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PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS IN THE NATIONAL METROPOLIS
PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS IN THE NATIONAL METROPOLIS
Illustrating the Wit, Humor, Genius, Eccentricities, Jealousies, Ambitions and Intrigues of the Brilliant Statesmen, Ladies, Officers, Diplomats, Lobbyists and other noted Celebrities of the World that gather at the Centre of the Nation; describing imposing Inauguration Ceremonies, Gala Day Festivities, Army Reviews, &c., &c., &c. The Veteran Journalist, Clerk of the Senate Printing Records, Editor of the Congressional Directory, and Author of Various Works. Illustrated.
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The public favor with which the journalistic writings of the subscriber have been received prompted the publication of these volumes. Their object is to give personal details concerning prominent men and women in social and political life at the National Metropolis since he has known it. He has especially endeavored to portray those who "in Congress assembled" have enacted the laws, and those who have interpreted and enforced the provisions under which the United States has advanced, during the
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CHAPTER I. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS BECOMES PRESIDENT.
CHAPTER I. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS BECOMES PRESIDENT.
John Quincy Adams was elected President of the United States by the House of Representatives on February 9th, 1825. At the tenth popular election for President, during the previous autumn, there had been four candidates: Andrew Jackson, then a Senator from Tennessee, who received ninety-nine electoral votes; John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, then Secretary of State under President Monroe, who received eighty-four electoral votes; William H. Crawford, of Georgia, then Secretary of the Treasury
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CHAPTER II. TRAVELING IN "YE OLDEN TIME."
CHAPTER II. TRAVELING IN "YE OLDEN TIME."
The old stage route between Boston and New York, before John Quincy Adams was President, passed through Worcester, Springfield, Hartford, and Norwalk. Passengers paid ten dollars for a seat and were fifty- six hours or more on the road. This gave way about 1825 to the steamboat line via Providence, which for five dollars carried passengers from Boston to New York in twenty-four hours. Stage books for the Providence line were kept in Boston at offices in different parts of the city, where those w
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CHAPTER III. JOURNALISM IN 1828.
CHAPTER III. JOURNALISM IN 1828.
Georgetown, now called "West Washington," was originally laid out as a town in 1751, and settled by the Scotch agents of English mercantile houses, whose vessels came annually to its wharves. They brought valuable freights of hardware, dry goods, and wines, and they carried back tobacco, raised in the surrounding country, and furs, brought down the Potomac by Indian traders. There were also lines of brigs and schooners running to New York, Boston, Salem, Newburyport, and the West Indies. Two pri
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CHAPTER IV. PROMINENT SENATORS OF 1827.
CHAPTER IV. PROMINENT SENATORS OF 1827.
The old Senate Chamber, now used by the Supreme Court, was admirably adapted for the deliberations of the forty-eight gentlemen who composed the upper house of the Nineteenth Congress. Modeled after the theatres of ancient Greece, it possessed excellent acoustic properties, and there was ample accommodation in the galleries for the few strangers who then visited Washington. The Senate used to meet at noon and generally conclude its day's work by three o'clock, while adjournments over from Thursd
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CHAPTER V. PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVES OF 1827.
CHAPTER V. PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVES OF 1827.
The Hall of the House of Representatives (now used as a National Gallery of Statuary) was a reproduction of the ancient theatre, magnificent in its effect, but so deficient in acoustic properties that it was unfit for legislative occupation. It was there that Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House, had welcomed General Lafayette as "the Nation's Guest." The contrast between the tall and graceful Kentuckian, with his sunny smile and his silver-toned voice, and the good old Marquis, with his auburn
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CHAPTER VI. THE POLITICAL MACHINE.
CHAPTER VI. THE POLITICAL MACHINE.
As the time for another Presidential election approached, the friends of General Jackson commenced active operations in his behalf. The prime mover in the campaign was General John Henry Eaton, then a Senator from Tennessee. He had published in 1818 a brief life of the hero of New Orleans, which he enlarged in 1824 and published with the title, "The Life of Andrew Jackson, Major- General in the Service of the United States, comprising a History of the War in the South from the Commencement of th
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CHAPTER VII. THE KITCHEN CABINET.
CHAPTER VII. THE KITCHEN CABINET.
When the Twenty-first Congress assembled, on the 7th of December, 1829, General Jackson sent in his first annual message, which naturally attracted some attention. Meeting his old and intimate friend, General Armstrong, the next day, the President said, "Well, Bob, what do the people say of my message?" "They say," replied General Armstrong, "that it is first-rate, but nobody believes that you wrote it." "Well," good-naturedly replied Old Hickory, "don't I deserve just as much credit for picking
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CHAPTER VIII. BATTLE OF THE GIANTS.
CHAPTER VIII. BATTLE OF THE GIANTS.
An unimportant resolution concerning the public lands, introduced into the Senate early in 1830 by Senator Foote, of Connecticut (the father of Admiral Foote), led to a general debate, which has been since known as "the battle of the giants." The discussion embraced all the partisan issues of the time, especially those of a sectional nature, including the alleged rights of a State to set the Federal Government at defiance. The State Rights men in South Carolina, instigated by Mr. Calhoun, had be
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CHAPTER IX. THE STAMPING OUT OF NULLIFICATION.
CHAPTER IX. THE STAMPING OUT OF NULLIFICATION.
The rejection by the Senate of the nomination of Martin Van Buren as Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, was an act of retributive justice, carried out on the very spot where, five years before, he had formed the combination which overthrew the Administration of John Quincy Adams. John C. Calhoun, who was the organizer of the rejection of Mr. Van Buren, thought that he had obtained pledges of a sufficient number of votes; but just before the ayes and noes were called Mr. Webster left the
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CHAPTER X. PROMINENT MEN OF JACKSON'S TIME.
CHAPTER X. PROMINENT MEN OF JACKSON'S TIME.
Henry Clay, after his return to the Senate, was the recognized leader of the Whig Senators, for he would recognize no leader. His oratory was persuasive and spirit-stirring. The fire of his bright eyes and the sunny smile which lighted up his countenance added to the attractions of his unequaled voice, which was equally distinct and clear, whether at its highest key or lowest whisper— rich, musical, captivating. His action was the spontaneous offspring of the passing thought. He gesticulated all
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CHAPTER XI. SOCIETY IN JACKSON'S TIME.
