes me nervous, sleepless, and rheumatic,
and I am experiencing these sensations at the present moment, be
cause the weather is warm and cloudy with a southerly wind.
124. — To Mr. Lyman Cook, Burlington.
Glion, Switzerland, December 11, 1870.
I always knew you to be a philosopher, and the imperturbable
manner in which you speak of the city taxes of six per cent., and
of our city government for the last few years, always in fact except
when you were mayor, goes to show that I had a true appreciation
of you. I, too, am trying to be a philosopher in my afflictions, and
especially just at this time, for I am confined to my room by lum
bago. With the aid of sweats, cathartics, liniments, etc., I am
much better, but it is so painful to move that I am compelled to sit
in one position. This will in part account for my elegant hand
writing, for I am propped up at the table, with the use of no part
of my body but one hand.
It is about half-past four o'clock of a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
I sit and muse, looking at the lake, the mountains, and the skies,
thinking of my distant home and friends, and try to think as little
of myself as possible. And yet I cannot help thinking of myself,
much as I know it injures me to do so.
Almost every American newspaper I see brings the news of the
death of some old friend and associate, and I cannot help feeling
that in the course of Nature my time will soon come, and when I

382 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1871.
ask myself, " What have I done to make the world better for having
lived in it ? " I cannot help pronouncing the judgment that my life
has been a failure. I do not mean to say that it has been a failure
in what I have done for my State and for mankind, in comparison
with what has been done by other men, but in comparison with
what I might and ought to have done. And, strange as it may
seem to you, who have not thought much of the matter, sitting here
calmly, and reviewing my whole course, I have no hesitation in say
ing that I regard that act for which I have been most condemned,
my vote on the impeachment trial, as the most worthy, the proud
est act of my life. I shall ever thank God that in that terrible
hour of trial, when many privately confessed that they sacrificed
their judgments and their consciences at the behests of party news
papers and party hate, I had the courage to be true to my oath and
my conscience, and refused, when I had sworn to " do a man im
partial justice according to the Constitution and the laws," to do
execution upon him according to the dictation of the chairman of
the Republican congressional committee, or the howlings of a parti
san mob. I would not to-day exchange the recollection of that
grasp of the hand and that glorified smile given me by that purest
and ablest of men I ever knew, Mr. Fessenden, when I was borne
into the Senate-Chamber on the arms of four men to cast my vote,
for the highest distinction of life. Yet we had no desire to save
Johnson as Johnson ; I wanted to save my own self-respect, and
my oath, and I wanted to save the country from the wild, revolu
tionary career upon which the party was entering. But enough of
this. It is growing dark, and I must quit.
125.— To Hon. F. A. Pike, Calais, Maine.
Glion, Switzerland, January 10, 1871.
I write in the hope that this may find you in the land of the
living, though it is so long since I have heard from you that you
may well have been translated and glorified before this time. We
spent the spring and summer in Germany ; the war drove us away
in the end of July. We have been six months in Switzerland, four
months of that time in Glion, near the upper end of Lake Leman,
not far from Yevay.
What is being done in America ? Was there ever anything so
absurd, so wicked, indeed, as the attempt to force the country to

WI-] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 383
accept San Domingo against its will ? I have no great admiration
for Sumner, but I glory in his pluck, and I wish I were able to be
in Washington to fight by his side. Is Maine always to adhere to
the protective system, by which she is proportionally growing
poorer and poorer every day ?
I am near the war. I watch it with intense interest. The Ger
mans are the greatest soldiers in the world.
126. — To Mr. J. W. Cadwallader, Burlington.
Glion, Switzerland, January 24, 1871.
Since I left America, two years ago, I have received no letter
that gratified me more than your very kind one of the lst of this
month. It is a great comfort for me to know that there are people
who care for me, and who think kindly of me in my absence.
Within the last two years I have been over a great part of Eu
rope, but unfortunately I have been compelled to travel as an
invalid. Perhaps you know that in Paris, shortly after arriving, I
was suddenly stricken with a paralysis, against which I have ever
since been struggling. It seems the culmination of a complaint
of which I had had premonitions for years ; the first one, I think,
was the last time I undertook to address an assembly of people in
my hall some four or five years ago. I am happy to be able to
say that I am now nearly well, but I am required to use a great
deal of care as to my diet, exercise, etc. I still have a little trouble
with one arm and side, and at times a good deal with my head,
which is the seat of my disease, but I think I am slowly improving,
though I have given up all idea of ever being entirely well again.
For several months I could not write a sentence without the most
intense pain. I can now write without the slightest trouble.
We are spending the winter on the side of a mountain in Switz
erland, looking down upon the beautiful Lake Leman, and across
it to mountains twelve thousand feet high, or twice as high as the
White Mountains in New Hampshire. There is some snow here,
no wind, and the air is mild, bracing, and comfortable. We leave
\\ here in March for a watering-place in Germany, where we were last
year arid then to England, and shall embark for the United States
in June or July next. Our journey has been full of interest ; still
we shall all be glad to be at home again.
I am glad to know that Burlington is improving. It ought to

