PART FIRST. ANECDOTES OF THE REBELLION-PATRIOTIC, POLITICAL, CIVIL, JUDICIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE, ETC. MEMORABLE ANNALS AND REMINISCENCES OF MEN AND MEASURES IDENTIFIED WITH Can either of you to-day name one single act of wrong, deliberately and purposely done by the government at Washington, of which the South has a right to complain? I challenge an answer.-ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, before the Georgia Secessionists' Convention. Andrew Jackson's Famous Union Toast. It soon became manifest to the more sagacious ones that this dinner party and the 13th of April, the day were to be made the occasion for 1830, there was a inaugurating the new doctrine of nullificaremarkable dinner tion, and to fix the paternity of it on Mr. party in the national Jefferson, the great Apostle of Democracy metropolis. It was in America. Many gentlemen present, the birthday of perceiving the drift of the whole performThomas Jefferson, ance, withdrew in disgust before sumand those who at- moned to the table; but the sturdy old tended the party did President, perfectly informed, remained. so avowedly for the When the dinner was over and the purpose of honoring the memory of the cloth removed, a call was made for the author of the DECLARATION OF INDE- regular toasts. These were twenty-four PENDENCE. Such was the tenor of the in number, eighteen of which, it is alleged, invitation. Andrew Jackson, the Presi- were written by Mr. Calhoun. These, in dent of the United States, was there. So multifarious forms, shadowed forth, now was John C. Calhoun, the Vice President. dimly, now clearly, the new doctrine. Three of the cabinet ministers, namely, They were all received and honored in Van Buren, Eaton, and Branch were various degrees, when volunteer toasts there; and members of Congress and citi- were announced as in order. zens not a few. The President was of course first called upon for a sentiment. His tall form rose in honor of Lord Moncy, and a secessionist majestically, and with that sternness ap- from Windsor visited a member of the Cabpropriate to the peculiar occasion, he cast inet hoping thereby to obtain an invitation that appalling bomb-shell of words into the to the ball. He presented his card-" Mr. camp of conspirators, which will forever be Southern Confederacy." The gena theme for the commendation of the pat- tleman took it, examined it curiously, and riot and the historian-"THE FEDERAL remarked dryly, "Mr. -, of the S-o-uUNION: IT MUST BE PRESERVED!" He t-h-e-r-n C-o-n-f-e-d-e-r-a-c-y, eh! Well, was followed by the Vice President, who Sir, our Government is not aware of the existence of such an 'institution.' There must be some mistake, Sir," and the secessionist was courteously bowed out. It would have done honor to that Cabinet had the example of rebuff thus set in the early stage of the rebellion, towards its abettors, been carried out consistently to the end. But, if there were others similarly bowed out, there were certainly a much larger number who were bowed in, and to whom the doors of provincial favor opened on golden hinges. J. C. Calhoun. Not "Jeff," but "Geoffrey" Davis. Among the "gentlemen" furnished with lodgings for the night, at the Union street station house in was an Irishman. He had a large amount of masonry in his hat-in other words he was unmistakably the station house the first process is to search them. This process is intended entirely for the benefit of the prisoner, and prevents him from being robbed by other gentlemen or ladies who may be placed in the same cell. gave as his sentiment-"The Union: next to our Liberty the most dear: may we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the States, and distributing equally the benefit and burden of tipsy. When such persons are brought to the Union!" Those who before doubted the intentions of Calhoun and his South Carolina friends, and were at a loss to understand the exact meaning of the dinner party to which they were bidden, were no longer embarrassed by ignorance. In that toast was presented the issue-liberty before Union-supreme State sovereignty -false complaints of inequality of benefits and burdens our rights as we choose to define them, or disunion. From that hour the vigilant old President watched the South Carolina conspirator, his lieutenant, with the searching eyes of unslumbering suspicion. THE CON TENTS OF THIS BOOK FORM THE SEQUEL Some Mistake in the Card. A ball was to be given in Toronto, C. W., The prisoner is next asked concerning his name, occupation and nativity. These points are recorded, and reported to the mayor next morning. If the prisoner is too drunk to answer questions, the explanation is made when he pays his fine, or goes to jail. The Irishman in question proved to be a character in his way, as the following will show: "What's your name?" asked the turnkey, as he was brought in. "My name's Davis, an' it's as good a one as yours any day in the year." "Very well; What's your first name?" The Milesian told it; and the turnkey | ary, 1865-there was a lengthy general recorded it on his slate, "Jeff Davis." conversation held. It seems that it was Though decidedly drunk, the Irishman during this informal talk that the Confedwas anything but an ignoramus. He looked at the turnkey's memorandum, and saw the name "Jeff Davis." "What the divil's that?" he sharply asked, with forefinger pointing to the slate. "Why, it's the name you told me was yours." "I toold you so?" erate embassadors first heard of the passage of the constitutional amendment by the House of Representatives, prohibiting slavery. One of the number remarked that this action might complicate affairs a little with the South, the heavy planters insisting upon maintaining that institution and defending it,-and President Lincoln thought he could get Old Abe, true as steel to his forte, was ready for them with one of his parables or stories, and said : "Of course you did. Didn't you say was asked if he your name was Jeff Davis ?" around that fact. The Irishman looked at him in silence for a moment. Then clenching his fist he brandished it menacingly over the turnkey's hat, saying There was an old farmer out in Illinois who had made his arrangements to raise a large herd of hogs; he informed his neighbors that he had found a way to raise cheap pork. This excited the curiosity of his neighbors, and they asked him "Av' it warrent for yer gray hairs or yer ignorance, one or the other, I'd mash the nose ov ye till ye couldn't tell it from a turnip." "And for what?" asked the turnkey, how he was going to do it. The old looking up in surprise. "For writin' down me name like the name of the black hearted Judas ov a Jefferson Davis." "Didn't you say that was your name?" "I did not. Overhaul your dictionary ye ould omadhoun. It's ignorance, that's all that ails ye. Rub out that Jefferson. Instead of a J put a G, and then spell out me name Geoffrey Davis. Bedad, if me name was Jefferson I'd change it to Peter, so I would!"' With this remark the speaker disappeared into the cell, whose door the officer was holding open for him. Two minutes afterwards his snoring resounded through the whole building. He didn't mind the degradation of the lock-up, but hadn't quite descended to the level of the patricide whose name he was supposed to wear. President Lincoln Treating the Richmond Commissioners to a Little Story. After the formal interview between President Lincoln and the three Confederate Commissioners was over-in Febru farmer replied that he should plant a large field of potatoes, and when they had got their growth would turn the hogs in and let them dig and eat, thus saving the expense of digging the potatoes and feeding them. "But," said his neighbors, "the frost will come before they are fattened, and in all probability the ground will be frozen a foot deep. How do you propose to get around that ?" "Oh," replied the farmer, "they will root somewhere anyway, and may as well root away there, even if it is hard work.” |