CHAPTER XI. SOCIETY IN JACKSON'S TIME.
The most elegant estate in Washington in Jackson's time was the Van Ness mansion, built on the bank of the Potomac, at the foot of Seventeenth Street. Mr. John Van Ness, when a member of the House from the State of New York, had married Marcia, the only child of David Burns, one of the original proprietors of the land on which the Federal City was located. At that time every able-bodied man between eighteen and forty-five (with a few exceptions) had to perform militia duty, and the District Volu
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CHAPTER XII. JACKSON AND HIS ASSOCIATES.
CHAPTER XII. JACKSON AND HIS ASSOCIATES.
President Jackson's friends celebrated the 8th of January, 1835, by giving a grand banquet. It was not only the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, but on that day the last installment of the national debt had been paid. Colonel Benton presided, and when the cloth was removed he delivered an exulting speech. "The national debt," he exclaimed, "is paid! This month of January, 1835, in the fifty-eighth year of the Republic, Andrew Jackson being President, the national debt is paid! and the a
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CHAPTER XIII. JACKSON'S LAST YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
CHAPTER XIII. JACKSON'S LAST YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
Mr. Van Buren, like his predecessor, Mr. Calhoun, suffered mental martyrdom while presiding over the Senate as Vice-President. His manner was bland, as he thumped with his mallet when the galleries were out of order, or declared that "The ayes have it," or, "The memorial is referred." He received his fusillade of snubs and sneers as the ghost of Chreusa received the embraces of AEneas—he heeded them not. He leaned back his head, threw one leg upon the other, and sat as if he were a pleasant scul
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CHAPTER XIV. VAN BUREN'S STORMY ADMINISTRATION.
CHAPTER XIV. VAN BUREN'S STORMY ADMINISTRATION.
While the electoral votes for the eighth President of the United States were being counted, in the presence of the two Houses of Congress, Senator Clay remarked to the Vice-President Van Buren, with courteous significance, "It is a cloudy day, sir!" "The sun will shine on the 4th of March, sir!" was the Little Magician's confident reply. The prediction was fulfilled, for on Van Buren's inaugural morning, March 4th, 1837, the sun shone brightly, and there was not a cloud to be seen. Washington wa
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CHAPTER XV. COMMENCEMENT OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.
CHAPTER XV. COMMENCEMENT OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.
It was during the Administration of Mr. Van Buren that the English Abolitionists first began to propagate their doctrines in the Northern States, where the nucleus of an anti-slavery party was soon formed. This alarmed the Southerners, who, under the lead of Mr. Calhoun, threatened disunion if their "peculiar institution" was not let alone. The gifted South Carolinian having in January, 1838, paid a high compliment in debate to John Randolph for his uncompromising hostility to the Missouri Compr
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CHAPTER XVI. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE AT WASHINGTON.
CHAPTER XVI. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE AT WASHINGTON.
President Van Buren's wife (by birth Miss Hannah Hoes, of Columbia County, New York) had been dead nineteen years when he took possession of the White House, accompanied by his four sons, and presided over the official receptions and dinner parties with his well-known tact and politeness. In the November following his inauguration, his eldest son and private secretary, Colonel Abraham Van Buren (who was a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point, and who had served on the staff of General
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CHAPTER XVII. THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER CAMPAIGN.
CHAPTER XVII. THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER CAMPAIGN.
The Presidential campaign of 1840 surpassed in excitement and intensity of feeling all which had preceded it, and in these respects it has not since been equaled. It having been sneeringly remarked by a Democratic writer that General Harrison lived in a log cabin and had better remain there, the Whigs adopted the log cabin as one of their emblems. Log cabins were raised everywhere for Whig headquarters, some of them of large size, and almost every voting precinct had its Tippecanoe Club with its
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CHAPTER XVIII. ENTER WHIGS—EXIT DEMOCRATS.
CHAPTER XVIII. ENTER WHIGS—EXIT DEMOCRATS.
In 1840 many of the States voted for Presidential electors on different days, which rendered the contest more exciting as it approached its close. There was no telegraphic communication, and there were but few lines of railroad, so that it was some time after a large State had voted before its complete and correct returns could be received. At last all the back townships had been heard from and the exultant Whigs were certain that they had elected their candidates by a popular majority of over o
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CHAPTER XIX. HARRISON'S ONE MONTH OF POWER.
CHAPTER XIX. HARRISON'S ONE MONTH OF POWER.
Government officials at Washington, nearly all of whom had received their positions as rewards for political services, and many of whom had displaced worthy men whose only fault was that they belonged to a different party, were somewhat encouraged by the declarations of President Harrison touching the position of office-holders. It was known from a speech of his at Baltimore, prior to his inauguration, that he intended to protect the right of individual opinion from official interference, and in
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CHAPTER XX. THE KING IS DEAD—LONG LIVE THE KING.
CHAPTER XX. THE KING IS DEAD—LONG LIVE THE KING.
John Tyler, having found that his position as Vice-President gave him no voice in the distribution of patronage, had retired in disgust to his estate in Prince William County, Virginia, when Mr. Fletcher Webster brought him a notification, from the Secretary of State, to hasten to Washington to assume the duties of the President. Mr. Webster reached Richmond on Sunday—the day following General Harrison's death—chartered a steamboat, and arrived at Mr. Tyler's residence on Monday at daybreak. Soo
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CHAPTER XXI. DIPLOMATIC AND SOCIAL LIFE OF WEBSTER.
CHAPTER XXI. DIPLOMATIC AND SOCIAL LIFE OF WEBSTER.
Mr. Webster's great work as Secretary of State—indeed, he regarded it as the greatest achievement of his life—was the negotiation of a treaty with Great Britain adjusting all existing controversies. To secure this had prompted Mr. Webster to enter the Cabinet of General Harrison, and when Mr. Tyler became President Mr. Webster pledged himself to his wealthy friends in Boston and New York not to resign until the troubles with the mother country had been amicably adjusted. His position soon became
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CHAPTER XXII. THE CAPITOL AND THE DRAWING-ROOM.
CHAPTER XXII. THE CAPITOL AND THE DRAWING-ROOM.
