登陆注册
19464300000008

第8章 IN PUBLIC LIFE(2)

I was elected to the assembly, the popular branch of the New York Legislature, in 1861. I was nominated during an absence from the State, without being a candidate or knowing of it until my return. Of course, I could expect nothing from my father, and my own earnings were not large, so I had to rely upon a personal canvass of a district which had been largely spoiled by rich candidates running against each other and spending large amounts of money. I made a hot canvass, speaking every day, and with an investment of less than one hundred dollars for travel and other expenses I was triumphantly elected.

By far the most interesting member of the legislature was the speaker, Henry J. Raymond. He was one of the most remarkable men I ever met. During the session I became intimate with him, and the better I knew him the more I became impressed with his genius, the variety of his attainments, the perfection of his equipment, and his ready command of all his powers and resources.

Raymond was then editor of the New York Times and contributed a leading article every day. He was the best debater we had and the most convincing. I have seen him often, when some other member was in the chair of the committee of the whole, and we were discussing a critical question, take his seat on the floor and commence writing an editorial. As the debate progressed, he would rise and participate. When he had made his point, which he always did with directness and lucidity, he would resume writing his editorial. The debate would usually end with Mr. Raymond carrying his point and also finishing his editorial, an example which seems to refute the statement of metaphysicians that two parts of the mind cannot work at the same time.

Two years afterwards, when I was secretary of state, I passed much of my time at Saratoga, because it was so near Albany. Mr. Raymond was also there writing the "Life of Abraham Lincoln." I breakfasted with him frequently and found that he had written for an hour or more before breakfast. He said to me in explanation that if one would take an hour before breakfast every morning and concentrate his mind upon his subject, he would soon fill a library.

Mr. Raymond had been as a young man a reporter in the United States Senate. He told me that, while at that time there was no system of shorthand or stenography, he had devised a crude one for himself, by which he could take down accurately any address of a deliberate speaker.

Daniel Webster, the most famous orator our country has ever produced, was very deliberate in his utterances. He soon discovered Raymond's ability, and for several years he always had Raymond with him, and once said to him: "Except for you, the world would have very few of my speeches. Your reports have preserved them."Mr. Raymond told me this story of Mr. Webster's remarkable memory.

Once he said to Mr. Webster: "You never use notes and apparently have made no preparation, yet you are the only speaker I report whose speeches are perfect in structure, language, and rhetoric.

How is this possible?" Webster replied: "It is my memory. I can prepare a speech, revise and correct it in my memory, and then deliver the corrected speech exactly as finished." I have known most of the great orators of the world, but none had any approach to a faculty like this, though several could repeat after second reading the speech which they had prepared.

In 1862 I was candiate for re-election to the assembly. Political conditions had so changed that they were almost reversed. The enthusiasm of the war which had carried the Republicans into power the year before had been succeeded by general unrest. Our armies had been defeated, and industrial and commercial depression was general.

The leader of the Democratic Party in the State was Dean Richmond.

He was one of those original men of great brain-power, force, and character, knowlege of men, and executive ability, of which that period had a number. From the humblest beginning he had worked his way in politics to the leadership of his party, to the presidency of the greatest corporation in the State, the New York Central Railroad Company, and in his many and successful adventures had accumulated a fortune. His foresight was almost a gift of prophecy, and his judgment was rarely wrong. He believed that the disasters in the field and the bad times at home could be charged up to the Lincoln administration and lead to a Democratic victory. He also believed that there was only one man in the party whose leadership would surely win, and that man was Horatio Seymour.

But Seymour had higher ambitions than the governorship of New York and was very reluctant to run. Nevertheless, he could not resist Richmond's insistence that he must sacrifice himself, if necessary, to save the party.

The Republicans nominated General James W. Wadsworth for governor.

Wadsworth had enlisted at the beginning of the war and made a most brilliant record, both as a fighting soldier and administrator.

The Republican party was sharply divided between radicals who insisted on immediate emancipation of the slaves, and conservatives who thought the time had not yet arrived for such a revolution.

The radicals were led by Horace Greeley, and the conservatives by Thurlow Weed and Henry J. Raymond.

Horatio Seymour made a brilliant canvass. He had no equal in the State in either party in charm of personality and attractive oratory. He united his party and brought to its ranks all the elements of unrest and dissatisfaction with conditions, military and financial. While General Wadsworth was an ideal candidate, he failed to get the cordial and united support of his party.

He represented its progressive tendencies as expressed and believed by President Lincoln, and was hostile to reaction.

Under these conditions Governor Seymour carried the State.

