“Simply,” I replied, “by an avowal that I will give to the Herald and other papers the whole affair, telling how the Honourable Senator had come, secretly, by night, like Nicodemus, to deceive by false promises a sorrowful woman, for some base reason best known to himself!”
Leaving the President still with an incredulous smile upon his face, I returned to my asylum at Mrs. Parker’s, and shortly addressed Mr. Wilson a note, expressive of my wish. A reply, under his own frank, reached me early in March, and I bore it in some triumph to the President. The Vice-President’s letter, a copy of which I afterward secured, was dated from the “United States Senate Chamber, Washington, March 3, 1866.” It was addressed to
“His Excellency, the President of the United States.
“Sir” [the letter began]: “Mrs. Clay, the wife of Clement C. Clay, is now in the city, and has requested me to obtain permission for her husband to go to his home on parole. His father is said to be at the point of death, his mother recently deceased, and, if there be no objections or reasons unknown to me why the request of Mrs. Clay should be denied, I have no hesitation in recommending its favourable consideration, if only from motives of humanity, as I have no doubt Mr. Clay will be forthcoming when his presence is again required by the Government.
“I have the honour to be,
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed.) “H. Wilson.”
Some six weeks later, when Mr. Clay’s release was at last accomplished, and the press was busy with comments upon it, the names of the gentlemen who had written to the President on my husband’s behalf being enumerated, some of the Radical papers attempted to deny the probability of Mr. Wilson’s intercession; which was, as it appeared to me, a singularly useless thing to do, since his letter was already filed among the Government’s archives. But the air everywhere was full of political revolution, and parties and partisans did not hesitate to resort to such means in their endeavour to effect the desired feeling in the public mind.
Every step taken by the President in those days was opposed or attacked. In my efforts to accomplish my husband’s release, I came in contact with many good and earnest men, anxious to serve Mr. Clay and me, though often wholly disapproving of Mr. Johnson’s weak course. The retention of Mr. Stanton in the Cabinet was peculiarly offensive to a great many. Wherever a political meeting was held, Mr. Johnson was liable to vituperative assault. Private conversation teemed with rumours of a growing and increasingly violent opposition.
In view of Mr. Johnson’s demonstrated kindliness to me, it was not only loyal to the President, but, I hoped, would prove protective to Mr. Clay’s interest, that I should give the Executive the benefits of some of the warnings I had heard by no means privately uttered. I, therefore, spoke to him fearlessly, and wrote to him no less unrestrainedly.
A few days after Mr. Wilson’s visit, I wrote to Mr. Johnson in this wise, my letter being dated February 16th:
“Mr. President.
“Dear Friend: Fearing I may not see you this morning, I fortify myself with this note. I go up [to the War Department] hoping for my father’s correspondence. If I get neither, may I beg to remind you of your promises? I have some strange things to tell you.... Rumour says that ‘the people say,’ ‘If Mr. J—— does not support them versus the Radicals, they will call on General Grant!’ I know you will not falter, and are not to be intimidated by threats from brave men, far less cowards.... Will you not send me one line? Do! and say the wheel has advanced one notch toward the day of deliverance!”
A letter received after sending the above missive, in addition to the conferences I held daily with Judges Black and Hughes, and with others calculated by their established judicial and political worth to aid me, had its share in stimulating me to press my arguments home more and more confidently in my future interviews with Mr. Johnson.
“I was spectator yesterday in a Democratic Convention in an adjoining County (Harrisburg),” ran the letter, “when the news of the veto was brought. A resolution of approval was immediately adopted, and I, being seen in the crowd, was called out. I raised such a storm in fifteen minutes as would have done the President’s heart good to have witnessed. The people are palpitating with eagerness to have the battle-ground defined, foggy constructions and platforms removed, so that they may charge upon the foes to a restored and tranquil Union.