SAMUEL RAYNOR & CO.,
THE N. Y. WAREHOUSE & SECURITY CO., By S. C. Knapp, Secretary,
COMMERCIAL WAREHOUSE CO., J. F. Navarro, Prest.
The petition of these gentlemen was granted, and true to its honorable record, the Governing Committee of the Stock Exchange refused to have anything to do with the bonds of the repudiating State of Georgia.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ANDREW JOHNSON’S VAGARIES.
“Swinging Around the Circle.”—How Mr. Johnson Came to Visit New York on His Remarkable Tour.—The Grand Reception at Delmonico’s.—The President Loses his Temper at Albany and Becomes an Object of Public Ridicule.—His Proclamation of “My Policy” Ironically Received.—Returns to Washington Disgraced.—The Massacre of New Orleans.—The Impeachment of the President.
As I have attributed the ill luck of myself and others in certain business ventures in Southern securities to President Andrew Johnson, it will be necessary to describe some of the vagaries of that gentleman which had such a ruinous effect upon the investments of Northern men in the South.
In common with several other Wall Street men, I had an idea that the President might be favorably affected by the social influence of the North, if that were brought to bear upon him in the right way. So when we heard that he had been invited to attend the laying of the corner-stone in the erection of a monument to the memory of Stephen A. Douglas, at Chicago, I got up a paper signed by several Wall Street men and other prominent citizens, urging the President to accept said invitation and also invited him to stop at New York, on his way to the West.
The invitation was graciously accepted, and preparations were made at once to give him a suitable reception. It was hoped that this demonstration of our good will would have the effect of smoothing down the asperities of the President, and that it might remove any harsh feelings that he entertained towards the members of Congress who represented the Eastern and Western sections, and hence prove a means of inducing him to advise the people of the South, over whom he had considerable influence, to lay aside their sentiments of hostility and attend to their business interests in a manner that should redound to the mutual benefit of the two great sections of the country. This was in 1866.