When the Twenty-seventh Congress met in December, 1841, it was evident that there could be no harmonious action between that body and the President, but he was not disposed to succumb. Writing to a friend, he said the coming session was "likely to prove as turbulent and fractious as any since the days of Adam. But [he added] I have a firm grip on the reins." In this he was mistaken, or, rather, he had been deceived by the sycophants around him. Neither House paid any attention to the recommendat
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CHAPTER XXIII. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
CHAPTER XXIII. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
John Tyler, who was fifty-one years of age when he took possession of the Executive Mansion, was somewhat above the medium height, and of slender figure, with long limbs and great activity of movement. His thin auburn hair turned white during his term of office, his nose was large and prominent, his eyes were of a bluish- gray, his lips were thin, and his cheeks sunken. His manners were those of the old school of Virginia gentlemen, and he was very courteous to strangers. The ceremonious etiquet
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CHAPTER XXIV. HOW TEXAS BECAME A STATE.
CHAPTER XXIV. HOW TEXAS BECAME A STATE.
President Tyler was encouraged in his desire to have Texas admitted as a State of the Union by Henry A. Wise, his favorite adviser, and by numerous holders of Texan war scrip and bonds. Before the victims of the Princeton explosion were shrouded, Mr. Wise called upon Mr. McDuffie, a member of the Senate, who represented Mr. Calhoun's interests at Washington, and informed him that the distinguished South Carolinian would be appointed Secretary of State. Mr. Wise urged the Senator to write to Mr.
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CHAPTER XXV. RESTORATION OF THE DEMOCRATS.
CHAPTER XXV. RESTORATION OF THE DEMOCRATS.
James Knox Polk was inaugurated as the eleventh President of the United States on the 4th of March, 1845, a rainy, unpleasant day. Had any method of contesting a Presidential election been provided by the Constitution or the laws, the fraudulent means by which his election was secured, would have been brought forward to prevent his taking his seat. But the Constitution had made no such provision, and Congress had not been disposed to interfere; so Mr. Polk was duly inaugurated with great pomp, u
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CHAPTER XXVI. DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
CHAPTER XXVI. DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
The metropolis was not very gay during the latter portion of Mr. Polk's Administration. There were the usual receptions at the White House, and at several of the foreign legations the allowance of "table money" was judiciously expended, but there were not many large evening parties or balls. One notable social event was the marriage of Colonel Benton's daughter Sarah to Mr. Jacob, of Louisville. The bridegroom's family was related to the Taylors and the Clays, so Henry Clay, who had been re-elec
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CHAPTER XXVII. MAKING THE MOST OF POWER.
CHAPTER XXVII. MAKING THE MOST OF POWER.
General Zachary Taylor was, of all who have filled the Presidential chair by the choice of the people, the man least competent to perform its duties. He had been placed before his countrymen as a candidate in spite of his repeated avowals of incapacity, inexperience, and repugnance to all civil duties. Although sixty- four years of age, he had never exercised the right of suffrage, and he was well aware that he was elected solely because of his military prowess. But no sooner did he learn that h
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CHAPTER XXVIII. THE GREAT COMPROMISE DEBATE.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE GREAT COMPROMISE DEBATE.
The Thirty-first Congress, which met on the first Monday in the December following the inauguration of President Taylor, contained many able statesmen of national prominence. The organization of the House was a difficult task, nine "free-soil" or anti-slavery Whigs from the North and six "State-rights" or pro-slavery Whigs from the South, refusing to vote for that accomplished gentleman, Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, who was the Whig candidate for Speaker. On the first ballot, Howell Cobb, of Georgia,
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CHAPTER XXIX. PROMINENT STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATS.
CHAPTER XXIX. PROMINENT STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATS.
A prominent figure at Washington during the Taylor Administration was General Sam Houston, a large, imposing-looking man, who generally wore a waistcoat made from the skin of a panther, dressed with the hair on, and who generally occupied himself during the sessions of the Senate in whittling small sticks of soft pine wood, which the Sergeant-at-Arms provided for him. His life had been one of romantic adventure. After having served with distinction under General Jackson in the Creek War, he had
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CHAPTER XXX. FILLMORE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
CHAPTER XXX. FILLMORE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
On the tenth of July, 1850, the day after the death of General Taylor, Mr. Fillmore appeared in the Representatives' Hall at the Capitol, where both houses of Congress had met in joint session, took the oath of office, and immediately left. The new President was then fifty years of age, of average height, florid features, white hair, shrewd, gray eyes, and dignified yet courteous manners. He had risen from the humble walks of life, by incessant toil, to the highest position in the Republic. Alwa
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CHAPTER XXXI. ARRAIGNMENT OF DANIEL WEBSTER.
CHAPTER XXXI. ARRAIGNMENT OF DANIEL WEBSTER.
Mr. Clayton, when Secretary of State, had received a proposition from August Belmont, as the agent of the Rothschilds, to pay the Mexican indemnity in drafts, for which four per cent. premium would be allowed. Then Mr. Webster became Secretary of State, and he entered into an agreement with an association of bankers, composed of the Barings, Corcoran & Riggs, and Howland & Aspinwall, for the negotiation of the drafts by them at a premium of three and a-half per cent. The differen
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CHAPTER XXXII. FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND KNOW-NOTHINGISM.
CHAPTER XXXII. FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND KNOW-NOTHINGISM.
The forcible acquisition of territory was the means by which the pro-slavery leaders at the South hoped to increase their territory, and they defended this scheme in the halls of Congress, in their pulpits, and at their public gatherings. Going back into sacred and profane history, they would attempt to prove that Moses, Joshua, Saul, and David were "filibusters," and so were William the Conqueror, Charlemagne, Gustavus Adolphus, and Napoleon. Walker simply followed their example, except that th
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CHAPTER XXXIII. PLOTTING FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
CHAPTER XXXIII. PLOTTING FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
The first session of the Thirty-second Congress, which began on the 1st of August, 1852, was characterized by sectional strife, and was devoted to President-making. President Fillmore, who had traveled in the Northern States during the preceding summer, felt confident that he would receive the Whig nomination, and so did Mr. Webster, who "weighed him down"—so Charles Francis Adams wrote Henry Wilson—"as the Old Man of the Sea did Sinbad." Meanwhile Mr. Seward and his henchman, Mr. Weed, were ver
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CHAPTER XXXIV. PIERCE AT THE HELM.
