The Writings of Carl Schurz/To W. H. Clarke, April 30th, 1886

by Carl Schurz and others

 

TO W. H. CLARKE

April 30, 1886. 

I have received your note of yesterday^[1] and beg leave to say in reply that the occurrence to which you refer did not take place in my presence but was related to me by Charles Sumner. That the words quoted expressed Mr. Lincoln's real sentiments, I know from my own experience. I met Mr. Lincoln on board a steamer near City Point, in the early spring of 1865, shortly before the capture of Richmond. He told me then that he had left Washington, partly because he wanted to be near the theater of the important operations then going on, and partly because he wanted to run away from the officeseekers, and he added: “I am afraid that thing is going to ruin republican government,” and much more to the same effect. The expression in quotation marks I remember particularly.

1.  
   New York, April 29, 1886. 

   Dear Sir: Did Mr. Lincoln use the following words in your presence: “Behold this spectacle! We have conquered the rebellion, but here is a greater danger to the country than was the rebellion”? He referred to officeseekers. What other, if any, prominent man was present?

   Yours respectfully,
   W. H. Clarke.