384 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1871.
be a good town, and I think it will become such in a little time. I
am happy to know that Ella is in the high-school. I remember she
was a very fine scholar for her age, and I presume to say she con
tinues to be such. Mrs. Grimes and Mary wish to be kindly
remembered to you, your wife and daughter, and I beg you to
accept the thanks of all of us for your very kind and acceptable
letter. 127. — To Mr. Lyman Cook, Burlington.
Glion, Switzerland, February 6, 1871.
As you see, we are at our old quarters, enjoying ourselves as
usual. I am eating my meals regularly, reading the newspapers,
and thinking of the past and the absent. It is becoming pretty
lonesome and tedious, but I must endure it until the latter part of
next month, when we start on our travel again. I have all my life
thought of the happy time coming when I should be entirely free
from all business and care and anxiety, and when nothing and no
body could in any way control or influence my conduct and move
ments. Well, I have reached that period in my existence, and I do
not find what I expected. One cannot, sever himself from the
world ; he cannot be free from care, and he must become perplexed
about his own affairs and about the affairs of others. One's thoughts
must be occupied, or else the discomfort following from mental lazi
ness will soon kill him.
I have employed myself ever since it began with studying the
war. I thank the Lord that the Germans are not on our side of the
Atlantic. Brave and patriotic as our people are, the Prussians
would sweep over our whole country in three months. They have
generals, and the only ones now in the world so far as is known. I
wish you could see a Prussian brigade or division ; you would then
see what an army is. The North German is a larger man, better
educated, has more vim, and is a better warrior than the South Ger
man. I see that all sorts of war news are published in America, but
the truth is, that the Germans have not lost a battle from the be
ginning, and the French were never in the neighborhood of gaining
one. A French army of eighty-four thousand men has just taken
refuge over here, and we are now overrun.
128. — To Hon. Charles Mason, Burlington.
[Written in reply to a letter inquiring whether his health
and inclination would permit him again to engage in public life.]

1871-] TRAVELS IN EUROPE. 385
Glion, Switzerland, February 27, 1871.
Yours of the 9th is at hand. I have irrevocably resolved to
have nothing more to do with public life. I am impelled to this
resolution both by necessity and inclination. My physicians with
one voice warn me against it, and predict that I would not survive
the attempt to mingle in political excitement but a very short
time. The truth is, I am a terribly shattered man. I look well
enough, quite as well as ever, if not better. My appetite is good,
though nearly everything I eat disagrees with me, and my locomo
tion is perfect, without the aid of a cane or other help, but my left
arm and side lack animation, or rather have too much of it. My
head constantly afflicts me, and at least half of my nights are sleep
less. This is my true condition. I am far better than I have been,
but I am not sanguine enough to believe for a moment that a man
at my age, blasted as I have been, will ever entirely recover.
So much as to the necessity of abstention from politics. I am
happy to be able to say that I have used so much philosophy as to
be able to completely reconcile myself with the necessities of my
position. I rejoice that I have ceased to have any active part in
politics, and I assure you that no man could be more happy to get
into the Senate than I was to get out of it, after the inroad of the
carpet-bag knights of the South.
129. — To Mr. Henry K. Edson, Principal of the Academy at Benmark,
Lee County, Iowa.
Heidelberg, Germany, April 9, 1871.
In the two years we have been in Europe we have traveled
slowly, and seen much of France, Germany, Austria and Bohemia,
Italy, and Switzerland. We have yet to visit Holland and Bel
gium. I am not one of those Americans who see nothing to ad
mire on this side of the Atlantic. The Prussians (I by no means
include all Germans — only about one-half) are in all respects the
greatest people on the face of the earth ; the best educated in the
mass, the most learned in the professions, the most industrious, the
most warlike when war comes, the most peaceful in their instincts,
with fewer pauper and abject poor than any country in Europe,
less, indeed, than in the old States in America, and with less crime
than in any country in Europe, or in the world. Nowhere are life
and property so safe, and, I suppose, contrary to what you have

386 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1871.
believed, nowhere does such a deep religious sentiment pervade the
masses of the people.
Mr. Grimes reached home, September 22d, apparently in
improved health and in good spirits. He was gratified to find
a change in many minds as to his course upon the trial of the
President. Men who three years before looked askance at him,
because he acted as a judge rather than as a partisan, now thanked
him for what he did. He was invited to pubhc receptions at
Burlington and other places in the State, without distinction of
sect or party, but invariably and firmly declined. He insisted
upon entire repose. He felt that his safety depended upon it.
The following extracts from letters which he received ex
pressed the sentiments of many old friends. Hon. Ehphalet
Price, one of the early settlers at the " Dubuque Mines," in
1834, and a Representative in the third General Assembly,
1850-'51, wrote : Guttenberg, Clatton Countt, October 18, 1871.
I have learned with pleasing emotions of your safe return to
Iowa, in the historic volume of which your name will pass on to
other generations with an honorable record. Your vote on the im
peachment trial, I am frank to admit, awakened in me, at the time,
emotions of sorrow and regret. My mind was keyed to the high
est pitch of excitement. The scenes of the war alone lived in my
remembrance. But time has carried me forward to a behef that
your vote was correct, and those who have long known you per
sonally, as well as the future historian, will not hesitate to admit
that your action as an impeachment juror was prompted by a far-
seeing wisdom, which few persons would have had the courage to
carry out at that time. State or Iowa, Executive Department, I
Des Moines, October 23, 1871. 1
I write to congratulate you upon your safe return to' Iowa, and
especially on the restoration of your health. Iowa is proud of you,
arid rejoices to see you once more walking her soil. Long and well .
have you, in an eminent manner, served your State. Much of our
greatness, present and prospective, is largely due to your early

