take life easy: but a pretended friend, just as he had formed this good resolution, seduced him into making just one more venture; which happened to prove disastrous: and he had to start the world again anew: and he settled at Chicago as a law partner with Judge Van H. Higgins, where for twenty years he occupied a conspicuous position as one of the best jury advocates in the Northwest; his services being sought for in critical trials, in various parts of the country; going, at one time, to New Haven, Connecticut, to try a heavy case. Many of his triumphs were astounding, to those who knew not the magnetism of the man: and the seductive charms of his magic eloquence. I now recall the cases of young Sloo at Shawneetown (which John A. Logan and Judge W. J. Allen prosecuted) and Wintermute at Yankton in Dakota, both of whom he cleared, against "light and knowledge," as well as law and evidence and for some years, murderers were wont to engage Swett, who raised the plea of insanity with success, nearly always. He was not a profound lawyer, but he was a most adroit, ingenious and brilliant advocate; and I personally knew, that in a jury case, Lincoln preferred association with him to any other lawyer in the State. Indeed, Lincoln seemed to lean on him, and to say in effect, "I am all right now, that Swett is with me." The same principle obtained in his statesmanship:— whenever Lincoln got hold of Swett Lincoln would consult him at length, on his policies: and the only reason why he did not honor him with an office (beyond that of Government Director of the Union Pacific Railway) was, because Swett was too near to him: and he was fearful he would be censured; but I have reason to know, that Lincoln thought more of Swett, as a man, than any other man in Illinois during the war. In 1854, after a romantic courtship, which he gave me the full details of, he married a charming young lady in New Hampshire, who, early, became an invalid, but to whom he was assiduous in his devotion throughout. And he had, always, an elegantly appointed home, where he delighted to entertain the elite of the nation, for as an entertainer, Swett was incomparable, and he was very fond of home and its adjuncts. Although his friends were greatly disappointed that he barely missed a brilliant political career, he took his disappointments with nonchalance, and said to me, one day: "You have heard of reformed gamblers—well, I am a reformed politician." His adhesiveness to his friends, and his inability to say, No! was the rock on which the bark which contained his political aspirations foundered. He was the prey and sport of adventurers, who used his transcendent talents for their narrow and selfish ends. He would have been the John A. Logan of Illinois politics, had he had the ordinary self-preservation of mankind. LEONARD SWETT, SWETT & H. C. WHITNEY. WHITNEY, ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELLORS AT LAW, AND SOLICITORS IN CHANCERY, URBANA, CHAMPAIGN CO., ILL. All Collections will be promptly Enforced; Titles Investigated AND TAXES PAID ON LANDS IN ANY PART OF THE STATE. W. E. FOOTE, PRINTER. IV. THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION. Looking backward through the vista of time thirty-one. years, or more, ago, it seems as if the nomination of Lincoln was an easy achievement, and as though it was a spontaneous movement of the people. I was with Mr. Lincoln every evening but four during his sixteen days' stay in Chicago, in the months of March and April preceding the nominationduring most of the time we were alone, except one evening we attended an entertainment by a minstrel troupe: and I presumptively knew that politicians of Chicago entertained no such idea, inasmuch as the only two men of any note whatever, who called on Mr. Lincoln, were John Wentworth, and he had partaken largely, just before, of the cup which cheers, etc., and Robert S. Blackwell, a lawyer of eminence in his profession, but of no meritorious political character. Indeed, no other solitary man intruded on us at the Tremont House, except a young theoretical German politician who wanted to learn something of our politics: and I likewise presumptively knew that Lincoln himself entertained a merely possible hope of success, for he talked to me freely of the situation, and told me of letters he had received from various leading men on the subject, and the contents thereof. It was a subject of nightly discussion between us, and I think he was candid with me, and regarded himself as a mere possibility for the nomination. The credit of the nomination belongs to certain men whom I will name, and it was the resultant of a combination of shrewd schemes, all in harmony, though the actors were not, with the general plan, and all converging to one point, viz.: the nomination. This is ag susceptible of proof as any moral fact, as I shall show. |