SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY-1865-1867 131 



and Mr. Seward 's action was characteristic. Having re- 

 turned a curt and dry reply to the guarded phrases of the 

 governor, he pressed by him with the President and his 

 associates to the "Executive Chamber" near the entrance, 

 the way to which he, of all men, well knew. In that room 

 the Senate were assembled and, on the entrance of the 

 visitors, Governor Fenton endeavored to introduce them 

 in a formal speech ; but Mr. Seward was too prompt for 

 him ; he took the words out of the governor 's mouth and 

 said, in a way which thrilled all of us who had been 

 brought up to love and admire him, "In the Executive 

 Chamber of the State of New York I surely need no in- 

 troduction. I bring to you the President of the United 

 States; the chief magistrate who is restoring peace and 

 prosperity to our country." 



The whole scene impressed me greatly; there rushed 

 upon me a strong tide of recollection as I contrasted what 

 Governor Fenton had been and was, with what Governor 

 Seward had been and was : it all seemed to me a ghastly 

 mistake. There stood Fenton, marking the lowest point 

 in the choice of a State executive ever reached in our 

 Commonwealth by the Eepublican party: there stood 

 Seward who, from his boyhood in college, had fought 

 courageously, steadily, powerfully, and at Jast trium- 

 phantly, against the domination of slavery ; who, as State 

 senator, as governor, as the main founder of the Republi- 

 can party, as senator of the United States and finally as 

 Secretary of State, had rendered service absolutely ines- 

 timable; who for years had braved storms of calumny 

 and ridicule and finally the knife of an assassin ; and who 

 was now adhering to Andrew Johnson simply because he 

 knew that if he let go his hold, the President would re- 

 lapse into the hands of men opposed to any rational set- 

 tlement of the questions between the North and South. I 

 noticed on Seward 's brow the deep scar made by the 

 assassin's knife when Lincoln was murdered; all the 

 others, greatly as I admired Grant and Farragut, passed 

 with me at that time for nothing ; my eyes were fixed upon 

 the Secretary of State. 