1871-'72.] CLOSE OF HIS LIFE. 387
efforts. May God bless you with a long life, and at its close an
honored grave upon our soil !
With sentiments of high respect,
Samuel Merrill, Governor.
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mr. Grimes's marriage,
November 9th, a few friends came to his silver wedding, bring
ing their congratulations upon the felicity, serenity, and sweet
content of his domestic hfe.
The closing months were spent in the bosom of home, in
the society of friends, with books, amid alternations of health
and disease. On some days he was in fine spirits, and felt about
as well as ever. He read during the winter the histories of
Gibbon and Motley, a histoiy of Switzerland, and was reading
Tacitus at the last.
He went to the polls at a city election, February 5th, and
cast his vote in favor of water-works, without voting for city
officers. On the evening of February 7th, sitting in his parlor,
in conversation with his old friend, Mr. Lyman Cook, he was
attacked with sharp and severe pains in the region of the heart ;
but having had two similar attacks a few days before, no seri
ous apprehensions were excited. On feeling relieved, conversa
tion was resumed. In half an hour another attack came on, when
Mr. Cook insisted on going for a physician; but Mr. Grimes,
becoming easier, said it was unnecessary, as the doctor would
call in the morning. Soon after, Mr. Cook having gone for the
physician, a more violent attack supervened, and, with par
oxysms of intense suffering, death came quickly. A. post-mor
tem examination revealed organic disease of the heart. His
father, twenty years previously, died suddenly of heart-disease.
Funeral services were held at the Congregational church,
Sunday afternoon, February 11th, and were attended by an im
mense concourse of citizens. There were present, as represen
tatives of the State, the Governor, Hon. C. C. Carpenter, the
Secretary of State, Hon. Edward Wright, the Treasurer of State,
Hon. Samuel E. Rankin, and ex-Governors Hon. R. P. Lowe
and Hon. Samuel Merrill. The following gentlemen acted as
pall-bearers : . Hon. A. C. Dodge, Messrs. W. H. Postlewaite,

388 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES. [1872.
Thomas Hedge, John H. Gear, John Patterson, George C. Lau-
man, E. D. Rand, John G. Foote, James Morton, J. S. Schramm,
C. E. Perkins, and J. C. Peasley. The remains were deposited
in Aspen Grove Cemetery.
The City Council, the Old Settlers' Association, the bar of
the county, and the trustees of the Pubhc Library, adopted reso
lutions of profound regret at his death, expressing their sense of
his ability, integrity, public spirit, and eminent services, and
their respect for his character as " one who fearlessly performed
whatever he deemed his duty, uninfluenced by party bias, popu
lar prejudice, or personal interest." The public press presented
many tributes to his honor and fame. The General Assembly
of Iowa, by a resolution approved April 23, 1872, ordered his
portrait to be procured and placed in the Capitol.
Hon. G. Y. Fox wrote to Mrs. Grimes :
I mourn with you at the loss of one who stood very close to my
heart; Our mutual feelings intertwined during great events, when
I learned to respect, to admire, and to love him.
The widow of a gallant officer, who laid down his life in the
war, wrote :
I hope you will let me express to you my sympathy for you,
and my respect and admiration for Senator Grimes. Besides my
Own feeling for you, I have always associated you both with my
husband, and I like to think that I am sending you his sympathy
with my own. I wish the whole country could feel, as I do, that
Senator Grimes has given his life for the nation, as truly as those
did who died in the war, and. how deep a debt we owe him for his
steadfast clinging to what he knew was right, when the struggle
was so hard a one. What a blessing it must be to you to feel that
through all his public life you have helped and upheld him !
A companion of the later portion of his public hfe said :
I feel more indebted to Mr. Grimes than any one for the little
success I have achieved. His early friendly recognition of me at
Washington gave me a position and companionship that would
otherwise have required years of patient labor. To enjoy his
friendship was to secure the confidence of the truest and best men