CHAPTER XXXIV. PIERCE AT THE HELM.
General Pierce received a severe blow after his election, a railroad accident in Massachusetts depriving him of his only child, a promising boy, to whom he was devotedly attached. A week before the inauguration he escorted his sorrow-stricken wife to Baltimore, where he left her, and then went to Washington, accompanied by his private secretary, Mr. Sidney Webster. President Fillmore invited them to dine socially at the White House, and in the evening they were present at a numerously attended p
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CHAPTER XXXV. CHIVALRY, AT HOME AND ABROAD.
CHAPTER XXXV. CHIVALRY, AT HOME AND ABROAD.
President Pierce, seconded by Secretary Marcy, made his foreign appointments with great care. Mr. Buchanan was sent as Minister to the Court of St. James, a position for which he was well qualified, and John Y. Mason, of Virginia, was accredited to France. The support given to the Democratic party by the adopted citizens of the Republic was acknowledged by the appointment of Mr. Soulé, a Frenchman, who had been expelled from his native land as a revolutionist, as Minister to Spain; Robert Dale O
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CHAPTER XXXVI. CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
CHAPTER XXXVI. CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law re-opened the flood-gates of sectional controversy. The Native American organization was used at the North by the leading Abolitionists for the disintegration of the Whigs, and they founded a new political party, with freedom inscribed upon its banners. The Free-Soil Democrats who had rebelled against Southern rule, with the Liberty Whigs, and those who were more openly arrayed against slavery, united, and were vic
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CHAPTER XXXVII. POLITICAL STORM AND SOCIAL SUNSHINE.
CHAPTER XXXVII. POLITICAL STORM AND SOCIAL SUNSHINE.
Charles Sumner had not spoken on the slavery question immediately on taking his seat in the Senate, and some of his abolition friends in Boston had began to fear that he, too, had been enchanted by the Circe of the South. Theodore Parker said, in a public speech: "I wish he had spoken long ago, but it is for him to decide, not us. 'A fool's bolt is soon shot,' while a wise man often reserves his fire." But Senator Seward, who had been taught by experience how far a Northern man could go in oppos
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CHAPTER XXXVIII. GROWTH OF THE METROPOLIS.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. GROWTH OF THE METROPOLIS.
Mr. Cushing conceived the idea of getting up a difficulty with Great Britain, as likely to advance the prospects of President Pierce for re-election, and to divert the attention of the people from the anti-slavery question. The pretext was the recruiting in the United States, under the direction of the British diplomatic and consular representatives of the Crown, of men for the regiments engaged in the Crimean War. Mr. Crampton, the British Minister, was a large, well-built man, with white hair
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CHAPTER XXXIX. THE NORTHERN CHAMPIONS.
CHAPTER XXXIX. THE NORTHERN CHAMPIONS.
The entrance of William Pitt Fessenden into the Senate Chamber was graphically sketched years afterward by Charles Sumner. "He came," said the Senator from Massachusetts, "in the midst of that terrible debate on the Kansas and Nebraska bill, by which the country was convulsed to its centre, and his arrival had the effect of a reinforcement on a field of battle. Those who stood for freedom then were few in numbers—not more than fourteen—while thirty- seven Senators in solid column voted to break
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CHAPTER XL. EXCITING PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
CHAPTER XL. EXCITING PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
As the time for the Presidential election of 1856 approached, the Democrats, thoroughly alarmed by the situation, determined to make a last struggle for Southern supremacy, and Washington was agitated by the friends of the prominent candidates for the Democratic nomination for months before the National Convention at Cincinnati. President Pierce earnestly desired a renomination, and had distributed "executive patronage" over the country in a way which he hoped would secure him a majority of the
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CHAPTER XLI. MISS LANE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
CHAPTER XLI. MISS LANE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
After the election of Mr. Buchanan, his home at Lancaster, "Wheatland," was a political Mecca, to which leading Democrats from all sections made pilgrimages. Mr. Buchanan, who was experienced in public affairs, appointed his nephew, Mr. J. Buchanan Henry, a well-informed young gentleman, recently admitted to the Philadelphia bar, as his private secretary, and made him indorse brief statements of their contents on each of the numerous letters of recommendation for office which he received. A few
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CHAPTER XLII. DIPLOMACY, SOCIETY, AND CIVIL SERVICE.
CHAPTER XLII. DIPLOMACY, SOCIETY, AND CIVIL SERVICE.
President Buchanan was virtually his own Secretary of State, although he had courteously placed his defeated rival, General Cass, at the head of the State Department. Nearly all of the important diplomatic correspondence, however, was dictated by Mr. Buchanan, who had, like Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, served as Secretary of State, and who was thoroughly versed in foreign relations. General Thomas, the Assistant Secretary of State, was soon dismissed, and Mr. John Appleton was persuaded to l
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CHAPTER XLIII. PRELUDE TO THE REBELLION.
CHAPTER XLIII. PRELUDE TO THE REBELLION.
General Thomas J. Rusk, United States Senator from Texas, who had fought bravely at the battle of San Jacinto, had committed suicide during the summer. He had been elected President pro tempore of the Senate, and the Senate elected as his successor Senator Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, a tall, fine-looking man, whose wife was a great favorite in Washington society. He received twenty-eight votes, Mr. Hamlin receiving nineteen votes, and voting himself for Mr. Seward, which showed the Republican stren
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CHAPTER XLIV. POLITICIANS, AUTHORS, AND HUMORISTS.
CHAPTER XLIV. POLITICIANS, AUTHORS, AND HUMORISTS.
Bluff Ben Wade, a Senator from Ohio, was the champion of the North in the upper house during the prolonged debates on the Kansas- Nebraska Bill. Dueling had long been regarded as a lost art in the Northern States, but Mr. Wade determined that he would accept a challenge should one be sent him, or defend himself should he be attacked. But no one either assaulted or challenged him, although he gave his tongue free license. One day Senator Badger spoke plaintively of slavery from a Southern point o
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PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS IN THE NATIONAL METROPOLIS
PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES OF SIXTY YEARS IN THE NATIONAL METROPOLIS
Illustrating the Wit, Humor, Genius, Eccentricities, Jealousies, Ambitions and Intrigues of the Brilliant Statesmen, Ladies, Officers, Diplomats, Lobbyists and other noted Celebrities of the World that gather at the Centre of the Nation; describing imposing Inauguration Ceremonies, Gala Day Festivities, Army Reviews, &c., &c., &c. The Veteran Journalist, Clerk of the Senate Printing Records, Editor of the Congressional Directory, and Author of various Works. Illustrated.
