JOHN ADAMS JAMES BUCHANAN THOMAS JEFFERSON JOHN P. HALE ABRAHAM LINCOLN E. E. ELLSWORTH HANNIBAL HAMLIN BENJAMIN F. WADE SIMON CAMERON SALMON P. CHASE A. E. BURNSIDE GEORGE G. MEADE JOSEPH HOOKER ROBERT E. LEE ANDREW JOHNSON JOHN A. LOGAN EDWIN M. STANTON HENRY B. ANTHONY WINFIELD S. HANCOCK JEREMIAH S. BLACK CHARLES SUMNER U. S. GRANT JAMES MONROE SCHUYLER COLFAX HENRY WILSON MORRISON R. WAITE MATTHEW H. CARPENTER JAMES G. BLAINE FRANCIS E. SPINNER RUTHERFORD B. HAYES WILLIAM M. EVARTS ROSCOE CONKLING JOHN SHERMAN ELIHU B. WASHBURNE JAMES A. GARFIELD DAVID DAVIS PHIL. H. SHERIDAN CHESTER A. ARTHUR WILLIAM T. SHERMAN DAVID D. PORTER ROBERT T. LINCOLN W. W. CORCORAN GROVER CLEVELAND THOMAS A. HENDRICKS FRED. T. FRELINGHUYSEN BYRON SUNDERLAND
PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES.
VOL. II.
CHAPTER I. FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS AND DOMESTIC TROUBLES.
While President Buchanan was anxiously awaiting information from Central America, he received from Mr. Dallas, the Minister at London, notes of a conversation between himself and the Earl of Malmesbury, in which the English Minister said: "Lord Napier has communicated to the President the treaty negotiated by Sir William Gore Ouseley with the Minister from Nicaragua." It was believed that no objection had been expressed to its provisions. One of its objects was to terminate the Mosquito Protectorate. Now, this was virtually the relinquishment on the part of England of her construction of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, and, of course, was very desirable news to Mr. Buchanan, yet Lord Napier had withheld it. He either was disgusted at this settlement of the long-talked-of difficulty without his aid, or his devotion to a fair Southern widow had made him stupidly inattentive to what was going on. A hint to the English Government was thereupon given by Mr. Buchanan that his Lordship had better be transferred to some other post, and he was transferred accordingly.
Mr. Seward had endeavored to introduce Lord Napier into Republican society instead of that which Southerners had made so agreeable, and when he was recalled was mainly instrumental in getting up a subscription ball in his honor. It was given at Willard's Hotel, in the long dining-room, which had been decorated for the occasion with flags of all nations, mirrors, and chandeliers. At one end of the room, beneath full-length portraits of General Washington and Queen Victoria, was a raised dais, on which Lord and Lady Napier received the company. He wore a blue dress-coat with gilt diplomatic buttons, white waistcoat, and blue trousers, and looked the "canny" Scotchman and Napier that he was. Lady Napier wore a white silk ball-dress, with three flounces of white tulle, puffed and trimmed with black Brussels lace, a corsage, and a head-dress of scarlet velvet with pearls and white ostrich feathers. After the presentations the ball was opened with a quadrille, in which Lord Napier danced with Madame Limburgh, a daughter of General Cass, Mr. Ledyard and Mrs. Seward, Jr., being their vis-a-vis. In the same quadrille was Senator Seward and the beautiful Mrs. Conrad, of Georgia, having as their vis-a-vis Mr. Danby Seymour, M. P., and the niece of Senator Dixon, of Connecticut.
Supper was served at eleven o'clock. Mr. Speaker Orr escorted Lady Napier to the table, followed by Lord Napier escorting the Countess de Sartiges. It was a bountiful repast, with a profusion of champagne. Dancing was kept up until a late hour. A few days afterward Lord Napier embarked on an English war-steamer for his home.
Elegant entertainments were given during Mr. Buchanan's Administration by the members of his Cabinet, the receptions at the house of Postmaster-General Brown, graced by his daughter-in-law, Miss Narcissa Sanders, surpassing all others in elegance. Mrs. Gwin's fancy ball was far above any similar entertainment ever given at Washington. Charles Francis Adams, then a Representative from Massachusetts, entertained very hospitably; Mr. Seward gave numerous dinner-parties, and his parlors were open every Friday evening to all who chose to visit him; the Blairs kept open house for the new Republican party; Mr. John Cochrane gave a great dinner-party to the correspondents of the leading newspapers; Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler had fashionable audiences to hear her readings, and was much made of in society, but she terrified the waiters at her hotel by her imperious manners. On all sides gayety abounded.
A large party of Democrats, after enjoying a dinner on the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, went, at past eleven o'clock, to the White House to honor the President. They evidently disturbed him from his sleep, for he appeared in a dressing-gown, and as if he had just arisen from his bed. Mr. Buchanan was an exceedingly amiable and courteous politician, and showed it on this occasion by getting up at that unseemly hour to address these gentlemen, who were full of supper, wine, and patriotism. He, however, naively remarked to them, in concluding his remarks, "that in bidding them good-night he hoped they would retire to rest, and that to-morrow all of them would be better prepared for the discharge of their respective duties." Evidently Mr. Buchanan, while appreciating the motive and feelings of these gentlemen, manifested a little characteristic waggishness about their going to rest and getting up refreshed for their duties.
The murder, one bright Sunday morning in February, of Philip Barton Key, the District Attorney of the District of Columbia, by Mr. Daniel E. Sickles, a member of the House of Representatives from New York, created a great sensation. Mr. Sickles, although a young man, had been for some years prominently connected with New York politics. He had taken from her boarding-school and married the handsome young daughter of Madame Bagioli, who had, with her husband, acquired some celebrity in New York as Italian music teachers. Soon after the marriage Mr. Sickles had received the appointment of Secretary of Legation at London (Mr. Appleton having been unable to accompany Mr. Buchanan), and Mrs. Sickles thus made her debut as the presiding lady of the bachelor Minister's establishment. In 1857 Mr. Sickles entered Congress, and rented the "Woodbury House," on Lafayette Square, where he lived in elegant style. His coaches, dinners, and parties were irreproachable, and Mrs. Sickles was noted for her magnificent jewelry and beautiful toilettes. Mr. Buchanan was a frequent visitor at their house, and was to have been godfather at the christening of Mr. Sickles' infant daughter, with Mrs. Slidell as godmother, but an attack of whooping-cough postponed the ceremony.