THE TOMB IN ASPEN-GKOVE CEMETEEY,

p. 888

f

1872.] TRIBUTES TO HIS MEMORY. 389
of the country. The inducements to temptation and folly are so
great at Washington that, but for his friendly counsel and guid
ance, I might have yielded to them. In his death the State and
the country have suffered a great loss, and the young men who en
joyed his confidence, and looked to him for guidance in the future,
will look in vain to find one suited to take his place.
Hon. H. B. Anthony, of Rhode Island, who sat next to him
in the Senate, and was with him upon the Committee on Naval
Affairs, says :
Mr. Grimes's ability, sterling common-sense, capacity for busi
ness, and unquestioned and straightforward integrity, gave him
great influence in the Senate. He was not a frequent speaker,
never a dull one. He spoke only when he had something to say,
and always with a knowledge of the subject; always for effect in
the Senate, never for Buncombe. I have seldom seen a man who
had such thorough contempt for humbug. In this, as in many
other respects, he resembled his intimate friend Mr. Fessenden,
whom he shortly followed to the " undiscovered country." He
had the greatest knowledge of naval affairs of all the men that I
ever knew. We used on the committee to call him " The Admi
ral." His acquaintance with the personnel of the Navy was equal
to his acquaintance with its history, its condition, and its need. It
may never be fully known how much the Navy owes to him for the
glorious successes of the war. He was of immense value in reor
ganizing it, and in the legislation that was required. Touching his
course on the impeachment, of his entire honesty in that, as in all
his public life, I never heard a doubt expressed ; I have reason to
suppose that it gave him great pain to differ from so many of his
friends, but no consideration could swerve him from the line of
duty that his judgment and conscience had marked out.
Hon. Joseph S. Fowler, of Nashville, Tennessee, wrote :
It was not my fortune to know him so long and so well as many
of his more intimate friends, but I knew him during one of the
most eventful trials that any public servant was ever called upon
to undergo. How often have I recalled the agony of that great,
earnest, tender heart ! How well I r.emember that divine sense of
justice and right, that braved calumny and threats, and the fears
26

390 LIFE OF J. W. GRIMES.
of misguided friends ! Never shall I cease to remember the de
voted purpose that looked far into the future for approval. Dur
ing that trying ordeal it was my fortune to meet him alone. It
was then I learned the deep recesses of his heart, and its pure
fountains of life. His warm friend and elder brother, and great
companion, preceded him a few years. In many respects they were
alike, in many different. Both were earnest, brave, faithful, and
commanding Senators. They lived above mean and debasing pur
poses, and were among the most illustrious men that have adorned
our annals.

Mr. Grimes was five feet eleven inches in height, with a
well-proportioned frame, and a commanding presence. Careless
of appearance^ and somewhat rough and ungainly in early life, he
grew with years into suavity, and grace, and dignity of bearing.
He had the canny qualities of the stock from which he came.
Plain in dress, and frugal in his habits, he was unassuming in
every situation; simphcity, straightforwardness, and indepen
dence characterized both his manners and his mind. He abhorred
pretension and indirection. Having great power of secretive-
ness and reserve, he seemed cold and repellent to many, and
could chill with indifference those whom he distrusted or dis
liked. If thrown in the way of such persons, he would turn
aside quietly, or pass on. To those who enjoyed his confidence,
he was frank and hearty, and open as summer. Exposed in the
political agitations of his career to animosity and abuse, he kept
himself scrupulously from personality and recrimination. The
popularity which he enjoyed at different periods was never won
by any arts, or by seeking it. ¦ His candor was proverbial;
friends sometimes objected that, in political discussion, as was
said of his practice at law, he conceded too much to oppo
nents. His speeches and letters reveal, without reserve, his
principles, sentiments, and habits. His words and deeds afford a
better indication of his character than can be given by another
hand. His mind was not imaginative or fanciful, but critical and

CHARACTER. 391
exact, with a superior power of analysis and comprehension.
His perceptions were quick and clear ; his memory ready and
retentive. Of strong common-sense, he was cautious and delib
erate in judgment. Forming his opinions from thorough infor
mation, he was positive and tenacious in conviction. It was
hard to move him, when he had made up his mind. He had
a remarkable insight into men, and estimated character and
capacity with surprising accuracy. He seemed to discern vir
tue and merit, or detect artifice and pretension, at a glance. It
was not easy to cheat him, or to win his favor for visionary or
unworthy schemes. Corrupt men, who sought his aid for in
trigue or to obtain office, did not call upon him the second time.
He had a genius for public affairs, and evinced superior tact
and practical wisdom in the Legislative Assembly of an infant
Territory and State, in the Executive chair of a growing Com
monwealth, and in the Senate of the nation. He loved deliber
ative assemblies and the cares of state. The prosperity of great
communities and the well-being of future times were objects of
his ambition. In office, he disclaimed considerations of party,
and declared that he would not allow his conduct to be influenced
by appeals upon that ground. In the Senate he maintained the
dignity of the Chamber, and vindicated its ancient boast of un
limited debate, discussion, and deliberation. He felt the full
responsibihty of the place, and regarded no other position as
affording a better opportunity to conserve and promote good
government. Thoroughly imbued with American principles,
jealous for constitutional and representative government, and
familiar with the history and legislation of the country, he
sought to preserve the balance of power between the different
departments of the Federal Government,, and between the re
spective States and the United States, and, maintaining the pre
rogatives of each, resisted alike encroachments from either side.
In the changes from peace to war, and from war to peace, he
knew the seasons, and was prompt to take occasion by the hand,
and conform his pohtical action to new and altered conditions.
He held those who had been enemies in war, as in peace, friends.
In war, no bugle blew a bolder blast ; in peace, no one bade

