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ANOTHER STRONG LETTER FROM GRANT. [1865.

"There is a stampede on the part of the Franco-Mexicans. Camargo has been evacuated. The garrison marched down to Matamoras with large cotton trains. This cotton is United States cotton, stolen under the auspices of the French commandant. General Steele notifies me that the command of General Shelby which escorted the cotton agent of Texas, Governors Murrah, Clark, and Allen, Generals Smith, Magruder, and others, had with it three pieces of artillery, forty wagon-loads of Enfield rifles, and a large wagon train. He has some doubt of the correctness of this report, but I do not doubt it but very little myself. Cortinas has made application for his artillery, which is at Brownsville (three pieces), and I have directed it to be quietly turned over to him. This was the understanding when it was left at Brownsville. General Steele also notifies me that they are nearly starved out in Matamoras."

Galena, Illinois, September first.-Grapt to the President.

"Seven weeks' absence from Washington, and free intercourse with all parties and classes of people, has convinced me that there is but one opinion as to the duty of the United States toward Mexico, or rather the usurpers in that country. All agree, that besides a yielding of the long-proclaimed Monroe doctrine, non-intervention in Mexican affairs will lead to an expensive and bloody war hereafter or a yielding of territory now possessed by us. To let the empire of Maximilian be established on our frontier, is to permit an enemy to establish himself who will require a large standing army to watch. Military stations will be at points remote from supplies, and therefore expensive to keep. The trade of an empire will be lost to our commerce, and Americans, instead of being the most favored people of the world throughout the length and breadth of this continent, will be scoffed and laughed at by their adjoining neighbors, both north and south-the people of the British provinces and of Mexico.

"Previous communications have given my views on our duty in the matter here spoken of, so that it is not necessary that I should treat the subject at any length now. Conversations with you have convinced me that you think about it as I do; otherwise I should never have taken the liberty of writing in this manner. I have had the opportunity of mingling more intimatély with all classes of community than the Executive can possibly have, and my object is to give you the benefit of what I have heard expressed.

"I would have no hesitation in recommending that notice be given the French that foreign troops must be withdrawn from the continent, and the people left free to govern themselves in their own way. I would openly sell on credit to the government of Mexico, all the ammunition and clothing they want, and aid them with officers to command troops. In fine, I would take such measures as would secure the supremacy of republican government in Mexico.

"I hope you will excuse me for the free manner in which I address you. I but speak iny honest convictions, and then with the full belief that a terrible strife in this country is to be averted by prompt action in this matter with Mexico."

1865.]

66 'WHERE NONE CAN FOLLOW YOU."

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CHAPTER XLIII.

LAURELED.

IN June a grand fair began in Chicago for the benefit of of disabled soldiers and their families. During the previous February Mesdames Livermore and Hoge, leaders in the movement, begged President Lincoln to be present, that he might help kindle enthusiasm, let his old Illinois friends see him, and get a little rest.

"Rest!" he replied with a smile; "go to a fair to rest! I did that once at Philadelphia. Crowds were at every station all expecting a speech, and then cheering until we were out of hearing. I could not refuse to speak to the people, they were so loyal, and I knew it was because I represented the country for which they had suffered so much and so willingly that they wished to see and to hear me. When we got to the fair, our promised haven of rest, it was worse than ever. And oh, oh! the shaking of hands! I came home pleased and gratified, but worn out worse than before I went."

The ladies answered that he would find even greater enthusiasm in Chicago, but added:

"We will put you on a steamer upon the border of the lake, where the people can look at you but can't touch you. Your hands shall be protected, and then we will send you to a quiet place of rest where none can follow you. You shall go to Mackinaw, that invigorating and lovely island, and none shall be permitted to trouble you."

LINCOLN (rubbing his hands and laughing like a child).— "That's capital; that will do!"

Long before the fair began he was borne through Chicago, where the people "could look at him, but could not touch him," to that quiet place where none can follow.

A promise to be present for a day or two had been

512

GRANT AT THE CHICAGO FAIR.

[1865.

extorted from Grant. Mrs. Sherman asking him to contribute something, he placed at her disposal "Old Jack,” the cream-colored horse which he rode from the beginning of the war until after Chattanooga. Old Jack was a hero at the fair, and finally fell into the hands of a Chicago patriot, being raffled off for a thousand dollars. His fate was better than that of Washington's favorite white charger, sold by his master whom he had carried safely through the war for independence. The proceeds from Old Jack went to the widows and orphans of the soldiers; the pay for the Revolutionary charger into the private pocket of his master.