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CHAPTER I. FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS AND DOMESTIC TROUBLES.
CHAPTER I. FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS AND DOMESTIC TROUBLES.
While President Buchanan was anxiously awaiting information from Central America, he received from Mr. Dallas, the Minister at London, notes of a conversation between himself and the Earl of Malmesbury, in which the English Minister said: "Lord Napier has communicated to the President the treaty negotiated by Sir William Gore Ouseley with the Minister from Nicaragua." It was believed that no objection had been expressed to its provisions. One of its objects was to terminate the Mosquito Protecto
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CHAPTER II. VISITS FROM DISTINGUISHED FOREIGNERS.
CHAPTER II. VISITS FROM DISTINGUISHED FOREIGNERS.
The Japanese Embassy arrived in Washington on the 14th of May, 1860, in the steamer Philadelphia, which brought them up the Potomac from the United States frigate Roanoke, on which they had come from Japan. They were received at the Navy Yard with high honors, and escorted by the district militia to their quarters at Willard's Hotel. The entire party numbered seventy-one. The three Ambassadors were rather tall and thin in form, with long and sharp faces. They had jet-black hair, so far as any wa
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CHAPTER III. THE GATHERING TEMPEST.
CHAPTER III. THE GATHERING TEMPEST.
The clouds which had long been hovering portentously in our skies now began to spread and to blacken all around the heavens. This was greatly intensified on all sides by the daring raid of John Brown, of Ossawattomie, Kansas. Locating on a farm near Harper's Ferry, Va., he organized a movement looking toward a general slave insurrection. Seizing the Armory of the United States Arsenal buildings, all of which were destroyed during the war, he inaugurated his scheme, and for a few hours had things
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CHAPTER IV. LINCOLN'S ELECTION INAUGURATES REBELLION.
CHAPTER IV. LINCOLN'S ELECTION INAUGURATES REBELLION.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President by the people on the 6th of November, 1860. Three days afterward, Horace Greeley wrote to the Tribune as follows: "If the Cotton States shall become satisfied that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace." Less than a week after the election Mr. Yancey said, in a public address, in Montgomery, his home, "I have good reason to believe that the action of any State will be peaceable—will not be resisted—under the pr
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CHAPTER V. MR. LINCOLN AT THE HELM.
CHAPTER V. MR. LINCOLN AT THE HELM.
The unexpected arrival of Mr. Lincoln at Willard's Hotel early on the morning of Saturday, February 23d, 1861, created quite a sensation when it became known in Washington. It was not true, as asserted, that he came in disguise, although he wore a traveling cap and shawl which had been loaned him, and which very materially changed his appearance. Mr. Lincoln felt confident that an attempt was to have been made to assassinate him as he passed through Baltimore. Among other statements which confir
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CHAPTER VI. THE STORM BURSTS.
CHAPTER VI. THE STORM BURSTS.
Washington City presented a strange spectacle during the first month after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. Many of the Southern sojourners had gone to their respective States, while others, some of them holding important civil, military, and naval positions, remained, truculent and defiant, to place every obstacle in the way of coercion by the Federal Government. The North sent an army of office-seekers to the metropolis, and Mr. Lincoln was forced to listen to the demands of men who had made p
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CHAPTER VII. "ON TO RICHMOND."
CHAPTER VII. "ON TO RICHMOND."
Mr. Lincoln having called a special session of Congress, the two Houses met on the 4th of July, 1861. There were many vacant seats, but some of those who sympathized with the South lingered that they might throw obstacles before any attempt at coercion. Meanwhile the Abolitionists, who feared a compromise and a reconciliation, echoed the shout "On to Richmond!" The "Grand Army of the Union," hastily organized into brigades and divisions, was placed under the command of General Irwin McDowell, a
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CHAPTER VIII. WASHINGTON A VAST GARRISON.
CHAPTER VIII. WASHINGTON A VAST GARRISON.
When Congress met on the first Monday in December, 1861, Washington was a vast citadel. A cordon of forts completely encircled it on the commanding heights, each one armed, provisioned, and garrisoned. On the large plain east of the Capitol and on the south side of the Potomac were encamped large bodies of troops. Regiments were constantly on the march through the city. Long wagon trains laden with provisions or ammunition were dragged through the mud of the then unpaved streets. Mounted orderli
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CHAPTER IX. THE METROPOLIS IN TIME OF WAR.
CHAPTER IX. THE METROPOLIS IN TIME OF WAR.
President Lincoln had a bright, spring-like day for his first New Year's reception, and the dignitaries who in turn paid their respects found such a crowd around the door of the White House that they experienced some little inconvenience in reaching the interior. Lord Lyons, of England, and M. Mercier, of France, were prominent among the diplomats, and General McDowell headed the army officers, General McClellan being ill. At noon the public were admitted, order being maintained by the police, w
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CHAPTER X. FASHION, LITERATURE, AND ART.
CHAPTER X. FASHION, LITERATURE, AND ART.
Washington "society" refused to be comforted. Those within its charmed circle would not visit the White House, or have any intercourse with the members of the Administration. This gave great annoyance to Mr. Seward, who used diplomatic and consular appointments, commissions, and contracts unsparingly for the purchase of a friendly feeling. At his urgent solicitation the President consented to an evening reception at the White House, by invitation. "I don't fancy this pass business," said the Pre
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CHAPTER XI. THE FORTUNES OF WAR.
CHAPTER XI. THE FORTUNES OF WAR.