392 LIFE OF JAMES W. GRIMES.
heartier farewell to all pride, pomp, and circumstance of war,
or sought more sincerely the things that make for peace.
In the matter of appointments to office he exercised his in
fluence with a conscientious regard to the pubhc service, deli
cately, without patronizing airs, imposing no obhgation upon
appointees, and, following the ancient tradition that offices
should seek men, oftentimes without personal solicitation.
A leader more than a follower of opinion, his guiding hand
was upon the institutions and laws of a new era in the State of
Iowa, and in the nation. He was foremost in the organization
of the Republican party, in 1855, and gave early and efficient
help in bringing up the country, and President Lincoln and his
cabinet, to the great measure of emancipation. The naval vic
tories of the war were organized with his counsel, and under his
eye. No Senator was more successful in carrying measures
which he believed to be right. Never obtruding himself, but
with apparent unconsciousness, and keeping out of public sight,
he came to be recognized by common consent as one of the
triumvirate, with his particular friends Fessenden and Trum
bull, whose opinions ruled the Senate in the era of the nation's
transformation. Foremost in discerning the peril that threatened
the land in the impeachment trial of President Johnson, the
nation owes its escape and safety at that crisis to him more than
to any other one man.
The foundation of his character was in a strong sense of jus
tice, truth, and" moral obligation. Among rehgious teachers he
preferred Channing and those of his school. Distrustful of dog
mas, and fully assured only of the ethical, the practical, and the
humane parts of Christianity, he gave unqualified assent to no
particular creed. He held that men should judge in themselves
what is right, and that the preparation necessary for another
world is to do our duty in this. The writings of Channing gave
a powerful impulse to his hatred of slavery and to his interest
in humane institutions. At home he was a regular attendant at
the Congregational Church.
Richly blest and supremely happy in his home, no other
place was so dear to him, he cherished no other influences so con-

CHARACTER. 393
stantly and warmly, and none were more helpful to his charac
ter and hfe. With the children and youth who were members
of his family he was upon easy familiarity, entering into their
interests, guiding their studies, and counseling them in their
preparation for hfe. One who lived several years under his roof
says: My recollections of him are almost as of a father, always lenient,
and ready to help, and to forget my faults. I have heard him called
stern and severe ; for with his firm and decided views on honesty
in politics and business he was apt to be impatient with men who
did not walk in his own straight paths ; but there was nothing of
this at home. No one could be gentler with all about his house
hold. He was a lover of good men, and in every situation won the
respect and confidence of the wisest and the best. His friend
ship with Mr. Fessenden, who was of a different temperament,
and ten years his senior in age, was one of the beautiful inci
dents of his life, and presents a rare case of pure and unalloyed
affection among eminent men, called to stand side by side, and
to act each a prominent part in great events, and amid severe
conflicts of opinion.
The cares, anxieties, and disquietudes of the years Mr. Grimes
served in Congress proved too great a strain upon many of the
pubhc men of the period. Not a few have wasted away with
premature decay. Not alone on the battle-field, and in ships-of-
war, were the costly sacrifices made that saved the nation. This
volume is a record of a valiant man worn out, his health im
paired, and nervous power paralyzed, by the watchings and de
bates and discussions through which the life and integrity of the
republic were assured to future times.

INDEX.

Adams, C.F., 127.
Admiral, grade of, 199, 202.
Agricultural Bureau, 306 ; college bill, 284.
Alabama, the, 246, 369, 371.
Allison, W. B., 388.
Alton, Illinois, 13.
Ames, Oakes, 301.
Anthony, H. B., 119, 240, 380, 389.
Army, filling up ranks of, 257 ; increase of
standing, 140, 141, 145, 289.
Atohison, D. B., 46, 97.
Banking, free, 364.
Banks, 23, 34, 99, 103, 214.
Banks Expedition, transports for, 225.
Banks, N. P., 260.
Bartlett, S. C, 6.
Barton, Clara, 287-289.
Bates, Curtis, 35, 52.
Battle of Belmont, 175 ; of Bull Eun, 146,
147, 160.
Battles of the Wilderness, 261.
Bell, L. V., 75.
Bellows, H. W., 31, 292.
Berlin, 380.
Bissell, E. E., 90.
Black-Hawk Purchase, 10.
Blanchard, Jonathan, 120, 260.
Blockade, 140, 247.
Bright, John, 370, 371, 374.
Brown, John, 121.
Browne, J. B., 64.
Browning, M. D., 63, 64.
Buchanan, James, 97, 132.
Burlington, Iowa, 10, 12, 14, 15, 21, 277,
280, 300, 336; public library of, 327,
336, 367, 380.

Butler, A. P., 39, 47.
Butler, B. F., 361.
Cabinet, changes in, recommended, 206.
Cairo, Illinois, 254.
Cameron, Simon, 139, 141, 142, 153, 154,
156, 364, 365.
Canada, 266, 369, 370.
Carpenter, A. W., 374.
Carpenter, C. C, 115, 387.
Cass, Lewis, 132.
Central Park, New York, 298.
Chambers, Robert, 374.
Channing, W. E., 392.
Channing, W. H., 153, 157, 159, 196.
Chapman, W. W., 13.
Charleston, attack on, 235, 237.
Chase, S. P., 53-55, 75, 116, 133, 152, 156,
215, 337, 357-359.
Chicago Tribune, 359.
Child, Eber, 3.
Cholera, Asiatic, 292.
Clark, Daniel, 240.
Clarke, C. S., 65.
Class legislation, 323.
Clergy, loyal, 237.
Coast Survey officers, to go into army or
navy during war, 143.
Cobb, Howell, 132.
Coercion, 130.
Colorado, 284-287, 309.
Columbus, Kentucky, evacuation of, 177.
Compromise of 1850, 42.
Confiscation, 194, 195, 197, 215, 216, 234.
Congress, duty of, as to executive depart
ments, 205; night sessions, 322; pay
of members, 308 ; Thirty-sixth, 118-

INDEX.