The election had reversed the overwhelming Republican majority in the legislature of the year before by making the assembly a tie.

同类推荐
  • The Land of Footprints

    The Land of Footprints

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Mansion

    The Mansion

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说三厨经

    佛说三厨经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 海客论

    海客论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 哭麻处士

    哭麻处士

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 极品异能教官

    极品异能教官

    曾经的富二代如今的屌丝杨轩偶然得到了异能教官系统,从此他的人生开始了翻天覆地的变化,后来他说过,作为一枚专业的异能教官,我的信念只有一个,那就是可硬可粗,可长可弯,可凉可烫。而我们的目标也只有一个,那就是壮大自己,充实别人。
  • 月令七十二候集解

    月令七十二候集解

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 血色征途

    血色征途

    大漠孤烟,荒凉死气的世界;古楼兰,惊天宝藏的传说。在这里,将是热血的倾洒,绝情的杀伐。在这里,是生存与杀戮的并存。军队、僵尸、鬼怪……让我们一起走进大漠,走进古楼兰的传说。
  • 北魏僧惠生使西域记

    北魏僧惠生使西域记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 你的形象价值百万 你的礼仪价值百万(超值金版)

    你的形象价值百万 你的礼仪价值百万(超值金版)

    与人之间的竞争是智力的竞争,也是口才的竞争。口才决定了我们的价值,决定了我们的成败。无论你从事何种行业,无论你身居什么职位,也无论你是男人还是女人,无论你是年轻还是年老,你都必须重视礼仪。一个成功的形象,展现给人们的是自信、尊严和实力。个人形象是昂贵的,有的时候它价值连城。本书深刻地点明了形象、礼仪、口才在人生中的巨大价值和重要作用,深入浅出地阐述了形象、礼仪、口才的基本原理和法则,指出了提升自我形象、修炼优雅礼仪、练就口才的基本途径和方法,从交际到生活、从求职到工作、从说话到办事、从推销到谈判。
  • 诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家散文精品

    诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家散文精品

    诺贝尔文学奖是世界上对文学作品的最高肯定,是世界各国文化的精髓。 《诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家散文精品》共收录百年来诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家的散文精品70余篇,为所有读者提供一份可供学习、欣赏、借鉴的世界散文经典之作。该书1995年出版过,现经整理后再版。 《诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家散文精品》由毛信德和李孝华担任编著。
  • 在幽暗中接吻

    在幽暗中接吻

    本集收入了7篇小说。人心里装着阳光,也装着阴暗与龌龊。每个人在不同的情形下会呈现出鲜为人知的另一面,这是下意识的自我保护。代表着爱情的吻,有多少是纯洁的?亲爱的,请不要心存恐惧,这无非世界的常态,人类自从摆脱了四足爬行的窘态后,便开始钟情于躲在幽暗处接吻,以及,更龌龊的交流……
  • 花影泪

    花影泪

    上古时代,百花仙子紫苑被罚坠入断魂崖,天神非夜甘愿替她受这断肠之苦,坠入崖中,魂飞魄散。紫苑在崖边含泪叹道:“非夜,你等我,等我用魂魄为你吟一曲长相守,生生世世。”第一世,她是公主夕颜,他是敌国皇子,彼此利用,错付深情,这段浮生注定写满倾世悲凉。第二世,她是弃妃鸢尾,他是冷漠帝王,她痴心相待,他心有所属。唯待她冰冷的死在他怀中,他才泪觉,原来自己要找的人只不过是一个她。第三世,她是魔女曼珠沙华,他是天神非夜,魔神两立,他划地三尺,斩断红尘路,只为守着失去灵魂的她。一指流沙,一句誓言,苍老了一世的容颜,憔悴了一世的相思,撕裂了生生世世念着你的最后一缕魂魄—紫苑
  • 大唐王朝之李家天下

    大唐王朝之李家天下

    大唐王朝是 让我们为之自豪的一座历史颠峰,大唐盛世的辉煌始终令我们向往。这个气势磅礴,前无古人,后无来者的帝国给人留下了无数遐想与疑问。本书从家族角度出发,通过多种史料还原历史细节,一通俗的笔法对大唐王朝李氏家族进行重新解读。
  • 灵魂医师

    灵魂医师

    我是一名心理医生,我用我的专业能力解决了一个又一个有严重心理问题的经典案例,这其中包括“双头人”,“多重人格”,“恶魔巢穴”,“循环噩梦”,我十分享受自己的职业,直到有一天我无意间看到了爸爸遗留下来的日记......