and doubted its correctness, he was very much surprised, not to say
chagrined; but when Speed joined in those doubts, Seward was annoyed,
indeed quite angry. He denied that the public papers of any
Department were to subjected to private examination, and most
emphatically denounced any idea of furnishing copies on the claim or
demand of any State court or any court in a private suit. If it was
conceded in a single instance, it must be in all. 'And,' said he,
pointing to the private shelves of the President, which he keeps
locked, 'they will demand those papers.' 'But those,' said the
President, 'are private and confidential, a very different
affair.' 'Call them,' said Seward, 'what you please, you cannot
retain them from Congress or the court if you concede the principle
in this case. You cannot discriminate on their call; they will not
admit the rectitude of your judgment and discrimination, if you give
up to them the right of the demand now made on the Secretary of the
Navy. He must not furnish them copies nor must he testify.'
'Without being convinced, the President was an attentive listener,
and I think his faith was somewhat shaken. 'We will look at this
matter fully and carefully,' said he. 'If the Secretary of State is
right, we shall all of us be of his opinion, for this is a big thing,
and this question must have been up and passed upon before this day.'
He then decided he would have a legal opinion from the Attorney-
General, and framed questions for him to answer. Some modifications
were suggested, and the matter closed for the present by the
President instructing me not to give my evidence or copies till this
question was decided.8
The Chicago Tribune reported: "One evening during the last week of
his life, when extremely busy and weary as well, Lincoln was called
to the reception room to see Mr. [James] Speed, then Attorney-
General. He had called to introduce a friend and, seeing the weary
look on the President's face, began to apologize. 'I am very sorry,
Mr. President,' said Mr. Speed, 'to disturb you.' 'Speed,' he
replied, 'you remind me of a story of Henry Ward Beecher. One Sunday
as he was going to preach, he saw some boys playing marbles in the
street. He stopped and looked at them very hard. 'Boys,' he said,
presently, 'boys, I am scared at what I see.' 'Then,' replied one of
the boys, 'why the hell don't you run away?'9
Speed's conflict with President Andrew Johnson over the attorney
general's tough views on reconstruction and Johnson's veto of
Freedmen's Bill led to his resignation in 1866. He remained a
dedicated Republican, running unsuccessfully for the Senate and the
House.