395

139 ; Thirty-seventh, 139-235 ; Thirty-
eighth, 235-276; Thirty-ninth, 276-
322; Fortieth, 323-366; Forty-first,
first session, 366, 367.
Conscription, 216, 257.
Contrabands, 196.
Cook, Ebenezer, 64.
Cook, Lyman, 377, 381, 387.
Cotton-tax, 325.
Court of Claims, 124.
Cowles, W. F., 73.
Crittenden, J. J., Mrs., 121.
Crittenden proposition, 133, 234.
Dartmouth College, 5, 7, 71, 276, 282, 362.
Davis, Jefferson, 122, 154, 163.
Davis, Timothy, 63.
Dean, Amos, 90.
Deering, New Hampshire, 2, 3.
Democratic party, 48, 68, 96, 99, 100, 115,
135, 225, 238, 263, 281.
Des Moines County, 10, 18.
Des Moines Biver land grant, 126.
Dickinson County, Sioux incursion into,
107.
Diplomacy, 249.
District of Columbia, jail of, 164; land
grant for schools in, 282 ; marshal of,
166 ; slavery and emancipation in, 141 ;
suffrage in, 309.
Disunion, 133.
Dodge, A. C, 114, 117, 387.
Dodge, Henry, 11, 12.
Douglas, S. A., 38, 41, 79.
Dubuque County, 10.
Du Pont, S.F., 157-159, 169,180, 196, 198,
202, 218, 235, 239, 246, 248, 263.
Education, 26, 56, 94, 283; of colored
youth, 233.
Elections, military interference at, 207.
Emancipation, first act of, in District of
Columbia, 141 ; on aid for, in Mis
souri, 207, 235 ; President Lincoln's
proclamation, 208, 217, 218, 234.
EricBson, John, 172, 182, 270, 296.
Etiquette, 239.
Extravagance in the public service, 244.
Farragut, D. G., 180, 201, 267, 274, 296,
333.
Fashion, 31.

Fessenden, W. P., 132, 140, 152, 155, 156,
201, 217, 239, 260, 263-266, 280, 290,
292, 299, 311, 360, 361, 376-378, 382,
390, 892, 393.
Fillmore, Millard, 26, 69, 80.
Florida, 284.
Foot, Solomon, 290.
Foote, A. H., 169, 174-177, 181, 183, 197,
365.
Foreign immigration, 39.
Fort Donelson, 169, 176.
Foster, L. S., 240, 260.
Fowler, J. S., 389.
Fox, G. V., 146, 159, 213, 295, 297, 388.
Fraud and corruption in naval supplies,
252.
Fraud and extortion in transport service,
229.
Freedmen's Bureau, 257, 323.
Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company,
323, 324.
Free-Soil party, 33, 54, 63, 78, 96, 115,116.
Fremont, J. C, 153-156.
Fruit-culture, 25.
Fugitive slave, 72.
Fugitive-slave law, 54, 73, 243.
Gage, Frances D., 51.
General, lieutenant, 243.
Generals, excessive multiplication of, 202-
206 ; on thanks to, for civil adminis
tration, 325.
German people, the, 39, 380, 384, 385.
German vote, the, 76, 80.
Giddings, J. K., 63.
Government, object of, 56 ; limitations of
the Federal, 293.
Grant, U. S., 243, 261, 263, 367.
Greeley, Horace, 322.
Grimes, J. W., birth and ancestry, 1 ; edu
cation, 3 ; at Burlington, 10 ; mar
riage, 25 ; Governor of Iowa, 33 ;
Senator of the United States, 118 ; re
elected, 243 ; attack of paralysis, 367 ;
travels in Europe, 368 ; second attack
of paralysis, 371; resigns the office of
Senator, 372 ; returns home, 386 ;
death, 387 ; tributes to his memory,
888 ; character, 390.
Grog-ration, 195, 197.
Hale, E. E., 291.

396

INDEX.