With the war came the army correspondents. Dickens had previously introduced Martin Chuzzlewit to "our war correspondent, sir, Mr. Jefferson Brick," several years previously, but the warlike experiences of the redoubtable Mr. Brick were of a purely sedentary character, and his epistles were written at the home office. But Washington was now invaded by a corps of quick-witted, plucky young fellows, able to endure fatigue, brave enough to be under fire, and sufficiently well educated to enable the
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CHAPTER XII. SOCIAL LIFE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
CHAPTER XII. SOCIAL LIFE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
When Congress met in December, 1862, many Republicans were despondent. The Administration ticket had been defeated in the elections of the preceding month in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois, while in other loyal States the majorities had fallen off—the total returns showing the election of fifty-nine Republican Representatives against forty Democratic Representatives. This encouraged the Abolitionists to urge the emancipation of the slaves, while the conservatives prote
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CHAPTER XIII. CIVIL AND MILITARY INTRIGUES.
CHAPTER XIII. CIVIL AND MILITARY INTRIGUES.
Schuyler Colfax was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. When Congress met on the 7th of December, 1863, among the new members sworn in were Generals Garfield and Schenck, of Ohio, and Deming, of Connecticut, who had seen service; Mr. James G. Blaine, who had been the editor of the Portland Advertiser , and Mr. James G. Brooks, who had for many years edited the New York Express , with Brutus J. Clay, of Kentucky; George S. Boutwell and Oakes Ames, of Massachusetts, and other prominen
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CHAPTER XIV. EVENTS BOTH SAD AND JOYOUS.
CHAPTER XIV. EVENTS BOTH SAD AND JOYOUS.
To gratify Mr. Seward, Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, had been placed on the Republican ticket and elected Vice-President. Mr. Lincoln's re-inauguration took place under circumstances widely different from those which attended his inauguration in 1861. Then seven States had seceded from the Union, and the President had taken the oath of office surrounded by enemies whose disposition to assassinate was stronger than their courage to execute. At the re-inauguration the Federal Government was a subs
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CHAPTER XV. PLUNGED INTO SORROW.
CHAPTER XV. PLUNGED INTO SORROW.
Washington City was delirious with gladness when General Grant "came marching home," and the telegraph wires from every part of the country recently in rebellion vibrated with the tidings of victory and submission. Orders from the War Department went out over the loyal North proclaiming the absolute overthrow of the Rebellion, the return of peace, the stopping of recruiting, the raising of the blockade, the reduction of national expenditures, and the removal of all military restrictions upon tra
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CHAPTER XVI. THE CONSPIRACY TRIAL—THE GRAND REVIEWS.
CHAPTER XVI. THE CONSPIRACY TRIAL—THE GRAND REVIEWS.
Andrew Johnson took the oath of office as President of the United States, administered to him by Chief Justice Chase, at his room in the Kirkwood House. He sent word to Mrs. Lincoln to occupy the White House so long as might be agreeable to her, and he accepted the hospitality of Mr. Sam Hooper, a merchant prince, who then represented a Boston district in the House of Representatives, and occupied his own comfortable house at the corner of Fourteenth and H Streets. Every morning President Johnso
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CHAPTER XVII. PRESIDENT JOHNSON SURRENDERS.
CHAPTER XVII. PRESIDENT JOHNSON SURRENDERS.
President Johnson was by nature and temperament squarely disposed toward justice and the right, but he could not resist the concerted appeals made to him by the dominant whites at the South. Early in May, rules were issued governing trade with the States lately in rebellion, but in June these restrictions were removed, and there rapidly followed executive orders restoring Virginia to her federal relations, establishing provisional governments in the Southern States, and granting a general amnest
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CHAPTER XVIII. WASHINGTON CELEBRITIES.
CHAPTER XVIII. WASHINGTON CELEBRITIES.
When President Johnson occupied the White House he was joined by the ladies of his family. Mrs. Johnson had been an invalid for twenty years, and although she could not go into society on account of her ill-health, her pride was amply gratified in the advancement of her husband, whom she had taught to read when he was a village tailor and had won her heart. Her only appearance in public at the White House was at a party given to her grand-children. She then remained seated, and as the young gues
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CHAPTER XIX. CEREMONIALS AT THE METROPOLIS.
CHAPTER XIX. CEREMONIALS AT THE METROPOLIS.
The New Year's reception at the White House, at the opening of 1866, was marked by the absence of volunteer officers in uniform, who had, since the breaking out of the war, always been present in large numbers. The East Room was not thrown open, but the suite of drawing-rooms, which had been re-decorated and newly furnished, were much admired. The traditional colors of scarlet, blue, and green had been preserved, but the walls had been painted with gilt moldings, and the furniture was far more e
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CHAPTER XX. THE GREAT IMPEACHMENT.
CHAPTER XX. THE GREAT IMPEACHMENT.
The gulf between President Johnson and Congress gradually widened after the reconstruction bill was passed over his veto, although his friends announced that while he opposed the act and had resisted its passage, it was the law of the land, and he would fairly execute it. He appointed Generals Sheridan, Sickles, and Pope to carry out its provisions, and he was regarded as an obstinate man patriotically performing an unpleasant duty. Then he began to doubt, and Attorney-General Stanbery, aided by
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CHAPTER XXI. A NEW PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
CHAPTER XXI. A NEW PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
As the time approached for the selection of a candidate by the Republicans, Ohio presented four names. General Grant, the conqueror of the Rebellion, who was without experience, qualifications, or capacity as a civil ruler, was evidently the choice of the loyal people of the North. The old Abolitionists and the national banks favored Chief Justice Chase, who possessed brains, personal dignity, and ability to perform the duties of the Executive. Stanton was the martyr-candidate of the contractors
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CHAPTER XXII. GENERAL GRANT IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
CHAPTER XXII. GENERAL GRANT IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
General Grant, having been elected President by a majority of nearly one million and a-half of votes, was inaugurated on Thursday, the 4th of March, 1869. The national metropolis was crowded with those who had come to witness the historic event, many of them veterans who rejoiced in the elevation of their Old Commander to the highest civic office in the gift of the American people. The military escort was composed of regulars and volunteers, several companies of the latter being colored men. The
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CHAPTER XXIII. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE METROPOLIS.
CHAPTER XXIII. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE METROPOLIS.
General Grant, soon after his election to the Presidential chair, turned his attention to the improvement of the National Capital, which was then unworthy of the American people. The streets generally were wagon tracks, muddy in the winter and dusty in the summer, while the numerous public reservations were commons overgrown with weeds. The growth of the city had been slow and labored, the real estate being generally in the hands of a few old fogies who manifested no disposition to improve or to
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CHAPTER XXIV. RESTORATION OF THE UNION.
