64 WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN IN THE 



chiefly composed of Republican Senators, Evarts 

 Sherman, Hawley, Allison, Hale, Hoar, and Ed 

 munds. The last named was the oldest member c 

 the Senate, and he did me the honour of taking m 

 arm in to dinner. The conversation was principal! 

 on the subject of the President's free-trade messag 

 issued that day. Colonel Hay was at that tim 

 engaged, in conjunction with his old colleague Johi 

 G. Nicolay, in writing the life of Abraham Lincoln 

 which came out in the Century Magazine from 1881 

 to 1890, and which, with sundry additions, was pub 

 lished in ten volumes in 1890. After dinner thi 

 Colonel showed us a lot of interesting old MSS 

 which he kept in a portfolio, including inter alia th< 

 original draft Proclamation abolishing slavery, ii 

 Old Abe's own handwriting. 



Colonel Hay was born at Salem, Indiana, in 1838 

 and was therefore in his fiftieth year at this time 

 He was of Scottish descent. He was educated a 

 Brown University, and after being called to the bai 

 he was, in 1861, admitted to practice in the Supreme 

 Court at Springfield, Illinois, where he became 

 associated with Abraham Lincoln, who was also « 

 barrister in that city. When Lincoln became Presi- 

 dent he took Hay with him to Washington as his 

 Private Secretary, and the latter remained his 