Hale, J, P., 71, 159, 226, 240.
Hall, James, 68, 70.
Halleck, H. W., 175; Order No. 3, 187,
188.
Hammond, J. H., 122.
Hampton Academy, 4.
Handel's " Messiah," 322.
Harlan, James, 62-65, 242.
Harris, Ira, 205, 240.
Harris, Boswell, 4, 5.
Harrison, W. H., 21.
Hartt, S. T., 364.
Hempstead, Stephen, 27, 98.
Home, 25, 32, 93, 265, 276, 279, 280, 392.
Homestead bill, 39, 125.
Honolulu, 304.
Hosmer, Eev. Mr., 69.
Hutchinson, Horace, 24.
Impeachment of President Johnson, 323,
336, 360, 361, 367, 382, 386, 392 ; Mr.
Grimes's oath upon trial of, 337, 359 ;
his opinion, 337.
Indian affairs, 289, 366.
Intemperance in the army, 160.
Internal improvement, 37, 38.
Iowa, State of, 18, 40, 61, 74, 115, 116, 136,
148, 285 ; agricultural societies of, 58 ;
breach of faith by United States tow
ard, 105 ; capital, 94 ; Capitol, 90 ;
charitable institutions of, 58, 72 ; con
stitution of, 27, 34, 46, 58, 94, 99, 102 ;
county and city indebtedness, 90 ;
geological survey, 68, 88, 105 ; growth
of, 87 ; hospital for insane, 62, 65, 69,
72; laws of, 98,102, 115,123; loyal to
the Union, 225, 237, 257 ; penitentiary,
88 ; public schools, 57, 104 ; railroad
grant, 81 ; registry law, 89, 103 ; Bep
resentatives of, in Congress, 217 ;
school funds, 89 ; school law, 90 ;
township organization in, 103 ; United
States officers in, 126, 199, 200 ; Uni
versity of, 57, 90, 94, 104.
Iowa, Territory of, 11, 18, 47, 205.
Iron-clad ships-of-war, 145, 170, 171, 180,
269.
Isbell, N. W., 64, 65.
James, Edwin, 72.
Johnson, Andrew, 159, 278, 291, 323, 336-
357, 359, 367, 382.

Johnson-Clarendon treaty,. 368.
Johnson, Eeverdy, 255, 311, 370.
Johnstone, Edward, 65, 67.
Jones, G. W., 114.
Joy, J. F., 7.
Kansas, 12, 80, 83, 84, 86, 92, 96, 110, 137,
138.
Kentucky, military arrest of citizens of,
267 ; grant of land in Florida to, 284.
Kirkwood, S. J., 133, 152.
Know-Nothing party, 67, 69, 70, 79.
Lamon, W. H, 166.
Land, purchase of, 24; grant for Iowa
railroads, 81 ; grant for schools in Dis
trict of Columbia, 282.
Land-warrant system, 283.
Lands, leasing of saline, 303.
Lawyer, advice to a young, 13 ; anxiety of,
for clients, 22.
League Island, 212, 319.
Lee, E. E., 321.
Legislation, responsibilities of, 55.
Leipsic, 380.
Letters of marque, 220-224.
Liberty, gospel of, 51.
Lincoln, Abraham, 83, 94, 128, 140, 149,
150, 156, 196, 205, 208, 215, 278, 279.
London Times, 368, 371, 372.
Loper, E. F., 231.
Louisiana purchase, 39.
Lovejoy, Owen, 120.
Lowe, E. P., 73, 100, 102, 114, 387.
Lowell, Mrs., 388.
Lucas, Eobert, 13, 18-20.
Magoun, G. F., 277.
Mann, Horace, 90.
Marine Corps, 332.
Marsh, John, 197.
Mason, Charles, 26, 98, 384.
Mason, J. M., 121.
McKinstry, Justin, 154, 156.
MoLean, John, 26.
McClellan, G. B., 147.
Memoirs of public men, 372.
Merrill, Samuel, 386, 387.
Merrimac, the, 171.
Mexico, 221, 249, 299.
Michigan, Territory of, 10.
Military Academy, 128, 209, 298.

INDEX.

397

Mississippi Eiver, railroad - bridge over,
800 ; Des Moines rapids' improve
ment, 320.
Missouri, 11, 13, 40, 45, 96, 207.
Missouri Compromise, 33, 39, 43, 45, 47, 59,
60, 72, 87, 108, 134.
Monitor, the, 171, 181, 182, 270.
Monitors, improvements in, 294.
Moral responsibility in politics, 49.
Morrill, J. S., 367.
Morrill, L. M., 283.
Muscatine, 15.
Napoleon III., 221, 299.
National banks, 214.
Naturalization laws, 119.
Naval Academy, 129, 130, 139, 157, 201,
210, 211, 219, 249, 293-298.
Naval Affairs, Committee on, 118, 239, 240,
246, 268, 332, 380.
Naval apprentices, 332.
Naval flotilla, achievements of, 173, 182,
248.
Naval officers on the retired list for con
suls, 328.
Naval pension fund, 329.
" Naval Warfare Ashore and Afloat," 272.
Navy, 129, 144, 145, 161, 198, 268, 331;
right arm of public defense, 179;
work of, in the war, 245.
Navy agent, 245, 252.
Navy-yards, 212, 319.
Nebraska, 33, 39, 42, 43, 286, 308.
Nevada, 273.
Niagara Ship-Canal, 302.
Non-interference with matters belonging
to the States, 292.
Northern frontier, defense of, 266.
Ordinance of 1787, 38, 46, 47.
Pacific Mail Company, 304.
Pacific Railroad, 232, 254, 301.
Pardoning power, 82.
Paris Exposition, 299.
Partridge, Geo., 26.
Peabody, Geo., 325.
Peace Conference, 138.
Pension system, the, 331.
Phillips, Wendell, 92, 121.
Pierce, Franklin, 7, 53, 84, 193.
Pierpont, John, 154.