CHAPTER XXIV. RESTORATION OF THE UNION.
The Southern States had again returned to their allegiance, and in the third session of the Forty-first Congress every State in the Union was represented. Vice-President Colfax presided over sixty- one Republican and thirteen Democratic Senators, and Speaker Blaine over one hundred and seventy-two Republican and seventy-one Democratic Representatives. The Republican party had preserved the Union, conquered peace, and was at the height of its power. The "carpet- baggers" from the South were gradu
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CHAPTER XXV. INTRIGUES AND INTRIGUERS.
CHAPTER XXV. INTRIGUES AND INTRIGUERS.
General Grant, when elected President of the United States, had endeavored to elevate his views beyond the narrow sphere of party influences, and had consolidated in his own mind a scheme of policy which he had before shadowed out for the complete reconstruction of the Union, and for the reform of abuses which had crept into the Federal Government during the war. The qualities which insured his success as a soldier had not enabled him to succeed as a statesman, but he displayed the same fortitud
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CHAPTER XXVI. A NEW TERM BEGUN.
CHAPTER XXVI. A NEW TERM BEGUN.
General Grant's second inauguration on Tuesday, March 4th, 1873, was shorn of its splendor by the intense cold weather. The wind blew in a perfect gale from the southwest, sweeping away the flags and other decorations from private houses and making it very disagreeable for the, nevertheless, large crowds of spectators. When the procession started from the White House, so intense was the cold that the breath of the musicians condensed in the valves of their instruments, rendering it impossible fo
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CHAPTER XXVII. CORRUPTION IN OFFICIAL LIFE.
CHAPTER XXVII. CORRUPTION IN OFFICIAL LIFE.
The Democrats, having secured possession of the House of Representatives, organized upward of fifty committees of investigation, which cast their drag-nets over every branch of the administration, hoping to find some evidence of corruption in which the President had shared; but he most searching investigation failed to connect the name or fame of General Grant with any of this traditional "picking and stealing." Witnesses were summoned by the score, reams of paper were covered with short-hand no
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CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CENTENNIAL GLORY.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CENTENNIAL GLORY.
The Centennial year of the Republic was ushered in at Washington with unusual rejoicings, although the weather was damp and foggy. There were nocturnal services in several of the Episcopal churches and watch meetings at the Methodist churches. Several of the temperance organizations continued in session until after midnight, and there was much social visiting. Just before twelve o'clock, the chime of bells of the Metropolitan Methodist church played "Pleyel's Hymn." The fire-alarm bells then stu
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CHAPTER XXIX. THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION.
The Electoral Commission was a cunningly devised plan for declaring Mr. Hayes legally elected President. In the then feverish condition of parties at the Capitol, with no previously arranged plan for adjusting controverted questions, it was evident that some plan should be devised for a peaceful solution of the difficulty. Republicans conceived the idea of an Electoral Commission, to be composed of five Senators, five Representatives, and five Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. No sooner h
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CHAPTER XXX. INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT HAYES.
CHAPTER XXX. INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT HAYES.
Governor Hayes, having been notified by friends at Washington that the electoral count would declare his election as President, left Columbus for the national capital on the afternoon of the first of March. Very early the next morning he was informed by a telegraph operator that the count had been peacefully completed, and that Senator Ferry, the President pro tem. of the Senate, had announced that Rutherford B. Hayes had been duly elected President, and William A. Wheeler Vice-President. This a
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CHAPTER XXXI. A NEW ERA IN SOCIETY.
CHAPTER XXXI. A NEW ERA IN SOCIETY.
Rutherford B. Hayes had not entered upon his fifty-fifth year when he was inaugurated as President. He was a well-built man, of stalwart frame, with an open countenance ruddy with health, kind blue eyes, a full, sandy beard in which there were a few silver threads, a well-shaped mouth, and a smile on his lips. He had served gallantly in the army and creditably in Congress, without having contracted any bad habits or made any personal enemies. His manners were courteous; he bore himself with dign
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CHAPTER XXXII. LEADERS AND MEASURES.
CHAPTER XXXII. LEADERS AND MEASURES.
Fourteen years after the surrender of Appomattox, the Republicans surrendered in the Capitol at Washington and passed into the minority. President Grant having failed in his severe Southern policy, President Hayes tried conciliation. Never did a President enter upon his duties with more sincere good-will for every section. There was displayed in every act of the incoming Administration a kindliness toward Southern men and Southern interests that almost aroused a jealousy in the North. It was not
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CHAPTER XXXIII. TILTS IN CONGRESS.
CHAPTER XXXIII. TILTS IN CONGRESS.
The marriage of the King of Spain was celebrated at Washington by Senor Mantilla, the Spanish Minister, who gave a magnificent entertainment at Wormley's Hotel, where he was residing. The parlors were decorated with the Minister's own furniture and paintings, and with a profusion of rare plants and flowers. The Diplomatic Corps wore their court costumes, while the officers of our army and navy appeared in full uniform. Madame Mantilla was an Andalusian, and had the clear, creamy complexion, the
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CHAPTER XXXIV. STRUGGLE FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION.
CHAPTER XXXIV. STRUGGLE FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION.
When General Grant returned from his trip around the world, the Blaine newspapers, while they filled their columns with adulatory notices of the "Old Commander," also discovered in the "Plumed Knight" qualities which inspired them with enthusiasm and admiration. The friends of General Grant were not, however, to be placed in an attitude of antagonism toward Blaine. They remembered, however, that when Grant retired from the political contest in 1876, and his friends turned toward Blaine, they fou
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CHAPTER XXXV. THE GARFIELD INAUGURATION.
CHAPTER XXXV. THE GARFIELD INAUGURATION.
The inauguration of James Abram Garfield as the twentieth President of the United States was a grand historical pageant, although its effect was marred by the chilly, snowy, and wet weather. All the night previous the shrill blasts of the storm-king were varied by the whistles of the locomotives and steamboats, which were bringing thousands from the North, the West, and the South. Drenched and draggled people perambulated Pennsylvania Avenue and the adjacent streets, while occasional memories of
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CHAPTER XXXVI. CHANGES AND DISSENSIONS.