Reaching Chicago, Grant found a countless multitude waiting at the station, with Old Jack ready saddled and bridled. The people insisted that the General should ride him through the streets. He had no spurs, and the hardened steed was impervious to the whip, but he jogged along, the throng rending the heavens with their cheers, while a hundred guns gave thundering welcome.

At Union Hall, as Grant entered, the shouts of ten thousand people drowned the "Red, White, and Blue" from the band. When he stepped upon the platform they were renewed; and among the booths through all that vast space, ladies were waving their handkerchiefs and men swinging and flinging up their hats. Hooker presided, and introduced the General, who said :

"Ladies and Gentlemen: As I never made a speech myself, I will ask Governor Yates to return the thanks which I should fail to express."

Yates did so, in fervid, ringing words. Sherman, next called for, merely replied:

"I am here to-day to listen. I am not going to make any speech whatever. Always ready, always willing, always proud to do any thing the Lieutenant-General asked me to do, I know he never asked me to make a speech." (Cheers and laughter.)

GRANT." No, I never asked a soldier to do any thing I could not do myself." (Great applause.)

66

After the cheers subsided, the immense audience sang Rally round the Flag, boys," and then called for Mrs.

1865.] HE VISITS NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA.

513

Grant and Mrs. Sherman, who stepped forward on the platform and received the same hearty welcome.

The fair excited great interest throughout the Northwest. Its proceeds exceeded a quarter of a million of dollars. One of its curiosities was the revolver which Jefferson Davis had in his hand when captured-a relic that the soldiers regarded with grim smiles. Another was the historic eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin Infantry, which, having survived the perils of the war, is maintained at the public expense in the State-House yard at Madison. Fifteen thousand dollars' worth of his photographs were sold. A third was a characteristic letter from Abraham Lincoln to a St. Louis lady, in reply to a request for his autograph. It ran :

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if it should be God's will that it should continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited labor shall be sunk, and every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

Grant returned to Washington. In July he went to Saratoga, and from there to Boston, which he had not seen for thirteen years. He passed a quiet Sunday, attending worship at the Old South Church of Revolutionary memory. On Monday a grand reception was given him at Faneuil Hall. He visited Harvard University, which, as in duty bound, had already conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. At Lowell he spent several hours in the largest factory in America, which employs two thousand workmen and work women. He was much interested in the large library; the pleasantness of the long, well-ventilated rooms; the tasteful dress and cheerful looks of the girls; and, above all, the curious, intricate machinery, particularly that for cutting dies and that for printing calico.

He tarried a few days in Maine, and then making a tour through Canada, started for his old home on the upper Mississippi. Everywhere crowds gathered to meet him, and as he neared Galena the enthusiasm was unbounded. When the train arrived there, cannons were booming, bands

II

514 "CAPTAIN GRANT" RETURNS TO GALENA.

[1865.

playing, flags flying, and thousands of human throats lustily cheering. Among other stanch friends who greeted him, was H. H. Houghton, of the Galena Gazette, the oldest editor in Illinois, the first to commend Grant at the outset of the war, and the truest through all his days of trial.

An arch spanned one street bearing the inscription wreathed with flowers, "General, the sidewalk is built." The people had presented to him a completely furnished house,-costing sixteen thousand dollars-first building a new sidewalk half a mile to the station.

At the De Soto House, from which streamed two hundred flags, a triumphal arch overspread the main street. One side was inscribed:

The other bore the words :

"HAIL TO THE CHIEF WHO IN TRIUMPH ADVANCES.

Through the surging crowd Grant was escorted past the old leather store, and under the arch, from which thirtysix young girls, each bearing the national colors and representing a State of the Union, showered him with bouquets. From a platform near it, a speech of welcome was fitly made by Washburne. The Reverend J. H. Vincent replied for the Lieutenant-General, thanking his old neighbors, and saying that the duties of his official position compelled him, as long as he held it, to remain in Washington; but that he regarded Galena as his home, and, please God, should be there as much and as often as possible.

The formal welcome over, he and his family were driven to the new home. Our views of it and the other houses upon the same page are all from photographs. In front of the Washington residence (purchased by the General), the photographer caught his carriage horses also. The picture