Pike, F. A., 272,382.
Pillsbury, Parker, 193.
Plank-roads, 26, 80.
Porter, D. D., 159, 169, 180, 274, 296, 298.
Port Eoyal, 157.
Post-Offiee Department, 126.
Powell, L. W., 234, 243, 267.
Power, possession of uncontrolled, cor
rupting, 379.
Price, Eliphalet, 386.
Private claims, 289.
Prize law, 272.
Eailroads, 18, 26, 27, 30, 32, 81, 82, 115,
126.
Eeconstruction, 282, 291, 292, 299, 359.
Eepublican party, 63, 67, 69, 70, 75, 78, 87,
96, 123, 280, 323, 379, 392.
Eistori, 308.
Eock Island, armory on, 198.
Eodgers, C. E. P., 158, 159, 169, 239.
Eodgers, John, 173.
Eussell, S. A., 63.
Samuels, B. M., 100.
San Domingo, 379, 382, 383.
Savoy, 374, 377.
Sears, Joshua, 16.
Secession, 131, 136.
Senate of the United States, 118, 119, 237,
310, 376, 377, 385.
Seward, W. H., 69, 76, 80, 118, 127, 156,
278.
Sheridan, P. H., 325.
Sherman, John, 151.
Sioux, incursion of, into Iowa, 106.
Slavery, 39, 46, 49, 54, 59, 60, 71, 72, 97,
108, 133, 243.
Slaves, surrender of, by the army, 184-193.
Small, Robert, 196.
Smith, C. F., 183.
Smith, J. B., 181.
Soldiers, colored, 190-196, 240-242, 261,
823.
Soldiers' hospitals, 206.
Soldiers, search for missing, 287.
Soldiers, to be' paid, and pay increased,
before civil officers, 244.
South Carolina, 132.
Southern States, prosperity of, 325.
Speech on achievements of Western naval
flotilla, 173-181; on surrender of

398

INDEX.

slaves, 184-193; on the tariff, 311-
318.
Squatter sovereignty, 43, 108.
Stanton, E. M., 197, 337, 361.
Starr, H. W., 12, 13, 328, 373.
Stephens, A. H., 47.
Stevens, Thaddeus, 292.
Stockton, L. D., 15.
Stone fortifications, 180, 232, 273.
Stone, W. M., 238.
Subsidies, 244.
Suffrage, 280, 287, 309.
Sunday-traveling, 51.
Sunderland, Byron, 290.
Sumner, Charles, 74, 80, 121, 127, 184, 257,
260, 360, 368-372, 374, 383.
Supreme Court, Dred Scott decision, 108.
Switzerland, 378, 383.
Taney, E. B., 96, 108.
Tariff, 138, 304, 310-318, 326, 333; upon
copper, 363, 364.
Taylor, Zachary, 26.
Telegraph, international, 244.
Temperance, 26, 32, 37, 50, 59, 71.
Tennessee, 282.
Tenure of office, 309, 367.
Thanksgiving proclamation, 76.
Thomas, Lorenzo, 337.
Todleben, 276.
Toombs, Eobert, 122.
Trade with rebels, 255.
Travels in Europe, 368-385.
Treason, detection of, 138.
Treaties with Sac and Fox Indians (1836),
11.
Trumbull, Lyman, 139, 376, 392.
Tucker, John, 231.
Turner, Asa, 63, 115, 238.
United States, designed for a maritime
nation, 178; public debt, 148, 214,

366 ; public money to be deposited in
the Treasury of, 306; tendency of
the Government to consolidation, 110,
112 ; Treasury notes, 214.
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 227, 325.
Veto-power, 19, 50.
Volunteers, 140, 144, 215, 216, 289.
Wade, B. F., 160, 268, 272, 286, 305, 359.
Walker, James, 8.
Walker, Mrs., 8.
Walker, John G., 2, 129, 251, 373.
Walker, E. J., 96, 101.
War, Committee on Conduct of the, 160,
269 ; demoralization by the, 379, 380 ;
medical and surgical history of the,
365 ; reasons for delay in prosecuting
the, 63 ; to go on until rebeuion is sub
dued, 190; vigorous prosecution of,
demanded, 215.
Warren, F. H., 62, 73, 74, 80.
Washington, D. C, 30, 31, 128, 260, 282,
336.
Waters, Simeon, 115.
Webster, Daniel, 31, 42, 43, 74, 81.
Welles, Gideon, 139, 196.
Wentworth, John, of Chicago, 7.
Wentworth, John, Governor of Province
of New Hampshire, 2.
Whig party, 18, 26, 31, 33, 54, 63, 115, 310.
Whitney, J. D., 70.
Wilson, Henry, 118, 242, 256, 282,283,288,
324.
Wilson, John, 12.
Winslow, Henry, 67, 151.
Wisconsin, Territory of, 11.
Woodward, W. G., 64, 98.
Worden, J. L., 181, 296.
Wright, G. G., 64.
Yulee, D. L., 170.

THE END.

APPLETONS'
AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA.
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