CHAPTER XXXVI. CHANGES AND DISSENSIONS.
The Senate, which met in executive session when General Garfield was inaugurated, showed many changes. Vice-President Wheeler, who had served in Congress long and well, was replaced by General Arthur, whose war record in the State of New York had won him many friends. Senators Allen Thurman and Matt. Carpenter were missed by their legal friends, but among the new Senators was the ponderous David Davis, "learned in the law." General Hawley replaced Mr. Eaton, and with him there came from the Hous
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CHAPTER XXXVII. THE ASSASSINATION.
CHAPTER XXXVII. THE ASSASSINATION.
General Garfield was a singularly domestic man, and his life while he was a Representative, at his pleasant home on I Street was a happy one. Believing in the power of steady and sincere labor, he had mastered language, science, literature, and the fine arts. Artists found in him a zealous advocate for their employment and remuneration by Congress, and he was thoroughly acquainted with the works of the old masters. He was a great lover of scrap-books, and he had in his library a shelf full of th
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CHAPTER XXXVIII. VICE-PRESIDENT ARTHUR BECOMES PRESIDENT.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. VICE-PRESIDENT ARTHUR BECOMES PRESIDENT.
When President Garfield was assassinated Vice-President Arthur was on his way from Albany to New York, on a steamboat, and received the intelligence on landing. That night he went to Washington, where he was the guest of Senator Jones, who then occupied the large granite house directly south of the Capitol, erected a few years previously by General Butler. On the evening of July 4th, when the President's death seemed imminent, Secretary Blaine visited Mr. Arthur and said: "The end is at hand; th
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CHAPTER XXXIX. THE CENTENNIAL OF YORKTOWN.
CHAPTER XXXIX. THE CENTENNIAL OF YORKTOWN.
President Arthur was a man of gracious presence, of good education, of extensive reading, and of courteous manners, refined by his having mingled in New York society. He was always well dressed, usually wearing in his office a Prince Albert coat, buttoned closely in front, with a flower in the upper button-hole, and the corner of a colored silk handkerchief visible from a side pocket. Dignified, as became his exalted station, he never slapped his visitors' shoulders, or called them by their Chri
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CHAPTER XL. PRESIDENT ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATION.
CHAPTER XL. PRESIDENT ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATION.
The first session of the Forty-seventh Congress, which was commenced on the 5th of December, 1881, and prolonged until the 8th of August, 1882, found the Republicans again in the possession of the Federal Government. In the Senate, where the elephantine David Davis presided in his pleasant way, often disregarding parliamentary rules, there was a Republican majority of two, and in the House, which had elected as its Speaker that gallant, burly, impulsive son of Ohio, General J. Warren Keifer, the
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CHAPTER XLI. GAY AND FESTIVE SCENES.
CHAPTER XLI. GAY AND FESTIVE SCENES.
New Year's Day has always been celebrated at the National Capital in the style which President Washington inaugurated when the Federal Government was located at New York. The foreign Ministers and the Government dignitaries go in state to pay their respects to the President, after which the old Knickerbocker custom of visiting friends generally is kept up. One is certain to see at the White House on New Year's Day all the prominent people of both sexes in Washington. Then, too, it is the only pl
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CHAPTER XLII. THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT.
CHAPTER XLII. THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT.
When the Forty-eighth Congress met on the 3d of December, 1885, Senator Edmunds occupied the chair of the Senate as President pro tempore; Judge Davis, not having been re-elected Senator from Illinois, had vacated the chair on the last day of the preceding session. Senator Anthony, who had been elected to a fifth term, could not be sworn in as a Senator until after the commencement of that term, and was consequently ineligible. So Senator Edmunds accepted the position with the understanding that
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CHAPTER XLIII. PRESIDENT CLEVELAND.
CHAPTER XLIII. PRESIDENT CLEVELAND.
The inauguration of Grover Cleveland as the twenty-second President of the United States, on the 4th of March, 1885, restored the executive power of the Federal Government to the Democrats, after it had been enjoyed by the Republicans for twenty years. The throng of visitors was great, the railroads leading into Washington having brought nearly half a million of passengers during the week, while several thousand more came by the Potomac River steamboats. The hotels and boarding-houses were full,
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CHAPTER XLIV. OFFICIAL AND SOCIAL LIFE.
CHAPTER XLIV. OFFICIAL AND SOCIAL LIFE.
President Cleveland is emphatically a working man. Possessing a strong physique, he industriously devotes his time and his energies to the duties of his office. Gentle in his strength, unobtrusive in his modesty, and unswerved by partisan clamor, he endeavors to do what he—from his personal and political standpoint—regards as right. He is above medium height, quite stout, and rather sluggish in his movement. He is of the Teutonic type—blonde, with ruddy color. His head is large, with a broad for
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CHAPTER XLV. THE FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS.
CHAPTER XLV. THE FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS.
The first session of the Forty-ninth Congress was commenced on the 7th of December, 1885. The Republicans had a majority in the Senate, but it was understood that they would not oppose the Administration in a factious way, but would insist upon having the reasons for the removals of Republican officials and the appointment of Democrats in their places. The President, on the other hand, intimated that he should assert all his prerogatives. A number of the Democratic Senators were not happy, and a
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CHAPTER XLVI. THE PRESIDENT'S WEDDING.
CHAPTER XLVI. THE PRESIDENT'S WEDDING.
President Cleveland was married at the White House at seven o'clock on the 2d of June, 1886, to Miss Frances Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner. Since the historic mansion had been occupied there had been eight marriages within its walls, but for the first time a President of the United States was the bridegroom. The day had been unpleasant, but in the afternoon it cleared off, and the sunbeams flittered through the foliage of the trees. Only a few relatives of the bride and high off
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CHAPTER XLVII. A SUMMING-UP OF SIXTY YEARS.
CHAPTER XLVII. A SUMMING-UP OF SIXTY YEARS.
The progress of Washington City during the past sixty years—1827- 1887—has been phenomenal. The United States of America, then twenty-four in number, now number thirty-eight, bound together by iron bands, then unknown, while the telegraph and the telephone add their usefulness to that of the railroads. Domestic rebellion showed itself, to be overthrown only after a struggle in which the courage and endurance of the North and the South were equally demonstrated. The teeming population of Europe h
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